Playing catch up

Here are a bunch of pictures of some of the things that we have been doing over the summer.

Lazy days at the cabin...

Random picture :)
Taylin and Brexlyn's birthdays






Random picture: Pemberlynn loves corn on the cob!
First day of school

McKinzley

Taylin
Best Friends!!
My girls showing their true colors :) I LOVE it!!!!
Girls night out: Club Habit, Kareoke Night!!

The end....

Just a quote

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. Don’t worry about searching for who you are; focus your energies on creating the kind of person you want to be! You will discover that as you pursue that journey you will not only find yourself, but chances are you will be pleasantly surprised and proud of the person you find along the way."

Junkin'

Sometimes life just seems to overwhelm us. I know for me, I spend my days taking care of my girls, playing with them, feeding them, trying to keep the house clean, the laundry done, make sure my homework is caught up, actually making it to school......and the list goes on and on and on. It all piles up until at the end of the day when you think to yourself, "Did I even take a shower today?" as you are trying to secretly smell your armpits. Or you look in the mirror (at the end of the day) and realize that you have some foreign substance smeared on your cheek, that you didn't know was there, and NO ONE in the 5 stores that you went to that day was courteous enough to tell you. Or, you walk out of your door to do your errands, and you don't realize until you are halfway through with them, that you forgot to put on your bra. I don't know about most people, but all of these have happened to me, and sometimes I don't know whether to laugh or cry about it :)

Don't worry, all of this rambling has a point.......I was talking with my best pal Cami, and we decided that we wanted to plan 1 ENTIRE day where we could go and do whatever we wanted, go wherever we wanted and just have fun. So we planned one whole Saturday and went "Junkin". This was one of the funnest days that I have had in a really long time. We were having such a good time, that we forgot to take pictures for most of it :)

We started our day bright and early at 8:00am and went to breakfast at IHOP. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon "junkin", which was hitting every yard sale and thrift store that we came across. Let me tell you, we found some AWESOME deals on stuff. Chad was most impressed with my find of a Game Boy with 4 games for $5!! We did hit a few stores that aren't "thrifty". Tai Pan was having their sidewalk sale, so there was no way that we could miss that, and then we went to the Quilted Bear to see if we could get any creative inspiration.

After the "junkin" part of the day, we picked up our awesome friend Heidi, and we headed off to get pedicures, have dinner and see a movie, while all of the husbands and kids came to my house and had pizza and watch one of the World Cup games. Us girls headed to Cafe Rio, YUM!!, and then we went and saw the movie "Killers". It was a really cute, and funny movie! We ended up getting home right before the clock struck midnight. I couldn't believe that I had spent an entire day, from 8am-midnight, out doing whatever I wanted. We had a BLAST!!! And I do have to say, that my husband is amazing! He was so supportive of my little day out :) I love his guts!

Here are a few pictures, when we actually remembered to pull the camera out:

These are some bug catchers that I found at Tai Pan for an awesome deal! ( I know, I look like a dork.....but I'm okay with it :) )

This awesome hat was in the Quilted Bear......they actually came over the intercom to remind guests that picture taking was not allowed....Oops!
This is my beautiful nightgown that I am going to go back and buy when I am 90 years old
We found some pretty awesome prom dresses at one of the Thrift stores that we went to.....this is Cami rockin the pumpkin colored dress :)
We tried to make it so that you could see both of our prom dresses, oh well.
I love pedicures, but they tickle me SO bad!!! I was laughing so hard when they were scrubbing the bottom of my foot!
I couldn't get this picture to turn, these are my pals Cami and Heidi enjoying their pedicures
Finished product
This is the only picture that we have from the movie theater, and the reason that we look so goofy is because right before we took this picture Heidi was telling us that 90% of the time people get lice from movie theaters!!! Can you believe that??!! Well, I guess it makes sense, but it really grossed us out thinking that there might be some little bugs crawling onto our heads, so we pulled our hoods on :) We had such a fun time!
I love my family SO much, but it was really nice to have one day ALL to myself. I think I might have to make this a yearly tradition!

Father's Day 2010

I want to start out by saying how thankful I am to have Chad as my husband, and the father of my girls. He is absolutely wonderful! He loves to play, teach, and of course, tease his girls. It is clear to me every day how much he loves them! I could never have found anyone else that could be as patient, loving, and understanding. Love you Chad!! I also want to say how grateful both Chad and I are for our own dads. They are truly amazing men!

For Father's Day this year we headed up to Canyon Glen Park in Provo Canyon for a BBQ and some great company! We ate some scrumptious BBQ hotdogs, salad, chips, soda, and cheesecake for dessert. Then the kids played with bubbles that Grandma Beverly brought with her. It was nice to just be able to relax, chat and let the kids play. The kids were able to rope Grandpa and Nana Paige into taking them on some nature walks, where they saw the fast flowing river, lots of different kinds of bugs, and a really big rock that they decided to climb on. Since all of us are so busy, it was really nice to be able to see the family and catch up.

Brexlyn and a little caterpillar

Playing with bubbles

Chad and Brexlyn
Grandpa and Pemberlynn. She would follow him EVERYWHERE he went :)
On the big rock

Nana Paige and McKinzley
Eating and chatting

MEMOS FROM YOUR CHILD

1. Don't spoil me. I know quite well that I ought not to have all I ask for--I'm only testing you.

2. Don't be afraid to be firm with me. I prefer it; it makes me feel more secure.

3. Don't let me form bad habits. I have to rely on you to detect them in the early stages.

4. Don't correct me in front of people, if you can help it. I'll take much more notice if you talk quietly with me in private.

