NO NIPPLES!!

I had to write this down before I forgot about it. I was getting the boys ready for a bath. Alex was already sitting in the bathtub. I put Darek in the tub as Alex made an observation. "Mom, Darek doesn't have nipples like I do." I giggled a little and said, "Yes sweetie, he does have nipples." "No, not like the ones I do." I pointed to Darek's nipples and said, "These are just like the ones you have." Alex looked at me like I was dumb and pointed to his face where his DIMPLES are and said, "No Mom, these nipples." I just laughed out loud and corrected the word. He blushed and laughed a little when I told him the right word.
I just love little moments like this!

Halloween

I never blogged about Halloween, so I figure I ought to get to that before Thanksgiving rolls around. We went down to Hurricane/St. George for Halloween this year and had a blast! We went directly over to my sisters (Bethany) house in Hurricane for a How To Host A Murder party. It was such a fun evening. It was fun watching everyone get very into their parts and we all just laughed and laughed. The next day was Halloween. We started the morning with carving pumpkins. We did pretty basic faces this year since I was not in the mood to be creative. :) We met my other sister (Hayley) and her family at a cute place to eat called Pirate Island Pizza. It was a really neat little place and we found out they are building a couple up here, which made us pretty happy. After we all ate, our husbands took the kids back to Beth's house while the girls went shopping. (Don't feel bad for the guys... they went back to play games.) We had so much fun shopping and made me miss the old days when we used to shop together all the time. Before we knew it, it was time to get back to get the kids ready to go out trick-or-treating. We got lots of pictures of all the kids dressed up and while they were out. Ryan and Chad were gracious enough to stay behind for any trick-or-treaters that came by. But really they just sword fought out on the lawn. :) The next day was pretty relaxed and we left in the early afternoon to go back home. It was a great trip and we're thinking of making this a tradition.

Alex (Snake Eyes) and Tyson (Darth Vader)

My cute little Snake Eyes

This one creeps me out a little.

Darth Vader coming in for the kill

My cute little Woody. I couldn't resist this costume!

My little nephew Brayden.

All the cute cousins having a blast together!

Hayley with Anna

I got some of the funniest faces from Brayden.

Love this picture of Anna

Once Darek got one piece of candy, he didn't want to move on until he ate it. :)

Back at Beth's house, Darek found the stash!

Alex was so excited to join in the sword fight when he got back. I love this picture!

Lots To Catch Up On

I've been so lazy about blogging. There has been so much going on and I just haven't taken the time to sit down and write it all out. I'm going to try and catch up since I have a lot of pictures I want to post.

The first thing I'll catch up on was our trip to San Francisco in mid October. Sadly, the main point of this trip was to say goodbye to my Grandma. She is very sick and doesn't have much longer. It was very important to me that my family all come with me. We were able to work it out so that Ryan could come and of course we brought the boys. Alex had already met my Grandma and knew who she was, but this was the first time my Grandma met Darek. She has seen pictures and was already madly in love with Darek, but I was really happy that she could finally meet him. He was going through a really bad Mommies boy stage at the time, so he wouldn't let her hold him the first visit. But during the second visit, he fell asleep. I gave him to her so she could hold him. I will never forget the look on my Grandma's face as she just sat and cuddled with him. We had a wonderful visit with her and it was fun to sit and reminisce memories we all had. We got a recent report that she has taken a pretty bad turn. We know she doesn't have very long and I am so grateful I was able to see her again.






Since my Grandma was pretty weak and could only handle short visits, we planned some other activities with my sisters Hayley and Bethany, Beth's hubby Chad and Hayley's little girl, Anna, while were all in the area. We were lucky enough to stay with my cousin Heather and her family. We had the best time! When I went to my other cousins wedding back in June, I was able to reconnect with Heather, Jennifer and Jason (who are all siblings). So when we knew we were planning the trip to Cali, I emailed Heather and she graciously let us come stay with her. We had some wonderful late night talks and even though it wasn't very warm, got to dip our feet in her beautiful pool out back. We could not have asked for better hosts!

