Red C Chronicles

A Message from Santa

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:42:00 +0000

If you want your children to experience some of the magic of Christmas, visit this website: http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/

Santa sent David a special message. He beams every time he watches it. I think Santa is working on a message for the other kids, too.

Our Gingerbread Family

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 04:01:00 +0000

If a picture is worth a thousand words...

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:35:00 +0000

then this post won't be as long as it would have been if I had charged batteries in my camera on the day of the following excursion:

We went to the Provo Tabernacle last Friday night with Rob and Camille. They had a live Nativity. There was a set painted to resemble Bethlehem, and they had people acting out the scenes as the story was read from the Bible (this was all indoors). It was sweet (as in tender, not awesome) to be reminded of the reason for the season and to hear and sing the Christmas hymns. After it was over our family posed in front of the Bethlehem scene for a photo. This was when we discovered that our batteries were no good. We headed outside to see the animals. They had 2 sheep, a llama and a donkey. The kids were able to pet the animals (I was really bummed about my camera, but not as bummed as I was about to become). The llama got loose and made a run for it. He didn't make it too far. A bunch of people (including some from our group) made a human fence around him and corralled him back to the petting zoo area. After all that excitement we went to get a bite to eat (after thoroughly washing our hands). It was a night of good company, good activities and good food. (The perfect holiday outing.)

Festival of Trees (I Spy style)

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:30:00 +0000

Since 99% of my good ideas are borrowed, I know I borrowed this from someone (Maleen, possibly?). On our way up to Festival of Trees, the kids and I listed some things that we thought would be unlikely to see as a tree decoration. This outing was perfectly timed. Rylee was clogging, so we were able to support her, have cousins to enjoy the outing with, and have a few extra sets of hands to help with Brig. Here are some of the things on our list that we found. It was very exciting when we saw something on our I Spy list.

Pig

Football
Soccer ball and Baseball
ClownsAngel (this one was pretty much a given, but it was still exciting to find it):Spiderman:We never did find Olivia's hamburger, but we did find this tree. We counted it.We also saw something that wasn't on our list. A Josh! (my nephew)
Here are some other trees that I thought were fun:
Check out who is on the tippy top of Santa's "nice" list. He was elated! I think this more than made up for all the times my kids have browsed the personalized pencil/key chain section to find all the names except Warren.

It is always sobering to see all the photos of the people who are being honored. It tugs at my heartstrings and reminds me that each day counts. (That last sentence will make the next paragraph seem very ironic. Oh well. Here I go.) I will admit that I grew very weary of saying, "Get up off the floor" (they were tagging each other Mini Mode style), "Stop chasing each other", "Watch where you're going", "Please stop running" "Stop bugging each other" and then on the ride home, "Please be kind", "If you can't say somethin' nice, don't say nothin' at all". I was about to yell, "I'm trying to make fun memories, now will you please knock it off!" Instead, I cranked up Christmas music in the van loud enough that they couldn't hear each other's insults and I couldn't hear the arguing or the tattling. It worked, because after not too long, I turned around to see them like this: (don't worry. I was stopped at a red light with no other cars when I took these photos. The one of Brig I took as I was getting him out of the car)

Doesn't it look like they like each other? Minutes before this was taken they were both in tears.

I will still call this outing a success. I know that it's normal for siblings to bicker occasionally. If we waited for our kids to be best friends to go on outings, we would be hermits. I know that they love each other, even if they don't always show it. I hope that when they grow up, they will remember happy times sprinkled in with the less than ideal.

I can't wait for the 2010 version of I Spy. I'm already working on my list...

Holiday Cheer

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:12:00 +0000

I can't believe the Christmas season is in full swing! This year I am trying to give my family the gift of memories.

On Monday night, Jodi invited us down to her house for a joint Family Home Evening (Rob's family and Renae's family were there as well). Sean gave the lesson and we made graham cracker houses. The kids all had fun creating their masterpieces. Olivia went the non-traditional route and constructed a graham cracker theater (complete with reclining seats and a big screen) instead of a house. Sean and Warren were surprisingly detail oriented with their houses, and David just enjoyed being around all the sugar! Every time he spotted a new type of candy he said, "I didn't get one of those" and put it on his house. He had every single kind of candy available on his house (and did plenty of sampling).

The following images were borrowed from Jodi's blog. I didn't have my camera with me.

