The Catmull Family

This Month Is Such A Special One; It's Birthday Time For...

2012-01-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

These Two!!!

Hudson turned 4 on Monday!!! He was so excited about his Birthday this year so we celebrated in a big way...(well to a 4 year old.) We took him to McDonald's for breakfast, then he got to go to Twin with dad and pick out his birthday cake. Later that afternoon we met up with all of our family at the bowling ally and had a big party.

He got a SPARE with that one, but I was to slow to get the celebrating...so cute!

Are you surprised that he picked a football cake?

I couldn't resist the Dr. Drill and Fill

He was so excited about the "Bat Cave" this toy has been played with ALOT already.

He is growing up!

He started preschool yesterday and now he thinks he is BIG stuff, he even has homework (which is cool) and he didn't "get his name on the board." He also started going to SUNBEAMS and he is loving it, he was "so over" nursery (he was the oldest one in there!)
His New Year's resolution is to "learn how to ride a bike" (with no training wheels)

We love our Huddo Buddo!

Next up Joslyn...

Yesterday little Miss turned 2!!!

Check out that "cute" outfit from "Bama Sit ia" (Grandma Cynthia) :)

Not so sure about all of the attention she is getting.
She is becoming a pro at opening presents!
Whenever she opens clothes she pulls them out and says, "Cute!"

Joslyn is the busiest little body you'll ever meet, she is into everything! She loves Hudson and together they get into some serious mischief! She seriously missed him while he was at school yesterday she asked about him 100 X. ;)

Joslyn is such a lovable little girl, she loves, when daddy comes home, she loves her bamas (grandmas) and papas, she loves her bebe (blanket) and she is beside herself if it gets "yucky", she loves her "baba" or "milkey": / (I don't know how to get rid of it...she is so attached!) She LOVES shoes, she loves Auntie Karla and she loves showing Karla her shoes, and she knows she can get Beebah (Braiden) to do just about anything for her.

We love you Joslyn, keep getting into mischief, keep loving your baba and bebe, because you are our baby.

I love looking back at the previous years birthday picture to see how much they've changed:
(love is a pretty strong word, really it's pretty sad)

It's not even the same girl!!! wow!

Now we are officially partied OUT!

Tooth Tooth Who Lost a Tooth?

2011-12-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

Brody! It was Brody! Finally at age 7 he lost his first tooth.

Last night for dinner we had sloppy joes...Brody HATES sloppy joes. Actually there's not much that this kids likes but he really hates sloppy joes. Well being the mean mom that I am made him sit there and eat all of his dinner. Being the nice mom that I am, only gave him a quarter of a bun with a little tiny bit of meat. Well after an hour he still hadn't touched his food and he was getting mad, so he bit his shirt and ripped it out of his mouth and out popped his tooth. So who won you wonder?

He did ... he had an orange for dinner. I caved after he lost his tooth, it was too exciting.

Christmas Day

2011-12-29T15:54:00.000-07:00

Christmas Day Chaos...the only day of the year when it is OK for my house to look like this...

The shopping cart was an INSTANT hit! She was loading it up with anything and everything she could find, and pushing it around.

I loved going to sacrament meeting on Christmas Day. Our little Christmas program was awesome...I was holding back tears the whole time!

After church it was up to Grandma and Grandpa Catmull's for Christmas dinner.

Opening presents from grandma and grandpa.

Finally...Under Armour of his VERY OWN!

Brody and Hudson got "fishing jackets."

It was a wonderful day!! Hope yours was too!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-29T12:22:00.001-07:00

Went to Grandma and Grandpa Mickelsen's for Christmas eve. We enjoyed a Prime Rib dinner and then got to open our Christmas Jammies:

They got Jammies and a pillowcase this year:

Even Scott got Boise State jammies.

Our little kiddies

Catmull Christmas Party

2011-12-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

As usual there was a ton of delicious food, a TON of candy and of course...

Santa

Hudson and Brody

Braiden

Joslyn...still not very fond of Santa.

Santa brought her some pretty dress up shoes.

Lucky kids!

Happy Birthday Brody

2011-12-29T11:36:00.000-07:00

Brody turned 7 years old on the 14th. He totally scored on his big day...we joked that Christmas was going to be a let down.

The Oreo Cake. But forget about the cake those candles are awesome, they are color glow candles, the flame glows the same color as the candle.

Make a wish!

Ta-da!

Presents!

He was SO excited about his Under Armour sweatshirt and his older brother was SO jealous!!

December Ramblings

2011-12-13T09:31:00.000-07:00

OK this has gone on long enough, I need to blog about SOMETHING! ...

~ This is the scene of Christmas tree hunting, we were very successful this year. We picked the worst day to go because it was a BLIZZARD on the mountain. Needless to say I wasn't very picky, I walked around for 5 min and then said, "yup that one looks good", and it paid off!

~I stink at decorating a Christmas tree, or maybe it is my decorations that stink? Or maybe it is the fact that the tree is so Charlie Brownesque that makes it hard. ???

~ It was my birthday on Saturday, it was a great day!! My mom and I went gallivanting around Twin all day and finished up most of our Christmas shopping. Nate got me The Help, so when the kids went to bed we sat down to watch it..I love that movie. I was crying so much that the tears were running down my NECK...crying in a good way. Best. Movie. Ever!

~I also got the Our Best Bites cookbook for my birthday, now I have a grocery list a mile long. There are so many things I am excited to try!!!

~ Been waiting for this day to come so that I can call my Christmas shopping done! There's a certain movie that comes out today, that is on someone's list.

~ Hudson asked Santa for black boots...little kids are awesome.

~ The Christmas cards officially started coming! I think there is NOTHING I love more than getting Christmas cards in the mail! (hint hint :) )

~ Speaking of Christmas cards... I haven't even started on mine. I just picked up the picture CD from the photographer last night at about 5:00.

~ I am really disappointed in the pictures this year. Joslyn was not interested in getting her picture taken, in half of the pictures she was bawling and in the other half she was looking away.
But I ordered one anyway because the last family picture we had done Hudson was about 9 months old. The pictures are a blurry mess, they looked fine in a little 4x4 proof but blow that up to 11x14 and.... grrr!

~Brody has been laying around, ill for the last 3 days, I hope he snaps out of it because tomorrow is his birthday!!

~ My niece is dancing in the Nutcracker tomorrow, I'm so bummed that I have to miss it, I just don't think that would be Brody's activity of choice on his birthday. Good luck Kailey!!!

~ On the 3rd we got to see my other sweet niece be baptized, now Hudson is talking about when he is 8 he is going to get baptized, Emily thank you for setting such a great example.

~ After the baptism we met up with some dental school friends that we hadn't seen in a couple years, we had a great time catching up, and I had a great time loving their sweet baby girl.

~The funniest thing...Joslyn sings the clean- up song all the time. Her version goes like this, "dee-yup dee-yup, evbody dee-yup" If she sees you cleaning up anything (the bathroom counter, dishes off the table, papers off the floor and toys for sure) she breaks out in song. It makes cleaning a whole lot more fun!

A Beautiful Sight

2011-11-19T20:41:00.000-07:00

I was doing dishes the other night when I looked down and noticed that half of the bottom rack was filled with kiddie dishes. I thought, now that is a beautiful sight!! I am so blessed! One day they will grow up and they won't want the Buzz Lightyear plate or the Minnie Mouse sippy cup any more and my dishwasher will be filled with boring white dishes. Buzz you have a slot reserved in my dishwasher for years to come. Kind of a random thought, just thought I'd share.

Another beautiful sight:

This wall finally has something on it!! ♥ it!! This shelf was above our bed, I decided it would be better out here, and it is. :) Now I have more places to put crap! :)

A background story:

A long time ago (back in our Omaha days) Nate decided to build bunk beds for our two little boys, it was a huge project but well worth it in the end! While our garage was already a woodshop we decided to refinish some dressers that were from my Grandma Mickelsen. We stained the dressers and the bunk beds the same color thinking that maybe one day we could pass those dressers down to our boys. Smart thinking I'd say. Here's a little before and after for ya:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

So here is another beautiful sight:

At last, the redone dressers have been passed down. We got rid of the plastic "dressers" and now they have real ones!!!

Another beautiful sight:

We finally got some bedroom furniture! I feel so grown up and sophisticated now. ;) Mom and I had a fun day in Twin yesterday shopping for stuff to dress it up- yay Target!! I couldn't wait to get up this morning so I could make my bed...now that's a rarity.

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T11:59:00.000-06:00

We had a garden fairy, a "motorcycle man", Batman, and a ninja this year.

Happy Halloween!

Fall Photo Shoot

2011-10-24T11:39:00.000-06:00

I took about 70 pictures and this is about as good as it gets. : / Thanks to our neighbors for letting me use their beautiful yard!

Lately

2011-10-17T12:25:00.001-06:00

Friday Oct 7:
We said good bye to our puppies. We were giving them away for free and they were gone in 45 min!!!! I was shocked. It was an emotional day, excitement, worry, sadness. I was excited to send them to new homes, 4 dogs was starting to wear on me. Oh and the dog food we went through there at the end...they would have eaten us out of house and home. I was worried about the new owners...would they take care of them and be kind to them? Sadness- oh the tears that were shed!! Poor Braiden had a hard HARD time letting them go, I'll admit I shed a couple too. There at the end I thought for a second about keeping one...but just for a second. One man said to us, "The most expensive thing in the world is a free puppy." HA HA we got a good laugh out of that one.