There were some fun activities we did that stick out. The first one was visiting a park that we used to go to all the time when we were little. It was right down the street from my Aunts and just a little ways away from my other Grandparents house. I have lots of memories playing there with my cousins. So it was fun to go and play with my boys there and reminisce with my sisters.






The second one was visiting The Nut Tree. This was another one of those places that we used to visit a lot when we were little. It's a wonderful place to visit with kids. It looks almost nothing like it did when I was little, but had a few things that I recognized from when I was little. Again, it was an amazing and surreal experience to bring my boys there to play. It felt like only yesterday that I was a kid playing there.

















The third thing was our day in San Francisco. Ryan and I were able to visit a few years ago with Alex, but Alex was still pretty little. We started out our day at the Exploritorium. This is one of my favorite places in San Francisco. It's a pretty famous building that is shown in several movies. I love walking around outside. It has the most beautiful structures surrounding it and it never ceases to amaze me when I walk around it. Inside, you find the coolest science projects ever! It takes hours to get through and you still have a hard time exploring everything. After we finished there we went over to the pier to get ready to go out to Alcatraz. The last time we had done this was when Alex was a baby. This time Alex couldn't wait. He thought it was so cool that we were going to go into what was a real jail. Once we got in there, he was a little freaked out. But still thought it was pretty interesting. We spent several hours there. I LOVE the view from Alcatraz looking at San Francisco. We finished our day at the Aquarium at the Bay. We had never been there before and we ended up getting discount tickets, so we figured why not? It wasn't as good as we were hoping it would be, but it was still fun. I'm glad we got the discount tickets.




















Any time we visit the San Francisco, we try to visit the Oakland Temple. This temple holds a lot of memories for me. I think I have only been in it once to do baptisms right after I turned 12, shortly before we moved. But this is the temple my parents were sealed in. And I have so memories of walking on the grounds after my Dad would take us to see a Giants or A's game. I love this temple. It sits pretty high on a hill and therefore holds spectacular views. Again, on a clear day, you can see into San Francisco. I love when you can see the Golden Gate bridge. So on our last day there, right before we headed to the airport, we went up to the temple. Since it was a Monday, we couldn't go up on the top and walk around. But it still felt good to be there again. We went through the visitors center as well where they some really neat displays set up about the history of Mormons in California.



Although we didn't get up to West Sac, it still felt so good to be that close to home. Even though I was about 13 when we moved, I still have so many connections to that area. I miss it a lot. I love that there are still so many people there that I love that also know and love me. I know I always will have people to visit there.

We had a wonderful trip. A very relaxing, memorable trip. I hope we can go back again sometime soon.

This is a post that I put on my stamping blog www.stampinaroundtheblock.blogspot.com. It gives most of the information you need if you would like to attend out stamp camp coming up in November. There is also a flier posted there with any additional information you might need. Please let me know if you are interested in attending!

And here they are! We are so excited about this Christmas season. There were so many projects to choose from, it was very hard to narrow it down to six. I hope you enjoy these projects and as always, we would LOVE to hear your comments and suggestions.

We will stamp images directly onto a glass plate, using one of the Christmas Stampin' Up! sets. These plates are dishwasher safe and will be etched on the back, so you can still eat off of them. Perfect for setting cookies out for Santa!



This cute little bag was made with one of the Stampin' Up! die cuts and the Big Shot. Decorated with beautiful snowflakes, and filled with Hershey kisses. A perfect little gift for anyone in your life!

This elegant card is made with one of the stamp sets in the latest mini catalog. The ornament set comes with a matching punch, making this card incredibly easy to make!





A set of 4 mini cards perfect for attaching to neighbor gifts or small gifts to hand out around the office. A simple, yet cute layout using some of our adorable Christmas designer paper.



This is such a neat project. Using candles, tissue paper, stamps, wax paper and a little heat... you can personalize candles to your own liking.





The Star Box. This is a fun, easy project that will be perfect to hold fun little gifts. Included with this one will be a bundle of candy canes coming out the top.

