SOWARDS FAMILY

A weekend in Albuquerque

2011-11-26T00:39:00.001-08:00

Towards the beginning of November I had to go to a Shelf Reliance Conference because Jason Budge (co founder) was going to be there and I was asked to help in the Training. Jesse brought the kids up the next day and we looked forward to just hanging out and having fun with the kids. We got a hotel and spent our time swimming, shopping, skate park and children's museum. We've been going to the Children's Museum since Bryce was 3 so it's been fun bringing all the kids throughout their childhood and see what things they're interested in or gravitate to.

This large cabin was our kids pride and joy. It took awhile, but it finally got built. :)

We survived October!

2011-11-26T00:27:00.000-08:00

October seems to be in full throttle every year, but this particular year was wild! We started off with a visit from Connie and her kids. We always like to have an excuse to go to White Sands so off we went on one beautiful evening. The little ones were so photogenic, I just had to take their pictures.

How cute is she!

Here's Beth and her new baby bump. :)

Racing to the top!

We took all of the "Cousins" to the Pumpking Patch her in town. They do all of the activities, walked the corn maze, rode on a tractor to the pumpkin patch to find a little pumpkin to take home. We had a great time.

I decided last year that I would find people who would want to throw a large Halloween Party/Trunk or Treat at our church since we've had a few low turn outs for trunk or treat. I was able to talk 5 Wards into participating and helping with some of the booths, but I was so nervous about whether everything was going to follow through as planned. So, among all of that planning and creating the decorations, I had costumes to make, a recipe blog that I was trying to get launched on Nov. 1st, a Gun Show Booth to run for my Shelf Reliance business, a Masterminds presentation and hauling kids to all of their activities. It was amazing that it all got done. The Halloween Party was a huge success! Close to 350 people were there and our Church parking lot was PACKED with Trunk or Treaters.

Cameron was Captain Jack Sparrow! I didn't have time to do his costume exactly the way I wanted it, but I think he pulled it off well.

Claire was a cute MUMMY! She stayed close to the YUMMY cupcake walk booth most of the night. :)

Abe & Cody plus their kids were all Pirates. I loved how Abe shaved his head for his costume!!

One of my good friends showed up with this shower costume and I just had to wash my hair!

Here's Bryce as Napolian Dynomite. He's so funny, I couldn't look at him and not laugh.

Little Bella went as Jessie from Toy Story. She was so proud of this costume!! I seriously made her costume at 4pm and I had to get to the Event by 5:45pm! We spray painted a black hat, made the cuffs from a styrofoam paper with little sequins and just spray painted her hair. (Jesse did that part).

I was so proud of my "Vintage Moon" that I painted on an old bed sheet. It's now in the girls room and we're going to put a cow jumping over it. ha ha! It makes me happy to look at it. The booths we had that night were pumpkin bowling, cupcake walk, bean bag toss, pin a pumpkin, doughnut on a string, Straw blowing game, face painting, cookie decorating, walk the plank on our pirate ship on stage, pumpkin decorating contest, popcorn and meet a princess (we had 4 girls dressed up like Disney Princesses and they were AMAZING!) I'm tempted to hire them for my girls birthday parties. :) Then we ended the night with Trunk or Treating outside.

So, after the Halloween party at Church a lot of the kids costumes were either missing or falling a part. Bryce had asked me in August to buy him an angry bird costume and the thought of buying him a costume just makes me sad since I've created this tradition of making them. Well, I thought it would be fun is they all were angry birds and on Halloween day I was sewing like a mad woman trying to get them done. I've concluded that I'm crazy! What kind of person does this sort of thing? I must suffer from lack of knowing a good sense of time and my own abilities! They turned out pretty cute and the cool thing is that my kids can use these costumes as pillows. haha!

Sister Visit

2011-11-25T23:42:00.000-08:00

In September I traveled down to Artesia to kill two birds with one stone. My sister Janet was moving to Louisiana and my Niece Brooke was cheering at her first football game of the season as a big Sophmore. Janet recently had a little girl and named her June. So now we have two June's in our family. We all love that name and the girls who carry it. :)

Summertime Wrap Up!

2011-11-25T23:23:00.000-08:00

The other day Claire asked me in the car if summer was over yet. After I replied that we have a few weeks left she threw her hands up and said, "Awwww, man I wish summer could be over! I'm ready for it to be FALL!" I thought it was funny because just a week before she had asked me the same question, but her reply was "NO I'm going to miss summer!" Fickle minded little girl. Well, summer has been over for the kids since July 23rd when they started school again, but they'll soon get a 3 week break here at the end of Sept. that I'm looking forward to. It's a chance to do things without having to deal with the extreme heat. This year my niece Brooke was sweet enough to make my birthday cake. It was her present to me and it was her first time to do a decorative tiered cake this this. It meant a lot to me and it tasted DELICIOUS!

That was such a fun trip. One day we went to Bottomless Lakes near Roswell and June and I swam across the entire lake. I don't know what we were thinking because who knows what's out there in the middle of the lake. We were all by ourselves; thank goodness we didn't get a cramp or get a visit from a water snake. :)
Since my birthday is close to July 4th and Artesia always has such an awesome fireworks display we decided to celebrate there this year. During the day they have a parade and a firemans challenge so we stopped by.

Bryce lived in the skateboard knee pads that day. HA!

Jesse and David were the best ping pong players that night. I've never seen anyone work up a sweat playing ping pong, but they were! Fun times.

Jesse's Cousin Ginger and her family all came down for a week and we had such a good time with them. We spent the evening at White Sands and since it was a Full Moon that night we got to stay late and look at the stars. Here are just a few snap shots of Ginger and Trey's family. Such cutie pies.

Bella turned 3 this year!! I LOVE this age!!

For Bella's birthday we went to this new inflatables place at the mall. All the cousins came, we ate pizza and of course they had a blast.

Sowards Family Reunion

This year Ben & Connie were in charge of planning the reunion and they chose Brekenridge, CO. That town is so gorgeous! You can tell that people who live there like it because there are so many outdoor activities you can do in the summertime. Hiking, Biking, White Water Rafting, fly fishing, gold panning (which we did). :) That's just to name a few. We stayed in this amazing cabin (I would call it a mansion) and everyday there was an activity that we could do. We always have a good time together.

This was our family picture taken on top of some mountain. Poor Bella was sooo sick that day. We couldn't get her normal bright smile out of her. Such a beautiful backdrop though.

These magnetic tiles really entertained the kids. They build some amazing buildings together.

We had a night of playing Bunco, and we all couldn't believe that Greg got three Bunco's in a row! He should have bought a lottery ticket that night!

We went to an old mine and panned for gold. We found some fools gold, but nothing else. To bad. Going into the mine was quite the experience. I can't believe the conditions those guys worked in.

So one night the guys spent about 2 1/2 hours (I'm not kidding) in the hot tub. They were all pruned up, but were glad the soreness in their muscles were gone.

Here we are all in our Sowards Reunion T-shirts. (With our big group we need some way to keep track of everyone. This place transforms into a different place in the summertime. There are mountain slides, coasters and all sorts of activities to do. We spent the day there.

Here they are before their big ride down the mountain slide.....

and here they are after. Poor guys biffed it going down.

They weren't the only ones who took a tumble. Ben, Jared & Greg also wiped out. The First Aid Center kept seeing our Sowards Family Reunion shirts coming in and out getting doctored. Jesse's hand got the worst of it. It took close to 2 months to fully heal.

Our 10 yr Honeymoon!

2011-07-24T21:02:00.000-07:00

Wow, taking this trip to Hawaii has been a dream come true for Jesse & I. We've been trying to go since our 5th Anniversary. We couldn't do it then so we pushed it to our 7th...due to having a little baby that year we had to put it off again for our 10th! Thanks to Karen & Greg along with my in-laws who watched our 4 kids for us while we finally got to fulfill that dream and have the time of our lives!

It was great to get away and focus just on each other. I think Jes & I held hands the whole trip. We spent 10 days on our adventure, 3 days each in Oahu, Kauai, and Maui. Here's a break down of what we did.

OAHU

Fresh off the plane, taking a walk on Waikiki Beach by our Hotel.

Our first of 9 beautiful sunsets.

Sounding off the Germaine's Luau. Great entertainment and delicious food.

Jesse volunteered me to go on stage and "attempt" to do the Hula. Thank goodness I wasn't alone. :)

Looking out from Diamond Head. What a hike that was! My first ride on a mophead! Such a blast.

On our last night we decided to go on a dinner cruise. We felt way under dressed, but didn't care because who would know us...well, it turns out that while on the deck we met a couple from our home town!! It was pretty funny.

Looking on the coast of Waikiki Beach.

Our last night in Oahu with the curiosity of what awaits us in Kauai.

Kauai

Our first day we took a Helicopter ride around the island. Within about 8 minutes of the 45 minute flight Jesse & I were looking for the dogie bags. What an amazing island Kauai is though. We were able to fly into the Volcano that formed the island. It's the wettest place on earth. It gets an average 472 INCHES OF RAIN A YEAR! The clouds parted for us and so we got to see the crater with waterfalls everywhere you look! By then though we were just wanting to touch dry ground. :)

On our way towards our Hike we stopped to fuel our bodies with some Hawaiian Pizza.

The beginning of our 8 mile hike. It was only downhill for a little bit. :)

This is the halfway mark. I forgot the name of the beach, but earlier someone did a little rock sculpturing. It looked pretty neat in person.

It's starting to get a bit treacherous. Giant Bamboo! They were taller than trees and when they swayed they make little clanking sounds, it was a bit musical like a wind chime.

Taking it all in! We were the last one's to get to the waterfall so we had it all to ourselves. Absolutely amazing!

Heading back to our car, running out of water by now. :)

Our last day we took a Kayak tour. It was my first time to Kayak and loved it! After we traveled down this huge river we parked our Kayak's and then hiked up to another waterfall.

This may look romantic (and it was), but the water was pretty chilly and it was pounding on us!! Pretty cool that I can say that I've kissed my husband under a waterfall. :)

This was our coolest tour guide! He did the whole tour & hike barefoot! He knew so much of the Hawaiian Culture and talked about it and the plants the whole way. He said he lives in board shorts and that's it. Rarely does he wear shoes or a shirt. He must have some crazy farmers tan!! As you can see Jesse & I need to work on our tan!! :)

Spouting Horn.

Maui

View from the Restaurant by our Hotel. We ate by the beach every night to watch the sunset.

The best food/fish I ever tasted!!

This day we reserved just for hanging out at the beach. We realized that we were doing a lot of active things and we needed time to just relax. When I thought of coming to Hawaii this is EXACTLY what I had in mind.

Our last sunset dinner.

YUMMM!

Walking back to our Hotel we noticed a show going on. Suddenly one of the flame guys came on the grass up close to us so we got an up close view. What was really cute though was this mans' family was right by us watching and his little kids were dancing and cheering for their daddy. He later came over and gave them all a kiss. It made us miss our kids.

We wrapped up our last day at Maui by driving the Road to Hana. A very windy road with all sorts of things to see. All in all, this trip was absolutely amazing. All couples need a trip like this. Jesse & I felt like crazy kids again! We hope to come back with our kids someday.

A Mothers Day Present to Remember

2011-06-09T23:02:00.000-07:00

Most of you know that I'm a HUGE fan of Yanni. The music he creates inspires, relaxes and enthuses me. I would say that throughout the day whether it's through my ipod or pandora on my tv that I listen to his music at least once a day. So, when I heard that he was coming to El Paso, TX I had to take my mom, Karen and her mother Edith along. I was lucky enough to get front row tickets!! I'll never forget the moment when Yanni stepped out on stage and we realized just how close we were to him, my mom grabbed my arm with both hands and while shaking me said, "CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS! WE'RE SO CLOSE!!"

So, the music was loud and upbeat and we were so excited to be there. Getting to sit so close was a totally new experience for us. We've been to his concerts before, but were seated so far away. This time it was very intimate because of the Theatre and we could see the sweat of the musicians while they played and the veins in their arms as they just NAILED their parts. I'm so glad that Karen and Edith got to go since I've been trying to explain what his concerts are like. You just can't put it into words. Yanni said that he'd be back next year so we'll be ready for our Yanni Fix with whoever wants to join us! :)

This is one of my favorite songs and Samvel Yervinyan just always plays it as smooth as butter!! I'm convinced that he's the BEST violinist in the world. While watching him play I would just marvel at how he can get the most intense sound and then the most gentle, almost like a whisper out of the violin. So amazing. I'm sure he has to replace his bows after every show because the strings are just falling off from his intense playing. I listen to this song while jogging, folding laundry, mowing the lawn YOU NAME IT!! Just when I thought they weren't going to play it at the concert, Yanni came out for an encore and I stood up, screamed (don't worry I wasn't the only one!!) and started dancing!! Here's a video of that song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSrH_oqnrl0&feature=related

This song Yanni dedicated to his mother and when I heard it at the concert I couldn't contain myself. Tears just freely flowed as I thought about how sweet it was that I was able to share this experience with my mom! With Karen and Grandmother also there sharing the moment; it was just to much for me, so beautiful. Such a moving song, Felista.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiTwKBhL2Wk

Listen to the other Yanni videos, close your eyes and feel the music. If you want another dancing song listen to WORLD DANCE. I'm so thankful that God blesses people with such talent.

