My baby's FIRST!

Yes, today is Mia's first birthday (sniff sniff, sob sob, boo hoo!!!) I cannot believe how fast the time goes. I don't want Mia to be this old already. I honestly don't know where this year went! Mia is such a great girl. She is such a joy to have in our family, her cute actions, to her amazing spirit just bring us so much happiness!! Here is a little tribute to Mia. Somethings she likes, likes to do, and has accomplished....

Mia has always let her big brother and sister MAUL her. They lug her around like she is a doll. This shows me that she is very patient! (unless it has to do with food, then she is NOT patient at all.

Mia can sign please, drink, and more. (pretty good in my eyes)

Mia started walking at 10 1/2 months.

Mia is such a daddy's little girl. She loves me but, if daddy is home, she wants only him. One day she was having a hard day, and it was almost time for Joe to be getting home, so the only thing that made her happy was to wait by the window and watch for Daddy. When cars would pass by she would get mad if it wasn't him. Then he got home...she got so excited...his car went into the garage, and she was mad at me for not going into the garage also. She thought I wasn't taking her to him, but I was going the other way.

Mia takes two 2 hour (or longer) naps per day!!!! YES!!!! This helps so I can do hair. She also goes to bed at about 7:15 and sleeps until 7. FINALLY!!!!

Mia was my little cuddler. Jack and Kylee wouldn't really cuddle with me, but Mia would....that didn't last too long though.

Mia loves to give "Kissem's" if we say "kissem" she will pretty much give a big tongue kiss! Yummy.

Mia puts her hand in the air, hand facing up, toward whatever she wants then looks at you to make sure you can see her, then says please. This might be one of my favorite things right now.

Mia has a hook for a finger.....it is hilarious that she uses her finger like a hook, and it is ALWAYS in her mouth.

There are plenty more things I could put down, but I will stop at that. I LOVE my little Mia. I can't imagine life without her. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LITTLE BABY!!!

By the way, Kylee took this picture. I was quite proud of her.

My personal photographer

Kylee loves to take pictures, she even got a little camera for Christmas. This was before Christmas, but I was going through my pictures yesterday and laughing sooooo hard at these. Kylee wanted to take some picutres of Mia so she did. They are so funny, I couldn't decide which one I wanted to blog, so I had to make a collage!!! So, if any of you are in need of a photographer, just call Kylee, as you can see she is very professional!!!! I love my Mia, she is so cute, these pictures for sure don't do her justice in the "beautiful" category, but they sure do her justice in the FREAKING FUNNY category!!!

Our new favorite thing!

Kylee and Jack have a new favorite thing to do in the winter. Kylee found this little mat on Mia's changing station (that we never use) and decided to put it to use, (cause we never use it). I laughed pretty hard when I saw what they were doing. It brought back memories for me, I remember sliding down the stairs in sleeping bags, and cardboard boxes! Sorry the video is so dark, and my voice is so loud. URG!! I hate hearing my own voice. Good times!

Week or so in a nutshell

Well, I am a little behind here, I haven't posted for a while, that is because my poor little Jack-a-buda is a sick little guy. It all started Friday night poor Barbara was over here babysitting, while Joe and I went to the hunting expo (which is a whole other great story) and Jack got sick, and threw up while Barb was here. She was awesome (as usual) and cleaned it all up. He pretty much hasn't been able to keep anything down since then. It really is sad. He really looks like the walking dead. I called the doctor and the nurse said that it is going around instead of being the 24 hour flu it is like a week long flu, so watch out!!!

Here is Jack when he is feeling well, he got this pirate outfit from his cousin for his birthday (Thanks John and Ang) I didn't get a picture of his little hiney, but let me tell you it is soooo cute in this thing! He loves it!


Now, about the hunting expo (not usually my thing, but it sure is Joe's thing) we were invited (by Senator Margaret Dayton, oh the connections we have in this family) to a Private dinner and auction hosted by Jeff Foxworthy, we were on like the second row, and then we were on the sixth row for the show after which was a Jeff Foxworthy comedy show! The dinner was awesome, great food, more than I needed, and then we went to the award thing/auction where Jeff Foxworthy (hosted it), Carl Malone (I was sitting like 3 feet away from him and he is HUGE) Shaun Bradly (another basketball player who is probably the tallest person I have EVER seen) and Marcus Luttrell (an AMAZING GUY) were. It was so great I cried even at the thing, I guess that isn't saying much, cause I cry a ton! If you don't know who Marcus Luttrell is, go here. He is the author of the book called Lone Survivor, and he is the Lone Survivor!!! YOU HAVE TO SEE IT!!! If you didn't click on "go here" YOU NEED TO!!!! It is long, but it is worth it! He was there signing books, and he spoke for about 20 min, it was very sobering, he didn't beat around the bush about things, he said how it is! I am grateful for all of our troops, they are amazing to be fighting for our freedom, and we all need to recognize that.