LivSean

Warren

David

Tanner and Eric

Michelle

Rylee (Poor Ry. She tried so hard to have a fancy roof. It was just not meant to be)

Kirsten

Kamryn

Lexi

Coleman

The Whole Gang deep in concentration:

My intention was to line up our houses once we got them home to take a photo of all of them together. Mine was the only house that made it home in one piece. Darin was busy admiring some festive lights on the way home and swerved to miss a car coming the opposite direction which caused all of the kids' houses to topple slightly. This, of course, gave them licence to begin eating their creations. Because I could see the swerving take place I was prepared and my house remains intact. Here it is in all its lonely glory:I have always wanted to have an advent calendar filled with fun memory making things to do. Jodi told me about this idea and I ran with it. It's a mini muffin tin. The squares of paper are 2 1/2 X 2 1/2 and mounted on magnets. I got a big magnet sheet at Robert's, cut it to the right size, then mounted the paper on it (It was really easy. The sheet of magnet had sticky stuff on one side, so I just had to peel the protective sheet off the magnet and put the patterned paper on top). I printed out the numbers and cut them with a circle punch, then added it to the squares with a glue stick. Each slot contains 8 M&M's: one red and one green for each child (minus Briggy of course) and a slip of paper containing an activity to do as a family. Some are outings, some are service ideas, some are very simple (less than 5 minutes). Here's a little preview of tomorrow's slot:It hangs on our wall. Each morning we take it down to reveal that day's activity (the kids take turns), then we hang it back up so little hands aren't tempted to get an advance in their M&M allotment. (This isn't my wall, by the way. I put the calendar on my hope chest to take the picture for lighting purposes.) I like that I can make adjustments as necessary based on my mood, the mood of the children and other things that come up. For example, if the kids are especially rotten I can quickly switch the paper that reads, "drink hot chocolate and wish on a star" with "go to bed with no supper and pray really hard that Santa will still come". (Just kidding. We call it dinner, not supper.)

Anyway, I am excited about it and hope it works out well for our family. It makes me even more excited about Christmas, knowing that we have lots of fun and meaningful plans for the season.

Oozing with sweetness

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:00:00 +0000

5 months

Halloween Festivities

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:45:00 +0000

The first event on our Halloween agenda was David's preschool party. We have a few little preschool groups in our neighborhood organized by age. All the groups got together for our Halloween party. It was so much fun! We rotated through four different stations; Face painting, stories, pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern and cookie decorating. David had a great time. He decided to wear our power ranger costume from the dress up box instead of his clown costume for the party.

The eyeball:

Showing off his muscles:

His Class: (yes, he's the only boy and he doesn't mind at all. He loves all of his preschool friends)
After the party I had some errands to run. Every time we pass Chuck E Cheese while we're running errands David asks if we can go in. Normally my answer is no, but this day I was feeling generous and we went on a date to Chuck E Cheese (with Brigham in tow-it still counts, right?). I was reminded again how important quality one on one time is. He was beaming. We shared a mini pizza and salad bar and I gave him two dollars for tokens. Chuck E Cheese is much more affordable with one child.

That evening was Trunk or Treat. It was FREEZING, but always a good time. Here is one of my favorite trunks. This one came in second place. I never did make it down to see the first place trunk, but it must have been amazing.

If there would have been a "come as you are" category, our trunk would have won.

Our Clan in front of our closed trunk. Jail Bird Sean, Vampire Warren (his hair was much more slicked back and much more black earlier in the evening. The wind was blowing really hard.), Nurse Olivia, Pea Pod Brigham and clown David:

Darin and I dressed up as a couple in love (Nothing says "I love you" like twinner haircuts)

Tiffany was an amazing photographer. She even chose the paneling back drop. She insisted on some glamour shots. I was really happy with the way this one turned out:

On Halloween night we decided to go trick or treating with my brother and his kids in my parents' neighborhood. We left Darin home (he had been sick for the majority of the week. He finally went to the doctor the Monday after Halloween and found out he had pneumonia. It hasn't been a fun illness for him).

Ally wasn't feeling well (poor kid) so she couldn't come. Princess Erin and Tiger McKay joined our family down the street to Renae's house, then we went our separate ways.

