So-Called Chaos

D's Soccer Season

2011-11-23T15:35:00.001-08:00

This season was good. Davis actually scored a goal! I was soooo excited for him. It was great. The players still just run around in a herd but it's mostly fun to watch :)

During the practice and the games Leah would hang out with the other player's sisters that are around her age. It was cute. They both play soccer too but Leah has no interest. I wish she would play but oh well.

First pictures from the new camera.

2011-11-23T09:11:00.001-08:00

I know I'm biased but those are some cute kids!
P.S. Grayson's shirt is size 18months! He INSISTED on wearing it.

Wednesday's Whatever

2011-11-23T08:35:00.001-08:00

Whitney asked Jeff if she could have $100! And then she politely added, "I'll pay you back." Where does she hear this stuff!?
Whitney also says, "What the?" and "What the heck?" quite often. I know where she heard that haha.
I finally figured out how to get the pictures off my new camera's SD card so be prepared to be inundated with pictures (and back-dated posts).
Christmas is coming! I know tomorrow is Thanksgiving by my kids haven't thought 1 iota about it since they spend every day circling toys they want in the Christmas ads. It's annoying. They're so greedy.
Davis LOVES to tell me everything Grayson does wrong. Here's a conversation from one day:

Davis: Grayson unbuckled his seatbelt!
Me: You sound so excited to tell me he's doing something wrong. That's called tattling. Let's be excited when he is doing something right. And he only unbuckled the top of his seat belt to get something. He wasn't really breaking the rules. (Since we were parked waiting for Leah to get done with choir)
Davis: Well, if he unbuckles the bottom buckle, THEN can I tattle!?

When Leah got done with choir we were parked in the part of the parking lot that had a light out (I hadn't noticed) but when Leah walked up she said, "We came over to the dark side...of the force." Love her.

Halloween, part 1

2011-10-31T22:32:00.000-07:00

I'm not a big fan of this holiday. I'm pretty sure my blog post last year said that same thing but I still haven't found a love for it! So every year I try and keep the costumes low key. This year Davis is Spiderman, Grayson is Ben 10, Whitney is an ice cream sundae (or a cupcake, you can't really tell haha) and Leah is a black cat. Even in their simple costumes the kids had fun and that's all that matters :)

"Not tonight honey, I'm on the RAGnar."

2011-10-23T19:02:00.000-07:00

-The title of this post was one of the team names. Sooo funny!

- Our van was full of awesome people who are in way better shape than me!

- When I run I have a lot of internal dialogue. I say things to myself like:
Just run for this song then you can walk.
I hate running, I'm just here to hang out with friends.
Pretend like you didn't notice that the lady who just passed you was old enough to be your grandma.

-During our first leg we were sooo chatty and everyone was laughing non-stop. By the third leg we were happy to be alive ;)

-Note to self: during the next race do NOT eat at the Cheesecake factory. The food tastes so good you will eat too much!

-Total distances: Autumn 13.1 miles, Jeff 15.5 miles.

Favorite memories:
Jeff not letting a lady beat him to the exchange. She REALLY tried to steal his thunder but he wouldn't let her!
Jeff calling Spencer a billy goat because he smiles while he runs uphill.
Ben calling Spencer Stuart because he thought that was his name.
The crazy zombie team running their first leg in full make-up.
My entire team being so supportive. A great bunch of people who never made anyone feel like they weren't running fast enough.
Kelli's motto, that I soon adopted, was "If I have to walk it I have to walk it."
I missed the photo op in front of the Ragnar vehicle because I was getting my food. The picture shows Jeff looking over his shoulder for me and Spencer calling for me on the megaphone. LOVE IT!

Favorite things said:
Brandon: "Man that's a small window." Because he did actually climb out the window to talk to Kelly without getting a violation.
Aileen: "I love the smell of jerky in the morning."
Jeff: "We are very supportive. We're great athletic supporters."
Brandon: "It's a gradual 700ft climb over two miles." *giving a look*
Me to Jeff: "If you get out of the van technically it's a violation."
Jeff: "Violate me."
Brandon to me: "If you have to jog it you have to jog it." Through the megaphone. It's good advice but I felt like I was running full speed haha.
Brandon to all the people in line for a porta-potty at 6 am, through the megaphone: "To all the people in the porta-potties keep it short. Like under 3 minutes, or you will get violated, and you do NOT want to get violated in a porta-potty!"

Girly stuff!

2011-10-21T10:47:00.000-07:00

In October we went to Jake & Sarah's wedding. I sewed that maxi skirt from a pattern I saw on Pinterest. I love it!

Leah took her nail polish with her...in her boot haha.

Leah loved the flowers at the wedding! Tiffany let her take this small bouquet home. She loved it!

Adventures! in Motherhood

2011-10-07T14:10:00.000-07:00

I'm running errands with the younger two kids and Grays says, "I have an egg in my pocket."

Yes ladies and gentlemen a real, live chicken egg.

So then I had an egg in my purse :)

The Wednesday Whatever

2011-10-05T15:04:00.000-07:00

It's really cold here all of the sudden! Last night at Davis' soccer practice I was freezing and the thermometer on my van said the outside temperature was 66 degrees. Today the kids are playing outside wearing mittens and for some odd reason all of this makes me want to use my crock pot haha.
Whitney's on a twin bed now. She's potty trained (which I never blogged about because it was pretty easy) so it's best for her to not be in a crib. Nap time is crazy again though. Off and on and off and on and off and on...
Jeff and I are going to run in the Las Vegas Ragnar with other members of our ward (Oct 21st & 22nd). I'm soooo excited!! I haven't really been training but I think it will work out since we're all just doing it for fun.
We tried a new piano teacher yesterday since Leah's old one stopped teaching due to her 4th pregnancy (and I heard the other day she's moving to TX!). He came to our house, had a lot of great energy and gave Davis and Leah their introductory lesson. Everything went great and we'll see how this week of practicing goes.

The camera dilema.

2011-10-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

Our camera is broken and realized I don't have a lot of recent pictures :(

So if you have camera recommendations let me know, I'm in the market!

In the meantime I decided to just take pictures on my phone. Here's a typical day for me:

Grayson pretending I'm a robot and he has to fix my leg.

Whitney taking a turn hammering.

Cuties.


Meanwhile, Davis is doing a handstand on the stair landing.		Safety first ;)

Leah's probably in her room reading a book.

Tragedy strikes.

2011-10-03T08:12:00.000-07:00

On Thursday Davis dropped a heavy piece of wood on his toe. He was not happy about it.

The damage.

I gave him Motrin and a bag of ice for it but he kept wailing. I felt so bad so I asked if there was anything else I could do to help him feel better. He very dramatically said, "NO!". Then Leah said, "If I were you I'd ask for a fruit roll-up." Davis immediately smiles and asks for one. That was the end of the crying!

He hobbled around for the rest of the day but was able to play soccer on Saturday morning. Then Sunday morning it was so swollen and huge. It looked BAD. We had to drain it so Jeff poked a hole in it with a heated up end of a paper clip. It was awesome.

G-Force

2011-09-27T16:58:00.000-07:00

I don't want to forget these moments. They are quintessential Grayson.

Yesterday: he had an acupuncture appointment. Gray was laying on the treatment bed watching a video on my phone with the other three kids gathered around his head so they could watch too. The acupuncturist was good and sneaky so she just touched his head for a few seconds before she applied the needle. Grayson said really loud, "Is there a needle in my head!?" Leah, Davis and I thought it was so funny we couldn't stop laughing to answer him and we used that quote for the rest of the day. It was awesome.

Today: we were all laying on my bed watching clips from Rio on YouTube. Grayson was laying on me and Whitney was sitting up next to him. She laid her head down on me and then:

Grayson: Whitney!

Me: Gray, you just need to ask her to move with manners.

G: Whitney, will you move your big head...please.

A couple weeks ago:

G: Do you know why I'm so happy?

Me: No, why?

G: Because I love you and I love me!

So cute! I think it has something to do with what he learned at preschool, that kid's a sponge.

Last week: he was looking at Pinterest over my shoulder and said, "If something looks cute buy it!" :)

A few days ago : I was singing "I think I'm Paranoid"

G: Do you remember when we had Rockband a long time ago? Back when I was your age.

(he gave me a mischivious look and we both burst out laughing)

G: I'm just teasing.

Me: How old am I?

G: 13.

(we laughed some more)

Me: I'm not 13. How old am I?

G: 14??

It was adorable.

All the time: his new favorite saying is, "You've got to be kidding me!" It gets annoying sometimes but it's mostly cute :)

Conversation from today:

2011-09-26T19:28:00.000-07:00

This will only be funny/make sense to my family. To me it's priceless.
Me: I don't feel so good today. I think a hug will make me feel better.
(hug Leah)
Me: Nope, I still feel bad.
(we both laugh)
Me: That's something Grayson would say.
Leah: Yeah.
(she hugs me)
Leah: Nope, I still feel bad. Playing a video game will make me feel better.
And scene.
She's so clever. I think I'll keep her.

Trip to Idaho

2011-09-15T13:52:00.000-07:00

The first week in July the kids and I drove up to Idaho. The kids were awesome in the car! We mostly just hung out with the cousins but there were a few fun-filled activities.

Davis did the Mutton Bustin' event at the rodeo:

We watched Kung Fu Panda 2 at the drive-in.

And we had a blast picking 30+ pounds of cherries at an orchard in Emmett.
This was one of my favorite things!
They were so yummy and the orchard was beautiful.

*Our family camera isn't working too well these days and so all the pics are from my phone. I'll try an upload some of the pictures Amber has from her camera. You know, sometime.

More from the archives.

2011-09-15T12:01:00.000-07:00

From June 2005

When Leah saw this picture she said, "Mom your hair is so blonde! You just keep dying it!"

Yup. It's fun :)

A video from the archives.

2011-09-15T11:14:00.000-07:00

Leah age 5, at Meema's, April 2008.

A fun hike.

2011-09-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

In August my boys spent some time at Meema's & Papa's and while they were gone us girls went on a hike up at the Bair's house. Our friends the Bowmans and the Georges were also there so even though it got pretty hot it was still fun.

Leah took some pictures of the scenery:

Some of our group.

Whitney getting cool in the shade.

Oh the memories...

