Just Me...

Sunrise Weekend Trip

2012-01-29T18:21:00.000-08:00

We took a long weekend trip up to Pinetop/Sunrise. It was such a great trip and I was really proud of the kids and how well they did...it is so much easier with them getting older!!

Mark and Dylan rode the mountain all day long, from 10-3:30! Mark said Dylan did great but was tired and cold when they stopped. I think next year we may try for him to learn snow boarding because he is great on the ski's now.
On the top of the mountain.

The girls and me found some snow to play in out of the way of all the skiers. Cadence loved it and was rolling all around, Isabelle on the other hand did not enjoy herself very much. She sat down for a bit in it but other than that wasn't too excited to be in snow. :)

They are so cute all bundled up!

Snow angels

When we were good and cold we headed into the lodge and played a few games of Uno, even Isabelle played this time (with a little help of course). We all had lunch together and then the boys were off again. The girls and me headed to the car where we all took some good naps.

We normally have to get a suite hotel room so that Mark and I don't have to go to bed at 7:00 when the kids do, but there weren't any decently priced in Pinetop so we just got a regular room and to our surprise it worked out really great. We are thankful to know that a regular room will work now that the kids are older. Dylan and Cadence shared a bed and as you can see from the above picture that Cadence obviously didn't stay to her side of the bed! :) Dylan never woke up...he must have been really really tired to not wake up to a foot in your face!

It was such a fun trip and are thankful that we were able to spend some time away together.

Donut Desert!

2012-01-29T17:40:00.000-08:00

We had donuts for desert one night this last week (really, Mark was craving them so it was a excuse to go there :)). There is a newer donut shop called Bosa donuts that is very close to our house...I'm not a huge donut fan but these donuts are soooo good!
We let Dylan eat 3! And he would have kept going if we didn't make him stop!

Cadence really only likes the frosting and sprinkles :)

And Isabelle enjoyed every bite of hers. :)

Randomness

2012-01-29T17:33:00.000-08:00

These are just a mix of some pictures that I wanted to keep a memory of for when I print my book at the end of the year. :)

Isabelle had fallen asleep one morning while watching a show. She was so cute how she got herself settled in on the sofa.
Sister love.

Daddy love.

Dylan and Cadence had built a pillow fort on my bed one morning. Cadence asked if I would please leave it up and she would still take her nap in my bed. I agreed and when I went in my room to check on her this is how I found her. Settled in under the pillow fort. :)

Dylan's note

2012-01-29T17:28:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday at church Dylan had pulled out my notepad and was writing some stuff during the singing time. I put it away without looking but later in the week had to pull it out to write something down. A huge smile was on my face the whole time I read it...so precious.

Here is what he wrote:

I luve my geranpairins.

First, my gerapa, he plays ckekars with me and it is exciting. Seckent, my Gerama. My gerama taycks us to mooves. Last, is my Gerampa and we fownd gold.

Geran pairins are asam.

(needs some work with spelling, but so cute!)

Date Night

2012-01-29T17:22:00.001-08:00

I'm a bit behind on blogging...it has been a busier week than normal.

Last weekend the kids stayed overnight at Mark's mom's house so we could have a date night. We started the evening off with a hike at Camelback Mountain.

It was a beautiful sunset as we got to the top!
I don't get to hike very much and I was feeling it...this is how I felt once I finally arrived at top :). Thankful to be sitting down!

The sun went down quickly as we started our way down. Mark was able to capture this really great picture of the sunset with the city lights.

I really appreciate having these moments with Mark.

Closet Reading Nook

2012-01-29T17:06:00.000-08:00

I saw the idea online to make a closet into a reading nook. Since we really only use Dylan's closet for storage I thought it would be a great idea for his room...and he also needs some motivation to read (it's not his favorite). :)

Here is the before picture of the closet.
And after...
I painted, made some curtains out of fabric I had (and made the rod out of spray painted pvc pipe...cost about $1.50), put fabric on shelf because of contact paper that was previously put on shelf and then painted over and it was impossible to remove. I fastened the fabric with push pins to front of shelf. And bought a chair from Craigslist.

It is a great little space and it doubles as a really cool fort area! Dylan enjoys the area and I even caught him reading by himself...and that never happens!!

Reclaimed wood projects

2012-01-20T13:15:00.000-08:00

Last week or so bulk trash pick up was in our neighborhood...and anyone who knows me well knows I love to pick up stuff on the side of the road. :) I didn't find too much this time but I was inspired to make a bunch of decorative things with some reclaimed salvaged wood that was found in front of one of my neighbors houses. :)

The top is just a wood trim piece that I spray painted black and hot glued some clothes pins to (one for each kid) and then tied glass vases with some ribbon. Super simple and so cute. I like that each kid has their own drawn picture below their pictures. :)

And the hooks (from Ikea) I had for the kids' backpacks were a bit small, so once again just took a piece of wood and screwed holes in it and added some dresser knobs and the hooks that I already had.
I made these tree pieces (the trunk is each kids arm and hand) awhile ago and I had them in some black frames without glass (it is canvas with mod podge all over) but never really like the way it looked. So, since I love my pallet project I did so much I decided just to put some pallet wood together vertical as the backdrop. I love it so much!

And the last piece of wood was from what I think was a portion of a old drop leaf table, it had these really great old rusty hinges so I just took them off and reattached to the front for extra flair and again drilled holes and attached 2 drawer handles. Pulled a piece of fabric across and clipped some clothes pins on to hold the art!

Simple projects, FREE and I love that it adds more character to our house! :)

Friends at Park

2012-01-20T13:02:00.000-08:00

A few times a month we will head to the park after school with some of Dylan's friends. This time his twin friends Ian & Alex decided that they would bury Dylan in the sand and of course Dylan was more than happy to get buried. :)

Item on bucket list checked off

2012-01-16T12:48:00.000-08:00

13+ years ago Mark and I wrote items down on a napkin of things we would like to do within our lifetime. One of Mark's was running a marathon and he was able to check it off yesterday! I am so proud of his hard work and discipline!!

He ran without stopping and his finish time was 4:44...that's a whole lot of running!
The kids and I met him a few different spots. I had the kids make signs. This picture is at mile 20.5 (near Israel & Kati's house). Some friends also came out to cheer him on. It was a lot of fun to encourage the runners as they went by.

We felt a little guilty having the kids eating donuts in front of everyone as they ran by...but the kids enjoyed it. :)

Then the kids lined up and held out their hands for high 5's. It was so fun to see the runners make their way over for the 5's!

Mark kept running and the kids followed along side in the grass for just a bit. :)

This is Mark's co-worker Mike. He has been a huge inspiration and encouragement for Mark. He has run several marathons and Mark call's him "coach". He came out just to watch & cheer Mark on along the race at 4 different spots! What a great friend!

And Mark's good friend Nole came to town from Oregon just to run the race. He and Mark were able to start together and find one another at the end. Nole finished about 20 minutes before Mark. Way to go NOLE!!

It was such a fun day.

Mark is sore but doing good. He says he wants to do it again!

This is a video of his last bit to the finish line!

Rainbow Ninja's

2012-01-16T12:38:00.000-08:00

I love it when the kids make up "routines" and are creative in the way they play!

Eskimo Tree

2012-01-13T06:06:00.000-08:00

I read a Bible story and have a prayer time with the kids every morning (well, at least I try to do it every morning :)). This mornings story was about Zaccheus wanting to see Jesus so at the end we sang the song,

"Zaccheus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he. He climbed up in the sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see..."

A little bit later I heard Dylan singing as he was putting his shoes on, "...He climbed up in the Eskimo tree for the Lord he wanted to see."

This morning started off very early and has been rough with cranky kids, was thankful to have something to smile about. :)

Picnic Dinner

2012-01-12T07:20:00.000-08:00

The kids and I met up with Mark for dinner last night at Tempe Town Lake during the small break he has between work and school.

I love the way this picture turned out.

Painting Cement

2012-01-11T14:07:00.000-08:00

Our back patio area has always bothered me since we moved into our house 2 1/2 years ago...but since we just rent I've always just let it be. We really enjoy being outside and spend a lot of time out there so I finally decided to buy a can of cement paint and clean it up some. It still has all the cracks but at least now it looks clean and even. :)

All I did was a 2 times of pressure washing, some scraping with a metal blade and then painted. Not hard at all. I know it won't last that long but for now it looks great!

Building Forts

2012-01-09T13:51:00.000-08:00

Woke up Saturday morning to this fort that Dylan built at our kitchen table.

Complete will air mattress and every single pillow they could find in the house. :)

Celebrating Maggie's 5th Birthday

2012-01-08T13:27:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Maggie's 5th birthday yesterday at Stuffington Bear Company. The kids had such a fun time!

It started with a talk about how the teddy bear originated (Teddy Roosevelt saved a baby bear). How cute are all the girls :)

And then the we got a tour of the factory where they make all the bears

Then they got to pick out their own bear. Stuff it, sew it up and clean it off. This is Dylan giving it a "bath".

They were all excited and so cute!

Next came gift opening. Why is so hard for kids to sit and watch...I think they are just as happy to see what is in the package as the person opening it!

And the grand finale was the Strawberry Shortcake cake.

Happy Birthday Maggie!!

