Matty Turns 11!

For Matty's 11th birthday, we had a family party at the park with a My Little Pony theme. We enjoyed cake, hitting a piñata, and watching Matty open her presents. (that's always the best part - she gets SO excited over all of her presents) Matty is such a blessing to us! She's SUPER!!!

Super Matty!

Idaho 2015

At the end of May 2015, we decided to take a trip to Idaho to meet up with our friends, the Adams family, and go to Bear World! We had so much fun! We got to drive through Yellowstone on the way there and back, which is always wonderful. We saw license plates from every state except two!

Mason petting the buffalo:

 We went to Idaho Falls and saw the Falls and went to the zoo. The kids had a great time.

We stayed at a hotel in Rexburg and swam in their pool.  (The side story with that: They had waaaaaaay too much chlorine in that pool. We all got out with stinging eyes and burning skin! And I'm pretty sure I ruined my hair - like fried it!)

Bear World was AWESOME! There were tons of bears, of course! Wolves, elk, and deer also. We fed the ducks, and they had a petting zoo that the kids loved. There was a little amusement park with rides for the kids. They went on several of them over and over again. I even got to feed the bear cubs...that was the highlight for me! They were adorable!

The best picture of the trip was caught by Alexis of herself on her mom's iPad. The bears were getting really close to the vehicles. She was trying to take a picture of the bears and took a picture of her face instead! Lol! Priceless!!

Disneyland!

February 2013

Ah! Disneyland! The happiest place on Earth!!! We sold firewood and saved all our pennies so we could take the kids to California to visit Aunt Chelsea and Mickey Mouse. We had a wonderful time. Mom and Dad went with, and we also celebrated Dad's 60th birthday while we were there!

We spent time at a couple beaches, spent 3 days at Disney and California Adventure, went to the zoo, visited the Griffith Observatory, saw the Space Shuttle Endeavor exhibit at the California ScienCenter, ate out a lot, and Kyle and Kage got to go to a Clippers/Jazz game! The kids even loved the plane rides there and back. We had so much fun! I can't wait to take the kids back again someday (when we save up a whole lot of pennies again!)

Tricky Trickerton

Here it is, March. In fact, we just celebrated St. Patrick's day. Well, I guess that's what we did. If you call realizing it was St. Patty's Day at 1:00 in the afternoon and reminding everyone that I will pinch them if they aren't wearing some sort of green 'celebrating'. We weren't even visited by any leprechauns. What can I say, we're not Irish.

What I'm getting at is that I kind of forgot to record for posterity our visit from Trick the Elf this past Christmas. He's kind of like a leprechaun.

If you recall, Anastyn had a couple run-ins with 'Santa Clause' at Christmastime. She had some issues with his authenticity. But never once did she doubt in her trusty elf, Trick. Not even the time or two that she found him in the same exact location as the morning before. (Which brings to mind her first encounter with the Tooth Fairy recently. Another story for another day.) Sometimes these magical creatures can be a bit ditzy. Kind of like me. Odd. :)

Anyways, we enjoyed our elf this year. As you can imagine, he caused some mischief and mayhem. But at times, he was a perfect example of what the Christmas Season is all about. He will always be welcome in our home.

Trick roasted tiny marshmallows on a candle, dressed up like a shepherd, gave us friendly advice when needed (like 'Santa's watching - you might want to remember to clean your room!'), hung the girls' underwear on the Christmas tree, admired pictures of Baby Jesus, left us magic candy cane seeds, got sick, made messes, and even made out with Tinkerbelle. My, my, my! Can't wait til next year!

P.S. - The Tooth Fairy - Anastyn lost her 1st tooth and guess what? Her little tooth fairy didn't show up. Can you believe that??? Me either. The nerve! She did come the next night, though. She paid up (with interest) and left a note with some sorry excuse of having a dentist appointment the night before. 

Christmas 2012

Wow, here it is the end of February, and I haven't blogged about Christmas!!! Shame on me. What a happy time we had over Christmas! We enjoyed our break from school, our time with family, and all the festivities that come along with the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

I have hidden the Christmas music. We started listening to that over the summer. Seriously, half a year of Christmas music was too much even for me. I refuse to do that again. I am sure by next November I will be ready to drag it all out again, but no sooner! And I mean it!:)

The kids were spoiled by everyone again this year.  And we were blessed to be able to Skype with Elder Kaleb Leithead. That was definitely a highlight of our Christmas this year! Of course we made the rounds this Christmas, spending time at all the Grandparents houses. It was a mad whirlwind of visiting, eating, and opening presents everywhere we went! What a great time!

