the musings of a mother with toddlers and other such nonsense

Before and After

2011-12-01T20:44:00.000-08:00

"I can stand next to Santa this year because I'm really brave. That's Why."- Charlie

Spooktacular

2011-11-01T08:41:00.001-07:00

All of these pictures I took at our Trunk or Treat. Last night It was too much work to get pictures of everyone again. It sounds stupid to say that now but trust me, last night was rough. Anyway, Hudson was an elephant at Trunk or Treat and on Halloween he was Bumble bee Mario from Mario Galaxy. Maybe I'll dress them up again today to get pictures...

Kensie decided she wanted to be something scary this year so she settled on a corpse bride. She said she wanted people to scream when they saw her.

I don't know about you but this is one of the scariest things I've ever seen...

Luigi and Mario...and Aang!
Charlie did not appreciate being kept up past his bed time...

Bryce wanted to be Aang in avatar state so we painted his arrows (which he took off) and his eyes white. He said, "Mom, I'm not scary. I'm just really powerful!"

This is my Princess peach costume that I made. It took several on phone support calls from my amazing Nanny. I'm sure she was sick of all my silly sewing questions by the time I was done but I'd say the end result was worth it!

Eric and I also went to and adults only costume party and won best couple costumes with our Mario and Peach. I also won Best Female costume! Someone else took some photos at the party so I'll get those up later. Are you as excited as I am that this Halloween post was done before next April??

National Me Day

2011-09-10T15:33:00.000-07:00

As I am sure you're well aware, It's my birthday. Well, actually it's tomorrow but I figured with all of that majorly depressing 10 year anniversary business and it being stake conference Sunday and all, I would just party it up on Saturday instead. We started the day out right with a spread of delicious donuts and an array of breakfast meats complimented by a bowl of fruit that mysteriously went untouched. I didn't take any photos because, well, as heavenly as a bacon topped maple bar is, it just wasn't a pretty site. I gorged and nobody really needs to see that! Then my family headed for the hippest place in town, the Bowling Alley! We had an awesome time although one game was enough for us. We all got schooled by a five year old and pigged out on curly fries and nachos. CURSE YOU BOWLING ALLEY CURLY FRIES!!! They were so good and yet, so bad... Then we played some arcade games. Eric won me a giant angry bird and we called it a day. Oddly enough, Bryce and I are the only ones not napping right now. Later tonight we'll eat something equally bad for us for dinner and top it all off with my yummy strawberry lemonade birthday cake. I'm determined to gain at least 10 pounds today. On a related note, is it wrong to be so excited that I am getting a single hubcap as a birthday present? Because if it is then I don't want to be right! My husband is so romantic... Here are some photos to appease the masses. In no particular order since I can't seem to figure out how to do that :)

A random giant bear in the bowling alley lobby
This is as exciting as it gets around here people!

That's how he rolls...

Eric going for another one of his famous GUTTER BALLS!

Charlie and Hud were more interested in scarfing fries.
So was I but don't tell anyone!

Kensie took this one.
Am I the only one that feels awkward posting photos of myself??

Bryce was actually really good!

Showing off my sweet kicks and polka dot socks!

Bryce showing of His sweet kicks too.
P.s.- I told him to make a "cool" face!

This is my strawberry lemonade birthday cake I made last night.
I picked up each of those jimmies with tweezers and placed them one by one.
So tell me you love it or I'll hurt you.

This is the present I gave to myself.
Eric never lets me use the color printer so this is a big treat!
I was sick of looking at those ugly white laminate cabinets.
We can't paint so I figured I would cover them up with witty photos and quotes!

This is my fav by far! I've been laughing since I put it up.
It's small enough that from far away it just looks like the Mona Lisa.
Then you're like, "What's wrong with her face??" So, you go in for a closer look.
Then you're like, "Goo, It's Voldemort!"

This girl beat us. To. a. pulp.
Her final score was A hundred and five! The next closest was Bryce with Eighty Four or something.
Shameful, really.

Well, I think I am officially "old". It feels weird to say that I'm closer to 30 than 20. Oh well, I think I'll go eat some more bacon...

Back to the Berg

2011-09-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

We took a mini vacay to Fresno over the summer so the kids could say they did something other than swim and sit at home during their summer break. They LOVED it! We went to King's Canyon to see the giant sequoias. We went to Morro Bay to visit with Nanny and Papa (Which I totally spaced and didn't get any pics with them! Lame!) We went to the Farmer's market. We played lots with Aunt Whitney, Uncle Matt and Uncle Kyle. Fun Swimming and water play and there was LOTS of playing with puppy Bentley! Hudson and Charlie are still found calling themselves Bentley and lagging out their tongues like puppies! Also there was randomly a giant gummi snake?...So here are the pics in random order!

This is us in front of General Grant

Sandy Sausage Toes!

The kids with my parents in that cabin thing in King's Canyon? Someone help me out!

Morro Beach with G-ma

Disregard the rusty busted swing and look at that chubby baby!

Swinging in front of Morro Rock!

Chillin' with Grandma by the pool!

Can you spot the crab??

Doesn't Uncle Kyle look like he's having SO much fun??

Monkey see, Monkey do...

Bathing Beauty?

In Fresno, the Gummi worms are so big they can feed a family of five!!

The babies are snuggling!

If those aren't enough photos for you guys then I don't know WHAT will please you! Wow, that took FOREVER! Now I remember why I never post on this thing!

School is for cool...kids.

2011-09-08T19:57:00.000-07:00

Bryce started 2nd grade and Kens started Kindergarten. Both were beyond excited. Me, not so much but they can't stay at home with me forever, right?

Because it makes me giggle...

2011-02-16T15:12:00.000-08:00

Holla! ween.

2010-11-09T13:41:00.001-08:00

This is all of the kids together at our ward Trunk or Treat. Bryce was a Sheriff Ghost, Kens was the witch from Hansel and Gretyl, Charlie was a train conductor and Hud was the puppy that both Bryce and Charlie wore when they were his size.

This is the kids on Halloween night. We decided it would be better if Hudson stayed home where it was warm. It was freezing! Like 63 degrees or something cRazY like that! Eric bit the bullet to stay home with him. That poor baby stayed home and played video games while we all went out into the night to beg for candy from strangers! Kensie didn't want to wear her green hair again so we went all natural.

The candy is long gone by now. The kids may have even gotten like 5 pieces from their own buckets. I figure this is my payment since I have to get them all dressed and drag them around for an hour.

First ever Field Trip!

2010-11-09T13:22:00.001-08:00

Bryce recently went on his very first field trip to Newport Back Bay which is a natural estuary, where the salt water meets the fresh water. There are supposed to be over 200 different species of birds among lots of other animals. When he got back I asked him what his favorite part of the day was and he said it was his first time ever riding on a bus! I asked him what else he liked and he said, "That's it!"

The other kids wanted a picture taken in front of the bus.

Saying goodbye. I think the little kids were more excited to see Bryce off than he was to go on the field trip.

I have to say that it was more nerve racking than I ever thought possible to send him off. I didn't sleep the whole night before and I had a mini panic attack just before they drove away. I had a really hard time just putting him on a bus with a driver I don't know, hoping that he wouldn't wander off and get lost and come back in tact at the end of the day. I totally cried after I got in the car and watched the bus drive away. Who does that?? It's official. I live in Crazytown!

Birthday Boy!

2010-09-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

Someone please tell me where this last year went because I can't figure out how we went from this...

To this so very quickly!

We spent the morning with family eating a donut breakfast, opening presents and sustaining black eyes. Then we ventured out to the mall to have lunch at Ruby's and Build a birthday bear.

At Ruby's they surprised us with an ice cream and they all sang to him. As you can see, he was very confused...

We watched his bear get stuffed.

They let the kids help.

Then each of the kids got to kiss the little hearts and put them in.

Sadly, on occasion, I have been known to turn on a movie for Hudson while I put the other children to bed. We quickly found out the only movie he will sit through is "UP". So naturally, he had to have an UP cake for his Birthday.

He LOVED it!

I can't believe how big this guy is getting! We love him to bits! Happy Birthday, Huddy!

