Rain

I love the rain and it is raining today. I love the smell outside when it starts to rain and the sound of the water gushing by the front door (we don't have gutters here in Arizona so the rain puddles right outside the front door!)

I decided that I needed to go to the mall in Scottsdale to get Paige her Christmas stocking from here so she could match the rest of the family. And the closest store is about an hour away. So the kids and I made a day of it, we got our lunch made and then headed out. It started to rain on the way so it took a little extra time but we got there parked ate our lunch and went shopping. It is always amazing to me how many people comment about shopping with 3 kids. Of course I had Kylie and Paige strapped in the stroller and Tanner did a pretty good job of holding on and not wandering too far from me. It was a pretty productive trip and I was quite pleased with myself that I made it without any castrophies. Paige was so good, except we had a blowout and I didn't realize it until I picked her up and put her in the carseat. I had to change her before the long drive home sorry for the car that was waiting for my parking space!

Saturday we went shopping again, we had to get some presents for the party that we were going to that night, and take back some prior purchases that we decided not to keep. And of course we had to make our weekly Sam's club lunch date! We always have lunch at Sam's which consists of hot dogs, pizza, and the blue drinks. This week since the kids have been sick we got everyone their own drinks. We haven't spilled but for some reason we had trouble today. Kylie dropped her whole cup and spilled her entire drink all over the floor, and then Tanner dumped part of his on his pants. We went to Old Navy and I got the kids some new clothes for Christmas. Then we went home and got ready for the party. I finally had found a baby sitter after I swear 10 tries. I was excited for a night without the kids. Tanner kept asking me when his girl friend was coming that was pretty cute although she was a bit too old for him!

We had a great time at the party talking with friends and the food, and of course the gift exchange. We play the game that you can take a gift 2 times after it has been opened, and it always makes the night interesting and fun. My gift was stolen a few times, but ended up loving what I got! The best part of the evening is coming home to a clean house and kids that are sleeping!

Here is a picture of Paige and her new favorite past time....

I am grateful for..

Family....I had so much fun this past week. We had Jason's parents and two of his brothers and their families in town for the holiday. And can I say 3 two year olds that means trouble! I was worried that they might not get along but I think that maybe they got along too well because they.... got in makeup

trouble

More trouble

It was a house full but I wouldn't want it any other way. They came in early Wednesday morning and left Sunday afternoon. On Wednesday we baked 6 pumpkin pies a cherry (for me!) and apple pie. We got all the 3 salads done, and I even made taco soup for dinner. Thanks to all the help of my mother in law and sister in law! I was feeling pretty good. Thursday morning I woke up and went to get the turkey ready to put in the oven and found that it had leaked all over the fridge.....yuck! We got the turkey in and I got making the rolls and then all the last minute preparations. I think that it turned out well and hope everyone else did too!

After dinner, we needed something for the kids to do so Jason and his brother Mark took them to the pool and went swimming. I never would have thought we would be swimming on Thanksgiving, but it was warm enough thanks to the pool heater!

Jason went and played football with his brother and some guys from the ward, and on the way home he was supposed to pick up a paper so we could see the ads. Let's just say I won't have him do that again, he got the wrong paper and so all the girls went to try to find a paper while the turkey was cooking and the guys had the kids at the park. We went to 3 different stores and finally got some at Walgreens. We had to look at the ads and plan for the next day's adventures. I have never been shopping the morning after Thanksgiving so I didn't know what I was in for. And lets just say it was an adventure don't know if I will do it again, but I did get some Christmas shopping done. Someone actually tried to take something from my cart, luckily Randa (my sister in law) was there to make sure they didn't grab it!

We tried to go to the mall on Saturday but decided that we didn't want to fight all the people and we couldn't even get a parking space. So we headed out to Cabela's and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't all that busy. We let the men walk around and look at the guy stuff and we took the kids to see the fish, and the animals. Next stop was Costco, my sister in law April had a costco card so we went and shopped there. I was able to get Kylie and Tanner a gift each there. So I did have a pretty successful day shopping wise.

Saturday we ended up going to Home Depot where we looked at the beadboard and crown molding....future projects and Jason got some things for our outdoor lighting. I think we ended that night playing Scene It, the game about movies. The girls beat the guys, and I don't think they liked it too much. Oh well, I don't think we'll play that movie anytime soon.

Sunday morning I got up at 5:30 and got ready for church, it ended up being that I didn't need to get up that early because I was the only one to go. I taught the lesson in Beehives so Paige and I went to churchand I actually was able to enjoy the meetings because I wasn't wrestling with kids. We got home and I made cookies and had lunch and then everyone left to go back to California. Tanner was so cute he and his cousin Landrie packed his bags so he could go with them. I told him that I needed him to be home with me and he said no you don't mom I just want to go to California. I talked him out of going by telling him we could put up the Christmas tree!

Love this picture of Jason's dad the glasses are perfect for him!

Flowers

I love flowers I don't have one specific kind that I love they are all so pretty. But on the top of my list is Gerber daisies. When we lived in California we went to Half Moon Bay I think the Pumpkin Festival and on the way home stopped at one of the farms. We looked around and they had flowers and so I picked out some Gerber Daisies. I love the colors and how they just seem happy. We just had Young Women in Excellence tonight and our theme was Bloom. Wish I could take credit for coming up with such a great ideas but Erin came up with it. She is amazing; so talented and I am in awe that she does all that she does. I love working with such amazing people, I have learned so much by serving in this calling. Each of the parents of the girls came up with a flower that they thought represented their daughter. It turned out so nice!

