Hickman Family

Holly's 8th Birthday

2012-02-11T20:12:00.000-08:00

I can't believe Holly is 8. It's a very exciting age. Holly's getting ready to get baptized soon. So on her B-day I made her favorite food for dinner. Which was: Salmon, mac n cheese, and asparagus. Ok-the asparagus isn't one of her favorite foods, but I told her she needs to have a veggie with dinner. Then we took Holly out for frozen yogurt.

I love this stinker face that Shelby is making. She loves sweets.

Then we let Holly open presents from mom and dad.

Holly got her very own scriptures with her name on them from us. She was very excited because she has been wanting her own scriptures for a while.

Then Holly had her B-day party on Sat. Feb. 11th-she wanted a Wizard of Waverly Place party. So-we made wizard hats, played games, did magic tricks for her friends, made edible wands, and drank some potions that made us do something silly. Of course the girls ate lots of sugar. It was a fun wizard party.

I did wizard hat cupcakes instead of a cake.

All the girls posing with their wizard hats.

Grandpa Jones doing a magic trick.

Opening presents.

It was a fun week for Holly. Now we need to prepare for her Baptism day.

Carson's 5th Birthday

2012-01-14T21:48:00.000-08:00

Today is Carson's Birthday. He was so excited about his birthday that he couldn't sleep the night before. He came in my room and stood on my side of the bed at 11:30 PM telling me he can't sleep. Then this morning he was running around the house and got dressed all on his own. After he was dressed he told me he was going outside to see if anyone was here for his party. I told him his party was at 1PM and no one will be here at 9:30 AM. He couldn't sit still! He also has a hard time realizing that he is 5 now. I guess that could be confusing when for an entire year he told people he was 4 and now he has to tell people he's 5. But he said he is a big boy now. Carson had a Monster Jam party-we prepared for it this entire week and he told me exactly what he wanted at his party and what kind of cake. I even made him pass out his own invitations. Here's some pictures of the party today.

Here's the Grave Digger Cake that I made. It was lots of fun making-so much better than buying a cake and cheaper too.

First the kids started off with designing their own monster truck.

Then we did races in the Monster trucks that Chris and I made. They had an obstacle course where they raced each other.

Then they did Freestyle racing where they just got to beat up the track and destroy stuff. Then we stacked up the boxes and the kids crashed through the boxes while in the monster trucks.

Singing and cake

Presents next. All the kids wanted to help with that! Some of the kids wanted to bring Carson's presents home with them.

Carson with all his stuff he got. He looks pretty worn out from all the excitement in this picture!

Then Chris took Carson for a cruise in the Duster and they went all over town, but Carson slept! Then after dinner we took Carson out for ice cream. It's a tradition of ours that on the kids birthday we take them out for ice cream. Instead of DQ like we usually do, we went to KiwiLoco and got frozen yogurts instead. Carson didn't mind either way-he still got his chocolate "ice cream" and got it all over his face too. So much excitement for one day-but I know he had a great birthday and can now tell everyone he's 5. Happy Birthday Carson!! We love you Carsonboy!!!!

My Birthday

2012-01-14T21:25:00.000-08:00

It was nice that we all had the day off. We went ice fishing with my family. Nicole and Jason were here and it was a beautiful sunny day. Yeah it was cold, but it was a nice day.

My Dad caught most of the fish, but had more fun making the holes with the auger.

Carson caught a pretty big fish on his pole.

Here I am basking in the sun! And I actually did get sunburned.

Here's a picture of Chris and Jason with the kids watching the planes take off nearby. That was pretty neat to watch the planes flying so close.

After ice fishing we watched the Rose Parade and ate lunch. Then later we went to Olive Garden in Idaho Falls with my parents. Then it was too late to go out shopping, so we did that the next weekend. Chris always tries to make my birthday a big deal for me. He's so sweet about that. I went shopping at Kohl's and got some clothes that I can wear for awhile during the pregnancy. We had a fun couple weekends.

December pictures

2011-12-26T18:50:00.000-08:00

Chris and I take pictures with our phones a lot and post stuff on facebook, but then I forget to post them on my blog. So here are a few pictures.

Here is a picture of Holly's Christmas program that she had at school. I wasn't working that day so I was so excited that I could go to it. Carson wanted to sit in the front row and Shelby was dancing and clapping during the performance.

We went to the store and got the car cart. This is Shelby's first time sitting in the car cart. I think she likes it. She was screaming and laughing with her brother because she was so excited.

Putting the 45 Dodge truck away for the winter, but Chris is planning on working on it up at the college. The kids helped us push it back under the barn.

Here is a picture of Shelby's first steps!! She decided to start walking on Wed. Dec. 21st when our good friend Andrew Plummer was over visiting. She just got up and started walking. We were all so surprised and started cheering and clapping. She was very proud of herself. Chris had his phone on him and started taking pictures and video. Now she is starting to walk more, but still crawls too.

The day after Christmas

2011-12-26T18:16:00.000-08:00

Well we got to sleep in alright. The kids were up at 8 am and playing with their toys and Carson set up his train track that he got. Chris and I were not up that early. We slept in until almost 11:30 AM. We must have been really tired from two late nights. We had breakfast at noon and I tried out my new electric griddle and pancake dispenser that I got from my parents. Then we went up the the BYU-I campus and took the kids sledding. That was tons of fun!!!

Carson was going so fast and he fell a couple times, but he got up and said, "I'm ok, I'm tough." He had a blast!

Holly hurt when she landed hard on her bottom and then was afraid to keep sledding.

Then it was Shelby's turn. Chris pulled them around the field there.

Shelby liked it at first and had her little smile on her face, then after awhile she started crying.

Overall it was a fun family day of playing!! Those are my favorite kind of days.

Christmas day

2011-12-26T18:02:00.000-08:00

Since Christmas was on Sunday we weren't able to open presents right away because we had to go to church. We got up and went to church for an hour. The kids were very anxious all during church. Then when we got home and opened presents and the kids wanted to get back in their pajamas for that.

Chris got the kids car models. They have been building models together at night.

Carson's big toy was an RC car that Chris and Carson get to play with together.

Holly's big gift was an Acer Tablet that she gets to share with her parents!! She loves that she can play games, watch movies, and now play Angry Birds without using my phone.

After opening presents we spent the afternoon playing with toys and taking toys out of the packages.

Chris and Carson played with the RC car and already broke the front end-since Carson ran it into a tree.

Then Kim and Denise came over about 4 pm with their families and we opened presents from Mom and Dad. Then we ate dinner and played games until 11:30 pm. Carson and Holly were up that late too playing with their toys.

The girls all got animal beanies.

We had a fun Christmas day. It went by very fast, but good thing we have Mon. off to sleep in. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas.

Trip to Utah

2011-12-20T18:30:00.000-08:00

I had to take a local anesthesia test on Dec. 15th in Orem. So-we stayed with Wayne and Tonya Hamill and spent Wed. night 14th-16th since we were there. Thurs. was an all day test day for me. I had a written test at 8:30 AM and once you pass that then I had the clinical part at 2:45 PM where Chris was my patient I gave shots too. I am happy to say that I passed both parts of the test and now can get my complete Hygiene license in Idaho so I can give shots again. Chris did great as my patient and I had to give him 4 shots-since the one lower shot didn't go smoothly-I had to give it 3 times. Poor guy! Then he was numb for 2 hours afterwards! Now I don't have to take anymore tests like that again!!!

Then Friday we went to Temple Square.

Then we went to lunch at Moochie's Meatball subs. Moochie's was featured on Diners, Driv-ins, and Dives. It is known not only for the Meatball subs, but also the Philly cheese steaks. They were both awesome. We definetly like Moochies now.

Look at the size of that meatball!!

Then we went back to Temple Square to check out the lights at Christmas time. It was really neat. The kids were missing going to see the lights in Oregon this year. I think they liked the lights, the nativity scenes, and the music even though it was freezing.

We had a good time seeing friends, I'm glad I passed my test, and going to Temple Square. Now that my test is out of the way I can focus on Christmas.

Hemming Village Christmas fun!

2011-12-11T15:48:00.000-08:00

We took the kids down to Hemming Village where they were having free sleigh rides, hot cocoa, cookies, and free pictures in the photo booth. Well-we didn't get to go on the sleigh ride because the horses were tired and they had to turn people away by 3pm, even though it went until 6pm. So-we took advantage of the other free stuff. We got cookies and cocoa and then took these pictures in the booth. The kids thought that was great. Here's the pictures from the booth.

Putting up our Christmas tree

2011-12-11T15:17:00.000-08:00

The kids had fun last Monday night for FHE putting up our Christmas tree. My dad had an extra tree-so this year we did put up a fake one, but I put smelly pinecones on the tree to make it smell real. Ok-I tried, but I know it's not the same. Carson and Holly put the orienaments on and Shelby got to shake a bell while watching them.

I think Carson is pointing at the glass ornaments, because he broke one and I told him to be careful. At least it was one I didn't care about.

Holly thought these ornaments made cool earings.

It turned out pretty good kids. Now Shelby likes to help take the ornaments off the tree!!

Santa at the Library

2011-12-11T15:08:00.000-08:00

We took the kids to the Library for a night to meet Santa and some crafts. It was a fun activity for the kids. Denise was there with her kids and we did crafts together. The kids had fun and even Chris joined in on the activities!!

I love that Carson and Holly whispered what they wanted for Christmas in Santa's ear.

Santa's Hot Rod Sleigh!

I love this picture because Shelby's face is so funny!!

Carson finally wore the mustache after we got home! He was too embarrassed to wear it at the Library.

November

2011-12-11T14:59:00.000-08:00

So for the month of November we didn't do much, except Thanksgiving weekend. I didn't get that many pictures of Thanksgiving. We had Thanksgiving at my parents AKA where we are living too. All of us sisters were together this year.

Shelby dressed for Thanksgiving day!