Well here they all are!!! Please leave any comments you may have. And if there are some projects that you would like to make several of (ie. 5 star boxes), we will be happy to have the supplies there for you to make them if we are notified ahead of time. We will post all the information about the Stamp Camp in just a few days, but just so you have a date and time, the camp will be held on November 21st from 11:00-3:00. Those who may want extra time or a little 1 on 1 help can come at 10:00.

We will see you all soon!!!

Great Deals

SO I'm very slowly getting into the couponing craze. I've gotten some great deals on food, but I'm hoping to start finding some deals on toys and such for the holidays. Well today... I guess Sunday actually I flipped through the ads in the paper and found some great deals at Smith's Marketplace. The first two that really caught my eye were for some playschool toys. Having a little one around, I've been looking at some toys for his age group that he'll enjoy. There was one I was planning on getting him because Ryan's Mom got Alex one when he was little and he LOVED it! I'm sure you've all seen the Busy Ball Popper from Playschool. There is also Playschool's Step Start Walk'n Ride. Here are the great deals on these two toys:

Regular Price $21.99
Sale Price $10.99
Coupon -$5.00
-----------------------
Final Price $5.99 + tax

***Almost 75% off!!!

My Smith's Marketplace was out of both of these toys because of the amazing price, but I was able to get a rain check for both of them. The coupon is good until the end of the year, and I'm sure they'll get some in by then. I may go back for another rain check just in case I can find someone to give one for Christmas.

My next deal was for My Little Pony's. Smith's Marketplace had them on sale as a buy one, get one free. Since I don't have any little girls, my nieces will now know what they'll be getting for Christmas and/or birthdays. The prices range from $5.99-39.99. Everything I bought was $6.99. This is what I did:

Regular Price 6 @ $6.99 = $41.94
BOGO discount -$20.97
Coupon -$5.00 ($5.00 off purchase of $20.00 or more on my little pony products)
-------------------------------------
Final Price $15.97 +tax

*** A 62% savings ***

The other deals weren't as great, but one that stuck out to me was the BOGO they had going on for Bakugan toys. Anyone that knows Alex, knows that Bakugan are his FAVORITE things right now. They have a special of Buy 2, get one free. They are about the same price as they are at Walmart, so why not save a little there.

Anyway, I was happy to get a little Christmas shopping out of the way and find some great deals while doing it. If anyone reads this that doesn't have a Smith's Marketplace nearby that would like me to help them take advantage of any of these offers, just please leave a comment. Happy Shopping!!!

One Year

This past Wednesday marked an anniversary for us that I wasn't looking forward to... in fact I was really dreading it. October 7th marked the 1 year anniversary of the day our little Ian died. It is quite shocking that it has already been a year. It doesn't seem quite possible. It was a really hard day. From the time I woke up, I replayed that whole day in my mind. From waking up to the phone call that told me my son was dying to the phone call that told me he was gone. Remembering how helpless I felt not being there to hold him and comfort him. Ryan and I holding each other and crying with each phone call that we got. Pleading with the doctor to keep trying, that Ian couldn't really be dying. Talking to the wonderful nurses and social worker that we had become so attached to. Grateful to have our amazing friends willing to be with Ian at such a terrible time. Being on the phone so we could hear Ian receive his name and blessing. Getting that terrible phone call to tell us that Ian had left this life. Looking at our little Darek knowing we were going to miss out on so much. Going to pick Alex up from school to tell him his baby brother was gone. Looking in the closet at all the "twin outfits", knowing that Ian was never coming home and would never get to wear any of them. And then having to make phone calls for funeral arrangements.
It's amazing how vivid those images are in my mind. I know I only had a couple weeks with him, but I loved him from the second I laid eyes on him. He is our son and we are so lucky to have had that much time with him.

I don't know if Darek and Alex will ever realize what life savers they are for us. They have helped me through so many dark times. I know that time is supposed to heal wounds, but I don't know if mine have started healing yet. Maybe a little. But I hope that Ian knows how much he is loved and how excited I am that I will see him again.

Life Is Good

I guess when life is busy and good it really is harder to sit and blog. It's been a really crazy couple of weeks. Not too much outside our normal stuff, but it's just been really fun and really busy.