(If you look closely, you can see that David decided to do his own red makeup. It was awesome)

This was one of our favorite houses. When you walked toward the driveway to the stairs, this is what you saw:

Then, as you passed, these guys popped out:
Warren and David were done a little bit before Sean and Liv, so we called Renae to ask if the three little boys could stay with her while we finished. She graciously agreed to let them stay and Liv, Sean and I went for another half hour or so. We made a quick stop at Grandma and Grandpa's house to share some of our loot with Ally, then headed down to Renae's to meet up with the boys and do the ceremonial treat sorting. I had such a fun night. My kids and I shared some great laughs. Olivia still teases me about one house. Since we were in the neighborhood where I grew up, I knew a lot of people so I chatted briefly with several of them. By the end of our journey my mouth was cold and I was apparently tired because I tried to say "Happy Halloween" and "I hope you have a good evening" all at the same time and it came out something like "I hope you hap a havvy Hallowevening". Those are the moments that bring us closer together. We went home exhausted and grateful for the extra hour of sleep we got that night (Thank you, Daylight Savings!)

Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery?

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:42:00 +0000

Just this morning David said to Darin,

"For Halloween I'm going to be a witch just like momma."

I REALLY hope he's referring to my costume last year.

p.s. I have no idea what any of my kids are going to end up wearing for costumes. They all have several ideas. It will be interesting to see what happens. Is it really this week?

Sick of Sick

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:41:00 +0000

We are now going on one straight month of sick. At least one member of our household has been sick in some form or another for 4 weeks now. I know this because I missed taking Brig's 3 month photo with the bear because he was sick, and he is now 4 months old. We have had everything from coughs, sniffles, croup, eye infections, ear infections, sinus infections, and now fevers. I know that in a home with 7 people (3 of whom bring lots of extra germs from school) it increases our chances of being sick, but this year has been ridiculous! We are normally not very sickly people. I don't think my kids missed any school last year for illness, and our only doctor visits were well child checks. This year Warren has already missed a day (and he will be staying home again today), Sean woke up with an eye infection, and we have been to the doctor (mostly after hours of course) 4 times. Our first trip to the doctor was an after hours visit for Brig. He had been extra fussy and not sleeping well for a couple of days. He didn't have a fever, but I knew something had to be wrong. I went and joined the masses at the doctor's office and began to doubt my decision to be there. Everyone there sounded and looked awful. Brig was relatively happy and didn't look sick, and I thought that maybe I had been imagining or over-exaggerating his crankiness. When the doctor came in I said, "I really hope I'm not wasting your time. I'm just here on mother's intuition." She was very kind and replied that mother's intuition is right more often than not. Sure enough. An ear infection and the beginning of an eye infection. I dropped Brig off with Darin while I headed to the pharmacy (we're becoming good friends, the pharmacy and I) to pick up his medicine. When I got home I found them like this:

I'm so glad to have Darin on my team. I don't know how I could have done this month without him. He is always on the scene with the middle of the night episodes. In fact, one night I was so tired from being up so much with Brig that I didn't even know that David and Warren had been awake with fevers. I'm so grateful to be married to a helping husband.

Brig has now finished his antibiotics, but is still fussy and not sleeping well. I went back to the doctor Saturday to see if the ear infection was a stubborn one. Nope. Both ears look great. Is this just how he is now? The doctor thinks it might be acid reflux. So...the good news is that for the next two weeks I will be on a strict elimination diet so we can see what it is that I am eating that is causing him to be fussy. I have been praying for motivation to eat better. Be careful what you pray for! Just when I thought we had the green light to go back to living our lives as normal, David and Warren both woke up in the middle of the night with high fevers. It is becoming physically and emotionally draining. I am beginning to wonder if I will ever sleep for more than 3 hours at a time. Brig thinks I am a rock star and wants me to hold him at all times. He goes to other people just fine, but when he sees me he pleads with me (with his eyes and arms) to hold him. It is equal parts adorable and exhausting. My days are filled with giving medicine (and plenty of natural remedies), reminders to wash hands and cover coughs, disinfecting, washing bedding to kill the sick germs, trying to keep up with dishes and laundry (I have mastered many things one handed--baby in arms--but dishes and laundry aren't on the list yet), and trying to give enough TLC to all. Even with the challenges that come from having a big family of small kids, this is what I have always wanted to do and I am grateful to have this be my life. I just hope that we can go back to healthy very soon.

Strewshens

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:03:00 +0000

Early yesterday morning there was a knock at the door. I wasn't expecting anyone, and was still in bed. The kids opened the door before I could tell them to wait for me, and I heard a male voice ask for their mom. I rolled out of bed and got dressed in one swift move and headed downstairs, still wondering who it could be. I remembered halfway down the stairs that this was the day our vinyl fence posts were going to be installed. I went to the door (still half asleep) and saw three workers. One served as spokesman, and here's how the conversation went:

(Polite greeting by both of us)

Worker: Do you have any strewshens?
Me: What was that?
Worker: Do you have any strewshens?
Me: Can you repeat that?
Worker: Do you have strewshens for the fence?

