The Durtsche Family

1 fish, 2 fish, red fish, dead fish

2012-01-19T13:45:00.000-08:00

Back in August (like the 3rd, I think) I was watching my sister's kids while she took a road trip with my parents. For a fun activity one day, we made some cake pops. It was my second go with these things, and the kids of course love decorating them with excess amounts of sprinkles and such...That is why it is a general rule around here, that everyone eats what they decorate. That is the only way even kids choke down that amount of sprinkles; because they created the wonderful work of art with their own two hands.
The last day of the cousin's visit, all the kids got to pick a new fish out for our fish tank. Here is the tally:
Justee: 2 neon, both now dead
Trey: Grey one with a black tail (I never remember the names of fish) Remarkably it is still living!
Charlee: Big white one, now dead
Tamsyn: red with black fins, It too has managed to stay alive
Sydnee: Large orange one, recently deceased
Natasha: Orange one with red tail, recently deceased

The kids were pretty excited about their fish and they sure looked good in our tank...looking at this pic and then turning my head to the left tells me I have some work to do cleaning it...putting a few more gallons of water in it might not be a bad idea either...

New Family Member

2012-01-04T21:08:00.000-08:00

I am making some progress on this catching up business...

On July 20th Mark went and got himself hitched in the Salt Lake Temple. Jessica became an instant aunt to 17 nieces and nephews who love her and we couldn't be happier with Mark's choice of eternal companion.

We had a great time at the wedding, reception, and then at Lagoon the next day. It had been almost 15 years since I'd been. We had a rule that if you were tall enough, you were riding. Char surprised me and showed no fear...she even rode the colossus twice. Sydnee had a little hesitation about Wicked...she begged her Daddy (she knew that was the weak spot) not to make her go, but after it was over she was glad she did it.

Painful Fun

2012-01-04T20:48:00.000-08:00

Another big event of our summer that has been neglected in the blog was the Tough Mudder.
Holy crap did this thing suck...10 miles of military style obstacle course. The distance wouldn't have seemed so bad if it wasn't almost straight up hill at times. Not all the obstacles were horrible either...but one tried to kill me.
When I watch the videos on youtube, and the cameras submerge under the surface of that icy cold water (I believe they said it was 32 degrees) and bob under those blue barrels, I can feel the constricting pain in my chest and total numbness come right back to me. There has been talk of doing it again in 2012, and I have to admit...I don't know if I dare swim in that freezing water again. I mean seriously...I almost died. I owe no thanks to Justin, who swam off and left me to drown. If Paula wouldn't have been right with me, I may not have come to my senses after coming up unable to catch my breath after the first submersion.
All in all (except the indescribable sucky swimming part) it was a really fun unique experience.
We finished right around the 3 hour mark (and by "we" I mean Justin, Will, Jace, Joel, and myself. The other members of our team finished at a different time.)

Bolder Boulder 2011

2012-01-04T20:32:00.000-08:00

We have been lucky enough to get to run the Bolder Boulder with some pretty awesome people the past few years. Sherri and her family make this such a fun event every year. The 2011 run was by far my favorite yet. That is probably because I got to run it with my amazing daughter as well as the other great people.
Sydnee, at age 8, ran her first 10k. I did my first 10k at age 27. She beat me by almost 20 years! Syd did awesome...She took 5th out of 210 in her division with a time of 58:34. She even got a medal sent to her. I know she was pretty proud of her accomplishment, but it might take some coaxing to get her to run again next year... 6.2 miles is a long way to run without walking, but she did it...and she only threw up a little at the finish line (I think she has forever sworn off yellow Gatorade.)

I guess I better add that Justin ran ahead of us and beat us by about a min.

Wow...I have some work to do

2012-01-04T17:50:00.000-08:00

This past summer Justin participated in his first triathlon. It took place at Horseshoe Bend at Big Horn Canyon Recreation area.
My sister, Ashlee and her husband Gerry also took part....Now I'm all about some fun competition and physical exertion (post on Tough Mudder coming soon)...but no way am I swimming that far without drowning. Sydnee, and her cousins Karlee and Allie, competed in the team youth division. Karlee swam, Allie rode the bike and Syd ran. My nephew Kyle also competed in the youth distance, but did it alone. They all did a fabulous job and I didn't envy them one bit. :)
During our same visit, Justee really really wanted to ride my parents' horses. Of course then we ended up giving several kids some quick rides.
If only giving the rides was as easy as it looks...long story short: I had a terrible time getting Handsome saddled up due to a mischievous young palomino, Hanna, who kept pulling the blanket off of Handsome when I went to reach for the saddle.
I also realized that my time away from horses has made me a little jumpy. I'll keep all details to myself in order to save face. Who knew that when it was your own kid on a horse that every little bug annoyance seemed to send the horse "bucking"?

Syd in a sentence

2011-10-28T12:21:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the school year, Syd was asked to describe her personality in one sentence. Then they got to make a poster using decorations that supported their sentence. This is what she came up with:

Snow Day!

2011-10-26T10:36:00.001-07:00

It seems a bit odd to go from the 4th of July straight to a snow day.

We woke up to quite a bit of heavy snow.

Trees are down and power is out.

The gym is closed.

Most importantly...school is out!

The girls could not wait to get out and play.

While Dozer is inside sleeping on his nice comfy bed,

Howie is out jumping and digging in the snow.

9 years ago

2011-09-22T14:23:00.000-07:00

I became a mom...
This post is long overdue.
Sydnee wanted a red, white and blue ice cream cone for her bday this year...I went back and forth between a flat cutout cake or a 3D one...I wasn't exactly sure how I wanted to do it, but the 3D idea won.

The morning of the 4th, we all ran in a 5k (minus Justee, she got to hang out with Renae) with our friends, Josh, Sherri and their kids Jadyn and Ashlyn (Ash rode in a stroller pushed by her mom...crazy in the huge crowd.)

Despite the very slow start due to fighting through a huge crowd that had to bottle neck out onto the course, Sydnee achieved a new PR. (which I can't remember right now and I hope I find it somewhere) and took 2nd in her age group - 10 and under.

Sydnee decided she wanted her ears pierced for her birthday. When Chuck wanted hers done too...Sydnee happily agreed...as long as Chuck went first. ;) There were no cries or whimpers...just momentary face pulling...and a little hand squeezing.

Both girls said it was much easier and less painful than expected (I don't know how they feel...my ears are yet to be pieced.)

Sydnee was very happy with her birthday presents and party that held on the following day.

I decided that we are going to choreograph some words and pictures with our sparklers next year. I'm excited about it!

Sydnee had a water bday party with her friends...she was even nice enough to invite some of her friends little sisters who are friends with Charlee.
This is the cake without the two scoops of ice cream...I ended up using the giant cupcake pans to make the cake.

No strings attached

2011-09-16T11:23:00.000-07:00

This little girl will be awaiting her first visit from the tooth fairy tonight!

(Let's hope it only takes one night for that forgetful fairy to find our house.)

Hooray! It's picture day!

2011-09-15T18:16:00.000-07:00

I remember thinking about what I was going to wear for picture day a few days in advance, the teachers telling everyone to brush their hair and teeth for that day, and sitting in front of the lights and camera and smiling after the photographer called you some funny name....Things haven't changed much.........
Picture day is quite the event for my girls. Sydnee has been saving her "picture day outfit" just for this day...she hadn't worn it once yet. Charlee wasn't as sure about what to wear, so she modeled a few things for Sydnee the night before and they decided together. They both wanted to pick out new earrings to wear (and you can't even see Sydnee's.)
Of course when they get all dolled up for pictures, I have to take a few before they leave.
The sad thing is, I bet they sit and smile in front of the school photographer a lot nicer than they do for me...They aren't too cooperative when I want to take pictures...the camera clicks twice and they want to run away.

Summer Visitors

2011-09-15T15:50:00.000-07:00

We were lucky enough to have the Burtons come visit us this summer! The kids had some fun at a splash park one day, but it wasn't too long before the older ones were looking for more adventure than some fountains...

After seeing lots of other kids jumping off into the river, I told the girls (Syd, Char, Allie, & Karlee) that we would stay a while longer if one of them jumped. To my complete surprise, the older girls said no and Charlee immediately said, "I'll do it!"
Now, this was a complete shock to me and I doubted very much that she would jump once she got up there. I've always thought Charlee to be our little chicken...especially after Disney World.
I was totally wrong. She got up there and jumped without a moments hesitation. (We won't get into how she swam the wrong way (against the current) trying to get out and began to panic enough that another lady jumped in and pulled her out...mind you, she was already in a bathing suit and wet and reacted before I (fully dressed and dry) could react...that clears me of any "slow-to-save-your-own-child" accusations, right?)

Of course the other girls couldn't let Chuck be the only one to jump, and they quickly all followed.:) They all jumped a few times, even Charlee (who made sure to swim the other way) before it was time to go home.

Journee was great at keeping the younger ones happy, while I was taking pics.

(6/28/11)

Father's Day Weekend

2011-09-08T14:24:00.000-07:00

The Saturday before Father's Day, we got to go up and visit the flight facility. The girls always have a blast playing in the helicopters.
The girls made a special breakfast for their Daddy and then gave him some presents...they were wrapped in paper appropriate for a father of 3 girls.

I guess we all can still love him in spite of the horrible shirt he is wearing...besides his awful taste in basketball teams, he is a pretty amazing father.

(6/19/11)

Showcase and Talent Show

2011-09-01T13:19:00.000-07:00

This all happened on the last day of school last year...Sydnee had her talent show in the morning and Charlee had her showcase in the afternoon. Unfortunately Justin had to miss it for drill or meetings or something like that. It was an action packed last day, but the girls loved every minute of it.

They also handed out lots of awards for students...Here is Sydnee getting her Presidential Fitness award (or something like that)...It was for running the mile in under a certain time and doing a certain number of sit-ups etc.

Clip of Charlee being shy...luckily she warmed up toward the end and actually held her head up. :)

Sydnee on her pogo stick...

(5/19/11)

Art is fun

2011-08-31T16:01:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when your kids wake up early on a Sat...and their mischievous/creative juices are flowing.
Of course Justee was the guinea pig.

Apparently the first attempt wasn't good enough, and they scampered away to do more damage.Thank goodness they didn't find the permanent markers.

(5/21/11)

Better late than never...Butterfly Release

2011-08-30T13:36:00.000-07:00

This post should be dated 4/18/11. I guess I pretty much took the summer off when it came to blogging. I have so much to catch up on...
This was back when Charlee was a kindergartner...Now she is a big 1st grader! Can you believe it?!
We did this when Syd was in Miss Jensen's class as well...The class gets a bunch of caterpillars and they get to watch the whole process of their metamorphosis, and release them once it is complete.
It takes the butterflies a while to warm their little wings and take flight...

Once they decide to go, the kids aren't too far behind.

Charlee's class (plus a few siblings) patiently waiting for a popsicle

Moab Adventures

2011-05-25T15:05:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we were able to enjoy our first camping trip this year. The girls were very excited! After our lovely middle child had a bout with car sickness and campground after campground was full...we finally found this gem of a campsite. What a relief! 3 little girls were going to be very disappointed if they had to sleep in a hotel.

The real reason for this trip was to take Mark and Jessica's engagement photos. My parents were heading down for Mark's grad and to help him move out of his dorm, so it was great to spend time with them too. After the pics were done and we saw all of Arches we wanted to, we moved on to Price, where all 3 girls got at least one strike while bowling with Mark and Jessica.

After the big mile and a half hike up to the Delicate Arch, Syd said it best, "It was worth it!"

Justin did a lot of carrying Justee, and she still conked out for a good nap before the day was through. This caused Justin and Justee to miss out on the small hike we took where Syd and Chuck found their favorite spot. It was a small crevice between rock walls filled with nice cool sand. They had a blast there.

39 years...that's a long time

2011-05-20T14:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I am not very good at remembering dates (you'd think I was I man or something.) I would never have even known it was my parents anniversary if I hadn't heard it from my sister, Vicki.
So, as I am sitting here waiting to hear from Justin...he is supposed to be on a flight coming home from Dallas, but it keeps getting delayed due to weather...I figured, why not steal her post? :)

Happy anniversary to my amazing parents!