Holly isn't dressed for Thanksgiving day! She watched Disney movies in the morning! BUM

After Thanksgiving dinner-We had to take a sisters picture!

Thanksgiving was pretty relaxing. Chris and I made one of the turkeys which was fun to do. Then after dinner we looked at Black Friday ads. Denise and I were planning on going to Walmart at 10pm. Nicole and Jason decided to go with us. I'm glad they came with us, because they helped us get everything on our list. Black Friday was absolutely crazy down in Idaho Falls. Denise and I did pretty good and got everything we wanted, even Nicole got some stuff.

Then Saturday night us girls had a GNO to go see Breaking Dawn and we wore our shirts that my Dad got us. That was a fun night out!

Here's a little bit of snow that we have had so far. Other than that-we haven't had hardly any snow yet, which is very uncommon for Rexburg. I'm ok with that though!!! The coldest it's been during the day was about 19 degrees.

We will see what the next couple months have in store for us for weather!!!

October

2011-11-30T12:53:00.000-08:00

I've been slacking on my Blog. I have been posting my pictures on Facebook, but I still want to keep up with my blog too. I haven't taken a ton of pictures since we moved here, but I will try and do better!!

First I wanted to post all the Halloween fun we had.

I took the kids to a Pumpkin patch down the street. I pulled them in the wagon and then we got our pumpkins and didn't have room in the wagon, I know smart thinking huh! So the guy their drove the kids back to the house with our pumpkins too. They had so much fun picking out their own pumpkins.
Then we carved the pumpkins a couple days later. I got the kit with the designs in it. Carson did a great ghost.

Holly did a scary face!

Even Shelby got a pumpkin that Chris carved for her. She liked it!

Chris did a flying eyeball-if you can't tell what it is.

I did a spider-it's behind Shelby pumpkin!

Then it was Halloween and trunk or treat at the church building with the family and all the cousins.

The kids were cold, but at least it wasn't snowing. We went around Denise's block after the Trunk or Treat. They got lots of candy and had fun. If you can't tell from the pictures: Holly was Cleopatra, Carson-Spiderman, and Shelby was a chicken.
So that was our Halloween fun and the end of October.

We moved to Idaho!!

2011-10-09T15:31:00.000-07:00

We now live in Rexburg Idaho. Chris and Holly have been in Idaho for a month and now we are all finally together. It has been a long and stressful move with lots of trials, tribulations, and tears. It was a difficult decision for us and we miss our friends and family in Oregon. However, we are excited about our new life in Rexburg and look forward to making a life here for ourselves. Today I went to our new ward for the first time. It is very crowded and I can't be late to church anymore or else you have to hang out in the foyer. We got here on Monday Oct. 3rd in the afternoon. I have been working non-stop with unpacking, organizing, and cleaning. We had some friends come and visit from Oregon already and that was nice to visit with them and take a break from unpacking. Chris and I took the kids out for custard on Sat. night and a college kid in a red neon backed into my car in the parking lot. Seriously-already!!! One more thing I have to deal with. I know things will settle down here and become more like home for us. Right now I still feel like I'm on vacation visiting my parents-but reality hasn't sunk in yet. I look forward to enjoying the Fall season here-there are a lot of fun family things to do here. I plan on finding a couple days of work and hopefully I can find something right in Rexburg.
Thank you to all who helped with our move. We love you all and want to keep in touch with all our friends and family in Oregon and everywhere. Please keep in touch-best place to reach us is on facebook. I know that this was the right move for our family even though it is hard. Heavenly Father has a plan for all of us and I want to make sure I'm living my life the way he would want me too.
Big Hugs from the Hickman Family
3135 S 1400 W
Rexburg, ID 83440
(541) 817-3318 my cell

Shelby's Birthday

2011-09-06T21:59:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we had a Birthday party for Shelby. Chris and Holly were here from Idaho and we had friends and family over. I can't believe Shelby is already a year old. She was having fun, but she doesn't just dive into things. She has to test it out first and see if this is ok. At first she wouldn't eat her cupcake. I would post videos if Blogger wasn't so slow and take forever to post. So for now I just have pictures to post.

Shelby is testing it out first. Look at that concentrating face.

"So I have frosting on my face-so what. What are you going to do about it?"

So now she likes it-but doesn't want me to take a picture of her eating her cupcake!

Since today is her Birthday. After dinner we played music and danced. Shelby loves to dance. It was really cute. Then I took Carson and Shelby to the park and let Shelby swing again. She seemed to like that on Monday. So-I thought I would go swing again. Then it was bedtime. She was worn out after all this fun!

Shelby swinging

2011-09-06T09:46:00.001-07:00

I haven't really had a chance to take Shelby to a playground until yesterday. This was her first experience swinging. At first she kindof laughed/cried. Then she started laughing and liked it. She's so funny because she doesn't like to be tossed in the air or played with like that. She's still my serious girl.

Going cellular

2011-09-04T00:10:00.001-07:00

So I just got a DROID and this is so cool that I can do everything through my phone. I'm writing a post on my phone. I love technology. I think I will be a lot better about email, my blog, facebook. I just had to try this out.

Updated pictures

2011-08-27T14:33:00.000-07:00

These pictures turned out really cute. Soozee and Amy took all the kids to Sears to have portraits done.

Holly's 1st day of 2nd grade

2011-08-26T11:18:00.000-07:00

This is the picture that Chris took of Holly on her first day of 2nd grade at her new school. Holly is living with Chris over in Rexburg so she could start school there on Wed. Aug. 24th. I showed her the new school and she wanted to be in the class she's in. I'm glad she got the class she wanted. I was so sad that I couldn't be there on the 1st day of school for her. She is managing just fine without her mom-which is kindof hard for me. Holly goes to South Fork Elementary and her teacher is Mrs. Dennis. She really likes her new school and her teacher. Holly said she made some new friends already too. On the bus ride home the bus driver forgot to stop at the house for Holly. Holly said she had to go up to the bus driver and tell him to turn around because he missed her stop. Thank goodness she has a friend that rides the bus with her to help her. She is adjusting well to her new school and making friends easy. That's something that I worried about. I know this move has been hard for her. I'm very proud of my big girl!!

Shelby crawling

2011-08-22T23:37:00.000-07:00

This was before the whole moving trip. I love how Shelby crawls-she is so dainty.

Sealing day!!

2011-08-22T23:10:00.000-07:00

The Saturday before we left for Rexburg (Aug. 13th) we took a break from loading and packing and went down to the Medford Temple. Amy and Rusty were finally able to adopt Thomas. The paperwork was final a few weeks ago. Since Chris was going to be back home in Oregon and Amy didn't want to postpone this anymore we went down to the Temple and were able to be apart of the sealing session where Thomas is now sealed to Amy and Rusty. It was a wonderful experience. Then Holly asked me "Mommy, are we sealed? Do we have to go be sealed too like Thomas?" It was a great teaching experience for me to be able to tell Holly what it means and that she is already sealed to us. I'm so happy for Amy and Rusty and Thomas. I'm grateful for such wonderful sacred ordinances that we are able to be apart of and we can be families forever!

Having one day of fun in Rexburg!

2011-08-22T22:54:00.000-07:00

So we did have some fun in Rexburg. It wasn't all work. We had Thursday to play. We finished up a few things in the morning and then met Chris for lunch at work and had a tour. Then we took the kids to the waterpark. We ate frozen custard-which I've been wanting to try for a while- and it was so good!! We ate dinner and then Chris took his Duster out to the Thurs. night cruise at Artic Circle. Then Friday we went home. I wish we had more time to play this trip-oh well.

Having some fun with Holly's dress-up. Once we put Holly's room together the girls were very excited to see what toys and stuff Holly had. They are going to have so much fun together.

At Chris's office at BYU-Idaho

Chris drives his Duster to work!

We took a little tour of the school. After the tour of the campus we took the kids to the water park.

We went out to eat that night at Costa Vida.

Here we are on our drive home to Oregon. We stopped at Donnie Macs Trailerpark Cuisine in Boise. Good food-but we had horrible service!

I think Shelby was done! We all were tired on the trip home. This about sums up how everyone felt!

Now I'm back in Oregon until the end of Sept. and Chris and Holly are in Rexburg. This is very difficult for us. I haven't been away from my kids for this long-or Chris for that long. It will be over soon enough and we will all be together again in Rexburg.

Thank you to all of you for your support and help with this move. Please come visit us and KIT- for those of you in Oregon we are leaving!!

Moving!!

2011-08-22T22:19:00.000-07:00

Our somewhat empty house.

On the road and had to stop because the straps came loose on the truck!

Chris drew this at Roosters restraunt in Pendleton Sun. night-on our way to Rexburg-Our Caravan!

So I don't know if I've told you yet-but we are moving! That's why I haven't posted anything in a while because I've been kindof busy with packing. Chris got a job working at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg. We are very excited about it and feel that this is the right thing for our family, but the moving part really sucks. Chris really likes his job. He started on July 26th and has been gone while I am still in Oregon packing. This last week we loaded up 1/2 of the house and shop and drove to Rexburg. It took us 24 hours to drive there. Then we unloaded and organized for 2 days at my parents. We will be living with my parents in their basement. It's actually pretty nice and probably bigger than my house now. I got Holly registered for school and she starts school on Wed. Aug. 24th. This is a very difficult move for us and I have been a complete wreck for the last month- just overwhelmed with having to do so much. I'm grateful for the help that I had from friends and family.

Shelby sweetie

2011-08-22T21:56:00.000-07:00

I put Shelby in this outfit and the hat lasted about a second-where I could get a couple pictures and then she took it off. She is crawling, pulling herself up on things, eating everything off the floor. She is getting so big. She is almost a year and has grown so much lately.

Shelby is growing so fast!!

2011-06-29T12:38:00.000-07:00

Squinty nose smile!! Chris says Shelby looks just like me when she smiles!