New Car

2012-01-06T12:24:00.000-08:00

We got a new car...or at least a new to us car. :)

We have been looking for weeks trying to find a decent used car with low mileage and it was really frustrating. But 2 days ago we finally found one that met all requirements!

It's a 2007 Volkswagen Jetta. The kids are still settling in and getting used to having to sit by one another instead of spreading out like they did in our other vehicle (Dodge Durango - has 3 row). I'm excited to have a 2nd vehicle and am really hoping it will be a great reliable car for us!

childs heart

2012-01-05T19:45:00.001-08:00

cadences' prayer tonight -

thank you that you protect.
thank you that God died on the cross.
lincoln is safe in heaven.
keep us safe.
amen.

my heart is full

Painting

2012-01-05T12:29:00.000-08:00

I'm still painting furniture and reselling. I recently purchased a air paint sprayer and it is so nice to use and the end product looks really great!

Here are two of my most recent projects.

Here is the before picture...

and after. :)

Forgot to take a before picture of this one...oops. :)

Hopefully they sell quick.
I just posted them on Craigslist!

Nephew Sleep Over

2012-01-05T12:11:00.000-08:00

My nephew Jake have a sleep over on Monday night. Dylan was so excited that he came over and they played really great together (sometimes they wind each other up too much! :))

We went out for a DQ treat.

And as the evening went on it was time to wind things down and they settled in for a movie night...with all the lights off, of course.

New Bike!

2012-01-05T07:35:00.000-08:00

Mark bought me a new bike with the money he received for Christmas. He is so generous. I tried to talk him out of it but he loves to give gifts and I really like my new bike!

This weekend we strapped some pizza on my front basket and we all took a bike ride to the park near our house. :)
Mark and I played a little football...but stopped when he forgot I was a girl and kept throwing the ball so hard!! :)

Dylan was content digging and by the end of our time at the park had a handful of boys gathered around him wanting to do the same thing he was. :)

The girls had lots of fun and followed each other all around. It's fun that they are playing together now!

It was a beautiful afternoon!

North Mountain Hike

2012-01-02T15:58:00.001-08:00

On the 1st of January we went for a little hike at North Mountain.

We didn't get very far but it was fun to be out and enjoy the outdoors. Family Portrait

It was a great way to start the new year!

"booby trap"

2012-01-01T13:39:00.000-08:00

Last week Cadence was playing outside and all of a sudden I heard her crying. I ask her what happened and she said that she ran into the rope. The thin rope was attached from the edge of the trampoline to a pipe on the side of our house. She was excited because she heard that our neighbor had come over and was running inside to come see her and she ran right into the rope...it basically clothes lined her. Thankfully she closed her eye fast enough!

I told Dylan what had happened because he is the one that had put the rope there. He saw her and saw that she was ok and then said, "oh, that is so awesome. My booby trap worked!".

Boys...

Dinner with friend from afar!

2012-01-01T13:08:00.000-08:00

This last week my friend Jill Anderson ( http://theothersideofthemoon2009.blogspot.com/ ) was in town from Korea! We arranged for us girls that knew each other from her time in Phoenix to get together for dinner. We ate at a really great restaurant called Windsors and had such a great time catching up!
Jill took these pictures (I just stole them off her blog :)) but I wanted to remember our time together. Jill has gone through some hard times in the recent years, but her spirit of grace glows all around her. She has such a peaceful spirit and wish I could see her in person more often. But for now we'll just have to keep following one anothers blogs. :)

2011-12-29T16:33:00.000-08:00

We just finished dinner. I made cashew chicken but the kids don't really like it, so normally I just give them rice & chicken with Mark's mom's honey sauce.
I opened the jar that I keep in the refrigerator and gave it a smell and thought, "hmmm, smells a little different" but still poured it on their meals.

I asked Dylan a minute later, "how does the rice taste?".
He said, "good mom".

I then gave it a try and still felt it wasn't quite right and then had Mark taste and he said "yep, that isn't good".

As I'm clearing the kids bowls Dylan says, "Mom I really didn't think it tasted good when you asked but didn't want your feelings to be hurt that you didn't make a good meal".

Made my night. So sweet! :)

Christmas #4

2011-12-29T10:46:00.000-08:00

Christmas evening was spent at Mark's parents house. Michelle came to town and the kids were very happy to see her!
Mark's mom gave Isabelle a blanket & pillow like the one that Cadence received last year but hers is purple. She had the year and from them embroidered in the back of the blanket. It will be another thing that will be put in the keepsake trunk (along with Cadence's :)). She was very happy to have her own blanket & pillow and kept hugging them!

Cadence received a very pretty dress up Rapunzel dress. Cadence was a little shy at first when she opened it...I think there were too many people watching. But as soon as we were done opening the gifts and everyone went in different areas of the house, she had it on and was dancing around. :)

Dylan was excited to have the wagon that Grandpa had told him about :)

And they had lots of fun in the paper/trash pile when we were done. It's still fun for them to play in paper!

We took this picture originally to show how tall Dylan is compared to Grandma but the girls wanted to get in. It turned out to be a really cute picture. :)

And this is the end of the 2 day Christmas marathon!

Such fun!

Christmas #3

2011-12-29T10:34:00.000-08:00

It has been tradition for many many years that the Whittemore's come over on Christmas morning. Mark always makes us amazing breakfast burritos. Look at the size that Israel made!!

All the kids!

We gave Maggie a princess mirror and some craft supplies/table.

The kids had a lot of fun giving and receiving their gifts. Maggie was so sweet this year. She had earned some money at a recent yard sale and she decided to buy gifts for my kids with her own money. So precious!

The morning ended with us playing in the front yard. Boys playing basketball, girls taking turns on the swing and mom's relaxing. :)

I love our Christmas morning tradition and am so thankful for close friends!

Christmas #2

2011-12-29T10:06:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas morning! The kids woke up and opened their stockings, watched a little tv and then we started opening gifts (as soon as daddy got up :)).
I actually gave Mark his gift the day before so we could all enjoy a bike ride together. I bought him a old bike with a tank and whitewall tires. It is really cool looking and best of all he really likes it (he's so hard to buy gifts for!). I also bought the rest of us bike gear. Cadence a ride along bike that attached to Mark's bike and myself a old (1950's) bike and a seat for Isabelle to ride with me.

We took a little video while we went out for a ride. :)
I love that we have bikes again!

Dylan made us a cookbook at school. He had wanted us to open it as soon as he came home from school but we told him we had to wait until Christmas for us to open. He was so anxious for us to open our gift, it was the first thing he wanted to do when we started opening. I thought it was really sweet that he was so excited to give it to us!

I had a ABC book made for Isabelle. It has pictures of her and our family throughout it. It will for sure be something that one day will be put away in her keepsake trunk.

In the very back of the tree I found some papers that were folded and were wrapped up. I knew right away it was something that Cadence had done (she always wraps stuff up in paper and gives gifts from her room to me). I asked her who it was for and she said that it was for me. When I opened I found this heart picture. I love it and thought it was so special that she wrapped something up and hid it under the tree! It is going in the scrapbook.

We gave Dylan a basketball hoop. He was very excited! He has played a lot and has been a great new source of entertainment for him.

Christmas #1

2011-12-29T09:59:00.000-08:00

First stop for Christmas was on Christmas Eve, celebrating at my parents house. Every year the kids do a little play while my dad reads the Christmas story.

They were so cute. Isabelle was Joseph (on left sitting down), Janae was Mary, Dylan was a shepherd, Cadence & Jake were angels. :)

The kids took turns opening gifts and were able to see what everyone else got.

Dylan had really wanted a gumball machine, so he was happy he got one...and I'm writing this 5 days later and they are all gone! That is some serious gum chewing (although he has been very good about sharing with his sisters :)).

The kids did great and it was a lot more enjoyable now that the kids are getting older!

Handmade Gifts

2011-12-23T08:16:00.000-08:00

I made a handmade gift for my friend and amazing neighbor for her birthday yesterday. :) I had her kids each draw a picture that I planned to transfer to make a throw pillow. But to be honest I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to get it to transfer...I bought some fabric you can print on but ended up not really liking the feel of it so didn't use it.

I finally decided that I would cut out the letters, trace and embroider it onto some fabric I found for her. Here is the sewing during the process. I ended up sewing buttons into the centers of each heart to give it some extra texture.

Then it was time to sew the pillow together.

I didn't really like the way the edging looked (too handmade :)), so I sewed a edge on very side and like the way it looked better. The above picture is one without the edge and the other with. Not a huge difference, but enough.

Here is the final project! They turned out super cute and was very easy to make.

2011-12-23T08:04:00.000-08:00

Every year a group of us girls that were friends from church when we were in High School try to get together at Christmas time. Jenny (on left of picture) is the only one who lives out of town, so it is our excuse to all hang out! This year only 3 of us could make it but between the 3 of us we had 10 kids who had a great time playing together and decorating Christmas cookies! If the other 2 girls could have come we would have had 18 kids, crazy!

I love that when we get together, it is like no time has passed and we pick up where we left off from last time. It's so good to have long friendships!

