Surviving My Blessings

Easter 2010

2010-04-20T15:26:00.000-07:00

This year was no different in the fun we had with Easter. The nice part is now the kids are getting older and they are learning the meaning of Easter. We were able to watch an Easter movie with the kids and talk about it. Everyone listened and asked questions.

This year the kids wanted to help fill the Easter eggs. I didn't care one bit.

Chase was filling the eggs so full you could hardly shut the egg. Taylor was only putting 3 candies in each egg:)

The whole gang again. The cousins always love to be together!
This was the 1st Easter there was no snow on the ground. No one had a coat (except Chase) all the others years we all had coats on.

Snowboarding

2010-04-20T15:13:00.000-07:00

Rob said that we needed to go up and ski this year. He decided that he wanted to learn how to snowboard. I didn't want to ski alone so I joined in. We got an instructor who was AMAZING! We had a lot of fun, but were so SORE by the end of the day.

This is us at the beginning of the day.

Rob was happy he caught on very fast. I didn't and I felt bad using the instructor for most of the time.I was actually skiing at this point.

This was how I ended up!Rob was going to go up again 2 more times after this. I am sad to say he didn't make it. The 1st day there was way to much snow to drive. The second time Rob got sick and couldn't go. Hopefully next year we will have a better chance to go up more often.

Chase's Birthday!

2010-04-20T14:43:00.000-07:00

I am only 4 months late getting this up. I will really try and do a better job.
Chase was able to invite a lot of friends from his school to come celebrate! We hired a magician. He was a real hit and the kids loved him.

Opening up the gifts. He got some great toys and he loved everyone of them.
The cake and eating:)
Zack had fun. He did what he usually does. He stole balloons and made himself a hat.

Need a good laugh!

2010-01-28T13:50:00.001-08:00

New Zealand

2010-01-22T12:19:00.000-08:00

I finally have enough time to talk about out trip to New Zealand! We really had a great time. The weather wasn't as nice as I would have liked it, but I still did get to feel the sun on me.

This was on our way to where my parents served their mission.

This is the piece of junk van we got for the 1st week. It was hard to shift and didn't have a lot of power.

These flowers were all over the canyon.
The is an Ikea bird.
I was afraid it would bite me, but it didn't.
This is how they made their waterfall so it would not go on the road.
This is so the rocks don't fall on the road.
It might be hard to see, but there are some striped cows here.
At the beach with my dad.

This is call pancake rock. Looks really cool.

This is a family that my parents worked with. They are from Tonga. She has a L of gold on her tooth. Rob thought it was cool.
We went to a dance one night. This girl is doing a Tongan dance.
My mom looks great here! This is at the dance.

My dad learned a Tongan dance and he was performing.

Doing some more site seeing.

A scary bridge that my mom didn't want to cross.

There was a TON of rain. We had some flooding on the roads. We had to turn around and go North because the roads were closed.

Do you recognize this??? This is where part of The Lord of the Rings was filmed.

We were eating breakfast and the fire alarms went off. We had to leave the restaurant and wait until the fire dept came. We did get new food!

They had these purple trees all over the place.

The ship in the back is what we rode to the North island. It was a really windy day. It was a little rocky.

My mom and aunt.
These next few pictures are of some hot springs we saw.

We went to a Malory dinner and show it was really nice.

More hot springs

The New Zealand Temple. We were able to do a session there. I was sad because I forgot my recommend, but luckily we got a hold of our stake president and I was able to go in.

Since everything they have is shipped into the city they have huge stacks of train cars. They don't look as high as they really were.

Yes that is Rob jumping off this thing! So crazy!

Right after he landed. He was shaking for awhile after.
We went to the zoo. The is a Kangaroo

These roosters were running wild!

I have a few more pictures, but they are with my parents so I will add more later. It was so great to get away. It was also nice to worry to much about my kids. They were in great hands with Rob's mom and sister.

Christmas 09

2010-01-22T12:02:00.001-08:00

Is it to late to talk about Christmas????

Leaving 3 days after Christmas made it hard to gets this on my blog. I feel like I am finally back to normal with the day to day schedule of the kids.

Zack being excited about balloons. What is new!

Taylor only wanted a my little pony!

When Taylor saw that she got some more nail polish she said "Oh Santa this is just what I wanted!" She was so cute about it.Rob showing Zack how to use his new M3P player.

After a long day Jess couldn't stay up any longer!

Oldies, but goodies

2009-12-10T14:48:00.000-08:00

We have gotten some great snow storms lately! I don't really like it. The kids had 3 extra days off at halloween time, and they all missed their parties:(

Yesterday they were delayed and hour because it was too cold outside. We have had highs of 2 degrees lately. Today it is a whopping 26! It is supposed to warm up sometime.

That is Zack the snow is up to his knees.
This is the trail that the kids made to their friends house. I don't like having a split rail fence, but it is nice they can go to their friends house easily:) The kids have had a lot of fun going to their house and having the neighbors come to our house.
You are not seeing things Jesse is holding a dog! The kids have been begging to get a dog. Chase has been telling me all the things that I need to buy for the dog. I thought about getting one for them, but wondered if I could handle it. Someone from Rob's work offered to let us take her hypoallergenic does for a few days. The kids were so excited. Those poor dogs didn't get put down for a minute!

This little one had to take a nap a few hours after she arrived. She started to bark and snip at the kids if they touched her. You will notice that Zack is in none of the pictures. He didn't like them at all. Sadly I had to give them back after only 1 short day. My asthma started up. I they were not so hypoallergenic after all. I'm glad it was a lot of work and they pooed all over the play room floor MORE THAN ONCE!!!

Chase cried when we gave the dogs back! I felt so bad for him. Later after we got home I found more dog poop on the floor and was glad they were gone.Chase's class got to carve pumpkins. I was able to come and help out.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-11-15T13:19:00.001-08:00

Wee took a quick trip up to Fort Collins. They have a big pumpkin patch that I wanted to go to. The kids at a fun time there, but it wasn't anything like the one we go to in Oregon.
We stayed at a hotel for a night. Mostly the kids just wanted to swim. Chase can now swim and the twins are so close.

I didn't get a good picture of Jess

Chase has to wear goggles he thinks that is why he floats:)

Jess wanted to wear the towel the way I do!This is inside the hotel room. Zack wanted to sleep inside the little closet.
The pumpkin patch

Riding on a hay ride. Too bad it was really straw.

We had a fun weekend. We ended it off with watch the new movie Astro boy. They all got scared during the movie.

HALLOWEEN

2009-11-15T12:58:00.000-08:00

Okay finally I have halloween pictures. I was really afraid that it was going to be a very cold night, but it was just fine. We had so much snow the first of that week with school canceled for 3 days. Sadly Chase missed his school party.
The kids just had to walk over all the snow piles. Their feet were wet when we got home, but other than that they were warm.

The morning of Halloween we went to the rec center for some early trick or treating. We went with our neighbors. The kids had a lot of fun together and they got lots and lots of candy.

Here is the group before we went out for the night trick or treating.

Some good smoke! The kids were a little scared going up to the door.
This was our ward party that we had the day before Halloween. This is the parade of kids.

National Adoption Month

2009-11-04T13:20:00.001-08:00

This month is National Adoption Month!