Claire #5

2011-06-09T22:12:00.000-07:00

Claire has been dying to turn 5 yrs old! It's the time that she gets to start school and all in all, I think there's just something about the number that makes her feel big. :) If I could describe Claire I'd say that she doesn't have a mean bone in her body. (Her brothers and sister might disagree at times. ha ha) She has such a SWEET spirit and maybe that's because she still is so innocent, but that is a quality I love about her. She still has her own sense of style, yet I'm seeing it calm down a bit now that we're in summer and the thought of wearing layers just doesn't apply. Here are a few pictures of her birthday celebration. She requested pinkalicious cupcakes, her favorite book.

Almost a Decade Old!

2011-04-18T22:22:00.000-07:00

I know I'm way behind on posting, enough said. :) Bryce turned 9 last month! Wow, it makes me sad to think how big he's getting. Sometimes on Sunday afternoon we watch family home videos and I think watching those videos brings back all of those feelings you have as a new parent and just the adoration you have for your children. Bryce was a cutie-pie as a little guy. Such an inquisitive little tyke who loved reading, going to the park, the beach (when we lived close to one) and anything to do with Daddy! He was born with muscles and he's still just a stout little man with a big heart. Jesse and I are really proud of how hard he's working in school and in learning how to skateboard so well. He competed in a little Skateboarding Competition last weekend and to our surprise he earned 2nd PLACE out of 15 other kids. Since then he's been begging to go to other meets. He's at an age too now where peer pressure seems to be a bit more prominent in his life, but I try to sit back and watch the decisions he makes and thankfully he's been making good ones. I hope he's a light to others around him.

That weekend we traveled to Tucumcari to visit Jesse's Aunt & Uncle, Tracy & Hershell. I did a Shelf Reliance party for Tracy's Quilting Group and then another one at her church. The Jesse and the kids had a good time out on the farm with their cousins and all the animals. Jesse's cousins Scotty and Ginger were there also with their kids. I missed the show Scotty gave with the horses, but the kids raved about it. Scotty used to live in France and worked in the Disney Wild West show, so you know he's talented. I'm just sad that I didn't get as many pictures as I'd hoped. The last day we were there Hershell saddled up the horses and pony and we all had a turn. Bella LOVED the pony! Even when the pony was just standing and eating she still didn't want to get off. Jesse and I haven't been back to Tracy & Hershell's house in almost 10 years! We're so glad we made the trip and hope to keep family relations close. Thanks Tracy & Hershell for being such awesome hosts and showing us a good time!

Bryce made YouTube!

2011-03-16T22:11:00.000-07:00

So, as you know Bryce LOVES skateboarding. It's not my most favorite sport out there and I never thought B would be into this, but actually it's been really good for him. It's taught him perseverance, determination and it gives him an escape. Jesse and I both video taped him doing all of his tricks as a one year anniversary mark since his first skateboard. I made it into a short video. I have to say that I wanted to do so many other editing tricks, but for some reason Windows Movie Maker has changed to Windows Live Movie Maker and it's pretty horrible. You only have a storyboard to work with and not a timeline. So, I have to use a different program, edit it in three sections, import it into movie maker (I had to use this program since it's an HD camera) and then, finally I got it to publish. It's always so fun doing these video's, but to be honest it's VERY time consuming. I stayed up every night till 3 am for 3 days straight working on this video. So, Bryce I hope you appreciate it. We'll see how much you have improved by this time next year. Bryce wants people to make sure and "Like it," it makes him happy. Here's the video link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DY_RCUbPlc

We Got Spirit!

2011-02-22T22:41:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday the kids and I rushed over to Onate High School to see my niece Brooke compete in a Cheerleading competition. I've watched Brooke most of her childhood sporting around Cheerleading outfits for the bulldog games and she used to do little cheers for all of us, and practice her jumps on the trampoline. So to see her as a Freshman doing so well was really special. It was my first time to see her do her thing this year and we were all very impressed. My pictures are horrible so I apologize for the blurriness, but you get the idea.

Happy Birthday Cameron!

2011-02-22T22:34:00.000-08:00

It's lucky number 7! Cameron was King for the week (and boy did he act like one.) in honor of his birthday. I don't know how many times I heard Cameron tell everyone "I can do whatever I want cuz it's MY birthday!" I tried to let it slide as much as possible to make his day pleasant, but there were a few times I had to remind him about reality. Cameron lost his other front tooth and has enjoyed the complexities of eating because of that.

We had a party with the family at the pool here in town and had a good time. I made him a chess board cake this year because he LOVES chess and we also got him an XBOX kinect which really got him excited. But, of all of the fancy gifts and activities that we did, Cameron is still just a toy car loving boy. He's had probably the most fun with his race car set. We sure love Cameron; his zest for life and desire to entertain us. (Even though it verges on the edge of annoying at times) :) He keeps things interesting at home and really desires deep down to be the best he can be. He told me that since he's 7 now that he should probably do a little more to be responsible. (In his toothless voice) He's so sweet. We love you cameron!

Mountain Get-a-way!

2011-02-22T22:13:00.000-08:00

We spent Valentines Day and a couple days after in Ruidoso and the weather was wonderful! The boys and I got to spend the day up on the slopes while Karen and Cody watched the girls for me. THANK YOU!!

At one point Jesse and I were heading down the mountain by ourselves and after he did a few tricks on his snowboard and making it look so easy, we realized we had the whole mountain to ourselves! It was a school day that day and so things were quiet. Very nice. The past three times I've hit the mountain I've tried snowboarding, but this time I wanted to get back to skiing and forgot how much I LOVE skiing! My confidence was up and so I hit a blue trail (which actually should've been a black) I was all by myself and wondering how I was going to get done this trail alive! So, I slid sideways as much as possible and then a more experienced skiier stopped and talked me into going for it. So, I did and survived luckily. Needless to say it was last time I went down that one. :)

Bryce did really well on the snowboard for his second time. I think all of the skateboarding has helped him sooo much! At the end of the day he tried a ramp and I'm so mad at myself for not taking a picture, but Jesse and I were really proud of the kids for trying so hard. At the end of the day I've concluded that skiing is much gentler on the body than skateboarding. :)

One afternoon we took a stroll down to the lake and were suprised to find it frozen solid! Jesse stepped out onto the ice and I was ready to take a picture of his tanking into the water, but after realizing how solid it was we were all on the ice playing around.

Abe's checking to see just how deep the ice is. I'm pretending to be an ice skater and not succeeding. ha!

Glad that's over!

2011-02-07T08:19:00.000-08:00

The kids stock pile of snow balls. Bella & I were too cold to stick around for the battle.

So, last week the kids were out of school from Wed. through Friday. Wed. the roads were so bad. The kids and I wanted to head to the store, but mid way I turned around because the roads were so icy that I had to drive 10 miles an hour and plus, I kept seeing shards of tail light glass on the road and figured I'd better get back home. We only received snow on Tuesday night, but the temperature never reached about 20 degrees for a few days. I know that's nothing compared to some, but when the weather has been in the 50's all winter long, it's a bit of a shock. So, El Paso Electric experienced power failure and we had blackouts all over the place. Schools and government buildings were closed because of the blackout and so the kids enjoyed some time off.

On Sat. I came home from jogging and noticed that our snow was melting and decided that we should make a snow man while we still could. Claire and I thought it would be fun to transform our snowman into different characters from the boys costume box. We had a good laugh.

THE FASTEST MELTING SNOWMAN IN THE WEST!

LUUKE! Use the force! Bella was the only one small enough
to hide behind the snowman to hold the props. :)

Here's to all of the Boy Scouts of America! Claire's trying to make a fire and looks pretty happy about it. :)

SUPERMAN! Bella's not so sure.

HI-YA! Beaverly Hills Ninja!

Our Tribute to Shawn White

Claire's been watching Annie lately and wanted to see what she would look like as a red head. :)

These pics just make me smile.

ON GUARD!

It's a good thing we made our snowmen when we did because it wasn't an hour later that I looked out the window and our snowman was toppled over. So sad.

Energized!!

2011-01-23T21:33:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I was able to attend a Shelf Reliance Conference (our first one) in Albuquerque. About a week ago I got a call from the Vice President of Direct Sales, Jason Norton and he asked if I would take a few minutes and talk to everyone about why I decided to become a consultant. I accepted and was a bit nervous. So, I asked my mom to come along with me for moral support. :)

The conference was educational and I felt like I walked away motivated even more than I already was about this company and the future it has. I feel like one of the people who bought stock in Coca Cola or Microsoft when they first started and who knew how big that stock would later be worth!

Shelf Reliance has only been doing the "Direct Party Sales" approach since April, 2010. So, the field is ready to reap and it's a HUGE FIELD! Jason did a little research on New Mexico and in 2008 the population was 2,059,179. (I'm sure that number is bigger now). There are 700,000 households so for the amount of consultants we have now in New Mexico we would each have to approach 23,000 people in order to get the word out! That is so amazing to me! It just shows you how big your potential will be!

The beauty of this is that I don't have to keep my business a regional thing. I can go National and soon once Shelf Reliance is in all 50 states (they need Delaware) then they are going to Canada and soon other countries as well. The world is your market! So, the potential is amazing and I'm very thrilled to be apart of this. Please...join my team and see how this will change your life!! I have people all over the state asking for parties, but I can't drive 8 hours to get there, so I'm desperate for consultants.

Other things I learned from this Conference...
1. Food is a NEED! (unlike other products, food is something we constantly consume, thus people will be back for more.)
2. Shelf Reliance has the best compensation plan.

3. It's a Family Business. We have NO monthly sales quotas!! You can put in 20 hrs a week or 2 hours a month. They know that you have life outside of your business! :) They believe in educating people on how to become self-reliant.

4. Untapped World Market. Like I mentioned earlier, this is going to be something that will be in most people's household within the next 5-10 yrs.

5. Perfect Timing. With the economy the way it is, people are looking for ways to save, make money and become better prepared. Outside of that, they're looking for ways to be healthy and efficient with their time.

How often does a ground floor opportunity

like this come along?

I'm so mad at myself for not taking a picture of us, but after the conference Jason took a few of us out to dinner and we discussed some exciting new things that are coming out this year, but I'm sworn to secrecy. :) I will tell you that we New Mexicans are really pushing that Shelf Reliance carry GREEN CHILI! Wouldn't that be awesome to have freeze dried Green Chili? We had such a great time chatting with everyone. My mind has seriously not stopped thinking about what we discussed.

I have to say thanks to my sweet husband for watching the kids while I played. Cameron kept asking me Sat. morning, "Mom, are you leaving yet? Why haven't you left yet?" because he knows that when I leave it's FUN TIME with dad! So, I'm happy that they don't miss me too much. :)

Christmas 2010

2011-01-09T21:21:00.000-08:00

The Winter in New Mexico was pleasantly warm this year unlike last year. It was so nice to be able to walk outside without a jacket. Leading up to Christmas we celebrated Jesse's 36th birthday! I got a cake from a restaurant here in town called "The Rendezvous" and the owner is a pastry chef. He made this choc cake that was so rich and mouth watering with 2 giant strawberries dipped in choc. and a huge chunk of white choc in the side that spelled Happy Birthday Jesse written in more choc. I'll try to get the pictures off of Jesse's phone.

The week before Christmas the kids and I drove to Hobbs to visit my sister and then make it down through Artesia to see more of my family. It was a short trip, but we managed to squeeze in some football watching and a Christmas Show from Chad's Church. I'm always glad to make the trip to see everyone.

Just about ready to camp out in our room for Christmas Eve.

                               Bella was soooo excited to get some Yo Gabba Gabba underwear
                    (it's such a dumb show, but she loves it) She wore it like that at least until lunch time. :)

December was such a whirlwind of events that I really don't know where to start. I'll just jump to Christmas. It was quiet this year due to everyone being out of town except for Jesse's parents and I have to admit that I'm not used to having it so quiet. I guess I always picture Christmas with a house full of family and enjoying each other, but it was probably for the best since I came down with a horrible cold Christmas eve and spent most of Christmas afternoon just laying on the couch (I'm still fighting that cold).

My favorite thing that the kids (it was mostly for the girls though) was that we bought them two little bunnies. They were dwarf bunnies with just the cutest little faces and their fur is sooo soft. They're very sweet and let us hold them whenever we want. Cameron said that he never thought he'd love a little bunny so much. I was really surprised that Bella wasn't trying to hold them all the time, but she gave them their distance and I think Claire was the one who mothered them the most. I'd go outside and she'd be sitting in her chair in the clubhouse just singing to her little black and white bunny. Bandit sure took an interest in them, but didn't attack them which also surprised me. Here are some snap shots of the little cuties.

                 Here's Claire's little bunny. It had blue eyes and I think she ended up calling it Cinna.

Here's a little action shot of snowflake or snowball. Don't know her name, but heard those. She was the most adventurous, but still would let you hold her in your lap.

You may be wondering why I'm speaking in past tense about our bunnies. Well, I'm very sad to say that they both died. I came outside last Sunday and saw the white bunny dead and just couldn't believe it! I felt so bad because I thought it was my fault for forgetting to put them back in the Garage where it wasn't as cold. Later I heard that baby bunnies who are together (which they were) can withstand temperatures as low as 10 degrees. So, I didn't know what happened. Then a few days later I went to check on Cinna's water and her and noticed that she wasn't a perky as she normally was and when I picked her up she had a seizure and only wanted to lay on her side. I tried to feed her some water, but sadly she died in my arms that night. It was soooo sad to watch her take her last breath.

I've never watched anything die before. I've also never felt so awful about losing a pet before. Luckily Claire got to say goodbye to Cinna before she passed away and we said a little prayer for her. It was sweet to watch Claire care for something so much. Anyways, it turns out that the grass that these bunnies were playing in could've been the very thing that killed them. We're thinking that they must have eaten some weeds that didn't set well. It was fun while it lasted. At first we thought we'd get some more bunnies, but maybe it isn't wise to have something so delicate.

