Little Bug Is Growing Up

My little girl is growing up. Hailey turned 7 today. It seems like she is still my little baby girl. Hailey has always kept us on our toes. Since the day she was born she has been a very determined girl. She always knows what she wants and is determined to get it. She has always been a beautiful little girl, since the day she was born. Our little Bug loves to read, school, playing with friends, High School Musical, gymnastics, being organized,coloring and just being with her family. She has brought so much joy to our family and we are so grateful that she is our little girl. We love you Buggy, Happy Birthday!!!!

The Lost Tooth

Hailey has finally lost a tooth!! She has been waiting and waiting for the time when she could lose a tooth like her brother and sister. I asked Hailey if I could wiggle her tooth, it really wasn't too lose and a tooth was growing in behind it. So I wiggled it and it became very lose. Of course she cried and cried because it hurt, so she said. Later on that day she was eating lunch and she chewed the food with her front tooth and it hurt her, she cried and cried. Then she decided that she was brave and wanted Bill to pull her tooth. She thought it would be great if he got a pair of pliers to pull it out. She took one look at the pliers and cried and cried. She decided that it was too scary and painful to lose a tooth and she should just ignore it and someday it would come out on its own. Then I told her I would hold her hand while Bill wiggled her tooth. She laid on Bill's lap and I held her hand while Bill tried to get the tooth out, she had the look of terror in her eyes, poor girl. Then Bill flipped the tooth and it came out, however it didn't come out of her mouth she accidentally swallowed it. She ended up spitting blood on my carpet in hopes that the tooth was still in her mouth, no such luck. My poor drama girl, after all that she went through to get her tooth out, she ended up with the tooth in her tummy. Luckily the Tooth Fairy knew that she swallowed her tooth and she still was able to get a little token from her. What a smart tooth fairy.I can't wait for all of the other teeth she will lose; it is going to be fun!!!

Officer Jake

 

My big kids have been having a blast playing with Jake in a police car that Parker got many years ago. To make sure that Jake stays put in the car they have created a seat belt which keeps him from falling out. Megan made a little name tag for him that says "Officer Jake." They also like to have him wear a hat and sunglasses when he is in the police car. He will play with the big kids for a long time and he is just as happy as can be. I love to watch them play all together with Jake, it really is too cute I am looking forward to watching them play more things together as Jake grows and starts to understand what they are doing.

 

Hailey's first grade class put on a darling little program, called a Holiday Musical. They sang songs and everyone had a little part. Hailey would practice and practice her three word part for weeks. She would also sing all of the songs and she got her costume together weeks ago. Hailey has the greatest teacher who does such fun things for her class. There is just nothing cuter than a bunch of sweet first graders singing their hearts out.

Megan's Play

 

Megan was in chorus again this year. She likes to try out for male parts and then is so upset when she doesn't get the part. This year she was a Branson dancer. There were several of her friends that were in her dance. She did a really great job. The play was darling, I would love them to do that play every year. Great job Meg!!!

My Baby Is So Big

I don't know why Jake thinks that he can grow up so fast. My big kids have been teaching Jake to stand in his crib and he can sit up by himself in his crib because he has the bumper to help pull himself up. Since he is being Mr. Independent, it became time to lower the crib. What a sad day, almost nine months in the making. This is just another milestone getting him closer to being a big boy. Doesn't he know that he is my baby and needs to stay little longer? I know that each milestone is so important and precious. I know this because before Rylee was born I thought it would be so fun to have a baby stay a newborn for a few years and then grow up. Boy did I get what I wanted. As much as I loved Rylee for who she was, I did learned that it is OK for the babies to grow and develop. That being said, I know Jake can't stay little forever but I am sure enjoying each day with him and each milestone. Next he will be pushing himself up to a sitting position and pulling himself up to a standing position and then of course the dreaded walking. I am so grateful for that little chubby boy, he is so much fun.

You can be a WINNER!!!

My cute friend Emily has many great ideas. This is the latest and greatest idea. It is a blog that is all about free giveaways. If you click on giveawaytoday you can go to this blog and enter the giveaway. Pass this along to your friends and family. If someone leaves a comment with you as a reference the more your name gets entered. The first giveaway is a $100 gift certificate to Target. You never know you could be the lucky winner. Good luck!!!