Carson and Shelby watching TV together.
I've been bad about updating my blog. I was good about updating Shelby's growth every month-but it's been a couple months. I've been pretty busy-sorry. I can't believe how fast she is growing. Shelby is almost 10 months old now. She is just such a sweetheart, always smiling. However, she doesn't smile at everyone-she only smiles at people she knows-so namely her family. She just loves her family and always wants to be apart of what we are doing. She is also content playing with her toys for hours too. She doesn't really fuss much. She is sitting up really well now and rolling over all the time-finally. She isn't crawling yet-but she does push herself backwards and in circles when on her belly. She is very observant-she loves books, TV, watching and learning from her big brother and sister. Shelby is very ticklish on her neck and ribs-which is lots of fun. We just discovered a couple weekends ago that she likes to dance. I wasn't able to download the video-but I did post it on facebook-so check it out. We had a "Just Dance" party with Chris' Sunday school class and I got Shelby up from her nap, she heard the music and starts moving back and forth and waving her arms-she was laughing. It was so stinkin' cute-I laughed so hard. So-now anytime we put on music (that has a good dance beat) she starts dancing-swaying side to side. I'll post a video soon so you can see-I love it.

Memorial Weekend trip to CA

2011-06-27T12:03:00.000-07:00

http://s223.photobucket.com/albums/dd33/hickmanhillbillies/?action=view&current=7a0ba9a3.pbw

OK-so I can't seem to attach the slideshow I made of our trip so if you want to look at the picture slideshow-click on the link above!! That's really annoying when it doesn't work.

Here is a recap of our trip. We had a really good time going to SLO and then SCV-CA. We went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Jones first in SLO for a day. I wish we had more time there-but it was nice to be able to visit with Grandma and Grandpa a little bit. Cathy, Angela and her family, Spencer, Jason and Kate came up for the day, Barbara were there too. So that was nice to see everyone else. We went on a hike which lead out to the beach. It was such a beautiful day--I was so excited to get away from the rain in OR for a weekend! Then we headed down to SCV Sat. night and stayed with Jason and Kate. Sunday-Chris and I took the kids all around LA, Hollywood, etc. We went to the LaBrea Tarpits, ate at Phillipee's French Dip sandwiches-YUMMY, Went up to the Hollywood sign-it was really windy up there, Went to the Griffith Observatory-we just walked around and showed the kids the exhibits. There were so many people at the Griffith Observatory and we didn't want to wait an hour for the show. Then we drove through West LA and went to the LA Temple. We walked the grounds and went through the newly remodeled visitor center. Then we ate dinner at BOB's Big Boy-had burgers and shakes. Monday-we went to the Santa Monica Pier with Jason and Kate. We walked the pier and enjoyed seeing all the interesting people. Then Chris and I went to Santoro's for lunch with the kids. When we got there the kids were zonked out in the backseat-so Chris and I ate. Then we hung out with Jason and Kate back at their place, the kids had fun playing with their cousin Lucas. Tuesday-we left for the long drive home. It was a quick trip-but fun and I'm glad that we could see our family in CA.

Carson's graduation from Preschool

2011-06-23T23:56:00.000-07:00

May 26th 2011. Even though he will be attending Preschool again next year-he still participated! He got a little diploma and they did a really cute performance. He was so proud! I got a little choked up to see my little boy growing up!

Father/Daughter overnighter!

2011-06-23T23:51:00.000-07:00

May 20, 2011
So-Holly will hate this picture when she is older. She will also probably hate me for posting it on my blog, but I think it is sooo great. HAHA! Chris took Holly on the Father/Daughter overnighter and they slept in the back of the truck on a fouton pad, with the Easy-UP over them. Chris said it wasn't comfortable. Plus they stayed up late. I guess Holly kept asking if she could go to bed. Poor thing-she was exhausted the next morning. I don't think I've ever seeing such a puffy face in the morning!!

Our Anniversary date, We saw WICKED in Eugene!

2011-06-23T23:45:00.000-07:00

The Stage from where we were sitting!

After the show-we went to VOODOO Doughnuts!

I got the Voodoo doll! It was yummy! With raspberry filling!

I look really scary here-but I was biting it's arm off!

April 29, 2011
I know I'm a little late getting my blog updated, but life has been hectic. I also didn't know how to download Chris' pictures off his phone-then I realized he posted them on facebook-so I just took them from there-I know genius! Well-for those of you who are friends with Chris on facebook-you saw these the night of the event- since Chris posts things right away with his DroidX- that he's addicted too now. HAHA-but really! I heard WICKED was playing at the Hult Center in Eug. and I wanted to go. I told Chris he was taking me (Come on-last time we saw a musical was 5 yrs. ago-so I think I'm pretty nice to only make him go every 5 yrs.). I thought it was great. I got chills when they sang, it was funny, and the story was great. Whoever thought of that twist to the Wizard of OZ was very creative. Chris thought the show was "girly". I gotta start at the beginning of the night, when we got up there we ate at a place called "The 'Wich house" (you get any kindof sandWICH you want-kindof hippie and I guess it was D&D night-since the place was packed and everyone was playing with little figurines). Then the owner said it was D&D night (D&D= Dungeons & Dragons). I thought that was funny!! THEN-we went and saw WICKED-about a Witch! Then we ate at VooDoo Dougnhuts. VooDoo Doughnuts is a popular place and has been featured on Man vs. Food. They have some interesting selections. For instance-you can get the Voodoo doll (that's what I got!) or CooCoo puffs on your doughnut, etc. The doughnuts are really good-you should try it. Eugene is so interesting! We had a very fun night.

Mother's Day

2011-05-13T13:07:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's day to all the wonderful women in my family. We had a fun day. We had family and friends over after church for a lunch/dinner and fondu-yummy. Chocolate and strawberries, sparkling cider, leftover Birthday cake, and gifts-what else could I ask for? Well-I could ask for a lot more-but that's ok. There is always hope for next year!! It was relaxing and I enjoyed being with family.

Soozee's B-day party

2011-05-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

Since Soozee's Birthday was on Mother's Day this year-We had to give her a party on Saturday-separate from Mother's Day. She wanted to have Mexican food and so we made it a Fiesta party. It was lots of fun. We had tostadas and taquitos for dinner, a Mexican Chocolate Birthday cake (which I slaved over all day-but it was worth it.), chocolate appetizers-which were so yummy. We ate so much food and sugar that we all got hyper! So-we had to work off all that food with the Mexican Hat dance and Just Dance 2. That was lots of fun and it is a workout-trust me-I was sweatin'. Everyone had lots of fun and I'm happy to say that Soozee felt special. Not like "riding the short bus kindof special", she felt loved. :)

YEAH FUN PARTY!

Easter Sunday

2011-04-25T22:23:00.000-07:00

Look how many eggs Holly got

In the morning-Holly found her Easter Basket

Carson's basket

Shelby liked what she got from the Easter Bunny too.

We had a nice Easter Sunday. We had Stake Conference and then went over to Rusty's dad's house for an Easter egg hunt and dinner. We brought everything over in the morning before church and then prepared dinner there after. First we did an egg hunt for the kids and took pictures while we were still in our Sunday best. Then we got dinner going-I was in charge of the hams and I made 2 different kinds. They both turned out pretty good for a home grown ham. I had to cook them ahead of time and one I put in a brine on Friday. So on Sunday I just had to cook them again with the glaze-but it did take some time. We had some good food. It went by too fast and I think next year I'll just buy a ready made ham-that was too much preparation. I'd rather spend more time with family and less time in the kitchen cooking the ham. I hope you all had a great Easter. Here's a video of the egg hunt. It is so fun to watch the kids get excited about plastic eggs and the surprise inside!

Holly's in Soccer

2011-04-21T23:58:00.000-07:00

Now that Basketball is over, now Soccer begins. Holly said she wanted to play Soccer and she got on a team with a bunch of her friends. Practices are Wed. and Fri. with games on Sat. Of course it's still raining and cold-then the kids get muddy. Last Sat. we forgot chairs and didn't have an umbrella-Amy came to our rescue. Then I almost forgot the gear-Holly reminded me that she needs shin guards. Luckily I found stuff at Goodwill-they have almost everything you need for sports! This next Sat. I am so prepared now for what I need for Soccer games. Did I mention that Soccer is not one of my favorite sports? I think the rain and mud have something to do with it. Holly is having fun and that's what counts.

Early Easter Egg Hunt

2011-04-21T23:46:00.000-07:00

Last Sat. -Holly's 1st Grade teacher puts on an egg hunt every year for kids in her class and I guess any kid who has ever been in her class and the pre-school. They do it every year and I thought it would be fun to take the kids. There was a pretty good turn out and there were a ton of eggs. They divided the kids by age-even Shelby got to do it. The kids had lots of fun-they got a lot of candy and then there were golden eggs-where if you found one you got to pick a prize. Carson didn't find a golden egg, but one of the parents gave him a prize. Carson wasn't feeling good and then he was upset because he scratched his hand on a blackberry vine when he was getting an egg. I think he was also upset because I didn't baby him. It was a really nice event.

Shelby- 7mo old

2011-04-21T23:28:00.000-07:00

She's growing so fast. What a curious baby she is. She loves to observe everything. She stares you down before she will smile at you-it's so funny. Shelby is my serious baby. She loves to be with her family and she adores her big brother.

This is at the Portland Rodster show we went to for John's Birthday. Poor thing was practically in the car seat all day. She doesn't complain much though-that's just her nature. I'm grateful she is such a good baby. With working full-time and having such a busy schedule she is the perfect baby. I look forward to seeing her after work everyday because she just gives me a big gummy smile and gets so excited to see me.

The Circus!

2011-03-18T02:16:00.000-07:00

Intermission-there were Elephant rides, pony rides, and face painting

Tiger jumping through the ring of fire!!

