Whidden

5/52

2012-02-05T21:10:00.000-07:00

Ben on the many of his "status-ing" calls in preparation for his interview in California. This is the week.

My slight obsession with the GOP race.

What Kessler does when I am not paying attention to him.

Alivia's school had a wax museum this is the dress rehearsal (the night before).

That wig was so un-manageable.

Here she is at the school, she was taking her part very serious. She had to come up with a few poses. She could not speak and had to stand still for quite a while.

This is her cousin, she was Florence Nightingale.

Cooper had his 100th day of school celebration and wanted to dress up like an old man. We weren't very creative only his dad's shirt and tie, with some fake glasses.

Below this kid was AWESOME, i don't know if you can tell but his parents shaved his head and put some powder in his hair. I loved his glasses and the whole bit. He was so great.

Such nice weather here. Spring like!

4/52

2012-02-01T14:44:00.002-07:00

The sickness around here is pretty much gone except for me, stupid head cold.
Kessler following in his brothers example, Pirate Kess for the day.

The best part was his snow boots, that you can't see.

We are going to try and surprise Cooper for his birthday this year. Most of you know he was born on February 29 and so he gets a real birthday this year. We have a few things in mind, it will only be a day trip so we are thinking San Diego for the day maybe a trip to their zoo, or we also thought maybe about Disneyland just for him? Ben liked the idea of flying with him to Phoenix on the 28th go to the Coyotes and Canucks game. What a sacrifice on Ben's part:) I need some other ideas? ( I think me and Cooper should go to Disneyland for the day!)

3/52

2012-01-24T19:03:00.000-07:00

Kessler went from this to this (below)

This week has been the week of the stomach bug for everyone except me. It was a 24-36 hour bug, it would come on fast and furious and almost leave about the same.

Alivia has been working on a book report, she read about Pocahontas and has really liked studying and putting her report together. She is also working on her times tables and has passed off her, 1's, 2's and 3's.

Me and a few ladies in my neighborhood and going up to Idaho Falls March 16-17 for a Girls weekend. It is held by Deseret Book and called TOFW I am super excited for the line up and I think it will be an amazingly-fun weekend with some great friends. Plus we are staying at a beautiful hotel right across from the falls and the Temple.

I have been working quite a few hours and been having fun at the same time, I love my job and thank my lucky stars everyday. I was in the right place at the right time and been so blessed.

I always get a little itch to start planning a vacation in January-February sometime and have been looking on the internet at night after the kids go to bed for amazing deals. I have for sure found some, and have hovered my finger above the submit button to confirm the reservation but never did. Well thankfully I decided to organize some paperwork the other day and remembered we have a reservation in May in Miami for 7 days. The last few years we have bought these vacations from timeshares who take a small amount (30.00$) a month for us and so when you go it is paid for. So glad I didn't end up signing us up for two vacations, we couldn't afford that.

I posted this pic on here and thought it was weird not to introduce you to my good friend Melvin, he has been a flight attendant a little longer than myself and he is married to Natalie a former SkyWest flight attendant. He is such a great dad, and such a nice hubby to his wife, she fell and hit her head about 2 years ago and she was walking out to the employee parking lot. She suffered from a head injury. She can do small household functions, but cannot work and struggles still today. He just sent his son on a mission to Africa! I keep telling him, if he needs travel companions to go pick him I volunteered Ben and I to keep him company!

Ben is still in stress mode, he has meetings this week and then traveling to Ontario, California in two weeks. He is still practicing his "interviewing" skills. I personally think he just needs to work on his conversation skills He can practice on our neighbors, I think they would like to hear him speak more than two words. They might actually think something is wrong:)

GO MITT!

2/52

2012-01-14T12:24:00.000-07:00

Second week of January with still no snow......(sad face). We had a small little family party for Alivia's birthday. 9 years old! wow! she got lots of presents, mostly clothes and a gift card to Target to buy what ever she wants.

This week has also been very busy for me, I had my annual training and passed...whew! employed for another year. I had to prepare an aircraft cabin for and emergency landing in water, evacuate the aircraft as if we landed in the water, using the AED on a pregnant passenger, practiced CPR on an infant, did a mock of a slow decompression of an aircraft cabin. And some joint training with the pilots, that always provides lots of entertainment!

Ben also had a very stressful week and I don't see it slowing down for him at all. He did go to Denver on Tuesday for a day of interviews. He also had a full day of interviews, personality tests, IQ tests, and scenarios on Friday. So he has a few more grey hairs to blend in with the rest.

Kessler will be getting his tonsils out this next week and not soon enough, you should hear him speak. His tonsils are so huge right now and he snored so loud last night...poor kid!

Cooper is in love with the movie Rango right now.

Alivia is having a friend "late night" or "later nighter" tonight for her Birthday! (it is the same thing as a sleep over without the sleep over part). She is having two friends and a cousin come over and they are going to make headbands for their hair. Should be fun!

Bauer had a pretty uneventful week, he is the pretty predictable one around here!

Project 52.

2012-01-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

Last year I tried 365 and it was fun at first, and did reconsider doing it again this year but quickly talked myself out of it. I think I made it to May?
Anywhoo, I will being doing the project 52 this year which is a little more doable for now.
School break was fun, I always think I am not ready for them to go back to school, but the first day I catch my self thinking "Oh yeah this is how quite it can be."
Alivia- has been sick the last few days and is finally on the mend and back to her usual, texting (yes she texts her friend and cousin), back to bossing her brothers around and collecting things, she is the collector in the family. We find that out every time we go down to her room to help her get it re-organized again.

Cooper- first few days back at school have been good, he has a hard time finishing his work and gets distracted and frustrated very easily. (Maybe he got that from me?) He also loves riding his scooter and playing video games.

Bauer- LOVES kindergarten and was so HAPPY to go back.

"Creddy"

The snow really sucks around here, for December Utah was about 1% of average, my motto if it is going to be cold, SNOW!!

We got some awesome presents from Nana and Papa and the kids fell in love with this one and many others.

Kessler is still Momma's boy and it sometimes it is cute and sometimes it kills me! He still won't get in the car unless I am in the car in my seat, as soon as we pull in the garage he is jumping out of his seat and climbing on my lap to make sure I don't leave him in the car.

Every night he starts in his bed but always ends up in our bed. Usually with one arm over my chest on one leg over my hips and breathing on my cheek.

He is in Sunbeams now, and the first week didn't go so well, well we 12 months to work on it.

Ben is super busy this week, with interview prep. on Monday, interview prep in Denver on Tuesday, psychological tests/personality tests on Wednesday. Close Thursday and back to normal on Friday.

I go for my annual training to remain a flight attendant and keep my "airman" certificate so I can keep flying!

Post Christmas {WRAP} Up!

2011-12-30T14:47:00.001-07:00

Christmas gets more exciting every year for me and the kids, and I am getting better about patiently waiting about gift giving.

Alivia's main gifts were a "bitty baby" and an electric scooter.

Cooper's main presents was a nintendo 3ds and an electric scooter.

Bauer and Kessler got a car hopefully you can see it in the video above, that was a fun secret because they didn't ask for it and suspected nothing.

Here are some recent pictures of Addilyn, oh my goodness she is cute!!!

January's schedule is filling up fast. I have my annual recurrent training for work. I am also thinking about going back full time, which through the holidays I have been working full time hours and it hasn't been so bad. It turns my schedule from 1-2 days a week to 2-3 days a week. Not a huge change.

Ben is stressed out almost to his max. His store did well this 4th quater and he is also trying to prepare for some interviews that he has to go through in January.

The kids are still out of school their last day was December 16th and will return on the 3rd of January.

Kessler gets registered for pre-school in January and Alivia starts her second semester of choir.

Cooper and Bauer love being out of school, I have been working with Cooper about 1 hour every day on math and reading trying to get him caught up and maintain what he knows.

Ben and I didn't do the Christmas buying for each other this year, although he did get a birthday present he has been putting to good use (ps3 game).

Now if it would only SNOW!!

37 years young!

2011-12-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

happy birthday ben!!

In honor of tradition I would list 37 things about Ben that I appreciate, love and admire!

But I am going to skip that tradition this year, and just send a big Happy Birthday to the Daddy of our four kids and the man that I fell in love with many years ago.

Annual Gingerbread decorating

2011-12-18T19:48:00.000-07:00

Liv had her annual Christmas concert at the American Fork Tabernacle. It was a really cute year, they did songs from different countries, a few were in Hebrew, Navajo and Swahili.

Below is the pics from the annual Gingerbread making night, Ben made the forms for the boys the other day and we decorated them tonight. As I type this the kids are running around like crazy people. They would put one strip of frosting on their decoration and then take a big lick of frosting. Oh well.

Cooper's Robot, the arms broke before he even decorated it.

Ben's boat, the kids named it the black pearl.

Bauer has a rocket.

One candy on the house, one in her mouth:)

Kessler made it about 5 minutes and then had to be hosed down in the shower.

I thought the "peep" snow man head was funny, Ben ripped off the body and stuck the head on there.

Whew....how many more days of Christmas break:)

Temple Square and the JSMB

2011-12-10T19:30:00.000-07:00

We went to one of Alivia's choir concerts and in between concerts the boys couldn't contain their manners. BOYS!

If it has been a while since you have been to Temple Square it is nothing short of Amazing!!

This picture above does not give an ounce of justice to the pine tree that has thousands of red lights on it. It has been my favorite since I was a little girl.

This year after all this talk and thoughts of a possible move to Canada, I was even more thankful for the beauty of Utah in the winter time.

Breathtaking!

I really need a lens that can fit the whole picture in the frame or vice versa. It was nice to listen to the story again.

Brrrr

2011-12-06T18:19:00.000-07:00

It is pretty dang cold here right now about 16 (about -9c)degrees or so in the morning and only about 28-30 (-1c) degrees in the afternoon, I know the Canadians are laughing at me right now....

Here are some pics from Thanksgiving.

Addilyn enjoying her pie.

We went to Zoo Lights these are some of the only good pics I got, I didn't want to take my hands out of my pockets to take any pictures it was COLD!!

The boys before church on Sunday. I originally didn't match to mean them and then when I realized two out of 3 matched I got Kessler dressed like them.

Only 19 days till Christmas, almost done with my Christmas shopping, I have done a lot of it online this year, and it is like Christmas to me when packages are on my door of stuff I have ordered for the kids or others.

YEAH!!!

26,27,28,29,30

2011-11-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

Wrapping this month up is bitter sweet, I love November and I love December even more.
A few things that I am thankful for, that I have not been able to touch on yet.

My in laws, I always have a good time when we are able to get together and sometimes makes me sad that we don't see each other more.
I had an intention of going down the list and listing all the wonderful things about every single one of them, but for time unfortunately I couldn't be more blessed with the wonderful in laws I have. I love Ben's sisters they each have such wonderful qualities. I am also so lucky to have so many other brothers, I grew up with one brother and always wanted another brother and I got 5 of them when I married Ben. All of them crack me up and make me smile in there own way. I love their wives, we are so lucky to have one another and miss everyone so much.

