JUST THE FIVE OF US

Back to blogging...yada, yada, yada...

2011-08-23T18:50:00.000-07:00

A fresh start to the school year means a fresh start back at the blog! Do I even attempt to make promises that I will blog more? Probably not because we've all seen how this plays out. I vow, I fail...blah, blah, blah. Well here are my fabulous kiddos on their first day of school. They are absolutely loving the teachers they got this year. When I picked up Blake the first day he said, " that was the best first day of third grade EVER!"I hope they stay this excited the whole year!

What they wear

2011-02-04T14:05:00.000-08:00

It was a no brainer as to which child's closet I would head to for this assignment! After having two boys having a girl was amazing. Kali is a total girly girl. She prefers to wear dresses over pants and will never leave the house without a bow. She will also go play outside in the dirt, but do it all in a dress. Her closet is awesome. I love all her clothes and she loves shopping. She has started to really develop her won taste of what she does and doesn't like. She has been in the same shoe size for a year so she has alot of shoes. She still loves silly bands and loves accessorizing with sunglasses and hats. Her most favorite things are knee socks. She is known at her school for her large collection of knee socks. She would wear them every day if I let her. We laid down to take a nap today and she leaned over and said, "Mommy, you are my best friend!" I feel the same way Kali girl.

Iced in...going on day 4...we had to get creative

2011-02-03T15:36:00.000-08:00

We are bored. We've done it all. We've worked on scouts, homework, played wii, cleaned the house...now it's just sheer boredom. The kids were getting restless so I made up a photo contest. I gave them a certain thing to do and they had to do it. It certainly killed a solid hour...yeah for my camera!

Then and Now

2011-02-03T11:59:00.000-08:00

This was the perfect assignment for day 3 of being iced in our house. We were supposed to take a picture of our loved ones from a few years ago and then one now. I'm actually considering doing a bunch more, my boys were laughing hysterically trying to act this pose out again. The first picture was taken in Jan 2004 and the one on the left is from today, Feb 3, 2011. I am well aware that the Shrek vest is missing off Blake, but that made it to the trash long ago...enjoy!

How they look

2011-02-02T08:07:00.000-08:00

Today's assignment was a great one. We were told to, "Capture your loved one at their best (or at their worst). Or both. What you’re trying to capture is the TRUE essence/expression/attitude/posture that SCREAMS your loved one! ". I knew exactly what I wanted to do. My Blakester is insistent on growing out his hair. I know he hasn't caught Beiber fever, but he wants the long hair. Every morning when he wakes up I can count on his hair looking particularly fabulous. It is SO him. He is such a heavy sleeper (and a heavy sleep talker, that's a whole different story). I also love the fact that he has some hot cocoa on the side of his mouth. I love this kid. I couldn't decide if I liked this photo better in color or black and white so you get both...because it's my blog. Which do you like better?

Joy of Love

2011-02-01T18:30:00.000-08:00

I am participating in an online workshop called the Joy of Love. I am supposed to photograph my loved ones doing whatever the theme happens to be for that day. I cheated just a tad because I took this photo a couple of days ago. It was a snow day today and I completely forgot about this assignment, but I didn't want it to go completely undone. I'm trying to do it every day...wish me luck! So, the them today was photograph them doing what they do. My kids play. They love to play. I love this shot of Kali and her friends playing. She loves her friends and she loves jumping on her bed while listening to music!

Top 10 moments of 2010

2011-01-06T08:13:00.000-08:00

And in no particular order...my favorite moments of 2010!

1.

Kali put her heart and soul into collecting these soda can tabs for cancer patients. I'm not sure the actual soda tabs went to doing much, but her efforts made me extremely proud. She must have collected over 10,000 tabs. She would ask strangers drinking for their tabs. She was honored by the rotary club and got to attend a special breakfast in her honor where they presented her with an award. This photo also won a top 10 award over at I Heart Faces! I just love how sweet and sensitive my Kali girl is!

We got SNOW in Texas! The kids had a few days off from school and we had a blast! Although we did lose electricity for 8 hours on one of those days...I felt like I was back home in Philly!

Was there any doubt that my trip to California would be on here? I got picked as a contestant on The Price is Right! I went with my BF Emily and had one of the best trips of my life!!! Since they didn't allow cameras in the studio here we are waiting in line with our makeshift poster board table.

I have a FABULOUS group of girlfriends. I love our monthly nights out. I love that I can be myself around all of them. Some of my favorite nights have been Bachelor watching parties, laser tag, pedicures, late night hot cocoa at McDonalds and the Joshua Radin concert. I must also say it was a blast getting to actually meet the Bachelor Jake!

We were so proud of Vaughn and Ann going on a mission to Africa. I love the moments we have shared skyping with them, only 7 more weeks until they come home!

Getting to spend time with Grandma Porter. Grandma passed away in December and we were all so happy that she got to return to be with her sweetie again. I am so grateful for the opportunity that we had as a family to go and have family home evening lessons with Grandma. My kids begged to go there and spend time with her. We will all miss her dearly.

I know this photo was in my top ten, but it takes a top moment as well. Blake had never hit more than a double in baseball. I promised him sill y bands if he hit a homerun in the tournament, which I thought was an impossible task. He had his last up to bat and nailed the ball for a home run!!! I will never forget the moment he ran across the plate and was surrounded by his teammates and got his biggest hug from Dallin.

Our family trip to Colorado. We had a fabulous time doing so many fun activities. My mom was also able to come with us which made the trip even better! We enjoyed horseback riding, golf, whitewater rafting, ping pong, swimming and just spending time together. We also got to drive our NEW car there which made for a much better drive!

Blake was baptized by his cousin Cody and it was an amazing experience. This was Cody's first baptism and there wasn't a dry eye in the house. We are so proud of our Blake!

10.

I was blessed to have an amazing year with our photography business! We met so many amazing people along the way. I couldn't have done it without my amazing photography partner in crime Annie. My mom was the best and helped babysit whenever I needed her, thanks mom!! We were able to attend a fabulous workshop sponsored by I Heart Faces and met some more great people. It was hard to narrow it down to 10, but here they are! Here's to a fantastic 2011!!!

Top 10 of 2010!

2011-01-03T08:00:00.000-08:00

I was looking back on some photos and moments of my family from 2010. I thought I'd share with you my 10 favorite shots of 2010. In no particular order the photos are...drumroll please...which is your favorite? Come on people, I'm looking for some interaction on this blog! My next post will be my 10 favorite moments or events of 2010, stay tuned!
1.

10.

I lied. It's my blog and I'm choosing more than 10.

11.

Happy new year to everyone!

World Series

2010-11-02T08:30:00.000-07:00

What an amazing night it was last night! We got to go to game 5 of the World Series! All of the cousins on Brad's side of the family were able to go and we were 22 strong! I have LOVED watching the Rangers all season. I used to hate watching the games in TV until I had boys. Dallin is a TRUE Rangers fan. He does not miss a game and he could probably tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the team. I loved spending time with my boys watching all the games. We would tape the game and all lay in my bed and watch them together, I'm going to miss it! We were rowdy and loud and people probably thought we were intoxicated, but we were probably the only ones NOT drinking there! The best part about the night? There was actually a LONG line for the mens room and none for the women's! It's about time! The season is over and we had a great run. Watching them beat the Yankees was the highlight of the season. I am so ready for next season to start-in the meantime...GO MAVS!!!

Poor Brent...he basically secluded himself and looked like this all night...

It's okay Brent...We had a great season!!!

Halloween 2010!

2010-11-02T06:15:00.000-07:00

Wow! I admit I have been a bad, bad blogger. I seem to be able to keep my photography blog up and running with no problems, but I struggle here. We had a great Halloween. The kids costumes were super easy this year. Kali went as Raggedy Ann and the boys were, of course, Rangers Super Fans! We went trick or treating at our favorite old folks home. We have been going there all summer and getting to know all the residents. It made it even more special to be able to go all dressed up and to see the excitement on their faces. Many of the residents didn't want to give up their candy or would try and take it from the kids, but our kiddos were such good sports! On Saturday we went to the boys baseball games and they both ended the season undefeated! We then went to go see Great Grandma, it is always great to see her. We finished up with trunk or treating at the church.

Since Halloween was on Sunday this year the kids did not go out trick or treating. My mom wanted to make the day special and made a fabulous Halloween feast! There was witches brains, eyeballs, with guts, monsterella sticks (named by Blake), cat cookies and alot more! Thanks mom for making this Halloween special!

Kali made these all on her own!

Kali's dream day...nothing but horses!

2010-08-16T19:37:00.000-07:00

When we were in Colorado I just knew we had to go horseback riding. The boys went off to play golf and the girls went riding. Kali was so excited that she got her very OWN horse. We rode for an hour and it was great seeing the pure joy and love in her face. Thank goodness the horses were slow so I could take about a zillion pictures as we rode. Here are some of my very favorites...now to decide which one to blow up...any thoughts or favorites?

Colorado trip...another day...finally!

2010-08-14T15:23:00.000-07:00

I'm FINALLY getting around to updating my blog! We have been WAY too busy this summer and I need to get caught up on all this before I forget what we did! We found the coolest park right by where we were staying. The boys brought their gloves and played with Brad for a little while until we saw big dark clouds. I hid my camera like the fourth child it is and made a run for it! It started pouring, but luckily we made it to the car after a long time of playing!

How cool are these two things? The toy Dallin was on was great. I really like putting Kali on it and spinning her fast. It made for some good laughs as she stumbled off it dizzy every time.

Here's one side of the see-saw

Here's the other side having fun!

I LOVE this picture of everyone! I love the mountains, the smiles and the fact that GramB hopped right on it with them!

A true Blake face...fabulous. He loved this see-saw.

On the zip line

I just love how Blake is watching his big brother take his turn...I know he's just dying to go!

Stay tuned for the rest of the trip...hopefully it won't take a month to get it posted!

Sweet Shot Tuesday

2010-07-27T07:03:00.000-07:00

I found this blog that encourages you to get out there and shoot. Like I said before, I'm constantly taking photos for my clients I sometimes forget to take them of my own children. I figured I'd use sweet shot Tuesday for my photos. I'm going to use a photo from that week, just to get me inspired and out there to take photos of my own little ones. So this week's shot is from our trip to Colorado we just took. Anyone who knows Kali knows she is horse OBSESSED. So I knew when we went to Colorado we just had to go riding. She was so excited that she got to ride her very own horse, with NO help. She kept asking the guide, "are these horses real?" She just couldn't believe she was riding her own horse. I snapped this right after we finished our ride and she was saying goodbye to Magoo. I love everything about it and it shows just how much she loved the experience. If you want to push yourself and get involved, this blog is for anyone! Check out Sweet Shot Tuesday here.

Colorado trip-One day at a time...

2010-07-25T21:21:00.000-07:00

What a fabulous trip we had to Colorado. We packed up the car and headed out for the 15 hour drive. We left at 7 at night which was great because the kids slept for a solid eight hours! My mom came along for the trip too, it was great! We stopped in Colorado Springs to visit the Garden of the Gods. The scenery was amazing and the kids loved climbing on all the rocks.

Even Daddy was loving climbing the rocks!

The rocks, the sky...everything was fabulous!

