Holidays

I guess I never really posted about Halloween and now that it's past Thanksgiving, I guess I'll just do one big post on the last couple months.

So there isn't much to post about Halloween. We stayed home this year, which was great. We went to a trunk or treat and a ward party. It was fun and got the kids enough candy to be satisfied. Here are a few pictures of the kids... Alex as an army guy and Darek as Captain Hook. I also have to post a picture of Alex in this same costume. I can't believe Darek fit into it already!






Alright, onto November! Most of it has been pretty normal. I got to volunteer at my favorite thing at school... the book fair! It was very fun like usual and I got the kids some great books! I did get to go down to Hurricane and spend a whole week with Beth, Chad and my adorable nephew Gryn. I had a wonderful time down there and sadly got absolutely no pictures. Beth and Chad came back up here with us and we saw Harry Potter over the weekend. Then before we knew it, Thanksgiving was here! My sister Hayley and her family came up on Thanksgiving evening. My boys are always so happy to have their cousins here. They played and played. Hayley and I were crazy and did the whole Black Friday shopping. We left at 9:30 pm Thursday night to go to Toys R Us (which opened at 10pm). We got most of what we wanted there, but were not prepared to have to stand in a 3 HOUR LINE to check out! By the time we were an hour into it, we knew we'd invested too much time and couldn't turn back... but it sure was frustrating. We missed the opening of Walmart and Old Navy. I was able to leave Hayley in line so I could go to Old Navy and see if they still had the free games to give away. But they had given those out long ago, so I missed out. After we finally left Toys R Us at 1:40am, we went to Walmart, and amazingly still got almost everything we had wanted. From there we went to Kohls and did GREAT there! On our way home we stopped at Kmart and I was able to get the two things I had wanted there. We got home around 5:30 (I think) and went right to sleep. It was so much fun and very memorable. But I was very happy to sleep. After I woke up, we went out to Ryan's parents house to celebrate with them. The kids got more cousin time and we all had fun together. Saturday we were able to go see Tangled and then went to Chuck E Cheese in the evening. We all had a great time together. One of the fun parts of the week was that I had Ava (a little girl I watch) for a while during the time my sister was here. Ava has become like one of my nieces. I love that little girl! Hayley's kids and mine are very close together in age. Tyson and Alex are 3 months apart and Brayden and Darek are 1 month apart. I've always felt really bad for Anna because we don't have a little girl her age. Well, it turns out that Ava and Anna are only 1 week apart in age. So they got along perfectly. During Tangled, the girls sat together by us and the boys sat together by Hayley. It was really fun to see them all together. I've decided we really need to adopt a little girl that age. :)

It was a great holiday weekend. The only time I remembered to take pictures was on Friday night. The kids all decided to have a slumber party in Alex and Darek's room. So before they went to sleep, I snapped some cute pictures of them all together.




I cannot wait for Christmas this year!

Good and Bad

I've waited a while to get this posted, but it is something I wanted to mention. So a few weeks ago, Ryan told me that there was a Rad Tech PRN position available to apply for. There have been a few of these in the past and we have kinda passed them by. After talking about it, I told him to go ahead and apply and we'd figure things out if he got the job. Let me explain... A PRN position is an "on-call" position. That means, 1. No scheduled hours (possibly no income) 2. Because there are no scheduled hours, he does not qualify for benefits. 3. The only way to get hours is if someone takes vacation, is sick, etc.

So with all that being said, why do it??? I have gotten this question from a few people. Here are a few reasons... 1. He will have to start at the bottom at some point. Better to get it over with now. 2. When he does get hours, he makes A LOT more than what he was making. 3. It gives him the experience he will need to get the part-time and full-time jobs when they come available.

This has been a very scary step to take. We have cut as many bills as we can and have put ourselves on a very strict budget. My original thought was to go out and get a job. But there were so many things to figure out if we did that. Especially concerning our kids. So we've decided for now to wait a few months to see how things go and hope we can make it. Our kids will have to be ok with not having much of a Christmas this year. The scariest thought for me is the lack of insurance. Luckily, Darek will always be covered. But Alex is not and Ryan and I are not. We'll see how things go.