2011-09-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

Davis was such a cute baby & toddler! Strangers in the grocery store would always comment on how cute he was. We've had a couple of computer problems recently and not all of our digital pictures were accessible but here are some pictures of Davis of a toddler that I cherish:

Oh, those big blue eyes!

Davis and Leah were always friends. She was a little smothering at times but he mostly liked it. This is a picture of her sleeping in his crib...with ALL her toys and blanket and pillow!

So cute!

Jeff's graduation Dec 2005

Such a fun 1 year old!

Davis loved Sydney Thompson! She could get him to sleep when I couldn't.

Davis' birthday too (he's 6!)

2011-09-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

It's kinda random that my brother and Jeff's brother live about 20 minutes away from each other in Surprise, AZ but they do. The same weekend Harper was baptized was baby Jonas' baby blessing. We were able to attend both festivities and later we joined forces and had a birthday cake for Davis at Trent's house with all from both families who could make it.

Harper's baptism in AZ

2011-09-08T12:06:00.000-07:00

My nephew Harper was baptized in March too. It was a big moment for my brother's family since they hadn't really been active for awhile and this was the start of some big changes for their family!

The baptism was performed by one of the missionaries and Jeff was able to perform the confirmation.

Tippit family at Dion & Melissa's

Leah's baptism

2011-09-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

Love this girl! She was beaming all day.

She wore the dress Jeff's mom Cindy sewed for his only sister Kadee. So cute!

"It's coming down to nothing more than apathy"

2011-09-07T16:47:00.000-07:00

-"How to Save a Life" by The Fray

Haven't blogged in forever. It's going to take a ton of posts to catch up...to back-date or not? That is the question...

Oh yeah, I turned 30!

2011-08-06T17:03:00.000-07:00

And it was fun :) Holy cow look at that fire!

Amber's Visit!

2011-05-04T13:01:00.000-07:00

So I uploaded over 20 pictures from when my sister's family came to visit and then the computer got turned off and it saved/published THREE! I'm going to laugh about this because if I don't I'm going to get really mad. Anyways, enjoy these three until I have time to do the rest.

Whitney LOVES her uncle Bill :)

Okay, four months later here are the rest:Grayson loves his Uncle Bill too!

We hiked in Red Rock:

We call them "double trouble" :)

We went to a magic shop.

And saw the lions.

And went to the M&M factory.

They loved their souvenir pennies!

Adventures in Chickdom

2011-05-03T14:14:00.000-07:00

Pictures of the "big" chicks @ 5 weeks old:

Willamina. My favorite. Love her markings and her personality.

Sweet Pea. The leader.

Penguin. She's nice.

Baby is the small black one. All her pictures came out blurry except for this one. And the second one is an action shot of her dusting herself :)

Fluffy. She kinda gives the stank eye.

Whitney loves the chicks and the chicks aren't shy. It's hard to tell but in the second picture they've all jumped up on my leg to check the camera out.

Having chicks has been so much fun.
Some highlights:
One day Sweet Pea wouldn't go to my arm (I think it is most likely a boy) and Leah said, "I think he knows you'll probably eat him."

Grayson was looking at Penguin and then told me "I stared at his face and she stared at my face." That's true love right there ;)

I made them a make-shift pen to put them on the grass. I felt so bad keeping them in the bathroom all day. Well, the kids were out hanging with them and the sprinklers turned on! The chicks and Leah were drenched before I got them turned off, oops. Leah did towel dry them off though, because they are that spoiled :)

Leah's Birthday!!

2011-05-02T18:45:00.001-07:00

For Leah's birthday I wanted to keep it low-key. She invited 4 friends, they watched Despicable Me and ate Little Caesar's pizza. And she picked donuts instead of a cake so I didn't even have to bake anything. She said it was one of the funnest birthday's ever! I was thankful since it was the least amount of work possible haha. Anyways, we really do love Leah.
Like, a lot!

Back-dated blog posts:

2011-05-02T17:39:00.000-07:00

This was our Leavitt family beach trip 2010! I'm finally blogging the pictures 9 months after the fact haha.

Christmas 2010 Only 5 months after!

See what happens...

2011-05-02T16:36:00.001-07:00

when I finally do blog I get one comment on it, haha. Thank you Jocie! Love you girl :)

Cruise info...finally!

2011-04-27T17:04:00.001-07:00

I know it's old news but Jeff and I went on a cruise of the Southern Caribbean the first week in February. It was our first big vacation without the kids ever. We wanted to go on a cruise to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary (which is in June) but we couldn't wait until the summer. It's best to cruise the warm Caribbean when it's cold at home ya know!? Anywho, it was so fun! We went with Kindra & Spencer and they are hilarious! And I read 6 books so that's a successful week to me ;)

Our first day. We landed in San Juan, Puerto Rico and went straight to the ship. Our first island: Tortola, our cruise ship in the background.

Pictures of Tortola.
I normally think pictures without people in them are pointless but Tortola was my favorite island :)

Us relaxing on St. Maarten. This was the prettiest beach and the most touristy. And people kept trying to sell Spencer drugs. It was pretty funny. "Any bad habits man?"

St. Kitts is special because it's the Atlantic Ocean on the North side and the Carribean Sea to the South. We snorkeled a little on St. Kitts and Jeff accidentally stepped on a sea urchin, oops. The next picture is of our group on Dominica. We snorkeled at Champagne beach were bubbles bubble up from the bottom. There were so many beautiful fish there!

Barbados was our last island. We just snorkeled and sun bathed and then some locals brought their two horses to swim in the ocean. It was great, and kind of random haha.

I'm not a big picture taker so we have the most pictures from when we were on Barbados (our last island haha). We docked in San Juan and our flight wasn't until afternoon so we spent the day exploring some of the shops in Old San Juan and touring their military fort.

The fort was amazing! It's a very impressive structure that was built by hand in the 17th century. It's really incredible. I learned a lot about the history of the area too.

There were so many fun adventures. I have to go pick up Leah from Activity Days right now but I'll add some to this post later!

Let's see if the pics and videos from my iPhone work on here...

2011-04-24T00:09:00.000-07:00

This one is a little to the side I think. Oh well.

Whitney LOVED to look at the chicks. And if her face was near the window your face could not be!

First moments in the brooder.

"My life gets kinda boring, need something that I can confess"

2011-04-23T23:24:00.000-07:00

-"Secrets" by One Republic

I've been beckoned back to blogging. So. Many. Requests! Haha, okay maybe just a handful but it's enough. I will continue to document our life here at the Leavitt Estate for the world to read. So, read on:

Our big news is that I single-handedly hatched 5 chicks in a homemade incubator! BIG NEWS!
It was a proud moment for me.
It's like giving birth. It's like giving birth to adorable fluffiness. It's like giving birth to adorable fluffiness that poops everywhere! Seriously, everywhere. They are cute though. Here they are:

Davis & Grayson went to Meema & Papa's for Spring Break but Leah stayed home to see them hatch. I wasn't sure if we'd have any actually hatch since I had made the incubator (yeah, I made the incubator!)
and the thermostat didn't seem to keep a very even temperature.
But she had faith.
Our first one hatched around 5am Tuesday morning (I woke her up to see it) and the last one hatched at 8pm.
She was so excited the entire day.
And now we all love them with all our hearts. Ok, maybe not Jeff. I didn't ask. I love them with all my heart and if he says he doesn't like them it will break my heart so we are on a "don't ask don't tell" policy about the chickens. Okay?
He did however get a farmer's tan building the outside chicken coop this morning so maybe he doesn't hate them.
But to be honest we have a lot. Some teachers at the elementary school hatched eggs in their classrooms and then were going to give the chicks to the Gilcrease Sanctuary but I had a mom friend who had been taking care of some see if they'd give them to me (you know, for free!) and so we acquired 5 chicks who were about 2 weeks old. Here's a picture of them yesterday at about 3 weeks old:

And then I bought 4 more day-old chicks from the feed store because they were too cute!
So now we have 14 chicks total!
I only want about 6-10 hens but there no accurate way for a layperson such as myself to sex them until they're older
(the 10 that were hatched locally have a 50/50 chance of being female and then the 4 from the hatchery-where they do have methods of semi-accurately determining their gender- have an 80-90% chance).
We'll know for sure in about 2 months and then we'll decide what to do with the roosters or extra hens. Until then we're going to enjoy our pets. You know, our pets that will someday provide food for us :)

What a cute little pixie.

2011-01-03T19:44:00.001-08:00

She went into the bathroom, got her sister's Halloween headband out of the drawer and happily stood there eating toothpaste until I spied her. She's seriously cute!

"It's like Christmas again!"

2011-01-03T19:31:00.000-08:00

-as said by Grayson this morning when he saw the snow falling. FYI we were in Blythe this Christmas and there most definitely wasn't any snow. Hmmmm.

Waking up to snow falling was very exciting for the kids.
They LOVED it!
And it was a very beautiful, soft snowfall.
Good job Las Vegas ;)

2010-12-31T19:46:00.000-08:00

Rod took Davis to the National Finals Rodeo this year. He LOVED it. He was really excited to wear his boots (which he wears regularly), his cowboy belt (which was new) and his cowboy hat (which is normally in the dress up bin so it's REALLY smashed). He said he had a great time.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-31T17:55:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve dinner at Meema's & Papa's

Christmas eve "gingerbread" houses.

Christmas morning festivities.

My brother's kids got a Wii, my kids were green with envy.

These pictures are so classic!

Christmas dinner at Grandma GG's
Four generations.

Grandma GG showed Davis how to use his new rope by roping him :)

Leavitt family beach trip 2010!

2010-12-30T17:09:00.000-08:00

We had tournaments every day. Davis won the day we played the golf ball tether game.

Whitney in the swimsuit Meema bought her.

She loved the beach!

All the kiddos did!!

These blow-up bumpers were hilarious! Here are Davis & Eden going at it.

Leah loved collecting rocks & seashells with her cousins. And there was plenty of relaxing and reading done by the adults.

Taekwondo Skills

2010-12-20T10:04:00.000-08:00

Once a week Grayson has been taking a taekwondo class at Mirabelli Community Center. He's the youngest in his class, the age range is 3-6, but he really enjoys it. Mr. Pino is the instructor and one day after class Gray and I were talking about friends. When I asked who his friends were and he said Mr. Pino first :) This video is hilarious to me but I might be a little biased haha.

