Back in the Saddle Again

I kinda like this idea of starting off with a new year. I don't have to choose where to begin from. It's already decided for me, 1/01/2010. I am trying to see around the "pink elephant" in the middle of the room, and ignore the mear fact that I have neglected to blog about the past 7 months! So as promised, I will tackle that. However, another day.

New Year's this year was a great time. We had our good friends invite us over to their home to celebrate with them and some of their other friends. The kids all got along great and the adults had lots of fun laughing and playing and munching on good food. When the clock hit 12 we all headed outside for some fireworks Daniel had. Along with the other late nighters that were shooting them off as well. The kids were so loud I'm sure they woke up the neighbors that were already asleep. Even Brin stayed up to ring in the new year. We had a great time together and are looking forward to the new year. Here's a few shots while we were outside.


Even though Daniel and I were plagued with a nasty cold the Holiday break. He was able to take Easton and Michalea one day snowboarding to try out their new rides. Brin is still a little too young to take out, maybe next year I will ski with her. That's if I can bring myself to enjoy the cold, wet snow. I am more than happy to let the three of them go on one condition, okay two condition's. They are simple really.
1)You wear a helmet. check. Daniel was actually thankful for this rule when he fell and hit his head pretty hard this last time. I didn't say "I told you so" though, I'm just saying ;0).
2) Take pictures, I don't care that they aren't the most properly exposed, composition correct shots. I just want pictures! My kids and Daniel know this by now, they should be more surprised that I'm NOT taking pictures than when I do. Sometimes when I pull out my camera or want to take pictures you'd think I asked them to go and lick the sidewalk clean or go find dinner in the gutter! Seriously, they give me this look or the moaning and groaning takes longer than if they would just know that this is how their mother/wife works. Okay, not so much moaning from Daniel, but I get "the look" you know, the hurry up or, are you kidding? look. Ya, that one. So I made sure Daniel's camera was charged and ready to go along with their helmets, food, passes, gloves and all the other stuff they were towing with them. Wouldn't you guess it? Yup, out of 2 rules they forgot one of them. Oh, we forgot the camera in the car? hmmmm, clearing my throat. You mean, hmmm, let me take a deep breath, you mean YOU FORGOT the camera? How in the world could you forget the camera? I mean did you forget your snowboard, gloves, coat? I mean you guys simply forgot rule #2! With 3 of you how could you forget RULE #2? Okay, a little bit of an exaggeration of what really happened but this is what was going on in my head!
I just gave the 3 of them "the look" yup, you know what "look" I'm talking about. I think next time they will remember the "look". I mean the camera.

You guessed it my New Year's Resolution. . . . to keep my blog updated. I'm have set a goal to update my blog weekly. Also, will go back in time and catch up for the last 6 months or so. Yup, I've got my work for sure cut out for me!

It's official!!!!

A week and a half has gone by and Brinleigh is potty trained!!! Yippee!! Hooray!!! Wow!!! Zippity Do Da!!! We are accident free for one straight week!!! Yes, that means bedtime too!!

I have to say I love her little diaper free tushie, however we are having a hard time keeping clothes up on her. She is so tall we have to buy 4T for her but with her skinny little body we have a hard time keeping things up on her. I have to admit, I love to see her running as I catch a glimpse of her little undies as her pants start to fall down. It's too cute.

We tried many different ways of trying to get her trained, she was ready. She would let us know when she was wet or needed a diaper changed after she had messed in them. But the one that finally worked was we told her when we opened the last package of diapers they would be gone and then she would need to wear her princess or Dora underpants. Every time I would change her diaper I would remind her of this and when the time came for the last diaper she was ready to put on her panties. We had a couple of accidents during the day where she was so occupied she wanted to just play and kind of forgot but we have been so fortunate to not have her have problems during the night.

After two poopy undies she decided that was not the way to do things. (this is something every kid struggles with I think). But after having to be cleaned off in the tub with not so warm water it reminded her that there had to be a better way. One day I was in folding some laundry and she came running in, "I did it, I did it" I praised her as we quickly ran to the bathroom to wash up when she told me more of, "I did it, I did it, I did pooh poohs" and yes, sure enough she had. And since then she has done a great job.

I do have to say, even more than the diaper free tushie I love it when she does her thing and comes over to me and gives me a big hug and smiles at me and SHE says, "I'm so proud of you" I think it's so cute that she knows how proud we are of her and that it makes her feel so loved.

She's ALL girl!!

Brinleigh lights up our day everyday with her "little girl" attitude. It's not so much an attitude, it's the way she is. Every morning she loves to get dressed and have her hair done (with a bow of course)makes sure she as a bracelet to match and LOVES to have her fingernails and toenails painted. She loves to look pretty and be dressed up.

