Happy Thanksgiving!

Jess, mom, me, Whit & Krys - my best friends in the world!

All of the girls - we love Rebekah so much too!

I guess I even miss "the guys" - that even includes you Bryce!

My whole beautiful family. We are really missing Dallin this year! I am sure England is being good to him though!

All of us!!

I am so grateful to be able to be with my own little family today. But, when you live away from home, these holidays just aren't the same without tons of noise, lots of food, and the ones you love the most. I miss my family like crazy today! So, I posted some pictures of us when we were all on our trip together! Happy Thanksgiving! We are so blessed! Who knows, maybe next year we can all be together!

This Week

Sophie hanging out with me at the pool

Connor made a "turkey leg" hat at school

Here is the back

Sadie, Avery, and Connor

Me holding William and Megan holding Sophie

These are always apart of my weeks! Well, the brown one is!

Here are just a couple of things that have happened this week. I have been able to still go out to the pool everyday! Sophie loves just sitting on my lap while we watch the kids swim. So fun and such a good excuse to do nothing except hold my angel. Natalie and I always bring out Sonic drinks with us to the pool so I was telling her about how a carhop at Sonic who always helps me (several times a day) invited me to her wedding. Natalie said, "you know you go to Sonic A LOT when you get invited to the carhops wedding!" Way too funny and true, sadly! Connor made a turkey leg hat that was so cute. He was so proud of it, so proud in fact that I can't seem to sneak it out of his room. I got my picture so now I can trash it, but he always wants to wear it!! I got to meet my cousin Josh's little boy William. He is such a little Josh Jr. if I have ever seen one. He was so handsome and has such a sweet spirit about him. Megan is so fun and I am so grateful Josh married her. And, their little Avery is such a doll and the kids had a blast with her. So one more week and Matt will be done with this dumb OBGYN rotation. Yeah!

9 Years!

Our engagement picture

From our wedding

Love being together

Formal night on a cruise

Just being together

The Candle Light Dinner

Well, today is Matt and my 9th anniversary. Wow! I can't believe it, and to think this is our 4th anniversary we have spent here in Arizona. I am extremely grateful for Matt and so proud of him. I am truly blessed. Like I said he is on his OBGYN rotation, yes still on it, it will never ever end! So, he got home late, but since we weren't able to go out, he brought dinner home. He got Sadie's table and put a red tablecloth on it and got take out so we were able to have a candle light dinner. He added "9" roses and sparkling cider to the table. He thought we were going to be able to go out so he was really quick to think of a plan B. It was cute and I appreciated the effort! And, the kids were so excited that they came out at the very last and Sadie said, "thanks for celebrating for us". Always about them right!! And, our song when were dating was "Amazed" by Lonestar, so that is why it is on my playlist right now!

Shots

Before the shots

After theirs and then listening to Sophie get hers

Let's just say Sophie has seen better days!

I felt so bad

At dinner after the pain had worn off and Tylenol had kicked in! My pain medicine is that brown drink with the bowl of limes!!!

Shots - is their a scarier word in the human language? Is their a scarier sight than a needle longer then it should legally be? All three of my kids had to get their shots. As I said earlier Matt is on an OBGYN rotation so he is no help right now. So, I went to the doctors alone. Connor went first and got 5 shots. He was so brave. He didn't even flinch. Sadie went next and only got her flu shot so she was okay. And, then there was Sophie. Her little leg had no idea what it was in for. 5 shots later she thought her world had fallen apart. She started screaming and that is when Sadie and Connor started to cry too. So, now just imagine the sound that filled that room. I know your jealous because I actually got to be there instead of hearing about it!! I felt so bad that I took the kids to Target and let them get a toy, I couldn't help it, I was so proud of how brave they were. Especially where I hate needles, to the point that I will lose sleep the night before I have to get a shot. Or, make them lidocaine my arm before I get an IV. Okay, you get the point, then I took them to dinner. Matt wasn't going to be home anyway, so it actually turned out okay - well, once the pain meds kicked in and I got my diet coke with limes!!

Matt's Birthday

Way too much food - isn't that the fun of it?

Connor and Sophie with dad

Connor and dad before he opened his presents

After he opened them!

The little red box with masking tape for ribbon

Her two 1 dollar bills and picture

Today was Matt's birthday. Too bad he is on an OBGYN rotation so he had to work all day. He has had some amazing experience, but who cares if you get to deliver a baby by yourself, you want the day off!! Or at least I wanted him to! However, I was able to give him breakfast in bed (well, the couch - Connor kicked him out of bed at 4:00 am). What a happy birthday to have Connor be the first person you see that early!! Anyway, when he did get home from work we got a huge order from Panda and Sonic drinks. Then we opened his gifts. Sadie found a red box and put masking tape in the place of a ribbon - she is so creative. I had no idea what was inside. She wanted it to be a surprise. So, when Matt opened it is was a picture and two 1 dollar bills. It is her little money. It melted our hearts. She really wanted to give him something from her. So, happy birthday Matt - you are the best father and husband and we are all blessed by even knowing you and having you in our lives.

Just Another Day...

Lexi holding Logan, Sadie holding Sophie, and Connor just trying to be apart!

