Parker's Win

This year was Parker's last year to do the Pinewood Derby. He was very excited about his car this year. He and Bill worked hard figuring out just the right shape of the car and how to make it fast. Parker ended up coming in 3rd place. He was so happy to win a prize. He won a cute little plaque to mount his car. We are happy for you Park and we loved the car, way to go!!

Fall Fun 2009

I definitely am a big fan of fall. It is so fun to do all of the fun activities with the kids and to watch them get so excited. Of course we couldn't have fall without a family pumpkin carving night. This year was awesome, the kids did all of the carving and cleaning out all by themselves. I have never seen them so focused and quiet when carving pumpkins. They did a cute job and of course they were all proud of their creations.

We had the annual Holt Family Halloween party. We all got dressed up and went to Grams for the party. We played games, ate and the kids had a cake walk. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins and playing Halloween games. Thanks Grams for the fun time!!

One of our very favorite activities to do in the fall is go to Cornbellys. Bill and I love to do the corn maze, the kids don't love it as much as we do, but they do along with us anyway. Jake had a blast running up and down the corn stalk aisles. We were lucky to have Michelle and her kids with us this year. It is always more fun to have the cousins with us. The kids had a blast, they loved playing in the corn kernel house. It was messy but they thought it was a riot. They also had fun shooting corn cobs and riding the tractor hay ride. Luckily we went at the first of the month when the weather was perfect.

It has been a great fall and I am sad to see it end. Of course there is nothing better in fall than Halloween, I can't wait for Saturday.

Happy Birthday Rylee!!

Here it is, the year Rylee would have turned five years old. I can't believe it has been that long since she was born. Those were some dark hard days when she was born. When the season changed to fall I started to feel like I did before she was born. I always remember things by the smell and feel. I was feeling a little sad this fall and I couldn't figure out why and thing I realized it was because it was fall and I remember so vividly the season and how I felt after Rylee was born. In a few more days it will be official, she will have been gone longer than she was with us. I knew this day would come, but I just didn't think it would come so soon. It is definitely a milestone to have her gone longer than she was living. As hard as her birth and life were to us I will never regret anything that happened to us. I am the person I am now(for better or worse) because of what I learned from that little dolly. I just seems so weird that we are going to visit her grave and then come home and celebrate with a cake and talk about our favorite memories. I think of how she would look if she were still alive. She would be going to school and be in a big wheel chair. I can't even begin to imagine how big her body would be. She would have still been very small but she would have been a little bit bigger than when she was 2. We continue to miss her everyday but we are so grateful that families are eternal. Thanks for all of the love and support we have received from all of our family and friends over the past 5 years. Rylee, Happy Birthday little dolly, WE LOVE YOU!!!!

I AM BACK

I can't believe what a blog slacker I have been these past few months. My computer was wacky for a while and I couldn't type without it taking hours, but now I got that all under control. We have done so many fun things as a family this past summer and I will never be able to blog about everything with the detail I would like. So I guess I am just going to have to give a re cap with a few pictures. I need to do a little catch up because when it comes time for me to make my blog book for this year I will have a huge gap during the summer. I am sorry that this is going to be long and boring but at least I will have it documented for my book.


We had so much fun playing with our cousins. Spencer and Andrea came and stayed the whole month of July. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins everyday. Michelle and Travis moved back from Australia and they were here with us for a few weeks before they moved to Arizona. It was so great to be together again.

We went fishing. We didn't catch anything but that was OK, because we had a fun time.

We rented a trailer and went camping for a week. We had such a great time. We rode our ATV's, fished, hiked,laughed, played and we even had our neighbors the Johns come and ride ATV's with us. It was awesome. I would love to do that every year.

We went down to the gully by our home and played in the water and on a rope swing that was there.

We went to the Highland Fling. It is the best parade ever because we always know a lot of people in the parade. The kids always get a ton of candy every year. It was fun to have cousins with us this year.

Bill had to go to St. George to do a closing so the rest of us went with him. It was a fast trip but very fun.