Ryan is very lucky to have a lot of people at work looking out for him. As soon as he got this position, someone offered him work all of next week. So he'll get around 34 hours just next week. He is very loved at his job and is very good at it. We have faith that all will work out. We don't doubt for one second the decision we made. It's scary, but sometimes you have to take the scary road instead of the safe one. Hopefully there will be a big pot of gold waiting at the end of our road! :)

Daycare

I have been doing daycare now for just over 2 years. WOW! Crazy that it's been that long! It has been a lot of fun watching all these cute little kids and watching them grow up. I was just thinking of some random things today regarding my experiences with daycare. So here they are:

-I love that it allows me to be home with my kids.
-It has helped me realize how many kids I will be able to handle as a mom. This number is somewhere between 4 and 6.
-I figured out that I really need a little girl that is 5 years old.
-There are days that I know if I hear the theme songs to iCarly, Dora, SpongeBob, or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse one more time.... I will throw a rock (or something else that will do some damage) right through my TV.
-I love feeling like I'm (hopefully) making a difference, or at least making a positive lasting impression on these kids.
-There are days where I want to go in my room and lock the door.
-There are days when it really makes me sad when kids go home.
-I really think I would be a great foster mom.
-I wish I had more space for the kids to play.
-I love when the weather is nice and we can all play outside!
-When we move, we WILL have a big backyard!
-It is almost certain that my family will have twice to three times the amount of colds/flu.
-The getting sick part really sucks, especially with a kid that was a preemie baby.
-I take lots of vitamin C!
-Sometimes I feel like I'm taking my time away from Alex and Darek.
-Then I realize that I would be working out of the home and would be away a lot if I weren't doing daycare.
-It's so fun to listen to kids play pretend and imagine.
-I really wish that I still had that kind of imagination.
-Taking 7 kids to the grocery store isn't as hard as I thought it would be. I've only done this once, so I'm sure my experience next time won't be nearly as easy.
-Surprisingly, all the kids I've had are really good kids. The only problem with this is that it really makes me want to have more kids REALLY BAD.
-If I ever do have to go find a job or we move far away, it will break my heart to leave these kids.

So there is some randomness for ya. I really am grateful the "job" that I have. It has been fun, frustrating, rewarding, exhausting and humbling. I am grateful to the Moms that have trusted me with their children. I know sometimes I don't take that to heart. But when I think about who I would trust to take care of my kids, very few people would be on that list. So I am truly honored.

Two Years

It's hard to believe two years have passed. Two years without our sweet little Ian. For some reason I thought it might be easier this year. Not as difficult to deal with and think about. But it actually seems a little harder. I know part of it is because Darek is this funny little kid now with such a huge personality and I dream about what Ian's personality would be like. I imagine him being a sweet little guy and kinda shy. I can see his beautiful smile (but it's different from Darek's). I imagine him loving his pacifier and having a hard time taking it away from him. I can see him sitting with Darek and dancing and singing to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Umizoomi. He loves music and especially loves to lay in bed and sing Twinkle, twinkle and ABC's. He loves books and could be read to for hours. He knows how to throw a really good tantrum, but they don't last long. He is beautiful, just like Darek. He has the same big, brown eyes. He loves getting in a good sword fight with his brothers. He is very sensitive. He has a special bond with his Daddy. He gives the best hugs and kisses.

I don't know if it's a good or bad thing to daydream about what he would be like if he was here. But sometimes, it helps. I wish I knew exactly where he was and who was taking care of him. I know that sounds silly. But as a Mom, just saying, "He is in a better place and being taken care of", isn't enough. I want to know specifics. I know I won't get an answer, but I want one so badly.

Ian, I miss you so much that it feels like part of my heart is missing. I need to be so much better to ensure that I can be with you again. I love you.