Staycation details

2010-12-17T20:40:00.000-08:00

In November my parents took the kiddos again! Jeff and I wanted to use his vacation days for some alone time instead of the usual family trip (which can be kinda stressful and exhausting). We thought long and hard about going out of town but there's no better place to party than right here in Las Vegas! We packed some fun times into those 5 days:

*We ate at Olive Garden while Costco was putting new tires on my van
*We ate sushi with Emily & Kevin Bowman
*I read two books, The City of Bones & Hush, Hush (neither of which were that great)
*We jumped out of a perfectly good plane thanks to Skydive Las Vegas
*We ate out with Emily & Steve Roeth, Cheesecake Factory mmmmm
*We partied with them late into the night playing Phase 10 (which I despise) and Mormon bridge (which I love)
*Jeff played his guitar and I went to play basketball
*We stayed two nights at the Green Valley Ranch and ate at the buffet twice
*We went to see Harry Potter and ate at Yogurtland
*Lastly, we went to the Rebel game

I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting but you get the gist. On the drive home from Needles with the kids I told them what we did. Davis was so cute and after each thing he'd say whether or not he thought it was "awesome" or "not awesome". Pretty much everything was AWESOME :)

Here's what the kids did at Meema & Papa's:
*went to the desert, collected rocks and had a picnic

*rode horses

*went to the river, played in the sand and found a beaver's dam

*got cute

*had fun in Oatman, AZ

Good times.

"I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind"

2010-12-15T20:04:00.000-08:00

-"Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley

A few months ago, at the end of September, I was going a little crazy. Not enough sleep, too much responsibility. My mom and dad offered to take Whitney & Grayson for a few days and it made a world of difference. I don't want to sound too cheesy but I feel like I was able find my balance again.

One of the biggest factors of my exhaustion was the physical fatigue. I hadn't had a decent night's sleep in months! Either Gray or Whitney, or both, were getting up at least once a night. I really needed to get some rest.

And because of the mental fog sleep deprivation causes I was forgetting things all. day. long. I felt like a stress-ball because I HATE to forget things. A perfect example of this is when I was dropping off the kids I realized I had forgotten to put the bag with Whitney's clothes into the van!! My parents survived the whole time with two outfits for her haha.

I guess it was kinda weird for a mom to want their 1 & 3 year-olds to stay somewhere without them, but I just felt I had no choice. I NEEDED it. It was hard though. When I buckled Whitney into her seat in my mom's car she reached for me and kept saying "mama". I got a little chocked up and my mom said, "Bryan, it's time to go." My dad shut Whitney's door, gave me a hug and said, "we'll call you when they're crying and you won't miss them as much." haha.

Having a little space was great. The big kids and I did our normal routine we just did it with less stress. And we slept all night. Davis did surprise me and was extra whiny at first. I had to explain that the babies were at Meema's and he needed to act like a big kid. He got the message :)

We painted a TON of Halloween decorations. The kids painted every single day. And I went to yoga at the gym every day. It was wonderful. Very balancing, and I may or may not have cried at yoga. Stressed much!?

Here are two of the Halloween paintings:

So cute!

My mom posted these pictures of Whitney and Gray on her Facebook:

The babies were enjoying their break too :)

When my parents brought the kids back we treated them to Phantom of the Opera tickets that included a backstage tour.

Saturday morning they were able to see Davis play in his soccer game too! It was really special for him to have them there.

Halloween Madness

2010-12-04T10:13:00.000-08:00

These are ALL the pictures I took on Halloween!
I guess I'm not really into this holiday haha.
We went to the ward party.
Leah as a fairy, Gray as Woody and Whitney as a pumpkin.
Davis was supposed to be a Power Ranger but he wore his costume the whole day and was over it by the time we left for the party.
The party was great!!
Davis was SUPER happy because he won a goldfish from one of the carnival games.
The kids collected an obscene amount of candy during the trunk-or-treat (except for Grayson, he had about 5 suckers) and I handed out glow-in-the dark necklaces.
It was fun. Perfect Las Vegas weather too!

Soccer Skills.

2010-12-04T09:12:00.000-08:00

Davis played soccer for the first time this season. He had a really good season, played well and enjoyed himself. He was the only player on his team that had never played before and I didn't see his coach ever really explain the game to him, so he was pretty confused during the games most of the season. Jeff has been REALLY busy seeing home health patients after work at the clinic so he didn't have time to take Davis out and explain things to him either. Before the first game Dad told him if he scored a goal he would buy him a big Lego set. Jeff thought it'd motivate him but really it just distracted him. It even got a little worse when Jeff's dad said he'd take him to McDonald's if he scored. After one game when Davis was particularly not focused he admitted, "all I could think about was McDonald's and Legos!".

My favorite memory of the season was from the very first game. Davis' coach put him in as defense and Davis had NO idea what he was supposed to do. After coaching him from the sidelines for a few minutes he understood that he was supposed to kick the ball as hard as he could when it came to him, and the first time the ball came he did just that! He was so excited he put his arms in the air and looked at us with a big grin on his face. It was adorable!!!!

Mid-season was a little rough though. Despite his best efforts he hadn't scored a goal and after the game Dad poked a little fun at him. Davis started crying. After talking him down for a few minutes he told me soccer was harder than he though it would be and he didn't like it when the other kids stole the ball from him. For a few weeks after that he didn't want to go to practice and would be grumpy for the first part of the game. I'm happy to say he eventually got over it, finished the season and wants to play next year!

Wow, my blog has been super boring lately.

2010-11-30T16:22:00.000-08:00

Our lives haven't been boring though. I need to get on the ball and post all the awesomeness I've been keeping to myself ;)

But, first I want to blog that I won a giveway!!
Well actually TWO!
The first one was forever ago. I won a Twilight inspired t-shirt from Olivia's blog
and I kept meaning to take a picture of it but...I didn't.

And then the other day I won the giveaway on Stacy's blog

$25 to Polkadot Pansies!
Yay!
I ordered right away and the shipping was fast. The only critique I have of them is that they say on their website that everything's in stock but a few of the larger flowers I wanted were in fact sold-out. Other than that, they're great!

The pink flowers in the girls' hair are from my order.

(this is my second favorite pic from our family pics we took on Thanksgiving,
the other one will be on the Christmas card)

Also, Stacy recently added some really cool things to her etsy shop.

Leah would love any one of these necklaces!!

I'm thankful for family.

2010-11-25T18:49:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving at the Leavitt's. 19 adults and 19 kids!

Fun, fun, fun.

We ate.

And then Livi sang "Incarnacion" and Jeff thought it was the

funniest. thing. ever!

I'm pretty sure he cried.

Skyping Kadee & Troy, Rockband and Toy Story 3 rounded out the festivities.

...and we took family pics.

Here's Rod and Cindy and their PLETHORA of grandchildren:

Cupcakes for Cancer 5K

2010-11-11T13:15:00.000-08:00

The race is in 2 days!!!
Here's the info:

http://cupcakes4cancer.blogspot.com
Please come and support this awesome family!!

July, August Book List

2010-10-24T16:06:00.000-07:00

I waited so long to type this up I'm sure I've forgotten some. Oh well.

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

I read this one at the Mexico beach house. It was a great vacation read. I completely adored all the characters and it has a happy ending :) I've yet to read anything in the fantasy genre not written by Mr. Sanderson but I can say I'm a fan of his for sure.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

This book was an enjoyable read but it left me a little lost in the end. I wanted A LOT more in Skeeter's story. And I really didn't like how she decides she wants to be different from everyone but that equals wearing short dresses and leaving her traditional values behind.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

This is definitely going on my favorite book list. I adored the main character and the overall message of the book. I adored his optimism and even when he gets robbed and has to work for a year to make up that money he says that it was okay because he was still working toward his destiny. LOVE THAT!

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

Very political book that's quite tragic. It tells the story of a refugee from Nigeria that's driven from her home because the oil company killed her entire village so they can drill there. It was VERY tragic but it did make me want to ride a bike or buy and electric car!

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Cute book. I thought the main character was likable and I will probably read the rest of the series some day.

The Backyard Homestead by Carleen Madigan

Jeff bought me this for my birthday. We're going to landscape our backyard soon and I really want to get into gardening, maybe get some chickens, etc. This book is an overall guide, it doesn't delve too deep into any topic. It's more of a "you can do it" type book.

May, June Book List

2010-10-23T22:53:00.000-07:00

The Host by Stephenie Meyer
This was a re-read. I just love this story :)

Passionate Marriage by Dr. David Schnarch
Such a great book. I don't really know how to describe it and I don't know if any of my friends would appreciate it as much as I did.

Princess for Hire by Lindsey Leavitt
Cute YA novel. It's about a young girl who makes a wish and then a magic agency contacts her. She has "magic potential" so they want to hire her as a substitute princess. It's the first of three so the ending definitely leaves you open for more. It's kinda typical junior high with the lead character talking about the mean girls at school and boys she wants to date. I started reading it to Leah but then decided to wait awhile, maybe until the others come out. I was definitely well-written so I'm excited to read more.

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
Good book, not that great but definitely good. I don't think I really loved any of the characters so the climax fell a little flat. I did like that the main character decides to stand up for the endangered owl population. I'm all crunchy like that haha.

Holes by Louis Sachar
Such a great book!! Saw the movie a long time ago and loved it. Turns out the author of the book wrote the screenplay for the movie so it follows it exactly. Stanley Yelnats is just a great, likable character. One of my favorite YA books ever.

Forest Born by Shannon Hale
I think Rin's story was sweet and I liked the way Hale wrote it. Overall a good book.

Food Not Lawns by Heather C. Flores
This book appeals to my mega-crunchy side. It's take a very extreme approach to environmentalism but really, it would be fun to live off-the-grid, reusing everything, generating little to no trash. I checked it out from the library because it had a section on permaculture and since we're hoping to landscape our backyard soon I wanted to learn some things.

Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham
This book isn't a typical novel. I can't really describe how it's written but it was a really entertaining read. The main character is a young girl who gets her arm bitten off by a shark. She was an artist so the loss of her arm pretty much changes her entire future. You get to read some of her thoughts, e-mails, notes and dialogue from phone calls. It was definitely different but captivating.

