Swim Lessons

We just finished up a month of swim lessons. Amber and Les both passed the levels that they were in, and Zak was so close, but he can't move on to the next level until he is 6 anyway, so I'm not too worried about him. Zak doesn't like to put his face in the water if he can get away with it.

But he likes to play Humpty Dumpty and jump off the wall.

Zak has two of his friends from preschool in his swim class, so he always has something to say, even if it is the teachers turn to talk.

Les's class practices fish fins for the back float. He gets a little over-excited sometimes, but he does a good job. Les also has a family friend in his class.

He had to back float for 10 seconds, and does a good job. He also has to be able to turn from a back float to his tummy.

Amber had to be able to turn over from her front to her back and back again while swimming in the deep end. It was a piece of cake for her.

Wake-Up Phone Call

First of all, I apologize to anyone who doesn't know my parents and family. I, like a lot of people, use this blog also as a journal, and that is the reason for this entry.

Tuesday Morning I was awakened at 6:30 by my phone ringing. It was my mom saying that Dad was in the hospital for an angiogram. Apparently, Monday night, he was having some heart pain, and so he went to the Doctor. The doctor did some tests, and then told Dad that he needed to see a specialist, and that the appointment was at 5:00 Tuesday morning. Mom and Dad thought that was an odd time for an appointment, but went anyway. When they arrived at the hospital, the Dr. started explaining some things to them and so my parents asked what kind of tests Dad was there for. Apparently, Dad's doctor didn't tell him he was having an angiogram, so they didn't go prepared for Dad to stay overnight at the hospital, and they didn't really make arrangements to be off work for the day (or for the entire week for that matter).

When they got into his heart, they found a very major blockage, and ended up putting a stint in his artery. It was really a good thing the doctor acted when he did and how he did, because dad could have had a severe heart attack any minute. But it would have been nice if he had given them all of the information.

Anyway, Dad is doing really well, and not in a lot of pain as of the last time I talked to them. What a blessing to know that our Heavenly Father watches out for us.

Mom and Dad are still not completely moved to their new house, and all of the fix-up work on the old house isn't completed, but all of that will be done in time, and hopefully, no scares from heart attacks now.

4th Grade Field Trip

I just remembered that I haven't blogged the 4th grade field trip from last Friday, so I decided to sit down and do it since I feel too miserable to do the housework that needs done so badly after the crazy last few days. Somewhere, I have misplaced my memory card with all of the pictures on. Amber loved just taking my camera and taking all the pictures that she wanted. We went to the State capitol building to observe the 2009 session, and to get a tour of the building, and we went to the pioneer museum next door. It was a fun time, especially since they have studied Utah history and Government so much this year. Hopefully I will find the memory card soon so that I can blog about it for journal purposes.

Snow!

President's Day at our house always means a trip to the school district's Environmental Center. The guy who runs the place does an open house for all district employees to bring their families and play.

This year, Zak decided that he was going to try cross-country skiing. I got him all ready, and out onto the groomed trail, and off he went. With almost no instruction at all, he took off. He did a loop that was about 1/2 mile long, and did a good job. The few times that he did fall, he was able to get himself back up without getting his ski's tangled. On the faster down-hill slopes, he just crouched down to help him balance, and went right down.
Amber probably skiied a couple of miles, and did some much longer loops. She is really pretty good at the cross-country skiing.
I, on the other hand, am no good on skis. I do okay as long as it is flat and I don't have any speed, but once there is a down-hill, and I start going a little faster, I freak out. I could never be a down-hill skier.

The boys love to sled and snowboard on the road.

And bury themselves in the snow!

Amber, Les and Brian also snow shoed up to the top of a small mountain to look over the valley (Brian forgot to take a picture of that!) Zak was having a hard time, so he and I turned back for a sweet roll.
Les also did an awesome job on the skis. He went around the loop 3 or 4 times, but then he wanted to snowboard while Brian and Amber did a big loop. I didn't get to watch him much, but he took off so fast that I couldn't keep up with him.
To finish off the day, we jump on our sleds and ride them the 1/2 mile or so back down to the parking lot. It is insane, and tons of fun.

We always look forward to this day trip. It is so much fun. The kids love to have something different to do in the snow, and the sweet rolls are always worth the hike up the hill! Thanks Dave!