For New Years Connie and the kids came down from Utah and we all had a good time. It's always nonstop cousin play/sleepovers and games. We're all exhausted by the end of our visits, but try to make the most of them. Anyhow, I'm always glad to start with a fresh new start after the new year. This year our main focus is getting Jesses' practice up and running, keep up with the kids/house and their needs while trying to build my own Shelf Reliance business. Jes and I are going to try to squeeze in a 10 yr anniversary trip for just the two of us. It should be another eventful year! Happy New Year everyone!!

Christmas Crafting!

2010-12-14T21:33:00.000-08:00

On the first week of Dec. I took part in our first Holiday Gift Fair. Here's a link to how it went....

http://www.occationallycrafty.blogspot.com/

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-14T14:22:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving this year was filled with activity, fun and kids. :) Ben, Connie and their 6 kids came down for the whole week prior to Thanksgiving and we filled the week up with as much as we possibly could with excitement. The cousins are all very close and they spent every minute together if they could. Everynight there were sleep overs and laughter heard in the wee late hours of the night. Along playing with all of neat toys at Grandma's house, we set out to the town's new public indoor swimming pool and had a good time there. One night we sat by the fire outside and roasted marshmellows, another day some of the kids (that wanted to participate) had a Tea Party at Grandmothers house. At first Claire didn't want to go, but once we started getting all the other kids dressed up she started to get excited.

Once she saw the pretty table all set up at Grandmothers house she was totally into character and never broke out of Character until she left. So cute.

We ate oatmeal cookies, cranberries and apple juice.

I love this picture of Cindy. Cameron didn't stay long so I made Cindy wear "The Hat." She's such a character. :)

Bella's first time down the slide. She loved it...kind of.

We adults stayed up late every night playing games. It's hard to end the fun when all the kids are asleep. Of course, waking up in the morning with the kids was a killer.

After all the big boys played in the Turkey Bowl football game that game, we ladies slaved away in making the meal. Karen, Ben & Connie were in charge of the turkeys this year and they were both delicious. They brined both of the turkeys over night and cooked one in the rotiserie and the other in the oven. We had a full house. There's something that a full house of kids and family bring during the Holidays that makes it really special.

It's always hard to say goodbye. Here are a few pictures capturing the kids and their cute personalities.

You probably can't see it, but Cameron and Anna had tears in their eyes. They're so close.

Bella and Kate are getting old enough
to where they play with each other.
At least... they appreciate lip stick. :)

Bryce and Sarah are two peas in a pod. It's fun watching these too smartie pants hang out. They're the ones among others who are giggling late at night telling stories.

Thanks to everyone for a lovely Thanksgiving!

A style of her own.

2010-11-19T08:58:00.000-08:00

Claire has always had a strong opinion on what she wants to wear everyday. Oh, how I miss the baby days when she didn't. :) It used to be a struggle to try to get her to wear normal clothes, but I've decided to let her wear what she wants. She always comes to me and says, "Look mom, I'm dressed! Don't I look cute?" As you can tell she's into boots and skirts. If she feels confident in it then sure! This will be the only time in life when she'll be able to pull off these outfits. I love her whimsical and sweet personality. Lately when she says her prayers, her voice (which is already high and soft) gets a few pitches higher and softer and I just love it. So sweet. Anyhow, I just thought I'd break away from the Doom and Gloom and post something a bit light.....although I do think we're headed into tough times. :)

Video from the NIA

2010-11-10T08:22:00.001-08:00

I thought this was interesting. People always get in gear when it's too late! It's not that hard to plan ahead. We do it everyday in the simplest ways. We wash clothes so that we have clean underwear, we buy gas so we can get to work, we buy groceries so that we have food for breakfast/lunch/dinner, etc. We need to plan also for whatever disasters or crisis that could happen. If not, then you could find yourself in this situation. Just trying to educate people to get in gear. We have nothing to fear if we're prepared.

Hyperinflation! AHHH!

2010-11-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

In watching the Glenn Beck show which aired last night on the 4th of Nov., my jaw just dropped when he talked about the Hyperinflation which is coming our way. I DVR his shows and so this morning I watched it again and took notes. Something that I had missed was when he mentioned the announcement from the NIA (National Inflation Association) and they projected food prices to rise drastically in 2011. Read this report, order your food storage yesterday!!!!

I'm a consultant with Shelf Reliance and if you can't get a year supply of food and water for your family, you should get at least 6 months plus seeds to plant a garden. (Seeds are 12% off now at http://www.shelfreliance.com/) I can help people get their food storage and other emergency supplies at a HUGE discount if not for free! Please share this information with your family and friends.

Read the report:

National Inflation Association

Bryson's Blogging now

2010-11-02T14:46:00.000-07:00

Bryce has been wanting a blog for a loonnngg time now so I finally broke down and we set one up the other day. Here's the link. We'll see how it pans out. :)
http://www.sk8nthroughlife.blogspot.com/

All in Character!

2010-11-01T15:57:00.000-07:00

Look at that sunset! It was a GORGEOUS night for trick or treating!

Oh, am I glad Halloween is over! I get so excited thinking about the kids costumes (once they decide what they're going to be finally) and work my tail off trying to make them.

This year Cameron's costume was probably the most time consumming, yet the most rewarding. The kids got to dress up twice this year. He was the Mad Hatter off of the new Alice in Wonderland movie with Johnny Depp. I must say that the pictures don't capture the true coolness of his costume. We had neon green contacts to put in, but Cameron chickened out and didn't want to wear them. I don't blame him. Anyhow, we had a good time with him.

Bryce was Rocky Balboa. "YO ADREAN!" We borrowed Grandpa Greg's boxing gloves from the Title Days to complete the costume. I made his shorts and stuff, but the shorts only lasted while at the Trunk or Treat. Bryce's thunder thighs ripped them down the side on the way home. :) o-well.

Bryce just couldn't take the press anymore! :)

The second night Bryce dressed up in what he really wanted to be...Tony Hawk! Not much to do for that costume. :)

Claire was a black cat. She had a really good time with her costume. She's such a cutie. Bella was sick for most of Halloween week with an upset stomach and a fever. She mostly just sat in our laps at the Trunk or Treat and she started feeling back to normal while trick or treating. She was Alice. I could not figure out the pattern for the life of me on her dress so I just repurposed her Cinderella dress. It worked good enough.

We always have a good time trick or treating with Cody, Abe and their little boys. Their street is sooo wild with treaters. The neighbors really get into it too. One guy was walking around the middle of the street in front of his house with a chain saw (the chain was off thankfully) trying to scare everyone. Cameron mentioned to me how he doesn't really like Halloween because it scares him too much. I think taking the kids with us to buy make up at the Halloween store was a mistake.

Jesse and I went to a friends house for a Halloween Party and dressed up.

BUT WAIT! IF YOU CALL NOW....

Jesse was Billy Mays! He always does such a good job on his costume with the least amount of work. Doesn't he just look exactly like him? I was a girl from the 1940s. I love that era of style and think of my Grandma Hewett and her classy ways. It was a good time, but glad it's over. Now, where to hide the candy???

Road Warriors

2010-10-24T16:37:00.000-07:00

Since my boys are in year round school this year and they had 3 weeks off in Sept/Oct I decided that it would be a perfect time to hit the road and visit family for 2 weeks. I've never driven farther than 7 hours by the myself with all four kids so I have to admit that I was a little anxious and maybe a bit over my head, but I have to say that the kids surprised me. They were actually really good travelers except for a few restless moments where both the kids and I are thinking to ourselves, "what were we thinking?!" This was going to be a trip where we could take our time and see some country that we've never seen before. All very exciting to me.

MESA VERDE, CO

Ok, so our first stop was Farmington, NM. I know, not all that exciting, just a place to crash. Jesse got us a place with an indoor pool so that the kids could get their energy out. So, we swam and the next morning took off for the Pueblo's in Mesa Grande, CO. I had seen pics as a kid of this place and thought how awesome it would be to visit it. Well, I'm sad to say that once we got there I made the call that it was going to be too dangerous and stressful to handle all the kids while taking the 1 hour tour. In order to go down you have to take the tour, but the tour guide said that you have to climb a 15 ft wooden ladder and then at the end there's about a 70 stair (the stairs he said are about 18 inches steep) "hike" to get out. So considering that Bella isn't always wanting to be held and I didn't have a toddler pack to hike with I had to say no. Maybe when she's Claire's age we'll come back. The kids were disappointed that we couldn't go down and I felt bad considering that we just wasted 2 1/2 hours with that detour. But, it was sure a sight to see.

MOAB, UT

Next...Moab, UT. I LOVE Moab! I want to stay there a few days and just take it all in. We stopped at one of my favorite places to stop and that's the Hole in the Rock place. We all just marveled at the scrap metal sculptures and the jeep made out of recycled license plates. We wanted to take the tour of the house built under the Rock, but Bella was asleep and so I didn't want to waste that precious naptime so we hit the road until we got to Arches National Park. I always forget how deep that park is and by this time it's about to get dark and I know I have a good 3 hour drive before I get to Beth's house in Provo. So, we hurry and try to see as much as we can of that place since the kids have never been there. We got out and took a quick hike so the kids could see some of the amazing rocks up close.

We got to Beth's house around 10 that night. I slept sooo good that night. We hung out with Beth the next morning a bit while she nannied a little girl and then took off to Temple Square in Salt Lake City. This whole trip I've just been constantly surprised at the different kinds of beauty that the Earth possesses. It was just a perfect time of the year to enjoy it all.

SALT LAKE CITY, UT

Temple Square is always a treat to visit because of the History hear of the Mormon Pioneers and the meaning the Temple has for me. We met two sister missionaries who took us to the visitor center and one was from Czechoslovakia and the other from Mongolia. They were so sweet and we all just adored them after only knowing them for 15 or so min. We ate at the ever so yummy Lion House Cafe which used to be Brigham Young's Home and then we set off on the road again with our destination headed for my sister Janet's house in Shelley, ID.

SHELLEY, IDAHO

I was sooo happy to finally make it to my sisters house! This was my "we made it" message to Jesse to let him know we made it ok. I just love my big sister!

After making it to Janet's house we took a day to just relax and enjoy each others company. They have such a fun place for kids to explore. Claire was in heaven playing with the cats. All the kids played so well together and it was a great bonding time for them. They also had 20 or so chickens and a pig named pepper. The kids spent most of their time outside. Janet took us to Idaho Falls (seven min from her house). Bryce was dying to go to a skate park so we found one. It was probably his favorite ever. It's the place that he finally learned how to skate and land a "dip." Here's the video of him doing it. He's so proud. :)

WYOMING!

The next day drove to Wyoming. We visited a plave called Granite Creek I think and it had a pretty water fall with a few natural hot springs. I've never swam in a hot spring before so I was so surprised at how really "hot" it actually was. In order to get to the hot spring we had to cross a FREEZING river. Jordan carried all 7 kids across. I know how painful that must have been.

Bryce ended up loosing a sandle and cut his heal on a rock. Again, I'm just amazed at the beauty everywhere! I was ready to just pack up and move (but, the below zero weather in the winter thought keeps me from doing that). We had a great time with Janet, Jordan and the kids and it was very hard leaving my sister knowing that it would be a long time before I would get to see her again. We cried when it was time to go.

BOISE, ID!

We took a 4 hour detour to Boise becuase I have friends there that I haven't seen in YEARS and so I thought it would be silly not to be so close and not make the effort to visit. First, I visited one of my roommates from College Sara (one of the best people I know). I'm so bummed that I forgot to take her picture. She hasn't changed a bit and judgeing from her adorable kids she's an awesome mom and wife. We drove down the street and met up with one of our best friends from Optometry school, the Crawfords. I know it killed Jesse not being able to be there, but we'll definately be back. Jenalee is pregnant with Twins and looks wonderful! Our oldest Bryce used to play with Savanah (their oldest) when they were little and so to see her all grown and the other two getting so big it was just sooo shocking. But, we just picked right up where we left off and had a great visit.

PROVO & CEDAR CITY, UT

Back to Utah! We hung out with Beth again and enjoyed watching Whitney and Brooke play around with their cousins on the trampoline. We took off the next day towards Cedar City, out last stop before we would meet Jesse in Pheonix. Connie was just a few days shy of her due date. I was hoping she would go into labor while I was there, but we all know how that panned out. :)

One day we hung out at the Skate Park and all the kids had a great time. All their rear ends and hands were just black because they kept sliding down the ramps.

We watched Ben's flag football game and saw him in action. Things looked pretty rough out there, but they won of course. One night Connie took us to a place called Fun Time Inflatables. Need I say more?

The kids thought they had just died and gone to heaven. What a great time they had.. I think the highlight for me was going to a Shakespear Festival Play, The Diary of Ann Frank with Cindy and Connie. The actors were right on in their acting and there were a few times where I got emotional thinking of how it must have been for the Jewish people losing family.

The little ones would crash hard at night but the big kids we could hear laughing til the late hours of the night. :)

PHEONIX, AZ

We left at the crack of dawn to pick up Jesse at the Airport in Pheonix for some R&R.