Kali lasted the whole hike-she wanted to climb on everything too!

Next stop was the Indian cave dwellings. The indians actually lived in these caves, the kids had fun exploring, climbing AND learning!

I'm all for some educational fun, but the next stop on the road trip really got me excited...A tour of a candy factory! What? Was this for real? And it was free? Double score!

Check out these classic candy favorites...Blake had to get the Pop Rocks, he loves that stuff!

And look what I found-candy cigarettes! Looking back I think, why on earth did anyone think it was a good idea for kids to be walking around pretending they were smoking? There were the straight candy kind and the the gum kind that actually puffed out sugar when you blow on them. I don't know about you, but the Round Ups were always my favorite brand...

Can you imagine trying to make cookies on a kitchen aid like this one?

It's hard to believe we packed all that and driving into one day! Stay tuned for some more of our adventure!

I laughed so hard my stomach hurt...

2010-07-18T20:26:00.000-07:00

We were playing Pictonary tonight with the boys. It sure brought back some old memories of when we used to play with Tip and her crew...we would get in SO many fights. No fights with my clan tonight, but there was ALOT of laughing. I hope I'm not building this up too much, but here goes. Blake and Brad were on a team and Dallin and I were on a team. The boys started drawing and Dallin is drawing a car with a guy driving it and I'm yelling out,
" Driver, car, steering wheel, visor...keep drawing!"
On Brad's side I hear him yelling,
"booty, toot...toot is it toot?"
I'm wondering if we could possibly be guessing on the same clue.
Blake turns to Brad and says,
"wel..yes, yes, you got BASICALLY got it. Yes you are right Dad!"
I turned to him and said,
"REALLY? The word that the Pictonary makers put on the card was toot?"
Blake turns to me and grins and says,
"No, it wasn't toot but Dad pretty much got it. It was OUT OF GAS."
Oh Blakester. You seriously kill me. We all had a good laugh!

Adios Party Van!!!

2010-07-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

The day has finally come. The party van is no more. You will no longer see me cruising around in my Hotessy (that was my name for her). THe final straw was the AC dying last week. We got to ride around with no AC for 6 days (not like I was counting. I toally enjoy getting out of my car with a wet back). She served us well. I really love my party van. I couldn't have survived without the automatic sliding doors when my kids were babies. We had alot of great memories in that car:

1. Driving to Sea World

2. Picking my Mom up from the airport until she moved here

3. The trunk of that car has been filled with many different bags for many different sports

4. It was the first car to pick up Dallin from Kindergarten.

5.It's really the only car Kali has been in.

6. We've seen countless movies in there...baby mozart kept my children quiet for many car rides.

7.It's the only car we've had at our current house, my driveway will have to get used to something new.

8. Before I got my GPS I got lost many times in that car.

9.It was a solid first base while the kids played baseball in the yard.

10. I got my first speeding ticket EVER. Curses to you for driving with such ease Hotessy!

Oh how I will miss my sliding doors. Let me pray right now that my kids don't open our new doors and hit the car next to us...

There are certainly a few things I will NOT miss about it. It brings back the memory of the day we were forced off the road by a school bus. We hit a mailbox as we went and off came our rear view mirror. We never got that fixed-they told us it would be $350..and you only need one to pass inspection.... I don't even know how I'll drive with TWO mirrors...it also became a favorite home for spider webs.

The bent antennae...don't worry folks if it had affected my radio listening at all, it would have been fixed. There's also the crack in the windshield, but the camera couldn't quite capture that. Geez, I make it sound like a trashy van..it wasn't. She was good to me.

So, what did we get? We searched high and low and finally decided we would get a...

I LOVE this car!!! We get a KILLER deal on it and the kids love it. It has a DVD player, bucket seats (a must so our kids can't touch each other) and Kali's favorite feature is the sunroof! They told us it's "hard loaded" and I love that the third row folds down with the press of a button! The color is pearl white so kind of a metallic white.

As we were driving home I discovered another feature. I said to Dallin,

"Big D is your booty getting cold?"

He says, ,"yeah, and I kind of like it! There are air holes on my seat, this is AWESOME!!!"

The steering wheel is so smooth...love it!

Now I just need a new name for her...any suggestions?

Someone got a haircut....

2010-07-14T20:37:00.000-07:00

Combing out Kali's hair sometimes can take FOREVER. She had it in her head that she would grow her hair as long as Rapunzel. I'm not quite sure who she feels she needs to hang her hair out of a tower for, but now I don't need to worry. She told me the other day she wanted it cut. We would have loved to donate it, but from experience I can tell you-short hair =frizzy fro. I had a very bad experience at the peak of my social awkwardness, not pretty. I would carry around a spray bottle just to tame the wild beast. So, instead we cut off 5 inches and Miss Thang can still work it out with her medium length non -Rapunzel hair.

Before the cut-fresh out of braided hair

All combed out

Getting a rinse

Ready for her cut!

Look at all that hair!

All cut off!

The next day she told anyone who would stop to listen about her new haircut!

Singin' in the rain...and playing..and getting dirty.

2010-07-12T05:55:00.000-07:00

If you can't beat the rain...join it. Blake had a baseball tournament this past week and it seemed to rain EVERY day. There were so many cancelled games and we were so mad at the rain! I finally decided to stop being mad and start having some fun with it...so out we went to play in the rain!

The Kali girl was treating the front yard like her personal swimming pool, she got right in and doggie paddled around...

Face plant!

Big D would also like a face plant...coming up!

We stumbled across this little guy as we were playing...Blake of course had to capture it, but then set it free.

Daddy came home from work as we were laying...not to be left out on any of the fun he grabbed his suit and jumped right in! I promise I was there too, I have ant bites on my foot from laying in the grass to get these pictures!

We had a seriously fun time. Thank you rain for our Friday night entertainment!

Fabulous Fourth

2010-07-10T09:45:00.000-07:00

What a fun trip we had over the fourth of July weekend! Aunt Betty organized an amazing trip to Austin for all of us. We packed up the car and headed down on Friday night. We all stopped at Chuy's for some fabulous Tex-Mex and then headed to the condos. We should have known better than to let PC get there first, he of course claimed the master bedroom. We were all awakened in the morning by Brock talking in his not so quiet morning voice...the boys headed off to play golf and we stayed behind with the kiddos. We thought we better get to swimming before the rain really set in. The kids could of cared less that it was raining and spent HOURS at the pool. The view was amazing there!

Lauren was such a GOOD sport. She played with the kids and endured some serious tackling from the Blakester...

Cody decided he was pretty much too cool for all of us and didn't even come swimming...

Jeff took over all grilling duties and made us some hot dogs

Mia enjoyed swimming in her floatie and hanging out with Daddy...until she finally gave in...

Poor little girl was all tuckered out!

We all had fun hanging out and eating

Then it was time for the REAL fun to begin! We all got in the pool and kids were being thrown everywhere!

Since Blake weighs the equivalent of a feather and will do anything, he was a crowd favorite to throw around...he got some serious height!

Big D gets in on all the action...

Oh how I wish I had some photos from the next activity, but since I was playing we are without photos-I get to get in on the fun too! We played an all out game of no rules water polo. This game was so intense and so much fun. I still have battle bruises on my arms from the game...Brock even managed to BITE me. Seriously. There was so much choking, hitting and grabbing going on you would have thought it was the WWF. But, it was awesome.

Then it was back for some of Brian's speciality grilled fajitas-yum! I think Kali ate her weight in guacamole and the topped it off with some s'mores.

AJ straightened my hair that night (which rarely EVER happens) we had some fun with the camera while we were waiting for the fireworks to start.

We ended the night with a fabulous fireworks show and a rousing group sing a long. The people next to us must have thought we were CRAZY. We sang every patriotic song under the sun in full force. Who do you think was leading the joyful chorus?

We had a fabulous time! thanks Betty for organizing every thing!

Photo of the week

2010-06-05T15:14:00.000-07:00

I know I had Blake in my photo of the week last week, but it seems like all we are doing is going to baseball games! Brad is one of the coaches for Blake's team and I snapped this moment just before the game started. Brad went out to give Blake a pep talk, but it seems like Blake's the one doing the talking...they ended up winning this game and took first place for the regular season! Way to go Blake!

Making today meaningful

2010-05-31T21:38:00.000-07:00

I wanted the kids to get a real sense of what Memorial Day really means. They knew they got a day off from school and the general idea of what the holiday meant, but I wanted it to mean something. Kali and I went off and bought some flags to place on grave sites of those who had served our country. They really enjoyed walking around and looking at how many people had served at different times and places. I am so grateful to those who have served and are serving our country now. When we were done they all asked when we could go back, Blake suggested the 4th of July. I really enjoyed sharing this time with them and teaching them.

Photo of the week

2010-05-29T07:12:00.000-07:00

I have been inspired. Rita who writes one of my favorite blogs, is posting one photo a week that makes her really happy. It has to be a photo taken THAT week. That way I can remember what happened each week to make me smile. I love the idea. This may not be the best photo technically, but it will always be a photo that makes me really happy. There are several things I love about this photo. First they are actually singing and preforming a dance to the Subway commercial, "5 dollar, 5 dollar, 5 dollar...footlong!"

Next, I love Blake's baseball team. They all get along great, have an awesome coach and it doesn't hurt that they are really good! This is just true boyhood at its best. Being goofy, getting dirty and playing baseball! Look for one new photo a week, join in too if you feel inspired!

Bulldog Bash

2010-05-23T08:04:00.000-07:00

I'll be the first to admit...I have been a total slacker on my blog. It seems like the only time I am at my computer is when I am editing photos. I'm always too tired to post anything after that, but I promise to be better. I have a few ideas that I'm working on to be a bit better, we'll see. In the meantime, here are some photos from the kids field day at school.

I remember field day growing up. It was my favorite day ever. 50 yard dash, tug of war, relay races...I can also say that I even won first place for the parcheesi competition, jealous? Field day at the kids school is more about an all out water day and it was great. They had huge water slides, slip and slides, tug of war and a dj with some serious tunes blasting. Since I work in the cafeteria I know all the kids at school. It was so fun to dance with all the kids, I got funky and it was fun. I love my kids school. I love the teachers, the parents and the kids. What a fun day!

A little over the head sponge game. The object was to get water into the bucket...Blake preferred squeezing the sponge all over his head.

One of my favorite photos of the day. Kali and Danika were totally rockin' out to the music!

They also went "swimming" in the trash cans used for the sponge toss. It was hilarious.

Blake gets hit with water from a nearby teacher...totally unexpected and totally fabulous!!

Big D jumping the hurdles

One of my other favorites from the day. You can't get more action or more real than this one. I can't get enough of all those smiles, this is what being a kid is all about!

Kali gets soaked too!

Blake has the best group of friends. They are all such sweet, smart and funny boys. They look out for each other always. I'm going to miss this group next year!

In honor of Jack Bauer

2010-05-07T13:04:00.001-07:00

24 is sadly coming to an end. I found this list about Jack and couldn't stop laughing...enjoy!!

Basic Truths About 24’s Jack Bauer

Killing Jack Bauer doesn’t make him dead. It just makes him angry.

If Jack Bauer was in a room with Hitler, Stalin, and Nina Meyers, and he had a gun with 2 bullets, he’d shoot Nina twice.

