Things I have learned recently:

People do not like little boys to have beautiful hair. Especially curly hair. My grandfather commented that he didn't know whether to call him Megan or Keegan, and I am afraid he has been called princess more than once. It wouldn't be so bad except I have a soon to be four year old who wants to be Rapunzel and has a pixie cut. No one notices the pink clothes and earrings, or the shirt and tie??? Why wasn't it my girl with the sausage curls?!!! Anyway, I am still getting up enough guts to chop them off, but I will make sure to post a before and after.

My kids are HILARIOUS. I am pretty sure at least 90% of the people in our ward have commented about Evie's interperative dance at the primary talent show, and several have asked her for an encore. I wish I had a good video, but I was on stage and Casey was trying to film with Keegan-the-holy-terror in tow. Ryan was the only impersonation of the night, and I may say that Stitch was never cooler.


I don't ever want to see myself from that angle ever again. BUT I CAN climb a rock wall. 30 years and I never knew.

Chickens DO play (See "Little Kidnappers" for that quote). Our friends in Panguitch have chickens that will actually let you hold them without trying to peck your eyes out. Yes, even in a princess dress.

My poor daughter inherited my fashion sense.I remember one day in HS in particular that I wore a horrible dress as a result of getting asked to a dance and no one thought it was weird. They just thought I was being myself. And that is chocolate milk in the spoon BTW. It tastes better that way apparently

Not only does my husband look smashing in my grandma apron, but he CAN cook if properly motivated. Tacos anyway. He figured that since he was in Africa for mothers day he would make me Sunday dinner upon our return. I just really like him.

I am too old to ride roller coasters. Yes it is true. I am now too old for angry punk music and rides that make me spin, lurch, and/or turn upside down.Never thought I'd see the day.

My boys do like them some watermelon. My favorite thing to watch Ryan eat is watermelon. anything that isn't green is fair game, whereas his father leaves a 1/4 inch of color on the rind.


For those of you who are wondering, we all had a great time on our trips (Casey to Nigeria for a surgical medical mission and us to UT to do another whirlwind family tour) and we think that Casey probably hasn't contracted malaria. Probably.He has a couple of videos I will try to get from him for later. Other than that just remember that I, and we, all love you, even if we are flaky and you don't hear from us often. Later!

Getting Old

This is what "old" looks like, just so you know. Thanks to my budding photographer of a five year old, I actually have a picture of my "aged" self. (Funny how the mom is always the one on the other end of the camera) My sister called on my birthday to inform me that I was officially "OLD" in case I didn't know. I happen to have a few friends with more birthdays than me who may disagree with her. Since I boycotted making my own birthday cake and my husband is no where to be found these days (nor does he bake) I put a candle in an ice cream cone after my RS meeting that evening and let the kids sing happy birthday to me. Luckily, I have some AWESOME friends who took pity on me, and I got a cake anyway (Thanks Rachel!). I got chocolate chip cookie dough brownies the day before, but they didn't last long enough to get their picture taken.




On the subject of aging, I took pictures of my kids today for their grandma, and I can't help wondering how they grow up so fast...

New Friends

This is my new best friend. For all of you ladies that have upgraded to the mommymobile you know what I mean. After three kids in the "Hot Chick Car"it is SO awesome to have space! I know it puts my in "that" category, (all the sales people tried to put me in a SUV so I could still be cool) but it SO works for my lifestyle!


These new friends are named Sheldon and Lola. We adopted them from a friend who found them annoying. Now that they are moulting I can relate. The happy birdies in the morning, the birdseed on the floor and the weekly paper change are nothing to little teeny florescent blue and green feathers floating around my kitchen.


This new friend is a great source of pride for me. My kids and I found a set of tires in a vacant lot, and after toting them home we ended up with the coolest swing EVER. I think so anyway, along with all the kids that play in my yard. And the BEST thing about it? It can hold THREE kids, so all the grumpy waiting for turns is over!!!

Happy Birthday Merry Christmas

To those of you who didn't notice, thanks to my insomnia, this is the third post this morning, so you may want to back check.



My baby turned one this month (sigh) and apparently he does not adore frosting like his siblings. I don't care for blue treats either, but he just played with his cupcake, and wouldn't wear the party hat (pooh!). I wanted to buy him a swing to hang from the porch, but apparently that is a SEASONAL item, even in Texas where my house hovered at the temperature at which my AC is supposed to kick on only a couple of days before Christmas. SO I had to order it online, but I got free shipping (yea!) so the only real downside was that he only got it a few days before Christmas.