Here they are, all washed up and ready to go.

Here's some animal arithmetic for ya: in a period of 7 weeks we went from 1 dog + 2 kitties + 3 puppies - 1 kitty - another kitty - three puppies and now were back to 1 dog again.

Nate's Birthday Oct 11:

I made these little jars of pumpkin cream pie for everyone at his office, I got the idea from the Crafting Chicks Yummy!

Dinner with his parents at the Drift Inn! Yummy!

His very own camp chef. Do you like my wrapping paper?

Oh and the German chocolate cake (from scratch) is a must! Yummy!

Aren't birthdays Yummy?

Oct 12 Brody's last football game:

Oct 15th Braiden's last game:
He's #75-
The one who's hiking the ball-
the one with the grey sleeves.

It was fun... what are we going to do with ourselves now that football is over???

After Braiden's game we met up with Christopher and the kids at the straw maze.

Bella and Joslyn

Hudson played on the slide all night.

Scott driving a go-cart.

Brody and Ethan

Braiden was nice enough to give his baby sis a ride.

My kids were not interested in going through the haunted maze so we will have to go back in the daytime for the regular maze.

Joslyn's First Haircut

2011-09-29T12:08:00.001-06:00

Joslyn got her first haircut yesterday.

Now she is not a baby anymore :(

We chopped off all her sweet curls...it had to be done, it was a ratty - uneven mess.

It totally turned her into a little girl.

SNIFF!

Good News: This morning when I got her out of the tub the curls were still there, they were just shorter. :) I round brushed it again today because it's nice for a change.

Joslyn is really into bandaids lately, I have to be careful and leave that door shut or she will get into them and bug me for a "bam-A" until I put one on her.

She loves flip-flops and I mean LOVES! She wears them around the house ALL the time no matter whose they are.

You can tell she has brothers that are into football because she sees a football game on TV and exclaims, "football!" The funniest thing ever though is when she says "down" and squats down, then "hike" and takes off running. Oh dear me!

Speaking of football, it has consumed our lives lately, it's been fun though.

Braiden LOVES the game, he is on the yellow team and he is playing center (?) anyway he is the one who "hikes" the ball. He also plays defensive tackle, so by the end of the game is he worn out and happy as a clam.

Brody is also playing flag football and having a great time.

All Hudson gets to do is watch, pretty soon buddy, pretty soon!

Last call on the puppies, they will be 6 weeks old on Saturday so we will be saying goodbye. sniff sniff (not!)

Puppies-Bottom Braces and Stitches

2011-09-15T14:23:00.000-06:00

I may be no good at kitties, but I AM good at puppies, look how cute they are!!

My trusty assistant-yeah he's pretty cute too!

The puppies are so funny they are starting to do all the little things that puppies do. "Play" with each other, bark, wag their tails, shake their heads, scratch their ears and escape from the kennel (not to bad though, they won't go far from mama.) They are 3.5 weeks old now, we better find good homes for them soon before we get too attached!

Yesterday was one of those days. Presidency meetings, dentist appointments, Orthodontist appointments and football games and hardly enough time in between each to take a breath. We were settling into the after school routine, of snacks and trying to get homework done. I went outside for a minute to take care of the puppies, so Brody decided he could be sneaky and open the box that came in the mail. I heard screaming and crying coming from inside and not the arguing and fighting kind, the "something's wrong" kind. I ran in to find Brody's little arm (and everything else) covered in blood I grabbed a towel and tried to clean it up enough to see how bad it was...yup we're going to need stitches. : (

It wasn't a long cut but it was deep. He got two stitches, it looks to me like he could have used two more? No?

Ewww! Yucky! Sorry to gross you out.

I think he learned his lesson about playing with knives.

I was joking with the ER staff that my other son had a football game in just a little bit so I hoped that I wouldn't be back in later. Well after Brody got all fixed up we made it to Braiden's game only 10 min late!! Pretty good! We were in the second half and J was getting restless so I was chasing her up and down the bleachers I glanced up to see all the players on one knee (that means that someone is hurt) I didn't see what happened so I stopped... pretty soon #75 comes limping off the field, WHAT #75! That's Braiden!! ugh! He was fine, thank goodness, he got a drink, toughed up and was back out playing within 5 min. Gave his momma's heart a little start though!

Braiden got his bottom braces yesterday, he was excited because now he could do alternating colors, he chose orange and blue...GO Broncos!

About the Kitties

2011-09-14T08:46:00.000-06:00

I hesitate writing this post for fear that you will all think terrible things of me, but the stories are amazing and sad so I'm going to take a chance.

Right from the get go those two little kitties loved to hide out. I tried to keep them out of the garage but they would run over to the neighbors and hide in their bushes all day. I didn't think our neighbors (as nice as they are) appreciated having our cats hang out in their perfectly manicured yard all day. So I gave in and let them hang in the garage, we did have a problem with mice last winter so I thought this might help anyway. Well just being in the garage wasn't good enough for those sneaky little fur balls, they loved to hide up inside our cars. Every morning before Nate left for work we would coax them out of his engine and off he would go. We started to learn where in the car they would hide, they had their favorite little spots, and as soon as you would call "kitty - kitty" they would answer back.

Kitty #1 was a little more shy than kitty #2 but wherever #1 was #2 wasn't far behind. Braiden had a football game one night Kitty #2 was in the garage so I figured that's where kitty #1 was. When I got to the football game at 4:00 we heard meowing coming from the car, #1 rode with us to the game! Well after Braiden's game we had to help in the concession stand and we didn't get done until about 10:00 we return to the car to find #1 still there and it made it back home!! Crazy! #1 and #2 were so happy to see each other.

The next day- the only thing we can figure is that it rode in Nate's car to church and hopped out, before he left he called them and #2 was in the garage so off he went. We never saw #1 after that.

Fast forward a couple of weeks... #2 LOVED just hanging out in the garage, lounging in boxes of junk - I've never seen a lazier cat and no more hiding inside the cars thank goodness I think #1 was the instigator of all that madness.

Hudson loved the kitties most of all, usually in the afternoon When things slowed down around here and sis was down for a nap you would find Hudson out in the garage playing with the kitty.

Last Friday we headed for Utah to attend Nate's cousin's wedding. We left here Friday morning and the plan was to head right to the Hogle Zoo and meet Grandma, Cara, Travis and Dillon and spend the afternoon enjoying the zoo. Kitty was munching on her food as we were loading up (remember she kicked the habit of hopping into cars) we cracked the garage door so that she could go in and out as needed and away we went. Well when we got to the zoo imagine my surprise when I am getting Joslyn out of the car and I hear meowing "What!! No way on earth!" I think. Just as soon as I was done "thinking" Out hops Kitty Oh. My. Word!! My first thought was, I can't believe that poor kitty made it all the way to Utah going 75MPH for 3+ hours. My next thought was, what on EARTH are we going to do with a cat down here. Well we were already at the zoo so we hoped it would do like kitty #1 and stay in the car until we got done and then we would have to find an animal shelter to take it to. Well when we finished up at the zoo and made our way back to the car, we called for Kitty Kitty and she was no where to be found. :( Braiden started crying because he was the only one who really realized what was going on. I feel so bad poor kitty kitty.

Monday Hudson was out in the garage for about a half and hour yelling for the kitty, I had to go out there and tell him that kitty was gone, kitty was at the Hogle Zoo. That just made him mad.

I'm SO sorry Karla for not taking better care of your kitties, OH SO SORRY!! I will understand if you never want to give me a pedicure again.

I'm so sorry kids, for letting you get kitties and falling in love with them and then taking them to the zoo.

I'm so sorry everyone else that reads this for being such a bad kitty mama, I hope you don't think I am TOO horrible of a person.

I"m sorry kitty for putting you through that trauma, I hope you make new friends at the zoo.

Oil Spills

2011-09-13T08:30:00.000-06:00

We've had a few oil spills in the past few weeks ( three to be exact) and all have been disastrous!!!

The first oil spill- Nate likes to change the oil in our vehicles if he has a free Saturday here or there, he had just changed the oil in his car and had the pan of used motor oil (about 5 quarts) sitting on a bucket. Fast forward a few days... we adopted two kitties (mmm more on that another time) Anyway those kitties like to hang out in our garage, there are lot of places to hide from that crazy dog that is around here. I'm sure you can see where this is headed, yes we had a LAKE of oil - dirty filthy oil all over the floor in our garage. I was amazed how far 5 quarts could spread, it looked more like 5 gallons!! We are still cleaning.

The second oil spill was Hudson's doing. I made stir fry for dinner- I left the bottle of vegetable oil out while we ate. I don't really know what happened next or I would have done something about it right away! I noticed two dishtowels on the counter soaked with something. The lid was tightly on the oil so I didn't think anything of it. After the kids were in bed for the night I went up and started cleaning up the kitchen when I noticed my (3 month old) cell phone sitting in a LAKE of vegetable oil!!! He spilled about half the bottle- eeek! I'll give him credit for trying to mop some of it up with the towels though. My phone is still seeping oil but miraculously it still works!!!

