Life with the Chandara's

Everything about December 15th, 2011....

2012-01-10T14:34:00.000-08:00

Morning thoughts, thinking about the change:

This week I seem to have had a bit of an adrenalin rush. Don't get me wrong, I am still extremely exhausted, but I'm doing random things around the house that typically don't get done. The things I don't care about are now top priority. Aubrey's room has been making me crazy so I am constantly trying to stay on top of it, not so much my kitchen though. I have to get alot of treats made today so I can take them around to all my neighbors and friends for Christmas, I am running out of time! I also am rearranging the babies clothes. Right now he has the bottom drawer in AJ's dresser (newborn size clothing) and the bottom drawer in Aubrey's dresser (0-3 month size). AJ and the baby will have to share a closet I suppose. I wish we had a bigger house, suddenly the thought of having 3 kids is making me extremely nervous and I've been hit with the reality that we are now going to be outnumbered. There are only 2 parents 3 kids, 2 rooms 3 kids, 2 captain seats in the van 3 kids. Everything is going to change and I am overwhelmed at the thought, and possibly starting to panic a bit. Dang is READY for the baby to come, he's been encouraging spicy food, running, squats, and other things to hopefully get this labor going. I don't know how I feel, I want the baby here now, I don't want to be pregnant anymore, but I'm nervous to have 3 kids! I packed a bag to take to the hospital, just in case. Today is the 15th, Dang predicted I will have the baby today because AJ and Aubrey were both 9 days early, if I have the baby today, he will be 9 days early, that would be kinda crazy. I'm definitely asking Laurie to strip my membranes.
Waking up:
I have to wake up early today, daycare kids arriving at 7:00. I hate thursdays, I'm not a morning person, o well. If I have the baby today then I will be able to take a bunch of time off and today will be my last morning getting up early for daycare, pretty soon I will be getting up alot more, all through the night and early morning to feed the baby.
I don't want to get ready for the day, but I will.
I've spent all morning making cookies

11:30am- appt with my midwife:
I had to wait a LONG time to see Laurie. She forgot I was the next person to see and skipped me, after already waiting a long time... When she came in I asked her to strip my membranes, she said no she doesn't do that anymore. Then she checked me and said I didn't need her to strip me I would go into labor anytime without her helping. I'm dilated at a 4, 50% effaced, and have bulgy waters (whatever that means... weird I think) I gave her a hard time about being so late and making me wait, and that she had stripped me with Aubrey and I had her 9 days early and she should just do it because I am miserable. So she did. :) It hurt alot this time! I don't remember it hurting this bad before. And now I am bleeding. Well hopefully the baby comes today! Laurie tells me she wished she hadn't done that, her husband has a Christmas work party tonight that will be over at 9pm, and she didn't want to miss it and disapoint him, also she is leaving in the morning to take her grandkids skiing. But if I do go into labor she will miss those things for me. If I have contractions that are 10 mins apart for at least an hour she wants me to come in because of my fast deliveries.

I get home around lunch and am sore from the strip. I have more treats to make.

2:00pm:
I've been contracting every 13 mins for the last hour. 2 of the kids get picked up, the dad asked how I was doing. I told him I was in labor :) haha he was surprised and wished us luck the rest of the day!

I text the other mom. "If there's a way for your kids to get picked up early that would be great! if not its ok, but I'm pretty sure I'm in labor"

I text my mom, and she replies with a weird message, I think she doesn't understand my message.

about an hour later the other 2 kids get picked up, and they commented about having the baby the day we predicted, and how funny that was.

Aubrey's Christmas dance recital is at 7 tonight and I really don't want to miss it. She could go with one of the other girls but I want to watch her. It would be sad for her to perform without Dang and I watching...

5:00pm
My contractions are a bit irregular now. Some are 8 mins apart, some are 10. Laurie said to go in when they were 10 mins apart, but I don't think I'm ready. I want to see if we can make it to the recital.

I text my mom about the progression in labor, she keeps texting me about presents, she must be doing her wrapping. Why hasn't she replied about coming down to Cedar!? Is she not getting my messages? O well things to do, can't think about it right now.

6:00pm
Contractions are about 6 mins apart, and fairly regular now. I can sit through them though so I get Aubrey ready for dance. Its not far from the hospital, I'll just leave the kids with friends who are there if I need to. I make sure Jeanna is ready to come over after the recital, we will probably head over to the hospital about then.
My friends and neighbors won't be getting treats from us after all...

about 7:
its time to go to the recital, I don't want Aubrey to touch me while I am getting her ready. My contractions are painful, and are coming about every 5 mins. I can tell I'm not having the baby right now so we go anyway.

7:00pm:
We sit down by friends. They say "I guess you aren't having the baby 9 days early" Then Dang tells them I'm in labor, and we pull out the paper that we have been writing the times of contractions on. (Its so funny to be in labor and around people. Its funny when we tell them that I'm in labor, everyone gets this shocked face like why are you not at the hospital. I don't want to be in labor at the hospital, the waiting game is bad enough, I'ld so much rather be distracted by things that make me happy) Once we sat down and started watching the dancers, my contractions went back to being 10 mins apart, I have to breath through them, and can hardly keep my eyes open through them, but I can sit fine.

8:00pm
We are home, and I change into clothes comfy for going to the hospital in. Jeanna gets here and I visit with her for about 15 mins. All of sudden my contractions are back to 5 mins apart and while I am contracting I am in pain. We leave for the hospital.
This labor is so much different from Aubreys. Why can't this one be like Aubrey's...

WHY IS MY MOM NOT TEXTING ME ABOUT ME BEING IN LABOR!? She keeps texting me about presents! Is she trying to distract me from the pain? I don't know but I can not talk about gifts anymore!

8:30pm
The nurse checks me. I am still at a 4, 90% effaced now and she kinda smiled and said you do have bulgy waters! (what does that mean!? why do they keep saying that, of all things having bulgy waters is the thing that is embarrassing to me, it seems like a weird thing)

My mom texts me about another gift. Are you kidding me? I text her MOM YOU ARE DRIVING ME CRAZY WE ARE AT THE HOSPITAL!!!

She calls Dang.

I guess she doesn't want to talk to me because my text seemed rude. It is rude. Why is she not here!? Why is she still talking about gifts!!!????

She didn't get any of my messages. AAARRRGGGGGG I should have CALLED her. Too late now. She will try and get this weekends gun show figured out so she doesn't have to go.

Not that I was planning on letting Laurie stay at that Christmas party the whole time, but it sure did work out well that way! Now she was able to go to the party and should still be able to go skiing! HA thats funny.

8:45pm
I go in to the bathroom, and holy cow my contractions HURT! Marcie is working tonight so I texted her to come and visit me. Now she is here and I am in the bathroom and I can't even breath through these contractions they hurt SO bad, and why are they right after one another? I just got checked, and I feel like I should be delivering soon.

I finally get myself together and come out of the bathroom and tell Dang and Marcie I don't want to go natural anymore, get the nurse in now, tell her to get Laurie here now, and that I DO NOT WANT TO GO NATURAL!
I close my eyes and keep them closed, it hurts too bad to open them. Marcie tells me bye, she has to get back to work.

9:30pm
The nurse checks me and I am a 4+ maybe 5. HOW CAN THAT BE! I am in pain!
I keep my eyes closed and don't want to lay in bed. The bed is hell right now.

Mom has gun show figured out, she has to get stuff ready to come down, but she is coming down.
THANK HEAVENS ITS ABOUT TIME!

9:50pm
Laurie is FINALLY here! I tell her I don't want to go natural anymore. I don't want to do it, I don't want to have a baby anymore, I give up, I'm done.
She just sat by me and rubbed my back and said I was strong. Nurses around me keep saying I'm so strong. All I can think about is how lame it is that they are trying to talk me out of getting an epidural, they are wasting time, I want it. I don't want to stand up anymore and I definitely do not want to get on the bed. I must have said something to Laurie about it because she suggested getting in the tub, but walking over there sounded about as fun as chinese water torture. I will just stand here and lean on Dang some more.
I think to myself, I am SO glad Dang is here right now, he is my only relief. I want Dang to take a picture of me. I think to myself you are dumb for thinking about your blog right now and wanting to put a pic up of you in labor, you are about to have a baby and in so much pain, but I want to remember this moment. (I should have had a nurse take a picture of Dang and I). Dang is so good right now. I'm so glad he is involved with this.

10:15pm
Laurie finally talks me into laying down on the bed. I am quite sure I'm not getting an epidural. I guess thats what I actually want, but o man I'm in pain. I did not feel this pain with Aubrey. I want to have labor like I did with her, why does it have to be different....
Laurie says I'm a 7.
I have to go to a 10 to deliver. I want the epidural. I don't want to do this anymore.
Laurie says if she breaks my water we will have the baby in the next few minutes.
All I hear is you are a 7. And all I can think is I don't want to wait to go to a 10. I want an epidural.
She asks me if I want her to break my water so we can deliver the baby now or wait til it breaks on its own.
I realize my water doesn't break on its own. My other 2 babies I delivered immediately after they broke my water. I also think about all the labor stories I've read about how bad the contractions are after their water was broke, and I don't want them to brake my water then have to wait to get to a 10 to deliver. I want an epidural.
My body is pushing on its own, I can't lay on my back, I have to lay on my side. Dang is holding a leg and I realize he is telling me to just have them break my water. Fine break my water, I don't want to have a baby anymore, it hurts too bad. I think I am dying. Get the baby out now, I want pain medicine now. (I think I even asked for morphine...)
Laurie breaks my water. 2 pushes and the baby's head is out. Hard part is done (I think) A huge amount of relief is over me and I catch my breath, I am so happy. Laurie says another push. I push and the babys shoulder is stuck. OOOOOOOOOOOO THE PAIN!!!! OOWWWIIIIIEEEE! O get him out. He is stuck for a minute. The cord is around his neck. I have to push like my life depends on it, and I feel like it does. I do not like pain at all.
He's fine. He has lots of hair. Look at him
All I can do is keep my eyes shut. I can not open them. I am in pain. Everyone is telling me to look down at him. I can't.I just want him out.
I open my eyes and look to please everyone around me, I feel like they are all yelling at me at look at his hair. There were only 3 people in here before and now there are about 8! Where did all these people come from?
I give one last huge push and Dang helps bring the baby out and up onto my chest. The baby is crying, he has hair that I can not believe.
All Laurie keeps saying to me is that he looks exactly like his daddy.

The nurses comment on his hair and how amazing I am, and how composed I was during labor.
I am embarrassed I was so loud. And these nurses don't know what they are talking about, I was not composed. They keep going on and on about how amazing I was.
The baby is blue, but he's ok. He is crying good and seems alert. He is perfect. His hair is curly! I know it won't stay curly, but I like to think that it will. That would be something he would get from my family. He doesn't look at all like me. This baby looks so Asian I can't believe it!

I want my baby to stay on me forever, he doesn't need to go anywhere yet. We left him attatched to the cord for quite awhile. When the cord was all sunk in looking, and the blood had gone to the baby, Dang cut it.

Laurie is showing Dang the placenta and Dang is talking about saving it. Gross. There is no way I want to take that home. Funny guy.
This baby is so perfect! He isn't as blue now. There are the original 3 helpers plus Dang here now, I'm glad the other people are gone.
I love him. I love this baby so much, I had such a hard time being pregnant with this one, it was so worth it. I can't believe all I went through emotionally and physically. It seemed so hard. I'm so glad though. This baby is perfect, and I love him. I want to be perfect for him. I can't believe my other kids were this tiny and angelic.
I tore pretty bad from the stuck shoulder. I'm all stitched up, Laurie is helping me get the baby to latch on and nurse. He seems to know what to do, but is having a bit of a hard time. Laurie had Dang get involved and as soon as he did the baby latched on and has done fine since.

I nursed him on one side, then the other, then back to the first side again. Its getting to be time for me to move from this room to the recovery room. I'm ready to let the nurse take the baby and weigh him, I'm ready to get off this bed, and freshen up!

Baby weighs 7lbs 7.5oz they rounded up and said 7lbs 8oz and he is 19.5 inches long.
They gave the baby a little wipe down, and washed his hair. The nurse thought it was funny how she had to really really wash it! A few times to get it all clean. Funny.

I'm so glad the hospital does things different now. The baby has his little cart bed thing and just stays in the room with me. Dang and I get a sandwich from the nurse and we just hang out while the baby is sound asleep.

Dang goes to bed on the little chair bed thing in here.

I am so excited and can not sleep!
My mom got here at 4am. I was still awake, we tried to get the baby to wake up but he wouldn't. He is so sound asleep!

While my mom was driving down she realized the babys name was Luke. She asked me what I thought and I kind of shunned it.

Mom stayed awake with me and we visited. It was so good to have this time with her during my recovery. I feel great, but I am having a hard time taking deep breaths and feel like I need a deep breath, I guess its just from all the pushing and such. Also my uterus contracting back down to size is killer pain! I actually have to breath through it! I feel like I'm in labor all over again. I've been told this gets worse with each baby.
Dang woke up a little before 7 so he can go home and get AJ ready for school. I mentioned that my mom thought the babys name is Luke. And Dang had such a big smile and he said yes that is perfect! Then I thought yes it is. Then my mom told me she just had this feeling that it should be Luke, and it kind of went with me wanting a name related to Christmas, since we read out of Luke about the birth of Jesus every Christmas morning. Dang lit up and said in Laos luke means son. It is the perfect name. It has meaning behind it just like I wanted. It supports both cultures perfectly, and its short and simple, perfect to be followed by his dads real name, Phoukhane. My mom was right his name is Luke and I think she was inspired.

Dang left to get AJ ready for school, and bring the kids over to the hospital to meet their baby brother Luke. AJ LOVES being a big brother and couldn't hardly leave his side while we had to stay at the hospital.

He was excited to go to school and tell his teacher and all his friends about his brother though! And I was excited for him too! My friend was helping out in his class that day and she was able to show some of them pictures of him from her phone and he thought that was so cool to tell and show!

Aubrey took a bit of time warming up to the idea of holding the baby. She didn't really want to at the hospital. Now at home thats about all she wants to do, and AJ seems to be too busy to ever hold him now.

Kyra holding Luke at the hospital

1st family picture... this was right after we got home from the hospital. I am exhausted and feeling sad that I don't have the energy I did after Aubrey was born.

Luke's buddy Kazden was born 3.5 weeks before him!

The day after I had the baby Laurie came to check on me. We talked and laughed at how funny it was that Luke waited so she was able to go to the party, but still came early enough for her to go skiing. She kept telling me how great I am during child birth and I just laughed and said I was embarrassed that I was so loud and kept asking for an epidural. Laurie was like what are you talking about! She said I just whispered to her a few times that I wanted an epidural. She said I was so calm and quiet. I guess in my head I was in this firey rage, but didn't have the energy to actually let it out. I'm glad that I was a composed woman for all of that. In my head I was a mess! But I am SO glad I was able to deliver Luke naturally. Had I not progressed so fast possibly I would have gotten an epidural, but really by the time I wanted it I was too close to delivery to even get one. I like recovering from a natural birth alot more than recovering from an epidural (I delivered AJ with an epidural, Aubrey was natural and perfect too perfect) I feel strong for making it through! I'm so happy that Dang was by my side the entire time, and that he got involved with the delivery. The past 2 he just stayed up by my head. This was such a special time for Dang and I. I never want to forget it! I wish I had my blog when I delivered my other 2 so I could have documented the whole thing! These times in life are the best!

Photo A Day!!!

2012-01-09T22:05:00.000-08:00

Just in case anyone is wondering... YES I am going to blog Luke's birth story.I love labor/birth stories. And I also am going to put up a bit...probably alot.... about Christmas, and ALSO Lukes photo shoot pics!!! LOTS to blog about!!! But this post has to come up now in order for me to continue this all year :)

1 of my new years resolutions is to take a photo a day.
This is why:
1-capture what we do in a daily life, not just get pics of the not so ordinary things we do.
2-I suck at journaling. Last year....and the year before I had a goal to write down at least 1 thing I was grateful for that day, and am never able to commit. So this is my new attempt, in a different way, of doing that!

This week:

We hold Baby Luke ALOT!
Pretty much only eat cookies, cookie dough, cupcakes, and chocolate!
Played in a box
Steelers lost... :,'(
Rang in the new year together, kids stayed awake the whole time!
Still enjoy our quirky chicken birds
Love having the Christmas vacation over with and get to play with friends every day all day again (thats the kids point of view) personally... I would love my life to be a vacation from reality, but since thats not an option, I am glad to be getting back into our "normal" routine, I don't know what our routine is yet though, Luke is still trying to teach me what that will be.
AJ pulled out his 2nd tooth! Aubrey lost it... luckilly the toothfairy got her memo about it! She left a note (AND a dollar!) and said to mail it if he finds it! :)
Flowers are growing within the dead winter stuff on the ground. It's been quite nice an warm lately! Especially for January!
We took down all the Christmas decorations and are now ready for the next season!

LUKE PHOUKHANE CHANDARA

2011-12-17T21:27:00.000-08:00

We welcomed baby Luke 12/15/11 at 10:28 p.m.
He's the perfect angel baby
More to come later

Since Nov. 21st...

2011-12-07T20:12:00.001-08:00

This seems to be the only Halloween picture I can find, and it came from Dang's phone! This year, a couple months in advance Aubrey declared she was going to be a fairy, and wanted the costume from Children's Place, we had a credit so I caved and got it, luckily she didn't ever change her mind. AJ had a HARD time deciding what to be... there were SO many things he wanted to be, and he wanted to make it! So when I saw the idea for a pregnant skeleton I told him we could make matching costumes and thats what he liked best!

This was at the end of our trick or treating, and we are all quite tired! Aubrey had to force herself to stop crying and smile for her dad. note the awkward face she is making... poor girl lol

Here is my little Aubralina ballerina, performing for the very first time! She was by far the cutest little dancer out there and I was so proud of her! She just went right out and did her thing without getting nervous or forgetting any moves.

CUTIE PATOOTIE!

Here we are in front of my parents house for Thanksgiving

Aubrey with her Pa-Tu. We don't have very many pics of the kids with Dangs parents... this is Dang's Dad

I was trying to get the three generations together for a photo and this was the best I could get. It really explains what its like to visit Pa-tu. There is always a table full of random things to eat. Most of which I can't identify... although I am getting better at it! AJ always has a bowl of rice with soy sauce, its not the same anywhere else, and Dang's dad is always hovering over them making sure there is enough food and plenty to drink!

The kids had a fun time playing in the leaves... we don't get to do this much because I don't have a very leafy yard, and there are dogs and deer at my moms, not the best for digging in a pile of leaves!

Always gotta build something at Grandpas

Thanksgiving Feast! This year our dinner crowd was very slim. I was THE ONLY child out of the 4 of us who was home this year. Everyone else was out with the other half of their families. Smaller number of people+same amount of food prepared= extra leftovers!!!

Perfect to have frozen and ready to go for post baby, or 9th month of pregnancy and lack of energy to cook!

Day after Thanksgiving means Christmas decorating for us! We went and... bought a real tree from a house that sells trees they cut down... its as close to cutting our own down I can get for now. The kids and I spent the day putting all our indoor decorations up, and decorated the tree, while Dang worked all day outside! We invested in new lights this year. Since we live on a corner Dang is very particular about having lights go all the way around the roof, in a perfect line. And we had to have LED lights. Gotta save that energy! They were a bit pricey but of course look FANTASTIC! We put our old lights around the tree... so I don't know how energy efficient we are really being.