One major accomplishment for me was holding my very first stamp camp with my wonderful friend Tammy. Although we didn't get a huge turnout, we still had a few people come and it helped us learn the ropes and figure out how to work things a little better for next time. But since our stamp camp, things have seemed to take off a little for us. This has been so exciting and we're so happy and a little overwhelmed that people seem to love the things we are doing. A couple things we have on our plate for the next few weeks... 1. We were asked if we would provide a give away basket for ladies night at Deseret Book. This was nice, because it will be a way for us to not only show off some of the things we can do, but we were also able to leave a sign up sheet there for anyone interested in coming to our camps or holding their own class. There are over 400 ladies that come to ladies night, so hopefully we'll get a few interested in us. 2. We were also asked to do two pretty big projects for Super Saturday in our ward. I am really excited and a little wary of how much work this will be. We already have the projects made to show the ladies in our ward, but we don't know how many people will want to do one. So we're preparing ourselves for a big order, so that we won't be too shocked if it is. 3. We are already getting ready for our next stamp camp. We were planning on having it the 14th of November, but that happens to be the date of the Super Saturday. So we're going to have it on the 21st instead. Hopefully that isn't too close to Thanksgiving. But it's about the only time that will work. We're going to have some adorable Christmas cards and projects at this camp and I really just can't wait. I'll hopefully be going down to St. George to hold a camp down there, but haven't scheduled a date with my sisters yet to do that. Anyway, I really am happy that this is taking off for us, especially with the time and energy we've put into it. We hope that it continues to be a success.

After we held our first stamp camp, Ryan and I took the boys to Lagoon for the 5th ??? time this season. I've kinda lost count. It was the first night of Frightmares and we had a blast. The crowds weren't too bad and it was nice being there in the evening after it had cooled down. Of all the times we've been there this summer, I don't think we've gotten many, if ANY, pictures there. It was dusk and we only had our little camera, so lighting was TERRIBLE. But we finally got at least a few pictures there. Alex has been on most of the rides now, including Wicked. He's not quite tall enough for the Rocket and I have a hard time with thinking about him going on the Samurai. But he is a little dare devil and loves going on all the rides. And Darek just loves being outside. I really cherish that family time. It's very rare that we all have a night where there are no activities going on or Ryan's not working.

My birthday was on the 29th and I turned 28. Still a few more years until the big 3-0. I had a great birthday though! I got a few surprise people that came over to wish me a happy birthday and my two best friends took me in the evening down to Boondocks! We first went to eat at Chuck a Rama and then went to Boondocks. It would have been perfect if not for the awful wind storm that evening. While riding the race karts, we were eating dirt and having it fly into our eyes. Not incredibly comfortable, but still fun! After we had our share of laser tag, arcade games, bumper boats and race karts, we headed over to IKEA to look for any ideas for upcoming stamp camps. We came up with a few ideas and bought a few materials. We ended the evening with a slurpee and headed home. I got home a little after Ryan had gotten home from a long day at work. He was upstairs getting the boys from my parents when I came home. I came downstairs and found that he had gone out and bought me roses, a huge bag of gummy bears and a new movie "Away We Go". He let me know that he still wanted to buy me a few books, but hadn't had the time to go search for them. But it was such a wonderful day and I'm grateful to all those who took the time to remember me on my birthday. I really do have the best friends and family.

My parents left for Ireland, Scotland, etc. They will be gone for two weeks. That means that I have moved my stuff upstairs for two weeks so I can watch my little sister and take care of all the animals. It has been really difficult so far. The first couple days were manageable, although it's hard to turn my back on my sister even for a minute because of the trouble she gets into. We've already had many issues with lying and stealing. Only a few screaming fits that haven't lasted too long and last night had to have a conversation about gossiping. I've always had respect for my parents in dealing with my brother and sister, but being in this position has made that respect grow by leaps and bounds. After 1 week, there have been several times I have wanted to yell and scream and kick her butt because of the nasty things that she says and does. Somehow I have held back. 1 more week...

