Kaylee Jo turns 8!!!!

Although Kaylee Jo doesn't look so happy in this pic, I promise she was really excited! Well, Cam doesn't look so happy either. Oh well, at least the mom was happy for this day!

A bit of "pre baptism" jitters!
Our little 8 year old! I can't really believe it!
All the family that came! We even had Cameron's Nana come-so Kaylee's great grandma. That was pretty special to all of us. We were just missing Wade and Erin and their family.
We wend to Jump on it for Kaylee's birthday party. Emmie, Alison and Maryn decided it wasn't fun to jump unless I was with them! Of course, nothing is fun without the one who was giving them all bounces!
If you look closely, you can see Kaylee in the air, doing straddles. My Camera man (cameron) wasn't there, so the pics weren't so hot with my lack of tecky stuff skills!
I thought this pic was funny of Jesslyn-even though you can't see her very well, this is about all I "saw" of her and Kaylee-they were bouncing around the whole time like little monkeys.
Birthday cake and presents after the jump on it party.
WOW! Look at my amazing cake! It was so different in my mind...hmmm, funny how that is always how it turns out when I bake. Oh well, it tasted lots better than it looked! I am taking orders now for anyone who wants one of these for their birthday party!!!!!!!

Patient daisy

This is where Jaynee likes to eat her "moke n' cheese" (macaroni and cheese). Diasy ALWAYS waits for that one special day when she is going to miraculously drop some for her to eat. ITS NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN DAISY! Jaynee
She will eat an ENTIRE box, and then when every sinlge last little shell is gone, she will DRINK the "juice" until the bowl is dry. If there is one thing that I for sure have on my food storage shelf, it better be "moke n' cheese" for Jaynee. And for the refrigerator thing...I don't know why my child likes to sit there and eat it-if any of you could shed some light on this situation, it would be most helpful in my quest to understand my 2 year old!

"Christmas kickoff" Dance recital

Here they are right before the concert began. They were both so excited it was hard for me to even get them to hold still to take this picture!
I just loved this picture of Kaylee. She looks so happy and so herself. I was really proud of both of them.
I didn't get as many pics as I hoped from this dance recital-for some reason, I have no pics of Emmie's dance. However, I did get these two. It was so fun to have Kaylee in the same concert-now that they are both taking from the same studio and Kaylee is no longer spending her hours in the gymnastics gym. Way to go girls!

Cam and I went to Boston-and I turned 30??!!!

Boston in mid-day. I took this picture from the "duck" tour.
Here we are at the State house.
Here is Cute Hana, wearing the tour guides hat. She was so fun to be with! She knew all the great info on things, and she knew how to get all around the city. I felt right at home with my own personal "tour guide!"
I drove the duck too. It was pretty cool!
Here is Hana and I riding the Boston "Duck". It is an old world war 2 vessel that takes you on a tour of the city, and then it takes you right down into the Charles river too.
This was the graveyard where lots of famous people are buried. Can't remember specifics on this particular plot because really, these things are all over the city!! It was so bizarre! You would just be walking along, and look to your left and see a graveyard right in the middle of the city. They were really beautiful though-in their own way.
This pic looks a bit eerie, but it was SO pretty. I took this the last night we were there.

Going to Boston with Cam was amazing. While he worked, I played. (yea I know, not fair, but I was not about to sit home.) We were able to do things together in the evenings and so that was nice. Hana took me all over on Wednesday, and then On Thursday, while she had class, I went running all over Boston and saw a lot of the things that I saw on Wednesday from a distance. It was so much fun. Thanks Hana banana for the great birthday! And Thank you Mari and Jake for watching out 3 little girls so that we could get away for a few days. You two were so great I don't think our kids wanted us to come home!!!