Moving Mom & Dad

After the Temple open house Friday night, we continued on down the road to Lehi. We were going down to help my parents move. After 29 years in the same house, they have decided that a new house will be better for them in their "old age". They moved into their house when I was 3 years old, so it is a little hard to see them move. But I know it is better for them to do it now. If they ever need a wheelchair, it would be impossible to get them in and out of their current house.

Well, they didn't get to close on their house when they had planned, so they won't actually be moving until next weekend. I won't be able to go help them next weekend, but that might be better. I won't be there for the emotional part of leaving their home.

Draper Temple

Friday night we had the opportunity to take our kids to the new Draper Temple open house. The temple was beautiful inside. The kids loved the baptismal font, and the Celestial Room. At the end of the walk through the temple, they took small groups into the sealing rooms and explained a little bit about what goes on in the temple and Eternal families. It was such a neat experience to take the kids at this young age. They can't wait to go to the Oquirrh Hills Temple open house this summer.

Happy Birthday Les

Happy 7th Birthday Les!!!

We love you so much. We love the way you take care of others, and try so hard to do what is right. We hope you have a perfect birhtday!

Love Dad, Mom, Amber & Zak

Good Times Tag

Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be!! At the end, choose 10 people (or more) to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

IN YOUR SENIOR YEAR DID YOU...

1. Did you date someone from your school?
No

2. Did you marry someone from your high school?
No

3. Did you car pool to school?
Yup, with my mom, She worked at the school, and I always had to go in early and stay late for help with calculus

4. What kind of car did you have?
I drove my parents white Ford Tempo

5. What kind of car do you have now?
a silver Chevy Venture

6 Its Friday night...where are you now?
at work

7. It is Friday night...where were you then?
probably at Wendy's hanging out and watching movies

8. What kind of job did you have in high school?
I didn't work in high school

9. What kind of job do you do now?
I work at the local craft store a few hours a week

10. Were you a party animal?
no

11. Were you considered a flirt?
not ususally

12. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?
I was in the band for a year...only because I wanted to go to Disneyland at the end of the year

13. Were you a nerd?
probably

14. Did you get suspended or expelled?
no

15. Can you sing the fight song?
No, I never could...Lehi was never known for their fight song, or the students knowing it

16. Who was/were your favorite teacher(s)?
Mrs. Fugal...She's the only one I can remember...oh yeah, I have to say Miss Lambert, I spent way too much time in her class (refer to #3)

17. Where did you sit during lunch?
In the hall by Leslie's locker usually

18. What was your school's full name?
Lehi High School

19. When did you graduate?
1994

20. What was your school mascot?
A Pioneer

21. If you could go back and do it again, would you?
some parts yes, some parts no

22. Did you have fun at Prom?
yes

23. Do you still talk to the person you went to prom with?
no, sometimes I wonder where he is at, he was a good kid

24. Are you planning on going to your next reunion?
maybe - probably

25. Do you still talk to people from school?
Yes

26. School Colors?
Purple and White

27. What celebrities came from your high school?
umm....some Hamby guy that played pro football I think

I tag: I don't know who reads my blog...I just tagged them all with my last tag...If you want to play, I tag you!

Happy Birthday Amber

Happy 10th Birthday Amber
We Love you very much.
We are so proud of you and all that you do for others, for your hard work in school, and for the way you play so well with your brothers. We are proud of the choices that you make every day.
We hope you have a wonderful Day!

Love Dad, Mom, Les, & Zak

I've been tagged!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

I've been tagged.

Here are the rules:
1. Post rules on blog.
2. Answer the six 8 items.
3. Tag 8 people.

8 Favorite TV Shows
1. Survivor
2. Amazing Race
3. Numbers
4. Good Things Utah
5. 2 News (I know, not a favorite show, but I sure watch it a lot)
6. Travel Channel
7. Discovery Channel
8. Scrubs

8 Things I did yesterday
1. Grocery shopping
2. Pick up kids from school
3. Help kids with homework
4. Swim lessons
5. Made dinner
6. X-biking at Lady Fitness
7. Dishes
8. Started cutting out a quilt

8 Things I look forward to
1. Our cruise to the Bahamas
2. Taking the kids to Disneyworld
3. Taking the kids to the Beach
4. All the kids being in school all day
5. A clean house
6. Taking the kids to the Draper Temple openhouse
7. All the kids doing their first Triathlon (Amber and Les are working on it)
8. Being able to run a whole 5k


8 Favorite restaurants
1. Fazoli's
2. Costa Vida
3. Rodizio Grill
4. Lucky China
5. Olive Garden
6. Brick Oven
7. An Italian place in downtown SLC, I forget what it is called.
8. Warrens (I love their fries)

