The Torgersen's

Our Family

2012-01-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

We tried a family picture before going to church on Christmas Sunday, with the timer on our camera. I thought it turned out pretty good considering. So, here's our family at the end of 2011. I'm anxious and excited to see what 2012 has in store for us!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-04T16:28:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Christmas! I LOVED that it was on Sunday and helped to put the emphasis on what is really important at Christmas time. The kids woke up about 7:00 am and we went into the living room. The kids were able to look at and play with a few presents that had been left unwrapped. After looking at those we fixed breakfast and sat down together to eat. Then we quickly got ready for church and off we went. It was great to go to church and feel the spirit and hear the beautiful music and thoughts expressed by everyone. Lovely!! When we got home, we hurried and changed back into our pajamas, put some dinner in the oven and then the Christmas chaos began. The kids opened their presents, and Wes and I enjoyed opening ours as well. Cousins and grandparents came by to see what they got and we had a wonderful Christmas lunch. We made the rounds to cousins and grandparents houses as well - and enjoyed being together as a family. A truely beautiful day with my family. LOVED IT!

Mom - PLEASE, can we go into the living room??!!

Holly had a body pillow and a bed for her American Girl doll that weren't wrapped.

Savanah excited for the American Girl doll that Santa brought her - just what she wanted!

Hunter hot the iPod touch he wanted from Santa, and a new bike from Wes and I.

After going to church we came back and opened the wrapped presents. Here's a few pictures of that:

Christmas Eve

2012-01-02T12:39:00.000-07:00

Christmas Eve was spent with family at Chet and Coquette's house. The food was great, and the company was wonderful. I can't imagine not being with family at this time of the year. We are thankful to live by so many people that we love. I didn't get any pictures at the festivities - but of course when we came home the kids opened their annual Christmas Eve pajama's. Then it was time to write the note to Santa, put out the cookies and carrots (Wes told the girls' this year to leave out a cup and put a note to Santa that milk is in the fridge. He convinced them there is nothing worse than having to drink warm milk.....), and then it was off to bed!

A hunting, we will go . . .

2011-12-29T15:50:00.000-07:00

Wes had a cow elk tag, and the hunt started during Thanksgiving and finished the middle of December. Unfortunately, after lots of walking and riding around in a truck he never even saw one (at least not on the mountain that his tag was for!). He and Hunter had some fun times together though, and honestly I'm not sure that we would have had room in our freezer for the meat anyway.

But, I think Wes was just as excited about their hunt that was successful! Wes had been watching 4 coyotes early Saturday morning a few weeks ago. He called Chet and his boys, and together with them and Wes and Hunter they were able to get 3 of the 4 coyotes. They were pretty happy that morning!

Oh' Christmas Tree!

2011-12-29T15:38:00.000-07:00

We were able to get our Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving this year. Also - thanks to the lack of snow this year we were able to head up higher on the mountain and get a spruce this year! I was so happy. These are the trees that I love, the trees we had when I was little (before Mom got the fake tree). A lot of times the snow is too deep here to go up high, so we usually get a pinon from off the foothills. But, not this year! We bundled up and headed up to the very top of the mountain. We weren't the only ones, we passed probably a dozen or more people doing the same thing as us! I didn't get a picture of the tree we cut down, but here's a picture of the kids helping look for a tree, and then drinking our hot chocolate after we had finished cutting it down. On the way back down the mountain we drove past a small herd of elk. There was a bull elk in the group, but I didn't get a very good picture of him.

Lost Tooth

2011-11-16T20:10:00.000-07:00

Savanah lost her first tooth a few weeks ago. It was a little dramatic (okay, maybe a lot) getting it out, but she ultimately survived. I think loosing that first tooth is always a little scarey. She lost another tooth a week later and pulled it out just fine. In fact, neither Wes or I were home when she did it - and she was pretty proud to show us her tooth when we got home later that evening. She really liked the part when the tooth fairy came!

Halloween

2011-11-16T20:03:00.000-07:00

The kids' enjoyed another fun Halloween. I was actually gone for Halloween because of work, so Wes took care of getting the kids ready for trick-or-treating. They went trick-or-treating with their cousins, thanks to Uncle Marcus' willingness to let them tag along. Wes had it pretty easy to just stay home and pass out candy. I called them later that night and it sounded like they had a great time! This year Savanah was a wizard, Holly was a football player, and Hunter was an army man of some kind.

Fall Colors

2011-11-04T20:12:00.000-06:00

We spent many days this summer and fall getting loads of wood. We enjoy going as a family, and the wood is a necessity in the winter! I love how warm and toasty it is with a fire in the fireplace. One evening we went up on the mountain to get a load of wood and have a hot dog roast. Holly wasn't able to join us as she was at a friends birthday party, but the rest of us enjoyed the outing and the beautiful fall colors. These pictures are all taken about 15 miles up the mountain from our house. We sure live in a beautiful place!

Getting ready to roast a few hot dogs:

Working hard, and getting the wood. Wes cuts the wood with the chainsaw while the kids and I load it onto the truck. Hunter occasionally runs his chainsaw too when the wood isn't too big. I'd have to say the kids and I did a good job of stacking the wood into the truck for the ride home! There were some pretty big pieces, and Hunter and I would have to lift them together to get them up into the truck!

We stopped along the way home for a few pictures of the kids with the leaves. What a couple of sillies - but you sure can tell they love each other!

The leaves are all gone now - the wind and a few snow storms have taken them all off the tree's. I'm afraid fall is leaving and winter is quietly ushering itself in. Fires are already going in the fireplace, we've had hot chocolate with our breakfasts a few times, and snow has come and melted on a few random days. I have to admit though - I'm excited. Bring on the holidays!

Taylor Swift Concert

2011-10-29T21:38:00.000-06:00

For Holly's birthday we gave her tickets to the Taylor Swift concert in SLC. Holly and I went with my sister Amy, my sister-in-law Tracy and my niece Rylee. We had a great time! Amy came to our house and drove up with Holly and I. We met Tracy and Rylee at our hotel and then walked over to the Gateway to find something to eat before the concert. The girls liked playing in the water fountain at the Gateway:

We got Rylee and Holly matching concert t-shirts. We bought them over the internet so we wouldn't have to wait in line at the concert to get shirts. We were really glad we did that when we saw how LONG the lines were for t-shirts!

We ate dinner at Applebee's - the girls' enjoyed an oreo shake:

We were pretty excited to be to the concert. The opening acts were great too - I had never heard to Need to Breathe - but really enjoyed their music! Taylor Swift put on an amazing show - it was really theatrical, exciting and a lot of fun to watch. She had so many dancers, stage changes and other things - you were constantly wondering what was going to happen next!

Again, the concert was great. I wanted to upload some video's from the concert, but I can't get it to work. I'll have to try again later.

Soccer

2011-10-15T15:14:00.000-06:00

This kids played soccer again this fall. They all had a great time, improved their skills, and are looking forward to next year. Our soccer is twice a week for 5-weeks so the season gets over quickly. It makes for some long nights, since all 3 kids are on 3 different teams. It seemed that Savanah was pulling the early games and Hunter was pulling the late games - and Holly usually played somewhere in-between (though we did have a lot of overlapping games too).

Savanah was on in the K-1st grade league. She had her friend Kacie on her team and they enjoyed it. They were the only girls on their team, and the boys were quite the go-getters. Her coach was great - and he was so good to Savanah. Savanah said one of the boys on her team was always calling her "dude". She had a good time. She had another boy on her team that wasn't in this picture.

Holly was in the 2nd-3rd grade league. She had her friend Ashley on her team, and she and Ashley were the only two girls on their team. Holly did really well this year, she plays the game pretty smart and knows right what to do. She's saying she wants to play flag football next year, but I'm hoping she sticks with soccer. I guess we'll see what happens. Holly is missing a couple of boys from her team picture.

Holly's last game she played against her cousin Payton, so I had to get a picture of them together.

Hunter had a good year too - the past few years he's played defense on his teams. This year, his coach had him step up and he played forward for a majority of his games. He learned that he really likes playing forward - and he scored quite a few goals! His confidence really grew this year, and it was fun to watch that. He played on the 6th - 8th grade league. Since he's only a 6th grader he was one of the youngest on his team, but he was one of their top scorers. We really enjoyed watching him this year! Hunter is missing a lot of people from his team picture - there were about 5 kids missing. His coach had a role in the New Testament movie the LDS church was filming while soccer was going on - hence he had a full beard and long hair.

I didn't get any good pictures of Hunter. His field is so big, and with my point and shoot camera I just can't get a good shot. But, here's a couple to show he played.

We spent a good majority of our Tuesday and Thursday nights watching soccer games - but we had a good time. Wes would come when he could (YM's on Tuesday night made it so he couldn't come on those nights). We packed sandwiches for dinner and ate them during and in-between games. I'm sure next season will sneak up on us before we know it!

Fishing

2011-10-11T20:32:00.000-06:00

We went fishing with another family from here in town for family home evening about a month ago. A little background - Wes and I are not very good fisherman. The few times we've taken our kids we never catch anything and it doesn't turn into a very fun experience for any of us. When the Gallaghers heard that we don't have much luck, they told us we had to come with them to lake about 45 minutes from here. So, we headed up after Wes got home from work to do some fishing and have a hot dog roast. We sure had a good time - and I would bet between all the kids and the few adults fishing we had to have caught over 20 fish. Good times! Holly and Savanah both caught their first fish ever (and Savanah caught it on her tiny Barbie fishing pole). The hot dogs were great, the company was fun, and the sunset over the lake as it turned dark was beautiful.

We had a great time and our kids are already asking when we can go again - however, they also say we have to go with the Gallagher's because they say we don't catch anything when we go by ourselves. (Which, unfortunately is true, oh-well!)

Holly's Baptism

2011-10-07T20:11:00.000-06:00

Holly was baptized the last Saturday of August. We had a lot of family come and support Holly in this important decision. I was proud of her for choosing and ultimately knowing how important baptism is. She's started on the path to returning to live with her Heavenly Father - I am sure proud of her! We love you Holly!

First Day of School

2011-10-07T20:06:00.000-06:00

Well, the first day of school was quite awhile ago - but slowly but surely I will get this blog updated. I think the kids were ready to go back to school, even though they said they weren't. There's something about getting back into a schedule and routine.

Savanah is in 1st grade this year. She's officially gone all day with Hunter and Holly - which means I'm officially child-less for a good portion of the day! She is really enjoying school, loves school lunch and just seems so grown-up all the way around. What a cute girl!

Holly is in 3rd grade this year. She does well in school - but I think she mostly enjoys the social aspect. She loves playing with her friends. The kids in her class are into playing football at recess and she is loving that. She's already asked me if she can play on the football team in high school. It'll be interesting to see what this girl ultimately does!

Hunter is in 6th grade - his last year here at the local elementary. After this I'll be putting him on a bus to a town 40 minutes away. I try not to think about that, and am just enjoying having him here for one more year. He's loving being the oldest at the school.

Here's to another great school year!

Arrow of Light

2011-10-01T19:28:00.000-06:00

Hunter earned his Arrow of Light award back in May. It's the highest award a cub scout can earn. We are proud of his achievements! He earned the award along with Baxter, who lives in our town and is the same age as Hunter. Congratulations - and way to go! Now we're off on the path towards becoming an Eagle Scout. Wish us luck.

Birthdays!

2011-10-01T19:22:00.000-06:00

All of my kids celebrated birthdays over the late spring and summer. It's crazy to me how fast these years are flying by. My Grandma Killpack often told me to enjoy the time when my kids are small because it would be over before I knew it. I remember thinking, "no-way, I'm going to be taking care of small kids forever!" - because that's what it felt like at the time (not that it was a bad thing though). Now, here I am with really no small kids at home anymore and I can honestly say the time did go by fast. However, I enjoy watching my kids grow up and become the individuals they were sent here to be. It's fun to see their personalities evolve, see them achieve at things, and yes, even see them fail. Because really, if everything was easy what kind of person would we be? Anyway, it was fun celebrating their birthdays and I look forward to many more with them.

Hunter turned 11-years old. He graduated from cub scouts and became a full-fledged boy scout. He is getting so tall - Wes says it won't be many more years and he'll be taller than both of us. He got a new game for the Wii and also his own shot-gun.

Another boy in town shares Hunter's same birthday, so his Mom suggested we have a party together. Hunter hadn't had a "friend" party since Kindergarten - so it was probably high time this Mom got on the fun wagon and did something. Our town is pretty small, so we invited a group of kids to go to the roller skating rink in a nearby town. They had a good time. Here's a picture of all our party-goers (minus two boys who were wandering when we took the picture):

I tried to take pictures inside the rink, but it was dark and with the disco ball spinning it was pretty hard to get good pictures. Here's one of Hunter though - I sure do love this boy!

The next birthday we celebrated was Savanah - can you believe she is 6 years old! Crazy that my baby has gotten that old already. Time certainly does fly! Savanah is our entertainer around the house. She dances, sings, performs and giggles all day long. We enjoy her fun personality and just love her to pieces. The only thing she wanted for her birthday was a La La Loopsy (spelling??) doll. So, that's what she got. Pretty easy! Love you Savanah!