I love this picture because I think Chuck sure looks a lot like Ashlee in it. (and Trey looks like you Vic. Don't ya think?)

Thanks for being great parents who love each other, and raised 5 great kids...especially your 4th child. I really love you both.

Thanks for staying on top of things, Vicki. :)

Huge Relief

2011-05-16T19:46:00.000-07:00

There is no way to describe how happy I am to be done with this bathroom! ...well...pretty much done...a door missing isn't that big of a deal is it?
This whole project started in early March. I wanted it done right along with the rest of the basement, but Justin had his many excuses for why it had to wait...

Just like everything else, it took WAY longer than I was told it would. We had so many setbacks and problems. I would be writing forever if I went through all the things we had to go back and fix, so I won't even attempt. Even the last thing, which was hanging the shower curtain rod, took a week. That tile was ridiculous to drill through, so I decided I was going to glue it. One side took really well, but the other was not holding...so after days of letting glue dry, back to drilling it was.

Before grout:

After grout:

Finally...a working bathroom in our basement:

Syd and Soccer

2011-05-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

This kid has thrown me for a loop. I was dead set against her playing soccer again, once this season was over, after her first two games. She would just kind of hang back and let her teammates get the ball. She would get to the ball and just stop. Where was the aggressiveness that I never remember lacking? It was just too frustrating for us as parents to watch.

Then suddenly...this girl appeared for the last 3 games (of a 6 game season.)

She was hustling, running so fast, she was getting to where she should be, and she scored a goal! It was actually fun to watch her games.
...I guess we won't pull the plug on soccer just yet...she'll get another chance. :)
Howie was even impressed.

Seriously post about Justee

2011-05-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

I told my sister about this little "incident" with Justee, and she turned it into a great seriously post. Click HERE to check it out.

Easter

2011-04-29T21:58:00.001-07:00

I love Easter...Spring is showing itself, school is almost out, coloring eggs, Easter dresses, Cadbury eggs (mini, cream, caramel...I don't discriminate) but most importantly, Easter is a time to reflect on what our Savior did for us...as in for me and you. I know that my Redeemer lives!

There was actually more dye on the eggs than on the girls this year!

Koolaid did manage to dye a few upper lips/faces though.

With church being at 9 a.m. I thought we would get everyone ready for church before beginning their egg hunt. Luckily the girls were patient enough to wait for dresses to be put on and hair to be done.

Love the expression Justee has after finding a money egg. I think I get that same look when I pull cash out of the pocket of a coat I haven't worn in a while.

This year the whole family went Easter dress shopping together. The girls had a blast trying on dresses. Justee tried on more dresses than I could count. As soon as she was in the next one, she was out of the dressing room door (leaving Char and Syd half dressed and telling her to shut the door) and on her way to show her Daddy.

I swear my girls try their hardest to keep me from getting a good picture of the three of them together. It is pure luck that I got these two.

We had a nice peaceful Easter...Church, dinner, mini egg overdose and watched Tangled together. Couldn't ask for much more.

Gettin all dressed up

2011-04-17T16:53:00.000-07:00

You would have thought last night was Prom night...wait...it was. While teenagers all over the place, were getting ready for Prom, Justin and I were getting ready for the All Saints Dinner. It's not very often we get all fancied up, so it was kind of exciting for us. Justin got to wear his brand new dress blues for the first time. (I'm sorry, but I think it is stupid that the pants don't match the coat, but he sure looked handsome anyway.) This was my first All Saints Dinner, and I wasn't sure what to expect...I don't think I could have guessed what it was going to be like...pretty interesting is all I'll say. The things Army men will do for entertainment...

Princesses and a puppy

2011-04-13T14:15:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we got to take the girls to Disney on Ice Princess Classics. Sydnee had the great idea for them to dress up in their princess dresses they got at Disney World. I was so glad she thought of it, because once we were there, we were surrounded by princesses everywhere....we might have felt left out. It was a really good show and the girls LOVED it. I thought Justee might get a little bored with it, but I was wrong. My only issues were the ugly, dorky guys who were playing the princes, and the $15 snow cones.

The day before Charlee's bday we got to pick up this little guy:

We decided we wanted to add a new puppy to our family a few months ago. We did some research and looked at some different breeds. Most of the breeds I really liked happened to be very expensive and harder to come by. Justin suggested this breed (Pembroke Welsh Corgi) and after looking into them, we found a breeder nearby. After spending some time with them, we decided to go for it. We waited for a couple of litters to be born and went to pick one out a week before we got to bring him home. The girls were pretty bummed when we weren't bringing him home that day.

I have to say that having a puppy with little kids (We got Dozer when Syd was 1 but that doesn't really count) is a lot easier than without kids. They play with him and take him out and are extra sets of eyes to keep on him.

Dozer is adjusting well. He doesn't mind Howie at all. He lets him climb on him, lay by him, and share his water dish. If Howie gets too rambunctious, Dozer mostly gets up and walks away.

In case you are wondering what Howie will look like as an adult...this is a pretty close representative:

A Six Year Old

2011-04-09T13:45:00.001-07:00

This little girl is getting big. Charlee is still our quiet/shy one. She does have a stubborn streak and can get a little attitude, but overall she is pretty easy-going. She is doing great in kindergarten and she is pretty darn good at reading. She has lots of friends and even comes home with a few pictures and cards from boys. Chuck is our cuddler and our jokester. She has some pretty good one-liners for a kindergartener (wonder where she gets that.)

Chuck wanted her party to be at Bounce...which I love because it is easy entertainment for all the guests, and I don't have to worry about a messy house after it's over.

This is Char's first party where she got to invite "real" friends...and by that I mean friends from school and not just family or our friends who have kids her age. She picked her guest list all by herself. She got lots of great gifts and had tons of fun at her party. Afterwards she picked Texas Roadhouse for dinner.

I tried talking Justee into having a parrot cake because I thought it would be cool to make, but she was a no go. So when we went to the zoo last week, and Char was pointing out the pretty Macaws to me...I slipped in the thought that they would sure make a pretty cake. :) She bit and said that that was the cake she wanted. Yeah for me! and Chuck of course

She wanted a red one even though I again put in my 2 cents saying that red is really hard and it usually just looks pink, so a blue one would be easier....She was ok with pink and even thought it would be cool.

I made this cake bigger than usual because of her large party.

It started with 2 nine in. rounds and a 9x13.

After I finished the hard part of frosting all the colors, I used softened tootsie rolls for the branch and I planned to cover the pink with fruit roll ups to make it look red...but I was a little tired of it, and not sure how it would look to cover all the pink, so I decided to just highlight it.

This pic was taken immediately after I finished the cake (very important to do that because you never know when someone is going to drop tupperware on in.)

A little confused...

2011-03-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

Sydnee came out of the office all excited about something on Friday evening. When she explained that she saw a baby fish, I was a little hesitant to believe her. I came to look, but told her she probably just saw something floating in the tank. After searching the tank, I started to tell Sydnee that it just wasn't possible to have a baby when we don't have two of the same kind of fish. Sydnee got upset and made me feel bad for "never believing her" when all of sudden there it was! A tiny little fish swimming in a plant at the surface of the water. WHAT THE??? We have had these same fish for over a year now...some much longer. Why all of a sudden do we have a single baby in the tank? This fish looks exactly like its must-be momma, but who is the baby daddy?After seeing how tiny it was I decided it would be best to put it in a little net home in the tank to keep it from being eaten. The girls sure are excited about this new little baby, so I hope it lasts and grows to be a big fish.

I wanted to do Syd and Chuck's hair into a shamrock on St. Patty's Day for school. I was really rushed and didn't have time to change the parts to make it better, but at least I learned for next time.

Firsts for Sydnee

2011-03-14T17:38:00.000-07:00

Sydnee had her first piano lesson today. I think it went very well, and she is super excited to learn more. Hopefully she can stick it out longer than I did.
The weather was so perfect for taking a run today, so I asked Sydnee to join me and we took off. We went on our 5k course we clocked a couple of years ago, and Syd was a champ. It was her first real run of the season and she made it the whole way, easily, and without a single complaint. I was pretty proud of her. I think she will be able to master the Bolder Boulder nicely come May.

Heart Day

2011-03-05T12:43:00.000-08:00

I had a lot of fun helping out in Sydnee's class party. The chocolate covered strawberries I brought were a huge hit, and Sydnee was super excited to have Justee in her class for a while. She really wanted her to stay and play at recess, but I had to get the cheese I brought for Charlee's party over to her class party.

Charlee and Justee even got fancy hair. Poor Sydnee missed out because the time before school was dedicated more towards heart pancakes than hair.

Hard to believe

2011-02-24T09:32:00.000-08:00

that our baby is four!
It has been fun watching Justee grow from this:

to this 1 year old: to this 2 year old:

to this 3 year old:

to a now 4 year old!

We started on her last week about how 4 year olds don't cry and can't be carried everywhere. I don't think it had much effect on her.

Justee's favorite meal is mac and cheese, so it wasn't a surprise that she wanted to go to Noodles and Co. for mac and cheese as her birthday dinner. After Sydnee's bball practice we headed there to eat and then came home for the presents and cake. Justee had not been very patient about waiting for those two things all day.

She was a gracious bday girl and hugged her sisters after opening the presents they picked for her.

When it was time to cut the cake, the little girl who tried to convince me all day long that she needed a piece right now, was too busy with her new toys to stop for cake.

She got a little purse with hair things and a ring in it from Gma and Gpa H, and some slippers from Gma and Gpa D.

I asked Justee what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday (while trying to convince her that a parrot cake would be cute...cause that seemed fun to make.) She told me she wanted a fish tank cake...probably due to the fact that the fish tank is right by our computer. So I looked up some ideas...then she told me she wanted a snake cake instead. Really? A girl snake cake of course. hmmm okay, I finally got used to the idea of a girl snake cake and was thinking of cute ways to girly it up when she went back to the fish tank. I let her mull it over for a while and then got her final decision.

I started with two 8 in rounds (if I ever do this cake again, I would use 3 just to give it more stability. Mine started to lean throughout the day.)

Then I thought about the decor. I saw this cake done with goldfish crackers, but thought about how gross those would taste, so I decided to use Swedish fish. After thinking about it more, I wanted to be creative with the fish, so I decided I would mold them out of gum drops. The plants and coral were done with fruit roll ups and such, but I couldn't find the right colors. So, I decided to mold them out of jolly ranchers that I melted in the microwave. I only slightly burned myself once or twice. ;)

Then I set up a scene that I thought worked (using nerds for the gravel.) Then I frosted the cake in my favorite white mountain frosting. Getting the frosting on is always the worst part.

Then the fun began...placing the candy on.

Justee loved her cake and had a great birthday. Thanks to everyone who called or did something to help make this day special for our little Rosie.

2 of 2

2011-02-21T13:17:00.001-08:00

Just before 8 am, the girls were ready to attack Christmas morning.

Even Dozer had a great day!

Charlee got a pogo stick. After a small accident Justin had while trying to loosen the spring, it was a hit. Char gave it her best shot, but it was Sydnee who mastered it. Syd was a real pro by that afternoon.

We didn't have a white Christmas this year, but it was a beautiful day and the girls were constantly taking their new toys outside to play.

It was a lovely Christmas, but it seemed to come and go too quickly.

Because Christmas wasn't too long ago...

2011-02-21T12:43:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve PJs. Dozer even wanted in on the action.

I don't think I have ever seen a little girl as excited about pajamas as Justee was. She ran and hugged me and told me this was the best Christmas ever! Wow, and it was just getting started.
She didn't even hesitate to get them on. She is already making her move to rid herself of clothes.

We always get our pjs on and then head out to look at Christmas lights. Once we get home, it is cocoa and story time and then off to bed.

The day before the girls decorated a gingerbread house.

It was up and down in less than an hour...

Another tradition is a puzzle...Since the girls can't really help with mine, they got their own:

Justee Rose

2011-01-27T14:23:00.000-08:00

I have a lot of blogging to catch up on, but for now I'll focus on this spunky little girl we like to call "Our Rosie."