I am thankful for my father in law, he is such a personable person, I love the talks we have and insight he has into many situations.
I am also thankful for my mother in law, she is always thinking of others and works her fanny off when we are all together and loves the grandchildren and always has wonderful things for them.

I am so glad I had the opportunity this month to reflect on the things I am thankful for, the last thing for the month is my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It grounds me and has taught me what is really important in life, I love to serve others and am so thankful for the callings I have had, they each in there own way have taught me much.

So for the month of Christmas the gratitude will be much for my Savior, His humble birth, the blessings I am blessed with and the opportunity to live on this earth at this time.

22,23,24,25

2011-11-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

I do have four days worth of things that I am thankful for.

First on my mind, I was pulled over yesterday as we were pulling into our neighborhood. The police officer informed me I was speeding which I may have been I was in autopilot driving home with the kids. He took my drivers license back to his car, Cooper was somewhat traumatized telling me that I was going to be "under the rest". And kept asking me what was taking him so long, he commented that he must be reading my license very slowly, I thought that was funny.
The cop didn't give me a ticket and I am extremely thankful for that, it definitely would have cramped my spending money for Christmas.

Ben and his amazing work ethic, I have commented many times about that but he never ceases to amaze me.
Wednesday he went to work at 2pm and got home at 6am the next day slept for most of the day, ate Thanksgiving dinner and went back to work at 9pm and worked until 10am today, slept until 4pm and then went back to work at 5pm today and will be there until midnight or so.
Crazy retail life!

I love online Christmas shopping!! I love searching deals and making sure I have it all planned out what I am going to get the kids.

I am thankful for nice people, When Ben and I were talking about a possible move to Canada we were talking about what we would do with the dogs. Well we decided it would be best to put Lulu up for adoption on a local classified website, (even though we found out we were not moving) well we had lots of people respond and adopted her to a cute local family. The husband wanted a not so "wimpy" dog. The had a lab mix that I think was pretty mellow. I was super worried that she would be mean to the other dog and she was very aggressive at first, I realized she was just trying to protect me because their dog was friendly and trying to go up to everyone who would pet him.
Lulu left with them for a trial period and they called me and told me that she was doing really great. They live on a half acre and take their dogs to a ranch they have during the summer.

I have been sad knowing that she is not here, but it is better for our family. Incredible is a little lost but is loving the extra attention and probably doesn't miss how much Lulu would try to play with him.
We love Lulu and are hopeful that she will be happy with another family.

21

2011-11-21T21:51:00.000-07:00

I am thankful today for sisters.

20

2011-11-20T17:23:00.000-07:00

Today I am thankful for some little boys with crazy, amazing imaginations. It is never a dull moment around here.

16,17,18,19

2011-11-19T17:34:00.000-07:00

Whew, things are not turning out like I wanted them to this month and my blog is suffering as well.
As some of you know Ben is from Canada and Target is opening 200 new stores over a few years and Ben applied to be one of the first store managers to move up there and we obviously would move with him.
He went through two interviews and felt the first one went bad and the 2nd went well.
Well......he didn't get chosen to go up there, to be honest I was completely shocked he didn't get it, I thought since he was a Canadian national he would have a good chance and I was getting excited about the possibility of going on this new adventure.
I think I might have been more sad than Ben was, but he doesn't have roller coaster emotions to begin with so I didn't expect him to burst into tears and cry on my shoulder.
But with the spirit of the month, it would be silly not to be thankful for the opportunity he had to interview, he needs all the practice he can get, also we are thankful that he has a good job and he likes his job.
In spite of the "bad" news Ben did get some good news, he was nominated to go onto something called ADP, it is a process in which he will go through a series of interviews and then prep sessions, once he completes the sessions they will send him to a final interview to be passed of as a DTL (he is a STL a DTL is the manager of a few STL's) . However that news wasn't Ben's idea of good news, he hates interviewing because he thinks he stinks at it.
We are thankful for good jobs, jobs that afford us some travel perks and a steady income.

15

2011-11-15T22:50:00.001-07:00

Maybe it is a theme for the day, but I just read on someone else's daily Thanksgiving about friends.
My life has gone in many different directions with friends, but the one thing that has never changed it what and how much I learn from my friends...... from being a better mom, to more fashionable, more spiritual, I could go on and on.
I know that some friends are lifelong friends and some are not, some friendships that end might be a blessing in disguise and some friendships are just blessings.

I guess I will get on my little soapbox about being friendly, and please understand I don't do these all of the time either, but here we go.
If you see someone in the store, why pretend like you don't see them, why is it so hard to smile and wave?
If you see someone at church why is it so hard to pay someone a compliment?
When walking down a hallway with someone you don't know how come it is hard to say Good Morning or hello and smile?
Even if you don't say something to someone you are walking past, how about a smile?

I learned a really good lesson once at work, as the passengers were deplaning a was standing there with a straight face saying goodbye and thank you and a man walked up to me as he was about to walk off the plane and said something to the extent, that "it wouldn't kill you to smile". I will never forget that. EVER. I think about that a lot and the way our body language and words affect other people.

Some of us have lots of friends- some of us have a few friends-some of us want more friends and some of us feel like they don't need friends, I know I have felt all of those feelings but the feeling today and many days is I am thankful for every one of my friends, each has more positives than negatives and I know that my friends make me want to be a better person and I would be sad if they didn't know that I was thankful for them.

14

2011-11-15T18:01:00.000-07:00

Today is another lame post without a photo but maybe with some background music to get into the spirit of the post.
I am thankful for music, it has always been a big part of my life, and is not as big right now as I would like it to be.
I would have music playing all day if I could get away with it.

10,11,12,13

2011-11-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

Wow, I am a little behind...not that I am not grateful but a little busy. We had an awesome anniversary weekend this last Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We got an awesome hookup to stay up at Stein Erickson Lodge in Park City, Utah. It was nothing short of amazing, it is the only 5 star hotel in Utah. It is a little hard to get used to the amazing treatment, the only valet parking, the bellmen desk, concierge, the turn down service, the papers on your door, I could go on and on.
Our anniversary was on 11.11.11 this year, our original plan was to go the 11state which is New York btw, but we decided to save some cash and time with black Friday less than 2 weeks away.
Ben commented on facebook at 11:11 am we had been married for 11 years but at 1:00pm we were married for 12 years.
The kids stayed at Grandma's house, she is probably home right now passed out on the couch. They had a great time and didn't want to leave even when we got there.
Friday night, we went out to dinner and hung out at the hotel.
Saturday we went to see a movie and not a cartoon movie or rated G. (Tower Heist, pretty good and funny)
Sunday we went to the Stein Erickson Brunch, if you have not gone and need to add something to your bucket list or need a gift for the person that is hard to shop for, treat them to that. It was so AWESOME and hopefully someday will be able to take my Mom back up there for watching my kids for the weekend.

It was so fun and really nice to be just hang out with Ben and be able to talk to one another, without any interruptions.

9

2011-11-09T16:47:00.000-07:00

I am thankful for the desire to keep learning, in my patriarchal blessing it mentions to keep learning and luckily I like to learn new things. Sorry about the self portraits, but this is a tutorial I found that I wanted to use on a scrapbook page I was doing and practiced on some of my photos (photos taken by Jeni Boston).

A list of things that I would love to learn more about....

Cake Decorating

Photoshop

Jewelery making

Cooking classes

Speaking french

I would love to go back to school and take psychology classes and or nursing classes.

History classes

There are so many to list, but that would be a good start.

7 and 8

2011-11-08T19:49:00.000-07:00

I wish I had a great photo to post with my daily thanksgiving post tonight but I don't. What I am thankful for today and everyday is my mother. She is an amazing person, she says how she feels, she wears her heart on her sleeve, she has unbelievable compassion for others, she is a work horse, she loves her grand kids, she loves her children, she loves to garden, she has a weird obsession with tilling, she is so generous with her time and money, she laughs at herself, she loves to decorate for Christmas and thinks it is important to still put up Christmas lights for her grand kids to get excited about when they come over. I am happy for her that she gets to slow down here soon with all the retirements benefits kicking in and can't wait to spend more time with her.

6-

2011-11-06T19:30:00.000-07:00

After a recent incident I am especially thankful for the safety that I have been blessed with throughout my life.

A few examples of scary things that have happen that could have been much worse.

~I saw a train accident right in front of my car when I was in high school, the lady that was hit had both of her legs broken.
~I was in a roll over crash in 1999 a few months before I got married, we hit a patch of slush, and started to slide we were headed straight toward a semi truck, who was honking at us to get out of his way, the very last second our car slides into some mud and rolls three times.
~When Ben and I were dating and before I worked for the airline, I rode the bus up to Ben's hometown, to make a long story short, there were two buses traveling through Ben's hometown and they gave us the option of getting off of the bus we were on and going to the other bus. I got out of my seat to go, walked to the front of the bus, saw an empty row and stayed on the bus I had been on. I didn't know this until I saw Ben, but that bus in front of us was in a head on collision with a semi, and the driver was killed and many passengers were hurt really bad.
~Ben was in a horrible wave-runner accident that was very bad, but could have been worse.
~Last night on my overnight in Oklahoma City, there was an earthquake nothing major(5.6) but it was still unnerving and makes you think about how much worse things could have been.

5

2011-11-05T20:40:00.000-06:00

Today I am thankful for my job
well my second job. I love that
I was just in the right place at the
right time.

4-

2011-11-04T19:15:00.000-06:00

I will make this short and sweet because there are some people I know who don't like it when people get to mushy on blogs about their spouse. (I might be one of them, depends on the content though).

I have blogged a little too much about Ben for his liking anyway.

Here are some things I appreciate about him.

1. He will watch Anderson Cooper with me.

2. He doesn't say "we'll see or relax" as much as he used to (because I asked him to:)

3. He likes me for me.

4. He doesn't usually complain about things that I do.

5. He is kind of disappointed when Alivia leaves to go to sleep overs and her Grandma's house when it his weekend off.

6. He is SO sweet to our primary kids, especially a little girl Jessie who comes into sharing time every Sunday crying and grabs her from her mom and sits her on his lap.

7. He laughs at my attempts to be funny.

8. He likes whatever I make him for dinner and hardly ever has requests, just goes with the flow.

9. He likes the music I like.

10. When he is excited, happy or has interesting news, I love it when he calls me to tell me.

3

2011-11-03T20:40:00.002-06:00

Today will be a little homage to some of the many small things that I am thankful for but don't necessarily want to do a whole post about.

1. Target (duh right?) it has been an great company to work for and I never get bored to just go stroll through the store.
2. My memory foam pads (2of them) that are on my bed, oh how I sleep so much better in my own bed than hotel beds.
3.A new moisturizer that I found, (it's a little pricey) but I recently bought a trial size and it was nothing short of A-mazing!! It is made by a company by Philosophy and is it called Miracle worker.
4. Costco.
5. My car, I am glad it gets us to and fro.
6. Lotion and chap-stick, I would be a crackly old more wrinkled person without it.
7. Sunglasses, I might have a small addiction to nice sunglasses??
8. Crushed ice, seriously I love that small little "half chewed" ice.
9. Humor, my life would be SO boring without it.
10. Cafe Rio.

