California Here we come.....

Today we left for a little Road trip..... Me (myself) and six kids...... Disney Land or Bust!!!

here we all are stuffed in the car.... Me, Madz (not showing in this picture), Zarley binks, Canyon, Liv a love, Winter and Hayden.....

We drove to Vegas this afternoon and will drive the rest of the way tomorrow!!! (Hey baby lets go to Vegas....) We came upon a little snow storm through Cedar City, which we anticipated. It was actually really pretty. The car ride was not too bad, I put on Olivia's ipod so I couldn't hear anyone and rocked out as I drove along.... The kids got a pretty big kick out of my singing and dancing as I drove... I didn't know I was entertaining them at the time.

This was the highlight of today..... we saw this young couple driving down the freeway with their Christmas tree stuffed in the car with them.... It totally reminded us of Tommy Boy when they have the deer in the back seat, we laughed pretty hard..... I guess that is a way to freshen up your car. They looked so funny with this tree all smashed behind them and around them. The picture does not do the scene justice..... Until tomorrow!

Happy Thanksgiving..... Top 10 things I am grateful for....

Happy Thanksgiving..... Each year as I think of the things I am grateful for, they usually are the same few things. I think each day the circumstances/trial and experiences of our own or those around us may bump one thing to the top of the list, or make you aware of just how grateful you may be for a certian thing.... so here is my top 10 countdown for today (it could be different even tomorrow) #10... The Holiday Season all together. Thanksgiving and family togetherness the celebration of Christmas and the Savior etc etc....

#9 My job.... The fact that I get to work with all these cute little faces each week!!

#8 My boat.... I know that may seem materialistic, but I love love it. I love the activities being at the lake, and mostly the fun times I have with my family and friends.

#7 Beds..... the fact that all my kids have their own beds(silly but not all children have beds all the time...ha ha inside joke) and the fact that we have warm beds/blankets etc to sleep in........ even if mine is completely outdated and old.... I also love the fact that my dad made some of my kids beds...

#6 My new washer and dryer.... I love that I can dry a load of towels in 40 minutes instead of 3 hours and 3 cycles... I love the fact that even though I told Tom we did not need new ones he bought them anyway.... the fact that he knows that I spend most of my day washing clothes and explained to me that right now in our lives in the most laundry I will ever do, so to wait five years would be silly because the kids will start moving out.... He is a smart one and I love them more then I really thought I would.... wow the other things I may get done now!

#5 Cars that work.... I know it is old, and completely junky inside with all the kids crap. I know that the seat heaters do not work any longer which makes me very sad, but the fact that I have something dependable to drive that doesn't cost me lots to fix all the time.... I have lots of funny stories of growing up with cars that did not have the same dependability!

#4 My health..... watching my moms health change over night has really made me realize how much I appreciate the good health that I have!!

#3 My family my brothers and sisters and parents and in-laws.... I love them all and am grateful for all that they bring into my life!! I love that my kids have their cousins all around them as well.

My kids..... they are beautiful, healthy and I feel I am blessed far beyond what I deserve to be able to raise and know each of them..... I love that we do everything together and are a team!!!

#1 today is Tom I am so grateful for such a nice husband, he works hard for us and loves us. He is funny and fun to be around and I am so grateful for the relationship we have. He is my best friend......

"Mom who do I look like"

Every time Canyon gets out of the bath he wraps his towel around himself with part of his upper body hanging out, and then asks me "who do I look like" Lets see if anyone can guess who he thinks he resembles????? (PS. the drawing on his body has nothing to do with it, he did that right after he got out of the tub last night not sure what he was going for with that, I think a smiley face....) Also notice the supershort hair.... he decided to give himself a scalping hair cut! I am sad his baby curls and long hair are gone! Oh boy though does he look even more like his Granddad....

Ok so your all smarter then me....... The first time he asked me I had no idea where he was going.... but your right it is Jesus..... Oh his little mind kills me!!