Christmas in July!

2010-07-25T22:34:00.000-07:00

Apparently, since it is not actually Christmas, He only gets half of his two front teeth...

I don't know which is more amusing...

2010-07-12T16:34:00.001-07:00

The fact that my 4 1/2 year old insists on going out in public in clothes that were manufactured to be worn by stuffed bears or the fact that they kind of fit her?!

Good thinking on the non-toxic products there, Crayola!

2010-06-11T14:46:00.000-07:00

I was in the kitchen thinking to myself what a good homemaker and mother I was, scrubbing the kitchen whilst wearing an apron and baking delicious goodies and what not...

He was on the floor in the living room being fed water color tablets by his bigger, more mischievous brother.

I just can't win, can I?

Twins...16 months apart

2010-06-09T12:59:00.001-07:00

You have no idea how many times a day I receive comments about how cute my twins are. The most amusing is when somebody asks how old they are and I say, "3 and 4." They give me the weirdest looks. Most of the time, though, I just say thanks because, really who has time to sit a correct a stranger whom I will probably never see again. Better to let them walk away talking about my twins than to waste my precious time in return for them to think I'm a nut. I can't blame them. I mean, look at these two.

They're the same exact size now and Charlie doesn't really look like a baby any more.

I should probably re-adjust and say that they are triplets because Baby Buzz is permanently attatched!

What do you think?

and just because she is adorable!

Children's museum pics that I never posted

2010-06-06T17:03:00.000-07:00

Irony

2010-05-09T20:25:00.000-07:00

Today, on Mother's Day, Hudson said his first word very clearly.

It was "DADA"

Or How about Easter? That was a good one too...

2010-04-12T18:27:00.001-07:00

This year I thought it would be easier to find an easter dress for Kensie first and then dress the boys around her. So I found her dress on sale 40% off @ Kohl's. Score! Then I found these colored linen dress shirts on sale @ Children's Place. Bryce really wanted a bow tie and who can blame him? I mean, really, bow ties are sharp with a capital YES. So, I couldn't find any that were exactly what I was looking for so I decided to make some. Luckily, I did NOT take the shirts with me to the fabric store so I ended up with bow ties that were not exactly what I was looking for anyway, so go figure! I'm not really sure why, but Eric did not want me to make him a bow tie so he ended up wearing a tie that he already had. I also made a headband for Kensie out of the same fabric I used for Hudson's tie. In the end the ties didn't really match the shirts but...all's well that end's well. Huh, My little scissor legs?

This pic is awesome because it's exactly how they are in real life. Bryce is just smiling, trying to get a good picture. Kensie wanted to hold Hudson at first but now she doesn't anymore so he is about to fall to his death and then there is Charlie who is picking his nose until it bleeds...

The happy family minus mom, It's probably just better that way...

Hey, remember that one time...when it was Halloween?

2010-04-12T18:10:00.000-07:00

Yeah, Me too...

I am not entirely sure why everyone felt the need to pose on the pumpkin, but...what are you gonna do?

The theme was Toy Story 2 if you can't tell...

Gosh, that was fun.

Survival of the Fattest

2010-02-22T19:06:00.000-08:00

At nearly 5 months, this little man weighs in somewhere about 19 pounds. He clearly has no problems eating and is also my one of the best sleepers in the house taking a 9 hour stretch at night! He is so happy most of the time and endures much abuse (a.k.a. Love) from his siblings.

Mom is still learning to manage home and family. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it within the next 20 years or so...

I could just eat these little thighs!

Pardon the blur but it has proven difficult to catch this happy little muffin!

In other news to make you smile, Bryce has been demanding to do his own hair before school every day. This was one of the more creative hairstyles. He explained to me that he was trying to get it to look like a dragon had perched on his head and the tail was coming around the side. Can You see it?

King Morton

2010-01-18T00:42:00.000-08:00

Bryce came home from kindergarten this week to tell me they had read a book about a "Real King" at school. Apparently, King Morton was a King who really lived. And someone shot him. They shot him with a real gun. And He DIED. And Monday is his birthday so we don't have to go to school.

Incredible. I don't think I ever learned about King Morton in elementary school, but what the hey?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KING MORTON!!!

Kensington's Birthday Bash: Minnie style.

2010-01-11T18:52:00.000-08:00

We started the morning with the traditional birthday breakfast and in keeping with the theme of her birthday festivities which was all things Minnie Mouse, we opted for the ever popular Minnie Pancakes.

She got some super fun presents which I took pictures of but as it turns out I am a crappy photographer and they all came out totally blurry so you can just sit and imagine what her fun play Kitchen from Grandpa and Grandma Holden and Melissa & Doug cutting food set from Grandpa and Nana Bishop looked like! Eric and I got her the Melissa and Doug birthday cake set and let me just say...there were time outs a plenty over these blasted toys so you know they were good! Since we live only a short drive away from the Magic Kingdom we were able to accommodate a 4 year olds birthday wishes and headed out to Disneyland for the day. It ended up being the only rainy day in Southern California for the whole year so we didn't take a ton of pics in the park but we had fun in our Disney ponchos and what not. This is her Birthday dress that I made. She specifically requested "the red Minnie not the pink Minnie". I obliged and this is what I came up with. She LOVES it and now requests to wear it every time we go to Disneyland.

Here's a close-up of the handmade trim and minnie mouse head on her dress. I also stitched on each of the polka dots only because when I went to the fabric store they were out of the red and white polka dot fabric so I just bought white and made it myself.

I had every intention of making her cake. I even bought all the ingredients and knew exactly how I was going to decorate it but the day before I got super lazy. Must have been all the Christmas festivities and such. Anyway I ended up going to the bakery and found this pre-decorated New Year's cake with oreos so I pulled off all the new year crap, stuck on some felt circles and fruit by the foot bows and called it a birthday cake. She was super excited.

We went over to Uncle Steven's and Aunt Cortney's house to share Birthday cake and to drop off little Huddy Buddy. I didn't want him to catch his death in the sub-freezing temperatures of Anaheim. And to preface their gift to Kensie I will share a conversation I had with her earlier that week. Me: Hey Kensie what are you going to do when you turn 4?

K: um, I can't be 4 unless I have a Snow White Barbie like Roxie!

Aunt Cortney made her dreams come true and bought her the most beautiful snow white doll ever. Her life is now complete.

I wanted to get a picture of the kids all together since I made the boys some shirts too so they wouldn't feel left out so we started out saying, " Do a happy birthday pose!"

"Okay, not quite. Let's try it again"

"Really?? That's your happy birthday pose? ok. Let's just try a normal pose. Just look normal"

"No, I said Normal"

"Um, apparently we are going to have to go home and practice being normal..."

We spent the whole day and we went to the Rainforest Cafe for her Birthday Dinner. I took a ton of pictures but now my card reader is saying there is no valid picture on my card and Eric isn't home so I possibly just deleted like 600 pictures??? oops. Anyway we stayed for the fireworks and then came home. Let's just say the next day was all about recovering! I hope she had a great day and We Love her so much and can't wait to do it again next year!

It just wasn't meant to be.

2010-01-07T19:25:00.000-08:00

First my dryer started making a scary noise and stopped drying things and smelled like burning. Now my washing machine is stopping mid-cycle, leaving the thing full of water and unwashed clothes. Oh and also leaking onto the carpet all the way down the hallway to my bedroom! I knew I should've scrapped that stupid resolution when I had the chance. Now it mocks me.

I used to be a BRAT but I'm not anymore.

2010-01-04T11:43:00.000-08:00

I think I am a grown up. Can I say that? Well, I feel a lot different than when I was 18 and first married, anyway. Normally I don't make resolutions because the New Year Holiday is what we refer to as a "Non-Holiday" in our house. It's kind of a throw away day because we've done the Christmas thing and Kensie's Birthday is the 30th (Pictures forthcoming) so New Year's kind of takes one for the team. Anyway, this year I did make some resolutions because, like I said, I'm a grown-up now and I am trying to be a good one. So here they are in no particular order :

* I am going to exercise at least 3 times a week on our new Wii Fit Plus! (I've already lost 3.2 pounds!)