It was soooo nice to finally meet up with Jesse! You never realize how much you rely on your spouse until you don't have them there with you. We spent the weekend at a Resort called Cibola Verde and spent our time by the pool as much as possible. One night though we went to an amusement park called Castles and Coasters. It was the perfect place for our age of children. They had a nice array of rides for all ages and we pretty much had the park to ourselves since it was a school night. Bryce and Claire were the dare devils that night, although I was proud of Cameron for facing a few of his fears. Bryce rode the Sky Diver 9 times that night. He would've rode more, but I was thinking it probably wasn't that great for his health doing it all back to back. :) Jesse and I rode it once and that was all I needed. So scary. Bryce rode his first upside down rollar coaster with me. Cameron had his first experience on a coaster also. Claire rode with Jesse for the first time on a coaster and she LOVED it! I rode the Carosel with Bella numerous time. Here she is having a good time.

Jesse and I rode the sky diver with Bryce, but once was good enough for me! Pretty scary.

The whole trip was just WONDERFUL and I felt so good making the effort to go. I've been realizing that making the sacrifice really benefits a family relationship and it builds memories that you'll have for a lifetime. All in all the kids and I visited 5 STATES! We were so close to going on detours towards Oregon, Calfornia and Nevada to say that we conquered the west, but we just ran out of time. I'm looking forward to going back someday.

Trying out something new.

2010-10-17T21:58:00.000-07:00

The boys are involved with all sorts of activities whether it be sports or camps and poor Claire has sat and waited on the sidelines to be of age to do some of those things. When I noticed the pre school Gymnastics class offered at the Rec Center I signed her up! We got there and I noticed that there was only one other girl there that day and so I knew the class was going to be small. Thus, giving me the courage to ask the teachers to let Bella try the class out even though she's only 2. I knew that Bella could do everything the older girls could do. The teachers were also convinced after about the first 5 min of class. They ended up letting Bella join the class and so every tuesday and thursday the girls were sooo excited for Gymnastics. In the beginning Bella couldn't do a front roll, but by the end of the week she could. Claire loved getting to wear the leotards probably the most. As the classes went on they grew in size and we parents sat on the sidelines just grinning and laughing at how cute they all were.

Enjoying the fruits of your labor.

2010-10-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

After months of dreaming of a lush, green yard my dream has finally come to a reality that we've been able to enjoy this summer. It wasn't easy though. I spent many hours raking and raking, spreading seed and alfalfa on the seed (a wonderful trick I might add; I saw results in 2 days as compared to just some sprouts here and there after 2 weeks of waiting without the alfalfa on top). Anyhow, one day I'm mowing the lawn, the kids are inside playing video games (we let them on the weekends only) and I'm thinking to myself...."I wouldn't be a good parent if I didn't make my kids learn the value of work. I have two boys who are perfectly capable to mow the lawn. They're gonna sweat with me dang it!" So, I turned off the tube and within minutes of teaching them how to safely maneuver a lawn mower Bryce was mowing lines all over the place. I told him he could do it however he wanted. Once he figured out what he was doing was going to take more time he finally decided to go with the standard lines. Cameron could barely push it so I helped him a bit. We raked the grass clippings, sweat some more we then enjoyed a nice push pop. I want them to learn the value of work, that's it's not always easy, but good for you. You know what I mean. They have a long way to go though before they can mow lawns for a business. :)

Til' we meet again Grandma

2010-10-16T18:26:00.000-07:00

In August my Grandma Smith passed away peacefully in her sleep. Bless her heart. The funeral service was nice and I loved seeing my cousins whom I haven't seen in years. These flowers were in bloom the day of the funeral which happened to be one of my Grandmothers favorite flowers. They lined the side of the road everywhere. Very pretty and they will always remind me of her.

Thankfully I was able to have a nice visit twice before she passed.Once with my mom, and sisters Jeanine and June. Next, with my other sister Janet who drove down from Idaho. It's been a year and a half since I last saw Janet and so the reunion with her and her kids was very nice. We knew our Grandma was going downhill fast after getting very sick with kidney stones and diabetes. It's been 8 years since Grandpa died (the day Bryce was born) and we're all happy knowing that she'll be reunited with him. I'm so thankful that I know the true meaning of life and that Family is the most important thing.

My first visit with her this summer she was already bedridden and not very coherent in her speaking, but when all of us girls came in and she saw us standing beside her bed she started to cry and mumbelled, "You're all here, you're all here." There wasn't a dry eye in the room. We had to communicate by writting on a dry erase board because her hearing was so far gone. It broke my heart everytime I would leave thinking of her just laying in bed day after day and that it was going to be the last time I saw her alive. But, I must say I was a bit relieved knowing she's reunited with her husband.

Looking back on this summer I was thinking how often I was able to see my sisters and parents. It's reminded me how much they mean to me and how if you let yourself get too busy family relationships can slowly fade. When we get together it's always a big laugh fest.

I loved my Grandma very much and I have very fond memories of her. Mostly, from my childhood when my sisters and I would come and spend weeks with her in the summer. If we weren't playing hide and go seek, walking down to the park, or learning how to crochet, we were begging her to make her delicious burritos with mac n cheese. It still makes my mouth water just thinking about her canned pickles! What I'll miss most about her is her pleasant face and her laugh. She had a contagious laugh; one that sounded like someone from the south and the laugh would come straight from the belly! (hard to explain, but I can just hear it now). My dad tells me that I resemble her a bit. I think I do share some of her features. I love you Grandma; I know I'll see you again someday.

Restoring Honor 8/28 Rally

2010-09-16T08:43:00.000-07:00

Glenn Beck asked for people to write in and tell about their experience at the Restoring Honor Rally and this is what Jesse wrote:

First, I would like to say thank you to Glenn Beck and all of the supporting staff that helped to make this such a pleasant and inspirational experience. I will have to say that I have attended a couple of the TEA party events but never felt inspired to attend an event of this magnitude. This event was different. I am the father of four young children aged 8,6,4 and 2 and have a busy Optometry business. This was not something that financially or functionally made any sense. As I continued to listen to the program and watch the television show, with the support of my sweet wife, I felt more and more inspired to attend this event with my Father and my oldest son Bryson who is eight. He is a very smart and inquisitive child that also listens to Glenn Beck in the morning on the way to school. He is very interested in politics and sometimes to our amazement very bold about telling people about what he believes in. We are from Las Cruces, New Mexico so this was quite the trip, so we decided to get there on Wednesday and leave on Monday. We wanted to experience the Capitol with all it has to offer.

We first went to Arlington cemetery on Thursday, then experienced the Smithsonians and the Mall on Friday (we were wanting to go to the Kennedy center event but like many were unable to secure tickets). We had a wonderful and very inspirational experience leading up to the Restoring Rally honor. I felt that getting there early and seeing the Changing of the Guard at Arlington cemetery, seeing the patriotic exhibits at the National History Museum and all the history instilled a very real and deep sacrifice that has went into the Freedom and Founding of this great country. I think these experiences helped prepare us for the rally, and the rally made the trip to Mount Vernon that much more enjoyable the following day.

So we had properly prepared ourselves for the Restoring Honor Rally and let me say the Rally did not disappoint. It was so inspirational and cemented a bond between the Three Generations that were there My Father, Myself (his oldest child of six) and My Son (my oldest child). When you mentioned the eight year old that was maybe out there, I looked at my Son and I knew at that moment that the course of his life had been altered and he had found a moment that would anchor him and help shape him for the rest of his life.

The whole experience was wonderful and many times I found myself holding back emotions and a few times tears freely fell from my face. The tone of the rally was just perfect being above the fray of the politics of the day and concentrating on the core morals and principles that will shape the politics but not addressing them directly. I felt this was a stroke of genius - and gave very little for the Piranhas of the media to feed on. For the rally we found a nice place under the shade of the big trees right under where the V-formation of geese flew. Thanks once again for the effort that was put into this event and while all the effort was big, the pay-off was bigger. The water tents and the monitors were a nice touch and allowed for a more enjoyable and connected feel for the event.

Thanks again,
Jesse Sowards, O.D.

Welcome to the Family Laura!

2010-08-29T23:40:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Sam & Laura!!! We're jumping for joy too Sam! :)

Let me bring you up to speed...

2010-08-29T22:20:00.000-07:00

Bella is still scared of the car wash.

She's at a safe distance without getting too wet...uh oh, she's going to need some clean pants....make that clean clothes....ok, now goggles! Thank goodness our front yard will be landscaped when this pond dries. :)

The only time I'm grateful to be working out in 100 degree weather. The outcome was worth the dehydration. We did good Greg & Gary!

This is a machine to make you feel like you're in a hurricane. It reached 80 mph but I took this picture at 47 mph winds....hummm sounds like springtime in New Mexico!

Awe....soft bath rugs to lay on in a basket. A pleasant way to shop with little ones.

Bella enters the "Terrific Two's!"

2010-07-29T12:25:00.000-07:00

I know it's the "terrible two's," but I'm convinced that by saying that will jinks Bella's attitude into a little monster that she isn't. I'd have to say that Bella just grows more precious everyday. There's just too many cute moments to post, but I'll just name a few that pop in my head now. Instead of saying NO to everything, her most frequent words are "LOOK, LOOK momma!" Actually, just the past week or so I've noticed a huge leap in the amount of words she's saying. She's so interested in everything. Bella wants to be doing whatever it is I'm doing, whether it's vacuuming, watering the lawn or folding clothes. She's right there saying, "I try!" Her face lights up when her Dad or brothers come home. When it's time to say prayers we usually let her pick who gets to say the prayer and most every time she picks Bryce. She loves to say his name. In a lot of ways she acts like Bryce. We feel very blessed to have her in our family. I spend a lot of time in the Garden which means so does Bella and Claire. The time we've put into it has paid off though. Here's Bella smelling a fresh cucumber. Her favorite thing is to see the chickens. Claire was so excited that her chicken "Goldie" let her pick her up. Now since our sunflowers are about 10 feet tall I think the kids feel like they're in a jungle. I hope I can pass on the love of Gardening to my kids.

I couldn't help but make Bella's birthday cake a Twilight theme. I figured that this would be the only time that she wouldn't mind the theme. She doesn't care as long as she gets to eat cake! Next year I'm sure she'll have an opinion about what her cake will look like. Plus, the Edward doll is an addition to the Barbie family. It was all I could do to keep her hands from taking Edward off to her room to play. So this is Edward in "The Meadow." As fast as she's growing up it won't be long before we have an "Edward" at our doorstep trying to sweep Bella off her feet.

Skateboarding...Bryce's new passion

2010-07-10T22:29:00.000-07:00

As you know we bought Bryce a skateboard for his 8th birthday. Since then it's "hey mom...dad, can you take me to the skate park?" "Gee mom, maybe after you run errands we can go to the skatepark?" (Even though it's 100 degrees outside!!) or "mom, I was thinking we could go to the skatepark so that I can try this new trick, it's called the ...........blah, blah, blah." Bryce has been doing tons of research and learning all he can about skateboarding and so he's always throwing these terms like the double twist half pike, the 90 degree tail whip,the alley, the 180 degree alley, and kick flips just to name a few. He checked a biography about Tony Hawk and finished it in one afternoon. He's wanting to learn everything he can; it's fun to watch. These pictures are actually about a month old and he's improved to much and has gone through several boards (working his way up to the faster boards) and he's decorating his room with the old boards. The past few nights we've had a "driveway picnic dinner" so that we can eat and watch the kids skate around. It's been perfect because the Thunderheads start rolling in so we get a lightning and X-games show all in one. :) Don't worry the lightning is far away.

Cameron also has picked it up, but is a little less aggressive about it and tries to do the same stunts with his skooter. (I'm ok with that, skateboarding scares me.) The girls for the most part have been good sports about spending so much time at the Skate Park. If we get there when it opens in the morning we have it to ourselves and the girls get to run wild! Bella's such a crazy little girl. She's been jumping off things as soon as she learned how to walk. She landed this jump too. :)

Like I mentioned earlier, this happened several weeks ago. Bryce has improved tons and is getting a lot more air than shown here. I'll video him next chance I get to show the difference a few weeks will make. This is just what Bryce needed I think. He works so hard, he'll come in just dripping in sweat after practicing. I like seeing him work so hard for something he wants; it'll be a good lesson for him to learn.

Back from the Big Apple!

2010-07-04T23:30:00.001-07:00

love NY

Ok, this is going to be a long post. Jesse out did himself when he sent myself to New York with 2 of my sisters, niece and my lovely Mom for 5 days. I'm not going to bore you too much with all the details, but I'll just give you the highlights of the sightseeing...which is actually A LOT!
Day 1: I should probably mention that the night before we left I didn't get a wink of sleep. I arrived to my moms house around midnight and we were going to have to get up around 3:30 to get ready and leave for the airport by 4:30; our flight left at 6 am. We were all just too excited to sleep. Same on the plane...couldn't sleep. Needless to say our energy level was just about ready to collapse. This is the apartment Jesse rented for us. It was so newly renovated that they were seriously sweeping up from the construction dust. It was so clean and comfortable. We saved hundreds as compared to staying in a hotel. I found this place on http://www.homeaway.com/ and it was located on 30th & 5th.

Here is the view from outside of our apartment. Just a few blocks from the Empire State building. I can never get over how tall the buildings are. This picture cracks me up, because we were all wearing a shade of green except for my mom and so our shirts are completely blended in with the background. Plus, Jeanine was trying to tell the camera lady "wait!" and she just quickly took the picture. Ha ha!
After flying in and settling into our apartment, we set out on the town. We mainly just sat at Harold Square while watching the people and cars go by. I could never get tired of watching people. Just enjoying a pretzel and taking in the hustle & bustle of the city.

Day 2: Up and out by 8 am, ready to shop! I think we walked the most on this day. We walked and walked up and down Broadway and 5th Ave. Down to ground zero and then took the subway back to Union Square.