Here's the tight rope walkers

We had the Circus come to town on Wed. March 16th. I thought it would be fun to take the kids to the Circus. I didn't get very good pictures because of the lighting and holding Shelby-but we had lots of fun. Holly's favorite was the Acrobats performing Little Mermaid and they were dressed up like Mermaids-of course. Carson's favorite was the dirt bikes racing inside the ball. I liked the balancing acts and dare devil performances-those were crazy. I was so worried they were going to fall! The tigers were neat. It was a fun family night out and the kids first experience.

Little Hurricane in Sutherlin

2011-03-18T02:01:00.000-07:00

This is what happened to our shed!

Our shed use to be covering all this stuff!

On Sunday March 13th we had a bad storm. At first it wasn't that bad-you know-some rain, some wind. Chris noticed in the distance some really dark clouds and we knew it was going to be a thunderstorm. However, we had a Hurricane! It was hailing and the wind was blowing at about 60 MPH. We lost our shed-the wind picked it up and threw it into our neighbors field. Our trash cans got tossed and cans went everywhere. I saw our trampoline lifting and I'm surprised that didn't go flying. So-after the heavy wind died down some-I ran out there and started picking up cans that were all over the field. I noticed that big metal thing in the neighbors yard and asked Chris what it was. He took one look at it and said, "That's our shed!" I didn't know at first. I couldn't believe it. There were trees down all over Sutherlin. A lot of trees completely uprooted. Chris' parents had 3 trees fall down-one fell and hit the side of their guest house. Other people had trees hit fences, cars, houses. Shingles came off roofs, metal roofs blew off, a tree fell and took out the powerlines. We saw three poles down and the lines in the street. We were without power from 2PM-until 2 AM-and that means water too. I'm glad that no one was hurt in our family and that we had minimal damage. Some people I talked to weren't as fortunate. Oregonians can handle rain-but we have really mild climate-just a lot of rain, but never like this. It was crazy. We spent the afternoon cleaning up everything that was exposed and getting prepared if the wind started up again. I'm glad it didn't. So-we ate over at John and Soozee's-they cooked on the BBQ and we ate by candlelight. Then the kids slept with us-All 4 of us in a Queen size bed-not very comfortable-but Holly and Carson felt safe and that's what matters most.

Coaching Basketball

2011-03-18T01:38:00.000-07:00

The Yellow Panthers

Holly's first year of Basketball

Last Game of the season

Chris and I had lots of fun coaching Basketball this last season. Chris said he wants to do it next year too. Now we are more prepared and know what to expect. This year I think we did pretty good though. Chris did all the coaching and I was his assistant. So my job was calling the team, making schedules, making flyers for invites, etc. I took pictures of the team and individual pictures of the kids-which next year I will get a professional photographer. We had an end of the season pizza party and all our kids came (which was great!) and we handed out their pictures in these neat Basketball frames and their metals. I think the kids had a great time and we enjoyed our group of kids. I'm looking forward to next year when Holly and Carson can play!

Shelby is growing SO fast!

2011-03-03T23:25:00.000-08:00

Look at my happy baby!! She is growing so fast and she loves to sit in the walker now. She is having so much fun learning new things and to use her voice more. She gets so focused on something and grabs for everything. Tonight she was trying to grab Chris' ice cream-she really wanted it. You can tell already-she is so determined and wants to learn more and more. Have I said already that she is the best baby!!

Shelby is talking

2011-02-17T23:35:00.000-08:00

Shelby is already talking. Last week she started saying a lot. Her first word was DADA! She says MAMA, DEDE, NANA. She has been laughing-I have yet to record that-but it is so cute. The other night I was playing peek-a-boo and she was cracking up laughing. She is such a happy baby. She's still not rolling over yet, but I think she doesn't really care about that. She also does this really funny "dance" (that's what we call it), when she is laying on her back she wiggles her entire body kindof like Stevie Wonder-it is so funny, but she wouldn't do it for me entirely when I was recording her. I will have to record her doing her dance-because she will do it for a while over and over-it makes all of us laugh.

Valentine's Day Surprise

2011-02-14T13:05:00.000-08:00

Chris surprised me today with this! I was at work and came out to my car to all of this. Chris wrote all over my car and put roses and a sample of Tim McGraw cologne inside. It was a big surprise. It definitely made me laugh and then I had to drive around with this on my car. I went and picked up Carson at preschool with my car like that. It was fun. Chris went to the store and bought dinner makings too. So I get to enjoy a gourmet home cooked meal from my man as well. He made today fun! Thanks babe-Love you!

Holly's Birthday

2011-02-13T21:38:00.000-08:00

Holly turned 7 on Feb. 8th and on her actual Birthday we took her to Dairy Queen for an ice cream and let her open presents from us and Grandpa and Grandma Jones. The entire week Holly was excited for her Birthday and then her party on Sat. 12th. Holly wanted to do a "Tangled" Theme. We had the party at the church again and had lots of fun. We ate pizza and Cake (of course), had activities of coloring pages, making a Pascal party blower. I got all these great ideas at DisneyFamily.com. On the website they had the activity sheets of drawing a nose on Flynn Rider, drawing Rapunzel's hair, and making the party blowers of Pascal. The blowers were great since Pascal is a cameleon-I got pink party blowers- like a tongue-and the kids loved that. Then we played tug-a-war with yellow rope that represented Rapunzel's hair. The kids thought that was great! All the kids at the party even took on Chris. Then I had some blonde hair headbands that I got at the Dollar Store to give out to the girls and the boys got paints, and the gift bags were already pre-made. Wal-Mart carried all the "Tangled" party stuff for inexpensive-so that was good. They had a great time and Holly had about 18 friends come-I think next year I will probably need a bigger bouncy house for her age group! I had fun preparing for Holly's party, but I'm glad it is over. Now I don't have to worry about kids Birthday's until September.

Here's a little video of Chris taking on a bunch of 7 yr. olds at tug-a-war.

2011-02-13T21:37:00.001-08:00

Shelby is 5mo. old

2011-02-07T00:15:00.000-08:00

Shelby is 5mo. old today. I took this video this weekend. She has been talking so much lately and I finally got a good video of it. Usually I can never capture the moment because she sees the camera and stops doing whatever I'm trying to capture at the time, but it seems like she is getting better with that. It's so cute how she has been talking so much. She's almost rolling over-she's very close. I took Shelby to the Doctor the other day because she has been sick and she has an ear infection-she's on antibiotics and is now feeling better after 2 weeks of coughing. She's still congested, but the bad cough is gone. She weighs 14 lbs. 14 oz. and is 26 1/2 in. long-that was last Tues. Shelby just loves her brother and sister. She also just loves hanging out with her Daddy. Everytime Shelby is fussy and I can't figure out what she wants-I just hand her off to Chris and she calms down. She only wants me when she wants to be fed!! :) No-she still lights up when she sees me when I get home from work-I love it. I look forward to that everyday to see her happy face and then right away it turns into a cry because I'm home and she wants mommy. I'm still nursing and will continue to do as long as I can, since Shelby is such an easy baby-it actually makes nursing very easy-even with working full-time. She is still the best baby ever. I just adore her.

Holly's playing Basketball

2011-02-06T23:50:00.000-08:00

So if you think we aren't busy enough, Holly is playing Basketball through parks and rec. and Chris and I are coaching her team-to add one more thing to our load. It is a lot of fun actually. We are the Yellow team-"Yellow Panthers." That's what the kids came up with. We have practices every Thurs. and games every Sat. It's only for 6 weeks, but the coaches have to be the refs during the game and pretty much run the games since there isn't anyone there to help out. These are pictures of our 2nd game we played and of course my competitive side comes out. I was helping coach from the side lines-yelling pretty much and I got kindof upset during this game with the other team coaches and the one of the kids-but I keep my mouth shut and just remember it's fun. We don't even keep score. Holly is having fun, she's a little timid, but she will soon get aggressive.

Holly and I are taking Piano lessons as well on Fri. afternoons. I've been wanting to take piano and since Holly wanted to take lessons I decided to take them with her. She is learning very fast and practices a lot more than I do. She really enjoys it! I'm having fun and picking it back up faster than I expected, but I just don't practice enough. Probably lack of time! But I do what I can. We are enjoying Piano and on Feb. 25th have a recital. Holly is excited about playing at it and I guess I'm going to play at the recital too. I'm the only adult student...so I get to choose if I want to play at the recitals. It's fun to do lessons with my girl!

Here's a little video of the Basketball game. It's pretty funny.

Medford temple trip

2011-01-17T23:12:00.000-08:00

On Saturday the 15th, after Carson's party, Chris and I went to the Ward temple trip. We carpooled down there and the ward was doing Baptisms and Confirmations. I have been working on Chris' family tree that Soozee provided. Soozee has been working on Geneology (both her and John's line) since the 1970s, she has 6600 names. Well-she gave me her PAF file and I have been working almost every night sometimes until 3 AM on synching the names and finding names that need their temple work done. Chris and I went and did 20 names each of his family line that night. Chris was asked to perform the baptisms and he was baptizing me for some Hickman names and he started to get choked up and really felt the spirit. We all did. The entire room got quiet and it was such an amazing feeling and experience to feel such a great spirit there. It was so neat to start doing the temple work for the Hickman line. Chris was able to get baptized for his great/great grandfather and great uncles (which he knew a few of them). I'm so glad we had this experience and I needed to share it. The Bishop asked Chris to bear his testimony on Sun., the next day, about the experience since it was so amazing. I'm so excited and pretty much addicted to doing Geneology now. I love it and I'm glad that I can perform these ordinances for Chris' family. Soozee is all excited about it and she has found 100 more names to add to the pedigree. So-we have our work cut out for us, but I'm glad that I get to be apart of it. I know this work is important and is needed. Thanks to my dad for getting me jumpstarted on it!! So now I can say..."I am doing it....My Geneology!!"