And I was so very, very proud of myself to have actually succeeded in getting pictures done and Christmas cards mailed out this year. Every year I try or at least have good intentions - but it usually doesn't happen.

Anastyn told me today (Feb. 22nd) that she misses Christmas.

 

My 2nd Birthday!

At 2 years old I:

• am still so sweet and mild mannered
• love to do pretend yardwork with my pretend lawn mower, weed wacker, and shovels
• say I am '2' but my hand says I am '5'
• was so excited to open my presents. I wanted nothing to do with singing, blowing out candles or eating birthday cake!
•  am a man of few words...but I understand everything YOU say!
• love Grandmas and Grandpas 
• like when people read to me
• like to look at 'I Spy' books
• love to go fishing
• like to spot animals along the road
• would rather be outside more than anywhere else
• still take a nap
• like to wear my baseball cap...just like Daddy
• love to play with trucks and trains

As you can see by the pictures, Mason had one of those extended birthdays. That's why he has so many different outfits on! We decided to take Mason fishing for his birthday party. We had a picnic at Beck Lake in Cody. Mason didn't care to eat because he was preoccupied with the pile of presents. He didn't want us to sing to him, and he didn't want to blow out his candles. He didn't even want a piece of his birthday cake!! So, we just did all of that without him while he opened presents and played with his stuff. It got a little stormy on us, but we were able to take his new fishing pole over to the lake and he actually caught a fish all by himself! He did finally eat some birthday cake the next day when he had 'time'. :)

We are so blessed to have Mason in our family! I don't think there has ever been a sweeter little boy! He is so much fun and all BOY (except for when his sisters get a hold of him!) Happy Birthday Buddy!!!!!!!

8 is Great!

 Matty turned 8 at the beginning of this month! She had a great day! Usually school is out for the summer before Matty's birthday, but this year our summer vacation came a little later and Matty got to take cupcakes to 1st grade! She was thrilled! She had a lovely birthday party at Grandma Marla and Grandpa Jim's house. Lots of family came to help her celebrate. We had a BBQ and ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. Presents were opened in true Matty fashion! She is the funnest child to watch open gifts. She gets extremely excited over everything. Cards, small sums of cash, movies she already owns, underwear.  Oddly enough, she was less impressed with the wii we got her. Go figure. :) Anyways, she says things like "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!!!!!!" and "Oh My Goodness Sakes Heavens!!". She is always full of 'thank yous' and hugs. When it was time to blow out the candles on the cake and we weren't quite moving fast enough, she ordered us - "Sing To Me!"  Our family's version of the Happy Birthday song includes a bit at the end where everyone sings "How old are you? How old are you? How oooold are you? Happy Birthday to you!" and the Birthday girl is supposed to sing back her age. Matty got a little flustered and couldn't remember what to sing for a minute. We kind of reminded her but she didn't want any help from us. She shushed us and continued, "I am now eighty years old, I am now forty-eight years ooooold!".  Ha ha ha! We chuckled for a while about that one. What a cutie!

Well, Matty was especially excited about turning eight this year because that is the age when you can be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! We had her baptism on the last day of June. It was such a beautiful occasion. Matty had been given a beautiful white dress on her birthday to wear on her baptism day. She looked and felt like a princess. She had so many friends and family come to support her on her special day. She and Anastyn even sang a song together during the baptism. She was baptized and confirmed by her Daddy. It was a lovely service. We had a family dinner afterwards complete with a cake made by Aletha Durtsche (our very favorite cake lady. ever.)

Beautiful Day. Beautiful Girl!

 Congratulations Matalyn Cate!!

Cabin Fever!!

According to Wikipedia (unreliable sometimes, I know - but in this case I believe it is quite correct), Cabin fever is an idiomatic term for a claustrophobic reaction that takes place when a person or group is isolated and/or shut in a small space, with nothing to do, for an extended period (as in a simple country vacation cottage during a long rain or snow). Symptoms include restlessness, irritability, paranoia, irrational frustration with everyday objects, forgetfulness, laughter, excessive sleeping, distrust of anyone they are with, and an urge to go outside even in the rain, snow, dark or hail.