8 Things I wish for
1. No housework
2. More money
3. Happy, healthy kids
4. To be thin
5. More time to do things for me
6. More time with Brian
7. A bigger house
8. A classic Mustang

8 People I tagged
1. Natalie
2. Melissa H
3. Deena
4. Leslie
5. Barbie
6. Tanya S
7. Amy B
8.Anyone else who reads my blog

Zak and the Baby

Zak had a fun time today helping with baby Hazel. My neighbor needed an emergency babysitter and so we had her for the day. She slept for 5 hours, and was happy when she wasn't asleep. If this is what daycare was really like, I'd do it. She was so easy. I think that Zak liked being the "big brother" for a while. This is kind of a goofy picture, but he was so excited to feed her when she woke up. He was very gentle too, and he was quiet...the best part (lately he only has one volume, and it is really loud). Thanks for letting us watch her B&K. (No...I'm not baby hungry, I got to send her home at the end of the day!)

Discovery Gateway fieldtrip

On Thursday we went with Zak's preschool to the Discovery Gateway. He had so much fun. One of his favorite activities was the KSL 5 news studio green screen. He loved standing in front of it, as well as setting the picture up for someone else. but I think that his favorite activity was the crane. He and Sam took turns lifting the blocks in the crane and building the buildings to match the ones on the wall. Thanks Teacher Julie & Teacher Liz!

America

Wow, I don't know if any of you saw Oprah yesterday. There was an amazing song, America, that Bono, Faith Hill, Seal, MaryJ Blige, and some others sang that was AMAZING. You can download the mp3 until this afternoon for free.....I would put it in my blog, but I don't know how...I am so challenged!

No time to blog

I am such a dork. I have spent the long weekend completely gutting, deep cleaning, and putting my kids bedrooms back together, and I didn't take any before or after pictures. I can't believe how much junk we have. After cleaning the boys room, I sent 4 garbage bags of stuff to D.I., 2 bags of trash, and I also have one bag of stuff to send to Marsha for her boys (not too much, she is sick of our junk too). By the time that I got the boys room put back together, I still had my living room full of stuff, and a big pile in my bedroom. It is no wonder they couldn't keep their room clean. Since then, I have actually given them permission to "make a big mess" with their blocks, because it would be easy to clean up. I also got out the Lite-Brite and let Les take it in his room. Something I would have never done before - in fact, they haven't been allowed to play with it for the last year, because there was no where clean enough to get out all of those little pegs. An now for my favorite part.....They cleaned it all up when they were done! I didn't even have to ask or remind them to!!! We'll have to get out the trains next!

Yesterday, we did the same thing to Amber's room. We got 2 D.I. bags, 3 trash bags, and 1 bag of clothes to pass down to Heather. What a relief it is to have a little corner of my life back in order. We are getting a new mattress today, and so I plan to do the same to my bedroom. If all goes as planned, I can get all of my spring cleaning done before spring comes, and then I can be outside in the sunshine once it is warm enough!

Now for the next item of business....I have got to convince my kids that it is OK to make their beds...it bugs me so bad that their rooms don't look clean, because their beds are a heaping mess. Oh well, I guess baby steps to achieve greatness!

Brian's Birthday

I just wanted to wish Brian a happy 35th birthday.

I Love You!

New Year's Eve

This year for New Year's Eve, I though we would have a nice quiet ball drop when our friends Bill & Lisi invited us to their new home. Boy was I wrong 6 of the 7 kids stayed up until midnight with us. The girls spent an hour singing High School Musical karaoke, and they all played video games for hours. We really had a lot of fun...right up until about 12:10.
Zak had just finished his sparkling cider, and his carrot, and cookie, and cracker, and... (you can imagine). He and Sam got jumping around and wrestling. Apparently a little tummy can't handle that much food, and carbonation along with jumping. You guessed it,... up it ALL came.

There is nothing quite like your kid throwing up all over someone else's house (okay, Heidi, maybe Ry did better). I felt terrible. I hope they'll invite us back. I guess that is why 4 year old don't get to stay up till midnight.

Christmas with the cousins

Saturday, after the sleepover at Grandpa & Grandma's house all of the cousins came for my family's traditional Christmas breakfast...Homemade waffles with blueberry (or maple) syrup all topped off with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream melting on top (this is my favorite breakfast in the whole world. I make waffles so often, that Amber gets sick of them). It never even crossed my mind to take a picture of them, I was too busy eating. Yummy!