The third oil spill was MY fault- We were leaving for the weekend and the lawn needed to be mowed. Nate had to coach Brody's football team and Braiden had football practice so I volunteered ;) to stay home and mow while they did the football stuff. I got all geared up with my grubby shoes, ipod, sunglasses and bug spray and found out the lawn mower was out of gas...so was the gas can. No big deal I'll just go refill it. Nate told me to only fill it about half way but I behaved like a teenager and didn't listen thinking I knew better. Needless to say I spilled gasoline all over the back of my suburban because I filled the can too full. Luckily most of it got on the mat and I was able to take it out and hose it of and scrub scrub scrub.

Jeesh! I need a break!

Puppies & The First Day of School!!

2011-08-22T17:21:00.000-06:00

Ivy had her puppies early Saturday morning. She had a small litter of only 4 (fine with me) but the runt didn't make it (so sad) so we have three little black puppies that are fat and happy.

Notice the swimming pool? My brother wonders why we are trying to drown them. (hehe) She had her puppies in there so clean up was a breeze (sorry probably TMI) and now it keeps those little fatties nice and contained, I even layed a nice scrap of carpet inside so it would be soft and cozy.

Puppy anyone????

Today was the first day of school, the boys claimed that they didn't want to go back, but I could tell this morning that they were excited.

Braiden started 4th grade and Brody started 1st grade.

Off they go!

This is when I started bawling, I'm telling you this never gets any easier, it's sad to see them go. I wonder if I will still cry when they are in High School?

More Summer Fun

2011-08-14T20:58:00.000-06:00

Baseball {check}
Swimming lessons {check}
Impromptu trip to Challis {check}

My grandpa has a cabin in Challis and we decided to go up there for the weekend with mom, dad & Scott and Christopher and his kids. The place is a time capsule from the 70's it's great!!

1983

Here is a picture of me when I was about 3 years old, we spent Easter there one year as a family, looking through my photo album I've noticed one thing. The decor has not changed. One. Bit. 27 years later I return to find the same table cloth on the table and that same ole barstool...see.

OK so I messed up and used the gold barstool instead of the burnt orange barstool but you get the picture.

Happy Hudson 3 years old.

Joslyn is not interested in getting her picture taken.

Give her the baba and the bebe and she's much more willing.

Cuddles with Regan - I love having Regan around she is a great babysitter...now if only she lived a little bit closer to me.

One day Brody and Bella played together building fires ALL morning (not kidding) the little pyros. I loved watching them play together- friends and cousins.

On a nature walk we spotted a baby deer in the cemetery.

See him under the lilac bush? The kids thought it was great.

One day we went to Challis hot springs for some swimming. The boys rode 4 wheelers all over and had a blast-while mom, Regan and I did some (ahem) decluttering :) We have our work cut out for us in that dept. We had a blast and we are excited to come back, it's nice to have a place to get away to even if it is a cluttered time capsule from the 70's.

A weekend stay at the Sun Valley Lodge for the ISDA Annual Conference {check} I have one word. Awesome.

Annual Redfish Lake camping trip {check}

I love this picture...taken from our campground, we had a beautiful view. It was a rainy and sometimes thunderstormy camping trip. Glad I wasn't tenting it or I would have been going home, party pooper- I know.

The sister-in-law tube ride was so MUCH FUN!!! The sun peeked out of the clouds for a few hours so we hopped onto the tube!

The boys got a turn!

Joslyn had fun playing in the sand.

We did have rain but we didn't have bear scares like last year so that was a plus. The boys love love love coming to Redfish and are always so sad to leave. :(

Injured dog {double check} OH poor POOR Ivy!! So this wasn't in the plans but I took Ivy to my mom's while we were in Sun Valley so she could take care of her. I thought she would have fun with Atticus (mom's dog) and going out on the farm with my dad. Well she did have fun until my sheltered, not used to riding in the back of a pickup dog decided to jump OUT of the moving vehicle. Mom and dad took her to the vet and found out that she broke her leg. She had to have surgery to put in a pin to hold the bone together. Oh and she is going to have puppies in about 10 days oh that poor miserable dog, can you imagine!!

A HUGE thank you goes out to my mom and neighbors who nursed our dog back to health while we were camping!!!

Back to school shopping {check} The kids are all geared up for school, we registered on Thurs. and they start in 1 week. Two kids in school all day- that will be weird, I will miss my helpers. Braiden got to pick up his football equipment last week and he starts practice on Tuesday we are so excited for football season!

WSWS

What She Wore Sunday

Sis had to get some back to school clothes too! :)

We have 1 week to squeeze every last drop of fun that's left in this summer vacation, so far we've done pretty good!

We Are The Champions!!!

2011-07-11T16:30:00.000-06:00

We dedicated the entire month of June to baseball. Braiden had baseball games on Mondays and Wednesdays. Brody had games on Tuesdays and Thursdays..or did Brody have games on Mondays and Wednesdays and Braiden have games on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Anyhoo it's a bit of a blur and we're done now. I am an AWESOME mother and didn't take my camera to a single one of Brody's games. I mean come ON he had games every Monday and Wednesday... (or was it Tuesday and Thursday) for an entire month and I didn't remember it once...UGH! HELLO!!

We started out the month sitting in the car for the first few games because it was too COLD yes COLD. But by the end of the month we were baking and buying snowcones as fast as we could.

Braiden's team made it to the championships so I thought, Now would be a great time to bring a camera. ; )

Safe!

The cutest spectator.
.

and it's a good thing I did because they WON!!!

Way to go!!

Fun on the Fourth!

2011-07-11T15:59:00.000-06:00

We began our day at the parade...

Buddies-Braiden and Ethan (try not to look too excited guys.)

My beautiful niece Regan, she is going to be a cheerleader this year...that makes me old.

My loveable brother Scott.

Buzz Lightyear and Mickey and Minnie Mouse made an appearance.

Brody made it home with handfuls of candy.

The UNloveable brother (heehee j/k) and another cutie niece.

After the parade we bounced around to couple different family picnics, went home to change really quick and headed up to Albion for the rest of the day.

BBQed and ate some more

Hi Cara and Dillon

Grandma is busy in the kitchen.

Bonfire.

Fun with fireworks!

WSWS (What She Wore Sunday)

2011-07-11T15:21:00.000-06:00

Here's what she wore Sunday...well a couple of Sunday's ago anyway ; )

Braiden had to hold her in place for me...he's a keeper.
&

Look!!! Her first pony tail, she actually leaves those alone for at least an hour.

Her new word is...

MESS. Very appropriate.

Sawtooth Relay

2011-06-16T13:27:00.001-06:00

The Sawtooth Realy was on Saturday and lets just say I've never had so much fun running 10 miles in my life! These girls are a riot. We loaded up on Fri afternoon, we could have been gone for a week with all the crap we had, 6 women.... We decorated the car with our team name and we each named our legs of the relay, I wish I had a picture of that, it was pretty silly. We got to Stanley and had a wonderful dinner that we each helped make. Then we all went to bed around 9:00 to try and get some shut eye. Try being the key word. Nerves got the best of me and I layed there until my alarm sounded at 11:50, time to get ready and head for the starting line.

Here we are at the starting line: Renee, me, Karla, Brittani, Jacque, Erin

Gooooo Houswives of Heyburn!

Here's Renee ready for the 1:00 a.m. start:

Check out #214 it looks like he's thinking "...hmmm I'm totally gonna smoke these chicks..." HA whatever dude it's Renee you're up against!

I was totally on a team full of ROCK STARS and then there was me. :)

I ran my first leg at about 3 a.m. At first I was worried about running in the dark but it was fine and I actually enjoyed it more than my second leg. I ran 5.03 miles in 1 hr 6 min 54 sec I'm not quite up to running 5 miles straight yet so I walked a little too (ok alot :))

Here we are FREEZING our booties off at dawn watching for Brit to come in. YaY! it's finally light enough to take pictures.

Here's Brit finishing up leg 5 and Jacque getting ready to run up the summit! Checking times.

Yay! Jacque made it up now Renee is getting ready to run down

Jacque you are amazing!!

Here comes Erin that means it's my turn.

Okay gag! (me not you Erin...you are a beauty.) Ignore this picture I wasn't going to post it but it's proof that I actually did this thing!

This leg was 4.64 miles so...shorter than my first leg but WAY harder...mentally. :) Since it was daylight you could see the exchanges and I kept looking and looking and it was never there and my knee started killing me. But thank goodness for Sport Beans they are seriously like good drugs. They helped SO much thanks Courtney! So I felt like I was dragging on this leg...after all I've not had a wink of sleep. But I made it into the finish line in 1 hr and 41 sec. When I came in and Brittani told me my time I heard it as 1 hr and 41 min. I was devastated after all it felt like it had been that long. I seriously almost started bawling right there (my emotions were on the fritz anyway) so I started apologizing feeling like I'd let the team down, and they couldn't understand why I was apologizing. About an hour later we realized the miscommunication and I almost started bawling again, from relief this time. :)

Here's Karla cheering Brittani in.

