Haircut anyone?

My beautiful daughter Sydney decided she wanted to be a hairstylist. She went to work on her hair. She wanted a short cut. So she went to work to make it as short as she could. I think she maybe would have chosen different if she had looked in the mirror while she did it. Here she is after she realized what she had done.

As if the bangs weren't enough she decided to layer the side. Only one side. She looks miserable doesn't she?

Here she is having an acutal hairstylist fixing it. We were a little worried before we got there.

Here is the finished product. A little bit of a sweep over to hide the bangs and Whala!! Not too bad for what we started with.

Sydney has promised to not do her own hair anymore. Of course she said that the last time. That's right she has previously cut her hair. Wasn't as bad as this time. I think this might be the last.

The funny thing is she got a ton of compliments on it today. I'll say it again.... it's a good thing she is cute.

sleepless nights

I have never enjoyed being alone. It is always hard for me. I like people around. Even as a teenager I'd have friends come spend the night because I just am no good at being alone. So I figure having kids is having people around. I should be able to sleep.

Yeah it doesn't seem to work that way.

They are the ones who keep waking me up. Since Dave's been away on his trip Sydney has come in two nights. I was so tired I let her in the bed. I never do that. Then last night Abigail screamed bloody murder until I brought her in. Her reason for being upset? Her arm fell asleep.

Well I start the kids out on Dave's side of the bed. They slowy keep inching closer until in my early stages of dozing I get a foot to the kidney. Ouch. So I push them back over a little further than before. Back to sleep..... I can hear there breathing change. They have to be asleep.

NO they are not.

They are now coming at me with a jab to the neck. Those little elbows are sharp. And I get a "hi mom". Ok at this point I tell them they have to go to sleep or back to their own bed. I get an "ok mom". And a little bit of fake snoring. This time I don't push them away because I don't want a startling punch in the night.

So when I finally do wake up, that is if I get back to sleep I find myself spooning with my two year old. I don't think that kid could get any closer to me. I can't roll over because i would literally crush her. My back is all sweaty because she is now suctioned to it.

So I think next time she wakes up I will just keep her in her bed and rub her back until she falls back asleep. I'm thinking this plan will at least get me longer spurts of sleep.

The joys of being a parent make up for the not so fun moments. But really it isn't all that bad when your little one is sleeping snuggled up to you. That doesn't continue after a while. They get big and embarrassed of you. I will count my blessings and name them one by one. Noah, Jacob, Sydney, and Abigail.

Love you kids, but I don't want you in my bed anymore. You are like little alligators. Rolling around.

Happy Anniversary

Thirteen years ago Dave and I were married. We have fought many forces that strive to make marriage not so fun. We have won, so far. I think we will always win because we are superheroes. Ok only my mind but I think we are awesome. But before I jump ahead I must give the back story of these awesome people.

It started over a year before the actual proposal. Dave and I met while serving missions for our church. We were called to South Carolina. I met Dave in my first area. He was in the mission office. And as I have always said I didn't really like him. But his charm and wit won me over and we became friends. We made a plan to date after returning home from the missions.

Dave went home 2 months before I did and tried to live life to the fullest. He went to concerts and on dates, but I had made such an impression he just couldn't forget me. I'm sure the daily letters helped with that. So he came up to Portland to visit when I got home.

He didn't even get scared off when my dad told him he could get him a good price on a ring. Crazy. So according to my dad I chased Dave to Utah where he had no chance but to ask me to marry him.

And just so you know I totally did because I knew he was the one for me. So here we are on our beautiful fall day enjoying a kiss under the tree. Actually I think we were totally laughing during our kiss. We are nerds. What can I say.

We had a wonderful wedding and saw so many friends. Everything was awesome and it was even daylight savings that night. Great for a wedding night!! One extra hour. Except Dave and I went home to our cute little duplex and crashed. Turned out I had mono. Needless to say our honeymoon wasn't the best for Dave.

Here we are 13 years later and even though Dave is spending our anniversary on a cruise with his sister, brother and mom, I know we have just begun our adventure together. (not going on the cruise was my choice) I love you Davey with all my heart and I am thrilled to spend forever with you.

Don't make your blue eyes green

I remember as a kid wanting to put on makeup. I remember my mom painting my nails, and curling my hair. I remember looking thru her make up but too scared to touch it. I wish my girls were too scared to touch it.

Every morning I put on my make up one of them wants "lips". That's what they call lipstick. I think it's cute. Sometimes they will ask for cheeks, which is blush and of course we know what eyes are. Usually I can get away with lip gloss and a quick swipe of the brush over their cheeks.

I don't know why as children our skin looks so beautiful and now as an adult I look at myself with makeup and think, wow you look tired and blochy.

When I cut my hair short Sydney decided that she wanted short hair too so while I was bathing the baby she cut her hair. Today Sydney decided she wanted to do her eyes. So she proceeded to color them with green marker. And not just her's Abigails too. I wish I had taken a picture with the dark green on their eyes. It was very WOW!!!


I wasn't sure if it was sharpie or washable. It was neither. Now they have a faint sickly green ring around their eyes. Why didn't they do it next week. At least then it is Halloween. So tonight I will take my green eyed monsters with my blue eyed boys to the Harvest Festival at the school and hope it's not so noticable.

Here are their mug shots.

Check out that dirty mug. But such pretty eyes.

Look at those pretty eyes, oh and see the bit of green on her lids.

Partners in crime. At least they are cute. It really is their saving grace.

So here starts another adventure, because Dave is gone. This wouldn't have happened if he were here I'm sure.

Are you ready for some football?