If you wake up in the morning, it’s because Jack Bauer spared your life.

Superman wears Jack Bauer pajamas.

If it tastes like chicken, looks like chicken, and feels like chicken, but Jack Bauer says its beef. Then you better believe it’s beef.

Jack Bauer once forgot where he put his keys. He then spent the next half-hour torturing himself until he gave up the location of the keys.

1.6 billion Chinese are angry with Jack Bauer. Sounds like a fair fight.

Let’s get one thing straight: the only reason you are conscious right now is because Jack Bauer does not feel like carrying you.

Jack Bauer was never addicted to heroin. Heroin was addicted to Jack Bauer.

Jack Bauer played Russian Roulette with a fully loaded gun and won.

When life gave Jack Bauer lemons, he used them to kill terrorists. Jack Bauer hates lemonade.

Jack Bauer once won a game of Connect 4 in 3 moves.

Osama bin Laden’s recent proposal for truce is a direct result of him finding out that Jack Bauer is, in fact, still alive.

Jack Bauer is the leading cause of death in Middle Eastern men.

Jack Bauer doesn’t miss. If he didn’t hit you it’s because he was shooting at another terrorist twelve miles away.

When Jack Bauer was a child, he made his mother finish his vegetables.

Jack Bauer killed 93 people in just 4 days time. Wait, that is a real fact.

Simon Says should be renamed to Jack Bauer Says because if Jack Bauer says something then you better do it.

Jack Bauer won the Tour de France on a unicycle to prove to Lance Armstrong it wasn’t a big deal. He thinks yellow wristbands are gay.

When Jack Bauer pees into the wind, the wind changes direction.

Jack Bauer’s favorite color is severe terror alert red. His second favorite color is violet, but just because it sounds like violent.

When you open a can of whoop-a**, Jack Bauer jumps out.

When Google can’t find something, it asks Jack Bauer for help.

You can lead a horse to water. Jack Bauer can make him drink.

Jack Bauer can get McDonald’s breakfast after 10:30.

When the boogie man goes to sleep, he checks his closet for Jack Bauer.

Every mathematical inequality officially ends with “< Jack Bauer.”

In 96 hours, Jack Bauer has killed 93 people and saved the world 4 times. What the heck have you done with your life?

Jack Bauer killed so many terrorists that at one point, the #5 CIA Most Wanted fugitive was an 18-year-old teenager in Malaysia who downloaded the movie Dodgeball.

In kindergarten, Jack Bauer killed a terrorist for Show and Tell.

What color is Jack Bauer’s blood? Trick question. Jack Bauer does not bleed.

Guns don’t kill people, Jack Bauer kills people.

If Jack and MacGyver were locked in a room together, Jack would make a bomb out of MacGyver and get out.

People with amnesia still remember Jack Bauer.

Sun Tzu once wrote, “If your enemy is weaker, conquer him. If he is stronger, join him. If he is Jack Bauer, you’re dead.”

Jack Bauer literally died for his country, and lived to tell about it.

Jack Bauer has been to Mars. That’s why there’s no life on Mars.

Superman’s only weakness is Kryptonite. Jack Bauer laughs at Superman for having a weakness.

When Batman is in trouble, he turns on the Jack Bauer signal.

It took Jack Bauer two minutes to beat a confession out of OJ.

Jack Bauer was conceived by torturing the other sperm until they gave up the location of the egg.

Jack Bauer’s family threw him a surprise birthday party when he was a child. Once.

Get Schooled Blog

2010-04-23T07:41:00.001-07:00

Who doesn't love free stuff?
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Bluebonnet Heaven

2010-04-14T08:29:00.001-07:00

I love Bluebonnets. I have never taken my kiddos in the fields to take photos so I thought it was about time I did. Kali loved all the flowers and the fact that they all looked quite purple to her was a bonus.

Creepy bow holder (do I have your attention?)

2010-03-29T17:11:00.000-07:00

Kali took it upon herself to make a new bow holder. She was quietly working in her room and when I went in to check on her I just about died laughing. Allow me to introduce you to creepy bow holder:

Spring is here!

2010-03-29T17:07:00.001-07:00

I love everything about spring! Get ready sunshine, you'll be seeing alot of my kiddos!

Set Your Tivo!

2010-03-21T17:00:00.000-07:00

It's finally here! The day I get to watch myself on national television...I am sure I made a total fool of myself. Watch me tomorrow (March 22) as I get called to come on down on The Price is Right! You must all vow to not make fun of me. It is on CBS in the morning, just check your local listings and enjoy!

BYU game=loss of voice

2010-03-18T18:41:00.000-07:00

What a game! The boys and I were going nuts today. We weren't sure if the Cougs would come out ahead, but after an exciting double overtime they won! I love that the boys are SO into March madness this year. They have their brackets all filled out and have been glued to every game. Blake picked tons of underdogs and after the Murray State game it paid off! These pictures crack me up, I was trying to take them and watch the game...not an easy task!

Big D was a big fan of Loyd Jr

Rise and shout the Cougars are out!

Blake taking a break after overtime 1

Blake did not let go of the remote all game...

Sometime between the second half and the first overtime Blake went nuts and pulled off his shirt...he's such a dude.

Just to be fair...

2010-03-15T07:38:00.000-07:00

Apparently Blake didn't want his door to be left out. He responded to Kali's No Boys Allowed sign with this:

He also told me that I was the exception to the rule...

On the wings of love...

2010-03-02T19:09:00.000-08:00

only the two of us together flying high...flying high upon the wings of love. I know now you are totally singing the song. It is now stuck in your head like the image of Vienna's awful roots and hideous extensions are stuck in my head. I was hoping all the spoilers I had heard were false, please just let US Weekly have it wrong. There was no way Jake could possibly pick Vienna. But sadly enough it was so. Really Jake? Really? You were so nice when we met, I was sure you would of gotten rid of Vienna way back in week 2, but no. The only way to watch the finale is with a group of friends so we can all talk about how wrong Vienna is for Jake. We had a blast. We dropped our jaws when Vienna called Tenley a robot, we were all equally grossed out as they rolled around in a pit of sulphur and we were all relieved that Vienna finally decided to take care of her roots for the After the final Rose show. Sorry Jake you made the wrong choice. I have a feeling you won't be getting many votes on Dancing with the Stars with Vienna in the front row screaming at you. I mean for you. Have fun Jake, we sure did.

Here is our reaction to Vienna as his final choice...

And another...

And one with the airplane, that's more for Jeffery Osborne than for Jake. On a side note, Jeffery I don't think it was necessary for you to be wearing the same clothes you wore the first time you preformed that song 20 years ago...yikes.

Best.Trip.EVER.

2010-02-18T19:02:00.001-08:00

I love my once a year girlfriend trip with my bff Emily. I look forward to getting together with her once a year and having the time of our lives. This year we planned a trip to Los Angeles to see the sights and to go to The Price is Right (more about that later). We both flew in Friday night and began our adventure of getting lost. Even though I had my trusty GPS with me we still managed to get lost. We got lost in our car, our hotel and a parking garage. At least we were lost together, it was a blast. On Saturday it was raining a bit, but we still decided to go to Universal Studios. It was great, not a line for anything. First we went to the House of Horrors. We had no idea what we were in store for. Emily was screaming the whole time and squeezed every ounce of circulation out of my hand, I haven't laughed that hard in a while. Here are some photos from our adventure:

The Simpson's ride was a blast. We were getting our picture with Homer and he started purring...hence my laughing.

Who doesn't love Kevin Bacon?

We got a bit bored waiting for the Shrek ride to start

Help!

The next day we went down to the Santa Monica pier. While we were walking around we saw Rachel from Glee...we were SO excited. Emily has those pictures, so just imagine they are on here. We also ate at PF Changs for the second night in a row...double pan fried noodles...yum.

We "went to bed" at 12:30 that night only to wake back up at 2:00 a.m to start getting ready for The Price is Right. Any of you who truly know me would realize it is my dream to go to that show. I have watched it since I was 7 years old. I can remember seeing that giant wheel for the first time with my Nana and I was hooked. Blake and I watch it almost every day, when he turns 18 we will go again. We made our shirts the night before and went and waited in line. We bought some chairs from Target and a foam board for a playing table since we knew we were going to be waiting for at least 3 hours. We were up near the front of the line. The guys behind us had brought a heater and were nice enough to share. We started talking to Alan and Daniel. Alan had just left the hospital for a chemo treatment. He is terminally ill and wanted to come to a taping, he definitely kept us entertained.
Here we are with our table and our new friends:

We finally got our tickets at about 6:15 and then headed to breakfast. We had to be back at 8:45 to start getting ready to wait in yet another line. We finally got our yellow name tags and that's when it all sunk in. We were really here. We waited another 2.5 hours until we were finally interviewed by the producer. We literally had about 10 seconds to impress him. I told him that I worked in the school cafeteria, he must have loved the lunch lady angle...that or saw the desperation in my eyes...after that we went to-guess what? ANOTHER LINE!!! At least this time they had some episodes of TPIR on to keep us entertained-you can only play WAR so many times before losing your mind. At 1:15 we were finally told it was time to go in. We were beyond giddy. I couldn't believe we were finally going in, I get excited just remembering it. The actual studio was quite small and dingy. There were sheer curtains everywhere and when I stepped in it was all so surreal. I had seen this set thousands of times but now I was in it...HOORAY!! We went to our seats (3 rows behind contestant's row) and they played some tunes for us to jam to. You know your standard YMCA, Shout and others to get us pumped up. Rich Fields came out and told us to get ready...seriously I was so excited and nervous. They only pick 9 out of 350 people to come on down. They tell us to start cheering wildly and as I do I see my name on the cue card! Could it be? Was it really me? I was called to COME ON DOWN!!! The rest of the show was a blur...I am going to relive it with all of you on March 22 when it airs. It was so much fun and so worth the 13 hour wait. When it was all over we went to go to our car and who did we see walking around?

Kevin Jonas!

He was super nice and his wife took the photo for us. Our kids went crazy when we told them we met him. I would definitely say hands down one of the best times of my life. I am so glad I got to share it with my best friend....love ya Emily!

Who doesn't wear this?

2010-02-16T07:54:00.000-08:00

Lately Kali has been hooked to the DS. She is actually quite good at the New Super Mario Brothers, I think she can even beat Brad. She was playing the other day in a fabulous outfit she came up with all on her own. Really- who doesn't wear kitty ears, a pettislip and pink sparkle shoes? I think she was channeling her inner Princess Peach.

A mother's dream...

2010-02-12T18:16:00.000-08:00

I heard Dallin and Kali in the other room working on something. I could hear Dallin spelling out words for her but it wasn't until I returned to her room that I noticed what she had been working on...

in case you can't tell it says, "No boys allowed" with a cute smiley face...

I think I will keep this on her door for the next 15 years...I love that Dallin is already looking out for his little sister.

From Sunny L.A. to this?