I was looking at a friend's blog about adoption and she encouraged us to share our feelings, blessings and testimony about adoption.

Sadly some people don't know that our son Zachary is adopted. Even though that wasn't what we had planned to do to start our family, it was such a wonderful experience. The waiting and wondering wasn't fun, but once we were chosen it has been a growing spiritual experience for Rob and I.

When Zack was 3 we got on the adoption list again. After a year of being on the waiting list we were given an opportunity to do IFV. I was content with adopting all of our kids, but the Lord had other plans for our family. After I gave birth to Chase I didn't feel more like a mom than I did after getting Zack. I have a special place in my heart for Zack (there are more than one reason for this also). He was my first child and made me a mom:) Sadly when we adopted we were in a semi-open adoption. We met his birth mom and wrote letters for the 1st 5 years, but haven't heard from her in almost 5 years now. At first I was glad to be done with communicating with her. I wanted to be his only mom, but now that time has past I am okay with sharing more about Zack with her. He has brought so many blessings to our family.

As I look back at how our family grew, I definitely wouldn't have chosen this path. It was a long and hard path, but now that I have my children I know that it was supposed to happen that way. I did grow in many ways and I have wonderful kids. I received many blessings in the past 10 years! I am so grateful for adoption. It is a wonderful blessing in my life!

The twins turn 4 years old

2009-10-11T19:43:00.000-07:00

Time is sure flying! My babies are 4 years old. Taylor is such a crack up. A few weeks ago I had done her hair and she didn't like it. She looked in the mirror and said that it was adorable. I wondered why she was crying so I said if it is adorable then you like it. She said no it's adorable. Then I figured it out that she meant horrible! She has still made that mistake a few times again. Then today all the boys were wanting to play with Rob and she came up to me and said mom can we go shopping! It melted my heart:) I just love to shop and I am so glad that I will always have a great companion to go with. I remember me and my sister and mom going shopping together. We loved to get up early and fight the crowds the day after Thanksgiving. I hope to do that with Taylor some day. Not soon though!

Rob's parents came for a visit for the twins birthday it was a great time. They thought it was fun to have grandparents here. When I told them we were going to have grandma and grandpa Allen come they asked if it was the ones that we talk to on the computer:) My parents are on a mission in New Zealand and we talk to them all the time via Skpye. Zack will call them all the time on his own many times a day in fact:)
We went to build a bear and got them each a stuffed animal. Jesse got a black bear and named it beary. All his animals have a y at the end of their name. Taylor named her purple cat Edward. Not sure why she did that.
Giving the animals a bath.
Loading the stuffed animals with stuffing.

Picking out the sound that the animal will make!
Opening up presents.
Jesse didn't want to let these presents go even though he had more to open.

Taylor found her sun glasses and would not take them off. I got this picture just as she was looking into her purse. she got lip gloss and fingernail polish. She was so excited she screamed!
She got some close for her cat.
Grandma and Grandpa Allen

Our neighbor came for the cake and ice cream.
Taylor's hair was so close to the flame!

Three Forks Ranch

2009-10-01T14:25:00.001-07:00

These are pictures of Rob and I's trip to Three Forks Ranch. Rob was lucky enough to be picked to go on the wonderful trip. We were there with 8 other couples. We had a blast. It was only 3 days and nights, but it was a lot of fun. Rob's brother and family watched the kids for us when we were gone. I have never eaten so much red meat in my life. They had it at both lunch and dinner! I don't like fish so that was my choice. The food was great!

These pictures are backwards. Starting with the last day going forward. I already spend to much time on the computer to switch them around so they are out of order.

My last fish I caught! I had to give it a kiss goodbye! I really didn't kiss it though. This fist was 20 inches long, but it was really meaty!

This fish was 22 1/2 inches long!!! My biggest fish I caught.He was or I should say she was trying to get away and I wasn't done taking pictures yet. I know it was a female fish because she was letting out eggs all over the place.

Such a beautiful place! This was a guy that our guide took out, but I loved the picture of the river so I had to add it.

Letting the fish go.
Another 21 inch fish:) Our guide Eric. He has been fishing all over the world. This was he birthday and he told NO ONE! He told me the last day we were there that it was his birthday.

This is how we got around on the ranch. They little machaines are amazing! We went over big rocks, hills and even deep water and it got us everywhere we wanted to go!

This is out guide. He was great! We had a lot of fun with him. This is the 21 incher fish. I caught 2 the second day.
Working together fishing:)

I was with the fishing guide across the river when we saw him catch a fish.
Here Rob is with that same fish realing it in.
Here he is with the fish he caught!
Me trying to get the fish out of the water!
This was the first fish I touched. I was a little grossed out. After a while it didn't bother me anymore. I caught 8 fish my fist day out. Rob caught 6. He was happy though he wants me to like it so HE can go fishing more often.

After the horse back ride Rob got another guide and they went out for a little over an hour. He caught 4 fish in that time. So he wasn't as mad at me:) These are just the 2 he caught.

We also got to go shooting! I didn't do so good. I got 3 out of 50! Rob did so much better than me. The 3 that I got my eyes were closed so I am not sure how I managed to shoot them!

The last day you would like that I would be a better fly fisherman:) Not really the case. I caught my earing, my cheek (you can see the cut) and my elbow which I had to pull out myself! In my defense it was a hard place there were trees really close all around. I was in up to my thighs in water and it was much harder!
Rob went horse back riding while I fly fished with the guide by myself. He was so mad at me because he wanted to fish and not go horse back riding. I told him he should go. It was a very boring ride! The horse guide didn't talk at all and they went really slow!!!

2009-09-23T17:48:00.000-07:00

This was the twins 1st day of Pre-school. They were so excited because they had to wait for a month after the other kids.

So far behind

2009-09-23T17:34:00.000-07:00

My sister came for a long weekend around her birthday. We had a lot of fun. We shopped, shopped and did a little more shopping. One night we did spend as a family and went on a picnic. This was the walking path we took.

It took us twice as long because Taylor kept picking up beetles! YUCK she is all girl except when we are in nature and then she loves the bugs.

2009-08-12T18:32:00.000-07:00

Finally after 2 months I am going to blog about our family trip to Mount Rushmore! The kids had so much fun and so did Rob and I. It was a great small vacation to get away. The kids the first night just wanted to swim at the pool in the motel. I was thinking we didn't drive 6 1/2 hrs so you can just swim the whole time! They didn't, but we got in almost everyday.

Our 1st stop was going to Crazy horse. This is what is will look like in 2050. I think that is close to the right year when it will be done. They have a long way to go. Zack got sick when we got here so Zack and Rob are in the van at this point.

This is what it looks like! I just saved you all some money! We paid 47 dollars to get in. It was cool to look at, but not for that price.

You can tell Zack wasn't feeling the best.
The next day we went to Mt Rushmore!

There is a path around Mt Rushmore that we walked around. The 3 younger ones were fast. We had to keep telling them to slow down.
Rob and Zack were bringing up the rear:)Best we could get!
Later that day we went to Reptile gardens. This was a little baby Alligator. Zack was not so thrilled.
The other 3 were happy to touch it!

Taylor had a lot of fun with the turtles! They were following her back and forth.
The boys looking at prairie dogs. We see them all over in Denver, but it was cool to see them close up.