Holly turned 8 years old - wow!! She made the decision to be baptized and was baptized a week later (but that will be another post). She's a a great girl - so mellow and easy-going. I tell her it's because she got all of her crying and angriness out when she was a baby (boy, was she a hard baby!). But, she's sweet as can be now. She's a nurturer - she loves to tend babies and likes to take care of people. We love our Holly. Holly got her first set of scriptures and a scripture case for her birthday. Then we surprised her with tickets (for her and me) to attend the Taylor Swift concert in Salt Lake City on Sept. 28th (another upcoming blog post). Boy was she excited!!

Catching-up

2011-09-08T21:26:00.000-06:00

We really are still here - just not doing a very good job of updating the blog. Savanah convinced me tonight we need to put some new pictures on our blog. Here's a few pictures of things we've been doing since back in May.
First, the girls' played softball this year. They really enjoyed it.

Hunter had his last pinewood derby. Wish I could say his car did well - but we just never mastered the art of making a fast car. He had fun though - and that's what counts.

Hunter had a good friend named Benjamin that lived in Koosharem until they were in the 2nd grade - and then he moved. Benjamin's family happened to be in Provo this summer visiting their families, so we (along with another friend Luke and his Mom, plus some other women from town)went up to see them. Benjamin's Dad took the boys to a zip line and climbing wall, while us Mom's went to dinner. We had a good time. Here's Hunter at the top of the zip line and then one of him going down it.

Here's Benjamin, Luke and Hunter at dinner. They are good friends and it was fun for them to get together.

We women had to have our picture taken too. It was fun to get together, have dinner and do some shopping.

We had my family reunion. We went to our normal camping place up Huntington Canyon. We had a great time - it's always so fun to get together with family and relax for a few days. (There wasn't much relaxing during the snowball fight though - everyone was fair game!)

Up next - all the kids had birthdays. However, that update will have to wait for another day.

We're still here!

2011-05-05T19:28:00.000-06:00

Last night Holly had me take all 209 pictures off her camera and put them onto a folder on the computer so she would have room to get pictures at their dance recital. Seriously - it was a lot of pictures, and this was the 2nd time we've done that since she got her camera for Christmas! As I was uploading her pictures I thought I should put a few on the blog. So, here's a little of what we've been up to - from Holly's perspective (though she is in some of the pictures because she gave the camera to either her Dad or I to take pictures):

The elementary had their annual Spring Sing in April. It went really well. I did the music part again (with Louise and Carolyn) and Wendi did a jump roping routine with the kids. The kids sang really well! I ended up missing a lot of the program (due to going on the ambulance). Here's the kids singing and doing their parts - and a picture that Holly took after the event was over (not the best pictures, the camera isn't the highest quality):

Over spring break we took the kids to the Fremont State Indian Park. We went through the museum, picnic'd and did quite a bit of hiking. Here's some pictures from Holly's camera:

Megan and family visited over Easter - the girls' convinced Wes to saddle the horse for a ride:

It's a good thing that Holly has had her camera - because this Mom hasn't been doing much with hers!

Grandma's Birthday

2011-03-15T18:12:00.000-06:00

We celebrated my Grandma's birthday again this past weekend. It was great to have a reason to go home and see my family! It was also fun to see cousins', Aunts & Uncles - people you just don't get to see as often as you'd like! I'm glad we've had Grandma's birthday's as a reason for all of us to get together the last few years. Grandma turned 101, and she doesn't seem to be slowing down! She's still the same Grandma I've known and loved for years. Her short-term memory isn't always so great - but as far as her health, happiness and smile - she's Grandma for sure! I grew up just across the road from my Grandma and Grandpa so I saw them on an almost daily basis. My life was greatly blessed because they were such a large part of my growing-up. I love you Grandma!!

A few pictures from the party:

Myself and Grandma. Makes you wonder if I inherited her genetics - will I live be to a Centurian (and then some!)?

Amy, Grandma and I (you can't tell we're sisters' or anything can you - we look nothing alike . . .) I was reminded this weekend by my niece though, that Amy is the "prettier" of the two of us. I'd have to agree with her though.

Savanah, Rylee, Avery, Grandma, Claire and Holly. These are all the great-granddaughters through my Dad. Rylee and Avery are my brother Jason's girls and Claire is Brian's daughter. Hunter, Kaden and Cameron must have snuck off somewhere else when I was doing pictures.

Savanah got a hold of the camera for awhile (okay, I gave it to her so she could be entertained while I visited) - here's a few of the pictures she got:

It was a fun party. They put together info on all of Grandma's family. She has 149 direct descendants, and then you add in the 51 in-laws (everyone that's married in) she has a current total of 200 posterity. Pretty impressive!

Get Away

2011-03-05T17:40:00.000-07:00

Wes had meetings for work, so we decided to pull the kids out of school and have a little "get away". We had a really good time. The kids have been wanting to go to a Jazz game all year, so we got nosebleed seats and went to a game. We had a great time, the kids are already asking when they can go to another one. Unfortunately, the answer to that is probably not for a long time - we just live too far away!

Our hotel was on the South end of the valley since that's where Wes' meetings were. We just rode Trax up to the game. It was a great way to go.

The games was late - it didn't start until 8:30 pm (we didn't get back to our hotel until after midnight). We had plans to skip out before the game ended so we wouldn't be out so late - but it was a close game that came down to the final seconds. The kids were adamant we weren't leaving early! Unfortunately the outcome wasn't what we wanted - the Jazz lost by 2 points. But, we still had a good time!

The next day while Wes was at meetings, we went to the Living Planet Aquarium. We had a really good time. It was amazing all the animals they had. They had about every kind of fish-type animal you could think of. I liked the jellyfish and seahorses. They had octopus, frogs, all kinds of fish, penguins, sea turtles, sharks - even an anaconda. They had an exhibit with sting-ray in it that you could pet. I was amazed how these stingray would come right up to you to pet them. We had a good time!

It was nice to have a "get-away" even if it was just for a couple of days. Now, it's time to buckle down and do the homework the kids missed at school!

We finally got some SNOW!

2011-02-26T13:12:00.001-07:00

We have had a really different winter around here this year. We had some snow back in November - but after that we really didn't have any storms that brought a lot of snow. If we did get a storm that brought snow, it would warm up again a few days later and melt it all away. But, we actually got some snow last weekend over the President's Day holiday. The kids had a blast and spent the extended weekend playing in the snow and sledding behind the 4-wheeler.

Christmas!

2011-02-26T12:53:00.000-07:00

Yes - we did have Christmas around here. It's just taken me this long to get around to putting up some pictures. We had a great day - though it was a little different than previous Christmases. Holly threw-up that morning, and so we worried she was sick and didn't go and visit the cousins' houses to see what they got, nor did we visit Grandma and Grandpa. We just stayed home and played with the toys and games together as a family - but made sure to call the cousins' and grandparents' houses to see what they got.

The kids were sure excited that morning! They slept in Hunter's room together, and I think they were up the majority of the night. I woke up to them laughing and talking at 2:00 am! Here they are before the excitement begins!

Savanah was pretty excited for her new bike!

Holly loved her American Girl doll

Hunter got the new DSi - extra large. His last DS had it's fair share of life. At one point, his sister spilled an entire slurpee on it - we put it in a bag of rice to dry and draw out the moisture and miraculously a few weeks later it started working again! Then, it was dropped in a toilet - miraculously it survived again. The most recent accident landed it on the tile floor which busted the top part from the bottom - but it was still held together by the wires and still miraculously worked. However, I think he's pretty excited for a new one.

We left to visit the other side of the family a few days later - but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures while we were there. We had a great Christmas Break though!

School Christmas Play

2011-02-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

Time to play catch-up!! The kids were part of the annual Elementary Christmas play this year. They did a great job, all the kids did. Myself, Louise, Allison and Wendi are the ones that put together the play every year. Every year I wonder if the kids are going to pull it together - and every year they amaze me and do such a great job! Our play this year was called the "Shimmering Star Search" and it was a lot of fun. We also took the opportunity to pay a little tribute to Aunt Shelley at the end of it. The kids sure miss her.

This year Hunter was Santa in the play. He was pretty excited to get that part. The pictures are on the dark side - we turn the lights down for the play . . . and these are the results from our camera. Wes took all the pictures since I was the one playing the piano for all the singing parts.

Holly was a reindeer in a dancing scene, and then was an angel in the Nativity.

Savanah was a reindeer and then was a sheep in the Nativity (notice her in the right corner of the picture above).

After the play, the kids had a chance to sit on Santa's knee to tell him what they want for Christmas.

Tis The Season!

2010-12-14T20:19:00.000-07:00

Wow - the holidays are here! There is definitely excitement building here at our house. The kids are counting down the days, and I'm wishing things would slow down a little. It's fun to catch the kids' excitement though, soon they will be grown and Christmas won't be as magical. I'm trying to enjoy it while I can!

We went and got our Christmas tree a couple of days after Thanksgiving. The kids had fun finding the tree, plus a lot of playing in the snow.

Speaking of snow - we got a TON around Thanksgiving time, and now it's all melted. The kids are anxious for another snowstorm so they can start sledding again. (Plus, we need to have a white Christmas!)

We've decorated gingerbread houses, the kids had a lot of fun. Someone gave us the gingerbread house kits, and I have to say it's a pretty slick way to do a gingerbread house! The only problem now is they are all on my kitchen counter and the kids refuse to let me throw them away. Here's each of the kids with their masterpieces!

I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season! I'll leave you with one last picture Wes took of the kids before church a couple of weeks ago. I had an early ward council meeting, but he was good to get a picture since I couldn't.

Success

2010-11-20T14:04:00.000-07:00

Wes got his elk this past week - and he's beyond excited about it! Thought I'd put a few pictures up. They had to quarter the elk up on the mountain and bring it down on horses, so the only pictures I have are at home after that (I think his brother may have some pictures from up on the mountain). He had a lot of help from his brother's and others. It was so great that so many people were willing to help!

Random

2010-11-12T21:03:00.000-07:00

Just a few random pictures. The first is from a few weeks ago. I was filling sandwich bags with small prizes for the fishpond at our upcoming Halloween Carnival. The kids found these "fake" mustaches in the tub of prizes and had to try them out. It actually provided hour(s) of entertainment. Too funny.

The kids got hold of the camera when they went to get Wes' deer. Always makes for fun photos:

I would upload the picture of Hunter that I found on the camera - but I fear he wouldn't speak to me again if he saw I put it on here. Let's just say it's not the most flattering facial picture I've seen him make. I also will not upload the MANY pictures of the gut-pile from the deer that I found on the camera too. Good grief - like we need to remember and save that image for posterity. Speaking of gut-piles, Wes and Hunter are gone for the elk hunt (along with a LARGE group of family to help him - both Wes and his Dad drew out for a big elk tag). If they don't get anything right away the girls and I may not see either of them again for 4 - 5 days. We're hoping they have a good time and stay warm - I'm also wishing I would have made Hunter fill the wood box a little fuller before he left!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-06T14:36:00.000-06:00

We had a good Halloween this year. It was especially fun for the kids because so many of their cousins were here. I think we overwhelmed a few homes that night when about 20 kids all showed up at once. Fun times though.

For Halloween this year, Holly was "Sicky Vicky" - for those of you who don't have Disney Channel she's a character on the show Sonny with a Chance. It was a pretty easy costume for the fact that she just had to wear pajamas, put her hair in pigtails and carry around a box of kleenex. Holly decided last minute we should put some spots on her face - so she looked like she had chicken pox too.

Savanah was our rodeo clown. I think her favorite part was being able to act goofy.

I know I took some individual pictures of Hunter - but I can't find them. He was a pilot guy "thing". You can see it in the group picture.

I hope everyone had a great Halloween - and you are looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas as much as we are!

Deer Hunt

2010-11-04T21:53:00.000-06:00

Wes had a deer tag this year. He had plans to camp on the mountain with his brother's and brother-in-law - but the weather changed his mind. It was HORRIBLE! Cold, wind, snow - you name it. Opening day (Saturday) they did a lot of hiking and came home wet and cold - with no deer. Monday Wes took off work, and Hunter was going to stay home from school to go hunting with him - but we again woke up to more snow on the ground. So, we decided Hunter should go to school because we weren't sure the weather was going to be very good. Wes went out hunting anyway - sticking a little closer to home and not so far away. The snow quit - but the wind and cold stayed. However, Wes' hard work and persistence paid off with a nice 3x4 buck. He was pretty excited! He had taken the 4-wheeler that morning - so he had to come back to get the truck to pick it up and by then the kids were home from school, so they went with him. (I didn't go because I was at a community council meeting - but I heard all about it when they got home.) The kids were pretty excited (notice in the pictures how Holly wouldn't touch it - that's so Holly). Also - I think something must have been on the lense of the camera because they all have a blurry spot in the same place.

Wes has a bull elk tag left - the hunt starts in a couple of weeks. Keep your fingers crossed for him.

Pumpkin Patch

2010-11-03T20:54:00.000-06:00

As part of red ribbon week our entire elementary school visits the pumpkin patch. The kids all get to pick a pumpkin for themselves, and also for any other kids that are in their family (that are older or younger than elementary age). Then all the families get together at the elementary that night for a hamburger/hot dog dinner and pumpkin carving. It's a fun tradition.