2010-02-11T19:31:00.000-08:00

I just got home from my trip to L.A. (which I will post more about later) and it snows! It hardly ever snows here so we took full advantage of it. I also realized that we have very little in the way of snow clothes. I gave my gloves to the kids and wore socks on my hands and Dallin wore his old batting gloves. We did have coats, hats and boots so we were ready to go! The boys did not have school, but they didn't cancel Kali's preschool! She spent the morning there and we went and played outside. After getting warmed up we headed back out. Kali loved the snow. She loved throwing snowballs at people, but did not like getting hit. She was quite the assistant to me though. She could hand me snowballs like no other! Here are some photos of our fun day!

They make me chuckle

2010-02-04T18:30:00.000-08:00

I think my kids are hilarious. I also like to think they got it from me. This week each of my kids made a comment that stuck out in my mind and now all of you get to share in my laughs.

Dallin:
My mom actually sent me this email of a conversation the two of them had:
We were watching the Pro Bowl and at 7:00 my mom said to Dallin
"Why don't we switch and watch the Grammy's?"
Dallin:"No thanks."
My Mom: "You might like it. They have singing and dancing and Taylor Swift is going to be on it."
Dallin" Oh Okay! I thought it was going to a show about OLD LADIES!"
He admitted to me the next morning that he really thought they were called the Grannies!

Blake:
My kids newest obsession is watching Man Vs. Wild. It's good to know that my boys will now be prepared to drink their own urine in case they are stranded in the middle of the ocean. We were watching it and Blake says, "Why does Bear even do all this stuff?" (a question I asked myself as well)
He answered his own question with, "Oh he just like to be cool and do cool things!" It is true.
Blake has now decided that he is going to Bear for Halloween. He kind of looks like him and he said he would shred his clothes. I told him he would have to eat live bugs. He opted for pretend ones.

Kali:
After picking up Kali from preschool I asked her if she ate all of her pizza form hot lunch that day. She replied with,
"I ate it all but the crunch."
She is also very into calling body parts their proper names. She had learned them at stretch and grow at school. She walks around complimenting people on their phalanges, sternum, pectoralius and gludeus maximus. I love school. I really love my kids.

Hello...is anyone there?

2010-01-30T14:44:00.000-08:00

I was driving around a few months ago on a little detour route when I stumbled across something fabulous! As a photographer I am always looking for a great photo spot. It was as if these were made for me...three phone booths and three kids...so perfect. Brad and I went out with them one afternoon and took these photos in about 10 minutes. They are some of my new favorites, they totally show off each kid's personality. I couldn't decide which I liked best so you get a few of my favorites, which one is your favorite? (really I'm asking your opinion people, it's ok to comment...)

My brush with fame

2010-01-29T13:36:00.001-08:00

Ok I know many of you have already heard about my celebrity meeting, but this post is just for me. I figured I had to post this for myself so I didn't forget about it years down the road when they are filming the 30th season of the Bachelor. For those of you who haven't heard about my meeting, enjoy my recollection of my brush with fame. I must also add the disclaimer that there was no stalking involved...just the right place at the right time...

My friend Cherise had just done my hair and we were waiting for Blake to be dropped off. She had told me that the Bachelor Jake lived down the street from her. I told her we needed to go walk down there and get a picture in front of his house-that was good enough for me. We walked down there and I couldn't get my camera phone to work so we passed his house and kept walking. When we turned back around I noticed his garage door that had previously been closed was now open. I stood there for a minute and when Cherise caught up with me we got a bit giddy...could it be him? Sure enough he comes strolling out getting something out of his car. I knew I had to say something because there wasn't a chance Cherise would...I yelled out:
"Hey Jake, love the show!" ( I know totally lame but it's all I could muster up)
He turned around and said, "hey thanks!"
I waited another second and blurted out, "Can we get a picture with you?" ( I just knew i had to, no one would believe it and after seeing Dog the Bounty Hunter and not asking him I felt I owed it to myself)
"Sure!" he said. He came over and Cherise's five year old daughter takes the picture. He wanted to make sure he turned out ok since she was taking it and it was perfect. He was as nice in person as he seems on the show. Cherise asked if he was moving out now that he was famous and he told her no. We said we're really enjoying this season and he told us that night's episode was going to be good (it was Michelle got kicked off although I must admit I miss her craziness a bit)
We left like giddy school girls with picture in hand. I just love my crazy friend Cherise, we definitely need to have a finale party at her house...although if he picks Vienna we may have to go tp his house after we watch it!
"the" photo:

In deep doo doo...

2010-01-25T18:44:00.000-08:00

The other day the boys made a bad choice. They said something rude and I was not about to accept that. I thought I would ground them for a couple of days but came up with something else instead. I told them that if they were going to treat someone like "poop" then they could pick up poop. I made them clean up all the dog poop in our yard and my mom's yard. Dallin's friend even helped them even though he wasn't in trouble. What kind of mother would I be if I wasn't there to capture it all in photos? Although they weren't excited about the job I think they may have had a little fun with it too... I think they learned their lesson after cleaning up for an hour and our yard's look great...=)

On a whim

2010-01-08T06:26:00.000-08:00

Over the holiday break the weather was beautiful. What else should one do on a beautiful day than take pictures? Kali was feeling extremely modelesque and was a star. I have a new favorite and this is it. More to come...

Christmas 2009

2009-12-31T06:21:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas. I love being surrounded by tons of family and being together. This was our first Christmas without Vaughn and Ann as they are in Ethiopia on a mission. We did call and talk to them on Christmas day, but it was definitely weird with them gone. Thank goodness we still have plenty of family around...my Mom made a fabulous, huge breakfast for us, it was so sweet of her to do and it tasted so yummy! It snowed Christmas Eve and the roads were awful. Brad handled the Odyssey like a champ and we made it home safely form his Aunt's.
This year we celebrated Christmas Eve at Aunt Susan's house. On the very first Christmas Brad and I spent together we flew to Texas. We had been shopping at DI a few days before and Brad found some XXXL Santa pants and a red winter vest. He surprised everyone that Christmas Eve and dressed up as Santa, it was a huge hit that year. Grandma Porter said that was the yer we all found out Brad was funny. This year for the 10 year anniversary we thought (who am I kidding, I thought) Santa should make an appearance, our kids had never even seen this performance! Brad is such a good sport. Betty rented a Santa suit and he did the whole production, it was great. I just love him. Our family also did a dance number to Jingle Bell Rock, we practiced for days and it turned out great. Not many guys would dress up as Santa and do a dance with their family, we love you Daddy. We enjoyed many acts in the family talent show, ate ALOT of fajitas and shrimp and had fun enjoying family.
Christmas Day the boys woke up at 5:00...luckily they let us sleep until 7, but I could hear them chatting it up out in the living room. We got the boys golf clubs this year, they loved them and are very anxious to play. They also LOVED the Snuggies I won at the White Elephant party. Seriously you would have thought they opened a million bucks. They went berserk and have been wearing them ever since they got them, Dallin sleeps in his. Brad got me a new Blackberry! I guess he figured my days of writing appointments in my little paper book are over. . I must admit, I love it. What a fun holiday we have spent together. I am so grateful for all the many blessings I have, but most importantly my family. They make me laugh, smile, cry and happy to be a part of it!

Happy Birthday Big D!

2009-12-29T09:30:00.001-08:00

Wow. I can't believe it has already been 9 years since Dallin was born. I can still remember it like it was yesterday. Dallin was due on December 26, but that day came and went. My Mom had flown in from Philly (she didn't even stay with us our apartment was so small). We saw just about every new movie in the theatre to keep my mind off the fact that he was overdue. The Family Man was out that year, it is still one of my favorites. On December 28 we went to Chili's and I still remember what I ate-in fact I even tried eating it when I was overdue with Blake because I was convinced it had started my labor. I started having contractions that night. Brad and Cameron were painting the apartment. I will never forget the comment Cameron made that night (to this day he will always say he was kidding, but he was dead SERIOUS.) I said I was having having contractions

He said: "are you sure they're not Paul's Hiccups?"
I said: "what are you talking about?"
He said: "You know those false contractions?" ( Anne was pregnant too and it was obvious he had done some reading in What to Expect when you're Expecting)
I Said : " You mean Braxton Hicks?"
Classic.

After 29 LONG hours of labor Dallin was finally born. He was born on Grandma and Papa's Anniversary-I can remember them calling the minute after we had him. My Mom and sister were both there and it was fabulous.
Dallin was the worst baby ever. We used to have to drive him around in the middle of the night to get him to sleep. He finally decided he liked to sleep in the swing. We could have bought stock in size D batteries. He liked it so much the motor burnt out and Graco had to send us a new one. After the first year, he has been a DREAM. Seriously, I could not have asked for a better kid. He is a people pleaser, a rule follower, funny, athletic, adorable, smart and talented. The list could go on and on, I just love this kid, he makes me want to be a better mommy. I LOVE YOU BIG D!!!

Notice the pictures start when he is about 2...back in the old days we had what was called film cameras...I need to get all my old photos on digital...so enjoy from age 2 on....

Dallin with Sydney (the same little girl from the flamingo picture above) We are really hoping this works out...

I'll take this over a White Christmas any day!

2009-12-22T13:40:00.000-08:00

Somebody pinch me. Was it really December 21 yesterday? We woke up to the sun shining and took full advantage of it. One of Dallin's friends invited him to the zoo so I was down to two kids. We picked up my Mom and headed to Sonic and then to eat at the park. It was a gorgeous day and we loved every minute of it. Blake spent most of his time conquering the monkey bars that make your hands bleed...Kali opted for the swings and slide. We went to a wooden playground so she also just liked to walk around pretending it was her castle. After that we headed to Tarjay to pick up a few things. As we were finishing up we were walking down an aisle and from farther away I heard glass break. I thought oh no, poor person, that stinks. Poor me. I turned around and saw Blake with an broken snow globe at his feet...and I thought going to the store with 2 kids would be easier...that's Blake for you.

4 Crazy boys and a shopping cart

2009-12-20T07:25:00.000-08:00

Dallin had a party to go to on Friday so I told Blake he could have a friend over. One friend turned into 3 (almost 4)...but I was ready for the challenge. Blake has the best boys in his class. They are all so good and they all get along really well. Luckily it was a nice day out and they ran around everywhere. They entertained themselves with a shopping cart for a bit, then down through the woods to the lake. We wrote their teacher's name in the sand (they love her). They played basketball, football and wii and did it all in 2 hours! I will have these boys over any day!

Meet the newest member of our family...

2009-12-18T17:49:00.001-08:00

Julie. Julie is now a part of our family because she goes everywhere with us now. My mom wanted to buy Kali an American Girl Doll for Christmas. Luckily we have an AG store and Bistro here so we woke Kali up early on a Saturday morning and headed there. All 3 of us were so giddy and excited. I had read these books growing up, I was so excited for Kali to have a doll. It was all my mom's idea and it was fabulous. Kali was overwhelmed by everything there. She kept running from one doll to the next, looking at every outfit and knick knack in there. After we walked around for an hour she finally narrowed down her doll to Julie. She just loved her hair. She also picked out a cowgirl outfit, complete with boots and changed her immediately. We headed upstairs to the bistro for brunch. This place was just fabulous. We ate mini pink muffins, waffles, french toast and an omelette for my mom. After we went to the mall and ran into Santa, she was so excited. Next she was completed fascinated by the giant tree in the middle of the mall. It was a great day spending it with Kali and my mom. As Kali says it was a day with , " just the girls". It was perfect.