On Sunday we went for a drive in Custer state park. There was a highway called Needles HWY it had some great views. To bad there was only a small road with a huge drop off. I didn't take any pictures. I just wanted to get out of there. This is what we found at the end. A beautiful lake. You can camp or rent a cabin here. We would love to come back and stay here. It was gorgeous.

We took the kids to see the movie UP in 3-D. The kids got a little scared during the movie. They did look cute in their glasses.

Taylor looked so funny in her glasses I had to take a picture. This look he makes all the time:)BEAR COUNTRY was the favorite part of the kids vacation. They were everywhere. It was really cool.
These were baby cubs piling on top of each other. It was raining when I took this picture.

Reindeer

I can't remember what this animal was called.
On our way home we went through another state park and found these buffalo all over the hwy.

I was to slow for the picture, but these 2 buffalo were looking into this red cars windows.

I am so glad we went we really had a wonderful trip!

Chase is becoming a man!

2009-07-22T14:04:00.000-07:00

The more scars you have the more of a man you are right???? At least that is what my husbands says.

Last night we were going on a walk in our open space. The 3 younger ones were on their scooter and Zack was in a electric jeep. Chase rode a head. Way ahead and I couldn't see him. A jogger came back with Chase. I knew it wasn't good when someone one was helping him. He was crying pretty hard. I looked at his chin and knew right away he needed stitches. The other 3 kids were mad because we didn't make it to the bridge. (There is a bridge on our open space path that the kids love to go to.) Of course Rob was at work so I took them all back to the house. Luckily a neighbor was home. She stayed with Chase while I ran to a friends house to drop off the other 3 kids. 2 hours and 12 stitches later we returned. Chase was so amazing. He didn't cry and wasn't scared. He felt the last 2 stitches. That made me feel really bad. I was sick to my stomach the rest of the night. It looked so gross. Chase was so brave and laid there I didn't have to hold him down or anything. All he wanted was were stickers. I have pictures from my cell phone they are not the best, but you get the idea.

4th of July

2009-07-21T12:34:00.001-07:00

Waiting for the parade to start.

Chase would go up to people and get the things they were handing out. He didn't care if it was candy or just a piece of paper! He even got a water bottle. The parade was short this year, but the kids had fun.

Waiting for someone to come by with something.
More waiting

The sun went behind the clouds and these 2 instantly got cold!

Chase learned how to ride his bike without training wheels

2009-07-21T12:27:00.000-07:00

Chase learned how to ride his bike without training wheels last weekend. We were at my nephew and niece's birthday party when he learned. Tanner had a bike there without training wheels so Rob started to teach him. It only took him 5 minutes to learn. He just took off. He didn't even fall once. He has been riding his scooter all over the place. It has only 2 wheels so I think he got the balance from that. He has been riding his bike to school everyday since then. He is so proud of himself for learning:)

2009-07-21T12:03:00.000-07:00

1st Day of school

Chase started Kindergarten and Zack started 5th grade!

Standing in line the 1st day of school to go into class.
This is Chase's friend from pre-school. He doesn't want to be without Katie! We all went to McDonald's one day after school and Chase couldn't find her. He started to cry because he didn't see her.Zack getting off the bus at school the 1st day.

2009-07-15T15:12:00.000-07:00

Well both Zack and Chase need to have their tonsils out! We knew for a long time that Zack needed this done. His tonsils are ALWAYS swollen. He gags on food a lot and now he can throw up so easily now so we made the apt to have him looked at. Chase has been showing some signs of needed them out as well so we went in today. Zack will have his surgery on August 6th. Chase's will be in Sept. when he is off track. I am not looking forward to the surgeries, but it's good to get it done when they are young. The funny thing today was when we pulled up at the doctors office (which is inside the hospital) Zack asked me if I was going to get a baby PUT into my tummy today! So funny how the birds and the bees are different at my house:)

Zoo

2009-07-12T14:09:00.000-07:00

While the guys went water rafting we went to the zoo. This is grandma Allen with most of the kids.
This under water turtle didn't move it was the weirdest thing.
Me and my sister in Law Wendy with most of the kids.

The polar bears were just starting to fight. Polar bears are my most favorite animal in the zoo.

Zack couldn't walk the whole way so we had the wagon with to help him a long.This summer we have had thunder, lighting and rain almost everyday. Today was no exception. We were almost done with the zoo when the rain came. When we were driving back it started to hail so bad we waited under a tree in the van. We ended up going to get some pizza and waiting for the hail and rain to stop.

Catching up with the summer fun!

2009-07-12T14:01:00.000-07:00

It has been way to long since I have posted. We haven't done a ton, but we have done a few things.

Chase is in T-ball again this summer. He is really enjoying it again.
At the end of the game the kids run through the parent tunnel.
Listening to coach.

Rob's rafting trip

2009-06-25T10:44:00.000-07:00

Rob his 2 brothers and his dad went rafting a few weeks ago. We just got the pictures back. Rob got hit hard in a few of them! They had a great time, but were sore the next day. I stayed behind and took the kids to the zoo with their cousins and grandma.

Last day of Pre-school!

2009-06-24T10:07:00.000-07:00

A little late:) Both the twins and Chase had parties the last day of pre-school. Chase will move onto kindergarten and the twins still have 2 more years.

Poor Taylor

2009-06-24T09:49:00.000-07:00

We had just left McDonald's from a birthday party. Jess was in the backseat when we got there and had fallen asleep. I had moved the front seat forward so i could get Jess out. I didn't latch the chair to the floor. Taylor was the unlucky one who sat in that chair. When I put my breaks on Taylor's chair flipped forward. She hit her upper lip and nose. She was bleeding so much!! I thought I broke her nose there was so much blood coming out of her nose. Here is what she looked like later that day.Her face looked funny for 3 days after.

Want a good laugh???

2009-06-04T06:38:00.000-07:00

Or cry in my case!
Last night we went to the park for Chase's T-ball practice. Rob was at work so I took all 4 kids. I went back and forth from the park to the practice field. They are right next to each other so it wasn't so bad. Chase would always yell to me and want me to come back when I would walk away. It was almost the end of the practice when a lady came up to me and asked if I was Mrs Allen. I knew it was Zack instantly. He was playing in the sand box and was completely naked. He was playing in the water and sand. He was covered in sand. Too bad it didn't cover his private parts. He didn't want to get dressed because his clothes were all dirty. I just died he was playing around naked having a blast. Luckily it was the end of practice and we just left. The park was so full of kids. I hope Zack didn't scare some little girl!

2 teeth in one day!

2009-06-01T17:47:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago Chase and Zack lost a tooth on the same day. The night before Rob noticed that Chase's tooth was loose. We told him all about the tooth fairy and he was so excited. He had a really hard time going to sleep that night. He got up to ask if he sneezed if his tooth would fall out. Later he got up and wanted to get a second pillow to put his tooth under in case it fell out in the middle of the night. The next morning he wanted just an apple for breakfast. He said that if he ate it his tooth would fall out. He was very sad when it didn't! The whole day he told anyone who would listen that his tooth was lose. Zack came home from school with a tooth out. We didn't even know that he had a loose tooth. Chase was sad that his wasn't out yet. FINALLY after Chase was playing with it all day he got it out. He was so happy. He made sure that he and Zack had their teeth under their pillows. We lost them for awhile because I was out and we had a babysitter. In the morning he held onto his money and wouldn't let go. He held it until we went to the store and bought him something. He gave the clerk the money and then wanted it back:) I hope he doesn't spend all his money like this:) Of course Zack didn't care about the money that he got. Wow my boy is getting older. I wasn't ready for him to start to be so big and lose teeth!