So Behind!

September is always filled with many, many celebrations. This September has been no exception. I feel extremely bad that I haven't blogged about so many of those celebrations. So this post will have to be a quick summary of some of these events.

Sept 9th - Ryan celebrated his 32nd birthday! As adults, birthdays don't seem to mean nearly as much as they used to... which makes me sad. Ryan is fine with it and never wants a huge deal made out of his birthday. We celebrated with cake and ice cream and he got some fun gaming presents.

Sept 17th - My cute little nephew, Gryn, was born! We were able to go down and visit him in the hospital and then at home for a few days. It was so much fun and he is the cutest little guy! I'm pretty sure I'm already his favorite person... ok, maybe I come in 3rd behind his Mom and Dad. :) I'm so happy for my sister and my brother-in-law. I love them so much and couldn't be happier for them. I have some cute pictures that I will post later. But I cannot wait to see all of them again (soon)!

Sept 22nd - This was a pretty big date for us. Ryan and I celebrated our 10th anniversary! That's right.... 10th!!! I think this is a huge accomplishment for anyone. As it usually is for us, we were both busy on the actual day, so we had to put of celebrating. My parents were kind enough to babysit our kids for the weekend and we went up to Park City for 2 nights. We stayed at the Silver King (which is where we spent our 1st anniversary) and relaxed all weekend long. I cannot tell you how wonderful it was and how quickly it went by. It was so nice to have that time alone with Ryan and really enjoy each other with no other distractions. When I think about these past 10 years, I'm amazed at how quickly they've flown by. I love Ryan so much! He is an amazing Husband and Father. He is kind and gentle and so loving. I can't imagine anyone more perfect for me than him. I look back at our wedding pictures and see how young we were. Our love was strong then, but with each year it has grown stronger and deeper. Thank you for these amazing 10 years Ryan! I can't wait to see what the next 10 bring!

Sept 29th - This was my golden birthday! I turned 29 on the 29th! And once again, Ryan and I hardly saw each other on my birthday. It was all just fine though. My parents went out to dinner with me and the kids and I got some wonderful gifts! I have some incredible friends that visited me and wished me a happy birthday and brought over some gifts. I felt very loved and incredibly lucky! We had planned to go to Lagoon today to 'celebrate' my birthday. But Darek had an incident that made us postpone those plans. We might go tomorrow (that's right, everyone get out their judging notebooks and write this one down) since Ryan and I hardly see each other to do anything together. We'll see.... Even if it doesn't work out, I know that I am loved and I am grateful for all those wonderful people in my life that remind me of how lucky I truly am.

Well those are the major celebrations for September. We had a whole bunch of other stuff that went on, but I'm too tired to even think about all of it right now. Hopefully October will be a little calmer so that I can enjoy it a little more. :)

Mom of the Match

I had a wonderful time at this past ReAL game on the 18th. I was selected to be the Mom of the Match. It was so much fun and a little scary too. We got to the game about an hour early so that we could go out onto the field and watch the players warm up. The boys really enjoyed watching their favorite players and it was fun to be that close to the action. About 10 mins before the game started, they took me over to one of the cameras. I decided to bring Darek along, so I wouldn't be scared. :) I got to hold my gift from OhMyCrafts.com, which was a Cuttlebug. It was a little difficult to hold the gift and Darek at the same time and I felt like an idiot trying to wave too. I smiled at the camera and attempted to wave. Luckily I did not have to say anything on camera. Darek was really cute and waved into the camera as well. I'm glad I didn't have to watch myself on the big screen while I was being filmed, or I probably would've freaked out. After the minute I was on camera, they told me I was done and took me back over to Ryan. Then we made the trek (all the way around the stadium) and got to our seats (which were really wonderful seats). It was a really fun experience and I am grateful to have had it.








I love my boys and it makes me so happy to know that they think I'm a good Mom. And the bonus of this game... WE WON!!!!

You're Invited....