My Chubby

That is what we are calling Jake right now " Chubby". He is eight months old and so darn adorable. Jake can sit by himself without needing any pillows around him just in case he falls. He now understands that he can get somewhere or can get what he wants by rolling. He rolls all over the place. He is getting close to crawling and pushing himself up to a sitting position. I was very worried because up to a few days ago he would not stand or put weight on his legs. Now he thinks that he is so cute and loves to stand with our help. He can be loud at times. He loves to say dada, baba, and ahh. He is just such a happy calm baby. We are all so in love with that chubby boy. He fills our life with joy!!!

Happy Big 11 Megan!!

I can't even believe that my daughter is 11 years old today. It seems like just yesterday I was in the hospital having her and here we are 11 years later. Megan was such a beautiful baby, people would comment all the time about how pretty she was as a newborn. She still is gorgeous and people are still telling her how pretty she is. I decided that I want to share the eleven greatest things about Megan.

1. Megan is a lot of fun to be around.

2. Megan is very creative and imaginative.

3. Megan is very funny.

4. Megan is a kind person.

5. Megan loves all animals.

6. Megan loves to learn new words and use them.

7. Megan loves her family and is not embarrassed to publicly tell us she loves us or give us a hug.

8. Megan likes to look out for the little guy.

9. Megan is a huge help to me.

10. Megan likes to do what is right.

11. Megan is beautiful on the outside and the inside.

Happy Birthday Meggy Lou we Love You!

Tagged, Fourth Folder Fourth Picture

I was tagged by my friend Suzie. Here is my fourth picture from my fourth folder on my laptop. This is a picture of Hailey and her cousin Brady at Yellowstone, in July 2007. What a difference a year makes. Hailey looks so little. We went on the trip to West Yellowstone with my whole family a few months after Rylee died. All of my kids had a lot of issues to work through after Rylee died. Hailey's issues were wearing the same two outfits everyday, no matter what and she didn't want to have her hair fixed. She would also take multiple baths everyday, I am talking like five or more baths a day. ( Can you imagine the water bill?) She actually looks pretty good here. This of course was one of the "special outfits." The other outfit was the same style shirt that was red and black and a lime green skirt. It didn't matter which combination she came up with it just had to be two of these items of clothing. I would have to sneak her clothes to wash them, she didn't care if they were dirty and stinky she would wear them anyway. (One of my quirks is I can't stand dirty and yucky smelling clothes. I like them to smell like detergent.) I know that one of these days Hailey is going to look at her pictures from that era of her life and wonder what her mother was thinking let her look like an orphan. I will tell her the story of why she looks like and orphan and maybe she will remember and can enlighten me on why that was her coping mechanism. Thanks for the tag Suz! Now I tag all the people on my side bar.

HALLOWEEN NIGHT

We had a really fun Halloween. Here are the kids in their costumes. They had a great time at school and trick or treating. After they got their candy haul they decided they wanted to watch Harry Potter. That is their new favorite thing to watch. Megan is a pirate. This was her first year that she got to go by herself with her friends. She had a great time and thought that trick or treating is better with friends.

Parker is Jengo Fett. I don't love masks but I gave in this year. He was still cute mask and all.

Hailey is a vampire girl. She came up with her make up job all by herself. She even kept her vampire teeth the whole night.

Jake was a cute little Yoda. This was his first Halloween. He went with the kids and loved every minute of it.

I was lucky enough to stay home and pass out candy. I sat on the front porch and read the news paper while I waited for the kids to come.

Pumpkin Patch

After the fun Halloween party at Grams, we went to Jon and Carries for our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. The pumpkin patch we went to was great. First, we went on a hay ride to find the perfect pumpkin. There were so many pumpkins to chose from, of course every one wanted to pick the biggest one. I think Jon or Erin were the ones to find the biggest pumpkins. When we each found the perfect pumpkin we got back on the tractor put our pumpkins in the car and went to play on some very big slides. I think almost everyone went down a huge slide that was made by stacking hay bales and then putting some kind of sliding plastic on it. It was a lot of fun! There was also a huge tube slide that only the daring went on. I had a couple of kids that were too afraid to try that one out. It was so fun to get together with the Hendricks family. Thanks Jon and Carrie for the great time, we love you guys!