Chase's Pre-school field day

2009-05-27T15:38:00.000-07:00

Chase had a field day for pre-school. Zack was off track to he got to go as well. The first even was a race. Chase got 1st! He was so excited. The next even he got second! The first even he got 1st again, but was so mad he wanted to be 3rd:) He thought it would be cool to go in reverse order of winning. To funny! He was a great day the weather was perfect and the boys had a lot of fun.

Chase's friends from school. Katie is next to him. They had a lot of fun together and have had a lot of play dates together!
The other red head is Danik in the class. He just loves Chase and follows him around all the time:)

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T12:44:00.000-07:00

Hey sweetheart,

We just wanted to let you know how much you mean to us!
Rob, Zack, Chase, Taylor and Jesse

House of bounce

2009-05-06T13:45:00.000-07:00

We went to House of Bounce for Zack's birthday. I didn't bring my camera just the camcorder. I will not do that again. The pictures are not the best! The kids had a lot of fun and went to bed very quickly that night:) I am just slow and getting these pictures of here.

Easter egg hunt

2009-04-23T15:13:00.001-07:00

The yearly kids photos!

Me being cold! Just like every year.

The kids wanted to help put candy in the eggs! I had so much candy! It was for 6 kids:)

My pretty neice

Look at Taylor's hair it was so windy that day.

Easter fun. FINALLY!

2009-04-23T14:39:00.001-07:00

Once again I had to force Zack to color eggs!!! He did have fun for the one egg he colored!

Putting stickers on the eggs

Clean hands after coloring.
All the eggs seemed to be the same color.
Chase did a great job using the tools

..............Zack turns 10!!!!

2009-04-12T21:07:00.001-07:00

I still can't believe that Zack is 10! wow time flies. We really didn't have a party for him this year. Conference weekend messed it up again:) We went as a family during the week to a jumping place. That was a lot of fun. I will have pictures later. Then on Saturday we had the cake and ice cream for him. I have a video of that as well.

Here are some videos of Zack. He stole my camcorder and recorded himself. He loves to look at himself:) Anyway they are really funny so I wanted to share.

...........................Disney World

2009-04-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

I have lots and lots of pictures of our wonderful trip to Disney World! It takes so long to load pictures so it might take me a few posts. They will not be in any particular order either:) I know you will see these backwards, but I am not going to cut and paste all this pictures in order it will take way to long:)
This is the kids leaving the park for the last time. They were so tired. They all napped everyday we were there. We didn't even get out of the parking lot when I took these.

Before we left we got all the kids ice cream it was a warm day.

Taylor isn't a chocolate eater so she had a cream sickle.

Carousel ride

Riding the train around Magic Kingdom

After the fireworks. Rob was with the boys riding more rides

Chase was saying I LOVE DISNEY WORLD!More family pictures.
The boys went on a roller coaster, but the twins were to small. We stayed back and watched a night time parade they loved it.
Eating cotton candy. They ate so much of it on this trip.

This was at the beginning of the parade and Taylor was in awe.

We had to wait in line for about an hour to Micky and Minnie. Zack didn't want to wait with us. He really likes Dan. They were ahead of us so they wouldn't let us in the room so our friends got an extra kid:)
Trying to cool off! The 4th day we were there is was really muggy and warm. The other days were so great weather wise.

Chase was picked to help out with a skit at one of the restaurants that we ate at. He was so excited. He got a dinosaur and certificate. We lost the dinosaur:(

Favorite ride! Chase wanted to go with Levi this time. We were so lucky to have a disability pass. Since Zack has C.P and our friends kid has autism we got this passes. We didn't have to wait in lines like everyone else. This ride had an 1 1/2 hr wait. We would only wait about 10-15 min. to get on it. We went on this ride 4 times :)

Chase wanted to hold Levi's hand since they were riding the ride together!

THE FAMILY
We had a pool at the house we were at. We just bought life vests for the kids before we came and Taylor did amazing in it! She was jumping into the pool and swimming all around. Chase and Jesse got in the 1st day when it was to cold. They didn't turn the heat on in time. The boys wouldn't get back in the pool after that.

We bought Chase this hat the 2nd day. He was taking a nap with the hat. He went to bed with it also. He wore it everyday after that. Jesse got the same hat, but didn't really want to hear it. Not sure why he wanted it so bad.

Walking back to the car one day.

There was a kids play at Hollywood studios. The kids loved it. I hated it. There were so many kids I was so afraid to lose one of them. There is only one exit, but I was still no nervous the whole time. I had Taylor and Chase and Rob had Zack and Jesse. I lasted about 1/2 hr before I wanted to leave I just couldn't take it any longer!
They didn't want to sit here. Right in front of them is a big dog nose that was sniffing them. It was so big I didn't know what it was until someone told me. I didn't get a picture, because you wouldn't haven't know what it was either. They were so scared.

Riding the tram to the parks. The parking lots were far away from the parks so we would have to ride the tram. The kids loved riding it.

This is part of their favorite ride. The toy story. You got to wear 3D glasses and when you would shoot things you would get a puff of air or even get wet if you got a water balloon.

Our friend Dan with his 2 girls Maddy and Ellsie

We were watching play house Disney live!

Chase and our friends son Levi.
Dumbo ride!

Zack was laughing really hard.
They opened and closed those trays so many times!

Our plane ride to Florida. This was our first plane ride as a WHOLE family. They did so good! Zack loved the turbulence. He would say can we go bouncy, bouncy again. Zack loves Rob's Ipod. He likes to look at the pictures on it.

...............Rob's Birthday and Anniversary

2009-03-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

Rob's birthday was Tuesday he worked all day so we had a nice dinner and party for him last Saturday. I made the cake this time. Not so good!
The kids asked what happened to the cake. No more bunt cakes for me:) It did taste good though.

Our Anniversary was yesterday!!! 15 years I still can't believe it. Rob is the best and I am so lucky that he is mine:) here is a song that totally reminds we of our relationship:)

So we couldn't got out to dinner last night by ourselves because it was the YM/YW last night and I didn't want anyone to miss it. I was so sick and didn't want to cook so we went to Applebee's (Jesse's favorite place to eat) he asked me why we were there and I told him to celebrate daddy and me getting married. Then he said I want to get married to in the Temple!!! YEA this kid is learning. I was so proud of him:)

.....................Zack's Cooking

2009-03-15T11:10:00.001-07:00

Zack is becoming more independent in his cooking. Good and bad! he can get himself cereal and a drink by himself. The problem is he does it when he isn't supposed to sometimes:) He also is able to warm up food for himself in the microwave. Another good and bad thing. Today is was diffidently a bad thing! I was upstairs talking to my parents when the fire alarms starting going off. If got off quickly from my parents and ran downstairs. The 3 younger kis were all crying because it was so loud. Zack was warming up a piece of pizza!
This is what I came downstairs to!
I need to tell him it doesn't take 75 minutes to heat up one piece of pizza!
This is the after math!