*I am going to say "I Love You" every day to each member of my family individually

*I am going to take more pictures of my kids

and I'm thinking of throwing this last one out because it just seems so far fetched but I may attempt it...

*I'm going to clean my house everyday...........and at least ONE LOAD OF LAUNDRY EVERY DAY!

Like I said...it will be an attempt but I will give it my most valiant efforts.

May your 2010 be fiiled with more Love and less laundry!

Thank You,

2009-11-18T22:14:00.000-08:00

for keeping me alive this week.

Slap my face and call me Country

2009-10-29T21:44:00.001-07:00

If You know me at all, then you know that I absolutely abhor being outside. I don't like the way it makes me feel or smell. So last Saturday I took one for the team and we took the kids to a Gorgeous Farm up past Riverside. It took us a little over an hour to get there but it was totally worth it! It was beautiful. Bryce said as soon as he got out of the car with a huge smile on his face, " Mom, do you know how I know this is a real farm? Because it has real mud!" I guess we need to get out more! It's a place called Riley's Farm and they had a colonial settlement and a frontier settlement that you could explore. Pumpkins on the vine and all kinds of other fruits and veggies you could pick yourself. We even got to press our own fresh apple cider! It was so much fun and we'll definitely be making the drive back in December for Christmas at the Colonies!! I can't wait!

The kids were so funny looking for their pumpkins. They each took so much time deciding on theirs but in the end they each found their perfect pumpkins.

They got to go on a free hayride. Can you tell Bryce was excited?

These are the apples we were about to press. Oh and Kensie's dirty face!

This is the press that they used like a hundred years ago to do the same thing we did!

It was harder than it looked!

We found Steven and Cortney and they helped us press the cider.

Washing was definitely Ryker's favorite part of the process. Although, I'm fairly certain he had diarrhea from drinking all that nasty apple water!

And just for Aunt Becca are some obligitory Hudson pics!

This binky looks a lot bigger in the picture than it does in real life!

Keeping Score

2009-10-05T11:21:00.000-07:00

It has been over a week since Hudson's birth. Let's see how Mom's doing, shall we?

My boobs have literally doubled in size.
**1 point: Mom

The newborn has a most difficult time latching on to the afore mentioned due to the fact that the milk flows so freely it eliminates the need to do anything but open his mouth and swallow.
**1 point: newborn

I decorated the house for Halloween with the cutest little hand made decorations for freeeee!
**1 point: Mom

You would be hard pressed to find the decorations under the mess that is slowly threatening to take over the house. Perhaps I should have spent a few hours cleaning yesterday instead of paper crafting?
**1 point: kids

I cooked a large hot homemade meal yesterday.
**1 point: Mom

I didn't do the dishes and the kitchen is trashed. I only had one clean cup this morning so they all shared the one cup...don't judge. It was a matter of survival.
**1 point: kids

I got everyone fed, bathed, combed and dressed (including socks!) ten minutes Before school starts! I even put on make-up and jeans!
**1 point: Mom

In the end, it took me a total of 45 minutes start to finish to get everyone into a carseat with buckles on, drive 2 blocks to the school,park a half mile away from the stinking school due to lack of parking, unpack the mammoth stroller, unbuckle the kids, find a huge glob of toothpaste in Charlie's hair, tame Kensie's "I don't want to put my shoes back on I want you to carry me!" tantrum, yell at Bryce who is already halfway to the school to slow down, walk him into the classroom 10 minutes late and have his teacher with a sickeningly sweet smile ask me to "please make every effort to try to be on time from now on?", fume back to the car, get the remaining children buckled into car seats, wrestle the stoller back into the trunk, and drive the 2 blocks home. Oh! And the jeans I put on? elastic waistband...enough said.
**1 point: kids (well played...)

Wow! It looks like it's a tie at 4 points for each side! Maybe it's not so bad after all! Way to go, Me!

...but wait! We have a last minute addition to the tally! I just typed this entire post one handed! ** 1 point: newborn.

It's official: Mom is losing...

Baby Hudson

2009-09-26T12:39:00.000-07:00

This is Eric posting here so not much words just pics.
Hudson was born at 1:10 PST and was 7 lbs and 4 oz. and 19 inches long.
Mom and Baby are doing great.

relations and creations...?

2009-08-03T16:15:00.000-07:00

Eric and I celebrated our 6th anniversary on August 2nd. Since the San Diego Temple was going to be closed from July 27th until the middle of August we decided to move the party up a week and we got to spend the day in the temple on the 24th of July. It was incredible. We did a session which we didn't do last year when we were sealed and this was the first time we've gone back to that temple since then. So we did the session and then we came out and had a picnic lunch and went to the distribution center outside the temple. Then we got to go in the cafeteria and have some yummy ice cream. After that we got to participate in some sealings. Something we have never done before. All I can say is AMAZING. We definitely need to do that again. Eric got to participate in the sealing of a living 89 year old man to his parents. It was very sweet and the perfect way to spend our anniversary. We decided this will definitely be a tradition every year.

On another note, we are moving next week and we have been making due with a 4 seater table that we have had since we got married. It has been a good table and served us well but I have been dying to have my whole family be able to sit together for a meal since there are 5 of us (soon to be 6) and only 4 chairs. We found this gem on craigslist for $20. It started out as one of those ugly oak with white legs tables and it came with 6 chairs! I haven't attempted the chairs yet since we are so busy with packing and such but here's how the table turned out. I'm pretty excited about it. Eric seems to be a little shy with the bright color on such a big piece of furniture but I'm sure he'll learn to love it!

"My eyes aren't Blue! They're Pink!"

2009-06-20T21:59:00.000-07:00

That is what Kensie tells me whenever I say something like, "That Blue dress is so pretty. It matches your Blue eyes!"
These are some shots from just before heading out to a royal birthday celebration for another of her princess friends. She was so surprised that I let her wear makeup because normally I find her covered head to toe in liquid eyeliner and she's getting in trouble! She felt very special!

I asked her why she was doing all of those silly poses and she said it was because that's how the princesses at Disneyland do it!

It's a good thing she's the only girl!

let me see your privates!

2009-06-20T21:19:00.000-07:00

What the HACK is up everybody??? Why do people "go private" on their blogs?? It's so annoying. I've lost half of my reading material due to this new fad. I know, I know. I can send my e-mail and be "granted access" to see the goods but most of them are a friend of a friend that I'm not entirely comfortable letting them know that I'm a creeper. Oh well, I guess I could find a real hobby or something.

All washed up

2009-06-15T09:24:00.000-07:00

Doesn't she look like a little washed up mermaid? I thought it was cute. I also have a ton of pics from Kensie's first big girl princess party on Saturday with her friends. I'll figure out how to post those later.

C-dog's B-day

2009-05-04T13:01:00.000-07:00

Charlie turned 2 on April 24th. If you know this kid, then you know he is obsessed with Wall-E. So Naturally, we had Wall-E cupcakes, Wall-E sandwiches and watched Wall-E on the WALL with our projector! Every gift he recieved was something Wall-E and he was in heaven! Then he hit the WALL and we went to bed! It was a good day.

You know you're 5 months pregnant when...

2009-04-10T15:02:00.001-07:00

This is all you want in world right before bedtime:

Luckily I have a husband who bought these gems at 10 'o clock at night while I laid in bed in my jammies. Oh and yes, I did eat these things together. Why do pickles and chocolate syrup taste so good?

I did what?

2009-04-10T14:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, It sounds crazy even as I say it to myself, I took all 3 kids to Chuck E Cheese all by myself. My sister was gone over the weekend so my brother in law invited Eric over for a boys sleepover party video game night. I had a couple of really good coupons to Chuck E Cheese so I decided it would be fun to take the kids since we have never been to the one here. It was surprisingly delightful and we had a ton of tokens so the kids got to do pretty much everything they wanted to do. They had a lot of fun I think. I didn't get a ton of pictures because it's hard to snap photos when you're chasing 3 small kids around that nut house but I managed to get a few.