The kids are SO happy that Christmas time is finally here!!!

I had to do it...

36 weeks

I LOVE maternity photos that I see of other people... I like to think that with a pro photographer I could look as amazing as other pregnant people. BUT I'm just not going to splurge on that. However I am coming to terms with MY pregnant belly/body. There is something magical about a little life inside of me, and why not be proud of it!?

BEFORE

DURING... wiggle wiggle wiggle...

AFTER!!! The CUTEST big kid ever! I always thought kids with missing teeth looked awkward, then AJ lost his tooth and O MY GOSH.... that little toothless child has the CUTEST smile ever! (especially when its natural, and not forced for mom to take a picture...) And all of a sudden all these little toothless children look so precious to me... It is so funny how perspectives change once you have experienced something!

Quick trip: Dang had some work things to do in Provo, so I talked my niece Josie into skipping school and helping me up north with the kiddos. aaaaaaa it was SO nice to have her help! I will not be able to thank her enough for the sacrifice she made! I can not handle the amount of people up north, I am just way not use to that amount of traffic! Lucky for us we just hung out at the mall the entire time til Dang came and got us :)

Fun times!

And that is my update for the moment. Hope to be back soon with a labor story and baby pictures :)

I know that is pushing it a bit, I don't think I'll have the baby this early, but it could happen. I'm not that far away!!!

Check up tomorrow... can't wait to find out how things are coming along.

p.s. I'm only 5 lbs over what my normal weight gain should be! Everyone gains weight this time of year, so really I don't think I am that different from anyone else. EXCITEMENT!!! it feels good to have a professional tell you you are not extremely overweight. Compared to 4 months ago I was told I needed to do at least 3 miles a day of walking. I guess I get those 3 miles in just from doing daycare, or just from being a busy mom! because I certainly haven't been able to get out on the track!

Yay for feeling good!

Wait to cut the cord...

2011-11-21T14:37:00.001-08:00

Just barely I read about moms who choose to wait to cut the umbilical cord.

Has anyone done this before? Its intriguing to me, but I haven't ever heard of waiting so it seems like maybe its a weird thing...

Well I have an appt. with my midwife tomorrow, I am going to ask about it and possibly add that to my what I want to happen list.

If anyone has waited, I want to know about it!

Pregnancy thoughts.... 5 more weeks!!!!

2011-11-19T20:27:00.000-08:00

ONLY FIVE WEEKS TO GO!!!

I am quite excited to be this far along in pregnancy! I am far along enough to deliver a healthy baby, far along enough to see the light at the end of the tunnel, far along enough to be getting ready to deliver, and best of all so much closer to meeting the little angel baby that is growing and developing inside of me!

Pregnancy update:

~My back is feeling a wee better since I've stopped going to the chiropractor.... this makes me sad a little because after going to him for 3.5 years of treatments, I feel like he is in some way part of my life. However I am SO glad to not be spending $60 a week on him anymore, and SOOOO happy to not be dealing with as much pain as before.

~I haven't gained any weight for 5 weeks, which I feel is GREAT! At my last checkup my midwife said I was measuring right on and the baby had grown quite well.... since I hadn't gained weight and the baby did... that means I lost a little... right? well I know I shouldn't want to lose weight being pregnant, but nearing 200 lbs makes me feel like a foreign object and the farther away I stay from 200 the better! with only 5 weeks left its possible I won't! Hooray!

~ This baby is actually pretty lazy... he doesn't move a ton like I remember Aubrey moving constantly. Its kind of nice to think that this little guy will be laid back, and it makes those movements so much more exciting and special when I do feel them. However I have had a couple of days where several hours will go by and I'll think I haven't felt him, so I get sugar and lay down to count movements. I never had to count movements with my other babies because they were pretty active, so thats been different. But once I start counting and he is moving then he moves alot and I wonder why I worried in the first place.

~My favorite clothes to be in right now are Dangs huge sweat pants, and my cotton night gown that use to be worn as a night gown, it currently serves as my only pajama shirt that comfortably covers my belly without me wondering how many inches of skin might be showing under my vision. I have grown out of pretty much all of my maternity clothes, definitely don't fit in any of my regular clothes. Its not very good... I hate getting dressed, I hate it so much that when I go to bed I feel a little sad that the morning is that much closer because I will have to spend so much time trying to find something to wear and try to feel comfortable in it all day, and somehow manage to show off a bit of confidence, and professionalism, since I am running a business and working with parents throughout the day.

~I don't have a jacket or sweater that will... 1-cover the length of my stomach, or 2- wrap around it, so I wear one of Dangs, which unfortunately for him, he feels like once I've worn something of his, it no longer is acceptable for him to wear. Dang's jacket/coat collection has grown by 6 in the last few months. He definitely likes to shop, and when I am not in a buying anything for myself phase of life he takes over to the MAX. Its nice to be married to someone who likes to shop with me, but I do feel a little sad to hate my wardrobe so much right now, and have him have an almost all new one, up to date, fashionable, and well... everything fits and looks great. Meanwhile I don't have much that fits at all, and if it does its not very good looking... Actually my favorite thing to wear are leggings with a cotton dress. However leggings aren't the best looking on an obesely pregnant lady. O WELL.

~I am feeling more prepared for the baby now! :) My friend Alex threw a baby shower for me and I had a great support group there with me. I hate shower type things for myself because I always feel like things like that are all about getting gifts. Well, since having a totally crappy pregnancy and feeling so miserable and freakish... even lonely a little.... This baby shower was a total up-lift group thing for me. It was so nice to have friends and family come and show their support and excitement. And to hear good things and see so many smiles all about me and the baby gave me a little boost! The boost definitely has helped me feel more ready and capable of whats ahead and has even given me a little better attitude to make it through the rest of this pregnancy. Also I did get gifts that definitely did help with getting prepared for a boy! Since the shower Cost-Co has had a sale on wipes and diapers that we have taken advantage of.

~Today I felt very hard contractions every 6 minutes for an hour! I was kind of getting nervous, but after re-hydrating and laying down with totally focusing on relaxing, they went from 6 minutes to 10 minutes to being irregular and then stopping. It was a little nerve wracking... I kept looking at the clock with every contraction and Dang would notice and ask if we were going to have the baby early or what? As much as I want to have this baby early... I actually would like to be much closer to term. So I am going to do my best to stay positive and relax so this baby will stay in my body as long as he can... even if it means me being uncomfortable and slightly miserable for 5 more weeks! I've made it this far, I would love to make it through another month to have that much more of a healthy baby!

Waiting in line for the premier of Breaking Dawn pt 1! with the girls.... Dang is taking the picture :) best time seeing the movie with some of my favorite girlies AND HUBBY!

Tis the Season....

2011-11-17T15:46:00.001-08:00

I am beginning to feel the pressure of Christmas time....

I have NO idea what to get for my children this year. I like to do a big present and filled stocking from Santa, and a couple presents from Dang and I, along with their Christmas Eve pajamas, book, and ornament.

SO far, the only thing planned to get for sure is a pair of pajamas for each of them with a book and ornament for Christmas Eve. I have Aubrey's pajamas. I don't have A.J.'s, he seems too old for "little boy" jammies, he likes to wear basketball shorts and a big shirt so it shouldn't be hard to find, but maybe he will want a set of jammies because that is what he's use to at Christmas... I don't know.

No books yet

No ornaments yet

Usually I know exactly what I am looking for. I know what my kids really really want, what they would like to have, and what I am actually going to get for them, even though its usually not going to be the... cheap hotwheel race set that won't ever get played with or another barbie to throw in the bin....

I know what I don't want to get them.... BUT I don't know what I do want to get them either....

Aubrey doesn't even have a favorite thing that I could consider. She likes to get a ton of paper and cut it up to make little books that last until she's got it stapled together and then she is done with it and its garbage (and I try not to be upset that all that paper is now garbage) and she likes to put makeup on, but make up is a disaster with doing daycare and Aubrey wants to share to bad to keep it put away while the other kids are here. A.J. really likes building Legos and has a good little set I would like to add to, but all I can find is the same set he has or a huge already planned out thing to build which is not cool with me, where is the creativity in a lego set with a planned outcome? It will be so stressful to get it built just right and then what? take it apart and try to do it again? or freak out when one of the younger kids breaks it down and you have to do the exact same thing all over? No, that is not ok with me.

I am at a loss of thought, and not feeling up to black friday shopping, unless there is the perfect thing at walmart then I might go there, but I'm not waiting in line, nor am I going to st george, and I don't really want to squeeze my 8 month prego body in with hundreds of people.

The kids want Happy Nappers. Last year they wanted Pillow Pets. They each got a pillow pet, and this entire year they are only used when I encourage their usage, other than that they aren't cared about. I don't know if I should get a Happy Napper for them since it will probably be the same story and I seem to frequently be irritated by the huge amount of space stuffed animals take up.

I don't have much time to get things figured out. My dear friend has all of her Christmas shopping done already... and wrapped. I don't even have a list, and am too mean a mom to just get the junk toys my kids may ask for.

I need to get this figured out soon, so I will be able to hit the major sales within this next week if I need to, and I want to be done with it once December rolls in, because I am planning to have this baby as early (crossing my fingers!!!!) and I don't want to have to worry about any of Christmas while delivering or figuring out the new family schedule.

Its comforting to know that even if I don't get Christmas figured out all will be just fine. Life goes on, and presents or no presents Christmas is about our Saviors birth so I should focus on that, and get my children to focus on that as well.

aaaaaaaaaaa

but there are all the daycare kids I need to figure out what Miss Amber is going to give, and all the sweet people in my life I want to give a little something to, as well as family.......

and we STILL DON'T HAVE A NAME PICKED OUT!!! We had a possibility, but now that is out. Nor do we have a car seat. And I have been sick since the day after halloween and am REALLY feeling like I need to be getting better because there is ALOT that needs to get done, and I have go to stop feeling SO tired!

Whoa Upload!

2011-11-05T20:27:00.000-07:00

I love to get photos up on here and show off what we've been doing/who we've been with/what my kids look like/etc... Since I haven't scrapbooked in over 3 years I need to, at least, do my best to get memories logged somewhere and this is where!

Lately I've been slacking on keeping up with things...

So here are SEVERAL photos/captions :)

....................for some reason I can't figure out how to move pictures around anymore on here, so this is all backwards, but o well...................

Yay for successful nap times! I bought mats for each of my daycare kids and they seem grateful for the individualized space they get when we lay down :)

We made caramel apples with all the kids for fall, I would say making them was a success! The kids mostly just bit the caramel off the apple

Aubreys apple wouldn't come off her plate, funniest thing in the world to her! lol

We went on a trip to the Hogle Zoo, it was a great trip! I would say probably the first trip we've gone when the weather was perfect! Every other time, its been snowy and freezing, or blazing hot! Also this was the first year the kids were really into the animals, all of them! AJ just wanted to race around from one to another and had to be sure we saw them ALL!

My favorite this year was the tiger completely comfortable lounging on its back, such a cute ginormous kitty

A family favorite were the elephants this year (last year they weren't there) There were two grown ups and a baby, the baby was pretty cute, but watching this one eat was hilarious.

Getting off the train ride. I wasn't impressed with it, you have to pay extra and its a very short ride, you don't see that great of animals either. The Lagoon train totally takes this one. But its always fun to go on a little train ride.

Here we are driving to the zoo, I drove more than half the way there! I was proud of myself, Dang pretty much has the wheel ever since we married.

A little preschool girl time at the art table

We had a friend share with us a monarch butterfly chrysalis that we watched closely for a little over a week, and it hatched! So fun and neat for the kids to observe!

We took a trip up to Fillmore for Hannahs homecoming and leaves. This girl is a BEAUTY QUEEN! She is such a cutie inside and out. Funny too.... I was helping with her dress and we had some issues with pieces of clothing, while I was being the loving not shy auntie that I am she called me a cougar! LOL

Went up the mountain for leaves and shooting, some of my favorite pictures of me from my previous 2 pregnancies are of me shooting, I believe this will be as well. It just feels like there is something strong about a pregnant woman ready and able to shoot a gun

AJ was in HEAVEN shooting a real gun. Everything to him is a gun and he is shooting all the time in his own world, and to be able to actually do it brought him so much joy! Lucky for him he's got the BEST gun man in the world to learn from! Gotta love Pawn Star Papa Joe!

Such a great picture of my parents and children. I love them in the mountains, on a bridge, with the leaves behind. This was such a great day!

My parents are so cute :) We went on a little hike for leaves and of course my parents had a great story about hiking down this trail on a hunt and how miserable it was. I think it was fun for them to get back on it again.

Morning of the dance, I did Hannahs nails for her, kinda a funny time of it, we did them outside so the fumes wouldn't be strong at all, and of course the sun kept bothering us so we kept moving then it started to rain! So we went under the porch :)

Homecoming game, we won!

AJ and my best friend from childhoods son played against each other during their last soccer game. It was pretty fun to watch them, totally in the game but every once in a while would notice each other and get a little funny.

at the hotel in St George, Tyler and AJ shared a bed and AJ is a MAJOR cuddler! He cuddled Tyler right off the side of the bed, you can't tell but Tyler had one leg off and a hand going down to the floor to hold himself up. :)

The boys in the hot tub during our St George stay

Dear Morgan:

2011-11-02T08:52:00.001-07:00

I have been wondering how you and your little family have been doing. I love to read your blog, and since it has been quite some time I thought to look and see if I missed something, then I realized I have been missing out on everything because you are now private! I hope to get an invite! my email is chandarafamily@hotmail.com

Best Day Ever!

2011-10-30T16:52:00.000-07:00

Today was a very special day!

Dang headed to work :(

The kids and I woke up at 7 (quite early for a Sunday)

We scurried to put together a salad and dessert

Then we went to Fiddlers church house to listen to our sweet 19 year old cousin Kaden give his farewell talk.

He is a very talented young man and its very exciting for our family to have a missionary go out and serve a mission! I have older cousins who have served missions, but they are much older than I and I wasn't really born or old enough to know who they were or what they were doing.

HOWEVER Kaden has been a part of my life for a long time, and now I am feeling what family members feel when they are saying goodbye to a missionary.

I am SO excited for him, his family, and all of us extended family who will get to support him and such. I look forward to sending little things, and to hearing about his experiences and adventures.

Good things :)

While we were waiting for Kaden to speak, my dear dear sister passed a note to me!

I haven't had a note passed to me in a VERY long time!

The excitement that I got just from getting the note was pretty good. BUT then I read it!

it said something of the sort:

"I can't believe I almost forgot...

I have a PRESENT for you out in the car!!!

I had to tell you now so the excitement can build up" :)

You see, my sister is one of the greatest because she knows that I do not like to be told anything about surprises, I LOVE the build up, and the overwhelming excitement you get when opening presents! It made me very happy to have a moment to build up the excitement!

Then I wrote her back something like this"

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EXCITING!!!:)

p.s. AJ's primary program is at 1:00

Feel like doubling up on sacrament today?"

(me, always having to go to church alone, because of a needing to work husband, have been prepared to watch my sweet little 5 year old all alone)

She wrote back (and I was not expecting this at all!):

"O MY WORD........... YES!!!!

That would be the greatest!"

and I, feeling so happy I could have jumped up and hugged everyone there, wrote back:

"This is THE BEST DAY EVER!"

You see there are days when the world is totally against you and nothing seems to go right, and you feel miserable, and disgustingly fat, and ugly, and the kids aren't happy, there is nothing to eat and you feel sick from eating out more often than not the past few days, and your bummed about not making dinner and about eating out since there really isn't money to spend, and the house is a mess, and there is just alot that needs to get done, so much needs to get done that none of it will actually get done because you are so busy trying to do whatever it is that really ends up not working out.... and it is just a crap day.

And then there are days when you haven't had enough sleep, and all the food you bought for that week isn't actually for you so you don't have any food to eat, and any extra money was spent on other things coming up in the next day or so, and you know that you are still just as fat and ugly as the day before, and actually maybe even bigger, and there is still so much to get done, that probably won't... BUT everything is actually really the best ever because you get to spend time with some of your favorite people your life, and you get to donate your time, service, and money to something very much worth while, the kids are happy, and you are happy, and for some reason the bumps and rolls that can't be hidden under a Sunday dress don't matter right now, and its the best day ever! And then you come home from church to a fridge full of food with a sweet note saying:

Amber-

There were so many leftovers so I brought some to you, let me know if you need any more of anything! Thanks for everything you do!
Love Jeanna

And even now that everything is great...you are so exhausted from everything this last week and your body hurts so bad from doing so much and wearing high heels all day and you can't move because your hips are locked in place because of your bad back. But then your husband walks in because he had to come home and trade vehicles, so he is able to spend a moment and massage those hips back in place, and then talk about how funny it was when I yelled at him the other day for kicking the dog, and then he does an impression of you doing an impression of him and then laugh for a good 10 minutes.

It couldn't have been a better day.

I have some of the best people in the world around me and in my life!

COUNTDOWN!

2011-10-20T14:35:00.000-07:00

So much work to do.....

So little time.....

and yet, here I am thinking of how to narrow down the last month plus some since I've blogged.

I have wanted to post a few different family things we have done lately, and also wanted to keep everyone (including my future self) updated on this pregnancy, and all the emotions/trials/pains and I definitely needed to be on here at least to jot down the few joyous highlights of this pregnancy.

For now, this is all about my life being pregnant....

I had my 30 week check up today, I'm measuring right on... I'm still anemic so gotta keep up on that iron supplement that I forget everyday! Weight gain... 48lbs so far. Yay for weight gain! not...

babys head is down... heart sounds good! Everything checks out great!

mentally/physically:

I have not enjoyed this pregnancy in any aspect at all. I have nicknamed this the monster pregnancy.

My back.... Monster Back

My face/chest/and back .... Monster acne

MONSTER weight gain!

no sleep

indigestion

gas

moody

pain pain pain

NO clue on a name

I wish I could say:

"I love being pregnant"

"This is such a wonderful thing"

"I could be pregnant over and over again"

"We are having more kids, because pregnancy is such a breeze"

"Life is Great!"

Instead here are the REAL things I would say.... trying to be light and not negative.

"Good thing I will be able to go through with some serious back treatments after the baby is born, less than 10 weeks to go!"

"Feeling the baby's little flutters, hard kicks, and big stretches erases every feeling of pain for a short moment, and reminds me there is a bit of heaven growing inside of me"

"My mom surprised me with a nice outfit this week, the overwhelming joy I felt brought a tear to my eye. Not sure if she wanted to spoil me a little or is embarrassed of my horrible appearance so she is trying to help out with that"

"I have had a fun time being in search for baby clothes and everything else you could need for a baby... we managed to give out EVERYTHING we had that was boy..."

"I'm glad my body is getting itself ready to lose a bunch of weight.... it obviously plans on losing so much I have to put on quite a bit extra... less than 10 weeks to go!"

"Who needs sleep?"

"Good thing Dang isn't affectionate at all... I'ld hate to feel awkward"

"LESS THAN 10 WEEKS TO GO!!!!"