I was able to go to the pumpkin patch with the kids and got a few pictures while I was there. Call me paranoid, but I went through and shaded out the name of our elementary - so that's why their shirts look funny. Here's Holly looking for and finding the perfect pumpkin, and then hanging out with her friends.

Ashley, Holly, Sadie & Alisi

Savanah had fun with her friends and finding that perfect pumpkin too.

Savanah, Mia & Kacie

Savanah & Mia

Of course, Hunter was there too. He was good to take care of Savanah. Here he was making sure she was with him on the ride out into the patch. He's also sitting by his good friend Luke.

They had some rides there too. I didn't get a picture, but they had a train they pulled behind a tractor - the kids loved riding that. They also had a spinning ride - the kids would get strapped in and then Mr. T would spin them around and they would go upside down. Holly LOVED it. Savanah wanted to do it - but I wouldn't let her because she gets car sick just going down the road!

Time to play catch-up . . .

2010-11-02T21:11:00.000-06:00

I'm officially WAY behind on posting the goings-on of the Torgersen family! Hopefully in the next day or so I can get us caught up - since I'm just sure there's a loyal fan base out there just dying to know what we've been up to . . . (right????).

The kids had red-ribbon week this month. Their favorite part of red-ribbon week is that they get to dress-up with daily themes. Crazy hair day is always a hit around here. So, without further adieu - here's what the Torgersen kids did around here:

Hunter had been growing his hair out in anticipation of buzzing it into this mohawk just for crazy hair day. His teacher told him he couldn't believe his Dad let him out of the house like that. Believe me - it was shaved off that night - his Dad made sure of that!

More to come - pumpkin patch, Halloween and the deer hunt. Hmmmm - did Wes get a deer this year? Stay tuned to find out.

Soccer

2010-09-24T20:53:00.000-06:00

We've been playing soccer for the last 5 weeks. All three kids have been on different teams - and they have all really enjoyed it and had a great season. We've spent many late nights watching games - with three kids playing it takes most of the evening before all 3 games are over. The girls' finished their season last night, but Hunter has a tournament next week.

Hunter's team won 7 games, tied 2 games and lost 1 game. He really enjoys playing and has made some good friends on his team this year. His team has gotten along really well, and they have been really fun to watch. He has 11 kids on his team (5 boys and 6 girls) - not everyone showed up for their team pictures so this isn't his entire team:

Here's a few action shots, at least as close to action as my point and click camera will get. I have to anticipate "action" because it doesn't take the picture until a few seconds after I click the button (and ask you can see from these pictures, I don't anticipate action very well) . . .

Holly has really enjoyed her team this year too. Her coach this year was a lady that teaches school with Wes. Her good friend Ashley was on her team too. Her team had 9 kids on it, but quite a few didn't make it to pictures either (and her coach didn't make it either). I know the other picture mostly shows the ref - but it also shows Holly coming up to take the ball away from another player - she really became more aggressive and into the game more this year.

Savanah was on a team with her best friend Kacie and a bunch of boys. She had a great time finally getting to be on a team after years of watching Hunter and Holly play. She spent a lot of her time just running around the field and just being happy to be there. She did score a goal once though (and I missed it because I was watching Hunter's game while Wes was at her game) - and Wes said she didn't even know what she'd done. When her coach came to give her a high five, she asked him "what did I do?". Too funny.

We'll officially be done with soccer next week after Hunter's tournament. It's been fun - but it's time to be done. I think we're all getting a little "tired" of it (as evidence - Savanah always fell asleep on the way home and most often we were coming home in the dark):

What the . . . !!

2010-09-24T20:10:00.000-06:00

So a few weeks ago Savanah had a friend over playing after Kindergarten. We were out on the front lawn playing soccer when all of a sudden it sounded like there were millions of bugs. It was the strangest thing - one minute it was quiet and the next it sounded like the biggest fly you'd ever hear was flying over your head. The girls' just stopped and Kacie (Savanah's friend) looked at me and said "what is that?". It was seriously like a movie where you expect the sky to go dark and killer insects to start swooping down on you (actually, I don't know if they've ever made a movie like that but it just seems like a great comparison). Anyway, I told the girls I had no idea what it was and we kept playing for a few minutes. They wanted to go back inside, so we went to move the sprinkler before going inside. And - that's when I found them. A tree on the south side of my house was full of honeybee's. I mean - it was outrageous. They were all grouped together in a ball that was bigger than a basketball. I quickly told the girls' to come inside with me (thoughts of Africanized killer bees filling my head) and we looked at them through the window. I wondered what the heck I was going to do. However, lucky for me - Mr. Google is my friend and I just googled "big swarm of bees in tree" and did a little reading. Which then led me to google for any local beekeepers in our area, which lead me to calling a really nice guy that lived about 30 minutes away who gladly said he would come and get them for me. These pictures really don't do it justice because I didn't dare get that close to the tree, so I stood on the back porch and zoomed it as far as it would go. The "ball of bees" seriously doesn't look as big here as it was.

The friendly beekeeper came and took the bees though. He gathered as many as he could - he caught the queen bee and then put her in a box and most of the bee's then went into the box. It took him about 1/2 hour. When he left, he told me that he wasn't able to get all of the bee's, so there would still be some around for awhile but they would eventually leave since he took the queen bee. He told me that it was actually a really large swarm of bee's. He told me he guesstimated there was probably 4,000 - 5,000 bees! He said there was probably still about 500 that he was leaving behind. Ugh. When Wes got home from work he just kept asking what made me think to get on the Internet and find someone to come and get them. He just thought the whole thing was a little weird. I told him he should just be glad he's married to someone who just takes care of a problem rather than waits till he gets home and tells him to take care of it.

Wes went out and took a closer-up picture of our 500 or so bees that were left behind. This is a big ball of them. They actually ended up sticking around for a week, and we finally had to "encourage" them to leave. (I have to admit I'm not that proud of my actions - I stuck the sprinkler on them overnight so they would freeze. Not very nice of me, but they were ruining the bark on my tree!). Interesting day!

Back to School

2010-09-03T12:28:00.000-06:00

The kids are officially back in school (for about 1 1/2 weeks now). Notice I say "kids" - yes that's right all 3 of my kids are officially in school. Granted, Savanah is only 1/2 day Kindergarten - but she still officially goes to the "big school". Seriously, where has the time gone? When Hunter started Kindergarten Savanah was about 3 weeks old - and that seems like just yesterday. Now, here we are - Hunter is in 5th grade, Holly in 2nd and Savanah in Kindergarten. Mornings are busy making sure they are all ready, and then I watch out the window as all 3 climb aboard the bus and I'm left with an empty home. I admit it sure makes it easier to get my work for SUU done, but it sure is quiet too. Lucky for me - the 2 1/2 hours go by quickly and Savanah is back home before I know it. However, what I am going to do next year when they are all gone for the entire day? For now, I'll just try not to think about that!

Here they are:

I'm happy to report that they all enjoyed their classes and all seems to be going well. I give it a few weeks though and they'll all be ready for summer vacation again! (And, yes - Wes made it back to school too. I had to push him even harder out the door than the kids. His school is currently being remodeled and his classroom is out in a portable until it gets finished - the first day of school he had a few problems in his room. No A/C, no outlets to plug anything in - but miraculously half of the light fixtures worked so they could see what they were doing. They've since fixed most of the problems . . .).

Celebrate!

2010-08-29T17:54:00.000-06:00

It's always a fun time at our house in August with both Holly & Savanah's birthdays this month. I can't believe how fast the time is going by - these kids are growing up WAY. TO. FAST! I guess it's not going to slow down though and I'll just have to enjoy the time we have.

Savanah's birthday was first. She has been begging for a pillow pet for months! The morning of her birthday, I woke up to her face right next to mine singing "it's a pillow, it's a pet - it's a pillow pet!" (If any of you have seen the commercial - you know the tune.) I guess she was pretty sure she was getting her beloved pillow pet. Well, she was right:

We were able to celebrate up at Grandma T's house with all the cousins. I let my kids decorate their own birthday cakes for their birthdays. They get to pick what goes on it, and I let them frost it and everything. It takes stress away from me because I'm not creative enough to make the fancy ones anyway!

Happy Birthday Savanah "banana" - I can't believe you're 5-years old! I love you to pieces!!

Holly turned 7 this month. She wanted a bike for her birthday. She finally learned how to ride a bike the beginning of the summer, and was tired of riding all of Hunter's "boy bike" hand-me downs. She wanted a girl bike!

The pillow pet was pretty popular with Holly too - so she got one for her birthday too.

We had Allison's girls at our house the day of Holly's birthday so they helped Holly decorate her cake. I thought it turned out pretty nice!

Happy Birthday Holly "dolly" - you are a joy to our family and we love you so much! I hope whatever you wished for came true!

The rest of July

2010-07-31T22:28:00.000-06:00

Wow - time is flying! I can't believe July has come to an end. We've been busy and have had some fun times since my last post on the 4th of July. Here's a little bit of what we've been up to:

Getting wood. Those who know Wes, know that pretty close to one of his favorite things to do is get a load of wood. He went with his Dad and Hunter up on Monroe to get a load one day. As you can see, Tarval was the master chainsaw sharpener - Hunter was a master banana eater:

As a family, we went out on the Langdon for a hot dog / marshmellow roast and another load of wood. The kids had a good time playing around:

While the kids were having fun, Wes was doing all of the work. Some of these logs were sooo heavy, I would help him carry them down and most of the time it was just easier for him to put it on his shoulder than have me try to help!

We had my family reunion. We went to our annual place up Huntington Canyon and had such a great time. It's so relaxing to get away from everything for a few days and just relax and have fun. Many, many games of scum were played, great food was eaten and there was great entertainment provided by the grandkids. Great times! Here are the grandkids on a hike we took (minus Cameron & Claire):

This was Savanah when I refused to carry her on the way back to camp because "she was tired", she eventually caught back up to us when she realized I wasn't going to pick her up (mean mom!).

Here are Holly and Rylee next to a waterfall we found on our hike. The kids were wishing they could slide down the waterfall.

We took some time to put together a shed we bought last fall. The weather turned bad before we could get it put up last fall, so we decided we better get it done. The kids were good to help us - and it took us most of the day to get it done!

Not quite the finished product - but close. We never did take a picture when we were completely done:

We also went camping for a few days with Wes' brother's family. We had a great time with Russ and his family. We camped on the Dutton since both he and Wes drew out for an elk tag on the Dutton this fall. We figured we better spend some time getting familiar with the mountain. Except for a little (okay, maybe a lot) of rain the first night - we had a great time!! We went for a drive to the top of Mt. Dutton and here's a place we stopped at along the way:

Savanah, Holly, Hunter, Dallen, Lillee and Easten

At the top of Mt. Dutton they have a canister with a notebook inside for people to sign who have been there. The kids enjoyed writing their names in the book. At this spot you could see Panguitch to the south and clear up to Circleville/Junction to the north. It was a pretty neat view. Here are all of the kids:

Wes and I were there too. :)

The boys put up a totem pole in the middle of camp that they whittled on. Here's Dallen and Hunter:

I tried to teach the "cup game" to Jacie and my nieces Jaylee and Marlee. It's still a work in progress - we may have to try again at our upcoming family reunion . . .

The views were pretty spectacular:

Time to load up and head home. The kids all rode in the back of Uncle Russ' truck as we came down the mountain.

Well - I think that's plenty of pictures for tonight. It took me an hour to upload all of these. I'm going to bed!

4th of July

2010-07-06T18:37:00.001-06:00

I love the 4th of July - especially in a small town! My kids love the parade, games, water and the good food. Plus, there's always family around and lots of friends. It makes for a great time.

Our family decided to put together a float for the parade this year, and we won 3rd place! Payton was the driving force behind getting the float done, Grandma had the good idea, and it was a good thing Aunt Charmian was here because I think the rest of us might have dropped the ball - but she kept us going! Our float was about how "dreams come true in America" and the kids dressed up as things people can become.

Kyler (missionary), Whitney (graduate), Morgan (football player) & Mason (baseball player)

Quincy (gymnast/dancer), Holly (beauty queen), Savanah (soccer player), Madi (nurse), Mia (chef), Hunter (soldier), Payton (cowboy)

I would definitely have to agree that dreams do come true in America!

After the parade, there are games at the park. The kids enjoy the water slides, foot races, bingo, candy grab, and this year they had hay that money was thrown into. Here's the kids doing their best to find money (and getting pretty scratched up too!).

Also, what's a 4th of July without a watermelon eating contest:

Dillon & Hunter showing their big "smiles".

And, in other news. Wes continues his quest to get rid of all the coyotes in our valley. He got this one on Sunday, a couple of hours before church. Hmmmm, I wonder if that's breaking the sabbath . . .

Something new . . .

2010-06-03T21:30:00.001-06:00

We finally did it. Savanah finally outgrew her "long hair" stage and allowed me to get her hair cut. It's been a long time coming. As many of you might recall, Savanah (along with her cousin and her good friend) all took scissors to their hair about 1 1/2 years ago. Then, she had this thing where she would twist her hair and she did it so much it would break off. Well, I've been growing her hair trying to get everything to a length where we could just cut if all off even. BUT, then Savanah went through a stage where she just wanted long hair and wouldn't have anything to do with cutting it off. That finally changed, when she told me she would like to cut her hair short. I jumped on that pretty quick, and we went and had it done. My hope is that by cutting it off, it will also grow back a little thicker and healthier - finally getting rid of some of that thin baby hair, etc. Anyway, she's a new girl - we sure love it. She especially likes it when her cousin Whitney curls her hair, and makes her look all fancy. She's my fashion girl for sure - just notice the outfit in these pictures. I often try to tell her that I don't think what she has on matches - but she just tells me "you don't know what pretty is Mom". Lately she's into the layering look - wearing multiple shirts, etc. Oh Savanah - we love you!!