He was very proud of his tickets

At the end of the night we got the biggest ice cream sandwich I've ever seen. Needless to say I was pretty popular right about then.

These popcicles were like a foot long and weighed about a pound!
Kensie didn't eat all of hers but Charlie went to town and finished the whole thing!

Bryce's ice cream sandwich that could've fed a small village.

This was also the day of his school's jog-a-thon hence the ugly t-shirt. He surprised everyone and ran the most laps out of anyone in his class. They said he ran over 30! Good thing we did a flat donation and not by the lap!

Over the course of the night we collected over 600 tickets and everyone got to choose a prize and then we headed home. WE escaped the building with no melt downs but that changed when we got to the car! luckily we went straight to bed upon arriving home! I don't know that I'll be doing it again anytime soon but it was fun while it lasted!

Not that good after all...

2009-04-06T17:29:00.000-07:00

As some of you may have heard, Charlie suffered a terrible accident yesterday. He fell from the 2nd story bedroom window of our apartment. He rolled off of a small roof and landed approximately 18 feet below in a flower bed. He was taken to the emergency room and observed overnight in the PICU. He was released late this morning with only a few scrapes and bruises. It was absolutely the most horrifying experience of my life and I cannot thank Heavenly Father enough for protecting my son so completely. He seems to be doing quite well now that we are home and was practically jumping for joy when he got to have his IV taken out! He is such a brave little guy and it is a sweet experience to have my children healthy and back together again. The older kids were so concerned for their brother and we are all so pleased that he is home and safe and happy. And in case you were wondering, we've already rearranged the furniture in our bedroom so that no one can even think about getting on the window sill again. All windows have been permanently locked and will never be opened again. And no there are no pictures. I do not wish to remember this weekend at all! Thank You Everyone for Your concern and Prayers on our family's behalf.

Nothing like Pajamas and Red meat!

2009-04-03T12:12:00.000-07:00

I just have to say...I am so excited for conference this weekend! Mainly because I don't have to get 3 toddlers and one big one dressed and out the door for church on time. We get to stay in our jams and watch conference in the comfort of our own home thanks to the wonders of the internet and a technologically minded husband! Also, the real reason this weekend is so incredibly exciting for me is our fairly recent (we started it 2 conference weekends ago) Tradition of creating our own home-made version of these little babies...

Ok ok these aren't really them but you get the idea... Tahoe Joe's Steak nachos. Oh the Joy! And no Steak Nacho meal is complete without the ice cold Lemonade. Yes, my Friends, It's gonna be a GOOD weekend!

Is it sad?

2009-03-23T08:45:00.000-07:00

That I dream about someone giving me a brand new Honda Odyssey almost every night?

I guess it's official...My dream car is a mini van...I think I just threw up in my mouth.

BTW...

2009-03-19T15:14:00.000-07:00

Eric said I have to tell people so....We're having another baby in September.
There you go. You happy now? Let's all cross our fingers that it's a boy!

Oh...You know...

2009-03-13T15:18:00.000-07:00

Yeah so I haven't posted for a few..months. So what? I've been busy! With what? You might ask. Well, being DEATHLY ill for one thing and I can't really think of any other things I did for the past few months but it feels like i did a lot... Anyway, It was Bryce's Birthday on the 5th and my family came down from Fresno to go to the Aquarium of the Pacifc with him. I wasn't allowed to go because I had mono and had to stay in bed. The staying in bed part was actually quite lovely but the missing the fun birthday festivities for my oldest guy, not so much. I was super sad to miss all the fun but the pictures are cute and they all had a blast. Plus I have another coupon so we can go again. Maybe for Charlie's birthday next month. Is that lame? oh well. Anyhow, I'm feeling much better now and hopefully we can avoid illness in the house for at least a week so we can get back to normal, whatever that is. Here's some pictures from the fun day:

The Brothers diggin' in to that yummy cake!

Normally, I make cute homemade cakes for all the birthdays but, you know (mono)

So Grandma took Bryce to the bakery to pick out this speed racer cake.

Kensie getting loves from Uncle Matt

Kensie's new friend

Grandpa having fun with the kids

Grandma and Charlie

My cute family

Daddy's Armful

It doesn't look like anyone is too happy about it...

touching sharks and sting rays and crap

Oh and just in case you were wondering, this is what your children will look like when you have mono and stay inside your bed all day while your husband is at work:

and yes that IS chocolate milk dripping down the walls...don't judge

BREAKING NEWS: Massive Explosion in Laguna Niguel!

2009-01-27T09:38:00.000-08:00

Around noon on last Sunday afternoon a huge explosion was heard throughout Laguna Niguel. After experts researched the area it was deduced that a pyrex pan containing Betty Crocker three cheese potatoes combusted after being subjected to extreme heat from an electric stovetop burner. The suspect equated with this accident who shall further be known as M.O.Y. (Mother of the Year) was said to have put a pot of water on to boil and left the pyrex pan also on the stovetop while she went about other duties in another room of the town house. Apparently, M.O.Y. mistakenly turned on the wrong burner and was in fact, heating the pyrex pan full of potatoes instead of the pot of water. M.O.Y. responded quickly when the commotion was heard. Upon arrriving at the scene M.O.Y acted quickly to put out a small potatoe fire that was occuring on said burner by turning it off and brushing aside the flaming potatoes and moulton pyrex. If eye witnesses are to be believed, shards of glass flew all the way out of the kitchen, across the living room and landed near the large picture window. Luckily, no civilians were in the area at the time of the accident. It took crews nearly an hour and a half to clean up the debris and when they were finished, they enjoyed only half of the intended meal, (a delicious homemade meatloaf!) And in answer to the question on everyone's mind...Yes, Mother of the Year feels extremely stupid and has been placed on temporary kitchen probation!

THANK YOU JESSIE!!!

2009-01-19T07:45:00.000-08:00

Thanks so much to my awesome sister in law Jessie for taking these cute new pictures of our family! I love them and I can't wait to have prints made so I can put them up in our house. Given the circumstances, the pictures turned out awesome since about an hour after these pictures were taken I was violently throwing up and half of our family got sick the next day. You'd never know it to look at the pictures!

White Christmas...and white New Years...pretty much 2 weeks of white...

2009-01-04T19:36:00.000-08:00

WARNING: This post contains a MASSIVE amount of pictures!

We drove to Utah to spend the holidays with Eric's family and had a blast, even though I froze body parts I didn't know I had. I totally went outside to build a giant leaning snowman and we didn't get a picture! I promise I was out in the snow for a solid 15 minutes! We played rockband with the fam for hours in Nate's theater and I found out that I need to work on my breath control although in my defense it IS hard to hold a note when you're laughing so hard! Nate says he might act like me after he's knocked back a few drinks! I promise none of us drink but I DO hear that more than you'd think! We had a Bishop family sledding and soup party where I did NOT go outside but sat by the big window in the warm building happilly watching everyone else freeze to death. That doesn't even LOOK fun! But they said they did so, to each his own. We had a fun gingerbread decorating party on Christmas eve and made a birthday cake for Jesus, cookies for Santa and food for the reindeer. Then we did our annual Christmas Day brunch with the family complete with the traditional ebelskeivers or however you spell it. Delicious. We played the day away and quickly learned that we are not smart enough to play "upwords". The day after Christmas we got to go to the Salt Lake Temple with the whole entire family for the very first time! It was so beautiful and I can see why it took them 40 years to build it. It was a great day and so awesome that our whole family could be there! We had Kensie's 3rd birthday party in the style of Mermaids. We invited all the girlie cousins over to have a scavenger hunt where we ended up underwater in the ocean to decorate mermaid princess crowns. (We decorated the theater to look like underwater with different colored ribbon to look like water and clear balloons to look like bubbles. then we turned on the finding nemo living aquarium on the projector so it felt like we were actually underwater! so fun!) I decorated mermaid cupcakes to look like each girl. Then we took our kids to play at a playplace and then Eric and I headed out for a fun night with some old friends at Creighton and Michelle's wedding reception to decorate their car in a very tasteful manner! and mimi's cafe afterward where we were probably (ok definitely) more obnoxious than is allowed in most public areas. Oh well. Sorry to everyone who might have been within a 5 mile radius at the time! Eric's sister Julie threw and awesome New year's eve Fondue party. So yummy! then we had a fun game tournament from which my TOES are still SORE from standing on them for like 10 minutes! We'll definitely have to repeat that one soon. It was really fun! We got to go visit all the grandparents and it was fun to see the kids spend time with them. Especially Kensie because she would just walk up and kiss and hug them. She wasn't shy at all and I think that really made them happy. We spent many a night watching movies and many a day playing Wii in the theater and countless hours in the playhouse downstairs. It was nice spending time in Dad and Mom's nice big, beautiful house. Culture shock coming back home to our 900 sq. ft. townhouse! We'll need some time to re-adjust but at least it's warmer here!