"I just love spending 20 minutes every morning trying on several outfits with nothing that fits right, it will make getting dressed after pregnancy such a breeze"

"My kids make excuses for me with everything. Mom you must have forgot pretend food doesn't fill up our tummies... its ok because you are pregnant.... Moms toots smell real bad, its ok though your pregnant.... Mom has a fat belly like dad, its ok mom your pregnant..... We have to rub moms back because she is pregnant..... Mom, you didn't wake up in time to make me pancakes for breakfast, but its ok because your pregnant...... Mom doesn't know because she is pregnant..... Mom is angry because she is pregnant......

Its nice knowing the kids have my back when it comes to sucking at being a mom.... I just really hope it is all because I'm pregnant, and when I'm not then hopefully I get back into it... I guess they could always say... its because of the new baby.... hopefully it won't come to that, but I'm going to give myself a little slack for a while!

Anyway..... I am excited to be so close to delivery, and baby time! That is the time I have been looking forward to! Pregnancy I had no idea could be SO miserable!

Mostly I had no idea my back could possibly hurt this bad.

MONSTER BACK STORY:

After I had Aubrey I had horrible back pain and the chiropractor diagnosed me with scoliosis, which we have been able to keep at ease for the past few years, it has given me pain alot off and on and I was expecting that to hurt me during this pregnancy. And then it just got worse and worse and was a total new pain. Since my money thieving chiro didn't ever seem to think anything else was wrong with me only that I needed to come in to pay him more money more often (which I was going 3 days a week, every day he is open...) I decided it was time to see someone else, being pregnant I knew there wasn't much of a fix, I went on over to the physical therapist. Well he told me on top of the scoliosis... my sacrum is rotated (the very bottom of the spine) I have a lumbar sprain, and my si joint is separated, or out of place or something like that... which only will get worse during these last weeks thanks to hormones getting my body ready to deliver. It was so nice to hear what ELSE is happening and not that its just the same issue I've had the last few years. It was also nice because the physical therapist didn't say "YOU HAVE TO COME IN EVERY DAY I AM OPEN AND PAY A HUGE AMOUNT OF MONEY, or else your baby will just be under way too much stress and it will cause autism and all kinds of problems and it will be all your fault for not taking care of your spine." I'm not even exaggerating, I was told that several times by chiro. Instead the pt said... "not much you will be able to do, get a good cold pack and lay down with that as often as you can stand to until your ready to come back in after delivery."

So, I know there will come a day when I am not in miserable pain, and I will look back and think was I really having that hard of a time, or was I just being a baby. And I will hopefully mostly forget about the horrible pain that I am in right now. Just like I think to myself, I know that when I gave birth to Aubrey naturally I was not in hardly any pain, it hurt and I just powered through it and no big deal. Getting my IUD in was more painful than delivering. My midwife says I am wrong and I forgot how bad it hurt. I wonder if she is right. I hope to not ever have this horrible of back pain again in my life, however I do want to remember what I went through to bring our 3rd child into this world, and how much work it was. Possibly meaning no more children for us.... or possibly just so I know what to prepare for.

SO....

2011-09-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to post many many things the past few weeks, but seem to never get around to doing it. And the excuses I can give are phenomenal however I will spare you the extra reading...
Now it is time to spend a moment and get up some of our highlights!

This might be a funny one, but seriously I LOVE my Golden Girl egg producers! The first chicken egg laid is so tiny it was too cute to eat. Then compare to what we get now! We get 4 eggs a day! Let me say, I've always hated eggs, then I realized fresh eggs have a total different taste and are so good. We eat eggs every day. For free thank you very much.
Last month Dang celebrated his 26th birthday! (the cake was an all day disaster. Finally about 8 at night we had success... thanks to our neighbors for providing powder sugar!)

AJ started his first year of soccer. He has taken it on very well! I thought he would be afraid of going after the ball, but he just gets right in there! He is very nervous of us watching him and always reminds me not to say if he did anything wrong. I don't know why he thinks I would say anything but he is very concerned about it.
KINDERGARTEN!!! I can't believe I have a child in school! I remember my kindergarten days... hard believe AJ has entered this new life... K-12 here we come! O and don't let me forget the best part... AJ says his class is ok, but he can't wait for HIGHSCHOOL cuz that will be the best!
O yeah, and he rides the bus! I still have mixed emotions about it, and I know he can sense it cuz originally he isn't afraid of riding the bus, but if I walk him to the bus stop then he gets pretty clingy. So far he says he likes it.
We celebrated Iron County with the Worwoods this year and had a great time at the fair, then the parade the next day. The kids favorite thing to do is dig for money in the wood shavings. Maybe it would be a ride if I wasn't so cheap... I just don't know about fair rides...

Haha this is funny I think... Alex, AJ, and I sat in the back seat of the van. AJ had the camera with him and took pictures like CRAZY! He thought it was a good idea to capture the two prego bellies he was squished in between. Alex is due 6 or 7 weeks before me, but you would never know since my body has decided to look ready to deliver anytime now...

Here is my new preschool class! I am so excited for this year, I have really spent alot of time gathering new ideas and activities. I can't wait to get to know each child so I can really tailor what we do for them... o yes and its too bad we don't have the 2 little boys in this pic, you see I have daycare going on as well!

Baby update!

2011-08-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

So a few weeks ago I went in to get an ultrasound and they told me the baby would be due December 24th! Remember that?
Well then my midwife said we weren't going to go with that date and wait until my next ultrasound closer to around 20 weeks, and then go with that date instead.
So now here I am home from my 2nd ultrasound!
And it put my due date at December 22nd! So I got what I was hoping for... an earlier due date... but not by much!
CHRISTMAS BABY IT IS!!!
ALSO...
We were planning on baby #3 being a surprise!
And then when the lady doing the ultrasound moved the little thing over to measure the baby's femer I just had to happen to see exactly what the sex of the baby is! There is NO mistaking this one!
Haha
I just had to laugh really hard and say I knew what it was, and she didn't need to try to keep it a secret from me.

A bit about myself

2011-08-17T11:41:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been so busy! I didn't ever imagine myself having a calendar with several things to do written down on each day on almost every day out of the week... all month!
Part of me wishes there was a day just to do absolutely nothing. Just be able to wake up to my kids, not have to get dressed and do my make up, not have to get a welcoming breakfast cooking, and then not have to spend the day with several things going on around me.
But then when I do have a Saturday with nothing to do, I am bored. My kids are bored too, and we talk about all the great things that are coming up in the next week. And then I clean.
There was a time of my life when I didn't really know myself at all. I just knew I was a mom and a wife. And I was a lazy mom and wife. I kept things tidy and I played with my kids or watched cartoons with them, or napped with them. That to me, at the time, was what I was supposed to be doing.
And then I discovered that I was very unhappy, unhappy with myself, my marriage, and motherhood. By the time I realized this I started to get pretty busy doing daycare and had a few kids who have ended up being stable kids who come regular.
Now I feel like I have found myself, I know who I am, what I want to have done by the end of this year, what I want to do in the next 5 years, and where I want to be and who I want to be at the end of life.
Providing childcare has been a major factor in all of this. Serving in Young Womens has also attributed quite a bit as well.
I am excited to have a growing testimony in the church, and of our Savior, and the Holy Ghost! and I'm excited to serve and add to our community, and to receive blessings and hopefully be a blessing to others!
I'm excited to gain more knowledge in childhood development, and learn exactly what our kids need at what age and how to enhance their learning and build trust and love. I'm excited to provide children in care with a home away from home where they are a part of our family that loves each and every one of them, where they feel safe and cared for. I'm excited to further my education in childhood development and professionalism in childcare!
I love my life, and where its going! I couldn't ask for a better husband who not only is the greatest person I know, he is also the one person who pushes me to be my best and makes me feel like what I am doing is the most important thing to him and our family. He supports me in everything, and forgives me for anything. He is the best!

:)

2011-08-07T10:30:00.000-07:00

Your Happily Ever After; Girls Camp 2011

2011-08-01T12:42:00.001-07:00

As pretty much everyone knows I was called to be the 1st counselor in Young Womens.
I must say it has been a challenge! A very good challenge, but a challenge to say the least.
I went from being a member of the church, still finding myself with a growing testimony to being called in to teach the sunbeams. I taught the sunbeams for almost 2 years, and in that time I think if anything I lost a bit of my testimony. I was SO comfortable teaching these little kids who were the same age as my own, and not old enough to follow a lesson for an hour, I got to teach about how Heavenly Father has a body like we do, birds, and bugs, and trees, and flowers... I wasn't challenged. I wasn't challenged to grow in the church. I LOVED my calling as a sunbeam teacher! But when I was called to be the Young Womens 1st counselor then it hit me very very hard that I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do! All of a sudden my lessons went from night and day, to temple marriage. I went from tiny innocent children to teenagers struggling to live the gospel, faced with trials that I know very well of since I was a teenager not very long ago! I all of a sudden changed my every day prayer to a plead of please help me influence these girls and keep them on the right path! I instantly fell in love with every one of these girls and I feel for them in the struggles they go through and I want so bad for them to gain a testimony strong enough to keep them afloat in a world that is trying to drown them!
All of a sudden the gospel meant so much more to me, the way I study changed, the way I prepare for lessons changed, the way I live my life has changed. This calling is an answer to so many of my prayers, I had no idea a calling could mean so much to someone....
Anyway, lucky me got invited to go to girls camp with my sweet girls this year!
When I was in Young Womens girls camp was everything to me! When I look back at my years of being a young woman girls camp and a couple leaders are the only things I remember. I was SO excited to tag along this year!
However it was not as easy as looking at my packing list, and packing up to go.
I had to take work off. (thats hard for me, because I don't just take work off, I have families who then have to find someone else to watch their kids or they have to take work off as well... its hard for me to put them in that situation!) I had my own family I had to get all ready for the week I would be gone.
The kids packed to go to Grandmas, I needed to get everything they could possibly need ready for that. I had to get my home all situated for Dang, so when he would get home from work at 7 all he would have to do is warm up some dinner, and then when he had the kids back home he needed everything all ready for that too....
I planned, and packed, and cooked, and cleaned for what felt like a whole week just to leave for 4 days!
Once everything at home was situated, and letters to my dear kids for each night were written, and my hubby... I left.
It was hard to leave! I think this was the first time Dang and I have spent more than 1 night apart in our whole marriage. It was hard for me to trust that the kids would feel enough love from Grandma, and then from Dad to cover what I provide them. It was hard for me to think that the kids would think that I was choosing the youth over them.
It was hard. But I knew that I needed to go, that these girls needed to know who I am and what I stand for, and that they can trust me and think of me as a friend and a leader they could turn to whenever they need anything. And I knew that my kids would be blessed for sacrificing me for a short period of time.
And they were! The kids were mauled with love and spoiled like crazy at my moms! They had a great time with their dad who now they love and trust even more than ever before. Aubrey doesn't demand so much from me as she did, she will "let" her dad help her with alot more than she has before.
Coming home was amazing. I could see how happy the kids were, and how happy Dang was. He knows that he is a great dad, and being reassured of that is a huge blessing!
Now while at camp:
The camp directors picked the theme YOUR HAPPILY EVER AFTER they got from Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk, you can read here.
Everything was princess themed of course. The girls chose their favorite temples and they had a banner made with the temple of their choice, the value they picked to focus on, and the princess that matched the value, and they posted those up next to the tent they stayed in. We each got a t-shirt that said Princess Amber with a tiara on it. The directors had a treasure box that they would secretly fill with little treasures and quotes and scriptures for the girls. I think the girls got 7 treasures a day! We made princess crowns to put on our pillows, and crowns to wear. We went on a hike. Watched a movie! We got rained on every day, not constantly but it rained every day. We roasted starburst :) had fun food you don't normally eat while camping, like: nachos, grilled cheese, and pizza!
The directors really did a great job of organizing everything and had it all set up for the girls to just have a good time and have a chance to bond with each other. (our ward recently dissolved and we have been scattered among several different wards, so the girls didn't know each other very well) We had the most fun when we were just hanging out, jump roping, or playing big bootie! The girls really got to know one another on levels they didn't before. As leaders we were able to really bond and get to know each other as people and as leaders, and we got to know the girls and really bond with them too. It was a great experience!

Jump roping:

Me and Jana:
Big Bootie:

Craft time (All the girls!):

Jaycee and Shontae had a bit of a food fight:

Valley View Ward Girls Camp:

It was a GREAT experience! We have some amazing girls in our ward and I love that I get to spend so much time with them! Each night we would read (or were supposed to anyway):

I AM A CHILD OF ROYAL BIRTH.
MY FATHER IS KING OF HEAVEN AND EARTH.
MY SPIRIT WAS BORN IN THE COURTS ON HIGH.
A CHILD BELOVED, A PRINCESS... AM I.
REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE!

I thought that was so great! Sometimes we forget who we are, and where we came from and what it means to be a child of God.
I hope these girls always remember how they felt during camp, the friendships they made, and the trust they built up in each other. I especially hope they remember the spirit they felt during testimony meeting, and what that means to them!

Fishlake 2011

2011-08-01T10:15:00.000-07:00

Every year us Ashmans make quite a fuss about getting everyone up to Fishlake for what we are considering our "family reunion" since we don't actually have a reunion like every other American family. We do always make it a point to get everyone together at least once a year for our family camping trip, which I like to take credit for since growing up I was the one who made it a huge deal to go on at least one camping trip! Now it is tradition, and it is our family reunion.
This year was especially great because my biggest big brother Josh and his wife Tina who live in Missouri were able to come too! So it was a true FAMILY get together with everyone there.

My parents make the trip especially nice by getting cabins for us all to stay in!

And they also spoil us with a day on a Pontoon boat!

Our favorite things to do while at fishlake include hanging out on the porch at our cabin, playing cards, we always do a girl craft, fishing, boating, o yes... and eating. Its tradition to have certain foods at gatherings like these. My mom is in charge of bringing macaroni salad and potato salad, Jody is in charge of bringing nude cookie bars (family secret) and ham, I am in charge of chicken blt wraps and hello dollies.

The ones who started it all, Papa Joe and Grandma Arv:

The eldest sibling Jody, and her fam:

and the youngest sibling Me and my little family (just think next year this will be a family of 5!)

Some of the fam had to leave early and we didn't get their family pics...

Once our stay at the lake is over we drive up the mountain a bit to shoot. If you know who my dad is then you know he not without gun at all times, and we definitely like to take advantage of being able to go shooting whenever we can since thats something we don't get to do a whole lot.
This year was great! I love getting to spend time with the family without all the fuss of a holiday, and now that everyone is older its hard to even be together during the holidays, so its definitely nice to get together when we get to focus on each other, and we get to know each other even better than we did before.
Thanks Mom and Dad for another great year!
Love you Ashman family!

kaysara sara

2011-08-01T09:39:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been struggling with trying to keep up with....
myself!
I have SO many things going on in my little head and heart of things I desperately want to do, get done, experience, have my kids experience.... etc etc...
I've been able to do alot this summer! We've gone on several family trips, we spent a weekend with the Ashmans at our annual fishlake trip, I prepped and prepared everything for me to leave for 4 days so I could go to girls camp, I survived girls camp! I've tried to stay on top of the house, get ready for the school year of daycare, organize the never ending things to organize. I've made it a goal to be a better me, I'm trying to focus on my little family, be more grown up, rely on the Savior and plan to be better and do better every single day.
Let me just say
I am exhausted!
I'm glad to have done as much as I have this year, soon I will be too pregnant to enjoy doing much, and then I will have a newborn to focus on and will be limited in what I do for a while. I look forward to having our baby here, I have really not enjoyed any aspect of pregnancy this go around, and can not even tell you how badly I want to be done being pregnant. And I still have 4 months left to go!
I feel like I am never going to be content with where I am at right now. I want so much more. So many things that are not achievable for us right now or any time soon. I would love to just snap my fingers and have it all. Unfortunately things don't work that way, we have to work for everything, sometimes we have to work very very hard for something only to realize that it is not something we need.
In Sunday we talked about what desire means.... I gave a lesson on eternal perspective a few weeks ago, and it seems every day since then I am asking myself: Does this really matter? Am I putting my eternal goal first, or am I stuck in a worldly frame of mind? Now I think about what I desire. I have a huge list of things I want that are all very worldly. Most of it surrounds around things dealing with money. But what do I DESIRE? I need to change up what I want and think about what I really desire and where the root of that desire is and focus on that.

Summer time

2011-07-14T09:49:00.000-07:00

Time certainly flies by when your having a good time/have a million things to do!
I can't believe that it is already July 14th!
Once the 4th of July is over then I feel like the summer is dwindling down, and that school will be starting in no time!

This year that means more to me than ever because AJ will be in the system. K-12 here we come! I can't believe my baby... well not baby at all... is going to school! And riding the bus!!!! I wasn't ever nervous about sending him on the bus until now. Now I have so many worries about it! I know SO many kids who rode the bus, and kids I babysat rode the bus from school to my house and there never was a problem, so I shouldn't be so worried, but I am! My biggest fear is that he will get lost going from the bus to his class, or from his class to the bus! I feel like writing it out makes it real, hopefully writing it out makes it not real, and he will be fine!
I am very excited for him as well. I am excited to start this new journey of motherhood. Helping out with homework, reassuring him about himself, watching him grow and learn things that he doesn't learn from me... just watching him turn into a BIG KID is something that makes my heart skip a beat, I can't believe how fast his little infant and toddler life flew by!
Well we have just been as busy as we can be. Summer is a time for vacation, fun and sun in my mind. I love to just pack up and go go GO!
We've been sure to make the most out of our time together, any day I get off daycare early we head out and do something!
We took a spur of the moment trip to lagoon and spent the weekend up north!

Spent a day in lagoon/lagoon a beach!
Slept in a hotel (possibly the kids favorite part since they ask to spend the night in a hotel every other day since then)
Hung out at Thanksgiving Point for a day (one of the goats in farm country just barely gave birth to 2 baby goats while we were there!)

and...................................

Made it even more spur of the moment and bought a van!

I now feel like I'm in the Utah mom club, not sure how I feel about that, but I am very excited/relieved to be even more prepared for when the baby arrives and we become a family of 5. Plus: I LOVE getting good gas mileage!!!!

We are heading out tomorrow morning for another fun trip! Our annual family fishlake trip! This year is going to be especially great because our Ashmans from MO are going to be there! And since Dang did not support my idea to just drive out there and visit over the 4th of July then I am excited they are driving out here to spend time with us!

KOOLAID

2011-06-28T11:30:00.000-07:00

I may be a bit of a mean daycare provider.... we only drink water, or milk. Sometimes flavored milk if I feel like being nice. So when I get out the koolaid packets, the kids get pretty excited... and wonder....

WHAT ARE WE MAKING NOW???

First we made taffy using this recipe from Skip to my lou.
The kids really had a good time with it!
Everyone took turns measuring the ingredients in:

then we watched how the bubbles changed as it got hotter and hotter:

After it cooled came the STRETCHING! by far the kids favorite part!

Then the cutting and wrapping.... and eating!
by the way we used blue raspberry lemonade flavored koolaid. It was tasty, but I might use more than one package next time. I would have liked a more intense flavor... the kids mostly liked the stretching part of it!

Another fun way of using those little powder packets:
SCRATCH AND SNIFF PAINT!
I got this idea from a daycare training I went to.
You just mix a packet of koolaid with a few TBSP of water, and viola! scratch and sniff paint!