Halloween Preview

We had a party at Grams house with some cousins on Saturday. We were able to dress up and play Halloween games. We had a yummy lunch, frosted cupcakes and then played a few games. The kids had a blast! It is always fun to dress up and give the costume a trial run. Both Megan and Hailey want to make some minor adjustments to their costumes. The kids all looked darling, we had a great time. Thanks Grams for the fun!

Pinewood Derby

Parker was so excited for the Derby this year. Bill and Parker worked very hard on Parker's nice looking car. Parker designed it and chose the colors. Both of them cut out the car. Bill helped our neighbor Carter with his car. He loves to help people with their cars that is one of his favorite things to do. All of the cars were so cute. It is so much fun to watch the boys get so excited about their cars. It was a fun race, even though Parker's car didn't place. Way to go Parker we are proud of you.

Corn Belly Fun

One of our favorite things to do is go to Corn Bellys. Heather and Chad went with us this year. We also took Kaden with us. The kids had a blast. We went into the corn maze. The kids shot some corn cob guns. They had a duck race with Bill. They jumped, played on the slides and sat on a huge rocking chair. All of us had a lot of fun, even Jake did great in the back pack. The last time we went to Corn Bellys Rylee came with us, needless to say she hated every minute of it. It was a fun time to spend together as a family and a great Halloween activity to do.

Being Domestic

I have always loved the corn that Bill's mom Sylvia freezes. We have wanted to do this for years but we never did until this year. The corn we used was a little out of season, but it still worked. We got several dozen of corn, husked the corn then blanched it. We then cut off the corn and put it in freezer bags. It is such a simple process but now we have yummy sweet corn for the year.

Here we are working on the corn.

I have always loved my Aunt Claudia's rolls. For years I have wanted to learn how to make them. I have learned that there are tricks to making rolls and if you don't make them with the person that has the recipe and learn the tricks they just don't turn out the way the should. I had some cousins that wanted to learn as well. This week we got together to learn how to make my favorite rolls. Aunt C would have us make the dough and she would instruct us. Now I know why my rolls never turn out. I never fluffed the flour. I would always pack the flour in the measuring cup. My water for my yeast has been too hot. The list goes on and on. We had a fun time learning the correct roll making technique. Of course there were plenty of rolls to take home and eat. I was able to teach some of my cousins how to digital scrapbook. It was great to get together and have a great time, thanks Aunt Claudia for the fun.

After we made the rolls we went past an old house that belong to my mom's grandma's family. Then on the way home Megan wanted to see Devil's Slide. So, we stopped by there and Megan finally got to see it. Last year she did her county report on Morgan County so she knew that it is one of the main attractions in Morgan.

Here I am helping Steph with Photoshop and Heather and Aunt Claudia are mixing up some yummy rolls.

Happy Birthday Rylee

Today is Rylee's Birthday, she would have been four years old. Last night we went to visit her grave. We took her some flowers and then we cleaned up her head stone and the grass around it. We got a little grave cleaning kit from Rick. The kids love to make it look all nice and shiny. It is nice to be able to do something for Rylee by making her grave look nice. We were talking about our favorite memories of Rylee last night and we all agreed that when she would coo that was the best. She would say ah goo, when she liked something. The kids said that they would have given her a princess dress for her birthday this year. It seems so strange that it has been four years. So much has happened in those past four years. I am so grateful to have had two and a half years with that little angel in our home. I am glad that she will be ours forever. We love you Rylee and miss you. Happy Birthday Dolly!!

(I love the picture of Rylee sleeping with her little braces on her fingers. She looks so peaceful. That was the day she went home from the hospital. I found her asleep looking so cute and ready to come home.)Rylee had the longest feet I have ever seen on a baby. We called them her "jack rabbit feet."

We are celebrating her B-Day at her Grave.