Holly has a little something "new" too - we'll have to get a picture of it soon and show you what she's been up to!

Graduation

2010-05-23T17:55:00.000-06:00

Last week Savanah officially graduated from preschool. My baby has grown up! Their graduation was so cute, they sang songs and put on a play for us to watch. They did the "Little Red Hen" and Savanah was the little red hen. She did a good job remembering her lines and doing what she needed to do. Ms. Allison also put together a wonderful dvd of pictures from the year to music. It was so fun to see what they did, and them having fun. This is her class (3 & 4 year olds) - minus one boy. Her kindergarten class this coming fall will have 4 kids in it - the two boys on the left, Savanah and then Kacie is on the far right.

Here's Savanah and her cousin Mia singing a rainbow song.

I didn't get any pictures during their play because I was recording it on my camera. They were so cute though - Allison had made such cute hats/costumes. Here's Savanah showing the things she received for graduation.

Here's Savanah with her teacher Ms. (Aunt) Allison. Savanah adores Allison and she has done such a wonderful job being her preschool teacher for the last 2 years.

Oh, my Savanah - you have grown up! Let's hope this summer goes by slowly so I can enjoy you a little longer before the "big school" beckons you inside. I love you!

Double Digits!

2010-05-11T21:56:00.000-06:00

I can't believe I have a 10-year old. Does that seem crazy to anyone else but me? We celebrated Hunter's birthday and he's officially in double digits - or as he kept reminding us he's a "decade" old. It was interesting to reflect back 10 years ago and remember being so nervous, scared and excited all at the same time. I had a c-section with Hunter because he was breech, with the cord around his neck keeping him the wrong direction. The doctor gave me the opportunity to pick the day for the c-section and I remember asking him how long he'd let me wait. He told me I couldn't go any further than my due date, so I picked my due date for the c-section (he had initially wanted to schedule it a week earlier). I guess that shows how nervous I was, I was trying to put off this whole having a baby thing as long as I could!

Hunter is an amazing kid, I am so proud to be his Mom. He has a special spirit about him, is so kind to others and is always quick to do whatever I ask of him. He is the best big brother in the world. He does everything for his sister's - anything they want (within reason) he will do. Here's a little of what Hunter's been up to lately - for his birthday he got a new bike:

At pack meeting last month, they had the scouts decorate a cake with their Dad's. You brought the cake already baked, but you had to bring everything to decorate it there and do it at pack meeting. The one rule was Mom's couldn't help. I was good with that!

The finished product is a spider (in case you can't tell). Oh my, aren't we creative around here!

Wes is the Scoutmaster in our ward (for the 3rd time since we've lived here . . .). He's getting his scouts ready to do a 50 mile hike this summer. So a couple of weekends ago they decided to do a hike to start working up towards the 50 mile trek. Since Wes is scoutmaster, he takes Hunter along on some of these things. What was suppose to be a short hike, turned into a longer one when I dropped them off up on the top of FishLake by "quakey haven" - or the road that leads to Hancock Flat. There were snow drifts where I dropped these poor boys off. Let me tell you - Hunter was thrilled. Can't you tell??

I think Hunter did a really good job of bring up the rear - don't you think?

I love you Hunter - you're one of the four best things that ever happened to me (along with your Dad and Holly and Savanah!).

In other news - we had a visitor on our front lawn a week or so ago. Savanah came and got me to show me - she was pretty excited. We have tons of geese around, but I'd never seen one right on the front lawn. It's "partner" (since I don't know if this is the male or female) was actually up on our roof.

Last but not least - I had what I like to call an "aha moment" the other day and realized I need to water our cat after I found him trying to drink out of the sprinkler I had put on the lawn. This picture does not do it justice - you should have seen how WET this cat was. (I just assumed he went over to the corrals and drank out of the cow's water troughs.) Oh-well.

Best Friends . . .

2010-04-11T16:22:00.000-06:00

Wes got me out of bed the other morning to take a picture of the girls' while they were sleeping. I used the "night time" flash on my camera to get a good picture. These two are such good friends, I hope they stay that way.

Catch Up!

2010-04-07T18:03:00.000-06:00

Where is the time going? It seems days and even weeks are flying by. Nothing huge is happening for the Torgersen family, but we have been staying busy!

We were looking forward to a fun-filled spring break, with plans to go hiking in Capitol Reef with cousins. However, mother-nature played a fun April Fools on us and decided to snow on April 1st and April 2nd taking away any chances of that. We stayed around here and found ways to entertain ourselves anyway, and still managed to have a good time.

Russ and Jacie's family came and decorated eggs at our house, I think over 7 dozen were colored by the time we were done!

Savanah enjoyed coloring eggs. I have to admit, I don't think I even combed her hair once over the entire extended spring-break weekend (especially considering we didn't go to church since it was Conference). Bad Mom!

You'll notice a "visitor" in a lot of the pictures with Holly. This is "Flat Stella" from school, and she was suppose to take pictures of their "adventures" over Spring Break. Uh, our adventures weren't very adventurous - but we made do.

This is what I always get when Hunter knows I'm taking a picture. I'm sure someday he'll look back and wish maybe he'd tried to look a little more "normal" in his pictures.

We spent time with other cousins too - Holly and Savanah loved having Dawsyn here.

The kids were as excited for Easter as they were for Christmas! They slept in Hunter's bed together that night - I didn't think they were ever going to go to sleep!

I found Savanah the other day asleep on the couch. She hardly ever takes naps, so she must have been really tired!

I went to Blanding for a couple of days for work. On my drive there I passed some amazing scenery. I came home telling Wes I had no idea we lived as close as we do to some amazing places. I foresee a family vacation in the hopefully near future!!

Anyone want to come??

Derby Time!!

2010-03-26T19:25:00.000-06:00

We had our annual Pinewood Derby this week. Hunter had fun building his car this year. He decided he wanted it to be a boat, and he and Wes had fun coming up with a few "accessories" to make it look more boat-like. Hunter had a good time. He did about like he does most years - he lost more races than he won. However, he did win a few races and was happy for that! I think he had the most fun after it was all over and just racing his car for fun. Our Cubmaster did a great job, the boys had to pass a written test, driver's test, and an eye exam before they could get their driver's license. You couldn't race your car without a driver's license and the boys seemed to really enjoy it.

Here he is getting his car ready to race . . .

Waiting at the bottom to see how the car does . . .

Only one more Pinewood Derby for us (not that I'm counting down . . .). Hunter will graduate to the Webelo's group in a little over a month and then we only have 1 more year in cub scouts. Time sure does fly.

Party!!

2010-03-16T17:01:00.000-06:00

We had a great time at my Grandma's party this weekend. Can I just tell you how much my Grandma means to me. I. Love. Her. She has been such an important person in my life. I grew up right across the road from my Grandma's house. My childhood is full of memories with Grandma. Some of the things that remind me of Grandma are: flowers and gardens (her flowers/yard and garden were AMAZING), vanilla milk shakes (she would always make these for me), spagheti o's (when I was younger I think I lived on them at her house), roast beef and "spuds" (Grandma cooked the best roast beef you've ever had and she always had potaotes or "spuds" as my Grandpa liked to call them), fishing (Grandma LOVED to fish and was so patient to sit there with her rod and reel), and her famous chocolate chip cookies. I've never had a chocolate chip cookie that could match hers - they were amazing - and completely different from any chocolate chip cookie that I've ever had.

My grandma loved to fish. There was a canal that ran by her house and water would go out of it into a creek that watered our fields. My brother and I used to like to go and fish in that creek right where the water left the canal. Once I was bothering Grandma about wanting to fish, but she couldn't come with me. She finally took a stick and tied some bailing twine to the stick and gave me some cat food to tie to the other end. I spent a long time at the creek fishing with that, but never caught a thing. (Imagine that . . . you'd have thought I would have caught something with cat food . . . maybe a catfish or something . . .) Another time my brother and I found a fish in a small pool of water and caught it with our hands. We were so excited to take it to Grandma and give it to her because she loved fish. We carried it all the way into her living room, where she abrutly informed us to take that fish right back where we found it. Who knew that sucker fish weren't good to eat.

I love you Grandma. Happy 100th birthday - you're an amazing lady! I have learned so much from you and hope that I can be just like you. You always thought of others, you were always so kind and generous, so easy to smile and laugh. You always made my day brighter.

Here is Grandma and I at the party. Everyone was constantly taking pictures, I think she just decided it was easier not to smile.

Here's Grandma with me and my brothers and sister. (I'd ask who is the better looking of the bunch, but I already found out that weekend that it isn't me . . . .)

Here is my entire family with Grandma.

It's been so fun that my kids have been able to get to know their Great-Grandma. I have memories of my Great Grandpa Olsen, and I hope my kids will remember Grandma as well. Here's my kids as well as 3 of Jason's kids with Grandma.

Grandma has an amazing posterity. She has 4 children, 28 grandchildren, 73 great-grandchildren and 45 great-great grandchildren. When you add in all of the spouses to those children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren - you're getting into some pretty big numbers. I'm so proud to be a part of that family. Thanks Grandma!

While we were home Brian blessed his sweet baby Claire on Sunday. She's an aboslute doll and we'd love to bring her home to our house, if we only thought Brian and Becca would let us . . .

Isn't that the cutest!

Centenarian!

2010-03-09T08:48:00.000-07:00

Many of you who read my blog know my Grandma Bleazard. What you may not know is her birthday is Friday and she is turning 100 years old - yes she's going to be an official centenarian! I love my grandma more than words can express. We're headed out to Duchesne for a party this weekend - and I cannot wait to see her. Coming soon: pictures from the party along with my own tribute to her. However for something to tide you over, they ran a neat story (with pictures!) on her in the Uintah Basin Standard so I thought I would link that story for those of you who know her to see:
Grandma Bleazard's Story

Can't wait to see you Grandma - Happy Birthday!!

This and that . . .

2010-02-24T17:20:00.000-07:00

We've continued to get snowstorm after snowstorm this year. After the huge amount of snow we got this past weekend, I told Wes it was bordering on ridiculous. I have major spring fever - I want it to be warm, I want to go outside and see green grass and leaves on the trees, and Savanah is right there with me. She doesn't start many mornings without first asking me if it's going to be spring soon. Oh, if only. However, we will continue to try and enjoy the snow while we have it, for instance . . .

The flag the scouts put on our lawn on President's Day looked great with the snow backdrop (notice you can see a little of the ground in some places - that is no longer the case after the huge storm this weekend.)

We managed to build a few snowmen. Savanah got cold, but came back out for the picture (hence - no shoes or socks)

For our quarterly primary activity we had the kids build snowforts and snow sculptures - we brought colored water for them to paint the snow with too. The kids had so much fun, and we as leaders did too. It was fun to get into it and play right along with the kids. Here's Hunter's creation:

For some reason I didn't get a picture of the girl's and their friends creations. Savanah made a caterpiller with her friends and Holly made a butterfly. We had dragons, castles, etc all out behind the church/school.

In other news, last night Hunter earned his Bear in scouts. We were proud of him for working so hard. He has a really great scout leader who has done some really neat activities with him. He also got his religious knot last month.

I guess that's about it for around here. Until next time . . .

Lost Tooth!

2010-02-12T15:33:00.000-07:00

Holly lost her first tooth last night. Grandpa T pulled it out for her (Madi tipped her off that when Grandpa pulls them it doesn't hurt). She was pretty excited.

While I was getting a picture of Holly, I figured I better get one of Hunter & Savanah too.

You've had a Birthday!!

2010-02-12T15:22:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Wes' birthday the other day. As we say in Primary - "one year older and wiser too - Happy Birthday to you!!"

Wes got a new pair of binoculars for his birthday.

Wes' favorite cake is German Chocolate - but of course the kids don't like that frosting. So, we had a half-and-half cake.

Happy Birthday Wes - here's to another great year!

Snow & Wildlife

2010-02-12T15:13:00.000-07:00

We've had a TON of snow this year. The kids have continued to do a lot of sledding. However, Savanah has been asking me when spring is going to come again. I think we're all starting to get a little tired of the snow. We call the road coming to our house the "luge" because you've got snow piled pretty much on both sides. It's not as high as it was a couple of years ago, but still pretty good.

Kind of hard to go swing when the swings are burried in the snow. Can't really ride a bike either, when it's burried in the snow too. . . at least the handle bar is sticking out.

We had a visitor the other day, he came right down our lane that runs north of our house. It was getting dark, so this picture doesn't do him justice - but he was pretty big.

And of course, Wes has continued to do some hunting . . .

Like father, like son . . .