We found what looked like a safe alley and there were some neat backdrops so we stopped to do some silly poses. Just needed a good laugh to get the endorphins running because around this time we were just about to drop like flies. We found this store called "Joyce Leslie" and we found some good deals there and that's the place where I did my Micheal Jackson impersonation. (inside joke between my mom & June)

I had to take my family to this restaurant called "The Bald Man" chocolate factory. The exact name of the restaurant slips my mind. I went to this place 3 years ago with my sister n law Connie and it was sooo delicious. The food lived up to its ability to make me smile. We just couldn't stop laughing (must have been all of the chocolate we were consuming). We walked home home exhausted and really sleep deprived; hit the hay.
Day 3: 4:40 rang the alarm. It's funny when you know you have an exciting day ahead of you, it makes it easier to roll out of bed although, when our feet hit the floor they were screaming! :) Our legs were so sore!! Normally, there's no way I'd get out of bed at that hour. We woke up this early because Miley Cyrus was performing a free concert in Central Park for the CBS Friday concert series they have every summer. The subway was quiet except for a few questionable people. It looked like it did in the movie "Ghost" when Patrick Swayze is learning how to move things as a ghost. I thought any minute a piece of trash is going to fly in my face. When we got to the park the line was very long, but surprisingly we were able to get up close to the stage. Bret Michaels was also there singing the duet "Every rose has its thorn" with Miley. It was interesting to watch them in between sound checks and commercial breaks. They seemed very nice and would crack jokes at each other. They were both very good performers. I caught a glimpse of Emeril, but sadly didn't get to taste any of his food. :(
We activated our New York City Pass (best bang for your buck if you're site seeing) and started at Madame Tuso's. We all screamed when we turned the corner and saw "Edward" so of course I had to get my picture with him. We also had a good time acting for the camera with The Hulk.
To me my mom looks like she just slammed her hand in the door! ha ha! If I had it to do all over again I would of acted like I were fainting. The screaming just isn't original. :)
We hopped on the bus tour to take a load off our feet and loved our tour guide who really knew the city well. We toured through Harlem and Upper side of Manhattan. Amongst all of the heathens in Times Square I was surprised when we came across the LDS Missionaries. These poor boys were probably very hot in their suits, but they were cheerful and upbeat. The highlight of this trip for me would have to be going to see the Phantom of the Opera and the Statue of Liberty. We lucked out on the tickets. We were able to sit in a box seat looking down onto the stage. Let me just say that The Phantom of the Opera is AMAZING!! The singers just brought tears to my eyes; so powerful!!! AND, the sets were also incredible. My favorite part was the beginning of the show after the auction. The chandelier which was sitting on the stage covered with a dusty grey cloth was sparked to life and lifted above the audience. That's when I knew "this is gonna be gooood!" The main characters nailed their performances. Their voices sounded just like the recordings you hear if not better. It's amazing that as many times as they perform this show (I think twice a day) that they perform it as if it's their first. My sisters, June, Janet and I used to listen to the music as kids and so seeing the show was just a dream come true for me. I hope it never leaves Broadway. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but at the end of the show I noticed others snapping some so I got my quick shot.

The Statue of Liberty meant so much to me to visit. I've been doing some reading on our country and how it was formed (thanks to Glenn Beck) and just walking the grounds of it was very humbling.Here's just a random shot of the city near Fox studios. The buildings just seem to go on forever. With our NYC Pass we were able to take a tour of NBC Studios. That was very cool. We weren't allowed to take pictures for obvious reasons, but we looked at the studios for NBC Sports, Conan O'Brian, and Dr. Oz, but the most exciting for me was the SNL studio. Even though I'll probably never see a show I can at least say that I sat in one of the seats. Too bad SNL isn't as funny as it was in the 80's & 90's.
We took our pictures with the character pose and I can't remember what show this was, but Jeanine picked this out and I totally think that Jeanine needs to go for this hairstyle. You look good Jeanine!! For some reason the lady made June's head WAY to big for her character. We had a good laugh. I've left so much out, but those were some things I wanted to share. I love you Jesse for allowing me to take this time away from my responsibilities and spend some Q time with my mom and sisters. Bella who has always loved her daddy now just adores him and is a complete daddy's girl. Claire was probably the one who missed me the most. :) Karen, thank you so much for watching the kids while jesse was sick and at work. You're an amazing and wonderful mother -n- law. :) As much fun as NYC was and always is I'd have to quote from the title of the song: "New York is not my home."

Finally a visit from the tooth fairy!

2010-06-28T21:18:00.000-07:00

For weeks if not months Cameron has had a lose tooth that just seemed to hang and never come "loose." Finally, it came out and this morning before the sun came up Cameron woke me up with just the happiest voice. "Mom, my tooth is gone! I think I swallowed it in my sleep!" I unconsciously congratulated him and then collapsed back to sleep. All day long he's been so excited. Every time he gets something to drink he asks for a straw so that he can put the straw where his tooth is missing. Also, all day he asks Jesse and I, "Mom, Dad aren't you just so excited that I lost my tooth?" He's so cute. I guess he's officially growing up. :)

Keeping the kids busy.

2010-06-28T12:16:00.000-07:00

The first week of summer break is always the hardest. For some reason my kids are bickering a lot and I'm trying to figure out things for them to do. We had 100 + weather at the beginning of summer and so after being couped up in the house we decided to go to the Farm & Ranch Museum. Luckily the tour guide driver wasn't busy and so he offered to take us around the ranch on his golf cart and we were able to take our time while looking at the animals. Besides all of the normal exhibits they have they were focusing on schools from the past and there was this display set up. The kids all wanted to put on the dunce cap. Hopefully this isn't a look into the future. ha ha

My new motto: Get it done!

2010-06-07T22:51:00.000-07:00

Blogging is not at the top of my list these days as you can tell, but it probably should be somewhere in the top 10 because I'm WAY behind. I guess the first thing I want to mention is that we sold our old house. YES! I'm so glad that getting the house ready to sell is behind me now. I must say that I did enjoy it a little. I've always loved home improvement stuff and this project fed my need. :) I would wake up every morning and getting over there to work was my first thought. I'd drop off the kids at school and the girls and I would go directly over and I'd work until around lunch. Bella took her naps for almost 3 months in the car (don't worry the weather was the perfect temperature). I did my outside work during her nap time so I could keep an eye on her. Claire, the poor thing was so sick of going to the old house. At one time we pulled up in the driveway and when I turned off the car she just lost it. She did not want to come in. So, from then on mornings were spent at friends houses, Grandma's and Grandma's daycare. It was much more enjoyable for the both of us that way.

We put the house up for sale April 15th and had an offer on it three days later. We were so thrilled, but we're holding our breath because sometimes these things still fall through. So, finally the couple were able to get their finances from the bank and we closed May 20th. It was hard saying goodbye to our very first real home. We had so many fond memories there watching our little boys and adding two girls to our family. Every home we've moved from is hard, but I'm always excited for a change. If it was the perfect home for us I'd stay put, but we're looking for a larger home to spread our wings. We're still looking for that home, but will be patient because if we have to move again it will be a home we'll be in for a LONG time. :)

Jesse and Greg were taking down the play equipment and this is what I found when I arrived on the scene. It was our trampoline, but to me this looks like a sink hole just swallowed it up!

The tree that just wouldn't survive. We've been meaning to cut this tree down for nearly 3 years...nothing like moving to finally get your projects done. :)

Nothing like fresh new carpet when you've been playing on dusty cement for weeks.

I found Bryce squeezed in this box eating his ice cream and thought it was cute. I know he was thinking about the good times we've had there.

Here are just some pictures of the house all ready to sell. I worked my tail off on the house and I'm proud to say that it paid off!

Claire turns 4!

2010-05-10T18:06:00.000-07:00

Claire's birthday was on Wed, but I had to wait to post until today because we celebrated with the family yesterday. Every night last week there were baseball games and then Claire got sick with a fever all day Sat. She pulled through just in time for have a nice celebration. On her birthday night Jesse had a softball game and so we brought cupcakes along with us and the whole baseball team sang to her. She looked a bit shy by it, but I could tell she was loving it. All this week Claire has been telling complete strangers that "it's my bir-day!" While at sonic it earned her a free kids toy, at the bank she got a sucker and so I guess she figured that she would continue to get free stuff if she told everyone. :)

Connie the dress you bought the girls just looks darling on them. I took bella's off so she wouldn't slime it with beans and cake. :)

Jesse designed and helped frost the cake for me since it was mothers day. I think the cake turned out really cute, and most important it was darn tasty!

Claire is the sweetest girl I know! She's very honest and so when she tells me out of the blue, "Mommy, I love you," I know she means it. She's also become a little social butterfly. I just love seeing her make fast friends while at the baseball games. Before her birthday I got out the barbies that I used to play with throughout my childhood to see if she was ready for her own. They kept her mind busy for a few hours and so that's what we bought for her this year along with a doll house. I'm actually looking forward to playing along with her because I still enjoy playing with barbies I have to admit. Having a doll house like this would've been awesome as a kid! :)

Here's a short video of Claire (or should I say Wyatt) blowing out her candles. I wonder if she'll still get her wish? ha ha. It was a little windy otherwise we would've let her blow them out again. :) After cake all of us paired up and played a few games of Croquet. The first game Greg & Karen showed there awesomeness at the game, but the second game Jesse & I dominated! Odoyal rules!!! I think croquet is going to be our game of choice... until the mosquitoes come.

Tagging along for the ride

2010-05-07T22:07:00.000-07:00

Every year Jesse has to do a certain number of hours of continual learning for Optometry and so this year we decided to follow him up to Albuquerque and enjoy the weekend with him. He left the day before us at 4am and sat listening to lectures until 5pm. He said it was torture trying to stay awake through it all. Basically his mandatory classes were Friday-Sunday from 8-5pm. I came up Sat. and we met my Mom & Larry at our favorite restaurant Buca's, hit the mall and then hit the hay! We spent the next day at my mom's and the kids were so looking forward to going exploring around her house but it was SNOWING! She lives on the other side of Sandia Peak and so the weather is always 10 degrees cooler. Well, needless to say we spent that day indoors but it's ok because my mom decided to clean out her closet and I ended up leaving with a big black sack FULL of clothes! It's like having a new wardrobe. My sisters will be so jealous, but you snooze you loose! haha It was nice seeing my mom so close to Mother's Day. We're getting ready to go on a trip to NYC in a month and so I'm looking forward towards spending some "quality" time with 2 of my sisters and my niece. There isn't going to be a dull moment.
After my mom's the kids went swimming and had a good time playing some foosball games with their dad. Bella insisted on grabbing the ball any time Jesse was about to score so you can guess who won. :)

Reliving the good 'ol days

2010-04-28T14:49:00.000-07:00

This is old news, but I wanted to highlight Jesse's Mayfield Alumni Football game that he played in a few weeks ago. Guys from last years graduating class and on back joined in to play against Las Cruces High. It was a close exciting game. Jesse got word of the game a few months shy of everyone else and probably would've liked having the extra practice time with the team to get to know the plays and what not, but I thought he did well considering. He'll probably do it again next year. He was able to punt and run the ball. Here's a few game ESPN highlights. (Exceptional. Sowards. Play.NOT!)

I don't know much about football, but Jesse said that this is legal so that the other team doesn't get the ball. It was a close game. We ended up getting another touchdown to barely win! Looking forward to next years rematch.

Getting out of dodge

2010-04-06T13:00:00.000-07:00

Last Friday Jesse & I were on our last nerve. We were both fighting bad head colds, but on the downhill slide of the sickness. Jesse was still too contagious to go back to work and the kids were driving us crazy because it was way too windy to go outside. 50 mph winds. So, we decided that we should get out of town and go to Mesa, AZ for some R&R. Plus, since it was Easter weekend we decided to go to the Easter Pageant held every year at the Mesa Temple. The kids and I had never been so we I was excited to see the production.

So, after finishing folding the 10 loads of laundry that I was in the middle of doing when we decided to go on this trip, we finally made it "out like a herd of turtles." The first few hours on the trip we were doubting our "adventurous" actions because we just weren't feeling good, we were tired, etc., but after a good nights rest and a laid back day we were glad we went. We spent most of the day just swimming and shopping at the outlets. The Pageant was definitely the highlight of the trip. Thousands of people were there. I tried to capture the awesome production it all was, but pictures taken at night can only do so much. We spotted some Roman soldiers walking around the Temple Visitors Center and struck a pose with them. These guys were HUGE! They had to be at least 6'3". You can tell that Bryson and Cameron feel tough with their swords. Silly boys.

I forgot how BEAUTIFUL the Mesa, AZ Temple is.

Here are some pics from the Easter Pageant.

The children were very quiet for these parts of the play.

Like I said earlier, all very well done, beautiful music and performances by all. One thing that we believe that wasn't mentioned (probably due to the huge task it would've been to change the stage scenery) was that Jesus also visited the descendants of Lehi in the Americas after his Resurrection written about in the Book of Mormon. Because Heavenly Father loves ALL his children everyone was blessed by being able to see Jesus Christ and learn his gospel. Here's a video I found on Utube depicting Jesus visiting the America's after his Resurrection. Just make sure to pause my mood music on the right of my blog before watching this video.

Day at the Alamagordo Zoo

2010-04-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've been at the Alamagordo Zoo and had Cody not invited me I might not have made the time to go, but it sounded fun so off we went and enjoyed a gorgeous day there.

Which string to play...