October in a Nut shell

This was taken the night of Halloween after I had compiled the girls loot into one big "bribe" bag for the rest of the year (literally-this lasts us until next halloween! I love it-you clean the playroom, and you get a treat out of the treat bag-even the neighbor kids know what it is, and where it is) Anyway, I found Jaynee digging like a little animal looking for something that interested her.
If anyone knows Bill that owns the practice my dad works at, you know this looks nothing like him! I was laughing so hard at him, that I had to put it on my blog for all of you who know him
Caught ya!!!! She had her basket of candy out before we were even half way done trick-or-treating!
The grandkids at "papas" office. That is the yearly tradition-we have to make a stop at the office and see what papa was that year.
Great grandma Allen with her three little witches. She was right in the middle of eating her pumpkin bread bowl and soup. Dad went over earlier and gave her some candy to give to the kids, so hopefully that was fun for her, and I know it was fun for the girls. She is so sweet, and it is so hard to watch her grow old. She was the BEST grandma any child could have asked for!
The little witches trying to be scary with thier capes out.
This is about half of the grandkids. Amy's kids were clapper girls, along with Casey as a vampire.
Jaynee getting her face painted at the ward carnival.
Did you notice the dog? Why or why do I even spend money on the darn thing. Oh well, it was pretty funny for about 10 seconds.
Carving pumpkins was a hit for my kids. Their favorite part?..Roasted pumpkin seeds! I tried to get them to try them, and once they did, they made me promise that we would eventually open all the pumpkins on the porch and roast those seeds too.
I went to help out with Kaylee's halloween party. Here were are the the "pin the nose on the pumpkin". I spun her so many times I can't believe she was still standing.
Here is Emmie and Colten, her "boyfriend" at Pumkin land. I went on her fieldtrip with her and it was so beautiful that day, and the kids had so much fun. Emmie told me the other day "mom, I am never going to stop liking Colten." oh boy, what am I in for with this little one. Fortunately, Colten is a cute little, well behaved little guy that things Emmie is "so cute!!"
Ok so I am WAY late on this post, but now is better than never. This is kind of the "wrapped up"version of our festive fun Halloween nights.

Jaynee with her "beloved" Wall-E. She never sleeps without him-or her binky. I loved her mouth wide open!!! When she wakes up, she gives wall-e her binky, then she tucks him in with her blankets, gives him a kiss nigh-night and then she is ready to get out. I love it!
These two have shared their bed for about 3 years now-good buddies when they are sleeping-I wish it were that way in the day when they have to share other things!
This pic was taken last night. I was laughing so hard I couldn't take the pic very well. I came in their room to check on them and found Kaylee sleeping, sitting up. This is my little girl that sleep walks too-sometime I will have to get that one of video-it creeps Cam out but I think it is so funny! I ask her all kinds of questions just to hear her funny-"nonsensical" answers. (notice Daisy at the foot of the bed-normally she is right between their heads! She has never slept anywhere else since day one. They love her so much and I actually think it is really cute how she knows where she belongs. I guess having a dog definetely has its perks when it makes your kids so happy.)

I posted these picture because there are so many reasons why I love blogging; one of the main reasons is to capture moments with my camera, that I probably wouldn't normally whip out the camera to catch. Every night I go into the kids bedrooms to check on them before I get into bed. This is usually after they have been asleep for a couple of hours and so you know how their rooms get that little kid sleep smell (maybe you don't and that is just my house!!) but I love it. I love the way they smell and I love the way they curl up the same way in their beds and I love to listen to their little breathing noises-sometimes snoring and sounding like a duck! It is my favorite time of the day. I thought I would just post my favorite time of day pictures that I found tonight.

Kaylee and Aubree got their ears pierced

Here is the finished product! So cute!
We thought we should get a picture with the "dude" as Jaynee would call him, that pierced their ears. He was so patient with all the kids. There were a total of 9 kids (I think) watching this happen. Amy had all hers except Mandy, but she had two extras with her. Then I had all mine. So, needless to say, they had a very supportive crowd and the guy gave them all suckers afterward.
They were both so brave. The pictures tell all!
Jo wanted to hold my hand the whole time. Notice how she is squeezing it!
I think she was almost ready to burst from the anticipation at this point!
AHHHH! The finished result! SHe has been looking forward to this day for years. We got it done today so that they can switch out their earings on their birthdays. (they both have late Nov. birthdays.)
This picture is classic!!! I love it! Drama Queen.