Our first and might I add sorry attempt at a snowman!

Kensie the snow bunny

Charlie takes after his mama. He doesn't really like the snow.

Eric rollin' a giant snow ball and Bryce trying to make it up the hill in 2 feet of snow.

Gingerbread party

we snitched and I LOVE that cute Haley in the background!

Charlie's version of decorating a gingerbread house

This game was way harder than it looked!

I just think charlie is cute in his ozark hat

Santa brought everyone new shoes!

I love Charlie's chubby bum

Santa also brought laptops and headphones!

I LOVE seeing happy babies!

Sir Bryce got a knight dress up set from mom and dad

P.S. thanks Aunt Becca for the cute monkey jammies!

All decked out for brunch

I'm not entirely sure what is going on in this picture but I think Charlie's face is CLASSIC!

I thought it was funny they all had their laptops

Family Temple day

Visiting Nana. I'm pretty sure she has no idea who we are but we brought candy so she liked us!

Eric's camera happy

Kensie's party. she loves her Rachel friend as she calls her

Cute girlie cousins

I was going to make one big mermaid cake but Kensie threw a diva fit and got individual mini cakes. They didn't turn out how I wanted them but still cute!

A quick lasagna lunch during the party

All the girlies with their mermaid princess crowns on

Kensie got a fancy nancy tutu and pretend point shoes from Nana and Grandpa Bishop
She LOVES them. She even slept in them a couple of nights!

Grandma Great gave the kids COOL glasses. Bryce thinks he's hardcore.

Visiting with Grandma Great

Kensie's new BFF Great Aunt Joy

All I have to do is photoshop in Dad's head and we'd have 4 generations of cute Bishop Boys

Even Grandpa Bishop had to smile at Kensie's sassy charms

Giving loves to grandma Bishop without being prompted

Fun Times!

S. O. T. Dub-yah

2008-12-11T08:56:00.000-08:00

Eric got to come to the show last night and I think he enjoyed himself. He told me he cried several times, so I'll take that as a good sign. I felt like last night was one of our better shows and they fixed my costume so it's a lot more secure and comfortable so I can just focus on performing rather than keeping my clothes on! (my wrap fell off on stage on opening night!) So we took this picture of me and Eric on the mountains that I painted.

This is my friend Jolie who plays Mary in my cast. She's pretty much THE coolest girl ever. She's super talented and super gorgeous. I just LOVE her!Oh, and her hair doesn't always look like that! This was after ACT II so she had to be aged. Luckily she took off her wrinkles before this pic. She shudders every time she looks in the mirror after aging herself! hahaha

We're kindred spirits. 'Nuf said.

Christmas! (and oh yeah, thanksgiving too...)

2008-12-09T13:44:00.000-08:00

That's pretty much how I've felt all this year. I'm ALL about Christmas this year. Thanksgiving, not so much. Normally I would make myself wait until after Thanksgiving for the Christmas music and decor but I couldn't wait this year! Maybe because the show is so focused on Christ's birth and we've been doing it since October? I don't know. But I love it and nobody else is in my house 24/7 to judge me so I'm enjoying every minute of our fun Christmas Decorations! Anyway, so some elves in our ward found out we didn't have a Tree this year and they brought one over Sunday Night after the kids were asleep. We told them that Santa's elves dropped it off in the night and they were SO excited to see it! We decorated it for family home evening last night and we also made gingerBear cookies decorated like our family. We watched Polar Express together and had a Christmas sing-along! I felt like I had to get all of our fun family time in last night because I've got a show every night this week and also 2 shows on Saturday so I'm trying hard not to be a total slacker mom. It's really draining but also very fulfilling so I feel like it's worth the sacrifice for another week but I'm very much looking forward to having my family back! So here's the pics from Thanksgiving and then some of our Christmas family home evening last night.

Our festive thanksgiving decor

The Thankful Box
Everyone wrote something they were thankful for and put it in the box

Our cute place Settings
Cortney made the cute little Pilgrim Hats!

Best Thanksgiving EVER!
Eric has been waiting his whole life to have a reason to have a Chick- fil- A platter
I absolutely despise Turkey so we got a platter with assorted sauces for our Thanksgiving Dinner!

This is our beautiful live Christmas Tree! We couldn't have picked a better tree for ourselves and it smells delicious!

I decided to hang all of my glass ornaments since half of them have already been shattered this year.
I LOVE how it turned out!

Kensie liked helping roll out the dough

This is Mommy and Daddy GingerBear.
The kids also wanted to make the grandparents. So we also have a Grandpa and Nana Bear in the favorite colors and a Grandpa and Grandma Bear. Note the scar on Grandpa Holden Bear's knee from his bear Knee Surgery! his dough leg fell off and we had to piece it back together so it was fitting for him! haha
Also I tried to make Brown for our hair but mostly it looks like baby poop yellow?...i don't know

Kensie Bear

I just love his fat little hand holding that paint brush!

Bryce's Master piece

Probably the cutest Boy EVER!

Good thing it's edible paint!

Funny Story: While we were eating our creations, Bryce said he wanted Grandpa Bishop and Kensie wanted Grandma Holden. So then they started playing with them and making them talk to each other. The conversation between the bears turned to dancing. Grandma Holden GingerBear started dancing and twirling. Grandpa Bishop Bear then said " NO, NO let me show you how to do it Grandma" Then shaking his little Bear tail, "I like to move it move it!" Then the 2 bears danced happily long into the night.

BLAH-g!

2008-12-07T18:25:00.000-08:00

I have been SO busy with Savior of the World stuff and pre-school, people getting sick, watching other people's kids, and all of the other fun mom stuff I get to do, blog's taken a back seat. you're over it. i guess I say that a lot...you're over that too! ha...anyway Eric is coming to the show on Wed, at which point I will get some pictures in costume and maybe even one with me AND Eric! we'll see. on a random side note, who has tried the dark chocolate covered altoids?? Best. thing. ever.

Happiest place on Earth! Part II

2008-11-24T15:09:00.000-08:00

OK so as Cortney stated in her comments, I did leave out several big chunks of our Disneyland trip. Firstly, as we were coming out of the Pinocchio ride in fantasy land 2 guys came up to us and told us we were winners in the year of a million dreams and our whole family got "Dream fast passes". We didn't think it was that big of a deal but as we later found out they were pretty special. Usually when you get a fast pass you can only have one at a time. These dream passes gave us like 8 rides per park (Disneyland and California Adventure) and we could use them all whenever we wanted to! And apparently not a lot of people get these so we were pretty excited. So around 3 the kids were tired and ready to go so My sister Cortney was awesome enough to take the kids while Eric and I booked it back to Disneyland to make good use of our Dream passes! Since our Tickets were good for hopping, we went into California Adventure to hit some rides before they closed at 6 and then we went back to Disneyland to finish up before they closed at 8. We had so much fun running around like little kids getting on the rides! I was running a lot faster than Eric and I told him I would drag him around the park if I had to, to get to all the rides we wanted to! I actually did end up dragging him around most of the night but it was totally worth it to go on all the big, fun rides without the kids! Don't get me wrong, I loved the teacups but they don't hold a candle to California Screamin'! Anyway, we did stop for a couple pictures with our Disney photo pass but as it turns out you have to pay like 15 bucks just to download them so you can just imagine how cute we look standing in front of the lit up Christmas tree at California Adventure! And here's some more pics!