Mommy, awesome

2011-12-23T07:57:00.000-08:00

I was driving with just Isabelle in the car this last week. It had been rainy the day before so there were still a lot of clouds in the sky. It was quiet in the car and all of a sudden Isabelle says, "mommy sky awesome". It was so precious that she recognized the beauty. I wanted to capture the moment so took a quick picture while driving down the freeway. :)

And this one I took one day after picking up Dylan from school.

The sky was beautiful. This is on our street we live on.

Amazing Race Birthday Party

2011-12-23T07:35:00.000-08:00

For my birthday Mark planned a surprise "Amazing Race" adventure with our friends Israel & Kati and Chad & KJ. It was so much fun...I haven't laughed that much in a very long time!

It started with us all meeting at Chad & KJ's house and some how Mark slipped out the door without any of us noticing. The next thing we know is Mark is calling Chad and telling us about the race and giving us instructions! The first clue was to find a pink box hidden in the front yard, we all took off running. We had to put a kids princess puzzle together and he had written on the back 4 riddles or questions we had to answer. Once we had the 4 answers we had to google it and tell Mark our answer. The boys team got done first...the answer was Fox and Hound.

So our adventure took us to our next clue which was a text message with a riddle/saying from a movie we had to figure out. It was to drink a White Russian and take a picture of before and after. We had caught up to the boys because the text from Mark didn't go through and they had no idea what they were suppose to be doing. Their loss but was good for us girls! :)

The next clue was to go to the 1st park that Dylan played at. It was by our first house in Arrowhead, next to the playground is a small pond. Mark had set up ropes from one side of the lake to the other. Our instructions were to blow up a air mattress with hand pump and someone had to ride on it while someone else pulled them across to the other side of the lake! I somehow convinced Kati to do it and KJ pulled. KJ pulled so fast, she was flying across the lake...so much so that water got on the mattress and Kati ended up very wet! There was so much laughter!

Then we had to go to Peter Piper Pizza and win enough tickets to buy the list of prizes Mark required. It was something like 310 tickets and we could only play 4 different games to win the tickets! I played skee ball and by the end I had a rhythm going and was pretty good at it. :) I knew I am getting old because my back was hurting from leaning over and playing!

The boys once again got done just before us. They had their prizes and then there were some small kids in front of us. I asked the kids if we could go in front of them and we would give them our leftover tickets. They were thrilled!

Next stop was the end of the race. The boys won.

We had dinner at Chevy's...complete with a birthday song. :)

It was such a great time! Mark is always so great with coming up with unique and special gifts and surprises! Thank you Mark for a amazing birthday experience.

Week of Christmas fun!

2011-12-22T13:17:00.000-08:00

This last week has been filled with lots of fun Christmas festivities!

As a family we drove around and looked at lights and found this amazing house that had all kinds of displays and moving fun Christmas stuff...they even had this bubble blowing thing that blew out what looked like snow. The kids loved it!

We exchanged gifts with Thomas and Ella and went to their house to play for a little bit. They also decorated some sugar cookies! I love that we still have their friendship even though we moved out of our old neighborhood.

I didn't take any pictures but we also went to the Christmas play at First Assembly church. It was new this year and the kids are always captivated by all that is going on, especially the flying angels!

2nd annual tradition of Mark having his team from work over to our house for a lunch and gift exchange. Everyone ate outside on our picnic table and then headed in for the gift exchange.
There were a few gifts that kept being "stolen" and others that no one wanted anything to do with!

Dylan had a Christmas party at school. We were able to use the cafeteria and set up the projector for the kids to watch Christmas Paws. There were also some fun Christmas crafts they could do.
The last day of school before break was also pajama day, so the kids were nice and comfy for the movie watching. :)

This is the whole 1st grade class!

Is this really starting??

2011-12-15T20:39:00.000-08:00

Today when I picked up Dylan from school he informed me that one of the girls in his class has a crush on him. I asked if he liked her and he said no. I then asked if she tried to kiss him when on recess. He responded with a high pitch no!

Is this really starting!?

Goodness...

4 year check up

2011-12-13T06:35:00.000-08:00

Last week I had Cadence's 4 year old check up (a bit late because it took so long to get in :)). Doctor said she is looks great, she weighs 39 pounds (75%) and is 45 1/4" tall (97%). Yep, we have tall kids! :) She had to get 3 shots and was very nervous but didn't cry. She did great!

Isabelle also was along because she needed to get a few shots (I'm using Dr. Sears vaccine schedule for her). She also did great, no tears from her either!

Afterwards we went to Dairy Queen for a treat!

Baby News...

2011-12-11T18:26:00.001-08:00

or at least the news that we will no longer be having any more babies coming from my body. On Friday I had surgery...no more babies from me. I've known that I was done as soon as I had Isabelle. Mark on the other hand did not feel the same as me, so we had made a compromise that we would wait until my 35th birthday (2 1/2 years) and if I still felt the same then we could do something permanent.

This is us at the hospital waiting to get admitted.

All went well. Honestly, I thought I would have a really quick recovery and up back to normal that night. Needless to say that wasn't the case, but I feel back to pretty much normal now (3 days later). It was my first surgery and I was groggy/tired for the weekend. The girls were very sweet with me and were my snuggle buddies.

I'm not saying we are done with having more children in our family...I'm saying I was done having them come from me. :)

Sweet Whispers

2011-12-09T05:36:00.000-08:00

5:30am - Sounds of an elephant walking into the bathroom...aka, Dylan. He walks so hard!
I lay him back down and say he needs to sleep longer.

Walking out of Dylan's room I hear a little girl voice, "mooooommm". It's Cadence, she was woken by the stampede. :) I tell her to go back to sleep. She asks how long. I say 1 more hour (knowing it would be a miracle if that happened!)

I lay back in bed. It is quiet for a minute or two and then I hear whispers coming from the girls' room. Cadence keeps shushing Isabelle to talk quieter. I can tell that Isabelle has crawled into Cadence's bed and they are whispering to one another.

It was so fun to hear them together talking, thinking they were getting away with something. :)

I really hope as the girls get older they are great friends and have many more mornings like this!

Check Mate

2011-12-05T12:03:00.000-08:00

Mark taught Dylan how to play chess this weekend and took this really great picture while they were playing!

He caught on quick and really enjoys it. :)

Looking like Christmas

2011-12-05T11:54:00.000-08:00

We decorated our tree this weekend. I love the smell of the fresh tree! Dylan was really excited about decorating and did most of the work. Cadence did help a little and Isabelle really had no interest in it at all. :)

It looks beautiful, just need to get the gifts wrapped up now!

Here is how our house looks in the evening. :)

And my front door area, you can't really see in the picture but they are little wire reindeers on the bench.

We've been playing Christmas music and the girls love it, such a fun season!

Backyard Camp-out

2011-12-04T17:55:00.000-08:00

After Cadence's Christmas performance my parents stayed the night at our house so that my dad could have a camp-out in our backyard with Dylan. Earlier in the afternoon Dylan got the tent all set up (along with air mattress). He was super excited about spending the night outside and being allowed to go pee in the bushes if he had to go during the night. :)

I couldn't get a good picture of him because he kept squinting because of flash, needless of what this picture looks like...he really was having a great time! The night was very cold but they were bundled up and said they were toasty all night long.
The next morning my Dad, Mark, Dylan & Cadence went to the Home Depot workshop and made some snowman decorations. They also picked up our Christmas tree!

The late morning was filled with hanging out and my mom helping me with some projects I wanted to get to get done. It was a great weekend!

Cadence Christmas Performance

2011-12-04T17:21:00.000-08:00

Friday evening Cadence's school had their Christmas performance.

We were sitting pretty far back so I wasn't able to get any close up pictures. But the above picture is of her preschool class singing jingle bells and ringing bells.

She is 2nd from left side on bottom row.

She was so cute in her new dress! :)

Pallet Project Featured!

2011-12-04T17:11:00.000-08:00

I was featured in a blog that I follow that is called road kill rescue. It is site that features projects that people create from free or curbside treasures. First time ever being featured on another blog site...kinda fun. :)

http://roadkillrescue.net/2011/12/pallet-gallery-wall/

Jill from Jill Roberts was inspired to create a wood wall hanging to provide a rustic backdrop for her framed photos. Jill scored her materials for free when she found some pallets in an alley.

Jill’s sweet son removed all the nails and tore apart the pallets, and then Jill arranged and cut the wood pieces to create her desired pattern. Once the pieces were all attached, Jill hung the finished product on the wall and added framed pictures of her precious children. The wood backdrop provides a great focal point above the bed and looks awesome paired with Jill’s frames.

Carefree Swinging

2011-12-02T13:21:00.000-08:00

DIY Free Pallet Project!

2011-11-30T19:00:00.000-08:00

Here is a project I completed today.

It was totally free!!
It's a wall hanging made from pallets.

Here is where I got my inspiration.
I don't remember where I found it, but somewhere online. I print or clip things out and have a file of ideas when I see them. :)

I found some pallets in a alley and scooped them up one day when I didn't have a carload of kids with me. I asked Dylan if he wanted to help out and he was super excited about it, he loves working with tools. On the 2nd pallet, I told him that I would pay him $2 for each pallet he took apart and removed all the nails. This defiantly motivated him even more!