A Child's Prayer

Too cute not to write down....

Kylee's Prayer tonight...
"Bless Heavenly Father and Jesus to be healthy,
Bless me to have a good home to live in,
Bless my heart and bones not to be filthy,
Bless me never to drink smoke,
Bless me to never do bad things like a bad guy."

She was also thankful for things( you know the usual things), but these were the things that I thought were too cute not to write down. She is such a great girl. I LOVE YOU KY!!!

Tiny, yet almost 5

First of all, my kids are CRAZY. Second of all, can I just say that Kylee is TEENIE?!!!?? She never ceases to amaze me at the things she can put on. I was incredulous the other week when she was still wearing her little skirt that Barb got her when she was like 2. Her waist, her legs, her arms everything (except for her cute pumpkin head) is so small. So the other day I told her to go get her pj's on. She ran out of the room, when and got pj's on and came back. I looked at her and couldn't figure out where she got these new pajama Capri pants. Then I figured it out....THEY ARE MIA'S PANTS!!! Yep, 9-12 month pants, Kylee had them on, and it wasn't like they were tight either! Did I mention she will be 5 in March? YES! She cracks me up! Jack wanted his "silly" picture taken after he saw Kylee posing silly! So, here is Jack being silly too.

I can't believe it!!!

I guess I can believe it.....MIA IS WALKING!! About a week ago she kinda would walk from me to Joe, and then she got scared and wouldn't really do it. Then on Sunday she kind of thought about it, and yesterday we went to Logan to visit my grandparents there and all of the sudden she was just taking off by herself. She let's go of things and stands there all by herself, and even starts walking by herself. She is almost 11 months old. Kylee started walking when she was like 9 1/2 months old, but Jack was a year when he finally started walking, so Mia is pretty much right in between! She is so fun and cute. So here is some video of her walking a little bit.

More snow fun.

So you would think that we really love the snow for how often we are playing in it. This is at my sister's house. We had so much snow that they were able to build a HUGE slide to sled down and sled the whole way across their yard. It was actually really cool. The kids absolutely had a blast. Thanks for the sledding fun cousins!!!

And The WINNERS are......

Okay, so the day has come to choose a winner for the 2 free haircuts. Well, actually I said I was going to choose tomorrow, but it is basically tomorrow, and pretty much everyone has commented who is going to right? RIGHT! Well, I went to Random.org to choose the winners, and it definitely was random. Here are the numbers it chose.

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

7
1

Timestamp: 2009-01-21 01:47:04 UTC



Note: The numbers are generated left to right, i.e., across columns.

so, Number 7 was MEGHAN!!!! YEAH!!!
MEG said: Ok, I would like the free haircut, but I cannot promise to pay it forward. I don't think I have many talents. I would be happy to take someone to lunch, though! Would that count? Just give me the freakin' haircut would ya? I would even pay you to highlight it too! See? Ha ha. Now you better pick me!

January 11, 2009 10:35 PM

And Number 1 was JENI! Yes, it can count for when you come next, you just remind me okay!
Here is what Jeni said: What about when I come visit... can't a redeem it then if I win!! Love ya sis, you're awesome!

January 11, 2009 5:03 PM

Now, here is the rest of my funny story, I decided since I had a very dedicated commenter and I really can't believe she didn't get picked, I want to give one more free haircut away, and I will choose.....I choose.....MARCIE who commented 7 times and deserves a free hair cut, plus I wanted to do someone I didn't know, so there you go. Meg and Jeni, call when you want your haircuts, and Marcie just leave me your e-mail address, and I will get you my number! THANKS Ya'll for participating, now pay it forward!!!