Happy "Golden" Birthday Liv-a-love

Today is Olivia's 9th Birthday..... hence the "golden" birthday.... 9 on the 9th.... She has been talking about her golden birthday for years.... I guess it is your special birthday where you get lots of money etc.... I don't know where my kids heard of this but Liv is our first one to celebrate it..... She didn't get a lot of money but we tried to make it special..... She is such a poser..... It is hard to find a normal smiley picture of her.. but it is part of her fun personality which we love!!

She was born on a Monday October 9th... She was our tiniest baby weighing 6lbs 13 oz... and only 18 inches tall. We had been wanting a baby sister for a long time, Madz had talked about her sister Olivia since she was two.... so when she was born we knew we had to name her Olivia..

At around 9months she became the grumpiest little person, this is the face she would give everyone all the time! I was shopping one day and a lady said to me "excuse me ma am your baby is giving me crusties.." Ok..... We laughed she had this face all the time.

She has always been so fearless, and full of passion for life! She loves people like no body I know and is so intense about everything. I think she is much wiser then the rest of us, she loves people for who they are and I so admire that in her! She loved to wear these goggles when she swam etc... this is actually a make do picture I couldn't find the best picture ever of her... it is right before this one was taken, she is on the top of a water slide coming off the houseboat (Nat if you have a copy of it can I have one??) My dad (Grandad) calls her Pecos... for Pecos Bill if he gives you a nick name it sticks and that is all he calls you.... one day he was out at our house when she was only 1 and we were trying to put in our yard.... she would walk around in just her diaper, ride her little bike down the drive way falling into trenches etc... He decided she was just like Pecos someone raised by wolves!! It is so fitting.... she could totally take care of herself... we laugh at her at dance competitions because she comes in the morning and happens to somehow be where she needs to be when it is her time to perform and there when its time to go home.... I don't know what happens in the mean time but she is very self sufficient!! (We call her stinky Pete so she has lots of nick names)

Here she is on her 3rd birthday...

She is such a good big sister and Canyon just loves her~~

This is a typical smile of Olivia's...

She has very many "stupid human tricks" This is her Kiss tongue which she can stick inside her nose....She also can wiggle her ears without touching them and roll her belly just like on "South Pacific" She is amazing!

She loves her friends... this is her with her friend Megan.... she would rather be with her friends than anything... we have to fight her every time we go somewhere over bringing friends... we don't mind most the time but once in awhile we have to get mad and tell her whether she likes it or not we are her family and she will have to live with it!!

Like I said such a poser!! It so shows her personality though and I just love every bit of her!! I wish I could keep her this age forever!!

She loves her American Girl Dolls"

Another thing about Olivia is she always always gets lost everywhere we go.... We lost her right after this picture was taken in Disney World.... we were so scared me and Hayden especially we thought she was kidnapped and she was just out in the parking lot like what is the big deal, I knew where I was.... Another time at Disney World we were with our friends the Reiers, we stopped to take a picture in front of the castle... she kept going, we did not notice we had lost her until Matt was checking the picture on the camera and noticed she wasn't there.... Can you say great parents!! I know she probably needs one of those terrible leashes!!

This is her dance picture from last year... She did her first solo last year and she did a great job I was so proud of her... we don't have a picture in that costume because she wouldn't come up to the studio she wanted to "play".....

Anyway Happy Birthday stinky Pete!! I hope it was "Golden" enough for you!! We are so so lucky to have you in our family and love you!!!

Its a nice day for a....

White Wedding....... So my sister got married last week..... she had this ancestor type thing.... it was actually pretty cool. She had this frame that had a picture of her and Mitch in the middle and then it went down each side with pictures of their parents and grandparents on their wedding day. She also had some of their wedding dresses displayed. So with that theme she wanted all of her sisters to get in their wedding dresses and get some photos done with her.........