Justee has quite the personality. She is much more outgoing and outspoken than her sisters, but she definitely has a sweet streak in her. She always makes me smile with the things she says. Here is an example that happened just last night....

I was letting her lay in bed with me until Justin came up to bed. I knelt down to say my prayers and she started up with questions.
"Are you talking to Heavenly Father?"
"Yes, that is who we talk to when we pray."
"Does Jada live with Heavenly Father?"
"Yes."
"But we aren't old so we won't die will we?" As I am about ready to speak she adds, with a lot of concern in her voice, "Grandma is getting a little bit old though." (Sorry mom)
"Well, everyone has to die sometime, and it isn't always when you get old, and Grandma isn't that old; but it is ok because when we die, we get to all be together with Heavenly Father. "
..."AND JESUS!" Justee quickly added.
"Yes, and Jesus."
"And Sydnee and Charlee too?"
"Yes."
Then the excitement built in her eyes and she exclaimed, "And then Jada will see us and be like, YAY! And give us all a big hug! And then we can be like, Group Hug! Cause that's what families do, right Mommy?"
"Right."

It always amazes me how precious and innocent these little souls are.

This second picture just IS Justee. She has this little mischievous look on her face a lot. She definitely likes to see how much she can get away with.

Justee likes to say, "That freaked me out!" when she gets startled or scared. She is always playing with my hair, she has been since she was tiny. She twirls it and smells it and tells me, "Your hair smells lovely, Mommy." When she is happy with me, she tells me I am her best mommy ever! She is quick to take that title from me when she is upset with me though; I get told I am not her best mommy anymore if I don't allow her to do something she wants to do. She never wants to go to bed. She can be out cold and will suddenly sit up and say, "But I'm not tired!" or "Just a little bit TV!" and then fall back asleep. She is obsessed with "Bad words" right now. She is constantly asking if words are bad...but she makes sure to say them first like, "Oh man!......Is that a bad word, Mommy?" or "Oh my goodness!....that isn't a bad word is it, Mommy?" (I think this comes from all the little kids (and adults) she hears saying the Lord's name in vain, and us telling her it wasn't good to say when she tried to repeat it.) As much as she keeps us laughing with her antics, she sure keeps us on our toes with all her crying and whining. She is the youngest and definitely acts like it. It does seem like her tantrums are becoming fewer and farther between, but she wins "biggest cry baby in the family" by a mile. :)

It is crazy to think that our little baby is almost 4 years old.

Ready or not...

2010-12-18T16:34:00.001-08:00

Christmas is a week away...seems crazy.

Candies made- check!

Tree- check!

Lights- check!

Presents wrapped- check!

Now it is time to sit back and enjoy the season.

Merry Christmas!

Days like this...

2010-12-07T11:56:00.000-08:00

When every word is said with a whiny tone, girls feel the need to tattle about the tiniest things, and the fighting never ends....it makes you wish for the days like this:

Sisters helping sisters.

Creative children making upside-down snow angels.

Giggles and laughter.

Girls playing well together.

Sisters complimenting each other on their throws. :)

Happy cooperation in building something.

A lazy dog enjoying a cozy fire...oh wait, that happens every day.

This snow came to us mid-Nov. and I think it is about time we get some more.

*Syd did most of the work on the snowman, but she is left out of the pics because she was in school. :(

Ice Skating

2010-12-03T14:56:00.000-08:00

It's been so long since I've found the time to blog. I'm hoping to do better, but I guess life just keeps getting in the way.

We went ice skating with Tafoyas several weeks ago and had a blast. All the kids picked up on it pretty quickly.

Justin did a lot of sitting...(the skates hurt his feet...big baby. ;) It was nice not having to worry about Syd too much, she just took off.

Justee, like last time, was a little too brave. She wanted to do it herself, so one of us had to be right there to soften her falls. She did great though.

Charlee really started getting the hang of it...here she is trying not to fall.

All of us, minus Sherri, who obviously had to take the pic.

Love this pic. Syd caught some air...glad I was there to soften this one.

They're creepy and they're kooky...

2010-11-02T14:05:00.000-07:00

Mysterious and spooky

They're all together ooky

The Addams family

Thought I better add a black and white for authenticity.

K...I'm done.

The Dur....Addams Family

2010-10-31T21:36:00.000-07:00

Halloween 2010 was a success! We had a great time dressing up together.

The girls got lots of compliments and stares...Charlee said she was a little embarrassed because so many people would point and laugh and her. We told her that was a good thing. :)

Some fun with the photos...

In the first set of pics, we forgot Thing. We had to add him in this one. :)

We had some good food and even better company. Plus we could not have asked for better weather. It was awesome, and no one needed even a jacket.

Everyone looked great!

I love Halloween! Time to start thinking about what to be next year!

Winner!

2010-10-30T12:43:00.000-07:00

Justee took home the prize for best costume at Gold's Gym party today. I sure think she makes a cute Uncle Fester. She was pretty happy with her light bulb that really lights up when she puts it in her mouth. :)

Sydnee as Wednesday...headless doll and all. Charlee and Sydnee had their parties at school on Fri. Their school does a costume parade, so all the kids get to see each other's costumes.

I guess Cousin Itt got tired after walking the halls.

We had our Trunk-or-Treat and I helped the YW with a haunted house. It turned out really cool, but I forgot my camera and didn't get a single pic. I will have to see if I can find someone who did. We still haven't gotten pics of us all together, but tomorrow we will for sure.

I put off taking pics of Sydnee at her soccer games until her last game. Today was a rescheduled game and this is what my procrastination got me.....

We were lucky enough to be joined by our Ward's missionaries while carving pumpkins. Believe it or not, one of these guys had only carved pumpkins once before. The other one....NEVER had done it! I was happy to show them the ropes. :)

I don't know what I was thinking, but I forgot to get pics of all the pumpkins at the end of the night. Syd did her own owl and it was really cool. Unfortunately it got broken traveling home from the T-0r-T. :(

Things are getting done

2010-10-27T14:31:00.000-07:00

Halloween is soooo close! I am excited, but I have lots of things I want to get done this week. Costumes are almost 100% complete...like 98%. Here is a little peak at Charlee's Cousin Itt costume. This is the first stage of her costume (minus the pink sleeves.) After this I attached a bunch of craft sting and began unraveling it all for less of a dreadlocks look and more of an hair look.

This is her headpiece: She needed to be able to see, so I attached the "hair" to the top and the bottom of the glasses. This made for an extremely itching problem...after some thought I solved this by adding some extra fleece to soften it up. She was so happy to feel the difference. It is pretty comfy now.

Can't wait to get the whole family done up tomorrow for the Trunk-or-Treat!

One of our before Halloween musts is to make some caramel apples.

I wanted to share something I made at our last Relief Society activity. We did a bunch of Christmas crafts and I signed up to make this advent calendar. It is really hard to see in these pics, but I think they are super cute.

It is just a mini muffin pan with decorated magnets over the holes. We used lots of scrapbook paper, stickers, and cutouts.

1 year down

2010-10-19T10:24:00.000-07:00

There was an amazing sunset last week. I noticed it in my rear view mirror as I was driving to mutual. I wished I had my camera, but I called Justin to take a picture. This is what he got...doesn't do it justice, but it is still beautiful. The best thing about this sunset is that this isn't even half of it...it was the farthest stretching sunset I've seen in a long time.

This past year has gone by so fast (marking it from Oct 14, 2009.) It seems crazy to think that Justin has been home for a year now. Wow, that year flew compared to the year before it. Time is such a funny thing...some things seem like forever ago, and at the same time just yesterday.

We had a great weekend starting with an 8 am soccer game for Sydnee. After that game, Justin and I headed to Laramie with Renae to go to the WY game. We caught a movie afterwards and laughed a lot. It is always a good time with Renae and her shenanigans. Between her and Justin, I am surprised I don't die of embarrassment.

The Primary program was on Sun. and Syd and Chuck did their parts wonderfully. Chuck had her part memorized and clearly said, "Jesus Christ is the son of God." Sydnee did another girl's part who was absent and then she gave a talk about her baptism. It was funny to hear her take a deep breath and let it out before she began. She wrote some great things in her journal right after her baptism and most of her talk came straight from that. She seemed so grown up up there.

I also wanted to mention that a family in our Ward is going through a rough time right now...their son has been diagnosed with cancer. There have been a couple websites started in his behalf. One in particular to raise money for the family. It is an auction where you can bid on various things and the money goes to Kevin. http://auction4kevind.blogspot.com/ There aren't a ton of items on there just yet, but there will be more coming. By going to this blog, you can be directed to Kevin's personal blog where you can read more about his situation.

Pumpkin Hunting

2010-10-12T13:55:00.000-07:00

It is not fun getting up early on a Sat. (any day for that matter.) I am a stay up late and sleep in kind of girl. Hours earlier than 9 are early for me, but I have to get up and get girls' ready for their day by 8, so I really look forward to Sat. and sleeping in. This last Sat. Justin and I got up and got the girls ready to be out the door by 7:30 (pretty much unheard of in this house) to go to Sydnee's soccer game. Justin checked the schedule to see what color Syd was supposed to be and saw that her game wasn't until 12:30; her game the following Sat. is at 8am (so yay, we get to do it all over again next Sat.)
After Sydnee's game, we decided to go pick out pumpkins and have some fun.

Justee insisted that Justin stand in front of the sun, or she would not even look at me.

The place we went had lots of fun stuff for the girls to do. They went through a straw maze, rode a couple rides, and enjoyed a petting zoo.

After we left this place, we stopped at a really big straw maze. We let the girls choose the way and try to lead us out. It took us about 45 mins to get all the way through the first time. We thought they would be too tired and ready to go home, but they wanted to go through again. Sydnee, Justee, and Justin decided to race Charlee and I through the maze once we hit an intersection that we disagreed on the correct way to go. Charlee and I won. This was one time my horrible sense of direction didn't lead me the wrong way.

October!

2010-10-01T13:05:00.000-07:00

October begins and Halloween is just around the corner. I love Halloween! I am especially excited about this year's costumes. Our family will be dressing up as the Addams family...Justin and I as Gomez and Morticia, Sydnee will be Wednesday, Charlee Cousin Itt, and Justee will be Uncle Fester (she is very excited about wearing a bald cap.hehe) The girls are all very excited and have been watching old shows of the Addams Family online and saying, "That's me! There I am!"
I made some great finds for costumes at a thrift store and I am making Charlee's costume...talk about time consuming, but I think it will definitely be worth it in the end.
I have all the decorations out, and am just waiting for Sydnee and Charlee to get home from school so they can help. They had their field day today and we all ate lunch together outside at the school. They have had a very exciting day so far, and I think they will be even happier to see all the decor out when they get home.
Happy October!

For everything there is a season

2010-09-23T13:15:00.000-07:00

Wow, Fall is here. I've said it once and I'll say it again...I love Autumn. I love the smells, the weather, the tv shows, the prelude to the holiday season, and just the feeling it puts off.
I have my Fall scents filling the house. I've started to cook (especially with my beloved crock pot) and bake more, and I am excited about getting to wear hoodies and sweaters and other comfy clothes. We are welcoming the season with open arms. (Justin especially because of football.)
Things have picked up around our household with Sydnee in soccer and Charlee and Justee in gymnastics. It is nice staying busy though and having a schedule. Hopefully things continue to go smoothly.

Middle Child

2010-09-17T19:31:00.000-07:00

As we were getting ready for school the other day Charlee explained, "I really don't want to be late for school today...today is picture day and it is a VERY important day."
Can't argue with that.

When she got home she was super excited to tell us that the photographer called her "spiky."

Our Weekend...

2010-09-12T20:41:00.000-07:00

This is the view out of one of our windows...a fire burning in the foothills...feels a little close. We celebrated Justin's birthday with the girls before we headed to Austin for the UW/UT game.

The girls always get so excited for birthdays. They love to pick out presents for their Daddy, and they especially love it when they can find something Broncos to get him. hehe

I must have been feeling a little inspired by Cupcake Wars...I made chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter filling and peanut butter frosting, and mint filling with chocolate frosting. (and a small cake because there would have been too many cupcakes.)

