Rich & Buffy

Finished Table!!

2010-09-20T09:57:00.001-07:00

Rich ran in the Top of Utah marathon on Saturday. He did great and we are really proud of him. Now he is done I have a whole list of things for him to do around the house :)

The table is now finished - here is a little recap of the process.

This is the original table we got for free

I primed and painted the legs a greeny/blue color and then put a dark stain over the paint to get in grooves on the legs. This is the top all sanded down.

This is just after I applied the stain

and here is the finished table - we LOVE it!! Now we just need someone to help Rich pack it back inside the house and I need to find some chairs that I can paint to go with it.

I have started painting the kitchen - here is a sneak peek of the color. I am repainting all the trim too, so I'll post a finished picture in a couple days. It is fun to see some of the projects I have started come to an end.

Vancouver B.C.

2010-08-06T10:34:00.001-07:00

We got to Vancouver at 5pm on Friday and checked into our hotel and went to a yummy Italian place for dinner. I had a thin crust, almost like a cracker pizza with carmelized onions and proscuitto and fontina cheese on top. It was SO good - Rich and I both were loving it! Our hotel was super nice and in a good location for walking everywhere. Rich's conference was about a 10 minute walk away and we were close enough to walk to different places for dinner and shopping and stuff, so it worked out great. One of the best things about Vancouver is the temperature and location. It is mild temperature there year round. They get snow once or twice a year but two hours to the north is Whistler that gets tons of snow and a couple hours to the east they get lots of snow. It was between 70-75 degrees the whole time we were there with no wind. You could wear pants and not be too hot or shorts and not be too cold - it is the perfect temperature! Plus it is such a great location - you have downtown right next to wooded parks and mountains and surrounded by ocean. The thing that surprised me the most about Vancouver was how many Asians live there. I felt like we were in China except everyone spoke English - it was crazy!

This is a picture looking back at Vancouver from N. Vancouver

You have to take a seabus across the water to get to N. Vancouver. The public transportation was very easy to figure out and use.

here is a picture of Rich and the seabus we just rode to get over to N. Vancouver

We caught the bus up to Capilano Suspension Bridge. It is absolutely amazing how much money and work they have put into this park. The suspension bridge is 450 ft. long across a 230 ft. deep canyon. It really sways when you walk across it - so many people were freaking out and walking super slow.

After you cross the suspension bridge they have built all these paths and walkways through the forest and up through the treetops. It was fun to walk from tree to tree and be so high up.

After the Suspension Bridge park we caught the bus up the Grouse Mountain. We took the gondola up the mountain and they have all sorts of different shows and activities at the top. It got really foggy for a while when we were at the top but then it cleared off.

This is the lumberjack show - it was so fun to watch them compete against each other in different events. Here they are cutting into the tree and sticking a piece of wood in the slot and then would stand on it and cut the next piece in until they had worked there way up to the top of the tree and cut the top off.

You can see the log they spin on in the picture above. That was really fun to watch. Down below they are cutting through the logs.

After volunteering Rich to go help them to the two person saw - they picked me to go up instead. Rich said I looked like Ma Ingles of Little House on the Prairie. We raced against another lady from the audience and the other lumberjack - we won!

We went to a Birds in Motion show after the lumberjack show. They brought out falcons, hawks and eagles and they would fly from the trainers arm to a perch and back - but the would fly right over the audiences heads and so close to our heads you'd have to duck so they wouldn't hit you. The birds know you'll move so if you don't they will hit you. I have a video I'll try to post of a hawk flying so close over our heads its wing hit Rich in the face.

This is the bird that hit Rich - I think it was a Hawk.

Here is the eagle - they were huge.

We reserved the bikes our hotel offered for one afternoon and rode around the seawall. The north/west tip of the penisula that Vancouver is on is a big wooded park that they have made bike and walking/jogging paths around the edge along the ocean. It is about 6+ miles around the park. It was so pretty riding along the ocean. We rode bikes for 2 1/2 hours, then I couldn't walk.

This is Rich on the Vancouver side - behind him is N. Vancouver

That is Canada Place behind me. There are convention centers there and cruise ships dock there. There were a few cruise ships headed up to Alaska.

On our last day there we went back up to Grouse Mountain so Rich could do the Grouse Grind. We learned all about it the first day we were there and he wanted to do it.

The Grouse Grind is 2,800 feet elevation gain in 1.8 miles. I would have liked to do it with him but didn't think it was a good idea for me. So I stayed at the bottom and read my book - The Help - while he did it. I finished the book while we were there - it is a good book, I really liked reading it.

The best part was just being with Rich and not having to think or worry about kids. After you have kids that seems to be the main focus in life and it is so nice to have time to just be with Rich. It was so nice to just do whatever we wanted and sleep in as long as we wanted. But by then end of the trip I was more than anxious to get back and see my boys. It doesn't take long to realize you are back to reality and everyday life. :) We need to start packing up our house this weekend. We close Tuesday morning and will start moving stuff over as soon as it gets funded and we get the keys :) We are so excited!!

Silver Lake

2010-06-27T09:39:00.000-07:00

We spent yesterday afternoon and evening up American Fork canyon at Silver Lake. One of our friends, who works with Rich, goes up there a lot camping and fishing and arranged the outting with all the families in their office.

It is a beautiful drive up American Fork canyon to Tibble Lake and then farther up the canyon to Silver Lake, which is less crowded. The boys loved being in the mountains and by the water and fishing and eating snacks! Our friend brought his 4 wheeler and took the kids on rides as well.

We bought some cheap water guns for the boys to play with - they were a big hit.

Rich was very determined to catch a fish - plus he had just finished running 18 miles and standing in the cold water felt good on his knees, so this is where he spent most of the time. :)

Kade loved fishing - even though he never caught a fish, he still had a great time.

Riding the 4 wheeler with Travis

Ty and Malika having water gun wars

Success! Rich finally caught a fish - it is so tiny he didn't want pictures taken. But Only 4 fish were caught, so just catching one was a success!

Ty caught a fish on the first time he tried. Rich cast it out for him and he was reeling it in and starting screaming - Yeah Big Daddy, I caught a fish. He was very excited!

Here is a picture of where we were at. We were on this little penisula surrounded by water. The weather was great and it was nice and relaxing being up in the mountains.

Thanks so much to Travis and Teresa for organizing this and bringing their 4 wheeler - we had a great day!

Summer Update

2010-06-24T08:51:00.001-07:00

Ever since school got out the boys have been sleeping in longer. I LOVE it!!! They must get really worn out during the days because they are still going to bed about the same time. We've been getting up between 8:30 and 9am which is a nice change from 7 - 7:30am. They all love to cuddle when the first get up, which is my favorite part of the day! It usually doesn't take very long for them to all start wrestling and fighting and then someone gets hurt and starts crying - but for those first couple minutes it is nice.

We came home from baseball games last night and found this deer laying on the grass in the shade. Zack was so scared to see it he wouldn't get out of the car unless I was holding him and even then he was scared to look at it.

Check out these HUGE green onion we found growing in the yard. They were as tall as Kade. We used these in our tacos that night. Kade loves them.

Baseball season has come to an end. It has been a long season - but we have loved it. Ty was in t-ball again this year. Next year he will be in coach pitch. The highlight of his season is when a kid hit a pop fly and it hit Ty in the leg. He thought that was pretty funny.

Most of the time Ty was throwing his mitt up and catching it or playing in the dirt. The last few games he actually would try to get grounders and throw them to the bases - so we did see some improvement. :)

Kade was in coach pitch this year and it was so much more competitive than his little tball in Idaho Falls last year. Kade's team didn't lose a game during the regular season and got 1st place trophies, and Kade also got a game ball after one of the games for his good hits that helped the team score some crucial runs.

I couldn't get him to tuck in his shirt - oh well!

2010-06-09T11:20:00.001-07:00

WELCOME SUMMER!!

Icee shacks are now open, running through the sprinklers, playing on the swings, NO school, Lagoon and Lagoon A Beach, relaxing days of playing and picnics and the boys favorite summer TV show WIPEOUT is back June 22. WE LOVE SUMMER!!!!

After playing at Lagoon all afternoon yesterday - today is a relaxer day at home. We started out the day by cranking the music - Chicago's greatest hits to Lady Gaga while we cleaned the house. We have finished exercising and had lunch and the agenda for the rest of the day is to play outside while I sit on the porch swing and read - ahhhh..... a perfect day finished off with the boys baseball games.

I hope you all have a nice day!

Ty and Zack playing on the deck and posing after yelling "Boom Bang Firepower"

Preschool Graduation for TY

2010-05-27T06:55:00.001-07:00

It's graduation time!

Ty's preschool graduation was short and sweet. They sang lots of songs, got called up one by one and then it was done.

We took pictures before we went down to the school to avoid the chaos.

Ty wanted to kiss us in every picture.

On to kindergarden!

USU Alumni 5K Run

2010-05-20T08:33:00.000-07:00

I only use this blog to check other blogs I like to follow - but I got sick of seeing the same pictures up everytime I pulled it up - so I added a new post just to have a change of scenery when I pull up this blog. Our family participated in the USU Alumni 5K family fun run last weekend. Kade and Ty rode their bikes while Rich and I ran. I pushed Zack in the stroller so we could all participate. The boys were excited to each get their own Aggies shirt and their own race number.

Family picture with Big Blue before the race.

Post race celebration - Aggie Ice Cream! My boys thought it was the best breakfast ever!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T20:56:00.001-08:00

We couldn't have asked for better weather. It felt so nice to be outside, walking around while the kids ran from door to door getting candy. Our friends came trick or treating with us, and we had a fun time together. They brought the Ghostbuster costumes that Rich and our friend Dan dressed up in, with the blow up ectopack (?) or something strapped to their backs. Kade was Obi Wan Kenobi, Ty was Luigi and Zack the black spider. This was Zack's first year of trick or treating, he stayed home with me last year and passed out candy. It took him a few houses to realize that we put the candy in the bucket and don't just eat as we go. Once he figured out the process he was all over it. He'd run up and pick and treat and run back and throw it in the bucket I was holding for him and then turn and run back to get more treats to put in his bucket. That's when I'd have to grab him and turn him towards the next house. :) Our friends suggested going to a senior living center after we went through the neighborhood. It was so fun, and something we'll try to do every Halloween. The people living there loved seeing the kids and they all had their bucket of treats to pass out. I'm so glad we went.
Me and my friend Nicole

Halloween Rocket Launch

2009-10-31T14:39:00.000-07:00

It was such a beautiful day here today, we spent as much time playing outside as we could. We got an old rocket from Rich's parents house a while ago that no one was using and today was the perfect day for the launch. The girl from across the street that is in Kade's school class came over and joined us for the exciting launch. We walked down through the orchard and up into and empty field behind our house so we were not close to any homes in case of rocket catastrophe. Rich and Zack prepare the rocket for liftoff The kids took a blanket to sit on while they watched the launch

And we have liftoff!! It actually worked :)

Fartsy Claus

2009-10-29T18:27:00.000-07:00

This is the book Kade picked out at library today in school. I really do try to teach my boys about manners and I really don't like them to talk about farts and stuff - but I was laughing so much through the whole book that I'm sure anything I was trying to teach them is now destroyed! Here are a few excerpts from the book.

When he was full, he rushed to his sleigh, jumped into his seat, and went up and away. At each house, Santa's belly began to smart, so he rubbed it, only to let out a fart. The reindeer eyed each other, feeling queasy and funky, thinking, "He smells like a dirty old monkey."

Up in his room, Michael opened one eye. "What the heck? Is sounds like the fourth of July."