Here are a few other highlights of the month:


Lots of help raking the yard.



Little Red Riding Hood (thanks to after Halloween sales!)



Awesome!!




Tired mommy and daddy the day after Christmas. Between "Some assembly required," a five year old that can't wait until sunrise, and a teething baby it was kind of a rough weekend.

Whirlwind Family Tour

I could cry that I didn't take hardly any pictures on our trip, but I am afraid that is what kind of picture mom I am (deja vu)... I think we got to see just about everybody, even though Casey had to come home after a week and missed a few, but here are the ones I DO have.



Tamron's bunch, minus baby who came like 36 hours after we went home!!!


Don't even know who took this. Typical Ryan, riding the leaf blower...

Pirate Ryan. That's what he picked at the Dollar Tree to entertain himself while we were in Cedar.

Evie didn't even wait for Grandma Jill to get to her tummy before she went into hysterics. Nice new floor Jill!

Funny how kids seem drawn to childless couples. Cass And Becky are getting their kid fix for sure though!I am pretty sure this is the 6th time those kids watched Madagascar II in a three day period.

I really wish Grandma and Grandpa were in this picture with them! Ryan insisted that she leave his tower up until he came back. Uh-huh, sure. And to think that those are the same homemade blocks I played with 25 years ago...

For those of you were are wondering along with me what my Evie would look like with hair, here is a sneak peek, thanks to Aunt Camree's anime convention wig.

And one more of my dear daddy reading to my kids. How cute is that?? You can tell by their faces that my kids don't like books.

Who is that man???

You may be able to tell by the look on his face, but my husband is really excited to have his picture taken. For those of you who are beard-phobic (mother) have no fear. It is gone. I think he just wanted to prove to his brothers that he could actually grow a beard so he kept it until after we went to Utah for his vacation week. No one could believe how much he looked like his dad. We got family pictures that week too, so it is immortalized (Sorry Mom), but since the only family shots that the photographer saved also had Shandon and Aubrey's child (dog) Bruno in them as well(Ryan insisted we have him in a few), they may not get circulated as much anyway. :)

Here are a couple of the most fabulous....

to recap:

I know I promised a post after Ryan's birthday, but I didn't take any pictures!!! I am a bad picture mom in case any of you didn't know. I will try to keep up a little better in the future, but here is a short but sweet version of the last couple of months.


So, I am a really bad birthday mom, and that pitiful blueberry muffin snack cake is all Ryan got for his real birthday AND I totally didn't take any pictures of his birthday party a few days later.... but I really do love him! I threw the stupid party! Which went pretty well for the most part. He got to blow out candles on a real cupcake that time (both times he picked the trick candles and we all had a great time watching him blow them out ten times), we busted the pinata he made, and everybody had fun with all the super hero stuff. AND his mama was glad it was over :)



This is what 30 candles looks like on a 5" homemade oreo cookie. A little bit scary, but I had a fire extinguisher on hand. Can't wait till mine! (insert sarcasm here)Happy Birthday Casey!




Miss Evie had a tea party for her birthday (but no candle! doh!) with pinkalicious cupcakes and even tea (spiced apple cider mix) in her pink tea pot. Please notice the satin tablecloth....




A couple of weeks after her birthday I finally got around to her pinata. Its a bad pic, but the other one was worse. It held up pretty well (every kid got a turn this time) especially considering that I had to tape it back together TWICE before we even got to hit it due to some run-ins with a couple of crazy boys. In case you didn't catch the before pics on my previous post, it used to look like a sparkly pink and purple Easter egg.



Of course I have to post a few Halloweenie pics too! My kids had to dress up for the trunk-or-treat, school, and Halloween itself (even though we didn't go out), so they got to try out more than one costume. Unfortunately, I was the photographer so you don't get to see either of my awesome costumes! I know you are devastated.


Thanks for the suckers Gramdma Jill!

Iron Man, The Drama Fairy, and Mini Spidey

Iron Man and the pink hairless princess are mine

This isn't actually what they wore to the trunk-or-treat, but you get the idea. Evie had a shirt and sometights, and I made them both little booties and Ryan had a hat with a red feather. Since I am, as stated, a bad picture mom, you will have to use your imagination!
Peter Pan and Tinkerbell