Step 1: Tear apart the pallet and remove all the nails. Step 2: Decide how big you want the wall hanging to be and arrange the wood in a pattern that you like. You'll want to lay the wood with the good side down (side you want to show when hanging on wall, face down).
Step 3: I didn't take a picture of this but once you have it all laid out in the pattern you like, measure and mark where you need to cut the side edges. I took a long level and laid it down on wood and took a pencil line up all the wood pieces.

Step 4: Again, no picture (wasn't planning to write all this out :)) Cut each side piece off at line you just marked, I used electric saw. Put each piece back where you took it from after each cut.

Step 5: Fasten (screw) wood pieces together with scrap pieces of wood from pallet. (The picture is from my 1st try at doing this...then I realized I needed to cut side pieces off first and then attach all together.) I also had a few random areas where I did little pieces of wood to reinforce the slats. Step 6: I brushed some white paint around randomly on some of the wood slats, I like the rustic natural look but you could easily paint the whole thing one color also. Then sand all the edges and rough wood, I also sanded over some of the area I painted to make it look more blended. I used really course sandpaper with electric sander. It only took a few minutes.

Step 7: I attached 2 heavy duty hanging hooks to back wood pieces.

And also used hooks in wall that were strong enough for the weight...it's pretty heavy.

Here it is without frames attached

I had the frames already hanging on my wall, so I just used what I had but you can easily make a wood frame or just buy what you like. I put little nails in and hung them up.

I love it!!

I love that it is natural and not perfect.

I guess in the end, it cost me $6.50. $2.50 for the hooks for hanging and $4.00 to pay Dylan for helping me!

I hope someone else makes one...or is just inspired. :)

Pin It

Feats of Strength

2011-11-28T09:14:00.000-08:00

Michelle and Mark ran a 10 mile Turkey Trot race on Thanksgiving day.

It was Mark's first race!
He did great.
I'm really proud of him and am always so impressed with how he can push his body and mind.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-27T17:31:00.000-08:00

It is tradition that Mark carves the turkey. I'm not sure how that started but it is now a reserved job for him. :)
My side of the family always comes over to my in-laws house for Thanksgiving.
It was a very nice meal!

The kids had their own table. Isabelle's plate was set up next to my spot at the adult table but when she saw where she was sitting she was not having it and started to move her stuff over to the kids table. :)

Another tradition that my mom does with the kids (since I was a kid) is have them say what they are thankful for one at a time and they get to pick out a prize/treat. It's always fun to hear what they say. I think this is my favorite part of Thanksgiving day.

Thanks mom for taking the time to make something special for the kids and teaching them to be thankful!

Thanksgiving at Cadence School

2011-11-27T17:18:00.000-08:00

Cadence had a Thanksgiving feast at her school on Wednesday. The kids had to try a bite of everything was the rule from their teacher. :) Cadence actually ate everything and asked for 2nd's of stuffing and mashed potatoes.

After the feast was done they still had some school time left so they sang a song about turkey feathers and they all took turns putting the felt colored feathers on the turkey. Isabelle wanted to be apart of class...she was still holding her hand up from the earlier question. :)

They also did a turkey hand craft project. Cadence of course loved it because she likes any crafts! She is going to be a little artist. :)

Zoo Trip

2011-11-27T17:11:00.000-08:00

Sister love!

For Grandma day this last week we went to the zoo. I still have a membership until the end of December so I figured I would try to get in a few more visits before it expires. I don't plan to renew for this next year...so we'll see if I miss it or not. :)
This is as close as she would get to the baboons, and this took some talking into for her to get this close. :)

It was a beautiful!

Squaw Peak Mountain Cook Out

2011-11-27T16:57:00.001-08:00

Last weekend we went to Squaw Peak Mountain for a cookout. Mark had hiked the mountain with some people from work, so me and the kids met him there when he was done with dinner supplies.
Israel, Maggie & Eli met up with us also. We decided to go on a little "hike" with the kids. It was really just a little walk on a trail but the kids loved it! I love how much the kids all love each other. :)

We cooked hot dogs on the grill and had chips. The kids were excited about the chips and I honestly think that is really all they ate...oh well, every once in awhile is ok I guess. :)

We also brought Smores making supplies.

They had fun roasting over the coals from the hot dog grilling.

Both Cadence and Isabelle didn't like the Smores, well actually just the marshmallows so they stuck with just chocolate & graham crackers. But Dylan on the other hand loved them...and ended up eating 4 Smores! He started in on his 5th and took one bite and said, "my belly is telling me to stop now". :)

It was such a fun and different thing to do. It was also a beautiful night out, we hope to do it again soon!

Happy Birthday to my Father-in-law

2011-11-27T16:51:00.000-08:00

I'm catching up on my blogging...we celebrated John's 65th birthday earlier in the month. The evening was complete with a ice cream cake which the kids are always excited about. :)

2011-11-18T06:33:00.000-08:00

5:55 am - Dylan comes to my room.

Me: "It's too early, go back to bed." (I walk him back to his bed)

6:05 am - Dylan comes to my room.

Dylan: "Mom, I can hear the birds chirping and they are awake. Why can't I wake up if the birds are awake?"

Me: "Ok, but play quietly in your room." was my response as I laid in bed with a big smile on my face. :)

Life lessons through trash can

2011-11-14T11:45:00.000-08:00

Say hello to my new compost trash can. I picked it up at the dump at the City of Phoenix. They have a recycling program where they take broken or graffitied cans and drill holes in and cut off bottom for composting. When I arrived I was bummed that the only one they had available was one covered in graffiti. I was thinking that maybe I could paint the whole can or something to make it look more pretty.

But...leave it to Mark to teach me a great life lesson from it. When he saw it he thought it was so great that it had graffiti all over! That something that was messed up and no one wanted any longer has now been created to be something of new use. That not only is it to be used for a new purpose but that the thing that happens inside the can which is smelly, gross & messy when put in is one day transformed into a rich soil that will be used to sustain growth and life.

I printed the above picture and taped it to my bathroom mirror. To remind me constantly that the things that happen to me in life aren't always pretty...and that I'm not always pretty. But I have been created with the beautiful gift and ability of not allowing what others say or what my circumstances are to define who I am on the inside.

I'm thankful for the transforming power of grace.

Care free!

2011-11-11T11:51:00.000-08:00

Last night was a carnival at Dylan's school. We had a great time! There were all kinds of little games to play and bouncy houses but all Cadence really kept asking to do was to dance (they had a little area set up with music and chairs around for a dance recital earlier in the evening). She was the only one in our group who was brave enough to go on the stage area and dance by herself. For being the shy one of the kids, she had no thought or care of anyone else. I loved it! I enjoyed watching her so much!! I hope her care free attitude stays with her as she gets older.

2011-11-10T06:59:00.000-08:00

For "Grandma B day" this week we went to the little carnival at Maggie's school.
The girls got their faces painted...so cute!

They had some craft tables set up, so they made bracelets & sticker picture frames.

Cadence & Maggie

Reward in Gardening

2011-11-08T15:53:00.000-08:00

Today while my mom and sister were over we dug a bit in my sweet potato garden bed to see what we could find. I was a bit disappointed at first because I kept pulling the vines up and wasn't finding anything. Finally I dug down a little and found all kinds of potatoes! It was so fun to keep finding them!!

This is what I pulled up for them to take home (along with some banana peppers). They took home about 6 or 7. I could see a bunch more while I was digging but I wanted Dylan to be able to pull them up, so I covered them back up and waiting for him to be done with school.

When he got home he got to digging and was so excited about it. :) Cadence helped out also, we kept finding potato after potato and earth worm after earth worm in the soil. He thought about feeding them to the chickens as a "treat" but decided they were better for the soil. I love what he learns by us having a garden & chickens!

This is the biggest one we pulled up.

You can see the area that we dug up...still have lots more to go. :)

This is how much we pulled up (plus what I gave to my family) today!
By far, my most rewarding gardening experience so far!! :)

Radio Play Time!

2011-11-08T07:25:00.000-08:00

It doesn't sound the greatest (because of my camera & car stereo :)) but Israel's band, The Alchemy Heart, had his song "Ghost" play on the radio yesterday morning. Super excited for him and his band! :)

Congratulations Israel!

2011-11-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

She would swing all day if I would let her :)

Fall Garden

2011-11-05T19:17:00.000-07:00

My fall garden is starting to come in nicely. I am excited every morning when I go out to check on it and my chickens. :) It's fun to see how much they grow and change even just overnight. I planted some herbs: parsley, basil, mint, oregano and some cilantro has sprouted up from the seeds that fell from last year.

I also have carrots, spinach, squash, onions, broccoli,peppers (few kinds) & peas.

These are mini sweet peppers...the kind that Costco sells and I love!

These are banana peppers in the front of the picture, to the left is broccoli and growing on the decorative fence is peas.

And my sweet potatoes are still doing great. I think I will dig up in the next week or so...I'm anxious to see if there is anything below this beautiful foliage.

Can't wait for them to be big enough plants to start producing!

Fun in their sleep!

2011-11-04T18:23:00.000-07:00

This last week the kids have made me laugh when I walked in and found them sleeping. Cadence had her dolls all set up and comfortable. :)
And Dylan was sleeping in my bed and I came in to find him with my sleeping mask on. :)
Funny boy!