Justin also got this jersey for Dozer from the Burtons....way too funny.

Justin and I had a blast in Austin (even if the Pokes lost...I don't think Justin was too torn up, but at least he ended up wearing Cowboy colors, not Texas.) I was just glad it was a night game because it was too dang hot there. It felt so nice to step off the plane in Denver and feel the crisp, cool Fall air.

Fun Run

2010-09-10T13:50:00.000-07:00

I stole the meat of this post from Vicki as well...

After Teri and Justin said they would be running in the Byron fun run, we asked Tasha if she wanted to too. She said yes, and then Trey and Tamsyn both said they wanted to run too. Luckily there was a one mile run as well as a 5k. Jake ran the 5k with Natasha, Justin ran with Sydnee, Teri ran with Charlee who was running her first 5k, Mark ran the mile with Tamsyn, and my mom ran the mile with the two three year olds -- Trey and Justee. A few of Ashlee's kids decided the night before to run as well. Kyle and Allie ran the mile and Karlee ran the 5k. I think our family made up about a third of the race's participants.

Getting ready to start

And they are off

The grandma and three year olds bringing up the rear.

Kyle was the first miler in our family to finish.

Here come Tamsyn and Allie toward the finish line. Mark was encouraging T all the way.

It was fun seeing her little legs go.

Finished - Her time was 9:29. There was no one else in Mark's age group, so he won the 20-29 group with his smoking time of 9:28. I think he was a little bit embarrassed when they called him up to get a medal, but we are sure glad he was willing to run with Tamsyn.

Here come the final mile runners.
These two 3 year olds (and their gma;) sure were cute. (I wish I could have watched Justee finish her first mile race, but at least there are pictures.) Their time was 14:51.

Here comes Sydnee and Justin finishing the 5k. Sydnee did such a great job! She ran a 5k last summer and ran it in 29:01. We were hoping for improvement, and were very proud of her and her time of 27:16. She won her age group (and beat lots of people older than her.) She is a tough girl and complains very little (Justin said she was getting pretty tired when there was just over a half mile left, but she could see the finish and kicked it in.) She has quite a little kick at the end.

Here come Jake and Natasha to the finish.

Charlee and I about to finish. Char was the youngest to run the 5k (she is only 5). I was super proud of her for running the whole time (we stopped once to quickly tie her shoe, but that doesn't really count. :) The last mile of the race was pretty hard on Chuck and she kept complaining that it was too hot and she wanted to run in the shade. Plus, her shoes were slightly too small, so her toes started hurting. She finished strong with a time of 37:47. Definitely the longest 5k ever, but for a 5 year old a great accomplishment....and...she wasn't the last to finish the race. :)

Right at the end, Char kept trying to hide behind me because she didn't want her picture taken, and she was a little shy to have so many people cheering her on. It was pretty funny watching her try to hide.

Before the awards, there was a drawing for prizes. Natasha's name was drawn and she got a camp chair. Mark and Syd both won water bottles. The last prize was this grey beach bag... and Trey's name was drawn. He was pretty pumped about it.

They gave all the youngest runners medals, and Syd Mark, and my mom won one.

Plagiarism

2010-09-10T13:32:00.000-07:00

I stole this post from my sister...I slacked all summer and didn't post some of the great things we did this summer...luckily, my sister is on the ball and did all the work for me. :) Thanks Vicki!

It is not often that we get to be at one of the cousin's baptisms, so we were happy to be there for Sydnee's special day. With Mark's homecoming it was perfect timing and everyone in the family was able to be there.

Charlee was so tired out from the 5k and busy day, that it was nearly impossible to wake her up. I think Teri got her to open her eyes briefly for the actual baptism, but she quickly fell right back to sleep.
Grandma Putnam with Sydnee
4 generations
And holy cow... I have never thought that Teri and mom looked so much alike before!

Congratulations Syd! So glad we could share the day with you. After the baptism we all went home and changed and then headed to Byron to see Hailee clog, and then stayed for the Byron Days Fireworks -- (remember this is the same day we ran in the race in the morning and had the Home Run derby in the afternoon). Talk about a busy day.

I can't wait until I'm 8...

2010-08-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

This important post has been put on the back burner for far too long. The Fri. after Syd's 8th birthday, she was baptized by her Dad. It was a great day with lots of family there. (Both sets of grandparents, all my siblings and their families, Samantha & Brinlee, and Sienna.) Sydnee had fun picking out who did which parts (even if I had to help tweak it a little bit.) I think she will have fond memories of her baptism. Here she is with her 3 cousins all born within 8 months of each other. It has been fun watching them grow together. All of them are 8 now.
We are very proud of Sydnee and her choice to be baptized. I know this girl has a lot of potential and will do great things in her life.

school is nice

2010-08-28T11:21:00.000-07:00

Time for ice cream!

Syd and Chuck were very excited to talk about their first days. Sydnee fell right back in with her friends and had a great time...Charlee said she almost made a friend, but was too shy. (She has since made some friends...it is cute listening to her talk about them.)

One Left

2010-08-18T12:03:00.000-07:00

The first day of school is always exciting...Sydnee and Charlee couldn't wait to get going. They have had what they were going to wear picked out for a while now. They were up plenty early and very happy.
It is crazy to think Sydnee is in 3rd grade already. She has quite the smile for her 3rd grade year...we call it her jack-o-lantern smile. :) She lost a couple of teeth this summer. One in the car on our way to Seattle, and one shortly after we got home from all of our trips. Poor girl is left with one tooth in the front and another loose one on the bottom.

Charlee is in afternoon kindergarten but she really wanted to walk to the bus with Sydnee...with her backpack.

Charlee was super excited about kindergarten, but a little nervous too. She was a little bummed when we were heading to the gym before she got to go to school. After the gym, I took her to lunch at Noodles and Co.....then pictures, then SCHOOL!

Justee wasn't awake when Sydnee left so she jumped in for a pic with Chuck. Once we got to Char's classroom, I think the nerves hit her a little more....She seemed to settle in once she sat at her desk. I'm excited to hear how their first days went! Let's hope it's a great year.

...just 2 more years until Justee starts and no kids are left at home.

Tediaki Buaga

2010-08-17T11:43:00.000-07:00

We started our day off right with breakfast at McDonald's...strange that we kept saying we needed to get some "real" food and we were referring to this place. My Dad was the biggest spokesman for McD's and that is his last choice of fast food at home.

The people working there were very patient with our lack of communication...Most of the time we just had Mark order for us. There was a pretty dock area, next to a bridge that Mark loved. It was a pretty area to look out at the ocean.

There's the bridge...

On our little walk that day (our walks were never little) we went through a pretty park. I wish I would have gotten a picture of a little girl who was playing and stopped my dad...she wanted to take a picture of him. He, of course, grabbed Mark to join him. She seemed excited about the run in...and even more excited when Mark started speaking Japanese to her.

This reminded me that when we would walk by little kids they would always call out to us, "Haro!" (however you spell their pronunciation.) From windows above us, we would hear them saying hello and waving. So funny.

That evening we met up with some members who were kind enough to feed us. They were 3 women (1 was Mark's first convert and the other 2 joined the missionaries in their lessons and they all became great friends) and one of their sons, who had just received his mission papers...we will be serving in Tokyo.

Since it was Mon. night we had a little FHE thing...it was a pretty spiritual experience and we got to hear a conversion story.

After they brought us back to our hotel, we walked back to the bridge to see it lit up all pretty.

This sign was next to the toilet in our hotel bathroom....I thought it was pretty funny. The English is a little broken, but I guess you can still understand what they are saying.

View of Aomori:

Our Lucky Day

2010-08-09T10:18:00.000-07:00

We were able to attend church in Aizu. It was a nice little building, and the people were very friendly. There weren't many members and although it is nice to experience such a small close nit ward, it makes me appreciate our buildings and large number of members in our area. Mark and my parents were asked to come up and say a few words (Mark did his part in both Japanese and English and interpreted for my parents.) It was great and not just because Justin and I got away scott-free. :)
Right before church, just outside of the meeting house, my dad found this 4-leaf clover. After Church, our great friends, Chizuko and Ami, took us to the castle (crap, can't remember the name. I'll look it up and add it later.)
I saw some of the funniest looking masks I've ever seen!

This is the view from the castle. We were there during the rainy season, so it rained a lot. Luckily it was mostly just a drizzle. An upside was that we got to see some really cool misty clouds all over.

My mom and Chizuko...don't know what we would have done without her. :)

Unfortunately, the outside of the castle was under construction...so it just looked like a regular building with everything built around it to enable the work to be done. The inside was neat and full of info....

...but the best part was the grounds...they were beautiful. The only thing that would have made them better, was if the cherry blossoms were in bloom.

LOVE these fences:

Mark, Haru, & Ami

After our tour of the castle, we had to leave Aizu. We got on a train and headed for Aomori. Our friends walked us to our stop and waved as we left.

I love this picture of Mark waving goodbye. Hopefully this isn't the last he ever sees of these people.

A Saturday in Japan

2010-08-01T20:00:00.000-07:00

We packed fairly light for Japan...everything in backpacks (rather large, heavy backpacks (mine being the heaviest...good thing Justin liked to carry it so much;) ) because we would be moving around so much. On Sat. we walked a good distance to member's house...they had invited us for an early lunch before we left for Aizu Wakamatsu. I was nervous about people feeding us, because I wasn't sure if I would like the food. Ended up that the worrying was for naught...I loved this food. In fact, I think it was the best of the whole trip.
...just the beginning- there was so much food!

The man and the woman on the lower right were our hosts. Everyone else in the pic are guests. She spoke a little English. They were very nice.

After lunch they took us out for a view of the city. There is a HUGE Buddha statue...he is supposed to be protecting the city.

They took us to a library where we could see out all the windows:

This guy loved Justin. He was great. He sang us the theme song to Team America World Police...he didn't know what he was saying when the profanity came out. haha

After viewing the city, they all walked us to the train station.

When we arrived in Aizu, we were met by Chizuko and her son Haru, and her niece Ami. They were so kind and helpful. They drove us to our hotel and then to some fun places. I am not going to remember real names...first, we went to a place where 16 young Samurai warriors committed suicide...they saw their castle on fire and thought they had lost the battle...in fact, they weren't losing...one didn't succeed in his efforts and lived to tell the tale. This site memorializes them.

Justin and I decided we wanted to race up these stairs...There were 4 flights of them...Let's keep this brief...I won. :)

Ami showed my Dad how to pray.

A little rice field right where we parked the cars.

Next, we headed to a hot spring to soak our feet. The water was pretty dang hot, but if felt nice to sit and relax after I kicked Justin's butt earlier. It was at a hotel, and there were people eating outside in cute little hut things at the restaurant. It was a beautiful place and very peaceful with the light rain that was coming down.

When it was time for dinner, we went to a place where you cook your own meat. My Dad kept asking what kind of meat it was...he didn't really like the answer, "some kind of beef." I think he ate shrimp and rice.

You would think we would be done with walking for the night, but nope...Mark took us on a little tour and then we hit the sack...Sleep came easy this night.

Japan Day One: Sendai

2010-07-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

Japan was so much fun and I have so many pictures that there will have to be several posts about the trip. We were able to visit 4 cities, starting with Sendai. We landed in Tokyo and right after our 11+ hour flight, we hopped on a 3 hour train ride with my parents to Sendai. We went straight to bed when we arrived at our hotel around 10:30 pm.
First thing the next morning we headed to the mission home to get Mark! We waited around for about an hour until he showed his face.

It was great to see him again. Seemed like a long time had passed and like it was yesterday we said goodbye all at the same time.

We had to check and see if he had grown any on his mission...he is cheating in this pic and standing on his tippy toes.

After a nice meeting with Mark's Mission president and his wife and all the Zone Leaders (I think that is who they were. ;) We headed out for some lunch with our helpful chauffeur, Moma (I probably spelled that wrong.)

Monma took us to Kapasushi (no idea how to spell that either ha.) Mark gave my parents a quick lesson in chopstick use.

This place was pretty cool because the food just went past your table on a little conveyor belt and if you wanted something, you just took the plate off and ate it. If you wanted to special order something, you did it with that screen in the back and a little train zipped it out to you.