2010-01-16T16:51:00.000-07:00

As I got ready to post this, I was thinking that perhaps I should start a seperate blog to showcase all our animal carnage. That way, I could save those people who don't want to look at it. But, I'm too lazy to have another blog - since it's hard enough to update just this one. So, I'll just forewarn those of you who prefer to not see dead animals to skip this post. . . .

Wes and Hunter have been doing quite a bit of rabbit hunting the last few weekends. They normally come back with their pant legs wet clear up to their knees. They must be walking through some pretty big snow drifts. I don't normally elect to go with them, today however I did go so that I could drive the truck so they didn't have to walk back to it. (Apparently my sister-in-law Coquette was doing this for her boys last week, so they figured I should do it now too.) Here's some pictures of Hunter's "kill" from last weekend. They didn't get anything today.

Hunter's cousin McKay went hunting with them and got a rabbit too. They said Wes got a few - but apparently didn't need his picture taken.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T20:22:00.000-07:00

We had a great time celebrating the new year. We had Chet, Russ & Allison's families and Wes' parents at our house. We had 10 adults and 17 kids in attendance. Dinner consisted of quesadilla's and taco's - there was also plenty of treats to share and root beer floats. Not everyone made it until midnight - but a good portion of us did. Here's a little of what we did:

There were a lot of card games played. They mostly played "scum" but also got in a game of Phase 10.

Many games were played on the Wii - the little kids had fun playing bowling.

Holly

Rusten

The "little girls" played lots of dress-up and dolls.

Mia, Lillee & Savanah

The kids had a lot of fun playing other board games.

Madi, Grandma & Payton

A few of us rang in the new year at midnight - including all 3 of my kids! (Not much chance of them going to bed when the party was at our house!) Grandma T provided party hats, blowers and some confetti poppers. The kids loved them! Here are all of the kids who lasted until midnight:

Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with us! The only way it could have been better was if more of Wes' siblings would have been there - plan to join us next year! Welcome 2010!

Christmas!

2009-12-31T16:36:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Christmas. The kids were up at about 6:00 am. Wes and I put them off until about 6:40 and then decided we couldn't make them wait any longer (plus neither of us were getting anymore sleep anyway). The kids were excited with the things they were given. After we opened presents, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house to see what Dawsyn got. Then it was off to Chet's house to see what the boys received - and then off to Allison's house. Everyone then came down to our house. After some resting during the afternoon - we went back to Grandpa and Grandma's house for some homeade egg-rolls (thanks Aunt Kimala!). It was a great day!

Christmas couldn't get here soon enough for Savanah. She did well - getting her much anticipated "swimming puppy" (though I didn't get a picture of her opening it).

Holly wanted a Nintendo DS.

The DS game Hunter wanted. Something to do with Mario and Bowser.

I had to put in this picture to show that I was around - check out that bed hair though. Ugh. And yes, everytime I see a picture of myself I'm reminded that I am too skinny. My Mom promises that will change when I turn 35 - I guess we'll find out.

Merry Christmas everyone and on to a new year. We're celebrating at our house tonight. We're ringing in the New Year with Quesadilla's, lots of cousins - and probably lots of games on the Wii - pictures to come!

Christmas Eve

2009-12-31T16:11:00.000-07:00

Our tradition for Christmas Eve is to go to Wes' brother's house for a big family dinner. We always have a great time eating good food, visiting and playing games. The kids enjoy listening to our EMT scanners, as the dispatchers periodically put out a report on where Santa is currently at, and when kids in our county need to be in bed. We're so blessed to live by such wonderful family - we love it!

The evening is filled with plenty of stories by Grandpa to help pass the time for the kids.

After dinner we come home to open our traditional "Christmas Eve Pajamas"

Christmas Eve night the kids decided to all sleep in Hunter's bed together. They laughed and giggled so much - I thought they were never going to go to sleep!

School Christmas Play

2009-12-31T15:53:00.000-07:00

The annual Koosharem Elementary Christmas play was December 23rd. The kids did a great job! Every year (since I moved here) myself, my mother-in-law Louise, Allison (my sister-in-law) and Wendi Sorenson have worked with the kids in putting on a play. It's a large endeavor considering you have 60 kids to give parts to, songs to learn and coordinating the scenes. The kids enjoy it and it warms my heart to see how excited they get over it. This year the play was called "The Reindeer Rebellion". In the play Hunter was a reindeer and Holly played the part of Mary in the Nativity. Great job kids!

Here is Hunter as a reindeer. The pictures turned out kind of dark - but you get the idea.

Here is Holly in the Nativity. She's in the pink robe. All of the Kindergarteen and 1st graders made up our Nativity scene.

After the program, Santa Claus makes his visit to check on the kids and make sure he knows what they want for Christmas.

Savanah was a little worried about sitting on Savanah's lap. For a week prior - she kept telling me "I'm a little nervous about Santa's lap, Mom" - but she gathered her courage and all worked out well that night. Good thing Santa's so nice!

Ode To Snow

2009-12-23T16:27:00.000-07:00

Since Wes' car got stuck in the snow by our house this morning (and it's still stuck - he had to leave it there and take the truck to work), and the school bus got stuck in front of our house this morning (thank you Grandpa T for coming to save the day with the tractor) - I figured I better post some pictures showcasing the funner side of having all this snow.

We've about worn a hole in the bottom of our sled from all the sledding. Fun times!

Savanah prefers riding up by me most of the time - unless you're going really slow. She doesn't like the snow in her face.

Snow forts are so fun to build - the kids wanted to sleep in it - but we wouldn't let them (darn those boring parents!)

A snow hill is also a must - you can build some fun slides on them.

And - you've got to have snow angels.

We're thankful for the snow - and it's good we can have fun in it too. Days like this - I need to remember that. Happy Holidays everyone!

It's Christmas Time!!

2009-12-07T14:18:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to see the temple lights with Wes' brother's family. We had a great time seeing the lights. The kids enjoyed riding the Trax train and especially liked the ride up the elevator in the Joseph Smith Memorial building to see all the lights from "above". Afterwards we went back to our hotel and the lobby staff took pity on us when we came in and warmed up some hot chocolate for us. It was yummy! We were bummed to find out that their pool was closed for maintenance, but they told us they'd made an agreement with the hotel next door to use their pool. That said, we all headed out into the cool night air to walk next door to swim. If the kids didn't love swimming so much - I never would have done it. But, I guess you do it for them. It was an even colder walk back after we were wet and in our swimming suits - brrrrrr! That's when we really needed the hot chocolate!

Here are all the kids (minus Lillee) from L to R: Holly, Savanah, Hunter, Rusten, Dallen, Easten, Jaylee & Marlee

Here's our family. It was a really cold night - but the lights were so pretty!

We are so excited for the Holiday's here at our house. I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season at your homes too!

Oh, Savanah . . .

2009-11-20T16:46:00.000-07:00

Savanah loves to color pictures for Wes and I, and she likes to hang them above our bed. She'll put one for me on my side of the bed, and she'll put one for Wes on his side of the bed. I currently have a beautifully colored Strawberry Shortcake hanging above my pillow. The other day she decided it was time for Wes to have a new picture. I just can't tell you how thrilled he is with the new artwork! Besides seeing my beautiful face at night before he goes to bed, he also gets to see this:

Oh, how our Savanah loves her Jonas Brothers. Apparently she thinks her Dad should too. What are we going to do with our 4 year old - who's currently going on 13!

Hunter & Holly's Pictures

2009-11-15T17:44:00.001-07:00

I had to go to Delta for work during school pictures. When I told Allison she might have to do my kids hair for pictures, she suggested we just have Marcus take their pictures instead. I didn't like their school pictures last year - and this seemed like a great idea. Marcus did a great job taking pictures - I have so many to choose from. I've been picking some of my favorites and he said he could edit them for me and we could photo-shop them a little too. I haven't done that yet - but thought I'd put a few pictures on here for you to see. Marcus did a great job - and Allison did a great job helping to "pose" the kids. Hunter decided being a model definitely isn't for him - but Holly had a great time. I have about 30 pictures of each of my kids to pick from. They did Savanah's pictures a month or so ago for me when I was at my EMT class. I tell you - I have some of the best family in the whole world. Thanks guys!!

Halloween Carnival

2009-10-31T15:38:00.000-06:00

Our annual elementary Halloween Carnival was last night. The kids had a great time and came home with their sacks clear full of prizes and candy. Everyone worked really hard to make it a success, and I thought it went great. Good job Allison!

Savanah was a cute witch. Wes said that one time when they were waiting in line for a game, a little girl said to their Mom "Look at that witch Mom, her hair is even orange!". Holly was a wizard or a wizardess - she said some people said girl's can't be wizards. Hunter was a viking.

Bunkbeds

2009-10-31T15:29:00.000-06:00

Ever since we moved into our new house last year, Holly and Savanah have shared a queen bed. However, Holly is a little more agressive at night and Savanah either ended up on the floor, without any covers - or with Holly laying right across the top of her. We finally decided to put the queen bed downstairs and brought our bunk beds from the old house. The girls are pretty excited for them. It makes their room seem so much bigger too.

Savanah's Crazy Hair Day

2009-10-31T15:25:00.000-06:00

Instead of wearing their Halloween costumes to preschool this year, Ms. Allison had a crazy hair day instead. It went over really well here at our house - Savanah was so excited to do her hair crazy like Hunter and Holly did. The color works better in her hair than Hunter and Holly's since it is so much lighter than theirs.

Crazy . . .

2009-10-20T08:13:00.001-06:00

Gotta love Red Ribbon Week at school!!

We have our weekends back!!

2009-10-17T20:31:00.004-06:00

Wes and I officially have our weekends back! For 5 weeks we've been taking an EMT Intermediate class. It's required us to be in class on Friday nights (getting back home about 11:00 pm) and in class all day on Saturday. A big THANK YOU to all the grandparents and aunts & uncles that have helped to tend our kids. We would get home on Friday nights after the kids were already in bed and would leave on Saturday mornings before the kids were up. Needless to say, the kids didn't see much of us on the weekends. However - we passed the class. All that is left is to pass our state certification test. It's a 150 question test that we have to take. Not looking forward to it . . .

We have really enjoyed our first weekend home. I spent the day cleaning bathrooms, mopping floors, vacuuming - basically catching up on all the housework I've neglected. I also saw the biggest buck just 300 yards from my back porch. Too bad I couldn't find anyone with a deer tag to come and get it. It still got my adrenaline pumping though.

Wes on the other hand spent today hauling some calves for his Uncle Michael, buying a new bull and doing a little hunting of his own (though not for deer):

He and his brother Russ (who was here visiting) chased down this coyote that was in the field behind our house. We've continued to have problems with coyotes getting into the sheep - so it's a celebration around here when we get another one.

Here's to more weekends of doing what we want - and not going to anymore classes! (Here's to also passing our state certification test so our last 5 weekends haven't been a waste!)

Potatoes

2009-09-27T20:48:00.003-06:00

Fall has officially arrived in our little valley. Leaves are turning colors, jackets are worn more often than not, and our gardens and flowers have froze. Wes and I tried our first garden this year. Some things did well, most others didn't. We learned a lot, and will try some different things next year.

I had a meeting after church today, and by the time I got home Wes and the kids had dinner going. They had dug some potatoes out of the garden and we were pretty impressed with their size. Wes deemed it "blog worthy" so here you go:

Soccer!!

2009-09-18T07:19:00.004-06:00

Holly and Hunter have both been playing soccer this year. We've played 8 of the 10 games, so next week we're done. It's been a lot of fun to watch and the kids have had a good time.

Holly is playing on a Kindergarten/1st grade team. Their team has 5 first graders and only one kindergartner, so they've won almost every game. She's sad that soccer will be over next week - I wonder if it's really the soccer she'll miss or the treats and drinks afterwards . . .

This is Holly's team (minus one player). Her good friend Sadie (bottom left) and her cousin Payton (bottom right) are both on the team, which has been fun. Notice how tall Holly has gotten - I'd never really thought of her as tall for a girl - but I think she is.

Here they are doing what the K/1st grade teams do best - one big group around the ball! I took this picture one of the nights that the smoke was so horrible from the fire in New Harmony. Notice how you can't even see the mountains.

Here's Holly running down the field. Just this past week Holly said to me, "I'm pretty much the fastest kid on our team Mom." It's fun to see them have so much confidence when they're young.

Hunter has played on a 4th/5th grade team. For being on the younger end of his team, he's also the tallest on his team. He has 11 kids on his team, and they play on a much bigger field than he's ever played on. He has really enjoyed playing defense and midfield this year. His team has really improved. They hadn't won a game all season (they have been close, and they did tie one time) - but last night THEY WON!! It was so great. They beat a team that killed them the first time they played, and beat them 3 to 0 last night. It was so good for their confidence. They have really come a long ways. Here's Hunter's team - minus about half of their team . . .

A few more pictures of Hunter:

It's been a good season, though I won't miss going to Richfield twice a week for games!

Animal Lovers Beware . . .

2009-09-10T07:47:00.003-06:00

We've had a lot of problems with coyotes getting into our sheep this summer. I can't remember exact numbers, but we've had around 7 or so ewes/lambs killed (which is a lot when you only have 35 or so sheep altogether). We've had the government trappers come in and try to help. They set up some traps, though they only managed to catch my father-in-laws dog. They came one day in an airplane and hunted them, and I think they got a few.