Carson's 4th Birthday

2011-01-17T22:51:00.000-08:00

Carson turned 4 on Friday the 14th. It is a tradition now that on their Birthday we take them to Dairy Queen to get an ice-cream cone. So-we did that on Fri. night and then let Carson open presents from me and Chris. Then Sat. 15th we had Carson's B-day party in the cultural hall at our church building. That makes it so nice so I don't have all the kids at my house. Carson is really into Thomas the Tank engine-so that was his theme. I had lots of fun preparing for the party. We had activities, games, races, the bouncy house, along with the usual cake and presents. I made the trains out of boxes and used them for a bean bag toss game-where the kids had to toss coal in the engines and letters in Percy (he's the mail carrier train). Then we did a race with the same boxes. The kids had a blast with that-we had to do the races 3 or 4 times. Then the adults wanted to do it too. So after the party-we had our races on the track. Holly was in charge of the ticket drawing game-Holly handed each kid a ticket as they came to the "party station" and at the end of the party she drew the # ticket and the kids got prizes. Then I handed out gift bags that had items for trains and a thank you card that said "Tank" you for coming to my party! It was lots of fun. The party was only from 10-11:30, but I think that was a great amount of time for 4 yr. olds.
Then after the party the kids got to play at Nana and Papa's house-they got to watch movies and Carson got to play with some of his toys. They had a fun day. My baby boy isn't a baby anymore. He's a big boy now and doesn't like it when I call him my baby boy. He's now fully potty trained (not wetting his bed anymore) and asks me every night if he can wear his underwear to bed. He doesn't want to wear pull-ups anymore! YEAH!

2011-01-17T22:50:00.001-08:00

Shelby is 4mo. old

2011-01-17T22:06:00.000-08:00

My kids were all bald when they were babies. Shelby doesn't like the headbands so I only put them on her for special occasions or church. She also cries when I get her dressed up for church. I think she is going to be my tough girl-who doesn't like dresses. Other than that- she rarely cries. She is such a happy baby and now is recognizing more family other than me. She just loves her brother and Carson can make her laugh. She tries to roll over-but not there yet. She grabs and holds on to things. She takes a bottle no problem now and she is getting attached to a pacifier. I'm glad that she has adapted so well to mommy being at work. I love that when I get home she perks up immediately-she usually starts crying because she wants me to feed her. She's very easy going and I can usually tell what she wants. I can't believe how fast Shelby is growing.

My Birthday

2011-01-03T22:50:00.001-08:00

That night-before bed. Holly's other front tooth came out!

I made my own Birthday cake. Hey-it was probably better than any store bought cake.

playing Just Dance 2. We played for several hours. It was lots of fun!

Yummy finger foods!!

Playing Just Dance 2.

I told Chris that I wanted a Birthday party this year. So-he sent out an invitation on facebook (good thinking). We had lots of fun eating and playing Just Dance 2 all night. Then before bed-Holly said she wanted me to take out her loose tooth. She did really good and now is missing both her front teeth.

On New Year's Day we did our traditional go shopping in Eugene (to the big malls). We shopped 'til we dropped (we only went to 2 stores), it was lots of fun, even though I haven't lost the baby weight, I still found some cute things and enjoyed shopping. We ate at Olive Garden and we didn't get home until about 1 AM. I had a fun Birthday this year-thanks everyone!

Daddy/Daughter talk

2011-01-03T22:15:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to get Shelby talking on video. She has been talking, laughing, etc. for awhile now. It is so cute to see how much she is doing. She is growing up so fast-she's almost 4mo. already. I just love how she is hanging out with her daddy and telling him how she feels!

She's really trying here!

Carson and Thomas the Train

2011-01-03T22:04:00.000-08:00

Carson loves his Thomas the Train set and majority of his toys this Christmas were for his train set. He loves to set up the different tracks. He got a R/C train engine too. The kids are having fun playing with all their toys and Chris and I are too.

Christmas fun

2010-12-26T01:39:00.000-08:00

Shelby was such a good baby all day long.

Playing Just Dance 2

The guys went riding on their Harleys in their Christmas PJ pants.

Christmas morning-sleepy faces

Christmas Eve Dinner at John and Soozees'

Shelby and Joshua got these cute outfits from Uncle Steve.

We had a fun Christmas this year. Christmas Eve we went over to John and Soozee's for dinner and had fun with friends and family. The kids got to open presents from Uncle Steve-who spoiled them by getting them about 10 gifts. He has fun buying for the kids-so it was nice to see his expression.

Then we had Chris' family over for Christmas day. We had a fun long day. The kids got up about 8 AM (which I thought they would get up earlier, but I'm not complaining). We opened gifts together and then everyone came over about noon. We had a big breakfast/lunch then had a gift exchange. Then we cooked dinner and Chris was making a turkey and ribs. Dinner was awesome. I think it was the best turkey EVER! Then we played games on the Wii (Just Dance 2 is lots of fun!) We did a lot of cleaning up and then we were all exhausted and ready to go to bed. Except I didn't go to bed yet. I stayed up to play with my new toy-I got a laptop for Christmas. I consider it my Christmas/Birthday present.

We had lots of fun and I really enjoyed giving gifts this year. I love having everyone over and hanging out and playing all day. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Carson's play

2010-12-19T18:26:00.000-08:00

Carson had his Christmas play at his preschool on Thurs. They did the Nativity play. He got to be a shepherd-which he was very excited about. It was so cute to watch all of them and how the teacher was so stressed. I think this year the teacher has her hands full! She says that Carson is one of her trouble makers-HAHA go figure! Carson loves going to school. I can't believe how big he is getting-my baby boy is growing up!!!

Christmas Ward Dinner and Family pics

2010-12-11T22:49:00.001-08:00

Christmas family pictures! We took about 50 pictures and 3 turned out ok. That's what happens with kids and it has to be timed right. We probably didn't time it right this year.

Here's pictures of the Ward Christmas Party:

Carson ate 2 or 3 candy canes!

Tonight -Sat. Dec. 11th was our Christmas Ward dinner. It was a cute little program and dinner was good. I went around and took pictures of the ward since I was the only one and the RS president asked me to. I had to get pictures of the kids sitting on Santa's lap.

Then we took family pictures and only a few turned out!

Today I went shopping all day. I am finally done Christmas shopping..I think.. and have to see what I have now-dig it out from the hiding spots. I have a few more things that are being mailed to me. I was so tired shopping, but it was fun. I took Shelby and I got a lot accomplished today-even though it took longer than I wanted! Happy Christmas shopping to everyone and enjoy the Holidays!

Shelby's 3mo old!

2010-12-07T23:46:00.000-08:00

Shelby loves bath time!

3mo. today

Just woke up and all smiles!

Shelby is 3mo. old now and is such a happy baby. Even with me back to work full-time now, she is doing pretty good. At first she wasn't taking a bottle and I was worried, but she is getting the hang of her new routine and started taking a bottle today. Of course it is so hard to leave my babies, but they are in good hands. Luckily this change didn't effect Shelby too much-she is still sleeping through the night. Yeah for me! Of course now life is busy again and I don't have a lot of time for anything. I just hope that the kids are adjusting well-which so far seems to be going pretty good. I just love this age because Shelby is talking, laughing, and smiles all the time. She likes to lay on her activity floor and she is grabbing for things now. She is very content just sitting there on the floor or watching TV. I'm so lucky to have such a good baby!

Thanksgiving Week in Rexburg, ID

2010-11-29T01:06:00.000-08:00

Ok-Thanksgiving week went by so fast. I don't remember too much-it's a blur to me, or should I say BURRRR!!! We left on Sat. 20th for Rexburg Idaho to visit my family there. We drove about 20 hours because we got caught in a snow storm after Boise. The roads were very bad!!!
This is driving around in Rexburg. Which wasn't very safe-my Dad and I soon found out-on Mon. night when we were "slip slidding away" to go to the post office and almost slid down into the potatoe field. It was scary when I'm telling Dad to brake-and he was-and we just kept slidding!!!

My parents' backyard. Mon. and Tues. the wind was going crazy. Holly and Carson were excited about the snow on Mon. and were outside for 5 min. After that, Carson was crying and they were both complaining that it was too cold! So-we didn't get to make a snowman, have a snowball fight, or go sledding because it was just freezing!

Looks like the beach-NO that was how windy it was and its SNOW!!!

So- the kids had lots of fun playing inside at Grandma and Grandpa Jones'. All the cousins got together and played ALL day long down in the basement and kids playroom (where they are in this picture).

Even the bigger kids had fun. Here we are playing Just Dance 2 Wii game. It is so fun and a workout!

Wed. night Nicole, Jason, and Katie came to visit and had to leave early Thurs. I'm so glad we got to see them too.

Thanksgiving day-I got the kids dressed all nice and wanted to take pictures. They were so goofy!

We took maybe 30 pictures-after Shelby stopped crying and trying to get all 3 of them to look good in the pictures! Here's what we got.

I really like this one!

Shelby was starting to get fussy again-so got Chris with the kids.

Thanksgiving dinner-the kids' table

the adult table

Shelby-hanging out after dinner. She did so great this trip! Her first trip away from home. The longest car ride ever-and she did really good considering.

FRI. morning-lazy day. Black Friday-Denise went out shopping all morning and slept all afternoon-along with Shelby.

The kids played all day. Kim made sugar cookies and the kids got to frost a bunch of cookies.

Chris drew on all of the kids' hands and arms. The kids colored, played hide-n-go-seek, etc.

Here you go-showing off their "arm art" (not Tattoos!)

Friday was our last full day there. We left Sat. morning for home!

We stopped in Boise at Donnie Mac's Trailer Park Cuisine. This place was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. We searched it out and I am so glad we did. It was the neatest place! Great food, great atmosphere, and friendly/good service.

This is out front.

The owner took our picture. They let us eat in the car they have inside. It was a '4os Chevy sedan that had a table in it. You could write on the inside. Carson liked that because he got to color on the car!

Trying the frozen custard called "open road". They call them Muds-so I kept telling Carson he was eating mud!

The front of the place-they have tires as flower pots. I bet this guy really enjoyed decorating the joint.

SEE-the food network-Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives was here!

This is on the side wall in the parking lot!