We did primary colors and refreshed on the importance of primary colors and what makes secondary colors.
It made for a good time, and a stained table, but thats why I have a crappy table! One day I'm sure there will come a time for nice furniture, but now is not the time for sure!

So if you are thinking you want to do a little craft, then theres a couple of ideas that are fun to do with kids. You might want to cover your table if you paint, or do it outside!

Due???

2011-06-25T17:40:00.000-07:00

So far with this pregnancy the most exciting part of it has been the excitement the kids show...
You know, I think since I've been pregnant before and this is my 3rd baby, the pregnancy excitement is just kind of dwindled down to not all that much.
Actually having another baby is exciting to me!
Welcoming a newborn into our home sounds exciting!
Having our comfortable family of 4 turn into (what seems like) a big family of 5 is exciting!
Thinking about managing 3 kids (of my own, not daycare kids) instead of 2, is exciting!

Anyway, I wonder if you are someone who has more than 2 kids... maybe someone who already had a boy and a girl and you don't really care if baby #3 is a boy or girl, then I wonder if you know what I'm talking about.

However I will tell you a VERY exciting thing about this pregnancy that is new!

I was unsure on my dates, and we had no idea how far along this baby was or when the due date was.
So I had an ultrasound done to measure the baby and find out exactly how old the baby is and when he/she will be making its debut.
I kinda thought I was 12 weeks along... and then...

GOOD NEWS

The baby is 14 weeks!!!!

Putting my due date at

get ready for this

DECEMBER

TWENTY FOURTH

24

CHRISTMAS EVE

I am a little shocked at the idea of having a Christmas baby!

And still trying to decide how I feel about that, whether I will force all my family to come to Cedar for the holidays, or possibly this baby will follow in its siblings footsteps and arrive 9 days early making it possible for us to possibly travel to Fillmore, or maybe it will just be a quiet little holiday here.
And what am I going to do when its time to throw birthday parties!?!?
I know for sure I do not want to celebrate a birthday the day before Christmas (if it arrives right on the due date) or not even a week before. Maybe we will celebrate a very happy UNbirthday on a special day of the year. Or a half birthday party.
I don't know.

But that is my new and exciting news. Baby is a wee farther along than we thought. And the due date is something to wonder about and look forward to!

Look How Pregnant I am!

2011-06-23T08:19:00.001-07:00

Every day the kids show me their "pregnant" bellies.
And they have to lift up my shirt to see how pregnant I am...
usually resulting in a comment like
WOAH you are VERY pregnant Mom!

The kids have said the funniest things and I don't want to forget them:

At dance class Aubrey was standing by Payton and Camden (sisters) when the dance instructor said to the sisters
"you two look like you must be sisters"
Aubrey leaned over in front of them and said
"mmhhmmm they are! AND I AM A TWIN!!!"

I don't have any idea where that came from but holy cow we all sure got a good laugh from it!

While we were camping last weekend I had AJ hold up my tiny mirror so I could touch up my mascara.
AJ watched very intently while I carefully blinked slowly over the brush over and over again.
AJ said
"Its like your eye is eating corn on the cob!"

List kind of girl

2011-06-21T14:29:00.000-07:00

Today I am feeling quite proud of myself!
I will tell you why

I have my entire chore list crossed off!!!!

Todays chores:
wash sheets
make beds
vacuum
sweep and mop kitchen
dust
wash and put away dishes
wipe down kitchen appliances

I have completed them all!!!!

I started this set chore list for myself about 3 weeks ago, it worked fabulous! I have a list of set chores that I {should} do every day, and a list of chores to do on certain days of the week. The first week I did them all every day and my house looked great! And then I took about a week off, and now my house does not look great... but today I did them, and its on the way to looking good!

When I was growing up there were two things I knew my mom would have waiting for me every single day.
1- hot breakfast every morning complete with pancakes, waffles or french toast, and bacon or sausage. I don't think I had a bowl of cereal in my life until I was married and realized I was not going to be cleaning up the mess from a hot breakfast every day.
2- a chore list waiting for me on the table, either when I woke up in the morning or when I got home after school.

I was to finish my chores and then I could go and do whatever it was I wanted.... pretty much anyway.
Completing chores is instilled in my system. HOWEVER I will not do anything if I don't have a list.
I will just sit and think about how messy things are around the house and how unhappy I am about them, and how there is SO much to do.
but I don't actually get any of it done.
UNTIL I make a list. Then I go into cross it off mode.
All I have to do is one thing then I get to cross it off and its done! then I move onto the next and then the next and before I know it I have done SO many things and its taken no time at all, and I'm not sitting around thinking about my crap hole dirty house. Yes I do think of it as that sometimes. Instead, I am thinking I am freaking SUPER WOMAN! I am pregnant, doing daycare, my house is CLEAN and yes kids are still running around having fun!
This is the life.
the clean happy life that I love.
AND I LOVE MY LISTS!!!
I make lists for everything.
Things I need to buy at the end of the month if we have any extra money
Things I want to accomplish in life
Top things I want... eventually
grocery lists
menus
activities/crafts lists
snacks to have on hand for daycare
super foods to include in anything I can
movies I want to buy

the LIST goes on!
now I just made a list of lists
that is how ridiculous I am...
I save scraps of paper just for making lists, I have a little pile of scrap paper just for lists.

Mom I got this from you. We are list people.

last weekend.....

2011-06-20T21:10:00.000-07:00

We celebrated FATHERS DAY!!!!

shocker right?!

Well, actually every fathers day we celebrate Dang and what an amazing person he is in my life and our kids' lives. He is honestly a GREAT person! He is exactly the kind of person you want to end up spending your entire life with because he is such a good person, with a good heart, who you love and want to share the lifelong duty of parenthood with.
Well it is of Dangs choice to go camping for fathers day! He (I believe) has made it a tradition to camp every year for dad day. And I love camping, so its a party for me too!
THIS year, was fun because it worked out that I didn't have to work on Friday, that gave us more time to travel, AND my parents didn't have a gunshow!!! (that NEVER happens!) So it worked out perfect to CAMP in FILLMORE and get to spend time with not only the MAN OF MY LIFE, but also.... my dad.... who has always been there for me, unconditionally loves me, and helped my great mom raise me to be who I am today. (hopefully they are proud of that!)
We really had a great time! It was fun to go back to where we were raised and enjoy the mountains there! Its always SO nice to spend time with family!!! I LOVE my family so much! They are incredible people and we have such a great bond that I wouldn't trade for anything. Dang has adopted my family as well and enjoys spending as much time with them as I do! That to me means the world! I am so glad that he doesn't talk about "the inlaws" everyone is family.
Anyway...
HAPPY FATHERS DAY to my Hubby and Dad!!!! Thanks to both of you for helping me be me, for loving me more than I expect, for taking care of me and my beautiful children, for being role models to my kids, and for being the most incredible men I know! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!

Dang working on dinner, AJ working on the fire (of course!):
Papa Joe and Aubrey on a little hike:

Papa Joe and AJ on the little hike:
Drinking hot cocoa:
AJ warmin up with hot chocolate as well:

Papa Joe and Grandma Arv enjoying the camp fire:

This is how AJ eats a smore:

This is how Dang looks eating a smore, and super cute Aubs loves her silly dad:

Grandma loves to have herself a perfectly roasted marshmallow!:

This is a picture we took just to find out what time it was, our camera will show the time on pictures, and we actually take alot of pictures while camping just to find out what the time is. One of these days one of us might wear a watch, but then we would end up with less pictures....

Good morning campers!... what time is it? I don't know we should take a pic:

Dangsta chillin out:

AJ chillin:

Aubrey sneaking in the bush... she acts like she is being cute, but really she was trying to find a place to sneak in with her deedee (tiny pink pillowcase she is MAJORLY attached to) and suck her thumb. She is not allowed to do that unless she is in bed for bedtime. She sure is cute trying to sneak though:

Here is our little family on the bridge at Pistol Rock:

SUNDAY the kids performed SKID-A-MA-RINK-A-DINK-A-DINK for Dang once he got home from work. We had the house SUPER clean (Dang LOVES things to be clean and an {almost} perfectly clean house was part of his "present"

I made up a tasty dinner that I was very proud of and Dang LOVED... cha ching... another great present I say! (for some reason I didn't take a picture of it, but I should have! I will make it again, and maybe if I have nothing better to post about then I will share it then. Or I will just share it cuz it was that good! :)
The kids worked all morning/afternoon on the perfect card for their daddy! I had them each tell me 5 reasons why they love their dad and we put that on the cards they made. Dang loved it, and I did too! It was so funny the things they said!
From Aubrey:

From AJ:

AND of course I had to give Dang the mitt he has been wanting ever since AJ started t-ball. Its not easy finding a perfect left handed mitt, so when it was found then I got it, and was able to surprise Dang with it! Plus what a great dad gift... now he will be able to play catch with AJ all his life!

That pretty much sums it all up.

To my Mr. Dang:
I just want you to know that I am grateful that every single day you try to be the best dad you can be, and that you are always improving on your best! You are an amazing person! I know you put your whole heart and energy into our family. Even though there are days when I seem upset or I don't show my appreciation, I hope you know I am always grateful for everything you do! I hope that you feel that for yourself and are proud of yourself for becoming the dad you are!
I love you!
Thanks for being AWESOME! Life with you is perfect!
-Ms. Amber-

Pregnancy thoughts

2011-06-15T23:46:00.000-07:00

I am actually just waiting for pictures to load on my outdoor post, that is FOREVER long! I hope at least my mom and sister read the entire thing because I know they love to see and hear every single thing that we are doing. I would love if everyone cared as much as they do, but I totally get it that some people have their own lives to live and can't waste them reading all about mine.

So I believe I am 12 weeks now. I have been waiting to go to the dr until we could hear the heartbeat, and just because I am kind of at the point where I don't know if its all that necessary to go in every few weeks. It seems like as long as I am healthy and feel good then I probably am good and I don't need someone to tell me that. Although I do LOVE my midwife and am actually pretty excited to be close to her again!

This entire pregnancy I have thought I obviously looked pregnant to everyone, I have gained SO much weight already. Don't believe me, or if you are thinking you gain alot of weight also, then just wait. I've already gained 20 pounds!!! I am just now 12 weeks! I know that with the more kids you have the faster your body is to respond, and just go right ahead and get big, but seriously?! How can I have already gained so much??? It makes me want to lose weight, even while being pregnant. I was looking forward to spending a good year of not even worrying about weight!
O well. Whatever, maybe I am gaining it all now and won't gain anymore the rest of the 6 months I have to go. HA!
Anyway, I am NOT fitting in my regular clothes. And not really filling in my maternity clothes, so I am this lovely stage where I just look like I've gained alot of weight, and most people are pretty sure I am pregnant but don't want to ask, just in case... you know. I hate this stage of what I look like. I am feeling quite a bit better though. I'm not super tired like I was before. I don't die on the couch at 4pm every day anymore. I am back to feeling well enough to eat my regular meals and snacks. However I still can not stomach the idea of Sonny Boys, that place has good food, but even just thinking about that place makes my stomach turn. I hope that goes away, I really loved it there.
Not being able to handle the idea of eating out, and also gaining so much weight... all helped to get me on track with a regular menu. Its been really nice to know what I'm going to make for dinner and give the daycare kids for lunch. It has helped a ton with not eating out ever, and also with me feeling good about making dinners again. And feeling good!
I found the perfect prenatal vitamin. For some reason the thought of swallowing a pill, even a vitamin, made me want to throw up... almost as bad as that smoked food from Sonny Boys. THEN I found these gummy vitamins at walmart and they totally taste YUMMY to me! I am so glad to be on a vitamin and not getting sick from it, and not having to gag at the thought of trying to swallow a pill!
Today I had 3 people comment on my pregnant belly and how cute it was. That made me feel good. I guess I am on the road to looking pregnant for sure and not just really fat.
I am really hoping that my face stops breaking out. It does this every time I've been pregnant. But it seems like some time in the 2nd trimester it gets better, so I'm hoping that happens soon. I forgot how much I hated having not perfect skin... I love my naturally clear skin, and really want it back!
Hopefully by going to the chiropractor throughout my pregnancy I will be able to move around. I am already having horrible back pains. Pains that shoot all the way down my leg. Sleeping on a rocky ground in a tent doesn't help. Nor does the hours and hours I've spent sitting and sewing these past few days. I wish there was a way I could lay or sit or stretch or something that would just make all this pain go away! I still have several months to go though, but I know it will get better after the baby is born, and its worth it. I'll take back pain over throwing up! Thats for sure!
My dr appt is tomorrow. I'm hoping I am farther along than I think, because I am huge. It would be nice to have reason to be so big.
We get to hear the heartbeat tomorrow! It will be nice to hear the little life growing and developing inside me right now! Crazy that I am capable of such an incredible thing. I love being a mom!
:)

The GREAT Outdoors!!!

2011-06-15T21:45:00.000-07:00

I LOVE the summer time!!!
I love the sports my kids get to get involved with!
I love that we planted our garden! :) :) :)
I love that we get to play outside for the majority of the day!
I love barbeques!
I love watching the kids play in the water!
I love the smell of our swamp cooler! (kinda weird maybe)
I love love love that we have already been camping and have several more planned already!!!!!!
I love going fishing!
I love the sun, and the green grass, and the smell of cut grass...............
I just LOVE the summertime!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and the kids do too! Which makes it even more enjoyable!

So earlier this season, both kids got to participate in the Canyon View Soccer Camp. It was AJ's 2nd year, and Aubrey's 1st. Last year Aubrey pretty much played in it with AJ, but she didn't get a shirt or the snacks they had, so this year she got the whole shabang, and she was SO into it!

I was talking to my sister about how its funny how AJ is so timid and cautious with every and any situation, but Aubrey just dives right in, not afraid of much and ready to socialize with anyone! AJ on the other hand will test things out a bit and make sure its going to be a good fun thing before he really gets too into anything.

We think it must be a 1st and 2nd child thing, I don't know if its that way for everyone but it sure has been that way with our experience!

AJ has never really known all that much about baseball, until just before Easter then our friend Collin kinda showed AJ how to hit a ball and holy cow that kid was hooked! Every time we went over to their house he would get the bat and all the balls out ready to play, so I decided that since he seemed to love it so much I should probably get him in T-ball!

He has really enjoyed it. I was worried that he would have no idea what to do and how to play the game, since we had never ever played or practiced tball. He is just such a pleaser and wants to do everything right that he is sure to listen to his coach and get to where he needs to be. He caught on after about 2 games and now he knows just where to go and what to do!

He is so cute when he is out in the field, at the last game he was on 3rd base and they hit the ball all the way past 1st, and AJ just took off as fast as he could to get that ball! You can just see the pride in his serious little face after hes caught a ball and thrown it to 1st. And when its his turn to bat, he just walks right up to the ball and hits it, there is no waiting and thinking about it, there really is no thought in it at all, he just hits! And he hits it pretty darn good too!

Awhile back, when Jody stopped doing daycare she passed down a bag of swimsuits, and I thought it would be nice to not have to buy Aubrey a swim suit until she turned 15. THEN this year, when all the kids want to do is play outside in the water, I realized what a treasure that bag of swim suits were! I have a suit for all the kids!!! SO I don't have to say NO! YES GO PLAY IN THE WATER!!! Last year was so stressful for me, I was always saying TURN OFF THAT WATER! Daycare just runs so much better without saying NO. Kids are happier and so am I. Every single day these past 2 weeks we have been out in the water, and I don't see that changing any time soon.
We went camping up above Tropic Reservoir, on the way to Bryce and it was VERY pretty! The scenery would just kind of be so plain and didn't seem very special, but then we would go around a turn and it would look like a picture out of a magazine or something.

We set up camp in the middle of nowhere....not really nowhere but it seemed like it.

It wasn't quite what I was expecting our first camping trip to be. I guess I got use to a firepit already dug and ready to burn in, running water safe to drink close by, oh and a bathroom just a short walk away. HOWEVER, this time we didn't have those luxuries close by.

And I will say it did make for a bit of a harder time.

BUT it also was TOTALLY worth it! We had one truck drive past us the entire weekend that we were there. There weren't any other people around for us to worry about, or any other dogs for Rocky to bark at.

There was this little stream that ran right by our camping spot and we would just walk down to it and fish, it was so relaxing. We all had a great time fishing!

The stream was easy enough for AJ to just kind of drop his line down in and the fish would bite at his worm, it was killing me just watching so I put the line in and caught a fish! It took about a whole minute :)

So I got it and then we left it on for a minute so AJ could pretend to catch it, and feel what it felt like to have a fish on the line, thinking that would be a good way to learn... I don't know. It was really fun for both kids to watch, and I was pretty happy too.... size doesn't matter, even if it was a trophy we would have let it go.......

Dang is always a hit when it comes to camping, no matter where we are. He always has to have a wood pile high enough to last for months. The way he gets the wood chopped small enough to put in the pit is.... not your typical way of cutting wood, but Dangs favorite for sure is by throwing a great big rock.

He will fish and fish and fish. This time he had to jump across the stream a few times to get to just the right spot (which didn't look very easy, funny, but not easy!)

And if your thinking that Dang goes in the mountains to get away from doing the dishes you are wrong! (I cook at home and he does the dishes, no matter what, he actually enjoys it, its not even a rule more of a choice on his part which is SO nice!) He is very on top of things even when we are camping. Making sure everything is in order and taken care of.

AJ got way into the wood pile and fire this year. Before we even left Cedar City, he kept talking about having to go on a hunt for firewood. Of course once we got out of the car he began his hunt!

He would pull long branches down the road to our campsite, he had a pile for tinder and a pile for wood burning. He spent a long time finding just the perfect poker stick, and once he found it he sat and spread the coals and poked at that fire until we went to bed. He even remembered from last year about poking the stick in the dirt when it gets too hot. I guess he takes after his dad in the campfire obsession category. They are pretty cute to watch together!

Aubrey of course did her fair share of gathering wood for the fire. She also has to find just the right pieces to throw in the fire!

Once we got all packed up and were headed back home, I thought since we were only "3" miles away from Bryce Canyon we had better go on up and live the experience before we actually went home!

Well apparently we didn't turn where the really amazing look out is, so we drove forever and stopped at a couple of lookouts that were pretty and it was cool, just not what I had imagined.

I was kind of bummed when we didn't get to see what I was expecting to see. And we were kind of in a hurry and a little burned out of driving around looking for what we didn't really know what. So we called it good and headed home.

Went to a barbeque with Alex and Collin and heard all about where to go in Bryce... I guess there really is a fabulous look out place, just like what you imagine. I guess it gives us reason to go back some day. Since we haven't been to Zions yet I think we will head that way next, but Bryce was beautiful! The entire area was, and I am SO glad we got to go and play in a new place!

And, I believe this is what a camping hangover looks like:

Slowing down

2011-05-24T15:39:00.001-07:00

I ran the Provo Half Marathon over Mothers Day weekend. I felt so proud of myself and am so glad I did it! I ran the first 10 miles then walked/ran the last 3. I can not even tell you how rewarding it is to do something like that! I grew up hating running! I never ever wanted to run a little bit in school, and always wondered what people were talking about when they would say how much they loved to run and how good it made them feel. Well I still don't think I really "love" running, but I do really really love how good I feel about finishing a race that I thought I would never be able to do. I run to cross a finish line, that is where it is rewarding to me. I'm hoping that several years down the road, or maybe not so several... I will be able to actually compete for one of the prizes... like the thousand dollars prizes. For now I will be content with a shirt and medal.
This is a picture after I finished, I beat my family to the finish line!