Hmmmmmm. I think we have it. We have cabin fever.

For those of you who aren't familiar with our current situation, we are living in a cabin. You see, the house we were renting sold. This house sat empty for three years on the market, until we begged to rent it. Then we begged to fix the big problems with it. And then it sold. Sarcastic smiley face.

We started panicking when we were unable to find a new place to rent. But of course it all worked out...kind of.  Another sarcastic smiley face.

We found another place to rent. Unfortunately it wouldn't be available soon enough. So we had to find a temporary solution. A place to call home for one month. And so began our Oasis Cabin Retreat!

We are living in a campground! Five of us (three of which are small children that bounce off walls and make lots of noise and go crazy when couped up) are jammed into this one-bedroom joint. And we are having so much fun! At least that's what we are trying to tell ourselves! The kids bounce from bed to bed. We find them under the bed. They watch the same movies over and over. They yell and scream and giggle. When we are all here, I would say it's pretty much pandemonium and we all want out, out, out!!!

There are some strange things about living in this little cabin. For some reason, the part of the night I should be sleeping just drags on for me. I wake up a lot. I wonder if it has anything to do with the four other people sleeping in the same room? And then, I am so tired in the afternoon I end up taking a nap (which isn't something I normally do). And a couple times I have woken up in a panic. One night it was because my entire arm had fallen asleep. I was so out of it I thought I was having a heart attack! I woke Kyle up and got him upset. And I couldn't let myself fall asleep the rest of the night because I thought I would die if I did! It took me clear until late the next morning to snap out of it!

Another night I woke up sure that I could smell a gas leak and that we were all going to die. Anyways...I don't usually act quite so crazy!  One morning I was making our bed and found a huge, nasty spider with a great big egg sac attached to it in our sheets!!!! Freaked out just a little bit.

And then, the other day I was speaking to the man that lived in this cabin just before us. He told me all about the ghost he saw one night at the foot of the bed. The freaking guy says he saw a ghost in this cabin! Holy crap, if I couldn't sleep before.....

Anyways: Claustrophobia, check. Isolated/shut in a small space with nothing to do, check. Restlessness, check. Irritability, check, check, check!  Paranoia, yep. Laughter, check. Excessive sleep, check. It all fits, really. Cabin fever it is.

On the bright side of things, the kids are enjoying it here. They think it is an adventure - and they are right!

We are looking forward to moving on. Soon, Cabin 29 will be just a memory. A good memory, but one we probably wouldn't want to repeat!

A Blast From The Past Part III: Christmas!

We had a great Christmas Season! It started off with a visit from Aunt Chelsea mid-December. She only got to stay for a couple days, but we sure enjoyed her!!

 We attempted a family photo for Christmas cards. It was soooo cold outside, and not a single member of the family was in the mood for picture taking. Not even myself. But I was not about to let another year pass by without a dang card. I got my tripod and camera all set up, got everybody situated, realized the sun was in everybody's eyes, set the timer, ran to position, the camera captured what you see here, and everyone was DONE. Nobody wanted to cooperate with me. Nobody wanted to move to a different spot. Nobody wanted me to try again. It made me grumpy. I think a few unkind words were said and we packed it in. Needless to say, it was another Christmas-cardless year. 

I give up.

The girls dictated their letters to Santa to me. I wrote them in pencil and then had them trace the letters with their markers. They had writer's cramp by the time they were done, but they were pretty proud!

This one is Matty's:

 And this one is Anastyn's:

We had lots of fun decorating for the holidays this year. We have an artificial tree, but we did make a trip up the Wood River to the mountains and cut a fresh one for the girls to decorate downstairs. They loved decorating their own tree!! We had fun wrapping presents for each other and we even made snowflakes to decorate the windows with! There were Christmas parties and programs. We listened to a LOT of Christmas music. I finally had to hide all the Christmas cd's downstairs just this month because the girls were still asking to listen to them!