Wednesday's Whatever

2010-10-20T22:58:00.000-07:00

- I've been going to yoga at LVAC on Tues & Thursday mornings. Love it.
- Last Thursday I went in for my yearly check-up at Dr. Groom's office. When I went to turn in my updated account information the lady at the front desk said that she had to compliment my attention and eye-contact. Most of the people she talks to are half-way to their chairs before she's even finished her instructions. She said it might seem like a weird compliment to pay someone but I appreciated her words.
- I tried to donate blood on Saturday but my iron was too low. The worker asked if I'd been really tired lately and I said, "yes!". But really, with four kids it's hard to tell what's making me tired. I added an iron supplement to my nighttime routine :)

- One day I asked Davis to distract Grayson for awhile so I could deal with Whitney and he exclaimed, "But I don't know how to deal with 3 year-olds!" LOL, me neither buddy!

- Grayson was saying the funniest stuff in the van the other day and we were all laughing at him. He told us to stop laughing but I told him he's just too cute. Then he said, "No I'm not! Babies are cute, not big boys!". It just made us all laugh harder :)
-We've had a crazy storm the past couple of days. As we were driving to Costco this afternoon a National Weather Advisory announcement came over the radio. My kids were fascinated with the information! It came on again awhile later and then when we got in the van after shopping Grayson requested I play it again. He said, "Mom, turn on the thing that says don't crash into the thunderstorm." Haha. And then later that night he told his dad about the warning that the storm was very "strong" and flexed his arm. So. Dang. Cute!!
- And last but not least, only 3 1/2 more months until Whitney can go to nursery! Yay! Can I get an amen!?

Wednesday's Whatever

2010-10-13T18:43:00.001-07:00

When I want to post something completely random I'm going to do it on Wednesdays. Yes, on Wednesdays I'm going to post whatever I want, hence "Wednesday's Whatever".

Jeff and I got iPhones. I have one because I want one, not because I need one. I will probably never use it to it's full capacity.
My kids are completely addicted to the iPhone game app Angry Birds. I used it this morning as motivation for the kids to clean up. They did an awesome job!
I'm completely addicted to Angry Birds. Don't look at my laundry pile.
Out of the blue my kids will talk about it. Yesterday at the kitchen table, when he wasn't playing, Grayson said, "I like to kill pigs." Today Davis and his friend Drew were playing their real-life pretend-play version of it on the trampoline with balls. The balls were the birds.
Davis is a genius at strategy. He was watching me play over my shoulder and told me, "If there's a pig that doesn't die easily I try to kill that one first." I thought Jeff had taught him that but he swears he didn't. I thought that was pretty smart.
Grayson is too funny. He'd played on another mom's iPhone in the gymnastics waiting room one time so the first thing he said when he saw mine is ask, "Does that phone have a game?".

2010-10-01T15:37:00.000-07:00

Dear Grayson,
I miss your silly face. Even though you're a rascal, I love you too much. I proved that much when I almost had a heart attack watching you almost get hit by a car in the Kohl's parking lot last week. Four days at Meema's is enough, come home now. But when you get here please don't drench your sister with the hose because you "just want to get her hair wet".

Love,
Mom

So many fun adventures in Boulder, UT Labor Day weekend!

2010-09-28T10:29:00.001-07:00

I've always thought Grandma Peterson's house is a little like stepping back in time. She has some awesome antiques she still uses :) We were lucky that aunt Janice was there the first night. It was really good seeing her there too! The first day we were there we all picked green beans in the garden.

I love how Grandma can't just hold Whitney, she has to hold Whitney AND pick green beans. The whole time she wouldn't let anyone do anything for her. She's too independent for that haha.

We made sure Grandma told the kids stories of her life. She told them about a ranch horse they had that won a ton of races. And she told about how the road in front of their house had always been very sandy and her husband Emron got ran over but didn't get hurt because he just sank down into the sand!

The kids loved being outside, playing on the grass, climbing the tree, and swinging on the rope swing. The weather was just right.

We also hiked the Sugar Loaf which is a Peterson family tradition. Really, the Sugar Loaf is just a big rock you climb up the side of. It's a pretty tough climb with very little shade but the kids handled it amazingly. Well, that was after Davis tripped on a cactus haha. He was NOT happy about that. And then a little later he was being a little reckless and I had to warn him that it's only safe if you're being safe. We made it back without further incident :)

It's also tradition to carve your name into the rock. I took a picture of mine and Jeff's name from 2001, and Jeff added Davis & Leah's.

When we were preparing for our hike Grayson said he didn't want to go, it'd be too hard because he didn't have sticky toes haha. But on the last day, when we were looking for a geocache on the backside of the Sugar Loaf, Grayson was able to do that climb with us and kept saying, "I DO have sticky toes!". Love that kid.

Also, Grandma has this hummingbird feeder that is busy all the time! In the first picture I captured 5 birds feeding at the same time but I think the most I counted at once was 7! I was quite a sight.

The time we spent driving was also well spent. On the way home we listened to the entire third book in the Lemony Snicket series. The kids love those books and kept asking to keep listening, even when I wanted to take a break and listen to some music haha. It was good too!

It was like 8 years ago, maybe I should just let it go now.

2010-09-17T15:16:00.000-07:00

I want to blog about our trip to Boulder, Utah for Labor Day weekend but I shut the internet off to the PC in the office (thus I am typing this on my laptop) and that's where the pictures are. It's unhooked because Grayson knows where to click to go to nickjr.com and he will waste an EXTREME amount of time there and will NOT get off without a HUGE fight. So, I just unhook it and tell him it's not working :)

Anyways, instead I will blog about teaching Relief Society last Sunday. Sooooo many women were surprised that I was teaching and told me they wouldn't be able to do it because they'd be too scared. The women of the Relief Society are nice compared to the teenagers! I was reminded of a time when I subbed for a friend and taught the 16 & 17 year old Sunday School class. They ate me for breakfast. Andrew Clark & Brendon Urie wouldn't stop talking and making inappropriate comments. John Stephens wouldn't even open his scriptures even though they were supposed to be taking turns reading from them. And the girls wouldn't say a word. It was RIDICULOUS! And then I asked Brendon to give the closing prayer and he prayed "please bless that next week we can have a good teacher"! Yeah. I'm pretty sure I changed those kids' lives for good ;) In comparison, teaching Relief Society isn't so tough.

It felt like kind of a rough week.

2010-09-12T13:27:00.000-07:00

It was a bunch of little things that added up and by Friday night I felt pretty crummy. I don't always want to put things like this on my blog for the world to read but I do want my children to remember our "real" life.

I feel like in the past I have done pretty well keeping things in perspective. But around the time Grayson started developing asthma symptoms I started to feel continuously stressed. It wasn't just the asthma, there were several things on my mind. And then I started feeling that ache. For me "the ache" translates into wanting to feel accomplished at something. The things I do everyday are NEVER finished. And even if I do a good job there's nobody there to appreciate it...or even acknowledge it. Not to mention the fact that my best laid plans were complete disasters and I felt like a horrible, irresponsible mother. And it's all so alienating. My everyday concerns are not normal so it can be a lonely, lonely path. I had completely lost the will to "encourage" my family to eat healthy anyways, and it was completely obvious to me. Poor, poor Grayson.

But really, I'm fine. I'm just so used to being better than fine. I KNOW everyone experiences this, I just need time to work it out and do better so I can feel like my normal self again. My normal, crazy, loud, spaztic self :) Happy Sunday!

Mosiah 4:27
And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order. 

That was yesterday, this is today.

2010-09-09T17:22:00.000-07:00

Really Grayson, really!?
Maybe I should ACTUALLY start spanking him, haha.

My discipline would be so much more effective if I could stop laughing...

2010-09-08T17:07:00.000-07:00

My day usually goes like this:
Me: Grayson, don't spill your drink.
Gray: But I want to.
Me: Grayson, don't hit the baby.
Gray: But I want to.
Me: Grayson, don't splash water out of the bathtub.
Gray: But I want to.
Me: Grayson, don't poop in your pants.
Gray: But I want to.
Me: Grayson, don't be so loud Whitney's sleeping.
Gray: But I want to.

He needs boot camp. If he didn't have such a cute face this "loving unconditionally" thing would be soooo much harder haha.

First day jitters...

2010-08-30T14:06:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of school! I'm homeschooling Leah this year (she's in 2nd grade) but Davis wanted to go to "regular kindergarten", as he put it. He has been soooo excited for his first day but this morning his nerves got the best of him. We found out on the way to the bus stop that our neighbors who will normally be riding the bus weren't today. He got a little panicked and said, "I won't know anyone!?" Then when it was his turn to get on the bus he started crying and said, "Where will I sit?". Instead of forcing him on and risking a complete melt down on the way there, I decided to just drive him.
When we got to school it was kinda crazy and I didn't know which classroom was his. As we were walking around looking for it he said, "I changed my mind, I don't want to go to school today." Which just made me laugh since he practically begged to go. Anyways, when we found his classroom he asked me to stay but I think he liked it a lot when we walked in and cute little Halle Peterson from the ward waved to him and said, "Hi Davis!". She was sitting next to Andrew, also from the ward, so Davis sat down at their table. I asked them all about their backpacks, which they were very excited to chat about, and Davis warmed up quickly. I told him to tell me when I could leave and he said, "Right before the end." He wanted me to stay the whole time! LOL But right about that time the teacher said it was time for the parents to leave and Davis said I could go. He gave me a high-five and a half-smile and I was certain he'd do great.

Walking home from the bus stop I asked him about school and he said,
"I like it. It was fun. I made new friends. I played on the playground."
He's a gem :)

"At that particular time"

2010-08-19T13:06:00.000-07:00

-Alanis Morrisette

Whitney and I got up around 5am, her choice.
Then around 9 o'clock we all went to Phillips Ranch and petted some horses. Then Grayson's face got all itchy and I had to give him some Benadryl.
Then we went swimming at Sara's house.
In this picture are Davis, Leah, Maura, Landon and Wyatt enjoying the "hot pool".

Then Davis got funny with the jets.

Then we came home for lunch and Grayson serenaded me.

Then Whitney's walking skills were caught on camera.