See how quickly my dad learned to use chopsticks? haha! This might be one of my favorite pictures.

It was fun trying some new things and enjoying some things we already had experienced before. A "waitress" would come by your table when you were finished and count the plates on your table. It was approximately $1 a plate and there were 2 pieces of sushi to a plate....too bad this wasn't all of the plates. :)

My parents weren't excited about trying the raw stuff, but they gave it a shot. Needless to say, this wasn't their favorite place to eat. :)

After lunch we went to the church and were able to witness a baptism. It was a unique opportunity for all of us.

Saying goodbye to Monma as he dropped us off at our hotel.

Our day wasn't over yet though...we still had a baseball game to go to! We headed out and got to the eki (again I don't know what this word is really supposed to be, but it means train station...I think.) Justin realized we would probably need the baseball tickets, so we all waited while he ran back to get them.

Here he comes!

Here is where we officially got to make Mark feel like a tourist. He had tried to avoid looking like a tourist his whole mission, and now he wasn't able to avoid it. :)

The game was very cool. It started off pretty entertaining when the Eagles coach (an American who doesn't speak Japanese) gave a demonstration on how the runner couldn't have been safe when his catcher was laying on home plate.

Whichever team was up to bat had their fans chanting and making noise non-stop. The Eagles were the home team and unfortunately lost by one after making a great run for the win in the 9th. The people around us, enjoyed listening to us talk (according to Mark. Luckily he could understand them and they weren't saying mean things about us.;) When Justin got excited and would cheer loudly, some drunk men behind us and some older women in front of us would give us high fives. They seemed to be getting quite the kick out of us.

The atmosphere at the game was very similar to a game in the states, but it was a little strange to see people enjoying plates of sushi instead of hot dogs and peanuts.

Another cool thing the fans did, was blow up this weird balloons, do a cheer, and then let the whistling balloons go. It was a pretty cool site to see. Plus, I think it woke my parents up a bit. ;)

We were definitely ready for bed when the game was over.

I just don't get it

2010-07-17T19:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we enjoyed ourselves at Water World. If there was a downside to the day it would be the annoyment of teenage boys wearing their underwear under their swimsuits. I do not want to see a good 3 inches of your chonies above the line of your swimsuit. Is it just me or is this new trend one of the stupidest things ever??? It is bad enough that boys want to show off their underwear when they are supposed to be fully dressed and dry, but letting them hang out when you are soaking wet in water that I am supposed to emerge myself in is just gross. I get that swimming pools and such are just plain gross when you think about how you are practically taking a bath with thousands of strangers, but adding the visual of soggy skivvies just about makes me want to puke. I had to fight back the temptation of telling a group of boys how stupid they looked and ask what in the world they were thinking. How long has this trend been going on? Am I out of the loop to have just noticed it? Hmmm, does the fact that this annoys me so badly really date me?
This may sound strange but - Mothers....Make your boys take their underwear off...or pull up their swim trunks....please.

Halfway to 16

2010-07-15T12:43:00.001-07:00

Sydnee wanted a white daisy as her cake this year. That made it pretty easy in the creativity department...but not so easy in the frosting department. All those nooks and crannies are hard to get into. She liked the result and I always tell myself that that is the important part.
Syd helped by putting some M&Ms on the cake.

Having a birthday on the 4th of July always makes for quite the party; especially when Sydnee gets to share her birthday with her cousin Azurdey.

We had a BBQ and then opened presents and had cake and ice cream. It was nice to have so much family there to celebrate with.

The girls' birthday's were made extra special because they got to have their uncle Mark there. (Justee didn't want her picture taken.)

After dessert the firework play started up. Trying to keep track of that many little ones while so many fire hazards surround them, about gave me a nervous breakdown. The kids had their fun with poppers and such and then once it was dark, the big kids (Justin, Mark, and Gerry) had fun with the bigger stuff.

Sydnee got lots of great presents (between Seattle, Japan and birthday pictures I ran out of room on my memory card; so I didn't get the usually pic of her with her presents.:( So I better make note of it.)

She got her first set of Scriptures along with a scripture bag and stickers, and a CTR ring from Justin and I. Char picked her out some Zhu Zhu pets and Justee gave her a dentist Barbie set. She got G-Force on DVD from Burtons and Jewelry from Gma/pa H. From Gma/pa D. and Sienna she got another Zhu Zhu. Uncle Rob and fam got her a journal. Of course she got her Love Dollar from Great Gma P. and a card from Thompsons. Hope I didn't forget anything...Thank you everyone for making Syd's bday so special.

Sydnee is such a sweet girl, she is happy and active and always up for fun. She shares well with her sisters and helps them when she can. I think she is a great big sister and I am sure Chuck and Justee would say the same. Sydnee was very excited about turning 8 because she could be baptized. She is a great example to her little sisters. I will have a follow-up post about her baptism soon.

Happy 4th

2010-07-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh the 4th of July...a great day, but not as great on a Sunday. Who wants to get up for 8 am church on a holiday?

Besides being our nations birthday, it is Sydnee's birthday. She is 8...I have an 8 year old? Crazy I tell you.

Lots has happened in the past couple of weeks. Seattle, Japan, Mark being home from his mission and now Syd's bday....All have been great or about to be great (Syd's party is about ready to start and then it is firework time! Who doesn't like setting money on fire? It's awesome.) It is just too bad I have to wait until I get back home to post pictures and such.

God Bless America!

A Decade and 3 Children Later...

2010-06-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

Wow, 10 years can go by pretty darn quick. With time, things seem to just keep getting better.

My sister, Ashlee, was in town for a couple of days. She was nice enough to let us goof around while she took some pictures. It was a fun way to spend time together on our anniversary.
Later that night we went out to Dinner. Justin had a bouquet of flowers waiting for me at our table. After we enjoyed our wonderful food, we headed to play some mini golf. Because we aren't competitive at all, I won't even mention who won. (I did) I will say that Justin had two hole-in-ones in a row, but I had the first one of the night. :)
I love spending time with Justin. He has a way of making almost anything more fun. I do tend to get embarrassed easily and he is usually the cause, but I wouldn't trade him for the World.
I Love that Man.

Fence Art

2010-06-10T10:18:00.001-07:00

This is one of our favorite things to do while playing in the water. It is fun for the kids, but it is also fun for the sprayer...it is almost therapeutic to get to spray your kids with a hose. :) We had fun with it last year, and this time was even better because we got to involve some of our favorite people.
Justee and Ashlyn bail pretty quickly, so their little silhouettes don't work out so well.

Sherri and I decided to try the reverse style with the little ones to see if it would yield better results.

They lasted a little longer, so it worked a little better...they were very excited about it, anyway.

If you look close at Jadyn's silhouette, you can see a few accidental details. He stood in the perfect spot to give it nipples...and it looks like it has a tongue and eyes. hahaha

I want to find a family willing to do this for a family potrait! I think it would be soooo cool!

Hooray for summer and a good old fashion hose!

Two Wheels!

2010-06-07T20:37:00.000-07:00

My evening didn't turn out as planned...which turned out to be a good thing.
No one showed up to play volleyball, so I ran and then headed home with the idea that I would teach Char to ride without training wheels.
We (I mostly mean Justin) attempted this one day for a very short time a couple of months ago. Charlee is kind of a little chicken. She gets scared easier than her sisters and didn't like the idea of falling off her bike. The first attempt was a HUGE failure, and Justin thought it would be a long time before she really could do it.

I knew tonight would be different because, well let's face it, Justin is a big softy and I am a little... ummm...more persistent? Yes, that sounds right. Charlee whined and whimpered that we were going too fast...I was only walking...and that I wasn't holding her tight enough. I stopped and gave her a little lecture on how being scared of everything was going to keep her from having fun riding her bike...then I let go and let her fall (softly) to show her that even if she fell, it didn't hurt and she would be ok.

The first time I let her go and she took off, she made whimpering noises the whole 50 yards or so. When I caught and stopped her, and she felt more confident, the whining stopped. After she saw that she was doing it herself, she didn't want me to help her anymore...she kept telling me to let go.

She crashed a couple of times...mostly ran into curbs because she couldn't turn or stop, but she had fun and is excited to try again tomorrow.
Justee putted around on Syd's scooter...

Sydnee even gave her some faster rides.

It ended up being a great night and Char is so proud of herself...She can't wait to show Daddy!

Zoo

2010-06-06T16:48:00.000-07:00

We spent a gorgeous day at the zoo last week...the weather could not have been better. The animals, for the most part, were cooperative and let us gawk at them through their protective barriers. The Polar Bear didn't make an appearance and Chuck was very sad about that...she talked about seeing it the whole day.
Sydnee carried a map the whole time and liked to tell us where we were going next.

One of Sydnee's favorite animals to see are the kangaroos.

Renae came along with us. She kept complaining that her purse was too heavy...so she enlisted some help...

The primates usually deliver the best entertainment, but all they did this time was lay around looking depressed. I always wonder what they are thinking about all the ugly, hairless animals that go past them everyday.

Yesterday I finally got some flowers planted. The girls had fun picking them out. Then we bbq-ed and had a fire and made s'mores. I think we could do that every night and not get sick of it.

It sure was a busy enough day to make these guys crash hard.

BolderBOULDER

2010-06-03T10:22:00.001-07:00

It seems funny that you can do something like run 6.2 miles and then talk about how fun it was. Let's face it...there are times that definitely are NOT fun, but you keep on truckin and finish with a happy heart. ;)
Here is an overview of our day...
We got up at 5:30 and waited for some of our running crew to follow us to Boulder. Luckily we were parked and at the starting line with plenty of time to visit the port-a-potty 3 times and for Justin to win free pizza for a year at Old Chicago! There was a guy announcing random facts about Old C's an hour earlier and apparently Justin was paying attention, because later the guy asked how many Old C's locations there were in Colorado. Justin yelled out the right answer (27) and won. (We enjoyed our first free pizza on our way home.)
Shortly after his big win, the race began...Justin and I had discussed whether or not we would run together, and decided that neither of us would wait for the other one. We knew that once we got separated, there would be a very small chance of finding each other in the crowd during the race. I passed Justin at the 1 mile marker and left him behind. After the next couple of miles went by without a glimpse of him, I thought I had him beat. Right before mile 6, he hit my butt as he ran by. He ended up beating me by 3 seconds, but that was enough for him to brag about. I was more disappointed that I was 2 mins slower than I was last year than the fact that Justin crossed the line before me. Next year I will have an excuse for why I am slower...I think we will have Sydnee run it....but who knows, she probably can run it as fast as we did. Here are some fun stats:
54,000 people ran it (not everyone finishes)
Overall Justin placed 13,405 and I placed 13,473 (what a difference 3 seconds make)
There were 476 33 year old males and Justin placed 251st
Out of the 724 28 year old females I placed 179th (So I figure I am well above average for my division and Justin is only average...so I beat him in that aspect. ;)
Total # of males running-22,554....Justin placed 9076
Total # of females - 25,851....I placed 4360

If anyone has an interest in running what has been deemed America's Best 10K, come and do it next year! Between all the crazy people running in costume, marshmallows being thrown to runners, slip-n-slides along the way, things like bacon and beer being passed out to runners, (the smells of tater-tots and bacon and other food is not my favorite) bands playing and the huge mass of people, you will have a truly unique experience. There are always fun stories to share at the end of the race when you meet up with your group.

Sherri and I...She and her kids were waiting at the end for us. She didn't get to run this year because she broke her foot in volleyball. :(

The fun people we ran it with (Sherri's fam.) It was so nice having them in bright shirts...they were easy to spot during and after the race.On our way to our separate cars...

After we got home and took a nap, we started a fire in the backyard and made s'mores. It was a very nice Memorial Day. The End

Memorial Weekend

2010-06-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

We started our weekend off right with a baseball game Fri. night. It was a beautiful night at Coors Field.

Hot dog and hamburger time...Chuck is a huge fan of cheeseburgers and hot dogs are never her choice. Justee was much more impressed with the peanuts. She ate them all night.Next came the cotton candy...Justee took a couple little tastes and was completely disgusted with the stuff. More for her sisters, I guess.