We hiked to Stewart Falls with the cousins. It was so fun and the kids did a great job hiking.

We had tons of fun sleep overs with the cousins. Megan and Amanda made up some very fun pioneer games for the 24th of July. Brady and Hailey had to be together as much as possible. Parker got to play his Nintendo a lot with his cousins and helped them get to new levels in their games.

Megan was in a cute play with the city arts council. They sang a bunch of Broadway songs. Megan did a great job.

The kids played with their friends and ran through the sprinklers.

We had Sofiya come and spend some time with us. She is such a cute girl. She came to play with Megan but all of the kids had a blast with her. We also went to Liberty Land a lot. We all loved to play laser tag, it was a great family activity.

Back To School

Here we are again, time to start another year of school. We had such a great summer, there was never a dull moment. This year will be Megan's last year in elementary school,that is crazy to me. The kids are all excited about their teachers this year. It always helps when the kids are excited about the new year. I have to say that I was sad to see them go back to school this year. As Jake and I were walking home from dropping the kids off at school I was getting a little emotional thinking about how old they are getting. I as alSo thinking that I Still have 4 more years before Jake goes to School. I don't know if I should be happy or sad. Here We go again With another School year, I hope it's a good one!

My Two Little Athletes

It is crazy how long it has been since I have been able to get to my blog. I have a lot of things to blog about, I just didn't have time. I am going to get all caught up, but it is going to take awhile.


Here are my two little athletes Parker and Hailey. This past week Hailey had her summer gymnastics recital. She has been in level 3 this past year. She has had fun and she did a great job. This next year she will be on a team. The gym where she is going is starting a new type of team called Team Gym. She will be competing with other teams that have this new program. She will be competing around the state with one meet being at Disneyland. I am excited for her to have this opportunity this year. It is going to be a good experience for her and I think she will learn a lot. I love that she will be training and competing as a team. The only down side is that there is no car pool, oh well the sacrifices we make for our kids.



Parker has started playing football this year. His coach from basketball is also the coach of the football team. Last year at the end of basketball he asked Parker to be on his football team. Parker was very nervous because he didn't really understand how to play the game. He started practices a few weeks ago and has loved every minute of it. I think that the boys look so cute in their team uniforms. Parker is trying to decide if he loves football as much as basket ball. Parker had his first game today. I was amazed at how people get into football, it is pretty crazy. The little 4Th and 5Th grade cheer leaders were there, I always wonder Where the little girls cheered now I know. I guess I have a lot to learn about being a football mom. It is going to be an exciting year with my little athletes.

Cherry Picking

When Bill and I were dating one of his professors that he worked with told him that we could pick cherries off the trees that he had at his house. We had a blast picking cherries and we always remember that date with fond memories. For years we have talked about taking our kids to pick cherries and finally this summer we did it!! It was so fun to pick a cherry then eat a cherry then pick a cherry. Even Jake loved the cherries, of course he would find some great ones on the ground and he would want to eat them. We all had a really great time and I think that the cherries taste the best when you pick them yourself. I think that we need to make this activity a family tradition.

My New Hobby

I have been wanting to get a SLR for about a year and in March I finally was able to get one. I had taken a photography workshops last month, but tonight my SIL and I went to a workshop in Draper. It was a lot of fun and I was able to bring some of my kids to practice on. The kids did great and I learned a lot about my camera, amongst other things. I am going to share some of my favs because I think they look really cute. I was worried about Jake because he is at that crazy age, but Emilie, the teacher, did a great job of getting him to smile and look cute. Check out my side bar for a couple more cute pics.

This one of Parks cracks me up, I have never seen him look so serious in his whole life.

There were way too many cute Jake pics, but I liked this one because he is looking right into the camera.

The cute photogenic cousins had a bunch of cute ones. I love their pout looks. Abbie is such a ham she cracked me up.