2010-04-05T21:18:00.000-07:00

I've had something weighing on my mind lately, maybe it's the hours of scrubbing my old house floors or hours of painting alone with my thoughts that initiated this, but I've come to realize that I have to say good-bye to my cello. As you knew already I picked up a Cello in hopes to learn to play the instrument. I did learn how to play it all by myself...how well? Eh, let's just say there's some things that you just need a teacher to help with. I had an excellent book and play along cd rom that would actually tell me what notes I hit or missed which made it so fun to play along with. I enjoyed the challenge so much!! BUT...I have come to realize (along with most projects I take on) that my time if very limited. Something always suffers whether it's the laundry, time with my family, lack of time to go running (my other love), cooking dinner, just plain ol' things that keep a home running.

Right now I spend every moment during the day that I can over at our old house trying to spruce things up (which I'm just a few days shy in completing). My four small children are dying for my attention, my new house is needing some decorating but more importantly CLEANING, and last but not least my husband needs a wife who's not stressed. I did feel a stress relief when I played the cello, but then I would stop and look around my room at all of the piles here and there that need to be taken care of and that's when the feelings of being overwhelmed would come.

As much as it pains me to do I've decided to return my rental cello and put this dream on hold for now. I know this sounds silly to anyone reading this, but to be honest I'm feeling pretty down about the whole thing. You see, I want so bad to find something that I'm really good at...something that when someone hears or sees it, it will inspire or move them in a meaningful way. I was hoping the cello was my big break. I just have no time to pursue it. Maybe this experience has just reminded me about what my real purpose is. My children are who I can inspire and motivate just by being "in" my child's lives and not going through the motions and that time is ever fleeting. Sometimes you just have to look at yourself and ask, "what the heck are you doing with the time you have?" I've had home improvement so much on my mind that I've forgotten how to fully engage in my child's mind/world and what activites I used to do to have fun and feel close to them. It's just been a challenging few months and I'm venting/repenting. I'll still have my hobbies and dreams, but for now I'm going to live my first and most important dream of being a wife and mother. If I'm doing that right then that's where I'll have true happiness. So, I'm playing the D string. D for Dream. It'll remind me that I'm living my dream already.

Sister Goofiness Part 2

2010-03-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

I didn't get a chance to post more about Bryce's baptism weekend and some other things we did that day. My sister June & I always have lots of laughs when we're together. Our sense of humor is so alike. So, while watching Bryce try out his new skate board he got for his b-day we were thinking of the good ol' days when June had her skate board and wanted to see if we could still ride one. I took a try at it myself...ouch!

Here's June doing some sort of Can Can /kick boxing dance?

Here are some other pics while hanging out at the "Kids Kountry."

My nephew Gavin going for the dunk. I can guarantee you'll see Gavin on ESPN someday.

Gathering around the Chameleon cake to blow out some candles

Grandmother bought Bryce a President Dollar Coin Collection for his birthday. She got him started with several President coins. She's so thoughtful. Bryce loves "Gold" coins so he's very excited about collecting these.

Jesse has a new girlfriend named Supra. :) We were excited to see her ready to go. Jesse & Abe worked hours for this race. Unfortunately, due to bad weather Jesse wasn't able to race the straight quarter mile race which is my favorite, but the next day he took Ben out for the curvy track and here's pics of that. Sorry, for some reason the picture quality is pretty bad.

Greg, was getting racing fever. Watch out! In a few years these boys will give you a run for your money. What a great day.

Bryson's Baptism

2010-03-26T22:20:00.000-07:00

Bryce turned 8 this month and was baptized. He's now an official member of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We were blessed to have so many family members and friends travel near and far to witness this wonderful event and want to say "Thank you all" for that! You made the weekend very special for Bryce. Bryson's Uncle Ben flew in from his research trip from England and gave a wonderful talk about Baptism and his wife Connie played the piano while daughters Cindy & Sarah sang a musical number. Brought tears to my eyes. Thanks girls! Because of communication issues we weren't able to fill the font as soon as we had hoped and so Jesse had to baptize Bryce in water that was only a few feet deep. It worked though. :) I was able to speak on the Holy Ghost which was felt very strong at the Baptism. My sister -n- law Cody made a beautiful cake which I forgot to get a picture of. I'll try to post that soon once I get a picture from her. It was so cute and she put a lot of effort into it. Here are a few pics from the Baptism.

Bryce looks so handsome in his suit.

Our gift to Bryce, a new set of scriptures
My beautiful mom and Larry

The kids getting some energy out in the gym after eating cake.
Silly boys!
Connie, I stole this picture from your blog because it's just too cute!
My sweet mom and sister. So glad you came.

Bryce's night was topped off with a cousin sleepover. Cindy & Sarah played Bionicle's with Bryce for nearly 2 1/2 hours! They put on a "show" of all their creations. They were up til midnight talking and laughing. So much fun for him.
I've noticed a difference since Bryce has been baptized. I complemented him for obeying so well and trying to help his siblings obey as well and he just said, "Well, I'm just trying to be like Jesus and Heavenly Father." I tousle his hair, "that's why where here bryce. Great job!"

Scaredy Cat!

2010-03-14T21:25:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick one... Yesterday I took my filthy car through the car wash. Bella has suddenly found a fear for the place. Here's her look of panic. I think it's hilarious. The pure horror captured on her face. It probably didn't help that her nap was only about 45 min long. I know, I'm a horrible mother hu.

You never know when inspiration will come.

2010-03-09T07:49:00.000-08:00

Throughout January I was painting frames and so of course the girls wanting to be "painting" something as well. With some watercolors this is what Bella scribbled.All parents know that you just can't keep every single piece of your child's artwork. I was about to toss this in the trash, but paused to look at it. I could see a lanky body with eyes setting on top of what seemed like a sharp pointy nose. To me it almost looked like this thing was grabbing his nose. His backside is obviously bony/spiky in some way. I decided to hold onto it because I'm always looking for some ideas for weird creatures for either myself to draw or my son Bryce (who also likes to draw). Well, after putting it off for almost a month last night I sat in bed and just started to sketch my own interpretation of what I saw in this painting. I had to make a few changes, but this is what I came up with. With some color I think it would be a little more interesting. It's just about the ugliest thing I've ever seen, but his eyes are kind which makes me like him.

Make a wish!!

2010-02-22T22:19:00.000-08:00

Cameron turned 6 last week. Wow...6. Where has the time gone I say!! Cameron is something else. There's never a dull moment with him. He's a boy filled with so much energy and zest for the fun things in life. Turning six is I think a time when things change a lot in a child's life. More is expected out of them, they're learning so much at school and getting a taste as to how the world works, trying new activities, being able to read; just one of the early turning points in a child's life. Cameron seems to like school and once his teacher called us just to say that she really enjoyed having Cameron in her class. He had his first soccer game last Saturday and just dominated out on the field, scoring 4 goals. I've never seen Cameron work so hard in a game before. I guess you could say he had "the eye of the tiger." I could tell that he was exhausted, but knew he was pushing himself to work hard. Something has clicked out on the field...his competitive nature; actually, he's always been competitive, it was just amplified. :) Well, I obviously can't say enough good things about the boy. He's a joy to have in our home. We love him so much.

We were able to spend his birthday again in Ruidoso at a Condo. The first day we hung out with Abe & Cody and went sledding. The snow was abundant and the weather pleasant. The next day we took the boys and tried their legs at Snowboarding. Poor Cameron threw up twice coming up the mountain. Then again driving home from the ski resort (Connie knows how car sick Cameron can get). :) We decided to sign them up for lessons. Jesse spent the morning snowboarding elsewhere on the mountain, but I stayed with the girls in the car and we watched the boys biff it over and over. They were exhausted by the end of the day. They did really well for it being their first time and all. Jesse was done snowboarding a little bit before closing time and so I put on his snowboard and jacket and went down the bunny slop a few times. (Don't tell anyone). :) I was reminded that I'm definitely a skier and not a snowboarder, but I'm bound and determined to keep trying.

The rest of the trip was spent swimming, playing and going to the movies. We had a swell time and Cameron at one time ran through the door and yelled, "THIS IS THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!" Always makes a parent happy to hear that.

Mud fight!

2010-02-05T15:39:00.000-08:00

Yeeesss, mud fight both inside and outside our house almost everyday. I haven't seen this much snow or rain in Cruces in a long time. Normally I like all this weather because in New Mexico it doesn't last very long. But lately it's been rather wet and since we don't have grass yet I just dread when I see rain in the forecast. Thank goodness we do have tile or else we wouldn't have a dog! Bandit brings a trail of mud from his doggie door and the kids slip on their boots to play in the little pond we have in front of our house. The other day I walked out and was nearly hammered with a mud ball.

Bella making her own little mess and enjoying every minute of it.

Here's Jesse and Greg clearing out some heavy rock from the rock wall. Look at that strength! :)

Mr. Cool

2010-02-05T15:02:00.000-08:00

I've been needing to update the boys pics and so we took off to the hills the other day. Bryce is all about looking "cool." Here's just a few snapshots. I wanted to do more in different locations, but Bella wasn't cooperating. I'll need to go without the girls next time so that I can get more creative shots. I just love my boys.

For memories sake...

2010-02-04T07:50:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a whole month since Christmas, but I was having internet problems that wouldn't allow me to post at the time so now I'm going to quickly post about Christmas happenings for memories sake! Let's see....Christmas was great because this year my whole family including myself were all healthy!! It's seems like every year since I've been married I've either had some serious sore throat or flu which puts a damper on my mood and eagerness to bake or do all of the other things that put you into the Christmas spirit. I'd like to attribute my healthiness to focusing hard about not stressing on having everything perfect (thus, that is why you didn't receive a Christmas card from us this year or a gift for that matter! ha ha) and also anytime I got that tickle in my throat I would sip on hot water with honey or pure maple syrup with lemon juice several times a day along with a zinc losenge. The zinc pretty much ruined my taste buds, but I'd rather not be sick plus, it helped me not eat so much of the "goodies." :)

Here's just a sampling of some of the fun stuff we did...
Our little Gingerbread Family; you can guess who's who.

ummm, pickles and Gingerbread. Notice the moving boxes in the background. Sometimes you just have to keep on with the traditions regardless of what's happening in your life...like moving.

These are just some pictures I took of the girls. Claire insisted on wearing her favorite pj's because she wanted to be like Wendy in Peter Pan. She's such a cutie.

Kids playing with counsin Drew at Grandma's house.

I love these things. The kids needed some padding since our house is all tile except for the bedrooms. They get pretty creative with them.

There were some other service projects we did this year which sprouted from talks we were asked to give at church from the talk given by President Thomas S. Monson (he's the prophet of our church). I just so happen to have come across the video link of his talk so I thought I'd share it with you. The words which has stayed with me the most are when he talks about being "in the thick of thin things." I hope to keep that in my mind during this life.

Here's the link to his talk...

Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?

An adult dream come true

2010-01-14T10:00:00.000-08:00

I love this picture, at little dramatic, but it captures to me what Cello music sounds like.

Lately my days have been a balance between getting our old house ready for sell (lots of painting & deep cleaning), unpacking at our new house and just trying to keep up with the kids. That alone fills my day until I tuck them into bed. While putting the girls to sleep I have to lay next to Bella to get her to sleep. We have been listening to Cello music (mainly Yo Yo ma) and while lying in the dark and only hearing that sound of the cello I was reminded how much of a desire I have to learn the instrument. It's one of the sounds besides the violin that can both inspire and bring a tear to my eye. I've always thought what it would be like to be able to produce a sound in which would do the same to someone else. So, I rented a cello. What a beautiful sight. Everytime I open the case I get excited about playing it. I'm basically teaching myself through books and other websites like utube and monkeysee. Unlike the violin people don't mind hearing me practice because it has such a nice low tone. Bella insists that I wear a hat of some sort while playing. I don't know why, but she's silly like that. The other day she made me wear a safari hat. I love diving into new things, I think it's important to prove to yourself from time to time that most things are possible if you want it bad enough.

Feeling 35!

2010-01-10T18:01:00.000-08:00

Ok, Jesse is halfway through his 30's. If you ask him how he feels about turning 35 his answer would probably be something like, "yeah man...I'm getting old!" As he shakes his head. Deep down though he knows he's still got it. We had the fam over for one of his favorite dinners I make, Sun Chip Chicken. I had been in a baking mode earlier in the week for Christmas goodies so no one was really in the mood for cake. But, I just made a Texas Sheet cake with a carmel glaze over it. It's hard to see what I slapped on with the icing, but it's suppose to be his sports car peeling out past a sign that has "35" MPH on it. It's to commemorate Jesse's year which consisted of...cars! The highlight of the evening was Sam brought over his steady girlfriend "Laura" over to dinner. We were excited to finally meet her and think she's a doll. My boys always act funny and super hyper around pretty girls and Claire seems to have warmed up to her also, she always wants to sit by her. Sorry about posting this picture Jess, I couldn't pass it up. :) Love you! It's been a great year, Happy Birthday!

Family...Food...Can't get better than that!

2009-12-02T08:14:00.000-08:00

I always look forward to Thanksgiving, but this year it snuck up on me. We moved to a different house in town. A house that my in-laws built. We've decided rather than try to sell our house while living in it that we would move out and rent from my in-laws, sell our house and then look for a bigger house or buy land and build. Right now it would have to be a pretty awesome house to get me to move again! I have a love/hate relationship with moving. I like being able to "home in" different places, yet I long to find a home that we can grow old in.