Check out my craftiness

2009-12-16T13:39:00.001-08:00

Every year I do the same thing with my Christmas cards. I tape them up to some door in my hallway (by the way finding tape in this household is nearly impossible, tape is great for hours of entertaining kids). I hated the way it looked and it was sometimes a pain. My solution this year? Make something great to hang them on. I have had this open frame in my garage for years, I got it from my mother in law with some great plans for it, but that never happened. Until now. I wanted to put corkboard in the giant frame but no store sells corkboard..weird. My solution? Foam insulation from Home Depot. Since I didn't want shiny silver displayed in my living room I covered it with fabric. Now every time I get one of your beautiful cards I just grab a pushpin (not a great children's toy so very easy to find here). I am in love with my new decoration, what do you think?

Dropping like flies.

2009-12-10T13:45:00.000-08:00

It was like the scene from a bad movie. You couldn't have scripted it better. I was having some serious flashbacks of Chunk in the Goonies, if you know the Goonies then you'll know exactly the scene I am about to describe.

If you have a weak stomach this post may not be for you.

The day started out just fine. I was in the cafeteria and Dallin came in and told me two kids from his class had just thrown up. On their desk. On the floor. gross.

The third grade has been practicing the polar express play for over a month now, of course the performance is tonight. They were going to put on the show for the whole school today at 2:00. Dallin was so proud to be a candy cane dancer.

At about 1:30 down go Rachel and Katie. Down to the nurse's office, 2 more from Dallin's class. Sick.

It is now time for the performance, the whole third grade (what's left of them) are up on the stage. The show begins and so does the puking. The kids are singing and running off the stage all throwing up. Some made it to the trash can, others didn't. Luckily they all made it to the hallway. They finished the show and we are now waiting to hear if they are going to cancel the show for tonight. Apparently some of the Kindergartner's had to run out too. Sick.

The final count for Dallin's class? SEVEN. Seven kids gone and sick. The final count for third grade was getting close to 15. Dallin seems great and ready to go give a toe tapping candy can performance, we'll see. Apparently it hits suddenly and drastically. Wish me luck. I hate sick kids.

Even the playroom needs some Christmas cheer...

2009-12-06T19:17:00.000-08:00

The other day Blake and Kali were being very quiet and were hard at work at something. I walked into the playroom and they had been decorating Kali's playhouse with " Christmas lights". Here is their creative version:

I can't stay mad for long...

2009-12-04T15:21:00.000-08:00

Okay seriously, look at this face:

Once he looks at me with those baby blues it melts my heart. My sweet Blakester is the best, but he does have his crazy moments...alot. The other night I came home and he had used the towel rack in his bathroom as a pull up bar or something. The towel rack was off the wall and in its place was a dangling piece of drywall...awesome. I told him he was grounded and that he had made a bad choice. The next day he wrote me a series of notes that made me love him even more (if that's even possible):

The first note:
I will never hang on the towel rack ever.

The second note:
I love you. I will never do bad things.

The third note:
I will try hard to make good choices.

The last note:
I will help you fix it.

I love that kid.

Happy Birthday Kali! (5 days late...=)

2009-12-02T13:56:00.000-08:00

We certainly did not forget to celebrate Ms. Kali's fifth birthday, but I neglected a blog post about it...shame on me. I still remember the day we found out we were having a girl. There was Brad, my mom, Mary and Jessi and Blake. We went into the room and they lady said, "I know what it is." I automatically assumed it was another boy since she had seen so quickly. She said she would wait to the end to tell us. She typed the name Kali on the screen and we all went nuts! Seriously, we were screaming and crying, people were coming out of their offices to make sure everything was okay. The lady said that was the best response she ever had. I was meant to be a girl's mom. I LOVE having a girl and I am so lucky it is Kali. She brings so much joy to our family, she is sweet, hil-ar-ious (that's how she says it), she can entertain herself for hours with Barbies or cars, sensitive and all girl. It's hard to believe she'll be going off to kindergarten next year...the other day she was working in her coloring book and the page said, "draw a picture of you and your best friend". She brought it to me and there she had drawn two girls and labeled it Kali and Mom. It made my heart happy, let's just hope it always stays that way!

We totally lucked out with her party this year. The high school here was putting on the play Peter Pan and offering Tink's Tea before it. Kali invited 4 little friends and they all dressed up and my mom and I took them to see the show. When we got there they had real teacups and teapots, little pastries and tea sandwiches and all the cast came around serving it and letting us take pictures with them. It was seriously the cutest thing I've ever seen and it was totally affordable! Then we went to the show and it was amazing. They had the characters fly and everything, the girls loved it! It was the perfect party! Warning-photo overload!!

Thanksgiving and a random gorilla

2009-11-29T06:57:00.001-08:00

What a fun Thanksgiving we had with alot of family! There were probably about 80-90 adults and kids there and all the food was fabulous! Susan had the tables decorated so nicely. What we couldn't believe was she had real chairs for everyone there, no folding chairs, I'm lucky to be able to scrounge up 8 when we have people over...It was a bit strange not having Vaughn and Ann there this year, especially because Thanksgiving is Ann's favorite holiday. They did celebrate it in Africa, but without Turkey because they are not allowed to have Turkey there. I have so much to be thankful for, here are a few things:
-I am thankful for a wonderful family. I am so lucky to have my mom live right down the street from me. She helps me more than she'll ever know.
-I am thankful Brad has a good job in this struggling economy
-I am thankful for the church and the gospel, I don't know what I would do without it in my life.
-I am thankful for kids who appreciate my sense of humor.
There are so many things and the list could go on and on, but I'll stop there.

SOme more of the cousins with that random gorilla

It was Kali's birthday the next day so we sang and had cake. More to come on her birthday next post...

Something's missing...

2009-11-20T16:18:00.000-08:00

Can you tell what it is?

Miss Kali lost her first tooth today! I was surprised when she lost it before she even turned 5. She was so proud of herself and she even lost it while she was a the dentist! It had been loose for awhile and it finally popped out! The nurse at the boys school gave her a little tooth treasure box and a sticker that says, "I lost my tooth today". What a big girl she is becoming!
*Disclaimer..she had an ice cream cone today and i didn't have a chance to wipe her face...

Sleepyheads

2009-11-04T15:57:00.000-08:00

I was upstairs getting some things done and I asked Brad if he would put the kids to bed. After about 20 minutes I went downstairs to check on their progress and this is what I found:

Blake and Tank were all snuggled up on the living room floor

Daddy and Kali were asleep on the living room couch-I guess next time I should specify that they should be put to bed in their rooms...

And what was Big D doing? Just hanging out in the living room. Seriously this guy can stay up all hours of the night and still wake up at 6 in the morning, he surely doesn't get that from his Dad...

Hobos and nerds and kitties, oh my!

2009-11-01T14:11:00.001-08:00

What a great and busy Halloween we had this year! I love dressing the kids up and going to parties and trick or treating. I am truly amazed that I am posting this the day after Halloween! Here are some pics fro our fun day:

Dallin was a hobo

Blake was a nerd

Kali was a fancy kitty cat-she loved wearing eye shadow and mascara...

Even Tank got into the Halloween spirit

All the great grandkids headed over to Grandma Porter's for a visit

Here is my niece Princess Mia

Blake and my nephew Crew-how cute is that football?

Brad wanted to play a quick pick up game of football with his nephew...

"Did I do that?"

2009-10-28T20:15:00.000-07:00

That phrase is of course spoken in a nasal tone...this year for Halloween Blake told me he wanted to be Steve Urkel. I talked him down from a specific character (and painting his skin brown) and convinced him to go the nerd route. The first time we put his full costume on I just about died laughing. He also had a little notepad that he had written a bunch of different things in like-"Did I do that?" and "I am a Nerd". We went to our ward trunk or treat and Blake won for funniest costume. He totally pulled the look off, so brace yourself and enjoy the pictures.
On a side note-how great is it that he actually knows who Steve Urkel is. For some reason my kiddos prefer the shows of my generation. Some of their favorites are Family Matters, Full House, Saved By the Bell, I Love Lucy and their latest find was the Golden Girls-for some reason Blake finds old ladies incredibly hilarious. Ahh, back to the good old days of TGIF! Anyway, here are the photos, I have some of Dallin and Kali coming they just need to be edited...

Eight straight hours

2009-10-18T21:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a LONG day. I woke up at 4 in the morning and started to get ready for a garage sale. I went and had a fun morning with my girlfriends and made some money too!! With all the rain that we have had the boys had their baseball games cancelled. Now that it is finally nice they are trying to make up games. So we spent EIGHT hours straight at the ball fields (with the exception of a quick Chik-fil-A run for dinner that we ate in the baseball parking lot). Blake had a game at 2:30, then it was over to Dallin's 4:00 game. We shoved food down and then off to Blake's 7:00 game. Dallin's game started late at about 8:15 and we didn't get home until almost 10-it was a long day! However, there is nothing I love more than cheering on my favorite baseball players!! They went 4-o in their games yesterday, go boys!

Blue skies ahead! The weather was perfect!!!! Blake is getting ready to hit. He ended up hitting a home run! Unfortunately they made him go back because they said they had called tim so he had to settle for a triple...=)

Heading to second

The day turned into night...what a sunset! Blake is throwing the ball to make an out at first!

Go Rangers!

Dallin played catcher and did SO good! He was stopping everything!

Look at that stop!

She likes to ride her bicycle, she likes to ride her bike!

2009-10-08T19:14:00.000-07:00

Every so often Kali will ask me to take the training wheels off her bike. Every time I end up putting them back on. Today was a different story. She wanted them off again and was so excited to give it another try. After about 10 minutes of running up and down the street with her, she did it! I got my workout for the day and Kali can now ride her bike without training wheels! Now to work on stopping...

Helmet? Check.

And a pose with her bike

That was tiring! I got a serious workout running up and down the streets with her!

Daddy was a bit cautious and wasn't quite ready to let go...

Look no hands! Way to go Kali!

Yahoo! Now let's celebrate with the happy dance!

What are the chances?

2009-10-04T06:59:00.000-07:00

Fall baseball has finally begun! After many games being rained out the boys finally got to play. Their games were scheduled at the same time on fields right next to each other. I was trying to jump back and forth between the games to watch them both play. So, what are the chances that they would be up to bat at the exact same time? Probably pretty slim, but it happened. I was trying to watch them both and they each got a hit at the same time! Blake made it to first base while Dallin got a TRIPLE! Dallin also pitched his very first game. I was so nervous for him, but he did an awesome job! He ended up striking out two players and they won the game! Dallin's team still remains undefeated with a record of 3-0. They have played the to best teams in the league and won, which is great considering they are playing against fifth graders! Blake is a hitting machine! His game was such a roller coaster. In the last inning we were down 3-1. There were two outs and Blake was up to bat. He hit a single and was anxiously waiting for the next batter. His teammate had a good hit and Blake ran from first to home to score a run. They ended up wining the game 4-3. This should be a fun season to watch!

My good friend Angie who is expecting showed up to the game wearing this-LOVE IT!

Big Blake man up to bat

Dallin's first time pitching

Everyone is looking on for the call from the ump...He's out!! Way to go Dallin!