And here goes Karla on the last leg

Here we are at the finish line!!

I had another "moment" crossing the line, I can't believe I...I can't believe we...no, I knew that they could do it, but I wasn't so sure I could do it, but I did!

We finished the race in 11 hrs 23 min and 14 sec which is SO awesome I think!

This was such an awesome experience I can't wait to do it again!!!

Kindergarten Graduation

2011-06-01T15:34:00.000-06:00

I cried like a baby at Brody's kindergarten graduation...well not really but I couldn't hold back the tears. I'm so proud of my boy he is so smart and has learned SO much this year.

Pals: Keegan, Brody, Cooper, and Gage. These boys have been great friends this year. I hope they are in the same class next year.

Brody and Mrs. Lloyd (aka: the best kindergarten teacher ever!) ♥ her!!

More tears on the last day of school when the boys handed me their report cards and they said:

Grade Placed: 1st
&
Grade Placed: 4th

That was a nice big "they're growing up" slap in the face. oooohhhh waaaaaa!

Here's a little surprise for you, when I put my camera card in the computer to get the graduation pics off I found Easter pics! Oh WOW! with all that sickness and vacationing I forgot about them...WHAT?!?!

Ward Easter egg hunt:

She's no dummy!

Easter egg hunt at grandma's house

Scott-having so much fun! He talked about this silly egg hunt for days. He loves it when the kids come, I'm glad we could make him so happy!

Joso just having fun being outside...hey I think that is the same egg...CHEATER! :)

Anyway that was a fun little flashback from a month ago. Now we need to look to the future.

Hey Housewives of Heyburn:

Our race is in 10 DAYS!!!! {gasp} literally! ;)

They sent our start time in the mail the other day umm... we start the race at 1:00 a.m. so I should be running my first leg at about 4:00 a.m. ZZZZzzzzzzz! The Housewives have decided that we should name the legs of the race ( instead of leg 1, leg 2, leg 3...etc) we want something more...um interesting than that. So when I took the kids to see Kung Foo Panda 2 over the weekend that's when inspiration struck. It was all about finding your inner peace, when you find your inner peace you can accomplish anything. SO I am going to name my second leg "Inner Peace" because I will need it by then... "Peace ON" (LOVED the movie by the way.) I will probably name my first leg "sleep walking" because I'm sure that's what it will feel like. :)

♥♥"Peace On" Housewives♥♥

Love ya!!

Scottsdale, Moab, and WSWS

2011-05-24T10:45:00.002-06:00

So I ended up going to Scottsdale and had a fabulous time!! All of the kids were fine and no one else got sick, hallelujah! We literally hit the ground running in Scottsdale, we started off going to a fun little cafe in downtown for breakfast and hit the mall. My favorite was going to the Bare Minerals store and getting a makeover, I've always wanted to try their makeup and I finally got the chance. I. am. in. love!! I feel like I am glowing everyday. That night we got to go to an Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game, I have never been to a pro-game...it was alot of fun! I spent the next day laying by the pool, reading my book, (more on that later) going for a run, pampering myself, watching a little of the royal wedding coverage :) and getting sunburned. It was great! The next day was more shopping, let me tell you I was completely shopped out by the time we were done. I came home very rejuvenated and SO ready to see my kids!

We were home long enough to wash clothes and pack bags again so we could head down to Moab as a family for some bike riding. The boys love Moab and I'm sure they will be talking about this trip for many months to come.

This is what Joslyn thought of that bumpy ride.

The best part about riding along these trails is if you get to splash through some water along the way. :)

We couldn't leave Moab without a drive through Arches National Park:

A little bit of shade.

Delicate Arch

WSWS

what she wore sunday

She has a little bit of curl to her hair that I love...so cute! Most days I don't do anything with it so it eventually goes frizzy but Sundays are special. I have started taking her in to nursery while I run around taking roll and making talk assignments and she is doing great. I even tried to peek through the window to see how she was doing and she busted me and didn't care. :)

It seems like this baby girl is saying a new word every day, here are a few:

mom

dada

ba-den (braiden)

bo-dy (brody)

hudsee (hudson)

boys (she will stand at the top of the stairs and yell down..."boys!")

hot

done

ba-ba

i-de (ivy) (she will bang on the window and yell i-de) She is ok with the dog through the window but that is about all.)

bebe

ball (in nursery the other day the nursery leader said Joslyn come and get a baby so she walks over to the toy cupboard and says "ball!" because that is the first thing she spotted. You can tell she has brothers.)

shoe

pretty

bye

uh-oh

owie

brush

ding-dong (i was reading a book to Brody the other day and every page said ding-dong pretty soon she started saying it too.)

brrr! (when she gets out of the shower)

poo-poo (and pats her bum)

doggie (anything with 4 legs is a doggie)

cheese (when ever I pull out the camera it's "cheese!")

num-num

***

I am always scouring blogs, the internet and my friends searching for a good book, here are a few I've read lately.

On my Kindle:

The Red Tent by: Anita Diamant hands down THE best book I've ever read- love love loved it!

The Forgotten Garden by: Kate Morton this was also a very good read.

My sister in law suggested this book- These Is My Words by: Nancy E. Turner it was fabulous and heart wrenching at the same time...come to find out there are two more books in this series-yay!- Sarah's Quilt and The Star Garden. Right now I have read 45% (according to my kindle) of The Star Garden and I'm loving it, there's an adventure around every corner. Just a few ideas in case anyone is looking for good book.

Two Choices

2011-04-26T14:19:00.000-06:00

I have two choices:

1- Go with my hubby and stay in a luxurious hotel in Scottsdale AZ, spend some much needed time together...just us. A chance to lay by the pool and read a book all day if I so desire. A trip to the spa?? Shopping in stores that this small town Idaho girl can usually only dream about. My wardrobe could use some freshning up. Eating at yummy restaurants--oh and did I mention spending time with my hubby- kid free?!?!

OR

2- Stay home with my sick kids.

Believe it or not I want to go with option #2 wwhhhhaaaatttttt??? Is this girl crazy or somethin'?

Let me explain... I would feel so terrible leaving my sick kids with anybody, I would hate to make other people sick, because it's a bad one! First Joslyn was sick and miserable for a week- a week. Not kidding the day that I thought she was returning back to her old self Brody came down with "It." His only lasted about 5 days- wasn't that nice? And yesterday he said, "mom I'm feeling good" So I sent him off to school. This morning we went to get Braiden out of bed for school and saw that he had obviously gotten... "IT." PALEEEZZ. Now it's not a matter of- if, it's a matter of -WHEN Hudson gets "IT." And if Nate and I don't get "IT" it will be a miracle. Going from the track record of "IT" Braiden should get better in the next 5-7 days.
And... just hearing about this incident over the weekend seems to have rattled me to the very core.
I just want to stay home and take care of my babies-big and small.

Finish it Friday: Spring Blocks Edition

2011-04-16T18:14:00.001-06:00

I think I set a new record for myself of not posting in FOREVER. I don't have a reason either...just not much to blog about. :) Let's see a few things going on lately...

I hosted craft night at my house last night. It was a blast- good friends, no kids, chocolate chip cookies, talking, laughing, and crafting until all hours of the night, it doesn't get much better than that. Here's what we did:

Now let me explain the title of this post, I saw these cute spring blocks on a blog a year ago and I wanted to make them so I got all the paper and embellishments together and got everything ready to go...except for the wood. I asked my husband at least a hundred times (bless his heart) to cut the wood for me. Well spring turned into summer and I figured I don't need spring blocks now that it's summer, so there the paper sat. One YEAR later I decided to put together a craft night and finally finish my Spring blocks. So as a punishment ;) for not cutting my wood last year my sweet hubby had to cut my wood x 10 :) which he did promptly and without complaint might I add.

I had seen these little cuties popping up all over blogland and I thought they would be the perfect "waiting for the mod podge to dry craft" and they were, love the way they turned out!

A couple of months ago we got this huge ball at Costco. It's fun for the boys they can climb inside and roll each other around, it was a great middle of the winter toy for all but one. Joslyn was petrified of it, whenever we would go within 10 feet of the thing she would cling to me and whimper. Alot has changed since then.

Love the hair sis!!

Look what's coming...

Last fall I planted almost 100 bulbs of all sorts, now I'm starting to see the fruits of my labors-- YAY! I love tulips.

Last weekend we took the kids up to Idaho Falls for a cousins sleepover at Casey and Kristy's. It was a blast!! The kids had a blast downstairs playing and watching movies.

Sea of Kids :)

The mom's and dad's were in stitches upstairs playing wacky (and I mean wacky) games! Woke up the next morning to yummy breakfast.

Cutest little girlies.

Professional Pancake Maker.

Professional pancake eater.

Then drove up to Green Canyon Hot Springs for some swimming.

Thanks Casey and Kristy for a great time--we can't wait to do it again. Oh and thanks for letting me steal these pics off your blog since I forgot my camera. ♥

Phase I

2011-03-10T17:57:00.000-07:00

My boy got braces put on this morning. He was so excited about it and now he thinks he is super cool. I wonder how long that will last? He is a champ!