At this point they were all looking at me like I was up in the night; which, in their defense, I have been up in the night...a LOT...with sick kids, and I'm very tired. My brain doesn't function at 100%, so I was still thinking it was more of a me problem rather than a language barrier. I didn't know how to ask him to repeat it a fourth time without being offensive, so I decided to repeat it back to him to make sure I was hearing him properly.

Me: Strewshens?
Worker: Yes
(uh-oh. I heard him right. I had no idea where to go from here)
Me: I don't know what strewshens are.
Worker: We take down old fence?
Me: No. You can just put the vinyl fence in front of the other fence. The other fence will be taken down by UTA.
Worker: (Smiling) Thank you.

I guessed he had what he needed because they walked away. I shut the door and started laughing. It wasn't until I took a minute to spell it out in my mind (strutions) that I realized he was asking if I had INSTRUCTIONS.

The fence posts were installed correctly and beautifully. I guess I did have strewshens after all.

All He Wants For Christmas...

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:30:00 +0000

...is a Nintendo DS.

Fete Day 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:07:00 +0000

In case you need a refresher course, here are the basics of this made-up holiday. (You can read all about the founder here.)

1) Choose a color

2) Everyone wears the color and exchanges inexpensive gifts of the color

3) Official food is Ice Cream Cake

4) Do an activity (any activity)

5) Celebrate on or around August 16th

Our activity this year included a few outdoor games. We had a human spelling bee (I don't know if that's what it's called, but that's what I'm calling it). We split into teams, each team member wore a letter on his/her front and one on his/her back. The "caller" would yell a word, use it in a sentence (a certain fellow with a mustache on my team missed that crucial instruction), and the team had to get in the right order to spell the word. Our team lost, but I bet we laughed the most. We also played Barnyard Tag and Ladder Golf--both very fun as well. Our activity could have been "Where's (Waldo) Kelsey?". See if you can spot her in the following photos:

Throughout the post, please see evidence pointing to the fact that we will likely never have a successful family photograph without the aid of photoshop.

Exhibit A: Olivia

Here are more shots of the party-goers (I think I took plenty of pictures.)
Exhibits B & C: Darin and Sean
The parents:

A special, heartfelt Fete Day ballad from Jared to Jodi:

Exhibits D, E, F, G, H, I: (actually, I promised them that we could do this photo if they would just smile for one photo. That's my best impression of Sean's photo face. How did I do?)

Two Months

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:51:00 +0000

My tall boy:

Pondering...

Happiness is:

Olivia kept our hairnets and insisted on this photo (Brig didn't seem to mind!)

Sticky Fingers

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 03:18:00 +0000

I tagged along on a shopping trip to Park City with my sister and my mom yesterday. I didn't have any shopping to do, but I thought it sounded like a fun outing. My two littlest boys that get to share the bulk of the day with me tagged along, too. David felt like a king being able to watch cartoons on the drive up (Jodi has a DVD player in her van) and Brig did his part to make the trip enjoyable by sleeping the whole way up. We parked and headed for the clothing store that was the main reason for the trip, but got sidetracked at the Croc store when we saw the sign for the summer clearance. My mom has a pair of Croc sandals that she loves so we thought we would go take a peek to see what the clearance section had to offer. David saw a section that contained an entire wall of red kids' Crocs. He pointed to them and said, "These are really cute!". I agreed with him and continued to look around. We didn't stay long browsing for Crocs, and continued on to the next store. We walked around and shopped for another hour and a half or so, then headed back to the van to be sure we would have time to eat lunch and make it home before the kids returned from school. I took Brig's car seat out of the stroller and got ready to collapse it and put it in the trunk, when what to my wondering eyes should appear but...you guessed it. A tiny pair of red Crocs. I was mortified, yet grateful that we realized it before we made the trip home. I am usually the responsible parent that makes sure that the child who has done wrong makes amends by apologizing (or in this case returning stolen goods). To be honest, it didn't even occur to me this time. I think I'm still in survival mode where I have to remind myself of the most basic things. My mom returned the Crocs while I buckled Brig and David in the car. We did have a lengthy discussion about stealing on the way home, and a follow-up discussion with Dad to make sure he understood why it was wrong and what to do in the future if he thinks something is "really cute". (In David's words, "We have to pay the lady". We did try to explain that the answer will not always be 'yes' and if that's the case he will just have to put it back.) This was our first experience with stealing (as far as I know), and I will definitely be more aware in the future, especially in stores with lots of really cute things.