5. Don't make me feel my mistakes are sins. It upsets my sense of values.

6. Don't protect me from consequences, I need to learn the painful way sometimes.

7. Don't be too upset when I say "I hate you." It isn't you I hate but your power to thwart me.

8. Don't take too much notice of my small ailments. Sometimes they get me the attention I need.

9. Don't nag. If you do, I shall have to protect myself by appearing deaf.

10. Don't make rash promises. Remember that I feel badly let down when promises are broken.

11. Don't forget that I cannot explain myself as well as I would like. This is why I'm not always very accurate.

12. Don't tax my honesty too much. I am easily frightened into telling lies.

13. Don't be inconsistent. That completely confuses me and makes me lose faith in you.

14. Don't put me off when I ask questions. If you do, you will find that I stop asking and seek my information elsewhere.

15. Don't tell me my fears are silly. They are terribly real, and you can do much to reassure me if you try to understand.

16. Don't ever think it is beneath your dignity to apologize to me. An honest apology makes me feel surprisingly warm toward you.

17. Don't forget I love experimenting. I couldn't get on without it, so please put up with it.

18. Don't ever suggest that you are perfect or infallible. It gives me too great a shock when I discover that you are neither.

19. Don't forget how quickly I am growing up. It must be very difficult for you to keep pace with me, but please try.

20. Don't forget that I can't thrive without lots of understanding and love, but I don't need to tell you, do I?

Dance

McKinzley, Taylin, and Oaklee have been taking dance since last August, and this past week they had their last performance to the season. They have all really liked being in dance, and their teacher, Denise Allen, has been absolutely wonderful!!

Out of all of my girls, McKinzley has loved dance the most. All she wants to do is dance. For Taylin and Oaklee it isn't that big of a deal. Taylin would rather be in swim lessons, and Oaklee still hasn't really decided what she would like to try.

So you might be wondering why you need all of this background information. Well, it has to do with this final dance recital. Here is a picture of the girls in the "back room" waiting to perform their dances.

All three were very excited! The final performance is also were everyone receives their trophies. Of course EVERYONE gets a trophy, we all know how that works. BUT, their dance teacher also gives trophies to the most improved dancers in each age group, and the best over-all dancers for each age group.

So, McKinzley, Taylin, and Oaklee all get their trophies and are sitting on the stage while everyone else gets theirs. Then, their teacher starts to hand out the other trophies, and one of those trophies was awarded to McKinzley. She got the trophy for the most improved dancer of her age group. She was SO excited! It was kind of funny watching the reaction of Taylin and Oaklee though. You could tell they were trying to process what was going on, and wondering why they weren't being called up to get a second trophy. As the realization set in that they weren't going to get another trophy, you could see it in their eyes. This is how happy they were AFTER the performance. As you can see, McKinzley is LOVING the fact that she is the only one that got 2 trophies, and the other two? Well......lets just say that they weren't as thrilled.

This picture is priceless!!! I did feel bad for Taylin and Oaklee because they couldn't really understand why they didn't get a second trophy like McKinzley. Oaklee kept saying, "But Mom, I was always good and quiet in dance, how come I didn't get one?" Any kind of explanation that I tried to give them didn't get through. They were just upset. I do have to say thought that I am SO happy that McKinzley got that second trophy! She LOVES dance, and I think that it was so important to her to be recognized. She would try and practice her dances at home all of the time. And since dance is what she wants to do, I think it boosts up her confidence to be recognized for working hard. As hard as it was to listen to Taylin and Oaklee cry all the way home, and for an hour after that...I am still glad that they gave McKinzley the trophy. You could just see how much it had boosted her confidence. And, I know that when Taylin and Oaklee get "extra" awards that it is going to be just as great for them. I can't wait to watch my girls grow and develop talents in what they love to do! I love being a mom!!

I forgot.....

I was looking at my sis-in-law's blog yesterday and she was "finally" updating her blog with their Easter pictures, and it made me realize, I forgot to put up our Easter pictures!! :)

We had a super fun Easter this year. The Friday before Easter, Chad's Dad and his wife invited us down to their house to have dinner and dye Easter eggs. This was the first experience the girls have ever had in dying eggs (I know, I am an awesome mom!) Anyhoo, they absolutely LOVED it!!

On Saturday we went to my parents annual Easter egg hunt. It is so much fun to see how excited the kids get when they have SO much anticipation built up in them. The hunt didn't last too long, but they played with the empty eggs for HOURS! Who knew that there were so many games that could be played with garbage :)

As you can see, Chad is TOTALLY into the Easter egg hunt :)

On Sunday we were able to just relax and enjoy the day. Of course, the Easter bunny had come, so the girls were entertained by their new books and stuff. And, church was actually pleasant.... Surprisingly!!! Usually I hardly hear any of what is being said because I am shushing 5 little girls:) Overall it was a wonderful weekend!! I hope all of your Easter weekends were great!!

Our New Addition

For those of you who don't know, Chad has been working up in Morgan County for quite awhile now, and he will continue to work up there or at Hill Air Force Base for a really long time. The reason that this is such a big deal is because he drives our Expedition to and from work every day costing us anywhere from $400-$500 a MONTH in gas! Quite frankly it has been putting a big dent in our income. So, we decided to invest in a car. We ended up buying a 2006 Honda Accord Coupe, 30,000 miles, and we got it for an AMAZING price. I know, I know....we only have 2 drivers in our little family and now we have 3 cars. BUT, we own our Expedition, so we really didn't want to get rid of it, plus, Chad will still need to use it occasionally to tow the trailer for work. So, we are hoping that this will be a good investment for us. It is kind of weird driving such a small car after driving something big/bigger for the last 6-7 years :) Here is a picture of our new little car :) You can't really tell in this picture, but it is a bluish/gray color.