This is the underside of the plate. Chase was so sad because this blue plate is his favorite! Of course it couldn't have been a color that my kids don't care about!

..................Random Pictures

2009-03-01T08:00:00.001-08:00

I was looking at my camera and saw some pictures that I had taken. I don't scrapbook much anymore so I need to add them here:)

Taylor and Chase ran into each other and she got the biggest goose egg. You can't really see it here. She was just so funny trying to look at her bump!

Zack found Taylor's dollar store purse and was wearing all day. He look so funny, but he was having so much fun.

....................Better late than never!!

2009-02-25T17:58:00.000-08:00

For Christmas we decorated and painted the kids rooms. We had to wait to get all of the wall hangings before we took a picture. With Rob being out of town in January it took us until a couple weeks ago to finish the boys room.
Jess's side he loves cars

Taylor is all princess! There is a big whole on the wall because the 1st day she took down a picture!

Chase likes speed racer now. I wonder how long that phase will last. I hope awhile because I am not changing it!

Zack is all about Feeling faces. They have a poster at school for him to look at to help with what he is feeling at the moment. He has certain ones that he likes so we put them on the wall for him:)

Do you see those straight paint lines! It took a long time to do it, but it looks pretty good!

Peeps are in season!

2009-02-19T11:59:00.000-08:00

Zack has been asking for over a month when his chick peeps will be at the store. This was in January. I told him he would have to wait until after Valentines day. It was the Tuesday before Valentines day and I had to take all 4 kids to Hobby Lobby (I DO NOT ADVISE THIS) anyway before we walked in Zack asked if they would have peeps and I told him no not for another week. When we got in the store they had PEEPS!!! Oh boy if you could have heard the excitement from Zack. He was yelling and laughing saying peeps, peeps. I LOVE PEEPS others around were not so amused. I had to buy him 2 boxes he was just so excited. Here are a few pictures of what he does with the peeps now that he has them. If he ate them all the time I wouldn't buy so many.
Don't look at my ugly yard. It is still hard not to have a green lawn in the winter.

Presedents Day fun

2009-02-16T16:06:00.000-08:00

Rob had the day off so we went to a hot springs today. It was great only took about an hour to get there. The water was warm so I even got in:) They all had fun.

Going on an Adventure!

2009-02-14T08:50:00.000-08:00

I hear the kids say lets go on an adventure. The next thing I see is them sliding down the stairs in a sleeping bag. They do this all the time! Why bother with toys when you have a sleeping bag. I finally had to hide the sleeping bag because it was always at the bottom of the stairs. I warned them to pick it up, but it was always there. Zack got the great idea to take the bed mattress down the stairs. Boy is it fast. Very fun, but I don't let them do that anymore:) The pictures are blurry, but you can see their facial expressions pretty good!

Chase's Birthday Finally!

2009-02-12T11:08:00.000-08:00

I am so late I know. My parents keep asking me to just send them an e-mail of the pictures, but I hadn't even put them in the computer until a few minutes ago. I was very sad because our camera's batteries died BEFORE the cake, singing and presents. So sad! Before we left I thought about the batteries, but looked at the camera and there wasn't a sign telling us we needed new ones. I was very mad. Our cell phones don't take the best pictures so everything was so blurry! So sad. So here is what we have.

A Chuck E Cheese birthday party. Chase went to a party in December and ever since then he told me that is where he wanted his party. It was great we did it on a Wednesday night so it wasn't full at all. All the kids had a lot of fun! I didn't get everyone at the party either.

Chase's friend from school

Zack sat on this ride 90% of the time he loved it!

Another friend from school

and another friend from school

Dancing away.

Zack had so much fun! This kid can get anyone to do anything for him. We wanted cotton candy. He would go up to the counter and tell the girls ALL night that he wanted some. I asked how many tokens it took to get one and it was 650 or something that high. We ended up with only about 300. That was out, so I told Zack we wouldn't be able to get any. It was about 8pm and he had a bag of cotton candy. I asked him where he got it and he told me the lady! Okay. Later when we were all getting our prizes the girl behind the counter told me that he has asked her all night for the cotton candy. She told him that he needed tickets to get some. He walked away and came back later with ONE ticket! She just laughed and game him the bag of cotton candy! I tell you he can get anyone to do anything for him:)

Chase got his white plane that he has been asking for since Christmas! He was so happy and jumped up and down. He also got some great gifts from his friends. It's been great no t.v. for a long time around here too many toys to play with.

25 things about Jenni

2009-01-29T15:11:00.000-08:00

I did this on my Facebook account and thought if I went through all that hard work finding 25 interesting things about me I would share with more people.

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people 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.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs (or the + sign) on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

1. I love reading interesting things about people, but I hate coming up with my own interesting things about myself!
2. Afraid to sleep in my house alone with out my husband! When I was in high school I would sleep in my sisters bed because I was afraid as well. Now my 3yr old daughter is starting to do the same thing she sleeps with her twin brother when she is scared!
3. I have 4 kids, but have only been pregnant 2 times:)
4. I cry easily when watching t.v especially lately with Biggest loser and American Idol!
5. I have only drank alcohol 2 times. I didn't know I was drinking alcohol either time. The 1st was in high school after a football game at Izzy's pizza the 2nd was at a girls party. I thought it was lemonade, but it was Vodka and other yummy ingredients. I had one and a half glasses before I noticed something was wrong. I started to smile and couldn't stop. I didn't feel well at all and wanted to go home, but my friends made me wait an hour to drive myself home for fear I would crash!
6. I have been married for almost 15yrs. We had our 1st date the end of Nov. and Rob proposed to me on Dec. 5th. I can't believe my parents let me marry him so fast:)
7. I love FB it is so much fun finding old friends and keeping in touch with new ones.
8. My oldest child is adopted
9. I am afraid to go to New York City. There are so many scary people there.
10. I am allergic to peanut butter. When I tell people that they feel sorry for me:)
11. My son Zack has Cerebral palsy. He is the hardest of my kids, but he can make me the happiest with his funny things he does almost daily.
12. My parents live in New Zealand on a mission for our church. I hope to be able to visit them before they leave next year.
13. I spent $6,000 adopting Zack (cheap for today's adoptions) I spent $12,000 getting pregnant with Chase. I spent only $5,000 getting pregnant with my twins. That does not include giving birth:) I feel so lucky to have any kids at all. I would have done anything to be a mom!
14. I love being in a large group and talking.
15. Before I had kids I would exercise 5 times a week, and was mad if i didn't make it to the gym. Now that I have kids I haven't been to the gym in 4 years:(
16. I love to scrapbook, but haven't done it in years. My substitute is having a blog. It just isn't as fun.
17. I hate taking baths. I always take showers.
18. Before my mom left on her mission, out of the country, I would talk to her on the phone everyday. I still find myself thinking about calling her all the time. I miss my parents and love them tons.
20. I hate to shave my legs. I know gross. Luckily my hubby doesn't care. I do have to shave in the summer and if I get a pedicure which is rare.
21. I lived in Omaha, Nebraska while my husband was in school. I had to look on a map to see where it was when we found out we were going there.
22. I have a bachelors degree in social work, but sadly have never used it.
23. I worked with Autistic kids for 2 years. I was always afraid that I would have a child with autism. Instead my son has Cerebral palsy, but everyone thinks he is autistic.
24. I am allergic to all animals so sadly my kids will never have any.
25. I am so glad that I am a Christan and believe in God and Jesus Christ. I would not have the wonderful life I have today with out this knowledge.