As the story goes on the reindeer have all passed out from the smell of the gas and so the children have to help Santa figure out a way to get all the toys delivered. They construct a pair of underpants that will use his farts to propel him from house to house so he can deliver the toys.

Needless to say - Kade LOVED the book and was so proud of himself for picking it out.

Madsen Boys

2009-10-22T08:07:00.001-07:00

Here is a picture of the boys this morning before school. This is as close as I could get to everyone looking. Zack is eyeing his motorbike. As soon as the picture was taken he jumped off the bench and on his bike and was off.

Snowbird

2009-09-30T08:36:00.000-07:00

Here is a recent picture of our crazy Zack! He has turned into pure trouble!! He is into everything and has learned to climb up everything - even walls it seems. He is just too cute though so it is hard to ever get too mad at him. He had just finished licking a brownie spoon in the picture - he got a hitler mustache somehow while licking the spoon. Last weekend we went up to Snowbird to ride the tram. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful drive up the canyon seeing all the colorful leaves.

The tram ride was fun - they smash you in like sardines, but it is a quick ride to the top.

It was so windy and cold at the top. We spent most of our time on the top in the warming hut by the bathroom. Ty hates wind, so he walked around with his hood over his face most of the time. :)

Adam's canyon

2009-09-30T08:15:00.001-07:00

A couple weekends ago we went for a hike up Adams Canyon. We loved this hike when we lived down here before and were excited to do it again now we're back. This is the view down from the top. There is a 400 ft. waterfall - more of a trickle now - at the top of the hike. When hiking with kids it is always great to have something exciting and fun at the end of the hike :)
There were little pools of freezing cold water they played in.
Rich just got a bunch of walking sticks from work that we tried out on this hike. They were awesome! Very entertaining for the kids, but also very helpful for Rich and I. We loved them!

This is the very beginning of the hike before you get up into the mountains.

We don't hike for very long before we have to stop and feed these crazy boys!

We saw this gross creature while hiking. I saw it first when I almost stepped on it! I hate snakes!

Kade wore the camel back and apparently drank water the whole time because we had to stop about every 10 min. for him to use the bathroom.

It was the perfect day for a hike and thankfully Ty and Kade made it the whole way without us having to pack them.

Lagoon

2009-09-22T07:18:00.000-07:00

We had a fun, long day at Lagoon on Saturday. We went with a lot of my family and had a great day. It was 85 degrees, still warm but not too hot, and the lines were not very long. Lagoon-A-Beach was closed so we spent all day riding rides, and taking turns staying with the little kids on the rides while the others went and rode the big rides. I think everyones favorite was Wicked. We LOVED it! By midafternoon everyone was getting sleepy - Zack saw my dad and brother laying on the grass and ran over and cuddled in between them. My nephew Hank and Ty had a great day together - riding rides and playing.

Zack LOVED the rides - Ty was more selective on what he loved, but if he loved it he rode it over and over and over. This was one of the rides Ty LOVED!

We had a great day and loved being with family.

Picking Huckleberries

2009-08-15T19:27:00.000-07:00

I LOVE huckleberries - in milkshakes, pancakes, plain - however you use them they are delicious! While we were in Driggs last week at my parents, my aunt took us all up to her huckleberry spot. We had 14 of the 15 grandkids with us and had a great time up in the mountains. The kids did much better than we expected and when they got tired/bored of picking huckleberries they all just ran around and played.

The favorite thing for the kids to do was to eat the huckleberries! Then they would complain that they didn't have any in their buckets, and want me to put my precious berries in their buckets. :) I consider myself to be a pretty nice mom - but not that nice.

We've made huckleberry shakes almost every night since we picked.

West Yellowstone

2009-08-11T13:57:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went camping with Rich's family up at Hebgen Lake by West Yellowstone. On Sunday after we cleaned up camp we drove through the Park and had a picnic. The boys had never been through the park and they loved seeing the geysers. It was only 59 degrees but OK weather to walk around in. Here are the boys at the firehole river.

We stopped for a picnic farther up the firehole river. It was difficult trying to get all the boys standing and looking at the camera. It looks like only Zack is cooperating in this picture - but he is folding his arms - so that makes up for Kade and Ty's crazy faces. :)

The boys were SO tired after the weekend of camping. This picture is at Old Faithful - all the boys laid down on the bench while we were waiting for the geyser to erupt.

Looking at the geysers by Old Faithful.

Hebgen Lake

2009-07-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

For years we've been going to Hebgen Lake with my mom's side of the family and it is something we look forward to every year. We stay at a cabin on the lake, but we've always set up a tent and camp if the weather cooperates. It's a weekend filled with family, food, waterskiing, swimming, playing and golfing for the guys. The kids played and swam in the lake all weekend with their cousins. We waterskiied on very smooth water which was SO much fun!!! My mom and dad were even able to come up for a few hours on Saturday which was a fun surprise for everyone to see them and visit with them. My dad was able to waterski which he hasn't done in years :) There are always the memorable moments of the sudden afternoon thunder/wind storms, leeches and mosquitos but the fun we have all together makes it all worth it. We had a great weekend and are doing it again at Henry's Lake with Rich's side of the family in 2 weeks.

Summer Fun

2009-07-20T09:15:00.001-07:00

It is so hard for me to keep this updated during the summer. So I guess monthly updates will have to work for now :) As of right now things have fallen through with our house and we are hoping someone else finds it soon and wants to move in quickly so we can move down to Utah. But in the meantime we have been having lots of summer fun. Kade and Ty have been to 4 birthday parties in the last few weeks and have been busy playing everyday with friends. I have been golfing 3 times this summer, which I've loved. I went once with my brother, once with Rich and then I went last week with two of my sisters and my brother.

We had so much fun golfing. I got 2 birdies! They were both of a par 3 hole and I hit my tee shot within a foot of the hole both times and putted it in for birdie. I took pictures of where my ball landed on the green but they were with my sisters camera and I haven't got them. But I did have 3 witnesses to document it really happened :)

This last weekend we drove down to Utah to our friends house warming party/birthday party for their son. After the party and playing we put the kids to bed and me and my girl friends went to The Proposal while the guys stayed home and played board games. The movie was so funny!! We were all laughing so hard the whole movie long. It is definitely adult/crude humor so be warned. On Saturday morning the guys went golfing in the morning and then we went over to the Roy Aquatic center with our friends. We love that aquatic center - it is so much fun. Zack was having so much fun. I put him in a little floaty jet ski thing and he could touch the bottom of the pool and he would walk all around and stop and watch people or try to run kids over with his floaty. Rich took the boys on the slides and they both loved that. We spent a couple hours there and then drove back home. We were exhausted yesterday - but after a good night sleep we are back at it again today and headed to Rigby Lake!

Softball Tournament

2009-06-28T09:25:00.000-07:00

Our stake had a softball tournament yesterday that was so much fun. Each ward could put together their best co-ed team and they had unlimited hot dogs, chips, treats, popcorn, drinks, snow cones and an inflatable for the kids to play on. Rich and I didn't plan on playing since we missed all the practices through the week, but we were quickly recruited to a team and had a great time playing. Rich had brought his shoes and glove just in case. I was not as prepared - I was in flip flops and ended up playing bare foot and borrowing a mitt. Rich hit a home run with the bases loaded his first time up to bat. A few innings later he hit it over the fence for another home run. Our boys were very impressed and excited to see both of us play. Kade, Ty and Zack ran around for 3 hours watching us play and eating an endless amount of hot dogs, chips, popcorn and snow cones. Later that night Kade told us he ate 6 snow cones!!! Good thing they were mostly just ice :)

A round of Golf

2009-06-25T19:23:00.000-07:00

When I was younger my dad used to take me and my siblings golfing all the time on this little par 3 course by Ashton. I have so many fun memories of golfing with my family and today I got to add to those memories. Thanks to my amazingly wonderful neighbor who watches my kids more than I do - I got to go golfing with my brother this morning at Pinecrest here in Idaho Falls. It was a perfect morning, a little humid - but a little sweat is good right! :) It was a pretty slow, relaxed day on the golf course while we were there and we had such a good time. I don't golf very often, more like hardly ever now, but I do have to say I out drove a man who we let play through. I was driving the ball really well - my brother was very impressed, and so was I! I didn't play my irons as well and my putting was so-so, but it is the tee shots that really count - right :)

Utah State Hey Aggies All the Way!!

2009-06-20T19:17:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Rich's Uncle and his cousin, we had a family/USU alumni reunion Saturday at Utah State University. Rich's Grandma and Grandpa on his mom's side both graduated from Utah State and many of his aunts, uncles, cousins and siblings including Rich and I all went there as well. So far in their family there have been 29 USU graduates. The USU alumni association gave all USU alumni "game day" t-shirts to wear and everyone got FREE Aggie ice cream! :) We had family pictures and USU alumni pictures taken on the steps of Old Main. If you went to USU and get the alumni magazine look for our picture to be featured in there in the next little while. :) It was so fun to go back to USU and walk around campus and show the boys where Rich and I went to school and where we lived. After being up on campus and having the pictures taken we all gathered for a luncheon in the Agricultural building where Rich's cousin works. She did such a great job organizing everything and decorating in the USU theme. All the kids got goodie bags with candy, USU chapsticks and temporary USU tatoos. After the luncheon Rich's little sister was at a basketball camp/tournament at USU and we all went to watch her play a game in the Spectrum. It brought back so many fun memories going back there. The kids loved running up and down the steps in the stadium. We had a great day in Logan and had a fun trip down memory lane! We loved Utah State!

One of our future Aggies - Ty sitting on the A.

Rich's two aunts on the left, his Grandma in the middle and his uncle on the right all went to USU - he also has another aunt and uncle that went to USU that were not in this picture. Rich's mom went to BYU.
Here is a picture Rich took while everyone was trying to get organized and all in the picture. This is probably most of the people that came to the reunion. Look at all those Aggie Blue t- shirts :)
The boys by the waterfalls on campus. It was so fun walking through campus again with the kids.

Update

2009-06-17T07:24:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while so here is a catch up post on what we've been up to. We got to watch my cute little nephew Hank overnight while his parents went out of town. He is so cute and it felt completely normal to have another boy around :) On top of being so cute he calls me funny Buffy - who wouldn't love that? On the day we had him we actually had a break from the rain and so we packed a picnic and loaded everyone up and rode our bikes to the park for lunch and to play on the toys. It was so nice to be outside again!

We definitely took advantage of the sunny days with many picnics. It is so fun that all you have to do is eat your lunch outside and the kids think you are the greatest mom ever and that the food is the best food they have ever tasted :)

We have started swimming lessons. This is Kade's third year and Ty's second. Kade is a little fish in the water - he loves it and always has. Ty loves the water but has been more hesitant to put his ears and face under. He is doing much better this year and really loving his class.

After the lessons we go outside to play in the outdoor pool. It has been so rainy and cold that we really haven't got to enjoy that too much - but it still doesn't stop the kids from getting in and playing for a little while. This is Zack and his little friend Brooklyn lounging by the pool.

Kade and Ty are both on tball teams as well. Kade's team is The Pirates and Ty's is The Blaze. Thanks to all of the rain, most of the games have been cancelled. Hopefully they can start playing soon. They each have 2 games a week - so that will keep us busy most of the summer. In the swimming video - Ty is on his back swimming with his teacher and then Kade is swimming across the pool.

Graduation Day

2009-06-02T17:50:00.000-07:00

Today was Kade's big Graduation Day from Kindergarden. He was so excited for his graduation and that Rich was able to be here for it. Kade has loved kindergarden and I have loved having him in kindergarden :) It has been fun helping out in the class and seeing him learn new things and make new friends. The class all lined up on risers and sang about 6 songs they had been practicing for a few weeks. They all looked so cute in their handmade graduation caps. After all the songs the teacher called them one by one up to get their graduation certificate and shake their hand. They were all so proud and did a really good job.
Congratulations Kade only 16 more years to go!