Now the big kids are upstairs "cleaning" the playroom.
Later Leah and Davis have gymnastics.
A lot later I'm going to hang out with the girls at the pool without the kids.
And that is all.

Little Miss Chatty

2010-08-14T09:57:00.001-07:00

Another super long video for the grandparents. Whitney talks quite a bit. She doesn't always say things on command but she has started to say things like uh-oh so clear and at the right time.

at :18 she kinda says Leah, she says this a lot better usually
at :37 she says mama
at :50 she says baby, this is one she usually says so clear and when she sees a baby doll, it's really cute!
at :55 she laughs at our peak-a-boos a couple times
at 1:21 she covers her eye for peak-a-boo and says boo
at 1:30 she says actually says "p-boo" which is what she normally says
at 1:37 she says Davis
at 1:41 she kinda says Grayson, she's never actually said Grayson I just thought I'd ask her and see what she says, she at least made some sounds instead of giving me the stare haha
at 2:04 she kinda says dada, she says this one a lot clearer usually
at 2:20 when I ask her to say uh-oh she only looks down for what dropped, she usually says this one clear as a bell and at the appropriate times
at 3:10 is a failed attempt to get her to kiss Leah, she does actually give kisses usually
at 4:25 she shows her willingness to spit anything out into your hand if you ask her, she has always done this!
at 4:34 she does the beloved tongue spit

The kids and I were watching this video and when Whitney started spitting Davis was laughing hysterically. When it was over he said, "That video got really funny at the end." Love him.

Whitney has been definitely been teething lately. She had a large purple, swollen spot on her gums (an eruption hematoma according to the pediatric dentist) and a bottom tooth broke through a few days after which was probably what was causing that high fever. You can tell in this video she's still kinda cranky and wanting to bite stuff. She's still our little "Chompers".

Because my last four posts have had no pictures...

2010-08-14T09:47:00.001-07:00

Jeff and I before we left for birthday sushi.
We took this one:

Leah took this one:

I showered today, yay me!

2010-08-12T16:44:00.000-07:00

Grayson is doing so much better today! Ever since our Mexico vacation a few weeks ago his dietary restrictions had been off and I've been enforcing them again since Monday. He just needs them. It makes my head hurt thinking about completely restricting him again long term so I think I'm going to try a new set of parameters. When we eliminated salicylates he did great, so I think if I cut those way down he'll be able to tolerate wheat in homemade bread and muffins (homemade to avoid preservatives). We'll try it for a few weeks and see how he does. Adding wheat would make my life so much easier.

I forgot to mention that when I took him to the pediatrician (last Friday) she ordered his allergy tests again since it's been a year. We went right to the Quest that's in the building but then had to wait 30 minutes. Yeah, it was me and my four kids sitting in the waiting area, which is a hallway, for 30 minutes. Then, when it's finally our turn, the vein clots in the first arm so they have to try again in the other arm. After the first prick Grayson is screaming and crying... and he never lets up. They didn't even hit a vein in the second arm. The nurse just stuck the needle ALL THE WAY IN and dug around which is the worst. So I walked out after 45 minutes with a wailing three-year-old and no promise of actually getting any test results. So not fun.

I think the stress got to me and for the past few days I haven't been feeling healthy at all. My body's been achy, my stomach has been hurting, and there is SO much tension in my shoulders it's giving me a headache. I tried to explain this to Jeff but apparently he didn't take me serious. Last night he told me I felt hot and that I "might actually be sick". Yeah, that's what I was telling you. Did you think I was faking? Anyways, he ran out and got me some late night Super Nachos from Roberto's and I woke up this morning feeling a lot better. Hand delivered mexican food is my medicine :)

The bad news...

2010-08-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

Grayson probably has asthma. I had noticed him breathing weird off and on this summer. Last Friday I took him to the doctor and she said that at his age there isn't a definitive test and she prescribed an inhaler for him (which wasn't covered by our insurance so I paid out of pocket for) to treat him when he's having trouble. And then she said that if his symptoms don't get better after a treatment to take him to the ER... which is something a mother LOVES to hear, ya know!?

I really don't know how to tell if he's having trouble breathing. I asked the pediatrician what it would look like when he was struggling and she just gave me a blank stare. No help at all.

And then there's Whitney. On Sunday she was super fussy and developed a fever in the afternoon. I'm used to my kids getting fevers when they're teething but she was so not herself I was kinda worried. I gave her some ibuprofen and she took a nap. On the ibuprofen her fever was gone and I thought she was getting better. The next day she was clingy but no fever until about 1pm. I decided to take her to the doctor to see if he could see any signs of infection but really the only obvious thing was the fever. By the time we got in to see him it was 103.8! He told me to just treat the fever for the next two days and then bring her back in if it hasn't gone away by then. Mama no likey.

Our stupid pediatricians office doesn't have any appts available for THREE WEEKS! Um, when my kid is sick what good is that appt going to do?? Does anyone have doctor that has same day appts?

The good news...

2010-08-10T13:08:00.000-07:00

My birthday week was great. Jeff and I went to our third annual birthday sushi and then saw Salt at the Red Rock. The sushi was great! And the movie was good. I love Angelina Jolie, she plays an awesome CIA agent but I felt like I'd seen that movie before.

Apparently my love language has come to revolve around peanut butter. I didn't eat PB the whole time I was pregnant and nursing so I've been enjoying my fair share since last week. Jeff even brought home a Reese's cheesecake home from The Cheesecake Factory on Monday :) Sweetest thing ever!

Leah's FINALLY out of school!!! It's good to have her home :)

Today's my TWENTY-NINTH birthday!

2010-08-04T07:19:00.001-07:00

My zodiac sign is Leo so I pretty much like/love a day that's all about me :)

Here are 29 random things about me:

1. I love music but I'm pretty much tone deaf when it comes to singing.

2. Favorite movies: Pride and Prejudice (the Keira Knightly version), Blue Crush, Casino Royale, The Holiday, Can't Buy Me Love and Star Trek.

3. Usually I'd rather just watch a favorite movie over again at home than go watch a movie I've never seen in the theaters.

4. I regularly forget where I put things. Even important things like my camera!

5. We've lived in our house for almost a year and several windows still don't have coverings of any sort. Who needs privacy?

6. I wish I was a mega-environmentalist. I'd love to live in a self-sustaining community. But if I moved there I'm not sure Jeff would follow so...

7. I'm a tomboy.

8. I love to play sports but I'm not really that good at any of them.

9. I don't follow professional sports but I enjoy watching them (mostly tennis) when they're on at somebody else's house.

10. We don't have cable TV. The other day somebody asked if we had TV yet? We don't have cable because we don't want cable. It's not like we're going to get it one day and we just haven't yet. Is that really such a crazy idea??

11. Amber thinks I'm spunky. I tend to agree.

12. I know I'm a spaz, I just happen to like that about myself.

13. My favorite books are Pride and Prejudice, The Host, Eclipse from the Twilight Series, Ender's Game, Jane Eyre, The Goose Girl and The Truth About Forever.

14. I re-read books I like.

15. I'm a complete desert dweller. I don't mind the heat very much and I don't like to be cold.

16. I LOVED high school. When people say they hated it I can't relate at all!! Maybe that's why I still read young adult novels and (according to my sister) dress like a teenager.

17. I remember song lyrics. I have learned some awesome, life-changing things from songs.

18. I consider myself a convert. I vividly remember the first time I felt peaceful after praying and knew the gospel was true. I want nothing more than for my kids to gain that knowledge for themselves.

19. I like to change my hair A LOT but I wear jeans and a T-shirt everyday.

20. I love to swim. Sometimes when my hair is bleached I don't like to get it wet in a chlorinated pool but I still LOVE to swim.

21. I am not a consumer. I only like to buy things that I can use forever. It's impossible to get away from everything disposable but when I put my trash on the curb and the trash man picks it up I'm completely aware of the fact it doesn't just magically disappear.

22. I'm messy but I like to talk. See how those things relate!?

23. I've always wanted to homeschool. It's not that I want to keep my kids from the "bad influence" of public school but I want to let them develop a love for learning. There's so much inspiration in this world that kids don't get to see because they're stuck in a classroom all day. I'm going to finally do it next year!! Yay!

24. I'd rather TRY and not do something perfect than not ever TRY.

25. I like to eat healthy food. Healthy is such a relative term.

26. I think I'm funny. Jeff thinks I'm funny but just not as funny as him. I tend to not agree :p

27. I like to make babies but I don't really like being pregnant. Go figure.

28. I love, love LOVE bundt cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes. I get one for my birthday and then eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner until it's gone. It's not healthy but it's fun :)

29. President Obama shares a birthday with me, lucky him ;)

It's my birthday so I'm not going to do any housework today. Jeff is probably saying, "And that's different than yesterday because?" It's my birthday WEEK, haha :) Anyways, tonight Sara invited me out for a late frozen yogurt from Poppy's. Should be fun!

2010-08-03T11:13:00.000-07:00

Whitney turned 1 year old!
I CANNOT even believe it!
What did I do with the last year of my life!?!
I'm not exactly sure but here is the result of my actions. A nice, plump one-year-old who can stand up but hardly takes a step:

She prefers to stand up on my bed. I think it's because when she plops down it doesn't hurt her bum :)

The day was pretty uneventful. I kept up with tradition and weaned her so we both were kinda grumpy and wanted to stay inside. When Leah got home from school I decided we should try and leave the house, maybe do something fun. When I put her in her carseat Whitney started fussing and Leah said, "Oh, how sad. She's crying on her birthday." Which just made me laugh. Whitney really is just such a wonderful addition to our family and as Leah and I always say we're just so lucky to have her!

Saturday lake trip, yeah baby!!

2010-07-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

It was my first time in two years so it was awesome. We couldn't get the boat to start right away and it was HOT but it was still fun. We invited the Shumway family and the kids got along great. Not to mention the awesome parents :)

Grayson woke up that morning with a runny nose/cough so Rod offered to take him for the day. We took Whitney and she was awesome despite the sweltering heat and smothering life jacket.

Kneeboarding was a hit with all the kids. I asked Zac to give me a silly face before he jumped in the water to kneeboard and he did not disappoint :) When he was boarding we couldn't tell if he was enjoying himself or completely terrified. It was awesome!