Thanks goodness both of the boys' teams have little sisters! Kali loves going to the games to play with her friends.

Blake makes me smile.

2009-09-27T20:18:00.000-07:00

Today is Blake's 7th birthday! I adore him. He makes me laugh, he makes me smile, he drives me crazy and he loves me. We alternate years that they have a friend party and this year was a no friend party. We took him to the Ranger's game and he wanted to bring Dallin with him. So we set off (sans Kali, thanks Mom!) and we had great seats! We got there early enough to watch the team warm up in the first row behind the dugout, the boys couldn't have been happier! He got a t-shirt thrown to him, met the mascot and we all enjoyed a great fireworks display after. When Blake got up this morning I told him I needed to take a picture of him on his 7th birthday, this conversation followed:
Blake: Mom, can you take a picture of me like you take pictures of all the other people?
Mom: Like when I go on the photo shoots?
Blake: Yeah! I want to go somewhere cool and fun and take pictures! (I ws totally shocked because of course my most photogenic child is the most camera shy)
Mom: What are you going to do there?
Blake: Lean against walls and stuff...
So, off we went this afternoon to find some cool pictures to take and I couldn't have been more thrilled! The photos turned out amazing and he was the most cooperative model ever! So here are the photos from today and the game. Happy Birthday Blake, our family is complete with you!
Warning: There are quite a few photos, but there were so many cute ones, which one is your favorite?

It's so hard to say goodbye...

2009-09-17T20:05:00.000-07:00

but we had to do it! Brad's parents left this morning for their 18 month church mission trip to Ethiopia. It's hard to believe they are actually gone, but we are so proud of them and the decision they made to serve. The kids will miss them dearly, but they are already talking about the letters they are going to get from them. On Monday night we had one last family home evening together and we certainly went out with a bang. We started the night off in our true style with pizza and some goofing around...brace yourself, there are quite a few photos, but it's not everyday you send family off to Africa!

Then we started the FHE. Brady and Michelle were skyping from Vegas so they could be there with us. Brock started us off with a prayer, typical Brock style...enough said. Then they played some recordings of a talk Brian gave when he was 7, Brad when he was 4, and was finished up with a rousing rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by Bret when he was 2. Then all the boys sang "Ye Elders of Israel" which is Ann's favorite thing to hear them sing. As you can tell Brian looks a wee bit uncomfortable singing...then the grandkids sang "I hope They Call Me on a Mission"

Terin and Tif have been diligently sorting through all of Ann's old photos and newspaper articles (THANKS girls!). They got together a book for them filled with personal letters and photos, it was great!

Next Vaughn read all the kids "The Kissing Hand." It is such a cute story about a raccoon who doesn't want to leave his Mom to go to school. She basically gives him a kiss in his hand and tells him whenever he feels she is far away to hold his hand to his face and he will feel her there. There were stickers at the end of the book they put on everyone's hands. Ann gave copies to all the kids so they will know they are always there for them too.

Being surrounded by family is fabulous...

We also celebrated Blake's birthday before they left

We will miss our weekly Sunday dinners, game playing, family gatherings and more. Hopefully we will keep some of it up with them gone because being with family truly is the best. We can't wait to hear all about the amazing experiences they will have, and Vaughn you better be blog stalking me, I'll be blog stalking you! We love you!!!

A rare moment...

2009-09-12T16:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a great day. It had rained the night before and I suggested to Kali we go for a walk through all the puddles. Miss girly girl LOVED it! She started off rather timid just shuffling through the puddles, but by the end of our walk she was sitting IN the puddles...she was totally into taking pictures too (which she usually isn't) and I was able to snap some fun shots, here are the rest-(warning, a little bit of a photo overload..there were so many good ones!) Which one is your favorite?

Puddle Jumpin'

2009-09-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

I love the rain. I really love going out and splashing in the puddles best...and there are always great photos to be had in the water! Kali was highly cooperative yesterday and allowed me to click away while she played so there are quite a few coming.... Here's installment 1-I'll be putting the others up soon!

Preschool begins!

2009-09-12T07:56:00.000-07:00

Kali started up preschool again and she is lovin' it! (ok I am lovin' it too...) We went with Grandma and picked out a sassy first day of school outfit. She INSISTED on laying on the ground to pose for her shots and as usual we were in a rush so I didn't get many pictures. It's hard to believe that this is the last year my baby girl will be going to preschool. I can't imagine her walking the halls of Kindergarten yet...I am going to soak up every minute of this last year with her because she really is great company and we always have fun together. She got the same teacher as last year who we just love and is already learning alot!

Back to School!

2009-08-27T06:53:00.000-07:00

Nothing gets me more giddy than the start of another school year! I LOVE the thought of shopping for school supplies, clothes and new shoes...keep in mind I said the thought...the actual process involves unnecessary stress and crowds of people in the walmart aisle all searching for the darn first grade tablet that doesn't seem to exsist. Dallin insisted that he just had to have a messenger bag this year, os after looking at 10 different stores we finally found one at Burlington...go figure. The perfect ourfits were bought-Blake just had to have this rhino shirt.... At the shoe store we go through 40 pairs of shoes before finally deciding we like the ones we tried on first the best...but when it is all over and they are all dressed up and ready to head out the door, it was all worth it. Now we have a daily schedule and routine and there is nothing I like more than that. Our house is finally getting back into some kind of order after a long summer. Now I can get giddy all over again when Tarjay puts their school supplies on clearance...I always stock up for the whole year because we seem to have a black hole of school supplies somewhere in this house! The boys got great teachers, Blake's teacher actually grew up with Brad and was at our wedding reception...small world! I am looking forward to a great new school year with my first and third graders!

Georgia or Bust!

2009-08-25T14:46:00.000-07:00

I finally finished some of the Georgia trip photos so I thought I better post them before I post the boy's first day of school pictures. The whole family went on a trip before Vaughn and Ann leave for their mission to Uganda. We stayed at an amazing place that used to belong to Kenny Rogers. It was a golfer's paradise...we really didn't see much of the boys! We were the only people staying there and the kids had a blast swimming and driving around the golf carts. Here are a bunch of photos from the trip!

Our plane had to be repaired so we had to switch terminals and wait another hour...the kids had to find ways to entertain themselves, and they did...

The pool was a big hit

The golf course kept everyone busy. We even had a couples tournament and I discovered I actually like golf...the course was AMAZING and the scenery was beautiful!

And of course we had to do a family photo with everyone together. The boys just can't seem to be serious....

Better...

All of us, what a GREAT trip we had! Ann says we'll go again in 18 months when they come home...=)

Trip to Georgia

2009-08-22T09:59:00.001-07:00

The whole family recently spent a few days in Georgia..it was a blast! I have SO many photos to edit and lots of stories to tell, but I am swamped with editing wedding photos. In the mean time here is a sneak peek to let you know that I am still alive and well and haven't forgotten about my blog...

Ten Years Baby!

2009-08-06T19:52:00.001-07:00

Today Brad and I are celebrating our TEN year anniversary! It's hard to believe it's already been ten years and boy has it been an amazing decade! I look back at this photo from our wedding day and we look SO young! In our ten years together we have:

*Lived in 2 states
* Moved 4 times
* Served in over 15 different church callings
*Had three children
*Been on 2 cruises
*Owned 8 different cars (including a sweet teal mazda protege)

A photo for your viewing enjoyment:

*Had over 10 different jobs
*Brad has served on and I have supported him on over 5 different council/city positions
*Number of times Brad has made me laugh-WAY too many to count
I am so lucky to have such an AMAZING and wonderful husband. He has supported me through thick and thin and done whatever it takes to be the best Dad and husband possible, I love you Babe!!

Peace man. Cool. Groovy. Far out.

2009-07-29T17:08:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was amazing. We celebrated the 50th anniversary of the church being established in our area. There was a huge jubilee celebration and I have pictures of all that fun but first I had to post these. On Friday night they had a whole night of entertainment and one of the acts was a version of When The Saints go Marching In through the decades. They sung it 50's, rap, disco and more, it was fabulous. Vaughn came out during one of the decades wearing this beauty. He was handing out flowers to everyone. He tried it on before the jubilee and of course all the kids just HAD to try it on too...

Blake

Gavin

Dallin

Depp

A trip to Blockbuster=A good laugh

2009-07-23T18:30:00.000-07:00

I just had to write this down before I forgot all the events of our little trip to blockbuster...
We pulled up to the Blockbuster and Kali yells out, "Look, Little Sneezers! It's Little Sneezers! That guy has a big nose!" (referring to the Little Cesear's mascot). Is it just me or does there always seem to be a Little Cesear's by a Blockbuster? I think they are really cornering the dinner and a movie market...anyway on with the trip.
We get inside the store and Blake proceeds to grab every Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie that was ever made including the Saturday morning cartoon series (that I used to faithfully watch by the way). I told him to put it all back and as Dallin was trying to convince me we just had to rent Superbaby Genius 2-as if sitting through the first one wasn't bad enough they had to make a sequel, really?
We continue looking at the movies when Kali yells out, "Clom Bart, Clom Bart!!" What in the world was she talking about? It was of course Paul Blart Mall cop, what a classic.
On to the next row of movies to which Kali sees something familiar and yells out. "wedgie tales!" I have to admit, if they actually made that movie instead of Veggie Tales my boys would be all over renting that one. If you have boys a Blockbuster Exclusive classic is Thunderpants, you've got to check that one out, we have. Twice. It never gets old.
We finally made our way to the check out line and I was talking to Kali and I looked over at the boys were giggling over an issue of....Tiger Beat. They were naming all the celebs in it and laughing like school girls. I asked Dallin if he wanted to take the summer crush quiz but he just rolled his eyes...what a funny trip!

AJ's Baptism!

2009-07-22T13:02:00.001-07:00

For those of you who didn't know Brock's girlfriend AJ was baptized this past weekend. It was an amazing day spent with lots of family. I am so proud of AJ and the decision she made to be baptized. She asked me to give a talk which I haven't done in awhile for a baptism, but everything went well. I just adore her and the rest of the family is crazy about her too!

Brock and AJ

Aj and I right before she got baptized

Brock got AJ the most beautiful roses, 6 red and 6 white, isn't that thoughtful? Kali was holding on to them for safe keeping...actually I'm surprised she actually let AJ have them!

My nephew Cash after the baptism, he is just too cool. We finished off the day with a family dinner at Johnny Carino's, yum!

Photography Blog

2009-07-21T21:44:00.000-07:00

I just updated my photography blog with some new birth announcements and I need some opinions! Let me know what you think and what you like! Just click on my green box on my blog to get to my photo blog, thanks!

Baseball swim party

2009-07-14T20:11:00.000-07:00

Dallin's baseball team had a big barbecue and swim party that all the families went to. We all had a blast, we always do with great people from our Cubs!

Slam dunk! Blake spent most of the night doing this

Boys from the team

Check out these trophies they earned this season!

Our 4th of July..and only 1 week late!

2009-07-10T19:50:00.000-07:00

I love the 4th of July. I love the fireworks, parades, spending time with family and I love the fact that we are free to do it all.
we started off the morning with going to a parade. The boys have gotten into taking pictures lately and I thought this was too cute:

After the parade we were hanging around talking with friends and lady came around with free water ice-score! Sometimes i pays to be a chatterbox...