We spent Christmas Eve here at home in Meeteetse with my mom and dad. We had a very delicious prime rib dinner, which will definitely have to become a tradition! It was so fun to have Grandma and Grandpa here Christmas morning to witness Santa's sleigh wreck! The kids enjoyed every second of discovering their treasures and unwrapping all their gifts. Mason had a blast tearing the paper off his packages! We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast (Pilsbury, of course. No over-achieving here!) Then in was off to church. I actually love it when Christmas falls on a Sunday. After all, Jesus really is the reason for the season!! After church, we drove to Lovell for more present opening at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Whew...who knew opening gift after gift could be so exhausting!! :) Next stop: Grandpa Leithead's! We had a yummy dinner and the highlight of our Christmas this year was talking to Kaleb (a.k.a. Elder Leithead) via skype! We got to listen to all of his amazing missionary experiences and his strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ! What a blessing to be able to see him and talk to him! We are so proud of what he is doing!

And last, but not least, we mustn't forget the very special and unforgettable visitor we had in our home for the month of December. We heard a knock at the door the first evening of the month and were surprised to find a package had been left on our doorstep! The girls opened it and found this little guy! They named him 'Trick the Elf'. He provided much entertainment for our family while he was here. Some of his shenanigans included helping himself to the candy jar, fishing for "goldfish", making snow angels in the flour, messing around with our camera, toilet papering the girls' bathroom, providing a movie night for our family, fraternizing with the Barbie dolls, leaving notes, painting Rudolph noses on the girls in their sleep, and many, many more silly pranks! The girls looked forward to finding him every morning. He even took a few trips with us! We will miss him terribly until he returns next year!!!

A Handful!

Yes, Miss Anastyn is officially a handful! She turned FIVE the other day! I just can't believe how quickly time is speeding by. This year she will be off to Kindergarten, and I just don't know what I will do without her. She had one of those extended birthdays this year. She actually missed her first birthday party so-to-speak. :) She has a blonde mother. A really super (blonde) mother that sent out a very mistaken text about the date of her actual birthday party! It was a good practice run for everybody I guess. Anyways, her birthday party was a couple days before her birthday. We ate at Pizza On The Run and she got to play in the bounce house. She wanted a chocolate Barbie cake. I was pleasantly surprised that it turned out half-way easy on the eyes. :) She got many fun gifts including clothes, jewelry, a jewelry box, Leap Frog games, and money. She was given the royal treatment on her birthday. We stayed home and focused on her every whim! We painted her fingernails and toenails, cuddled and watched movies, she got to take a bubble bath (instead of the quick shower her mother prefers) and got to eat spaghetti for dinner! She had a second (very small, very casual) party on her birthday. She got to help decorate the cupcakes and had some of her very favorite friends over to enjoy them with her. And a couple days later, she was delighted to find another package in the mail from Aunt Chels. It came in one of those fancy envelopes you can buy at the Post Office. It had cupcakes on it. She couldn't believe her eyes and wondered how in the world Aunt Chelsea could possibly have known that she had cupcakes on her birthday! he he! 

So what do I have to say about Anastyn and her five years? A lot, actually:

She's just a great girl. She loves her kittens and her dog. She takes such good care of them! She loves to help with her little brother. She loves him dearly and thinks he is the cutest thing in the whole wide world. She has a beautiful voice. She goes to preschool and loves to learn anything and everything. She is like a sponge. She is hungry for knowledge and asks an almost unbearable amount of questions in a day. She is very fashion conscious and will not wear 'just anything'. She has many friends and loves to be around other people. She is forgiving. She loves her family 'more than birthdays and chocolate, more than anything in the whole world - except for Jesus' (in her own words). She loves Barbie movies, Angelina Ballerina, and the Backyardigans. She enjoys listening to storybooks and playing games. She is very fond of spaghetti and ham sandwiches and candy and not-so-fond of anything else. :) She likes everything to be 'just right' at bed-time and can't go to sleep without several hugs and kisses, a drink of water, and the reassurance that I will wake her up if there is anything that I might need to tell her in the middle of the night! She loves to prance around the house in her ballerina dress. Every once in a while she is allowed to wear it all day long...that's when she's in heaven! She is definitely our favorite 5-year-old and she could definitely never be replaced. She is a blessing to our family. She brings countless smiles to our faces and an endless supply of warm fuzzies to our hearts. We love you Anastyn! Please don't grow up too fast!!!! xoxoxo