Daily Thanksgiving-2

2011-11-02T13:33:00.000-06:00

Today I am thankful that I was born with 10 fingers, 10 toes, lungs, bones, skin, eyes that see, ears that hear a heart that feels a body that has worked helped me accomplish my goals and desires.
I may not have a perfect body and can remember when I was in middle school how self conscious I was of my body shape (but of course now think, man I would love to have that shape right?).
It has taken me a long time to be 'comfortable' in my skin, not satisfied, but we all have room for improvement.
I am thankful I have the desire to take care of my body as good as I can, sure I drink Coke, but drink lots of water, I eat Halloween candy, but eat apples, carrots, take my vitamins, exercise, I may not be a marathoner, but I am doing what I can do right now, will it change someday....I always want to improve.
Thank you for the air that I breath, thank you for the sun that shines on my face, thank you for the beautiful music and laughter that I get to hear. Thank you for the heart breaks that I have experienced and thank you for the love that I feel.

Daily Thanksgiving-1

2011-11-01T17:13:00.000-06:00

It is that time of year again to blog my daily Thanksgiving, I hope any of you reading will want to join me and blog your daily Thanksgiving. It can be challenging but it has been worth it to go back and read some of the things I have wrote in years past.

Day number one is something that has been on my mind for over three years. When I found out I was pregnant with Kessler I was sure that if he was a girl, {I thought} I would feel that my family was complete if it was a girl. Well he wasn't a girl.

When I was in the hospital with Alivia I knew right after she was born that I would have more children and even thought I would be okay if it happened sooner than later, I know it was my Heavenly Father preparing me for Cooper. (it doesn't mean that I did not cry when I found out I was pregnant again when Liv was only 5 months old).

I have often wondered if the veil is thin right after you have a newborn, because I remember feeling that peace of knowing there was more kids out there for our family after each delivery.

I really appreciated hearing the talk given in conference on Saturday afternoon by Neil L. Andersen, I remember thinking I don't think our family is complete, but knowing I am happy and have been happy with each new chapter that has been written.

I recently went to my Doctor for my annual womanly check and he commented your uterus is large....I wanted to say, yeah I hear that all the time :) but he sent me down for an ultrasound and I then found out the reason why I haven't been able to get pregnant for that last two years. Nothing deadly or horrible, just annoying and not surprising.

I haven't commented much to anyone really about how I really feel about having another baby, because I think I have been confusing myself with thoughts of freedom, expense, sleep, travel, but also knowing when I see a baby I would love my other baby girl that I have been thinking about for years. I have heard from other mom's it would be nice if you got a letter from Heaven telling you your child bearing days are complete, well done.

So with all that confusing information my daily Thanksgiving is about being Thankful to be a Mother. I didn't grow up thinking I wanted to be a mom, but I also didn't think that I didn't want to be a Mother. I just know there is nothing.....NOTHING...I would rather have done in this life.

Punkin' shopping

2011-10-30T19:49:00.000-06:00

We went to our favorite pumpkin patch on 9000 south and 2200 west. Schmidt's.

They have an awesome selection of pumpkins and cute scenery for pictures.

I told the kids the only rule was they could each have a pumpkin but they had to be able to carry it themselves.

Kessler started out with this pumpkin, good size I thought.

Then he decided it was too heavy.

Alivia is the only one that stayed with the original pumpkin she chose.

Kessler found another pumpkin a little bit more his size.

The final product, except for Kessler as we were walking up to pay, he put his down decided it wasn't worth it:)

All the other kids got theirs carved out, I didn't take any pics of them though. This is Bauer's.

Miss Liv

2011-10-27T16:07:00.000-06:00

Liv is in 3rd grade this year and loves it, she loves art and computers. She told me recently that she wanted to start her own blog, if she does that should be interesting what she talks about.

She is excited for Halloween she even tried to make a costume for her hermit crab Nancy.

She is super excited for Christmas, her list is a mile long and we have told her you are going to have to narrow it down. She still adds something to it every other day.

She is still in choir and is having another great year.

She loves re arranging her room ( I have no idea who she gets that from).She is really sweet when she gets the rest she needs, if not she still arches her back, rolls her eyes and moans and complains sometimes.

She still wants to be a labor and delivery doctor or nurse she says, she wants to be around babies.

A new marketing ad....

2011-10-22T22:06:00.000-06:00

I would like to preface with it bugs me when people come to Utah or other places that I love and they will either complain or speak negatively. I think to myself if you don't like it here, don't come here.

So with that said my new slogan for Vegas is......"sinner's, winner's, chicken dinner's, cruiser's, looser's and boozer's"

Not really the top destination for a vacation, BUT it is cheap, close and HOT!!

A few pics of Hoover dam, (the boys love this place because of Transformers....don't know what I am talking about, you should watch the movie)

We walked across the new bridge, just a tad bit of anxiety with the height and little kids not knowing what on earth they would do.

We took a little friend/cousin with us, it was fun to have her. She balanced out the boy crazed situation we usually have.

I love me some Lake Mead, maybe not as much as I used too, with the quagga mussels and everything.

Our agenda, sleep, eat, swim...repeat.

Kessler trying to push Ben in.

A short walk down the strip to the Bellagio fountains, sadly Alivia and Kyleigh commented on the inappropriate attire some ladies were wearing.

Ben practicing some poker skills...for his some day dream World Poker Tournament.

(he made 50$, half tank of gas?)

Cooper was glad to see the blue M&M, he told me last time it was green one....glad he remembers.

Love this picture above, we were just walking back to our car and I had my camera hanging around my neck and snapped a photo while I was walking.

Our hotel was pretty nice, customer service was pretty crappy. Oh well. They had a nice workout room I used a few times, I watched the republican debate one night...it was pretty cool it was held in Vegas hosted by my beloved Anderson Cooper ( I thought about stalking him at his hotel, but 5 kids with me wouldn't have been so discreet). Also our hotel was very close to the airport so all day we saw airplanes landing and taking off. Kessler was in heaven.

We had some special visitors one day, it was so fun to hang out at the pool and let all the kids play and get some quality mommy time!!

Fall Colors

2011-10-21T20:34:00.000-06:00

A tad bit late for fall colors, but there was still plenty to see. I LOVE the colors!

(btw...one step closer to Target Canada, Ben passed the first interview:)

Monster Mash

2011-10-15T19:24:00.000-06:00

The official costumes of the Ward/neighborhood Halloween Party.

Cooper = Spider Man (surprised?)

Kessler = power ranger

Bauer = Pirate (nice pirate face above, mean pirate face below)

Alivia = Sailor girl

And I do not know who this person is below.......I will say he probably dressed up because he has been up for 36+ hours due to working a really early morning shift and not going to bed the few hours before he had to get up. (delirious)

He was a VERY good sport and the kids thought is was hysterical.

Isn't she so precious!!

2011-10-13T22:24:00.000-06:00

This is Miss Addi! she is just over 4 months and is the cutest thing ever. I love it when she comes over.

She had a rough day the other day when she was over visiting, she had shots the day before she was the saddest I have ever seen her.

These were taken after a little Motrin and a little cat nap later!!

Bauer Loves Kindergarten

2011-10-12T19:55:00.000-06:00

This little man has started a new chapter in his life. I love to watch him write the pages, if you will.

He is are only (likes to get up early, and is in a very good mood child) and so I knew putting him in the early class would be the best for him and me, plus I didn't want to keep hearing, "is it time for school yet?".

When he leaves every morning it gives me and Kessler some quality time which usually is Kessler sleeping until 9:30 or 10am and depends on the day what I do, go back to bed or go do 1,238 other things on my lists.

He is our happy, silly, sweet, smart boy, his eyelashes are to die for, his smile puts a smile in my heart and

never ,ever want to forget what it looks like.

He loves to play with his friends and everyday he comes home he likes to run across the street and eat his lunch with his two friends that are in a later kindergarten class.

Yeah for Kindergarten!!

Cooper Grade 2

2011-10-11T21:57:00.001-06:00

Cooper is in 2nd grade this year and his cute teacher is Miss Maurin, she is the same teacher that Alivia had last year.

Unfortunately his teacher became very ill the first week of school with some serious heart problems. She is maybe her mid or late twenties.

So he went through a week or two of subs and struggled through the changes. His teacher came back for a day or two and became ill again and he know how a permanent sub until further notice.

I met his sub Ms. Leslie at parent teacher conference and she is fun and was so nice, I told her my concerns she took some notes and we figured some things out. I feel a lot better after meeting with her and am super excited for Cooper and the year ahead of him.

He is still up to his same stuff, dressing up in costumes, pirates and police officers lately. He is loving Eggo waffles and wants to have school lunch everyday. Last year, he would almost be physically ill thinking he had to eat school lunch because he was nervous about what he would have to eat.

He really wants to be Luigi for Halloween and he wants his brothers to be Mario and Toad.

What have we been up to lately?

2011-10-09T19:57:00.002-06:00

The same stuff we are always up too...school, homework, chores, yard work, room mom stuff, working out, cleaning, parent teacher conferences, losing the hermit crab 'Nancy" and then finding her again a week later still alive, flying, errands, shopping, Ben prepping for Target Canada interviews, searching for hotels for a fall break (UEA) vacation and some digital scrapbooking.

The kids brought all of their baby books up the other day and the only one that didn't have one was Kessler:( rude mother I know. My excuse is all the other kids baby books are paper scrapbooking and I digital scrapbook and so I don't print them out like I should.

(p.s. typos in the above page that I haven't fixed yet)

So I have MANY pictures that I need to take care of and get journal-ed. Here are 'some' of the pages that have been done recently. Now off to printing them...right?

Nana and Papa

2011-10-02T13:28:00.000-06:00

Ben's parents came to Utah for a week and stayed with us for a few days, and stayed in Park City for a few days at their time share. They invited us up for some time, we may have over stayed our welcome:) four kids in a two bedroom can be crazy. The kids had a blast, swimming two or three times a day, a gondola and a ski lift ride over the fall colors, and the best part being out of school for three days. Here are some pics from the weekend.

Papa doing water aerobics with the kids.

The gondola ride, the kids were more nervous than I thought they would be, they love rides at amusement parks, so I thought it would be a piece of cake...not so much. They got used to it pretty fast though.

Alivia and Cooper in front of us, you can see how Cooper is holding on, he wasn't sure about being on the lift that didn't have him closed in.

Once we got to the top we hiked down about 1.5 miles and watched all the bikers going down on some bike trails, off of jumps and doing cool tricks the kids loved it!

There were a lot of pics I didn't get, Ben and Papa playing and goofing with the kids in the pool throwing them up in the air, Bauer being brave and going in the pool without his life jacket, doing flips under water.

What a fun trip I wish we could do that every year at the same time, the fall colors were amazing.