Swimming Lessons

It has been a few years since my kids have had swimming lessons. Luckily I have a great neighbor who puts activities together for us and she set up swimming lessons for us this year, thanks Robyn, I don't know what I would do without you. The kids had a blast!! I was worried with Jake being the walker boy that he is that I would be chasing him around and that I wouldn't be able to watch the kids swim. Jake was actually very cooperative. Since we went to lessons and a private home pool Jake was able to walk around playing with balls and chasing the cat. It was a really great experience for all of the kids and I think next year we will have to start swim team. Way to go kids you did great, I am very proud of all of you.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!

How Do You Say Goodbye?!!!!

How do you say goodbye to your mother and grandmother? My sweet mother-in-law was called home May 31, 2009 at 5:30 AM. It has been a whirlwind of a month starting with the devastating news that she had stage 4 liver cancer. Then they bought the house in Utah, then we cleaned up the house in IF and moved them to Utah. The visit to Huntsman was supposed to be the first of many but it ended up to be the only one. Sylvia started to go down hill very fast last Saturday and on Sunday morning with her family surrounding her she finished her mission her on earth.

I have been so blessed to have a great love and admiration for this wonderful woman. I know that she was one of the most valiant woman I have ever had the privilege of knowing and loving. It was hard for me when we were first married to let her help me with whatever needed to be done. It was hard for me to let her help us when we had babies because I didn't want to seem weak. I was such a fool. When our little Rylee was born I was humbled and was at the lowest I have ever been in my life. Sylvia was so kind and she helped us while Rylee was in the hospital. It was so nice to know that my kids were being taken care of and loved while we were dealing with things in the hospital. I had to just let go of feeling strong and I let her help me in any way she wanted and I was so blessed for doing so. After Rylee came home from the hospital she would come every month or so and watch Rylee so Bill and I could take our kids and do something with them or watch all of the kids so Bill and I could just go on a date. During these times she and Rylee developed a special connection and love for each other. Many times she would take care of Rylee so we could go to church together as a family. We learned to have a great system when she was here, she would do whatever she wanted to help us and I willing let her and appreciated every second of the help she gave us. She would stay with my kids when I would go to girls camp or if we went on a vacation. She took care of my kids in February when I went to Australia. I am so glad that they got to spend that time with her.

It was so hard for her to let people help her. I was so grateful for every second I was able to help and take care of her this past month while she was sick. That was the greatest thing we could do for her was to serve her with all our hearts.

My kids loved to have her come to visit. She always brought a fun little toy or treat for the kids. They loved to do puzzles together, and Hailey became very good at doing them. She always knew what the kids would like. She also made cookies every time she came and of course she would let the kids help her. She loved to knit and sew and she always made the cutest baby blankets for the grand kids. She also made cute little knitted sweaters for each grandchild.

This is going to be a hard year as we all adjust to living life without Grandma because we love her so much. I am grateful for the lessons that she taught me and for the way she raised her children and for how much she loved my children. We will miss you grandma but we are glad that you and Rylee can be together and can talk and laugh together until we can be with you again. We love you!!!!!

The Great American Challenge

In the 5th grade the kids learn about American History. There is a challenge that all of the 5th graders are given at the beginning of the school year. It is a lot of work and not easy but Megan decided that she was up for the challenge. She had to memorize the Preamble of the Constitution, know all of the states and identify them on the map, know all of the Presidents of the US, sing the Star Spangled Banner, write the Pledge of Allegiance without any errors, and memorize the Gettysburg Address. She started off by learning the Preamble thanks to American Rock. Then she didn't work too hard on the other things until February and then the race was on to finish the challenge by April. There were many times that she wanted to give up but she worked hard and I have never seen anyone memorize things as quickly as she did. The whole 5th grade class was challenged but only 5 students from the whole 5th grade class actually finished the challenge. She got an awesome trophy today at the school awards assembly. We are so proud of you Meg, you worked hard and didn't give up that is all we want from you is to do your best. She is looking forward to the 6th grade challenge next year. Way to go Megan!!! We love you and are proud of you and your accomplishment!!!

Dance Festival

I think that the dance festival is one of my favorite end of the school year activities. The kids did such a cute job with their dances. Megan danced to "Cotton Eye Joe", Parker to "Surfing USA" and Hailey to "All For One." This has been a great school year but I am glad it is over!! Way to go kids!!!