You are Invited to our
Halloween Stamp Camp

When: September 25th from 10am-1pm

Where: LDS church building at
3599 S Orchard Dr., NSL

Cost: $15.00 per person - due at the beginning of the camp (If there are projects you would like to do multiples of, please let us know which ones and we can let you know what the extra cost will be.)

RSVP: Mandi Wood 801-450-2245 or
Tammy Nielsen 801-550-4917 by Sept 18th

Refreshments will be served and we will have some fun giveaways as well! Please join us for a fun morning out with some wonderful friends! See below for the card and projects we will be doing at our camp...

Our first project listed here are the luminaries. I have made 3 styles and you can choose the two you would like to do. There may even be a few other design options for you.







I will provide a LED light for each luminary you do. I really couldn't get a picture that could do these justice while lit up in the dark. But I can tell you that they look pretty amazing!

Next on our list of projects are these adorable boxes. Using the new Halloween designer paper and stamp sets, this box is perfect for favors at a Halloween party or a gift for a friend.




And for our last project, we will be using the new candy wrapper die cut from our new mini catalog. This is a MUST HAVE if you own a Big Shot machine. Whether using regular paper, designer paper or dressing it up to look like a bat, there are plenty of uses for this fun project.




We will get the card posted later so you can see what it looks like. But let us know by this Saturday if you would like to attend the camp. We want to make sure we have enough projects for everyone attending. So leave a comment, call or email if you would like to attend! And, as always.... Thanks for stopping by!!

Mandi

What Am I Doing???

Answer: EVERYTHING!

I have been looking over all the activities that I have signed myself up for and am wondering if I've lost it a little. I don't know why I don't think my life is busy enough, but I've found that I have a very hard time saying no or turning someone down. Now I just want to lie down and cry a little. Part of me wants to come up with some amazing excuses to get out of some of the activities, but the other part can't wait to plan and have a great time when all of it is completed. So just to list out a few of the things I have coming up:

-5 part time day care kids
-Planning and scheduling the Stake Women's volleyball
-In charge of planning all the activities for Red Ribbon week at Alex's school.
-Alex's soccer practices and games
-Activity days with the 8-9 year old girls in the ward
-Volunteering at school
-Volunteering with the PTA activities

That's enough for now. I'm sure there are a few things I left out, but those are the bigger things I have going on right now. I need to really learn how to prioritize or I will not get anything done on time. Luckily I've done most of the planning for volleyball, so all is left it to show up every Thursday night to do score keeping and hopefully get to play a little too. I'm just in the beginning stages of Red Ribbon week. I'm really nervous about this one. I really don't know what I'm doing. Luckily I will be working with some more experienced Mom's. But I am excited and want to make this really fun.

And somehow during all of this and the other things we are doing on a daily basis we have Ryan's birthday (tomorrow), our 10th anniversary (22nd), my birthday (29th) and a new nephew that I will want to go visit all to fit into this month. Needless to say, it will be an amazing and exhausting month.

I just hope that I have enough energy to make it through all of this and still come out on the other side with a good attitude about all of it. :)

2nd Grade

Well Alex has been an official 2nd grader for almost 2 weeks now. And no catastrophes of going to the wrong room, like last year. I don't think he could love it any more than he does! He was worried about not liking his teacher, but it turns out that he really likes her. And he has an insane number of friends in his class (some from previous school years, some from church, some from last years soccer team and some from this years soccer team)! He said that most of the kids have gotten in trouble from his group of desks, but that he hasn't (yet). He is LOVING that they are doing more math this year already. It's his favorite subject and he is really good at it.