We decided to have Thanksgiving at our place this year. It wasn't a big crowd, but big enough to fill the table with laughter. I decided to cook the turkey the Martha Stewart way. You slather the turkey with butter, then drape over it 4 layers of cheesecloth that has been dipped in melted butter and chicken broth (although she calls for butter and white wine). Well, by the end of the cooking time the cheesecloth looks so brown. Jesse's brother Sam cracked me up when he sat at the table (starving) and with a bit of sarcasm said, "Yeah, I'm really looking forward to your Griswald turkey joyce!" (anyone who's seen The Lampoon's Christmas Vacation movie knows what happens to the turkey). I just laughed because he didn't know that it was the cheesecloth that looked so torched and underneath the turkey was a beautiful golden brown skin. It was the juiciest turkey! If I don't say so myself. So amongst all of the boxes that were semi unpacked we enjoyed a nice dinner. Jesse and Sam played football for almost 4 hours with a group of friends and missionaries and were soooo exhausted and sore.

The next day we packed up and headed to Hobbs to see my sisters and mom. June had me take some snap shots of her family. We always get goofy when we're around each other and we were still on our "New Moon" high and were striking some silly poses for the camera. We would take a snap shot, look at it, and laugh so hard that the tears were coming and I could barely breath! I couldn't keep a straight face with Bella trying to climb up my leg because she had enough of our photo shoot. :) We were also going for the look you see on the covers of most 80 s albums where everyone's looking in different directions. Funny stuff. I always have so much fun with June and the rest of my family. June, I hope you don't mind all of the pictures I posted of you, but you're just so beautiful inside and out that I couldn't help myself! You're always so upbeat and positive and that kind of thinking is contagious. I'm just sad that I didn't get shots of the rest of my family.

I'm thankful for my dearest husband and my little children, for my family (both blood and in-laws), I love you guys so much and miss the ones who are away! Most of all I'm thankful for being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I would not be able to truly appreciate my family without knowing what brings us true happiness and that's the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Anyone who takes the time to study it will know as well. I hope I can live my life worthy of these blessings and more. Looking forward to Christmas!

A Vampire, a Ninja, Animals, & Elvis...OH MY!

2009-11-01T23:51:00.000-08:00

Oh boy! Halloween was a such a marathon day this year. Our church Halloween party that we usually go to had to be moved to the morning instead of the normal evening time because of scheduling conflicts. It was an 8:30 am breakfast! I know, crazy hu. So, by the time we had our costumes all ready to go the breakfast was over and so we were all dressed up with no where to go. We ended up just piling in the car and ate breakfast with Abe & Cody at Denny's. Bryce was totally into character while at Denny's. He's usually fairly talkative, but while in his Ninja costume he just sat "stealthy" in the booth looking around at everyone while hiding behind his face wrap. Very funny, had to be there.

Jesse of course was Elvis and I was his wife, Priscilla Presley. We really didn't get too crazy this year. Jesse got his glasses at an Optometry Convention a while back and so I was stuck on him being Elvis. I would've made him a white flashy jumper, but I ran out of energy and time! But, I thought he pulled it off well.

I was able to make the kids costumes this year amongst all the chaos of moving. Claire was a Pony, Bella a chicken, Cameron a vampire & Bryce a Ninja. While eating at Denny's Abe asked Cameron, "So, are you Edgar from Twilight?" (Needless to say he got the reaction he wanted from me..."Edgar!! It's EDWARD!") ha ha. Cameron LOVED being in full makeup.

So after eating breakfast we rushed home, put the boys soccer uniforms on and went to their games. Cameron loved having his vampire makeup on during the game. He said he was going to play super good since vampires are FAST! (whatever motivates) After the double hitter we came home, put the costumes back on and went to an end of the season soccer/Halloween party for Cameron's team. After that, we rushed over to Cody & Abe's neighborhood for some trick-or-treating. Everyone and their dog was there at that neighborhood. Bella LOVED trick-or-treating. All the way up to the houses she would giggle. A few times she tried to walk into peoples' houses. They didn't mind so much because she was just too cute! As we crossed the street someone would say, "Why did the chicken cross the road!" Another funny thing that happened was when a lady tried to give Bella a pencil instead of candy. She looked at the pencil and threw it down on the floor and reached in to grab her own piece. What can I say, the girl knows what she wants! After that we went and visited Grandmother and had a nice time there. Then it was back to our home! Another exhausting Halloween, but lots of fun memories.

When Sam showed up on our doorstep it took us awhile to recognize who he was. I couldn't stop laughing! He dressed up as Hansel from the movie Zoolander. He ended winning best costume. You look swave Sam, in a hippie kind of way & my belt looks great on ya! :)

Carving Memories!

2009-10-27T12:57:00.000-07:00

Halloween is approaching fast and so Sunday night we carved pumpkins. Nothing fancy, just your average scary triangle eyes and nose pumpkin. That night was probably the first night for it to get below 60 degrees. It's cold in the morning, hot in the day and cold again at night! I feel like I'm changing clothes all the time. I'm such a wimp I know! We'll see if our pumpkins last until Halloween. They might look a lot scarier whithered from the sun. :)

Life Long Learning

2009-10-22T13:09:00.000-07:00

In high school I can remember talking with my Volleyball/Track coach; Pam Allen, about Hobbies and to this day I can still remember her saying to me, "yeah, Joyce I'm a jack of all traits, but a master of none." For some reason that cliche has always stuck with me...probably because I never have the patience to become a "master" of anything. There's just too many things that interest me. For instance, drawing. I've always been interested in art. I can remember driving to my grandparents house (a 4 hour drive) as a kid, all cozy in our suburban and looking out at the Capitain Mountains and trying to draw them. Plus, I'd watch the painting shows on PBS rather than watching cartoons. Then, in the eighth grade I took an art class from an awesome artist and great teacher, Mrs. White. I looked forward to that class everyday and was sad when I had to choose between art or athletics (my other love at the time).

So, I put drawing on the back burner until one day when Jesse let me have the day to myself. I spent most of it in Hobby lobby; my most favorite store! I was reading some books on sketching and just had to try it! Plus, my father-n-laws 60th birthday was coming up and I thought it would be fun to try to draw him for a gift. (I know, it's silly. Greg has an artist for a son, but I had to start somewhere). :) Here's the picture I used to look off of...

In case you're wondering about the numbers on his head, it's just a measuring tool to get the head shape right. Here's the finished product...
Like I said, this is my first sketch ever of a person and I know I have much to learn, but I think it's a great start and I'm not seeing myself ending with this one. My next model(s) will be my parents and of course the rest of my family and maybe some of my favorite places. So, life is full of surprises and I love surprising myself. There's much you can accomplish if you just buckle down and do it!

Fall Happenings

2009-10-17T22:00:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to move is consuming my mind and energy these days. Sometimes you just have to take a break and enjoy the wonderful days of Fall. Well, after going to Apple Annie's I had to get to work canning my car load of fruit. I canned 24 QUARTS of Pears and Apples, and dried 3 gallon size zip lock bags of apples. I'm so naive when it comes to canning. While picking the fruit I was so excited about it and found myself saying, "this will be easy to can. I should be able to get it done in two days." What was I thinking! It took me close to a week to finish. Cameron tried to help me though. He was so sweet. He'd come in and peel about 10 apples and then shook his head with his hand on my shoulder and said, "mom.... I don't think I can do this anymore....sorry, you're on your own mom." And walked away. Yeah, that's about right, I thought. This was my idea in the first place. ;) I'm very thankful to have learned this area of self reliance. I love the sense of accomplishment I get after completing such a task.

Getting to know Wyatt

A few weeks ago Wyatt came and stayed with us for a week while Abe & Cody went on a cruise. We see Wyatt quite a bit, but it's always with a bunch of other adults and kids so I felt like this would be a chance to REALLY get to know him. After a day or so of getting use to our family dynamics I think he felt at home. I can honestly say that we enjoyed him and I've grown to love him more. He's always loved uncle Jesse, but he seems to like me more too. :) That boy can eat anyone under the table. Anytime I was in the kitchen he was wanting a snack and at dinner he would out eat my kids. It would be nice to do this with other cousins as well someday. It's a great way to get to know someone when they're depending on you for there every need.

Just a few random pictures

I was cooking dinner & I knew that Claire was outside looking at the clouds, but wasn't expecting her to fall asleep. Thought it was so cute and random. Love that girl.

Jeanine's Newest Toy!

My sister Jeanine and her daughter Brooke came through town on there way to a football game to show me her newest pride & joy. My brother-n-law David surprised my sister Jeanine with this beautiful new Z28. When they were engaged back in the 80's David bought her one back then also. I remember thinking I was soooo cool when Jeanine would take me to school in it while jamming out to White Snake. It was a very cool car back then, and it is very cool now! I still have yet to ride in it, will one of these days. It's black interior with orange trim on the seats. A perfect "Artesia Bulldog" color scheme. :) So, the Z28 saga has come full circle. Love it.

You might as well have one these days....

My father-n-law Greg just bought the new Camry Hybrid. He took us for a spin around the block and it seriously is sooo quiet and smooth. When it was idleing in the driveway you could barely hear it. Very cool car. Pretty neat to watch the dash board and see the battery charge up everytime you hit the brakes. Looking forward for that kind of technology in a van like ours someday. Happy 60th B-day Greg!

Just a daddy enjoying some time with his girls on a perfect Fall day.

BYU WINS!!

2009-09-13T22:29:00.000-07:00

My husband, his brothers and his father have been planning this trip to Dallas, TX to see the Cougars play OU for awhile now. The time finally came and off they went for Labor Day weekend. From what I hear and from what I got to watch on TV the game was very close and exciting to say the least. The neat part of all was that it was at the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium! (I know my mom is just dueling right now; she's a huge Cowboy fan!) My husband used to play for BYU as a punter (a darn good one if I don't say so myself) and so he's sporting his old jersey. Anyways, I had to steal pics off of my sister-n-laws blog, thanks. I'm glad Jesse and his guys got to have an extended guys night! :)

Adventures with Snuffy!

2009-09-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

Snuffy is my dad's nickname. He got that nickname from the guys who used to work with him at Haliburton. They said that my dad reminded them of the cartoon character Snuffy that used to be in the Sunday papers. So, my kids carry on the same name...Grandpa Snuffy. I think it's cute.

He's a kind, gentle soul who is always looking to explore. I've had a great time with my dad lately. Two weekends out of this month have been spent with him and going to places I've never been. Just like when I was little. My dad used to take me and my sisters out on Sunday afternoon drives and we'd always, no matter how well we thought we knew the Artesia area, we would find a place that we had never been to. Plus, it was a chance to get a driving lesson and eat an M.R.E. which I loved!

The first weekend trip we met up in Lincoln, NM to find wild raspberries and then go to a u-pick farm for other kinds of fruit. The raspberries weren't quite ready, but I was able to pick some yummy blackberries instead. Unfortunately, I was told that the owner of the Blue Eagle Restaurant in Las Cruces (a very fancy place) bought about $300 worth of berries that same day and nearly cleaned them out. I managed to get enough though. It was fun for the most part, except it started to get very hot and my little ones had enough of the farm hopping.

Behind the farm was a rode that took you to a restaurant which was also owned and run by the owner of the u-pick farm. It's called the Laughing Sheep Farm. We all had such a good time there. Everyone who worked there was so laid back and really tried hard to entertain the kids. The owner brought out her sweet, but HUGE dogs and the big white dog was named Bella. The kids got a crack out of that. We got some ice cream, watched the kids frolic around.

We drove by the Smoky the Bear Museum, but it was closed. My kids were very disappointed about that. We got lost at one point and ended up in Fort Stanton. Huge training facility for soldiers back in the 1800's. The museum worker was dressed up in the uniform of that time period and so that was interesting. Very pretty part of New Mexico that I've seen as a small child, but never really appreciated.

Our second trip was to Benson, AZ. I've been wanting to make the trek to Wilcox to buy some apples & pears and so we thought we'd make it another weekend trip because there was just to much to see in that area for just a day trip. The hotel at Benson was very nice and the kids swam twice the first day there. (They slept so hard that night.) Cameron swam for the first time without floaties on and I heard about it for the rest of the trip. Very exciting. The next day we headed to Tombstone. I was so impressed by that town. We hit the historic strip and I was not expecting to see so many people dressed in the time period clothing. Since it was Labor Day weekend they had a parade and so I took snap shots of my favorite costumes. (Too many!) We also got a chance to take a ride in an old stage coach which was fun. The kids and I got put into jail. They tricked us. They asked my kids if they would like one of their toy horses while handing it towards them, my kids said yes and took one, they replied as my kids walk away, "Thief! Sheriff there's some horse thief's over there, grab 'em!" The Sheriff takes the kids into jail and makes a whole big thing about it. I bailed them out and somehow ended up in Jail also. Bella cried for me because she had no idea what was going on. Pretty funny. We had a great time, but ran out of it too soon.
We headed down to Wilcox to go to the Apple Festival at Apple Annie's Orchard. They have some pretty delicious apples, pears, peaches, etc. We rode a tractor out to the orchards and would rush to pick our fruit in time for the tractor to come around and get us. We were all sweaty and thirsty, but my kids never complained. I would say, "wow, picking fruit is hard work isn't it?" Cameron replied, "YEEAHH, but this is the moooossst fun I've ever had working!" So cute he is. We were the last one's to leave that day and we got to meet the owner and eat some homemade apple pie ice cream. I bought about 100 pounds of fruit and am in the process of canned & drying the fruit while kicking myself for buying so much. But, it's so nice to have on hand for our food storage and it keeps me up to skill on my canning skills. It fills my house with the aroma of Fall. One thing that the boys were soooo pumped about was the fact that they got their first pocket knife. It has their names on it and so it makes it even better. The cowboy working the store gave them a good talking to about being careful and stuff and they listened with wide eyes. They're sure growing up.