Halloween Night

2011-11-03T13:23:00.000-07:00

On Halloween night Israel, Kati, Drea and the kids came over for dinner. It was beautiful out and we were able to enjoy our meal on our GREAT picnic table. (I love that table and that it is in our front yard so we can get to know our neighbors better!) All the kids, including our amazing neighbors were out. The kids were so excited about the evening and that everyone was out and about. :)

It started off a little slow but then the crowds came. This is just one of the many many groups that came by. We ran out of candy (17 bags!) by about 8:00 and called it a night.

Maggie and Dylan were the ones handing out most of the candy. Cadence was a bit too scared, she gave a few pieces to the little kids but otherwise stayed back and just watched. :)

2011-11-02T16:05:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Mark had a conversation with one of his co-workers, he is newer on the team and they started talking about him having a new baby on the way and how many kids he has. That lead to him sharing with Mark about that he will really have 4 kids and that his first daughter passed away after 14 months of life. He went on to share the heart wrenching story of his daughters life journey and tragic death after her 3rd surgery. He said that when he went to see his daughter after her surgery that she lifted her hand and reached to hold his fingers, let go and then her heart stopped beating...

words can't express the emotions that arise in me just typing these words.

The conversation lead to Mark sharing about Lincoln with his co-worker (he had not heard our story before yesterday either). Shared the story of Lincoln passing, that Lincoln was laying on Mark's chest while they both rested. That Mark woke to not feeling the sensation of Lincoln's labored breaths not moving up and down. That he called to me sitting next to him asking me to check and see if he is breathing, which he was not. I held him in my arms as life passed out of of his body. But he felt safe and loved on the chest of his Daddy and began the journey of entering eternity in that security.

Mark's co-worker told Mark what a gift we had that Lincoln passed not in pain and quietly in his rest.

We were given a gift yesterday of being able to see a new perspective in Lincoln's death.

The pain is still deep.

I'm grateful for Mark's conversation and being able to share in the pain & understanding of others who have lost.

Getting Older means better drawing...

2011-11-02T12:53:00.000-07:00

Cadence has begun to draw more detailed in the last few weeks. Her people have moved from just a head and alien eyes to a body shape, legs, arms and face details.

This is a drawing from yesterday...I think it is the best that I have seen from her. :)

She is also starting to write her letters really well. She likes to spell and practice. This is what she wrote while we were in the car driving the other day (I of course still tell her what letter to write and then she writes it).

It's always amazing to me how quickly and all of a sudden the kids learning and development happen.

Halloween at Mark's work

2011-10-31T16:22:00.000-07:00

On Friday afternoon Mark's work had a holiday fun afternoon for families/kids. Maggie came along with the girls (Dylan was in school). Cadence was a princess with wings, Isabelle a ballerina and Maggie Strawberry Shortcake. They were super excited to be dressed up and headed out!
There were all kinds of fun stuff for them besides picking out candy from all over the building.

Mark was getting creative with the girls making puppets with paper bags. :)

They got their hair colored pink with sparkles!

This is the girls sitting at their daddy's desks. You can pick out Cadence behind Maggie where the 2nd pink balloon is. How is it possible for Mark and Israel to sit sooooo close to one another at work!

Mark had dressed up in the morning for work. He looked pretty amazing in his costume (j/k)! He completed his look with shaved lines in his his hair...just like Vanilla Ice back in the day. Needless to say that he now has a shaved bald head. :)

2011-10-30T09:38:00.001-07:00

Conversation this morning:

Cadence: that song just told a lie
Me: what do you mean?
Cadence: it said lied
Me: no, it said true love died

a moment of pause

Cadence: no, it was saying that God would save us from the evil Dr. PorkChop (from Toy story of course).

She was so serious when saying all this. I instantly starting laughing, it was the highlight of my morning! :)

Student of the Month

2011-10-30T09:29:00.000-07:00

Dylan is student of the month for November! There was a award ceremony on Friday for him to get his certificate & t-shirt...it also happened to be dress up day and the little kids at school got to do a parade for the older kids after the assembly. Dylan is in the batman cape & hood. :)

Good job Dylan - I'm proud of you!!

2011-10-30T09:09:00.000-07:00

Jake & Janae had a sleep over last night because Jon & Jolene were in Hawaii for vacation. They came over in the morning and had a great time playing together. After lunch a dance party began with Cadence and Janae...
which lead to all of them having a dance party...

which lead to them "being a band" and pulling out all the instruments.

The afternoon ended with the boys building a fort outside and trying to figure out ways to spy on the girls who were playing dolls in the room. :)

Piano

2011-10-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the girls were playing on the piano at my mom's house. The piano always brings back good memories. It is the piano my sister and I practiced our lessons on...although I unfortunately don't remember anything I learned now.

The clock on top was my grandfathers (on my mom's side) and it is beautiful.

It's interesting how objects can trigger strong memories, these things do that for me. I hope they stay in our family for ages to come.

Playground School Days...

2011-10-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

Remember the days of tether ball on the playground? I would play every recess, come home with broken vessels on the side of my hands from hitting the wrong spot...but it never stopped me from playing.

I went to school a bit back for lunch with Dylan and stayed for his recess time and it looks like Dylan likes to play also. :)

Jamaica coming to an end...

2011-10-12T05:30:00.000-07:00

This is our last morning on vacation. The house is quiet and all I hear are the waves crashing on the beach close by. It has been such a amazing trip! Here are a few images & people who helped us on this adventure. :)

This is Keith, he has been our driver for 4 of the days here and we rode in his air conditioned (thankfully) van around. He was a very nice man...but would I recommend him to someone else to use? Ummm, probably not. He was a bit scary with his driving a few times. The driving and roads here are ridiculously scary, we had thought about possibly driving on our own and am so thankful we went with someone driving us.

This is Mavis, she is as sweet as she looks in this picture. :) She has been our cook and housekeeper while at the cottage. There are not any restaurants or really anything within walking distance, so she took us shopping at the little market here and has prepared all our food...which has been 2 of our favorite meals while on the island. The others, well...you'll have to keep reading to see the few meals we didn't care for. :)
The picture above is me writing down the recipe for the 2 dishes we liked.

This is her buying our fruit and veggies out of the trunk of a car that just randomly pulled up in front of our house. He had a scale for weighing on top of his car and everything. :) Random.

This is Ackee. It is the national fruit, it is prepared with a fish and eaten for breakfast. The black part is a seed that is removed and if the fruit is closed like the one at the top of picture is is poisonous and will kill you if you eat the fruit, it has to be opened naturally (not pried open) like the 2nd whole fruit and then it is perfectly fine to eat. She asked if we wanted to try and we said, "sure, why not". :)

Here it is prepared for our breakfast yesterday. We should have just stuck with eggs...it was not to our liking. The texture is something between a scrambled egg and very ripe avocado...not good. Mark ate a bunch even though he didn't like it because he didn't want Mavis to know we didn't like it, we didn't want to hurt her feelings. He took one for the team. :)

This dish was for dinner. Again we went out on a limb and said we would try a local dish that is served in all traditional Jamaican restaurants. Curried goat...yep, goat!

She spent all afternoon preparing the meat, I happened to walk in while she was cutting up the goat in the sink and if you know me at all I am pretty picky with the meat I eat. It was nasty.

The dish was bright green with a yellow residue on the side...scary but I was committed to give it a try. Mark was first and he said it was "gamey" tasting. I then was 2nd to try and I put the bite in took one chew and it came right back out again. It was not good...Israel and Kati didn't even give it a try if I wasn't willing to eat it. :)

So again, we didn't want to hurt Mavis' feelings by not eating the food, so we bagged up the food and threw it away at a trash near the market so she wouldn't know. :) Her other meals were so amazing, we kept saying how we should have had her prepare one of those again...oh well, now Mark and I can say we have tried goat! :)

This is a almond tree. They are beautiful and all around the island. I had no idea that is how they looked. The inside is fleshy and bright red with a citrus smell, then there is a shell and then the almond is inside the shell.

Some pictures of "critters" that were around. As soon as the sun went down a very loud noise would rise, it sounded like a squeeky swing set. It was so loud, I slept with the pillow over my head the first night. The little frog in the picture above is the reason....well, maybe him and like 100 more. It was incredible that such a small creature could make such a big noise.

We all had fears on this trip. Israel's were bats, Mark was the dark of the cave, mine is being in the water where I can't see (and ok, maybe cliff jumping also :). But Kati made me laugh so much because her biggest fear was the sand crabs! They were cute little guys, the same color as the sand, the picture above you can just barely make out his black eyes, if you make the picture larger you can see it. She would be afraid of them crawling on her...but they would scuttle away as soon as there was a movement.

And a snail from the cliffs. We went snorkeling (except Kati, she would get sea sick every time we went) in a area on the other side of the jetty yesterday. It was so incredible. There were conch shells all over, I picked one up and under were two wirey starfish. We saw all kinds of sea urchins/puffy & spiney things. Schools of little & medium sized fish. Some bright blue and yellow, manta rays and the highlight for me was a set of around 8 little squid. The just sat there looking at us in a row and then swam off. :)

All great things must come to a end.

It was such a great trip.

I am not excited about leaving but I am excited about seeing the kids...I miss them!

Jamaica, you will be missed!