Back to school night was last week and I always really enjoy this night. We ran into a few issues though. Alex had his first soccer game of the season at the same time. His game started at 5:00 and back to school started at 5:30. Ryan didn't get home from clinicals until 5:45, so luckily my parents came to the rescue. I really didn't want to miss Alex's game, so I came to the first 15 mins, hoping to see him get to play. They ended up starting 15 mins late. Bummer. So I told Alex he was not to do anything big (like cool moves, or score a goal) while I wasn't there, because I didn't want to miss it! :) Well 20 mins into back to school, I get a text from my Dad saying, "GOOOOOOAAAALLL!" It was his first goal EVER and I missed it. I know he'll make other goals in the future, but I almost started crying when I read the text. I hate missing any kind of milestones with my kids. Anyway, at back to school I signed up to be the "class parent" this year. Not precisely sure what that means, but I think it's more like the party planner... which I will love! I'm hoping to be able to come help out in his class, but I have daycare kids in the morning and that's when she really needs the help. I'm hoping we can work something out.

I am once again loving the stage that Alex is in. He is able to have a little more freedom because he is older. I love sitting down with him and just talking. Our conversations are so much fun right now. And, as always, he is a great big brother. He loves showing Darek off to his friends. I'm glad Alex still wants me around and isn't too embarrassed by me. I'm sure that isn't too far off though. :)

Here is to a great school year with a lot of fun memories!

More ReAL

So I just had to post about this because I am so incredibly excited (and humbled) by it. This past Tuesday evening I got a call from someone at ReAL. I didn't get to my phone quick enough, so I listened to the message a few minutes later. It was a representative from ReAL Salt Lake stating that I had been selected to be the "Mom of the Match" for the Sept. 18th game. This is sponsored by OhMyCrafts.com. So how did this come to be?

I saw at one of the games a Mom being honored and thought how cool that would be. So I mentioned this to my husband. A few weeks later, we (because he wouldn't do it without my help) filled out an short application to see if I would be chosen. After a few games passed, I figured I probably wouldn't get selected, which was fine. There are so many amazing Mom's out there. But I guess I just needed to wait a little longer. I'm so humbled to be chosen for this. Here are the fun things I get to enjoy:

4 tickets to the game
4 pre-game passes to watch the team warm up on the field
Recognition on the field before the game starts (this one I am terrified about)
and a gift of some kind from OhMyCrafts.com

I am so excited and very nervous for the game. I think I'm going to be giving my parents our regular tickets so they can come to that game. But I can get some other tickets (not sure the price) if anyone is interested in coming to that game. Anyway, nothing like this has ever happened to me before, so I was really excited to share the news. I'm sure we'll have some cool pictures and video to post after the game.

Meet The Team

I don't do nearly enough posts on here about our ReAL Salt Lake team. We used part of our tax return this year and got season tickets to ReAL. It has been one of the BEST choices! We have been able to make most of the games and enjoy every single one.

This past week they had a day to meet the team. So we went down to Rio Tinto Stadium this past Saturday to meet some of our players. It was a lot busier than I had anticipated it would be. Even though some of the lines were worse than ones at Disneyland, we waited so we could meet some of our favorite players. We didn't get pictures of all those we met, but we do have a few. We have a couple favorites on the team... although we love them all! I'd say at the top of our list would be Javier Morales, Nick Rimando, Kyle Beckerman and Alvaro Saborio. Although as I'm making this list, it's really hard to narrow our favorites down. We have so many wonderful players, and after meeting some of them, it's nice to know what really great people they are. So here are a few pictures of our experience meeting the team.

Meeting Chris Wingert. We didn't get pictures of the rest of the guys at this table, but we also met Collen Warner and Andy Williams. All of these guys were really funny and seemed very down to earth.

Meeting our awesome coach, Jason Kreis. As a player, Kreis was amazing! As a coach, he has been incredible! It was really great to meet him.

Javier is probably our favorite (or at least tied for our favorite). It is incredible to watch this guy out on the field. And he is from Argentina, which makes Ryan happy! :)

This is Ned Grabavoy. He was a lot of fun to meet and had the coolest autograph by far.

Another favorite that I didn't mention. Will Johnson. He is one of my favorites. He is so quick out on the field and seems like a very genuine person. (Ya know, since I met him for a whole 30 seconds.) :)

Just an idea of one of the lines.

