Mom and Dad of 3

New Years Eve

2011-04-06T12:32:00.005-06:00

So we celebrated New Years Eve Haun Style again! We went to Grandma and Grandpa Haun's for some all night games, fun, and food! We danced the night away playing Just Dance 2, we played some hardcore games of poker, and we rang in the new year with lots of noise makers and streamers! What a great year we had! We stayed busy with sports, school, tumbling, piano, vacations, and all that other crazy stuff that keeps you busy! Hopefully this year I will find more motivation to keep this blog updated! We have lots of fun things planned this year, and still many blog posts to catch up on, so check back every once in a while and hopefully there just might be a new blog post!I had more pictures but for some reason it's not letting me add them right now, grrrrrr....

Christmas Morning

2011-04-06T09:10:00.013-06:00

Moving on to Christmas morning. Sure enough Santa did visit us despite all the threats from mom and dad. Madi has been in love with Glee lately {mostly Finn} so for Christmas she got lots of fun Glee stuff. The entire first season of Glee on dvd.And from one of our favorite episodes the Grilled Cheesus shirt! She also got a new digital camera. She was in heaven, the face says it all!!Kaiden is growing up so quick. Gone are the days when he wanted Hot Wheels, Nerf guns, and Rescue Hereos. He really wasn't sure what he wanted this year, and his wish list was always changing. He never asked for it, but he sure was excited when he opened an Ipod touch!
Abby was lots of fun this year. She really didn't want much, but at the top of her list were Monster High dolls, a Lalaloopsy doll, and an Easy Bake oven!The kids took their time Christmas morning. It was nice we usually rush to get to another party, but this year we just said we will come when were ready, and it was by far one of my favorite Christmas mornings!Christmas afternoon we head out to to Grandma and Grandpa Haun's house for more presents and fun!Britt and her new camera, in her UgLy ChRiStMaS sweater!

Grandma Haun gave all the girls Just Dance 2 for Christmas. It is one of our favorite games, it is so fun to play and to watch! Christmas was so much fun this year. We spent time with family and friends. We spent time with our kids making sure they knew what Christmas was all about. We took toys to toys for tots. We celebrated Birthdays, went to lots of movies, looked at lots of lights, did way to much shopping and wrapping, went to many Christmas parties, and enjoyed lots of time at home with our little family! Merry Late Christmas everyone!

Christmas In April

2011-04-06T08:11:00.009-06:00

I'm back.....again! I guess it's better late than never. Christmas this year was so much fun! We tried to maintain all our Christmas traditions, and even started some new ones! We made lots of Christmas crafts to keep the kids busy, and did lots of baking!
We made snow globes, Christmas socks, ornaments, angels out of hershey kisses, and of course we made our traditional gingerbread houses, {I forgot to take a picture of them before the kids started to eat them} but they were super cute!
Another tradition of ours is to go and visit Santa at the Kampers house. This year we could only convince Kaiden and Abby to go, but when we got there Kaiden would not get out of the car so it was just Abby and Dad in the picture!
We had so many Christmas party's this year but one of my favorites is the Christmas eve party with my mom's side of the family!
The classic Christmas eve pajama picture! Especially cute this year cause the girls and the boys matched!
Back at the home front, we watched my all time favorite movie A Christmas Story, and set out cookies and milk for Santa! Then it was off to bed.

It's finally time for the highly anticipated, long awaited, extremley over due..... Blog Update!

2010-12-11T15:54:00.000-07:00

Life is busy but good! We have been having lots of fun, but haven't slowed down to tell you all about it. Because I'm so far behind things will be brief with lots of pictures. I will start all the way back at the first day of school. Here is the traditional first day of school picture! We decided to put Kaiden in football this year instead of soccer. I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. Over the summer he had practice 5 days a week for 2 hours a day, and then when school started it was 3 days a week practice, 1 day for chalk talk and then games on Saturdays! Ya it kept us all busy, and Kaiden dropped 15 pounds. He was an amazing first year player and his coaches loved him. He was a starting player for offense and defense. His team did amazing, they went to the play offs in 2nd position, but after a horrible game to the other Westlake team, they ended up taking 3rd place! It was such a great experience for him, and because of it we feel like we have gained a second family {our little football family}
This summer we decided we needed to get our yard done, the kids really wanted a place to play outside so we decided to do the front yard. Here are some before pictures of the house.
And after much digging, and rakeing, and sweat, and maybe even a little bit of tears, It looked like this! We still have some work and landscaping to do in the flower beds, but mission accomplished for now!
Now we are gonna skip to one of my favorite times of the year, Halloween! Here's a picture {not a very good one} of the pumpkins we carved.
And here is Abby with her pumpkin she carved all by herself!
Abby wanted to be Little Red Ridding Hood this year, and so we convinced Kaiden to be the Wolf dressed in Granny's clothing! I thought it turned out pretty cute, and Abby even took first place at her schools Halloween costume conteset!
We took the Kids to Tammy and Preston's house again this year for Trick or Treating! It was so cold and we got super wet, but they got tons of candy, about 4lbs for each kid!
We had a Halloween party on Sunday at Grandma and Grandpa Haun's house, and this is my little nerdy family all ready to go!
Kaiden and Madi both had Birthdays in November. Madi wanted to wait and have a big 16th Birthday party next year so we just celebrated with family on her Birthday. Kaiden had a huge party up at Classic skating with all his friends! This is the only picture I got of him by himself before he headed off to have some fun! We rented the rockstar party room, and it had lots of fog, loud music, crazy lights, and of course Rock Band!!The big group picture with most of his friends, it was so hard to round everyone up for a picture, but we tried! Happy Birthday Buddy!

So thats it for now hopefully I can try a little harder at this blogging thing, we shall see!

Happily Ever After.........

2010-06-29T10:23:00.001-06:00

I cant believe it has already been 15 years! Time seems to fly by so much quicker when your almost all grown up. I'm sure most of you who know us could have guessed, but we decided to celebrate our 15 year wedding anniversary in Disneyland!! We are still kids at heart after all, and Disneyland just makes us happy!

My husband is amazing, he's a hard worker, he has a kind heart, he's always willing to help anyone who needs it, He's a great example to me and our 3 kids, he's loving, he's the best dad ever, he's patient {of course he is, he is married to me.} He puts up with all my crazy OCD ways! He lets me be a clean freak, and have the house organized my way. He doesn't care that sometimes I will stay in my pj's all day and do nothing but iron! He takes me to the movies, and to all my favorite restaurants. He makes me laugh, and he will usually always laugh at my lame jokes, even when I'm sometimes the only one who thinks they're funny!

The past 15 years have been amazing. We have both learned so much about each other. We know life is never gonna be perfect, cause that just wouldn't be any fun! But what I have learned is that no matter what has been thrown at us, we can always get through it because we have each other! I love you Sexy Beast, and just like a true Disney/fairytale ending, we are living Happily Ever After!

Happy Anniversary June 3rd!

Ya I know I'm a little late posting this, don't judge.

Abby's Autographs

2010-06-15T11:30:00.000-06:00

Every time we go to Disneyland Abby is always wanting an autograph book. I always try to talk her out of it because I don't want to have to fight the crowds and stand in those long lines just to get an autograph. This time we finally gave in and got her the book! She had so much fun trying to get all the character's autograph's, and surprisingly the lines and the crowds didn't seem to be that bad. I think we got lucky on a few of them because we happened to be there right when the character was coming out.
These are just a few of the pictures and the autographs she got! She still has plenty of room for more autographs, and can't wait to go back and finish filling up her book!

Another Disney Summer!

2010-06-09T13:17:00.001-06:00

Here we go again! School has finally ended and we were headed to Disneyland for some much needed fun and sun! This was Madi and Kaiden's 10th trip to Disneyland and Abby's 9th! I know many of you out there don't really understand why we are always going to Disneyland, but it's what makes us happy so why not go 3 or 4 times a year right?! Now lets get on to the fun part, the pictures of course!
We had a full week of Disneyland to enjoy. Darrin's parents decided to come and spend a couple of days with us, and Sarah and Flint and their kids were gonna be there the whole week! Here we are waiting to ride Winnie the Pooh.
Madi and Kaiden were so excited they could hardly contain themselves!
The kids had so much fun with Grandpa and Grandma! They wanted Grandpa to go with them on every ride. They even convinced him to go on Grizzly River which was a huge relief to me cause I will not go on that ride! They had the geyser going this time and people were getting SoAked! Grandpa didn't seem to mind, and took the kids on the ride several times.
Goofy Grandpa and Kaiden on Jellyfish!
These next 3 pictures the kids took of themselves while waiting in line for some rides. I think they were pretty cute, I will have to let them use the camera more often!
One of my favorite rides has got to be Monsters Inc. I just love how real they have made everything look! It puts a smile on our face every time we ride it! {I know cheezy, right}
The new Midway Mania is also another one of our favorites. We only had a chance to ride it a couple of times this trip cause the lines were so long. They have updated it and added some new characters from the new Toy Story 3 Movie. We tried to seem them all but I'm sure we missed a few because we were too busy trying to beat each others scores!
I have never done the Canoes in Disneyland but the kids sure do like them. Flint also decided to give them a try. It looks like they had fun!
Me and Darrin in Bugs Land by the water toys!
This picture makes me laugh! I just like it. It brings back memories of the funny pictures we took of the kids in front of the ladybug with Tammy and Preston. Disclaimer~ No Ladybugs, flowers, or shirts, were harmed or ruined while taking this picture!!!
In the summer the kids LoVe the water toys in Bugs Land! Caleb and Derik were in heaven! Caleb gave us all a good laugh. He would put his face right down next to the water holes looking for the water because it would disappear then it would come back on and spray him right in the face! Most little kids would cry, but not Caleb he would just smile and go back for more!
In California Adventure they have a Bread and Tortilla factory. We usually go a couple of times a day just to get the free samples of bread and tortillas. In the bread factory they give you a sample of bread while you watch a movie about the making of sourdough bread. We usually just get the bread and leave, but Kaiden always wants to stay and watch the whole movie every time we go. We always get so irritated cause we have to wait for him and we just want to go. Well we were waiting outside for him while he watched the movie again, and when he came out he had a cute little loaf of Mickey Mouse shaped bread! We asked him how he got it and he said they told him it was because he was the only one who stayed and watched the whole movie!!! He was pretty happy, and thought it was funny that we always leave and he got a reward for staying!
Madi in Bugs Land!
One night when the park was closing a janitor came over and was talking to us. We talked for a while and then he asked us if we wanted to know a Disney Secret! Of course we said yes, and this is what we got to do the next day.
We all got to go on the Mark Twain Riverboat and go up in the Captain's quarters and steer the boat. We also got to ring the bell and blow the horn. When the ride was over the captain gave us a certificate, and we got to sign the log book saying we helped assist the Captain. We also got to take a picture on the actual bed that Walt Disney would sleep on!
The kids in ToonTown!
One of the last rides we went on was Small World. If you haven't been on it since they have updated it you really should go. It's so cute! They have incorporated a bunch of the Disney movie characters into it and made them into dolls. Some of our favorites are The Little Mermaid, Alice in Wonderland, and Jessie and Woody!
It was a long fun trip! We all got some sun and enjoyed every minute of it! We are excited to go back but haven't planned another trip yet. We have never been in October to see it all decorated for Halloween, so maybe that's a possibility. I guess we will just wait and see!

Blogging Loser

2010-05-28T08:25:00.000-06:00

What the heck......I have been a total LoSeR when it comes to this blogging stuff! I need to try and make a point to sit down a little more often and update this thing, but I'm not making any promises. I have so many pictures to post so I will try to narrow it down and make this post short and sweet. I guess I will have to start all the way back at Easter. We all had lots of fun dyeing eggs again this year. As the kids get older their eggs always seem to get better and better. I saw an idea on another blog where you can take old ties and use them to dye your eggs. I thought that sounded like a fun and different way to dye eggs, so we gave it a shot. They turned out really light, but still gave the egg a really cool look! I think I still like the old fashion way, the colors are so much brighter!
The kids showing us their super cool eggs!
This year the Easter bunny filled the kids baskets with so many yummy treats and fun toys! He even decided to make each kids basket have its own color. And of course each basket had the traditional giant marshmallow egg! {I sure wish the Easter Bunny knew how much I liked them, and maybe he could manage to bring me one next year!}
Searching high and low for their eggs!
Kaiden really wanted to go and see the Penguin Encounter at the Living Planet Aquarium. We had never been so we decided to check it out. We all had fun, except for maybe Madi, but we were glad we could drag her up there with us!
Mothers Day this year was AmAzInG! It started off early with some flowers! We had a BBQ at our house with my family to celebrate my amazing mom!
The next morning was Mothers Day. I always look forward to all the fun little things that the kids make for me. Those are my favorite gifts! I also look forward to Breakfast. Darrin and the kids will get up and make one of my favorite's, pancakes with fresh strawberries and whipped cream! {The real stuff of course}
The 3 things that make me a mom! I love them so much, they make my heart happy!
Some other fun things that have been happening at our house our..... Madi gets to go to High School next year, ya it makes me feel a little bit old, but I'm dealing just fine! She also made the Yearbook staff for her new school The West Lake Thunder!
Madi is enjoying Volleyball. She just finished up the camp at West Lake and is really getting better! She is hopeing to try out for the schools volleyball team some time in August. We are super excited!
Kaiden has been staying busy with soccer. We have signed him up for West Lake Football and he will be starting this fall! It will be fun and challenging for him. This will be his first year to play and we are excited to see what he can do! Some other big news is he finally let us cut his hair! I will post some pictures soon, but I'm glad to see the shaggy hair gone. It just wasn't him.

Abby decided she wanted to try Gymnastics. She has only been doing it for a couple of months, but she loves it! She is catching on so quickly and she cant stop practicing. They had a little gymnastics meet at the legacy center and she did awesome!
I think that's just about it. With summer approaching we are starting to work on the yard. We are having a rock wall put in and as soon as that's done we will work on getting some grass! {pictures to come soon} We are also excited that the kids are out of school. We are packing up and headed to Disneyland tomorrow!! Hopefully when we get back I will have another fun post!

So Not Like Me......

2010-03-15T15:31:00.002-06:00

Last Sunday we were sitting in church, I leaned over to Darrin and said I think we should go to Disneyland! He of course said lets do it! I had a hard time concentrating in church wondering if we should really go or not, I figured I would check for hotels and see what we could find and maybe that would help me make my decision. When we came home we found a super good deal on a kid suite, and Darrin was able to get work off. Anyone who knows me knows I never do anything on the spur of the moment like this. Every time we plan a vacation it takes me forever to get everything packed and ready to go. I figured it was finally time for me to just do something spontaneous for once! We decided to make it a surprise for the kids, I secretly packed all their stuff on Monday and Tuesday, and then Tuesday night decided I would tell Madi we were going to the Grand Canyon, and to do some things I knew she would think were boring! The only reason I told her was because I knew I couldn't pack all her stuff myself so I needed her help. We told her not to tell Kaiden or Abby, and that we would be leaving Wednesday when they got home from school.
Wednesday morning we woke them up at 5:00 in the morning and said it's time to get up and get dressed, we are going some where fun! Kaiden and Abby were a little bit shocked, it was still early so I don't think they really knew what was going on. The kids kept asking where we were going, but we wouldn't tell them. Kaiden kept guessing Disneyland but we assured him there was no way because we are going there in June. Right about the time we were getting into California Madi finally got smart and figured out we had passed the Grand Canyon, and she was sure we were going to Disneyland. We had our GPS in the car and it was telling us to get on the San Diego freeway. We thought that would be the perfect time to tell them we were going to Sea World! Kaiden and Abby were really excited, but Madi had a meltdown! She said she hated Sea World and if she would have known we were going there she never would have come. She wanted us to take her back home, and begged us to go to Disneyland instead! Her friends Hayley and Kenzie were also on their way to Disneyland and she wanted us to just drop her off and she would go with them. As we kept driving I was turned around talking to the kids in the back seat, the GPS was giving us more directions and very clearly said to drive towards Disneyland. You should have seen their faces Abby's eyes got so big and Madi finally had a smile on her face! It was so funny, I wish I would have known it was going to happen like that and I would have had my video camera on, because it was priceless! It was along drive but we made it and we were all ready to get to Disneyland!
The first day we got there we were able to go on just about every ride before they closed and it was only a half day for us because we spent most of the day traveling. The weather was great and there were hardly any crowds! We of course had to do Dumbo, it was night time and the line was really short so we took total advantage!Bugs Land....is one of my favorites! I don't know how much longer I can convince the kids to go there because they are just growing up way to fast, but they went for me, and I did manage to convince Darrin to go on the "Chew Chew Train" it was the first time he had ever been on it {I think he had a little bit to much fun!}

The fun little Bumper cars. This was the first time that Abby got to ride them all by herself. You have to be 7 and she just had her Birthday!