WSWS

2011-03-08T09:28:00.000-07:00

Time for a new edition of WSWS (What She Wore Sunday)

This one's for you Auntie Karla:

Thank you so much for my cute cute dress.

xoxoxo

♥ you!

Braiden's 9th Birthday

2011-03-03T13:58:00.000-07:00

My boy turned 9 yesterday. What? That means that this is his last year in the single digits, that also means that his mother must be getting old.

The lucky kid got to go on a field trip to the planetarium on his birthday- fun fun. When he got home he had to tell me about all the snakes he saw. Ewww! Wait...what are snakes doing at the planetarium? Anyhoo I guess the planetarium wasn't the only place they visited.

We had Grandmas and Grandpas over for hamburgers to celebrate.

He is so big now we let him light his own candles.

He was excited to have his cake

Make a wish.

Waiting to open presents.

Legos!!

What he really wanted- Under Armour (do you see how excited he is?)

And a new Wii game. I tricked him and wrapped it in a Ritz Cracker box so he couldn't guess what it was. ;) It worked. :)

They had their pinewood derby last week. We didn't win this time...maybe by the time Hudson is in scouts we will know how to build a winning car. :)

Steelhead Fishing

2011-03-03T13:17:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks ago Nate went Steelhead fishing with my dad and brother. They drove all day to Tillamook Oregon where they had hired a guide to take them out fishing- geez what men will do to catch a fish. They had a great time:

Christopher caught the biggest fish. (2 total) Dad caught the most. (5 total) Nate caught a native fish and a fish that had already spawned (meaning it was dying) so he let them go. (4 total)

You can't go to Tillamook Oregon without visiting the Tillamook Cheese factory. They came home with all sorts of cheese to try. yum.

On their way home they stopped at Multnomah Falls:

Isn't it beautiful?

Nate named this "the Scooby Doo tree"

I think Oregon is a beautiful place, I think a family trip to the coast is in order this summer.

Decorating Dilemmas

2011-02-18T16:25:00.002-07:00

Yesterday my mom and I went shopping for the first time since her knee replacement. We had a blast and I am looking forward to many more shopping trips now that she can walk better. :) It was a quick little trip to Twin Falls, but that's OK the only place we really wanted to go was Real Deals. I found this cute little candle stick, I loved it-I didn't know what I wanted to use it for but I couldn't pass it up. The little nest just screams spring and I am SO ready for spring. Here's what I came up with:

I got the bird last year at Tai Pan--♥ it!

I also got this clock:

I have this shelf above my bed and it needed something else, I thought this clock would be perfect. I am having mixed feelings towards the clock- at first when I put it up I liked it. When I went in the room an hour later I wrapped it back up in the bubble wrap and I was going to take it back. Two hours later I unwrapped it and started playing around with it. I like it sitting on the decorative book here are some options:

Clock in the middle- family picture on the left.

Clock on the left family picture in the middle---NAH!

See- something has to be in the middle.

Think.

Think.

Think.

Go digging.

Wicker balls:

This is how it sits now. Tell me- what do you think. Maybe there's something I am missing. Should I take the clock back and get something different, or give it a chance?

On to the next decorating dilemma. I had a wreath over the fireplace at Christmas time, I just barely took it down. I loved the way it looked up there and the way it filled the space. Looking around I decided to try putting my big clock up there:

I just hung it on the wreath nail so it is about 3-4 inches higher than I would like, I hate putting another hole in the wall though.

Or should I just put the family pic back up there:

What do you think?

The problem with putting the clock up there is:

Now I have a blank wall above my couch. But, I would love to do something like this on that wall:

♥♥♥ {sigh} ♥♥♥

Moving on...

I was looking at Brody the other day and noticed a little bit of hair missing from the front of his head:

it's just a little. Nothing like Braiden's butcher job he did when he was about 4-- take a look- it's funny (well it wasn't at the time.)

I believe that all kids are going to cut their own hair at some point. Luckily Brody chose to be conservative, unlike our friend above. :) Oh and I never could get Brody to admit to it.

Also Joslyn is now an expert walker

She officially walks more than she crawls.

All of my kids have walked at 13 months--just keeping tradition.

Double Stuff

2011-02-04T09:17:00.000-07:00

I was getting ready to transfer pics from my camera to the computer this morning when I came upon these:

Someone had left the pantry door open and moved the oreos to the bottom shelf so she decided to try one...or two...or...when I found her she was starting to gag because they were too much!

Our highchair had seen it's better day. It had a cloth cover that I had to wash every other day. It had too many crevices for crumbs to get caught in and that drove me CRAZY. Every night I would get out a toothpick to try to clean out those small spaces--yeah I'm like that. AND it didn't have a seat belt and that was the # 1 problem!!! SO- I got Joslyn this little booster, I didn't want to spend $140 on a new highchair-she's #4 for heavens sake! So I settled for this little $25 version, no cloth cover, no crevices and best of all it has a SEAT BELT!!

I think she's happy with it! At least until she tries to stand up and she can't and then she won't like it any more. :)

Looky-she has a clip in her hair! She barely has enough hair-but "barely" is good enough for me. I gave up on headbands a long time ago. Hopefully these clips are discreet enough that she will forget about them and leave them alone-hopefully.

In other news: I am in the dog house with Braiden because I missed him making a basket the other night at his basketball game. He said I was too busy "talking". I felt so bad! :( BAD MOMMY!

Some of my friends talked me into doing the Sawtooth Relay (click on the link if your curious) with them. WHAT was I thinking??? I am not a runner!! The race starts in Stanley Id and ends in Ketchum that means each member of the 6 person team has to run/walk 2 legs of the relay which are about 5 miles ea. One of the girls gladly volunteered to run UP Galena summit, and another brave soul volunteered to run down--and neither one of those was me! I have ALOT of work to do before June 11. Now if it would warm up a little so I could get out and start running! The best part of this is our team name: The Housewives of Heyburn- ha-ha love it!

Note: new pics of the kids on the sidebar--its about time, I know.

A Few Things

2011-01-20T15:59:00.000-07:00

:: I am soooooo excited for zumba tonight, I really need it today.

:: I bought these pretty apothecary jars and filled them with pink and red candies, the only problem- I can't keep them full, it's not me I promise! ;) maybe that's why I need zumba tonight. :)

:: I am considering putting Hudson's dresser drawers under lock and key-he changes his clothes 5 times a day.

:: Baby girl cut her third tooth-my kids are slow teethers-I'm OK with that.

:: Speaking of that baby girl, she keeps me on my toes.

-If the door to the linen closet is open she is tearing Kleenex out of the box and eating toilet paper.

-If the door to the pantry is open she is pulling boxes of cereal off the shelves and helping herself.

-If the door to any given bathroom is open she is playing...well never mind. Let's just say I had to wash her hands about 10 times yesterday and change her clothes about 5 times.

-She loves to "help" in the kitchen unloading the dishwasher, taking out the garbage, sweeping the floor. She is always "right there" when you need her. ♥

-She won't stay sitting to save her life- she sits in her highchair for about 2 min then she finishes her meal standing, and I have my arm out ready to catch her. She even stands in the grocery cart. JOY!

-She crawls around the house pulling up the vent covers-just because she can, she doesn't want to play with them she just wants them out of place.

:: Who needs zumba when you have Miss. J?

:: I am going through Kindle withdrawls-I need a good book, any suggestions?

:: It's happening again, more pink and red candies disappearing--that darn Hudson.

Joslyn's First Birthday

2011-01-05T11:38:00.000-07:00

Growing...

My One Year Old Girl...

Cupcakes for a princess.

Digging in.

NOT loving all the attention.

After a little time out with mom she was ready to open presents....With a little help from her brothers.

Fun Day! I can NOT believe my baby is 1.

After the party was over I put her back in the highchair to enjoy her cupcake in peace, and enjoy it she did!!

Yummy!

I think a sink bath is in order.

While she was opening her presents she was standing up to the coffee table and let go and took 2 steps to the couch!! She is getting so brave!

We love our baby girl/sis & we can't imagine life without her.

Hudson Turns 3!!

2011-01-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

My sweet boy turned 3 on Sunday

Don't let this picture fool you this poor boy was sick, sick, sick on his birthday. He was running a serious fever that I almost couldn't control with Tylenol and Motrin. Hudson wanted a football cake so Nate took over and decorated the cake, I think he did great. He will be decorating every birthday cake from here on out. ;)

Three candles.

Make a wish.....

Hudson loves motorcycles and before he even unwrapped this one, he said, "It's my bike guy?" He loves it, now he calls it his "big guy" because he's never had a "bike guy" as big as this one.

He had a big year as a 2 year old.
He became a big brother.
He learned how to go potty.
He learned how to dress himself.
He learned how to love nursery.
Then he learned how to hate it again.
He learned how to sleep in a big boy bed--in the basement.
He learned how to "walk like a good boy" along side the grocery cart.
He learned that he loves his daddy best. "daddy is my own Huddo" and when Nate is holding Joslyn he says "daddy is MY Huddo!"
He learned how to hold his own against his 2 older brothers and to be sweet and soft to his baby sister.

You've grown so much Hudson we can't wait to see what you'll learn as a 3 year old.

Christmas Day!

2010-12-28T13:30:00.000-07:00

They must have been good, because Santa came.