Back to School

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:52:00 +0000

So begins another school year. I should stop wondering how each summer goes by faster than the last one, and just accept it. The kids were all really excited to start a new year. They were all very pleased as they met their teachers the night before.

We are ready for a schedule. The only problem? Brig didn't get the memo that we are on a schedule, so he still has some rough nights, making it difficult for me to be functioning and cheerful a couple of hours earlier than I'm used to. We have somehow managed to be at the bus stop on time for the two days school has been in session, and I know we will find our groove and make it smooth sailing in the mornings. It's just around the corner--I can feel it.

My 5th, 1st, and 3rd graders:

They were on the bus with hardly a backward glance. Olivia humored me and turned around long enough for me to snap a quick photo.

It was too quick to be painful--just like ripping off a band-aid (plus they were all so excited there was nothing to be sad about). They were off to their new adventures, and the two little boys and I headed home to begin ours.

I know it's only been two days, but I am encouraged by the fact that both boys napped at the same time in the afternoon on both days. My fingers are crossed that this will remain a part of our daily routine.

**A funny Warren quote:

Warren: "Mom, do you know how good my new socks are?"

Me: "How good are they?"

Warren: "From my stomach to my back good. That's really good."

(I found out that "from my stomach to my back" is all the way around; as far as you can stretch your arms out. Warren gave me a visual demonstration.)

A serious case of the giggles

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:07:00 +0000

Last week we met my friend Christa in Salt Lake. First stop was the Tracy Aviary.

There was a baby flamingo that had hatched just two days before we were there. The mom is sitting on the rock, and the dad is standing next to her. They took turns feeding the new baby. Every once in a while its little head would pop up to eat. It was very sweet! (The green water has something to do with the mating season, it's not contaminated.) This was the first picture I took, and as I took it I saw the red battery light flashing. Knowing that there were more adventures ahead, I didn't take too many pictures so we could conserve battery power.

We mapped out our day so we could do everything we wanted to do at the Aviary. While we were waiting to feed the birds a worker came and said, "You're not waiting to feed the birds are you?" (Um...nope. We 're just taking a little break here on the comfy cement in the blazing hot sun.) When we said that we were indeed waiting to feed the birds she informed us that they weren't doing the 12:30 feeding due to the tree trimming that was going on. We were bummed that we weren't able to do it. It looked like a lot of fun! We'll have to go back another day. We did get to see lots of birds, listen to a presentation about eggs, and watch a bird show.

Since I knew we would be in the area, I called the Sweet's Candy Factory to schedule a tour. After the Aviary, we headed to the park for lunch, then went to the candy factory.

As we were getting seated to start the tour, Brig filled his pants. I left to go change his diaper, and when I came back our whole group had their hair nets on. Christa motioned to my chair and held up my hair net. She then smiled as she held up another object--a teeny tiny itty bitty baby sized hair net. Liv was holding Brig at this point, and I held up the hair net to show her. She started laughing. I started laughing. We were trying to stay quiet because there was a video on. The laughing increased, the tears started coming, the convulsions began. This was just at the thought of a seven week old baby in a hairnet. Then came the reality of a seven week old baby in a hairnet, and it was all over. I felt like a thirteen year old girl trying not to laugh in church. My face was wet with tears. Liv may have lost control of the part of her body that keeps gas in, and a whole new wave of laughter began. I haven't laughed that hard in a really long time. I felt weak when we were finally able to pull it together, which fortunately was before the candy factory worker came back in. I wiped the tears off my face, placed Brig in the snugli, and started on our tour.

It was very cool to see how the candy is made. I felt like I was watching Mr. Rogers. (Do you remember the portion of his show when they would show how things were made? My very favorite were crayons and jeans.) Anyway, our tour guide was very nice. We were able to sample some of the candy, then shop at the store. We chose salt water taffy that was on sale. We headed home after an awesome day with friends. Thanks, Christa and kids! We had a blast!

And thank you, Sweet's Candy Factory, for requiring even the tiniest of your guests to wear hairnets. It provided me with more than just a sanitary candy tour...so much more.

Monkey Toes

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:49:00 +0000

His legs are usually crossed.

His toes are sometimes closed...

and sometimes open, wide open...

Mom, Come and See!

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 22:24:00 +0000

You never know what you're going to get when you hear these words. This time the words came from Olivia. I could tell from her tone of voice that it probably wasn't something bad. It was more of a tone of excitement. I followed her outside to see this:When David saw me he yelled, "Hey Mom, I'm riding a two wheeler!" Sure enough.