I don't have to use these anymore!!!

2009-01-23T10:27:00.000-08:00

After a lot of hard work and I mean hard work I have the twins potty trained! We started in June when my parents were here and they didn't want to have anything to do with it. We stopped for a few months. One day I got sick of buying diapers so I started again. That was in September. Taylor was great she took to it right away. Jesse not so much. I stopped doing him when he got up on the counter and peed everywhere. Taylor was completely potty trained by Oct. I started on Jesse. If I told him to go he would go to the bathroom, but if I forgot to take him he would have an accident. It was hard with our schedule because we were gone every morning, but Fridays so he was in a diaper all morning and then would nap until 4pm. I would only have a few hours in the day where he wasn't in a diaper. So frustrating. Then if he had an accident he would go and just get new clothes for himself. Rob didn't like this and made him stay in his wet clothes. It only took 3 times and magically he is potty trained. He has even been dry at night! I am so happy:) I guess I am a little sad knowing that I will not have any little ones in diapers anymore. Oh well the pocket book it going to be better. 2 kids in diapers is not cheap!

99 Things

2009-01-20T20:43:00.000-08:00

Things I've done are in Red. It's fun to see what is left to do!
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6.Given more than you can afford to charity
7.Been to Disneyland
8.Climbed a mountain
9.Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14.Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20.Slept on an overnight train
21.Had a pillow fight
22.Hitch hiked
23.Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24.Built a snow fort
25.Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung Karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain Hello I grew up in Oregon!!!
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business Does my hubbys count?
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Anyone who wants to can do this I think it is fun.

Chase's 5th Birthday.

2009-01-19T17:40:00.000-08:00

Chase turns 5 today wow! It is bitter sweet. Rob is out of town until Sunday so we are not going to do anything for his birthday until next week. He is so excited that it is his birthday and wants to have a party. Luckily my sister is in town today so we took the kids out to eat. The waiters sang to Chase. He was so excited and was beaming when they were singing. Then he told everyone it's my birthday. So funny. You can go here to read last years post about getting pregnant with Chase. It still is a burning memory for me!
My computer is in the shop now. I am using Rob's, but don't know how to download pictures onto an Apple so I will wait until I pick it up tomorrow to add pictures of Chase.

My kids funny sayings

2009-01-06T15:39:00.000-08:00

My kids have been so funny this week I just have to write it down. Since I haven't written in my journal for SOOO long this is where I will write it.

Taylor- we were walking back to our van after dropping off the boys at school. "Mommy will you turn off the cold please!"

Jesse- Laying on my bed. " Momma, did the cleaning lady make the bed today?" I had actually made it today!

Chase - He was getting in trouble for not getting dressed for school. I spanked him NOT HARD! He started to cry. I felt bad so I was giving him a hug. He tells me "Jesus is mad at you for hurting me." Boy did I feel bad!

This isn't so much what Taylor said as what she did. She was watching spongebob squarepants and spongebob ripped his pants and was bending over showing it to everyone. Then Taylor pulls her pants down (including underpants) and bends over and tells me she ripped her pants! I had to not laugh, but explain that, that wasn't the best thing to be doing.

Not ready to be a Sunbeam!

2009-01-04T19:22:00.001-08:00

Oh if you could have been at our church today you would think that all we do is have kids:) There were 11 new sunbeams today:) The twins are moving out of the nursery into a sunbeam class today. I have been telling them all week about it. They even went to a primary activity on Sat to meet their new teacher. At the end of Sacrament meeting I started to tell them that we were going to a different class. They both seemed fine with it. After the closing prayer when I started to walk them to their new teacher Taylor started to pout. I don't want to go she kept saying. I ignored her she hasn't cared that I left her for YEARS (she sometimes gets mad when I come home from a date to early). They have 2 classes so it is 5 and 6. These are the active kids they may have more other days. My kids poor teacher had to screamers one was Taylor and and the other was another little girl. There was only 2 girls out of the 11. No boys cried. I sat with Taylor for a minute, but I had to leave to teach my Sunday school class. The teacher was holding the other screaming girl so I had to find someone to hold Taylor. Rob was subbing for another class so he couldn't help. I left and was almost to class when Jesse was behind me. I picked him up and he told me that he didn't want to go to class. No crying just telling me how it was. No one had noticed that he had left. There was so much chaos he quietly slipped out. I took him back and he stayed with no crying. Later Rob told me that it took Taylor awhile to stop crying, but she just sat there with her lip pouting the whole time! When we got home Taylor told me that she missed her mommy and that is why she was crying:) We will see if next week goes better. Those poor teachers!

2008-12-27T13:22:00.000-08:00

Taylor got almost everything Princess. She is a TOTAL girl. When we asked her what she wanted she said princess toys:) Yeah I am glad that I have a girly girl!

Zack had bad luck this Christmas with his presents. We got him an electric drum set and it wouldn't work. He wanted Kid Pix game and his cd drive on his computer didn't work. Lastly I got him Tag from leap frog and there were so many people on the site that morning downloading the books that it didn't work. Thank goodness I was smart and he got balloons for Christmas so he played with those. Finally by 3pm they made a new website for Tag and Rob was able to download the books. He hasn't put them down hardly!
Jess loves cars the Movie so he got MORE of them!

2008-12-27T13:08:00.000-08:00

Chase finally got his white train he had been asking for! He picked it out first. I think if that was his only present he would have been happy with that.

Christmas

2008-12-27T12:53:00.001-08:00

The kids opening up their stockings. This year we had to wake up the 3 younger kids at 8am. Zack had been up for about 45 minutes and couldn't stand it any longer. It took me 2 times to wake up Chase and Jesse. When I told Chase that Santa had come he forced his eyes open and got straight up. He was so happy to finally have Santa come.

A Surprise Visitor

2008-12-24T06:47:00.000-08:00

On Sunday night my brother called me. His son Jeremy was at the Greyhound station in Denver. He was on his way to Salt Lake City, but his bus was late getting in. He had a 6 hr layover to wait for the next bus. So I went and got him. It was so great to see him. The kids loved it as well. Zack especially. He followed Jeremy around the WHOLE time! He would not leave his side. Zack talks about Jeremy all the time even though we haven't seen him in over 2 years. Taylor took right to him. She jumped into his arms right at the front door. So it was a great surprise to have Jeremy with us for a few hours. We hope he has another layover on his way back :)

Notice the number 8 in Zack's hand. He has liked that number for so many years! Im not sure why. So at the begging of the school year when 2008 was on the board he wanted the number. His teacher told him he had to wait until Christmas break. When his teacher was taking down the board he asked if he could have it. He has been carrying it around for a week now!

Christmas Video

2008-12-20T07:14:00.000-08:00

Just gets me in the Christmas spirit even more!