Arcade Basketball!!

Santa was up until 3 in the morning setting this thing up!

Christmas Cuties!

Fun on the Plasma cars.

Christmas Eve

2010-12-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

We went out to my mom & dad's and had a prime rib dinner. Yumm-o!! Then the kids got to open their Christmas jammies from grandma & grandpa.

Catmull Christmas Party

2010-12-28T13:02:00.000-07:00

One fun tradition we enjoy every year is the Catmull Christmas party! Lots of YUMMY food, and lots of laughs! Oh and Santa!

Brody's Turn!

Braiden's Turn

Joslyn's Turn

She didn't like santa.

Hudson's turn

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things...

2010-12-28T12:45:00.000-07:00

Hudson's version:

1. My Daddy
2. My "bike game"
3. Wearing my goggles.

We were just hanging out one night and I looked over and saw Hudson, sitting on his daddy's lap clutching his "bike game" wearing those goggles. He is such a funny boy, this describes him to a T so I had to snap a picture.

Birthday Time

2010-12-28T12:38:00.000-07:00

On the 11th we had a friend party for Brody. He basically planned the whole thing, he told me who he wanted to invite and what he wanted to do. Bowling--fine with me! He had such a great time with all of his favorite little people.

One the 14th we celebrated his 6th birthday with pizza, cake and presents.

Brody you are a fun little boy! You are so smart, you are doing great in school! You love your family and playing sports. The one thing you don't love is eating your dinner. We love you Brody-ody.

December

2010-12-28T12:18:00.001-07:00

It has been a busy, busy, fun month. There have been Christmas parties, birthday parties, and school Christmas programs galore, along with shopping, baking, wrapping and creating sprinkled in here and there.

Nate gave me a kindle for my 30th birthday.........say wha???? 30??? Sad but true I am officially old. : (
anyway back to the kindle. I LOVE IT!! He was very very sneaky about it so I was totally surprised, what a sweetie.

Next up Brody's birthday.

Snowy Days

2010-12-01T16:47:00.003-07:00

Happy to see snow.

Yup-that's our dog in a nutshell...annoying!

We had an extra long Thanksgiving Break this year thanks to 2 snow days before the break and 1 after. It

was so bitter cold and windy that the kids didn't even get to play outside that much. I think

were all glad when school started back up on Tuesday.

We had a great Thanksgiving with lots of eating and laying around. :)

Friday we went up to the mountains to find our tree:

This is Nate's favorite part. (ha just kidding)

Look at Joslyn's new trick!!!

She is SO brave.

WSWS

What She Wore Sunday:

Drumroll please

(it kinda sounded like one when I typed that) :)

She is SO Stinkin' Cute!!!!

It totally helps that she loves the camera.

She knows how to get what she wants... What? She is only 11 months old!

She is a climber, she can climb all the way up the stairs but can't go back down. She also climbs out of the highchair. I basically can't take my eyes off her.

She can stand up in the middle of the floor all by herself.

No steps yet, but I can tell they're not far off.

She loves to clap her hands and play pat-a-cake.

She has just discovered the, I drop it-you pick it up game. This one will be a favorite for sure!

Gets into everything, she loves to empty my cupboards and drawers.

She gives the best loves, complete with pats on the back.

♥♥♥

We have a jam packed December ahead of us...here we GO!

Makeovers--Big & Small

2010-11-16T15:28:00.001-07:00

Oh, the wind is lashing lustily,

and the trees are thrashing thrustily,

and the leaves are rustling gustily,

so it feels that it will undoubtedly be...

a rather blustery day!!

--Winnie the Pooh

Why does it have to be garbage day on the windiest day of the year? This morning I put the cans out early, right after Braiden got on the bus. Fast forward a few hours, I start the shower for Brody and look out the window to see our garbage cans...contents and all blowing all over the neighborhood. So I slip on my shoes and run out, gather up the garbage put everything back in place... Back in the house I find this:

It is impossible to take a shower with this chick around! Look at her she is having the time of her life.

Joslyn--10 months.

The other day I was sitting back looking at my entryway ledge, my brain started turning and I decided that I wanted to change it up. I have these W-E-L-C-O-M-E letters up there that were green, and I wanted them black...so I got out the spray paint and wah-lah!

Added a cute bird cage and some greenery.

This little ledge is so high that nobody sees it any way, but I do, and I like it!

A couple weeks ago we got new furniture....finally. So the majority of the day on Sat. we spent moving furniture and electronics around. I am loving the new look.

Moved the TV downstairs (YAY!)

TA-DA

ahhhh I love it!

(view from the kitchen)

(view from the hall)

(view from the entry)

These days Hudson insists that he is called Huddo, he is so funny he even introduces himself as Huddo to people in the grocery store. Silly boy.

Halloween Week

2010-11-03T09:33:00.001-06:00

Ghostess with the Mostest

Silly Ladybug

The coolest Buzz Lightyear

The cutest trick-or-treaters

"Hulk Strong"

Sneaky Spiderman

Freaky Frankenstein

It was a solid week of Halloween festivities, and I'm glad it's over. :) First off the Catmull Halloween party, lots of games, prizes, food and fun. Friday was the school parade and parties. Then a pizza party with cousins. After pizza we went to the local garden center to have fun at the mazes. Let me tell you they did not disappoint, they went all out this year. We spent hours there, no kidding! Grandpa, Christopher, Regan and Ethan were the only ones who wanted to do the haunted maze. The rest of us opted out. Brody and Bella spent the majority of their time in the corn pit having corn fights, digging and having fun. Hudson went down the GIANT slide a GAZILLION times, and Braiden drug me kicking and screaming into the 3D maze (tunnels through straw bales) claustrophobia-city!!! I made it out alive though. It was so much fun!! Saturday was the trunk or treat I was in charge of the photo booth This girl and I put together the awesome display, it turned out so cute, thanks for your help Erin!

It was a fun Halloween but for now we are all costumed and candied out!

October Happenings

2010-10-21T09:01:00.002-06:00

Birthday Time.

The best thing that happens in October is this guy's birthday:

On that day I have an excuse to make this delicious cake. That I end up eating for the rest of the week...for every meal, I think I've gained 5 lbs.

We get to go out to eat and celebrate the birthday of a wonderful husband, father, son and brother.

And then come home and eat cake. Happy Birthday Nate.

Football season comes to an end.

Last week the boys had their last football games for the season:

Brody did great this year, I think he's got it figured out now so watch out for him next year.

Isn't that cute?? Too bad they couldn't keep their gear until the end of Oct. That would have been a good halloween costume. ;)

Custom mouth guards made by dad, he's so cool.

Thank heavens there were no injuries! I've been a little lost this week, not having somewhere to go EVERY night of the week...it's been kinda nice. We had fun, can't wait until next year. Seriously.

A trip to the pumpkin patch is a MUST!

Saturday the cousins were in town so we made a trip to the pumpkin patch. The kids had fun getting lost in the corn maze, climbing on straw bales, going for wagon rides, and picking crazy pumpkins.

Braiden's new girlfriend. ;)

Where are the other two when I need them? They're super freaky too.

Kylie, Braiden, Hudson and Brody

They've grown a little since the last time.

Finish it Friday: Job Chart Edition

2010-10-08T14:17:00.003-06:00

There is nothing Halloween or fall about this post. But I finally finished up a few projects that have been on my list for...well never mind.

First up: Cute job chart.

I have been wanting/needing to make a job chart for the kids for some time now, I just had to find the right one that would work for us. Enter a cute piece of scrapbook paper, a few embellishments, a list of jobs printed on the computer and a 12x12 frame. So Easy!! When they finish a job they get to cross it off with a dry erase marker. We tried it out for the first time this morning and they were actually excited about doing their chores so they could cross them off. Wahoo!!

Here's a close up.

Next up: Uhhh, I guess I'll call em framed initial wall art. I bought these chipboard letters {{ahem}} 2 years ago, and I finally got around to doing something with them. Found some cute scrapbook paper, traced the letter and glued it on, distressed the edges, spruced it up with some ribbon and wah-lah! ♥LoVe♥ the way they turned out!!

The J was long and skinny so it had to be put in a 12x12 frame (luckily the 12x12 frames were 40% off at Michaels, because I had to buy three of them!) Another note: This frame is the same frame as the job chart frame, I just spray painted it to go in a girly room. :)

The 8x10s are ~~cheapos~~ from Walmart, but they look pretty good.

Another note: The job chart is under glass (of course) and I threw away the glass for the framed letters since they are more 3D.

I am linking up to these fun parties:

Just a Girl's Show and Share Day
Under The Table and Dreaming's Sunday Showcase
The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday
Organize and Decorate Everything's We're Organized Wednesday

♥

Nine Months

2010-10-06T15:00:00.000-06:00

Joslyn is nine months old!!

:: She's standing up to everything and crusin'.

:: She loves to cuddle with her blankie and her mama at night.

:: She loves to eat graham crackers and some table foods, baby food...don't even try it lady!

:: Her favorite toy is the magzine basket, I've moved it about 10 times and she finds it every time. This last time it took her about a week to find it, now you set her down and she bee-lines straight for it.

:: She has discovered the garbage cans...GAG!

