Weekly Review 2011 - January 23-29

Sunday, January 23 - I woke up not feeling so well. Paul went to church, and I stayed home on the couch. The girls decided to stay home with me, and Gabby got ahold of my camera. She took some interesting pictures including this funny picture that she took upside down. She's a funny girl (with some lunch still on her face.)

Monday, January 24 - Janeene brought over a Christmas present from her in-laws that they had left for Kaylee and Gabby that Janeene and Israel had just found in their basement. Israel's parent's went back to Chile on December 7th and they didn't realize that Maria (Israel's mom) had made all the little kids in my family gifts. She crocheted my girls each a pink hat, and they love them. They are so cute, and it was so sweet of Maria to make them a gift.

Tuesday, January 25 - I went to Costco to get Milk, and few groceries. I found some delicious looking raspberries, strawberries, and grape tomatoes, and peppers. I was so happy that I found some amazing produce. I went home and ate more than half of the container of rasberries, and quite a few grape tomatoes. They were so delicious, I can't wait to get back to Costco to get some more delicious produce.

Wednesday, January 26 - My sister Wendy and I took our kids to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum. There were a few field trip groups there so we found areas of the museum that the groups hadn't taken over yet and played in the quieter areas. We had so much fun and the kids have already asked when we can go back again. Kaylee and Gabby love going places with Roman and Hudson, and can't wait for our next adventure.

Thursday, January 27 - I made each of my kids reading charts and when they completely fill in their reading chart they get to choose a reading prize. For Kaylee's reading chart she has to read 10 chapter books, and write me a book report on each of the books; and for Gabby's chart she has to read me 9 phonics reading books. Gabby filled in her chart and got to choose a prize. She chose the Sleeping Beauty Pretty, Pretty Princess Board game and wanted to play it over, and over, and over. Kaylee has filled up her reading chart twice and picked a felt crafts book for her first prize, and a Barbie DS game for her second prize.

Friday, January 28 - Paul got off work early and surprised me when he was home so early. It was really nice when he took the kids and the dog to the park to play while I went and picked Marla up from work. Marla came over to our house for the afternoon and we decided to go to Leatherby's for dinner. We had some delicious cheese fries, sandwiches, and of course you can NOT go to Leatherby's without getting ice cream. YUM!!!

Saturday, January 29 - Paul told the girls that Falkor needed a bath so for them to go give him one. Paul was totally kidding and just meant that the girls could help him wash Falkor. Kaylee and Gabby took this very seriously and took Falkor in and put him in the tub, they got him all wet, and then Kaylee got the No More Tangles shampoo so that his fur would be smooth and easier to brush (That's what she told me). Kaylee and Gabby did an amazing job making sure the shampoo was all scrubbed in, and well rinsed. Kaylee told Falkor "You know this would be a lot easier, and faster if you would just hold still and not walk around the bathtub when I'm trying to rinse you off."

Weekly Review 2011 - January 16-22

Sunday, January 16 - Happy Birthday to my little sister Brenda! We went to my parent's house to celebrate my little sister's birthday. While we were there one of my nephews made the comment that big people(adults) could do the splits better than kids can. I told Marla that if she did the splits then I would take a picture. The closest thing I had to me was my phone so it's not the greatest picture.

Monday, January 17 - It was Martin Luther King Jr. Day and so there was no school, and Paul didn't have school or work. Kaylee and Gabby were going to go over to our neighbor's house for a play day but Sunday afternoon their furnace broke so I volunteered for her girls to come over to my house instead. They had fun playing all morning with legos, crafts, and dress up clothes. After lunch their mom came over to get her girls and ended up taking my girls for a few hours. They had a fun all-day play date.