Payin' it Forward

Okay, so my sister-in-law Barbara whom I always talk about is doing this pay it forward thing, where you give (of your own talents)to some random person. So, I thought I would try it out. By the way I think you can still comment on Barbs blog, she makes awesome things for babies and what not. Anyway, I decided to (since I can't really make anything) give away two free haircuts. So, how you play is you leave a comment or two on this entry, (the more comments you leave the more likely you will win) and at the end of 10 days I will randomly choose two people who commented, and they get free haircuts. Capish? (is that even how you spell that?) I know a lot of you are far away, so I am sorry, this only applies to those who can come to my house and get it done here, if you have friends who need haircuts, just send them over and tell them to comment. Sorry Barb, you are out on this one because you already get free haircuts for watching my kids, and also because I was out on yours...just kidding. So, ten days from today, which is Wednesday the 28th I will choose two weeners! By the way this is a wash, cut, and style of your choice. Now, if you want to you can choose to pay if forward after reading my blog, do it, it is AWESOME!!!!!

My 4 year old teenager.

I LOVE KYLEE!! Well, I love all my kids, but Kylee is just such a great little girl. She is getting way to smart for her own good. She said something to me yesterday that made me laugh, and then she said something that I NEVER want to hear her say again as long as I live. (not really, but it made her seem so old) Okay, first she was doing my hair, cause she loves to do hair, and she said after she combed my bangs down...."Oh, Mom, you look HOT!" I totally laughed and was a little caught off guard. Then in the evening she was getting undressed and she had a little shade-type spaghetti strap shirt on under her sweater, and she said...."Mom, do you totally think I look HOT in this shirt" I was like, okay, Hannah Montana is OUT!!! Just kidding, but I couldn't believe it. So we had a little talk about how our bodies are like temples, and that is why we don't "show shoulders" and we want to look beautiful and not HOT! She is such a good girl, I love her, I just hope I can keep her tame for a really long time. Seriously what did I get myself into here?

Sledding

 
Okay, so I said I would get to the Christmas stuff, but I have to do things in a little bit of an order. We went sledding on Christmas Eve with my sister Ana and her boys. It was too much fun! We took the my in-laws truck, which Joe and his brother named Brutus, (the brother to Bernice their old white truck) and tied ropes to the back of the truck, and someone pulled us around a field. The kids were real sports, especially Joseph (Ana's youngest) he was such a trooper. He just kept going and going. Kylee too surprised me, she was quite the good sport. We had lots of fun, and some of us got dumped more than others!! I was a scrooge about the snow, but that was definitely fun!

Jack's Birthday

I know I am a little late, but here it is. Jack's birthday was on Dec. 22nd, and he wanted to have some cousins over, and go to the Jumping Jack's in Springville, it was really fun. Everyone had a blast. He also wanted a spider man cake. My sister had a pan for it, so I just baked the cake, and took it out. When I took it out it totally broke, so I decided to just put blue or red frosting on instead of trying to make it look good. I asked Jack what color frosting he wanted and he said red. I tried and I tried to get it red, but it was pink. So he had a pink spider man cake. Well, I couldn't do that to Jack, so I went to Walmart and bought a blue cake for him. FUNNY! I am retarded! Well, Jack is 3 now, and he is a big as anyone else. He is such a joy in our lives, even though he is really tough. Today he threw a little hard (like hard as a rock) ball at this neighbor boy, and it gave the little boy a little big of a black eye. He is such a boy, we are trying to direct his energy toward good. Yesterday we went to my grandparent's house to visit for a while, and my grandpa just watched him and said...."Man, I bet he doesn't even stop when he is sleeping." IT IS SOOOO TRUE!!! WE love ya Jack-a-boo! You can tell Joe had fun at Jumping Jack's too!!!

Christmas Tag

Hurry, cause it's almost Christmas!!!! My cousin Jessica tagged me, so here I go.
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both. I love to wrap for my kids, cause that makes it funner for them to open, but I don't mind gift bags for the older folks, you know, like myself.
2. Real tree or Artificial? We have an artificial tree, but I love both. I wish we could have both. I absolutely love the smell of a real tree.
3. When do you put up the tree? Day after Thanksgiving.
4. When do you take the tree down? Two years ago, it was down I think in April. I know, we are bad!!!
5. Do you like eggnog? Yeah, I wish I didn't though. MMMMMMM
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Probably my Rollerblades, since I was the queen of Classic Skating!!! FUNNY!!!
7. Hardest person to buy for? Definitely in-laws, and parents. They already have everything!
8. Easiest person to buy for? Kylee, she would be happy with anything pink, or purple!
9. Do you have a nativity scene? YUP!
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? NONE
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Original Grinch, or Elf!! Love em both.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Depends on when I see a good deal.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? MAYBE
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Flank Steak!!!!! Hurray for Christmas Eve Dinner.
16. Lights on the tree? Lots of colorful lights
17. Favorite Christmas song? I want a hippopotamus for Christmas...Just kidding, that is Barbara's. Mine is the little drummer boy by Harry Simone Corale.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Home
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? EASY, just sing the stinking song.
20.Angel on the tree-top or a star? Angel.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning, well, usually we open jammies on Christmas eve.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Going to Costco last minute, and having a million people there, and everyone is onery.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? My favorite ornament, is probably a Noah's ark ornament that the in-laws gave me my fist Christmas in the family. They give some each year, and they are sooo cute.
24. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? I already said....FLANK STEAK!