We are (kinda) looking forward to this coming week. We will be leaving on Thursday night to fly out to the San Francisco area. My grandma is very sick and we don't know how much longer she has. So this is a "going to say goodbye" trip, which are not easy. I'm glad I'll have that chance though. She has not met Darek yet and I haven't been able to see her in a few years. We'll also have the chance to visit some of San Francisco, at least walk around the Oakland temple, and visit some old friends in Sacramento and family in Napa. I love going back home. It has changed so much, but there are still so many people there that I love so much.

Blogged Out!

I don't know what it is, but I have had no desire these past couple weeks to do any blogging. I don't know if it's just because I've been so busy and tired, or if it's just that I'm lazy. So I'll try at least to do a short update on what's been happening.

Ryan is doing his usual school/work routine. Poor guy! He is doing great so far this semester and can feel how close the end of school is. He is, as always, a huge support to the rest of us and loves being home when he can be. We all are happy to see him when he gets home, but Darek especially lets his Daddy know how loved he is. Ryan also had a birthday! I was going to use a full blog for that, but was just too lazy! We didn't even get pictures! Ryan is now 31 years old. He had a pretty good birthday. He never likes to make a big deal out of birthdays... which is totally opposite from me. So I usually over celebrate his birthday (from what he actually wants) and he usually under celebrates mine (from what I actually want). One of these times we'll get it right. We went to The SkyBox for dinner and played in their arcade for quite a while after. We had both boys, so decided not to see a movie. But it was a fun night for everyone. I even asked the restaurant to bring Ryan a dessert, but be discrete about it. They did and Ryan didn't kill me for telling them.

Mandi is still doing daycare during the day. Right now I have 2 children (along with my 2) during the day. They are always very entertaining and Darek loves the company! I am also still coaching Alex's soccer team. We're doing ok. We've had 2 losses, 1 win and 1 tie. But it's been fun getting to know these boys better and trying to teach them. I must say though that I'm not sure if I'll be coaching again in the Spring. Hopefully I'll have a choice. I'm also finally starting the Women's volleyball in the Stake. This has been a bigger undertaking than I had thought. It's been a lot more difficult to get organized and get the word out to all the wards. Tomorrow will be our first set of games, so we will see how many people we have show up and play. I'm sure it'll get better with each sport. I also have a Stampin' Up! stamp camp coming up next weekend. I'm really excited that I'm getting back into it and have already found such fun little projects to do. If you are ever interested in coming or throwing a party of your own, just let me know. I'm also contemplating getting some kind of education. Every time I decide to do this, I always back out for one reason or another. I had made a firm decision, but now am backing off a little. What I am thinking of doing is going to get my CNA and phlebotomy certificates. I know they aren't the most exciting jobs, but I think it's something I would be good at. They are classes I could take around my current schedule and they wouldn't cost a lot of money. In fact, I may be able to get them paid for. Who knows. I want nothing more than just to stay at home with my boys. It's just nice to have that fall back in case a time arose that I needed to go back to work. Now I'm just thinking out loud. We'll just have to see what happens.

Alex is now several weeks into 1st grade. He is doing very well with all his work and has a lot of friends at school. He had a really hard time adjusting to the all day schedule at first, but is liking it better now. I'm glad they don't start all day school until 1st grade here. Alex is getting better at soccer now, but ends up getting so into the games and what's going on that he forgets to actually play. Something we need to work on :) Alex will be doing swimming lessons again very soon. He's a decent swimmer, but we haven't been good about continuing swim lessons with him. So hopefully this will help him.

Darek is totally turning into a toddler before our eyes! He is the quickest little guy I have ever seen. He still isn't fully walking, but is really close. He moves from furniture to furniture and walks 6-8 steps to where he needs to go. But he still prefers to crawl since he has learned to move so fast that way. He just recently learned how to throw a ball and tries talking all the time. His new words now are "Uh oh", "mama" (finally!!!), and has a fun way of saying "Alex". I can't even mimic how he says it. I can get him to say "thank you" every once in a while, but his favorites are still "dada", "ball" and "Darek". He is a total crack up. He just hears someone laughing and he will automatically start doing his cheesy laugh. I'll have to get video of it sometime, cause it sounds like he's totally mocking that person. He loves Alex more than anything and loves giving him big, slobbery kisses. Alex will make gross sounds, but absolutely loves getting those kisses!