:: She won't leave a bow on her head to save her life, I've given up (except for an occasional photo) ;)

:: She is still sportin' those chubby cheeks.

:: She is getting more and more hair...finally. Even though she still doesn't have as much as her brothers did at this age. whaaat? Not fair.

Love you sis!

♥

Happy Fall Y'all!

2010-10-06T14:01:00.001-06:00

It's potato harvest time round these parts. I love this time of year, the sights, the sounds, the smells, and yes even following behind the slow moving potato trucks. Potato harvest is better than Christmas for my brother Scott (... really I'm serious on this one.) I took the kids out to see the action first hand.

Grandpa and the boys.

Joslyn and mama.

Both of my brothers left their homes, families, and jobs to come and help out with the harvest. I love them to bits for doing this. Deep down I know they LOVE it though. ;)

My brothers teased me relentlessly growing up Casey grew out of it but Christopher never did. Case in point....

Yeah that's gonna get you a date. haha!

Love him though. He makes me laugh.

Cute story: There was a small break so we were all standing around enjoying homemade chocolate chip cookies when Scott said, "Who loves the cellar-raise your hand." We all raised our hands, some of us raised both hands and he giggled. Told ya he loved potato harvest more than Christmas!

{Spookifications}

Some are spookier than others. ;)

I've been decorating for fall and Halloween and having fun doing it

I love this Autumn sign I let out a squeal of delight when I opened my fall box, I had forgotten all about it.

Glittery pumpkin.

The kids love the "spooky tree"...I do too!

Love the cuter than heck table runner my mom made, that accidentally coordinates perfectly with the colors of the "ornaments".

Pretty fall wreath.

Copied this idea from the Potterybarn Kids mag.

Those are a few of my favorites from around the house.

I've been working on a few fun projects, I have a couple of finishing touches to take care of before I can show you so stay tuned.

♥

Zumba Baby!!

2010-09-24T18:45:00.004-06:00

So last night, some of my friends and I decided to go try out the Zumba class. It was so much fun!!! I haven't moved my body like that in years, who knew you could have so much fun working out! Great environment, great moves, great night out with the girls...I can't wait to go again next week!

My Day

2010-09-17T15:15:00.004-06:00

Outside my window...

The sprinklers just turned on and they don't need to be on. Better go shut them off. Besides that it is a perfect day, temps anywhere in the 70's is ideal for me.

I am thinking...

About my dad. I love him so much, he is a great guy. He does alot for us kids, and for a lot of other people too.

I am thankful...

That my car broke down in the parking lot of Minico High School and not on the side of the road.

From the kitchen...

The bananas are patiently waiting to be turned into banana bars with cream cheese frosting. Yum! I will be sure to leave 1/2 unfrosted so that Braiden can have some too!

I am wearing...

Cut-off sweats. If I am home-I am wearing sweats-I am a bum. The End.

I am creating...

Hmm I'm stumped on this one. I did see a cute job chart that I want to make though.

I am reading...

Sadly nothing at the moment. I would like to be reading The Hunger Games-I want to see first hand what all the hype is about. I just got home from the library-they didn't have it. Maybe I 'll see if my MIL will let me borrow her Kindle.

I am hoping...

To someday get some furniture, it pretty much consumes my thoughts, what to get and how to arrange it.

I am hearing...

Joslyn is playing with toys and Hudson is watching Wall-E.

One of my favorite things...

When the boys make Joslyn laugh.

A few plans for the rest of the week...

Braiden has a football game in the morning, I hope they win! Attend our neighbors baptism. Go to church on Sunday.

A picture thought I am sharing...

Babies really shouldn't grow up so fast, it isn't fair to their mommies.

Did Ya Miss Me?

2010-09-10T14:20:00.003-06:00

I thought since I haven't graced this blog with my presence for about oh....4 posts or so (but who's counting) I would stop in for a visit and let you know what I've been up to.

I've been growing some of these::

Practicing this::

and just being cute! ::

Mission Accomplished!!

♥ Joslyn

Last week it was like Christmas for me when I got to meet up with friends from Omaha for lunch. I love, love, love these gals, it was so much fun to catch up with them.

On Labor day we did just that...labor...in the yard. One more project off the list. Then we went up to the Lake for a little bit of fun::

After our fun at the lake we hurried home to watch the Boise State game...GO BRONCOS!!!!

Braiden had his first game on Wednesday, GO #71 and Butte Irrigation!!!

I put on my running shoes at the beginning of this week and I haven't taken them off once. meaning we have been busy!! So when my butt finally hits the couch at 10:00 at night, my eyes automatically close. The boys are having so much fun in football so it's worth it!

On another note, Hudson is doing awesome with the potty. I have to say that potty training him was pretty much a breeze! Yipee!!

Potty Training in Progress

2010-08-30T17:21:00.001-06:00

He thinks he's ready...but I don't know if I am!

On Thursday when I got Hudson out of the tub, he said, "Need to go pee" so I hurried on put him on the toilet and...he went. 5 min. later, same thing. So I asked him if he wanted to go to the store and buy some underwear, he was all for it! When I tried to put a diaper on him so that we could go to the store he got mad. So I guess he's ready.

So far, I can't complain, only about 5 "accidents" in 5 days not bad! I usually just take him potty every 30 min or so, we just need to work on the "telling mommy" part. He has been going #2 on the potty for quite a while now so it's just the #1 we need to learn, this should be easy peasy- right??

Enough potty talk ;)

Joslyn now has two tiny teeth poking through her gums, and she has just started standing up to stuff.

Do they ever stop growing???

Back to School

2010-08-25T09:40:00.001-06:00

Prepare yourself for picture overload.

The kids started school on Monday. Back to school is always such a bittersweet time, ahhh no more fighting, no more constantly telling them to turn off the TV, a whole lot less laundry (yes even boys change their clothes multiple times a day) and I can finally keep the house clean for longer than 20 min. But back to school means that they are growing up, it means that they are away from me for a good portion of the day. My little helpers, my buddies, I'll miss the impromptu trips to the pool, Popsicle breaks on the patio, watching their tricks on the trampoline, and the general overall laziness that is the very definition of summer.

My mom told me that she cried every year when we started school, now that I am a mother- I know why.

This is Brody on Friday, ready for kindergarten orientation.

Mario Kart Wii backpack.

Braiden on the first day of school.

Getting on the bus.

Dropping Brody off at school.

Sitting at his desk.

Just a little side note, when we walked in to the classroom Brody noticed a little boy across the room and almost immediately went over and said "Hi" He has been playing with that same little boy every day since. I love how easy it is for kids to make friends.

On another side not I am SO sad that they don't do all day kindergarten here. We still lived in Omaha when Braiden went to kindergarten and they had all day kindergarten there. It. Was. Great. Boo-Hoo!

This would be a great picture of Hudson if he didn't have dried up boogers and cookie on his face. I snapped this one while we were waiting for the boys to get off the bus.

Here's Braden- the big bad third grader.

Here's Brody- the big bad kindergartner.

Brody's teacher sent this home on the first day, it brought a tear or two.

I gave you a little wink and a smile

as you entered my room today.

I know it's hard to leave

and simply walk away.

You've been together for several years.

You've been a loving guide.

But now the time has finally come,

to leave your child by my side.

Just know that as you drive away

and tears may start to flow,

I'll love your child as I would my own

And help your little one to grow.

As place a favorite picture here,

and cherish it in your own way.

And know your child will be safe and loved

As we work and learn each day.

Whirlwind Part II and III

2010-08-19T21:53:00.002-06:00

The next week...yes week, was spent catching up on laundry. And then it was time for the event that we have been looking forward to all summer. Colton and Brooke's wedding. It was amazing! We are so happy for the newlyweds.

First Dance

We feel so lucky to have been part of their special day.

What a Stud!

Buddies

So cute...I mean handsome!!

The boys checking out the candy bar...they were in heaven!!

Hudson, enjoying a cookie.

Here's Brooke tossing the bouquet.

There's just something about weddings that make you fall in ♥love♥ all over again.

Look at my hunkofahusband in a tux!! {{swoon}}

Got a cute new pic of the family too:

It was a great night!

This past week was spent prepping the kids for school, I will have two in school this year {wow} getting two ready was a lot of work, I can't imagine what it will be like getting all 4 ready for school. One day we went to Boise and did the clothes shopping (all by my self might I add--with all four kids) Yeah it was kinda crazy but we did it. I still don't have all of their school supplies I will try the third store tomorrow to see if I can get the rest of the stuff from their lists. There isn't a pink pearl eraser to be found in this town. What?? (Can you believe that it will take 3 different stores to be able to get all of their supplies? I'm kinda irritated about that.)

~~Nate~~ We signed Braiden up for contact football and I think it has been more work getting all his equipment rounded up, or maybe it's just the two things combined, I feel that I am about ready to collapse. He has already had two practices and he seems to love it so far! He looks so cute but yet so little in his football gear. He has been wearing the shoulder pads and helmet around the house most of the week, thinking is all cool and grown up and stuff. ;) It only seems fair that Brody gets to play a little football too... so we signed him up for flag football. this is going to be good let me tell ya! Needless to say we are going to be crazy busy with all of the football going on at our house. Only 3 more years till we can do ballet, only three more years.