Davis was awesome on the kneeboard too. He slipped off the board the first time taking off and didn't let go of the rope! That's him being drug through the water in the video. The kids and I have watched it a million times, it's hilarious! Leah, Ben and Luke did it no problem too but was driving the boat for most of their runs so I don't have any pictures of them.

Leah was the flag girl for most of the day and some of the kids got to drive the boat for a minute on the way in. This is a picture of Luke getting his turn.

The kids were exhausted by the time we got back to the van and Davis was asleep within minutes driving home. Man, I didn't know his neck was that flexible! Jeff and I were laughing that it's almost tradition for him to fall asleep in some crazy position and get his picture taken LOL. Leah fell asleep too but insists she was just resting. Whatever girlfriend, mama has proof :)

It's A LOT of work getting out to the lake but completely my idea of a good time if you know what I mean.
HUGE shout-out to Rod for watching Grayson and encouraging us use the boat!!! Thank you!!!
And thanks to the Shumways for braving the heat to accompany us and not complaining when there was a good chance we wouldn't ever leave the dock. And Janet, I forgive you for thinking I was older. You and I will always be 21 ;)

Grayson said, "Mom I need to show you something."

2010-07-16T12:40:00.001-07:00

He has taught her well :)

2010-07-16T12:37:00.001-07:00

Posted about ID camping here, here, here & here.

Excuse me!?

2010-07-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had one of those conversations with an absolute stranger that got me kinda upset:
Stranger: You have three kids?
Me: I have four.
Stranger: Haven't you figured out the biology of that yet?

Excuse me!? I wanted to tell her to mind her own business but I said, "Actually, I got my degree in biology and I wanted four kids." Which, I guess, was kinda the same thing. I think she was just trying to be funny but she said it in front of Leah, mama no likey.

What is WRONG with having four kids!? Especially when they provide such high quality entertainment as demonstrated by Davis in this video clip:

My kids are super cute...
I'm pretty sure Jeff and I owe it to the world to make four MORE ;)

Artsy Fartsy

2010-07-13T13:42:00.000-07:00

The big kids made these shirts in their art class.
They cut stencils in posterboard and used spray paint.
Their teacher called it graffiti art.
Love it!

My New Favorite Picture

2010-07-12T16:13:00.000-07:00

We are AWESOME parents, very attentive

2010-07-11T15:05:00.000-07:00

"On the front lobe of my left-side brains"

2010-07-10T15:11:00.000-07:00

-"Hey Soul Sister" by Train

I'm an unabashed science geek. And I know my hubby loves me because he used his connections so we could have a "date" shadowing the Medical Examiner performing autopsies this morning. That's love right there.

It was such a great experience. Honestly, driving down to the coroner's office I started to get nervous. What if I pass out, or gag/throw up, let alone pass out!? Well, it wasn't like that at all. We shadowed Dr. G and she was great. The smell was strong but once they get going it's very medical and fast and fascinating. Dr. G had a great attitude and a great energy about her. She even said a couple of times that she loves her job. She was really just great. In the spirit of full disclosure though, one of us did have to step out for a few minutes and it wasn't me :)

We were able to observe the step-by-step autopsy of a 50-something male that just dropped dead crossing the street yesterday. Cause of death: unknown. Words cannot express how awesome the inside of the human body is. I was in awe the whole time. And it was even a little bit exciting seeing "things" that might have caused his death even though we didn't see anything that was obviously the cause. Dr. G said she'd most likely see something on the toxicology reports but it will take about two weeks to get those.

The other cases there were an elderly man thought to have passed away from natural causes, a 21-week fetal demise whose mother tested positive for amphetamines, a 2 1/2 year old whose parents said he choked on candies but had bruising from and earlier "fall", an embalmed elderly man who died weeks ago of what were initially ruled natural causes (hence no autopsy) but sent in because a family member recently expressed his suspicion of foul play, and a 21-year old male here celebrating his birthday who drunkenly fell from the fourth story of a parking garage after he sat on top of the wall. It was a very eclectic group. Unfortunately our sitter could only be here for a few hours so we didn't get to see any of the other autopsies but I was riveted by what I did see.

The case of the 21-year old stuck out to me. His body was very bloated but his hair was in a perfect faux hawk. The PD had a camera of his that contained pictures of him wearing the same clothes he fell in drinking VERY EXPENSIVE tequila in a limo with friends, attending the Love show and (from a worldly perspective) having a great time living it up in LV. And now he's dead. And now he's dead because he couldn't think rationally. Alcohol is bad, end of sermon.

Another moment I'll never forget is this conversation with Dr. G.:
Dr. G: So are you at home.
Me: Yeah. I stay home with the kids.
Dr. G: That's a good choice.
Me: Do you have kids?
Dr. G: No. I kept putting it off because of my job and now I think it might be too late. I might be too old.
Me: *silence*
Honestly, sometimes I think that I'm behind. I don't have a graduate degree or an income or any marketable talents of any kind really. But I'm happy to be "at home". I'm happy to hear the cute things my kids say, to chauffeur them to art class, gymnastics, school etc., and to jump for joy when they all sleep through the night and wake up in the morning happy and healthy. I like my job.

So now I want to send a thank you to the doctors and the awesome techs that made it fun. But really, what would be appropriate? I thought about making these cookies:

Too morbid? Maybe a nice, wholesome fruit basket would be better.
You tell me.

2010-07-02T12:05:00.000-07:00

An impromtu date to see Eclipse kinda took away the pain of applying for passports. LOVED it! It seems the Twilight films are progressively getting better :)

Random thoughts:
1. Favorite one so far, it is my favorite book of the series but the acting and directing were just better.
2. Bella's hair (the wig) was good for me but Edward's hair was awful. I LOVED it in the other movies but this time it was too curly or something.
3. Edward looked like he had gained weight, in a good way.
4. Edward was happier. A lot more like the Edward from the book for me.
5. There were a few changes from the book that made Bella seem less annoying so that was good.
6. The only thing I really missed from the book was when she actually cries over Jacob. In the book she's REALLY depressed about everything and in the movie she didn't even shed a single tear.
7. It was super funny. Loved the script.

Side note...
This is super funny too:

Passport Pain

2010-07-01T02:30:00.000-07:00

Getting passports for the kids was such a pain! It took forever, required an obnoxious amount of paperwork and cost a scrillion dollars. All so we can travel to MEXICO!

Here's a partial list of "the hoops":
1. Jeff had to be there to sign in person (or have a notarized paper stating his consent) so we had to work it into his completely full schedule.
2. The online resource said the were no Saturday hours and then the sign at the post office had Saturday hours for the passport desk listed. Make up your mind people.
4. The worker at CVS said Leah couldn't wear a white shirt in her picture but instead of going home and changing I had her take the picture anyways. They accepted it just fine and the passport officer never said anything about it. The passport picture taking at CVS is quite sketchy but sooo much cheaper.
5. Mostly because I've become completely disorganized in the past year I couldn't find Leah or Davis' birth certificates anywhere! There were in a folder that I suspected Leah had taken to put other papers in, but I just couldn't find it anywhere. I even gave up and drove down to the So. NV Health offices to get new ones only to realize Leah was born in UT so we HAD to find them. When we got home I kinda lost my temper, made the big kids look all through their stuff and I told them they couldn't stop looking until we found them. A few minutes later Leah comes out with them, yay! I cannot stand being disorganized!!
6. And then there is always the question of whether or not they'll come in time for our trip. If we don't have them we'll be able to go enjoy the beach house just fine but who knows if they'll let us back into the good old USofA. Only time will tell.

And all the rest.

2010-06-30T23:45:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning we checked out of our cabin bright and early and drove back to Amber's to enjoy the rest of our time in Idaho. We mostly just had fun being together. Can you believe Vincent is only 6 weeks old here! He hold his head up like a champ and probably weighs 14 pounds!

We DEFINITELY had a good time, not to mention the perfect weather!

Camping on Saturday

2010-06-30T23:25:00.000-07:00

Saturday Amber and I were the barfing buddies. These are the only pictures I took that whole day. Grayson looking cute visiting me in my bed.

And Amber took these cute ones of Vincent in his "Happy Camper" onesie :)

The dads saved the day and took the kiddos fishing sans their mothers.

I think they caught one fish. Maybe two.

They did seem to take fishing very seriously and this creek is just adorable.

We had big plans to go to a local theater this night too but it just didn't work out. I didn't realize how sick I was until I almost passed out walking around trying to get cell phone reception so I could talk to the box office about our pre-paid tickets going to waste! The production was Wizard of Oz too :(

Saturday evening/night the dads were out of commission too. Neither one actually threw up but they laid around moaning and groaning plenty. Actually, all the kids were kinda sad Jeff didn't throw up. He is notoriously a LOUD barfer so they were all pretty excited to hear it for themselves. His iron stomach was quite the disappointment haha.

Camping Day 2, Friday

2010-06-30T23:00:00.000-07:00

We spent most of the second day chasing down geocaches. The kids thought it was fun.

Even though Cash started barfing. Grayson and I took a break to have a little sword fight.

After Cash threw up Sterling started crying saying he was scared he was next and that he hates to throw up (he's his mother's son haha). Anyways, within seconds of me taking the picture on the left, the picture on the right happened. He and Cash were the barf brothers for the rest of the day.

We kept going to geocaches though. The scenery was beautiful!

Most of the caches were right of the road so we just drove from cache to cache. With the barf brothers in the truck Bill kept having to pull over and let them do their business. And thus the "barf buddies" sign was born. We wore that sign out for the rest of the weekend.

It was epic!

2010-06-30T22:47:00.000-07:00

A long time ago I told Jeff that I thought epic was a funny word and I was going to start using it all the time. I think I said it three times and then forgot haha. Anyways, I was uploading the pictures from our camping trip in ID and it was EPIC! There is an obscene amount of pictures I want to post. I used Amber's camera the whole time (and had to have her upload the pictures so I could have them on my computer, hence the delay in posting). It's awesome. Once again I think Meema and I are the only ones who will enjoy these posts in their entirety. Let it begin :)

We stayed in the luxury cabin. It was hillbilly luxury. Two rooms, one small bathroom. Lots of fun. It's okay, we ARE hillbillies. We hung out the first night, excited to be there (except for Grayson).

