We've had another birthday!

Ali turned 11! I can't believe how fast my children are growing. She got lots of new clothes and 2 new hats, Ali is wearing one, and Danica snuck into the picture to model the other one. Ali loves all her new clothes, and looks adorable in them too. I have had to come to the realization that she is growing up because last week the school showed the ever famous maturation video, and moms were invited. Ali being my first girl made this a first for me as well. We both laughed a little about it later. A crazy thing about Preston is that they put the 6th grade in the Jr. High. This means that I will have Ali in the Jr. High along with Kaden next year. I really hope I can handle it. It's already been strange having them both stay up an hour later since her birthday. I keep picturing the day when I'm going to bed while my house full of teenagers are still awake!

Ali, we LOVE the sutffing out of you and hope your day was fabulous! Mom and dad can't wait to take you out to dinner this weekend and spend time with you! Happy Birthday! Love you babe!

Happy Birthday Dude!

Kaden turned 13! I truly cannot believe how fast those years have gone. I realize how much closer we are getting to high school, drivers licence, and mission, and it really is a hard pill to swallow. I LOVE Kaden so much! It has been FUN to watch him grow up, and find new interests and hobbies, and explore what life has to offer! He's been a good kid, now I'm hoping he'll be a good TEENAGER. This summer Kaden will already be living the life of a busy teenager with a youth Stake Trek, and a Ward Trek, and scout camp(s), and possibly even some b-ball games, and family vacation. Wish us both luck as we venture into this new and hopfully fun phase of our lives!


Now this next picture is Jody and I in Cancun! This is a restaurant at the flea market where we got all our good shopping deals. I have SO many beautiful pictures of the hotel, beach, ocean, and sky, but not enough time to post them on my slow computer. We had such a good time. We watched some sort of show every night at the hotel, and one night it was a magician who was Really Good. We would laugh at the crazy people singing karoke, especially the lady who was SURE she was better than Barbara Streisand. This really was one of my favorite trips ever! (Even with the extra pounds that I wish I didn't take with me, but some how could not convince them to stay at home even just for a Week!) We can't wait to go back, and may try to as early as next year. Anyone want to come along?

For now I guess it's Hasta La Vista to Mexico until next time!

Another catch-up post!

So much has been happening since my last post. Jody and I have been to Mexico and back, and had a GREAT time! It was our funnest trip to Mexico. When I get the pictures on the computer, I will post some. We did zip lines, snorkling, rafting, speed boating, and ate ourselves sick. We're planning our trip back already...anyone want to come with?

ALL children 8 and above are now playing basketball. The girls games start this Saturday, and I am excited to watch them. Kaden has been playing for awhile, and is doing well. He also has a tournament on Saturday. Tyce is a little irritated that there is NOT a basketball program for 6 year olds. He really wants to play. Danica could care less, because she is too busy being a PILL. She has a stubborn don't give in to mom, kind of attitude. What a girl!

While we were in Mexico, my sweet cousin came to watch our kids. They loved her, and I'm not sure they missed us much! Danica got sick while she was here, but now I'm getting my payback for missing her flu, because in the last 5 days, I have had 3 kids with strep throat! Poor munchkins! It's not a very fun one to get.

Relief Society has kept me busy since I came home from our trip. Of course, the second you leave something happens. My wonderful counselors did an awesome job of getting things taken care of. I now need to try to focus on getting a lesson for the first Sunday in February. Unfortunately, it's my turn to teach.

Jody started back into school this weekend. The long break was FABULOUS, and we are now more than half way done! He's been such a trooper, sure love him!

I guess that's a good quick update. I better get back to the sickies on the couches.

Merry Christmas!

I'm so slow at everything this year, and so there are NO Christmas cards coming out. Please just know that we do want to wish you ALL a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! Things have been very busy for us, but that is part of the holiday season.

Kaden finished up school basketball, and tonight starts a competitive b-ball team. Funny thing about that is, my cute husband with ALL of his spare time from work, school, YM, and farming, is going to be there coach. Wish us all LUCK! Kaden is excited, and there first tourn. will be the Monday and Tuesday after Christmas in Malad.

Ali is going to sign up for Preston's Recreational b-ball again this year. She's a good little player, so I am excited to get to see her play again. She has been counting down the days to Christmas (along with all the others), and is excited that today is the last day of school.

Paige has been going about wrapping anything she can find, or making cards to give to anyone and everyone. Now that is the giving spirit of Christmas. I am trying to talk her into trying b-ball this year too. It's her first year, so she's a little unsure, but she's not dancing this year, so I think it would be good for her to play.

Tyce was done with school yesterday, and is so excited about it, that he's sleeping in this morning. Tyce has been counting down the days to Christmas, but he's also been counting down the days to XBOX. Let me explain...2 weeks ago, we had quite a blow up at our house over NOT watching the Christmas Devotional from the 1st Presidency. We decided that our children are just down right spoiled, and ungrateful for what they have. I came up with an idea, and Jody and I decided to try it. Monday while all the children were at school, I played the grinch...I packed up their shoes, clothes, toys, and whatever was in their rooms that might be entertaining. I left only a few items of clothing, and school shoes, and church shoes. When the children came home there was gnarling and gnashing of teeth, (I believe that's how my sister put it.) Tyce was however, the MOST devistated seeing as he had the most toys to be taken. I allowed board games ONLY, but NO VIDEO GAMES! I know, Tyce was stricken with unbelief too. Long story short, they all survived quite easily, and we will be getting rid of a lot of excess things that just make us ungrateful. Tyce was SO EXCITED to get to play the XBOX yesterday, that he played for over an hour.