It's Ladies Night

2009-06-02T17:32:00.000-07:00

After a week of sick kids and cleaning up throw up I was so ready for my girls weekend away. We started the weekend off with some shopping in Park City Friday night, which is always fun! Saturday we spent the day shopping and have a spa day. We got a deal through city deals or something for a chocolate facial, a pedicure and an eyebrow wax for only $45. at a beauty college. This was a lot of firsts for me. I had never had a facial or my eyebrows waxed. The chocolate facial was amazing - I loved it! I was happy to get my eyebrows waxed and while the girl was waxing I told her I wanted to have my lip waxed sometime too. By the time I was done she had done my eyebrows, my lip and my chin! I was thrilled! Then we all got pedicures, which always feels so good. The girl who did mine was very strong and worked my feet over - which was great! We were there getting pampered for almost 3 hours and left feeling so good. This is a picture of us after we were done! The beauty college we went to was very nice and they did a great job.We ate at Paradise Bakery on Saturday afternoon. I love this place! This piece of carrot cake was the first thing I saw when I walked in and I couldn't pass it up. There was seriously 1 1/2" of frosting on the top, with huge chunks of nuts and carrot. It was DELICIOUS!!! I got a small salad to go with it for lunch. :) That night we ate at The Macaroni Grill - and had some yummy pasta! We stayed up late talking and laughing and soaking in the hot tub. It was a perfect weekend. I have such great girl friends and a wonderful husband who stays home and watching 3 crazy boys while I get away!

Kindergarden field trip

2009-06-02T15:04:00.000-07:00

We had another field trip to Tautphaus Park Zoo last week. Thankfully the weather was really nice and sunny that day. It was cold and rainy when we went with Ty's preschool. The alligator was a big hit with the kids and the monkeys are always entertaining. Making a big doggy pile on Kade is always a good time.
Kade and some Kindergarden buddies on the Tiger

Typical Ty face as he's playing at the park waiting for Kade's class to show up at the zoo.

Zack loved all the animals - he'd get so excited to see them move and make noise. Here he is watching the ducks swimming.

We LOVE Cafe Rio

2009-05-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

Especially when it's FREE!

Thanks to my sister in law - I found out that Cafe Rio was having a customer appreciation day in Idaho Falls and every customer got a FREE entree. So I took all 3 boys and we went and got dinner. Kade was really excited about the sweet pork salad. He kept saying - that store has all the right stuff, this salad is so good I can't even believe it, I need to find more of the sweet meat at the bottom to eat with my salad - I was thinking all the same things :)

My only recommendation after over indulging on delicious Cafe Rio food is to not run 5 miles - I feel sick now! But we have so much left overs that I'll probably do the same thing again tomorrow :) I have NO self control.

Memorial Weekend Fun!

2009-05-26T07:50:00.000-07:00

We got our first attempt at a garden planted yesterday. The boys were very anxious to help and are excited to eat what we grow - hopefully something grows! :) We planted peas, carrots, cucumbers, spinach, onions, zuchinni, cantaloupe and tomatoes (from seeds) which we've learned after will probably NOT work here. We are learning - I guess we have to start somewhere. Here is the before shot - if we get anything to grow I'll post more pictures.
On Saturday my Mother In Law rented the 21' tall inflatable waterslide that we rented last fall with our friends. It is from Idaho Fun Jumps here in Idaho Falls. It is so much fun! We had it for 8 hours and spent all day enjoying the nice weather, eatting yummy food and playing on the slide.

After playing outside in the sun all day on Friday - Ty got heat stroke or heat exhaustion or something Friday night. He had 104 + fever and was just shaking from the chills. His breathing and heart rate were super fast. After some Motrin his fever slowly started to break and he was completely fine by morning. But on Saturday he took it easy and was in the shade a lot.

Here he is chillin' with Rich's hat and sunglasses.

Again - Ty relaxing on the slide

I packed Zack up the slide a few times. He cried the whole way climbing up and coming down - but I think he secretly liked it :) Kade was doing all sorts of tricks on the slide but the front flip was one of the more impressive. He and his cousin Riley played on the slide for the full 8 hours.

Nursery

2009-05-20T14:55:00.000-07:00

Zack still has until the 20th of June before he is officially suppose to go to nursery but we couldn't wait any longer and I took him in on Sunday. I was planning to just stay in there with him since he is not officially 18 months but after sitting there for 20 min. watching him run around and play I asked the teachers if they cared if I went back to Sunday school. They happily said sure and that they would come find me if they needed me. When I went back to pick him up after a very quiet relaxing Sunday School and Relief Society all the teachers said he did so good and ate ALL the snacks :) I think he probably ate all of his and everyone elses - he really doesn't know when to stop. If food is around, he wants to eat it. He was so happy to be there, he could run around and play with toys and kids - he could care less if I was there or not. Even when I came to pick him up he didn't come running to me, he climbed up on the little chairs and sat at the little table and looked over at me so proud that he was sitting there.

Hooray for nursery and happy kids who love to go!

Cookies!

2009-05-20T09:57:00.000-07:00

favoritefamilyrecipes.blogspot.com

This is a fun blog I like to visit to get new recipes and ideas for things to change up are regular meals. I LOVE this chocolate chip cookie recipe. The recipe makes about 100 cookies and we probably could eat them all at one time but we try to control ourselves! I usually make up the cookie dough and bake off however many I need or want at the time and then make the rest into balls and freeze. The picture is curtesy of Kade :)

Then whenever I need cookies I can just pull them out of the freezer and bake as many as I need. This has come in so handy so many times when I need a treat to take to the visiting teachers or a neighbor or a family outing.

Here is the recipe:

3 1/2 cubes real butter softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 1/4 cups brown sugar packed

4 eggs

2 TBSP. vanilla

6 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 TBSP. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 lb. chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars, add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Mix dry ingredients and add to sugar mixture. Add chocolate chips. Scoop with a small ice cream scoop. Bake at 325 for 8-9 min.

** The recipe says 325 for 8-9 min. Mine are never done in that time. I bake at 330 for about 10-11 min. **

ENJOY!

WORK IT!

2009-05-16T20:30:00.001-07:00

I love warm Saturdays where you don't have any plans but dinner later with your husband :) I started off the day by using my Mother's Day present - a new running visor! It was my first outside run of the season and it was so nice to be running outside rather than pounding the treadmill. My hips were a little sore from a really long run on the treadmill Thurs. night but I still went 6 miles. That is a great way to start the day! Rich went for a run after I got back.

The boys played outside with friends all day, Zack seriously slept ALL day - he napped for 6 hours today. Kade and Ty got really excited when they heard the ice cream truck coming around. They grabbed their money and ran outside to wait for the truck to come. We saw the truck parked a few streets down so the boys were out workin' the corner trying to get the truck to come down to where they were standing. They were waving their hands and money in the air. :) The ice cream truck made it's way down to them while playing the always festive CHRISTMAS MUSIC - that's right, the ice cream truck was playing Christmas music. I guess it is better than last year's creepy pink van that played Pussycat Dolls.

Kade and Ty enjoying their ice cream!

Field Trip

2009-05-16T20:21:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to the zoo with Ty's preschool class. The weather was ok for us, a little cold, but at least it wasn't raining. There were about 1,000 kids there on field trips, but Miss Lori had paid for a docent to show us around so we all got to go in the back way and skip past all the crowds:) Our docent was GREAT! I am not a big animal person, but I really enjoyed having her tell us about the different animals and specific things about the animals here that this zoo.

Ty and his friend Carter bundled up at the beginning while we were waiting to get started.

Zack LOVES animals - he was more than excited to see the monkeys swinging and jumping around.

WICKED

2009-05-04T17:41:00.001-07:00

My sister Rachel and I and our husbands went to New York 2 years ago and while we were there we went to see Wicked. We LOVED it and when we heard it was coming to Salt Lake we wanted to see it with all of our family. We got tickets on Halloween and have been so anxious to go. When it came time to go not all of our family could attend but I was so happy to be with 3 of my sisters, a cousin, my aunt and uncle and my sister's in-laws. There were 10 of us. We all met for lunch at the Olive Garden before the show.

My aunt Reesa and uncle Mike joined us for the play.

No matter how many times you see this play it is always - AMAZING!!! I love it! It is so funny in parts it makes me cry, the singing is beyond great and it is so creative. It totally gives you a different perspective on the Wizard of Oz.

Next up: Lion King coming Fall 2010 to Capital Theatre.

Storm Troopers

2009-05-04T17:33:00.000-07:00

We went up to my parents for a day last week and these are a few pictures from our stay. I made french toast for the kids for dinner and left Zack to eat his on his own. He ate all the french toast and then stuck his sticky fingers in his hair. He was a mess! But everyone thought it was so funny.

Kade and Ty are so into Star Wars and when they found these snowmobile helmets they thought they looked like storm troopers and had fun pretending to be storm troopers.

Zack found a baseball hat for him to play with.

First cook out of the Season!

2009-05-04T17:28:00.001-07:00

We had our first cookout of the season when our friends stopped by on their way home from a family reunion in West Yellowstone. We love any chance we get to hang out with our friends. We took them down to the river and fed the ducks and then walked up and around the temple. It was the perfect weather to be outside. When we got back we pulled out the fire pit and had our first official summer bbq. We only ate hotdogs and smores but it was still a lot of fun.

Kade's 6th Birthday

2009-04-19T08:39:00.000-07:00

Kade had his 6th birthday last week and was so PROUD to be 6! He told grocery store checkout ladies, waitress' and anyone we met that he turned 6 that very day. We were up in Driggs for the week at my parents and got to have a special birthday celebrating with them. Grandma played board games with Kade and Grandpa took him to town for ice cream and let him pick out a toy. When Rich got home on Friday the partying started again. We went to IHOP for dinner - my boys favorite! Then went and picked out a new bike for Kade. He loves the color red and was so excited to get this bike and walk it through the store to the check out. He had lots of people tell him what a nice looking bike he was getting and he loved that people noticed.

The party continued on Saturday when we took Kade and Ty and their cousin Riley to Monsters vs Aliens. Kade was SO excited to go and had been looking forward to it all week. We don't go to movies very often and were shocked at how expensive it was, plus there was an additional $3.50 charge per ticket for the 3D glasses you need to watch the movie. $52.00 later - we were all in the movie. It was cute - but NOT $52.00 cute!

He was so good to wait until Friday to open his presents and was so excited to get some new nintendo games and a new orange controller. We LOVE having a nintendo game cube. We got it free from Rich's brother and we can buy all the cool games that his friends have for SO cheap! The video at the bottom is a Donkey Kong game that you have to bang on the bongos and clap to play it. It is a big hit and cost $12.00 for the game and the bongos. :)

Visiting Grandpa and Grandma

2009-04-17T07:11:00.000-07:00

My parents are back in Driggs for a little while before they go up to Canada to their Dr. for my mom to continue with her cancer treatments. We spent most of the week up in Driggs with them and it was so nice to be around them. My boys LOVED being at Grandma's house again. Kade kept asking if we could stay another day because that is what would make Grandma happy, which would make me cry and we ended up staying all week. :)

The only "treat" my mom can eat on her very strict diet are the Dole 100% fruit Coconut popsicles. The boys loved sharing a treat with grandma, they were not fans of the coconut but loved the lime ones.