The boys were very manly and cut down a dead tree with a chainsaw. And then we proceeded to very amateurishly chop it into firewood. Except for Bill, he's a professional.

Even the kids had their turn at chopping.

I like to call this picture "Safety First"

Notice how Leah's not in any of the pictures? It's because this was her barf day. She was relaxing inside.

More cute pictures.

That was Thursday, the first day.

2010-06-28T21:38:00.000-07:00

This is what we were doing at 8am this morning.
Playing Twister.
I must say Davis is pretty good at it!

And then all afternoon we swam in the neighbor's pool.
It was glorious.
The air was toasty and the water was refreshing.
I practically had to drag my kids home so we could have dinner.
I want to live in my swimsuit like I did when I was little.
Mmmmm, SUMMER!

Family Date at the Movies

2010-06-27T22:17:00.000-07:00

We took the kids (minus Whitney) to see Toy Story 3 yesterday and it was pretty good. All the kids were being especially cranky before it was time to go but they pulled it together in time to enjoy the show. It was in 3D but the effects weren't especially noticeable. Jeff had taken Davis and Leah to see How to Train Your Dragon awhile back and said the 3D effects in that movie were amazing, so this one wasn't nearly as impressive. Now that I think about it, this might have been Grayson's first movie theater experience! He did pretty well but was definitely ready to go when it ended. Actually, he kept asking me if it was over yet for the last 10 minutes haha. I enjoyed it overall but the price of a movie these days is RIDICULOUS!! And a bottle of water at the concession stand is $4.50! The people next to me in line dropped $44 dollars just on popcorn and drinks for their group! RIDICULOUS! I think I've gotten super cheap in my old age ;)

I love Zac Efron.

2010-06-25T13:29:00.000-07:00

I watched 17 Again the other day and laughed my head off. So I looked online to see if Troy Bolton, um I mean Zac Efron, had any movies coming out soon. Here's what I found:

Looks good!!! But I don't know if Jeff will watch it. Girl's night?

Quote of the Day

2010-06-24T20:38:00.000-07:00

Me: Jeff, do you have the book The Alchemist?
Jeff: Not in English.
Me: Wow, you have taken nerdiness to a whole new level.

Apparently literature is best read in its native tongue :)

And we're back!

2010-06-23T12:35:00.000-07:00

I didn't mean to not blog while we were gone but Amber's internet was acting crazy so I mostly stayed off the computer. It was good :)

Camping was good too. Unfortunately we all got the stomach flu so it wasn't great but it was still fun. We had a very exclusive club called the Barf Buddies. If you'd thrown up you were in the club. By the end of the weekend only the dads weren't a member of the club! We had a special hand gesture and everything. We were the funniest sick people ever. I'll elaborate more when Amber sends me pictures from the trip. I pretty much used Amber's camera exclusively the whole time I was there. I need one. I'm going to start saving my pennies.

In other news I'm worried about our children and their eternal salvation.

Reason #1: As we were consuming a disgusting amount of candy on the drive up, Davis broke his Red Vine into two pieces "smoked" one and turned the other one into a gun. Nice.

Reason #2: On the way down Grayson tried to seal cheese curds from a gas station in So. Santaquin, UT!! I was nursing Whitney in the van and I see him wander out with a bag, half hiding them behind his back. I get out of the van and when he sees me he hold them up and says, "These are my favorite" (except for the fact that he's never had a cheese curd in his whole life haha). I asked him if he had his dad pay for them and he says, "Ummm, I forgot. I better go back." Caught red-handed not to mention the fact that he wandered away from his dad and went outside! Crazy kid!!

I'm sure it's all a product of my AWESOME parenting. Yay me!

2010-06-17T12:35:00.000-07:00

We drove up to Idaho yesterday. It took 15 hours.
The highlights: Davis barfed in a bad and Grayson peed in a bottle, all while hanging out in the Wal-Mart parking lot. We like to keep it classy :)

In other news, I will NOT be blogging for the next few days because I will be camping in the Idaho mountains with Amber and her family. No internet access, yay!

Oh, and by camping I mean staying in a cabin with a kitchenette and an indoor toilet. And by no internet access I mean probably not even cell phones. This is gonna be fun!

"Go ahead now, admit it... you like your world with me in it"

2010-06-16T23:49:00.000-07:00

-"Shut up and kiss me" by Orianthi

Happy 9th anniversary to us!!

Today was a long day.

2010-06-15T23:56:00.000-07:00

We left the house at 9am and I didn't really get home to stay until 11:30pm! Crazy. The greatest thing that happened today is Gray went to gymnastics for the first time ever! I watched him through the window most of the time and when they were doing bar exercises he looked petrified. When he was done he said he had fun and then he said this: "I was swinging from the bar and then my teacher flipped me over and it totally scared me." That is a direct quote. It totally scared him haha. And him saying that with his lisp is just too cute :)

I love Summer!

2010-06-14T23:05:00.000-07:00

And I love my friend Rachel. Whenever we get together it's for the ENTIRE day and it's always fun! Today I had to take my Sienna to the Toyota dealership to get the CD changer replaced (that thing never worked right!) and even though it's probably a simple fix it took ALL DAY. It didn't matter though because Rachel came to my rescue. She picked my family up from the dealership and we hung out at her house. My kids love her kids so it was a fun afternoon filled with coloring, eating and jumping on the trampoline with the hose on :)

And then on the way home I found a lovely leather loveseat at the RC Willey clearance center that was on MAJOR sale and will fit perfectly in our office :) I even bought the "warranty" to cover it for 5 years :) I do live with Grayson after all.

And THEN heaven smiled upon me and I was able to travel at the speed limit the entire drive home on I15 southbound during RUSH HOUR! It was wonderful, we even beat Jeff home from work.

And then, this is just icing on the cake.
FIVE bedrooms and all the kids end up in the SAME ONE!
Three kids choose the same bed haha.
I bet someone falls off tonight, not Davis though.

And Whitney always looks adorable sleeping. For reals!

I was right.

2010-06-13T22:37:00.000-07:00

This morning was rough. We had to wake Grayson up to make it to church on time and then whined/cried most of Sacrament meeting. He just needs his sleep!

Well, that's pretty much all I have to say about today :) So, here are some completely unrelated pictures of the kids playing with lady bugs in Big Bear:

And one of Leah lookin' kinda saucy:

I didn't blog yesterday!!

2010-06-12T22:39:00.000-07:00

I JUST realized I skipped yesterday! Oops. I think it's probably because my mom and dad randomly came into town last night to attend a horse training seminar here. I think it threw me off.

Anyways, today was great. We all ate a gourmet breakfast of gluten-free oatmeal and Jeff and I folded a bazillion loads of laundry :) My parents left early this morning and right before they left my mom asked if I still had a camera. Uh, yeah. "Well, you should be taking pictures." Haha, here's the one I took:

Davis doesn't actually wear glasses, those are Papa's and Grayson looks grumpy huh!?  Well, he was grumpy all morning!  For example he was upstairs with Jeff and the door to the balcony was open, letting in the breeze.  Grayson couldn't stand it and told Jeff to "Close the door.  It's winding me over."

I guess the breeze was kinda strong though. The big kids and I flew kites across the street in what the kids call "the wilderness". I love this picture because it represents so much to me. Leah and Davis had earned those kites by doing their chores and earning points on a chart. It makes me proud that they're being good helpers and that they're taking their prize and actually enjoying it :)

It's a good thing Grayson got over his grumpies by nighttime because we went to a super fun graduation party with a live band. The kids LOVED it! I loved it too. We were all dancing together (except for Jeff of course) and it was great. Leah and Davis were taking turns dancing with Whitney in their arms laughing the whole time. And I REALLY wish I'd had a video camera to record Grayson's dancing. It was all crazy and hilarious. It was so bizarre it kinda reminded me of Elaine from Seinfeld :) He'd punch his arms and then wiggle his booty like in the chicken dance and sometimes he's do the funky chicken with this legs. Sometimes he'd even put his hands on the ground and lift one of his legs up into the air (I'm pretty sure that's a legitimate yoga pose haha). And there were other kids there that they made friends with, dancing in a circle holding hands and such. It was super fun. We stayed way late and Davis, Grayson and Whitney fell asleep on the 10 minute drive home. The only bad thing is that 8 am church is going to come so much faster!! I need to get to bed RIGHT NOW!

Today was a good day.

2010-06-10T22:10:00.001-07:00

We went to hang out with Skye and her kids, Hayes and Kamri, who are renting our old house from us. It's kinda weird being there when someone else is living there but it's not bad. We have so many good memories in that house. Anyways, playing with them was pretty fun. Highlight of the day was when Skye had to tell Hayes (who's 3) not to vacuum the baby (Whitney). He thought it was pretty cool how her fingers went inside the tube. Love him!

When we got home from there I took Leah and Davis to their art class. It's a friend of ours that teaches it so I was able to stay and help while Grayson played inside with toys. The kids made abstract sculptures with plaster and nylons. They're pretty cool and messy and the kids loved it! Whitney was at her usual level of awesomeness and entertained herself the whole time in her carseat. On the way home Leah said it was the best day at art class ever! We definitely had a good time being together <3

And then this evening I spent 2 1/2 hours at the neighbors learning how to sew a fabric roll that can hold crayons and such with some women from the ward. It was fun. It was mostly talking and you know I LOVE to talk :) The women in the ward are great. And Jeff's calling as 2nd Counselor in the Sunday School presidency allows him to be home a lot so I'm enjoying attending as many Relief Society weeknight meetings as I can :) Now I'm finally home and blogging but it's already past my bedtime haha. What's a girl to do :)

I can be right...sometimes

2010-06-09T21:04:00.000-07:00

Today we went to The Arctic Exhibit at Galleria Mall. The kids weren't very excited when I said we were going to learn about polar bears and penguins. I told them I'd never been there but I'd heard it was fun. They weren't convinced. We went anyways and afterward Davis said, "It was really fun, you were right Mom."
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like to be told I was right :)

And it actually was a lot of fun. They had this really slippery slide for the kids. They got to put on a black and white penguin suit and slide down it on their bellies. Grayson was in love. After we left he kept saying he wanted to go back to the costume store. He'd say it like I should know what he was talking about. I didn't get it until he said the penguin costume store. He REALLY liked it :)

Tippit family pictures from Nov 2009.

