Technical Difficulties

I'm not very good at a lot of the customization stuff for blogs. Does anyone know how to add music from your own computer? I know there are websites where you can load their music to your site, but some of the songs I wanted to add weren't on the website. Like for Kyla's birthday I wanted to put a song on by The Young Dubliners that always reminds me of when Ky was a baby. Any suggestions?

Marathon Baby!!!

That's right I participated in a marathon. Okay, so it was a relay marathon, but still, I'm awesome. I've never really been a runner before but some ladies in my ward wanted to run this relay marathon so I thought I'd give it a try. I still think running is kind of boring, but it was fun doing it as kind of a team thing. And if you can't tell I'm pretty dang proud of myself. I had less than two weeks to prepare and I was just happy that I was able to actually finish my 5.2 miles at all.

Kyla's 4

Okay she actually turned four a week ago, but I'm a slacker. Okay, so here's what I want to know, how do they go from this:
to this:
in just four years. I can't belive it. All she wanted for her birthday was a swimming party and pizza. Oh, and a princess castle cake. If you look you can see the cake in the background. It literally took me several hours and it was SSSOOO skewampis(?). Brent said that I shouldn't worry because the fact that the cake was all distorted just made it look more cartooney.

First Day of Preschool

My little baby's all grown up and going to preschool. I can't believe it.
She was super excited about going to school today.
She was not super excited about me wanting to take pictures of her at school.
This is our sunflower house that my sister, Suzanne, and I planted. Suzanne added all the decor.
I can't believe how tall they grew. I think they are like 10 feet tall.
I took the kids to the zoo last week. This is the only pic I took because the leopard kept pacing back and forth right next to the window. Ky and Caden loved that.

So here's the problem with not posting very often. I plug my sd card in and there's a 109 pictures to sort through. So I'm trying to just pick out the best ones, but it's just so hard.

Can you believe how blue this water is? I want to paint my bathroom this color.
Kyla and Caden playing in the woods.
It was freezing cold this day, and what did I dress my one year old in, shorts and a t-shirt. Poor little Caden.

Okay, and let me tell you something, I will never go camping in Glacier National Park. We saw quite a few bears and all not too far from campgrounds.This is the United States/Canada border. I thought it was funny that we cut a great big swath of trees to verify where the border is.

Kyla and mommy just chillin' on the boat.

Soap Box

Okay, I'm not normally a real wordy blogger. I usually just like to put up pics of my kids, but today I feel like I need to get on my soap box. Why can't people be happy with who they are? I have been hearing a lot about people who want to change themselves or their lives because it's not exactly how life "should" be. I probably don't have room to talk because I know that I have been especially blessed in my life. Tonight when I started thinking about my life I honestly couldn't stop thinking about everything that I have in my life that is so great. I don't mean to sound boastful, I just think it's really important to recognize those things in our lives that are really meaningful and that really matter. I love that I am a mother of two beautiful children, who gave me incredibly horrific stretch marks. I have a great husband, who sometimes gives me stress, but I love him more than anything. I just wish everyone could look at all positive things they have in their life. Sorry I don't mean to sound preachy, I just felt like I had to get this off of my chest. And now I'm done.

Just a few pics

We've been keeping ourselves super busy lately. Here are some pics of us finally getting some quality family time. First, last saturday we took the fishin' boat out to porcupine resevoir. Okay so the boat not exactly luxurious but we had fun. Caden hated the cold water and was super onry. He perked right up after I made him a little tent on the boat and started feeding him oreos.

So today my mom, my sister, and I decided to take the kids to the Cache County Fair. Sounds like a good time, right? Well I usually love fairs. Cotton candy, funnel cakes, farm animals, what's not to love. Well I've never been a big fan of the carnival games and rides, and after today, you'll definately never see myself or my children on any of those rides. The first ride on the bumble-bee great, she had a blast. Second ride, the roller coaster looking one, was great until the track came lose, one of the wheels popped off, and the whole train came to a very ubrupt halt. I know the picture below doesn't look like she was hurt very bad, but I'm telling you, blood was gushing. There was a whole crowd stand around trying to help. There was even a lady who came up afterwards saying she took pictures of the derailed ride and was wondering if I wanted them for legal reasons. Honestly, I'm just so relieved it was worse. It left a nice little gash in her chin but other than that she's fine.