Now that she is potty trained we thought for sure the Dora underpants would be her favorite. But she LOVES her princess ones. The other day she came upstairs from the playroom and was all dressed up in her dress up clothes and was smiling from ear to ear when we were telling her how pretty she looked. She just grinned and was so pleased with herself that she had dressed up like a princess. "Like a princess, me" is what she kept on saying.

I wanted to post these pictures because this is what she does every time she is wearing a dress. She LOVES to twirl and put her arms in the air as she does it. She does it over and over again until she is so dizzy she can barley stand up. When she notices Michaela in a skirt that may "twirl" as she calls it, then she tells her to twirl. We just love our little princess!!!

My Niece and Nephew

Yes, it's true, I have been taking a break from blogging for a while. I will be back soon when I have some more time. But for now these pictures are for my sister, we had a few short minutes to get some snaps of her kids. It was freezing and we were late for a dinner for Scott's birthday. We did alright with the time we had but are looking forward to family pictures when they come to see us in June!! Yippie! Here ya go Tris:





If I had all day, Presleigh would have let me take her picture until the sun went down. She is such a little doll, she loves to pose and look pretty, I couldn't get enough of her. Dalan wasn't too happy about having to leave to do pictures while the others stayed and played, but after auntie Kay pulled out the suckers he was all smiles. Cute kids, thanks for letting me take them.

My Pot O' Gold

For St. Patties Day the kids have a few fun things they are going to wear for school. I wanted to get some pictures because I always forget. By the time the corned beef and cabbage is gone,and the Irish soda bread devoured. The day is gone before I know it and there hasn't been any pictures taken of them wearing their green. So I'm ahead of the game this year!

Happy Birthday Daniel!

The kids and I just wanted to shout out to Daniel a BIG "HaPpY BiRThDaY!!!!" We celebrated the day before he left but it just isn't the same to not have him here to give him all the love he deserves!!
Only 2 more days to go!! We love you and miss you!!

Sunday Happenings

Alright, so technically it's Monday so I am posting this and the previous post a day or two late. I'm getting all my barring together so hopefully I won't get behind this week. So here it is Hun, the happenings of what you missed today. Oh you were certainly missed!

Today was not really eventful, except for the fact that we were barley 1 or two minutes late to church making our grand entrance. The chapel we go to right now while ours is being re-done is a Stake Center so for our smaller ward it's huge. They don't open the overflow because we all fit. But then you have these HUGE benches that nobody likes to slide into the middle. So when you come in late you have to climb over someone to get into the middle where nobody wants to sit. Such was the case today. Let me paint the picture . . .
We come hustling in from the frigged cold air and my eyes peer over the benches to search for a spot for us to sit, somewhere that I could get out easy if I needed to take Brin out. But no such luck. So I proceed to go to a bench that has a HUGE space in the middle that could fit an additional 2 families with ease. There was a family on one end of the bench,and then a gentleman on the other end, this was the side we decided to go in on. So I go to lead Brinleigh into the bench and all she sees is some scary guy sitting there that we have to pass and then another one where I am leading her to sit down. Uhhhmmm, she had another idea. She wasn't going to go near either of them. So what does a 2 year old do when everyone is quite and you're trying to be discreet and not make a scene? SCREAM of course!!! The loudest scream you could imagine. So I go to back out (yes OVER the guy again) making Easton and Michaela go over him again then I take her out, Easton and Kayla go to sit down and I take her out until she is settled down.
After a few minutes we try it again. The gentleman had moved to another bench so we don't have to step on his toes and knock him in the face again with my big ol' bag we take to church. (Loaded extra large today since I had a Stake Primary meeting) That's probably why he moved, I'm sure it hurt the first time I hit him with it.

Everything else went fine after that, just the usual, "he's touching me" or "I was looking at that" But we are good now, one more day down and only 5 more to go!
Sorry for Moki's inappropriate pose, I didn't realize it until I uploaded it. I will try harder to keep things G rated!

If you have ever seen Nacho Lebra (I know I spelled that wrong) then you would know about this pose. So this is a special inside joke for Daniel from Eason. SSSSSSttttttttttrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeetttttchhhhhhhh!

Darbarian Tournament

While Daniel is gone this week the kids and I thought we would update him nightly on what has gone on during the day for us.
Saturday, Easton had a wrestling tournament. He wrestled his friend in our ward and on his team for the last match. Easton was ahead but in the last few seconds he was pinned. He did a great job in the other rounds to get to the Championship, with his friend beating him that put him in 4th place but he still got a medal and we are so proud of him. So here's some pictures for Dad to look at.