2010-06-08T21:27:00.001-07:00

Taken on the Blythe Municipal Golf Course.

Issues.

2010-06-07T22:49:00.000-07:00

I'm having trouble with my sleep patterns these days. I think that because I've had a child waking up in the night for the last... um, forever... I've gotten into the habit of not sleeping. But now that both Grayson and Whitney are sleeping through the night (which is a MIRACLE in and of itself!!) I still don't sleep much. I feel MAJORLY sleep deprived all day but at night I get kinda a second wind and stay up late reading or looking up things on the internet or watching movies with Jeff. In the past I've always felt my best when I've gone to bed early and woken up early so I just need to get back to that. I KNOW better now I just have to DO better. It's time to be like, you know... an adult haha.

So tell me, what time do you go to bed?

"Lazy Sunday"

2010-06-06T21:25:00.000-07:00

This is a picture I took of Davis at my sister's house with her nice Nikon.
It makes me wanna fork over the dough for a SLR.

Davis makes up jokes.

Davis: What did the hot dog say to the rubber band?
Me: What?
Davis: YOU STINK!

They're not funny but they're all his.

This is what we did today...

2010-06-05T21:06:00.000-07:00

We swam at Grandma & Grandpa Leavitt's with Jeric's family...in the sweltering heat.

The big kids enjoyed the spa (not heated) and jumping off the waterfall.

Grayson was so excited. He got all ready before we even left the house.
Right down to his brand new goggles...and he fell asleep on the way :)
Fogged 'em right up haha.

When we drove home at 8pm the thermometer in the van still read 100 degrees!

I'm a hero!

2010-06-04T22:55:00.000-07:00

I donated blood today! And because I'm a fatty they let me do a "double" so I'm sure that makes me doubly awesome :)

Jeff and I watched the cheesiest movie ever tonight. We only watched the whole thing because I've had it from Netflix for FOUR months!! Yikes.

The corner of Leah's eye has been red for over about a week now. I took her to the doctor this morning and she said it was probably just seasonal allergies. That's good because mama no likey eye infections.

I played basketball again last night. Sooooooooo tiring! Tonight I got a much needed massage. Not from Jeff, from Massage Envy. Worth every penny.

Misty and fam stayed at our house last night. They're going to SD for the weekend and wanted a place to crash. They are always welcome here. After watching her for me Misty commented on just how mellow Whitney is. She saw her just a couple months ago but it's still surprising. Yes, I agree Misty! And Whitney loved snuggling with Misty and Ernie. Misty and Ernie loved it too I'm sure :)

"If you didn't know it, this is love"

2010-06-03T14:07:00.000-07:00

-"Never Let You Go" by Justin Bieber

Here are the pictures Jana took back in April! These are one of the many awesome things I've procrastinated posting.
Love, love all these pictures.
It's amazing to me they're all mine...and Jeff's, I guess.
Leah, my love.
Such a beautiful soul.
She's so motherly already. She told me she wants to have a lot of kids but 4 isn't a lot. Ten is a lot. I told her she should have ten kids, she'd be a great mom. Sometimes I think she thinks she already has three :)
So thoughtful. When I was up in ID at Amber's she went to a concert with her dad. While she was there Grandma Cindy gave her a coin to throw in the wishing fountain. The next day I called to tell them Amber had her baby and Leah said, "My wish came true." She melts my heart.
So many emotions in such a little body. Her daddy says she's all four season in one day, just like her mama.
But she looks just like her daddy, only pretty :)
Davis Bryan.
Nothin' but love for this kid.
He has such a good heart. Any teacher he's ever had has sung his praises. Twice teachers have sent home notes to the parents about the unruliness of the class and then taken me to the side and said it doesn't really apply to Davis. I love that he's not a follower.
One way to make Davis instantly mad is to use something of his without asking. He is pretty good about sharing... when asked nicely, with manners.
Loves to learn and help and build things and play games and try new things and be friends.
Grayson boy.
A rockstar at heart. Completely comfortable waving at strangers, venturing up on the stand at church, trying to play the piano on the stand at church during sacrament meeting, etc. I'm sure he didn't want to disappoint his adoring fans.
A couple months ago my sister-in-law said Grayson looked like such a big kid now and ever since then he has to me! I think I still thought of him as my baby boy. With the lisp and the not sleeping through the night it was hard for me to see how mature he had become. I see it now, waahh.
He's a smarty pants. My sister calls him a know-it-all haha. When he went to nursery for the first time after me (and him) had been gone the first thing he told his teachers is, "I'm three now." Too cute. Especially since I didn't know how much he picked up on his birthday since I wasn't even here for the actual day and we hadn't had a party for him yet.
His musical talent is really coming out lately. Very impressively sang "Happy Birthday" to himself when we had birthday muffins for him a few Sundays ago, and sang Justin Bieber's "One Less Lonely Girl" going up and down the slide at the park.
Not to mention that he "is Troy Bolton".
Whitney, my saving grace.
She brings so much joy and happiness with her I can hardly remember the stress of getting her here.
Beautiful blue eyes. They make Davis especially happy. He likes to match.
Never really used a binkie. She was always just content.
She does equally well with crazy as she does with quiet.
Grayson got her to laugh the other day and proudly announced, "Whitney really loves me."
Yes, she is love.

"Take my picture by the pool 'cause I'm the next big thing"

2010-06-02T12:47:00.000-07:00

-"Beverly Hills" by Weezer

Pictures taken by me, in my backyard...professional, I know ;)

"And I'm giggling again for no reason"

2010-06-01T11:20:00.001-07:00

"Giggle again for no reason" by Alanis Morissette

I did such a horrible job blogging consistently for the last few months that I think I'm going to try to blog every day in June. EVERY DAY!!

That's me trying to get myself excited about it haha.
I have so much that I intend to put on here but I just never get around to it. I will, in the next month, blog anything and everything.
Yay me!

I'm going to start with this random picture taken in Big Bear that may or may not explain why pictures of Jeff on my blog are sometimes lacking:

Can you see where Leah gets her propensity for pirate faces?
:)
But really, when I saw this picture for the first time all I could think was how much I need a makeover!
Before we left for Big Bear Jeff and I went out on a date. I was so excited to go and wanted to dress up a little but my wardrobe is terrible. I had to settle for jeans and a t-shirt without a stain, which was harder to find than I care to admit!
So today I'm going to get my hair cut and highlighted and whatever I feel at the moment.
I'm going to a new hairdresser so it may get interesting :)
Yay me!!

So much has happened...

2010-05-27T10:03:00.000-07:00

Junie B. taught us the tooth fairy recycles. In our family, she really does!
Leah lost two teeth while Whitney grew two teeth :)
Leah M. Leavitt, toothless wonder
Whitney aka "Chompers",
careful, she bites!
Leah's first front tooth came out last Friday and the second four days later.
I helped the first one out with some dental floss.
It was just hanging on very Nanny McPhee style for WEEKS!
It had to go!

"Just a day, just an ordinary day"

2010-05-25T18:24:00.000-07:00

-Ordinary Day by Vanessa Carlton

I'm a spaz-and-a-half. I try to be responsible but really, it's harder than it looks haha. Here's the plan: to go the The Old Mormon Fort (with some other families from our ward), Monday at 10am. Leah leaves for the bus at 8:30am so I figure I'll have plenty of time to get the younger kids ready and leave 9:15-9:30ish. Well, Leah is a major turd in the morning. She hasn't written a story for her homework and insists she doesn't know what to write. The assignment was for her to write FOUR SENTENCES! She's whining and crying and being completely obnoxious. She does this forever and then, when she finally decides I'm not going to her homework and tell her what to write, she whips out a cute, funny story in about 5 minutes. Really, a turd!

Anyways, that makes her late for the bus so I have to give her a ride to school. I'd be dropping her off at 9:10am so I figured it would be better for me to leave for our outing right after that instead of coming home and wasting 20 minutes. On the way down Davis asks if we can play in a playplace instead of waiting at The Fort. I agreed but really, what was I thinking!? This is DOWNTOWN Las Vegas mind you. Really, the ghetto. At the McDonalds there are all sorts of scary people. I have to get Grayson dressed since he was still in his PJs (what, I didn't mention that part?) and while I'm changing him I put my keys down on the floor- not in my purse. Of course as I'm shutting the door I realize I just locked the keys in the van!

I immediately start calling some of the moms I thought were coming to see if they could go to my house and get my spare. Yeah, you know, the spare that's SOMEWHERE in my disaster of a house! Jeff calls right then too and I tell him what happened. An employee at work might have been able to go the house and bring me the keys but it will be awhile. Not good. Luckily I was able to get a hold of Natalie as she was leaving her house and have her bring me my spare! Me trying to tell her where it might be was hilarious, "on the kitchen counter, under some papers...maybe under a box too...by the fruit bowl." Or something vague like that. I think I might have even told her to look on the floor! I really didn't know where it was at all. Even though everything kinda worked out, all I could think about the day was what a fiasco.

Mother's Day 2010

2010-05-12T09:18:00.000-07:00

I spent Mother's Day this year driving 12 hours from Amber's house in Idaho to my house in Las Vegas, my trip odometer read 791.8 miles! Even though is was a long drive it was SUPER easy. Davis and Whitney are AMAZING travelers. It's just exhausting anyways. And I wanted to leave Amber's before lunch but she had JUST had her baby the night before so I couldn't pry myself away from him until 3 pm, putting me home at 2 am (because of the time change). It was worth it though. Such an awesome trip I'm lucky to have had!

When I got home Leah had made this for me:

Love her!
And this one too:

This one just totally made me laugh. They way we're calling each others names about to embrace, the way it shows her confidence in my missing her, it's all too cute!

To top it all off Jeff even bought me a couple of things. What does a mother of four really need? A membership to Costco!! LOL I wanted one since they seem to be getting more organic fruits and veggies and what not. I've never had one so this should be interesting :) AND a book called The Backyard Homestead. It has practical advice on how to arrange your vegetable garden, keep chickens for eggs, etc. I LOVE it!

Oh yeah, Jeff was an all-around great gift giver this year. He even delivered the flower bouquet to my mom when he picked Grayson up from her in Needles. Thank you again Meema, happy Mother's Day!