Kade had his 6th birthday while we were up in Driggs. All he wanted was a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting - which was fine with me, super easy :) Grandpa took Kade into town for an ice cream cone and shake and let him pick out a toy. Grandma played board games with him which he loved, he is always looking for someone to play games with him.

Zack was obsessed with my sisters two new little babies that were there. He wanted to always be by them, which usually ended in him trying to climb on them while they were sleeping on the couch or patting them a lot too hard. When he'd hear one cry or make a noise he run over to them saying, "Dady" and pointing at them. He is just starting to say a few words, all of which start with a B sound and he says them all with a D sound. Boo is Do, Ball is Da, and now Baby is Dady.

Santa Fe

2009-04-04T07:32:00.001-07:00

During the week of spring break my mom had a bad reaction to a chemo treatment she received and so my sister, brother and I flew down to Santa Fe, NM to be with them and help out. It is so horrible to see your parents fight a trial like this, but I am so greatful for the gospel and our belief in God and miracles and eternal families. I don't know how you could ever deal with something like this without knowing and believing that. It was so great to see my parents and to be around them. We were in Santa Fe with them for 5 days and it was heartbreaking to leave them.We hit up the Farmers Market on Saturday morning. They had a lot of great produce. My favorite was the fresh pea sprouts that tasted exactly like a fresh pea out of a garden, and the Bohemian band rockin' out. Some members dressed in tuxedos and others in patchwork stretchy pants.

From the recommendation of a girl Scott knows we went to a restaurant out in the middle of no where called Gabriel's. It is Zagat rated and known for their gacamole made fresh at your table. Check out that bowl of guacamole - it was huge and we licked the bowl clean. It was definitely worth the $12.00, and their food was great.

We had our parents drive us to Albuquerque to the airport on Sunday. They dropped us off a little after 3 for our 5pm flight. About 20min. after being in the airport we saw our flight had been delayed until 6:30, then delayed until 7:45, then delayed until 8pm. We finally boarded around 8:15pm. Our original plane was stuck in Wyoming due to the crazy snow storm. Thankfully we had my brothers lap top that we watched tv and YouTube clips on and I had dice we played Farkel with. I am cursed with return home flights, no one will ever want to travel with me again!

We LOVE Spring

2009-03-20T19:50:00.001-07:00

Today was such a nice, warm spring day. We spent all afternoon outside enjoying the nice weather. Zack loves being outside and since it has been cold he just stands at the door when I open it and watches everything going on outside and yells to anyone or anything he sees. So today when I took him outside and put him down he was so excited. He took off walking down the sidewalk and after he got about 5 houses down I yelled at him to come back, he probably had no idea what to do with so much freedom so he just took off! It was so fun watching him play on all the toys in the backyard. This was his first time playing back there and walking around and climbing on things. He thought everything was so funny it was so cute. He would hear other kids playing in their yards or the church parking lot so he'd yell to them like he was trying to communicate with them. It is so fun to see the excitement and magic in little kids eyes!

One year older and wiser too!

2009-03-19T07:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got to celebrate my birthday with most of my sisters and brother! We ordered take out sushi ate cake and watched Bride Wars at my sister Heidi's house. It was a great way to spend the afternoon. My sister surprised me with a Raspberry/Lemon cupcake from The Cocoa Bean. It was great!

When I got home my neighbor brought me a huge cupcake - it looked so pretty.

and my mother-in-law had left me a basket of her homemade rolls and jam - YUM!!

A bunch of my friends showed up at 5pm to surprise me and take me out to dinner, but I had already made arrangements to babysit my sisters kids so I wasn't able to go. I told them all to go anyways and think of me while they ate! :) It is a good thing I didn't go - Kade ended up getting sick and throwing up all night.

I had a great day which started off with my kids running in my room to tell me happy birthday and remind me I am now 31. Soon after we got up I got a phone call from my parents which is always a great way to start the day and then spent most of my day on the phone having friends and family wish me Happy Birthday or answering the door to find someone else bringing me treats. Thank you all for you thoughtfulness and kindness - you all made turning 31 not so bad :)

10 Year Anniversary

2009-03-19T07:09:00.000-07:00

A while ago we realized that all our friends, including us got married the same year. So to all celebrate our 10 year anniversaries we went on a cruise together. I don't think I could dream of a better way to celebrate - we had SO much fun! This was our first cruise and we LOVED it! We went on the 7 day Exotic Western Caribbean on the Carnival Glory. This is a picture of our ship. It was huge. It had about 13 levels and was the length of 3 football fields. After being on the ship for a week I could still get turned around and confused about where we were at on the boat.
Our cruise had 4 stops and the first one was in Cozumel, Mexico. We went on a caverns and jeep tour. We got to drive jeeps through town and out to these caverns.

We hiked through these caverns until we came to the cenote (underground water/river). We got to jump in and swim through the caves and play around in the water. It was really neat.

After swimming in the cenote we drove the jeeps about 1/2 hour more down to a beach where they served us a Mexican lunch and we got to play on the beach and in the ocean. This beach was so beautiful with white sand and the water was pretty warm here.

Our Second stop was in Belize. One of our friends was scared of heights and pregnant so they went on a different adventure at this stop. We went zipling through the jungle! I was so excited for this one. We rode an old school bus for and hour and 1/2 on crazy bumpy dirt roads to get here - but it was worth it. We walked back through these trees and ended up in a cave where they hooked us all up in our gear.

We hiked up the mountain which was an added bonus to our adventure - it was so pretty. At the top they hooked us up and off we went! We did 4 zipline traverses then repelled down and did one more zipline traverse and one more repell down back into the cave. The highest traverse was 300ft. high and the longest was 200 ft. long. It was really neat and not nearly as scary as I thought it would be.

Standing on a ledge waiting to repell down to the next zipline traverse.

Our third stop was in Costa Maya, Mexico. This is a port created just for cruise ships to stop at. It is not really a town. So we spent the day playing on the beach and eatting yummy food.

Two of our friends and I got a massage on the beach. $20.00 for a one hour massage. I am pretty sure the lady/man?? who massaged me wasn't trained like they are here - but it still felt so good to lay in the hot sun and hear the ocean while getting rubbed down with oil.

On the days we were on the ship cruising all day we'd play games with our friends, try our luck in the casino, lay out, read books, run on the treadmills, enjoy the steam room and sauna and EAT, EAT, EAT!

Our last stop was in Nassau, Bahamas on Friday the 13th, which was also our 10th anniversary. Rich and I had signed up to do snuba, which is like scuba diving but the tanks stay up on the boat and you stay attached with a cord. It sounded really fun and exciting to do. An hour before we were suppose to go we got a message saying the adventure had been cancelled because not enough people signed up. So we signed up for a catamaran ride and snorkeling.

There were lots of fish and the water was crystal clear.

That night at dinner our friends bought us drinks to celebrate our anniversary

and surprised me by having our waiter bring out a plate of chocolate covered strawberries (my favorite) and everyone singing Happy Birthday to me! I LOVE surprises - I have the greatest friends in the whole world.

Our trip home from Orlando was another adventure in itself. Due to plane delays we missed our connecting flight in Washington DC and no other flights were leaving until the next morning.

What do you do when you are stranded in Washington DC without any luggage?

You rent a mini van and drive around and see the sites!

It was getting dark and was raining and we were all in shorts/capris, sandals and light jackets. But we all braved the weather and wondered around the sites. Thankfully Rich forget to take off his coat and winter hat when we flew out and so he had those in his carryon.

After touring around DC for about 6 hours we went to the airport and slept on the chairs in the airport chapel for about 3 hours while we waited for our flight at 5:30am. Rich was setting the alarm on the cell phone so we wouldn't miss this flight as well. We made our flight and got into SLC at 9:40am only to find our luggage was NOT there. We had to file a baggage claim and went home with no luggage. Our luggage was flown up to Idaho Falls and we got in Mon. afternoon. It turned into quite an adventure just getting home. We had such a great time and are missing having people clean our room twice a day, or serve us dinner or having a constant supply of food anytime you want it. We loved going on the cruise and will definetely be going on other one.

Miss Ruby

2009-02-26T19:14:00.000-08:00

We got to babysit my new neice the other day and all the boys LOVED having her here. She is such a pretty little girl, and having a girl in our house with pink clothes and pretty ribbons and flowers on her head was such a novelty here! The boys were so cute with her. Kade and Ty were so sweet with her. They'd just lay by her on the bed and say how pretty she was and that they liked her flower headband.

Notice there are no pictures of Zack with Ruby. He LOVED her a little too much! :) He kept trying to give her smothering hugs when I was holding her and when I would pull him off of her he would get so mad he'd throw himself backwards on the couch and slap his legs and then come back again full force for more hugs. It was pretty cute - but he was relentless and wouldn't stop.

WARNING

2009-02-19T12:50:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's Day and Pres. weekend we went down to Utah and partied with our friends. Friday evening all the husbands took the kids to the monster truck rally at the Enery Solutions Arena. This left me and my girl friends for a girls night out with the two youngest kids. We went to dinner and then went shopping for clothes to take on the cruise we are all going on together in 2 weeks.

We had a fun weekend shopping, sledding, playing games and eating a lot of food and snacks.

The boys loved sledding. Zack even went down a couple of times with Rich.

The chocolate fountain is always a big hit with our family - We love it! It seems like everyone else eats a few things and then walks away - but NOT the Madsen's! We are all huddled around the chocolate fountain until all the food is gone and the chocolate is licked clean :) My favorite dipped in the chocolate is fresh pineapple, strawberries and shortbread cookies.

On Valentine's Day we got a babysitter for all the kids and the adults went into Layton for a Valentine's lunch so we wouldn't have to deal with the evening crowds. We went to McGrath's in Layton and we were about the only people there. Our husbands all got the same gift for us to open all together at the restaurant. We were all excited and opened them up to find.... A SNUGGI. That's right - the one and only, AS SEEN ON TV - SNUGGI!
Rich and I have been making fun of these for months - but I guess he secretly LOVED them enough to buy me one. We have heard Jay Leno refer to them as the exact opposite of lingerie. And how giving them to the person you love is like saying - here, why don't you completely cover yourself up in the most unattractive way! I wasn't sure what to think of Rich giving this to me. We all got a good laugh out of the gift and all the workers at McGrath's had a good laugh over it and hearing our conversation about the Snuggi. We were there so long and very entertaining to them that they even offered us all FREE dessert! I guess the Snuggi was worth it - if only for the free dessert :)

Later that night I realized why the guys bought the Snuggi's - it was pure selfish reasons. All the husbands were wearing the snuggi's the rest of the night, and when they weren't the kids were. Ty asked me the other day if we get to keep the snuggi forever! I take back all the bad things I said about the Snuggi, they really all the greatest blanket/robe/NOT lingerie there is! I wear my snuggi every night to watch tv or a movie. But after an incident last night the Snuggi's should have come with a warning: RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK! After wearing the snuggi for a while I got up to go turn off the lights and go to bed. After walking over to the light switch while wearing the snuggi I got shocked when I went to turn off the light. Not just a little shock - I am sure there must have been some sparks flying. The only time I have been shocked more was from an electric fence. I walked down the hall and checked on the boys and went to turn off another light and got shocked again. I do love my new snuggi but need to wear with caution from now on!