Nancy

2011-09-23T16:40:00.000-06:00

My Mom let Alivia borrow one of her old point and shoot camera's and these are some of the results, she took probably more than 300 pictures and some of them were funny and some were blurry. The picture of our German shepherd Lu is my favorite.

We stopped at five guys one night for dinner, Kessler was so hungry he was eating the fry sauce before our food got there. Cooper didn't want to be left out.

Alivia decided she wanted to do four chores a day .25 cents a piece and save up for a new pet, originally she wanted a mouse, but sorry that WAS NOT going to happen she ended up saving up 14 dollars and went and got a hermit crab, Alivia decided it was a girl and named her Nancy. For some reason that struck me funny the name anyway. She likes her new hermit crab and takes her way too many places (on the swing set, on her scooter, in her bed?...)

The boys talked Ben into getting them some lizards, (which is not hard to talk Ben into) they all got a lizard Bauer named his 'Buzzy, Cooper named his 'Speed', and Kessler names his 'Hulk'.

September

2011-09-16T19:00:00.001-06:00

Schools in- the morning's are a lot quieter, we are back into our routine.

Our day starts about 645, breakfast our usual cereal or eggo waffles (fine cuisine), getting the kids dressed, doing hair, brushing teeth and getting back packs ready and probably trying to find a shoe or two. Everyday I talk to my Mom I tell her about our day and she always says the same thing to me...."I am SO glad I don't have to do that anymore" Right now I am glad to be doing it. Our challenge encouraging Cooper that he will be okay at school and it is okay if he gets a 3 and not a 4. His teacher scores their behavior/work on a scale of 1-4, 4 the highest and 1 the lowest. He has got a good mix of 3 and 4's but comes home somewhat depressed if it is a 3.

Bauer is in Kindergarten Heaven he loves his class, loves his teacher, and looks forward to school and some days wants to stay longer. He likes walking to school with Liv and Coop. He wants to pack himself a lunch to take to school....so we do it anyway and eat it when he gets home.

Alivia loves 3rd grade and doesn't have A LOT of homework, just enough to keep her busy and make her think. Her cousin is in her class and they love it, I didn't think it would be a good idea but they seem to try and make new friends and play with lots of people and not just pair off.

The weather has been PERFECT, so nice during the day low 80's and cool at night. We don't have the a/c on 22/24 hours of the day and hopefully will save on a 200$+ powerbill. We took down the pool and trampoline.

Ben just got back from Minneapolis for his Fall National Sales meeting and had a good time...kind of. It really is not his idea of fun trying to mix/smooze with Target big wigs. I would really like it if he would come and type how the week went, but that ain't going to happen.

Some highlights according to Ben.

In a meeting they talked about Target Canada it made him excited to keep pursing the possibility to open Target Canada. I asked him the other day (before he left) on a scale of 1 through 10 , 10 he wants to do it for sure, no questions etc....1, no way, not gonna happen.....

His response 5 (typical Ben) so I took out the number 5 and he had to choose 4 or 6. He chose 4. When he got back from the meetings it was up to 6 or 7.

I am all for it, I feel the same way Ben does with some aspects (my job and it could be very hard to keep it and not have to quit.)

I look forward to the adventure and think Ben has many, many qualities that they need to open new stores with completely new people. Ben has a lot more doubts than I do.

The meeting they have in the Target Center did not disappoint, Alison Krauss, Willow Smith, Taylor Swift, Oprah, James Taylor, Tony Bennett and Beyonce.

The kids missed him, especially Kessler, when Ben walked in the door, Kessler said "where have you been?"

We did miss him and are glad that he is back to settle into Fall and the 2011-2012 Hockey season...btw he got a Target Dog with a Canada theme, Hockey jersey, skates and helmet.

Ben has been torturing himself and watching re-runs of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals....

We have a few vacations planned one in Oct. and one in Nov. the November one is a surprise location for Ben on the weekend of our anniversary.

Harder than I thought?

2011-08-29T11:41:00.000-06:00

I heard the thunder and lighting and love photos like that.....so I thought I would run outside and just snap some photos of lighting? Not so easy, it requires a lot of patience which I seem to be running out of, or possibly ran out of already.

Whidden~ Back to School Special!

2011-08-23T10:15:00.001-06:00

The "theme" this year is {Dedication} which btw I am going to try a little harder this year to carry it farther through the year in FHE nights.

The scripture that goes along with it is Mosiah 2:21 and if your were wondering that is my favorite scripture of all time, well pretty much this is at the top tied with one more I can think of.

This scripture has a lot of meaning for me and I love to read it over and over as much as I love seeing Anderson Cooper giggle.

WAY back about almost 18 years ago, for realz, I was working at a care center for mentally and physically handicapped adults and it is a long story but I remember driving into work that evening and listening to this scripture in my car. I remember feeling so strongly about it and then later on in the night I was taking care of this woman who could not walk, or speak, and was pretty much blind and thinking that I was so blessed and so was she. It was an amazing day that I will never forget.

So it was an easy choice for the scripture this year.

On the menu this year

Steak

Corn

Cheesy pototoes

Strawberries

Cupcakes from the Sweet Tooth Fairy. YUM

The kids got a little back to school box that rocked I called it and a new little chore system with their initial and a hook.

I got these door hangers and put three chores on them. When they get home from school or on Saturdays these will be hanging from their hooks.

Back to school this morning. Bauer wanted to walk with the kids and he also had his Kindergarten assessment this morning with his darling teacher.

My favorite pictures and video of the week!

2011-08-20T20:36:00.002-06:00

Yep! that is what you think it is. I could NOT resist, I am just a happy mom that my youngest is potty trained
btw.... you couldn't see anything in the original picture, I just added the heart for extra cutness and to make sure no one gets offended if I show a half naked baby bum:)

Not sure how many of you Non-Whidden's know how much Ben LOVES red cream soda slurpees....only in Canada I might add.

This is Alivia's cousin she is a few months {younger} than Liv. Tall, beautiful girl!!

Our days off this week an overnight trip to Deer Creek Res. we brought the tent, made a yummy potato, sausage, green pepper,onion, carrot stew over the fire.

Made smores and froze our behinds off during the night, not a good nights rest for the Mom or Dad.

A preview to our "Back to School Special" for Monday night. I have been busy making little crafts for the kids. Also trying to change some things up, that I think the kids will enjoy.

Anderson Cooper made me giggle this week I watched this video 5 or 6 times because it was so funny!

Click on the Anderson Cooper Ridiculist~ LOVE

To Canada or not to Canada?

2011-08-16T22:12:00.000-06:00

A little update on the Target Canada possibilities.

Ben had a conference call with 2 Target Canada transition people and about 50 other STLs who are also interested in possible positions in Canada.

We first found out it is an assignment and not a permanent position. That the assignment will range between 2 and 3 years.

Like I said there were about 50+ other STL's interested in the assignment. We also found out that they will be only taking 12-16 out of that 50. So he will have to interview for the position.

The tentative timeline they will interview this fall and find out shortly there after. If you are selected to go up to Canada for the assignment, they give you time to figure out housing, immigration stuff, rent your house, find a house to rent and a whole list things.

Then they want you there by Spring/Early summer 2012 to be in your store city.

After the conference call they wanted an email back to see if he was still interested and to list a choice of cities he would prefer to go to.

So back to the hurry up and wait game...

A little here and a little there~

2011-08-14T18:40:00.000-06:00

Livi and I did a glamour shot Saturday the other week, she found some fake eyelashes, and we curled her hair and put a little bit of make up on. She said she wanted to look like the dancers on Dancing with the Stars....maybe a little bit more modest though..

We have been trying to get out the last full days of summer break, we made it to Thanksgiving point's Dinosaur Museum, Animal Country and up to the Hogle Zoo on top of swimming in the pool and going to the ward campout.

Livi and I were lucky enough to go to the Josh Groban concert last night and it was AMAZING!! he is a really great singer and quite the comedian. I appreciate singers who sound just like their CD when it is a live performance.... LOVE!!

On a very sad side note, my girlfriend that I have grown up with since elementary her Mother passed away very suddenly yesterday and it has shocked me to my core, feeling so horrible for her and putting life and how much I love my Mother and would miss her terribly if I lost her right now. She was so close to her Mom like I am to mine, I love you girl and will be thinking and praying for you and your family!

Lemonade for sale

2011-08-09T13:16:00.000-06:00

My cute friend and her hubby made this adorable lemonade stand and she was nice enough to let me borrow it one afternoon.

Here are our results.

Family Reunion-Whidden Style

2011-08-05T15:36:00.002-06:00

We packed and planned and debated if we would drive or fly for this trip and decided to do, half and half.

Our original plan was to fly to Spokane, WA. rent a car and drive up to Kelowna, BC.

The night before we left a flight cancelled to Spokane and against our better judgement we still decided to try the flights in the morning. (we should have decided then , to just pack up the Suburban and start driving)

But to make a very long day short, Ben made it to Spokane, and we made it to Missoula, MT. {3hours}away.

Ben rented the car and drove to Missoula to pick us up. Then we made the now 8 hour drive to Kelowna. Fortunately it was a very pretty drive and we were able to drive through Coeur d'alene, Idaho, which I can't remember if I have ever been there.

We made it late in the evening and it was pretty much time to go to sleep...boo.

It was held at a girl scout camp on a very beautiful lake.

The kids swam, swam and swam, played bocce ball, ultimate frisbee, games and card games.

Above is a cute little boat house that was a great back drop for some family photos.

Ben saying Cheese, while eating "Cheesies" (Canadian version of Cheetos, definitely not as good!:)

The whole family except for me I didn't get any photos of the group including me....yet..

All the families had the same color shirts, that said "Got Roots" Whidden 2011

The newest Nephew was blessed while we were up there, Ben's brother Gary and his wife Allie were serious troopers planning the reunion over the summer and then having a baby the week of.

All 15 grandkids!!

Nana, Papa and the grandkids:)

Here are some family pictures of the individual families.

Above Gary, Allie and Tayson. Gary is number 7/8 out of Ben's brothers and sisters.

Gina-Ben's sister, Jared and her cute family. (2/8)

Jared-Ben's brother, Julie and their adorable kids. (3/8)

Leah-Ben's sister, Byron and their beautiful kids. (4/8)

Our family and Ben is 1/8:)

Jonathan-Ben's brother and his adorable girlfriend Ashley. (6/8)

Tim-Ben's brother and his cute wife Ashton. (8/8)

Seth-Ben's brother and his darling wife Kim. (5/8)

The Mom, The Dad, The Nana, The Papa...the two that started all of this:)

Back from the their mission in Germany and happy to be home.

Thank you Nana for all the hard work into the reunion, the crafts were so fun.

Ben trying not to get wet?

Ben on unofficial life guard duty.

I love this picture this is all the grandkids in order of birth it is fun to see them all lined up together. Even the 10 month old and the 7 day old at the end.....LOVE!!!!

Baby Tayson and some very novice newborn pics.

Such a sweet, mellow, beautiful baby boy..congrats Gary and Allie!!