On Monday (Labor Day) Wes came in later for breakfast after doing some chores and noticed a coyote walking up the fence line below our house. He and Hunter headed out on foot to see if they could get it. They didn't have to walk too far before they had a good shot - and we are one less coyote to worry about around here. Hunter and McKay cut its ears off and will turn them in for money which they've agreed to split evenly (the ears are currently in a Ziploc bag in my freezer . . . yuck!). Apparently the government has a program that will pay you money for "predators" (coyotes) that you kill. You just have to bring in their ears.

Here's a picture of the endeavor. It's a small female coyote. Wes said that means less pups running around next year. He was pretty happy. For those of you sympathetic to all animals - sorry about the picture.

P is for Preschool

2009-09-02T17:40:00.002-06:00

Savanah had her first day of preschool on Tuesday. She has been anxiously waiting for preschool to start ever since Holly and Hunter started school. On Monday she kept asking if she could go to bed, because she knew the next day was preschool. Then on Tuesday morning, she was up bright and early with me at 6:00 am because she was so excited. Her first words were - "is it preschool today?" Needless to say, it was a LONG four hours until 10:00 rolled around and she could go. She was so excited to wear her "shirt with the bow in the back" and her "wiggly jiggly" pants (these black pants kind of sway when she walks so she calls them her wiggly-jiggly pants). What a girl.

I could barely get her to stop for a picture - she just wanted to be at preschool.
Thank you to "Ms. Allison" for making preschool so great!

It was a little hard to see her go. However, I must admit I did enjoy my 2-hours of kid-free time at home. I didn't do anything too exciting - but I did get a lot of work done!

What, another birthday?

2009-08-23T16:59:00.005-06:00

August is a busy month for birthday's at our house. Both of our girls have August birthdays. Holly recently turned 6. She's the youngest in her class at school and is glad to finally be as old as everyone else (until next month when they start turning 7).

To celebrate this year, she wanted Payton and Madi (cousins) to spend the night. Sounded pretty easy to me, so that's what we did. We had everyone (Grandpa & Grandma T, Marcus & Allison, Whitney, McKay, Madi, Mia, Mason & Payton) down to our house for homemade pizza for dinner. After that, the kids all made homemade ice cream in Ziploc bags. We saved cake for a little later - everyone seemed full after the pizza and ice cream.

Holly got a CD player with a Taylor Swift CD, a stroller for her dolls, some clip-on earrings and a new dress. She also got a new shirt and some pretty bracelets from the cousins, and an art kit from her Grandparents.

At the party, the kids did a treasure hunt, played with cars on our new sidewalk, made some foam art and hot pads (thanks to Grandma Bleazard!), and played their own version of "steal the glowstick" before they finally settled down in the living room. They slept great and after a breakfast of waffles and bacon the cousins were sent back home.

Wow - another year gone, where does the time go. I am so thankful for our "Holly Dolly" (as we like to call her around here). She's a nurturer, always wanting to take care of everyone. She's in her element when she can help tend a baby or take care of someone younger than her. We love her curly hair and sparkly eyes. She's quick to give her Mom and Dad hugs and we love her so much.

One funny note about her first day of school. When she came home she handed me her backpack which was leaking something out of the bottom. When I asked her what the problem was, she said: "I saved my popsicle from lunch but didn't realize it would melt." Yep - I unzipped the front pocket to find grape liquid pooled in the bottom and leaking out. We put it in the washer and had the talk about not saving any food from school lunch, either eat it or throw it away. Hunter did the same thing his first year eating school lunch too, except it was a carton of opened milk that he was "saving for later" that dripped all over his backpack too.

Holly and I like to watch a cake show on the food network and she was determined this year she was going to have a decorated cake. Unfortunately, I don't do decorated cakes. We compromised with using colored sugar and making a flower on top. She was happy with it when we were finished.

The weather was so nice that night that we opened presents outside.

We love you Holly!

This & That

2009-08-19T14:22:00.007-06:00

Another school year is upon us. Like I said to Wes last night as we went to bed "and thus it ends". Summer vacation is over. Hunter and Holly got on the bus this morning for school and Wes was out the door at 6:50 am on his way to work. Hunter wasn't too excited about school (or so he says), but was a good sport with Holly this morning because she was sooooo EXCITED! She's so happy to be in 1st grade and able to be at school ALL DAY and ride the bus to school, eat school lunch . . . you get the idea. She's excited. Hunter is in 4th grade, I told him we're going to have to work hard this month on getting his times tables MEMORIZED. Math isn't his favorite subject. Here's a few pictures I took of the kids before they left for school. I barely remembered that I wanted a picture, so we had to hurry. Then Grandpa T showed up and wanted to take their pictures too - so they rushed outside to do that and finished just as the bus pulled up.

Savanah is missing her siblings today - it will be an adjustment with them gone all day. Her friend Kacey invited her over after lunch to play, she was happy about that. Wes was nervous for his new class as he left today - he said he wasn't sure if he was ready or not. He does a great job though, I have lots of parents tell me waht a wonderful teacher he is. I'm anxious to visit with him when he gets home!

Here's Hunter. I absolutely hate shirts that have lots of writing on them, etc. However, they are the shirts Hunter likes. I compromise every year and let him buy ONE. Of course, it's what he chose to wear the first day of school. Also, this boy is going to be tall like my brothers. Can you see his feet - and they just keep growing! The white shoes that he had to have doesn't help much either. What do you do though.

Here's my Holly. She couldn't decide whether to wear her "skort" this morning or her capri's. She opted for the capri's. What a cutie.

I've wanted a sidewalk up to our porch ever since we moved into our house. We had planned to get it the first of the summer, but before we knew it summer was gone. I had begun to think I wouldn't get it - but Wes came through. Yesterday the cement came and thanks to some help from our family we now have a sidewalk up to our front porch, and also a small cement pad on the south side of our house. Yeah!! Thanks everyone for your help!

Here is Wes working with the cement.

Wes and Mason smoothing out the cement. Mason was a HUGE help. I was so glad he was here. My father-in-law helped too - but I didn't get his picture. Thanks for your help too Tarval!

Chet was so good to come home from work early to help. He basically smoothed the entire sidewalk and did all the finish work. Thank you!!

This is the door that comes out on the south side of our house. We built an addition onto the side of our garage to put our 4-wheelers, lawn mower, stuff like that in - this is the door out of that addition. Our hope is to next summer attach a sidewalk to this pad.

A few hand-prints to remember our pour. Hunter, Holly & Savanah all put their hand prints and names. Payton and Mia (cousins) also put their hand prints.

The kids were DYING to ride their bikes down the sidewalk (or run down it). We told them no way!

The finished product. The pile of rocks is going to be smoothed out and spread around so people will have a place to park their cars and then come up the sidewalk to our house. Now we just need visitors . . .

TAT Reunion

2009-08-11T19:07:00.004-06:00

We had Wes' family reunion this past week. I love it when we all get together! Wes has a pretty big family, so it's not too often that everyone is here at the same time. Chet & Coquette were in charge of the reunion and they did a great job. It was relaxful, fun and the food was great. In fact, it was so relaxful that I didn't even think to get my camera out. Shame on me.

However, I did steal this picture off of Charmian's blog of our entire family (including Great Grandpa Sorensen). It's everyone in the family except for our 3 missionaries (we love you Tyson, Austin & Bennett!)

In other news, Wes started back to work today. It was hard to see him start back to work after having the summer off. He'll spend the week getting his classroom put together and doing some reading testing. School officially starts next Wednesday. Holly's a little nervous about 1st grade and going to school ALL day long. I think it will be an adjustment for her, but she's a good student and will do well. It's time for Hunter to head back (even though he says he's not ready), I think he needs some structure back (and frankly, so do I!). Savanah will have to hang out with me all day, except for the few days she has preschool. That's going to be an adjustment for both of us.

I took my cub scouts horny toad hunting today (shame on me, should have had the camera again - are you noticing a trend??). We caught 3 big ones and a few baby ones. And yes, I even caught one myself. I didn't want to, but darn it if those scouts aren't rubbing off on me. I guess you do what you have to do.

Birthday Time!

2009-08-05T15:19:00.006-06:00

Savanah had a birthday - my little girl is now 4 years old! The time has flown by. We had cake and celebrated her birthday with cousins and Grandpa & Grandma T. All she wanted for her birthday was make-up and fingernail polish. She wasn't too hard to please. We sure love our "Savanah Banana".

Wes and Hunter have spent a few days on the mountain getting wood. I haven't been able to go because of other things I've needed to do. It's so nice though that Hunter is old enough and big enough to be helpful. He and Wes have had some good days together, and they sure come home dirty.

I spent last week at Girls' camp for our stake. We went to the Heber Valley facility and were there from Monday - Friday. I had a good time with the girls I was given (I was in charge of 27 girls - all 1st years). My niece Whitney was one of the girls, and it was fun to spend time with her. Probably the best part was when I got home on Friday afternoon and one of the first things Wes said to me was "I don't know how you stay home with these kids. I was about to lose my patience." I guess being gone for a week helps your hubby realize everything you do. Not a bad trade-off.

Family Reunion

2009-07-17T13:18:00.003-06:00

We had my family reunion last week, and had a great time! The kids always have fun getting together with their cousins. We camped towards the top of Huntington Canyon, and the weather was beautiful. We reserved a smaller campground all to ourselves and it was so peaceful and wonderful! We did a little fishing, played a lot of card games, ate a lot of great food and all the kids fell in the creek a few times. All in all a wonderful time. We're already looking forward to next year.

Rylee, Holly & Cameron. Rylee and Cameron are my brother Jason's kids.

Holly & I, looking our camping best, after having been up there a couple of days!

Kaden & Hunter (Kaden is Jason's too). They played Frisbee a lot.

Wes & Savanah

The kids put on quite the show the last night with skits, dances and songs. If only I'd had a video camera. . .
I would post my pictures of Grandma, Grandpa, Amy, Brian, Becca, etc - but maybe I'll save those for blackmail purposes . . . we were all looking so good after camping for 3-days.

A Camping We Will Go . . .

2009-07-06T17:14:00.006-06:00

Last week, we went camping with some of Wes' sibling's and their families. We had a GREAT time. The trip was coordinated by Wes' brother Russ and his wife Jacie. (Thanks guys!) We went camping up Proctor Canyon which is by Hatch. The location was perfect with a nice flat meadow between two mountains. The kids had so much fun playing on the mountains and making "huts". We were joined by Wes' sister Allison and family, his sister Megan and family, Russ and his family and also Wes' sister Joanne and her family. There were quite a few of us there, which made for lots of cousins to play with and good conversation for us adults. I didn't take many pictures, but here's a brief look at what we did:

The kids found what they called a cave and spent a lot of their time up at the cave playing. They built fires in the cave and just had a grand time. I think by the time we left, they had multiple caves they had found over the mountains. Easten and Payton were positive that a bobcat lived in one of the caves, and spent much of their time trying to trap it. Too fun.

Here is Easten, Holly, Savanah, Madi & Rusten in the cave. You can see the fire pit for the cave in the bottom corner.

Savanah in the cave. It sure made for dirty kids!

Hello Holly!

The boys spent a lot of time shooting BB guns. They had quite the set-up with all kinds of targets made out of paper plates, cups and even forks.
Here's Dallen, Ethan, Hunter & McKay.

Uncle Russ helped the girls build their own bows and even made some homemade arrows. Here's Holly and Madi showing theirs off.

Wes and Russ spent some time getting a load of wood for Russ to take home. It was probably Wes' favorite part of the trip.

The kids played hard everyday, and even into the night. The kids would play steal the glow stick once it got dark and we only had a few bad instances with cow poop. :) As you can see, the kids would tire out pretty easily at night!

It was a great trip - thanks everyone for the good food and wonderful time! We hope to do it again next year. Next up for our family is the Bleazard family reunion this week in Huntington Canyon - can't wait!

Also - on another topic - meet the newest addition to our family. May I introduce "Georgie" - Savanah is so happy to have you!

Slip & Slide!

2009-06-29T22:45:00.004-06:00

The kids and I were able to visit my family over the weekend and we had a great time! We spent time with Grandma & Grandpa Bleazard, Uncle Jason & Family and Uncle Brian and Aunt Becca. We also saw Great-Grandma and I spent an evening with my good friend Charlea and meet her so-cute boys. She has four boys and while they were all adorable, I would have taken little Carter home with me. What a doll.

While there Hunter went fishing with his Grandpa & Uncle Brian. He out-fished them all catching 3 fish, while Grandpa only caught 1 and let's see - oh-yeah, Uncle Brian didn't catch any . . . Sorry though, no pictures I didn't go with them.

The kids had a blast playing with their cousins. The girls seemed to have a store open 24-7, which required us visiting it to buy things with our fake money. The kids also spent time on Grandma's slip and slide, which always makes for great entertainment. It was a great weekend - thanks everyone!! Here's a few pictures:

Yep - the white boy is mine! (Gotta love that pale skin I passed on.) Go Hunter!

The water was a little cold! Notice that Kaden didn't inherit the beautiful pale Bleazard skin!

Here comes our dainty Savanah. She thought she was pretty brave just to walk down the slide.

Here comes Rylee:

All I can say is "wipeout" - but good job anyway Holly!

Next up - we're headed camping with some of Wes' siblings this week. Hopefully there will be pictures soon to come!