Tuesday, January 18 - Tuesday started out with a bang. I was on the phone with my little sister Marla while she was on break at work and she was driving over to the gas station to get her co-worker a drink. All of the sudden she wasn't there but I could still hear some noises in the background and then the next thing I heard was a man's voice asking if she was okay and if she could turn off her car and if she could get out. I was totally freaking out! I didn't know if she had gotten in an accident, or pulled over or what had happened. I didn't dare hang up the phone and Marla picked up the phone a minute later. I asked her what happened and she said she didn't know. I asked her if she had hit something, or if someone hit her and she was really dazed and didn't know what to tell me. I asked her where she was and after a few seconds she responded that she was near the Smith's grocery store by her work. I told her I would be there in 10 minutes and jumped in my car (with my kids) and was on my way. When I got near that area I looked for cop cars and saw them in the gas station parking lot. As I pulled in the parking lot I realized that what Marla had hit was the front door of the gas station. It had shattered and part of the brick wall was broken as well. She had a blackout seizer while heading toward the gas station parking lot. A blackout seizer is when your body doesn't seize, but your brain does and your brain shuts down for a bit and when she comes back from it she has some memory problems, and doesn't know what happened or where she is. She hasn't had one in a very long time and it was REALLY freaky! So, she had a blackout seizure and ran into the front of the gas station. In the process of freaking out, and trying to figure things out I didn't get a picture of what happened. She wasn't going very fast, and no one was hurt. Her air bags went off, and her car lost the bumper, and the insurance company totalled her car, but everyone is okay!

So, that is my story of the day, and since I didn't get a picture to go with my story I have a picture of my dog Falkor sitting in his favorite spot in the kitchen, on the step stool.

Wednesday, January 19 - My kids LOVE playing with Legos, they get very creative (which I love) and are always making something new. Gabby brought this little guy into me to show me her little Lego Man.

Thursday, January 20 - One of my kids favorite places to go is the library. A whole building full of books! New stories, adventures, and things to read and imagine! We went to the library and Gabby found 6 books and a movie to check out, Kaylee found 16 new chapter books to read.

Friday, January 21 - We decided to have a family night out and took the kids to see the new Chronicles of Narnia movie: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Before the movie started the girls were playing around in the games/arcade area at the theater and I decided to get some tokens and let them play a game of air hockey. They had some much fun, and it was just as fun watching them hit the hockey puck back and forth.

Saturday, January 22 - You gotta love a Saturday with not much to do, where you can just enjoy the day, and...look out the front window with the dog. Paul and Falkor were checking on what was going on out in the neighborhood...a whole lot of nothing.

Weekly Review 2011 - January 9-15

Sunday, January 9 - We went to church and then just hung around the house. Gabby is cuddling with Falkor in their "nest" with her yellow fuzzy duck blanket.

Monday, January 10 - I made Gabby some silly sentence cards. She can put together the cards by putting them blue first, then green, and purple last. She loves them and thinks they are hilarious! It has really made her want to read them which I have been struggling lately with getting her to want to read to me. So now she is making sentences like: "The moon is jumping on my bed." Followed by nonstop giggles...then she makes another sentence like: "My bed was dancing in the trees." followed by more giggles.

Tuesday, January 11 - As I wrote last week Gabby has really been into color theme days...and usually it goes along with a tutu. This was a purple day from head to toe. When we went on some errands she found her purple jacket, but was a bit upset that she didn't have any purple shoes and had to settle on some black boots.

Wednesday, January 12 - The girls have both been saving their money since Christmas. They had me make them a goal chart to save $20. They originally wanted to get a pillow pet, but after they saw the new bears at Build-a-Bear they had a tough choice to make. They were both only about half-way to their goal so they had plenty of time to change their minds back and forth. When they reached their goals they had decided they wanted to go to Build-a-Bear and get a new bear. Gabby got the new love bear with a heart dress, and Kaylee got a lavender fluffy dog with a dog barking sound inside. We had gotten some coupons in the mail and the kids were thrilled that their money went further than they thought it would. They LOVE their new stuffed animals.

Thursday, January 13 - On Tuesday we had gone over to my parent's house and the girls made sugar cookies with my mom. She packed them up in a box as soon as they came out of the oven because we needed to get home. The girls had fun frosting them and putting candy on them, and licking the frosting right off the knife.