Ok-so after our fun in Boise then it was back on the road. After Boise we hit bad weather! We had snowy weather all the way to Pendleton. We drove 12 hours on Sat. and stayed in La Grande. We tried putting on snow chains Sat. night and realized we had the wrong size. Poor Chris was out in the freezing snow, along the side of the freeway, trying to put on snow chains. Since they didn't fit we just drove on and went 20-30 mph.

This is what it looked like Sat. night. Then Sun. morning it was all snowy. We went to Wal-Mart, bought chains, and spent 3 hours putting them on and trying to get them to fit. We also helped another couple put chains on their sedan, which-they slid into a guard rail earlier and munched the front end of their rental. Then Chris just took the chains off our car and we drove over Deadman's Pass and went 20-30 mph again. We got on the road at 11 am Sun. and got home at 10:30pm. Two full days of driving home. We had a nice relaxing time with my family. Holly and Carson really enjoyed playing with all their cousins there. I hated driving in the snow and don't think I want to do that again. The snow storm seemed to follow us to Idaho and back to Oregon. But once we got passed Pendleton the road was clear and the view along the Columbia River was beautiful! I'm grateful we made it home safe!

More kid pics to enjoy!

2010-11-14T20:33:00.001-08:00

Loves the camera!

Cute Shelby!

So Cute-huh! Carson just loves his baby sister.

All I want for Christmas is...

This morning Chris was giving the kids a bath and we were in a hurry like usual on Sunday morning. Chris was drying Holly's hair and got the towel caught on her loose tooth. Holly said, "Daddy you just knocked my tooth out." "That didn't even hurt!" Chris had accidently pulled her tooth out with the towel. I ran in there to see-and we were all laughing and Holly was smiling all day at church to everyone. Maybe this will help her to stop sucking her thumb! One can only hope. Shelby was dressed so cute in her new dress with her new fur black boots that I love. So-tonight Holly asked me- if I see the Toothfairy to let her know what the Toothfairy is wearing-yeah she is so into fashion. I just love my kids and enjoy the little pleasures in life.

Love my babies

2010-11-13T13:24:00.000-08:00

Before bed hanging out together, making Shelby smile.

Holly is talking to Shelby and she is laughing

Shelby is already giving dirty looks. "Leave me alone Daddy-that's enough pictures!"

Shelby's favorite position with me is on my right shoulder. She cries if I put her on my left and she doesn't like to be held in my arms unless it is feeding time. She lets me know with her fussy cry-which is really cute. Lately we have been really enjoying her now that she recognizes us and is laughing and smiling more. She loves to hang out with all of us. Shelby had her 2mo. appt. on 11/9 and she weighs 12 lbs. 10 oz. and is 24 1/2 in. long. She sleeps about 6 hours at night. She's already wearing 3-6mo clothes. Chris says she looks exactly like me, but I don't know. I think she is a combo; what do you think?

Halloween fun!

2010-11-01T19:05:00.000-07:00

Fireman passing out glow bracelets

trick-or-treating

Halloween night-dancing to Monster Mash
(too much candy!!)

Shelby-kitty

Carson-Thomas the Train

Holly-Vampire Princess

trunk-or-treat

trick-or-treating

We had a lot of fun this Halloween. Carson had a Harvest party at his school where he got to dress up, play games, decorate a cookie, etc.- and I was able to be there. Saturday the 30th we went to Camp Millenium pumpkin patch where the kids got to play games, ride a train, go on a pumpkin ferris wheel, jumpy house, and win prizes. Then that night we went to the Trunk-or-treat for our ward and the kids got to play games at different booths and get candy. Then Halloween night we went to Amy and Rusty's for dinner and trick-or-treating. Even though it was Sunday-it was family time too-we took the kids around the block and then hung out with family and friends. I'm glad that we had a chance to do some fun things and the weather was great!! It has been raining a little, but it has been warm.

Some fun pics

2010-10-26T20:59:00.001-07:00

Isn't Shelby a cutie!! She smiles a lot now!

Shelby just loves sitting in her chair and watching TV. She laughs and smiles more and is sleeping more through the night! Yeah for me!

'45 Dodge Truck. Chris' new project. Chris put a motor and trans in his truck. He is going to build this truck the same way his great-great grandpa, F.E. Hickman, had his '45 Dodge pickup. F.E. Hickman had a grocery store in Grants Pass and the name was on the truck. So- Chris is going to do the same. Put the name of the store on this truck. It is going to be neat and Chris' dad and great uncle John are excited about it!

Pumpkin carving

2010-10-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

We carved pumpkins for our FHE activity last night. We had the family over and had a lesson about eating good and obeying the word of wisdom. We talked to the kids about Halloween and being careful with candy and too much sugar...and then we ate cupcakes!!! We carved pumpkins that were from Soozee's garden. She also had watermelons to carve! The kids were so excited-more excited just to get together with the family and their cousin Thomas!

We had extra pumpkins and I spent the afternoon today making pumpkin puree. Then since I'm cooking lately-I made pasta with pumpkin cream sauce-it turned out pretty good!

Pumpkin patch for Carson's Preschool

2010-10-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

Carson picked out his pumpkin

Carson with his friends

Carson with his preschool class

Chris and I took Carson to his preschool pumpkin patch trip. I was excited to attend because I never got to go before, I was always working. We went on a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch, picked out a pumpkin for Carson, went in a corn maze, and the kids all got a goodie bag. It was a fun outing for us and Carson was so excited to go.

Month update

2010-10-15T10:52:00.000-07:00

Chris and Carson playing trains

This is Shelby's favorite spot to sleep. This has now become a nightly thing for Shelby and Chris.

Shelby's 1 month picture

Shelby is now over a month old. She weighed 10 lbs. 4 oz. and was 21 2/3 in. long on 10/4/10. Her routine has changed some and does get fussy when I'm not holding her. She also gets fussy at night. But overall, she is enjoying her new surroundings and likes sitting in her swing. I'm enjoying my time off and having fun watching the food network and trying different recipes for dinner. I could get use to this.

Blessing day for Shelby

2010-09-27T21:47:00.000-07:00

Chris blessed Shelby on Sept. 26th-Sunday. I didn't expect it to be so soon, but when I talked to our Bishop-he said, "Let's do it this Sunday!" and I went with it. Sorry it was so rushed and that I didn't have a chance to really tell anyone. It was my first Sunday back to church and the weather was perfect. After church we had a nice dinner party at John and Soozees' in celebration. Shelby looked so adorable in the blessing dress and thanks to my parents and Elizabeth for getting it here in time for the event. I didn't have a blessing dress since the dress has been passed around to everyone. The dress started with Heather-then Holly wore it-I sent it to Denise for Macey, and then Elizabeth had the dress for Noelle and Madeline. My mom couldn't find a blessing dress anywhere in Rexburg (I know-crazy!), so they contacted Elizabeth to send the dress to me. Well-it came in the mail Saturday afternoon. I was a little worried it wasn't going to get here in time-but it did and I'm glad that Shelby was able to keep up the tradition of all the girls wearing the blessing dress. So-whoever has the next girl in the Jones family-I'll be sending you the dress next!!!

Shelby-2 weeks old

2010-09-24T20:53:00.000-07:00

Shelby had her 2 week appointment on Mon. and she gained 1 lb. and grew an inch. I didn't expect her to gain a pound in 2 weeks, but I did notice her filling out. Plus she eats all the time! She's doing really well. These pictures are the ones I took for her birth announcements.

Shelby hanging out!

2010-09-17T11:47:00.000-07:00

Shelby is almost 2 weeks old now and she does the typical eat, sleep, poop thing. But she does hang out with us and looks around. She watches the TV and turns when she hears our voices. Today I was feeding her a bottle and she actually held onto it with both hands. She's trying so many things out in her little body. Her schedule is off though. She sleeps more throughout the day-which helps so I can get things done and be there for Holly and Carson, but then at night she is up a lot and it's exhausting. So-I have to get her schedule changed and soon.

Shelby

2010-09-10T14:17:00.000-07:00

Just a couple days and she has changed and just amazes me with how developed she is. She has so many expressions and likes to look around. Holly and Carson just adore her. Of course- Chris and I do to-even though she is feeding every 2 hours. I'm tired, but she is just so sweet. We are so blessed to have another baby and such a sweet girl.

Shelby is here!!

2010-09-08T13:05:00.000-07:00

First Family picture with our new addition!

First bath at the hospital.

Shelby has long fingers and toes!

All swaddled up- clean and content

Our baby girl was born on Sept. 6th (Labor Day!!!). I had a scheduled inducing to go in on Sept. 5th at 8pm. So-Chris and I prepared a nice dinner on Sunday and had friends and family over before we had to go to the hospital. Holly and Carson were excited about their sleepover at Nana and Papas'. I was induced at 8:15pm, water broke at 2:20 AM, and Shelby was born at 4:15 AM. Everything was very fast and delivery was realitively easy. I kept telling the nurses that the worst part was the IV. I hate getting IVs and the nurse couldn't get it so I got stuck a few times.

Shelby weighed 8 lbs. 4 oz., length: 20.5 in. She is the perfect size and is so beautiful. She is a pink baby! She is a great eater and so far has been the perfect baby. We are so excited to have her in our family and to finally see our baby girl. Holly loves to hold her and keeps asking when she gets to help feed her. Carson loves to touch her and is very proud of his baby sister. Carson didn't call her Shelby until this morning-he kept referring to her as his baby sister. Carson is doing good-I can see it is going to be an adjustment. Carson had his first day of pre-school today and he was so excited and proud-so hopefully that will help him to be a big boy.

I'm doing good. A little tired, but nothing that I didn't expect. I think I'm more concerned with getting a good schedule for Shelby so she will sleep more at night eventually, and also helping our family routine- now with Shelby here. Thank you for all the love and support and you will see more of Shelby soon! I'll post more pics soon!

Almost there!