Paige was laughing so hard at Kylie yesterday and then Kylie started laughing too. I love little moments like that. Paige loves her brother and sister she'll watch them and she will stare. She likes to see everything that is going on she doesn't want to be left out.

We have been playing a lot of hide and go seek lately. It's the kids favorite game although I don't think that they quite get the idea of being quiet. Tanner will go and hide and start laughing and making noises so that we can find him really fast. His new favorite hiding spot is the hall linen closet.

Kylie calls Tanner "Tatter"...today I heard him say "Kylie my name isn't Tatter it's Tanner!!" Thought that was funny.

No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed!!!

This is what happens when you jump on the bed.......and that is with 15 minutes of ice! Bonus bedtime postponed for 2 hours!

Halloween

We had a great Halloween. Kylie loved it once she figured out all she had to say was trick or treat and she could get candy. Her goody bag was so full I am surprised that she could even carry it. Tanner was ready to go home pretty quickly. We went to the trunk or treat at our church. It was a good turnout...lots of people and a lot of fun. I think that we even managed to get the fire department to the church. The Haunted House triggered the fire alarm.

Kylie was Ariel Princess, Tanner was Lightning McQueen and Paige was Flounder. I know Flounder is a boy, but thought it would be cute to have both so we did.

Classic Kylie

Tired

I hate it when I am so tired. I woke up this morning at 5:00 to Kylie crying. I went into her room and I couldn't find her. She sounded muffled so I looked under her bed and there she was! I don't know why or how she was under there but she was. Instead of falling asleep in her bed she came to ours, that is always a mistake though because she is a crazy sleeper. She always ends up kicking either Jason or me in the head. I got up and was ready to go back to sleep. So needless to say I didn't do much today except frost sugar cookies! That was fun, the kids had a good time cutting out the cookies and also frosting them. I remember my mom always used to make us sugar cookies for our classes for Halloween. She always had them decorated so cute and did so many of them. I get tired of frosting them after 2 batches, and they don't look all that cute!! I think that Tanner and Kylie had fun though and that is really all that matters. We went to the park and let the kids play for an hour or so it's finally not so hot. We are enjoying the open windows and fresh air!

Yesterday we had a busy day, I made the dough for the sugar cookies, and then I made bread. I love the smell of fresh baked bread. One of my favorites is warm bread with butter melted on it with honey. We downed a whole loaf at dinner, because it was so good! I guess I wasn't all that busy it just seemed that way because I was baking all day. We did get to carve our pumpkins. Tanner had so much fun! He loved carving it and helped dad make the ears he was so funny!

Kylie was interested for about 10 seconds and then didn't like the fact that her hands were going to get dirty. So she left me to carve the pumpkin myself, Paige decided that she was going to scream, and after a valiant effort from Jason I had to save him and take her. She finally quieted down. So about an hour after we started the whole pumpkin carving event, I finished and I was so not into it anymore that I just finished it, nothing fancy or cute about it, just wanted it done. It's not letting me post a picture and I am too tired to try to figure it out so I will do it later!

Coyotes, roadrunners....

So we can now add a coyote and a roadrunner to the list of visitors to our house. Last Saturday I was putting laundry away in Tanner's room and I looked out the window and thought nice dog...there is a coyote in our yard! I'm sure that it has happened to others but I was quite shocked and yelled at Jason, who then took off outside to scare it away. Well about 10 minutes later I hear him yelling at me and guess who was back!? Well he had come back for his dinner which consisted of a rabbit which Jason scared out of him and it was dumped in our yard. Jason was watching the baseball game and saw it walking across the fence line. I didn't realize that they could jump so high. I didn't get a picture of it, sorry. Well just Friday Jason yelled at me to get the camera, and there was a road runner walking across the fence line. I did get a picture this time!

Let's see this past week has been pretty busy doing what I don't know! But we did go to a rest home with the MOM's club I am part of. The kids got to wear their Halloween costume's and go on a costume parade for the people there. I had a great time with the YW at church on Wednesday the girls put together personal progress binders and then we played a game at the end. It was so much fun! We played the same game when our ward had just been created and there were only about 10-15 girls there. This past week we had a huge circle of about 30 people! It's amazing how much we have grown.

One day Tanner decided he was hungry and helped himself to the cheese.......

Let's see Kylie is Kylie and loves to dance to Mermaid in the study, she also likes to put on her glasses here is a picture of her.

On Saturday we went to our subdivision Harvest Festival. It didn't really feel like fall due to the almost 100 degree weather but the kids had fun. Tanner loved the gourd bowling, and the sack racing. Funny story he finished his race and took the sack off and his shorts had fallen down! I guess it's probably not that embarrassing when you are only 3 1/2! I thought it was really funny. He was so excited to get his face painted. I thought he would want a ball, or superman, no he chose a snake, and one that went over his entire face! Oh well he thought it was pretty cool. We thought for sure Kylie would want to get her face painted too because there was mermaid. She really didn't like the idea too much!

I am extremely proud of Tanner, he is potty trained! And not only that he can get through the night without an accident. I thought the day would never come...now we have to work on Kylie but 2 sets of diapers is better than 3!!