Justee and Char took turns taking pictures. Justee took these next two.

Charlee took this one...along with several others.

The girls put on their rally hats in the bottom of the ninth...we were hoping for 2 runs for the Rockies, but they couldn't pull it off. As we were walking back to our car Charlee said, "It woulda been funner if the Rockies woulda won."

It has been a while since our last baseball game as a family. The last one was this one while Justin was home on leave. It seems kinda crazy that just last summer Justin was in Afghanistan. It feels like he has been home for a very long time now. It it strange to think back to what is was like with him gone...almost like a dream.

Our weekend continued to be a great one. On Saturday we went to Kirk's baseball game and then to a Ward Softball/BBQ social. Besides the weather turning a little chilly in the evening, it was a good time. On Sun. we prepared for the Bolder Boulder by having a dinner with Sherri and her fam. We made our plans for the morning and went to bed early (well earlier than usual.) The Bolder Boulder was a great time and I will have a separate post for it next.

Pretty Pinto

2010-05-28T15:14:00.000-07:00

It rained a lot while we were in Lovell. There were big mud puddles everywhere. My parents' horses seemed to enjoy rolling around in the mud. They were filthy...but that didn't stop the girls from spending a lot of time with them (Sydnee even fed them a few times. She's pretty allergic and avoids touching...poor thing.) When the rain let up, it was pretty nice. Sydnee threw a few pitches to her Dad.
We were all pretty excited about seeing the newest baby horse.

Here she is:

It is so fun watching foals run and play. Justee talked about how she wanted to hold the baby horse when we got to Grandma's. I kept telling her that a baby horse is way too big for her to hold, but she might get to pet her. She got to pet her a little, but she kept trying to pet her more.

Along with all the family fun, we got to spend some time with friends. Justee wore herself out making cupcakes and Becky's, but she wasn't going to give up until she ate her hard work.

Look at all those cute kiddos.

Sami's Grad

2010-05-27T12:41:00.000-07:00

We were fortunate enough to be able to attend Sami's graduation on Tuesday. Congrats to Sami for this accomplishment! It was my first time attending a RMHS grad and I didn't mind it too much...nice a short, but how could a grad with just over 20 students graduating get too long?

We also got to see Mike's new truck.

It was a fun weekend and I'll have more to post later.

Recent Adventures

2010-05-17T12:01:00.000-07:00

Justin told Sydnee when her bedroom was finished, she could have her first slumber party. She was excited about the prospect of this party for months...it finally happened last week.
She invited 3 friends in order to keep the number at 4 so it would be easy to play the wii (and easier for my sanity.) The girls decorated t-shirts, made their own pizzas, played wii, screamed and giggled, played a fun version of Let's Make a Deal, and of course stayed up late (3 a.m.) I think they all had a lot of fun. I know it was fun for me to hear them say things like, "This party is like a dream come true." The following day, Sydnee had a soccer game. It has been fun watching her improve throughout the season. She has done pretty well for her first real season. It seems like she could run forever and unlike other girls on her team, she never asks to sit out. We just wish she would be a little more aggressive.

Sydnee has been asking me to make caramel popcorn lately. I didn't have an air popper, so I finally got one and decided to make some. A perfect treat for a movie night with my girls while Daddy was away for Drill. The girls thought the popping of the corn was hilarious. They were squealing and laughing so hard....then Sydnee said the lid was lifting off and the shrieks got louder...apparently I need to add a little less popcorn than recommended. But the final product was amazing.

Dirty Secrets

2010-05-12T15:02:00.000-07:00

Ya know...I would be ok with waking up to snow on May 12, if the snow had the decency to completely melt away by the end of the day. It is still freezing and I am being stubborn and not turning the heat back on. It's like I think I can store the coolness of the house for when it gets hotter outside.
This weather has caused me to notice a few areas that I seem to "overlook" when I clean my house. All you neat-freaks better not judge me...I'm going to be open and honest...not that you wouldn't notice if you came to my house and looked in these areas.

1. The Oven- I have NEVER cleaned the inside of my oven (except when moving.) I just don't see the point really...it's not like it gets used that much anyway. ;)
2. The Microwave- Similar to #1 the microwave gets cleaned only when my Mother visits. She hates a dirty microwave and always cleans mine when she is here. I can't start cleaning it now because she might suffer from shock if she came to visit and it was clean. I do, however, keep the outside of it wiped clean.
3. The Vents- Now this is one that I want to tackle, but just can't make myself reach into those dark holes, even with a vacuum...who knows what is down in those? (Seems strange to end that phrase with a ?, it is not like you are really looking for an answer.) I have even considered hiring a company to clean them, but that seems scary too...I don't want to know what is in those, I definitely don't want someone else to know what is in them. Justee used to put everything down the vents...I even caught her with the cover off and she was directing Cash down it when he was a kitten. It was a little tricky getting him to back out.
4. The Windows- The only windows I have ever cleaned are technically not windows but doors. Our glass doors to the backyard get filthy with grubby hand prints and such. I clean those every once in a while. The worst part are the blinds that cover the doors...they are just as filthy but a little harder to clean...I really need to put those on my list.

That is all...everything else is completely spotless...yeah, let's just leave it at that.

Life isn't Fair

2010-05-06T19:07:00.000-07:00

It is that time of year again...countdown time for the Bolder Boulder.
Staying in running shape is hard I tell you...hard. After the race last year I told myself I would stay in a good 5 mile run shape...so running 5 miles would stay pretty easy.
Five miles is NOT easy. Four miles is NOT easy.
It is not fair that it takes you weeks to get into good shape and less than a week to get out of it.

On a positive note...it is nice enough to be running outside again. Given the choice between a treadmill and an open country road, I will take the road (almost) every time.
It is nice to breathe in some fresh air instead of stale gym air....it is nice to breathe as loud as you want without listening to people around you breathing obnoxiously loud...you get to see your progress in actual distances (nothing is as nice as hitting a turn around point and know you are headed for home.) A downside to outdoor running is the wind...you don't notice it as it helps you slightly in the form of a tailwind, but you sure notice it as it hits you in the face and blows insects into your eyes.
Hooray for running! or not...It really isn't much fun at all.

Cardboard and Corduroy

2010-04-30T13:50:00.000-07:00

There's nothing like playing with a nice big box.

It's fun to color on and hide in, but most importantly it makes a great home for my girls' "babies" (i.e. every stuffed animal in the house...they have all had their turn.)Justin and I were discussing how many sets of furniture we remember having growing up compared to how many we have had since being married. My parents still have furniture that they got shortly after being married...given it has had a complete makeover thanks to Vicki and I, but still. The point- It seems like things like furniture just don't last as long as they used to...or we just don't make them last.

Due to the new need of a couch in the basement, we had to get new furniture for our living room. The girls love spinning on the round swivel chair. After the last fiasco of a couch we bought, I HATE that stupid thing and Justin won't let me forget that I picked it out, we decided to be more careful with our choice this time. So far so good.

Who Asked Me?

2010-04-26T11:56:00.000-07:00

I bought Charlee a shirt a while back. As soon as I saw it, I thought of Chuck. It was perfect for her. When I brought it home and showed her, she was super excited and loved it. She immediately wanted to put it on. When Syd saw it, she kinda giggled and said it looked sort of like a boy shirt...but it's still cute Charlee. (the shirt is a blue plaid)
That was the end of it for Charlee. The next few weeks went by and she wasn't picking it out to wear. I started picking it out for her. On those days she would take extra long to get dressed and would do so while pouting the whole time.
A few days ago she had to wear it again. When I picked her up out of Gold's daycare, she informed me that she liked the shirt now. Why the sudden change? The girls working in the daycare told Charlee how cute her shirt was. I have told her over and over how cute this shirt is on her, but apparently my opinion doesn't count.

Basement

2010-04-17T13:16:00.000-07:00

This project began on Nov. 7, 2009. All the wood was sent through a window by lots of little helpers...and a couple big helpers.

Almost all of the wood sitting in the corner that is now Sydnee's bedroom. Part of the framing up.

The master himself...oh yeah, and Justin. hehe

Seriously though, we owe a HUGE, GINORMOUS thank you to Josh. He spent a lot of time in our basement the past 6 months.

Sydnee's room after drywall was done...just waiting for texture.

We started priming last Sat. The girls had a blast helping. We all were covered in paint by the end of it.

If you look close, you can see Charlee's white freckles.

Priming is finished! YAY!

Justin called me on Tuesday as I was starting to paint the colors on the walls and informed me that the carpet was to be installed the next morning so we had to finish painting that day. After 11 hours of painting I was DONE. We made it to bed at 2:30 that night. If it wasn't for my friend Abbey helping out, it would have been later. Although, I blame her for the following mess:

She was distracting me with conversation when I stepped off the step stool and directly into a can of paint. It was pretty awesome...and a quick way to paint my toenails. :)

I just painted Sydnee's room yesterday because we were waiting for her bedding to get here before picking colors. I really like how it has turned out so far. Sydnee wasn't one bit scared about sleeping in the basement alone...the first day her bed was set up, she slept in it.

There will be more pics to come as we get all the little finish work done. I am so excited about having extra room in our house...too bad I have to clean more now too.

Easter

2010-04-15T11:35:00.000-07:00

We headed North for the Easter weekend. The roads were terrible in places and it made for a long drive, but it was great because we got to stop in Casper and meet little Kade for the first time. He is quite the little chunk. Char couldn't get enough of him, she kept wanting to hold him.We also got to meet the latest addition to the family, Brinlee. On Sat. we painted eggs while we watched General Conference. I think we colored close to 5 dozen eggs...good thing Justin likes deviled eggs so well. ;)

On Easter morning the girls could hardly wait to go find eggs and their baskets. Charlee wasn't waiting around for anyone.

Charlee found her basket.

Sydnee found the most money eggs, but Chuck found the biggest one...$10.

Once Justee found her basket, she tore into it...

...her chocolate bunny didn't have a chance.

Syd found her basket last...the Easter Bunny hid it too close to a heater vent and her chocolate bunny had to go into the freezer for a while. The girls found eggs with puzzle pieces in them and had fun putting the puzzle together.

It was a busy but fun weekend...it always seems like we never have enough time when we visit...too many people to see and places to go.

Char's Bday

2010-04-13T12:48:00.000-07:00

I am going to be a little out of order with my blogging...Char's birthday and then Easter.
Char had a great birthday. She got some great presents from her sisters and Grandparents. She really wanted a pillow pet, but ordering wasn't done early enough so I guess that will have to wait. The balloon rocket thing she got from Gma and Gpa Hyde was her favorite thing she said...I have to admit, it was probably mine too. :)

...lighting the candles

blowing out the candles...

Those trick candles called for a little help, but the finally got them to stay out. (until Sydnee re lit one the next day while a babysitter was over and threw it away in the bathroom garbage can and started a small fire that melted the garbage can...Don't worry, she put it out by dumping it all in the toilet...too bad that clogged the toilet pretty badly. Dang her.)

Chuck and her Daddy Charlee is quite the funny girl. She is our shy girl, and yet once she warms up to someone, she can talk and talk. She likes to dance and be silly and gets really loud when she is having fun. I think she is my most stubborn child. She doesn't like to say she's sorry, but she is usually pretty laid back and easy to make happy. She is pretty sensitive too...not about getting in trouble, I feel like she doesn't really care too much about that, but she hates to see anything or anyone get hurt. She is still pretty hard to understand even at 5 years of age, but she is getting better. She can make all the correct sounds, but you have to slow her down or she is just kinda lazy with pronunciation. She loves cheeseburgers, pickles, and mac and cheese (m&c was her bday dinner request.) She just started soccer and is liking it so far.

Look Who's 5!

2010-04-08T14:40:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe our Chuck is 5 years old already. She is such a sweet girl. I could go on and on about Char, but I better just go spend some time with the birthday girl and save the blogging for another day.

Charlee picked a cat cake this year...she wanted it to look like my parents cat, Caramel. I think it's pretty close. ;)

Easter Dresses

2010-03-31T21:28:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again.
Easter that is...I love Easter for many reasons: Springtime, Cadbury eggs (all kinds I don't discriminate,) pretty dresses, Cadbury eggs, coloring eggs, Easter Candy (I could go for a creme egg right about now, )but most importantly I love what it represents...The Resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who lived and died for us. He broke the bands of death and rose from his tomb...He lives.