We had so much fun, it was sad for it to end. The next reunion is being held by Ben and myself here in Utah? Question mark for the possibility of Target Canada in two years? After seeing these beautiful places, Kelowna, Vernon, Winfield, Peachland, Penticton, and many more it wouldn't be hard to move, it would be hard to leave a lot I love behind...

Mother of the Year

2011-07-28T12:04:00.000-06:00

The other day when I was in bed feeling horrible, Kessler wanted a snack and out of complete misery and wanting him to stop asking me, I gave him this bag of chips, he has been carrying it around with him on and off for the last four days and I am happy to say it is almost gone.

A as in Alpha.....

2011-07-26T22:55:00.000-06:00

B as in Bravo
C as in Charlie
D as in Delta.......

P as in Pneumonia...
Yep, day three in bed and finally can say more than a sentence with out coughing, and day 1.5 on medicine and am so thankful for it.
I didn't go to church on Sunday because Bauer had a fever and was throwing up Saturday night, and by Sunday afternoon I was down and out. Tuesday I went to the doctor, I knew this wasn't just a 'Cold'. I can't remember feeling this way in a long time and can't wait until tomorrow knowing the medication is doing it's job and look forward to doing the things that I don't like doing...it's a good lesson going through the daily grind everyday, cleaning, sweeping, folding...etc and then feeling so horrible you wish it would go away so you could get up, clean, sweep, fold.

I would post a picture but it aint' a pretty sight.....the positive I did take a shower today and brush my teeth:)

SUMMA!

2011-07-24T13:47:00.000-06:00

There is no question it has been a "cool" summer here in Utah. I was watching the news the other day and they said by this time in the summer St. George, UT has had at least 60+ days over 100 degrees and to that day they had only reached 100 16 times. Here is Northern Utah our average temp is usually about 92 degrees and has been in the high 80's. I could get used to this.

It also has been full of thunderstorms and some warm, rainy afternoons.

Horsing around with the cheese stuff......

This is our new yard decoration, I can only get away with it for one it was 75% off at Target and that we live in Saratoga Springs.

We went to the annual Pioneer Commemoration Concert put on by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and guest artists. It was so good and it was fun to take Alivia and her cousin Kyleigh.

Alivia has been very busy lately, she has been still taking guitar this summer and not wanting to practice. She has been staying up late every night, the other night she stayed up until 2:30 and the next day we paid for that dearly. She has a baseball game coming up that her choir gets to sing the national anthem. She is very excited.

She went on a fun activity to Camp Jeremiah Johnson for an activity day afternoon, she was able to shoot with a bow and arrow, make bead necklaces, go to a little store and buy some fun little prizes.

She also has been swimming everyday in the backyard pool, which has been a source of nervousness and fun for me and the kids.

Cooper has a serious tan, he has been outside everyday playing and having a great summer, he isn't very excited for school to start and asks me almost everyday when it will be here again...He still asks the craziest questions and still judges a lot of things based on the way they smell....:)

Bauer is still the cautious one, he always wears his swim shirt so he doesn't get sun burned and if he doesn't have one on, he will ask about sunblock and make sure he is careful not to touch it until its dry?

He loves to ride his scooter and we have been trying lately to get him to ride his bike without training wheels but the cautions side of him hasn't helped him much.

Kessler is still a mamma's boy through and through to the point he won't go to Ben sometimes or will cry and night for me, especially when I am gone. He has liked swimming this year too, but gets cold fast and doesn't last long, he says the funniest things and is such a joy to have around. BTW the mosquito's have been so bad this year, Kessler got a bite on his arm and it swelled up so much and was bright red and hot. He looked like Popeye with a big forearm.

I have been doing lots of yard work, if there were not so many weeds and morning glory coming out of every nook and cranny in the yard I might have more free time, I also tinted our back windows this year, I should have done that MUCH sooner. We bought some solar/heat blocking tint and put it up, it will do for now. It has made a difference though, so I am glad we did.

I haven't worked that much for the month of July we have had some sickness traveling around these parts, and Bauer, Kessler and myself are the latest victims of this, cough, fever, stomach problems. Bauer threw up at dinner last night and got some on Cooper's arm it was the saddest and funniest thing I had seen in a long time, Cooper our boy that judges everything on the smell about when through the roof last night, when a tiny little drop of it got on him....I WISH I had a video camera, so funny!

I work the next couple nights...boo, I hope the passengers don't mind my hacking cough (I am on antibiotics, and it isn't as bad anymore:) and I also have been packing for our trip up North for the long awaited Family Reunion. This trip will no doubt be the trip I have brought the most stuff ever, even though we will be borrowing blankets, camping chairs and possibly other items for this trip. We even debated driving the whole way......I know .

Ben

Is very busy at work and has been spending lots of time in our garden, we successfully have harvested, peas, onions, potatoes, carrots and made the most delish dinner the other night...a version of tinfoil dinners in the oven with all the fresh ingredients from the garden.

He has gone swimming with the kids a few times and has been busy trying to keep the pool blue and not green.

He has also been spending LOTS of time (more than I prefer) on a game that he is trying to save a world that has been mutated by a radioactive? problem. I do remind him everyday that he is 36, and he just laughs and un-pauses his game:)

July

2011-07-12T18:02:00.000-06:00

Bauer and Cooper have had a summer full of super hero's, they went and saw Green Lantern, Transformers, Cars 2, Kung Fu Panda 2, and are excited for Captain America to come out there latest imagination gig, was they took the black yarn, put it around each other just in case they have to use it like spider man uses his webs?

Bauer has been into sunglasses lately.

A mini summer photo shoot, we were out at a park one day and stopped by a familiar place that we had our latest family picture taken at, this time it was a bit warmer and a little too bright.

Hello July

2011-07-03T21:59:00.000-06:00

Our days consist of playing, swimming, playing, swimming...an occasional chore or two.

Dirty faces, Popsicles, ice cream sandwiches, flip flops, friends and family.

Sparklers are my favorite number. Blurry pictures because of the slow shutter speed (and me holding it and not putting it on a tripod)

25 days until our family reunion, we are so excited:)

June

2011-06-28T13:35:00.000-06:00

We have had a good month of June, we had a great Fathers day, the kids made Ben some cards and we made him a special dinner, and the kids gave him a foot massage:)

He has still been working hard, long days and is getting antsy to go fishing. He set up a pool in the back yard, it is 52 inches deep and 18 feet in diameter. The kids LOVE it, and that is an understatement. We filled it up with the secondary water and it was really cold for a few days, below 70 degrees anyway. We went and bought a solar blanket and that has helped heat it up to 82 degrees and on a 96 degree day, that feels pretty good.

I needed to do something with Alivia's dresser it was in bad way and so with some advice from my sweet neighbor, I painted and glazed it and think it turned out ok for the first one.

I need to do this to our kitchen table and then to our dresser in the family room. Lots of projects out there to keep my summer occupied.

I also have been doing quite of bit of gardening with the flower beds and Ben has spending lots of time out in the garden. We have lots of veggie's growing and doing well.

Kessler is completely potty trained, not more pull ups or anything and will walk in the bathroom and go all by himself. I still think about the diaper days as fast as they came on, it seems they left just as fast. 8 years of diapers is a long time, obviously I didn't think about it much while I was in the midst of it, they grow up so fast....

Above is Kessler's first self portrait and I mean drawing on himself and was very proud of it.

Vancouver Weekend

2011-06-15T13:06:00.000-06:00

Ben had 3 days off so we packed up the family for a mini vacay. We flew from SLC to Seattle and then drove up to Vancouver. We took the last flight out from Salt Lake to Seattle so we didn't even get to Vancouver until 330am.

Cooper always has spiderman on the brain even when he is dressed like Peter Parker:)

The next morning we decided to go drive around and see some sights, we stopped by a Zellers...soon to be Target and bought some Canucks hockey gear.

We then drove down to Rogers Arena, the complex that was hosting the Stanley Cup finals we knew we wanted to get there early because how crazy it was going to get and it was getting crazy.

After our visit to Rogers arena, and talked to some scalpers and ticket prices. (the best we found was row 1 right behind the goalie for 1500.00) I thought that was a good deal, but yeah 1500.00 is some serious business.

We headed toward the water and had a great time we played in the water looked for starfish, found lots of little crabs under the rocks. It was a really fun afternoon exploring, climbing, running and playing.

Ben couldn't decided if this one was alive or dead?

There were starfish everywhere like this. Most of them were so big you couldn't detach them from the side of the rock.

It is hard to see but there are lots of little crabs running around.

This place was packed.

The one thing that Ben wanted to do besides go to a hockey game was take the ferry across to Victoria. The kids were freaking out with excitement that we were going to drive our car onto a boat. We got there just in time for the 11am departure and enjoyed the sites and all the new things we have never seen on a ferry boat. The kids played at the play area, they looked for whales and only spotted sea otters.

They went with Ben to the cafeteria and got a snack and a drink.

It was a beautiful day, they weather was nice a little cool.

This is an other ferry coming from somewhere on Vancouver Island.

I could not get over how still the water was inside this passage.

We went and saw the Capitol of British Columbia.

I loved these trees, they were so amazing.

We walked and walked around, looked at some amazing yachts, ships and walked through the street vendors. Livi got a dream catcher she has wanted one for a really long time and was happy to use her little purse with her Canadian change and buy it.

Kessler was done.

Ben also wanted to go find his old house that he lived in when he was in grade 7. (7th grade for the rest of you)

Well this wasn't as easy as it could have been and his memory or lack there of. We originally started looking for a street that started with a W. I kept telling him, call Gina, she will know....so he thought wasatch, wakara, and so on, and finally we got the GPS to work and found the street and found the house.

Ben also saw the park he used to walk to, the bridge he used to fish off of. It was really fun for him.

We also took a drive to a popular park. It was an amazing park, I took take pictures there all day long.

There were peacocks everywhere and most of them were doing there peacock sound, at one point Kessler was plugging his ears, because he was nervous with all the noise.

The peacock below was trying to impress a little lady and was doing this amazing dance and shuffling around and shuffling his feathers. It was AMAZING!!

Just a side not with some of the photos, I only brought one lens with me, that is not very wide, so some of the pics do not do justice to the amazing scenery......for example this tree. (and Ben's old house above)

This was probably one of the oldest tree's I have seen in a long time. It was big, amazing and beautiful.

We were trying to decide what ferry to take back, we decided to take one back at sunset and I am so glad we did, we have some amazing pictures from it......

We had so much fun, can't wait to go back for a family reunion in July!!!

Update-Baby Addilyn

2011-06-14T22:27:00.000-06:00

This update is a little out of order but I will start with we were flying in from Seattle and my Mom sent me a text saying to call her asap as soon as we landed.

She told me that she had something to tell me that I might be upset and asked if I wanted to know right then.

I said yes, and she told me that my sister Jennifer was pregnant and was in labor and that she would be having a baby that night or in the morning.

I was stunned, I had no idea she was pregnant, (nor did anyone else)she decided not to tell anyone for her own personal reasons.