If you know me, you know I don't like football. I have endured Sunday football and Monday night football for years. Mainly because Dave DVR's them and can watch a game in 45 minutes. When Noah wanted to play last year I was not happy. I could see all the work I was going to do. This year he really wanted to play again. As a bonus Jacob wanted to play too. So Dave decided to sponsor the team and we ended up with the AFLAC Ducks. GO DUCKS!!! So below I have some highlights from this season. The boys only lost one game. The one game we were absent at. So I think my boys are the good luck charms. Noah is number 36 and Jacob is number 30.

Below is Noah taking down the kid in the brown.

Holding his own.

Jacob doing a little dance. Probably warming up but it looks like a dance to me. Groovin'!!

Coach Dad and Noah is on the left. Possibly dancing too.

Jacob is the kid in the middle of the screen. Go defense.

Noah is the middle of the picture. Going against headband boy. What's with that anyway?

Noah. Hi mom. Most likely hi grandma.

Noah is center. He is getting ready to hike the ball. HUT.....

HIKE!!!

They decided to let Noah run the ball so here is the hand off. GO NOAH!!

Just got his flag. Nice try buddy.

Noah again.

Jacob staring down his opponent. He did so great.

It's my understanding that Noah got a safety in one game and Jacob has really figured out what he is supposed to do. I'm truly proud of my boys. When the season started Jacob would get upset if he got pushed around or fell down. As of the end today he took his bumps and gave a few too. Noah will move on to tackle next year. He is so excited, me not so much. I just don't want my baby getting hurt. And Jacob wants to play again next year. He'll have another year of flag.

So I end this flag football season, grateful my boys didn't get hurt. Happy they love the game. A little scared they want to keep going. I love you guys. GOOOOO DUCKS!!

Almost every time

Just over a year ago, maybe a year and a half, we moved to Eagle, ID. Dave has had a little bit of travel every year. A couple trips here or there. Well since we have been here it seems like he is gone at least once a month on average or like this month a few times during the month. I know there are people out there whose family members travel for work, or are in the military serving our country (A BIG SHOUT OUT TO YOU!! WE COULDN'T LIVE THE WAY WE DO WITHOUT YOU!! THANK YOU!!). I wish I were strong. I'm not I'm a little bit needy and very much don't like being alone.

That being said I have been trying very hard to not complain about all the travel Dave has had to do. I know it is important and I'm very grateful he has a job and does all he can to support our family. That being said.....Almost everytime he travels one of the kids get sick. It almost makes me laugh. It's just a given. Well I'm not laughing this time. This time it's me. My head aches. My body hurts. My mouth is dry because I'm breathing thru it. I just want to lay in bed and I can't because I need to go get three kids off to school. So this is my little complaining session and I appreciate you putting up with my oh pitiful me speech.

Now that's a hot dog

We were able to go to Utah this weekend for our nephew Damon's mission farewell. While there we had the chance to do lots of fun things. We ate at restaurants we miss. We hung out with good friends. We had family pictures (really not that fun). We got to play with our family. We celebrated birthdays. We had lots of great times with all the cousins and this will be the last time for at least 2 years the whole family will be together.

So these are a few pics of the family during our weekend.

Abby told us she wanted a burger but Dave ordered her a hot dog. So this is what she ended up with....

Now that's a hot dog.

Noah took a picture of Dave and I. Good job on the photo kid.

A bunch of the cousins. At the park after family pictures. I'll post those a little later.

Joy and Ava. Mother and daughter.

Jordon and Lucy. Everyone of all ages got in on the fun.

As much as we all complain about our families, our lives wouldn't right if we didn't have the fun times, the sad times, the happy times, and the scary times. We love our family even with all the drama that's apart of it.

So here is to Damon for getting us all together and I wish him the best on his mission to teach and help the people of Mexico. He just went into the MTC today. And as I sit here smiling at the thought of the day I went into the MTC, I know he is just as embarrassed at having to wear the dork dot as the rest of us were. For those who aren't LDS when you first go into the MTC they give the new missionaries a flourescent dot to wear on their name tags so they know you are new and can help you out. It is helpful but like starting any new journey you really don't want everyone to know you really don't know what you are doing. We love you Damon and wish you good luck.

Conference weekend

This weekend was General Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. As a kid I used to like Gen Conf. because it meant staying home for church, and not having to take off my jammies. The negative side was having to be quiet for 2 hours and listen to things that didn't make sense to me. Now I'm 30 years older and I like not having to take off my jammies and staying home from church. I also found that I would rather my children go somewhere else so I could listen to what was said. We decided to compromise and only make the kids listen to one talk. It was worth it. The things I got to hear were really aimed right at me. Sometimes we need to take the time to really listen to get the answers we desire.

Also I love my children but it was sure nice to have a little quiet.

Pets are the best

For some reason I thought today was September 31, which doesn't exsist. I think I wasn't quite ready to move into October. The year has gone too fast. When I finally realized it is October 1st I got to thinking about this day. It's my Brother in law's birthday... Happy Day Channing. It is the start of the Halloween month. Always fun. It was my first pets birthday. So I am thinking about all the wonderful animals we have been blessed with.

For those who never had a pet it is so wonderful. They are always there and want to be around you even if you are grumpy or get mad at them. They are willing to just sit and hang and do whatever you want to do. (mainly dogs but some cats will too.) But no matter what you know that you have a friend... and they never give advice. Huge plus on some days.

Here is my darling first pet who lived to the ripe old age of 15. He was a sweetie and today was his birthday. Thinking of you Toby.

Also sending lots of love to all the other pets who have joined our family over the years.

Our crazy cat Carolina. She was so great. I know she looks scared here but she loved to climb and just hangout.

Our beautiful Foster who we still have. He is now 11. He has been the best family dog a person could have.

And Brutus. He would always smile. A little scary to people who didn't know that. Looked like he was baring his teeth, but it was just a smile.

I couldn't find any pictures of Dave's pets growing up, but know he loved you Lady and Max.