After racing we went and visited Grandpa Carter, my moms dad. He is such a great man! I love visiting with him. He always has homemade bread to share with me. He's been making bread for his entire life. He made up the recipe with no measurements, just a bit of that and a bit of this until it looks about right. Its the perfect bread, and I love it. So when we were visiting he went through all the steps and he showed me just about how much of each thing so I can recreate it. I hope that I have some neat thing that I do for my family that my kids and grandkids will always remember me of. Right now I'm thinking I lack in that area.

Well being pregnant has not been any different with number 3 as it was for 1 and 2. I am still just as nauseous as I was with the others, and just as tired, if not more tired because of everything I try to keep up with!
My body has stuck with the theory of it knows what to do and how to stretch and isn't wasting any time on getting bigger and bigger, so thats been fun.
I look forward to the 2nd trimester when the sickness fades away and I start to feel good about being pregnant! Right now I just want to lay down and pray to finish the day smiling with enough energy to get the kids in bed. Its not often that that actually happens without a few apologies from me, but I am aware that I can not let being pregnant take over my two babies that I have who are needing just as much from me as this little one growing inside of me. Hopefully I find balance soon. So many moms out there have done it and done it well and I'm sure I can too.
With the school getting out and summer approaching daycare has slowed down a bit and that has definitely been a good thing! Although I would love to take the summer or the rest of my life off and spend all my time with my kids only and be able to focus on them... and me a little... that is just not part of what we get to do right now. I'm grateful to be able to work and help pay for bills and such, and I'm so glad that there are rewarding moments in my job! Otherwise... I would never make it through the day smiling.
So, for now I am definitely slowing my pace down. Its been a little nice, hopefully it stays that way as the summer comes.

Easter Time

2011-05-13T19:14:00.000-07:00

A.J.'s preschool had a baby farm animal week when it was Easter time, and I took a couple of our baby chicks in to share. The kids all thought that was pretty neat to get to pet them, and AJ had a great time feeling like the spotlight was on him while everyone talked about the chicks he brought in!

We got to do 2 egg hunts in Cedar!!! First we went to Smiths for theirs and it was fun! The kids got a bunch of candy, and got to decorate their own sugar cookie! Then we went over to one in the park and it was crazy! there were so many people there! AJ and Aubs were in different age groups so Dang took AJ and I took Aubrey, it was pretty fun, but next year we hope to win one of the grand prizes!

After getting enough candy to last a few years, we headed up to Fillmore to spend time with family and continue on with the celebrating. The kids got to have another Easter egg hunt! Grandma Arv's hunt! My moms hunts are the best, I miss being able to hunt around for eggs... instead I've teamed up with her and it is almost just as much fun filling and hiding eggs, I guess its more fun for me to watch my kids enjoy finding them

Heading to Easter church in our new church clothes

We always go out to the sand hills and shoot the eggs we spent so much time dying. Its the funnest way to use up all those eggs, and well... its a favorite tradition of everyones.

HIGH 5!!!!!

2011-04-17T19:49:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how long its taken me to get caught up on here. I go days now without ever getting on the computer, because I don't have time to! It makes me happy to be busy, and I love having something to go do or to be getting ready for, I don't miss my days of just sitting around checking everyones blog wondering what to do next... but I do miss my regular blog posting for my own self! Now I have a million things I would love to have already blogged about so I could have all those fun things to look back on. So now it is time to do a catch up post! again!

February and March are the main birthday months in our family, one right after another and another! Its hard to keep up with everyone! However someone incredibly important to me celebrates his birthday the same month as me... that person would be the 5 year old love of my life!

AJ!

I think moms need to celebrate birthdays more than the birthday kid. 5 years ago I was freshly out of high school and a house wife, living in my very first apartment, in a new town (a HUGE city, compared to Fillmore) My day went something like:

6am: wake up, make breakfast for Dang and pack his lunch

630am: kiss Dang goodbye and send him off to work

635am: sleep

noon: wake up, talk to Dang on the phone during his lunch break

and then I would clean and cook the entire rest of the day. I don't even know what I was cleaning there was absolutely no mess. Nothing on the floor, or counter... unless I was scrapbooking.

And then we moved into our big apartment. 2 whole bedrooms, and there was a dining area! something we didn't have in the previous apt.

That night I went into labor for the very first time. It was the most exciting thing ever! I couldn't believe what was happening to me and my little family, I had no idea what was coming and how different our lives were going to be!

AJ was such a sweet baby. Absolutely perfect. I thought his jaundice was going to kill him and I was so worried about it and had no idea what it even was. Now it almost seems abnormal for a baby to not have jaundice. I laugh at myself at how paranoid I was and how over the top ridiculous I was. I remember crying at the thought of having to give my perfect little baby a bottle of anything. No way was I going to feed my baby with a man made piece of crap when I could nurse him! I was so silly. I am now a 5 year old mom!

My days and nights are ridiculous! It seems like there is no time for anything. We are running around the house playing transformers or power rangers, our home turns into a monster jam several times throughout the day, or the entire living room becomes a hut, or there is a major construction zone happening full of trucks and blocks and major building. My little animal lover has a cat, dog, birds and chickens, we feed and clean up animals all day, we have to get animals out and have play time with them. Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and if I'm not dead then we have dinner too! Hide and seek, crafts, playdough, slime, cook something, wash something... all day long we are doing a million things! To me, most of it is another thing to clean up and I often feel tired and frustrated, but AJ is so into everything and just loves being involved with something. He definitely enjoys tv time, but it makes me happy that he usually doesn't stay occupied with the tv for very long, he needs to be experiencing something much more important! And even though it means more work for me, it makes me happy that he is living his life the way a 5 year old should be!

I learn so much from AJ. He is always learning new things faster than I could ever imagine. I have learned so many things! Things I thought would be the last thing I would care about in the world have become main priorities to know about, like construction trucks, parts of insects, monster trucks, planets, sharks... he gets an idea about something and is determined to know all about it and how it works and just has to know all about it! He is so smart on the computer, he loves to watch you tube videos of different things working. Like garbage trucks at work, and backhoe loaders loading, or Blue Thunder in the 2011 Monster Jam. Another you tube favorite is planets in outer space... or the milky way, he could watch science videos all day. He just loves real things doing the real thing. He loves reading books that I have never enjoyed even seeing on the shelf. Like real animal and bug books, real trucks and such... not so much any cartoony things. Unless he is feeling like relaxing then he loves to watch Phineas and Ferb, but would pick National Geographic shows over Disney. He really loves Man vs Wild, and shows of the like.

AJ is still just as clingy now as he was when he was 2 weeks old. He will hold onto my leg when someone talks to him, follow me around the house afraid that I might leave, yell MOM every few minutes if I'm in a different room than him just making sure I am still there. The kid makes me crazy! But at the same time I love that he loves me and feels safe with me. Its hard to believe I am the "safe" person. I still get so freaked out at every little creak I hear in the house and if a spider is in my territory! But I find myself squishing many spiders... even black widows all the time. And I often tell AJ it was just the wind no need to worry... and I actually am not even scared. I have to be tough so he feels safe. Of course when Dang is home then we make all those jobs DAD jobs and I back down a little.

AJ will fight and fight and yell and roar at Aubrey or me and Dang at times when he is frustrated. Usually, he makes himself sad after being angry. "Its frightening being bombaloo" We read a book, Sometimes I'm bombaloo, I have two little ones who often turn into bombaloo, now all I do is remind AJ he is acting like bombaloo and he feels so bad. He usually is so sad about it he can't even talk to me for awhile instead he will just run over and hug me and apologize!

There are times when AJ is the best little care taker in the world! He LOVES taking care of animals!!! He is our little animal lover and caretaker! He takes care of all the food and water, the litter box, and now he takes care of the chicks. Chicks are airhead creatures, they really have no clue what to do. AJ will be out there with the chicks making little paths for them so they know where to go, he will add little steps around the water dish and up to the coop so they will be able to get there easier. Tonight he caught every single bird and put them in the coop so they would be warm to sleep tonight. He is the cutest sweetest animal lover! He is always making comfy beds and houses for our cat, hes the one who will get treats out for Rocky (if I had my way dogs would never have treats, only dog food)

He not only loves and takes care of animals but people too. He is always making sure I know what is going on with the daycare kids if we are in separate rooms, he will help someone up if they fall down, give hugs and rub owies better, help get drinks and snacks for everyone and is always making sure there are a few things going on for everyone to pick what they want to do. There is always a craft, activity, and several stations of toys set up just to play. He usually has a show or song he would like to be played at the same time because it goes along with the theme he has thought of. He loves to help, and loves to be there for someone. Especially me! He is always ready to give out hugs and kisses for mom! even when he is super mad at me because maybe I was bombaloo :( he is quick to forgive and love as long as you want it.

AJ is pretty cute about foods... he picks up on the littlest things I've said... thats a sugary drink, treats make us sick, healthy food, grow strong, lots of fiber, yellow pee means you are dehydrated :)

all these things I probably said once thinking he was not listening, mostly I was reminding myself. Well they have stuck! He will get a capri sun and talk to me about it. "Mom, I am getting this capri sun to drink right now with snack, then at dinner I am going to have rootbeer. Thats 2 sugary drinks mom, and then I would like to have ice water the rest of the day. OK mom."

Or scream from the bathroom... MOM MOM MOM I think I need to drink some more water. If your pee is orange that means you are dehydrated and you need water. Right?

"Mom, I am feeling like I will get a belly ache soon. Thats because I need to eat a healthy dinner... like.... chicken and cous cous with carrots" (his favorite dinner!)

I think I better have a vitamin so I can be healthy.

He is a funny kid. I love it though.

Anyway, so this was his year to have a party! HOORAY!!! He picked a Monster Truck theme!

We transformed the front yard into a Monster Jam party! We got old tires, big rocks, and wood pallets that we put around for a "track type thing" to rally on. We made cardboard box monster trucks for the kids to get in and race around the track. There was a concession stand with "wheels" all different candy shaped like wheels. cupcakes, and drinks. There were stations set up so the kids could just run around and do what they wanted as they wanted to do it. So there was a craft station that was a create your own license plate, a pin your license plate on the monster truck, sidewalk chalk which I thought would be for the little kids but my favorite part AFTER the party was walking along the sidewalk and driveway reading all the different birthday wishes and pictures, it was so cute! AND There was a tattoo parlor station one for girls and one for boys.

We weren't set up due to last minute unnecessary things we "had" to do. The cake was being decorated while the kids were doing there thing outside. Some of the kids wanted to play inside and just play with toys. I had some incredible helpers!!! We paroled the perimeter of the house because of all the kids running around, had a few moms at each station helping with each activity, Uncle Nate and Grandma turned my last minute cake into the best cake ever! and we had lots and lots of help setting up! There were so many people here it was nuts!

AJ thought is was just perfect! Last year he was sad not to have a huge party with lots of kids and all year long he talked about how this was going to be his year to have a party and he wanted everyone there!!! with lots of kids and lots of presents :) and he got just that! It took us 3 hours to clean up all the party and present packaging!

Just how a 5 year old birthday should be.

Well that is what I am going to post for now, I can not figure out how to get pictures to move from where it loads to where I want it, so there aren't pictures like I planned. O well.

Now to find the time to get other happenings up that I really would like to share! My friend Marcie got married in Vegas and we turned that into a little family vacation! The kids had so much fun there! I have been run run running like a mad woman! I LOVE races! I've done a 5k, and half marathon I plan on sharing, EASTER!!! I got called to the Young Womens presidency, and have had a ton of fun with those girls! AJ graduated preschool!!! We have added pet birds to our family, built a chicken coop, our chickens are huge now by the way! we will be butchering the 5 meat chickens before I know it! O yes and..... BABY #3 ON THE WAY!!!

There you have it, hopefully I'll figure out how to get pictures up, and I will find the time to blog about these huge and exciting things we have been doing!!!

O MY GOODNESS!!!

2011-03-21T17:32:00.000-07:00

I sat here for about 5 minutes trying to decide what to title this post! We have been up to so much and its all been a blast! I feel like I've been in constant doing something fun mode the past few weeks and its been great! And a little busy!

I imagine this will end up being a ridiculously loooooooong post so kick back and catch up with me!

My best friend since birth Marcie is getting married to the love of her life and asked me to be her maid of honor! I offered to take some pics of them for her just for fun, and hoping that they turned out good because she wanted to use them for announcements! So I had a bit of pressure on me, but with the help Jeanna I think we got some really cute pics! She liked the first collage and is using that for her announcements! So I feel pretty happy about it :)

We've had alot of fun nights with our Worwood friends! We took our families bowling for my birthday and had a pretty good time! However I am DONE with bowling alley food... for a while anyway. I love it cuz its so yummy but I make myself sick every time I eat there.

Here are cute Alex and Collin... and Daytans back, shes a busy girl.
This is not the best picture of my kids, but its the only one I have of both of them together. AJ is showing us the ice cream in his mouth.
Dang and I

AJ and I fell asleep on the couch together...
The Aquatic Center
Usually when we go to the pool Alex and I go in the pool with the kids and the guys stay out and are in charge of taking pictures. However, this last time we went the guys swam too!!! It was SO fun having everyone be in there! We got to take turns watching the kids, so we were able to enjoy the hot tub and the BIG slide! It was much more fun having everyone involved. It also means no pictures of us, but thats ok.

I crack up after I upload pictures there are always about 100 of the most random things AJ takes pictures of. There are usually about 50 of different stuffed animals lined up in different orders, and LOTS of hips and sides of people a couple random messes he feels the need to photograph, and quite a few up the nose shots.

The Worwoods introduced us to a game called Tater Hole :) Its real name is Aggravation but where they come from its tater hole and its so much fun! We like to play in teams, boys against girls of course! 6's are the best to roll at times, so Dang is posing showing a 6 for good luck :)

Alex and I ran our 10k!!! We trained all month for it, not as often as we would have liked, but I would say for a couple of newbies we freakin rocked that race! We only walked very short distances probably 4 times making a total of 1/4mile and we ran the rest of it. Our time that showed on the clock when we passed the finish line was 1 hr 7 min, but since it took us a couple mins to actually go across the start line we are thinking our real time was probably 1 hr 5 mins. I was shooting for 60 mins, so I guess 5 mins over isn't too bad. I am totally addicted to racing now! I spend more time than I should scoping out the city websites searching for races near me. I can't wait to do a marathon, but I'm just as excited to do as many 5 and 10ks as I can, and half marathons too. My favorite part about the race is getting the goodie bag :) I will do anything for a t-shirt and coupons and little treats and treasures. I totally love that part of it, but ok, honestly the best part of it is crossing the finish line after working so hard, and hanging out with my best friend! Relays are definitely in our future!

Here are the kiddlies waiting for us to cross the finish line. Aubs is definitely showing how she was feeling about waiting out there in the cold.

Crossing the finish line:

After the race, note our matching outfits :) . Alex had these shirts made for us so we would match and be easily spotted by those waiting for us. We didn't plan to match every single thing we wore but it just happened to work out that way.

The kids all tuckered out heading up north. Every time Aubs is sleeping she does the perfect pouty lip! I am always giving that girlie kisses, shes so sweet. AJ too, there is something so cute about sleeping children... the quiet is definitely a perk!
After racing on Saturday Dang and I headed up to watch Lady Gaga's concert in SLC!!! We dropped the kiddos off to their Auntie Jody in Fillmore and scurried on up to the city. We rode with Nate and Josh and they totally spoiled us! Nate says it was for a combined birthday for he and I, but in reality it felt like it was all about him treating his baby sister to a FABULOUS time. I LOVED hanging out with my favorite boys in the fam, and I must say... Gaga knows how to put on a show... but all her little monsters (crazy fans) do just as good a job. It was almost just as entertaining to check out everyones costumes! People are crazy obsessed!!!

my $10 lady gaga bracelet wasn't much compared to everyone else there, but I like my way over priced souvenir...

So, Josh does this funny thing of when right when you take a picture of him he makes his face look funny like he wasn't ready for the picture or something. And he does it in every single one! Its actually pretty hillarious. Well it cracks me up whenever I go through pictures I have of all of us. So I took one of all the guys doing it and I don't know why but it seriously makes me laugh everytime I look at it!

I took a ton of pictures of the stage and even of the screen but its pretty hard to get a good picture at concerts. So I'm not even going to try and get one enhanced enough to put up. So you can just use your imagination.

We finally got our baby chicks that I have been wanting all year!!! I am SO excited about them and so is the rest of the fam! We got 5 meat chicks that we will be eating. And plan on getting more in a month or 2 so we can have a steady supply of home grown chicken :0 AND we got 7 egg layers! The plan was to get 4 egg layers, Rose, Blanche, Dorothy, and Sophia, but then as we were picking out those 4, Aubrey said that she was going to get one and its name would be Petunia!!! I have no idea where she even heard of petunias and why she decided that but it was way too cute to pass up, so she got her Petunia, a little black and white chick she picked out. Then I realized that all the chicks we got were going to lay brown eggs and I wanted some to lay white eggs so we added 2 white egg layers. Making it so we have 12 chicks right now. I thought 12 was going to seem like a ton, but it really isn't that many. For now they are in a box in the garage, under a lamp. We have been working on building our chicken coop and I'm sure by the time it is all finished and perfect then our chicks will be old enough to live outside.

Seriously we have done so many fun things its been hard to spend any time at all on the computer, let alone blog at all. Its taken me 3 days to get this much done. I have some fun birthday things that I really want to put up! I was going to include it here, but since it is midnight I am going to get all this up and -hopefully- I soon will have all the fun birthday stuff up!

24 and so much more

2011-03-08T08:41:00.000-08:00

I am 24 today!!! Woohoo!
almost half of 50
seems like a big number.

Well so far today has been GREAT!!!
The sun is shining and melting the snow that I am SO ready to be done with!
AJ woke up and asked if it was Dangs day off. When I said no, he got sad and asked "then who will take me to go birthday shopping for you!?"
I said I don't know, maybe Dad can take you tonight. But then he thought it would be even better to MAKE a present for me!
Now all the daycare kids are currently drawing, cutting, coloring and gluing birthday presents for me! AJ even got the wrapping bin out so they can all wrap the presents.
Its so cute how excited they are about making me presents!

Plans for AMBER day:
*I will be making cupcakes for myself, and have the traditional daycare birthday celebration. The kids all get cupcakes and sung to, so it would just be wrong if I left myself out of that!
*Take Aubs to her well check up and make sure her ears are clearing out
*Hit up Golds with Alex, training for race :)
*Get ready
*BOWLING!!! and dinner!!!

It will be a GREAT day!

Here is what I have been spoiled with so far:

NEW KITCHEN APPLIANCES (with Klints guidance, Dang installed the microwave all by himself!!!):
Some of the kids showing the pile of presents they made for me all by themselves:

I've mentioned how my big brother has his own leather making business... well I've been begging him to make me a belt and last night when I got home there was a small package waiting for me.... WOOOOHOOO a belt custom made just for me! :)

My parents came through town, they spoiled me with several lovelies including a huge turtle planter! I'm excited to get to planting!!! And my sister sent me a very nice pan and freaking awesome birthday girl ribbon.