Jake at 6 Months

My little chubby boy is so cute. He is able to sit up by himself now. He still falls over a lot so I have to have pillows around him but he is doing really well. He is the happiest baby I have ever had. He is happy to just be alive. He likes to suck on anything he can get into his month. He likes to roll to his stomach but then he gets all mad and he won't turn over. He can turn over if he wants, but I guess he just would rather fuss. Hailey can't stand it when he is on his stomach fussing she always has to turn him onto his back. He can also lay on his back and with his heels he will push himself around. It is so cute but I don't think it will help with his flat head.

Update On Life

Here is a nice blurry picture of us at the
Conference Center for the RS Broadcast.
Our ward got 20 tickets and only 2 were going
to be used so I took Mom and Beth with me.
We had a great time. It was so great to be there
and listen to the talks. It just made me feel so
grateful to be apart of such a great organization.

Ok, it is just ridiculous that it has taken me so long to get another post on the blog. Here are a few things that I have been doing this past month. I have been called to the Relief Society in my ward. It keeps me hopping. At the beginning of Sept. a wonderful sister in our ward passed away. Kate Raliegh was such a special person. She was never married. She lived with her sister in the a basement apartment. She was always so good to me and my family. When Rylee died she had a teddy bear made for us out of one of Rylee's blankets. It has always been so special to me and now it means so much more because when I look at the cute bear now I think of two very special people. It was so nice to be able to give back and help with a funeral when so many helped us with Rylee's funeral. It was a lot of work getting ready for the funeral but it was a lot of fun too. Then we had a Super Saturday, and a costume exchange for enrichment. We have also been helping to get Liberty Land ready for the Spook Alley. It was a lot of work but very fun. I also spoke in sacrament this past month.

We made some "Feelie Hearts", for Kate's funeral. She used to work in the oncology dept. and the family of a loved one that died would get a feelie heart to keep with them to remember the person who died. We made over 300 hearts that were given to the family and all who came to the funeral. We had a couple in our ward who have an embroidery business embroider Kates name on the hearts for the family. It was such an awesome experience to make those hearts.

Super Saturday was a lot of fun. This was planned before we got called and the people who were in those callings before and planned the activity all helped out. It was a huge success.

State Fair

I have fond memories of going to the County Fair each year while I was growing up. I loved it all. The parade, exhibits, animals, fireworks, etc. I was feeling bad that I haven't given that experience to my kids. I always wanted to go to the State Fair when I was younger but my Mom wouldn't want to take us because she always said it cost too much money. Since I haven't been to the State Fair or to a County Fair with my kids I thought it would be fun to go to the State Fair. I think everyone in the state decided to go to the fair last night. Parking was hard to come by, we ended up paying $5.00 for a good spot in someones yard. (They totally needed the money, my kids were at least grateful for the home we live in.) We waited in a huge line to get tickets to get into the fair. Apparently my kids don't get out much because they were pretty shocked by the body piercings, tattoos, clothing, etc. I was excited for my kids to experience fair food. We decided that a corn dog would be great. I ordered a corn dog and some fries and the guy at the booth told me that would be $10.00, for one corn dog and some fries. Needless to say, we didn't get fries and shared a couple corn dogs. It was fun to see the exhibits and animals. I always love to see the 4H exhibit. We saw the biggest cow we had ever seen. He was 6 feet tall and weighed over 2,900 pounds. We saw a huge 800 pound pig. Those were the highlights. My little daughter whined the whole time that she wanted to buy a stuffed animal. They all whined that they couldn't go on the rides or play the games. We heard it all, it was no fun at the fair, we are so rude not to let them buy anything, etc. Finally we took the kids to see how much the rides and the games cost. They were surprised and all of them said that they didn't realize how much it would be and they all thanked us for bringing them to the fair and buying them a corn dog to share. At least they were able to be grateful for something. So after we left we and were driving home the kids said that they would not ever want to go to a fair again. So much for my great nostalgic moment. Oh well at least I know why my Mom never took us to the State Fair. I won't make that mistake again.

Too Cute

I just had to post these cute pictures of Jake. He looks so cute in the Bumbo we borrowed from Jenny. He is so chubby that it is just darling to see his body sitting in that seat. His little chubby legs are so cute sticking out. He is a big time finger baby. He sucks on his fingers and hands all the time. When he is going to sleep he'll suck on his fingers. It is so cute but I am sure when he is five it won't be so cute anymore. He has no favored hand or fingers just whatever he can get into his mouth. He also has the Hendricks fluffy hair which of course I think it is darling.