River & Caves

2011-10-11T11:21:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we did some more exploring of some places on the side of the island we are staying now. The first stop was the Green Grotto Caves. These are a set of two very large caves and is a large tourist attraction. We were assigned a tour guide and then were instructed to put on a hard hat with a mesh hair net underneath (for sanitary purposes of course :)).

As soon as we went into the very large cave opening there were bats flying everything. If you click on the picture and make it larger you can see the size of the bat with it's wing opened...yep, they were a bit creepy. Israel was stiff for most of the tour with anxiety from the bats, he didn't enjoy this stop very much.

Once we entered the 2nd cave our guide asked us if we like snakes. Kati speaks up and says, "OH, I don't like snakes!" and stops right where she was. He said there are boa constrictors around and he started looking for one. He finally found one laying at the bottom of a long tube like formation. Nice and far away. Kati needless to say no longer enjoyed this stop either from this point on. :)

The caves were originally used by slaves that were escaping and then to flee from the Spanish during war. It then was turned into disco/bar for a few years. I honestly can't image being in this cave at night, he said the bats were still out but further in the cave due to the noise. After that the government took possession of the cave and made it into a tourism spot.

You can't really see it in the picture but the 2nd cave we went to had a very large mineral lake, it was crystal clear but toxic from all the bat droppings which have nitrate in it. Our guide turned off all the lights at this point to show what it was like in the dark...you couldn't see a drop of light. This gave Mark anxiety. :)

We then headed to the Dunn's river which is where a river turns into a fall and then flows into the ocean. We pulled up and there were tour buses everywhere (the cruise ship port is pretty close by)...this is our first time running into a lot of tourists and we were thankful that up until now we had eluded being around a lot of other people.

The plan was to hike/climb up the falls. We started at the beach and started our way up. There was a option to use a guide with a bunch of other people but we opted to do it on our own. It was fun finding our way up the falls, stepping down and not being quite sure where the bottom was. It was beautiful. I couldn't bring the camera along but it really was amazing! These pictures are at a spot that is about half way up the river.

It was such a great adventure!

Our new home - Nutshell Cottage

2011-10-11T07:26:00.000-07:00

This is where we have stayed for the last 2 nights. The house name is called Nutshell Cottage and it is in Silver Sands in Duncans. It is to the East about 2 hours from where we stayed the first few nights.

It is super cute and welcoming.

The rooms all had towels in different shapes with fresh flowers tucked in.

The first day we arrived it had been raining for most of the day so in the late afternoon when the sun came out we went to explore the beach which is a few yards from our house.

Beautiful!

There was not a single other person on the beach. We felt like we had our own private beach!

Can you see the rainbow in the distance just to the left of Mark? There was actually a double rainbow but the 2nd one was very faint. It is surreal to be in such a amazing place and to have it all to ourselves!

This is the view to the left of our beach from our house.

(Mark took this great picture :))

This is our view to the right.

The water is warm with the right away of waves...not too big and not too small.

It is paradise. I think this is my new favorite vacation!

Cliff Jumping Video

2011-10-10T15:02:00.000-07:00

Video of me finally jumping off the cliff. :)

Jamaica exploring

2011-10-10T07:25:00.000-07:00

The last two days have been relaxing & fun.

We went snorkeling a few times, right off the reef at our hotel.

The boys relaxing/floating in the Caribbean!

Cliff jumping, this also is right where we were staying. There was a cove in the cliffs that was the perfect spot for jumping. It also gathered a audience when one of us would get ready to jump.

I didn't want to jump but told everyone that I would do it the morning before we left this hotel. So yesterday morning when we were having breakfast Kati made me change into my swimsuit and go do it so we didn't run out of time (or that I wouldn't chicken out) before our driver came to pick us up. I finally got to the top and then had huge anxiety, Kati and I decided to go but then I just couldn't do it and she ended up in the water and I was still up top. :) I did FINALLY jump after a few false starts. I have a video...maybe I'll post when I get home. It's pretty funny.

We had dinner at a famous restaurant/bar called Rick's Cafe. It is famous because there is a very high makeshift tower/plank that the locals cliff jump from.

The picture above is at the cove at the restaurant. The locals were only jumping from the lower sign, it would have great to have been able to see them jump from the top

The last two days have been rainy but we still ventured out and did some exploring. The first stop was a small cave that was located at a restaurant. Our driver told us about it and showed us around. It lead out to the ocean. There were fruit bats flying all around, it was a bit creepy (Israel especially didn't like the bats! He screamed like a little girl at one point. :))

Our next stop was Royal Palm Nature preserve. By the time we got there it had been raining for quite awhile so it was actually closed. But there was a guard who let us in after we slipped him some money. We had the whole place to ourselves. It was so lush and beautiful. There were boardwalks through a maze of trees/plants and a lagoon.

This is a view from the top of a wooden look out tower. Amazing view!

The day ended with the best meal we have eaten so far at a hotel a few minutes walk from our place. We all had such great food. I ate a jerk chicken pasta with a fresh squeezed frozen limeade...delicious!

Trip to Jamaican Paradise

2011-10-09T17:48:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night Israel, Kati, Mark and myself took a red eye flight to Jamaica. The trip had been planned months before and it felt like the time would never come for us to leave. We had a very long layover in Atlanta, so we went into the city and had breakfast and played ROOK in a park. We were very tired but still had a lot of fun!

We arrived in Jamaica in the afternoon on Thursday. We stayed our first 3 nights in Negril which is on the West side of the island at a hotel called Catcha Falling Star. It was so beautiful, the grounds look like a garden paradise and it is located right on the cliffs of the ocean where you can jump (or climb the ladder) right down into the water.
This is my view on the first day. Relaxing, reading a book, enjoying the sun and the amazing view. It was hard to take in that I really am in Jamaica and how beautiful it is.

This is the view from the balcony of our hotel suite!

We had dinner at the hotel restaurant, we all shared bites from each others plates so we could experience all the different flavors of food. Each was so delicious! It is the low season of tourism right now (it's the last part of hurricane season) so there are so little people around. It really felt like at times that we had the whole place to ourselves, it has been great!

The sunsets are gorgeous here!

how did this happen?

2011-10-05T09:36:00.000-07:00

I took these pictures while driving down the road the other day.

I kept hearing a clinking noise on the side of my car, I leaned forward to look in the side mirror to see if I could see somthing on the side.

As you can see from the picture above that my keys are clearly in the ignition.

And...

Sure enough another set of keys in the key hole outside! How does this happen you might ask.

Well, I let Isabelle unlock the door (our automatic lock/unlock is broken on our key). I opened the door to unlock the other doors to buckle her in her seat. Put her in, still had my purse on my shoulder so I opened it up to find my keys. Which I had because I often have a set in my bag and then grab the extra set that is on the hook by our phones.

I totally felt like I was having my "forgetful" moments like when I was pregnant. Just those things you do and have no idea how you could forget to do or not do something so silly (Kati knows what I'm talking about :))

I put my window down and tried to get the key out but it was stuck in while I was driving.

Good to know. :)

The silly things in life!

A-ga - Sister

2011-09-30T08:02:00.000-07:00

This morning is the first time Isabelle actually said Cadence's name. Since she started talking a little she has always (for some unknown reason) called Cadence a-ga instead of sister. In our family we just know what she is saying. :)

More Birthday Celebration!

2011-09-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

We celebrated the September birthdays at Dylan's school. There were 5 this month! The parents planned a little party for them at the end of their day yesterday in the cafeteria.

It started with cup cakes, then popsicles and apple cider and ended with 2 goodie bags to take home. Needless to say, kids were super excited!

There are around 34 kids in both the 1st grade classes. Parents probably were wondering why their kids were so hyper when they got home! :)

Super Mario & Princess Peach Party!

2011-09-26T15:46:00.000-07:00

This weekend we celebrated Dylan's 7th birthday and Cadence's 4th Birthdays!!

Dylan came up with the idea of having them do a Super Mario & Princess Peach party. :)

I made the above mural (although got the idea online). Dylan loved it, when I put it up the morning of the party he kept telling me he couldn't stop looking at it. :)

We rented a huge water slide which the kids loved. They played all day on it...long after the party was over. Even Mark gave it a try before everyone showed up. :)

The girls made princess wands with glitter glue & colored princess pictures.

Lunch time was punch, hot dogs, watermelon and cheese balls...and the cheese balls were a huge hit with the kids! I wanted to keep it simple and things the kids would like.

Aunt Michelle came to town for the weekend of festivities! The kids were so excited she was here. Isabelle started to fade as the afternoon went on, she crawled up on Michelle's lap for a little rest. :)

We also had a snow cone machine!

Somehow Grandpa R. became the snow cone maker in the afternoon. So fun!

Homemade chocolate/vanilla swirl cupcakes for Dylan

and strawberry cupcakes for Cadence.

We waited until most of the kids had left to open gifts. In years past it was just too much chaos, so I decided to wait for things to calm down so the kids could really enjoy opening each gift. Dylan and Cadence took turns opening. Cadence really wanted the Tangled doll in picture above, she is super excited about it!

Dylan also enjoyed all his gifts!

It was such a fun day.

I was excited about how excited they were about their party. :)

Happy Birthday Kids!

Lego Engineering Class

2011-09-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

Dylan is taking a after school program called Lego Engineering.