Friday, January 14 - My sister's kids didn't have school so I babysat her 3 kids. One thing I know will happen whenever Jaren comes over is that he will bring his legos, and there will be lots of Lego building throughout the day. They played with Jaren's Legos downstairs, then they came and played with Kaylee and Gabby's Legos upstairs. I did laundry yesterday and found a few clean Legos when I was done. They are everywhere!

Saturday, January 15 - The girls figured out how to make a teeter-totter using a couple of boxes. They also figured out the perfect weight distribution to keep them teetering, and tottering. They have had so much fun playing in this big box in so many different ways. Seriously...Why don't I just buy them boxes and not worry about the toys?

Flashback Friday (on Saturday)

I didn't get to my Flashback Friday yesterday because I was babysitting for my sister and I was exhausted at the end of the day. So, today we have Flashback Friday on Saturday. I have been going through some old, old photos lately and I came across this picture from when I was 5-years-old when we went on a family vacation to Disneyland and Sea World. In this picture from left to right is: Janeene, Brenda, Wendy, and me.

and here is a bonus picture of my sister Wendy and me with Mickey on that same trip.

Weekly Review 2011 - January 1-8

My New Years resolution this year is to get back to my picture a day project. I really enjoyed it in 2009 and made a book out of it (LOVE my book!). In 2010 my year was so insane that it started to feel more like something I HAD to do than something I enjoyed and I stopped somewhere around Septemberish...So, this year I am back at it and I am going to really enjoy it this year. Here is my first week of the new year, and new project.

Saturday, January 1 - We started off the year with a very special day for Kaylee. She turned eight on Dec. 24 and was baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. About 67 people were there to support her and share her special day. After her baptism we had a luncheon at our house and enjoyed spending time with our family and friends that came out for Kaylee's special day.

Sunday, January 2 - My brother and his wife had their baby girl Elizabeth's baby blessing at church followed by a luncheon at my parent's house. Here's a few of the kids with their cake (Roman has cake on his eyelashes).

Monday, January 3 - Another of our New Years Resolutions was to build up our food storage. We ordered a food storage system with a 1-year supply of food from Shelf Reliance. We got it all set up in our basement. It feels really nice to know that we are prepared if we need it for anything that may happen...or if we just get hungry and need some food.

Tuesday, January 4 - With Kaylee turning 8-years-old we told her she was old enough to decide if she wanted to get her ears pierced. She has been excited about this for quite a while and jumped on the chance as soon as she could. I took her to the mall and she picked out the studs that she wanted and was ready to go. Two girls from the store did it at the same time so they could do both ears at once. It was a good thing they did because it really startled Kaylee and she was pretty upset. After she was done being upset she was back to being as happy as could be about her earrings.

Wednesday, January 5 - Everyday lately Gabby has been having color themed days. She gets up in the morning and decides what kind of day it feels like and dresses very chromatically. This day had been declared a green day. She started out with the tutu and a ballerina shirt and after dancing around the kitchen for a while she decided to change her shirt and put on fairy wings and be a green fairy. She is so girly, and about every other day is declared a tutu day.

Thursday, January 6 - While I was getting some stuff from my mom's basement the other day we also found this Ikea tent I had bought a while back. The kids were thrilled to bring it home and play with it. I'm not sure who loved it more the girls or the dog. They spent all day in the tent and asked if they could sleep in it too. It's a bit to small to sleep in, but they had fun playing in it.

Friday, January 7 - Murray City had crews going around the neighborhood trimming the trees. I understand that they need to trim trees that are hanging over the road and power lines, but I think the crew was getting a bit carried away with the trees because they were cutting thick branches that were hanging over my yard nowhere near the road. I wasn't to happy with all the branches they cut off, but the girls had fun watching them.

Saturday, January 8 - Gabby was playing in the red Ikea tent with the door closed. I poked my camera lens in and snapped a picture and the red from the tent made the whole picture red.

Kaylee's sparkly ears

Today Kaylee wanted to get her ears pierced. We had told her that when she turned 8 she was old enough to decide if she wanted her ears pierced, and she really wanted her ears pierced. This afternoon we headed over to Fashion Place Mall and she picked out some cute blue flower gem earrings. She was so happy, and excited to have her ears pierced.