Cancer

It seems like this past month has been a whirlwind. I need to give an update on our life. For the past several years we have been trying to get Bill's parents to move to Utah from Idaho. They always had excuses as to why they wouldn't move to Utah even tough none of their kids lived in Idaho and four of the six kids live in Utah. Because of the lovely real estate market Bill's brother was able to help them find a beautiful house that would work for them and one that was affordable. They were set to come to Utah to look at the house and decide if that was going to work for them or not. We were all waiting for them to come to see the house. They were supposed to be here on Thursday May 7th around 4:00 pm. Bill called them to see where they were around 4:00pm and he got a huge shock. His mom had not been feeling well for a couple of years due to melanoma in her eye and thyroid cancer. She had been telling her doctor for some time about her problems and the doctor thought it was because of her thyroid. When she went to the doctor this month she thought that maybe she had problems with her gall bladder so an ultra sound was done, while doing the ultra sound they found that her liver had melanoma in it. She was told that the cancer was all in her liver and that it was a pretty advanced stage. The next day they came to Utah bought a house and this past weekend we moved them into their new house. After many doctor visits we found out that the cancer is in her liver and lungs. She has stage four cancer. There are chemo treatments to possibly extend her life by a few months. She has gone down hill very fast since May 7th. We are so glad that they live here now and we can all take care of them while she deals with this cancer and the treatments. I am so glad that we can serve her because she has helped us so much the past four years. We love Sylvia and we hope that we can have more time with her. I saw a sign that says "Cancer Sucks" I have to say I agree. This is going to be a hard journey for Sylvia and our family but at least we can make the journey together.

Spring Break

There is never a better way to spend Spring Break than making a snowman!! The kids actually thought the snow was fun and made the most of it.

We took the kids to Midway for some fun and to get away for awhile. We had a great time hanging out together. There was a Carousel at our hotel. Jake was not happy about riding on it until it started and then he loved it and when it stopped he cried and cried.
We also played a little miniature golf at the hotel. The kids thought it was the greatest place in the world.

Of course the kids loved the swimming and they could have spent every waking hour there. They even had a blast swimming in the outdoor pool.

We also went to Olympic Park. We have always wanted to go there and it was awesome to finally get there. It was a neat learning experience for us. The kids had a blast!!

For along time the kids have wanted to go to Color Me Mine, a place where you can paint clay figurines. They each took great care in choosing the right figurine. Parker choose a dinosaur, Megan a turtle and Hailey a unicorn. They had a great time and it was fun to see them be so excited about their art work.

We had a lot of fun this past week. The best part was just being together as a family!!

The 100 Club Baby!!

We just got back from a very cool Jazz game experience, even though they lost to Golden State, lame. Our friends called tonight and asked us if we wanted to go to a Jazz game with them. Mark got some tickets from his work. Of course we can't ever pass up free Jazz tickets. Well it just so happens that these tickets were on the front row. Yup, we could see the sweat on Boozer's bald head. We could see Korver's extremely small calves hidden by his silly looking socks. We were able to eat dinner at the 100 Club. I never even knew they had such a thing. Of course we knew Parker would be so jealous!! He did tell us that when he plays for the Jazz he will get us better seats. Now, I don't know how that could be possible. How do you get better than front row, feet on the court? We even saw our season ticket holder neighbors sitting in their seats. Bill was kind enough to trade Kaden places for a little while. It was so cute to see how excited Kaden was to be sitting right by the court. He kept telling me how quiet it was down by the court and he wondered if it would be OK to yell at the players and refs. We had a great time!! It was definitely a once in a life time experience. Of course if they ever have tickets again we told them to give us a call anytime we would drop what we are doing and go. Thanks again Mark and Carrie it was awesome!!

Two Years

I can't even believe that it has been two years since my sweet angel baby passed away. We have had so many friends that have lost little children this year. It has been so hard to watch our friends with the lose of their loved ones. It also brought up all of the emotions that we went through when Rylee died. I was able to work through a lot of emotions that I hadn't dealt with before, after Rylee died. I was so grateful that I was able to offer some advice or help in any way that I could during these hard times.