2010-08-30T20:13:00.000-07:00

I realized that I don't have any recent pictures of me big and pregnant! But I personally don't like pictures of me right now because I look so huge and swollen. But I do have the pictures of me big and pregnant with Holly and Carson-which I think I look better, but oh well, what can you do. I'm 38 weeks along and my doctor has planned to induce me on Sept. 5th-in which, I will be having the baby on Sept. 6th-Labor Day! How funny huh? She could come anyday-which I am getting anxious because I'm not sleeping, I'm uncomfortable, swollen, my legs and hands go numb daily. How's that for complaining. But there is an end to this, which I am excited to see our baby girl. Tomorrow is my last day of work until Dec.-which I am so excited to have 3mo off with the kids and to get to be home. I have been busy getting my house, yard, and baby items ready so that I can relax when the baby is here. Chris says I'm driving him nuts because I don't sit down and I do all these projects and constantly clean the house!!! What am I suppose to do? I get a little crazy-but that is just nesting-right? So-next post will probably be everyone meeting our baby girl.

Plat I Resevoir

2010-07-31T10:32:00.000-07:00

Sunday after church we went to walk around at the reservoir by our house. There were a lot of families there. Kids were swimming in the brown mucky water and fishing for crawfish. There were a couple boys that we were helping catch them and they even let Holly and Carson have a turn. They really liked that and then Carson got to touch a crawfish and it pinched him. He cried for awhile and then he was over it and ready to start catching more. It's nice to have the reservoir and the river so close to enjoy.

Holly lost her first baby tooth

2010-07-14T20:37:00.000-07:00

Holly was playing with this loose tooth for a few days and I kept trying to take it out for her. I know nice mom, but she would freak out as soon as I tried to get it out. Then last night 7/13/10-I finally told her it needs to come out and she was very brave. I finally got that stubborn little tooth out and she was so happy. She was crying and getting really upset and then when it came out she said, "That didn't even hurt!!" She was smiling and laughing and kept looking in the mirror where her space is now! The picture shows her puffy eye face because she was crying! I got a little treasure box for her tooth from work and she was very excited to put it under her pillow. The Toothfairy came last night and Holly got a $1. I told her that the Toothfairy must have thought she was very brave to get a $1. That was a fun experience! Now Holly keeps showing everyone her gap in her smile and her big tooth coming in!

Chris' Birthday

2010-07-14T20:14:00.000-07:00

Chris turned 36 on July 10th and we celebrated his Birthday on Sun. the 11th. Chris wanted carne asada dinner-so I made him dinner and a peanut butter chocolate cake-since he loves peanut butter. I will have to brag and say that everything turned out great! I was very impressed with myself! Chris got a Wii from us with some racing games. I told Chris he has to share and now the kids love playing the Wii everyday! It is a fun family time and Holly and Carson love playing the sport games. It was Graffitti Weekend (car show in Roseburg) last weekend and that was fun for Chris. He went to all the car events from Thurs-Sat. and put the '64 Buick in the car show with his local car club, the Road Tramps. That was probably the best part of his Birthday weekend.

4th of July celebration!

2010-07-05T21:11:00.001-07:00

We had a nice relaxing weekend for the 4th. We had a picnic at Stewart Park in Roseburg and watched fireworks at the park. It was really nice and not too crowded like I had expected. This is the first year that Carson was able to enjoy the fireworks-since we didn't see any last year. Both Holly and Carson really liked the fireworks-it was cute to watch them.

Ultrasound of our baby girl!

2010-06-22T00:30:00.000-07:00

So I had the official Ultrasound today. The technichian made me a DVD of parts of the ultrasound. I thought she kind of rushed through the DVD part and I wanted her to show more of the baby moving, but oh well. It is pretty neat to have a DVD of it and our baby girl was sucking on her arm and "practice breathing" already. The tech. said that she is already about 3 lbs. at 27 weeks. She said that the baby is measuring at about 29 weeks-so what that means is again I am going to have a big baby! OR I might have her early-I don't know. It was neat to see how developed she is at 27 weeks. She moves a lot and kicks me a lot. Chris and I are most likely going to name her Shelby Lynn. So we are calling her Shelby when we talk about our baby girl. I tried to download the DVD-but it was taking forever so I don't think I was doing it right or it is too long anyway.

Father's Day Weekend

2010-06-22T00:03:00.000-07:00

Shelby Mustang!!!

I love this wagon!!! It worked out great for the car show!!

Drag Races Fri. night

For Father's Day weekend we went to the Drag races Fri. night and then went to a car show Sat. in Medford. It was a fun weekend trip. Then Sunday for Father's day we had John and Soozee over for dinner and had the fathers open gifts. Chris got a Smoker from me and wood chips, seasoning, and stuff to go along with the smoker from the kids and his parents. Chris wanted Santoro's style sandwiches for dinner (his favorite sandwich place in Burbank CA). It actually turned out pretty close to the real thing. I made the Jones famous peanut butter bars for desert since Chris loves peanut butter! I hope Chris had a nice Father's day. I hope all you dads had a great father's day as well. Happy Father's day to Rusty and Jason for your 1st Father's day-yeah!!!

Nicole's Wedding!

2010-06-15T23:16:00.002-07:00

We drove to Rexburg Idaho, for Nicole's wedding, which was June 12th. It was a quick weekend, but it was nice to see the entire family. All my siblings were there with their families, friends that we haven't seen in years came to the wedding too. Holly and Carson got to play with their many cousins. The wedding day was very nice and Nicole's reception was nice and relaxed. Nicole looked amazing and seemed very relaxed since everything came together so well. We enjoyed our quick trip to see the Jones family and to be apart of Nicole and Jason's wedding-I wouldn't have missed it-even with a 16 hour drive!! The drive was awful both ways-the kids did so good (thanks to DVDs, games, and sleeping). I was miserable, but at least I didn't swell as bad as last trip. Holly and Carson were so sad to have to leave-it was so cute! Holly cried when we left and Carson kept saying he wanted to go to Grandma and Grandpa Jones'-and that he didn't want to go home. Hopefully we can go back soon! Congrats to the Newlyweds-Nicole and Jason Grafel and good luck with everything.

2010-06-15T23:16:00.001-07:00

It's a GIRL

2010-06-09T23:20:00.000-07:00

This is her hand and top of her head.

Cute little profile!

I had to move my ultrasound appt. 3 times now and I'm 25 weeks pregnant and anxious to know what I'm having. So-since I had an appt. today for a follow-up about my swelling I asked my midwife if she could tell me what I'm having. So-I got a quick ultrasound just to find out that I'm having a GIRL. It's funny how I already thought that I was having a girl. This pregnancy has been similar to when I was pregnant with Holly. I'm so excited to be having another girl and get to do dresses and pink and bows all over again!!! Holly is very excited to be getting a sister and Carson could care less. My scanner isn't working so I had to take pictures of the ultrasound so it didn't turn out that good. The one of the 3D pic.- you can really see her cute face and cute little nose with her hand on her head. It was neat to watch her move around during the ultrasound and she actually clapped her hands together-it was so cute.

24 weeks pregnant!

2010-06-03T00:05:00.000-07:00

I know kindof gross-right!? I'm 24 weeks pregnant and still don't know what I'm having until next weeks ultrasound. I had my monthly checkup today and I have been swelling for the past month. But after our Memorial weekend trip I noticed it was getting bad and so early still. My Midwife wasn't happy with me. I gained 11 lbs. in 1 month do to the swelling-so now I'm on strict orders. I have to elevate my legs for an hour after work every day, I have to wear pantyhose during the day, I have to elevate my legs while sleeping, and for the past 24 hours I have to pee in a jug so they can test my urine. Sounds fun huh? Well-today I was swelling so bad it hurt and I was having tingling sensations down my legs. My midwife said I need to cut back on work and relax more with elevating my legs. I have a follow-up appt. in a week and she said if it doesn't get better then she might put me on bed rest. I know I didn't swell this early with Holly or Carson. So-I have to be good. I'm not having any other problems like high blood pressure, but my midwife is worried about preeclampsia because of my early swelling. It does make me nervous and annoyed that I'm already swelling so early and so far I've gained 21 lbs. which is more than I should have already. I hope I can get the swelling down.

Video of SeaWorld fun!

2010-06-02T22:55:00.000-07:00

Some video at SeaWorld! The sealions wanted to be fed!

part of the sealion show-it was funny!

We got to pet and feed the bat rays.

Memorial weekend trip!

2010-06-02T22:36:00.001-07:00

We had a great trip to California. Mainly the trip was to go and see my new nephew Lucas and we made it more eventful. First we drove to SLO and stayed with G&G Jones. It was nice to see them again so soon and we also got to visit with Marilyn, Cathy, and Barbara (my Dad's sisters were all there). We spent the night and Sat. left for SCV. First I dropped Chris off in Santa Maria where he met his friend Craig. They stayed at the car show all day while I drove down to SCV to visit Jason, Kate, and baby Lucas. We went to the park and just hung out and I got to witness how stinkin' cute Lucas is!!! I loved to see him smiling, cooing, and laughing. He really liked Carson and I just loved how every time he heard Kate's voice he turned his head and you could tell he just adored his mom! It was the cutest thing! Sun. we went to Saugus 3rd ward for Sacrament and got to talk with our friends from our old ward. Then we hung out with Jason and Kate again that afternoon. We visited with the Peterson's that night before we drove down to Mission Viejo and stayed at Aunt Cathy's house. I got to catch up with my cousin Jeff. Then Mon. we went to SeaWorld!! That was so fun and I loved the shows. We didn't go on any rides since Carson isn't tall enough and we didn't have time. We just went to all the exhibits and watched almost all the shows! All Holly talked about was getting a shark tooth-so she was pretty excited to finally get her shark tooth necklace. The kids both liked the Shamu show and Dolphin show the best. Of course we sat in the soak zone for all the shows-and we didn't get that wet. Since it was so hot it was nice to get splashed! After SeaWorld we headed back up North and Chris and I enjoyed Bob's Big Boy on the patio while the kids were crashed out in the car. We had a fast fun trip and now I'm tired!