I tag Barbaloots, Janel, Shannon, Jessica Nye, yeah you Jessica and Megs. GO!!!

Missing Summer

Oh how I am missing summer right now. I used to be a real fan of the snow and the cold, but something has happened to me in my old age. I am not loving the winter. It really only started snowing this week, so I really shouldn't be complaining, but I am anyway. I am sooooo cold! All the time!! I mean, in the summer we go outside, I sit and soak in the sun while the kids play happily outside. In the summer, you don't have to worry about sliding off the road. In the summer, you don't have to worry about running out of windshield wiper fluid when your windshield is SOOO DIRTY YOU CAN'T see anything, and the dumb windshield wipers don't even work very well. Okay, so I am being way to big of a scrooge, I am done venting now.

GO VOTE NOW!!!!

Okay, so my sister-in-law Barb (the one in the middle) is nominated to win as best blog or something like that....top five, anyway, you need to vote for her, so go here and vote for Barbaloot suit She is freaking funny, so you should read some of her posts too!! Thanks yall!

Is yours as clean as mine?

Well, I know this picture is kind of disgusting, but I can't help it that Mia is totally DRAWN to the toilet. SICK! I know. But she will get stuck like this, and then scream, but most of the time she stands up and beats it like she is playing the drums. She is so fun. Mia is 9 months old, I can't believe how fast the time flies! She has four teeth, and two more coming in. She just barely got her two front teeth, and now the next two in the front are coming in, so it is runny nose city at my house. I love being a mom. It is the greatest thing ever....the hardest thing ever too. I cleaned up about 50 messes that Jack made the other day. 1st he drew all over the wall (luckily it was washable markers) next, he and his cousin Taylor found the chocolate cupcakes, and ate them. You could tell right where they walked, cause there was a trail of cupcake all over. Then, he cut the hair off of a horse that we have (you know, those stick ponies) anyway, it was mess after mess. Plus the mess that all the kids made (Ky, Jack and their two cousins) EVERY TOY in the house was on the floor, and in Mia's crib (along with cousin Taylor) that was pretty funny I have to admit. I know I should love the messes, cause they will be gone all too soon, just like President Monson said, so I am trying to love them. (it is still hard though).

Clownin' Around

Is it too late for Halloween pictures? Just kidding, this wasn't Halloween, but we thought it was so funny. Our little Mia is even cute when she has a clown wig on. How is that possible? Just had to post that pic! LOVE IT!

Sad day.

Today was a very sad day for me and my cute fam. Roxy is gone. I knew we had to get rid of her because of Jack's coughing (which is asthma and gets worse when he is around the dog) but I didn't think it would be this hard...okay, just kidding, I did. This nice young family came and got her and I am sure they will take such good care of her, but it is still hard. Kylee started crying when I told her (even though I have really been trying hard to prep her) then I started crying and said that these people's dog died and they wanted Roxy and it would make them really happy. So then she said, "oh, their dog died, okay, they will be happy with Roxy" it was the cutest thing. She is such a great girl. I miss Roxy already, and they just left. Well, I might be sulking for the next few days.

Woxy.

Well, I did it. I got the cutest dog ever. Her name is actually Roxy, but Jack can't say his "R's" so he says "woxy, or wox" It is the cutest thing ever. She is such a cute and good dog. She is doing so good with the potty training thing, she has only had a couple of accidents, but that is totally to be expected. There is some bad news that comes a long with it. I think Jack is allergic to her. I took him to the doctor yesterday to see, and it is looking like it. He gave me some medicine, and that seemed to help. What it is, is that Jack has a little bit of asthma every once in a while, and this dog has made it worse. I don't know what we are going to do. But just thought I would show a couple of pics, here she is.