There are so many times when I wish I could have had more time with Rylee. I want to hold her again, change her diaper, feed her, dress her in a cute outfit, make her laugh, listen to her cry, watch her play with my children, take her to therapy, give her medicine, fix her hair,watch her laugh when a child is crying, so many things that I would love to do again, even just for one more day. I still have dreams that she is alive and I can hold her and love her. Those are my favorite dreams because they seem so real to me. It makes me sad when I wake up and realize that it was just a dream, but at least I can feel for a moment that I still have my baby with me. Even better than dreams are the times that I can feel her spirit with me. It has been awhile since that has happened, but I am so grateful for every time I know that her spirit is with me. I remember feeling her when Jake was born, actually because Jake was almost born about three weeks prior to his birthday, I felt her both times. In fact she rode on the ambulance with me when I had to be taken from one hospital to another during the whole Jake trauma. I was glad to have her there with me, it just made me feel like everything was going to be fine.

I just also want to say that I am so grateful for wonderful friends and family that remember her today. That means so much to me. I could never be able to find the words to thank you enough. We have been so blessed with such great friends and family to help us through hard times. I mostly feel blessed today because I am lucky enough to be the mom to a sweet perfect little angel who taught me more than I could have ever thought possible. Rylee I love you and miss you everyday.

My New Passion

I know that I am a really big geek and this new passion only makes me more of a geek. For the past two and a half months I have become a "couponer/budget shopper." Couponer is not really a word but it works. Since the RS started the blog I have learned from all of the sites on there how to use coupons. I have been really happy with my results. I tracked things pretty closely last month and I have been saving $200 to $300 a month with my new way of shopping and using coupons. I am not only saving money but I have been stocking my food storage with a great three month storage. Not only have I been adding food to my food storage but I have been storing other household and personal hygiene items. I am showing one of my best shopping days so far. I am posting this so I can remember why I am putting the time into shopping this way.

Here is the run down. I got 2 boxes of Cheez-Its, Shout stain remover, Palmolive dish soap, 2 Quarto Razors, 2 packs of Huggies Diapers, 3 Soft Soap, Secret Deodorant, 1 box of Band Aids, 6 boxes of Kellogg's cereal, Reynolds Aluminum Foil, and Rhodes Rolls, not pictured. My total out of pocket was $20.71. If I would have paid full price for all of these items I would have paid $104.63. Now that is quite a savings. The deodorant and Rhodes Rolls were free with coupons. I do admit that I do have to spend a few hours a week shopping this way, but it is totally worth it. One day my goal is to budget only $50.00 a week for groceries. I still have a lot to learn but I will get there someday.

This past week we had an amazing Enrichment given by Pantry Secrets. We learned how to make bread in one hour from start to out of the oven. They also talked about food storage and shopping. It was awesome!! It turns out that it only costs .25 a loaf. No more store bought bread for me. One batch of bread makes four loaves, I finally have a great quick recipe to use that 1,200 pounds of wheat I have. I got a little carried away on the wheat. And the best part is my kids love the bread. I am putting some links on my side bar for my friends who have asked me for them. If any one has some great food storage, shopping or great wheat recipes please let me know. It is always more fun when we work together.

The 1st Hair Cut

My cute little boy with the big poofy hair needed a hair cut. I love his little poofy hair and it was hard for me to cut his hair because I knew it would make him look older. I just couldn't let him go any longer with the long hair. He would have some great hair to make all cute it he were a girl. It is so funny that my boys have both had the longest most beautiful hair.
Today we went to the new kid friendly hair cutting place to get Jake's hair cut. It is such a great place to take kids. He sat in a cute little car to get his hair cut. The girl cutting his hair was so great with him. He doesn't like loud sounds so the hair clippers were very scary to him. When the clippers were done then he was just fine. Jake's loves balloons so I got a balloon for him to look at and he was happy as can be getting his hair cut. He looks so cute with his hair cut and he does look older which is sad for me.