He has a red bike with training wheels. We noticed last week that the training wheels didn't hit the road very often but we didn't think about taking the training wheels off--you know, because he's three. On this day, the neighbors put him on their "pickle bike" (as David calls it) and off he went.

No running behind a shaky bike until he was steadied. No pep talks. No scraped knees. I asked him how he felt about it, and this is the face he made:

He was ecstatic and spent the rest of the evening happily riding up and down the street (with bare feet--we're awesome).

I kept thinking,

There goes my three year old

on a two wheeler...

in a diaper.

I am still trying to figure out how to duplicate this experience with potty training so that one day I can write a blog post that goes something like this:

Fully potty trained. No pep talks. No bribing. No accidents.

Watch for that post (a girl can dream, can't she?).

Blessed, Baptized, and Reunited

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 23:40:00 +0000

Last weekend was a wonderfully busy one! Friday we kicked off a family reunion for my dad's extended family. We get together every other year, and we always have a blast. We ate at a park, got reacquainted, tossed water balloons, ate some more, then headed over to Veteran's Pool in the evening (I didn't have my camera with me).

Saturday morning we got dressed in Sunday clothes and headed up to the Stake Center for Brigham's blessing and Sean's baptism. First was Brig's turn. We had a very informal, yet very sweet meeting. We had an opening prayer, the girl cousins sang "A Child's Prayer", Darin gave the blessing, then we had a closing prayer. Brig looked so peaceful and he slept soundly through the whole thing.

Next was Sean's turn. The family headed into the chapel while we helped to get Sean ready. He was so excited! (How cute is that smile?)

Sean got to share his special day with his good friend Ryan.
My two boys in white:

It was so neat to have so much family support, especially with all that was going on. (I apologize to Darin's family that didn't get the memo. We were indecisive about the time and whether or not we were going to do the blessing until the day before, and we knew it would be crazy trying to hurry right over to the reunion so we didn't spread the word as well as one would have hoped. My family got the memo because we made the reunion start an hour late.)

As soon as the baptism was over we all changed and headed back to the reunion. My cousin brought his rock climbing wall. It was amazing!

The bounce house:
Bubbles:
Friendship bracelets:

Playing in the sand:

There was also lots of visiting, lots of eating, and the traditional water fight.

My cousin Steve organized a family history activity where we learned more about our ancestors and were reminded of our great heritage. I learned that one of my ancestors was responsible for bringing the first cat into Utah. Love us or hate us for it!

I got a little teary thinking about my loved ones that have passed away. I am so grateful for my family.

Uncle Jack (Dad's brother), Aunt June (Jack's wife) , Aunt Bonnie (Dad's sister), Mom, Dad

We missed Aunt Carol, Aunt Marie and their families.

My family

My family with spouses (We missed Heidi and Whitney who had family get togethers that conflicted with the reunion. I miss Todd even more at these big family get togethers. It's hard to believe he's been gone for almost three years.)

Add the kids: (There are 40 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Not everyone is pictured)

Everyone that was at the reunion (minus a few that had to leave). One thing I love at these reunions is seeing in real life the relatives I normally only get to see on blogs.

I think we are still recovering from our eventful weekend, but it was well worth it!

Do you want the good news or the bad news first?

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:20:00 +0000

I just returned from every husband's favorite Dr.'s appointment: the 6 week check.

The Good News: I've lost 32 pounds
The Bad News: I gained more than that during my pregnancy (a lot more), and I started a little heavier than usual so I have a lot of work to do.

The Good News: I've done it before, so I know I can do it
The Bad News: Since I've done it before, I know how much work it takes, and I'm not sure I'm ready to start.

Please send motivation.

Cub Scout Day Camp

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 03:32:00 +0000

One of the perks of turning 8 is Cub Scouts. Sean's first activity with the Cub Scouts was Day Camp. We met the boys at the church bright and early.

He was so excited to go! When he returned in the afternoon, he showed us all his goods and told us all about his adventures.After he told us about his day he complained that he didn't "feel so good". He still had his lunch bag with him, and it still looked quite full. I looked inside to find a turkey sandwich, apples, and carrots--which meant that for lunch he had Cheetos, a granola bar, and Skittles. (I wonder why he didn't feel well?) I had him eat half the sandwich and some of the apples and carrots before he changed into play clothes and headed out to play with friends. It wasn't long before he was back inside. He spent the rest of the afternoon and evening on the couch looking like this:Note to self: Day Camp is treat enough. If Sean complains about a boring lunch next time I will be showing him this picture.