Madi letting us all know just how much she enjoys Bugs Land!

Us enjoying the sun!

Madi's friend Courtney is obsessed with Jasmine so when we saw her we had to get a picture!

Another one of my favorites is Toon Town not for the rides, but all of the fun little things the kids can play with and of course Minnie's House! Usually it is so packed and busy you can never get a good picture or you have to wait forever to do the little activities, but we went at night and there was hardly anyone there! The kids enjoyed themselves playing around and letting me take pictures!

Madi doing what she does best.....Talking on the phone,
And taking it easy, waiting for the phone to ring!
Darrin looking super excited to have his picture taken!
We had sooo much fun! We kept very busy and didn't stop to take to many pictures this trip! It was fun to surprise the kids and spend some time with just our little family! We cant wait to do it again in June!

The Green Machine

2010-02-22T13:55:00.004-07:00

So our last experience with the Pine Wood Derby was a little bit disappointing. It was Kaiden's first year and we thought we had done our best, we had no idea how competitive these little events could be. Well to make a long story short he lost, not just one or two races he came in last place every race he raced! Kaiden was such a good sport about the whole thing but we felt terrible. This year Darrin was determined to not let that happen again! Kaiden and Darrin worked hard picking out a design they thought would be the fastest, and made sure this year they had done everything they could to have a fast car!
This is Kaiden showing off his car right before the race is getting started. He named it the Green Machine! It's hard to tell in the picture but it had a really cool paint job that changed colors from different angles!
Each of the boys got to race their cars 6 different times. Kaiden put his car up on the track for the first race, and believe it or not he took first place! We were all so excited at least he had done better than he had at the last Pine Wood Derby! Here is the announcer giving him a high five for winning!
Kaiden raced all 6 of his races and came in first every single time! He had the biggest smile on his face all night! I think everyone else might have been getting sick of hearing his name announced as the first place winner at the end of every race, but we were all very excited!
When the race was over he of course took home the big trophy! Here they are announcing all of the winners!
Kaiden receiving his Trophy!
Kaiden and Darrin first place winners!
When the race was over everyone was coming over to see the winning car and asking lots of questions about what they had done to make it so fast! They didn't reveal to many of their secrets, but they had fun talking about what they had done. It was a fun night and the outcome was way more than we had expected! Way to go Kaiden!

Happy Birthday To My Sweet Abby!

2010-02-18T14:14:00.001-07:00

Abby turned 7 years old on February 2nd! I told her we would have a small little party with some of the new friends she has met since we moved in. I was trying to make things very easy and simple this year, but of course it ended up being way more work than I had planned for.

We decided to do a baking party with a cupcake theme! These are the cute little cupcake invitations we sent out!

I saw a awesome giant cupcake pan made by Wilton and thought it would be really cute for her cake. I had no idea how hard it would actually be to decorate and frost it and make it look like a real giant cupcake. This was my sad attempt, I think I should have practiced it a few times before the party, but I was short on time and was just about sick of making cakes and frosting at this point. TaDa! here it is, good thing she is only 7 and didn't judge! I think she still liked it!
Here is a picture of the table all set up and ready to go.
Because it was a baking theme I decided to have chef hats as party hats! I couldn't find any that I liked that weren't way over priced so I decided just to make them. Abby's was pink and a little bit different than all the other girls {she was after all the guest of honor!} The rest of them were white. I didn't think they would even want to wear but they all loved them!
One of the first activities we did was paint aprons! I traced a cupcake on the front and then they got to paint them, and decorate them how they wanted. I was hoping that they would dry fast and they could wear them to decorate cakes, but they took forever so they just got to take them home and they can wear them when they bake at home!
More painting fun!
After the aprons we all headed back upstairs and played pin the candle on the cupcake! {sorry I forgot to take pictures} but they had lots of fun! Next it was on to the kitchen, I had made all the girls their own little cake to decorate! I frosted a thin coat of pink frosting and then they got to decorate however their little hearts desired!
They had so much fun and got really creative. This is a picture of all the girls cakes when they were finished! I think a few of them might have a great cake decorating career ahead of them, what do you think?
After the cakes were done being decorated we sang Happy Birthday and had cake, cupcakes, and ice cream! Then we opened presents!
Abby got so many nice gifts, a hula hoop, a fun twirly tutu skirt, a baking apron that Paiges mom had sewn {she liked it so much she wore it the rest of the day and fell asleep with it on} Barbies, Webkinz, an art easel, and a balloon filled with $50 from Gram and Papa, and that's just a few of her favorites!
Her party was so much fun! I'm so glad that she has been able to make so many new friends and they all got to come and celebrate with her!

Later that night we went to celebrate some more at Pirate Island Pizza! Tammy, Preston and their kids decided to come along. The atmosphere inside was super cool!

They have an arcade and a pirate ship play area. They even give the kids free pirate hats! Darrin must have felt left out so he borrowed Abby's!
It was a very fun and long day! Abby had a great Birthday!
I still cant believe she is 7 already! She is so independent and full of energy. She keeps us on our toes and we are enjoying every minute of it! Happy Birthday Sweet Girl, we love you!!

Christmas & New Years All WrApPeD uP!

2010-01-11T11:30:00.002-07:00

This year the traditional Christmas Eve party was at Todd and Chynna's House! We had dinner and then played our white elephant game. My kids favorite part of the night was opening up their new Jammie's from Gram and Papa!

Here is Abby and Brianne showing off their matching pj's!

Brianne got a box of Scooby Doo band-aids for her white elephant gift and was so excited! She was pretty disappointed when she opened them up and found out it was really a gift card to Little Caesars!
Madi showing off her new "Nerd Glasses" she bought while Christmas shopping with Dad, and her blanket she received for her white elephant gift!

Todd and Chynna's cute little baby Crew in his Santa Christmas Jammie's!

Our attempt at a some what decent picture!

We had a fun night, and it was good to get together with all the family!

After the party we went home to get ready for Santa! We got the plate of cookies and milk ready and then watched "A Christmas Story" the kids were excited to go to bed so Christmas morning could come real quick. We decided to have everyone sleep in Madi's room for the night so that their would be no peeking!

Abby getting ready for bed!

Now I would explain Darrin's outfit, but its a long story so I will just leave you with the picture for now!
Madi getting ready for bed!

The Tree!

We only got one tree put up this year, another long story. But I think it turned out just fine!

Christmas morning the kids actually woke up pretty early. We usually have time to get up and shower and get ready, but not this year!

Madi showing off her new peace bag!

Abby having fun opening her presents!

Abby actually letting me take a picture before the chaos begins!

The play by play on Kaiden opening his last present! I think I will just let the pictures explain themselves!

Let me just say that him and Abby were both very surprised to see what was inside!

And Kaiden was one Happy kid when he opened his new Xbox 360!!

Madi was also one happy little lady when she finally got her Ipod touch she had been dreaming about!! Just look at the smile!I managed to actually get their gifts in a pile so I could take a picture!

Here is Abby and her new Doll House. For Christmas this year Abby wanted a doll called my best friend is 4 feet tall, I think Santa must have been all out of those she he got her a 4 feet tall Doll House instead!

I got a picture of Kaiden's stuff, but he was M.I.A. to busy playing the Xbox to have his picture taken!

Madi and all her "Girly Glory" Grrrrr teenagers!

And this year I finally got my Picture of the Salt Lake Temple!!!

After our morning together we headed out to Darrin's parents house for brunch and to talk to his brother Rock who is on a mission, and was going to be calling home! We also got more fun presents! The anticipation of us all waiting to open our gifts while Grandpa made sure everyone had one before anyone could open them!

Finally!Madi and Brittany Christmas morning!

Typical Brittany!

It was such a great Christmas! We had so much fun spending time with family and friends! We are so grateful for all the wonderful people in our lives and for all of our blessings! We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and hopefully next year we might actually get a Christmas card sent out!

New Years Eve, and Day!!

Every year for New Years Eve we go to Grandma and Grandpa Haun's for a HuGe PaRtY! We have everyone together and we play games and eat yummy food we also play some serious games of poker! Grandpa went all out this year, he had two huge tv's set up. One with a Wii and the other with a Playstation, he bought tons of games and had his pool table set up.

Here is Darrin and Abby fighting it out in boxing!Check out that concentration!
Midnight came way to fast, but everyone managed to stay awake and and ring in the New Year with lots of streamers and noise makers! {Thanks Preston!!}
Notice Grandpa in the back making a quick getaway!
Goofy girls, I'm still wondering why we claim them?
Ahhh the noise makers......once again thanks uncle Preston!!
Maybe one day we will get a serious picture!!!
We had a great year! We had many new changes this year including a new house! We are still trying to adjust but are looking forward to the year to come! We love you all!!

Halloween In November!

2009-11-17T15:30:00.001-07:00

Once again I have been completely slacking on blog posting so I'm trying to catch up! I guess I will start with the traditional pumpkin carving. Our ward had a trunk or treat on Friday night so we decided to carve them later that night. Madi decided it was way more cool to hang out with her friends so it was just the 4 of us! Last year we thought we would be real nice and clean out all the pumpkins for the kids before we started carving them, boy did we learn our lesson, the kids were so mad that we had done the fun part without them. This time we decided to let them do it all by themselves, and they were thrilled!So here are our finished pumpkins! Abby carved a peace sign, Darrin carved Skelvis, Kaiden carved a spooky Pac~man, and I carved a haunted house inside a moon!

Madi carved her pumpkin Halloween morning and this is how it turned out! It's a disco dancer with its head as the disco ball! This is a close up of Darrin's Skelvis. He carved it because Madi's friends {Kenzie} used to call him Elvis because of his huge sideburns!One of my favorite memories as a kid was the fun Halloween parade they would do at school. Since my kids are going to a new school they do one every year, and I was very excited to go! When I got there I quickly learned that I wasn't the only parent excited. I was so crowded but I did manage to get an ok picture of the kids!
Darrin really likes this one cause it reminds him of the book "Where's Waldo?"

Madi decide to hang out with her friends on Halloween and we were going to Tammy and Preston's house, so I snapped a few quick pictures of the kids before we left.

The kids wanted to go before it got to cold so we headed out early!

Brooke and Abby having fun Trick or Treating!

The kids bags were so full and it was getting cold so we headed back to Tammy and Preston's house for dinner! Nate and Kaiden stayed out longer, and when they came back they were ready to check out their goods!Kaiden sorting out some of his favorites!Abby all smiles before letting us know she wont be sharing ANY of her candy! We had a lot of fun! And by the end of the night we were all soo full, we couldn't even finish the yummy suckers the kids have given us!

Madi's Volleyball Tournament

2009-10-26T11:24:00.003-06:00

Madi's volleyball tournament started Friday night. They won the first team they played so they had to stay and play another team. They also won the second team they played which meant they had to come back Saturday morning to play some more! On Saturday they got to keep playing until they lost two games. The very first game they played was against the "undefeated" black team, they won the first round and then lost the last two. It was such a close game and they played so good, they just couldn't pull out a win. They went on to play two other teams, and won both games!

Madi and her team showing us their skills!
It was now down to Madi's team, the red team, and the black team. Madi's team played the red team first and then the winner of that game would go on to play the black team. They played so good all day, but after about 3 hours of volleyball they were starting to wear down. They tried their hardest and Madi was playing awesome but they just couldn't do it! The red team won, so Madi's team took 3rd place out of twelve teams!!

{Hayley, Madi, & Madi}

Madi and her team receiving their awards from their coaches!

Madi's Team and coaches!

Even though it was such a competitive sport, it was so fun to watch! Madi we are so proud of how much you have improved, and think you did a great job! Keep it up we cant wait till next year!

CooKiEs!

2009-10-20T23:12:00.003-06:00

One of our favorite things to do every Halloween is make yummy sugar cookies! Monday was family night, of course I didn't have any thing planned so I figured this would be perfect. We frosted them, and no we didn't do anything fancy we were just going to be eating them, so as long as they had lots of frosting they were perfect for me!

The kids had fun and couldn't care less what their cookies looked like either they just wanted to be sure and figure out a way they could put lots of chocolate chips on, yuck! So here is a picture of some of our favorites!The best part of making the cookies, has to be eating them! And let me tell you, we did plenty of that!

Random!

2009-09-25T12:36:00.002-06:00

So once again it has been forever since my last post. I have lots of pictures that we took that I want to post so this might be a little bit random.

Abby took summer dance classes again this year. Of course she loved every minute of it and was excited for the little performance at the end of the summer. They did a performance outside and danced a jazz routine to the song "I'm a Believer" from the Shrek soundtrack, and a ballet routine to the song "April Showers" from Bambi. This is my best attempt at taking pictures outside in the sun.

Getting Ready for the Ballet performance!

Having fun dancing the Jazz routine!

We had heard about a hiking trail up Payson Canyon called the Grotto Trail so we decided to go and check it out. I would have to say it's more of a fun little walk across wood bridges and a dirt trail, but it was fun to take the kids some where different. At the end of a trail is a waterfall and a little pond that you can get in and swim. The water was freezing but the kids still enjoyed it and got wet!

Kaiden walking across one of the wood bridges.

The waterfall at the end!The kids trying to see how close they can actually get to the waterfall.

Madi was the first to go under the waterfall!

And of course Kaiden had to follow!
It was a little bit deep by the actual waterfall but Abby wanted to get her hair wet too so she decided just to deep her head in the water! BrAiN FrEeZe!

Us being Cheezy!
Darrin jumping down the mountain trying not to fall in his flip~flops

We decided to take advantage of living so close to the mountains and take our four wheelers out for the day. It was so much fun! We drove them all the way up to the towers by our house and then back down to goof around on some trails and hills!

Gotta love the hair?
Abby posing! {of course}

So I haven't been to Cascade Springs in forever. We were bored one day and our kids have never been their so we decided to take a drive through the canyon and head on up! I have to admit the last time I went as kid I just thought it was really boring, and I was hoping maybe it had gotten better, but nope, still the same! We tried to just make the best of it and take some pictures so it looked like we were having lots of fun!

Notice Kaiden trying to contain his excitement! He was so mad that all the trails you hike were paved. He wanted to do some real hiking!

Finally a smile!

Darrin and Abby enjoying the shade!
At the end of the school year we had noticed Kaiden squinting a lot to see the TV and other things. We knew he was gonna be just like the rest of the family and need glasses, but we wanted to wait until summer was over so he wouldn't have to worry about losing or breaking them. As soon as school started we took him in and sure enough he is blind just like the rest of us! He was excited to get glasses and it took him forever to choose just the right pair. We ended up getting him two different pairs. He said he picked out the ones that looked like Danny Gokey's from American Idol. I think the look really good on him, and you should have seen how excited he was when he put them on and could actually see!
Madi finally got her braces off the day before school pictures! She was very excited to finally have them off and I think even more excited to get top and bottom retainers! They weren't able to completely fix her under bite and straighten up the alignment of her teeth, so she is still going to need to have jaw surgery when she gets older and her jaw quits growing. We were hoping to just do it all at once but he says its to soon so that means she will have to have braces again when she is ready for surgery. So for now she has to wear top and bottom retainers to keep everything in place. Madi is gonna kill me for this picture I just snapped it really quick in the car with my cell phone so it's a bit close up but the only one she would let me take.I have been working hard trying to get my kids rooms finished, and I'm really close! Madi and Kaiden's are pretty much done and Abby's is a work in progress. I'm really happy with how they are coming along and I will post some pictures soon!

Back To School

2009-08-21T10:38:00.005-06:00

So yesterday was the kids first day of school. Madi is in 8th grade this year and was super excited to go back to school {mostly for the social aspect} but hey at least she was excited for something related to school! Madi has lots of classes with her friends, but was disappointed to not have any classes with some of her guy friends. Mom's happy though because I think she spends way to much time with them already! When she got home she talked about what everyone was wearing and how good it was to see all her friends that she missed over the summer! I'm pretty sure she went to school, but I didn't hear much about her classes or her teachers? I'm learning more and more everyday what it is like to raise a teenager and I have to say it scares me a little, but I'm so proud of her!