On the Fire Truck in ANOTHER family picture without Eric

Kensie just Had to have a pink tea cup

As soon as Bryce walked up to him, Goofy grabbed Bryce's leash and tried to make him do doggy tricks like sit and stay or taking him for a walk and then he would pat his head. We thought it was pretty funny! Bryce didn't.

We waited like a half hour just to meet Mickey.
It's like he's a celebrity around there or something, geez!

And we did figure out after the fact, that our camera lens had a finger print smudge or something on it which is why ALL of our pictures have like a blur in the upper left hand corner. BOO!

I'm a total copycat...

2008-11-24T14:22:00.000-08:00

Thanks Becca for helping me steal some cuteness...

Happiest place on Earth!

2008-11-23T18:05:00.000-08:00

Our family was able to go to Disneyland this last Tuesday and we had SO much fun! My good friend got us in for free so she's basically the shiz and I love her. The kids were in heaven. As soon as we got out of the car, Bryce saw the picture on the parking garage of chip and Dale and he was FREAKING out! then I was like, "Oh honey, it get's so much better than a picture in the parking lot!" Then as we were walking down main street he said, "Mom where is Spider man?" hahaha he's so funny. Anyway here's some pictures of our fun day. I can't get these in the right order. You're already over it but my inner O.C.D. is N.O.T.

"The barf cups" Bryce insisted on spinning them the WHOLE time!

We made Bryce and Kensie wear "harnesses" aka Leashes. I cringe inside at the thought of it but it saved our lives because they couldn't get lost!

Bryce pulling the sword from the stone.

This bird came so close to us! We thought it was really funny.

This is what Charlie looked like by mid-day.

Stroller friends

It was all decked out for Christmas. Gorgeous!

Kensie and I waiting for the boys.

The big boat ride that we waited a HUNDRED years for! LAME!

This is what Charlie's hair looked like after we took his cute mickey ears off.

This was Kensie's Fav part of the day!

Charlie fell in love with Ariel. She was the only one who could get him to smile. What man can resist a beautiful red head calling him "Stud".

Bryce thought the tram from the parking structure was the funnest ride ever!

After a hard day of play. These mouseketeers didn't make it out of the parking garage!

ch-ch-ch-check it out!

2008-11-17T15:08:00.000-08:00

Buy Your Tickets Here!

Our show opens in just a few short weeks! It is going to be a gorgeous set and a beautiful way to get into the spirit of the upcoming holiday season! I will only be performing as Mary Magdalene on select nights because the show is double cast. My nights will be December 6th, 10th, 12th and a matinee performance at 2:00 on the 13th. Be there or Be Square...

That's Better

2008-11-10T12:27:00.000-08:00

That other template was giving me the shingles.

Too Soon?

2008-11-06T09:14:00.000-08:00

It's not too early to be putting Christmas colors on my blog and blasting christmas music through the house, is it? Because if it is, you're all over the fact that I'm already doing it! tee-hee!
(Also, it seems that this "Red" translates as "Burnt Orange" in which case, you'll get over that too.)

4 reals

2008-11-03T20:45:00.000-08:00

I was TAGGED! Go to the 4th file and pick the 4th picture then tag 4 people.
This picture was taken when Bryce was 2 months old. It was the only time he got to meet his Papa John in person. I Love it.

I tag Stephanie, Jessica, Sunny and CORTNEY! (just because I know how much you LOVE to be tagged!)

Because it's FUN that's WHY

2008-10-28T20:51:00.001-07:00

We are asking ourselves WHY we did this with three crazy toddlers but it's done and they will be better next year, right? We did our annual Bishop Family Pumpkin Carving home Evening and they all turned out SO good! We decided to make it a competition but then we realized that we don't have an unbiased judge on the premises so I decided to let YOU GUYS be the judge!

( I thought you could see them better with all the lights out :)

HERE THEY ARE! (In no particular order):

Bryce's with an ORIGINAL pattern

Charlie's
(We couldn't carve it because it has a ROT SPOT on the back of it's head AND Charlie can't actually hold a pen yet so it was really ME who drew the face but don't let that sway your decision!)
Kensie's
Also an original piece
She calls it her "Spooky"

Eric's
Kensie chose the pattern (naughty dinosaur?!) but it was Eric who executed it quite beautifully I might add.

Mine

Saved the best for last! (Wait I thought these were in no particular order? Oh well!)

What do you think?
I LOVE HaLLoWeeN!

2008-10-28T12:58:00.000-07:00

This is SO much fun! They have so much cute stuff to give away! Check them out!

It's Official!

2008-10-27T21:04:00.000-07:00

I am now Mary Magdalene! Our Stake is in it's second year of putting on Savior of the world and they began rehearsals back in August I believe. They called Eric and me last week because our stake president heard us sing in church a few weeks ago and called the producer, who then called us because they wanted us to fill some roles that they had that were still empty. So we auditioned last week and got the call that I will be playing Mary Magdalene and Eric will be an apostle. I know I can speak for both of us when I say that it has been way TOO long since we performed on stage! We are really excited to be a part of this show and can't wait to get into rehearsals on Thursday! Hopefully we'll be able to catch up with everyone else who has been rehearsing for months now. But it shouldn't be a problem. I mean, we are professionals after all. :) The show will run the 2nd week of December, running Every night of the week and then a matinee and evening show on Saturday the 13th. So if you can make it, we'd love to see you! It should be an awesome experience.

It's OBVIOUS.

2008-10-19T16:16:00.000-07:00

What you can't tell what Eric and I dressed up as for halloween?

Clearly, He was a Crocodile in a mud puddle and I was the Crocodile Hunter in a great pair of boots!
Cortney and Steven invited us to crash their ward's halloween party and we had a lot of fun. Who can resist a good hot dog and some trunk or treating?
Charlie in true puppy fashion kept trying to run away.

Kensie was a ballerina Elephant and after many painstaking hours spent, last year's spider was turned into this year's bat for Bryce who has been asking to be a bat since march!
We're excited to dress up and do it again in a week or so! ( mostly so I can take charlie trick or treating and then snitch all his candy when he's not looking! tee-hee!)

Family Fun...Frenzy? (I couldn't think of another word that started with F)

2008-10-11T21:07:00.000-07:00

So Today we had so much fun it almost kills me! Literally. It's a lot of work to have fun with 4 1/2 toddlers! But we did it didn't we! Today was our neighborhood's fire station open house and luckily we live right up the street from the station. I had this great idea to walk. It's down hill on the way to the station. I didn't really take into account the walking home back uphill with 2 strollers and 3 other adults who are not accustomed to walking up said hill. So I'm very sorry guys! I think I may have killed my brother in law. But it was worth it right? It only took you guys 15 minutes to recover! haha really though. Here are some pictures from the open house.

The Cousin Friends becoming junior fire fighters

Ryker got to be one too
What would you do if this crew showed up at your house to put out the fire?
SCARY

Had to post this one of Cute Roxie

They each got a turn to hold the hose. They said when the water is coming out of it they have to have at least 3 guys holding it or they can't control it!

Kensie's Turn

The Fire Station's New Mascots
The cutest little Fire Fighter Ever!
Now You know why my husband married me. One word: GODDESS

So HOT! (hehe pardon the pun!)
Charlie was there too I swear! He's too squirelly. He doesn't stay long enough for us to get his picture! Luckily He starts nursery in 2 weeks!

The fire fighters were very friendly and very enthusiastically informative. One of them even offered to come to our house to fix our smoke detector! The kids had fun climbing all over the truck and trying on the uniforms. Eric and I jumped in there too. Man those suits are heavy! And they have to get them on in less than 60 seconds!! Those guys are amazing! Then we came home and watched Wall-E and made Fried Ramen for Dinner which is a most delicious and economically friendly meal! Steven found it on his mission and passed it on to us. It cost us about $3 to feed 8 people. So Yummy! Then we took a little trip to the pumpkin patch.

They had these fun wagons you could use to haul your friends and your finds!

Pumpkin Friends!