Taking the new school supplies for a test drive.

Almost there. ;) just need to add that elusive pink pearl eraser.

Kindergarten orientation tomorrow, first day of school on Monday, will there be tears?...Time will tell.

Whirlwind!!

2010-08-19T19:18:00.001-06:00

{ The whirlwind month }

The day after we got back from camping was the Mickelsen family reunion. It was my mom and dad's turn to host. It was fun to see everyone! My sister-in-law had this fun craft for all of the kids:

Bubble Art

Braiden's bubble art.

James and Tricia brought their sno cone machine, it was a huge hit with adults and kids alike. (thanks so much you guys!!) Hmmm I wonder what color Hudson had???

The best part of the day was when my brother, the toad, won the toad! (the toad is the ever coveted golf trophy passed around year after year.) Way to go Toad!!!

Joslyn is Seven Months Old

2010-08-19T18:55:00.003-06:00

{Only a half month late}

Joslyn turned seven months old while we were camping. This month has been full of milestones.

:: She is crawling now!! (she really started before we left to go camping, but she wasn't able to get down and play for a week so when we got home she had to relearn a bit.)

:: She can go from crawling to sitting and sitting to crawling.

:: She can say mu-ma and da-da!!

:: She ♥s to play patty cake.

:: She loves to play with her brothers. Wherever they are, you can guarantee that she will be right in the thick of it. See example below.

:: As you can see she still has those chubby/kissable cheeks.

:: She loves to eat.....paper products. Ack!! Napkins, mail, newspaper, paper towels, you name it.

:: One of her favorite toys is a good ole' fashioned water bottle.

:: She is a smartie, she knows when her brothers are at the table eating lunch, she's bound to find something yummy on the floor. Ack!!

She is definitely at the age where I have to keep my floors exceptionally clean, because if there is something...anything on them she will find it. Whether or not I do...well- I'll leave that a mystery.

One thing that is not a mystery is that she is very ♥ loved ♥ by her mu-ma and da-da and her three older brothers.

Hangin' With The Wildlife

2010-08-09T16:32:00.001-06:00

{Redfish Lake 2010}

I learned something about myself this past week. I am afraid of bears.

We took our yearly trip up to the beautiful Redfish lake. We had a blast-well 95% of the time, the other 5% was spent hiding from bears in our camper. Just kidding but I wanted to. We have been going up to Redfish for 10 years and have never heard of problems with bears until this year. They had signs posted everywhere and bear traps set up. Fun fun! One night after dinner we were sitting around the camp fire and a man came high-tailing it down the trail right by our campsite, he said "just to let you folks know, there is a bear about 10 min up that trail." I freaked-- NATE get the kids and get into the camper now!!! He calmly told me that we weren't going to sit in the camper for the rest of the night-that was just ridiculous, and that I needed to get ahold of myself so that I didn't scare the kids. So I reluctantly stepped out of the camper and sat in my camp chair with one eye on the woods the entire time!

One morning Braiden stepped out to go...potty, and quickly came back in and said, "Uh-mom, I think that there has been a bear here." So I follow him out and he shows me this:

OK so I am NOT claiming that this is from a bear but I can tell you that it is NOT from a dog and it is NOT from a horse.....

What ever it was walked right down this trail

and left us a lovely present right by the tent pad. Boy am I glad I wasn't sleeping in a tent!!!

OK enough drama.

We spent the majority of our time playing on the beach and boating.

Joslyn was a happy camper

Well, most of the time...

Hudson LOVED the water even though it was ICY cold. He loved jumping off the dock to me. He had a blast! Every day he played hard-and then he would crash hard:

Taking a little power nap on the softest spot he could find.

One day we visited the Stanley Museum and had a little picnic there:

Aunt Tiffany and the boys.

Our Family

Aaron and Tiffany

One day we boated everyone to the other end of the lake and hiked up to the Lilly pond and waterfall.

While we were over there Uncle Mark showed everyone this:

He claims it is a bear track, I think he was just trying to freak me out! I'm sticking with 'dog print.'

Hangin' around the campfire telling jokes and stories, and making s'mores of course.

That is scary!

What happens when it is late and dark and your two year old is crawling on top of the picnic table???

A big gash in his chin. It probably needed stitches but that wasn't going to happen at 10:00 at night in the mountains. Luckily Dr. Shiloh was there with her bag of tricks and fixed him up with some steri-strips.

Nate's uncle Mark whittled all of the boys a wooden knife, they love them.

Thanks Mark, that was a lot of work!!

Notice Braiden's face, he is less than thrilled-he loves his knife but he doesn't love going home, we had a great week yes we stayed up there for an entire week but he would have gladly stayed for another!

We can't wait for next year, but someone please let the bears know that next year they are not invited!

Summer Fun

2010-07-19T18:34:00.001-06:00

Wow --I feel like it's been forever, time to catch up!

Joslyn turned 6 months old on the forth of July

Isn't that the cutest thing you've ever seen?!?

I thought it was great that the fourth landed on a Sunday this year, that way we could have three days of picnics, parades, boating and fireworks instead of just one! ;) We had a great time.

No one was really interested in getting their picture taken so this was about the best I could do.

Grandpa and "Josie"

Here's our little "Chubbykins" as her brothers so affectionately call her:

She is starting to do all sorts of new tricks nowadays, sitting up, army crawling and getting up to her hands and knees. ahhhh!!

This little stink can get anywhere she wants to go, today she wanted to get to the mail.

I have to be careful now and block off the stairs.

Auntie Karla took us shopping the other day and Joslyn got her first pair of jellies, Yippee!

We had a fun day, Auntie Karla spoiled Joslyn despite the fact that she um--serenaded us the whole way there and the whole way home. She must love us.

The other day Joslyn decided that she would try out the binki

She was so cute I couldn't help but snap a picture. She was a little wierded out by it. She is a fun little girl and we love her to pieces!

Baseball finished up just after the fourth, it was a fun season- despite the overwhelming loosing streak. I was feeling a little lost, not going to games every day- so I signed the boys up for swimming lessons. Got to do something to stay busy-right?

I got the slip-n-slide out the other day, the boys had a ball. I heard one of them say ,"this is the best day of my life" SAD

I'm glad they had so much fun.

We went to Boise over the weekend to see our newest little nephew and cousin.

He was born on July 9th tipping the scales at a whopping 4 lbs 4 oz!!! Welcome to the family Dillon.

The day we visited Dillon was also the day set to be the hottest day of the year so we did what was best--hit the water park. It was a perfect day. I forgot my camera in the car so I don't have any pictures but we had a blast and nobody got sunburned. Yay! Hudson loves the water--Joslyn, not so much.

Hudson

The Milkaholic

milkawha???

(ha remember that one?)

This kid drinks so much milk we go though about a gallon a day between him and the rest of us.

Cha-Ching!

10 Years Ago...

2010-06-30T10:17:00.001-06:00

{was the best day of my life}

I married my best friend. Little did I know that I would have many many more "best days of my life."

Milestones of Togetherness

June 30, 2000- Married for time and all eternity in the Bountiful temple.

June 30, 2001- Celebrated our first anniversary in New York City.

2002- Had our first child- a boy. That was the best day of my life.

2003- Celebrated our third anniversary in Duluth, Minnesota.

2004- Started dental school.

2005- Had our 2nd child-a boy. That was the best day of my life. Bought our first house and moved to Omaha Nebraska.

2006- Celebrated our sixth anniversary.

2007- Celebrated our seventh anniversary. For every special event (birthdays, anniversaries, even graduation) while we were living in Omaha we went to Kobe Steakhouse (a delicious teppanyaki grill.)

2008- Had our third child- a boy. That was the best day of my life. Graduated from dental school. That was the best day of my life. Got a dog--ummm what were we thinking??

2009- Moved into our first house that WE built. That was the best day of my life.

2010- Had our fourth child- a GIRL. That was the best day of my life.

Nate thank you for 10 wonderful years, I'm looking forward to the next ten and the next. Oh, and many more "best days."

♥♥I LOVE YOU♥♥

5 Months Old

2010-06-09T20:09:00.002-06:00

{and cute as can be}

Joslyn I can't believe you are five months old already!! You are such a sweet baby! You love your brothers, they can entertain you for hours, OK maybe hour. ;) You are all over the place rolling and scooting. You are starting to sit, it's a good thing because you love to be up watching the action all around you. You are a champion napper, and a first class eater. Can't ya tell? You are very sensitive to sounds around you if something startles you, you will let us know that you didn't like it--even in church. You are picky about who holds you, or even talks to you for that matter. You love your toys and you get very excited when we give one to you. It's easy to make you laugh and you even laugh when we're laughing. You are the best little baby and we love you to pieces!!

Joslyn had her well baby visit today She weighs 15 lbs 12 oz (75th percentile) and she is 26 inches long (90th percentile) can you believe with all that chubby goodness that she is only in the 75th percentile for weight? I couldn't.

Since she likes to sit I thought I'd let her try out her high chair today, she did great and had fun watching me do dishes. However I think the princess needs a new throne, this one is pretty hammered. I'll let you know how that goes. She looks so cute and tiny in there.