This is Easton's first year wrestling this is evidently called the "Half Nelson" I'm sorry I'm going to have to play the "I don't know much" card but it's probably named after some wrestler.
This is one of the matches that he had won, I was happy to see that I had gotten this shot with Easton pressing down to pin the kid. It's so funny to see the refs get down on the floor to make sure they are ALL the way down. He's a tough kid!!! We are so proud of him!

Sorry All Starrs. . .

but you will not be treated at sea to Daniel sporting his Speedo. Daniel weighed in Thursday evening just before he left on Saturday. Not only did he make his goal but he beat it by 3 pounds!!! Go Daniel!!

For the one or two of you left in the dark here's the low down. Daniel and his counter-part had made a bet in Nov. that by the time they went on their March POA (on a cruise) they had to loose a certain amount of weight. If they both made it neither one had to sport a speedo, it was all the weight or you were wearing Superman's stretchy bottoms without the tights. Also, the speedo had to be worn during the day, lay out in the sun or swimming pool for 30 minutes, no towel to or from the pool.

At the district Christmas party all of the "All Starrs" were let in on the bet and have been keeping tabs on the two of them. So this put enough fear in Daniel that he was determined that he was NOT going to be wearing a speedo. So there you have it, the whole story. I just don't know yet if Sean needs to borrow Daniel's Superman cape or not, it would complete the outfit!!

Gracie's Blog

I don't remember exactly how I came upon this blog, http://thegledhillfamily.blogspot.com/ I have been following the progress of this sweet little girl and her family for awhile now. I was just reading their most recent post and I'm hugging my kids a little bit tighter tonight. Go check it out, have some Kleenex handy. I'm sure you will find yourself saying a prayer for them and be lifted up by their courage, strength, faith and testimony of Eternal Families.

My attempt to SiMpliFy

Yes, you have the right blog, no my blog isn't messed up, and yes I am going to keep it with the white background for a little while. This is part of my SiMpliFy post I did a couple weeks ago. I figure I spend time doing my background for the seasons and a header I may as well just cut out doing the background and stick with the header. I will keep everything white until I get tired of it, then I might change. But for now this is my attempt to SiMpliFy a few things. I hope you will still come to visit my "sterile" looking site!

An Hour in the life of Brin

While the rest of the family is gone, Brin and I have a good time being together. Like I have said in some of my previous posts, she likes to watch me pick up the messes she makes and trip over the obstacle course she lays out on the floor for me. I wanted to post these pictures because this just how her little mind works.
This is usually how the day starts out, she finds her little toy she is going to tote around for that day, it could be her Dora, Boo (her bear) her Meow, meow, or her dolly. Since we went to Florida it's been Mickey has been her top choice. She finds a pair of slippers (or shoes) not hers though and the tornado is off to start her day!
We decided to make some cookies, she of course wanted to help. Anytime she can't reach or see something she grabs out this container of animal crackers. Not to eat but to stand on, no matter where I put that silly container she always manages to find it and her little fingers are right in helping me out.
Oops! Caught!!!
This is when I was cleaning up, she had grabbed a cookie off the cooling rack and tried to get some in her mouth before I took it away, notice how she did manage to get some in her mouth. I think she was more disappointed about having her hands messy than having the cookie taken away. With this little one there is definitely never a dull moment, she keeps us constantly laughing and on our toes!

Valentines Shredding

Down the slopes that is. This year Easton, Daniel and Michaela have taken up snowboarding. Yes, they got their dad to go take lessons with them (hey someone has to stay home with the little one, besides it's warmer at home!) They have really enjoyed themselves. Aside from the time Easton was hanging off the ski lift when they had just hoped on and Daniel told him to let go. Then Daniel jumped off with him. No one was hurt, well badly. Easton's board hit Daniel's leg, he has a nice sized bruse to show for the sacraficial jump. I don't know what it is but Michaela and her friend both took turns doing the same thing. Like I said everyone is fine, only a few bruised ego's and Daniel's puffy leg.
When they finished their 3 lessons (no, they didn't miss the day they taught how to get on and STAY on the ski lift) they received passes to go another 10 times!! So this past Saturday (yes Valentines) Daniel took them again. The kids loved taking turns trying to do tricks for the camera. Daniel was only able to get one of Easton and his jump (make sure to notice his 6" of air in the picture) with Michaela he would just barley miss getting her. (I guess they needed the photographer in the family there- I think I do need to go next time to get those action shots off the ski lift) Anyway, there were some fun pictures that Easton wanted me to post for Grandma and Grandpa, he was telling them ALL about his day, "shredding down the hill" falling off the ski lift and bruising dad's leg.