A Month in review

Punky Brewster number one.
Punky Brewster number two. I really should have actually looked at Emmie before she went out the door. The first time I actually looked at her clothes was around lunch time-this is what I saw. This is what I have to learn to live with when they dress themselves. Oh well, she loved it and was happy so I guess I am too!!! (thank heavens she didn't go anywhere except to the neighbors!)
Messes from your's truly!
And...another one. This was done while playing in the gutter after the rain.
I had to show it again. Yes-just to give justice to my destroyer-mind you that these clothes were all clean laying on my couch. I know, I know-I am the lame brain leaving them there for her to get into, but I guess I just didn't think she would go this far. Little did I know.
Here we are! Back again with water trouble. As we are still in the LONG process of finishing the basement, I found some water in the crawl space. So here is Cam, digging a 3 foot hole in our front yard, trying to find the source. After much mud and digging, Cam found out that the smarty pants who installed the sprinkler system (the previous owner) didn't properly seal an electricity wire running through the crawl space and into the garage. We still can't figure out why he decided to run it through the house in the first place. So frustrating!
Here is what I found. I was cleaning out the crawl space for Cam to frame (that is going to be the playroom) and I noticed that the insulation was dark black. I thought it was mold, but Cam found out it was mud. SO all the carpet was wet but luckily it was just a carpet remnant that we had laid and I think we found it before too long. I swear-water problems follow us where ever we go!!!!!
Kaylee did a little race down at BYU. It was a one miler and she did really well. I think she took 9th or 8th.
This was one of her stretches before. I was laughing so hard-she was so nervous and was really feeling pretty cool when she did her splits in front of everyone-and then she pulled this one out. I love it!!
She was about 3/4 of the way done when this shot was taken. She really tried her best to "pace" herself and then keep her spot. Only one little girl passed her near the end.
Not too bad of a time as she crosses the line to give "Cosmo" five. It is not too accurate of a time though-the runner leading their age group took a wrong turn and then had them go back and repeat the whole thing again! Oh well, what she didn't know didn't hurt her.
Then we went to the kids favorite place, "Brick Oven" and celebrated her great race with some yummy food and our favorite cookie and ice cream dessert! Yummy!!
One of my moms favorite things to do is go up to South Fork and play. We went up there for her birthday and had so much fun. We played a softball game with grandpa as the pitcher.Aubree and Casey (Amy's oldest two)going at it like usual-deciding who gets to bat next.
Look out, heavy hitter-(Aubree)
Buddy and mandy moo. (Amy's 2nd and 4th)
I coudn't stop taking picture of the sunset while we were there.
The leaves were in perfect colors the night we went. This pic doesn't give it full justice-it was beautiful!
Here is Kaylee with her "hard grounder to first".
Emmie with her amazing hitting form. Grandpa has to keep telling her to get her bat back and off her shoulder-I can remember his saying those exact things to me!
Here is the windup!! He will do all this fancy windup and then out of the blue comes the ball from behind his back or with the other hand that you weren't expecting. Its pretty funny.
The first base coach giving his "runner" the play info.
If you can't tell, he has his "first base player" in his arms and they made it to home.
"Look at me, I've got my 'papa' wrapped around my finger!"
After and before dinner and the softball game, the kids played in the river-it was cold but they had a blast! It was low enough that they could walk all over and make little paths with rocks.
Could we live in a more beautiful place?
Grandpa's always watching his little "squirrels" as he calls them.
Landon (Amy's baby)looking in a Christmas ball. I thought this was so cute of him!!!