Sydnee really wanted to involve Bella in the pics...just imagine an Easter Guinea Pig instead of an Easter Bunny.

Strangers are Strange

2010-03-31T15:59:00.000-07:00

After watching the YW General Broadcast, a young lady walked up to me and gave me this: No wonder she kept looking over at me throughout the video.
Hmmm...What do you say to someone when they give you something like this? "Uh, thank you for showing me my very unflattering profile...I personally am thankful that this is an angle of myself I don't get to see on a daily basis." ???
No, of course I didn't say that, but seriously this was a weird experience. She was a very sweet 14 year old...and pretty talented I would say...especially because I think she was aware enough to hide my imperfections and make my nose much less witch-like than it really is (maybe I will take this drawing when I go get my nose job, Vicki...for an idea of what I want the after to be. ;)
After talking to her for a while I made my exit...but not without getting a hug first...
like I said, strange.

Snow Day!

2010-03-25T14:50:00.001-07:00

Although I am not a huge fan of snow, I LOVE Spring snow storms. Now I am just as ready as everyone else for it to warm up and turn green outside...BUT...that happens faster when you get lots of wet snow like this: School was cancelled on Wed. and the girls and I got to play in the snow on a beautiful day. It was so warm that the snow was melting too fast. We wanted it to last a little bit longer. Our first idea was to make a dinosaur...then I suggested that the girls slide down his neck...when they couldn't stay on a straight path, we flattened out the neck and pretty much quit with the sculpting. By the time I got the camera, Justee was done...she didn't like the taking turns part. She kept saying she wasn't done yet, so it was still her turn.

Sydnee dug out a tunnel and started making it big enough to sit in the middle of her little cave.

I'm a little surprised, but I hope we get another storm like this before the snow is completely gone...we want to make an igloo! :)

Good Excuse to do Nothing

2010-03-23T18:05:00.000-07:00

It is doing a lot of this outside: So we will be doing a lot of this inside:

Justee Moments

2010-03-16T13:05:00.000-07:00

This little girl can be quite the pest. She hates her picture taken and she never wants to look at the camera. When I get her to make eye contact, it is for a split second and she is usually pulling a face. She loves to tease her sisters, but she is definitely the type that can dish it but can't take it. She gets really mad if we laugh at her tantrums or the silly things she says when she is upset.

Even though she can be quite the pain, she makes us all laugh everyday and can be so thoughtful and caring. She is pretty quick to say "I'm sorry" and loves to give hugs. She is pretty social and warms up to people quickly.

We got our Easter decor out a few days ago, and Justee loves to play with all the figurines like they are toys. Several have been broken and glued back together. She had them out one day and Sydnee hollered at me, "Mom, look what Justee is doing!"
I heard Justee say to Syd, "Don't tell, Sydnee! Don't tell!"
I looked at her and told her to put them back, they aren't toys.
She turned and yelled at Sydnee, "I told you not to tell! You couldn't have telled!"

While in Sacrament Meeting Sun. Justee was being her usual chatty self. We kept trying to get her to be quiet, but she just wouldn't stop talking. She was on Justin's lap and was patting his face as she talked to him. "Daddy, you have lots of hair on you. You have hair right here and right here......Daddy! You have hair in your NOSE!"
Justin and I started to chuckle, but he forgot to acknowledge that he heard what she said; and we all know that if you don't let kids know you heard them...they repeat themselves. "DADDY, YOU HAVE HAIR IN YOUR NOSE!"
I think the people around us found a little humor in this conversation.

On Friday as I was making dinner, Justee really wanted to help. She was sitting on the counter when she started to act sleepy. I asked if she wanted to go lay down. She insisted that she wasn't sleepy and she wanted to help. Then she proceeded to get comfy. After she was laying there for a while I tried to pick her up to carry her to the couch. She woke right up and yelled, "I'm NOT sleepy!" I told her that she was just asleep. "No I'm NOT. I was just taking a break."
I let her sleep there, in the middle of them mess, while I finished up dinner.

Gotta Love Em

2010-03-13T21:48:00.000-08:00

Today was a good day...even if it is nearly impossible for me to get a good picture of my girls.

We had fun enjoying the beautiful weather together...PLUS, I got a new lens for my camera.
Can't wait to try it out on a wedding next Sat....Hopefully I get better cooperation.

P.S. I just remembered that I have to change my clocks for tomorrow. I hate "Springing" my clock forward! I NEED that lost hour of sleep. Crap, I better get to bed.

unmotivated

2010-03-10T13:29:00.000-08:00

I have been feeling beyond unmotivated lately. It seems like I have so much to do and yet I just can't get myself to do any of it. I did however muster up enough motivation to go downstairs and clean up yesterday...I put away all the toys that were piled up and cleaned up mounds of drywall scraps (my throat and lungs are not happy with me for breathing in all that dust.) Our basement is slowing making progress and now that everything is cleaned up and out of the way, taping the drywall and getting the texture on should be a breeze (well at least easier than it would have been with all that crap in the way.) As happy as I am to think about the basement being finished, part of me is just thinking, "Crap, more house to clean" and where there once was excitement about painting and decorating there is dread and self-pity. Anyone want to come paint and decorate my basement when it is done?
...maybe I just need Spring to get here.

Moving on: I have to tell this story before I forget it...I had a couple others, but I wasn't fast enough and now I can't remember what they were.

Sun. night we started a little fire in our fire pit. Of course that made the girls want to roast marshmallows. Justee was determined to do it by herself. I wanted to help so she wouldn't catch it on fire, but she wouldn't let me. Alas, she caught it on fire. After blowing it out, I helped her take a bite not knowing what this would result in....She immediately spit it out and through gagging noises she yelled at me, "Why did you do that, Mommy?! I didn't say you could do that!" She rubbed her tongue and continued, "Now I have to get a drink! Don't ever do that again, ok Mommy?! That was yucky!" Then she stormed into the house to get a drink. Apparently Justee does NOT like burnt marshmallows...she let me help her with the rest of them.

Asleep on the Job

2010-03-08T12:20:00.000-08:00

Who knew coloring was such hard work? Charlee and I have been participating in a preschool type of playgroup. It is every Thurs. for an hour and a half. We rotate every week whose turn it is to host. This last Thurs. was my second week hosting/trying to teach 4 year olds something. Justee likes when it is at our house because she gets to join in. We had a small geography lesson and discussed the state of Colorado. It seemed to work out well...any ideas for future lessons?

"Mermaid off the port bow!"...

2010-03-04T14:59:00.001-08:00

...every time I saw the words port or bow or stern...lines from the Little Mermaid popped in my head. "Kiss the Girl" was our theme song for this trip.

This post has seemed impossible to finish...it just isn't possible to put into words all the fun we had (making fun of each other. ;)

Before I tell about our fabulous adventure to the Bahamas, I have to acknowledge my wonderful husband who not only "let" me go on this girl's trip, but came up with the idea and did most of the early planning. It is nice to know I have an understanding husband who is willing to make sacrifices to see me happy.

Renae, Dana and I headed to Miami last Sun. We stayed in a dumpy hotel in South Beach where the 3 of us shared a "queen-sized" bed (no way was it a queen, more like a full)...needless to say, I slept half in the bed, half on the nightstand.

We passed the time Mon. morning doing a little shopping...we bought some sweatshirts and such being that we packed for warm weather and we weren't experiencing any yet. The wind on the beach was ridiculous.

Once we boarded our ship, "Majesty of the Seas," we found our way to our room at the bottom of the ship. None of us were completely prepared for the tight quarters...We were laughing so hard at how tiny it was....BUT...at least we had our own beds! :) ...even if I froze the first night sleeping inches away from the AC.

The first night we met our dinner company (we had to share a dinner table with 3 strangers.) They weren't the most friendly of women, but they warmed up to us by night 3...they had no choice we (and by "we" I mean Dana and Renae) were going to talk to them whether they liked it or not.

The ship set sail right during dinner and the motion wasn't a welcome feeling. Luckily none of us got sick (Renae felt a little queasy, but some bromine took care of that) but some other lady wasn't so lucky...let's just say we saw the results of her illness and it wasn't pleasant.

Our first stop was Nassau. This is where we learned not to touch anything unless you wanted to be surrounded by women asking if you wanted to buy it. "You like, pretty lady? You want to buy? It is on sale today!"

They even trained their kids to try flattery to sell things...8-10 year old girl says, "Our price is usually $12, but for you because you are so beautiful, $6."

I experienced a first while in Nassau...I went snorkeling (if you can call walking around in waste deep water, sticking your head under the water, taking a few quick deep breaths, and standing back up a handful of times snorkeling.) I am not a fan of water and drowning is probably my biggest fear...but since I am not an irrational person, I don't let this fear keep me from doing things. ;)

This is the little island we went to for our Stingray Adventure. It was really pretty and we were there for our sunshiny-est day.

Here are our little friends. Renae said when she snorkeled before, her instructor likened them to cats...we made lots of jokes about that.

As we walked around Nassau, several different people called us Charlie's Angels...then at dinner we got it a couple more times. Because we are such idiots (seriously idiots) we took this next pic.

I didn't like the referral that well, because it meant I was Drew Barrymore.

Day 3 took us to Royal Caribbean's private island Cococay. (the date printed on this pic is wrong, it was the 24th)

We were excited to go kayaking on the pretty little island, but the weather wouldn't cooperate. It rained us out and the sun never showed his face. We waited for an hour for the rain to clear (which it did) but the wind was too strong.

We were left to entertain ourselves...which we do quite well. We played volleyball and relaxed in a hammock and took pics.

We sunbathed with towels for blankets...I think Dana still applied 3 coats of sunscreen throughout the day. hahaha

After we had as much fun as possible on Cococay, we headed back to the ship.

As we got close to the ship, we could see the anchor chains going into the water. (this is where I make fun of Renae, it's ok because she never reads my blog anyway.)

Renae turns to me and asks me (in all seriousness,) "Teri, how do they get the anchor in at an angle?" Realizing that she was dead serious I gave her a straight answer and then we all had a great laugh. "Oh, that makes sense...I just thought maybe they shot it out or something." Hahaha Renae is always good for a laugh. :)

That night we went to the free entertainment which happened to be a pretty funny comedian. Much better than the singers/dancers they had....they were ridiculously terrible, and by that I mean that I could have joined their little group and fit right in...seriously...I was embarrassed for them. Embarrassed and annoyed...I refused to clap for them because that is how I am. As funny as the comedian was, we thought we were funnier. He stopped us outside after the show and talked to us for about an hour. We had fun making fun of the comedian...everything he said, we had something funnier to say (at least in our opinion.)

We stayed up late and went to the club to dance after we broke away from Mr. Funny Man. It was the one night we weren't in bed unusually early.

The forth day we stopped in Key West, FL. We got our swimsuits and sundresses on and headed off the ship, only to turn around and change. It was pretty cold before noon...then it warmed up, but not enough to ever go into any water. We walked around and did some shopping, laughing at each other the whole time.

We had a different towel animal in our room every night...here is the cat a.k.a stingray.

Once we got back to Miami, we had several hours to kill before our flight left. Luckily Justin's best friend Scott lives in the area. We called him and he took some time to hang with us for a while. Scott is always good for a laugh and we had a great time with him.

Summary: Although the weather wasn't as nice as we would have liked, we had a blast regardless because friends always supply a way to laugh...whether you are laughing at them or with them, it is good times. :)

We are already thinking about where our next girls' trip should be...New York, or Renae's homeland (Mexico)???

SO....If you are one of our friends (or want to be ;) start saving up so you can join us next time!

Pea-sized dab is all you need

2010-03-03T16:22:00.000-08:00

Can someone please explain how this happens in 10 days??? **I just want to point out that I am not blaming Justin for this...the girls' toothpaste always looks like this...so gross. It was a perfectly clean tube 10 days before this pic was taken. It is just amazing how fast they can ruin it.