Keeping Warm

2008-12-18T18:46:00.000-08:00

Chase and Taylor have been trying to keep warm in our house, since it has been so cold! It reminds me of Nebraska when we lived there. We have been in the teens and single digits for far to long!You can't see it but he is laying on the heater as well.Who knows what my kids have stuck under the heater:)

Seeing Santa

2008-12-03T17:52:00.000-08:00

Chase's pre-school class went and saw Santa today. It was during school so Zack didn't get to go, but we will take him later.

Waiting to go and see Santa

Chase brought a Geo Track poster of the train that he wants and showed santa. He wants a white train. I can't find it in any of the stores around here!
Showing one of his teacher what he wants.

Christmas Fun

2008-12-03T17:43:00.000-08:00

We decorated a gingerbread house for family home evening this week. The kids loved it. To bad they ate most of the candy that goes on top. Today is Wednesday and it almost has no candy on it.
I am sure you are wondering why Jesse has no pants on. Well he still isn't potty trained!!!!!!!!!!! I am losing my mind over this kid. If he only has undies on then I catch it quicker and I don't run out of pants either.

Thanksgiving day fun!

2008-11-30T16:25:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends. We invited a family who just moved here from France. We were there introduction to an American Thanksgiving. SO in true fashion our turkey wasn't done on time. After waiting for more than 2 hours after it was supposed to be done we finally were ready to eat. The food was great! During the day we had the kids made turkeys. Zack didn't want to do it so he was a blank page:)

Chase was the fastest, but his was the best one. He let us know that as well.

After a long day they just couldn't last!

Friday we decorated for Christmas. The kids helped me put the ornaments on. They didn't care that I had to move most of them higher on the tree!

Zack's favorite song

2008-11-28T14:37:00.000-08:00

Oh Lord, My Redeemer - Jeff Goodrich

This is Zack's favorite song at the moment! Rob will sing this to him at night to get him to go to sleep. Lately he has been singing it over and over again. On Sunday when they were going to start singing a song. Zack asked me if they were going to sing this song. Then as loud as Zack could he started to sing the song:) I had to find the song for Zack on the internet so I wanted to share it with you all! I love that Zack loves songs! What I am so happy about it that he LOVES church songs:) Hope you enjoy!

Thanksgiving Feast

2008-11-26T12:19:00.001-08:00

The special ed room at Zack's school throws a Thanksgiving feast every year. The kids make the food in the morning and the family comes and enjoys it in the afternoon. Zack woke up so excited about it. Here we are before we ate.

Fall Pictures

2008-11-20T12:21:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post these pictures of the kids. We just found this driving by one day. Not even close to being as good as the one in Oregon that we go to, but the kids had a lot of fun and we spent a lot of time there. Zack isn't doing a lot of what the other kids did. He just wanted to jump the whole time!

YOUR FIRED!

2008-11-14T13:51:00.000-08:00

Apparently I am not doing a very good job as a mom and Chase fired me last night! I changed the CD before the music was over and Chase didn't like that. He was screaming and yelling at me. Then he told me I was fired. I didn't even know he knew what that word meant. So I guess we have a mom position open in our house. Even though he fired me he still wanted me to make his dinner, sing him a song before bed and give him a hug this morning. Maybe I am just on probation or something:)

Finally Halloween

2008-11-05T13:17:00.000-08:00

Busy few days.

Halloween was so much fun! It was 70 degrees when we went trick or treating! What a wonderful surprise here in Colorado! Chase threw up as we were getting the kids clothes on. I was really worried that he wasn't going to make it. He did and was fine the rest of the night. He ate to much candy from the ward party. Good thing is now he knows he can't eat much candy or he will get sick! We only went up and down our street maybe 25 houses. They got so much candy Taylor couldn't hold her bucket it was to heavy! So funny

There was a witch on the porch. The kids were afraid to walk on the porch!

Singing and walking along!
We had one house that had 5 different house on the driveway. The kids thought that was funny.

Zack was always last to the doors!

Preschool Halloween Parties

2008-10-30T11:54:00.000-07:00

I just love holiday weeks. My kids get so excited and get ready for school so much faster:) Poor Zack is off track so he will miss out on a party. I didn't think he would notice, but he has. Luckily for the ward party he got to dress up. Here are their class parties. The twins I didn't get a good picture because I didn't get permission from parents to post their pictures.

Walking into school. She had a really hard time with her shoes. Chase wanted her to wear them! Jess is in the background cheering her on.

Walking into school. He can't really see through his costume.
This is Chase's full class! We are so lucky there are 4 kids and 3 teachers. I think our tax money isn't being used the best here, but what a treat for Chase.

Jess

2008-10-26T19:14:00.000-07:00

Jess is totally potty trained if he doesn't have any pants or underwear on. If he has clothes on he pees all the time. So you will see him only half dressed at my house a lot of the time.Tonight we had someone come to the door and we told him he had to get his underwear on. He went and got all of his underwear and then put them all on:)

Ward Halloween Party

2008-10-26T11:45:00.000-07:00

Our ward had its Halloween party on Friday. I had my niece and nephew come since their party is on Halloween. Rob had to work late so it was nice getting help from my brother and sister in law:)
This is the 2 princess:) My niece is only 3 months older than the twins.

At the party they had the kids walk around the gym so everyone could see their costumes.
In the back is my nephew Tanner.

Spider

2008-10-15T14:25:00.000-07:00

I don't know if Rob was playing a joke on me or if fate just made it this way.... Look at the picture this is what I saw when I was opening up my dryer today. A spider. It looked so real I screamed and jumped. Upon closer examination I saw that it was fake. It still made me nervous to move it.

2008-10-07T14:13:00.000-07:00

We had a big crowed there. 4 missionaries, neighbors, and extended family all sang. It was so loud when we sang and they loved it. Just a word of warning. DO NOT HAVE YOUR KIDS ON CONFERENCE WEEKEND!!! What was I thinking. I was scheduled to have the twins on the 4th and I didn't even put it together that I would always have this problem! Zack is the same way. So we get to have a party between General Conference sessions twice a year! I hate it. I knew that no one can plan this, but I just had to let it out there!

Right before we sang to them.
We were singing Happy Birthday to them and Taylor was dancing!
Jesse knew just what to do after we sang!

We had to tell Taylor to blow out her candles.

Jesse after his cake. Usually Taylor is the messy one, but she didn't eat much of her cake. She is not a sweet eater. I wish I wasn't.

The Twins turn 3!!

2008-10-07T13:37:00.000-07:00

WOW I can't believe that my babies are now 3 years old. I was thinking back to when they were born. That was a hard time having to get up in the middle of the night 3 and 4 times. I know that some of you are still doing it with your twins. (sorry) I was involved with a twin group back in Oregon and I remember going to a meeting and talking with moms who just had their twins or who had older twins. A lot of them were telling me that their moms were staying for a few months. Some hired nannies to stay with them for awhile. I left that meeting more scared then when I walked in. I was so blessed to be able to have help. Rob's mom came and stayed 5 weeks. That wasn't the plan, but Rob wanted to work on her teeth and the lab would take a few weeks to get things back, so she stayed longer. My mom would come up every Tuesday (from the time I got pregnant) and help me as well. We mostly grocery shopped. Having two car seats and one grocery cart you don't get much food in there. Then there was Brenley who started coming 3 days a week for 4hrs so I could just sleep and pump! Oh how I hated to pump! Some days I would stare at the clock and wait for 10am to come! She really helped me stay sane. Taylor has a great set of lungs on her. When I was in my bed some days I could hear them scream, but I knew Brenley could handle it. So thank you thank you all for all the great help that I got!