By the way, teenagers are way to cool to get their picture taken, way to cool to take off their sunglasses, and way to cool to stop texting while getting their picture taken! Enough said!

Kaiden was excited and nervous to go back to school. This will be his first year going to a new school and not really knowing anyone. We meet Kaiden's teacher a couple days before school started, and that made him even more nervous, he thought she was going to be real strict but when he got home from school, he actually thought she was really fun! He said he didn't really meet to many friends but I'm hoping that will change, he has had the hardest time so far with the move and is still adjusting. The most exciting or should I say embarrassing thing that happened at school for Kaiden was after recess he walked into Abby's classroom thinking it was his, right in the middle of their reading time! I took Kaiden shopping with me this year for his school clothes and let him pick most of them out himself. I think he did a great job, except for the "funny shirts" he wanted and that's a whole other story!This is Abby's first year going to school ALL day! She has been talking about it all summer and could hardly sleep the night before, she even wanted to go to bed early so the day would come quick! I have to say I'm a little bit sad to know that my youngest will be in school all day, I do enjoy some time alone to get stuff done, but it just means that my kids are growing up way too fast! I need time to slow down a little bit so I can enjoy those fun moments with them just being kids! Abby also met her teacher before school started and said she is so nice, even nicer than Mrs. Paxman which is hard to believe cause she was an awesome teacher! Her first day was soo fun she said, she had a huge smile on her face when she came home and told me all about it. She took a home lunch on the first day but was excited to finally eat in the lunchroom like Kaiden and Madi! Abby has one of her good friends in her class also, so I think this will be a good year for her! She also told me no one dresses like her at school? I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but I think she's pretty cute!

Fourth of July....A little late!

2009-07-22T09:16:00.008-06:00

We had a fun and relaxing fourth this year! We hung out with both sides of the family for an entire day of eating yummy food, playing games, and fireworks! We started the day off at Yamo's house for a BBQ!

Abby, Jaxon, and Breann, enjoying some yummy dessert!

Kaiden got a rocket a couple of years ago for Christmas. Kaiden and Darrin finally decided to assemble it and launch it. It was fun to watch, it went so high I couldn't even get a picture!

Their first attempt at launching the rocket almost got Darrin right in the face, the second launch they did was perfect but landed on the neighbors roof!

This is Darrin teaching the kids some firework safety rules!

Grandpa, Derek, Madi, and Abby enjoying the fireworks!

Abby had lots of fun roasting smores you can totally tell by the messy face!

The fireworks were great!

The grand finale!

Madi and Britt being weird? {Ya they always act like that!}

Abby and Brooke having fun together!

More weird kids having fun on the slide. {top of the slide to bottom} Madi, Britt, Nate, Eric, {the one on the side} Kaiden, Brooke, and Abby!

It was a very long but fun day! We enjoyed every minute of it!

Too Busy To Blog!

2009-07-06T12:35:00.000-06:00

Wow I cant believe I finally have some time to catch up. Things have been so crazy and busy the last couple of weeks so I'm gonna start way back at the end of school. Abby had a very fun school year, she was very lucky to have Mrs. Paxman for a teacher! She taught her some many things and I loved when Abby would come home with a big smile on her face because she had so much fun at school! Abby's class had a kindergarten graduation that the parents and family could come to. They worked hard preparing by making hats, learning new songs, and each of the kids even had their own speaking part! This is Abby with her graduation diploma! Abby and her cute teacher Mrs. Paxman! Proud parents...She's growing up way to fast!With the kids finishing up school, we had also sold our house and were busy boxing everything up to move. We were very sad to leave behind so many of our friends and neighbors. I miss the cute Young Women and we really miss the old ward! We are adjusting but it's been hard. Now moving on to the much anticipated vacation to Disneyland! We bought annual passes to Disneyland again and were really looking forward to a vacation! We went with Tammy, Preston and their kids, and I have to say that this year was one of my favorites! We all stayed at the same hotel and they had a way nice pool area. We managed to get a little bit of swimming in, but not any pictures of the older kids cause they hung out at the big pool! Abby and Brooke getting soaked by the dump bucket!Ooops, looks like I forgot to take a picture of me in my smoking hot two piece! Oh well maybe next time! One of my favorite places to take pictures is in ToonTown, here are a few of my favorites!The wishing well. Nate is stressing way too hard wondering what to wish for! The famous dumb bell!Abby calling Minnie!Darrin and Preston enjoying themselves on Roger Rabbit! {hehehe} This year Abby was actually tall enough to go on Indiana Jones and California Screaming, she loved them both, and we loved how we didn't have to switch back and forth to ride the rides! We also got to ride the new Toy Story ride. It was so fun, even though I wasn't any good at it. Everyone wanted to ride with me cause they knew they could beat me every time!

Getting wet on Grizzly! {Madi so worried about her hair getting wet?} Kaiden and Darrin waiting in line for Big Thunder!Here are just some cute pictures of the family that I love!Happy to be in Disney!
The Kiddo'sWe saw Captain Hook in California Adventure. I totally had to get a picture with him and the family. Nobody wanted to come with me so this is me giving them that look.....I still could only get me, Darrin, and Abby in the picture.Madi way to cool for pictures with Hook!Abby and Brooke wanted to go meet the fairies and take pictures. Me and Tammy took the girls while everyone else went on some ridesAbby posing with Tinkerbell!Darrin starting to drag a little after being on the go non~stop!Another one of my favorite places to take pictures is Bug's Land in California Adventure! This is Madi, Abby, and Britt, riding in a box of animal crackers! Me, Abby, Tammy, and Brooke, riding on the "chew chew" train!

These next pictures are my favorites. We were all trying to pose like the ladybug in the background, but were trying to get Nate and Britt to stand on the fence so we could see everyone better. Nate kept falling off and fell in the flowers and stained his shirt. His parents were mad at him, but it was my fault cause I told him to do it! We laughed forever, it was some good memories, and in the end we got a pretty good picture!

What the???

Kaiden and Nate in deep thought......

They were painting the rockets when we got to Disneyland, but the last day we were there they finally reopened them. This is the kids waiting in line to be one of the first to ride!

Madi and Abby riding the rockets!

We had sooo much fun! We even got to spend a little bit of time with Darrin's cousin Lindsay and her fiance' Donavan! I cant believe how funny she is! We laughed so hard that night. I hope we can see them again soon!

I almost forgot to mention that me and this cutie just celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary! {in June} and I couldn't be more happy!

When we got back from Disneyland we had to come and do all the construction clean up on our new house, and then we finally got to move in! We have finished unpacking almost everything but still have lots of work and organizing to do. We still need to decorate everything and get Madi a new mattress and bed for her bedroom. We are still waiting for our couch {which will take 6 weeks} and we still have to get blinds. I will update with some pictures as soon as it looks a little bit more like a house that we live in instead of just some bare walls!

Our New House

2009-05-28T11:33:00.003-06:00

We finally have a house under contract and are set to sign the closing papers in about a week! We are super excited to finally have a house that seems like it was built just for us!

This is a picture of the house from the front

This picture is a view from the side!

This is the other side!

And finally the view from the back!

We are so excited to move in and get things back to normal! I will post pictures of the inside soon!

Saying Goodbye......

2009-05-21T13:43:00.007-06:00

Saying goodbye is never an easy thing to do, and saying goodbye to so many amazing girls has proven to be even harder than I thought. I have enjoyed my calling as the second counselor in the Young Women's way more than I expected. The girls in our ward are so sweet. They have such strong testimony's, and are always teaching me something new. They have all excepted me for who I am, and have even endured my very boring lessons without holding it against me! They are always making me smile, and will be there for you when you are having a bad day! I love how they all felt like they could talk to me and trust me! I love them as if they are my own!

Yesterday some of the Young Women and the leaders came to my parents house to bring me some treats and to say goodbye!
This is the fun basket that they gave me. It was filled with some of my favorite things, and cute little notes from the girls and the leaders!
We also took some pictures of us supposedly being CrAzY, But this was all we could come up with!
My calling has really been a blessing in my life. It has made me a better person, and has made me realize I can do so many things I never thought I could! I might be saying goodbye to my house and my calling, but hopefully I will always stay in touch with these girls who have had such an amazing impact on my life! I love you guys!!!

Catching Up.....Finally!

2009-05-05T17:00:00.002-06:00

So it has been FoReVeR since I last blogged! I figured it was about time before I got myself any further behind so please forgive me if the post is rather long! For Easter this year we had a fun little barbecue at my parents house with my brother and his family, our family, and my parents. It was a little cold but we were able to have a awesome Easter egg hunt before the rain. The kids scored BIG! They had so much fun, and they all got tons of candy, prizes, and toys!

The hunt is on!

The kids and their big haul!

Friday night we decorated eggs, had pizza, and ate Easter basket cupcakes for dessert!

The kids and their finished eggs!

Kaiden and Abby putting out their Eggs for the Easter bunny, and leaving him some carrots!

The next morning we were up bright and early hunting for eggs. The kids found all of them but one. A couple of days later we found it in the kitchen under the rooster bell!

The kids had fun searching for their baskets this year, and didn't need too much help from mom and dad. Madi found hers on our bed behind the pillows. Abby's was in the laundry basket, and Kaiden's was outside hanging from the light!Later that day we headed out to Darrin's parents house for dinner and another Easter egg hunt. The kids got tons more eggs, and had fun hanging out with the cousins!

Abby has been staying busy. She had a talent show at her school where they got to perform a hat dance and share their talent. Abby decided to play the piano. She played Old Mcdonald had a farm and a song she made up herself!Abby also got to be the star student at school, we made a poster of her and she got to explain it to the class, she practiced what she was going to say for 2 days!On Saturday Abby had her big dance recital. She was so excited! She did an amazing job and we are so proud of her!We have been waiting for the couple who bought our house to sell their house {the contract expired the end of April} and they just haven't had any luck. We still continued to show the house but had ourselves convinced that we probably wouldn't sell it until we got back from Disneyland. The day before the contract expired we finally had another interested buyer. They came through twice loved the home and wanted us out in 2 weeks. We had quit looking at homes because every time we would find one we like it would sell. So now we are packing and trying to find a house as soon as we can! As of now we really have no idea what is going on? What we know for sure is the kids will still have 2 weeks left of school when we move and we are still going to Disneyland in June! Everything is CrAzY and the house is starting to look bare! I also apologize for how bad the yard is starting to look, but we just haven't had the time. I will update when we know more.........

Making Me Laugh~

2009-04-16T20:44:00.002-06:00

I couldn't help but laugh!

Thanks for making me smile Madi!

Not A Chance!

2009-04-02T09:00:00.002-06:00

Sorry everyone, it was all in fun! There is no possible chance of a little one in our future. We are done with the 3 we have, they definitely keep us on our toes! I do however appreciate Kenzie who said I should name the twins Barbara and Bob, and Haley for saying I don't look pregnant at all. I can totally see how well they are listing to the lessons in yw's and appreciate their honesty or should I say their ability to make some one feel good {even though they might look pregnant!} I love them all anyways and have lots of fun trying to be "hip" even though Madi says I'm sooo not in style anymore! {What's up with that?!} Well I hope everyone gets the memo, I'm NOT pregnant! Happy April Fool's Day!!

An Unexpected Surprise.....

2009-04-01T10:17:00.003-06:00

Well.... are you as shocked as we are!?
I'm 10 weeks and due at the end of October.

Something To Smile About~

2009-03-27T10:34:00.002-06:00

Here's to hoping everyone can start off their weekend with a little smile! Happy almost Easter!

Dear Blog......

2009-03-18T14:32:00.002-06:00

Sorry I haven't written in a while. We have been crazy busy the last couple of weeks. Although it hasn't been anything too fun or exciting, just everyday life, it has kept us busy. Things are going great with selling the house, we continue to have people come and look, even though we have an offer and are waiting for them to sell their home. We have been looking at houses whenever we get the chance and we do have a few in mind! Here is a picture of two of my favorites!The pictures don't really do the homes justice. They are a lot nicer in person, and the insides are amazing! It's hard to really make any decisions though when you don't really know what's going on. Just sitting around and waiting has been stressful. I don't want to fall in love with a house and then someone come and put in a offer before we have the chance to, just because we are waiting. I also don't want to not look because if they sell and we don't have a house picked out we could be in trouble! We have had lots of fun house hunting! I think we have any convinced my parents, or should I say my dad, to finally put their house up for sale! They found an amazing house out towards the ranches. I'm in love with the kitchen, the view, the deck, the property, and the look of the outside! I'm really hoping things all fall in to place for them! So if you know of anybody looking to buy an amazing home in Lindon, with a ginormous garage out back, let me know! Here is a picture of the home they are interested in buying!I also wanted to let everybody know about my mom's new real estate blog she just started! It has tons of great information about buying and selling a home. It will also have random pictures of different homes for sale. Right now she has pictures of Mitt Romney's Deer Valley home it's gorgeous! To check out the most amazing Realtor ever {after all she did sell my house in 12 hours!} click on the link HERE or check her out on my sidebar!

12 Hours......

2009-03-03T18:45:00.000-07:00

After only 12 hours on the market and with no pictures, we received our first offer on our house! We have counter offered back and they accepted the price on Friday. So I guess we sold our house, sort of anyways....... it is based upon the contingency of the sell of their home, But they seem to be pretty confident it will sell quickly, so now we just sit around and wait. Our house is still on the market, and we have had 7 different people come through it in 8 days. Me and Darrin have officially mastered cleaning the entire house spotless, in less than 45 min, but let's just say that has made the both of us a little bit crazy this past week! We are thankful that we have had so much interest, especially in today's market. And having an excuse to constantly keep the house clean has definitely been a bonus! We don't really have a house picked out yet, but it has been fun to look, and there are so many great deals out there! We are excited and hoping for the best!

VaLeNtInEs DaY!

2009-02-19T13:02:00.003-07:00

Look what just happened to show up on my doorstep! We had decided not to get each other any thing this year and just spend the day together, but of course my husband never listens and surprised me with these!I know, I'm a lucky gal! I was very surprised, and thought he did a nice job of mixing in the pink and red! Saturday we had plans to go and see Home School Musical up at the dessert Star theatre, then to dinner and then a movie. Needless to say none of our plans quite worked out as planned. I called to get tickets on Thursday morning for the comedy show, and whoops they were all sold out until Monday. I know, I know, poor planning on my part I should have known. So we decided just to take the kids to my parents and go to dinner and a movie. We headed out early, got to PF Chang's at about 4:30, and guess what? All booked up unless you have a reservation {more poor planning on my part, I should have known!} We knew at that point everywhere would be packed if you didn't already have reservations, so we settled on Cafe Rio, and the movie Taken {very good, you must see} We still had a very fun day, and my mom and dad let the kids sleep over, so it was nice to spend some time together with just us!

Every year we always have a Valentines dinner with the kids. We have heart shaped pizza, sparkling apple cider, and a dessert, usually chocolate covered strawberries or something fun like that! We also make it a candlelit dinner and serve the cider in champagne glasses. The kids love it and have so much fun. This year we let my parents do the dinner with the kids because they were sleeping over. So I don't have any pictures, but they said it was fun!The kids got their traditional heart shaped cakes with their name on it from my parents, and we did a little bag full of treats with a giant Hersey Kiss {that Kaiden finished off in 2 days} and a big sugar cookie from us! We kept things pretty simple this year, but had a blast!

Ice Ice Baby.......

2009-02-11T08:56:00.003-07:00

So I'm a little bit embarrassed to admit this but I was a HUGE fan of Vanilla Ice! I had a scrapbook full of anything and everything that had to do with him, I owned all his cds, I had a barbie doll that looked just like him, {yes I still have it packed away somewhere} I knew the words to almost all of his songs, {still do} I got to go to his concert, I even considered shaving my eyebrows just like his! So now I'm trying to decide if I want to fork out the $40 to go to his concert this month? Yep, you heard me right, Vanilla Ice and Mc Hammer are coming to concert together February 27 at UVU! So for now I'm still deciding and reminiscing back to the good old days, when I was young and all I really cared about was where I could get a good pair of parachute pants and whether or not to shave my eyebrows!

The Big Birthday Weekend!