Dang had a card sitting on my vanity this morning. There is nothing quite like waking up super early to get ready for work (on your birthday) and being surprised with a singing card and sincere note from the very most special person in my life! It said:

*Happy Birthday Sweet Suga Love!*
I hope you have a fantastic day! I wish I was not working today so I can be with my love.
Many things have changed over the years, but your still the same great person you always have been. So have a happy birthday and I hope this year is filled with happiness and laughter, and a lot of exciting adventures to come your way!
*I love you so much*
-Your Honey Bear-
Dang
P.S.
Can't wait to go bowling tonight! Its gonna be a blast!

Having Dang in my life is the best gift of all. I sure have a way of making things hard for him and he is the most forgiving, honest, and willing person I know.

Babe- YOU ARE THE GREATEST!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to make me feel loved. For taking care of me and our kids, and for always supporting me in my decisions. I love you SO much!!! And for remembering today is my birthday, and making sure its a special day!
xoxo

HIGHLIGHTS

2011-02-27T16:46:00.000-08:00

Hello there everyone! Its been pretty good here in the Chandara home.
Aubrey's little friend grew out of her HIGH heels and handed them down to her, and she LOVES them! Its kinda funny to see such a tiny girl in such high heels, but she loves them and has to wear them every time she dresses up.

I have the cutest kids ever. Here they are after church last week

AJ has been way into cooking lately! Well his whole life he has loved to help me and do anything he could in the kitchen, but now he wants to make meals all by himself. He took it upon himself to make us a healthy Sunday dinner last week.
He made everything all by himself! There is powder sugar, flour, salt and pepper, bread, water, lettuce, carrots and cous cous.

I'm sure your mouth is watering :)
After it was all ready, he set the table and served everyones dish up. Then we waited for Dang to get home from work and for Aubs to wake up from a nap.

Well once Dang walked in the door he was excited to see dinner all ready waiting for him! He dove right in
LOL

Lining up to watch the popcorn pop. (Notice anything...........)

Yep NEW APPLIANCES!!! We are SO happy to have them! I can not even tell you how good it feels to get brand new beautiful appliances. Well it feels pretty dang good, and looks that much better. Yes we will be getting a dishwasher and over the range microwave too, but I just couldn't wait to show off the fridge and stove.

Dang and I love to go to the bowling alley, we decided it would probably be even more fun to take the kids and go on a family date! So we went and it was SO fun! The Worwoods came with us and the kids had a ball!

AJ was so funny, he was so excited about bowling he would take his turn and then get his ball and just stand there and hold onto it waiting for his next turn. We sat at tables just above our lane and had dinner there while we played and AJ didn't want to go up to eat or drink afraid of missing his turn. But when he did go up for a quick drink he took his ball with him!

Aubrey and Daytan rolled the ball down the lane a couple of times, but mostly they just wanted to run around and climb on the benches.

We got quite a bit of snow here last night (not a highlight for me) So first thing after church the kids got in their snowsuits and hit the back yard. Its so nice when kids can get themselves all geared up for the snow, I remember hating having to spend 10 mins on each kid getting them all ready to play for 3 mins and then have to get them all undressed... it seemed like such a big deal. But now, it was so fun to just watch (and help with gloves) and the kids had a great time out there.
And I have had a great time updating my blog :)

and that is all for now

"Aubralina"

2011-02-15T15:22:00.000-08:00

I told you I had something super exciting to blog about, and now here it is!

(Aubrey's last day of being 2 years old)

Our little girlie Aubrey turned 3 on the 11th!!!

(I'm so glad I got a pic of her doing this! This is how she did three clear up until the day after her birthday, now she does it the normal way)

This is not Aubrey's year to have a birthday party, so the plan was to not do alot for her birthday. But it seemed like we ended up doing a ton!
On Friday I did a cupcake celebration with the daycare kids (I do this for all of them on their birthdays) But this time was extra special because Grandma Arv and Papa Joe came right then and brought presents from Fillmore down with them! So she got to open presents after eating her cupcake!
Saturday I spent the morning making a barbie cake (you know the one where the barbie is in the cake and the cake is the skirt part of the dress) well it totally failed. I was having a horrible morning and at my wits end I decided I would just have to go to lins and buy her a cake! So I did, but feeling bad about buying a cake I decided it had better be the best one the have! So I bought her the princess cake that has a little castle and princesses on it. Went to pay and I didn't have my wallet!!! UGH Saturday morning was horrible for me it seemed like one bad thing after another.
At noon we were supposed to meet Daytan at the aquatic center, but it ended up being 1230 by the time we got there. O well. Once we got to the pool we had such a great time!
I went in with AJ, Aubs, and Daytan. Collin and Dang sat out again, Dang was in charge of taking pictures again, and you know what he did???
left the camera in the car!!!
Luckilly Jeanna and Kyra came to say happy birthday to Aubs and got the camera out and took some pics!
After swimming we ate pizza.
Once we got home we all took a long nap. Alex and Collin came over with Daytan and we had princess cake,
then went to the SUU basketball game!

It ended up being a pretty fun day of things, and by the time the game was over I had totally forgotten about the crap morning I had had. And most importantly Aubrey was thrilled with the day! She thought she had had the best party ever with an entire day of events just for her! And she really loved the princess cake, and she loved that she got a new barbie out of it too!

Aubrey Adale is quite a character and since it was her birthday it seems like a good time to go on and on about my sweetie that I get to raise and call my own!
So here goes:

Aubs has added SO much to our family! Dang, AJ and I are all very mellow, easy going type of people. We all lived pretty calm and boring but nice lives together and it was great and easy. And then I knew it was all about to change when I went into labor with a tiny girl insisting on arriving right that second (13 minutes total in labor to be exact). From the moment she was born I knew she was nothing like AJ was and I was going to need to learn everything all over again in a new way with her.

Since then our home life has gotten pretty busy. She is a busy girl with lots to do! Aubrey always has a baby with clothes that need to be changed, diapers that need to be changed, bottles made, a purse full of all the necessities (cell phone, barbie, legos, notebook, pen, camera, cooking stuff, hair bows, lipgloss, and mascara)
She is always talking or singing, most of the time to other people, but if nobodys listening then she will talk or sing to herself. She will be as happy as can be one minute and then all of sudden the world is crashing around her and she is as angry as can be the next.
Aubrey is so full of energy, ready to do anything and go anywhere. She has to know EVERYTHING about everything and will create a little story about how when she was a baby she did that or knew that or when she grows up all of that will happen to her and her prince or best friend. Aubrey LOVES to be independent, she will do it all by herself, with absolutely no help, even if getting it done means having to throw herself to the floor yelling, kicking, shouting, and thrashing around, she will do it all by herself, until she can't hardly breathe then she will let me help her, although she usually is able to do it all by herself.
Aubrey is such a smartie pants too! She recognizes shapes and colors, most alphabet letters, and can write several of them, knowing what she is writing! She loves to sing songs and remembers them so well, there will be random moments when she will be having a "quiet time" to herself and I will hear her singing songs that shes only heard a couple of times, and songs that she makes up. She loves to be read to and after I'm done reading she always re-reads the book to herself and does a dang good job remembering what each page is about. Aubrey is a great helper in daycare, she is also my hardest child in daycare but when she wants to be a sweet helper she definitely is the best one there!
She is a total faker all the time, she will pretend to not care at all about what I am doing (usually hurting my feelings or making me feel lame) and then go in the other room and do the exact thing I am doing. Or she will fake being sick to get out of things, along with fake crying and fits just for attention of course.
Aubrey is the FUNNIEST/pickiest eater I could imagine! She is a total meat eater.... real meat eater, no chicken nuggets for her, but serve her a chicken breast or hand her a drum stick and she will eat the entire thing. She loves chicken, bacon, sausage, ham, turkey, and steak. If she gets a hamburger she will pull out the patty and eat it by itself, pizza she picks off the meat and only eats that. She would live on meat and candy if she could. Any candy, and meat. That is all she will eat.
Pink milk runs through this girls blood. Chances are there is a cup with pink milk in it not far from her at any point of time during the day. However unlike the food business she does make the occasional exception with drink if it involves soda or capri sun.
I spend so many hours during the week trying as hard as I can to not scream and yell and bawl my eyes out from the battles that Aubrey has with me. She makes me work so hard and we just have total different ways of thinking at times. I never would have imagined that a 3 year old could have such a strong personality that would be so different from mine.
Aubrey and I will be at our wits end with each other, but then she will do the sweetest thing in the world or she will say something to me about how much she loves me or how she wants to be a mom just like me and it just makes my heart melt. Any anger and frustration I had just melts away. Its so easy to forget all about an hour battle with those few seconds she takes to pull my heart strings. She can be feisty, but she is a little lover too.
Little Miss SASS-A-FRASS is ALWAYS throwing me curve balls. As soon as I think I know what she is thinking and how to work with her she will change it all up and I'm back to having no idea of what to do.
I love Aubrey Adale Chandara as much as any heart and soul can possibly love. I am SO proud of her and I love that she is strong and independent and as smart as can be.
I love that she knows exactly what she wants and how she is going to get it no matter what it involves. I love that I struggle with her, I feel like we are strengthened through our struggles and that she and I somehow have a magical special bond just from going through these struggles together. I love that she has great BIG plans for herself and that she has a brilliant imagination. I love that she likes to dance and sing and play silly games. I love that she loves being a mommy and plays mommy to her babies (and daycare kids) all day long.
I love that she reminds me of myself in alot of ways, and that she has her own personality and that shes not afraid of anything... most of the time...
I love that people think she looks like me (even though I don't see it)

I love that she wants to snuggle up to me after she wakes up from naps. And when she is sick I'm the only thing in the whole wide world that she wants.
I love that she likes to play kissing games with me and she wants to do the loudest "MMMMMUUUUAAAAAAA"
I love that she loves kids and wants to play with them. I love that she talks about the boys AJ goes to school with and how she thinks they are handsome. I love that she makes me laugh all the time every day.
I love my little Miss Aubralina SO much and I hope that she knows no matter what I will always love her and am so happy that she is MY little princess!

Lovin all the LOVE!!!

2011-02-14T17:08:00.000-08:00

Today is Valentines day and I have something SUPER EXCITING to post about but, you see, I have just a few moments of time that I think I can waste before starting a lovely dinner for my hubby, so I will put up another post SOON!
I just had to hurry and show off how SPOILED I have been today!
When I woke up this morning I saw my vanity covered in paper hearts, a box of chocolates (that sings!) and a super soft teddy bear!
It felt like I had to wake up so early, and I hated getting out of my cozy warm bed, but when I saw that I was SO excited and happy that he thought of me, kept it a secret (because he never keeps surprises secret...EVER!) AND set it up all cute for me!
That would have been enough to make me feel loved and spoiled all day, but then later that morning the flower delivery man brought me A DOZEN ROSES!!! I don't think I've gotten a dozen roses from Dang in a VERY long time! So THAT too was a HUGE surprise!
**** We had a valentines day party with the daycare/preschool kids and it was SO fun and my sweet little kids brought me valentines AND I even got valentine PRESENTS from 3 of my kids!!! Plus a payday :) I'll count that as a V-day present!, I was happy to get presents from them but the best part of getting them was when the kids walked in with a present and THEY were glowing with excitement to give me a special thing! It was SO cute! I LOVE my kids so much!!!!******
Daycare was over and I was just cleaning when the door bell rang, and guess who it was...
THE FLOWER DELIVERY GUY AGAIN!
with

ANOTHER DOZEN ROSES!!!!

Man Dang is on a SERIOUS role today!!!!
I am feelin like the card and lunch box heart attack I left for him this morning was a little lame after all he's done!

I have SERIOUSLY felt the LOVE today! :)
What a FUN valentines day!
Now I had better get to making some fancy dinner for Mr. Romance!

WATER WORKS

2011-01-29T19:11:00.000-08:00

Cedar City's AQUATIC CENTER opened up and we LOVE it there! I have always just taken my kids swimming in Fillmore because Fillmores pool was better than the one here and I hated the one here, plus there was no kid pool!
NOW it is the ultimate kid swim center!
We got to go with our friends Alex, Collin and Daytan. Alex and I had a good time in the pool with the kiddos, Dang and Collin sat out this time and visited. Dang was in charge of taking pictures and ummm mostly slacked off. He got a couple and theres always next time.
Aubrey was not about getting water on her face, so mostly she liked hanging out in the water and watching everyone. She did float on her belly quite a bit and that was about as daring as she would get.
AJ just loved everything about it there. He liked the slides, and floating around. He was happy to hang out and do everything.
Today I jumped into the lake outside of the pool with my friend Janelle. It was for a good cause!
Money raised went to the Special Olympics :)
Here we are before:
During:
and
After:
I kidnapped Kyra so she could take pics of us and help my kids watch me, and I'm so glad she went! that place was crazy! I definitely needed her help!
The water was 32 degrees I believe they said, it wasn't frozen over, but there were chunks of ice floating on top. I expected it to be horribly cold, but it wasn't that bad! However I did... scrape my knee and cut the bottom of my foot!
But I'ld do it again.
I got a goodie bag full of coupons, and little fun things, a hoodie, and a pin that says I survived the Polar Plunge!
It was actually pretty fun and next year we are planning on having a great big group!
I decided to take Kyra to get a little treat and the kids decided on DQ. So I pulled up and ordered our ice cream, pulled up to pay, and NO WALLET!!! So, I drove home found my wallet and as I was running down the hall I TRIPPED on a dumbbell!!! and BROKE MY TOE!
oooo man, my toe hurts! I feel a little beat up. But I had such a great day anyway!

TALENT

2011-01-24T19:09:00.000-08:00

When I started doing daycare I wondered what I was doing and how in the world was I going to get my business going and be successful with something that I ran out of my home.
Well it feels like its been a bit of a journey getting to where I am now, and I am SO happy to actually tell people that I will add their names to the waiting list, because there is one! I can hardly believe there are so many parents out there who want me to care for their most precious things in the entire world, and I am so happy to have the patience it requires to care for and love all the kids. I am quite proud of myself lately for feeling so successful and being able to manage it all.
So, I am up at 6am, ready for my kids to begin arriving at 7. I have 17 kids who rotate through the week, with around 6-8 at a time until 6pm.
I'll tell you there is nothing quite like having a little house full of 5 2yr olds, 2 3yr olds and 1 4yr old. Those days most definitely are my busiest and I get to use my talents to the fullest.
The absolute hardest part I am working on right now is my 7yr old boy who has a crush on me. Yes it is very hard for me to have a 7yr old because I haven't "grown" to that age yet. 5 and under I am very comfortable with. 7- I don't know what they want to do. Plus his mom told me about how he has a crush on me so how am I supposed to handle that??? I'm sure once I have to tell him no to something that crush will be crushed.
Anyway, there are rough moments, but for the most part things just flow.
I have several people ask me how in the world I am able to do it, and I use to think well I don't know, I guess it is hard, but its not that bad. And as I've tried to figure out exactly what it is I do that makes it work, I've just realized that it is my talent. And I am SO happy to have come to know a talent that I actually have, and its not something I just made up and try to do, like crafting and sewing. I really enjoy doing those things, after I've spent half a day searching for the right craft and then another half a day preparing for it and another day actually doing it. I sometimes really like doing that kind of stuff. But taking care of kids is not a hard thing for me, I love being a part of their lives and having the opportunity to enrich their learning and growth. I am delighted to have kids want to stay with me when its time to go home, or when they don't feel good they prefer to have Ms Amber take care of them. I'm so happy that they feel my love for them and are comfortable with me.
SO to all my friends, family and random people out there who ask me how I am able to do daycare in my tiny home

all day long

able to keep so many kids happy

and healthy
and how I get them to eat foods they never will eat at home

and stay organized.

Well I guess it is just my talent.
:)
Happy day!
And I couldn't do it without Dang. He loves the kids just as much as I do, and is so patient on his days off to hang out at home with little ones running all over.
Thanks babe!

quiet? could the kids be asleep already???

2011-01-08T20:12:00.000-08:00

NOPE.
SO PRETTY

(Can't leave anything out) Christmas Post

2011-01-03T17:43:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas has come and gone and now here it is 2011 and I am just now getting the Christmas pictures up. I hope this isn't a sign of what the new year will be like.... always behind, although that wouldn't be anything new, it would be nice to stay on top of things and keep things in order!

Anyway, like I said before we spent Christmas up in Fillmore. It was great! I hope to always spend Christmas at home, I'm sure one day Cedar will be home, but I still feel like I am going home when we go to my parents house.

Here is the first picture taken with our new camera Dang got for us for Christmas!
Josie was taking pictures of Aubs and caught this beauty:
The salsa sisters (long but incredible story):
I had these shirts made for us, Jody and I are huge t-shirt fans and collect them, so it just didn't seem right for us to have all these salsa sister adventures without magical shirts!:
Papa Joe and the kiddos:
AJ sportin his Christmas Eve jammies (its a tradition to get a book and jammies on Christmas eve, and my mom still has not broke that tradition with me! Thanks mom, I do love our new pajamas!):
Grandma Arv reading to Aubs Christmas Eve:
We got the marvel comic pop up book for Uncie Nate, and I'm quite sure he LOVED it:
The children heading to bed, ready for sugarplums to dance in their heads (it is also a tradition to stand in front of the tree and get a pic in our new jammies):
I don't know what was going on here, but this is such a cute smiling pic of everyone:
And now I'm really not sure what happened, but funny:
my o my look what Santa left:
Dang, Rocky and I off to bed:
Aubrey was pleased with the blanket I made her:
Dang is happy to have his own steelers apron (homemade by me :)):
AJ decided to make a book for everyone in my family! EVERYONE! and he did such a good job! Here is Uncle Josh and AJ reading the pickup truck book he made for him:
Aubrey has been insisting on wearing makeup the past couple of months, so for Christmas I got her her own little girl set, and her cousins gave her this big set that she instantly dove into! (gotta love that blue eyeshadow):
The Lawhorns got a WII and we LOVE the WII so we spent an entire day over there playing with them!:
Jody and I (whats with all the orbs? apparently the dancing brought them):
Dang and Hannah singing Taylor Swift:
I love this before and after. AJ got Papa Joe hot wheels to play with him at his house, and so Papa Joe was opening the package perfectly with his pocket knife so the cars would have a "garage" to park in when they were done playing them. Well Aubrey was being her usual self and freaking out trying to dive in and grab all the cars as he got them out, and Papa Joe was telling her to back off and chill out (HA love that he said that to her, makes me feel normal) So here is Aubrey freaking out:
and then I said smile, and look at how instantly Aubreys face changes into an angelic smile. But also notice my dads face. lol.:
My oldest brother Josh and sister-in-law Tina live in Missouri and we hardly ever get to see them :( But this Christmas they decided it was time to come out and visit!!! My brother is seriously talented and can do anything he wants to. His newest ambition and what he will become famous with is leather making. I'm serious folks, no joke here. He makes belts, knife holders, and holsters all the time, along with other stuff, but now hes moved onto saddlery, and satchels! Here is his little family, Jesse got a satchel and 2 guns for Christmas! Tina got a rifle and satchel, and Tyler got his own leather and everything he needs to do it on his own. He takes after his dad and can do anything. I did not get that gene.
During our Christmas stays in Fillmore we spend most of the time with my family because its a holiday that we celebrate and are into pretty big. We do love to go spend a little bit of time with Dangs family as well, and this time we were there all of the grandkids were there except Kamron, next time hopefully we'll get a pic with everyone in it:
Here is my dad with his baby (Rocky's dad):
And now, its all over and time to go back home:
And the kids like the pillowcases and blankets I made for them!:

Winter Wonderland

2010-12-29T09:09:00.000-08:00

Dang and I were both able to take about 10 days off for Christmas this year and we decided to spend most of that time in Fillmore with family. We had one of our best Fillmore vacations ever!
It all started Monday morning, we scurried around to get ready, finish up shopping, and finally on the road.
The drive=horrible
It was pouring POURING rain all the way from Cedar to about Cove Fort, and then the massive rain drops turned into massive snow flakes that had been falling for some time and the freeway had not been plowed yet! We drove about 25-30 miles all the way from Cove Fort to Fillmore! And were glad to have arrived safely!!!
And also glad that we were able to leave when we had! It kept snowing all day, night, day, night... In fact it snowed so much up there that it caused the power to go out all night and part of the day, and the school had an actual real snow day! Something that I don't think ever happens.
All the snow made for a great sledding time! And a pretty white Christmas!