Charlie LOVED those tiny pumpkins!

Cute Roxie with her little pumpkin

B & K with their picks

Heading out to the car with our Treasures!
The sign said they had pumpkins on the vine and I guess that wasn't a complete lie. The guy did have one vine with a few scrawny pumpkins on it and the rest of the pumpkins were housed under a big tent NOT ON A VINE! BOO! Anyway, He let all the kids pick a tiny pumpkin for free which was really nice of him and then we bought a couple of big ones to carve in a few weeks. We really did have such a fun day with all the kids. Hopefully creating some more of those GOOD memories. Oh and my new found candy obsession? Caramel Apple Sugar Babies. yum-O!
BTW: You can view the rest of our adventures on my new facebook album!

You can't vote if you're not registered!

2008-10-08T18:55:00.000-07:00

The deadline is October 20th!

This is a link to the government page so even for those of you not in California, you can get registered here also.

Family: isn't it about...TIME?

2008-10-07T22:52:00.000-07:00

I did these interviews with the kids after Bryce's first day of school so I could document the feelings of the day.Originally, I only intended to interview Bryce but then Kensie wanted a turn and when she was through, Charlie climbed up in the chair for his turn. I thought it was so much fun that I may just have this become a recurring piece on my blog. The videos are a tad lengthy but I thought at the very least the grandmas' and other family from afar would appreciate seeing the kids and hey what am I saying? It's MY blog! So Enjoy!

Bryce's First Day of School Interview

Kensington's Interview

Charlie's Interview

Garaunteed to make you smile...

2008-10-04T21:57:00.000-07:00

I was clearing some files off of the memory card in my phone and found this video of Bryce dancing to the Backyardigans. All I can say is, CLASSIC!

Of kitty tales and Frogs ...

2008-10-03T22:22:00.000-07:00

First of all, Kensie is a little pixie. She makes us laugh a hundred times a day. Seriously, I think she stays up all night working on her material for the next day. Anyway lately when I do her hair, this is how it goes:

Me: "ok what do you want? A ponytail, pig tails, braids or wear you hair down?"
K: "No Mom, I want a Kitty Tail, right here." brushing her hand down the side of her face onto her neck.

hahaha I tried to think of a kitty tail hairstyle and what it would look like. We decided it was her bangs pulled back and put into a braid. She loves it and now I don't even need to ask which hairstyle. We know it will be a kitty tail every time!

Aaand, Thank You SO much Aunt Cortney for Scarring my child for LIFE! Sound Familiar?
Kensie: "Mommmy I have to sleep in my bed the froggy is going to get me!! Did you hear that? he's coming! Hurry go to sleep so the froggy won't get you!"
I guess I should be thanking you because now Kensie will stay in her bed and go to sleep for fear of "the froggy". Granted she now whimpers and talks herself to sleep saying " he's not real, the froggy is nice. the froggy won't bite me he's nice..." But she's staying in bed so it's a start.
It's all good. After all, If we didn't have family to scar us for life, who would? Who would...

"Now He's sitting on a bench in Central Park with the guy who has no legs..."

2008-09-28T18:45:00.000-07:00

Last Night we decided to go to Fall Flicks in Central Park here in Laguna Niguel. They showed Curious George. It's Free and it was so much fun! It's right around the corner from us so it didn't take long to get there. We made Hot chocolate and took cookies and blankets. We put on our jammies and went and sat on the grass in the amphitheater and enjoyed a fun family activity. I think everyone had a really fun time. I have very fond memories of going to the drive-in when I was little and I figure this is the closest thing we have to that these days. It makes me feel like a good mom when I take my family out to do fun things and hopefully create good memories for them. Maybe it'll cancel out all those memories they have of me going nuts.
...maybe not.

My cute family watching Curious George

This is Bryce when he watches pretty much any movie. He covers his ears when he gets scared. Why he doesn't cover his eyes? I don't know. Oh and just so you know this is the part of the movie when George is painting the opera lady's apartment. Scary, I know.

Oh! Nerd Love!

Oh! Back to school...

2008-09-25T00:47:00.001-07:00

We forgot to charge our real camera so I took some first day of school pictures on my phone

Tonight was back to school night at Bryce's Pre-school although technically for us it was more like go to school for the first time night. Bryce's first day of school was on Monday because we got wait listed and he started 3 weeks late. Then we all got the flu so he missed Tuesday and Wednesday. Even though he's only gone 2 days from what I hear from both him and his teacher, He is doing extremely well and is already making friends. Half of them don't speak english yet...but maybe by the end of the year they will be able to communicate with each other! I was one of 2 parents that spoke english. The rest speak spanish so the poor teacher had to translate everything she was saying! All the parents seem eager to help out and it looks like it's going to be a fun year.

After school I let Bryce play a video game to unwind. It's uncanny the resemblance he bears to another gamer I know... ( cough*cough* Eric * cough*)

Kensie Really missed her brother while he was at school. She wanted to play with him too. (She was just sitting next to him holding a controller!)

I just think Charlie is so cute peeking around that chair!
P.S.: To the Cat outside who sounds like a crying child, Please stop.

Who is LOVING this new template?

2008-09-24T23:25:00.000-07:00

ME!! I think the colors are so refreshing and fun! I'm not a huge fan of the purple but the cute argyle print makes up for it. I Love all the fun gadgets you can add on the sides. All of your photos can have a link to a website of your choice, and I really like these cute lds link buttons. The best part? This awesome blog list that categorizes all of my blogs by most recently updated!! Such a time saver for those of us who may have a slight aversion to constantly checking blogs! I LOVE LeeLou Blog templates! And they're FREE! Check them out:

57 years later...

2008-09-21T22:22:00.000-07:00

ok Jessie I am finally getting to do this post. You have no idea how excruciatingly painful it has been to get all the photos and organize them in to a post on dial up speeds but it was actually really fun and quite surprising at times at what showed up in response to my answers to the questions! So here's the Photo tag: You have to take all these facts about yourself and type them into google image search and then pick your favorite pic from the first page of results only. Pretty fun.

Name:

Favorite Food:

First Job:

Nickname:

Where was I born:

Favorite Color:

College:
Bad Habit:

Favorite Place:

Favorite Animal:

Past Love:

What am I doing right now:

Where I live:

Favorite Object:

Grandmother's name:

How old am I:

That's me in a nutshell?... Anyway, BECCA, CORTNEY, CHRISTI, LISA AND SEAN! I Choose You! And You better do it! (Cortney...) I don't hand out my tags like pretzels...

Sooo...

2008-09-03T21:08:00.000-07:00

After going to the temple, everyday life just seems so UN-blogworthy. But life goes on and our family has had some more big accomplishments and fun things happening that before all of this would have amounted to their own posts but alas, here we are with a month of no posts at all. So they all get their glory in one giant post I like to call "Blog Spectacular". Here it is:

Bryce can Swim!!! No pics yet but we have been going to the pool in our complex everyday just about and he will totally go under water and he swims with the aid of his tube. Anyone who knows Bryce will realize what a big accomplishment this is since only a few months ago he wouldn't even lay down in the bath tub! Way to go Bryce!

We got a BED!!! We have been sleeping on a raised aero bed since we moved in February
and we finally got a queen size bed that is oh so heavenly after having me, Eric, Charlie and Kensie sleeping on the air mattress. Eric can sit down on the bed without me flying off the other side. It's probably the most exciting thing ever!

Our Aunt Becca came to visit again and she stayed at our house. The kids LOVED it and this morning Bryce came into my room crying because aunt Becca had left and he missed her! While she was here we drove to Fresno to have a surprise 50th birthday party for our parents who were both turning 50 this summer. It was so much fun and we actually pulled off the surprise! Our whole family was together for about 2 days and I think everyone had a really good time! Then we came back home and hung out for another day with Becca. We went to shipwreck park, powell's sweet shop, and Cherry on Top yogurt shop. It's always fun to have becca around.