Danica has had much holiday cheer, as she loves SANTA. She wants to go and see him everyday. At the ward party she sat right on his lap, told him she wanted a surprise, and then took her bag of candy, only to return to him a few minutes later and tell him Thank You! Oh- she does have precious moments. Unfortunately, they are becoming fewer and fewer. I'm really just kidding. I couldn't imagine not having my baby girl with me all the time. She's wonderful!

Jody and I have started a gym membership at Crossfit! We thought we'd try it for a month. We enjoyed going, but have had days of not being able to move. It's funny that your arms feel like you've ripped them apart when you go from doing NO push-ups, to doing 200 in 30 minutes. Hopefully it makes us look all that much better when we head to Mexico next month.

Merry Christmas to All! May we all remember the wonderful gift that has been given to us...The birth of our Savior!

Look to the Right!

I mean it, look to the right, and you'll see that I have finally updated my kids' pictures. It took me over an hour to do it, and I guess that's why I haven't done it before.

A quick update is that we are ALL doing GREAT! Kaden's loving basketball, and playing well, Ali's loving ballroom and is excited to see their costumes for the year, Paige is loving acheivement days and has a great leader, Tyce is learning to cope with school, and is doing great with his reading, and Danica is loving her new found bossing abilities. The rest of us don't love that quite as much. Jody is doing so good with school. I am quite proud of the grades he's been bringing home, and I am just here always thinking of things I should be doing else where! Sorry for the shortened version. Just remember...ALWAYS LOOK TO THE RIGHT!

We've had some BIRTHDAYS...Shout Hurray!

We have had a couple of important birthdays, and one not-so-important birthday. Starting it off on the 23rd of Sept. was my sweet baby girl who is now 2. Can you believe it? Her birthday was very interesting. We went to a ward fundraiser for dinner where she wouldn't eat, and kept saying her tummy hurt. We finally went home to celebrate, and she made it through presents, and blowing out candles before she threw-up! We therefore saved the cake to eat another day, because who wants to watch everyone else eat your birthday cake. Although she was not feeling well, she sure love the whole celebration, and smiled through the whole thing. We are so very grateful for this sweet little girl in our home. She can sure turn a frown upside-down. Happy Birthday you sweet baby girl!

Next was my birthday which came with Tyce having the flu, and having to go pick potatoes out of the field for the cannery the following week. It was nice to be able to relax a bit though, and pretend I'm not really as old as the number says, I'm only as old as I feel...56!

Tyce just celebrated his birthday yesterday. He has had a countdown going on for over a month. He shares his birthday with one of his friends, so they had a little party and he loved that. He had to go to school on his birthday, and so he took doughnuts to share with everyone. (That made him feel better about having to go to school on his birthday too.)

One of the gifts Tyce got from his grandpa and grandma, was a BB gun. He's very excited about that, but also about the soccer ball he got too. I have to brag a little about this little man on the soccer field. He has really got the hang of it this year, and was so fun to watch all season. We learned something about him during this soccer season as well...HE IS SO FAST! He could beat anyone to the ball if he felt like it. He would put his chin down, pump his arms, and with a complete look of determination, off he'd go. So cute to watch. Happy Birthday dude, we love you tons!

A couple other catch up things...Kaden just made the Jr. High Basketball team, and is so excited. He is trying to juggle things a bit though because he still has 2 soccer games this week as well. His coach is still coaching football after school, so they are having 6:00am practices this week. He and his dad leave here at 5:30 and he gets home off the bus at 4:50pm. It's a long day for him, but I don't think it will last forever. Football can't last that long...Can it?

Ali and Paige have been helping me out a lot lately. They have learned to do laundry, and they do a lot of babysitting too. They had their first OFFICIAL babysitting job for their Uncle and Aunt while we all went out to dinner. They were so excited, but I learned that I need to teach them a little bit about cleaning up after the kids before the parents get home. It just makes it so much easier on the parents. Right! My girls remind me a lot of me and my sisters when we were young. Best Friends, or Worst Enemies! I sure hope they end up with the same kind of relationship that me and my sisters have now.

Jody finished another class a couple of weeks ago, and is starting a new one this weekend. He is still doing really well, and hasn't complained about anything yet. So grateful for him all the time. What a rock he is! I on the other hand am a mushy mess most of the time. They just took our Bishop and made him the Stake Pres. I'm not too excited about a switch already. I've only been the R.S. Pres. for about 2 months. We do not have a new Bishop yet. Our Bishop is doing double duty until a new one is called. I sure hope it's someone who can put up with me. I may be his biggest challenge! LIFE IS GOOD, AND WE ARE BLESSED!

Another language!

I know it's been a long time, and you're all sooo anxious to hear about our trip to San Diego, but you will have to keep waiting. The pictures are still on my camera, and it would be a much better update with pictures. I am blogging this time to let you all know that we are still alive, but maybe just BARELY! Life is very busy at our house, and I'm not sure it's going to get better, in fact, probably worse! 5 or 6 days before we left for California, I was called to be the Relief Society President! I know, I gasped just as loud as all of you did. I guess the Lord decided I was being lazy, and it was time to whip me into shape. I don't know if there's more to say about that, so we'll move on.

School is stressing me this year already. Kaden has a very tough year this year, with teachers who expect a lot, and send home lots of work. I feel like I may be burned out way before school is over. In fact, I may be burned out before the first semester is over! Thank goodness that the girls teachers, and Tyce's teacher don't send much homework home, I'm not sure we'd make it!

Well, I didn't mean to get on here and make things sound like I'm miserable. I'm really not, I think I'm just a little stressed, and a lot tired. I do feel like I'm in a calling where people are speaking another language. One funny to end on - At the table last Sunday after church, Tyce announced to us all that he could speak Gernamin. We got a good chuckle out of his pronunciation, and the Gernamin that he was speaking. I asked him who taught him Gernamin, and of course, he taught himself!