Thanks for the greatest Valentine's gift ever Rich! Even though it almost killed me the other night :)

One Down

2009-02-10T22:19:00.000-08:00

Kade's two bottom teeth have been loose for about a week and tonight one was so loose it could bend all the way forward and almost touch his gums in the front - gross, I know! But he got a piece of broccoli stuck in the hole under the tooth at dinner and was panicked about having the broccoli bit in there. He was continually wiggling his tooth trying to get the broccoli out. He kept getting out of bed to tell me about the progress and eventually to show off his victory of getting the broccoli out. I took a picture of the tooth dangling forward out of his mouth because it was so gross and turned the camera on video and told him to just pull it out. Much to my surprise - HE DID!!! I turned the video off just as he started yelling, "Ty, my tooth is out, my tooth is out!" It was a very exciting time here. Ty took the tooth and put it safely under Kade's pillow for the tooth fairy to find. The other tooth will probably come out in the next day or two. I couldn't convince him to pull it out tonight so the tooth fairy only had to make one trip. :)

Las Vegas

2009-02-09T08:03:00.000-08:00

Rich had a conference to attend in Las Vegas last week and I got to go along for a little vacation since airline tickets from Idaho Falls to Vegas are pretty cheap. We flew out Mon. night and got back Fri. night. It was really nice to get away from mom duties for a few days and to enjoy the warm weather (70 degrees) and grass and flowers! The conference didn't start until Wednesday, so we had all day Tuesday to enjoy Vegas. Due to some unexpected charges to use the workout facility at our hotel we hit the streets of Vegas for a morning jog. It was so nice to run outside again. After our jog we hit up Denny's FREE Grand Slam breakfast. It was some sort of customer appreciation day.

We ate at RA Sushi for dinner one night. We were there during happy hour - which was from 3-7pm - that is a long happy hour. But in Vegas is seems like Happy Hour is 24 hours a day! Because it was happy hour a lot of there sushi rolls and appetizers were 1/2 off. We got a ton of sushi and appetizer for $20. It was SO good!

We got tickets to see the Cirque de Solei show KA. You can't take any pictures in the theatre - but it was amazing! It was so entertaining and fun to see. The stage would move around while they were performing and at times it would be completely vertical and the performers would be sliding down it face first and running up it. Crazy!!

We ate at the Paris buffet one night. They had a crepe station, where they would custom make crepes - I started and ended my meal with a crepe and ate a few during the meal. SO GOOD!

We watched the fountain show at the Bellagio a few times, that is so fun. On Thursday Rich's boss' wife and I went to a session at the Las Vegas Temple. I had never been to that temple and it was fun to go. It was a very small session - only 9 people. I LOVE black jack and when I found a black jack slot machine I was so excited. I convinced Rich to let me play - every hand I would win he'd tell me to cash out. After 15 min. I had turned $1 into $15 - Rich made me cash out and he quickly took the earnings. :) I convinced him later to let me play again and lost $10 pretty quickly. By the end of the week I think we walked away even. We had a fun trip and it was so uplifting to be in the warm sunshine for a few days.

Loose Teeth

2009-02-09T07:47:00.001-08:00

Kade has been so anxious to lose a tooth. He was very jealous of all the kids his age who have already started to lose their teeth. But when he touched his tooth the other night and realized it was loose he panicked! He was flossing his teeth and started screaming and crying - I had no idea what was wrong until he started yelling, "my tooth is loose!" He was hysterical - he kept saying that he didn't want his baby teeth to fall out and that he wanted to keep them forever. When we finally calmed him down enough for us to take a look - we saw that both bottom teeth are loose. Which made him even more mad. :) The next day he told all his friends at church and after they all thought it was cool I think he has started to warm up to the idea of them falling out. He told all his friends it was because he ate so many carrots that it made his teeth loose. One of his friends went home and told him mom he wanted to eat more carrots so his teeth will get loose too!

He will not let us touch it, but it is really close to just falling out on its own.

Happy Birthday

2009-01-28T19:34:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TY

When I was pregnant with Ty I went into my 38wk. check up to find out I was dialated to a 7! My midwife told me to go get my things and check in at the hospital and we'd have a baby!

Ty was born later that day weighing 7lbs. 6 oz. and had tons of BLACK hair!

Ty has been such a fun addition to our family. He is our silly one! He loves to wrestle and play with his brothers. Ty has been scared of pretty much everything his entire life. When he was two he had a fear of certain floors. I couldn't take him out of a shopping cart in a grocery store or Target because he was scared to death to stand on the floor. Thankfully he got over that fear like he does with most of his others. Once he tries it and realizes it is not as scary as he thought he is good to go! He is hiding under a blanket in this picture because he hates the wind hitting his face when we go boating. :)

Ty is growing up into a very polite little man. If he doesn't want something I am trying to give him he very politely says, "No thank you, mom!" He is obsessed with video/computer games and amazes us at how good he is at playing them on his own. He still loves to come cuddle with me in the mornings and when he sees me across the room he'll come running with his arms stretched out to give me a big hug. I love that he still loves to hold my hand while we are walking through stores. He loves to laugh and is very ticklish. He brings so much joy and energy to our home. We love you Ty James!

All Ty wanted for his birthday was a clone trooper birthday cake. I did my best!

I am horrible as keeping secrets and I get worse as I get older. I was so excited to find these video games online for Ty's birthday that I had to tell someone when they arrived. Rich was at work and so I told Kade - big mistake! He is as good at keeping secrets as I am. :) So, Ty knew what he was getting for his birthday way before he got it. He didn't care - and he LOVES the games.

When Snowmen Attack!

2009-01-23T09:51:00.000-08:00

The snowman looks innocent enough - but always without fail when my kids start walking they always seem to lose their balance and fall near anything that could hurt them. I have removed coffee tables and anything else I can think of to help prevent this but my cute little snowman got the better of Zack the other day.

This was Zack after the attack! Thankfully it only tore up his nose and not his whole face. :)

FRIDAY NIGHT - PARTY DOWN!!

Kade has been wanting to have a pizza/movie party with his friends for a few months and we finally got around to doing it. There were 8 little boys plus my 3 for a pizza/movie party last Friday. We had all the moms drop off their kids at 3:30 and we took them all home at 6:30. You may think I am crazy - but it was really pretty easy. They all played downstairs and only came up to eat the pizza. They played Mario Smash Brothers, watched and played Star Wars The Clone Wars and made A LOT of noise. They had so much fun!

Family Christmas Party

2009-01-14T14:14:00.000-08:00

My parents were in Mexico getting medical treatments over Christmas so we got to have an extended Christmas this year and celebrated with my family this last weekend. Everyone was able to make it to my parents house in Driggs except one sister who just had her second baby the day before in Rexburg. We all love being together and love that my parents house is so big that we can all enjoy being in the same house and not go crazy from all the kids playing. :)

This is my new niece Ruby Kay Carter - she is so cute!!

The big family dinner. We had to push 3 long tables together to fit all 24 of us. The food was great and the company was even better!

After dinner we had our gift exchange which the kids went crazy over - who doesn't love getting more presents?

During our gift exchange we had a surprise visitor - SANTA!!! He brought a gift bag for each grandkid filled with toys and treats.

After we got the kids to bed we would all gather around the table to play games. This picture is all my sisters (except Rachel who had a baby) my brother and parents. I love spending time with my family - the weekend went by way too fast.

Happy New Year!!!

2009-01-03T20:23:00.000-08:00

Our holiday season was one party after another. We ate lots of food, played games, got presents, ate more food, played more games until it felt like one big continuous party! We had so much fun and loved spending time with our family! My parents were down in Mexico at the doctor over the holidays so we got to have my brother join us for Christmas which was a lot of fun and the boys loved having their uncle Scott around to play with.

Kade and Ty got star wars lego and loved building their ships and playing with them.

We loved having uncle Scott here for Christmas.

Zack got a fur real puppy. It is so cute - it barks and moves and growls. He plays with it and then starts to crawl away and it will bark and surprise him so he crawls back and hits it and plays with it again.

HAPPY NEW YEAR
We went down to my sister's in Smithfield for a few days to celebrate the New Year. The kids played games and went sledding and played in the snow.

On New Year's Eve we had rented a condo in Bear Lake. We went swimming, played games and ate more food! It was so much FUN and went way too fast.

Kade, my brother Scott and cousin Luke playing in the hot tub!

The cousins all together at the condo - Luke, Hannah, Braden, Kade, Zack and Ty

Playing board games as we eat more food waiting for the New Year to begin!
Blokus and Dominion were the fun new games we played the most.

Starting when we were little and fighting over who got to wear my dad's slippers we have all grown up loving slippers! I bought my boys slippers for Christmas in hopes of passing on the love of slippers to them. So far so good :) On our way over to Bear Lake my sister and I stopped and got all three of us new slippers to party in for New Year's! My brother had been skiing all day - that explains his outfit :) and we surprised him with the slippers when he got to the condo! It was the perfect way to ring in the new year!

Who Knew...

2008-12-28T18:19:00.000-08:00

that dribbling a basketball could be so funny! Zack LOVES to play with a basketball. He packs it around, bounces it on the floor, tries to pass it to anyone that comes close :) It is so cute to watch him.

Potatoes

2008-12-22T12:50:00.000-08:00

What to do with a box of potatoes???

Our Home Teachers brought us a box full of potatoes. Does anyone know how long they will last, or how I should store them?? Or do you have any great ideas on what to make with them? I would love any and all ideas. This is what we have come up with so far.

Homemade battered french fries - they turned out really good, but only uses 1 maybe 2 potatoes.I made 4 pans of cheesey (funeral) potatoes and froze them. I will probably make a couple more pans - I have 2 sisters that are going to have babies in the next couple months and this can be part of a meal for them.

I have barely made a dent in the box of potatoes so send me your favorite potato recipes or ideas on how to use these things.

Happy Birthday

2008-12-21T16:37:00.000-08:00

Zack's 1st Birthday was yesterday - Dec. 20th. He shares his birthday with my sister and brother! He has been such a fun addition to our family. He has been such a good baby and happy since the day he was born. He is always smiling and wanting to play. I love it when he laughs just because he hears other people laughing. I love when he cuddles with me and lays his head on my shoulder. I love his deep, low laugh that we get to hear all the time. Here is a look back over the last year of his life.The day we brought Zack home from the hospital - he was born with his hair that white!

Relaxing in the bathtub. Zack has always loved baths, as soon as he hears me turn on the water he comes crawling as fast as he can and tries to climb in.

The day Zack was blessed - he was about 3 months old.

Zack sitting in his bumbo chair about 4 months old

Relaxing in the stroller

Rolling all around the house

Zack is always trying to "help" me with whatever I am doing

Right out of bed on his birthday - he woke up excited and happy and ready to play!

Happy Birthday Zack - We love you!

Weekend in Utah

2008-12-18T06:38:00.000-08:00

We went down to Utah to spend the weekend with our friends last Friday. We have such great freinds and have so much fun when we get together. We went to the Christmas Village in Ogden Friday night. There were lights all over in a park and little Christmas houses lit up with christmas scenes inside the houses that the kids could look through the windows to see. It was really cute and the kids loved running around looking in the houses.
After staying up until 3am playing games we all went to Chuck E Cheese on Saturday. Kade has been so excited to go to Chuck E Cheese - this was our first time - and probably last! :) The kids loved it and Rich and I even got into a few games, but the food is not that good and there were SO many people and it was so loud and crowded. It probably didn't help any that I got a 24 hour stomach flu that day and was running on about 4-5 hours of sleep. :)
I had the stomach flu all day Saturday and after throwing it up that evening I was feeling much better, but had passed it on to Rich. My friend gave us some make-up for Christmas and we started to play dress up. This is the before picture when we were just starting out.

This is the after picture! The reuniting of our Rock Band!

Sunday before church I wanted to try and get a picture of my boys all together - you can see how well that turned out. This was about as close as we could get. :)

Ten years ago today....

2008-12-12T09:56:00.000-08:00

We got engaged!

I love our engagement story and Rich for putting so much thought into it. Some of you may already know the story but I am going to tell it again.