I am learning to cut hair to help cut costs of running a family that grows hair and requires maintenance. My mom gave me a set of hair clippers and attatchments and stuff. It even came with a cape and a training dvd. It showed you how to do all the latest hair styles with your new clippers. "The Flat top" and "the mushroom bowl cut" to name a few! hahaha it was copyrighted in 1990 so I guess those were the "latest"! anyway I practiced on Bryce's hair because I figured if I messed his hair up it wouldn't matter that much. It turned out as well as any other hair cut he's ever had so I was pleased. Then I moved on to Eric's hair and I was seriously almost finished when I decided to do a technique they showed on the training dvd that you comb the hair up and then use the clippers to trim it down. I kind of goofed in the home stretch and poor eric ended up with a little botched up spot right on the very front of his hair! I ended up having to shave it so you wouldn't see the "hole". Eric has never had his head shaved in his whole life and I totally started crying I felt so bad! He says he doesn't mind it but I feel really bad! Sorry Babe! Better luck next time I guess! hahaha

The blogger website isn't loading my pictures for some reason but you can view our summer in pictorial form on my facebook photo albums. Happy viewing!

What you've all been waiting for...

2008-08-09T22:58:00.000-07:00

Best day EVER!!! Our little Family was sealed together in the San Diego Temple on Our 5th anniversary August 2nd. It was such a special day and we thought it was so much fun that we could be sealed on our anniversary! It was absolute perfection of a day. The weather was gorgeous, everyone looked great in their cute new clothes, and we were surrounded by family who loved us. A side note to everyone who was there: Thank You so much for coming to share this moment with us. It was important to us and it was so incredible to look around and see those that we love there to support us.

Our sealing was at 11:00 am and afterwards we went outside where my amazingly talented sister in law Jessie was gracious enough to get a few shots of our family so we could remember this awesome day. LOVE her! After that we went to CPK for lunch. It was right across the street and had an incredible view of the temple. It was great to spend time with family who couldn't stay for very long. After lunch we proceeded to get lost driving home because there wasn't a north bound freeway entrance. We thought we could just drive up the street and catch the next one but somehow we ended up on the college campus! We eventually figured it out and got home safely! Good thing we got lost on the way home and not on the way there! I am so blessed to be able to have had this opportunity to have my family sealed to me FOREVER and to be able to be with my super cute awesome husband for eternity! I've been waiting for this day for 5 years and it finally came. I am so full of joy I could burst and I am just so happy that I had wonderful people who could share in this moment.

AAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!

2008-07-23T21:54:00.000-07:00

We did it!!!!! Eric and I went through the Newport Beach California Temple together on Tuesday July 22nd and it was incredible. Probably the best day ever only to be trumped in 10 days when we go to the San Diego Temple to be sealed to our family!!!! I know right?!! hehe well anyway, We had a wonderful day and my parents and his parents and my sister Cortney and her husband Steven were all able to be there. Then afterwards Both of our parents and Eric and I went out for lunch to Fashion Island in Newport.And I have to say my FATBURGER was extra FATTY and actually quite satisfying. There's something about hot grease that comforts you deep down inside. Amazing. Love,Love,Love...

Sure Fire Cure

2008-07-19T09:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry Friends for the long time no post but I think it's safe to say that I have kicked my facebook/ blogging addiction to the curb. It's incredible all the things you can accomplish in the event that you lose your free high speed internet connection and are faced with the cold, hard reality of not being able to write a new post or update your facebook status. That said folks, BIG THINGS ARE COMING!! Stay tuned to this blog in weeks to come because it's going to be HUGE!!!

I feel sorry for kids who don't have an Aunt Becca

2008-05-24T12:40:00.000-07:00

It's always so much fun when Aunt Becca comes to town!
We had a super fun day having a picnic and going to the Children's Museum at La Habra. It was perfectly suited for their age group and it was reasonably priced too. I think all the kids had a fun time with minor meltdowns.

The "Nature walk" with freaky taxidermied animals
"The Lion is going to eat us!"

Roxie and Bryce in the Super City Playroom putting out the FIRE!
It was just pretend!

"Yes Mr. President, I'll be right there."

In the big house

In the Arts and Crafts Room
We made masks.
Then we went into a really fun room where you could dress up in costumes and put on a show on a little stage with a microphone. This is what we got.

Bryce LOVES playing Zelda: Wind waker on the Gamecube with his dad. He says that Link(the character from the game) looks like him. So he always calls it "The game with Me in it" Apparently He's memorized the theme song. Maybe it's time we found a new activity for the boys to do together...
After the museum we got pizza for dinner and watched Hairspray and took a bath. It was such a fun day but I don't think we can afford to skip nap time again anytime soon!

Stomach Flu = One Rocking Good Time

2008-05-15T08:32:00.000-07:00

Pajama Party just before the carnage!

So, Last week was filled with excitement. My Niece, Roxie came to stay with us while her mommy was at the hospital and that very day is when my daughter got a fever and started puking everywhere. As soon as it was discovered I quarantined the healthy kids upstairs with the gate and cloroxed the whole house. I proceeded to follow kensie around with clorox wipes. I was absolutely determined that Roxie would not get sick so I called my brother in law to come and pick her up. He did and then the next day was the whole *cough cough* circumcision incident...so Roxie was back at our house and was puking her guts up by the next morning along with Charlie, Bryce and my Husband threatening the flu. My mom and Dad came into town on Saturday and Steven took Roxie home. Cortney came home on Sunday and I am told Roxie was completely healthy by the time they got home. Lucky!

Probably not what my dad wanted to do coming to town to see his new grandson!

We missed mother's day at church. Bryce was Super bummed out because it was to be his primary mother's day singing debut. He tried desperately to talk me into taking him to church and insisted that he would not throw up. SAD. So my mothers day was filled with giving out doses of tylenol and Pepto and in turn cleaning the same medicine in form of vomit off of the furniture. I didn't even get to sleep in. But My sweet husband made me homemade mcmuffins for breakfast and he gave me a set of knives. KNIVES for mother's day! hahaha fitting for me I guess! j/k I've been surviving on one weary ikea steak knife since we moved so it was very thoughtful of him to give me some big girl knives. Love that Boy!

HE'S HERE!!!!

2008-05-07T14:27:00.000-07:00

Ryker Holden Russell
May 7th, 2008
1:12 PM
7 lbs. 11 oz.
19 inches
Practically Perfect in Every Way!
Good Job, Cortney!!!!

Goliath has fallen!

2008-05-05T22:30:00.000-07:00

Goliath the fish. He was a good fish, always happy to swim...in the water. He always made us smile while he was with us, for however short a time. Goliath the fish was preceded in death by David the goldfish, Daniel the goldfish, and Nephi the goldfish. Services will be held in the downstairs bathroom after the children are sound asleep. Contributions to Goliath's estate are much appreciated. All funds will be applied to the purchase of His successor.

Post post

2008-05-05T09:00:00.001-07:00

Any Resemblance? This is the cake I made for Charlie's 1st Birthday. We always call him "Hippo teeth" so it seemed fitting. His birthday was right around Cortney's baby shower a couple weeks ago so we just went ahead and did the party while everyone was here for that. Our family loves any excuse for cake so it was a good time. Charlie had never had cake before so I didn't know how he would react to it. Kid went to town! He probably ate a bigger piece than I did! We Love this Kid. He's So much fun and his personality grows with him every day. Happy Birthday, Charlie!

Happy Sunday!

2008-05-04T18:16:00.000-07:00

I don't know about anyone else but Sundays are especially difficult for us. Our ward starts at 1 in the afternoon and ends at 4 but we don't usually get home until 4:30 because our building is so far away. We have to forgo nap time because of the timing and then we have to fight to keep the kids awake on the drive home so that we don't have to stay up all night with them. Most recently, it's been even more difficult because my calling at church is in the nursery and there is only one other leader for anywhere between 12 and 18 children. It's extra special. I get really grumpy on Sundays (Eric will attest to that)
So In celebration of Sunday being over we came home and ate our feelings in the form of DONUTS!!

Let the Blogfest begin!

2008-05-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

This is me pretty much all the time these days. I'm beginning this blog in the hopes of curbing my newfound facebook addiction. It's a problem...a big, big problem.