*cough* *hack* *ache*

Our whole family has the flu. And by family, yes even Brenna, and no, not Jeff. I don't know how he gets out of these things but he just never gets sick. Ryan started us off with it Sunday morning and Kevin, Brenna, and I followed on Tuesday. Most of the fevers are gone and we're hacking away.

Jeff has left for the weekend with all the guys in the family for Vegas. They are going to see the BYU game. LUCKY!! Actually I'm more jealous that he's not sick. =) So I'm stuck here at home with sick kids and it's makes me really wonder if I want more kids. Yeah, it all seems sunshine and good times when the kids are healthy and obedient, but when sickness come to call (especially when I'm hit with it too) I feel like I have 3 kids too many. haha

Luckily I have some great neighbors and my mother-in-law who do grocery drop-offs and entertain the healthier kids while I grab a nap. I just hope we get better by Tues.
On a happier note, there's a good chance that we'll have snow on Christmas Eve!! I've never had that happen so I'm excited.

Pass the Sprite

So growing up eggnog has been a fun Christmas treat. Granted my mom always passed on it. The whole idea of it grossed her out.

When I came to Utah I realized they have this weird idea of adding a thinner to it. Good 'ole Sprite. Now I have tried it and it's not bad, the fizz is kind of nice. But you lose a lot on the way it goes down nice and thick and creamy. So in my family we drink it plain.

My poll to you all out there is on the right. How do you take your nog?

Go Cougs!!!

I finally got some pics of Jeff and me at a BYU game. We got season tickets this year and it was so fun. With the BYU/UofU game being best of course. My voice was hoarse by the end. Kari, Stacy, Loralee, does my shirt bring back memories??? =)

Here Comes Santa ... in a Fire Truck

Our little town is just so cute. The Monday after Thanksgiving Santa has a quick ride down Main Street in the fire truck with the lights and sirens going. As he gets out of the truck we have a count down and light the city tree. Then Santa meets with the kids and hands out candy canes. How cute is that!!

Annual Christmas Trip

So every year we go out to dinner and look at Christmas lights with Jeff's family. We've done the Temple Square lights and the drive through ones down in Spanish Fork (my personal favorite since you can stay nice and warm in the car).


This year we had a great surprise. Like our ride!?

It holds 14 so no one else get married or have babies!! Jeff likes this ride for our 12 kids down the road. I love the 5 car seats all next to each other.





We had 6 kids and 8 adults! We stopped and had dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Delicious!!!!!!! And the kids behave pretty well.




Ryan in green and Kevin in red. The boys were mostly interested in the Christos this year. I love Temple Square but the lights aren't what they used to be so the boys were done pretty fast with being outside. We had a quick stop inside to look at the statue and then left for home.



Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

New Pics

So I finally braved it, and got the kids in for pictures. You probably can't tell, but Brenna was crying most of the time. She wouldn't smile in the group shot for anything. So we settled for a picture that didn't have a huge scowl. =) The boys were awesome and help up well. Near the end when the photographer was really trying hard to coax a smile out of Brenna, Ryan had a locked smile on his face, and through clenched teeth said, ever so politely, "Just take the picture."

My mother-in-law took the boys for a stroll through the mall so I could work on Brenna's singles. Wouldn't you know, as soon as I got her naked she was happy as a bug. So we'd take her picture in one outfit then I strip her down and let her chill for a minute before dressing her again. That would give me 3 minutes before she'd cloud up. I was so glad when that day was done!

This is the dress that we blessed Brenna in. It's also the dress that I was blessed in. Sweet, huh?

Thanksgiving food

This is mostly a reminder for me so I remember what foods I made and how much work it was! haha Well, it wasn't that bad. =)









Great-Grandma Helen
Aunt Marta did a great job on the napkins. =)






Here's my clean up crew.

Happy Thanksgiving!

So before I crash for the day, just wanted to wish all of you a Happy Thankgiving and let you all know how grateful I am for your friendships!

I pulled off my first Thanksgiving today for 12 people (yes, I did include Brenna). I had some great help from my mom (thanks, mom, otherwise we would have had a lot of COLD sides). I don't know how people do it without more than one stove or by themselves and keep all the food hot! But nothing burned, it all tasted yummy, and my fridge is bulging from leftovers. Which mean: let's go out to eat tomorrow!

ps good luck to any of you 5 am shoppers and remember: I got here first, saw it first, so hand the toy over! j/k

Leap Frog What?