We are all so happy (and tired) right now. We are all busier than we've been in the past, but truly loving life! Ryan and I are coming up on our 9th anniversary this coming Tuesday! 9TH!!! We have no idea what we're doing yet, but hopefully we'll get to do something. And my 28th birthday will be here before I know it. It's a crazy month, but one of my favorites! I'll try to post some pictures before too long.

Soccer, Soccer, Soccer

Well this week began our soccer games. We had our first practice on Tuesday and I'll just say that it was pretty interesting. Since I had never done this before, I wasn't sure what to practice, how serious to be about it, etc. Most of the boys I had already met, but it was fun getting to know them a little better and playing around. I will say that trying to get seven 6 year olds to do what you want, when you want them to do it, is not an easy task... AT ALL. We had fun, but I was exhausted by the end of it.

Yesterday was our very first game. We had totally forgotten to come up with a team name. So out of the field, seconds before the game started, we came up with The Red Tigers. I don't know if that is totally official. We'll probably make sure all the boys are okay with that the next time we meet. We played The Blue Missiles, and I could tell their coach had coached before and knew exactly what he was doing. We had a hard time getting going, but once we were a little warmed up we got better. We only scored 2 goals... the other team won (with I don't know how many goals). But we all had a great time and by the end I kinda knew what I was doing. I sure got some great exercise out of it. I think one of the hardest things to do as a coach is to make sure all the kids get equal playing time. I'd get into the game and totally forget to change it up. I feel so bad when I finally realize it and I hope the kids and parents will forgive me. Anyway, it was an eventful first week. I'm looking forward to improving both my skills and the boys skills and maybe we'll win a game. If not, it's totally cool... but it would be nice :)


From left: Evan, Michael, Josh, Jonathan, Alex, Gunner (in front), Joe

I didn't realize until I had them all looking at me that they were looking directly into the sun. Oh well, makes for an entertaining picture!

First Day of 1st Grade

My my, what an interesting morning. Alex was pretty nervous and also quite excited. He woke up on his own around 7:45. We sat on the couch and just chatted about today. He got dressed, but was a little too nervous for breakfast. I made him eat a piece of bread... which he didn't really eat. And then he supervised me as I packed his first school lunch. Turkey and cheese sandwich cut into 3 pieces (1 half and two quarters... don't ask me why), strawberry applesauce, toy story fruit snacks, nutter butter snacks and an orange soda. We got his backpack out and put his lunch inside. As he put his backpack on, we saw that one of the pieces on it had broke. It is fixable, but we didn't have time this morning. I'll work on that tonight. He went with a Bakugan theme for his backpack and lunch box this year. Big surprise :) We headed out the door about 10 minutes before school started. We got to the school to find what seemed like a billion other kids and found the line he should be in. We said hi to a few of his kindergarten buddies, several of which are in his class. We got in line right at the end and waited for his teacher, Mrs. Beal, to come out. She came out and started to lead the kids in. I said goodbye to Alex, kissed him and watched him go inside. I was totally choking up and desperately tried to hold back the tears. I was somewhat successful. After all the kids went inside, I decided I'd go in to see if I could get a picture of him at his desk. I peeked in his class and looked to find that his chair was the only empty one. Panic set in. I looked over and over... nope, not in his class. I notified his teacher and started searching through the rest of the classes. He was not in any of the 1st grade classes. By this time I really started worrying. I was sure he was somewhere in the school. Before too long, another parent brought him down and said he had got mixed in with a 2nd grade class and was in her son's seat. I gave Alex a HUGE hug and asked him if he was okay. He was so close to tears, so I told him everything was just fine and showed him where to put his backpack. I gave him one last hug and took him in his class. I'm sure the rest of the day will be just fine and go much smoother. I just feel so bad because I'm sure he was embarrassed and a little scared. It's so hard to see your kids sad and upset. I love my boy and am so proud of him. Ryan gave him a beautiful blessing last night and it made reminded me how lucky I am to be blessed with such a sweet little boy.