Yummy

Little Jake has tried his first taste of real food. He did exactly what I thought he would do, nothing. He was not a fan of the rice cereal. I would put the cereal in his mouth and he would stick his tongue out and then try to get it down. I have been working with him for about two weeks now and yesterday he did much better. He is learning that he needs to open his mouth for the spoon. I did try oatmeal cereal and he enjoyed that a little more. Hopefully he will get the whole eating thing sooner than later. He is just such a cute little happy boy even if he isn't too thrilled with eating real food.

Kids Say the Cutest Things

If you want to see what your kids think of you, do this post. It is fun to see what they think.

ASK YOUR KIDS THE FOLLOWING 20 QUESTIONS.

1.What is something Mommy always says? "Besides I love you?"
M:Oh I'll make you alright(This is my funny joke with Megan)
P:You are funny Parker
H:Read your scriptures every night

2. What makes Mom happy?
M:A clean house
P:When I turn off Lego Star Wars
H:When we don't whine

3. What makes Mom sad?
M:When we don't obey
P: When we disobey you
H:When I whine and complain at you

4. How does your Mom make you laugh?
M:When you pretend like you have a whip.(Once again a little joke we have)
P: When you tell me funny stories.
H: When you say something funny

5. What was your Mom like as a child?
M:You were chubbalicious as a baby
P:Cute
H:You had chubby legs and cheeks

6. How old is your Mom?
M: 37
P: 37
H:45

7. How tall is your Mom?
M:5ft3in
P:4ft9in
H:10 feet

8. What is your Mom's favorite thing to do?
M:Make us work
P:Play with us
H:Take a nap(How sad)

9. What does Mom do when you're not around?
M:Party
P:Plan Relief Society
H:Clean the house

11. What is your Mom really good at?
M:Ski on the Wii(I haven't played for over a month)
P:The Wii
H:Blogging

12. What is your Mom not good at?
M:Being a dork(Megan is a goof ball)
P:Skiing
H:Riding your bike

13. What does Mom do for her job?
M:You clean
P:Go to Eagle Pointe Title( I haven't been for over a year)
H:I don't know, work.

14. What is Mom's favorite food?
M:Pickles( Megan says yuck)
P:Taco's
H:Tortilla's

15. What makes you proud of your Mom?
M:You are my mother
P:Let us do fun things
H:You let me in gymnastics

16. If your Mom were a cartoon character who would she be?
M:Daffnie
P:Jerry
H:ElastaGirl

17. What do you and your Mom do together?
M:We go shopping
P:We go to Liberty Land.
H:Do something fun

18. How are you and your Mom the same?
M:We are both tall, sad to say.
P:We both have blond hair and look like each other.
H: We like to take naps together

19. How are you and your Mom different?
M:You are better at scrap booking than me.
P:Your a girl and I am a boy, male and female.
H:We don't have the same color of hair.

20. How do you know your Mom loves you?
M:You make us dinner.
P:You are really nice to me.
H: When you an extra job for me.

Capitol Reef

This past weekend my mom took the family to Capitol Reef to surprise Rick for his B-Day. We had such a great time. The kids had a blast playing with the cousins. We hiked to Calf Creek, which is a hike we love. It was so hot on the way there but on the way back it was overcast and perfect. The kids were troopers and made the 3 mile hike without whining. They had a blast playing in the water and the sand. It was Parker's B-Day on the day we hiked to Calf Creek and he couldn't think of a better way to spend his B-Day. We went to Fruita and picked apples. The kids loved to climb the trees. There were a ton of deer in the park which was fun for the kids. We went to the Capitol Gorge and saw the Pioneer Registry. The kids had fun climbing into the holes in the rocks. We have spent many vacations at Capitol Reef and we always love going there. It has been several years since we went last and my kids thought it was the greatest place ever. It was fun to have them be older and able to do a lot more activities. We went to the Anasazi museum and they thought it was so cool. It is nice they can appreciate history. We had a great time, thanks Grams for the fun!