Justee's Bday Celebration

2010-02-19T16:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Justee's "birthday." She is getting so big and grown up. She keeps saying that she is a not a little girl anymore, she is a grown-up.
She told me a few days ago that she would like a giraffe cake...then she switched it to a spider cake...luckily she went back to giraffe. I found a cute picture of a giraffe in one of Sydnee's coloring books and used it as a reference.
Unfortunately it was snowing and yucky outside, so by the time I finished the cake there wasn't much light to work with for pics.

Justee seemed pretty proud of her cake and she even thanked me for making it a girl giraffe.

She was super excited about having her friends come to her birthday party at Bounce. It was a great time, and we even had the place to ourselves for the last hour and a half.

She got lots of great gifts...including a Love Dollar from Great Grandma P. and a dolly from Gma and Gpa Hyde. (Sorry again to Gma Hyde for not being notified of the bday change...your gift got here today, so one day late is not bad at all. She loves it. ;)

Olympic Dream

2010-02-18T09:15:00.000-08:00

As I have been watching the Olympics this past week, I have come to realize that my childhood dream of being an Olympic Gold Medalist may not come to pass. Most of the athletes are younger than me...with the rare exception of 30 year old Chinese skaters who won their gold out of pity...seriously they were good, but that medal was theirs before they stepped on the ice.
*On a figure skating note- How would you feel if after watching the Olympics your son looked at you and said, "I want to be a figure skater!" That would scare the crap out me I think.
I'm 28 and I have no gold medals. I would be happy with even a bronze, but nope ain't got one of those either. I feel like a loser. What great things have I ever accomplished? Today I managed to fool a 2 year old that it is her birthday. I'm going to be gone on her birthday, so today is her birthday as far as she knows. I want her to have the whole 3rd bday experience and believing that the day you celebrate your birthday is in fact your birthday is crucial. So now I am off to finish her giraffe cake (so glad she settled on giraffe after going back and forth with giraffe and a spider.) Maybe she will give me a gold medal for best giraffe cake she ever had...still not Olympic gold, but I guess it would suffice.

Happy Heart Cookie Day!

2010-02-15T08:50:00.000-08:00

Sydnee had her Valentine's Day party at school on Fri. After having a child in school for almost the past 3 years, I have realized that school parties just aren't what they used to be. When I was in elementary school (here we go) we had great parties. We had V-day box contests. All the kids would come up with creative ways to turn a box or other materials into something cool to put their Valentines in. I remember a toaster being made with some saying (can't seem to remember right now) and a VCR once (Vicki did you make this one?), a lamp that said something like "you like up my life," a tv and so on. They were placed out in the hallway and everyone voted for the best one. It was a big deal. We also did this for pumpkins on Halloween. I remember making a baby one... I cut a Barbie's hair and put in in the top so it had a little curl and I put real baby pajamas on it and placed it in a doll carrier for it's little bed, stuck a binky in a hole and Vicki "helped" paint big eyes on it. It was really cute and I loved it....I may or may not have treated it like a real baby for some time after I got to take it home. I tied for 1st in our class competition (I remember the other boy had a Bart Simpson carved pumpkin)...our class had to re-vote several times and then I lost. :( I could go on about all the holidays, but...My point is....It is too bad that holidays aren't what they used to be.
I told Sydnee that when she got home we would decorate our V-day cookies. She was so excited and said that it was going to be the best day ever.

Her little (and I mean little...this girl is smaller than Chuck and she is older than Sydnee) neighbor friend Katelyn came over and joined in on the fun.

Every year I get better about letting go of control and letting the girls do what they want all by themselves. It is much messier, but less stressful and the girls have more fun. I think they are picking up on the less is better concept because their cookies this year aren't completely covered with layers of candy.

For Love of the Game

2010-02-10T11:17:00.000-08:00

I was so excited about going to play basketball last night at the church. Our Stake finally organized (might be the wrong word...is wasn't organized at all) a women's bball night. I think 20 women ended up showing up. 7 or so after the first game we started was half over. Then they wanted to be able to sub them all in. What? You show up late and want to take playing time from those of us who were here on time? So after some discussion (the talk of playing half court was shot down immediately by me...and others...I think, 5 on 5 half court just doesn't cut it) a second game would follow. Didn't seem that hard to figure out to me.

It didn't take long to remember that being in shape and being in basketball shape are two different things. I had a lot of fun despite a couple of injuries. I cannot remember the last time I jammed a finger...excluding last night of course. Going after a loose ball can be hazardous. It isn't a severe jam, but my ring doesn't come close to fitting over my fat, bruised finger. Braiding hair and typing are two things that become more complicated with a stiff digit.

It wasn't long into the game when I came down on some one's foot. I have never sprained an ankle or even twisted one, so it really sucked when I had to leave the court because of this...after some walking it off I returned. I think it is actually my foot that was injured...stupid foot still really hurts. I must be getting old. I'm turning into such a delicate flower. ;)

Big Day

2010-02-07T19:18:00.001-08:00

Several major things happened today...

1. I got a new calling... I am now the Young Women President.

2. The Saints won the Super Bowl. (I honestly didn't really care who won.)

3. I was reunited with a long lost love...Mint Oreos...mmmmmm

Crazy Kids and Dumb Animals

2010-02-02T12:28:00.000-08:00

just some stuff to give me an excuse not to do the dishes...

It is getting close to Sydnee getting her own room. The basement is coming along slowly but surely. She is so excited to pick out her colors and things. The other day at Home Depot, I had to explain to her that pink carpet might seem like a good idea, but it really isn't.

Justee is going through the clothes changing phase. She dresses herself in different outfits throughout the day....that is when she isn't running around naked or at least bottomless...I guess after going potty it is too much work to put her panties back on. When she isn't driving me crazy, she is tormenting Dozer and Cash. I think Dozer was enjoying this particular time though.

Charlee and Justee fight a lot during the day, but they also come up with some pretty cute games that they play together. Charlee likes to take care of her little sister, but Justee doesn't always want the help.

While shopping the other day, we walked past the little girl training bra section. Char turned to me and said, "Look at those teeny boobs, Mom!"

It is crazy to think that she will be in Kindergarten next year. She gets really excited when we talk about her going to school with Sydnee. The last couple of times that we have had popcorn, I have found this in our empty bowl:
I would have thought this bowl was much too small, but Cash didn't seem to agree. Stupid cat.

Weekend in the Valley

2010-01-27T13:59:00.000-08:00

We spent the weekend in Star Valley, surrounded by family. Of my Grandpa's 155 descendants, 129 of them were able to attend the funeral. (I stole those numbers from a couple of my cousins. Glad someone knows those kinds of things because those numbers are pretty amazing.) In honor of my Grandfather being a WWII veteran, he had a military service performed at the cemetery. I had several people ask me for some pics, so I figured the easiest way would be to put them on my blog. So this is my apology for all these sad funeral photos.

presenting the flag to my Grandma:

My mom has some wonderful brothers and sisters on top of having great parents. I forget how fun it is to talk to them until I get the chance again. It was pretty hard to spend much time with anyone in such a quick trip, but it was nice seeing so many family members even though it was for sad circumstances.

Justin, the girls, and I stayed with my parents and brother Rob at one of my Dad's good friend's cabins. It was in a beautiful spot, hidden in a little canyon. I'm pretty sure it snowed the whole time we were there.

We found a way to entertain ourselves one night...I challenged my Dad to a leg wrestling match and he showed no mercy. I do however feel the need to say it wasn't a fair fight. I had to reach my leg clear back to hook onto his...look, his foot is above his hip and mine is already above my head. ;)

I think it took him 1 sec to flip me....I will be working on my squats and looking for a rematch soon.

Rob was next on my list...

I won't show the proof of him beating me, but there is proof I beat him with my left leg on my sister's blog. :)

This didn't end pretty:

Vicki was my last foe... I'm not better than her at many things, so when I can flaunt a victory of any kind in her face, I don't like to pass it up.

Hey Vicki, it looks like I'm really struggling. hehe

This is the money shot.

We also got to spend some time with Ash and her fam. We all went to Sherlock Holmes on Sat night. It seems like it could have been an alright movie, if I would have been able to hear it. I was a little annoyed at the sound in the theatre the whole time.

I'm so glad that I was able to be there to show my appreciation and love for my Grandpa. I will never forget the love my Grandparents shared and how they valued their family.

Remembering...

2010-01-21T08:35:00.000-08:00

My Grandpa Putnam was a great man. He always made me and my family feel welcome immediately when we arrived to visit. I always felt a little sad that we lived so far away from both sets of my grandparents, when so many of my cousins lived basically next door, but they always made me feel loved none-the-less. I remember Justin hitting it off with him pretty quick by asking about his time in the Navy during WWII(he was a bottom turret gunner on a plane...not sure on all the official names...I better look into that) and looking through his "brag book" (pics of all the big fish he caught.)

Charlee with her Great Grandparents:

My Grandpa was known for his story-telling abilities. I like to think my mom inherited that talent from him...she always told us stories that her dad told her. Sydnee was lucky enough to get a front row seat to a story session a few years ago. Here he is telling Syd and Natasha Three Billy Goats Gruff. I have it on video somewhere and I tried to track it down, but couldn't find it.

Sydnee with her Great Grandparents:

We spent Sydnee's 6th birthday in Star Valley for a family reunion.

That was the last time I saw my Grandfather.

Tomorrow we head back to the Valley to say our final goodbyes to him. He passed away yesterday in the company of his wonderful wife, my mom, and a couple of his sons.

He has left behind quite the legacy...He had 7 daughters and 3 sons...50 grandchildren...and 69 great grandchildren! (I should check on those numbers for sure, because I bet my Grandmother knows, they always remember all of them on their birthdays and send a card with a Love Dollar.) I have lots of fond memories of my Grandpa and I know my family will miss him, but I am calmed by the thought that my niece Jada will be reunited with another family member.

New Look

2010-01-17T19:15:00.000-08:00

One of the great reasons I love having Renae living so close, is that she is a great shopping buddy. It is nice to have her around when I am decorating a room in my house. She was here to help with Justee's room, and this last week...she helped with the master bedroom.

We made lots of trips back and forth to stores, comparing deals (Kohl's won by the way) and deciding what I liked best. Since Justin wasn't around to give his opinions, it was nice to have the second best thing: Renae's opinion. ;)

I wanted to paint an accent wall or two, but I'm not sure I like the color enough to paint another wall...it ended up being more blue and less gray than I anticipated.

Before paint:

After paint:

I know it it hard to tell color for sure from pictures, but here it is....too blue? It really was an easy paint job, and I could repaint it in no more than an hour...so if I decide I don't like it, no big deal.

If this color stays, the big question is: Do I paint the wall behind the head board too, or do I just keep the one?

The bathroom got a makeover as well. The small room with the toilet sports the blue paint also, but I opted not to take a pic of a toilet with a blue wall behind it.

Justin gets to come home to a new bedroom. Yay for him! I know he is so excited about it all. :)

"I'm not the milk, and the milk's not ME!"

2010-01-15T14:37:00.000-08:00

Date nights are fun...They are even more fun when you get a chance to see a great friend too...and...even better when that great friend turns into a free babysitter. ;)

Renae watched the girls at her place while Justin and I went out to dinner at Del Frisco's. It was nice to get to go out before Justin left for Indianapolis.

I think Renae did a great job with the girls, and I think she learned a few things too.

Like: ~How to do a great finger sweep when a child is choking on popcorn

~When a 2 year old says she needs to go potty, even if she has gone 5 times in the last half hour, it is always best to take her word for it.

~Scholastic movies will sometimes show naked body parts in their cartoons.

About the last one...I bought a movie on Columbia House without paying very close attention. I thought it was the new Where the Wild Things Are. Turns out it wasn't, but no big deal. A variety of Children's stories should be a good thing. The crazy thing was that one of the stories (called- In the Night Kitchen) had a little boy float out of bed and float out of his clothes. I never would have thought that the artist would take the time to draw the details of the boy's parts....Crazy I tell you. Things like that should come with a warning...but I think Renae enjoyed it...while wondering what kind of movies I subject my children to. :)

My girls have been reciting their favorite line from that story ever since.