Sisters

Natalie and me holding our babies (5 days apart)

I always say they are betrothed

The Tea Party

Tea Party in the Hot Tub

Such cute friends with their crowns

So, when I am talking to you and I say I am going to the pool, this is what is really going on!! The kids swimming, having tea parties, getting in the hot tub and the very best part is the big Sonic drink on the table! It is so fun to just go and talk and let the kids play. Natalie, Lexi, and Logan seriously make our day!!

Two Things I am Obsessed With!

Okay, Clearplay is unbelievable. It is a "clean flicks" except you can do it right on your dvd player. You can edit all of your movies! It is so nice. Matt and I have this movie that we saw on clean flicks in Idaho, and I loved it so we watched it for my birthday on Clearplay and I thought it was even edited better on it. Go to http://www.clearplay.com/ and you can get a really good deal (much better then stores)! So check it out! Why not be entertained without all of the crap!!



When I was in Idaho a guy from my parents ward got up and talked to us about DNS. It is awesome. It is free and it filters your computer. It is http://www.opendns.com/ But, the nice thing is you choose all of the categories you want blocked. So, you can still get anywhere you want without the "bad" sites. Plus, you can go and look at all of the places your computer has been and what has been blocked. So, you know exactly what is going on on your computer. I have hated other filter systems because you can't even go to google without getting blocked, but this is so specific you can make it however you want. All you do is follow the instructions it gives you and then when you are done you go to your dashboard and go to "systems" and then click the custom box. You then can decide how strict YOU want it. Like I didn't check "drugs" because Matt has to use them for medical stuff, but then I clicked "adult themed","porn",
"nudity" those types of things. Plus, I am the one with the password so no one else can go in and change the settings or erase history. It is such a safe way to protect our computers and ourselves.

So those are the 2 things I am doing to try and live a good, fun life eliminating some of the filth that is out there!! Any questions just let me know!!

Birthday trumps Election Day!!

My favorite present this year - Sophie!

My cake

"I voted" sticker

My pretty pink IPOD

All my gifts and my kids which are my greatest gifts - of course

Look closely and see Connor's nails, he had the babysitter paint them he is obsessed!

My fun day!

The kids were more excited for me to open my presents then I was!

At the movie

The guy took the picture crooked!

Shopping at the mall!

Well, my birthday just so happened to fall on the Election Day. Lucky me. I have hated this election more then anything and I am so relieved it is just over. The media, well lets just put it nicely - they suck!! Even though the election didn't go my way, it makes me grateful that I was able to vote, and even more grateful that we have the leaders of our Church who will guide us and tell us what we need to do. I also was able to vote for marriage and that felt good too.

However, my attention was on my birthday and that made me very happy and trumped the dumb election coverage. I woke up to a dozen roses, a donut, and a Sonic drink. My favorite breakfast, healthy, I know!! Then, I went and voted. Later on, we took the kids to a babysitter (which we never do) so it was a really fun change. Matt and I went to High School Musical 3. It is ONLY my third time seeing it. It is so so good. I love it. I love musicals anyway and haven't loved a musical that much since Newsies ( I was in 9th grade and just knew I was going to marry Christian Bale, obviously it didn't work out because he had to become Batman!) Anyway, it was so refreshing to hear "gosh, and goodness" and see a really SWEET love story instead of the psycho stuff that is out there. Then Matt and I went to Chipotle for dinner - of course. We picked up the kids and opened my presents. I am now a proud owner of a pink IPOD. I also got the SPECIAL EDITION High School Musical 3 soundtrack (obsessed? maybe a little), some fun things from Forever 21 and Victoria's Secret. It was such a special day! Besides the fact that Sadie came into my room crying today because she said I was "growing" and "getting old and she wanted me to be her mommy forever". But, I guess to a six year old I am really old!! It was cute that she was so genuinely worried about me!(I think).

Really???

This says "I love nail polish"
(Connor's favorite saying!!) - I am being completely sarcastic

Okay, so let's just say this hasn't been my week. We drove straight through from Idaho Falls to Arizona with 3 kids. Yes, we are crazy, but that wasn't the worst part. About 10 hours into the drive we stopped and Connor had a really bad sand papery rash all over his body. He had a fever and said his throat hurt. So, as soon as we pulled into town Matt had to rush him over to an Urgent Care. He tested positive for strep throat and scarlett fever. NICE! We finally got our kids to bed and it felt like I had barely put my head on the pillow when Matt woke me up at 2:30 a.m. to tell me he was taking Sophie to the ER. She had a 103.3 temperature so Matt was worried where she is so little. Two hours later he came back home and she had double ear infections. I felt so bad. She is such a good baby, but has been so fussy the last couple of days. Well, yesterday I was changing Sophie's diaper when I realized she had a really bad rash all over her body. So, I took her to the doctor today and on top of everything else she has the Roseola Virus. Seriously, Really?? Where are all these bizarre things coming from? Anyway, so after all of this I went into my bedroom and I could smell nail polish so strong coming from my bathroom. I went in and Connor had painted his nails (both hands) and toe nails (both feet) plus the back of his legs, his ear, my floor, and rugs. All I could think when I saw him was "Really Connor, Really?" I would have taken a picture of it but at the time I didn't think it was really something I wanted to remember. The weirdest part is he didn't do that bad of a job on his fingernails.


Looks about right

Used this a lot!