They put little dots on her ears to line up where to put the holes.

Another girl that worked there came to help so they could do both holes at the same time. At first Kaylee was unsure about what they were doing, and then she was startled when they shot the earrings through her ears and had a little bit of a meltdown.

Once she calmed down from being mad that it startled her and hurt a little she was back to being excited and happy about her ears being pierced.

New Years Interview

A few years ago I started doing a New Years interview at the beginning of each year. I think it's fun to see how their answers change from year to year. Some answers have stayed the same, while others have changed quite a bit. You can see the interview from last year HERE, and from two years ago HERE.

Gabby (Age 5)

Favorites:

Cereal - Lucky Charms
Vegetable - Asparagus
Fruit - Strawberries
Drink - Chocolate Milk
Toy - Toy Car
TV Show - Mythbusters
Game - Busytown
Book - Curious George
Restaurant - Noodles & Company
Holiday - Mother's Day
Animal - Horse

If you could change your name, what would you choose? Lily, because I like that name.

What do you love about your sister? She's nice

Where would you like to go on vacation this year? On the Mountains

What are some of your wishes for this year? A Unicorn Pillow Pet


Kaylee (Age 8)

Favorites:

Cereal - Reese's Puffs
Vegetable - Broccoli Trees
Fruit - Strawberries or Blueberries
Drink - Lemonade
Toy - Nintendo DS
TV Show - Mythbusters
Game - Busytown
Book - Ruby the Red Fairy (Rainbow Fairy Series)
Restaurant - The Old Spaghetti Factory
Holiday - Easter
Animal - Dog or Horse

If you could change your name, what would you choose? Lauren

What do you love about your sister? She's Fun

Where would you like to go on vacation this year? New Mexico

What are some of your wishes for this year? To have my own room.

My New Years Resolution

This year I really want to get back into my picture a day project. I really enjoyed doing it before, and I'm sad that my life got in the way in about September and it just kinda died. This year I want to be better than even and really try to get a picture for EVERY day, not just Most days. It is January 3rd and so far I'm doing good...but it's only January 3rd. I am also going to try to post them regularly on my blog so at the end of the year I can make a picture a day book like I did with my daily pictures from 2009. I love that book and really enjoy the everyday things that I got pictures of. This year I want to enjoy it again. I think part of the reason it just stopped this year is because my life was so everywhere that my picture a day felt more like a chore than something I really enjoyed...so, this year it's back to fun, back to memories, and as always TONS of craziness.

Jazz Game (Anniversary date night)

For our nine year anniversary this year I got tickets to the Jazz game on Saturday. Paul has really been wanting to go to a Jazz game and sit in the lower bowl. I looked online and was able to find some good lower bowl tickets for a pretty good price so I decided to go for it. My little sister Marla was awesome and came and babysat for us so we could enjoy a nice night out. We went downtown to the Gateway and went shopping a little bit before we headed over to the Jazz game. It was WAY below freezing and my shopping led me to a nice warm scarf with hand pockets at quicksilver, and I also found some super cute sweater slippers there.

The Utah Jazz were playing the Memphis Grizzlies and we had some great seats! We were on row 17 in the lower bowl. The Jazz played a pretty great game and came away with a win. The score was 98-92! It was a very fun anniversary date night. My kids thought it was fun too with Aunt Marla doing crafts and playing games with them.

Kaylee's Baptism

My little girl is EIGHT-years-old! Kaylee was so excited to turn 8 so she could be baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She talked about it for months (years actually) and told everyone that she talked to that she was getting baptized on January 1st. It was actually pretty cool because she was baptized on 1-1-11 at 11:00. I am very proud of her choice to be baptized. Here are a few pictures we took before her baptism with her in her white baptism dress.

We were thrilled with the outpouring of love and support that we had from our friends and family. There were about 70 friends and family that came to support Kaylee on her special day. After the baptism at the church we had a luncheon at our house. I snapped a few pictures of my cute nieces and nephew, and the luncheon going on.