It's been awhile . . .

2009-06-18T20:59:00.002-06:00

I was thinking how I haven't posted for awhile, and realized I wish I would do it more often so I would have a better record of the things our family does. I'm not very good at keeping a Journal - or better put, I don't keep a journal. So this is really my only way of keeping a record of things we do. Lately, we have been busy. I had my camp at SUU that I am in charge of last week. The kids went to my Mom and Dad's house and had a BLAST playing with their cousins and spending time with Grandma and Grandpa. They took the kids to the Dinosaur museum in Vernal and took them to eat at McDonalds. The only time my kids get to go to McDonalds is when they are with my Mom and Dad. Wes and I don't do McDonalds. The kids also caught fireflys at night, I remember catching fireflys with my brother Jason when we lived in what we call the "old house". They would be out on the lawn and we would get mason jars and put them in. Fun times.

My camp at SUU went well. We had 90 high school kids for 3-days. We have pictures from camp on our website at www.suu.edu/ruralhealth - I'm sure glad to have it over. There's nothing like sleeping in the dorms with 90 high school kids to put into perspective how GLAD I am to be done high school.

Wes and Hunter are at Scout camp for the week. Wes is scoutmaster and took 9 kids to camp - he also took Hunter along too. They've called and checked in about once a day and Hunter seems to be having fun. The girls and I are looking forward to them both coming home in a few days. I took my cubscouts to Cubscout Day Camp on Tuesday (thanks Allison for tending the girls!). I had 5 of my 9 boys go, I was pretty wore out by the time I got back home.

My sister is coming tomorrow and we hope to go to the Manti Temple pageant. The weather will be our deciding factor. Next week I get to be an election judge on Tuesday - Piute School District wants to build a new high school and is trying to pass a bond to secure money for the school. On Thursday I'm headed to Duchesne so I can see my good friend Charlea who is coming from Minnesota. We haven't seen each other in 5 years or so - it will be good to see her.

Enough rambling, I'm sure you all have better things to do than listen to our crazy life!

Fun Times

2009-05-31T20:49:00.005-06:00

Usually every Sunday evening, we (as in our family, Wes' brother Chet's family & his sister Allison's family) get together at his parent's house to visit. Tonight though, we had a change of venue. Wes and my father-in-law had to take a canvas damn out of the stream. We had a few of the kids with us, and what started as just removing the damn ultimately turned into this:

I went for my camera (our house is only about 200 yards from this stream) and also called Allison. It wasn't too long before the older cousins showed up too. We had log roll wars, surfing on boards and all kinds of fun things going on. The kids had a blast. I didn't get any pictures of the surfing, I don't know why I put my camera away.

The kids "swam" and played in the water for a good hour or more. Marcus and Allison came down and watched, Grandma T even ventured down for the show. It cooled off rather quickly though. As I was watching the kids and taking pictures, I couldn't help but think what a beautiful valley we live in. I snapped this picture as we came home - you can see Parker Mountain was getting a good storm.

The storm kept coming this way, and it's actually raining as I write this post - my window is open and it smells WONDERFUL! Anyway, it was a fun evening - the kids were pretty entertaining. I love summer!

Garden

2009-05-29T11:15:00.006-06:00

Despite my natural ability to kill everything I plant, and a few other obstacles (to be mentioned in a minute), our garden is actually growing! We've only planted a few things, due to the high elevation and late/early frosts there's quite a list of things that don't grow well here. However, we have planted potatoes, onions, peas and carrots. The potatoes, onions and peas are coming up - haven't seen anything from the carrots, but I've been told they take a little longer. I'm hoping to have Wes build me a planting box on the south side of my house that I want to plant some squash, tomatoes, peppers, etc (I'll buy plants that are already grown) that will be a little more protected from the elements and easier for me to cover on cold nights. We'll see if that happens though.

Here's a picture of a potato plant - looking good!

As for the other obstacles with our garden, take a look at this picture. Notice the big hole in the ground - there is actually still a pea plant growing in the upper right corner of the hole.

Unfortunately our entire garden is full of these holes. Can you guess what is making them? Here let me help you:

Aren't they lovely? This picture is taken right by my garden, the cows have been pushing the fences that seperate them from my house for the last 2 weeks. They've been through my garden numerous times. They were kind enough to eat all the weeds surrounding my trees and shrubs, unfortunately they couldn't tell the difference between the weeds and the good plants so they just ate them all. Isn't that nice of them?

The kids got out of school today - they are pretty excited to be done for the summer. They are starting the summer out with a party at Payton's house tonight with a sleepover in the tent with all the cousins. Payton is celebrating his birthday and it sounds like it will be a grand time. (I'm sure glad they won't be in my yard . . .) We have lots of camping trips, family reunions and visits to Grandma's house planned for the summer. Should be a grand time. The girls told me to take pictures of them on the swings and put on our blog too - here they are (and no, I didn't do their hair).

Grown Up!

2009-05-20T14:50:00.003-06:00

My baby is growing up. Today Savanah had her preschool program/graduation. Technically she's not graduating from preschool yet, but since they do a combined 3 and 4 year old class here, it was graduation day for the 4 year olds. Allison is such a GREAT preschool teacher. Savanah has loved preschool, and told me after the program that she is so sad that it is over. She's already looking forward to starting back up in the fall. It was so fun to watch her and see her so grown up, but also a little sad too. My baby is not a baby anymore. One more year of preschool and then she's off to what she calls the "big school". It's kind of sad to see that my life is changing so quickly. It won't be too long before I will no longer be a Mom with small kids at home, and instead a Mom who has all her kids in school and possibly a little more time on my hands. Maybe that won't be such a bad thing.

Here's some pictures of Savanah's big day. You did a great job Allison - and Savanah is so pleased with her "prize" that she got for doing her nursery rhyme all by herself (she did Little Miss Muffet - and did great - sorry for the red-eye in the picture).

This is Savanah with her good friend Kacie. These two little red-heads are sure to give us a run for our money as they grow up together!

This is Savanah doing her nursery rhyme - she did a great job.

The fabulous "prizes" that Ms. Allison gave them.

Congratulations Savanah - you did a great job!

Happy Birthday

2009-05-11T08:35:00.004-06:00

We celebrated Hunter's birthday this month. Just wanted to make a quick note about what a great son he is. He was breech as a baby, so I ended up having a c-section when he was born. The doctor joked with me that Hunter already didn't know his way home and hoped we wouldn't have problems with him when he was a teenager. He's not a teenager yet, so we won't know for sure - but I have a feeling we won't have too many problems. His personality is such that he is so obedient and quick to do what we ask him to do. He has such a sweet spirit about him and is always willing to help when I ask. I love this boy to pieces and am so proud to call him my son. I can't believe he is 9 years old - time is flying by. If the next 9 years go as fast as the first - we'll be graduating him from high school before we know it. What a horrible thought! Love you Hunter!

Spring

2009-05-06T20:30:00.005-06:00

I am loving the warmer weather! It's so nice to be spending more time outside. The kids seem happier and so am I. The girls have been working on a pot of "soup" for a few days now. They finally convinced me to take a picture of it. Doesn't it look tasty? Savanah thinks I should bake it in the oven.

Speaking of Savanah - those of you who know her - know that she LOVES her cats. Aunt Allison gave her three kittens last summer. She had two girls named Belle and Tinkerbell and one boy named Speed. Speed was her favorite, but he died this past winter. Both Belle and Tinkerbell are still around, but we can't tell them apart - so you never know which one you have. Savanah still adores them, and they let her pack them around and do absolutely anything she wants to them - and they don't care. They just love her right back. Here she is with either Belle or Tinkerbell - who knows.

And just one other thing - I am so excited to see this:

Can you see the leaves?? We planted a few trees last year and have been hoping that they would make it through the winter and still be alive this spring. Too bad these trees won't be big enough to enjoy for another 30 years though.

Recital Time

2009-04-25T20:10:00.005-06:00

First, let me preface this blog and pictures with another reminder that I NEED A NEW CAMERA. When you see the pictures, you'll understand why. I've been saving some money, and think it's time to spend some (okay, I don't have that much saved - so probably all of it) on a new camera. But, until I do get something new, I guess these pictures will have to do.

It was recital time here in Koosharem this weekend. I teach piano to a few kids in town and my friend Wendi teaches dance. We have our recitals together, which makes it nice (especially for me, because she does all the work - she's amazing!). My piano students did a good job, I think I was just as nervous for them as they were. Here is a picture of Hunter - he did such a good job. He had his piece memorized and everything. His Grandma T actually teaches him because I found that I just didn't make it a priority to get his lessons done. So, Grandma teaches his lesson and I make sure he practices all week and help him along. It works really well.

Holly danced in the dance recital. Wendi does such a good job with all the girls. Holly dances in the youngest class, the 3-6 year olds. They did a princess dance and a hip-hop dance. Here they are decked out in their hip hop attire. Holly is in the green hoodie with the oh-so stylish blue sunglasses (sorry for the dark pictures - darn camera!!).

Grandma Bleazard came to visit to watch the recital and spend some time with us this weekend. We were so excited to have her even if it was only for a couple of days. She brought Hunter an early birthday present - another Knex set to add to the one he already has. They had a good time putting it together. The kids were pretty sad when Grandma left and quite a few tears were shed. We sure love her!

We sure had a good weekend. However, now the storm clouds have moved in and we're getting some snow this evening. Savanah is now running a fever and says her throat hurts. I guess strep throat has been going around town and I fear that's what she has. Ugh, it may be a long night.

Hot Dog Roast

2009-04-14T21:48:00.004-06:00

I don't know how the weather has been where you are, but today we had wind, cold and rain. Not the best equation for what was suppose to be my cub scout troops hot dog roast today. I had planned this with the boys for a few weeks and they have been looking forward to coming to our house for a little camp-fire cooking and playing games. I taught music at the elementary school today and they all kept coming up and asking if we were still going to do it, I told them I was still holding out hope. Well - we didn't get any help in the weather department - but with some creative help from my husband we still pulled it off.

Hunter, Holly, Savanah and I swept out the garage and brought up the tables and chairs from the basement. Wes got home from work in time to put briquet's in our grill and by the time 5:00 pm rolled around and 10 cub scouts came to my house - we had the perfect coals - all ready to roast some hot dogs and make some delicious smores (all in the comfort of my garage).

Wes told them stories while they cooked their food about his Grandpa Reuben pulling a cougar inside out, and a mountain lion that ate himself piece by piece and a few other tall-tales that the boys weren't sure whether to believe or not. (When they would ask him if they were true - he'd just say "what do you think?") I tell you - he had them absolutely enthralled. But, then they wanted one last story - and he told them about these 2000 young boys that were just a little older then them. They had to go to battle, but they weren't afraid and they had a great leader (sound familiar?). He told them how they were brave and did the right things because they listened to their MOTHERS. Then he told them all that from now on he wanted them to always listen to their mothers and choose the right. All ten boys made the scout promise sign and promised to do just that. I watched as he had those 10 boys that normally are as wild as they come - just sitting on the edge of their seats waiting on his every word. I tell you what - I married a great man!

The weather cleared with just enough time that the boys had a few foot races to the fence and back before we loaded them in the cars to take them home. All-in-all a pretty good time.

It's been awhile . . .

2009-04-08T17:07:00.004-06:00

Yes, it's been awhile since I blogged. I had a big health career day last week I was in charge of and it took most of my time last week (a big THANK YOU to Allison who has tended my kids countless times the last few weeks . . .) But, now it's over and I won't have anything too stressful with work again until June. But, the way time is flying by I'm sure June will be here before I know it. Ugh. (Shameless plug - I still have some openings for my summer camp at SUU for any of you who know any high school age kids who would like to attend, check out our website at www.suu.edu/ruralhealth). Okay, enough about that.

Today was the Easter egg hunt at the school. I didn't get any "action" shots, but was pretty proud of myself to just have my camera with me. As you can tell by the coats that my kids are wearing and the beautiful brown grass - spring is not showing it's face this week around here.

The kids and Wes have the rest off the week off for spring break, and I'm officially taking them off too. No big plans for us, we're just hanging around here but plenty of cousins are coming to visit, which should make for fun times. Maybe Saturday we'll go picnic somewhere.

One last thing that I want to write down before I forget it. The kids were in bed the other night but you could still hear the girls giggling and talking. Soon Savanah wandered into our room and announced to Wes and I: "I wish that Jesus had made me one of the hot Jonas Brothers." Neither Wes nor I had much of a reply for that. Oh boy, I think we're in for some interesting times with that girl in the years to come.

SLC

2009-03-24T17:01:00.003-06:00

While we were up north for the missionary farewell, we met up with Russ and Jacie and their family. We went to temple square to see the Joseph Smith movie at the Legacy Theatre. If you haven't seen it - I highly recommend it. Take a tissue though! After that we went to the Airforce Museum at Hill Air Force Base. The planes were huge - I had no idea they were so big. The kids had a ball looking at them. After that we went to the hotel where we were staying, along with Russ and family, Allison and family, Kimala and family and Mom and Dad (Ethan was also there with Allison's family). We had a great time in the swimming pool. I think we left more water on the deck than was still in the pool by the time we left. All those kids could do some great cannon-balls. We had a great time.