Here are my boys shoveling a path for the dogs:
AJ cute as can be:
When we were packing up to go to Fillmore we had heard that it would snow and AJ has been wanting to go sledding for quite awhile now, so we packed up our sleds and then the whole time we were driving in the snow AJ kept saying "mom look theres enough snow to sled, lets go right now!!!" So Tuesday morning was a long wait for him! Once we got to the hill AJ just got his sled walked right over (trudged through the thigh deep snow) sat down on his sled and went down! (I didn't get to take a picture of him because my mom had the camera and arrived a few minutes after us.)
I thought he would have been scared or timid about it, but nope.
After his first hike back up with his sled, and a few times slipping down, he decided he would rather go down with someone else and have a bit of help with the sled.
Here I am sledding down with AJ:
Dang and AJ went down, and Dang rolled on top of AJ a bit, so AJ got all snowy, and was not going to help with the sled, or go down on the orange sled again.
Josie in her sweet hat going down:
Aubrey would have nothing to do with the sledding, but she had fun hanging out at the top of the hill. Here is my cutie pie niece Hannah holding Miss Aubralina:
Josie and Grandma Arv (I need a sweet hat for the snow!):
Dang and I:
My Mom may have gotten a bit rowdy with the camera and fell:
Josie and AJ sledding down, while Hannah throws massive snow balls:
Josie and I attempting to go down, we kept tipping over and never did make it very far:

Dang on his belly:

Part of the clan:
I took this picture to show how deep the snow was, it goes up under the tires, and look at how deep it is on AJ's legs!:
And that is our sledding trip! I think I will put up the rest of Christmas later, since this post is miles long!

I've been.....

2010-12-16T21:40:00.000-08:00

crafting
sewing
cooking
providing
calm
healthy
happy
busy
busy
busy

and I feel good
:)

2010-12-09T22:02:00.000-08:00

I really want to put up a new post, but seem to be in a rut of what to post about...
Or maybe there is so much and I have been so busy that its hard to focus on one subject!
Today I thought to take a picture of Aubrey strolling Diesel. She (all the kids) does this to the poor kitty about every single day several times a day! Diesel being the sweet kitty he is puts up with it and will stay in any stroller/carrier that the kids want to pack him in. As soon as they move onto other fun and games the kitty will jump out and hide for the rest of the day usually!

Tonight Dang is working a late shift again. I seem to get a bit blue without him here. Actually mostly I'm in a downer mood because I can't stop feeling bad about everything I do wrong!
Like tonight while bathing the kids I yelled at AJ for always making Aubrey cry. I keep reading blogs about how well their kids get along and how sweet they are to each other and it seems that my kids either are in a war or completely happy with each other. How do I cut out that war?
I'm sure not by yelling. And I am now feeling like the momster. Hopefully, one day, AJ will grasp the big brother protector instinct that I think he should already have. And hopefully I will grasp the loving (not yelling) mom instinct that I definitely should have!

Dear Jen:

2010-12-06T13:09:00.000-08:00

I would really love to see your blog and be your bloggy friend!
Will you please invite me????
You can email me
chandara@q.com
Thank you
:)

"1st time" Thanksgiving

2010-11-30T10:46:00.000-08:00

First we started the Thanksgiving festivities in preschool and I cooked my very first Thanksgiving meal ever!

(I carved a turkey for the 1st time!)

Not all by myself, o no, not all by myself. I had very good helpers!
In fact my helpers did all of the mashed potatoes all by themselves! (mostly)
These kids peeled cut and mashed all for the first time. They tried cranberry sauce and dressing for the very first time, and for a couple probably the last time, but they tried it!

(no, I didn't even try to take pictures of them cutting, They aren't that good!)

I've really had fun with Thanksgiving in preschool this year! Its so fun to introduce these kids to so many things that as a grown up I do every day and it means nothing, but to the kids it is the best most exciting thing ever.
We made so many turkey crafts this month its ridiculous, and still Payton asked all morning when can we eat that chicken???
Camden and Jess couldn't make it and I really missed having all my kids! But it was a fun day anyway. Followed by an hour of dishwashing :/
one day later...............
Dang had an entire week off, our plan was to take the whole week and spend some good quality family time together relaxing. Well we did get some good family time in! However there wasnt much time for relaxing.
Tuesday night we drove up to Fillmore. And beat the statewide blizzard thank goodness! Wednesday morning our plan to drive up to the zoo was delayed.
only by 2 hours.
Then we hit the road.
Had a great drive on mostly clear roads all the way to SL without stopping! (something I didn't think was possible with a 2 yr old, but totally was!)
This was Aubreys first time going to the zoo, and all of our first time going in the snow!
We got to the very quiet zoo. I guess when its super duper snowy and freezing cold they just let you in for free! (nothing can stop us from a good time!) We enjoyed zipping around the outside part of the zoo pretty quickly and spent more time in the animal buildings that were toasty warm.
AJ loved running around looking at all the different snakes and small animals, he liked the "baby monkeys" (any monkey that was small was a baby one) and he loved watching the giraffes!
This zookeeper was training a giraffe and it was pretty cool, she would tell it to put its foot on a piece of wood or back up and when it did she would give it a treat. It was kinda cool. I didn't know giraffes were trainable!

(the other giraffe was wondering where his treats were, poor guy never got any)

Aubrey liked everything. I asked her what her favorite animal was just now and (mom I promise I wasn't going to include this but Aubs said it was her favorite so I have to!) she said her favorite was the gorilla that ate his own poop.
No joke. Those gorillas were in dire need of some good food! First we watched for about 10 minutes the biggest gorilla poop and then eat it. It was one of those things that was so gross you couldn't not watch.
Then Dang broke the rules and tapped the glass a bit, and the other gorilla grabbed a banana box and slammed it and itself into the glass! It FREAKED us out! then it sat down and started eating the box.
The Jaguar was awake and not happy. He was pacing the glass and would stop and stare at people. It was neat to see a big cat awake. Every other time we've gone to the zoo all the cats are sleeping (all the other ones were asleep this time too)

After the zoo we ate at the Mayan and I really liked it but the kids were so scared of the noises they played in the back ground. They played Mayan music I guess with wild animal noises and the kids were sure there were wild animals fighting right behind them and were pretty scared the whole time. And they thought the divers were crazy so it wasn't a huge hit. But I loved it. No pics though.

After dinner we went to the Jazz game! (first time with the kids)
We sat right next to friends and had so much fun.
The Jazz played a great game, we got free hotdogs and drinks, and had a great time! Plus now Dang and I have Jazz shirts with the new logo woohoo!
Goofy kids:
Aubrey spent half the game climbing back and forth between me and all of Camdens family.
Aubs and Cam:
And then, we drove back to Grandmas in Fillmore.
Thursday morning: THANKSGIVING!
I always look forward to my moms gifflars (Swedish rolls she makes every year for thanksgiving and Christmas) turkey, mashed potatoes, Lawhorn noodles (special noodles my sister makes in honor of her mother in law that we eat over potatoes, I only get at thanksgiving) and my moms week long dressing that she makes every year. I love it. I love the food! I love that us ladies spend the entire day cooking and cleaning and preparing!
This year, I was mostly looking forward to BEAUTY SHOP its the new thing us ladies do on Thanksgiving. We fix each others hair, do each others makeup, and give massages. This definitely is one of the very best new things about Thanksgiving! (along with Uncle Nates cranberry chutney! ooooo that is another one of the very best new things this year!)
In case I need to know for future reference:
I did Hannahs, Josies, and Jodys hair. Hannah did my hair, Jody did moms hair.
I did Hannahs and Jodys makeup. Josie did my makeup. Hannah did Josies.
I gave mom a hand and shoulder massage. And I gave Josie a shoulder/back massage.
Pretty sure thats that.
And now I'm pretty sure someone owes me a hand, shoulder, back massage.....
O wait! I should mention:
Beauty Shop started because we played beauty shop the day of our family pics. Well Jody played beauty shop on me for the pictures but I never got a chance to do her, so that is how it all started.
Now, onto dinner:
these are my moms awesome table decorations and my dad carving the turkey:
Here is Aubrey. I caught her trying to sneak a gifflar right before the feast!
Jody ready to eat her pie
My mom finishing up the final touches
It was a great feast! I am so grateful to have had most of all my family there! I missed Josh, Tina and the kids, but hope to spend time with them around Christmas!

p.s. in case you were wondering
yes, we left after dinner went straight to walmart for black friday midnight deals. Then onto Kohls, Target, Childrens Place and the mall! No sleeping at all that night!
Was it worth it?
Yes it was
Mainly because my kids got to sleep over at Auntie Jody's and we got to stop in Cedar (at home) for a nice long nap before going back to Fillmore for more fun family time!

WOOOOO DAD!!!

2010-11-23T20:24:00.000-08:00

SO, you saw my last post where I had to record my dad with my own camera Saturday when he was on the news.
Then they did a bigger story and now you can watch it
HERE!!!
Think you need a bit of convincing about gun rights??? YOU had better watch!
GO DAD!!!!
I love that guy!

"that time of year"

2010-11-21T09:57:00.000-08:00

I knew it was coming. You know, "that season" when all kids have runny noses and coughs.
Well, I was determined to keep it away. We have been vitamin c-ing it like crazy the past few months, and I thought it was working wonderfully. And it was working wonderfully until yesterday when Aubrey started coughing, then came the runny nose. And then both the kids in my bed. AJ waking up to cough, and now he has the runny nose too.
So, no church today.
Steamy baths
Orange Juice
Chicken noodle soup
Kleenex
Humidifier
Vicks
Lysol
and hopefully we will kill this crap before it tries to linger around for the rest of the season!

p.s. in case you were wondering YES that was my dad on tv last night! and in case you missed it then you can watch my recording of it.

and in case you were wondering, they only showed his tables and guns and him.
I love seeing my dad represent. But my mom should have been on there too.

BIG BOY/10K

2010-11-18T16:33:00.000-08:00

See this kid

(Isn't he HANDSOME?!?!)

he got something new a few weeks back
meet DIESEL
(for those of you who know us know that cats like to run away or die, so we are hoping that this cutie #9 will be the one that stays forever!)

guess whos responsible?

(bringing home Diesel from Fillmore. Thanks Auntie Jody!)

And I will say in the past few weeks I think I have only fed this kitty once or twice, never scooped or swept up litter, and I've probably helped with water maybe 5 times.
Because.....

Its AJ's JOB!!!

And he LOVES it!

In fact he LOVES any and all chores!
We use to have him put the silverware away (when we had a working dishwasher) and that was his one chore.
Now he asks to help wash dishes, and does a darn good job. Vacuums in the morning while I get ready for daycare, dusts anything and he'll do it, happily, like I'm rewarding him by having him clean! Its almost hard for me to just let him be the one to be in charge of stuff, because I am so use to doing EVERYTHING. Now I can relax (or be busy with other things) while AJ is getting stuff done for me. Its SO nice having his help, and Dang is so surprised to have twice as much work done when he comes home from work.
Its is pretty nice having extra helping hands!

This last Saturday Dang and I decided to run in the TURKEY TROT 10K! It was both of our very first race! We really just did it on the whim, Dang hasn't been running at all and I've been running about 2-3 miles a day so 6 was kind of jump.

I like to say it was a morning date. We started at SUU and ran up the canyon, went through the razorbacks (mountain hike place: snow, mud, slippery slippery mud, super awesome hills.....) then we came out at the golf course, and then were on the bike trail or road the rest of the way.

There were 7 runners including Dang and I, the other runners were major runners who smoked us! But we had a nice time together! we ran most of it, except through the razorbacks, that part we just walked. Dang was SO tired and worn out, he had to sit down several times trying not to pass out. He did awesome though, after we came out of the rough terrain, we ran the rest of the way! well, Dang walked a few times and I didn't want to stop and walk or run ahead so I slowly jogged next to him, and then a ward member saw us and called me out on it, so now I feel dumb for not just walking next to him :/
O well. It was fun though! Jeanna and Kyra took care of the kids while we went, and they met us at a couple of places to cheer us on!

That was the very best part of it! Well, that and wearing paperplate turkeys for our bibs that the preschoolers made! Oh, that is what started it all, AJs preschool made turkeys for it and I wanted to see his, they would either be mile markers or bib numbers, so I had to do the 10 k in case AJs turkey was the very last mile marker or something. Even after doing the entire race, we never did see his, so another runner must have gotten his before we were able to get it.
We finished in 1:40:07. And we got a prize!!!! I think its a free lift at Brian Head or something, I was too tired to look at it and pay attention to what it said and since then Dang has put the papers in a very safe place I'm sure.
Thanks babe for such a great race! And thanks Jeanna and Kyra for being awesome and trackin us down and having our kids cheer us on!!!

Christmas Solution:

2010-11-14T08:08:00.001-08:00

Alright dear blog readers, I have figured out a way to make life easier on you!
I know you all have been wondering what to give me for Christmas ;)
But I would hate for you to go to any trouble or to spend money on me!
SOOOO
Here is something I would absolutley LOVE!!!! That YOU can do for me! :)
Go over here
Check out OUR NEW FAMILY PICS!!!!!!!!!
AND LEAVE A COMMENT!!!!
If we get 20 comments we get a free pic!
Can you believe you all have the opportunity to give us one of our very own pictures!?
Well I think its AWESOME!!!
Thanks Guys!!!!

AJ's DANCE

2010-11-11T20:48:00.000-08:00

end of the maddness

2010-11-08T17:05:00.000-08:00

These past couple of weeks have been CRAZY!!! It all started with, well with my horrible talent of procrastinating! 3 weeks ago was the Fillmore craft fair, then Halloween, then the Gunnison craft fair. So, about a week before the Fillmore one I crammed in a bunch of sewing. And spent the entire week staying up anywhere from 2-4am, then I would wake up and go run at 5 am, then do daycare all day, and then sew some more. It was madness. I'm surprised I was alive after it all, but it was totally worth it! I SOLD OUT of aprons!!! and only had a couple of I-SPY bags left! I made 1 appliqued shirt and sold it and 2 jackets and sold one of them. So, I was SUPER happy and was glad all the incredibly late nights and hard work paid off!
My plan for the next 2 weeks was to get all ready for the Gunnison fair without having to cram so much, but instead... I spent every day doing Halloween things and put off all craft fair stuff for the next week. And then I was back to another week of 4 am sewing nights, trips to St George to get supplies, broken sewing machine, and a permanent shooting burning pain in my neck. Hoping for another amazing craft fair with a great pay off. I was extremely let down! It was horrible. It goes for 2 days. 5 hours on Friday and 8 hours on Sat. Friday I didn't sell anything, but then after closing all of a sudden I sold 2 aprons and 1 bag, I was feeling pretty good for at least getting something sold! I was going to cry if I went an entire day with out selling one thing. Luckilly that didn't happen! Saturday wasn't much better. In fact I made so much stuff thinking it would be similar to Fillmore, but instead it was extremely different and all my hard work was wasted. I guess not totally wasted, there was a booth next to us that had all candy and snacks and stuff, and they didn't sell much either, I felt so bad for them because they have to give it away or throw it away. I'm glad I only make things that I like giving as Christmas gifts, because, well most of our Christmas will be taken care of!

Anyway... I am glad to be home now, and glad that fairs are over for the year! Part of me wants to keep doing them, but it is such a hard thing to do. Especially when you procrastinate until the very last week, and don't make much money! But you just never know what people are going to want and if they are going to be buying stuff. Or if they will just go browse to get ideas and then go home and COPY them and then the next year sell the same thing!!!! (I know, some people! UGH)
Now I get to be back to my normal daily things without being so tired, and hopefully will be getting back into running. (I didn't do the 5am run during the Gunnison week, that was an easy thing to cut back on during that!)
I'm glad that Dang was so patient through all of this! I know its hard on him having to put up with an enormous mess that he can't control. The house and me!
Although it is hard, I do love doing it. And when it pays off it feels so good!

Here are the kids, helping me put together lasagna for Dang to have over the weekend of the Gunnison fair:

And now, I should be able to get my house and myself back to normal. Hopefully! Hard to say with Christmas right around the corner!

I had a video of AJ but its not loading for some reason. I even waited an entire day and night to let it process, but now I am giving up on it. Maybe I'll get it up later, it really is the cutest!

4 days of Halloween!!!!

2010-10-29T18:51:00.000-07:00

Wednesday:
Ms. Ambers preschool Halloween party-
My preschool kids have really had alot of fun with this season. The anticipation of Halloween has been making the kids crazy! They were SO excited to finally have our party and get to come to school in their costumes. I had alot of fun doing it. However.... I'm looking forward to all the rest of the holidays NOT being SO messy! My goodness there was ALOT to clean up afterwards!

We made cotton ball ghosts, and then marshmallow ghosts

Wrapped each other up like a mummy
picked out a pumpkin
Painted and decorated pumpkins

Dug for treasure in skeleton guts

Found out what the inside of a pumpkin was like

Made our own Halloween chex mix and drank vampire blood

Carved 4 faces in a pumpkin

Went trick-or-treating across the street where another preschool party was taking place, then they trick-or-treated over here!
read spooky stories
played with Ms. Carrie and her bubbles
...... did I miss anything????
I don't think so!

Thursday:
SUU preschool Halloween party-
made these for AJ's class of 25, ran out of candy mid project and had to rush to the store, and then rush to finish! But it was worth it, when I picked AJ up his teacher and a few kids commented on how cool his treats were! :)

Friday:
Cedar City trunk-or-treat
here we are on our way out to attack the mobs of trick-or-treaters all around town. Our friends Alex and Daytan were joining us and they were matching, Cinderella and the fairy god mother, so I felt like I should match Aubrey, and since she insists on showing off our Steelers pride (instead of being Snow White... seriously this kid, just as I think I've got her figured out she throws me another loop!) and I just happen to have steelers attire... well, matching was going to be no problem! However I could have done without societies opinions of the Steelers, some hate them others love them, and they weren't afraid of making sure I knew!