We usually go swimming every 4th but Brad was going to play golf instead this year. He came out in his bathing suit and turned the sprinklers on. They didn't seem to mind not swimming at all, they had a blast in the front yard!

Tank is the best dog ever. Anyone who knows him will agree. He just sat on the driveway and watched as all the sprinkler action was going on, I just love this photo:

After a nap we headed to Grandma's and Grandpa's for grilled fajitas (of course there's nothing like Mexican food to celebrate the 4th..). Every year Papa always has a HUGE stash of fireworks, this year was no exception. The kids loved it and even Kali got a but brave towards the end. What a great 4th!

Kali and her cousin Payton. I was so excited about the dress I found for Kali this year, my favorite!

Sitting on the hood of the car enjoying the fireworks

Dallin's blog

2009-07-08T07:29:00.000-07:00

Dallin recently asked me if he could start a blog. I gave him my old camera and he has become quite the little photographer. You can go see his blog at:
www.dallinjack.blogspot.com
If you go please leave a comment, he thinks this is the coolest thing ever...thanks!

National Champs!

2009-07-07T19:59:00.001-07:00

I just need a moment to brag about Dallin's baseball team the Cubs. A couple of weeks ago they finished first in a tournament making them National Champions in the 8u league! Their final record is 42-0, pretty amazing! Not only were they a very good team, but there could not have been a nicer group of boys to play with or parents to cheer with from the stands. Dallin's coaches were amazing and taught them to NEVER give up...one game they were behind 16-3 and they ended up winning 17-16. They played in 100 degree heat and never gave up. I am so proud of the team and especially my Dallin. GO CUBS!!! Here are a few of my favorite shots...alot of the time I was pacing back and forth and couldn't even think about taking a photo....=)

Dallin played pitcher and made a HUGE out to end a very important inning

SAFE!!!

Waiting in the air conditioning in between games

What a win and what a priceless reaction from Dallin!

Check out that huge trophy!

National Champs!

Blogworthy

2009-07-04T13:44:00.000-07:00

I'm not quite sure how the whole conversation began, but it was late at night in Hawaii. We were playing a game and the discussion turned to what someone needed to do to have a blogworthy photo, a post all of their own. Evan jokingly said he would eat a tadpole. I held him to it and the festivities began...warning-if you have a weak stomach these photos may not be for you...Cinta could not even handle being in the room...

Brad and Steve went out to the pond and came back with this...

Steve is checking it out and smiling because it's not him eating this thing...

Getting ready...in one hand is guava juice, the other a tadpole

There it goes! I don't know that anyone actually believed he would do it!

Of course things couldn't end there. Somehow Brad said he would eat a lizard if they ever managed to catch it. Catch it they did and then marinated it in Huli Huli sauce, garlic and a touch of cinnamon for that extra special flavor...the result? Really this one looks totally gross, prepare yourselves...but the event was indeed blogworthy and must be posted.

Indeed he ate it and said it wasn't too bad...

just like his shirt says, "Taste Like Chicken"

And a special photo just for Evan....

Really, I don't think it was possible for us to have had any more fun on this trip. We created many memories that will make us laugh for years to come, thanks everyone!

Where have I been? Oh yes...Hawaii!!!

2009-06-30T20:27:00.001-07:00

Things have been SO busy around here ever since the kiddos got out of school. I feel like we have been going non stop and things are finally settling down! I have so much to catch up on, but I will start with our first trip of the summer which was Hawaii! Brad surprised me for my 30th and we went with 3 other great couples and had SO much fun! Our friend Evan is from Hawaii so we stayed at his Mom's house and the view was AMAZING. It was great having a local with us to show us all the cool non touristy places. We acted like total tourists and when we actually had a small conversation with Dog the Bounty Hunter we got all giddy. I don't even watch the show but, hey I can say I talked to the guy. Anyway, the trip was so much fun and I couldn't have asked for a better place or a better group of friends to share my 30th with!

Brad forgot his dress shirt for church. Evan got him something from his stepdad's closet and Brad was presented with this Hawaiian beauty. We all said he looked like preacher Brad. But, check out the view behind him. This is what we got to wake up to every morning. I would go out and read every morning and see this...I finally gave into the Twilight craze and finished the first 2 on the trip...hooked!

We hiked up Diamondhead a volcano. The best part of it all was Evan pretending he was an official tour guide of our small group. I think people actually thought he was one! Hooray for Stubby's Tours!

Happy birthday to me! We went to BeniHana's for dinner and it was SO good! I totally got jipped on the dessert, a slice of cantaloupe...whatever happened to at least some ice cream?

My friends surprised me with balloons at midnight on my birthday...really I have great friends!

Out to the Karoake Hut. What a fun time, check out that lady in the photo! I think Bon Jovi became the theme music for this trip.

We seriously had the worst timing for everything on this trip. We arrived to everything just as it was closing. One time we even went out to dinner and we sat down and everyone decided they weren't hungry. We made it to the Dole Pineapple Plantation long enough to eat some ice cream and try to sneak into the maze...no luck. Brad enjoying his pineapple ice cream, but Steve is really enjoying his in the background!

Stay tuned for part 2 of this post...a special post dedicated to Evan, founder of Stubby's tours and the guy who will do anything to get on a blog...I know the suspense is killing you

Oh Yeah!

2009-06-01T09:47:00.000-07:00

This past weekend the boys both participated in a baseball tournament. Blake played awesome and ended up getting the MVP trophy! He had an amazing double play as he was playing shortstop. He caught a fly ball and threw the runner out at second. He was SO excited to get the trophy and had a grin on his face for the rest of the day. They went on to play in the tournament on Sunday and won the first game and lost the second.

Blake and Dallin did both did not play on Sunday and we are lucky that their teams respect that choice. I am so proud of my boys for making the decision to not play on Sunday and never getting upset about missing championship games. Dallin's team went on to win the entire tournament! Out of twenty teams they finished #1, way to go Cubs!

Memorial Day

2009-05-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

What a fun time we had on Memorial Day this year! We began the day with the pancake breakfast up at the church. They had a flag raising ceremony and we took time to acknowledge those among us who had served in the military. It was amazing to see how many people from our ward had served and how many we currently have serving. What a wonderful start to the day to remember all of those people. Since Brad is in the bishopric he had to cook the pancakes. They had patriotic music playing while we ate, it was all very nice. After we went swimming with a few families from the ward. Brad then took the kids to go see the Race to Witch Mountain and I got to go shopping...it was a great day!

Brad cooking up some pancakes

Apparently Blake was my only child willing to be photographed on this day...Dallin and Kali were there too but Blake was really wanting his picture taken!

Blake snatched the chef's hat that Brad was wearing and was really wanting to "help out".

Looks like GramB was also a willing participant...look how festive she is in her flag shirt!

Off to go swim...Check out Brad's amazing farmer's tan, it doesn't get any better than that. Hopefully he can tan that away before our trip to Hawaii!

SO proud!

2009-05-22T12:30:00.000-07:00

Today Dallin's school honored the top readers in each grade. Every student takes quizzes all year long and earns points based on the reading level of the book they read. Dallin earned FIRST PLACE! His principal said in all his years of teaching he never had a boy take first place in Reading Counts. Dallin LOVES reading and worked hard to earn all his points. We are so proud of him and all of his excellent efforts this year!

Getting his medal from the principal

He got a first place medal, ribbon and certificate

I am one proud Mama!

Kali wanted her picture taken too!

Block Party

2009-05-14T11:27:00.000-07:00

For the past few years our neighborhood has put on a block party, one of the many reasons why I love this area so much. We grill hamburgers and fajitas, eat all day and play games. They put up an inflatable water slide, but this year it was a bit chilly so the kids went down on towels without the water. Here are some pictures from the big event:

Blake loved going down the slide, even Kali went down a few times!

Our neighbor's little girl Sammy just loved Tank. She kept kissing him and following him around whenever she saw him.

We had to leave for a couple hours for Dallin's game, another victory!

When we returned to the party the washers tournament had begun. The sport of washers was completely foreign to me until I moved to this neighborhood. It seemed everyone had a set and I was quickly addicted to the game. It's very similar to horseshoes. You play against someone and try to get to 21 points. You score more for a ringer or getting the washer in the hole. Here's Jason showing off his washer form....

Brad made it all the way to the finals, but ended up losing to Jay

Last year's winner Adam hands off the tiara to this year's winner Jay. Even though Brad did not win I bet you can guess what little girl still walked off with the tiara in her possession....what a fun block party!

Great Wolf Lodge

2009-05-08T13:46:00.001-07:00

With the kids out of school for the week due to an over reaction of the swine flu we did what any good parent would do...we packed up the kids and took them to the best hotel and indoor water park ever! This was our first time at Great Wolf Lodge and it was a blast! I was surprised at how daring all 3 kids were. It's nice to be able to finally go on a short trip with the kids getting older now.

We got there on Tuesday night and played at the water park for a few hours. After we got all showered and ready for bed.

We were able to get Blake on most of the rides. We actually found one of the slides where there was a brand new kid working there and he let Blake go on everything. Blake's favorite ride? No shocker, one called the Cannon...

Kali put on this life jacket and was set. She was swimming around everywhere! See that large, tall bun on the top of her head? That gave her just the extra two inches she needed to go on the big family raft ride. It was so funny watching her face go from nervous, to anxious, to laughing to happy all within a matter of seconds. I was so proud of her, she even did it twice!

Big D loved the wave pool. Oh to take him to a real ocean...

This was BY FAR Blake's favorite part of the water park. Every time a loud bell would ring it meant the bucket was about to tip over. Whenever Blake was anywhere near the bucket he just had to be under it...

Kali loved these jet skiis. She sat here for quite sometime

I wish I still had my camera out when Brad was trying to maneuver these lillypads. He was trying to run across without using the net. The problem was the net was so low that he kept hitting his head. He never made it all the way and had quite a few little kids laughing pretty hard...We had a great trip and can't wait to go again!

We survived the swine flu

2009-05-06T17:37:00.000-07:00

It seems hard to believe this was the only symptom Kali developed from the swine flu...I think we were all pretty surprised when they actually cancelled school for THE WHOLE WEEK. What? I still have a few more weeks until summer vacation. Yesterday they decided they had all overreacted and called for school to be back on. The kids go back on Thursday and just keep washing their hands to avoid this flu!

Up and Running!

2009-05-05T08:34:00.000-07:00

Our new website is finally finished! You can go to:
www.creativelychicphotography.com
Check it out and let us know what you think!

Field trip adventure with Big D

2009-04-30T15:13:00.000-07:00

This is so exciting, I finally figured out how to get my pictures big on my blog so you don't have to squint to see them! Your first look at the big photos are Dallin's field trip. We went to an outdoor environment where they studied bugs, walked trails, examined flowers and watched for scat. Extra credit if anyone can tell me what scat is....=)
I got some really great photos and I loved spending the day with Dallin. One of the highlights of the trip for me? I loved listening to the little conversations that went on among the students. I couldn't have been happier when I heard 2 boys having this conversation, they had no clue I was behind them:
Trent: You know who is just a nice guy?
Tyrone:Who?
Trent: Dallin. He is just nice to everyone in our class and is friends with everyone.
Nothing can make a mom feel better. The bugs, dirt, hot weather was worth it.