He is still very much enthused about being a Cub Scout. I'd better get familiar with the program since we will be active participants for the next several years. Sean will be blazing the scouting trail for all of his brothers.

Birthday Time

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:20:00 +0000

This one turned 8

And this one

turned...

It's that time again! Having boys with birthdays a day apart makes for an exciting couple of days.

Sean's turn was first. The plan was to get up early to make his requested breakfast (crepes with ice cream and strawberries--anything goes for birthdays!) and serve it to him in bed. That plan was foiled. Brig had a rough night's sleep (which meant so did I) so I was not on top of my game. Warren also woke up screaming in pain. He had a kinked neck. By the time I was up and functioning and Warren had calmed down, Sean was up and dressed. The first thing on his agenda was to weigh himself to see if turning eight made him gain weight. He was slightly disappointed that the scale said the same thing it had said the day before.

Next was breakfast:

The rest of the morning was a pretty normal morning. He played with friends and watched cartoons until it was time for his parent date. Sean, Brigham and I met Darin at Golden Corral (Sean's choice) for lunch. The afternoon was filled with more playing with friends, the baking of the cake, and anticipation for the opening of presents. When Darin got home we started opening presents. The tricky part about having birthdays so close is trying to keep everything equal and making sure each boy feels sufficiently celebrated. This year we did one combined gift, so the boys opened it together. Warren had spent the entire day on the boppy pillow (in tears off and on), stretching and bending his neck and having me apply some aromatherapy lotion that my massage therapist brought us. We were able to persuade him to come to the table to open presents. The boys' current obsession is Bakugan Battle Brawlers. They are little balls that pop open and turn into different creatures when placed on metal. The creatures have different strengths, and they battle using the strength of the character and the cards you use. For weeks Sean has been trying to earn money to add to his Bakugan collection and I have heard countless requests for a trip to the store to buy "a really rare" Bakugan. There was even a request for him to place a bid on e-bay. It was beginning to drive me crazy. I did some research on e-bay, ksl.com, craigslist, etc. Each of these little balls sells for around $5, and they can be as much as $20 (insanity). I found a guy on ksl that was getting rid of his son's collection (he had grown out of his obsession). There were 53 bakugans, the battle mat, and several cards. We got an amazing deal, especially when you figure there was easily over $300 worth of goods. It was still difficult to fork over any amount of money for it, but I knew the boys would be over the moon about it. We let them open 4 each, letting them believe that was their present.

We had the rest in an empty ice cream container in the freezer. I told the boys to get the ice cream out of the freezer so it could thaw out a little bit.

Sean also got a pocket knife. We had an extensive quiz about the proper use of the knife, and we plan on keeping very close tabs on his knife use. The rest of the evening was devoted to Bakugan. The boys were in heaven!

After dinner (he requested Hawaiian Haystacks) it was time for cake and ice cream.

Late that night Darin took the boys to pick out new bikes. Both boys had grown out of theirs, and both had back tires that had been run over by our van (the driver will remain nameless, but it wasn't me). They got back too late to try them out, so the bikes waited patiently until the next day.

At around midnight David woke up crying. Darin went in to see what the problem was while I attempted to enjoy the fact that Brig was sleeping in his bed peacefully (he had had two not so great nights in a row, so this was a welcomed event). My hopes were dashed when I heard the unmistakable sound of a child throwing up. I went in to help. Darin cleaned David up while I cleaned up the bedding. A couple of hours later it was Warren's turn to throw up. My first thought was, "what a way to ring in your birthday". My second thought was how ironic it was that this was all happening while Brigham was having the best sleep he'd had in a while. Fortunately that was the end of the barfing for the night. Warren threw up one more time in the morning, and his neck was still a little sore, so he spent the morning on the couch. David also fell back asleep and spent the majority of the morning sleeping. Breakfast didn't happen (for Warren), nor did his parent date. By late afternoon he was feeling much better and I let him go out and play. The boys both had a great time on their bikes.