I'm looking into getting Ryan a Leap Frog Learning System for Christmas but I'm so confused. There's seams to be a Leap Frog Pad, a Pad Plus, a Pad Writing, a Leapster, etc. Does anyone know anything about these and what would be best for a 4 year old?

Plus I just read on CNN that they are recalling AquaDots! I'm so sad since I had gotten them for Ryan for Christmas. Oh, well, back to Costco.

Say what??!

So Ryan has come up with a bunch of interesting topics today....

We're driving in the car, when Ryan asks:

"Mom, can I eat people?"

"No!"

"Even if they are a stranger?"

"Of course not!"

"What if someone takes me and Kevin away and we bite him so hard that we accidentally bite him in half. THEN, can we eat him?" (I've told Ryan to scream and bite if someone tries to grab them)

I then proceeded to try to explain how people meat isn't good for us and how we should respect our bodies that Heavenly Father has given us. That led to talking about funerals, since Ryan had to know what we would do with the body once he had bitten it in half. Which in turn led to talking a bit about death and how it wouldn't happen to him or me for a very, very, very, very-times -3000-days-long time. Which then led to this statement:

"Mom, the day before you die, you will die tomorrow."

"Umm, yes."

Birthday Week

So I had my "birthday week" this week and it was awesome. The birthday week idea is from my sister-in-law Jamie. She is all about stretching the fun out. I wouldn't be surprised if she tried pushing for the "birthday month." Well, I'm now 27 and still feeling like I'm way too young to have a 4 year old and 3 kids. I am just babysitting, right?

Saturday was great. A day that's pretty tough to top. I had a massage in the morning and a hair cut in the afternoon. Nothing drastic, just a trim and lots of layers added. But I bought my first round brush and after 1 1/2 hours on Sunday trying to recreate the proper look I have to give props to all of you out there that know how to use one. I actually scratched my face with the darn bristles and worn my arm out. My other sister-in-law Trisha has promised to give me lessons.

Then to top off the day, I went to Costco sans kids! Seriously, as a lot of you know, I LOVE COSTCO!!!! If you ever come to our house you'll see that our house is made from Costco. And they have the BEST return policy (that's for you Asialene). So I got to browse the isles without chasing down kids or hearing my sweet hunny asking if "we're done yet." And I got out of there under $100. (My secret fantasy is to go to Costco some day and spend $10,000. Trust me, I could do it.)

Halloween Party

Roxy threw a surprise birthday party for her hubby, Steve. It was a lot of fun since they rented out a bowling alley. There was yummy chow and games. We were supposed to dress up. I was going to but Jeff said he wasn't. So I just had the kids wear their stuff. Then as we are walking out the door, Jeff grabs his 7-Eleven costume and teases me about not being dressed up. Auuggghhh!!
Me and my sister, Ciara.















Kevin is a rooster and Ryan is an ER doctor. At least they were for about 2 minutes at the party before the costumes came off.


Ryan loves to play doctor so I figured it would be a great investment as a Halloween costume. Here, Brenna is getting her checkup and received a clean bill of health.

When Papa and Daddy are in charge of hair...

Just in case you didn't catch it in the first picture...

Ta-Dah

Only 2 months old and already my daughter is trying to get naked. I found her this way one morning. I heard her grunting and talking and then a big shriek. I was pretty impressed since she had her gown on and was burrito wrapped when I last laid her down (around 4 in the morning).

So Serious

All of these updates go out to my mom. She hasn't seen Brenna in a month now and is agonizing over how much Brenna must be changing.

Intro to technology

Jeff and I were hanging out in our bed, when we heard some whispers and beeping. Jeff leaned over the bed and saw this cute scene so I quietly got the camera and gave it to him. Guess Ryan thinks Brenna's old enough to learn about the wonders of cell phones.

Tagged!

I have been tagged by the Lathamites (Dave).

The rules:

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.

B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.

C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I have a MAJOR phobia of the toilet. We have a rule in the house, if something falls in the toilet, it WILL be flushed away. I don't care that it's your favorite toy car! I used to deal with this phobia by avoiding the toilet and only cleaning it when I absolutely had to. Now with small children in the house who actually TOUCH the toilet, I deal with it by cleaning them everyday!