This week they built a catapult and last week they built a vehicle that had a motor attached. It's teaching him different terminology and he is understanding how things work. The program encourages them to bring a camera and take pictures since they don't get to bring their creations home. These are the only ones he took! I was hoping for a little more. :)

Cadence's School Project

2011-09-19T13:28:00.000-07:00

Cadence had her first homework assignment last week.

She had to do a poster of her favorite things. She loved every moment of working on it!

1. Favorite color - purple

2. Favorite food - fruit

3. Favorite book - "That's not my fairy"

4. Favorite toy - My little pony

5. Favorite letter - C

6. Favorite number - 10

7. Favorite game - Candy Land

She also came home today with her 1st progress report. Her teacher says she listens to instructions well, holds pencil & scissors correctly and understand new concepts. But she needs to work on doing things by herself first then asking for help and not interrupting during "circle time". :)

Happy 4th Birthday Cadence

2011-09-18T13:27:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Cadence!

We celebrated Cadence turning 4 yesterday. It was a quiet day (Mark is out of town in Austin for the music festival). Cadence had a sleep over at Maggie's on Friday night...the first "real" one. Kati let them lay in bed and watch a movie and stay up late. :) She came home in the morning to our yardsale that was happening. Then in the afternoon we went to icecream together with Maggie.

I gave her a little gift to open on her actual birthday. We're having the party with Dylan this coming Saturday which is where the "big" celebration will happen!

It was a craft table she can use in her room. She loves it and right away set everything up just the way she wanted it. :)

In the evening Dylan's old preschool was having a BBQ & movie night (Rio). So we spent the night with Maggie as well enjoying the movie. It's a super cute movie!

More to come with birthdays soon!

Angels

2011-09-15T13:17:00.001-07:00

Cadence: Well Dylan, that is a angel in this picture
Dylan: No, it is a fairy
Cadence: That's the same thing
Dylan: No way it isn't. A fairy is like the tooth fairy and she is pretend. Angels are real things and they are here to protect us.
Cadence: Oh, ok.

Love overhearing these kind of conversations :)

Whispers

2011-09-14T12:39:00.000-07:00

Today when we were leaving the library there was a woman who was dressed from head to toe, covering all but her eye area. I can't remember what religion it is.?

Cadence comes in close and whispers to me,
"Mom, she looks like someone from Star Wars."

So glad she whispered. :)

It's 2:50 am and once again I can't sleep...

2011-09-13T08:05:00.000-07:00

Last week my mom told me about a Martha Stewart essay contest that is suppose to be written about a time when you have experienced love. She had thought of Mark and the video that he had made for Lincoln's birthday and she thought we should submit that. But Mark had actually written the below piece years ago. If for nothing else it was good to revisit these emotions.

I love the way Mark writes and tells stories.

It’s 2:50am and once again I can’t sleep. Sometimes I feel as if he has completely rearranged my life…like he’s come inside of my heart and simply moved the furniture around. It’s still my furniture; it’s just not where I left it. But now that I think about it, isn’t that the way it should be? Is it possible to lose something you love and not feel as if your life has been rearranged? If so, maybe it wasn’t really love. If that is the case, I welcome the new arrangement. Although unsettling, I have proof that I have experienced the result of true love. Some people may live a lifetime and not experience this type of rearrangement…I don’t know if I should count them blessed or have pity. Maybe a little of both.

The one year anniversary of my son Lincoln’s birth was especially hard. I remember being flooded with memories…memories of the hospital, coming home, watching Jill hold him, the funeral. But none was more painful than writing him a birthday card and leaving it at his grave. I remember going to Walgreens and looking through the cards for about an hour. I wanted to make sure I found the right one. This was a surreal experience because I knew he would never read it but I still felt like it needed to be done…like I still had some things to tell him. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t going to read it, because reality is my heart still bleeds, feels, loves and knows. I remember holding him at night and whispering in his ear, “I love you, I love you…I know you don’t understand what I’m saying but I can’t stop telling you.” Buying the card gives me this image of a teenager pulling away in his car when his dad suddenly realizes he forgot to tell him something important. The dad is waving his hands in the air, but the kid never sees him and keeps on driving. In this story the kid never returns.

I sat in my car at the cemetery for about 30 minutes before I ever wrote a word. I didn’t know how to start this kind of letter. So I just wrote the first thing that came to mind. “Your mom and I miss you.” After the words made it to page, I just sat there and wept…simply reduced to a whimpering child. I tried to think of something else to write but nothing else came to mind. So I just sat there content with my one line. Ten minutes later my hand starts on the next sentence. Then another. Then another. Before you know it I’ve run out of space. I wrote it all so fast that I had to go back and reread my own words. The line I remember most is, “mom hasn’t been the same since you passed away. I think when you passed, a piece of her passed as well.”

I used to think that the goal of healing after tragedy is to recapture this part of your self that is missing. You know, to go back to the way things were. I don’t know if that is true any more. I think I’ve finally become content that my life will never be the same…that the new furniture arrangement is the way it’s going to stay. I’ve come to embrace that a piece of my wife has passed as well. I once heard an amputee say that he was grateful to be alive and that he had adjusted to his new life. He had learned how to function in a society of non-handicaps. He began to laugh again, form new relationships, and found a new job. But no matter what, that didn’t change the fact that every time he looked in the mirror he saw his leg was missing. That is how I feel. That piece that’s missing, that piece that keeps me up at night, that piece that has rearranged my life, these things exist because…I loved my son…I loved him infinitely…and I can’t stop if I tried. That is what I’ve come to live with.
One last thing, if I could somehow change the story it would go like this. My son was pulling away in his car when I remembered I forgot to tell him something. I waved my arms in the air as high as I could. He glanced in his rear view mirror and saw me standing there. He turned the car around and drove back towards home. My son pulled in the driveway, rolled down the window and asked, “what is it dad?” I would tell him, “I love it when you’re home and hate it when you’re gone. Can you stay with me a little bit longer?”

Pick my battles

2011-09-02T14:24:00.000-07:00

This morning Isabelle was wanting to eat her cereal breakfast on top of the counters. Instead of making this a battle, I decided what is the harm...she can eat up there. She was pretty excited about the privilege. I sat in a chair nearby and ate my breakfast.

I guess I should have fought the battle of having her get down and saved myself the clean up.
Lesson learned for next time. :)

Polar bears

2011-08-31T18:48:00.000-07:00

My conversation while driving with Cadence a few days ago...

c: mom which of these bears do you like better (she was looking at a animal picture book)
me: i like the polar bear
c: why
me: because it looks soft and cuddly
c: (after a pause) i bet you won't say that when it starts growling at you
me: (with a giggle) i bet your right

:)

Bathroom redo...

2011-08-31T18:21:00.000-07:00

I have been working on the guest bathroom on and off for this last week. I painted the cabinets probably last year with a bright color and put a grayish fabric on the fronts of the cabinets (forgot to take picture with old fabric on). The original cabinets were so dated, dark brown colored. I thought the bathroom could use a uplift at the time but I never liked the way it turned out...this last week I finally got the urge to redo it again. :)

Here is the before color.

And after...

I put a canvas type fabric on the fronts. The paint is more white and the fabric has more of the creme in it. It ties the colors in the counter tops together well.

I also never liked the really old huge vanity mirror and Dylan accidentally cracked the glass on the middle mirror a few months ago. So it was time for it to come down as well! Here is the before...

Once it was off the wall, I realized that someone at one point had a little built in vanity and there was a huge hole behind the current vanity.

I found a mirror that was the right size on Craigslist for $30. I liked the wood style but not the color (it was black and gold). So a good coat of spray paint took care of the color.

And it was still a little bland, so I put black glaze (thank you Drea for your leftovers :)) on the edges to help the wood detail pop out better.

Here is the final product on the wall!

I'm really happy with the way it all turned out. It was a easy way to give the bathroom a fresh new feel!

Alchemy Heart

2011-08-28T09:48:00.000-07:00

Last night Israel had a show for his band, The Alchemy Heart.

We were super excited for him, it was a big show and had "real" tickets to get in! The picture above was taken when Mark and I were having dinner just before the show, talking about what a great opportunity this was for him.

These pictures are terrible of them playing but at least it captures a tiny bit of the evening. The show was at the Hard Rock Cafe and was packed full, 250 people! There were a couple promoters there that want to talk to him this week about future bookings when national bands come through. Such a great opportunity for him! His music is really really good...and I'm not just saying that because we are friends. :)

Alchemy is the pursuit of transforming common metals into valuable gold.
"It's how I feel sometimes, common with the desire to be valuable."
-Israel Whittemore

Summer Garden

2011-08-26T15:50:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to be able to begin a fall garden soon, this summer everything died off except for a couple things. Above is sweet potato's. A gardener friend gave me little shoots and taught me how to plant, and they are doing great. I hope the actual potato looks as good as the leaves do!

I also have a nice pumpkin vine growing...but no pumpkins. I've had a bit of trouble with aphids on them so maybe that has something to do with it. I've had a few blooms but only male stems, no females (pumpkins need both to grow and I'll have to manually pollinate).