The only place I even got my camera out was at the airforce museum and I didn't get many pictures there. I really need to get better about taking pictures (plus I still need to work on getting a better camera).

This picture shows how big the plane was - look how small Wes and all the kids are.

Here's Savanah posing. Her outfit is a little mismatched - she got car sick on the way up and threw up on I-15 just past Scipio. We had to do some changing of some of her clothes . . .

Holly & Savanah

Here's our kids with a few of Russ and Jacie's.

Missionaries

2009-03-24T16:54:00.003-06:00

This weekend we took a trip north for our nephew's missionary farewell's. Austin and Bennett have both been called to serve missions in Florida (one in Tampa and the other in Ft. Lauderdale - both spanish speaking). Austin leaves this week and Bennett will leave next month. We were so impressed with their meeting - they did an amazing job. I am so grateful for such wonderful nephew's who are such great examples for my own kids. After Bennett leaves we will have three nephews currently serving missions (Tyson is in South Africa). I took this picture off of Charmian's blog (I hope you don't mind) but I didn't get a picture of them on Sunday. Good luck Austin & Bennett - we love you guys.

Rocks

2009-03-19T10:17:00.004-06:00

Holly and my nephew Payton are spending the morning getting rocks out of our backyard. (I promise, it was their idea and they are having FUN doing it.) We're wanting to plant some lawn in back of our house this year, however we have the problem of THOUSANDS of rocks that need to be removed first.

Anyone want to help??

He survived!

2009-03-12T20:10:00.003-06:00

Hunter went to the dentist today to have a tooth pulled. He hasn't ever had a cavity or anything, so he was a little leary about it when the dentist told him last week after his cleaning that we probably needed to get that tooth out to give him more room in his mouth. He asked the dentist how they would get it out and his response was "we just make it sleepy". Good enough.

This week he's brought it up a few times asking how they "make it sleepy" and I've just changed the subject. Anyone that knows Hunter knows he doesn't handle shots well. He gets that from me, just ask my Mom. To this day I still get anxiety over shots.

When I picked Hunter up from school today to go to the dentist, he was in tears before we pulled out of the parking lot. Apparantly he had told the other kids what he was doing today and quite a few of them informed him how you get teeth pulled. He wasn't a happy camper. When we got to the dentist I told the assistant that he was having some issues. He was good to go back when they called his name and I stayed in the waiting room (I figured it would probably go better if I wasn't in the room).

I am pleased to report though - that all went well. Dr. Mike was very patient with him and talked him through the whole thing. They didn't have to use gas to calm him down or anything. He told him he would just put some "sleepy juice" right next to the tooth and showed him the "special instrument" they put it there with. He told Hunter he would feel a little pinch as he put it there, but nothing he coudln't handle. Anyway, Hunter was so proud when he showed me his tooth was gone. The funny thing was Hunter told me: "Mom, all the kids at school said you would get a shot when you got your tooth pulled, but they were lying. I didn't even get a shot!" I guess what he doesn't know, won't hurt him!

Happy Birthday!

2009-03-09T15:57:00.002-06:00

This weekend the kids and I went to my Grandma's 99th birthday party - and what a party it was! I love my Grandma Bleazard, I grew up right across the street from her and have such wonderful memories. I've been so glad that my own children have been able to get to know her. She is so healthy and doing so well. A lot of our family were able to attend, along with many people from the community. They were trying to add up her posterity and I think it included 4 children, 28 grandchildren, 73 great-grandchildren and 40 great great-grandchildren. The only word that comes to mind is "wow"! What an amazing lady. I love you Grandma!

Wolf!

2009-02-27T16:58:00.004-07:00

Hunter earned his Wolf merit badge on Wednesday night at our Blue & Gold banquet. He also earned 1 gold arrowhead and 1 silver arrowhead. We are proud of him for the hard work he did to earn his awards! I didn't get any pictures during the actual Blue & Gold banquet. Thanks to our ward not having a Cubmaster for the last couple of months, Allison and I have been pulling double duty by being the den mothers and also doing pack meetings. It was a successful night though, and one we're glad to have over. They put in a husband/wife team for our Cubmaster's now and we're glad they get to do the pinewood derby next month!!! :)

The diagnosis is in . . .

2009-02-22T17:39:00.002-07:00

Yep - Wes' leg is broke. I thought about taking a picture, but really there's not much to look at. He has a small fracture in his fibula just below the knee. The doctor was pretty impressed he had walked around on it for 1 1/2 weeks. He has a brace he has to wear on his leg that immobilizes his knee. He's suppose to wear this brace for 2 weeks, then more x-rays. If all looks well then he'll "graduate" to a smaller athletic type brace for another 2 weeks. They briefly mentioned casting it, but Wes put the stop to that. I think he said something about "over my dead body" . . . what a guy.

A New Record!

2009-02-18T17:02:00.004-07:00

Yes folks - we have a new record at our house. In fact, it's so fabulous that Holly informed me last night that it is "blog worthy." So, I share it with you all: last night Holly jumped rope 107 times. She was pretty proud of herself, and said it should be on our blog. So, here it is. Keep up the good work Holly!

Lazy Day

2009-02-14T14:34:00.004-07:00

The washing machine is going strong - and not because I was going to do laundry today. No, it's chucked full of snow pants and coats that are covered in mud. Snow boots, gloves & hats are all drying by the fire. Our bellies are full of warm hot chocolate - a tasty "peanut butter cup" flavored hot chocolate. Even though my "rear end" is still cold and sore (we ran over one too many rocks), my kids giggles are still sounding in my ears and so I sit here with a smile on my face. Thank you winter!

Midlife Crisis???

2009-02-09T20:48:00.004-07:00

As mentioned in my earlier post, Wes is celebrating a birthday this month. Apparanetly though, it's a more serious birthday than I thought. I'm beginning to think he's having a mid-life crisis. Here's why . . .

The last few months when Wes has come in from feeding the cows, he has mentioned to me how the bull (whom he has named "night train" and will thus be referred to as "night train", because "night train" sounds like a cool name for a riding bull) comes right up to the trailer they throw the hay out of. He's mentioned on numerous occasions that he's been tempted to jump on it's back and see what happens. He was pretty sure it would be so busy eating that nothing would happen. I didn't give it much thought, because really, who jumps on a 2000 pound animal??? Um, well the answer is . . . Wes!

Sunday was the day. I think he was able to pull it off because his Dad wasn't helping feed the cows that day, because I'm pretty sure that Tarval wouldn't have let him do it. No, it was just him and Hunter. From the account given to me from Wes, "night train" came up to the trailer just like every other day. This time, the fleeting thought to ride night train took root and Wes called to Hunter to "watch this" - and proceeded to jump on night train's back. Well, night train was not content to just sit and eat - no night train acted just like any other 2000 pound animal should/would and bucked Wes off. Wes said when it was over and he hit the ground he looked at Hunter, Hunter's only reply was "That probably wasn't very safe Dad." Needless to say, he did not last 8 seconds - Wes said he probably didn't even make 2 seconds. But in those 2 seconds, it was enough time to bugger up Wes' leg and cause a lot of grief (and a few snickers from his sister Allison and a "what were you thinking" from his Mom).

I woke up at 1:30 am last night to Wes moaning in bed and telling me he was seriously reconsidering his judgement at trying to ride "night train." We discussed whether we might have to go get x-rays but decided to give it a few days. I'm happy to report that by tonight though, his leg is feeling a little better (thanks to those extra strength Tylenol) and we're thinking he's going to be fine. And here's the crazy part, I think he's glad he did it. I guess there's something about saying you've ridden a bull and walked away. I guess if this was his mid-life crisis, I'm happy to report he/we survived. And yes, I am still reminded that I STILL love this guy.

Getting Away

2009-02-08T16:28:00.007-07:00

Wes had a conference to attend in SLC this weekend, so the kids and I took advantage and went with. We enjoyed swimming in the hotel pool, eating out, a visit to temple square and a little shopping. The kids only wished it could have been longer. Not to be though, we had to be back to play the piano in church and teach lesson's.

We're celebrating Wes' birthday this month. Can I just tell you - I love this guy! He's a great husband, Dad and friend. I'm not really a "mushy" kind of person, but I'll just say that he's the best thing that ever happened to me and not a day goes by that I'm not reminded how lucky I am to have him. Love you Wes!

Cub Scouts

2009-02-04T17:58:00.005-07:00

Hunter entered the world of Cub Scouts about 9 months ago. I admit, I haven't been completely sold on scouts. They had a pack meeting back in November, and they told everyone who "loved scouts" to raise their hands. I admit, I did not raise my hand. I think I cursed myself, because in December I was released from Young Women's and officially became the Den Leader for Hunter's cub scout troop. It has definitely been a learning curve for me. I work with 7 very interesting young boys (I'll just leave it at that). It's been a challenge to come up with activities each week that they would enjoy, however I think I hit the mark with our last activity. We made volcanoes and had them erupt. I let the boys put food coloring in to add to the effect. Some of them gathered leaves and sticks from outside to add to their eruptions. Here are a few pictures:

Of course I had to put a picture of Hunter. His volcano didn't erupt as quick as I thought it would - he filled it with a TON of leaves.

I thought this face was priceless! Amazing what a little baking soda and vinegar can do.

This was the "grand finale." The boys couldn't decide (or rather fought) over who should be first. I eventually made them pick a number between 1 - 10. This boy ended up last, but I kept telling him it would be the "grande finale" and that seemed to make it alright.

Anyway, we'll keep plugging away at scouts. I've told Wes that maybe the one good thing about only having one boy is that we'll only have to go through scouts one time!

Sisters

2009-01-29T16:33:00.004-07:00

Savanah and Holly have been laughing non-stop for the last hour. It seems anything and everything is tickling their funny bones. I am reminded how thankful I am that they are such great friends. They are almost two years apart (just 20 days shy of being exactly 2 years apart) and they get along so well. Holly is the greatest big sister because she has this natural born instinct to "mother" everyone and Savanah loves to have everyone do everything for her. So, they are a match made in heaven. Don't get me wrong - they do fight! But, for the most part they are not only sisters but best friends too. It makes a Mom's heart feel good to see that. It also makes me think of my own sister. She is my best friend too and she means the world to me. Thank goodness for sisters!

I've received my first "F" and High Heels

2009-01-24T12:54:00.004-07:00

For those that don't know the story, Hunter got glasses last year in April, 2008. He had been tested the August prior to that by the school nurse and she found that the sight in his right eye wasn't good. But, we didn't find out until she came back at the end of the year to re-test the kids and asked why we hadn't taken Hunter to an eye doctor - well the reason was because no one ever told us. So, off to the eye doctor we went and found out that he has about 20/50 vision. He got glasses and we were told to patch his good eye for about 15 minutes a day in an effort to restore vision back to his bad eye. (Because his right eye is so bad, he has quit using it. His brain is only using his left eye to look at things.) He mentioned that Hunter was reaching the age where if we didn't get him using his right eye again, he never would. So, we were good and we patched his eye. We went back 3 months later in July and the doctor said we were making progress. Yeah! Well, the next appointment was 6-months later. I think we were good at patching his eye at first, but after probably a month or so we just stopped. Well, the 6-month appointment was yesterday and needless to say we as parents received a failing grade. The optometrist wasn't too pleased with the progress (of lack thereof), his eye is back to where we started with and our "window of time" to fix the problem is now even shorter. I tell you, it sure doesn't make you feel like much of a parent when you hear that. So, Wes and I are now vowing to get an "A" at his appointment in July. The doctor told us he now needs to patch for a minimum of 30 minutes a day (preferably more), everyday. Hunter doesn't like the patch much, but I've told him if he'll patch his eye for 45 days he can get a new DS game (shameless, I know but maybe this will help him to help remind ME that we need to patch his eye). Also, now that all of you know he's suppose to be patching his eye - feel free to ask me anytime how we're doing with it. Gentle reminders are probably what I need.

I dropped Hunter off with Wes at the eye doctor yesterday and the girls and I went shopping. Holly has needed new church shoes for a long time. Well, she found these shoes and wanted them so bad. They are "high heels" and she LOVES them. I told her if she could walk to the end of the isle and back, she could get them. You should have seen her walking. Her legs wobbled, her ankles bent, she almost fell - but she had a triumphant smile on her face when she made it back. So, we got them. She's been wearing them all over the house ever since. I told her she needs to practice if she's going to make it down the hall to primary tomorrow without falling. Luckily, Aunt Charmian had given some shoes to Savanah that she has deemed her "high heels", so both girls are having a grand time.

Starting a Blog

2009-01-22T08:11:00.000-07:00

After much prodding, by individuals who will remain nameless . . ., I am finally starting a blog. I hope this blog will help me to document things that happen for our family, and will also require me to use my camera a little more often (or a lot more often - I hate to admit it but I didn't even take pictures of the kids at Halloween this year). Speaking of cameras, we need to get a decent one. We did have a nice one, but the kids broke it. So, we're down to using the first digital camera we bought a LONG time ago. So, be patient with the grainy pictures that I will post until we can save up for a nice camera.

So, last night since I was thinking how I never take pictures, I snapped this picture of Savanah before we put her to bed. She was watching the Jazz game with Wes and fell asleep at about 8:00 pm. I guess you can see how exciting the Jazz games are for us girls around here . . .