This was the start of opening up presents. Taylor wants to be a princess so bad! She was so excited to wear her tearia(sp) Jesse got more trucks, cars and most importanly trains! Taylor got a doll and a lot of dress up items. She is loving putting on lip gloss. So is Jesse should I be worried?

The cakes! Jess picked out a Cars cake! He is all about Cars now. He will only wear Cars underwear.
Taylor had to pick her princess cake!
It is so much fun being a mom to twins. They fight a lot now that they are getting older, but it is so fun to see how they care about each other. They are getting so grow up and talking more and telling me everything about what they are thinking! I am so lucky that I get to be a mom to 4 wonderful children!

100th Post

2008-10-02T15:09:00.001-07:00

WOW this is my 100th post pretty cool. At the beginning I thought I would reach this by June, but I have slowed way down!

My other Tag this one is harder for me I am supposed to write 7 interesting things about me. I am not that exciting I guess.

1. I have 4 kids, but I have only been pregnant 2 times (thank heavens)

did you figure it out? I know that most of you know the answer, but some may not. My first Zack was adopted and then I ended with twins.

2. The twins and Chase were conceived at the same time, but the twins were Frozen for 2 years before I got pregnant with them. I have such wonderful stories to tell my kids when they get older:)

3. I was proposed to by 3 different men. I dated the first 2 for awhile, but knew they were not for me. Rob came a long and proposed after only 2 weeks of dating. I guess once I got to know them I didn't want to marry them. I didn't know Rob long enough at the time to say no. After 14 1/2yrs of marriage I am still glad that I said YES!

4. I graduated with a Bachelors degree in Social Work. My senior year I did an internship in Brigham City Utah. It is a little town outside of the University that I went to. The first time I drove out the the canyon and into the town I thought to myself "I wonder what people are like that live in this town?" I met Rob a few weeks later and he grew up in this town!

5. I flew on an airplane from Portland to Utah with my brother and sister when I was around 3. I was afraid and didn't want to get on the plane. I remember telling my grandma and grandpa that I just wanted to live with them:) Once I was forced on the plane and we were in the air the flight attendant asked if I was okay. I lied and said that I wasn't feeling well and that my ears hurt (Before I got on the plane I heard that your ears can hurt when you fly) They made some contraption for me to put on my ears to make them feel better. I kept telling them that I was still in pain. I made the lady stay by me the whole flight. I am sure she was so mad at me by the time the plane landed. I was a good actor at the age of 3:)

6. If I have to get in an elevator I make sure I have my cell phone. As I get older I get more and more scared that I will get stuck in one. If the elevator looks too old I just walk up the stairs. I know that is weird. My mom is afraid to go over bridges. Granted she is in her 60's and this is a recent thing, but being afraid of weird things must just runs in the family.

7. When we move to a new house or go to a hotel I always have to sleep on the side of the bed that is closet to the bathroom:) So I really don't care what side of the bed I sleep on as long as I am close to the facilities. I have to get up and go most nights. The kids did this to me.

Well there to have it not to exciting, but some random things about me.

Tagged

2008-09-29T17:02:00.000-07:00

I have been tagged twice, but life is so busy that I will do this one first and then the other one tomorrow ( I hope)

my 3 favorite

What are the last three things you purchased?

1.grocery's
2. kids winter clothes
3. Halloween costume for Zack ( I got the other kids theirs 2 weeks ago I usually wait until the last day and get what is left. We were on the ball this year)

What are the last three songs you downloaded for your ipod?

I don't have one. Rob does. I like music, but I am to cheap to buy it!

What are your three favorite movies?

1. Top Gun
2. Batman Returns
3. Anything that makes me cry:)

What are three things you have not done yet?

1. made my bed
2. ironed
3. put laundry away

What are three things you can not live without?(excluding people)
1. my computer
2. cell phone
3. my car

What are your three favorite dishes?
1. anything mexican
2. fajitas
3. Chocolate dessert

What are your three favorite T.V. shows?
1. Jon and Kate plus 8
2. Criminal Minds
3. anything reality

What are the last three places you traveled to that were more than one hundred miles away?
1. Hawaii
2. Washington DC
3. Utah

What are your three favorite desserts?
1. Chocolate anything
2. Brownies with ice cream
3. Cookies

What are three things you would buy if money were not an issue?
1. FURNITURE!!! ( We have been here a year and I still have empty places all over my house)
2. SUV
3. Renovate my Kitchen.

Three people I tag
1. Rebbecca Garver
2. Jill
3. mom and dad

1st day of Preschool

2008-09-16T17:41:00.000-07:00

I know this is late, but here is Chase on his first day of school. He was so excited to finally start. He was the last one to start. He is going to the high school until his room is finished in October. I wasn't happy about him going to this school. I wanted him to go where he went last year with his other friends and teachers that he already knew. I was happy to find out that they only have 5 students in this class. On Thursday's there is only 2 students. He is getting a lot of one on one and more help with his speech. It goes to show that there is always a plan, but we just don't know what it is all the time. He was happy in this picture I promise. We were late of course so I was in a hurry. No retakes. I have been getting all 4 kids ready by 8:20 am by myself. We will see how long this holds up. We start church at 8:30 in 2 weeks so we can have sacrament first. I was happy to hear about the change in schedule, but not the time. I guess Saturdays are my only day to sleep in yeah right!

School has started!

2008-09-09T13:20:00.000-07:00

Wow school has started for all my kids. I was so excited to have this day come. What I wasn't thinking about was how I was going to get them all to 3 different places.

Monday- Chase preschool 8:30
Zack Elementary school 8:35 different school
11:00 pick up Chase
12:30 -1:30 Speech for Chase
3:30 Bus drops off Zack :)

Tuesday Chase preschool 8:30
Zack Elementary school 8:35 different school
Twins preschool 9:00
11:00 pick up Chase
11:30 pick up twins
3:30 Bus drops off Zack

Wednesday Chase preschool 8:30
Zack Elementary school 8:35 different school
Jesse Speech 10:00- 11:00
11:00 pick up Chase
12:30 -1:30 Speech for Chase
3:30 Bus drops off Zack :)

(haven't figured how I am going to pick up Chase at the same time as Jesse gets out of speech I will figured that out tomorrow)

Thursday Chase preschool 8:30
Zack Elementary school 8:35 different school
Twins preschool 9:00
11:00 pick up Chase
11:30 pick up twins
3:30 Bus drops off Zack

Friday Zack's bus will pick him up at 8:30

I was hoping that Chase would start preschool later in the day so Zack's bus could take him to school everyday, but Chase starts school the same time Zack's bus is supposed to come. Chase was going to go to the same school as Zack, but it is under construction and his room isn't ready yet. So he is going to the high school just down the street from the elementary school. Hopefully by Halloween it will be finished. Starting in Oct. Jesse will have speech 2 days a week. I don't know when or where that will be. So even though I have to have ALL 4 ready by 8:20 each morning ( can't seem to get them ready by 8:45 on Sunday's) I had a great 2 hrs today. I went to Walmart and then I went clothes shopping! It was so nice.