Tomorrow we start our very, very, very, very long drive up to Glacier National Park. Wish me luck with keeping my kids entertained.

DOH!!!!

Brent saw this on cnnmoney.com.

Best Places to Live
Money's list of America's best small cities

#14
McKinney, TX

Just thought I'd make those of you still living there feel good about yourselves.

Ssshhhhhh!!!

Okay, I'm supposed to be out helping Brent weed the garden. I snuck in on the premise of putting Caden to bed, and I really don't want to go back out. Anyway, thought I'd post a couple of pick. Last friday we went to Summerfest. I really like wandering around and looking at all the different art booths. Kyla REALLY liked the cotton candy. Okay, I really liked the cotton candy too.



















On saturday we cleaned my Dad's cabin; not fun, mouse poop everywhere, I don't think I should go into details. After that though I took Kyla and my niece Elysa to the North Logan Library for their kick of to summer reading party. It was really fun. They had rides, bounce houses, slides, cotton candy, and popcorn all for free. I love free.

Wahoo!!! Summer

Okay, so I've been harassed enough. I know, I know, it's been a while. I've been working a bunch and a lot of my time has been spent on outdoor activities now that summer has finally decided to show up. We have a huge garden started. Honestly, I think we went a little overboard on the garden this year. Okay not we, mostly Brent. I hope he realizes that since he wanted a big garden he's doing most of the weeding. Also, for a little bit of fun, my sister saw this fun little idea online for a sunflower house. We planted sunflowers in a square and then when the flowers get bigger, you tie the tops together to make kind of a teepee for the kids to play in. Sounded like a fun idea, I'll let you know if it actually works. Here's the site if your interested, http://www.yardsmarts.com/new_homeowners/yard_basics/article.asp?n_id=62.

I'm Done!!!

THAT'S IT!!! I'M DONE!!!! We're moving some place warmer!















In case you can't see in the picture it's snowing. It's been snowing on and off all day.

Come to Zion

Last week we decided to take off down to warmer weather. We headed south down to Zion National Park. We left thursday morning at 6am, which was pretty impressive for Brent and I because we are not morning people. Within minutes of arriving, Caden had already eaten, and I do mean swallowed and everything, a rock.




















We did some hiking. Brent carried Caden in a pack; Kyla was a trooper and hiked all by herself. We also did a little mountain biking.
















I think they liked going to the sand dunes the very best.

Wedding Tag

I really should be working right now, but I really don't want to. So here's a little wedding tag fun.

1. WHAT DATE IS YOUR ANNIVERSARY? December 21, 2002

2. WHERE DID YOU GET MARRIED? Logan, Utah

3. WHO PROPOSED AND HOW? We went up the canyon on a saturday to do a little hike/walk. We stopped for a second to sit. He got down on one knee and proposed.

4. HOW LONG WERE YOU ENGAGED? 2 months

5. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF YOUR WEDDING DAY? ( AND IT CAN'T BE YOUR HUSBAND) My favorite part was that I didn't have to worry about one single thing. I know a lot of girls had their weddings planned out to every single last detail. I just hired someone, told them basically what I wanted and let her go from there. It was great.

6. WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE IF YOU COULD? My photographer. Since we spent a little more by hiring someone to decorate, I chose a cheaper photographer. My pictures are fine, just nothing special. Plus, I wish my pics had been digital.

7. WEDDING COLORS? Burgandy and cream

8. REMEMBER ANYTHING SPECIAL ABOUT YOUR WEDDING CEREMONY? The man marrying us got us confused with another couple that he was marrying. And he asked if my father would put him in his will.

9. WHERE YOU CLEAN OR MESSY WHEN YOU CUT YOUR CAKE? We were clean. Actually, Brent cut a piece, gave me a bite, and then ate the rest himself.

10. WHERE DID YOU GO ON YOUR HONEYMOON? Las Vegas. Brent's boss had some vouchers for the Bellagio, so we stayed there for a couple nights.