My VERY favorite photo. The boys were starting to walk on the trail and decided to do it with their arms around each other. Priceless.

THey all got these totally cheesy magnifying glasses. They tried to use them, but basically saw nothing but a blurry piece of cheap plastic...

This is the 400 year old tree we hiked to. It was actually struck by lightning, hence the large hole in the side.

Dallin with friends from his class

Me and my man. I love this guy.

All dressed up

2009-04-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

I love getting dressed up! This past weekend Brad and I went to the Benefit League Ball and it was a fun excuse to get dressed up. The dinner was great as was the company, Bret and Terin also went. We had fun dancing, Brad broke out some of his classic moves. It was a great night!

So many posts, so little time...

2009-04-17T14:02:00.000-07:00

We have been busy!!! It seems like once baseball season starts up for the boys that things always get a little crazy around here. I decided to start up the photography business at about the same time baseball started and we have been super busy! We've already had quite a few photo shoots which have gone great! I am still taking photography classes at a local college which has been great. I seems with Brad in the bishopric he has so many meetings to attend. At least we get to go on a date tomorrow night to the Benefit League Ball, yeah a night out! (Thanks Mom!) Here's a quick update on some things that have been going on around here:

Easter was fabulous. When Kali put her dress on for church she asked if she could also wear her crown, that was a no. As we were driving to Grandma's for dinner that Easter Sunday I was talking to the kids about Christ and the Resurrection and Dallin asked me this question:
"Mom, I just don't understand what Easter eggs have to do with any of that? It doesn't make any sense to have the Easter bunny and egg hunts when Easter is about Jesus." I love that boy.

Kali has been kept busy with my latest reorganization of the playroom. I found a rolling laundry rack at Wal- Mart and assembled it to her size for all her dress up clothes. She now has a corner with a vanity, accessories trunk and a complete wardrobe rack. She has been in heaven.
We were playing outside when Kali came running over to me saying:
"Mom, mom a holy moly!!" She was so excited and when she showed me her hand there appeared a Roly Poly...she was very proud of the fact that she hadn't squished him and he was still alive.

Blake made his final trip to the dentist! I have never seen a kid who enjoys the dentist as much as he does. I know he doesn't get it from me since I dread going there. Afterwards we went to one of the Hibachi restaurants where they cook in front of you. I had been dying to take Blake there and he loved it! The chef was really playing around with him and let him try to flip an egg. We shared some chicken and shrimp (blake's FAVORITE) yum! He kept asking why the other people at the table got pork chops. I was totally confused until I realized he was talking about chopsticks...
Can you tell by this photo what our latest purchase has been for Blake? Gotta love him.

Dallin has been busy with baseball and reading. All he does is one or the other. At his school they have a Reading Counts program where they take quizzes and earn points. Later they get to redeem them, last time he got a Webkinz and is hoping for another one. The top 3 readers in each grade get awards at the end of the year-he is easily in first place and shows no signs of slowing down. Even competitive when it comes to reading, wherever did he get that from? HIs baseball team is still undefeated and doing great!

For those of you who don't know Brad's brother Brock is staying with us for a little while, it has been great. Not only does Brock live here that means we also get his dog, Tank. We love having both of them here. Brock pays the kids to pick up the dog doo in the yard...I think Blake likes the money but is already getting a little grossed out by the whole thing.

Well, that is what's going on with us in a nutshell, hopefully I can post a little more often!

Open for business!

2009-04-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

My friend Anne and I have recently started up our own photography business! It's been something we have been talking about doing and we finally did it! We have a blog up and running where you can see all of our most recent work. So, please add our new blog to your favorites and check back often for new photos, specials and fun contests! The blog address is:
www.creativelychicphotography.blogspot.com
Thanks!

Total girly girl

2009-04-08T19:50:00.000-07:00

Our Kali is just about as girly as they come. She prefers to wear a dress over pants any day and loves anything that twirls. She has been begging me to make her a tutu and when I did she was so excited! SInce it was so nice outside I asked her if she wanted to take some pictures in it and surprisingly she said yes! She was however distracted by a few ladybugs on the lawn. She couldn't get enough of them and in between photos kept searching for more. I LOVE having a girly girl!

Tournament champions!

2009-04-04T22:20:00.000-07:00

Dallin's baseball team continued their tournament today. After 2 more games they had won the championship game! Dallin was also selected as the tournament MVP-way to go Big D!! I also do a blog for Dallin's team and I have that blog updated from today's games so go visit the blog and see all the excitement of the games! The web address is:
www.go8ucubs.blogspot.com
or you can go to my blog links and go to the Go Cubs blog, enjoy!

Take me out to the ball game

2009-04-01T19:41:00.000-07:00

The boys just started their spring season of baseball! This week they are playing in a single elimination tournament before the season begins. Dallin's team won and will be playing again on Thursday. Unfortunately, Blake's team lost but they played a great game. It felt good to be back on the fields cheering them on!

Dallin was playing pitcher and made a couple of outs.

Always baseball ready

Big Blake man is stepping up to bat. He got a big hit, but the other team caught it in the air...darn.

Kali's bows-one for Dallin's team and one for Blake's team.

This is the outfit I made for Kali. She was so excited to wear it, and i think she looked pretty darn cute!

If you give a girl some brownie batter...

2009-03-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

You better believe she's going to lick that bowl clean, and then some

Spring Break Campout

2009-03-22T06:31:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday after dinner Brad and I went to the youth fireside while the kids stayed behind with Grandma. By the time we came back all the kids were so excited because they told me we were going to go camping. We decided to go that next night and the kids couldn't even stand it they were so excited! We had a blast cooking hot dogs, making smores and sleeping outdoors. Brad came up for the night but left after dinner so I got to sleep in tent with all 3 kids on my own...getting them to sleep was the easy part, but keeping them in the tent was another story. At about 3 in the morning I heard someone from a distance yelling Mom, Mom! I was a little confused and I rolled over and noticed Dallin was gone. I grabbed a flashlight and he was coming up the trail. He had been sleepwalking! He told me that noone was in their sleeping bags when he got up and he heard Kali yelling for him from the bathrooms. What a scare that was! At about 6:30 I heard Vaughn (my father in law) talking outside the tent. Apparently at about 11:30 he decided that he just couldn't sleep so he went home for the night and slept in his warm and comfy bed. Overall we had a great time and the kids are still talking about it! Thanks Grandma and Papa for organizing everything and thanks Tiffany for the tent!

When it came time to put up the tent the kids all wanted to help

Now Blake gives it a try, no problem for this outdoor handyman...

My niece Payton is a total ham and had no problem posing for the camera

I'm not sure how I got Cody and all his coolness to stop for a picture.

To say Cash got dirty would be an understatement! He really enjoyed the Doritios and loved exploring all the campground had to offer

Dallin and Payton take a break from collecting firewood to pose for a photo

Cooking hot dogs around the campfire

Kali was still sneaking marshmallows early in the morning

And here is our fearless leader...

Oh kiddos....

2009-03-17T13:42:00.000-07:00

I have a great idea, let's go take some pictures, what do you say?

More photos to come from this fun photo shoot...=)

Girls Weekend and P.S.-I can sew!

2009-03-09T14:34:00.000-07:00

One of my very best friends in the whole world was able to come from Utah to visit. We try to get together once a year and every time it is ALWAYS a blast! I found a very cheap trip from Utah on Wednesday and oddly enough neither of us had any games, recitals or calling duties that we were committed to. Luckily I have a wonderful husband and Mom who watched the kids while I was gone. It's great to not have to worry if everything is okay at home because they always have things under control! She flew out on Saturday and we stayed in a hotel until Tuesday (thanks Uncle Brent!). We usually work on scrapbooking, but since we are both trying to transition out of that we thought we would give sewing a try. We started with some adorable little girl aprons and it was actually pretty easy! I got a few aprons done, a dress for Kali, a sassy tutu for Kali and a few baby gifts completed. We stayed up late, watched the old episodes of 30 Rock-great show, and watched a few other movies. We went shopping, out to eat and had alot of laughs. We always have a great time and we got to watch the season finale of the Bachelor together-could this trip get any better? Thanks for coming Emily, I can't wait until next year!

We carried a big table up to the room so we could have a good work space, it wasn't easy manuvering that thing into the elevator...

Kali loved her apron. As soon as I showed it to her she wanted to be a "cooker". She then decided to go outside and spray down her bike and give it a good washing. She kept her apron on until she went to bed (I'm glad she appreciated all my hard work)

Come on, not bad for my first real sewing project, right?

She liked how the apron flipped up when she jumped

What a season!

2009-03-08T07:27:00.000-07:00

Dallin's basketball team started out a little shaky in the beginning, but after some hard practices they were really good. They peaked towards the end of the season just in time for the tournament. They won their first game and went on to play the undefeated Longhorns. Dallin was fouled early on and made one of his foul shots. After a crazy and exciting game they ended up winning by one point! The boys were SO excited and were going nuts. Luckily I captured it all on video, Dallin made a crucial shot towards the end to put them up. The following week they played and did really well. The final score was 14-10 and they ended up losing. Dallin scored 6 of the points and had a great game. It was great to see his team really come together and play hard. I guess he has that basketball talent in him passed down from his Daddy and all his Uncles! Now on to baseball season!!

Dallin preparing for a foul shot

Dallin calling for the ball (this happened quite often) run around son!

Going in for the basket, yes he made this shot!

How is he going to get out of this one?

Action shot

Pinewood Derby

2009-03-07T19:21:00.000-08:00

Growing up in a family with no brothers I had never experienced all the glory of the pinewood derby. Brad and Dallin spent time picking out the cut of the car, sanding together, and the Dallin hand painted the beauty. It was so great to see everyone cheering on each other. Dallin took a first, second and third place. He took first on his last race and when he did Blake ran over and just about tackled him and was hugging him and yelling, "you got first!", it was so cute.

Nothing is more handsome than seeing him all decked out in his uniform.

All the siblings loved watching the races. Here are two cuties from the ward watching their big brothers race-Dane and Tanner.

Blake was SO into the derby. He had to be right where all the action was. When it was all over he wanted to keep racing cars. The morning of the pinewood derby Blake woke up and was so excited saying. "I can't wait until tonight, it's finally the pinewood derby!"

Of course he managed to get himself completely dirty...

Dallin and his car

Wow I never realized just how exact the cars had to be lined up to ensure fairness. They must have spent more time setting up each car than actually racing them! We had a really fun time!

Addicted...

2009-02-21T06:46:00.000-08:00

Now that I am figuring all this out I just want to keep making headers! Here is one I figured out this morning...enjoy!

Slowly but Surely

2009-02-20T11:24:00.000-08:00

Photoshop and I are now experiencing a love/hate relationship. I LOVE all the new things I can do with it, but what a time sucker! I feel so overwhelmed with so many options, with the help of Ambyr and Amy I am slowly figuring it all out. The new header was a bit time consuming but I think I learned alot doing it. I put the new photos in the header that we went and took, I will post some more later. I think I will finally have CS 4 figured out by the time CS 5 rolls around...wish me luck!