People have asked ...why didn't you know, couldn't you tell....well I knew she had gained weight but I had gained weight and wasn't pregnant...

I will say though, I knew something was up, I didn't know what and didn't know how hard I wanted to press her for the information I knew was there.

A little back story that makes this a miracle baby for her.

Jennifer had a very traumatic thing happen to her when she was a child (13yrs old) that resulted in a pregnancy and with the advice of church leaders, parents and her choice she gave that baby up for adoption.

She since then has never been able to get pregnant again, which I can't even imagine how hard that would be.

Jennifer's doctor put her on a medicine to help her PCOS and help shed a little weight, which contributed to her getting pregnant.

I am in pure love, with this sweet daughter of our Heavenly Father. She is precious, sweet and a gift to my sister that she has wanted for 25 years.

There is a lot to work through still, she is still emotional about everything and how it all played out.

But we still stare at Addilyn and love her more and more everyday.

Jennifer does have a hard road ahead of her, but she has been given challenges before that she has overcome and made things better for herself and her kids. I am so happy for her, I am happy to have met sweet Addilyn and the opportunity that I can be a part of her life.

Update part-one

2011-06-14T22:07:00.000-06:00

Bauer was playing in the kitchen with a ladder a few weeks ago, and we told him not to do what he was doing with the ladder that it would slip out from underneath him and he would get hurt. So while we were in the other room he did his trick again and the ladder slipped out from underneath him and he gave himself a pretty good fat lip, not to mention a nice cut on the inside of his lip. A visit to the Doctors office, no stitches thank goodness.

Kessler and Bauer are really the only two that like to play sports. They have enjoyed when it is warm outside to occasionally play street hockey.

It had been a really long time since I did any overnights to Jackson Hole, I was lucky enough to be able to pick on up off of our trade board....It was so awesome that morning there had to be 100 or more Bison, and I snapped a pic with my camera on my phone, so fun.

May18-24

2011-05-24T13:56:00.000-06:00

The weather here STINKS...it was sunny, not necessarily warm to get outside and do some yard work. It is very muddy and wet, but I got all my flowers planted and got my hanging baskets hung. I also got myself (off ksl.com) an arbor that hopefully someday will be the home to some clematis or maybe a trumpet vine. We'll see.

Other than the weather being crappy, things here are good Memorial day weekend coming up have some plans to work, BBQ, go see Pirates and maybe Kung Fu Panda 2. Maybe a little bit more yard work?

We have re-arranged the kids rooms again, with school getting out soon we decided to put all the boys together in the same room again. It is quite funny to look at there are 3 twin beds in there Coopers is the tallest, because of the bed and bed frame it is on, Bauer's is the medium one and Kesslers is the little on, it reminded me of Goldilocks and the three bears story.

Now that Alivia has her own room again. She has been claiming her territory and making lists for herself to stay organized.

Another Mega Post

2011-05-17T14:55:00.001-06:00

I would save my self a lot of time if I blogged once a day, as I intended at the beginning of this year.

So another mega post not in order of events.

We went to a family reunion for my Mom's side of the family. Her Aunts, Uncle's and Cousin's are all there and all the new little families that have been added it was fun to see how big everyone has gotten and my most exciting news from all of that is........I secured myself a position to take on a family tradition of elaborate Gingerbread houses. My Mom's cousin Rosie is a MASTER Gingerbread house maker and enters at least one every year into the Festival of Trees. I did a sneak attack on her as she was heading into the restroom and told her I wanted to carry on the tradition she graciously allowed me the chance to take it on. Coming soon in a few months a beginning to new endeavor.....btw she will teach anyone if you want to learn her secrets let me know and I will bring you with me to the secret location....

(some of you may or may not know I did not have a wedding cake at my wedding reception I had a gingerbread house made by her:) pictured below~

Alivia this year was a part of the Lehi Children's choir and she has loved every minute of it, this is her end of the year performance called "Arf" as you can see she was a Dalmatian. It was a really cute play with a lot of cute little jokes.

Kessler is potty trained for the most part, but is still the baby of the family. He is a mamma's boy through and through. He can fall asleep by me or with me in no time at all (if he is tired of course).

We sold Ben's beloved Tundra a month or so ago, and went a bit with one car, it was very painful to say the least. We ended up going to look and found what we were looking for, the mileage was good and the price was good as well. Back to a two car family........huge sigh of relief.

We went to this great park in Orem that had an amazing spred of tulips. We ended up finding out in the little pond were a whole bunch of ducks with eggs waiting to be hatched, it was really exciting for the kids to see that. (I didn't get any pics of them :(

Alivia went to the dentist and was cavity free again:) and we decided to put some sealant in her teeth to help prevent any future cavities. (the glasses are UVB protected-clear lenses she bought with some of her chore money, she loves them)

We went to a early dinner the other day to Chili's in American Fork. I left my keys on the table went back into get them, came back out and Cooper had pulled one of his Spider-man tricks, had climbed up this sign. People were walking past him, cheering him on...."way to go Spider man". Every where we went that day, people were saying hey look there is Spider-man, Cooper was in heaven!

Alivia had an end of the year recital for her ballet class. She was really excited she got to put make up on and the big ruffly tutu she got to borrow from the dance studio.

She did a great job, but it brought a flood of emotions back for me when I was her age and a little bit older. I wanted so badly to be good at something and never felt that I was. I sat there watching her feeling those emotions come back with a vengeance it brought tears to my eyes. Mostly not knowing how to help her not feel that same way. I asked her if she was happy with how she danced and she said she was, I also said that I thought she did an amazing job. It was amazing to be there and be taken back so many years in time.

Happy Birthday Bauer!

2011-05-17T14:01:00.000-06:00

Bauer turned 5 and couldn't be more excited for his birthday it is pure torture to have a birthday last in the months of birthdays we have in a row around here. Ben -December, Alivia- Jan., Cooper- Feb., Kessler- March, Andrea- April and FINALLY May for Bauer.

He asks and asks when it is his birthday and since he shared a birthday with Mothers day, I went and picked up his balloons on Saturday and that was even harder. He kept wondering where his cake was and asked 500,000,000,000 times if it would be yellow.......WOW I can't imagine what would have happen if it wasn't yellow?

He got a Buzz Lightyear that he has wanted since right after Christmas safe to say around here the boys are all obsessed with the Toy Story characters still.

5 wonderful things about Bauer.

1. HE STILL LLLLOOOOVVVEEESSS Yellow!!!

2. He is a good sleeper.

3. He says no the most but gets in trouble the least?

4. He loves school and loves being the special helper, days he knows he is not the special helper he will say maybe I can be the special helper instead (i think hoping they are not there)

5. He has the most amazing smile, I can't look away when he smiles at me, it captures my attention and melts my heart every time. It is so amazing and never want to forget how it makes me feel.

Don't ask me what days these are for I don't even know what today is?

2011-05-04T21:41:00.000-06:00

Move over Spidy there is a new super hero in town, I missed an opportunity to take a picture of Cooper unloading the dishwasher in his Spider-man costume, it was so funny.

There has been some serious heartbreak in our ward, there was a really sweet Mom in our ward who suddenly passed away after a ward party. If you would like to read about their story go to this link, it is touching, heartbreaking, inspiring all at the same time. www.dennyandwendy.blogspot.com

We are trying to potty train Kessler, first day 2 in the potty 18 times not in the potty. Day 2- 4 in the potty and 6 not in the potty. We will see what day 3 brings. Warning to any of my neighbors, I am not putting pants on Kessler right now, so if he is out in the dirt hill with only his underwear and shirt I did that on purpose:)

I was recently at a friends house of mine, I grew up somewhat with her family and her and I were roommates at one point. ANYWAY when I was at her house I had this flashback of being at their house she had this little hutch that stored table clothes, it brought back such a warm fuzzy feeling that I remember having the many years ago, sitting around their family table and them treating me as if I was one of the family. I decided that day I was going to get me some table clothes and not just copy those, but that feeling that came back so strongly. So here are my first three. FYI the blue one below is actually a shower curtain, it was the exact measurements of my table and it was only 3.24/clearance at Target. I love that you can't tell and it works really, really well.

Easter mega post followed by a Birthday post.

2011-04-29T11:29:00.000-06:00

We had a great Easter around here, except for little Kessler was sick. He started Easter Eve off with a fever, cough, running nose and everything that goes along with that. So some last minute Easter shopping was postponed until about 10pm the night before.
The kids woke up and Cooper came in my room and told me there were eggs everywhere and asked if they could get their eggs. They waited patiently for Bauer and Kessler to wake up and then the hunt was on. I didn't get very many pictures just the post hunting and eating candy for breakfast before church?
For Easter dinner we got out the nice plates and glasses, we made the always fantastic Ham and Cheesy potatoes, we had some red and purple bubbly (red cream soda and grape soda) with my own version of ham glaze which turned out a lot better than I thought it would (a mixture of brown sugar, maple syrup, ketchup, mustard, garlic, salt, pepper and cloves) With some cinnamon rolls for dessert!

I was cleaning out the couch cushions the other day and I usually flip them over and vacuum them and saw this little beauty. I asked Bauer if he did that and he said he saw Kessler standing by the couch with a pen, trying to blame him but not really say it (man that is something I would have done, smart kid) anyway he finally got a smirky smile on his face and ran into his room. I will take that as guilty other than it says HIS NAME!

I love having a Birthday I can buy myself things and not feel guilty unlike the rest of the year I will still buy them and feel guilty so I suppose it is a free pass of sorts? It started with the curbing for the yard, that originally was going to be about 300$ and then ended up being triple that. ( I will say it looks amazing and has really helped the yard look so much better)

That followed some with a dump truck load of dirt a few trees, some new perennials for the yard.

We also will be adding some new window treatments to the front windows of the house which I am the most excited about.

I have been trying to work more (see above paragraph) and everyday I got home from work my feet specifically one foot was so sore. I waited a tad bit too long to get a new pair of shoes but ended up going with my favorites. Dansko's (see picture below of old shoes, I tend to walk on the side of my heel?)

I will say the new ones are so comfortable. I am excited to go back to work and try them out.

I actually ended up taking the old ones down to Lucky Sole shoe repair in Lehi and he is only going to charge me 20$ to fix the old ones he is going to fill them in and put a new sole on the back. Yeah! money well spent I would say!!

Thanks to a cute neighbor of ours he got the idea from Cooper that he loved spider man ( the fact that he changes into his costume everyday after school) he gave him a "build a bear" type outfit for his little brown bear and he LOVES it!! so funny that little Cooper boy! THANKS Cayden!!

Ben has gone a little OCD? overboard? over the top? a little much? with the just the starting of the garden this year, it usually starts out slowly a few "Jimmy Garden starter packs" with some peas, carrots, corn in them. They did go up in price this year, must be related to oil right? anywhoo, Ben came up with this crazy but genius idea of doing his own, he has had these containers around waiting to organize something in them (he is Gina's brother you know) and so he stopped by Walmart got some ice cube trays drilled a small hole in the bottom filled them up with potting soil, put the seeds in them and them put a little water in the container and voila, there is Ben's idea of garden starters?
I asked him a few time why is he planting things that our family doesn't eat that much of? squash, beets? he said it was his 72 hour kit.....ok I think my family might start liking beets and squash this year...oh yeah Cooper is my child yeah right! I am excited to see how they work and if it does I am glad to know we won't have to buy anymore of those pricey but easy Jimmy kits.