2009-02-05T10:36:00.003-07:00

Monday was Abby's Birthday! We usually always do big fancy friend Birthdays, but this year we decided to just have a family party. The fun started on Friday night. Abby had a sleepover and grammy and papa's house. The next morning I surprised Abby and took her to get her hair cut {she has been begging me forever} She really wanted bangs, layers, and some length cut off. They ended up cutting about 6 in! It looks really cute. She really likes the bangs and always has them in her eyes. I keep trying to push them to the side when I talk to her and she will get mad and put them right back in front of her eyes!

Later that night me and Darrin had plans to go out to dinner and up to the Jazz game. We went to Ruby River {yummy} and the to the game. When we got there no one was there. Everything was dark and shut down. I looked at our tickets and realized that the game was on Friday night and not Saturday. We were so disappointed, but it was our own fault. We tried to go to a movie but they had all started, so we just headed home and called it a night.

Sunday we went to church as usual, and then we headed out to Darrin's parents house to celebrate Birthday's and the Super Bowl! I'm not a big fan of football so we played games, talked and snacked! I'm guessing Darrin must not be a big fan of football either, considering he slept through most of it!We sang Happy Birthday, and had cake and ice cream! Abby got to open up presents and was excited to get a Littlest Pet Shop ostrich, a necklace that said "Archie" {her nickname from Grandpa Haun} a Meeba, more Littlest Pet Shop stuff, and a funky bright orange pig {that I'm sure she will never loose} but sleeps with every night! It was a fun day!Monday morning was Abby's real Birthday! We had an entire day of fun stuff planned to do. It was all a surprise, Abby had no idea. First we went to the mall and went to Chick~Fil~A for lunch. Next we headed over to Build A Bear. Abby got to choose and make a bear! She picked out a cute little bunny with pink ears! She chose a Hannah Montana song button to put inside and made a wish and kissed the Bunny's heart before putting that inside also. They gave her a sticker for her Birthday and made her feel extra special!
When she was done stuffing her bunny she had to clean it, brush it, and pick out some clothes.

Abby picked out a Tinkerbell outfit with some pink high heels {she must take after me a girl always needs a great pair of heels!} She also picked out some styling white sunglasses! When she was done she named her Cupcake! Now she will always have a bunny that has the same Birthday as her!

The next big surprise was to get her ears pierced. She was super excited for this! She was a little worried at first but was being brave. She picked out some flower earrings with a blue center{her favorite color right now}
She wasn't to happy after the first one was done. She cried a little but was brave and got over it quick! Now she loves them and even lets me clean and turn them!The last surprise of the day was to meet the family at Chuck E Cheese! My parents, Rachel, Jaxon and Breann all came. We had lots of pizza tokens and fun! Abby and Breann had lots of fun on the slide!
After Chuck E Cheese we went to my parents house for cake, ice cream and presents! My mom made Abby her favorite cake chocolate with strawberry filling and whipping cream frosting {soo yummy} She also made Abby a cake of her own with some Littlest Pet Shop characters on it!
We opened presents. Abby got a ds game, a wii game, more Littlest Pet Shop stuff, and some art and painting supplies {and yes the paint was from me, it's washable will see how it goes!} We also got her a new big bike! It's blue of course!

It was a fun long weekend! I cant believe Abby is 6 already! She is growing up way to fast, and we are enjoying every minute of it. She loves everything about life, she has a fun and sassy personality. She loves to perform, sing, dance, paint, do puzzles, swim, go shopping with mom, tease her brother and sister, and have sleepovers at grammy and papa's house! She defiantly has her own unique sense of style and loves being girly! She loves Heavenly Father and her family. We cant wait to she what she will do next! We love you Abby!!! Happy Birthday!!!

"The Sign"

2009-01-20T16:26:00.004-07:00

It's official the "sign" is up, we have decided to sell our house. We thought about refinancing and taking advantage of the great interest rates, but this isn't the house of my dreams. I don't want to refinance a house that I'm not planning on living in for a while. There are so many great deals on houses out there right now and we are ready to take advantage of that! We have so many wonderful friends and neighbors here, {we wish you could all just move with us} but this is the best decision for our family at this time. We are hoping to stay close, but the more we look we are really liking the great deals in Saratoga Springs. You can get so much more house for your money. Were not going to get to excited just yet, we still have to sell our house which isn't going to be easy with how slow house sales are right now, but we are keeping our fingers crossed that everything will move along quickly. So please helps us spread the word and if you know anyone out there who needs an new house send them our way! We would appreciate it!

Jazz Game

2009-01-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

So what does the Utah Jazz game and President Monson have in common?.......... Absolutely nothing, except for the fact that when me and Darrin were at the Jazz game on Saturday night we happened to see him! We were sitting in our awesome seats {only 12 rows up} when the people next to me kept looking at someone with their binoculars. They were talking to the people behind us and I heard them talking about security? I told Darrin to look around because I think someone famous might be in the crowd. He was looking around and sure enough right up in a skybox was President Monson! The people next to me let us borrow their binoculars to take a peek. He was sitting by himself, {in his suit} with a few people around him, but not right next to him. I had a hard time watching the game after that because I kept looking up at him. We did see him briefly doing a little dancing when the game got exciting! I wanted to sneek out a little bit early and go wait by his skybox, but he must have had the same idea. He gave everyone in the skybox with him a quick wave and then his security guard helped him out. We tried to take a picture with our cell phone, but we couldn't zoom in close enough. Next time I go I will take my camera, you just never know who might be in the audience!

New Years Eve

2009-01-12T09:35:00.008-07:00

So I'm a little behind on posting...... But I will have to admit the one thing I look forward to after Christmas is the big New Years Eve Party with the Haun's! We always come real early and stay real late, last year I think we set a record when we got home at about 5:00 in the morning. This year we got home a little earlier, we were home at about 4:00. We started off the night with tacos and all the fixins for dinner. We had so much food! We snacked and played all night!

Darrin and Brittany sang their hearts out in a head to head competition of wii sing it! Although it was a close competition, I think Brittany might have won! {keep practicing honey, you'll get it!}

Flint and Sarah brought up their x-box and I seriously didn't see these boys all night! They had so much fun!Grandpa had lots of fun playing Spongebob life with the grandkids!We played some serious games of poker!Another picture of my cute little buddy Derik!Abby and Brooke showing off their New Years Eve attire!Getting ready to ring in the New Year. Notice Grandma in the background, she had been waiting all night to surprise Andrew. She thought she would help him control that wild hair, she put an entire bottle of hair gel in his hair! You really had to be there to enjoy the moment, too funny!Grandpa ringing in the New Year, farm style!Lots of streamers and party horns!
This cute picture was taken just for Hayley M.! {I hope your mom doesn't read this hehe}Happy New Year from our family to yours!

Christmas Was Great!

2009-01-06T13:00:00.001-07:00

WOW! Christmas has once again come and gone. I will however have to say that this Christmas has to be one of my favorites! Christmas eve Darrin had to work part of the day. But later that afternoon when he got home we made the traditional cookies for Santa! That night was our Christmas party with my mom's side of the family. We have one every year, but this one was different. Many of the family were out of town or couldn't make it so we had a much smaller group of people. It was still tons of fun. We ate some yummy food {thanks to my mom} and played a white elephant game. We also exchanged some gifts, and the kids each got to open their jammies up from grammy and papa! Of course they had to put them on right away!

The Kids Opening Up Their Jammies!

Enjoying The Party!
Me Having Too Much Fun!

Breann And Her Big Eyes!When the party was over we headed home to get ready for Santa. We got out the cookies and milk and then got ready for bed. We let the kids open 1 present from us that night. We got them Horton Hears A Who. They all slept in the girls room and watched the movie before falling asleep. It was an early night, I think they were all asleep before 10:00!The next morning I got up around 7:00 and the kids were still asleep! I started getting ready and then Darrin woke up. At about 7:30 the kids finally woke up. We headed downstairs and to my surprise Santa actually came! The kids got everything they wanted and then some!

Kaiden's Pile~

Madi's Pile~
Abby's Pile~The kid's favorite presents, {other than the Wii}

Abby got her DS~

And the famous pee pee in the potty doll~Kaiden got a Ripstick~Madi got a new Samsung Gravity slider cell phone~
Santa also hid a extra surprise under our tree this year. There was a big package under the tree that was marked "To the Haun children, Merry Christmas! Love, Santa" When the kids opened it up they were sooo excited! It was a Wii! Finally! There was also extra controllers and nunchucks. Each kid also had 3 games a piece inside the box. Madi got, Mario Party 8, Cooking Mama World Kitchen, and Hannah Montana. Kaiden got Super Smash bros. Brawl, Sonic and the secret rings, and Spongebob globs of doom. Abby got Littlest Pet Shop, Thrillville, and a Disney Princess Game! The kids also got Rock Band, Wii Sing It, and Ravin Rabbids tv party from us! Later that morning my parents came over to visit. They brought presents for the kids and us. They always spoil us! Me and Darrin got a new blue ray dvd player and a gift certificate to PF Chang's. The kids all got new blankets and toys! Once my parent's left we got ready and headed out to Payson to visit with Darrin's side of the family. They gave us our family pictures that we have been looking forward to, and gave the kids lots of fun toys! We visited for a while, and talked about what everyone got! The kids just kept bugging us to go back home so they could play with their toys. We finally gave in and went home. the rest of the night we had fun, relaxed and played and played. We went from opening up one toy right to another, until we finally told the kids we have to go to bed.

Darrin had the rest of the week off. We did a lot of this.........

Family Playing The Wii!

Lounging And Playing The DS!

More DS!

And Finally Sleeping!

We saw a lot of movies, played a lot of board games, ate a lot of good food, hung out in our jammies, and spent time with family. We had a great holiday! We are looking forward to the New Year, and hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Staying Busy!

2008-12-18T08:15:00.008-07:00

This month has been just flying by! I really wanted to keep up on my posting but haven't had as much time as I thought. First off I wanted to remind everyone that today and tomorrow are the last days for you to get your donations to me for the homeless shelter. We are still in need of items to donate. All items can be new or used, so go through those coat closets and clean them out! Remember every little thing counts. We will be taking these items to the shelter on Friday.

GINGERBREAD HOUSES!

Every year my parents buy all the kids Gingerbread Houses. We like to try and decorate them for family home evening, but my kids were to excited to wait so we decided to decorate them on Thanksgiving. Darrin really helped them a lot more this year, And I know he enjoyed every minute of it! Each house had it's own personality! Abby wanted hers to look exactly like the picture, so I was glad that Darrin was the one helping her! When the kids were done they had tons of candy left so we let them eat it, yummy!

Houses in order from left to right

Kaiden~Madi~Abby

FAMILY HOME EVENING!

For family home evening a couple of weeks ago, the kids got to go and choose their ornaments. We went to Hallmark, they looked around forever. There are so many ornaments now that have lights or sing or play music and that kept them busy for a while. Madi decided on a really cute ornament with Mickey and Pluto in a little red car with a tree strapped to the roof and a wreath on the front. The minute Abby laid her eyes on her ornament she stopped ant nothing to get it. I wasn't to excited about spending $32.00 on 1 ornament , but we gave in, after all it was Mickey's House! It has mickey and Pluto standing out in front of his house looking at it all decorated with lights and snow and Santa and his reindeer on top. It plugs into the tree and lights up. It also has a little button that you push that plays music while the lights do a little light show. It is super cute. When we got it home and put it on the tree the kids all said "look it's Ed Kampers house!" Too funny!Kaiden looked and looked and just couldn't find an ornament that he really liked. I had bought a Captain Hook ornament that I thought was really cute, but he said it was stupid because it didn't do anything. I told him he could have it as his ornament until we find him one he really liked. He wasn't to happy about it but agreed when Darrin told him he would try and find him a BYU ornament!When we were done ornament shopping we went home and had some ice cream and watched A Charlie Brown Christmas!

Darrin's parents took us and all the adults out to dinner for our Birthdays on Saturday night. We wanted to go to Ruby River but they were all booked up, so we decided to go to Chili's because they would accept our reservation for 12 people. There was sooo much food. My favorite thing is always their chips and salsa! I could eat it everyday. Oh by the way did I mention my Birthday is on Christmas, hint, hint! The food was yummy and it was so fun to get together without all of the kids to talk. We look forward to it every year! Thanks so much Ruth and Stu, it was fun!

Another tradition we have is every year we go out to Spanish Fork to see the festival of the lights. If you have never been before I would recommend it. It is so much better than Thanksgiving point and is only $5 a car! So Monday night the kids got in their jammies and we took them to get ice cream cones , and then we headed out to the lights. It was perfect it wasn't to busy and there was snow on the ground! Each year we always try and pick out the new stuff they get, it's always fun!

Tuesday night my parents took us out for dinner to celebrate our Birthdays, We went to The Spaghetti Factory, because everyone seems to like that place, especially my picky kids. My brother and his family came, my parents, and us. After dinner we went back to my parents house for some homemade german chocolate cake and presents. They gave us some new phones! Now when you call I might actually answer the phone. It came with 4 different colored phones the kids all claimed 1 of their own so that only leaves me with 1, we'll see how that goes. I also got a new griddle, and a picture I have been wanting FOREVER called "A Light Unto the Gentiles" by Greg Olsen. I really want the huge canvas {like the one in the Salt Lake Temple} or the one hanging in my favorite aunt Marianne's house {did I mention my Birthday is on Christmas?} but it is way out of my price range. But I'm so happy to at least have a smaller version for now, and I cant wait to get it framed! Thanks sooooo much mom and dad. Dinner was awesome and the presents were nice to!Christmas is coming soo fast, it always does when your old like me! I'm enjoying the season and doing fun things with my family! For the most part we are done shopping and I couldn't be more excited. I can't wait to see my kids on Christmas morning. To me that is the best Christmas/Birthday present a mom could have! I spoil them rotten cause I love them and that's what makes me happy! Darrin and I both were spoiled growing up, so were both on the same paige when it comes to spoiling the kids, it's fun!! I hope everyone has a Wonderful Christmas! Take time to enjoy your family and friends, and don't forget to give to think of the others around us that might be in need! Even the smallest act of kindness can help!

The Best Neighbor Gift Ever!

2008-12-18T07:59:00.000-07:00

My cute little friend Amy gave me the cutest neighbor gift ever! I love it and it is displayed as we speak! And for those of you who don't know who the best neighbor ever is?............... Here is a picture for your viewing pleasure!

Thanks Amy!

Neighbor Gifts!

2008-12-11T08:30:00.003-07:00

Dear friends and neighbors…

This year, more than ever, we are aware of the struggles of those around us. In lieu of our traditional “neighbor gifts” we have decided to donate to a family homeless shelter, The Road Home. If you would like to participate, we are collecting the following desperately needed necessities: coats, gloves, hats, or anything to keep warm, also socks and underware; however any contribution is welcome and appreciated, ie. canned goods, cash donations, blankets, new toys, etc. All items can be new or used except socks, underware, and toys. We will be collecting these items until Thursday December 18th, and delivering the items to the shelter on Friday the 19th. If you would like to donate, feel free to drop them off at our home or we are happy to pick them up as well. Even the smallest donation can help us remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Merry Christmas!
Love The Haun Family

Catching Up!

2008-12-08T07:42:00.010-07:00

Wow, It has been forever since I last blogged! I wanted to start way back with Thanksgiving. For Thanksgiving we went to my parents house first. We had the best Thanksgiving dinner with my mom and dad, My brother and his family, our family, and my grandma Olsen. It was a much smaller group this time, but we really enjoyed it! The food was wonderful! After dinner we went to Payson for pie at Darrin's parents house. We did lots of talking and eating! We also sat down and planned out our attack for Black Friday shopping!

The next morning I woke up at about 3:15. I got ready real quick and went and picked up Sarah and my mom. We went to Wal-mart first. I got everything I went there for! After Wal-mart we headed over to Target. Tammy was already standing in line, it was a good thing too because they really cracked down on security this year and wouldn't let you even sneak up to the front like I have in past years! It was all really crazy and a lot of fun! My car was jammed packed! Whoo Hoo! I didn't shop as long as I usually do this year, because I knew Darrin wanted to go and look for a TV. I took Sarah home and then met Darrin at my mom's house. She watched the kids for us while we went back out and shopped! It was a long day! We did end up getting a new TV for Christmas! it is sooo nice. I still like my old one that broke, and it was sad wheeling it out to the truck. Of course we or should I say Darrin couldn't wait until Christmas to set it up! It looks a little weird not having a stand to put it on, we just set it on our coffee table until we get a new built in to put it on! Maybe that will be my, I mean our Christmas present next year!

Darrin's work party was on Thursday night. We went to the Golden Corral, not my favorite but the salad was good. They always do fun little games and drawings. Darrin won us a backpack {Disneyland here we come!} And I actually won one of the big items this year!!! I was really wanting the GPS, but I won 2 tickets to the Jazz game! We will be on the 14th row! I can't wait! It was a fun night!

Friday I finally went and saw Twilight! I haven't finished the book yet, but I'm much more of a visual person anyways, so I just went and saw the movie. I didn't have any expectations, so I really liked it! Darrin and I also did some shopping after the movie! I'm so excited because we are almost done! That night was our ward party. Abby had been looking forward to seeing Santa all week, and was counting down the days. When we got there we had dinner and the kids did some crafts. It was finally time to see Santa! Madi of course was wayyy to cool to go and see Santa, Kaiden wanted nothing to do with him to, and Abby had a total meltdown. I really wanted to get a picture, even if she was crying. So the mean mom I am Drug her kicking and screaming to see him. I also convinced the other kids to come and take a picture to try and get Abby in there. It wasn't easy but we finally got a picture!

When we got home Abby said she was afraid of Santa because he had on glasses and she wasn't used to him wearing glasses? She also told me that she told him a secret. We didn't believe her because she was so terrified, but when I opened up my email to look at the pictures, I saw this......

I'm still wondering what she told him?

Saturday Darrin took Kaiden to work with him, so me and Madi headed to the mall! We meet Tammy, Brittany, and Brooke. We got lots of shopping done for Madi, so I'm 1 step closer to being done! Christmas is coming so fast! I can hardly wait. Hopefully I wont stay this busy, so I will have more time to blog. Enjoy your week!

I'm a Proud Mommy!

2008-11-26T11:34:00.002-07:00

Every year at my kids school they have a turkey trot. This is where they have all the children from each grade race to win a turkey. This years winners would receive, 1st place~a turkey, 2nd place~a t~shirt, and 3rd place a big candy bar. They choose a boy winner and a girl winner from each grade. Kaiden has entered this for the last 2 years and always came in second place. A boy named Jose has always taken first place and Kaiden was mad. This year he was pumped and ready to go! His grade level was the last one to race. Kaiden ran as fast as he could, and believe it or not he came in first place! When he went to claim his lovely prized turkey they had ran out! He was so upset, they had even ran out of t~shirts, so all he got was a stupid candy bar. They told him when fall break was over they would give him a t~shirt. What a bummer, oh well at least he got the satisfaction of finally winning Jose! We are so proud of him!! You rock Kaiden!!

Let's Talk Turkey

2008-11-24T11:04:00.004-07:00

If your looking for something fun and different to take to Thanksgiving this year, these cute little turkey cookies would be perfect! Get the recipe HERE.

Another fun idea are these marshmallow pilgrim hats. I think the kids would be so excited to see one of these sitting by their plate on Thanksgiving! So if your feeling domestic this Thanksgiving season give one of these a try! Happy almost turkey day!

Too Cute To Forget!

2008-11-21T17:42:00.002-07:00

ABBY~ Mom when you die will you come back to life and be with me?

ME~ {short version of answer} When we die we go to the spirit world and wait for the resurrection. Then everyone will be resurrected and our family will live together again!

ABBY~ Do we get to come home and pack?

Too Funny!!

The Kid Tree~

2008-11-20T09:07:00.006-07:00

One of my very favorite traditions is decorating the "Kid Tree" each year. What I mean by kid tree is, every year since we've been married we let each of the kids go shopping and pick out an ornament {or two} for the tree. Of course when the kids were younger they would choose the little character ornaments. Toy Story, Mickey Mouse, Hello Kitty, Barbie, Batman, or Disney anything, just to name a few. This is why I call it the kid tree. We finally got around to decorating the kid tree last weekend. It was fun. We turned on Christmas music and decorated away! The kids always enjoy going through the boxes and pulling out all the ornaments they have picked out from previous years. Kaiden is glad he is a boy, because the girls sometimes can't remember which ornaments are theirs for sure so there is always a little drama until we get it figured out! I couldn't live with just one tree, especially one decorated with all kid ornaments, so that is why we have a second tree decorated with a much more traditional style. We love Christmas and can't wait for all the fun things we have planned! Christmas is a time for family and traditions and we plan on enjoying it all!

Decorating Fun!

Silly Abby!

Me and the Kids!

I love these guys!!

FYI~ Darrin was home that night, he just refused to have any pictures taken!

The Weekend Wrap Up Birthday Style!

2008-11-17T10:19:00.008-07:00

Friday~

Madi's 13 Birthday was on Friday. She wanted to have a Christmas theme Birthday party/sleepover. She invited 6 of her friends, Madi Hipol, Haley M., Haley G., Kenzie, Laynie, and Brittany. We had pizza for dinner, and afterwards we had eggnog and candy cane ice cream. My mom also made Madi her favorite cake, homemade german chocolate, she loved it! Madi had told all her friends she wanted toe socks and scarfs, she got just what she wanted, and plenty of them. The girls played games, did crazy hair, drew on each others faces, ate lots of candy and popcorn, watched movies, and stayed up ALL NIGHT! The next morning I woke them up kind of early because Kaiden's Birthday was later that day and I had to clean up. We made pancakes and eggs for breakfast. The girls finished getting ready and then we took them home.

Present Time ! Yummy Cake!

Crazy Girls!

Saturday~
Today was Kaiden's Birthday party. We had told him it was a surprise all week long, so when Saturday was finally here he was really excited. Darrin and I went to pick up his cake that morning. When we got home and showed it to him he still didn't know where we were going. We had them put a rock climber on the cake. Any guesses as to where we were going? Kaiden had invited 9 of his friends and 10 showed up! When everyone arrived we sang Happy Birthday and had cake and ice cream. Kaiden opened up his presents next. He got so many great gifts. His favorite were a Webkin from his friend Madeline, and a $30 gift card from Sergio! It was now time to go rock climbing. I had rented the rock wall at the Legacy Center for an hour of climbing. The kids climbed and climbed until our time was finally up! They all had a lot of fun and Kaiden was surprised!

Cake!

More Cake!
Presents!
Rock Climbing!
Sunday~
More Birthdays!! Sunday was the Haun Birthday parties! We went to Darrin's parents house for dinner with his side of the family. We had ham and cheesy potatoes! We did lots of talking, and the kids did lots of playing! We had cake and ice cream and the kids opened presents. Kaiden got a Guitar Hero hand held game and a huge set of Bionicles. Madi got a cute scarf set, that included a hat, scarf, and gloves, and a toy called My Meeba? We all had lots of fun. Later that night we came home and decorated our other tree! Wow, another busy weekend for us, but were enjoying every minute of it!

Happy 13th Birthday Madi!

2008-11-14T15:30:00.000-07:00

It's official, Madi is finally a teenager. I know she has been waiting for this for a while, but it has come way to quick! She has grown up so fast. Before we know it she will be driving! Too Scary!! I just wanted to let her know how much I appreciate all the things she does. She helps me out so much, And sometimes I don't always acknowledge it. She is a wonderful student and daughter she always does her best and we are so proud of the choices she has made! I hope you have a great Birthday Madi! We love you!!!

The Weekend Wrap Up!

2008-11-11T08:00:00.001-07:00

Wow, this weekend was a busy one for us! Saturday morning Darrin took Kaiden to get a long overdue haircut. He took him to a new place called Cookie Cutters. This is now Kaiden's favorite place to get his hair cut. They let him play the xbox while he was getting his hair cut. I will never have to beg him to go for a hair cut again. When he was done they gave him a cookie cutter, a sucker, and a balloon! When they were done cutting his hair, Darrin and Kaiden were off to the BYU game. Me and the girls decided to go shopping for Madi's Birthday. We went to the Orem mall and shopped around for a while, and then we ate lunch at Chick~fil~A! Madi got lots of cute new clothes and some other fun things she has been wanting. I found lots of shoes I fell in love with, but I decided to wait until Christmas to get them. When we were done shopping we called the boys and asked them if they wanted to go and see High School Musical 3 with us. Kaiden wanted to go so we meet them at the movies. The movie was really good. It seemed a little bit more cheessy than the ones before, but I still loved it! {By the way, this movies is defiantly not recommended for dad's, Darrin slept through most of it!} After the movie we went to dinner for Kaiden's Birthday, Kaiden got really sick and just wanted to go home. We took him to my parents house and we headed back out to go and buy Kaiden's Birthday presents. What a long night.

Sunday morning it was up as usual, my parents were coming over for dinner later that night so I had to get some things ready. We went to church and then came home for dinner. We let Kaiden choose what he wanted, he of course chose Hawaiian Haystacks, and peanut butter cup ice cream my mom made a lemon bundt cake, and Madi made brownies. We ate and then sang Happy Birthday. We let Kaiden open up 1 present from us, and my parents gave Kaiden his present. He got his very first $50 bill from my parents and a ds game from us, that he has been wanting {Spongebob Square Pants drawn to life} He is having his Birthday Party on Saturday it will be fun, it's a surprise so I will tell ya more later! Madi's Birthday is on Friday and she is having a sleepover. If I can survive this weekend things will be great! Fun Times!!!

Happy Birthday Kaiderbug!

If I Were A Pin Collector.......

2008-11-07T09:24:00.003-07:00

This cute little Black Friday shopping pin would be perfect for my collection! The problem is , I would have such a hard time deciding if I would rather be in Disneyland or shopping on Black Friday? I guess if World of Disney had the same sale prices as Wal~mart I would do all my shopping there, oh the money I would spend!! Happy Shopping!!

22 More Days........

2008-11-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

Hey, did you know that there are only 22 more days until the biggest shopping day of the year?!!! Mark your calendars gal's it's just around the corner, and I cannot even describe how excited I am. The day after Thanksgiving sales officially begin my Holiday shopping season, and I plan on doing plenty of it! I know I'm not the only crazy mom out there that will push my way to the front, while getting screamed at by the ladies behind me who have been there since 3:00 in the morning, {I'm the smart one right? It's way to cold to stand out in those lines for that long!}Anyways it's all in fun, and I wouldn't even think about missing it! I would go even if there wasn't anything I wanted, it's just the whole experience that is fun! So if your looking for a die hard shopping buddy let me know, I'll show ya all my tricks! I'm sooo ready, are you?

I Can't Help Myself

2008-11-05T08:06:00.003-07:00

Yesterday I started to get the Christmas itch, so I broke out the Christmas cds and started getting out my Christmas decorations! Me and Abby sung our hearts out! Madi said that if I set up my Christmas tree this early all her friends would make fun of her, so what do you think I did?............. I had Darrin get my Christmas tree, and we set that thing up! We have 2 Christmas trees, but for a couple of years now that darn pre-lit tree has given us so many problems. So this year we took off all the lights and re-strung the tree by hand. We decided to put that tree in our front room because it is bigger and nicer than the other tree. Now I have to go and buy a new pre-lit tree for our family room. I can't wait until the day after Thanksgiving to buy another tree and set it up, so I'm on the look out for a nice big decent priced tree! {any ideas?} Well I'm sure all the neighbors think I'm crazy, but you would think by now they would be used to all the Haun madness that goes on at our house during the holidays! I'm hoping to finish up all the decorating by the end of this week. Is it ever really too early?!

My Halloween Wrap Up!

2008-11-03T13:00:00.002-07:00

Last week was a crazy week for us! We had so many fun things going on. Wednesday was our Young Women's Halloween party. We put the girls in charge of it this year and they had so many great ideas. We played the candy bar game, a game called Trick or Treat, and we had a good old fashioned cake walk! Many ladies in our ward donated cakes to give it that old carnival style feel, and the girls were so grateful! They had so much fun! We also had a costume contest, and to make it fair we let all the girls judge.

Here are the winners!
Madi won for most unique!

This is our 2nd counselor Bro. Moss glamming it up during the candy bar game!

A group picture of all of us!

Thursday night was our traditional pumpkin carving night! Every year the night before Halloween we have a sloppy joe dinner, a yummy dessert and of course we carve pumpkins. Everyone gets their own pumpkin to carve, and gets to choose what they want to carve on it. This year Madi choose a cool mummy, Kaiden choose the Grim Reaper, Abby choose Mickey as Dracula, I choose Minnie Mouse, and Darrin Choose a complicated picture of a guy holding a torch and bending over a diamond. They were a lot of fun to carve. I usually choose a really neat but hard to carve picture, but this year I really didn't want to be up all night so I choose a simple one, and encouraged everyone else to do the same. {it was a school night} Here is a picture of the finished pumpkins, I couldn't get a very good picture of them lit up, I guess I should figure out how to use that camera of mine. Friday was finally here HAPPY HALLOWEEN! The morning started out with getting Madi up and ready to go. They got to dress up in school, but she thought everyone would laugh at her devil egg costume so we searched through the Halloween tote and rounded up a Gypsy costume for her to wear to school. As soon as she was out the door we were off to my aunt Karen's house to get Kaiden's make up done for his costume. It took a little longer then expected but she finished and it looked great. It even stayed on until that night, Wow! She's amazing! After dropping Kaiden off at school we headed back home to make tortilla soup for dinner. When we finished I had just enough time to get Abby dressed in her costume for school. I dropped her off and went home to finish getting stuff ready for her school party. The kindergarten classes had a parade at school. I remember these when I was kid and I loved them so I wasn't going to miss Abby's. It was really cute, but over really quick. After their Parade it was time for their class party. I volunteered to help and did a craft. The kids made monster hands with green popcorn, candy corn fingernails, and a spider ring to finish it off.When the kids were all home from school, my brother, his wife, and kids came over to show off their costumes. They looked so cute, Breann even showed off her monkey impression!When Darrin got home from work, we ate dinner and the kids were off at about 5:30. Madi had huge plans to trick or treat all night. She ended up back home at about 8:45, which seemed late, because we hadn't had any trick or treaters after about 8:00. I hoped to have lots of kids this year, but it seemed a little slow. I think lots of people must have had Halloween Parties? Kaiden and Abby went trick or treating with the neighbors, so this was the first year I got to stay home and hand out candy, It was so fun to see everyone dressed up!
Me and Darrin as Alice and the Mad Hatter!

The Best Costume Ever!
Madi and her peeps, Trick~or~Treating at the neighbors!

Haley G.~ Haley M.~ Madi~ Kenzie

Sorting and counting candy, Priceless!

So that was our Halloween excitement for the year! Saturday we took everything that had to do with Halloween down. Darrin stayed home and we worked on putting up Christmas lights ALL DAY LONG! So you would think we are done right? Nope, we still have 5 1/2 trees left to wrap, and we still need to put up all our decorations. I'm hoping to slowly work on the trees and the rest of the outside decorations the rest of the week, and put up the trees and the inside decorations this weekend! Kaiden's birthday is this weekend and Madi's is next weekend, so we have lots of fun things going on. I'm looking forward to shopping with the girls and High School Musical 3 this weekend while the boys are at the BYU game! I hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

Hee~Haw Field Trip

2008-11-03T10:50:00.003-07:00

Tuesday Abby's kindergarten class went to the Hee~Haw farm for a field trip. I got to be one of the mom helpers and was in charge of a group of 6 kids. This is the cute little group of kids I was in charge of. They were lots of fun, but now I know why I only had 3 kids! This is a picture of us getting ready to ride the hayride.

This is Abby jumping around the mini hay bale maze. The kids thought it was more fun to jump on the hay, then it was to actually walk through it like a maze.Abby's favorite thing to do there was the big slide! She had a lot of fun, but she only got to go down it 1 time because there were so many kids there that day.Another highlight of the trip was when the kids each got to choose their own pumpkin from the pumpkin patch to take home. Abby's class kept them at school and painted them the next day. Abby painted Mrs. Paxman! This is Abby's kindergarten class with their pumpkins!

Abby got to ride on the school bus for the first time. This is a picture of her and her "friend" Jared on the way home from Hee~Haw's!

This was Abby's first field trip! She had so much fun, and was so glad that I got to go with her!

Happy Birthday Baby!

2008-10-29T11:31:00.004-06:00

Today is Derik's 1st Birthday! I just wanted to share with you how cute he was with his cake on Saturday night!

This is Derik blowing out his candles! Derik just getting started!

Getting the hang of it!

Messy Baby!

Too Cute!

Washing it down!

I hope you have A great Birthday Derick! We love you so much! Happy Birthday Baby!!!

The Weekend Wrap Up..... A Little Late!

2008-10-29T09:09:00.006-06:00

Because my computer has been in the shop I haven't been able to blog. I finally have it back and it's running better then ever. So lets get started, shall we?........

Friday~ We had our ward Halloween Party on Friday night. It was a chili cook off and trunk or treat! We also got to wear costumes and there was a costume contest. Darrin and I dressed up as the Mad Hatter and Alice in Wonderland! We won the costume contest for "Best Theme" This is the second year in a row, now the pressure is really on for next year. We weren't allowed to wear face paint so Kaiden was a faceless Joker. Everyone wanted to know what he was, we were sad the face paint is what really makes the costume so great! Madi was a devil egg! And Abby was Bat Girl! They looked so cute. Here are some pictures, hopefully we will have more to come.

This picture is actually of the kids on Saturday, but it was the only one I had of all 3 of them together. We painted Kaidens face that night, but did it in 5 minutes. His aunt Karen will do it on Halloween, so it will look much more realistic and actually have the scars on his mouth.

Saturday~ Derik was having his First Birthday Party! It was a Halloween themed party, you could wear costumes, but not to many people did. There were a lot of people there. The kids got to decorate cookies. They were really creative, mostly just putting on as much frosting and candy as they could.Darrin's dad got a new motorcycle. Of course Darrin couldn't resist taking it for a spin all dressed up in his costume! Everyone was honking and waving. It was so funny!

Derik got so many presents! I'm sure Santa wont need to visit him this year!

Derik and Madi, and Derik and Darrin! What a cutie, look at those cute little {or should I say chubby cheeks!}

Happy Birthday Derik!
Hey is that the Mad Hatter?

I'm Back!

2008-10-28T19:52:00.001-06:00

Yippee!!! I finally got my computer back! I can't wait to start blogging. I had a fun weekend, so even though tomorrow is Wednesday I'm still going to do a weekend wrap up. Check back soon!!

7 Random Things About ME!

2008-10-25T13:55:00.000-06:00

My friend Leisa tagged me so here it goes~
Here are the rules. You start with seven random facts about yourself. Tag seven people and list their names. The people who are tagged need to write on their own blog about the seven things and the rules. {Don't forget to leave them a comment that they have been tagged and to read your blog.}

1~ I'm a "Laundry Nazi" I wont put anything away until it has been ironed. I iron almost everything and sometimes I will iron all day. Everything I fold has to be perfect, even if it's the kids under ware. All my hangers have to match, and everything I hang has to be a certain way on the hanger and all the hangers have to go the same way!

2~ I'm addicted to reality tv. You name it, and I have either seen it or am currently tivoing it {is that even a word?} I don't know how I ever went so long without tivo? Now that we have it I'm in love, I think I just might die if someone was to take it away!

3~ I have OCD! Everything needs to be done a certain way. I wipe my kitchen table down 2 times after every meal, first to get all the crumbs and stuff off, then I disinfect and wipe again. I always start and end at the same place. Every time someone eats at the table I have to wipe the floor down by hand {this always has to done after the kitchen table is cleaned off} Chairs always have to be put in just the right spot, they also have to be wiped down after each meal. I always wipe the garbage cans out before I change the liners. I like everything to be organized, even the cereal boxes, big to little!

4~ I cant stand when people have a dirty microwave! It's so gross to open up the microwave and it's covered in old food, Disgusting!!! I clean mine after every use.

5~ I love the Disney channel, Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Camp Rock, and High School Musical. I also love watching any and all of the holiday cartoons. I love it when all the shows you watch have a special Halloween or Christmas episode, even cartoons!

6~ I care what people think. I hate when my kids leave the house looking like orphans! I think it totally reflects on me. I hate it when they want to pick out their own clothes, or do their hair themselves. Sometimes I have to just bite my tongue and let them go, but trust me I don't like it, and try not to let it happen too often. Even with Madi, and she's 12! I have although, become a lot more relaxed as my kids have gotten older, I think it just gets to be too exhausting trying to care so much all the time.

7~ I'm not really a people person, I'm trying a lot harder but that's just not me. I love family parties and gatherings, but their family and I'm comfortable around them. I'm not one to just start up a conversation with someone I don't know very well. If we have a ward function, I'm much more comfortable going to them with someone I know. I hate going alone, and usually won't. Some people might think I'm a snob, but I'm really just waiting for you to talk to me.

This ones really random and just for fun!
8~ When we go to the movies we always buy the large refillable popcorn. We usually never refill it, so I take the bag home with me and take it with us next time we go to the movies, and then refill it for 50 cents, it seems cheap, but who pays $5.75 for popcorn and doesn't feel jipped? By the way, we also bring in our own treats and drinks, but who doesn't? I guess I'm just cheap when it comes to that kind of stuff!

Now I tag Tammy, Sarah, Sarah P., Karalee, Ally, Elisabeth, Madi, and Shauna! Also anyone else who wants to play along!

With Drawls!

2008-10-25T13:39:00.002-06:00

Last weekend my computer got a bad virus. When I went to turn it on the next morning everything was gone. That is why I haven't blogged for so long. I have lots to post and talk about but my computer is still being fixed and updated. While I'm at my moms I will try and post some stuff. As soon as I get my computer back I will be back to blogging, until then I'm having serious with drawls!

My Little Superhero...... & Her Villain Brother

2008-10-20T10:00:00.002-06:00

So what do you think my frilly twirly, oh so girly, pink princess wants to be for Halloween this year? A princess? A fairy? Maybe a butterfly? Nope..... she wants to be Batgirl, yep you heard me right! So I guess we are taking a break this year from all the fluffy fancy pink stuff, and transforming our little princess into a spunky, sassy, twirly, Batgirl. Now I know you all might be wondering just what a spunky, sassy, twirly, batgirl might look like? Well even I'm not exactly sure, but I have bought a costume from Lillian Vernon and I will be changing it up a little to fit Abby's personality. You know I could never just settle for a plain old store bought costume, so that's were my creativity will have to come in! I will post some pictures as soon as the costume is ready.Now what fun would a superhero costume be without a Villain? Kaiden has decided that he wants to be the Dark Knight {Joker} from the new Batman movie. We have been working on his costume {mostly my mom} and it is looking so good. This is the first year that I have to paint one of my kids faces and I'm a little nervous. I want it to look perfect, but I'm pretty sure it will just be a lot of stress. Madi has chosen her costume, but I'm not sure if she wants me to reveal it or not. If she does I will post that later. Me and Darrin have an awesome costume planned for this year!!! Some of you know what were going to be, but many do not. I want to keep it as much as a surprise as I can, so if you know, shhhhhh! Our house is bubbling with Halloween spirit! We can hardly wait for all the parties and Halloween excitement! Happy Almost Halloween!!!

A Day at Grams!

2008-10-17T00:06:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was my kids first day of fall break. We decided to spend the day at my parents house, so that we could work on the costumes. The kids were bored so we went to the store to buy stuff to make caramel apples and dinner. My brother , his wife, and their kids were also over. When we got back I started making dinner. We made potato soup and scones with honey butter! My mom decided to try out a new cheesecake recipe, It was so good, but then again I have yet to find a cheesecake recipe that I didn't like! I will post the recipe soon. The kids got busy making caramel apples. We decided just to buy caramels and melt them down that was a mistake. Once we heated the caramel as much as we did it started going hard. {note to self; next time make the homemade caramel} We wanted to try and make the apple pie apples that you get from Rocky Mountain Candy Company, so we dipped them in white chocolate and rolled them in cinnamon and sugar. I was hoping to take a really good picture of these amazing caramel apples that we made, but they didn't quite turn out that way! They still taste ok, but you have to heat them a little before you eat them! The kids had fun and I guess that's all that matters. Next time we will just pay the darn $4 and buy them! Good times!

This is the yummy orange vanilla cheesecake my mom made!

Madi, Kaiden, and Abby showing off their caramel apples they made!

Abby and Breann enjoying the finished product!

Kneaders Creamy Pumpkin Spread

2008-10-15T13:43:00.004-06:00

Ingredients
1-15 oz. can pumpkin

8 oz. thawed Cool Whip, regular or fat free

1-3.4 oz. box instant vanilla pudding

1t. pumpkin pie spice

Directions
Combine pumpkin, Cool Whip, pudding and pumpkin pie spice in a large bowl; chill. Serve! We like to serve ours with Kneaders pumpkin bread. It can be served with bagels, graham crackers, or fruit

These Boots Are Made For Walking~

2008-10-15T09:50:00.001-06:00

I have been searching for a new pair of brown boots to add to my fall and winter wardrobe. I'm loving these boots from Tracy Porter. I'm not one to sport the cowgirl look, but I think I could totally pull these off?! What girl doesn't secretly long for a pair of cowboy boots right? Oh, if I only had $520.00 me and these boots would be a walking!

Waiting for the Weekend.....

2008-10-14T08:45:00.000-06:00

Things I'm looking forward to this weekend~

~A weekend with good weather...Finally!

~Spending some fun time with the kiddo's while they are out of school for fall break!

~The pumpkin patch!

~Date night with my hubby on Saturday!

~Sleeping in!

Wishful Thinking

2008-10-13T13:23:00.012-06:00

Just in case this chilly weather comes again soon.....
I should be prepared. This jacket is perfect for the transition from fall to winter. I could wear it all year long! After all a girl can never have to many jackets, right? {just ask my husband}

The Snowy Weekend Wrap Up

2008-10-13T08:29:00.005-06:00

Saturday morning we were up again bright and early. Madi had a volleyball game they won, and now the playoffs start tonight! After volleyball we went to my parents house to work on costumes. They are taking more time than my mom expected because we have to change the patterns so much to fit and look right. They are coming along though, Kaiden's pants are done, and she is getting close on the jacket. Mine on the other hand is a totally different story, we are hoping to work on them more this week. The weather was cold on Saturday, but Darrin and Kaiden still wanted to go to the BYU game. I bundled them up, and off they went. It didn't snow or rain on them, but it was cold. BYU won! {are you surprised?} When they left for the game the girls and I headed home, I had to teach the lesson on Sunday so I needed to finish preparing and studying. When I was done we went and got some dinner and then back home for baths and showers. Sunday morning we woke up to this......
It was cold! The kids wanted to go out and play in the snow, I told them no way, but gave in for a second and let Abby put on her boots and go outside! It only lasted about 2 minutes and she was back inside. While I was getting ready for church Kaiden had wiggled out another tooth! He was very excited, and there were no tears! We finished getting ready for church and we were out the door.{on time} During sacrament I was released from my calling as young women's 2nd counselor, and then recalled {thank goodness} Our president Angela asked to be released. It was so hard letting her go, we have become such good friends while serving together! To make matters worse they are moving, our family will miss them more than they will ever know. It was nice to finally get my lesson over with, It always stresses me out when it's my turn to teach. Angela came in after my lesson and bore her testimony, it was hard, we all cried. When church was over we rushed home and changed clothes and headed to my parents house for dinner and a movie. Dinner was so yummy {thanks mom}. We watched Iron Man, and it was actually pretty good. When it was over we got our stuff together and headed home. It was straight to bed for the kids and we watched a little tv before falling asleep on the couch. This week we are excited for the kids, they have fall break and were hoping to do some fun things. Will keep ya posted!

My Favorite Salad

2008-10-09T09:44:00.000-06:00

This is one of my all time favorite salads so I decided to share the recipe. The secret to this salad is the dressing. It's a homemade version of Cafe' Rio's it's not exact but its yummy!

Dressing

1~2 cloves of garlic

1 jalapeno {I take the seeds out but you can add them if you like it spicy}

2 green onions

1/2 bunch of cilantro

3 tomatillos

Blend above ingredients in a blender or food processor. Then add

2 cups mayonnaise

2 cups sour cream

1 package of Hidden Valley Buttermilk Ranch & the juice from 1 lime

continue to blend until smooth. This can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 weeks.

Salad

2 bunches of romaine or green leaf lettuce chopped

1 can of corn

1 can of black beans rinsed and drained

grated cheese

tortilla chips crushed and sprinkled on salad

Rotisserie chicken {we buy ours from Costco and just pull pieces off or shred to put on salad}

the following ingredients are optional

salsa

tomatoes

guacamole

olives

Just put everything you like on a plate and then top generously with the salad dressing! Another option is to buy the tortillas from costco that you cook at home and then make your salad on top of that. I'm still working on different versions of the dressing, if you have one you use that you love or think it tastes more like Cafe' Rio's I would love to hear it. Try this one soon and let me know what you think!

I'm not very good at the plate presentation, so once I put the dressing on it looked like this......You get the idea!

Happy 80th Grandma Olsen!

2008-10-08T08:26:00.004-06:00

This is my sweet grandma Olsen. Monday was her 80th Birthday! She had an open house up at her house with her family and friends. It was so good to see all the people that came to show their love for her. She is the best Grandma ever! One of my favorite memories of her is when we were younger my grandpa would go out of town. When he did she would invite me and my cousins over for a sleepover. We would always have a little tea party. She had a real mini tea set that she would make hot chocolate in, and then she would make us some toast to dip in the hot chocolate. I loved it! She would almost always let us take a bath in her big tub, and she would always let all of us sleep in her bed and she would go sleep on the couch! I will always remember those fun sleepovers! She is also famous for making my whole family's adorable Christmas socks. She would work on them all year long and then at our Christmas Eve party's she would fill them with lots of little presents and give them to us. They are amazing, she would work so hard on them. She made one for every one of her grand kids and many for her great grand kids. My kids just happen to be her favorite so she made one for each of them! j/k by the way! Anyways we still have all of them and they are in great shape. My Christmas sock will be celebrating it's 32nd year!!! {mine was the first one made} I love my Grandma so much! She is such a sweet lady, and only gets better with age. We are so glad that she is feeling better, and we enjoy every moment we have to spend with her. We love you Grandma Olsen!! Happy Birthday!!!

The Weekend Wrap Up

2008-10-06T10:48:00.005-06:00

Friday night was just one of those lazy relaxing sort of nights. Darrin came home from work and I had made our favorite mexican salads {recipe to come soon} We ate dinner and just hung out. We noticed are neighbors working in their garage so we went and chatted with them for a while, then it was back home to watch some movies we had rented. Saturday morning we slept in a little, then we setteled down to watch General Conference. When the first session ended we made the kids some lunch and then it was out the door to Madi's volleyball game. They played a really good team and ended up losing, but Madi played her best game so far this season! After the game we were headed to my moms house. I made a quick stop by DI to look for some items we needed for our Halloween costumes. I found the perfect jacket for Darrin, so it was a success! When we got to my moms house we were planning to watch the second session of conference and work on making Kaiden and my Halloween costumes. The kids were just way to wound up so we didn't hear much. Thank goodness for TIVO! Later that night we headed back home to try and watch the rest of our movies. Sunday morning started out the same as Saturday. We made french toast for the kids and egg mcmuffins for us. We finished just as conference was starting. I really enjoyed the speakers in conference this year. It seems as though they always know what I need to hear. Do you ever just feel like some of the talks were written just for you?! I definitely do. After the last session we ate some dinner and then headed over to our friends house {the Peterson's} to play some games and have peach cobbler. Thanks guys it was so good! Today is my Grandma Olsen's 80th Birthday! When the kids get home from school and after piano we are off to celebrate! So another weekend has come and gone, what did you do this weekend?

Mommy Tag~

2008-10-03T09:14:00.005-06:00

This is a fun little tag my friend sent me. I decided to ask Abby the questions because she is the only one home with me during the day!

1. What is something mom always says to you?
To move out of the way, so the other kids can see the tv.

2. What makes mom happy?
When I go to the store with you.

3. What makes mom sad?
When I have to go to school and your home alone. {little does she know!}

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Your funny dancing.

5. What was your mom like as a child?
You liked Halloween a lot.

6. How old is your mom?
16, {that's just how old I act!}

7. How tall is your mom?
8 feet tall!

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Going shopping with me!

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Dance and go shopping!

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Meeting Hannah Montana, Even though I never have?

11. What is your mom really good at?
Making me yummy food!

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Building a house.

13. What does your mom do for her job?
Make activities?

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Sweet and sour meatballs {actually that's her favorite food}

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Cause you cook!

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Dora, because you have the same color of hair?