Rich and I had been dating for about 2 years and we had looked at rings and I picked out what I wanted but didn't want to know when it would be done being made or when Rich picked it up - I wanted all that to be a surprise. Rich was graduating from college in the spring and had been applying for jobs and had an interview up in Seattle with Boeing. In the email coordinating his trip up there his plane tickets were through Southwest and they had a special going on at the time for buy one get one free on plane tickets. So Rich asked if I wanted to go with him. I was so excited and we were going to stay with my friend who had just gotten married and lived in Seattle. A few days before we left the jeweler called and told me my ring wouldn't be done for a couple weeks. I was so mad that he called me, because I didn't want to know anything about when it would be done. But, since he did call me I knew that Rich wouldn't be proposing in Seattle because there was no ring. We flew up to Seattle and our plane was delayed for something and we got in really late and missed the interview which was suppose to be that night. Rich called the guy and rescheduled for the next morning. We were meeting him for lunch in the restaurant at the top of the space needle. Rich and I were both dressed up and went to the restaurant and were barely seated when the waitress came up and told Rich that he had a phone call. So he left and came back after the call and said the person doing the interview was running late and would meet up with us for dessert after lunch. I was relieved that I didn't have to eat in front of some strange man. We got our lunch and ate and after we were done the waitress came walking up from behind me and said, It's time for dessert and set down a dessert like the picture below, but instead of the ice cream on the stand there was my ring! I was so surprised, and there was so much smoke I could barely see Rich across the table.
Rich took the ring and then got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I was still in complete shock - I think I said yes! Everyone in the restaurant started clapping and cheering. I was so confused and kept thinking the man was going to come to interview Rich. The whole interview was all a lie and part of his plan. After lunch we had to hurry back to the airport to catch our plane back. We were married 3 months later on March 13.

Countdown to Christmas

2008-12-11T13:52:00.001-08:00

My sisters and I made this cute Christmas countdown over Thanksgiving weekend. They turned out so cute and the kids love to countdown the days until Santa comes.

They are just 4x4 posts cut into blocks with the edges sanded and then stained. Then you just mod podge christmas scrapbook paper on the sides and put numbers on.

Here is another one of my favorite countdown to Christmas. My mom gave this to me a few years ago and my kids love pulling the numbers out and watching santa drop down the chimney. I think she got this out of Terry's Village.

Christmas Lights and Plasma

2008-12-11T12:52:00.000-08:00

This is what I have been up to the last few days. Last night we drove around to look at christmas lights. I got directions from my friend to two different houses in Iona that have christmas lights up around their house that are set to music. One of the houses being their uncles. They were so fun to go see. They had tons of lights and their own radio station you turn to and then watch the show. Of the two houses we saw we liked the Belnap's uncles the best!! They are worth the drive to the other side of town to see. Here are some directions:

Take Iona Rd. heading east. Go past Ammon Rd. and continue going east. There is a subdivision on the Right hand side named Mountain Ridge and the first house is back in there - you'll see it. We could not get their radio station to come in. :( The lights are still fun though.

To get to the Belnap's uncles you would continue going east on Iona Rd. to 55th and then turn Left - you can't miss it.

I went in today for my first time donating plasma. I got the physical and first time stuff all set up but NO donation because by the time I was ready to donate it had been about 5 hours since I had eatten and they wanted me to have food in me. I did have to get blood drawn today and after trying and failing in the first arm they poked me in the other arm - thankfully they were successful. So tomorrow morning at 7am I will go donate for the first time and get $20. You get $30 for the second donation and can donate 2x in 7 days - that is $200 a month. That is a pretty easy $200 bucks, and nice, quiet time away from kids :) If anyone decides to go try it tell them I referred you!

Quick Update

2008-12-02T20:23:00.000-08:00

I know it has been a while since I have posted or updated my blog, but with Rich searching for a new job he is on the computer most of the day and I am not :) Plus we have been busy getting ready for our ward Christmas party which was last night. It is such a nice feeling to have that done. I think it turned out really well. We had it open house style and had activities in a few different rooms for people to just wander through as a family. This seem to work really well to accommodate the large amount of people we have in our ward. We had a santa in one room where we took family pictures with santa. We had a christmas craft in one room, a bunch of different nativity sets displayed in one room and then the dinner and slide show of different activities from our ward throughout the year. We had around 240 people come.
Here are a few pictures from the last couple weeks.

I don't know what it is about guys growing facial hair and being so proud of how much they can grow but I am not a facial hair type of girl. So when Rich started growing out his beard a couple weeks ago I would ask him to shave it every morning. When he finally had to shave it for an interview I was out running errands when he shaved and this is what I came home to. He told me he was going to interview with the police force since he had the mustache for it. He did not leave the mustache, thank goodness, he shaved it all off .

Zack turns 1 year old on the 20th and is just starting to take his first steps. He is so silly that when he tries to walk and falls down he starts laughing and just keeps laughing every time he tries - he has no focus :) so it is going to be a long process. He got 3 new teeth in the last 2 weeks. Thankfully they finally broke through, he was a little nightmare while getting all 3. This picture is of him after eatting his first Oreo cookie. I gave it to him and walked away to do something and this was what he looked like when I got back. He loved it!
One of the boys Christmas presents got shipped to us in this box - the present was this tiny little box that they shipped in this huge box. The boys loved it and made it their mario ship. It kept all 3 of them entertained for a long time.
Over Thanksgiving my niece had a cousins birthday party. She turned 4 and had a minnie mouse birthday party which was a big hit with everyone. Here is a picture of most of the cousins, Ty is crying - of course - because I made him get in the picture with everyone. Another one of Ty's crazy quirks, he does not like to have his picture taken.

The Forgotten Carols

2008-11-25T11:50:00.000-08:00

To get the holiday season started off right - I went and saw The Forgotten Carols last night. It was really good and fun to go with 3 of my sister in-laws, my mother in-law and Rich's Grandma Carver.

Sushi Lover

2008-11-22T18:30:00.000-08:00

While Rich was down in Utah taking a test, I took the boys up to my parents house in Driggs. It is always fun to go see my parents and the boys love playing up there. My brother decided to come home from college for the weekend and when he got there at 3am he and his buddies were locked out. The were trying to find an unlocked window or door to come in and I heard all this noise and people talking and walking around on the decks and it scared me to death. They finally ended up calling, and my parents went and let them in - crazy boys! Today we got sushi from the sushi bar inside Broulins in Driggs. It was so good. Here are a few pictures of us enjoying the yummy sushi, chopsticks and all!

Loving every bite - we got some really good sushi!

The chopsticks proved to be more difficult for some - Dad :)

Andy, Scott and Beau
My brother is the one in the middle

Snow Blower

2008-11-17T09:36:00.000-08:00

My sister called me last night with an amazing deal she found and wanted to pass on the good deal. It is a TORO electric snow blower that is regularly around $300.00 and was marked at $15.99 on Target.com. I quickly purchased one and paid around $25.00 for shipping for a total of $41.00. I called a few neighbors and family members who bought it as well. About 10 min. after I bought it an error would come up when you tried to pull it up again. I have an email receipt and estimated shipping date - we'll see if this is really going to happen. If so - HOORAY!! What an awesome deal.

Mini Makeover

2008-11-08T19:25:00.000-08:00

My friend (Challis Parke) is going to school at Austin/Kade Academy here in Idaho Falls and I made an appointment for today for their Nov. special a mini makeover!!! That includes a weave, a haircut and a facial (or pedicure or microderm) I chose the facial because I have never had one for only $49. Challis is so good, it was fun hanging out with her all afternoon while she did my hair. I just had her cut and color it today and it turned out great! I really like the color and she taught me a new way to curl my hair - it's fun! I got a rain check for the facial (an excuse to have another "me" time). While I was at the beauty college I also got a cute girls phone number and passed it on to my brother and told him to call and ask her out! It was a very productive afternoon! Thanks Challis - you're great!

Halloween

2008-11-01T21:05:00.000-07:00

Zack loved his costume - he kept laughing and trying to figure out what was on his head. Zack stayed home with me and was my helper passing out candy to the trick or treaters, while Rich took Kade and Ty trick or treating.

Zack was thrilled to find the candy bowl and tried eatting a few pieces still in the wrapper - but gave up and started chewing on the bowl!

Ward Christmas Party Ideas!?

2008-10-27T07:13:00.000-07:00

We are in charge of our wards activities committee and are trying to come up with something for our Christmas Party this year. It is a family event and centered around the kids. We did a nice sit down ham/potatoes/salad dinner last year. Our ward is really big, there are over 100 primary aged kids, there is no stage in our gym which is pretty small and we get really good turn outs to events. Does anyone have any fun, great ideas for a ward party?? What have wards you've been in done before?? Any ideas would be great - Thanks

Extended Halloween

2008-10-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

MARIO and LUIGI

We are enjoying an extended Halloween this year. Grandma Madsen invited us to their wards Trunk or Treat on Saturday, so the boys got to get all dressed up in their Mario and Luigi costumes I made them and went trunk or treating, and then will get to do it all again this coming weekend for Halloween!

You can see in the picture above that I am pointing to the candy I think Ty should get - so I can eat it later!

Tag

2008-10-25T20:48:00.000-07:00

8's

8 favorite TV Shows:
1. Office
2. So you think you can Dance
3. The Hills
4. Gossip Girl
5. The Starter Wife
6. Privledged
7. Kath & Kim
8. Anything on HGTV

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Puerto Villarta
2. Costa Vida
3. Chili's
4. Jaker's
5. Rumbi Island Grill
6. Arby's
7. Red Robin
8. I wish I knew a good Sushi place

8 Things I Did Today
1. Woke up way too early thanks to
Kade and Ty
2. Ran on the treadmill
3. Made chili
4. went to a trunk or treat with kids
5. Set up for chili cook-off
6. Was in charge of chili cook-off
7. Ate chili and cleaned up after
8. Ate popcorn with a chaser of chocolate :) Nice ending to the busy day!

8 Things I look forward to
1. Sleeping tonight
2. My parents coming home
3. Christmas
4. Our 10 year anniversary cruise with our friends
5. Going to the production of Wicked (hopefully we can get tickets)
6. Eating carmel apples tomorrow
7. Kade's primary program tomorrow
8. The twilight movie

I'm tagging Jenni, Heidi, Rachel, Anne and Nicole!!

Belly Badges

2008-10-20T12:32:00.000-07:00

Kade and Ty are being Mario and Luigi for Halloween - these are the hats I made for them. They love them and they were so cheap and easy to make that I made a couple for the neighbor boys so they could all play mario and luigi together.

Kade and Ty were playing over at the neighbors house and came home with no shirts and marker drawn all over their bellies. When I asked them what was all over their stomachs Kade said, "It's a belly badge!" like I was crazy for not knowing that. I still wasn't sure what he meant and then he told me that they were pretending to be care bears and needed belly badges so they drew their own belly badges with markers on their stomachs.

Disneyland

2008-10-18T22:16:00.000-07:00

We have been counting down to this Disneyland trip for about a year and were so excited to go. My sister's family went with us and my parents were able to drive over from Phoenix to spend the week with us, which made our trip even better! Our flight was out of Salt Lake at 7am which had us getting up a lot earlier than we are used to. The boys did great on the flight but fell sound asleep as soon as we got in the rental car to drive to the hotel. We had a busy week planned which started out with 4 days at Disneyland but we broke up the days at Disneyland by going to Knott's Berry Farm for a day. We have so many fun pictures but here are some of my favorites.

Meeting Mickey Mouse

We played so hard all day long that Ty fell asleep in the middle of it all. This picture is waiting in line for the new Toy Story ride in California Adventure. Ty was so excited for this ride that we didn't want him to miss it. We woke him up just before getting on the ride and he LOVED it!! We all LOVED it! I think it was one of the favorites for all of us. We rode it two times in a row we loved it so much.