This shows a few lines, but doesn't do it justice. It was insane!

I think this was Alex's favorite table. Meeting Kyle Beckerman! He was so shy about meeting most of these guys. In this picture, Kyle is signing Alex's shirt. He would probably wear this shirt every day if he could. Next to Kyle is Jean Alexandre.

Chris Schuler signing our ball.

Meeting Alvaro Saborio! This was another very exciting one! Saborio has done extremely well this year, already with 8 goals this year! He was really nice with Alex, even if Alex was ridiculously nervous.

Some other players that we met, but didn't get pictures of were:
Robbie Findley
Kyle Reynish
Tony Beltran
Nat Borchers
Pablo Campos

My biggest regret not meeting was Nick Rimando (goalie). His line was one of the longest (tied with Kyle Beckerman). But Nick's was almost completely in the sun. Ryan was waiting in line when they closed it down for the day. I wrote on Nick's facebook page and he said we could hopefully work something out to get his autograph and picture. :) I sure hope so.

The other regrets we had not meeting were Fabian Espindola and Robbie Russell. Russell was at the same table as Rimando and Espindola was down at another end of the stadium.

We had an amazing time! We were able to get a poster, ball and shirt signed by most of these players. We are really hoping we are able to get season tickets again next year... as long as we're still living in Utah. :) Ole, ole ole ole... ReAL Salt Lake!!!

Getting Ready For School

I have always enjoyed going school shopping. I get giddy seeing all of the school supplies at stores... I know I'm crazy. Right now, Alex doesn't need most of those things, so we skip through most of my favorite stuff. Last year and the year before, Alex didn't really care about getting new clothes. He did like picking out his backpack, but that was about it. So I have been used to picking out all of his clothes and shoes. Well this year has been very different. Alex wanted to be very involved with everything! We went shopping with my Mom, since she was so gracious enough to want to buy some school clothes for Alex. (Thanks Mom!)

Alex wanted to look at everything we pulled out. He had an opinion about everything. He would tell us if something was his "style" or not. And he was very specific about not having any character shirts this time. (We did get some Phineas and Ferb shirts, but those were cool, so it was ok.) He was really sweet about it and it was actually kind of funny to watch him look at all the clothes. We went over to ShopKo and he found a shirt that he LOVED! I really don't like to pay more than $5-$8 for a shirt. This one was $12. I told him it was bit expensive. He looked at the price tag and said, "You're right, it is kinda pricey." He went over and put it right back. He was so mature and sweet about it that I almost told him to go back and get it. :)

My favorite thing so far about shopping, was getting Alex's shoes. We found some really cute Nike shoes at Kohl's for a really good price. Again, my Mom was really sweet to get these for Alex. He wanted to wear them over to the next store. I told him he couldn't wear them yet. He threw a little fit about it, but got over it quickly. Once we were home, I let him try on his new shoes. He told me he had to make sure they would make him fast. After running around like crazy he said, "Mom, these shoes make me faster than I ever have been! I think I'm going to be the fastest kid in school this year with these shoes!" He has wanted to show his friends his cool Nike shoes and keeps them in a specific spot right now. :)

Although it has been an adjustment not picking out what I want, it has been so much fun to have a little boy that WANTS to shop with me. Alex has already picked out his outfit for the first day of school and tried it on. He is somewhat excited for his first day, although I am not. I will really miss my little man. 2nd grade, here we come!

Camping Trip #2

We are officially done with summer vacations now. We had a wonderful time camping with the Nielsens this past Wednesday through Friday. The weather was beautiful! We got up there in the afternoon on Wednesday and set up camp. The whole weekend was spent relaxing, playing games, talking and laughing. We have so much fun when we spend time together and this was a trip we had been looking forward to for a whole year! So thank you to our wonderful friends for inviting us again to come camping with them. Here are some pictures of our fun time together.






















Farewell summer! Until next year!