Saturdays plan: trick-or-treat, hand out candy, possible spooky dinner with the cuz, and movie date night... can anyone guess what movie we will be going to see?
Well, Dang and I have seen this movie in theaters every year for the past (uuuuummmmm) 7 years! Can't break tradition.

Hope everyone else has been enjoying this holiday as much as we have!

So far this fall....

2010-10-25T14:35:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin Patch

Leaves
House
Witches Night Out

Time to think

2010-10-15T22:30:00.000-07:00

Dangs work is staying busy this time of year, a nice change from the past few years! Hes been able to get an extra shift every week, and I have gotten quite use to it. He works a night shift and I tuck the kids in bed, get things [slowly] cleaned up (my way) and usually plop down to watch a movie that Dang never wants to watch (tonight was a walk in the clouds.... i love it, he won't even sit through it)
Well, this week seems like its been extra tough. I had a whole (LONG) post written up and decided its better not to share so much. But, I do want to ask: does everyone have to constantly be trying so hard? I feel like I am always trying, and not ever really getting what I think I am trying for. Do things get easier? Is there going to be a time when I can stop trying my very hardest and just be able to naturally do what needs to be done, what I want to get done?
Anyway, most nights when Dang works I really enjoy having my quiet alone time. I know I wouldn't enjoy it if he worked every night, but when I am living a LOUD crazy day with kids everywhere around me all day, every day, and then to feel like I need to be doing something with Dang I just get too tired. Its really nice to have one night, with about 5 hours of absolutely nobody. Just me. Its so peaceful. Even more peaceful than when I'm trying to sleep. I could do a whole post on a night in bed 2 kids a dog and a husband its ridiculous!....
Well, tonight probably would have been a better date night than alone night. I am really feeling blue. I'm running out of little things to distract me from the big things, and the big things seem to get bigger. I would rather have had company for tonight than thinking time.
Aubrey is really quite something. Life with her is such a rollercoaster. I'm trying to figure out how to be a mother to her and not feel like I am being punished in some way.
So, anyway, I thought I would go through my pictures. Remember how incredibly sweet my daughter can be, and how she doesn't always hate me. And just to try and forget about some of the things that I really just need to forget about.

So, here are some random photos:

My sisters kitten:
I feel like this some days

(p.s. kitty is hiding from Aubrey...)

Aubrey, Josie, and Jesse (2 of my nieces) and the momma cat:
This is the cutest little girl in the world! Why must she also be filled with FIRE!?!?

alright... so I just spent the last hour looking at pictures from 2008
Remember when Aubrey decided she wanted to be born and gave 13 minutes to get to the hospital and in a bed...
6 months crawling and 8 months walking....
Well, I think its time for me to stop thinking she will slow down for me to breath!

Hannah Banana

2010-10-11T12:46:00.001-07:00

My dear niece Hannah got to go to homecoming this year, it was her very first date and dance. Her mom let me in on the secret before Hannah even knew and I was SO excited for her! I was hoping that she would be the one to tell me once she knew and she did! She sent me a text telling me and she was like so are you going to do my hair or what? I pretty much peed my pants from excitement! I freaking love this girl, she is a teenager and she still thinks I am a super cool person even though really I am an old boring mom. Not only did she think I was cool enough to do her hair she wanted me to do her nails and makeup too! I was SO excited!
May I just say Hannah is pretty much the most beautiful person on this entire planet and I was a bit nervous about doing her hair and makeup, she is just so beautiful all by herself, how can I cover any of that up with makeup??? Well, I did it, and she was so happy with how everything turned out, and that is what matters the most.
Her are a few pictures of her.... and just so you know... NO you can not copy any of these pictures!

nails

makeup

hair

p.s. notice that beautiful painting in the background, see Hannah in it? hasn't she grown up!?!

Cute girl, huh?
Well, I really had a fun time glamming her up a bit, and hope it made the night all that much more special! I love you Han!!!

The Goal, and a couple kid stories

2010-10-07T16:15:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to hear all about the St George marathon runners. I did not go, but my close cousin was waiting near the finish line for some of her family. She watched many people as they approached the finish line. All different types of people. Major runner type people, several average type people, men and women in there 70s and possibly older, young people, people who are extremely overweight, families... all different types of people. And hearing about what she saw inspired me. I didn't know any of these people. I didn't even see their faces, but just hearing about it gave me chills. I knew that that is what I want to do. I have drive, I have ambition, I want to accomplish the impossible! I am not a runner, I have to use every ounce of my body and push myself to run 2.5 miles (most of it downhill) So, I am giving myself a year. By this time next year
I AM GOING TO RUN A MARATHON
And who better to do this with than the very most important women in my life:
My Mom, Bestest sister in the whole wide world-Jody, and the one who made me an aunt very 1st, Hannah!
Girls, WE are in training! WE ARE DOING THIS!
Like I said... although I try, I am not a runner. It is not an easy thing for me at all! It is going to be alot of work, it will be alot of work for all of us, but I know that we can do it, and that it will be one of the very best and most memorable experiences we will ever have together!
Plus... it feels good to be "in training"

I also had to share a funny thing the kids have said today:
I asked AJ how school was
AJ: good, we did sharing time and Jack brought his remote control car
me: thats cool, is Jack who you like to play with at school?
AJ: yep, Jack and Ethan
(I already knew this, hes only ever talked about those two boys before, and on a daily basis tells me all about what they were wearing and what they played, its pretty funny)
me: so do any girls play with you guys
AJ: no
me: oh
(several minutes go by)
AJ: well, I play with Mckinna
me: o, is she nice
AJ: yeah
(another few minutes)
AJ: I like Rylan
me: Do you play with her?
AJ: yeah
me: so what does she look like
AJ: she is a princess, she looks just like a princess

I thought that was SO cute! I am going to have to share this with her mom I think :)

As I was cleaning the kitchen the kids were playing. AJ was pretending to decorate the house with halloween decorations (putting toys everywhere) and I overheard Aubrey say to him: I will help you decorate after I fix my hair ok AJ? AJ said ok... so then Aubrey says I have to fix my hair!
AJ: I know you said that already
Aubrey: well it will take 11 hours

If I wasn't in so much shock I would have taken a pic during this time, but I didn't think of it til the next day: So here is Aubrey a day after spilling an entire bottle of pink nail polish all over my comforter!

funny girl

Princess of Dancin

2010-10-04T15:09:00.000-07:00

A typical daily... more like hourly performance from the one and only
PRINCESS AUBREY ADALE CHANDARA
featuring:
Big Brother AJ

Kanarraville Falls

2010-09-30T18:50:00.000-07:00

This last Saturday Klint and Jeanna invited me to go hike with them in the Kanarraville canyon! I know, almost everyone who lives in this area has gone here, but I had NEVER been! In fact if I am going to be honest here, I had NEVER even been hiking! (besides 4th year girls camp, I don't know if that counts...) SO, I was SUPER excited! I really really enjoyed the natural feel about it, there were alot of people there, but it felt like we weren't crowded. We were able to do our own thing and go the ways we wanted without feeling like it was what everyone was doing, we just did our thing.. well I just followed the pros. But seriously it was a good time! And now, all I want to do on the weekends is HIKE!!! Jeanna and I have some BIG plans for the future. Hopefully involving the whole fam in some of them! We have unleashed a new side of us, and are excited to experience the beauty of nature and get killer workouts at the same time!
So, here are SEVERAL pics from our adventure:

(my super expensive legit hiking gear: tennis shoes and Aubreys princess backpack)
cool hole in the rock

Yep, we walked up and down LOTS of places like this... LOVE IT!!!

We were hoping for alot of wildlife, like snakes and bears, we didn't see any of them. But luckily we weren't totally stumped on creatures, there were ALOT of lizards! and most of them were pretty cute tiny ones.

Jeanna going through a cool cave/tunnel... thing (the plan was for me to take a pic of her, then I gave her the camera to take a pic of me and then she snapped the pic right as I was checking out this freaky looking beetle: see next pic)

Jeanna and I planned on climbing to the top of this log... we made it half way :-)

Cute Jeanna and Klint sharing a moment before entering the slots

Beautiful!

Jeanna and I behind the waterfall

here I am going up the staircase of death... aka 1st ladder

another waterfall- seriously this place is SO PRETTY!

cool spot of trail

just climbed up that! luckilly there was a trail off to the side to go down on. NEXT time we WILL be going down the "slide"

going up

too bad my camera isn't amazing and this doesn't show Jeanna very well, but the path above is SO beautiful!

Klint on his way up ladder #2. We (I) was so scared about having to go back down these ladders, but it was much easier than I thought!

secret waterfall cave...

looking up

I loved this place! I loved taking pictures! This time of year was perfect, not too much water, the water wasn't too cold, and the weather wasn't too hot. It really was perfect. I would be happy to do this hike over and over again!

Garden Therapy

2010-09-21T16:33:00.000-07:00

So many things are happening while experiencing gardening.
1- planning
2- organizing
3- physical activity

4- budgeting

5- nurturing

6- research
7- family time
8- organic food
9- food storage

10- calming
11- brain development
12- sensory skills
13- fine motor skills
14- large motor skills
15- responsibility

It is endless. I learn so much from each plant, the different kinds of bugs, ways to get rid of bugs, each type of seed grows different and they all take special attention and care, watering is a summer long learning process, ways to include the kids.

The beauty of watching all your hard work pay off is rejuvenating.

Everything the kids get to learn about while experiencing so many things is extremely fullfilling. While they obviously see what wonderful things happen to a seed when it is planted they learn patience, how to be delicate, balance walking through the plants and on the railroad ties, they see that some bugs help the garden

while others destroy it, they learn different kinds of insects, whats poisonous, what they can hold.

AJ knows what a crookneck squash, zucchini, spaghetti squash, cantaloupe, look like and taste like, he knows banana peppers from bell peppers and that bell peppers come in all different colors and that spiders like to live in the folds the peppers develop while growing.

Aubrey knows how to get peas out of a pod, and that tomatoes taste better when red but that she still hates them.

Watching my garden grow and produce more vegetables than what we can eat is incredible to me, it makes me feel so proud, worthwhile, and happy.

Today I woke up and had the kids help me find all the red tomatoes, pick them, and gently set them in the bucket. It was like a treasure hunt (for all of us!) and then we picked onions, peppers, basil, and oregano. All from the garden I planted.
I peeled and seeded the tomatoes, peeled the peppers, blended everything together and simmered the perfect marinara sauce all day.

My house smells SO good!
And now, we have 6 bags of the perfect marinara sauce to freeze.

All the hard work in the garden is SO worth it!
Not just for the best marinara sauce, garden salsa, fresh peas, never having to buy onions, carrots or peppers, eating more vegetables than ever. It is worth it for all the other things that are happening during the whole process.
I love walking out to the garden and looking at how things have grown. Picking that perfectly ripe tomato and eating it right there outside. Checking to see if our pet spider is still occupying our garden.
Whether I am spending a quiet moment watching the stillness of my garden, working hard at grassing (like weeding by I have grass that is coming back up), squishing aphids under leaves, smelling the herb garden, fixing the trench, enjoying fresh vegetables, shoveling a new spot to plant whatever, it doesn't matter. I am able to clear my head and think. It is my therapy.

I painted my fireplace red

2010-09-16T08:11:00.000-07:00

its been red for about a month, I'm still waiting to do the 3rd coat... the first 2 were done with a kids painting paint brush
Dang made a fancy dinner
Grilled Pork Tenderloin with a Fresh Peach Sauce
My sugar cookie with chocolate frosting:

AJ's special requested dinner before starting school
Chicken with cous cous and carrots.

(on the student spotlight it asks what your favorite food is, so I asked AJ cuz I wanted to write what he said, and he said chicken with cous cous and carrots and other vegetables. So cute I thought. And then for the primary program they asked him why he is grateful for heavenly father and he said "I'm grateful for heavenly father because he gave me carrots, little baby tomatoes, cucumbers and spaghetti squash in my garden" Is that not the cutest??? I can't get over his cuteness! And love for healthy food!)

First day of going to preschool.

So, AJ gets to do 2.5 hours of preschool at home with me (this was our first day too, so Aubrey needed to be in the pic as well) and then he has an hour break and goes off to HIS preschool. He has really been loving it! I'm so glad that Uncle Tow has been the best and takes him to school, AJ loves going with him and I love that I don't have to get a new car to pack kids around in...yet, anyway.

AJ's favorite after school snack.

I love it, he says "mom, lets put Aubs down for a nap and watch a movie or somethin and eat some popcorn" and then every time we make it he wants MORE BUTTER! This is a kid after his mamas heart. I love that he is so chill and wants to hang out with me. Have I mentioned before that one of his most favorite movies is Mama Mia? Serious it is, Aubreys too. They love it, and love singing along!

what happens in Vegas, I BLOG ABOUT!!!

2010-08-18T20:21:00.000-07:00

Dang turned 25 this year and I wanted to do something really special for him, but wasn't sure what to do, and then one day he called and said he was going to work a guys week for him and the guy is going to work the week of Dangs B-day for him! So then without anything planned yet I had a whole week to work with! And so I talked to my mom about keeping the kids for a few days so we could go on a trip. And that was going to work out too! Holy cow! Nothing really planned but its all coming together!
So when Dang and I were dating during high school we use to go to Vegas ALL the time! It seems like we would go every other month or something like that. Back then we would just drive down, with not hardly any money, underage, and nothing really to do. We would stay with my Grandma and walk around on the strip. Thats it, it was so fun though! We honeymooned there, and did about the same thing, except we had a really nice room at the Tropicana we stayed in. Well since then WE haven't been back together for another random fun trip for a long time, I decided that is where we would go! I booked rooms at the Golden Nugget on Freemont street, and bought Chris Angel Believe tickets. I talked to people about giving him money for his birthday so he could use it in Vegas, and that worked out quite well!
We had a blast! Tonz and TONZ and TONZZZZ of walking around on the strip/Freemont Street. Every day we went to Gold and Silver Pawn to meet the PAWN STARS, we only caught the old man, but that was pretty darn cool! We got suckered into going to a time share spill and managed to say NO throughout the entire thing, phew, in doing that we got free tickets to Phantom of the Opera!!!!! Free lunch, and $25 to use at our hotel! It ended up being worth it for sure, but I'm not sure we will ever do the time share lecture stuff again...
The hotel we stayed at was INCREDIBLE! I originally wanted a hotel on the strip, but they were either too expensive or had really bad reviews, so I opted for OLD Vegas, we really love Freemont Street and had a really good time being there, the pool there was SO cool!!! It was a circle shape with a HUGE aquarium in the middle, so if you were in the middle of the pool you would be right next to the sharks/fish take. There was a big water slide that swirled around and then it turned into a clear tube and went through the tank! It was SO fun!!! we went a couple of times :-) Fun stuff.... it did kind of suck being a ways away from the strip because we spent most of our day over there. To save on gas and parking we took a bus down and back. It worked out great, but there could have been like an hour more to do stuff if we weren't sitting in the bus waiting for our stop...

List of things we did:
Shopping at the Vegas Factory Outlets
Helped my parents at the Gunshow
A whole night on Freemont Street
Swimming at the Golden Nugget/water slide
Gondola ride at the Venetian
Forum Shop wandering/dinner at Planet Hollywood in the forum shops
Phantom of the Opera
another stroll through the forum shops hoping for Cheesecake Factory cheescake, but it was closed :-(
Flamingo Habitat at the Flamingo
Lion Habitat at the MGM Grand
Chris Angels show Believe at the Luxor (AMAZING!!!)
Dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in the Forum shops (yes, we went there 3 times...)
New York New York Roller coaster
Shopping at the Fashion Show Mall
Sirens at TI
Fountains at the Bellagio
A little making out at the Flamingo Habitat ;-)
M&M World
Coke Place
Ethel M Chocolate Factory/Cactus Garden
Vegas Sign

FUN STUFF! I would however recommend that you not try to go to the cheesecake factory at the very end of the Forum Shops twice when hurrying to get to somewhere else. That place needs like a 4 hour block of time. Seriously. Was it worth running up and down the strip in a frenzy to get there? well, yes. Once we finally had the time to sit and eat it was delish, however maybe a bit more time consuming than one would think.
I might go as far to say.... Next time we go to Vegas I don't think we will be going in or around the Forum Shops. But the next time we might.
Since I've been back home, actually yesterday... I saw on NBCs website that all the Miss Universe pictures and such were being taken during the same time that we were there! We went to the Vegas sign the day after they did, and shopped at the Fashion Show mall the same day they were there, they also took pictures in front of the Bellagio the same day that we went. So I don't know how we didn't know anything about that... funny though such a big thing was going on and we had no idea.
Anyways. It was such a fun time! We definitely needed a little getaway.
When we got back, I went up to Fillmore to pick up the kids, and they seemed to have had a blast as well! HOORAY!

Goodbye Summer Vacation

2010-08-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to post so many things! For goodness sakes I haven't even put up any of our super cute 4th of July pics!
And now, my summer vaca is over. My daycare is back to running, and I am back to waking up to an alarm.
At least school kids get to go school shopping! Then you have some kind of excitement of going back to school.... Maybe I can go back to daycare provider shopping :-)
I did go school supply shopping and buying bottles and bottles of glue, and enough glue sticks to last us through the year is quite exciting! And thinking of all the fun preschool activities and lessons makes me excited for it too.
NieNie keeps bringing up the fall and how it is pretty much here. I have been in denial about that. I just love the summer so much! And then she just brought up how Christmas is right around the corner... holy cow! I can't hardly believe that! We just got done saving for our big trip and now is it already time to save for christmas shopping?!?!
Well, every season brings new exciting adventures, and I am looking forward to all the fall things. I'm glad we were able to have such a fun summer, and kind of hate to have it be over.
So this post may possibly be filled to the max with pictures... I'm not really sure how many I am going to put up, but I'm pretty sure there will be several.

First- 4th of July parade! I can't believe I don't have these up already. I have the CUTEST kids! and nieces!!! Its crazy to me that the cute little kids in all these pictures are mine, and the sweet little young lady that is helping them is Josie! I remember when I was the sweet little young lady helping her and Hannah! I guess it wasn't that long ago, but my goodness how things change!
During one of our Fillmore trips, I was visiting with Hannah about what high school kids do these days up there in the little town, and then we talked about how we use to go to the hot pots alot. She had never been and I couldn't hardly believe it! So we had to drive out there and show her what all the fuss was about. It looks quite different in the middle of the day than at night, and I was kinda glad we had only planned to put our feet in!
AJ helped Uncle Milt alot around the yard, they mowed the lawn a few times! and he got to do a few other very helpful things. I only followed for the lawn mowing pic.
One of Aubreys very best faces:
Spending some time with my older brother Josh and his wife Tina and the kids Tyler and Jesse, was definitely a highlight of the summer!
Summer time naps... they are the best...
Especially when your incredibly independant daughter whose never wants you to touch her at all when shes tired, actually falls sound asleep in your arms- thats the best!

Thanks Marie

2010-08-05T08:32:00.000-07:00

I love my neighbors. They are the Haleys. We get to borrow things from each other, and visit. It is great! They really are good people, and I am grateful to know them and live across the street from them.
Marie put this talk up on her blog and it is so good. Everyone should read it. If you already have, then read it again.
Continue in Patience by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf