These Two Brave and Fearless Firemen...

and their cute, little dalmation puppy, want to wish all of you a SPOOKTACULAR Halloween!

What?!?! He's THREE MONTHS OLD?!!?!?!

So my little pumpkin is already getting so big! I am so sad on one hand and just loving and enjoying him so much on the other. He is such a fun little baby and has such an endearing personalitly. He loves to laugh and smile and "talk" to anyone who gives him attention. He is also SO dang FAT! I love it! Ryder has been such a blessing to our family, I've said it before, but he is such a calming force in our home. Believe me, with the two wonderful and HIGHLY energetic brothers he has, a calming force is JUST what we need! We love you Ryder!

It's Scary that He's Six!

My oldest little baby turns SIX today! I can't believe how fast time has flown by. I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday. Gage came into this world with eyes wide open and ready to go! He has never stopped or slowed down since that day and it is one of the things I love most about him. Yes, he keeps me busy and on my toes, but he is such a high spriited and energetic kid and I love it. He is also very sensitive and loving and I am so proud of the sweet little boy he is. I have so many hopes and dreams for him and I know that he will do great things during his life. My goal has always been to raise children that will leave their mark in a positive way on the earth. I love you Gage, here's to you and all your dreams coming true!

Picture Tag...

My cute friend Tammy tagged me. I am so very behind in blogging land, but here is what I am supposed to do. Find the 6th photo in the 6th file in my picture records and post it, so here it is:



Oh Boy. This was taken on July 27, 2008 just as we were leaving for the hospital to be induced with Ryder. Oh my hell. I. Look. Huge. Huge. Yuck! Have I mentioned how glad I am to not be pregnant anymore? There you have it. I tag: Mandy, Kami, Becky, Lisa, Jordan and Marti. And anyone else who wants to play...

Kids say the darndest things...

I have been in a blogging slump. Actually, I've been crazy busy, but same difference I suppose. Anyways, we are leaving tomorrow for DISNEYLAND! I am really excited. We haven't taken our kids yet and now I am so glad we waited. They are both at the PERFECT age and CANNOT wait to go.

On Sunday for family night, we decided to have a lesson on SRANGER DANGER just to go over the basics since our kids tend to be runnerawayers (BOE!!!) so we were quizzing them, asking them questions, if someone offered you candy to help them find their dog, would you...what if someone tried to grab you....are strangers always scary looking...stuff like that. To every question Gage and Boe both answered No and said all the things they'd do to the bad people if they tried to take them. I then asked Gage, "so if someone pulled over to the side of the road and said, hey little boy, I'll pay you money if you get in my car and help me find my dog, would you do it?" He said, "To that I'd have to say, Probably, most definitely YES!" Well, what do ya do?!?! See you all when we get back!

Ryder Roo's First Trip to the Zoo...

We decided to take advantage of this BEAUTIFUL weather and venture out to the zoo. It was a lot of fun and the animals were really active. We went on a Monday and had absolutely no agenda. I thought I'd let them play until they were worn out.

We spent a good majority of the time by the splashing elephantand watched the penguins swim for a good half hour.


We watched the bear LAZILY lay on the edge of the rocksand had fun trying to find the cougars that had camoflauged themselves in their enclosure.
Gage was finally able to find both of them. One was in the cave and the other was hiding up on top.

We got up close and personal with the leopard,and we were entertained by the giraffes at lunchtime.
We took the train ride and played in the water fountain. I have to say that taking three kids to the zoo by myself was a bit of a challange, but we came away relatively unscathed. Gage and Boe are just so dang busy and active. They want to DO everything and SEE everything and they think they are big enough to do it all by themselves. We ended the day with some delicious ice-cream.

It was fun and I love spending time with them. And what did Ryder do all day while we were having so much fun? He slept the ENTIRE time! What a great baby!

Cornbelly's

We went to Thanksgiving Point and the Cornbelly's corn maze this weekend. We took our cute cousins Kasidee and Hunter with us and had a great time.
The kids had a blast and enjoyed all the fun activities that were there. We went on a hayride, a cow-train ride and played on the big slides.
We ate yummy fair/carnival food for dinner,
went inside the haunted blow-up dragon and even got lost in the kiddie corn maze.

We let the kiddos play until they were tuckered out. Every last one of them was asleep before we got out of the parking lot! I love fall and fall-time activities-bring on Autumn!

The Real Me II

So as most of you know, I am a pretty "real" person. What you see is what you get, for the most part. I love blogging, I really do. However, I sometimes feel that we only show our pretty sides. I have found myself doing that lately. Posting about the fun activities we do, only showing the fun, smiling photos and leaving out some of the "realness" that is me and my life. I thought I'd share 10 things about "the real me" with ugly photos to accompany the list. Here it goes:


1. Boe reminds me regularly that my tummy looks like I am growing another baby in it. Yes folks, I have MASTERED the muffin top. (Picture will be coming)



2. I get annoyed at my kids really easily. I like things to go the way I want them to and I am super impatient when they don't. See this picture? Yeah, I am mad because Boe isn't cooperating with me and he isn't sitting still to produce a wonderful, smiley, aren't we the cutest mother and son combo, photo. Sadly, this is how I look the majority of my life with my kids.

3. I have an over-eating problem. I have a confession I'd like to make. Last Sunday I made a 9x13 pan of pumpkin cake. After family home evening treats, there was approximately 3/4 of the pan left. Neal left out of town for the week on Tuesday and when he left there was over a half of a pan left. When he came home on Saturday, the pan was empty, washed and put away. My kids don't like pumpkin cake. 'Nuff said. (Note that this is not a pic of me eating the pumpkin cake, it is however a picture of me eating like my 15th cookie...in one sitting)

4. My feet are disgusting. I don't have time to do pedicures on myself anymore and I can't seem to find time to go have someone else do them for me. Truth be told, I don't really care that much. Apparently I need to. My sisters, dad and husband have all commented on the state of my feet in the last few weeks. I don't really thing they are THAT bad are they?!?!

5. It is 11:00 AM and I am still in my pajamas. The house is not picked up and my to-do list is off the charts, but I am sitting here blogging away. Unless I have to teach, this is how most of my mornings are. I have a VERY tough time getting going in the mornings. Always have.

6. I only post pictures that are flattering of me. If Neal looks weird or one of the kids doesn't look very cute but I am looking great, I am going to post that picture. If everyone else looks awesome but I look less then stellar, I won't post it. Very vain I know. So, I am going to post a very unflattering picture of me while the rest of my little family looks cute-click on it to see just how cute I am!


7. I LOVE reality T.V. Especially the trashy series on MTV and VH1. I am talking Rock of Love (love Bret Micheals :), Next, Date My Mom and Parental Control to name a few. I also like all the regulars, The Biggest Loser, Survivor, How to Catch a Predator etc.

8. My car is ALWAYS a mess. ALWAYS. Here it is in it's current state in all it's glory. (Incidentally, I totally forgot about this post and the fact I needed a picture of my nasty car and I caved this morning and cleaned it out. Don't worry, I'll post a pic in 3 days when it's trashed again)

9. I care what other people think about me. I try not to and I don't let it control my life, but at the end of the day, I care if someone sees my house messy or if I run into someone when I am in my pj's or if my kids are out of control in public. There, I said it. Wow, I feel better :P.

10. I drink at LEAST 44 ounces of Diet Pepsi every day. Really. While I was pregnant, I tried to cut back and did a fairly good job but as soon as I could, I started drinking it again. I am ADDICTED and I honestly can't start my day without an ice-cold 44 ouncer from the local Maverick. Actually, I had to switch to Holiday because Maverick got rid of their cherry syrup that you can add to your drink. Here is my routine, I get my cup, fill it 1/4 full of ice, add 6 squirts of cherry syrup, fill the cup half full, add 3 more squirts, fill it up to the top and add 3 more squirts. DELICIOUS!

Okay, there we go. Ten things about me that are really REAL. Feel free to play along. Show all of us the REAL you!

Celebrating the day that SHE came to be...

Today is my mom's birthday. She would be 53. The hardest days for me are her birthday, my birthday and the day she passed away. Three years ago I never would have believed that time heals and that things do get better and life DOES go on. It seemed then that the extreme pain I was feeling would never subside. It does and life does go on and today I am even able to say that I am happy again. I know that my mom wants me to be happy. She was one of the happiest people I have ever known. Today I am going to go to Cafe Rio, eat a lot of chocolate and probably go spend some money on myself, all in memory of her! I love you mom and miss you everyday. Happy Birthday!