2. I love scary movies but I have to iron while I watch them. That way, when things start getting too intense I can focus on a wrinkle. Making the pshhhhh sound with the iron helps distract me too.

3. I hate the sensation of being numb. I'm always afraid that I won't ever get my feeling back. Because of that I'll do anything to avoid getting numbed up including: delivering babies without an epidural and having my teeth drilled on without drugs.

4. I have a crush on Rooney Doodle. 'Nuff said. (Must have small children in house to get this one)

5. I love to eat mayonnaise. And no, I don't mean things with mayonnaise in them. Just mayo straight up....hold the rocks. I've had a thing for mayo since my early days, but now that I'm older and more health conscience, I have to be satisfied with just licking the spoon after I've made a bowl of tuna. ps Miracle Whip is NOT mayonnaise!

6. I'm still afraid of the dark. When Jeff is gone, I try really hard not to think about it since I have to be the grown-up with the kids. But otherwise, I try to make Jeff be the one to turn the lights out. And when I'm turning them off downstairs, I always run up the stairs fast so nothing can grab my legs in the dark.

6 things you may not have know about good ole Al. Enjoy! I now tag: the Masseys, Christy, Roxy, Julie, Ruby, and Alison

My day today...

No, I didn't do housework, I didn't watch the kids as well as I should have, I didn't buy groceries, or do any other normal day stuff. I got to program today! My brother-in-law is taking programming classes at BYU and needed some help in one of them (CS 235 for those of you in the know). It was pretty fun, in a nerdy way, and nice to know that some of my brain cells are still running. Now it's almost 5 and I have to get dinner and make it look like I did other things today. =)

Happy Birthday to Google!

K, I'm a total nerd.....but I LOVE to google things. I'm talking about medical questions to party ideas to history. I even googled "how to clean your dishwasher." Granted, I was mega nesting that day when I was pregnant. What's the craziest thing you've ever googled? Anyways, happy 9th birthday to Google!

Pictures at home

I'm trying to take some singles of Brenna but Kevin had to join the fun. Then Ryan had to get into the action also. I think that Brenna has her eyes opened wide enough for the three of them! She's finally starting to crack some smiles too. Wahoo!
Gotta love that cheesiness!

Super Powers

Here's the boys wearing their "super power necklaces." (They're the treds off a bulldozer toy) They wear them around their necks, heads, and wrists to give them super strength. I hope the necklaces are manly enough for Jeff.

Ryan started preschool

Ryan started preschool this year. Definately strange that I have a 4 year old. He was so excited to finally use his Diego backpack. When we were heading out the door Ryan was trying to give me kisses. I kept telling him "No, no, I'm taking you to school. I'm going with you." He looked at me really seriously and said "Yes, but then I'll be gone for super lots of time and you will miss me." Very true.

When I dropped him off and watched him walk into his class I cried and thought how my baby was too little for school and how I wished he would stay home forever. Of course, when it was time to pick him up, I wondered where the time had gone and wished I had more.

Say no to crack

So are you ready for the funniest story ever?! I'm at the library with Kevin standing in line to check out our books. I suddenly realize that Kevin's not next to me and look around. Lined up against the far wall are a row of computers. Sitting at one of them is a high school girl wearing the lowest low-rise jeans you could imagine. So yes, she is showing off her crack. And looking at that crack with utmost interest is my curious Kevin. He walks right up behind her and dipsticks her!!! That girl shot up off her chair and started tugging her shirt down as hard and as fast as she could. She must have been really embarrassed since she never turned around. And Kevin walks back to me quite pleased with himself. That should teach her. =)

The many adventures of Kevin

Who knew that being 2 could be so exciting. Kevin WILL get into anything: flour, brown sugar, furniture, cocoa...

Pics of boys

So for all of you who haven't seen us in a while here's some pics of the boys. These were taken last Thanksgiving so we are way overdue to get new ones, especially since we now have Brenna. I'm just dreading the idea of dragging 3 kids to pictures. Auugghh!!

I finally did it!!

K, I'm a computer graduate and I didn't even have a blog. What's wrong with that picture. So here I am! (A shout out to Christy for giving me the push I needed)