Today is my BIRTHDAY hip hip hooray, I will try and make the most of it with some guilt free shopping (just kidding) I will make it a day of catching up on my blog, updating my 365 pics and maybe, just maybe cleaning the house? not sure about that one yet.
I thought in honor of my 34 years, here are 34 things that you may or may not know about me?
1. I listen to some of the same Mormon Tabernacle songs everyday. (my favorite for the last year or so "all through the night".)
2. I love digital scrapbooking a lot and HAVE lots of kits and wouldn't mind some day selling pages, templates or calendars?
3. I love the resturaunt Rafaels in particular the entree the Big Jose (see picture)
4. I love playing Mario Brothers with the boys I especially love battling with Cooper who will get thrown into the lava first.
5. I love rearranging furniture.
6. I think the Cafe at IKEA is gross?
7. I have written a number of emails to Chilis about bringing the lettuce wraps back.
8. I love the popcorn at Target, it is really salty.
9. I LOVE my job, and would love to write a book or be consistent with writing a blog about the nice, mean, funny passengers that travel the world everyday!
10. If I were in need of a make a wish -wish it would be to sing with the Mormon Tabernacle choir.
11. I don't understand how people leave their blinds closed all day?
12. This is going to be harder than I thought.
13. The 365 project was easy at first it is hard to come up with a picture everyday.
14. I want to enter a digital scrapbooking contest to win 10$ worth of prizes?
15. For my 35 Birthday I am going somewhere fabulous.....just saying.
16. I have been trying to get pregnant for over a year.
17. As I have gotten older I love to weed more.
18. I love Ben's grey hair.
19. I love my Suburban.
20. I were pants outside that may not be too flattering?
21. I am kind of excited about Target Canada and the possibilities.
22. I am a slightly paranoid person.
23. I worry about Cooper.
24. I sometimes baby Kessler because he is the baby.
25. I am sometimes hard on Alivia.
26. Bauer reminds me of me when I was little.
27. I have ZERO patience when Ben leaves the legs up on the couch.
28. I can unload the dishwasher in under a minute and have most of it put away.
29. I haven't taken a shower in more than a year:) only baths.
30. I am excited for school to be out.
31. I love my Mom, she is an amazing person and one of the most compassionate people I know, she is the one who reminds me life is fragile.
32. I love my kids, I wonder how this all happen, I find myself thinking in the quite moments they call me Mom, and will they look back and be thankful for the way they were raised?
33. I love Ben.
34. I am thankful for my life, that I live here and now, I love my life the challenges, the blessings and the opportunity every day to be a better person.

What have I been up to lately?

2011-04-13T22:34:00.000-06:00

What have I been up to lately, especially when it is raining and I should probably should be cleaning something. I just picked a few I have probably done more than 30 or so. Will I ever be caught up ....no...I don't necessarily go in order either..oh well. It's fun.

Caught up...not quite!

2011-04-11T20:42:00.000-06:00

Why is it so hard to stay caught up on my blog, fo' realz people. What haven't we been up to. Lets see we have been to the park, outside doing spring projects which include taking down the play house and remodeling it, applying curbing to our existing flower beds and making some new ones at the same time. Digging, raking, tilling, mowing, and then the rain and snow to send us back inside to clean the basement for a visit from Papa Whidden.

Last time he was here we were on our way to Orlando and he stayed here by himself but we were able to hang out with him this time and play the Wii, help with homework and reading. Help with breakfast and the dishes and some other chores.

I personally love the talks we have.

We were able to take him to a steak dinner something he misses while living in Germany.

Watch HNIC with Ben and witness the Canucks win their last game of the regular season.

Stanley Cup this year?

Cooper is still costume obsessed he has to ask permission before he can change and I get asked everyday if he can where a costume. He also loves his mother and know that I loved my hair combed. He is the sweetest little thing ever!!

Alivia's bed on a good day, I had to take this pic for the 365 project. I love that she loves all the stuffed animals her favorite the dogs, she could buy or get as a gift a stuffed animal dog once a week and be in Heaven!!

Yes you can see the playhouse also known as 'The projects" is coming down with some major prodding to Ben, I convinced him it needed to be remodeled do we know what the remodels are...no. But Alivia drew us a picture and she wants four floors one for each kid and each room should have a bed and there also needs to be a bathroom and a kitchen.

This was one of the funnest parks we have been to in a while at the West Jordan park next to the Rec. center. SO FUN.
The only sad part is that I was playing on some the equipment and it spins you around and around, my old age is getting to me and I was so dizzy and started to get sick to my stomach....the days of the Rock o' planes at Lagoon are probably over....boo!

83,84,85,86

2011-03-27T17:24:00.000-06:00

I love this picture this reminds me of Cooper so much, only because he is trying to do what I ask , which is look this way and smile but there is something more interesting the other direction.

Some 3 year old portraits for Kessler taken by an old train stop in American Fork.

Bauer was at preschool and so me and Kessler were out on the town with a photo shoot in the mix.

Every day I drive down Pioneer Crossing I see this view as you look over at the Jordan River, I think it is so pretty. March always reminds Ben of his time in the MTC, clear blue skies, snow on the mountains and cold.

There is a new Hobby Lobby in town and so Liv and I had to go check it out, we ended up finding a cheap craft to occupy our time and had fun making it.

Other than that not much going on around here, I did want to post something Ben said that I thought was funny we were getting up to get ready for church today and I said we have got to hurry as he is getting in the shower and he replies back "yeah you have to get your five kids ready". I laughed that is right my five kids pointing to him as if he is one of my kids.....sometimes the truth just slips out:)

Happy Birthday Kessler!

2011-03-24T19:40:00.000-06:00

The baby is three!!

He loves Thomas the train, Percy, Henry and James.

He loves riding his scooter outside and will love riding his new bike he got for his Birthday.

He is so cute when he says yes it is "yeth" and also says "moobie feeters" for movie theaters.

He was excited for his birthday today. We dropped off some cupcakes at his cousins house and thought we were giving his birthday away.

He loves to watch movies and cartoons, and he still likes to come into my bed in the middle of the night almost every night.

He loves his brothers and his sister and gives them hugs all the time.

He loves to drink a bottle still, I am thinking though that might end today...we don't need a 4 year old bottle drinker we have got to cut him before then:)

Love that little man, he is the cutest and sweetest little guy around.

This is a video from our vacay in Orlando that cracks me up from Kessler.

ummm..... up to day 81?

2011-03-23T19:13:00.000-06:00

I am so confused right now at what days I have actually taken a picture for and blogged for? So I know today I should be on 81 and that is where we will end anyway. I explain sometimes the pictures on facebook and should be giving more detailed info on my blog, but I have been so busy, I don't even really know how the day slips away so fast but it does.

Yes our day around here starts about 6:30, 1 hour and 15 minutes before the kids leave for school, and their schedule is as follows (most days) get up, turn on the fireplace, sit there for 10 or so minutes, eat breakfast, make their lunches (we have been trying to switch that to the night before) except they get to eat school lunch on Wednesday's. Get dressed, with shoes and socks, get back packs ready, brush teeth, comb hair and it usually is a few minutes before 7:45....

This picture is a pre-hair do for Alivia.

Cooper eating breakfast before school on a good day he got dressed before he made his breakfast.

St. Patty's day, all decked out in green!

We are somewhat a neutral party on the BYU or U of U band wagon around here, obviously we lean a little bit more blue than Red (even though Ben graduated from the U only because of commute)

Anyway it was fun to watch the BYU game for College basketball and feel the Jimmer sensation.

That little Kessler is a mama's boy through and through, he has loved to give me kisses for a long time and has always kissed me on my lips. He puckers his lips so cute, I wanted to get this shot for some time and am so glad I finally did. (tomorrow is his birthday) my baby is going to be 3...wow!

Alivia outside burning off some energy before dance, she loves her ballet class she was doing gymnastics, but do to the one car situation we couldn't keep the second class. She still loves doing the few things she has learned in the gymnastics class though.

Like I said on FB I am going to try and stay caught up it actually might save me some brain damage and time.

Now I probably should go get caught up on the things that I have been neglecting from blogging and picture taking....

70,71,72,73 (behind again)

2011-03-16T12:13:00.000-06:00

Behind again not only on 365 project but my blog. So I might as well jump right in and update what has been going on.

Or what hasn't I suppose, after having about 3 weeks off of work, I am back my usual which has been Tulsa OK. Lately.

The kids had a 3 day weekend and we had a blast, we went swimming and got to sleep in after springing forward.

Ben had the weekend off and you can tell from the picture above they were glad to have him home. I love that Kessler is trying to save Cooper from Ben's legs.

I am working on my schedule in the picture above, I am gaining seniority slowly, but have settled around 8% in SLC which is really good for only 12 years of service. I need to spend a little more time working on my schedule because I can start to be more picky these days with the trips I like to fly.

Kessler in the morning, for some reason loves to put his boots on and see the kids off to school.

Other than normal life keeping us busy, we are glad for the warmer weather we have gone to the park, roller blading, and can see the tulips coming in, in the back yard.

Life is good~

69/365

2011-03-10T22:31:00.000-07:00

One of the things I like to do after my kids go to bed....

68/365

2011-03-09T22:35:00.000-07:00

Yes straight out of the box, battery inserted and picture number 0001. I think I am only on picture 0008 tonight.

Today was a crazy day, busy I had a doctors appointment and ended up being there for 2 hours.

A very long story short, when I was 24ish, I was having some health problems and my doctor found some cysts on my ovaries, not shocking because one of my sisters has been diagnosed with PCOS, (the other most likely) and was told that if I was thinking about having children I should think sooner than later, as the condition would most likely get worse.

18 months later and fertility drugs on board got pregnant with Alivia, basically being pregnant on and off the last 8 years "cured" or put the PCOS in a "remission type state", well I found out today that it is back and not a mild version (like before).

I was relieved actually I have been feeling quite crappy the year or so, I have been reading lots this afternoon and tonight and it is making a lot of sense.

So...at least I know what the crazy is and has been going on.

67/365

2011-03-09T22:18:00.000-07:00

A not so sad goodbye to my old camera, ok maybe a little. I learned everything I know to date with that camera, and I am so thankful for the new hobby. There is so much to learn I think that is why I like it so much and there are endless possibilities to your or anyone else's interpretation to the art of photography.

I sold it to a cute family who have little kids and want to be able to take good pictures of their kids, sounded very familiar.

Just to explain the upgrade, the camera that I sold what considered a 450 model and the one I bought 500 model. I am moving my way up slowly but surely the best part about the new camera, HD video on the camera....I take lots of pics and not as many videos because I don't want to haul two camera's around not the case anymore.