Kade, Luke and Braden in their 3D glasses for the new Toy Story ride - Midway Mania

Braden and Kade going into the ride. On this ride you shoot those little red and blue guns at targets on the 3D screens and it keeps track of your points. Rich's score was always at least 3x more than mine.

Ty and Grandpa Burnside riding the carousel

Grandpa loved to buy ice cream and treats for everyone in the afternoon, and we all loved eatting them :)

Kade was so excited to ride the Indiana Jones ride. He kept asking when we were going to ride it and wouldn't let up until he rode it.
The temperature while we were at Disneyland was in the mid 90s, so we would go over to California Adventure in the afternoons and watch the 3D shows and playhouse Disney shows and let the kids run around and play in the water to cool down.

It was so fun just taking Kade and Ty with us. It was sad being away from Zack for so long, but we really had a fun time with just the two boys and not having to worry about naps and bottles. We took Kade and Ty to Disneyland 3 years ago and it was so fun to see how different this trip was from the last one. Now that they are a little older it was fun to see them get so excited over things and being able to ride most of the rides together.

Swimming in the hotel pool was always the highlight at the end of the day - even if the water was cold.

Everyone sitting and waiting for the Disney parade. We loved the parades at Disneyland and California Adventure.

Kade loved seeing the characters - a little too much!! He would chase after them and pull on their shirts and almost tackle them. It was funny to watch but the characters didn't like it very much.

This picture pretty much sums up Ty's experience at Disneyland. He cried on most of the rides that I made him go on. If it was his idea - he loved the rides. But on some of the bigger rides he was not thrilled to be there and I was covering his mouth most of the time to muffle the screaming and crying. But usually after the ride was over he would say he liked it. There were a few that he still tells me he doesn't like. This is Rich's "I told you so" face. I think he thought I was torturing Ty by making him ride on the rides. But this is Ty's reaction to everything in life - he is very uncertain and nervous to new things until he tries them.

Knott's Berry Farm

2008-10-18T22:03:00.001-07:00

We spent a day at Knott's Berry Farm which is so fun. There are lots of big roller coaster rides for the adults, which I LOVE!!! The kids all loved Camp Snoopy, which has smaller rides for the kids. They had a Halloween treasure hunt for the kids with a map to follow and collect pieces of a pirate costume and candy. Kade wanted to ride a big roller coaster, Montazuma's Revenge, but he was just an inch too short so we stuffed socks in his shoes to make him a little taller. When we got up to the ride no one even checked his height and we walked right onto the ride.

Sea World

2008-10-18T21:31:00.000-07:00

We spent a full day at Sea World. It was a little overcast which made the temperature perfect for walking around all day.

Picking up the star fish at the Tide Pool. After we were done picking them up out of the water I saw a sign telling us to keep the star fish in the water so they can breath. Hopefully we didn't kill all the starfish he held.

The killer whale show is so fun to watch. It is so amazing to me how they can teach these killer whales to perform on command. They have pretty much taught them a form of sign language. The trainers will do hand signals to the whales and then point a certain direction and the whales go and jump or splash the audience or wave their fin. It is pretty amazing.

The last time we went - 3 years ago - there were only 2 killer whales in the show. Now they had 4 which was pretty impressive.

The dolphin show is fun and very impressive as well.

San Diego Zoo

2008-10-18T21:10:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning we went to the San Diego Zoo. We had to be back up to LA for our flight home at 5:30 so we only spent a couple hours at the zoo. We took a bus tour which was 35 minutes long and took you through 75% of the zoo, that is an ideal way for me to see a zoo!

Hannah, Braden, Luke and Kade waiting to load the bus

After the bus tour we took the "skyfari" across the park, a 4 min. ride, to see the polar bears

Braden, Ty and Hannah sitting on a polar bear statue

The polar bears were very active - swimming and pushing against the glass, playing with the little pink ball you see. They were very entertaining!

Ty watching the polar bears play around in the water.

3 column template

2008-10-15T22:15:00.000-07:00

I googled how to change my template to a 3 column template last night and after following some instructions on changing the code - VOILA! It actually worked. I am not too computer savvy so this was a big step for me in my blogging career.

From Sun to Snow!

2008-10-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

We spent all last week in sunny California and returned home to freezing cold weather and SNOW!!! I have so many pictures to go through and post and journal about each day, but here are a few to start.Meeting Mickey Mouse

To make our trip even better, my mom and dad took a week off from my mom's medical treatments to come spend it with us. They drove over from Phoenix and we loved spending the week with them.

While we were in California, Rich celebrated his 33rd birthday by going to Disneyland all day and then we all went to Red Robin to eat! Red Robin - YUM!

Zack Crawling

2008-10-01T07:32:00.000-07:00

Zack is officially crawling now - and into a lot more trouble! Now I need to baby proof the house.

Fall Favorites

2008-09-30T11:56:00.001-07:00

I love fall! I love the cooler temperature and the leaves changing color. I love fall smells - baked apple pie, spiced pumpkin - I don't like to eat any of those, just the smell of them. My favorite thing about fall is making caramel apples! Not just a plain caramel apple - it has to be a honeycrisp apple, dipped in caramel then dipped in white chocolate and then rolled in cinnamon and sugar. It is amazing! We made them last night for FHE and the picture is not the best and the apple didn't turn out very pretty - but I can tell you after eatting the whole thing that it tasted great!

Weekend with Friends

2008-09-29T13:55:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We had such a fun weekend with our friends up in Driggs. Driggs is the perfect place to be in the fall - it is so pretty!! We saw lots of moose walking around my parents yard and a group of deer. Other than getting the 24 hour flu bug Saturday night and throwing up - we had a great weekend and loved spending time with our friends.

Tender Heart, Oopsy, Grumpy!!!

2008-09-23T19:47:00.000-07:00

After having three boys I would have never guessed I would find myself breaking up a fight over who got to sleep with what Care Bear - well that is exactly what happened tonight. The whole care bear craze started a year ago when Kade got to bring home FunShine Bear from preschool for a couple days and then take back a paper all about him so everyone could get to know him. He and his best friend Benjamin who was also in his preschool class then became obsessed with care bears. They had to get their own care bears and they would play care bears everyday. So in the crazy care bear phase, Ty became obsessed too, and today he came bouncing out of preschool so excited because he got to bring home the coveted care bear - TenderHeart! But when it came time for bed, Kade started crying because he wanted to sleep with Tender Heart and Ty wouldn't let him. So that is where I had to step in and resolve the care bear crisis, which ended with Kade sleeping with Grumpy Bear and Ty's Oopsy Bear and Ty sleeping with Tender Heart!

Man Maids!!

2008-09-22T20:21:00.000-07:00

When ever I start folding laundry, or in this case just pull the baskets out, it is like an automatic attraction for my boys. They are playing in the clothes and the baskets and running through the piles of clothes I am folding. If only I could find a way to channel all that laundry energy into them folding the clothes and putting them away!! I am fine washing/drying the clothes, but as you can see by the multiple baskets - I HATE folding and putting them away!

Ty is anywhere and everywhere that Zack is - he is usually wrestling or squishing him or trying to get in the picture :)
Or in this case - in his crib with him! I was blow drying my hair and when I was done I heard Ty talking and playing but couldn't find him anywhere. Zack's door was still closed from his nap, but I peeked in and this is what I found!! Ty had heard Zack talking so he went in and decided to play in his crib with him.

I've been tagged

2008-09-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

10 YEARS AGO

1. I was a junior at Utah State

2. I was dating Rich and soon to be engaged

3. I was 20 years old and loving life

Today’s TO DO List:

1. RUN
2. Go to Kade's soccer game (he actually scored at the last one, then wouldn't run the rest of the game)
3. Go to the Parade of Homes
4. Clean the basement
5. Go to Sam's Club - Zack in completely out of formula!

6. Go to the Library for a new book to read

Fav Snacks

1. popcorn with a chaser of chocolate and caramel candy (milky way caramels are the best!)
2. right now - mini marshmellows (I have never really like marshmellows in my life, but zack eats them so I started to)
3. Almond M&Ms
4. chilled caramello candy bar

If I was a millionare:

1. Buy land and build a house
2. Pay for my mom's cancer treatments
3. TRAVEL!!!
4. Help others
5. I do like Rachel's idea of having a maid - that would be nice!!

I have lived in:

1. Driggs, ID
2. Logan, UT
3. Layton, UT
4. Holladay, UT
5. Clearfield, UT

6. Idaho Falls, ID

Jobs:

1. Basin Lumber - stocking shelves, sending statements and inventory (my dad owned the store!)
2. Cleaning hotel rooms - yuck! that didn't last too long
3. Working at the alpine slide in Jackson - too much fun!
4. Intelisys (data entry during college) - great job, great pay, easy work
5. many temp jobs while first married ( I did like doing loan reconveyances for Zions Bank)

6. Nanny - great job!!

7. primary feeder, bather, cleaner, educator and love giver to my 3 little boys and husband! (i stole that from my friend)

JACK POT

2008-09-10T14:00:00.000-07:00

We went to Leo's Place for lunch today with two of my sisters and their kids. After lunch and playing on the playground toys all the kids went down into the arcade. I gave kade some tokens and showed him how to play this pirate game. It is pure luck - you put in your token and hit start, the sword starts spinning so fast you can't judge when to strategically stop it and so you just hit the stop button and where the sword stops is how many tickets you get. There is one spot for 200 tickets. Kade hit 200 and was so excited when he saw all the tickets coming out. After playing some other games he went back to the pirate game and started playing again by himself and he hit 200 again!! Ty was thrilled when he got 45 tickets from the pirate sword spinning game.

This is the video of the second time Kade got 200 tickets!

Family Night at the Park

2008-09-10T09:19:00.000-07:00

For family home evening on Monday, we went for a long bike ride over to an elementary school to play on their playground. Kade and Ty were so excited to take Zack down the slide with them.

The boys loved this zip line, even though it sounds like Ty is not enjoying it so much. He kept coming back wanting to do it again.

Breakfast for Dinner - Outside!

2008-09-09T13:20:00.000-07:00

We were really spicing things up Friday night when we had breakfast for dinner outside! We had just been camping the weekend before and had forgotten how much we love breakfast on the camp chef. Rich set up the camp chef and we cooked our dinner outside Friday night. It was so yummy. The boys thought it was so fun to eat outside, even Benjamin, our neighbor joined us.

Ty's first day of preschool

2008-09-04T13:02:00.000-07:00

Ty started preschool yesterday. I was a little unsure about how he would handle it. I dropped him off and he was so excited and went right in without me. It is hard to tell how the day went - he has such a silly personality I can't get a serious answer out of him. I would ask him who he played with and he'd say, "I played with no one and then laugh." I would ask him if they cut with scissors and colored and he'd say "No, and laugh and then say, no means yes!" This is the same preschool Kade went to last year, so they are doing a lot of the same things. He seems to like it so far. There are a lot of kids from our neighborhood in his class.

Pictures of the boys

2008-09-03T21:58:00.000-07:00

Zack was the dress up doll for his cousins. They thought it was so funny to put their cabbage patch kids clothes on him. This police hat fit his head perfectly. The shoe he is chewing on was a little too small.