It is pretty chaotic in my parent's house when everyone is there, so I only had my camera out for a few minutes, but here is a few good pics.

This is Greg's oldest son Mark. He didn't want me to take a picture, but I caught one anyway.

Zak & Seth (Scott's 5th child)

This is just a picture of the little boys and grandpa being silly.

Marsha & Ty (Greg's wife and son)

Once again we were spoiled at Grandpa and Grandma's house. Thank you.

Aunt Lisa had our family this year, the kids all love the Webkinz and the travel games that she got for them. On Sunday, we put together the K'nex rollercoaster and ferris wheel that she gave them. They took about 4 hours to build, but they were worth it.

Thanks for everything Aunt Lisa, we loved it!

Christmas

Now that my poor computer has made it through the virus, I decided that I should blog Christmas for Grammy and Gramps. We know that it was hard for them to be away from the grand kids at Christmas.

Christmas Eve tradition at our house always includes pajamas. This year I couldn't find enough time to make all of the kids pajamas, but I did get Amber's made. I love the way hers turned out. It is a very different pattern than I have used before. She is learning how to sew, so I got enough fabric that she can make some capris for summer time to match. My kids needed pajamas so bad, that Amber actually also got 2 sets of Hannah Montana pajamas, Les got Transformers and (hmm.. the other character slips my mind), and Zak got 2 sets of Dinosaur PJ's. I still owe the boys some that I make.

My mom also made them each a set of Pajamas that match all of the cousins. Amber and her cousin Heather are the only girls on my side of the family, so she made theirs matching, as well as matching ones for their American Girl dolls.

One of the first things that Zak had to check, was that Santa got his snacks. This year the kids decided that Santa and the reindeer needed something healthy along with their treats. So Santa got an orange and a cookie with his milk, and the reindeer each got a baby carrot. But we found those half chewed on the snow on the front lawn.

this is the Christmas morning mess at our house. We were truly spoiled. I thought that I kept it small and simple this year, but it always amazes me how much it turns out to be.
One of our favorite gifts this year was from Grammy and Gramps (who are currently serving a mission in Florida). They sent us a puzzle with a picture of a cruise ship, and told us that when they finish their mission, they would like us all to come to Florida and join them on a cruise. We are so excited. We can't wait. (With the weather right now, I would be happy to leave today!)

Another favorite was a fort set. Zak already had one, and loves it. This one is much larger than his last one, and has pieces that turn it into several carnival games as well as the fort. The best part is that both sets will work together to make an awesome fort.

Apparently after our 10 day camping trip last summer, Santa decided that we needed warmer sleeping bags than the little sleepover bags that the kids had. Brian already has a nice one, so me and the kids got these, and Brian got a fleece liner for his to make it even warmer. The kids all tried theirs out on Grandpa & Grandma's floor on Friday night.

I forgot to get pictures of each of the kids with their new stash of things, but here is a brief list of the favorites. Amber: Sewing machine & Heeleys Les: Skateboard & Heeleys Zak: Fort & pots and pans (he loves to cook).

My computer is back

Well, my computer is alive again, that was a pretty brutal virus. Our awesome neighbor spent a ton of time just trying to recover my pictures from the hard drive before he nuked it. Last time we talked to him, he said there was one more thing he could try, but he didn't expect much because nothing else that they usually use worked. I was devastated as you can imagine. I am so lazy, all of my pictures since 2005 were on my hard drive, and I haven't backed them up anywhere else. The last thing he tried worked, and he saved everything. Now my computer is back up and running, but it doesn't have any of my programs on it so it is totally useless. (this is not the fault of my awesome neighbor who saved everything for me.) Even the programs that run all of my files he saved are not on, so I can't use what I have. UUGGHHHHH.

Just a warning, watch out for a window that continuously pops up that looks like the Windows security warning window. It is a virus and is BAD news. It looks really good, but it is the first sign that you have the virus.

Frustrated

I am so frustrated. My computer has a terrible virus, and I can't do anything on it. We are working on cleaning it up, but it won't let us go to any websites that have anti-virus software or open anything on the CD drive that has antivirus software. Not even in safe mode. So we are going to have to reformat our hard drive, and start over. So there will be no fun pictures of Christmas, or New Years. I think I would rather have the virus than my computer.....goodbye until it's fixed...