66/365- mama?

2011-03-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

I can hear a new camera calling my name.......... if I can sell my old one (that is a condition btw).

A really great store that I sure you may know has a great camera on sale and so I desperately putting mine up for sale hoping I can sell it before the other at the store gets sold-will it happen....hopefully!!

The new camera is not a huge jump up from mine other than it has recording capabilities and some settings that are a tiny bit better than mine.

Also big day for Ben, we sold his truck. We really need to get a car or vehicle that gets better gas mileage. We are planning on trying to get by on one vehicle for the spring and summer. Not sure how well that will work out. Sad to see the truck go, not sad to see the payment, gas prices, insurance, maintenance etc... etc... that comes with a vehicle go.

65/365

2011-03-06T19:38:00.000-07:00

The other Mother.

It is a good thing she is around she loves to help and it a mighty good helper.

She is still taking Choir, guitar and dance we have had quite a few "see the light" moments about guitar she really hates sitting down and practicing. I personally think it is a lot less than if she were taking piano. So we have "threatened" her that is she didn't practice she would have to quit guitar. She becomes very upset and says that she doesn't want to make her teacher feel bad and that she wants to finish.

That is a lesson I do want my kids to learn that they should finish things and not just give up if they don't want to put the work in... so for now we are still taking guitar, she is getting better with the chords and we bought a smaller guitar to see if they makes a difference.

She loves school and loves the new addition to her bi-weekly schedule- activity days. FUN!!

She keeps asking me when she can get braces and has tiny bit of an attitude some time. (if she gives me half of the attitude I gave my parents I am in trouble)

Love that Girl!!

59.60.61.62.63.64

2011-03-06T18:52:00.001-07:00

My blog has definitely taken a back seat to life in general so this will be an update post combined with 365 pics.

This picture above is Kessler hanging on to the ladder that goes in his and Bauer's room, they bring it out quite a bit and Ben was helping him take it back into his room, Ben's sister commented that he looks really tall in this pic and I thought the exact same thing. He has been taller than the other kids at the same age, it is just hard to believe that he is the baby.

Bauer had his follow up visit for his tonsils, this is a picture in the office they have the most

beautiful windows and couldn't resist, since I take my camera with me everywhere I go these days. His throat looks and good and the biopsy on the tonsil that looked questionable came back normal.

This is the new toy and don't worry I didn't spend 400$ that these things cost if the name had Canon on it. It is a Japanese company and like it so far, I have only used it a few times and want to have more opportunities to use I just haven't made any.

We celebrated Cooper's Birthday at home with some pizza and cupcakes. He was so happy he woke up in the morning with the kitchen decorated for his birthday a big Happy Birthday sign and streamers hanging from the ceiling and walls. We let him open his presents before breakfast he got his own DS with a few games, he also got a little video camera that he can walk around and take his own home movies or pictures.
We love Cooper, I was curious to see how much had changed with him so I went into the archives of my blog and he hasn't change much....
1. He is very sensitive to other people's feelings and is always asking how so and so is doing if he has heard if they were sick or got hurt.
2. He loves to be tickled softly and tickled tickled....he will run up to you and say I bet you can't catch me and tickle me, well you always have to do it because is so funny.
3. He still is a VERY picky eater, his favorites right now... spaghetti, mac n cheese, pancakes, steak, cheese sandwiches, peanut butter only sandwiches and cold cereal.
4. He loves to watch movies.
5. He wants to do "Kung-fu" so bad.
6. He loves the color blue, green and brown.
7. He loves to ride his bike, I think he really likes the freedom he feels peddling fast with his little legs and speeding by waving and smiling.

LOVE YOU COOPER so much, you give us a run for our money some time(when it comes to food), but most of the time you are the sweetest, kind and loving little boy anyone could wish for.

55,56,57,58~Florida

2011-03-02T09:42:00.001-07:00

We had fun at the beach, the kids blew bubbles, waited for the shuttle to launch (big disappointment -oh well) Tried to dig and find the little crabs or sea shells.

Tried to splash and get mom and dad wet.

The shuttle taking off.

After the shuttle taking off.

He loved blowing bubbles

Trying to catch bubbles in her mouth.

50,51,52,53,54 ~ Florida 2011

2011-02-26T18:37:00.000-07:00

(this picture is the short time between Alivia's birthday and Coopers birthday where their ages are 2,4,6,8)

Soon will be 8,7,5,3...wow!!

We decided to take a trip to Daytona beach, just after the Daytona 500 it was really cool to see that HUGE complex. I didn't take any pictures of it, because it was still pretty busy with people, cars etc. So we hung out on the beach and had a great time.

The water was pretty cold and the waves were pretty big so no swimming just playing.

Kessler could chase birds all day long, I mean all day.

I saw lots of sea shells courtesy of the kids.

This picture is so funny, Cooper was bugged that I wanted him to stop playing and pose for a picture (the hunched over stance and bugged face)

Livi loves being buried in the sand.

Bauer not as much as Livi, but he was brave and got buried up to his waist.

If you want a close up of seagulls, throw some food on the ground

Dead jelly fish was some for sure entertainment.

I tried to Photoshop a tan on Ben it didn't work:)

Alivia's own personal castle.

Waiting for Thomas the Train...not very patiently.

There were many decisions of what to do in Orlando, we decided on Wet N Wild. We went there 2 days and it was better than I thought it was going to be. Once I decide I like something I am a very loyal patron (Chilis, Cafe Rio, Disney, Sea World Aquatica) I thought that is were we would go was Sea World Aquatica's waterpark.

I loved this picture, Cooper loved this swing rope thing. As he started to swing down this little boy walked right in front of him and so he spread his legs apart and went right over the top of him. He was SO impressed with himself. I love the photo.

49/365

2011-02-22T19:57:00.000-07:00

SLC-ATL

When we made it to Atlanta we stayed at the Atlanta Hyatt North by the Hartsfield-Jackson airport.

The hotel was beautiful and the staff was so friendly.

We actually left a day early and stayed there two days and had a really good time actually just chillin by the airport in ATL.

While at the airport we visited McDonalds and the park and actully went and saw a movie once we rented a car. We say Gnomeo and Juliet movie. I am sad I wasted any money on that show, oh well.

I can't decided if it is a good /or/ bad thing there are McDonald's everywhere.

The good is that they are everywhere and I know my kids will have food in their tummies.

The bad they are everywhere and sometimes I don't know if I like referring to their food as food. (rude I know)

I love this picture of Alivia, I took it right next to this huge window with some really pretty sheer drapes on them. I like it, I might print it and hang it somewhere.

I also loved this picture of Bauer, he is such a sweet little man, he is always so innocent in his actions and feelings that is what I love the most about him.

This picture of Kessler is his classic self lately. He scooted himself in there by backing in. His purpose to go potty, he is in the stage where his wants a private place to do his biz, (we are close to potty training). He then fell asleep in this position. Love it. I will use this again someday and tell this story to future girlfriends I am sure:)

47-48/365

2011-02-17T08:19:00.000-07:00

The 365 project has been a little hard to accomplish the last few days. So some days the next week or so might be combined. oh well.

We had a fun night at the Dell Taco with the kids...umm taco tuesday people. So we brought some extra peeps and peeps that we love to be with.

first there are a lot of things in this life that I want for my kids but one of them is good friends, people who help them make right decisions. people who are fun to be around and all though might disagree or even get mad at each other will be able to still be friends. Alivia is so lucky she has some good friends in this neighborhood who live close by both directions and we are so thankful for them. we are also lucky to have family close go and have fun with and call a friend too.

Day one

Traveling with four kids by myself wasn't as bad as I thought. Getting through security no problem. The only hang up was the pilots let Cooper sit up front and I DID NOT HAVE MY CAMERA OUT!! and we held up the line for a minute or two.

We got the very last row, all the way across!! That was the only anxiety was not knowing where everyone would sit.

We are in Atlanta, staying an extra day, the loads are so full I am not sure how and when we will get to Orlando, We will hurry up and wait.

Anyway the pool is closed, yeah, my plans out the window we might have to go out for a walk and see what we can find.

46/365-Coop

2011-02-15T19:32:00.000-07:00

One of the sweetest little guys around.

I love taking his picture because his expressions are usually very genuine.

He can not wait for his Birthday to come and has been talking about it almost everyday.

We are going to have a special visitor for a few days, most days while we are gone, Ben's Dad is flying from Frankfurt-London-LAX-SLC all tomorrow and will be staying at our house until the beginning of next week.

Yeah Papa!

44-45/365-

2011-02-14T12:30:00.000-07:00

A million time over we are lucky to be able to fly for free (some taxes may apply) and even luckier to have nice in laws that think of us when some time share rooms fall through.

We are on our way to Orlando this week and packing is SUCH A PAIN. I used to not mind it but it is getting harder and harder with the things that you need to bring---just to keep the kids entertained getting there not to mention the clothes, shoes, underwear, socks, hats, sunscreen, shorts, shirts----should I bring a sweatshirt, do I let them bring their pillow pets, should I bring my stroller this time?

This is why you need a vacation from your vacation.

Post packing pictures to come, because I know you are dieing to know how many suitcases I will bring:)

45/365

Happy Valentines Day with a minor complaint!

Love, Love, Love Ben..Love everything that he does for our family. He is a great Dad, such a softee for those of you who don't know it. He is such a pushover if the kids are crying or are sticking their little lips under the door, saying "Daddy come and get me, I not tired"

I L.O.V.E to tease Ben about his shoes, his garments, pop cans, plates etc...

I just had to take a picture this day about putting things back in their place.

( I thought taking a pic of his garments just left of the laundry hamper wasn't appropriate:)

Anyway Happy Valentines Day Benn-e!

Love you,

love your shoes,

pop cans,

dirty plates,

garments,

I wouldn't trade them for anything.

43/365-Nap time or Not Nap time

2011-02-12T18:09:00.000-07:00

Kessler is at the age that if he doesn't nap he will fall asleep wherever he is at around 5pm. Here is a picture of an example, I kept him up so he could go to bed around 7pm, and to my non-surprise he fell asleep on the floor in the living room.

42/365-Uncle Kyle

2011-02-11T21:42:00.000-07:00

My kids have a pretty neat uncle that likes to hang out with them and my kids are always entertained with Uncle Kyle around.

Tonight we went to my Mom's, Ben was at work Kyle came home and was showing the boys some cool boy stuff (transformers, airplanes etc...) on his computer.

Thanks Kyle for being a Awesome Uncle!

41/365

2011-02-10T20:27:00.000-07:00

I can't keep track of the days anymore.

Lets talk about today, I was SUPER tired I worked a PHX standup and for some reason it kicked my trash.

I could not stay awake I thought I was going to fall over and die. I could barely make it to 11 am when I didn't feel as guilty laying the boys down to watch a movie and hopefully fall asleep which they did.

Well we all slept until 2:30.

Now I have a massive headache. From too much sleep and sleep deprivation.

I don't know how that works.

So my pic for today was some brainless messing around today waiting for 11am.