And I'm still getting a few eggs a day.
The girls defiently have slowed down with the heat.
~I'm ready for this hot, hot weather to be done~

Flower the Fish

2011-08-25T18:53:00.000-07:00

If you look close enough in the bottom of the toilet you will see Flower our fish.

She has gone on to a better place. :)

The kids took it well, a bit bummed.

They asked if we could get another one soon...I guess we'll be making a trip to the pet store soon (maybe we'll leave with a dog! :))

2011-08-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

Mark was hiking Camelback mountain when the dust storm rolled in last week. He took the picture from the top and quickly came down...but didn't beat the storm. He was blasted with dirt but thankfully was ok. :)

Easier with 1?

2011-08-18T19:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first day (that I can remember) just having Isabelle without another kid being around. :)

One thing that I have always dreaded was grocery shopping with all the kids. It is honestly torture for me because I use coupons and so it takes me just a little bit longer. I thought that it would be a lot easier with just 1 along...but Isabelle is easily distracted as you can see from the above photo and she does not like sitting in the shopping cart!

Reminds me a lot of how Dylan was when he was little. Ok, maybe not quite as extreme as he was...at least she doesn't run away. :)

Overall it was much easier just having her...and it probably helped that I "bribed" her with a ring pop treat to eat while we did our shopping. :)

I'm excited to have time with just Isabelle while Cadence and Dylan are at school. I'm interested to see how different she is and what she will want to do without the help of her siblings.

Cadence's 1st Day of Preschool

2011-08-17T14:19:00.000-07:00

Today was Cadence's first day of preschool, she is going to Phoenix Christian 3 days a week for 3 hours each morning. She has been so excited about starting class!
Her and I went to the store to pick out a backpack. Her only requirement was that it needed to be both pink and purple...and of course the only ones left in that color were princess backpack. She of course loves it!

She was a little timid once we got to class. Hung onto my leg for awhile.

Her teacher is very sweet and it is a small class which I really love.

I was doing good with her starting school and then the teacher prayed for the kids and she started to cry during asking God's blessings over their lives. And that's when the lump formed in my throat and I told myself to hold it together and not let the water works come out. :) I've been emotional this week about some other things and this was the icing on the cake. :)

When I picked her up and she said she loved it. That she listened to everything her teacher asked, "but some of the other kids didn't". :)

2011-08-12T12:29:00.000-07:00

Dylan had some walkie talkies and they broke in a accident a couple weeks ago. He has been super bummed about it and the plan was to take them to Grandpa R to see if he could fix it. Instead of fixing he had a extra set of walkie talkies and gave them to Dylan. Dylan came home from school and was super excited about the gift! He and our neighbor friend Emerson played with them all afternoon.

So much fun!

Thank you Grandpa!

Dylan also lost another tooth yesterday morning.

Actually Mark pulled it out but it was just dangling there. :)

1st Grade!

2011-08-08T13:53:00.001-07:00

Can't believe Dylan is in 1st grade!

He was a bit nervous last night about starting up school again. He asked if he could just stay home with me. I asked him how would he learn and become even more smart? His response, "I know how to read and add already". It had the tone of, Mom I already know the main stuff what else do I need to learn? :) Made me smile.

The girls and I walked him to his class and stayed for a few minutes. He was chatting with friends from last year and I could tell he felt comfortable. His home room English teacher (english & social studies) is Ms. Sleasman and the Spanish (math and science) is Ms. Palmero. Both seem to be really great teachers.

This school year starting felt like he was old...that he didn't necessarily need me to be there but was glad that I was.

I'm excited for this year for him!

Tradition

2011-08-07T19:47:00.000-07:00

Every year since there have been grandchildren for my mom she has taken us to a few nights in a resort here in town. The kids look forward to it every year! We had our annual in town get away this week and the kids had a great time!

My mom brought some craft supplies and the kids made masks,

Had squirt gun fights,

Did lots of swimming,

and played giant chess. Well, at least the boys kinda played. :)

We also went to the heart museum. I had no idea about it but it was really neat. They have all kinds of displays and things for the kids to learn about the heart and information about staying healthy.

These boxes were filled with different sized "hearts". When you pressed the button it would light up the heart and show you which animal that sized heart belonged to...it had a range from a humming bird to a elephant.

We were the only ones there for most of the time so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. They had an area where you could use stethoscopes which the kids thought was great, they practiced on the "dummy". :)

Even Isabelle gave it a try :)

Jake practicing CPR

It was a great few nights.

So much easier than past years for me as the kids are getting older. In years past it has always been so much work to stay at any hotel with little ones.

Thanks mom for another great memory with the kids!

Gift Stock Up Sale

2011-08-01T07:30:00.000-07:00

This week Target had the bi-annual 75% off toys sale. Last year was my first year to take advantage of the savings and this year was another great year. I was able to stock up on all these toys for Christmas & birthdays for $92 total with tax! That is a huge savings!! I am pretty excited about getting so much shopping done and saving so much!

Amusement Park Fun!

2011-07-30T19:34:00.000-07:00

Legoland!

When we finally got to Legoland (traffic was terrible due to a accident) there was excitement from all the kids, the boys of course just wanted to run off and start the rides...but we took a quick family photo before we got started. :)

The ride lines were pretty long but once on the rides the kids obviously had a great time, they even did really great waiting in the lines. Dylan loves all rides and was up for riding anything and everything. Cadence however is a bit more timid and would only ride the more calm rides and unfortunately Isabelle wasn't able to ride very many with her being too small...although she wanted to. Mark even got in on the water action with Michelle & Cadence. This ride was fun because we could shoot water at each other as they went by. I got Mark good! :)

There is a huge Star Wars exhibit on display right now. Dylan LOVED it. He stayed and looked at all the battle scenes for a long time. Jake kept asking him if he wanted to go ride some rides but he wanted to stay and check out all the details. It was so incredible that someone built all they, so much detail and work. This life size Darth Vader is all Lego's!

Waiting in line for the log ride with Uncle Jon.

Ice cream was needed of course with it being such a hot day.

This was the last stop of the day. We were walking out of the park (we stayed until close) and all the kids jumped up on this bench of a sleeping grandpa made out of Lego's. Funny that is what they picked. We joked that my dad should have been in the picture. :)

Knotts Berry Farm!

I actually like Knotts better than Lego Land. There was a little kid section for the girls that was perfect sized rides for them and Dylan and Mark spent the day together on all the big rides. It was a good mix of rides for everyone, the only bummer was that we were separated...

Janae asked me to ride the Ferris Wheel with her. She had rode earlier with Jolene and Jolene didn't want to go again. When I got done I realized why, it was kinda scary up there! I'm getting to be a chicken in my old age!

This was more my speed. Isabelle loved this ride, she would crack up laughing every time it swung her around the corner.

Grandma & Grandpa hung out with the little kids & Jake (he doesn't like roller coasters) for the day. They decided their days of rides are done (although I don't think my mom ever had a time she did liked rides :))

I wish I had some pictures of Dylan on his rides. He went on some of the "adult" coasters and rides and loved all of them. Jon said he looked over at him at one point on a ride that went in circles super fast and said Dylan's eye were huge and kinda glazed over, but he got done and said it was great!

Until next year and more family adventures!

Thanks Mom and Dad for the great memories and generosity!

2011-07-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

Every year we take a trip together with my side of the family. This year we planned to go to Lego Land and the way the timing worked out we went a few days early and spent a few days with Michelle.

She is always generous and let's us stay with her in her 1 bedroom apartment...I know it is a sacrafice to let our family of 5 into her space, even if we are family. :)

The kids were of course thrilled with being able to have some time with her. One of the days we took a walk to a nearby huge park and to the Grove (shopping/Farmers Market). Cadence and Michelle were so sweet holding hands along the walk. It is so crazy how much Cadence looks like Michelle!

The other day we ventured to the beach. We stayed all day and I think the kids would have stayed longer! They had such a great time playing.

Mark dug a huge hole and they took turns sitting in it. :)

Cadence making sand angels. :)

Isabelle having a great time!

Mark bought a boogie board from someone selling along beach. Dylan had so much fun. Even though the water was so cold he stayed in for hours and by the end was doing pretty good on it.

More pictures tomorrow of our fun at the amusement park!

Love this!

2011-07-22T07:14:00.000-07:00

The other day Cadence fell off her slide (actually the whole slide fell down) that is attached to her bunkbed. Dylan thought it was his fault because earlier in the day he had been pushing on the back of the slide with his feet while laying down behind it. When she got hurt he was very quick to say sorry and try to fix the problem. He was trying to comfort her and one of the things he asked is if she wanted to watch a show to make her feel better.

I suggested she lay down with a little ice on the red spot on her forehead and relax and that she could pick out the show to watch (usually Dylan picks out what to watch). She picked Tinkerbell...needless to say, Dylan was not thrilled and was vocal about not wanting to watch it. Cadence's solution was, "I know, Mom. We can take turns, Dylans show then my show". I told her that she had the choice of which show to start with. And she answered, "I don't mind Mom, Dylan can watch his show first".

My heart melted at her generous heart. I showed a big smile and gave her a huge hug, I told her what a generous and giving heart she has. She often will give up her own desire for what someone else would rather do or have.

These notes are Dylan's response to her giving him the choice of show. Unsolicited by me, just a idea he had to show her his appreciation...Thank you and I Love you.

Love it :)