Okay, I want to tag two people. I hope that's allowed. I'm tagging Melissa since I lived far away and wasn't able to be there. And Diane since I didn't know her then.

Big Announcement!!!

The big announcement is.....I'm NOT pregnant!!!! Yes I did buy a mini-van for the sole purpose of having more room when we go on car trips. I just thought I'd clarify since I've had at least 5 people in the last week ask me if I was pregnant. If I had gone for the SUV would people still be asking me if I was pregnant, or is it the mini-van?

I'm a slacker

So, I've been kind of a slacker with post pics lately. I've been spending my computer time looking for cars. Now I'm so tired of looking for cars I could scream, but I won't because my kids are asleep. And Brent's at work, yep, he's back doing shift work. I honestly thought that was over after he left Raytheon. Anyway, no more talking just pics from about the last month or so.



The easter loot. The big package of licorice was actually for me.



Kyla was so excited to get sunglasses. She has been asking for her own sunglasses for a long time.



Caden was really excited for easter too. Actually he's become kind of a 'cheeser' when the camera comes out.



These are all the neices and nephews, except one, on my side at the annual easter egg hunt in my mom's backyard. I hid the eggs for the older kids. I told them that since they had been kind of onery and sarcastic lately that they should look for their eggs near the deer droppings.



This isn't an easter photo but I thought it was cute. I took my kids to play with some friends at an indoor soft play place and caught them playing really well together in this little red car.

Big vs Bigger

Brent and I decided one day that we need a bigger car. No this is not an annoucement. So for kicks and giggles we put my car on ksl.com just to see what we could get out of it. A few days later there was a man on our doorstep offering almost what we were asking. So we sold my car. Now we definately need a new car. We can't make up our minds, well, mostly me. We've driven a million cars. My problem is that I like all of them. We can't decide between a minivan and an SUV. I really like the manuverabilty and the good gas mileage of the minivan. But the SUV's we've driven have been more comfortable and are better for towing and have 4 wheel drive. Oh and the minivans are less expensive, which highly appeals to the cheap side of me. I think what it comes down to is I have a hard time picturing myself at the stage in life where I'm driving a minivan. It probably sounds vain but it's true. So any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

Pride and Prejudice

I've been on a big reading kick lately. I love to read but it's been put by the wayside a lot since having kids. Now I'm determined to read more because it is one of the things really enjoy doing. I just finished reading Pride and Prejudice. I loved it. I thought it would go over my head as some other books from that same era have done, but it didn't. It was so easy to read. Jane Austen is an amazing writer. It is definately one of my favorite books. To anyone else who wants to read a good classic but is too intimidated, this is a good one. After reading it I rented the A&E production of Pride and Prejudice, I already own the recent Hollywood version. I like how the A&E version stays truer to the story. But I'm also a big fan of the Hollywood version, it's good for a quick romantic fix. Brent on the other hand is not a big fan. He not only doesn't really enjoy watching, but he also doesn't enjoy having me watch. He says my expectations become too high after watching or reading stories like that. Oh well. I've also recently read Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis, it was different, but I really enjoyed it. If anyone has any suggests for good books, I'd really like to hear them.

Caden's Great Escape

This is Caden trying to escape the craziness that is his extended family.

The Big 1!

Caden had his first birthday last thursday. I'm not really sure what he thought about what was going on (maybe Terri the baby interpretter can help me out). HAPPY BIRTHDAY CADEN!!! Look how happy he is to be awake on his birthday. So he actually wasn't a very big fan of the whole 'make a mess of your first cake' thing. This is post clean up. I forgot to bring extra clothes for him. He was much happier once he was cleaned up and naked.


Brent was a "willing" model for Caden's new cowboy hat.

Will you be my valentine?

We had a fun little pre-valentines day party today.


Kyla made a cookie with lots of frosting and lots of candy hearts.


We had lunch complete with heart shaped pb&j.


This is 'Grandpa Robinson', as Kyla calls him, he helps out in nursery and all the kids love him.


The boys played in one room.


And the girls in another.


To complete the fun we played valentines day bingo.