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Go Shopping. {anyone else noticing we might shop a little to much?}

18. How are you and your mom the same?
We have the same underneath shirt and the same white pants!

19. How are you and your mom different?
I have long hair and you have short.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
cause you help me get my stuff down if it's really high!

Now I tag Amanda, Sarah P., Tammy, Shauna, Amy, and any one else that is a mom and has kids that can answer these fun questions!!!

Kaiden's Last Soccer Game

2008-10-02T08:54:00.005-06:00

Kaiden had his final soccer game of the season on Wednesday. He has been playing since kindergarten. This was the first year that he had a excellent coach. They had practices 2 nights a week and 1 soccer game a week. This really helped Kaiden become a better player. This year they really worked with him on being their head goalie. This seemed to be where Kaiden would really shine. He was so good at it. The ball hardly ever got by him. At first I didn't really want him to be goalie, because based on the last couple years all they would do is stand around. This year was different, they played on a bigger court and there was always a lot of action for the goalies. We are so proud of him! He put so much effort in to soccer this year and it really showed!! They won their final soccer game 4~1. Way to go Kaiderbug!!!

Look At That Kick!

Gotta Look Intimidating!

Great Stop!

Abby's Last Soccer Game

2008-10-02T08:43:00.006-06:00

Abby had her final soccer game of the season on Tuesday. This is her first year playing soccer. She actually really liked it. At first I don't think she was to sure what was going on, but after a few games she was really in to it. She would get right in there and really go after the ball. It was a lot of fun to watch! Abby would usually play really good unless you would cheer for her or tell her what to do from the sidelines, then she would get all embarrassed and sometimes completely forget she was even playing soccer. Abby only made one goal for the season, but we are really proud of her! She had a great coach! They won their final soccer game 5~1. Way to go Abby!!!

Kick Like Ya Mean It!

Look At That Hustle!

Friends

Abby~Jakyell~Hadley

Madi's Braces

2008-09-30T21:51:00.000-06:00

Monday afternoon Madi had her orthodontist appointment. They finally put her braces on. She decide that she wanted the clear braces. I think that was a great choice. They are alot less noticeable. They do still have the metal wire, and she decided that she wanted orange and black rubber bands for Halloween so of course that does make them stick out a little more, but it's fun to match your rubber band colors to the holidays! I know if I could decorate my mouth for the holidays I would be all over that! Madi said that they feel fine and they don't seem to be bothering her yet. She is excited to show them off at school, but I'm sure the newness will wear off soon and she will be counting down the days until they come off. I posted a picture of her before she got the braces on and one after. I will try and post a picture after each appointment so she can look back and see the progress she is making. Were still hoping to avoid the jaw surgery, but the orthodontist said to plan on it for now.

Before

After

Free Admission To Disneyland!

2008-09-29T12:06:00.002-06:00

You can go to Disneyland on your Birthday for FREE! All you have to do is go to the website and register and 2 weeks before your Birthday in the year 2009 they will email you your confirmation. You take it to Disneyland with proof of your Birthday and you will get in FREE! If you already have a annual pass or will have one in the year 2009, you can receive a gift card for the same amount as the admission price to spend in the park Approximately $59.-$69. WhoHoo!!! They also have other prizes including dream fast passes for you and your family! For more details click HERE I've already registered so I guess I know where my kids will be celebrating their Birthday!!! So hurry go quickly before they change their mind!

The Weekend Wrap Up

2008-09-26T10:36:00.004-06:00

Friday Darrin actually got off work early. He had some stuff he wanted to do around the house and I still had some Halloween decorations that I needed to put up. I know it sounds a little boring but at least it got done. Saturday was going to be kind of busy so we decided to whip up a batch of fresh salsa on Friday night, because we needed it for a barbecue we were going to on Saturday night. The salsa turned out delish, we also made some homemade tortilla chips, Yummy! We ended the night by snacking on our salsa and chips and catching up on some reality tv. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about our dramatic tooth experience. Abby's front tooth was really loose. Friday was apple day at school. I thought for sure it would have fallen out at school, but it didn't. Well after lots of convincing and crying we finally convinced her to let Darrin pull it out. It came right out. Abby cried and said that her bottom teeth didn't hurt when they came out but the top one did. She got over it quickly after so woke up the next morning and found $3 under her pillow. She said she got $3 because it was the 3rd tooth she lost! I hope the tooth fairy remembers that!

Saturday morning we were up bright and early. The kids had their Primary program practice at 9:00, and Madi had a volleyball game at 9:45. It was a close game but they lost. They have a great team, they have only lost 2 games so far this season. Madi seems to really like this sport, and I have to admit it is alot of fun to watch. After the game we rushed home so Madi and a couple of the Young Women could get together and plan the Young Women Halloween party. Darrin and I needed to go to Costco to pick up a couple of things. Costco on a Saturday, not my favorite thing but sometimes you just have to do it. When we got home it was more kitchen time for me. I made a pumpkin roll and a pumpkin pie for Sunday dinner. It was finally time to go to the barbecue. Our friends the Peterson's, the Fowlers, the Allreds, and the Hipols, all went to a park to roast hotdogs and smores. It was so much fun. We played volleyball, talked, ate, and the kids all had alot of fun on the playground. {I forgot my camera, that's why there are no fun pictures to go along with this post}

Sunday the kids had the Primary program. My parents and my brothers 2 kids came to church with us to watch. The kids did so good. They both had their parts memorized, but when Kaiden got up there he said he was so nervous he forgot, so he just read it. My parents stayed for the rest of our church and then came over for dinner. We barbecued chicken and of course had some yummy pumpkin desserts! We played a little volleyball before we started to get bit by mosquito's so we decided to call it a night! Finally kiddos in bed and we got to watch the season premiere of Desperate Housewives and the Amazing Race. It was a fun busy weekend, and were looking forward to the next!

If I Were Getting Married On Halloween......

2008-09-20T04:24:00.002-06:00

If I were getting married on Halloween, I think this cake would be perfect!

And how could you not just love this beautiful bouquet of wedding flowers to match?

And I'm just loving these gorgeous wedding dresses! How fun would it be to switch up your wedding a little and wear a purple dress?

I think this one has got to be my favorite, but to stick with the whole Halloween theme I think the purple dress would do the job nicely!

Missing You.....

2008-09-19T10:24:00.007-06:00

I know, I know, it seems a little ridiculous, after all we were just there 3 months ago. But I'm totally missing Disneyland! With the holidays fast approaching all I can think about is all the Disney excitement that I'm missing out on. The snow on Main street, the Christmas parade and fireworks, the Haunted Mansion all decked out like the Nightmare Before Christmas, the giant Christmas tree, the decorations, and of course the new Toy Story ride.
I'm also missing the carefree, worry free, I get to be a kid again feeling I get as I walk down Main Street and get my first glimpse of Sleeping Beauty's Castle! I miss the sparkle in my kids eyes as they enjoy every minute that we spend together just having fun! I miss it, I miss it, I miss it! So we have decided to do something about it. We have decided to buy annual passes for Disneyland once again! Because the hotels are booked and way over priced for the rest of the year we are going to wait until June which is a looong time away, but just thinking about it makes me so excited. So for now I will just have to sit and wait patiently for my turn to go. So please feel free to tell me all your favorite Disney memories, or all about the trip you just took to Disneyland!
Dreams Really Do Come True!!!!

My New Addiction

2008-09-10T10:37:00.004-06:00

In my efforts to try and quit drinking the most addictive and scrumptious drink on the planet Pepsi, I have discovered this~All you do is add it to a bottle of water, shake, and enjoy! It's quick, convenient, and tastes soo good. Best of all it's sugar free and is only 10 calories! I'm not a huge fan of water. I will drink it if I have to, but I would much rather have an ice cold Pepsi! So if your going to drink water and are looking for a low calorie way to change it up a bit, I suggest you give these little things a try!

Weekend Wrap Up

2008-09-03T08:22:00.007-06:00

Friday~
This was my moms 50th birthday party so I felt it could use a post of it's own. I did want to put up the picture of my mom and dad's bedroom that we decorated! If you want to read all about the fun that night, read the post below.
Saturday~

Darrin bought season tickets for the BYU games! Saturday was the first game of the season. Darrin took Kaiden to this game with him. It was the first game of the season and they played against Northern Iowa. BYU won 47~17 While Darrin and Kaiden were at the game the girls and I decided to hit the mall. We bought the girls their new favorite toy Webkinz! And shopped around for a while until my parents called and said they were ready for dinner. Saturday was my dad's birthday, so me the girls and my parents went to dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. After the game was over Darrin and Kaiden meet us back at my moms house for cake and ice cream. Then we stayed and watched the movie 21 in my parents theater room. Just wanted to let my dad know how much we love and appreciate him, he has done so many wonderful things for us and I just want to let him know it doesn't go unnoticed! I hope you had a great Birthday dad we love you!!Kaiden at the BYU Game!!

Sunday~

On Sunday we got together with Darrin's side of the family. We went up to Hobble Creek Canyon. We had dinner, and then played some awesome games of volleyball! The kids played croquet and played in the little creek. There were also some swings that they had fun on. The weather stayed pretty decent for the most part, we were pretty lucky. After we were done playing we decided to roast smores. They were so yummy! When we were finishing up it started to rain, we quickly packed everything up and headed home for showers and some reality tv!

Darrin and Andrew making a fire for smores!

Abby and Brooke!

Cute little Derek!

Monday~

Monday morning Darrin had to work for a few hours. When he got home we wanted to go do something. The weather was cold and rainy so we decide to go and see Indiana Jones. I think everyone had that very same idea, we were lucky we got there when we did, because everything was just about sold out. The movie was ok definitely not one of my favorites. After the movie we headed over to the mall to have some Chick~Fil~A for dinner! After dinner we headed home to get the kids ready for bed, it was back to school the next day and they had had a long week so we were hoping to get them to bed early! Once the kids were finally in bed we headed downstairs to watch the season premiere of Prison Break. It started off a little slow, but quickly I was on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next, and of course leaving me hanging for next week! We had a busy but fun weekend, and we can't wait for another day off of school and work, so we can play some more!

Happy 50th Mom!!!

2008-09-02T09:41:00.005-06:00

My moms birthday was on Friday the 29th. My dad wanted to do something really special for her but put me in charge so this is what he got...... Friday night he took her to dinner, PF Changs mmmm my favorite! While they were gone we went to her house and decorated and got everything set up for her surprise. My mom's sister Karen has a helium tank, she went and bought 100 black balloons and 100 purple balloons. Me, Darrin, Karen, and my Brother Mark and his wife Rachel helped blow up and tie balloons. We decorated outside and also in her bedroom. There were so many balloons it looked so good! My moms other sister Sandee woke up early Friday morning and went to her house to decorate , or should we say embarrass her? Anyways she made tons of signs with cute sayings on them and hung them all over her front yard and even on some of the street signs! We all got a good laugh out of this, but my mom not so much! I had ordered my mom a huge cake from Costco and another one from Lehi Bakery {her very favorite, she could eat the whole cake by herself, and I'm soo not kidding!} I also made some cute 50th cookies and of course we had the soft serve ice cream machine going. Earlier that week I had sent out invitations everyone arrived early so we could surprise her when she got home. My mom and dad arrived right on time and we were all there to yell surprise!! She was actually really surprised, we had pulled it off. I'm sure she had so much fun, her face said it all! I love my mom so much! She is my best friend and always there for me and our family. Her willingness to help others is amazing! We are so lucky to have her in our lives!! Happy Birthday Mom! We love you!!!

This is Darrin and Mark helping with balloons!

This is my mom and dad pulling up, SURPRISE!!!

My mom blowing out her candles!

There Are No Words

2008-08-28T18:25:00.003-06:00

There are no words to describe just how much I love this little girl!

She's pretty darn cute! She can't help it she just takes after her parents!!

Just Because.....

2008-08-26T11:16:00.005-06:00

Because she looked so cute on her second day of school, I had to post her picture!

Abby "Mom are you just going to drop me off this time?"

Me "Yep"

Abby "Good!"

Abby's First Day~

2008-08-25T21:14:00.004-06:00

Abby is finally in Kindergarten! I say finally only because she has been so absolutely excited about this day since she graduated from preschool, and with both her brother and sister already in school she could hardly stand the anticipation of her first day. I will say however that I'm a little bit sad about this, {after all she is my baby you know} but it just reminds me of the realization of all my kids growing up way to quick. Next year she will be in first grade and I will have the house all to my lonely little self. Its nice to have a break from your kids every now and then, but I will miss not having them around as much. How could you not miss that sweet innocent face?!......

Abby's new teacher is Mrs. Paxman and we couldn't be any more excited! Kaiden had her for a teacher when he was in kindergarten, and she is the nicest, most fun teacher ever! Abby is really lucky to be in her class. Abby said her first day was the "best ever" they got to make necklaces and play on the playground, she learned a new song about bubblegum, they read some stories, and she meet some new friends! She was looking forward to walking home with her friend Shayla, but unfortunately I had to pick her up. I guess she really likes school! I have no idea where these kids came from? We all know how me and school go together.......well lets just say, We Don't!

Time Flies By.....

2008-08-24T22:07:00.000-06:00

I can't believe how time just flies
They once were small, now it's goodbyes
Off to school so big and proud
We hope they will not be to loud :)
Our sweet baby boys and girls have grown
They want to do it on their own
Learning new things every day
Reading and writing, their on their way
I know it's hard to let them go
But in our hearts we'll always know
Every moment from wrapped up small
To every moment when they grow tall
by Andrea Carter

Tikki Room

2008-08-22T09:09:00.003-06:00

Abby had her summer dance recital on Tuesday night. The summer dance class that Abby took was just for fun and to keep her busy during the summer. It wasn't anything to professional, just a lot of fun! They did 2 different dances the first one was the Tikki Room, they got to wear grass skirts and leis! The second dance they did was to the cat song from Lady and the Tramp. They were dressed like cats complete with tail, ears, and makeup. It was so cute to watch!Abby's dance teachers were two cute little girls from our stake Chloe and Molly. They did everything themselves from choreographing the dances to putting together the recital. They did such a good job! Abby had so much fun and did so great! She is looking forward to starting her fall classes next month. We are thinking about Center Stage, that's where I took from when I was younger and I think they are great. I'm not looking forward to the drive but that's are decision for now. Any suggestions? Let me know. Good Job Abby!

Kaiden's First Day~

2008-08-21T21:32:00.005-06:00

Kaiden headed back to school on Monday! He was really excited to be going back. You might not believe it but Kaiden actually enjoys school! All of Kaidens previous teachers have had nothing but good things to say about him. He is a good learner, and a excellent reader! {You kind of have to be if your any good at playing video games, he got sick of asking me to read what they said!} Of course Kaidens favorite part of going back to school was seeing all of his friends, and can I just tell you if they graded you on making friends Kaiden would definitely get an A+ he is quite the social butterfly! Kaiden is a "Later Gator" this year so he doesn't have to be to school until 9:15, were not sure if we like this schedule or not? He gets home so late and after he does his homework, his chores, practices piano, and soccer 2-3 nights out of the week, he hardly has any time to play with friends. I'm hoping we will both get used to it, we will just have to see. The picture below is of Kaiden and his friend Tanner walking to school together. Kaiden was sporting his cute Star Wars "Junkfood Tee" from the Gap. I just love them and will definitely be buying more! Speaking of the Gap, go and check out their new "Bohemian Collection" for girls it is so adorable, I will be making a trip there soon to add to Abby's already overflowing closet! Kaiden we hope you continue to have fun in school and keep making friends, because you can never have to many. We love you buddy!

Madi's First Day~

2008-08-18T19:32:00.003-06:00

Madi's first day of school was on Friday. She is in 7th grade, so they have all the 7th graders go a day early by themselves to get used to the school and they way things run. Madi said she liked it but was overwhelmed with the amount of people at the school! When she went to lunch {they only get a half hour} she said it took almost the full half hour just to get through the lunch line. She said she will probably just take home lunch so she will actually get to eat. After school Madi went to get on the bus, she said her bus was parked all the way down by the stoplights, there are 40 buses at her school, and it took forever for her to get home! Madi said her favorite teacher so far is her English teacher, she thinks she is really funny!