So she had told us this for quite awhile.... Amber was less then happy about the whole thing, not wanting to unseal her dress, worried about fitting in it etc... I was fine with the idea (before hand). When we actually did it Amber was fine and I was the grumpy one.... I show up and they all have nice updo's my hair is just down and I am wearing the only outdated dress... notice the 1993 puffy sleeves and the wreath veil??? I looked like I had snuck out of the Robin Hood Set... in this apple orchard. Needless to say we had a really good time. Hense the above picture (where I totally have an Olivia face). We laughed so hard the whole time mostly over the 4 boobs Audrey and Amber had.... my dress was a laughing point too. However I thought it turned out good at her wedding it matched her theme... The pictures are pretty funny (I post them for you Carlye) so its ok if you want to laugh a little!!
I had to remove the veil it just was not matching with everyone else!!

Like I said we were laughing pretty hard the whole time!

"White" Lake Powell 2009

Our Family at Rainbow Bridge

The whole crew and Rainbow Bridge...

This year we went to Lake Powell with most of my family.(it is pretty much a yearly tradition) ...sadly we were missing my 2 brothers and their wifes and some of their kids (Troy, Blanca, Josh, Natalie, Augustus, Lila & Emme) and my parents We missed you guys!!.. The rest of us had a great time though.... Audrey, Dan & Annie and my family along with Kendeyl stayed in a hotel and just met the rest of the camping crew each morning.... It was hard to leave at night but man did we love having an air conditioned bed to sleep in!! Autumn, Miotch, Corbin, Jaimie, Andrew, Shawna, Amber, Mike, Winter, Lexi, Zarley, Owen and X-man were the camping crew!!
To me Lake Powell is like Heaven on Earth!! It is my favorite place to go.....
some of my favorite things are......
1.Everyone waves to each other, as you drive by another boat you all wave like its an old friend... or like "hey good times right".....
2. You never really know what time or day it is for that fact... that is the greatest feeling to me also I can share my girls camp skills and make a sun dial to guess the time!
3. The scenery can't get any better, it really just is beautiful!
4. If your hot you just jump in the water to cool off. I love that refreshing feeling and it takes me a few days when I get home to get over the lets just jump in the water feeling when I'm hot.
5. Its time spent with people I love!! In the sun and water which I also love!!

A few of this years highlights were.... Our new molecule tube, we all had so much fun being pulled on it, playing king of the hill on it, seeing who could balance the longest on it etc.... I think they even ended up sleeping on it.
We went to Rainbow Bridge.... I hadn't been in probably 30 years.. It was fun and it really is amazing to see. Mitch got in trouble from the Ranger for walking on sacred ground... I believe their is a picture in the slide show of it.
We brought 2 friends Kendeyl (with Madz) and Lexi (with Winter) they made it all the more fun, and we were glad they came with us...
Olivia got bit by a duck... it jumped right up and took a taste of her cheek..... It left quite a mark and I think my kids will forever be changed (feeding ducks is not so fun anymore)
I got chased by some freaky man in a motorized wheel chair... he came out from behind a dumpster like a mad man and I had to run for my life... probably pretty funny to anyone watching...
They had a lot of wild life in their camp site we had not seen before at Lake Powell... Rattle Snakes, a fox? They debate on if that is what it was... and then the regular frogs and lizards...
The boys played a little Baci??
Livie learned to knee board, Madz learned to slalom, we all had a try at surfing and quite liked it!! Winter and Kendeyl tried and learned almost everything (skiing, wake boarding, knee boarding, surfing etc....
I love how serious Jaimie and Madz get on the tube too, they seem like they are in some kind of serious tubing competition they can scurry from one side of the tube to the other to keep it from tipping or them going off... we did have some great falls on the tubes though!!
Anyway it was one of our all time funnest trips to Lake Powell and I can't wait to go again next year!! Enjoy the slide show of pictures..... Good times I tell ya!!