I found Kade and Ty cuddled up together like this watching a cartoon before Kade left for school

Kade and Zack had on the same outfit one day. That's what happens when Children's Place has their monster sale - the kids all end up with matching clothes. :)

Camping at Hebgen Lake

2008-09-02T18:06:00.000-07:00

Over Labor Day Weekend we went camping up by West Yellowstone, at Madison Arm camp ground on Hebgen Lake with some of Rich's Family. I LOVE going camping here, my family used to go here before I was married and it brings back so many fun memories. Our camp sites were overlooking the lake and even though the weather was suppose to be pretty yucky and cold - it actually worked out o.k. for us and was still a lot of fun. Rich's dad brought his ski boat and canoe. Saturday evening we all had a chance to ski or wakeboard and the water on this lake turns to pure glass in the evenings. I was very hesitant to get in even with the nice water because the sun was going down and it was getting cold. Rich went and then made me go put on swimsuit on and go . Even through the painful initial jump into the cold water, I am so glad I went. The water was absolute glass and smooth. It was SO , SO fun to ski on. I thanked Rich later for forcing me to get in! Oh how I love to waterski when the water is absolutely still and calm - there is nothing like it! :) Here are a few pictures of our camping trip - the boys were great and loved every minute of it.

A nice action shot of Rich showing off his skills with the ax!

Rich and Todd - taking the kids on a canoe ride.
The water behind Rich in the picture is
what the water looked like while I was skiing! Oh so NICE!

Some serious games of horseshoes
is a must while camping.

Fishing in the boat -
I don't think anyone ever caught a fish!

Zack and Ty playing in the tent
Ty and I were building sand castles,
while Zack was
busy eating sand!

The water trampoline didn't get used as much as we would have liked due to the weather - but the kids got to play on it for a little while.

Rich enjoying some dutch oven ribs and chicken wings.

Riding the Bus!

2008-08-29T07:41:00.001-07:00

Today was the first day Kade rode the bus to school. Thankfully the bus stop is right in front of our house so I could watch him from inside the house. :) There aren't many kindergarteners that get on at this stop, but his friend Rylan does so they stuck together and sat together on the bus. Kade was very excited to ride on the bus - I'm sure he loved it!

Ty was watching Kade get on the bus from his bed.

First Day of Kindergarten!!

2008-08-25T14:30:00.000-07:00

Kade had his first day of kindergarten today. He was so excited last night after Rich gave him a blessing. On his way down the hall to bed he told me that he felt really good after getting the blessing. :) Kade was very independent and not nervous at all to go. Most of the kids in his class are from our ward. Rich picked Kade up from school and we all went to lunch together. It is hard to believe I have a kid old enough to be in kindergarten.

Top of Utah 1/2 Marathon

2008-08-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

After 7 weeks of training it was finally the day for the 1/2 marathon. We ran in the race with Rich's sister Valerie and her husband Todd Johnson. We spent the night at my sister's house in Smithfield Friday night, she was going to watch our boys Saturday while we ran. We were bussed up Blacksmith Fork Canyon between 5:30 and 6:15am - it was still dark and cold outside. There were about 1200 people running in the race - which is a pretty impressive amount of people. The race started just after 7am, the temperature was great for running. It was a little chilly and overcast and we even had a breeze blowing from behind us on our way out of the canyon.

Not a glamour shot - this picture was taken just before crossing the finish line, as you can see I am very focused on the finish line! I wore a running belt that held my water bottle and jelly bellies with electrolytes. It may look silly but I was so glad I had it.

Rich and I after the race. Even though we didn't stay together while we ran - it was still fun to do the race together and train and work towards this goal together. Rich finished in 1 hour 55 minutes and I finished in 2 hours 5 minutes.

Since Rich and I were both running we didn't have our camera for a lot of pictures. Rich's brother and his wife were cheering us on at the finish line and took a couple pictures. My brother in law Todd got a bloody nipple from running in a cotton shirt and didn't reallze it until after the race. In this picture he has turned his shirt around to try to hide the bloody mess.

Zack Laughing

2008-08-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a little clip of Zack laughing - he has such a funny laugh and it just makes you smile hearing him laugh!

Family Night

2008-08-18T19:27:00.000-07:00

Last week for family home evening we went with one of our neighbors to the Idaho Falls Temple visitor center that has recently been redone. It was really nice - the boys didn't sit very well through the Together Forever video - they were more interesting in making shadow puppets on the wall than watching the movie. The visitor center looked very nice and had a lot of new displays, it was fun to go.

Although this picture may look like they are hugging - it was actually taken just before Kade picked Ty up and they wanted to start wrestling.

After the visitor center we went and got snow cones and walked along the river. It was a great night.

He's riding on 2 wheels!!

2008-08-13T13:52:00.000-07:00

On Monday Ty was riding the exercise bike while I was running on the treadmill - he can pedal pretty fast on it. The rest of the day he kept asking for a bigger bike to ride, his is so tiny and has training wheels that are worn down to almost nothing. So Tuesday evening we went over to the church parking lot and took off the training wheels. After about 30 minutes he was riding up and down the side walk in front of our house. He is still a little shaky and when he gets nervous he puts his feet down but he does pretty good. Today he was learning to start on his own with out me holding the bike, he did it a few times.

Reed's Dairy Family Day

2008-08-11T09:43:00.000-07:00

Saturday was Family Day at Reed's Dairy. The kids love going to it. There is a little petting zoo, horse rides, wagon rides out through the stinky cows, tours of the milk plant, clowns with balloons, fiddle players, a BBQ lunch and ice cream.

Rich had just finished running 13 miles right before we went to Reed's Dairy. He was exhausted and it looks like he is about to drop Zack in this picture - Zack doesn't seem to mind though!

Here we all are on the horse pulled wagon ride.

The ice cream is always the favorite part - Zack is trying to take Ty's ice cream from him :)

Kade was strategically licking his strawberry ice cream - savoring every lick!

Zack

2008-08-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

Zack is 7 1/2 months old now and so much fun!! He is the most content and happy baby. He is always trying to make eye contact with you and then he will start kicking and smiling and want to play. He loves Kade and Ty and is always trying to watch them. We love this little guy - he is so much fun and keeps us all entertained.

Triathlon

2008-08-09T08:30:00.000-07:00

Kade and his cousin Riley participated in a kids triathlon this morning. It was so much fun, they had a great time and are excited about doing it again next year. Ty really wanted to do it, and we should have let him . There were kids on tricycles and the parents are right there next to them the whole time if they want to be. Next year Ty will do it as well. The time results they send to us by email says that Riley took 3rd in her age division for girls and Kade took 2nd in his age division for boys.Just after check in and getting their numbers on them. Kade was 144 and Riley 143

Kade and Riley's bike station where they dry off a little after swimming and put on their shoes and helmet to start the biking section. Rich is explaining to Kade where he rides his bike.

Kade waiting to start the race, we was an animal on the swim!

Kade passed a few people on the bike with his speedy riding :) This is his favorite this to do - swimming is a close second.

Running - not so much a favorite of Kade's - but he did great! He stopped and walked for just a little bit and then continued running the rest of the way.

Hooray for the finish line! It was cute - they actually had a big inflatable arch that they ran under for the finish line. They made this race very professional.

Everyone got a metal at the end

Kade and Riley after the race!!

Good Grief!!

2008-08-07T21:13:00.000-07:00

I had So you think you can dance finale recorded, and after the kids went to bed began watching. I loved the finale, I thought it was fun to see the crazy judges dance, and I loved seeing past contestants come back and dance. Most of the judges picks for favorite dances were dances I loved and it was fun to watch them again. The only problem was when it got down to the final two - Josh and Twitch were standing there all nervous waiting for Cat to open the envelope and announce the winner and then BAM the recording ends. I was going crazy - I kept trying to go back thinking this can't really be happening. ARGH!! After searching on the internet for a good 20 minutes I have finally found out that Joshua won! Not quite as intense or exciting as watching it on tv, but at least I found out who won. When it got down to the final 3 - it could have really been any one of them for me. I loved all 3 of them. Way to go Joshua!

So Much FUN!

2008-08-04T09:54:00.000-07:00

After playing on the slide from 1:30 - 7:30 we came in and put the kids to bed so we could play Rock Band!! Here were are rocking out to Metallica - Sandman. Yes I am the singer - and if you know me you can probably guess it didn't sound pretty! But it was a lot of fun! Our band was named Scabby Nipples in honor of Rich - who had scabby nipples from his 13 mile run a few days before!

We didn't want to stop partying to eat dinner - so we ordered pizza and had it delivered to our backyard. After a lot of persuasion, the pizza boy declined taking a turn on the slide, even though you could tell he really wanted to try it.

Sliding down together into the freezing cold water!

Everyone lounging and enjoying the sun/shade and being together. Even though we moved over a year ago, we have kept in touch and it still feels very comfortable and smooth when we get together. I have the greatest friends!!

THE SLIDE

2008-08-04T07:35:00.000-07:00

I couldn't get any more pictures to upload for some reason - but I think I got a few videos to upload. This was a surprise for our friends. They drove up from Utah on Friday morning and we had this set up and waiting for them in our backyard. I think the adults played on it more than the kids - it was SO fun! I am sure we broke every rule that came with it - but luckily no one got hurt. What a great day!

Boating

2008-08-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

Argh! For some reason it won't let me continue to post pictures or videos so the weekend of events will probably have to come in more than one post. On Saturday we went to the lake with our wonderful friends who came up from Utah. It was a windy day - so not a lot of water activity, but we still had a great time. We did a little tubing and our friend knee boarded, but it was still fun to be outside, go for boat rides, play in the sand , have a picnic lunch and be all together.

Surfs Up

2008-08-01T07:32:00.000-07:00

We had our annual Elders Quorum waterskiing party last night. It is for adults only - which is always nice to have a night out from the kids. We all met up at Blacktail at 6pm for a picnic dinner and then everyone split off between the 4 boats there. On our way out our driver said he left his ski home. He had tons of wakeboards and a surf board - but NO ski, since no one ever uses it!!! The water was so nice and he talked me into trying to surf. I watched a guy do it before I tried and it didn't look that exciting or fun, but I was a good sport and gave it a try. After 3 trys and not getting up I had them throw me the wakeboard. It has been years since I have wakeboarded. But I got right up and crossed back and forth across the wake wishing I was skiing the whole time - the water was so perfect! After catching an edge and face planting I quickly remembered why I am not such a fan of wakeboarding and prefer waterskiing. Our driver was very nice and flagged down two other boats from our ward and found me a ski. It was about half the length I am used to skiing on, but it was a ski! The boat full of people we got the ski from all stayed to watch me get up because most of the people in the boat had never seen someone get up on one ski - everyone wakeboards now! I am sure they had an excellent view of my butt - but I got up and skiied and it felt great! Rich skiied and wakeboarded. We were out of the water until almost 10pm. Thankfully the boat we were in had a hot water shower hose and a heater which I sat by once the sun went down. We had so much fun! What a great activity.

Memories

2008-07-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

So I got this off a friends blog so I thought I would try it because it could be super fun.

1. Leave a comment with a memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and read friends' memories of you. If you leave a memory for me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll do the same for you. If you don't have a blog (shame on you!!), I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.
This should be fun.

Pier Opening

2008-07-27T07:41:00.000-07:00

The Snake River Landing project had the grand opening of the pier, pictured below, yesterday. The pier is so pretty. It goes out over the water and has benches and flowers. All the building being built around it could make this place really fun! It looks like it is going to be like the Gateway in Salt Lake. Iggy's Sport Bar is the only thing located there right now. The Hard Hat Cafe is being built. Hopefully we get some more good restaurants and fun shopping there. At the grand opening celebration the kids got spiderman and spongebob popsicles.

Zack kicking back and enjoying a stroller ride.

Kade and Ty taking a little train ride

The inflatables, as always, were a big hit. This is the first time Ty has actually dared climb up - and he LOVED it!