Warren learned how to ride one-handed. Here's proof:

His other present was a Tee ball set:

Warren had requested homemade pizza for his dinner, but the jury was still out on whether or not that would happen. He had kept applesauce and toast down, and he was acting like he felt fine but I didn't want to chance the pizza coming back up. About this time I saw my friend Kellie in the cul de sac and asked what their Pioneer Day plans were. They didn't have any. Our original plan was to go to Kangaroo Zoo, but we cancelled that when the throwing up began. We planned an impromptu get together. I doubled the pizza dough recipe, Kellie provided a yummy salad. We brought cupcakes and ice cream, they provided the fireworks (and the house). A few other neighbors joined us for various stages of our get together. We were able to see the Orem Owlz fireworks and do a few of our own. The weather was perfect. It was such a nice night, and there was enough of a breeze that the mosquitoes didn't overtake the area. At one point I asked what time it was. It was 11:30! We were out riding bikes and doing fireworks like it was early evening. I apologize to any neighbors that we kept awake/woke up.

Here are all the kids:David and Savvy:David doing sparklers with a tissue up his nose (he had a bloody nose):Here is Sean strolling ever so casually right past the fireworks:Here is Jaden attempting the same casual stroll. Little did he know that this particular firework had sound effects. Loud ones. This picture makes me laugh every time I see it:Julie and Lily:It was such a fun night!

The next day (in the evening) we decided to follow through with our Kangaroo Zoo plan. We picked up Grandma Moses to join us. The kids made some new friends there and played tag for the majority of the time. They got some great exercise!

Here is Olivia showing David that the slide was fun. He wasn't so sure he wanted to try.He spent most of the evening on the couch with us.Brigham and Grandma (Gotta love Brig's signature deer in the headlights look):David finally warmed up to the idea and spent the last 20 minutes or so playing on the toys.Happy Birthday, boys!

Boys/Girls Night Out/In

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 05:08:00 +0000

I'm not a huge fan of sleep-overs, which is kind of sad because I certainly enjoyed them as a child and a teenager. It's interesting how becoming a parent can change your mind about something. I do love the giggling and the fun associated, but I do not love the lack of sleep, and the resulting less than pleasant demeanor that inevitably comes out the next day. We do our fair share of late nights, but actual sleep-overs are a rare commodity.

A couple of weekends ago was our ward's Fathers and Sons campout; an event that ranks right up there with Christmas at our house. I must have been in a great mood because when I realized the boys would be away my first thought was, "We should have a slumber party with the girls". I'm sure Olivia was confused, but she was too delighted (giddy) to question me.

So...

while Darin was away with the boys doing this:

I was at home with these guys (Olivia, three cousins, and a friend):

doing this

and thisWe also did perler beads, painted masks (from the dollar section at Allen's), made pizza, and watched a movie. I also found out how many tweens it takes to change a newborn's diaper. The answer is: All of them. One to do the changing, one to hold his hands, and the rest to squeal when the newborn pees all over the place. I'm not sure where my burst of energy came from, but we all had a great time. (Actually, the best time to have a slumber party is when you have a newborn around. I didn't miss out on any sleep because I was used to being sleep deprived!)

Seeing the smiles on the girls' faces reminds me why they love sleep-overs.

The boys came home full of smiles as well. The campout was everything they dreamed it would be.

Even though we had tired children the next day, it was all worth it. A few years from now we won't remember the crankiness, but they will likely remember the fun.

One Month

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 03:39:00 +0000

I know for a fact that the last month of my pregnancy did not go this fast! But believe it or not, Brigham just celebrated his first month of life outside the womb. Here is a quick review of the evolution of his look:

At the hospital:

One Week:

Two Weeks:

Three Weeks (above):

One of my favorite things about this stage has been watching the other kids love him. David is usually first on the scene offering words of encouragement (in his sweetest voice) to Baby Briggy when he's sad. We often hear, "Aww, What's the struggle Bebe?" and "I gotcha, I gotcha". Here is David's imitation of one of Brigham's many crazy faces:And here he is at one month:

I copied an idea from a fellow blogger. She took a photo of her baby with the same teddy bear at each month mark. She had her baby in a white onesie. I don't have a white onesie (hard to believe, I know), so I just photographed him in a diaper. Who knows if I will be able to remember to take the picture on each 24th, but I thought it was a great idea and worth a try. I am not a photographer, but it was fun to take a lot of photos.

I will finish this photo-laden post with two of my favorite images. They capture his personality perfectly!

Ceremonial First Bath

noreply@blogger.com (Deanne) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 15:40:00 +0000

My mom has given each of my kids their first baths. I know how to do it. I am capable. I am also very sentimental and I love tradition, so a day or so after returning home from the hospital we go to visit Grandma for the ceremonial first bath. These photos were taken when Brigham was 4 days old. He's changed so much already!

There is nothing sweeter than a freshly bathed (and baby lotion scented) babe!