2010-06-02T22:33:00.001-07:00

Fred the frog

2010-05-17T20:24:00.000-07:00

Last night we found the biggest frog on our driveway. The kids thought it was so cool, except Holly didn't want to touch it at first. We told Holly to kiss the frog and it will turn into a prince-she didn't believe us! That's the picture of her crying and getting mad because we told her to kiss the frog! We named the frog Fred and put it down at our pond.

Saturday fun day!

2010-05-17T19:34:00.000-07:00

We had a busy day last Saturday-15th. We had to clean our church building at 8 am and then we went to the Oakland city wide garage sale. The garage sale was a big event this year-we walked around for a couple hours and didn't really buy anything. Then we went to Wildlife Safari for Amy and Soozee's B-day. There was so much going on that day since they were celebrating the Cheetah's Birthday too. We got to feed the Giraffe-that was so cool, but I was almost gagging with how the Giraffe stunk! Then the guide that took us on the Giraffe feeding said we could go see the Lion training for free! That was so awesome! We got to see them up close and the dominant male was growling at the other male-it was neat! Then we had a lot to do in the village with face painting, eating lunch, playing on the playground, riding the train. It was such a hot day-it was great! We had a fun afternoon. Then that night Chris and I took the kids to the Races at the fairgrounds. The races were great-but we didn't take any pictures of it! We had a fun filled Saturday-which I think it was about time we did.

2010-05-17T19:32:00.001-07:00

Mother's Day

2010-05-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

For Mother's Day I had a relaxing afternoon. Chris made lunch, dinner, got the kids down for a nap, mowed the lawn, and got me a fancy new camera. I have been wanting a nicer camera and it has been fun to take pictures with. Chris got me a Canon EOS Rebel XS-which means "nice camera." I need to learn how to use it, but it takes great pictures. Happy Mother's Day to me and to all of you mothers!!!

Monster Truck show

2010-05-05T20:29:00.000-07:00

We had to go to the Monster Truck show at our Fairgrounds. BigFoot was there with a few other trucks. We went with the whole family and also had some friends come along. Carson was very excited about the show, but I don't know about Holly. It was Thomas' (Thomas is Amy and Rustys' 5 yr. old son) first time ever going to a Monster Truck show. Thomas had a great time!!! We all did and I liked the Jet car meltdown the best! It was so loud it hurt-I had to hold my stomach because it radiated throughout your body with how loud the Jet car was!

Aviation Museum in McMinville, OR

2010-04-26T20:40:00.000-07:00

For Chris and my 12th Anniversary we just went away for the weekend. We decided to do something as a family. We took the kids to the Aviation Museum where the Spruce Goose is. The kids really liked it. Not only were there some neat planes and rockets, but there was a Flight Zone area where the kids could play, we saw an IMAX 3D movie about space, and there was a playground. Holly loved the 3D movie, at first she was scared, but then she thought it was neat seeing the stars coming at her. She was trying to catch them! Carson liked the "huge plane"-the Spruce Goose. But I think Carson's favorite part was on the way to and from the museum we had to take a ferry across the Willamette River. Carson thought that was really neat to drive onto a ferry and go across the water. We had a fun day!

2010-04-26T20:39:00.001-07:00

Amy and Rustys' Boy shower!

2010-04-25T16:18:00.002-07:00

Amy and Rusty are fostering 2 boys right now (most likely will be adopting!). Thomas is 5 yrs. old and Joshua is 8 weeks old. They most likely will get the boys permanently so we went ahead and threw them a BOY shower. Soozee and I hosted the shower,at the church building, and it was a great turn out. Amy and Rusty needed stuff for both Thomas and baby stuff for Joshua so we called it a BOY shower. We had fun and it took a while for them to open all the gifts. Everyone was so giving. I found this idea to make a diaper "cake" and it turned out really cute. Amy didn't want to take the "cake" apart. I'm glad that we were able to throw them a shower and that they finally have been blessed with children in their lives.

2010-04-25T16:18:00.001-07:00

2010-04-06T19:46:00.001-07:00

Easter Egg Hunt-Saturday

2010-04-04T12:13:00.000-07:00

We brought the kids to the annual Easter Egg Hunt at Stewart Park in Roseburg. It is always a big event! Carson was so excited to get the eggs but then when the time came-he got about 3 eggs and then turned towards me and started getting upset. He didn't want to do it anymore-so I went out there with him and helped him get eggs. Then Holly and Thomas had their turn. Holly did good-but she has an interesting tactic when getting the eggs. Instead of grabbing all the ones closest to her-she grabs maybe two and then runs over to another section and gets a few more, then runs and gets more-you can see in the pictures she was way out in the middle of the field-it was funny to watch. Then we played on the swings for awhile and that is one of Holly's favorite thing to do. She loves to swing at school and at our house. Swinging is one of the few things she has mastered!

It was fun to have Amy and Rusty come with us this year, since they have Thomas, who is in Holly's kindergarten class. Holly and Carson love playing with Thomas!
We're excited to have everyone over on Easter Sunday this year!

2010-04-04T12:12:00.001-07:00

Somewhere over the....

2010-03-31T20:09:00.000-07:00

RAINBOW!!!! Aren't these pictures beautiful? I definetly didn't capture the whole effect-but the rainbow went all the way across! It was amazing. With all the rain we have been having (which is typical Oregon), I was missing the sunshine, but then I have to keep in mind what beautiful landscape we live in. I love driving home on our road and am thankful that we can have such a beautiful place to live!

16 weeks prego

2010-03-31T19:47:00.000-07:00

Here is my little baby belly. It's more my fat belly than baby bump! This is the weird stage where people don't know if you are just fat or actually pregnant. I would just tell them "I'm both." It's also the stage where I have to wear either my bigger clothes or maternity clothes. I've been wearing maternity pants and some shirts-I think that helps me to actually look more pregnant then just chubby! I can feel the baby move-little movements here and there-it's neat. I'm feeling better-but I still have days where I feel sick to my stomach. I'm still really tired and emotional. Certain smells really get to me-I'm so sensitive to smells. I can smell Carson's poopy diaper across the room!

When I had Chris take this picture of me-I asked him, "Does it look like I have a belly?" He said "YEAH!" I hit him and said "No-I mean a pregnat belly?" He said "Ask Holly!" Holly said "yes mommy." Thank you Holly-my honest girl. Speaking of Holly, I asked her what she wanted to name the baby if it is a girl. She said "Katie-I like Katie." I said sweetly,"yeah-that's a nice name, but I'm not sure..." Holly said quietly, "Dammit, I want to name her Katie." I didn't catch it at first-I guess it didn't register right away in my brain, but then I did hear it. I had to have a little talk with her about not saying "Dammit" and that is a bad word to say. I had to talk to her about bad words without laughing! Chris and I looked at each other like-OH NO here it all comes! My little girl isn't so little anymore. What is she learning at school? UGH!

My Big helper!

2010-03-29T22:13:00.001-07:00

I had to post this picture! Carson loves to help with chores. Every Saturday morning we do chores. Holly does great with putting away toys, cleaning her room, and dusting. Carson doesn't like putting his toys away, but he loves to sweep, mop, and vaccum. He also doesn't want you to help-he likes to do everything on his own!

Outdoor show

2010-03-29T21:59:00.001-07:00

Last month, Feb. 19th weekend, I took the kids to an Outdoors show and I forgot to post the pics. It was fun and we got to see a Grizzly bear show and pet a Red lizard. Carson was being a poop at first and he didn't want me to take pictures of him. So-he's hiding his face in the first picture, but then he was better after we got to see a tank full of trout and a guide showing you how to fish. Unfortunately, I didn't get pics of that. It was really neat to sit and watch the guide use different bait and watch the fish go for it. I think that was Carson's favorite part and he kept asking to go see the fish again. I thought he would like the Monster Truck the best. They enjoyed the Grizzly bear show and Carson wouldn't leave the poor lizard alone.

Spring pictures

2010-03-29T21:45:00.001-07:00

Since General Conference is Easter Sunday I had my kids wear their Easter church dress this last Sunday. It was a nice weekend so we took Spring pictures. I never can get very good pictures, but these turned out nice.

We're having another one!

2010-02-27T08:54:00.000-08:00

I don't know if you can even see the pics or not. But this is of my 11 week ultrasound. Yes-I am pregnant-I will finally make it known to everyone. Except I haven't told my work yet. You know you always have anxiety and worry about how the baby is doing at first and then the ultrasound put me at ease. The baby is doing good, it has a strong heartbeat, and it was moving around so the lady doing the ultrasound was getting frustrated that she couldn't get the measurements she needed. I just thought it was cute. At first I thought I must be having twins, because I have been so sick and extremely tired and I already can't wear my clothes. But there is only one baby doing all that. I don't remember with Holly or Carson being so sick and tired. I practically throw up every day and need to lay down after work. I'm very emotional and cranky! But-I'm doing my best to deal and I'm going to be 12 weeks along next week-so hopefully all the sickness will subside soon. We are very excited about our baby. Holly is very excited and asking all kinds of questions.- like "how does the baby come out?" I didn't think she was ready for that so I told her it was magic. Then the next night Holly says, "Mom, I think I'm ready to know how the magic works." She's such a smart girl. Of course-Chris came in and told her mom's are just special that way-they have babies and that's it. So- for now Holly has dropped it, but she does ask me how I'm feeling or if she see's I'm tired and sick-she know's it's the baby doing it. I got out her baby book and ultrasound pics and showed her-what I kept of her so she could understand and we look at pics of what the baby looks like each week. She is enjoying it. Carson could care less, but when I hold a baby he gets jealous and tries to climb up on me and get my attention-so we will have to see how he does with the new baby. I'm due Sept. 16th-I'm not looking forward to summer and being big pregnant! But I'm excited about another baby in our family.