This trip really took it out of me. My energy was zip for a few days after getting home. Dad, I had a great time. Thanks for the memories and your easy going attitude. I love you very much!

Little Surprises

2009-09-10T22:19:00.000-07:00

So once the boys started school, I got to work on making our backyard looking nice again. I've planted a bunch of Perinnials and shrubs that once mature should look great. Anyways, the girls and I were at Lowe's getting some plants and Claire found on the plant a HUGE snail! We were both so excited. ( I knew this snail was going to entertain Claire for awhile, she loves any kind of animal or insect). So, we went back to the plants and found hundreds of baby snails just hanging out on the plant deck where they water the plants. We walked out of there with as many snails that would fit on Claire's arms. Know when we go to Lowe's the kids all want to come and are pumped to find more snails. It makes it nice because I can spend as long as I want at one of my favorite stores without the complaints. If only Bella was as interested.... she's my little escape artist.

This is not a skunk with Bella! Bandit was in need of a haircut. :)

Back to School they go!

2009-09-10T21:54:00.000-07:00

Bryce's hair looked better than that I promise. :) ha ha.

I had forgotten to take the camera with me on Cameron's first day of school which was a few days later and had to use my cell phone. I have no mini cable to hook up to my computer so that's why I haven't posted Cameron's first day. But, it's of him and his scooter all excited for his first day. I remember as we're walking to school he kept talking about how fun school was going to be, but when we got to the school grounds his face looked a bit scared and he said that the school was looking bigger to him and that maybe he could come back tomorrow. He was feeling a bit apprehensive until he hit the playground. He's also learning Spanish and is constantly telling me how FAST he can count to 20 in Spanish. (Everything Cameron does is fast!) He has yet to have any homework and hates it. I've assured him that he will be bumbarded with homework soon and it will last for a very loonnngg time.

Bryce the big 2nd grader likes his teacher Mrs. Martinez. She seems very nice and structured. He was so pumped to see all of his classmates again. (In the bilingual program they keep the same kids together year after year, so he's formed some close friendships.)

So, it's just me and my girls. I know they're enjoying the attention and we have a pretty good routine going. They usually get up with me and the boys at 6:45 am. I've set a goal to have scripture study while they eat breakfast. I'm so surprised at how it's become routine and the kids expect it. We're reading the Book of Mormon right now and will move to the Old Testament once finished. It's been a great way to start the day and I just want to thank all of you parents out there who have been such a good example to me and motivated me to do this. You know who you are. :) I truely feel like we're putting our spiritual armor on for the day when we read the scriptures.

AUGUST RUSH!!

2009-09-08T12:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry fam that I haven't caught up on my posts lately. I have so many busy hands on projects going on that I have to force myself to sit and do this. Ok, so August started out with a trip to Wet-n-Wild in Anthony, TX. I haven't been there since I spent my 15th b-day there. :) Mom, do you remember how fun that was? ha ha) Jesse and I took the kids and split up most of the day. I stayed with the little ones and Jesse and Bryson hit the big rides. I had a great time in the wave pool. Would've sat there all day. At the end though I watched scared to death as my husband and 7 year old went down "The Screamer." Bryce may look physically tough but to me he still seems so young to go down such a scary, steep slide. It's six stories high and basically a straight shot down. But, he did it and wanted to go again. Jesse asked me if I wanted to try it and at first I immediately said "NO WAY!" But, the more I thought about it I thought, you know..I have gone bungee jumping. If I can do that then I can definitely try this slide. When we finally got to the top it was windy and it had a skinny wrap around walk way to the tower. (Not a good mixture to ease someones nerves). I made Bryce go first and he was sweet. He told me I should cross my arms, keep my legs open and don't open my eyes! I took his advice, although I couldn't help but open my eyes after coming out of the tube making my way down the straight down slide. I quickly closed them and screamed like a little girl!! I felt 10 years younger when I hit the bottom with all of the adrenaline rush that I had. It was amazing!

Jesse has been one busy "travelin" man. I think he's been gone just about every weekend except a few from one event to another. So this was Jesse & Abe's 3rd Dust Ball Rally Race. They picked up a new passenger Sam. So the three brothers ended up in Las Vegas, NV. Even with all of the hick-ups along the way, it looks like they placed first! Again! It's too bad there's no cash prizes because we would be cashing in! Anyways, the boys had a great time, but were very tired when they got home as you can imagine. When the brothers are together sleep is not a necessity. :)

Bella's #1

2009-08-25T17:14:00.000-07:00

I'm about a month late posting this I know, but better late than never I say. ;) Anyways, so my youngest turned the big #1 on July 23rd. I'm always a little bit on the bumbed side when all my kids turn one. I so enjoy the little baby stage and so when they turn one it's always a slap in the face of how fleeting time is.

Bella is such a joy to have in our family. She has such a magnetic personality, she watches people intently and then tries to mimic them whether it's laughing when we do or dancing to the Wiggles. If we're in the car and a good song comes on she gets so screams because she can't get out of her car seat to dance. So she'll just wiggle her head side to side and arms. The first thing she does when she sees Jesse in the morning is touch his leg and run while laughing so that daddy will chase her down the hall. She knows that daddy equals FUN! As far as talking...she says mom & dad word of course and she is just constantly babbling something out. It's so cute. She'll babbly something to you over & over until you finally acknowledge her and then she'll be satisfied with that. We LOVE you so much Bella!

Painting with pudding

2009-08-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've let the kids paint with pudding. It was a hot summer day, too hot to go outside. The kids wanted something junkie and were bored so this killed two birds with one stone. This was Bella's first time and once she figured out that you could eat it, it was "all over." No pun intended. :)

Adventure on a whim!

2009-06-28T13:21:00.001-07:00

This summer I haven't made too many plans except to have as much fun as possible! As a kid summer was all about bike riding ALL day, gardening, mowing the lawn (yes, that was one of my favorite things...now with allergies, not so much) and bug collecting. A few days ago I woke up and had no plans, but I just had to get the kids out of the house and away from ALL of the electronics. I didn't feel like hauling everyone to the swimming pool and wanted to do something different. So, I decided to take the kids hiking up to Dripping Springs. I have been wanting to do stuff like this all summer, but just haven't had the chance or the will to do it. :) Last year when Jesse and I tried to do it we just couldn't make it up to the top, but I was determined to make it. I loaded up the double jogging stroller, some WATER and snacks and away we went. We also wanted to collect some bugs while there as well and boy did we find the jackpot of Butterflies. The hike was about a 1.5 mile hike on a constant up hill slope on loose rocks. It was pretty tough at times. My legs and back were on fire! After about 1 1/2 hours of walking we made it up the trail to the springs. There wasn't that much water, but we didn't care. I was just glad to have set a goal and reach it. I think the kids learned that lesson also because both Cameron and Bryce remarked about how they wanted to turn back lots of times, but if we would've done that, we would not have found our butterfly "Goldie." Cameron kept telling me how proud he was of me for catching the butterfly. He's so cute.

Going down the trail was much easier. It only took us 30 min. Here's a snapshot of that.

It was a great outdoor adventure.A huge lizard we found on the trail. Bryce wanted to take it home, but there was no way we could catch it. It took off running on its hind legs. Not that I would want to take it home anyways. :)

It's getting hot! Time to wet the kids down a bit. I guess this is one of the old cowboy "resort" buildings. One tired group. Finally we made it! Bella's asleep in the stroller. Dripping Springs. Not much "dripping" going on, but it's still beautiful. This is the start of our 2009 bug collection. We're still gathering bugs from home and will add to them at the reunion. We actually had a few more, but their bodies weren't intact enough for display. :)

A new milestone witnessed

2009-06-22T00:34:00.000-07:00

So Bella has been threatening to walk for a few weeks now and the other day she did it! She turns 11 months on the 23rd and she is just loving her new mobility. It's like a game to her. If she falls she immediately picks herself right back up to try again. She'll say ah-O and I think she's trying to say ball. But, the only downfall is that Bella in all of this has also found her voice! That girl can really pipe out the yelling when she wants to. Half the time she does it just to fit in with the rest of us or if she's defending a toy. Anyways, just wanted to give an update. It's always amazing to see a milestone. It's like witnessing a miracle.

The father he is...

2009-06-21T23:56:00.000-07:00

Has just been named King Daddy and loving it! Admit it Jesse! :)

Don't say I never got you a tie! HA!

The Kings loyal subjects bowing down! Byson later asks in a concerned tone, "Do you think Heavenly Father will mind if we worship dad?" He's so sweet.

The other day I was trying to get dinner on the table and the house picked up all while juggling kids who kept trying to ask for snacks and/or fighting with one another. I was just about to lock myself in my bedroom when to our rescue DADDY CAME HOME! That is one of my favorite parts of the day! The kids' face lights up and suddenly they become angels and all is well. Most every time the kids go and hide and Jesse will say, "Where are those kids!" Claire always pops out with "HERE I AM!!" (Doesn't quite get the "Hiding" part) and then of course he'll find the boys, tickle them all or wrestle and then we'll all sit to a nice dinner together. That's just a little example of his fatherhood abilities. I knew when we were dating that Jesse would be a great father. This year we're starting a new tradition for Father's Day. It all started with Claire referring to Jesse as "King Daddy" from the Standing Tall audio book series, Happiness. So, I thought it would be funny to make Jesse King for the day and so I made him a King's Cloak with a dressed up Burger King Crown and a golden staff. The kids got a kick out of obeying so easily and Cameron would ask Jesse if he wanted his back scratched or anything else. So sweet. Well, Jesse was a good sport like he always is with my costumes I make him wear. We love you sweetheart! I'm sure thankful for you!

Reunited with my boys!

2009-06-14T22:15:00.000-07:00

10 days has been the longest amount of time that I've been away from my boys. I started out feeling a little weird and like I was forgetting something. Then, I submersed myself into my little 3 and 10 month old girls' world and had a good time with them. At the end of the week I think we were all feeling a little anxious and ready for the boys to come home. Thank goodness for daily blog updates from Connie and nightly phone calls. Claire's sleeping rhythm surprisingly went down the deep end. I don't know how many times she'd wake up in the middle of the night or wake up asking for her brothers. It was sweet, but sad for her. I met Connie in Albuq. after a nice visit with my mom and we stayed at a Hotel for a few days to enjoy one last who-rah together. When I saw the boys they came running towards me yelling "HEY MOM!" like a kid who's just had the best time ever and wants to tell his parents all about it. I couldn't help but get a little choked up when I saw them.

We swam all day Friday and then stayed at the park until it was dark. Then Saturday we took the kids to the awesome Explora museum. With 9 kids in toe we did get a lot of "are these all your kids?" and stares. For the most part they were all well behaved and not too much of a handful. ha! :) What am I saying!

So, thanks Connie & Ben (and Abe for driving them in the first place)for an exciting & fun "Sowards Cousin Camp." Let's do it again sometime! Ha ha. For anyone interested check out Ben & Connie's blog for a well told description of Sowards Cousin Camp; there's some funny stories there.

April showers brings May flowers

2009-06-05T23:37:00.000-07:00

Having multiple children makes time fly. Especially in the summertime. I was sitting here thinking "man, I need to catch up on my blog while I'm two kids short this week" and it took me awhile to put all of my thoughts together. Too much to tell, but don't want to bore you with the details. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

So, yeah if you look at Ben & Connie's blog you'll see the updates she's so graciously providing to Jesse & I. It's nice to be filled in on the latest happenings while our two boys Bryson & Cameron hang out in Utah with their cousins. So far so good, but man does Connie have her hands full. I trust that she's getting help. :)

As much as I miss the boys I'm very much enjoying my special time with the girls. I'm able to read more to Claire and some to Bella. We've tried to make some felt beaded necklaces and then we went swimming, but Bella was not in the mood to swim in the ice cold water unlike Claire so we watched poolside. Other things like baking cookies and just sitting and watching the girls play and frolic around reminded me of my days with just Bryson & Cameron when we lived in Oregon and a life that was simpler. It seemed like my focus was more on them and not everywhere at once. It's hard to remember the last time I just sat with the kids without having something in the back of my mind tugging on me to get up and do or to be somewhere else. So, this change of pace has made me realize what makes me truely happy and that it's ok to just sit and hold your children. I already knew that, but had lost that perspective.

The kids have really been neglected the past 2 1/2 weeks. I was making a special movie/documentary of my mother for her 60th b-day and there was A LOT of material to go through. I spent every free moment of my time working on it plus I stayed up til 2:30 am every night and then got up to get Bryce off to school. I didn't want a nap because that would be time I could be working on the video. So, needless to say I wasn't a fun person to be around. Then to top it all off the day I was going to leave to head to Artesia the video wouldn't publish! I missed my nephews graduation trying to figure out how to get it done, but there were some corrupt files,etc and so I showed up empty handed and heartbroken. So, I'm still trying to get it done, but am working on it from time to time on a different program. Such is life right. It'll get done mom I promise.

Like I said earlier, this month has been full of "go here, go there." The boys are both in baseball, but on separate teams this year and so Monday thru Thursday we're at the baseball fields. It makes it difficult to feed a family dinner. I do enjoy watching them though. Cameron is so cute in his over sized uniform, out diving for the ball. I think if his pants don't have grass marks on them he's disappointed. Summer is going to fast, looking forward to slowing it down a bit.