This is a picture of Madi on the first day of school! I never thought the day would have come so quickly that I would have a daughter in Junior High! I know everyone always says this but it seems like just yesterday when I was in Junior High. I really liked Junior High it was such a fun time to meet and make new friends, and the schoolwork was not to overwhelming yet. These are the years when such great memories are made, I hope Madi will really take advantage of these years in her life! They will truly help her to discover who she is and what she wants to accomplish in her life. Remember to always choose your friends wisely, never compromise your standards be a true friend and the friends you make will always be there for you.We are so proud of you and love you Madi Mo!

Nurse Abby~

2008-08-12T10:47:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago my Grandma Olsen fell and broke her shoulder, she has been recovering but it has been a slow healing process. She has been very weak and fragile. Saturday she fell again and fractured her back, she is in a lot of pain and is having trouble doing things on her own. My mom is having her stay at her house until she has recovered enough to take care of herself. Madi and Abby stayed at my moms house all day Monday while I took Kaiden school shopping. Grandma Olsen slept most of the morning and Abby kept asking when she was going to wake up, and she kept checking on her to see if she was awake. When grandma finally woke up Abby was right there by her side. She showed her how to use the bell that she could ring if she needed anything, she sang all the Hannah Montana and Jonas Brother songs to her. She showed her the dance she is going to be doing for her dance recital. She made her pictures and decorated her room with balloons. At dinner time she wanted to get her dinner for her and she would make sure she always had something to drink. She even said she wanted to dress her up after she was done taking a shower. She stayed with her all day until my grandma finally fell back to sleep later that night. What a little sweetheart! We are so lucky to have Abby in our lives, and I think my mom is just as thankful. She told me that if she ever gets to the point that she can't take care of herself I would have to be the one to do it. I told her "no way" joking of course, but I don't think she will have any trouble getting Abby to volunteer for the job! Our family is all very worried for Grandma Olsen, we know she is in good hands with my mom but we are all praying she will make a quick recovery. We love you Grandma Olsen! Get better soon!!

School Shopping~

2008-08-11T22:03:00.003-06:00

I finally finished up all my school shopping!!!! Me and Kaiden spent the day at the mall shopping and having lunch. It was actually a lot of fun shopping with a boy, {a lot less whining and stress!} we managed to get all his clothes and of course his backpack in 1 day YIPEE!!! We did have a tough time finding him a backpack he really liked. Everything just seemed to be so babyish or just really plain, he finally decided on a Star Wars The Clone Wars backpack at least for now! Last week we finished shopping for the girls, and like I said it was fun but there was a lot more whining and drama. Abby had so much fun picking out her backpack this year, it was the first time she got to pick one out by herself and she choose a really cute Camp Rock backpack with a picture of Demi Levato and Joe Jonas on it! Oh so typical of our little 5 year old teenager! Madi's is more into the clothes and matching jewelery. I'm loving the fun fall styles and colors this year there are so many choices that accommodate every ones style I can't wait to go and shop for myself! Back to school night for all my kids is on Thursday, and then Madi's first day of school is on Friday and Kaiden's is on Monday, Abby starts about a week or so after that! Summer is really almost over, but everyone seems really excited for school to start!

Where Has The Summer Gone?

2008-08-06T11:40:00.002-06:00

I can't believe summer is almost over. It seemed to just fly by this year. We had a very busy and fun summer!
RECAP~
The day after the kids got out of school we went to Disneyland for a week. We bought annual passes last year that were going to expire so we squeezed in one more trip before they did. It is always so much fun, we go with family and always have a good time. The new Toy Story ride was not open yet, so we will be planning a trip again soon! Me and Darrin also got to celebrate our 13 year wedding anniversary in Disneyland, how fun is that? Anyways he is so amazing and I'm so lucky to be married to him! 3 days after we got back from Disneyland it was time for me and Madi to head to girls camp! It was a little stressful getting ready in 3 days while still unpacking and doing laundry from the Disneyland trip, but I managed without to much stress. Girls camp was such a great experience. This was my second year going and Madi's first. We experienced so many things together. The weather didn't really corporate we had everything from snow {all day} to hot sunny sunburned faces. The Young Women in our ward are amazing, and I was grateful to have the opportunity to go to girls camp with them! As far as the holidays go, we went with Darrin's family camping over the fourth. I actually had a really good time, and the kids just loved it! For the 24th we spent that with my side of the family, we went to my brothers house for dinner and fire works. He smoked a pork butt,and made his own barbecue sauce. It was sooo good, we even got Kaiden to try it and he liked it to! We have been to many movies, swimming, Thanksgiving Point Gardens, barbecues, camping, sleepovers, piano lessons, dance, the carnival, Kaiden's first pinewood derby, Lagoon, and many other things to keep the kids busy during the summer. I'm sad that it is almost over, but we have so many fun things coming up. I can't wait to finally be back on a decent schedule, waking up early and the kids going to bed at a normal time. It will also be nice to have them doing their chores regularly, lunch at lunch time instead of at 2:00, and even having dinner on time instead of at 7:00 or 8:00, and I'm sure my family is looking forward to me finally cooking again! Madi will be starting her first year of Junior High! {can you believe it?} Kaiden will be going into 3rd grade and my little girl will be starting Kindergarten! I can't believe how quickly time flies. Kaiden has started soccer again and Abby starts this week. Madi will be starting volleyball sometime within the next few weeks she is so excited. Kaiden and Madi are still taking piano lessons, and Abby is looking forward to her dance recital next week, and can't wait to start a new dance class this fall. Our good friends the Petersons have invited us to go to Lake Powell in October. We are really looking forward to this, the kids have never been, and I haven't been since I was a kid. They have also invited us to take a trip to New York with them this spring, and can I tell you how excited Darrin is for this! It has always been a dream of his to go, I'm so glad he finally gets the chance. We also want to try and plan a trip to Disney World a year from this November, so I'm sad that we probably wont go back to Disneyland until after that, but I'm looking forward to all the fun things to come! So our summer has just flown by, we still have a week or so, and we are hoping to plan some more fun things before it's back to the grind. Our wards Youth Conference is this week and I get to go, Madi has to be 14 so she will have to wait a while before she can go. We also want to go back to Lagoon {Hooray for Bounce Back!} We will have to see if we will have the time. And of course there is so much school shopping to do! I hope you all had a great summer!

It's That Time Again!

2008-08-04T15:48:00.002-06:00

Saturday we are having are annual yard sale! It will be at Haun's Automotive in lindon if anyone is interested. I have tons of kids clothes for back to school! There will also be several other families with lots of great stuff! We have several name brands such as Aeropostale, Old Navy, Gap, Gymboree, Hawk, Quicksilver, Billabong, Roxy, Naartjie, Children's Place, and many more not listed. Get there early for the best selection, we are starting at 8:00 and will be there till its gone. Hope to see you there!

Almost There

2008-07-30T13:51:00.003-06:00

So were almost done with the remodel yeah!! We are going to pick up the crown molding Saturday. We are hoping to paint it the same day, if not we will get it done by Monday. Then we just have to install the doors and the molding and we are finished! I can't wait. Although its not completely done things are back in order and I think it looks sooo good! I will post pictures as soon as it's done. Until then your all just going to have to wait and see! Sorry~

Remodel Update!

2008-07-23T11:34:00.005-06:00

Saturday Darrin and I went to BYU and painted all of our kitchen cabinets. It took us all day, we did 3 coats of black, then we hand sanded each cabinet, and finally we sprayed on 2 coats of sealer. It was such a long process, but it's finally done! Monday night the cabinets were ready to be hung. It took Darrin a few hours to get them all level and back in the right order. We still have to order the crown molding. The stuff I found that I like is way out of my price range, it was $21 a foot for the upper piece and $55 dollars for a 8 foot section that I wanted to put on the bottom of the cabinet. So for now we are still looking. I did find the hardware for the cabinets and I'm hoping to hang them tonight or tomorrow? Things are finally coming back together! I can finally cook on my stove and things are a little less cluttered. My dad finished staining the wall, and now I have to finish all the touch up work and the cutting in of the ceiling and the base boards. The kitchen island is done, we are just waiting to hang the new pendant lights that I just purchased today! So were making progress......slowly, but definitely moving along!

This is a picture of the new lights and our new cabinet hardware!

This is a picture of the wall that my dad is staining in the family room!

Camping Haun Style!

2008-07-22T21:16:00.010-06:00

So this post is a little late. We went camping over the 4th up Spanish Fork Canyon, with all of Darrin's side of the family! Grandpa Haun brought up his chain saw and he and Darrin cut up a huge log that was by our camp.
The grand kids loved it, they each had their own "log chair"
Preston and Darrin taught the kids how to shoot air soft guns. They are actually alot of fun. We bought a cheap one from Wal-mart and it broke the next day, so now the kids each want one of their own, but defiantly better quality.

And one thing we learned when shooting air soft guns is....... "It's all about the way you hold your face!"

My Cute Boys!

Adorable Silly Little Derik And Abby!

One of my all time favorite things about camping has got to be smores! Mmmmmm, yummy!

Madi and her best buddy Brit!

We had so much fun camping this year. We rode the 4 wheelers all over, {that was my favorite part} The kids played in the dirt, we played games, we ate yummy camping food, and a couple of us got sick! Tammy, Preston and Brittany got to experience sleeping under the stars, and we all got to listen to Dusty's theory on stars, the planets, and aliens! The campfire at night was so fun. I taught the kids some girls camp songs, and we sang them all night. Baby Shark do do do do do do! After 3 days of camping I was ready to come home, We all needed a good shower and a good nights sleep. Before we left the boys decided to play a game of Flag Football. Go Darrin!
As much as I say I hate Camping, I really can't wait to go again! I'm really starting to like this camping stuff.....Go figure! I hope you all have a great 24th!

Should We Stay Or Should We Go?

2008-07-19T17:24:00.003-06:00

So it's no surprise that we have been talking about moving. I really love living in Lehi, and we have great neighbors, and a great ward, but I'm just not totally in love with the house. It kind of reminds me of living in a Mcdonalds Happy Meal box on the outside. But inside is so big and roomy and it has tons of potential! So we have decided to stay for now and remodel the kitchen, dining room, and the family room. We have taken down all the cabinets, so we can paint and add new crown molding. My wonderful dad has come over and re textured all the walls for us, we have painted them but they are still waiting for all the touch up work and for the stain on our main wall {which is always the hardest part.} We have started redoing the center isle by painting and adding wainscot. We still have to order the crown molding, and then paint and install. Darrin wants to install under cabinet lighting. We are still looking for new pendant lights to go over the bar. And we are still looking for new hardware for the cabinets. We bought new doors and new wood blinds off of KSL and those are waiting to be installed. All my decorations and just about everything that once decorated those 3 rooms, is on top of my dining room table. My garage is full of dust, stain, and paint. My microwave is on my stove, which is unplugged and pulled into the middle of the kitchen. Our house right now is utter chaos! We have eaten out for the last 4 days, and it seems as though I have completely neglected to give the kids near as much attention as they need. Thanks to grammy and papa for jumping in and saving the day. They have helped so much with the work around the house, and giving the kids the attention they need! The house project doesn't seem to have an end, I'm always jumping ahead and thinking of all the tedious little things that need to be done, {not to mention all the big stuff we still have to accomplish} I'm hoping it will be done soon, so I can get back to my organized, clean remodeled house! Until then I will keep you updated on the progress and will hopefully include some pictures. Oh by the the way, still dreaming about the new stainless steel appliances! We'll see!

Tag, I'm It~

2008-07-14T10:33:00.003-06:00

So Sarah tagged me about a week ago and finally I have a working computer, so here it goes~

10 Years Ago~ Hmmm this is a hard one. I was 21 married and we had a
beautiful little girl {Madi} that consumed our whole world! She of course was going through the terrible two's which at the time seemed so hard to deal with, little did I know it would only get worse! I was a stay at home mom and loving every minute of it. We were doing the apartment living, an saving to buy our first house.

5 Things On My To Do List Today~
1~ Laundry of course.
2~ Tape off our kitchen and living room so we can texture and paint tonight.
3~ Finish painting the kitchen cabinets.
4~ Study for the lesson I have to teach on Sunday.
5~ Cook Dinner!

5 Snacks I Enjoy~
1~ Pepsi
2~ Cereal
3~ Anything chocolate
4~ Tomato and basil wheat thins
5~ Ice cream

What Would I Do If I Was Given A Million Dollars? I would pay everything off, finally build my dream house. I would pay my parents and Darrin's parents houses off. I would love to build my own restaurant. Travel and just have fun! I think the best part of it all would be that my husband would have to work Alot less!

3 Bad Habits~
1~ Sleeping in.
2~ My obsessive compulsive behaviors.
3~ Spending money.

5 Places I Have Lived~ Now this one is really boring, I'm a Utah kind of gal!
1~ Mesa, Arizona {this was where I was born}
2~ Orem, Utah
3~ Lindon, Utah
4~ Payson, Utah
5~ And finally Lehi, Utah

5 Jobs I Have Had~ Well I haven't had a whole lot of exciting experiences working. I was married right out of high school, and my husband worked hard to make it possible for me to stay at home.
1~ The Scera movie theatre
2~ I used to demos. I was one of those girls that stands in the grocery stores and hands out food samples.
3~ I worked at Frazier Park, back in the days when there was a small store there, and it was actually a decent place to go.
4~ Skippers, this was the job I worked while in High School.

4 Things People Don't Know About Me~
1~ I'm obsessed with reality tv shows.
2~ I got engaged while I was still in High School!
3~ I'm the Young Women's second counselor, and I absolutely Love it!
4~ I like to iron everything!

5 People I'm Tagging~
Chynna, Amanda, Madi, Elisabeth, Sarah H.

Finally!

2008-07-10T19:23:00.003-06:00

So I finally have access to a computer, my computer broke right before we went camping and has been out of commission ever since! I'm at my moms and I'm borrowing her laptop to catch up on things! Darrin said he will fix my computer by this weekend, so I hope to catch everyone up on our camping trip, and everyday life. I also noticed that Sarah tagged me. I will respond to that as soon as I can..........!

A Camping We Will Go!

2008-07-01T22:50:00.003-06:00

My kind of camping
"Glamping" in Montana!

This is totally for me. Services include a camp butler to build fires, a maid to crank up a heated down comforter, and a personal cook! A girl can dream right? until then back to reality!

Because the Fourth of July is on a Friday this year, we have decided to go camping with Darrin's side of the family! We leave on Thursday, hopefully afternoon, but we will see how that goes. We are going to go up Spanish Fork canyon somewhere. My only request was bathrooms, picnic tables, fire pits, showers, a soft sandy place to set up my tent, a place to ride the four wheelers, and lots of shade. Geez is that to much to ask?! I think I will have to compromise so I'm leaning towards the shade and a place to ride four wheelers! I'm not much of a camper {as we all know} but I'm starting to enjoy it alot more now that the kids are older and require less work. I'm still freaked out about them being dirty 24~7, and especially letting them crawl into bed at night dirty, oh and I forgot to mention the lovely smell of campfire,but I'm totally working on "chillin out a little" So let me apologize in advance for the way my children will look in the camping pictures I will post when I get back {jk} Anyways for the most part we are all really excited to go hang with the Haun's for the week. Camping is alot of work, now I remember why we only go a couple times a year, I feel like we are packing the whole house {and we probably are!} Well I hope everyone has a great Fourth of July weekend,and I can't wait to read all about them when we get back!

Cupcake Pops~

2008-06-27T13:59:00.006-06:00

It's hot, It's summer, and were bored so........ Me and the kiddos are making these! I thought these cute little cupcake pops would be so fun and easy to make! Get the recipe from one of my favorite blogs Bakerella! I think these would be so fun for a summer BBQ or a birthday party. I hope ours turn out just as cute as these! I will let you know.......

The Quest?

2008-06-23T15:52:00.001-06:00

Has anyone taken the new Doritos "The Quest" Challenge? Well when I saw a new package of Doritos had come out on the market, I of course had to try them. When I first took a bite of the mystery flavor, the first thing that came to mind was lime. They defiantly had a very fruity like taste to them. As I ate another all I could think was how they had a strange resemblance to a bowl of Fruit Loops! The strange flavor was driving me crazy, So of course I went online to figure it out. If you don't want to know the new flavor do not continue to read, but trust me when I say I'm doing you all a favor when it comes to taste testing these new chips. The strange new flavor of Doritos is....................Mountain Dew! Now I'm a big fan of Mountain Dew, but these chips taste nothing like it, and even if they did I'm not to sure I want to have my Mountain Dew in the form a of a chip! So are you up to "The Quest" challenge? The choice is up to you!