I am 7

I swear I was just pregnant. I can not possibly be 7 years ago that I had this sweet little thing. My baby is getting so old.Skyler and Maren came up for the day. We miss being so close to them.

Malia wants animals so badly and we don't want them just as badly. She has hundred of stuffed animals so I made her a doctor coat so she could take care of all of them.

I also got her real tools. Crazy I know but whenever I am in the garage making something she wants to help so I got her her own tools so she can do that. Breckin gave her the cool tool box.
We had to go to Logan that day so we ate birthday breakfast at IHOP. Yummy smiley pancakes

Cheerleading

Malia gets to go to football camp every year because I have to be there and so does her dad. She also loves it. One of the conditions of going to football camp is that she has to either do cheerleading camp or do the drill team camp. This year we did cheerleading camp because the head cheerleader is in our ward and she signed her up. Let me tell you that this did not go so well. There was wailing and gnashing of teeth. More tears than should be allowed. She really did not want to go. The pictures say it all "up yours lady"

Needless to say I don't think we will be doing this again next year.

By the way if you couldn't find Malia, she is the one sitting down. WoW

Home

When we moved to CVille, we moved into a house that needed a lot of love. The original owners were smokers and so everything(even the inside of the fridge, all of the window frames, behind the dishwasher)and I mean everything had to be cleaned and sealed. It either was primed with Kilz and then painted or it was sealed with polyurethane. We lived there almost 7 years and even with all the painting and cleaning I did you could still sometimes smell the smoke. We did not want that kind of house again when we moved to BC. Luckily we found a great house that is almost to much for us(I judge this in that I can't be in my bedroom and yell for someone and they answer me. Stink-now I have to get up and actually talk to them). The house was painted in very nice colors except for Malia's room and so that is where I have begun.


The walls were a yellow-green that was so bright it was painful to look at for to long. She wanted the same kind of look we had in Cville. So we went with browns and purple.

I took the closet doors off because she throws everything in there and then hides in it and pretends it is her house. The house part I don't mind, it is the hiding everything she possesses in there.

I am in the process of painting my kitchen area a red. However finding the perfect red is challenging. I have patches all over the walls.
This is our home teacher room. It has been the staging area for all of the pictures and shelves that are going to be hung once I am done painting. Thankfully this room didn't need anything.
Thanks for the mirror Rachelle.

We are lucky in that we now have 2 fireplaces. Now we just need to get the wood.

This room has a big bay window in it that lets in a lot of light. I love reading in here. Thankfully the entire upstairs was recarpeted as part of the purchase agreement. Everything that I have done is cosmetic. Robbie's dad came down a month ago and fixed the washer and all the closet doors and installed a microwave(Thanks for installing it Jeff and Thanks for "selling"(still need to pay you) it to us Maren and Steve). I also installed a pocket door that I am very proud of. The carpet in the family room upstairs wasn't too bad so they saved it and we are going to replace the carpet in the bedrooms downstairs. Breck is the manly man and he has bright pink carpet. After football season hopefully it will get done. I really love this house and area. It is so quiet. The first night here I had to turn bathroom lights on because it was so dark. I bet Don and Anne are jealous-no church spotlights in the backyard. I am going to be better about writing. Summer is over-school starts a week from tomorrow and life will settle in. Lovin the BC.

Juicing it

This has been a crazy summer with the move and everything. Malia has been much more whiny than normal. About 2 weeks ago we are kneeling down for prayer and this is the conversation that ensued. Malia is whiny and she has been crying over something that Breckin did

Breck-Mom I am so tired of Malia always juicing everything
Mom-Juicing? What is juicing? I don't understand what you are talking about.
Breck-You know she just keeps crying and trying to get her way. It's annoying
Mom-I think you mean milking. Like she is always milking it. Juicing is close though

We laughed so hard. Breck says stuff like that all the time. I always wonder what is going on in his head. Love him

HELP!!

I don't even know where to begin. This summer has been madness and it is 3:33am and I am wide awake so why don't I begin with a yell. UUUUGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!! School got over and now it is July!! I don't have a clue to where I was in June but I know it consisted of a thousand house showings. Stinking house showings. I am glad that is over. We are done with the commuting and have finally moved. Why I ever get the bug to move is beyond me. I spend so much time yelling and crying and being a butt that I honestly can't believe that poor Robbie and the kids haven't left the crazy woman. Moving involves calling every person who sends you a bill and changing addresses with them. Getting new phone numbers yuck. Getting lost on your first run around the city-having to ask a very old man who was pruning his roses if he knew how I could get home. Moving involves going to a new grocery store and spending so much time there you want to pull your hair out because you are clueless as to where anything is. Then looking at the cereal that is normally 3.50 and they want 6.99 for it. My best moment was not when I threw the cereal down and stalked out of the store. By the by Malia was playing police officer yesterday and wrote me a ticket for walking to fast. It was a small fine but Brittons was bigger with a ticket for not picking up his room. She wore her cowboy hat that has a star on it all day. Supposedly the star made her a peace keeping officer. Anyway back to moving. This entails having the cable/Internet guy come out between 1 and 5 (ya whatever) and telling you that although there is a cable jack or 2 in every room, he can't find the cable line to your office where your computer is going to be. But he assured me it would be fine because we could just put the modem and router in my bedroom(like I need more crap stuffed in another corner of my room) and he would give me a wireless card for my PC. Cool guy forgot to ask me if I had Vista and of course the wireless card wasn't compatible. So after a trip to the Walmart( no they don't stock them), Radio Shack(oh sorry just sold the last one) and a big cry fest because BC doesn't have an Office Max or hardware store(I really cried hard about that), I dragged the computer into my room and set it up so Senor could use it until I got a card. I told Robbie I would pick one up when I went into town-OK I have lived here one week and I have reverted back to going to town. Crazy. I love moving.

Britton

Britton roofing

Robbie, Carrie and Brit 8 months old

Britton and Maren 2 years

Britton 18 months

Britton 18 months

Britton 2 years what an amazing looking cake

I started this post on Britton's birthday which was what almost 4 months ago. Today I decided add to it and post it. My Brit is 15 now. He can legally drive with an adult. He played his first Varsity football game as a sophomore. Scary. He thinks girls are hot and that he is a chick magnet(OK that is to be debated). He is really smart but doesn't think he is. He is able to make friends easily and people like him. He knows how to push my buttons better than anyone in the family and that can lead to some heated contention. He knows how to make me laugh hysterically. I spent the first 4 years(OK probably like 12) of his life expecting him to be able to do things that much older kids could do because he was so mature for his age and I tended to forget that. I spent the first 4 years(OK probably like 12) of his life apologizing to him because I forgot how young he was. I see my 3 year old nephew Skyler and I miss my sweet Britton. Not that he isn't sweet now but he is a teenage boy trying to grow up and away from his mom. I miss the hugs and the "mommy love" that you get from a 3 year old but that would be totally creepy from a 15 year old. I am glad Brit is growing up. I just miss the little Brit. I love him. He is a great boy and I really am looking forward to the next 5 years that he is still mine and not his wife's. Love him

Summer

Where to begin. School is out. Yeah no more worrying about homework and late nights and waking up to be to school on time(we were actually late for the last day of school-sad). Malia has been loving it. I make her work out with me everyday-P90X. We have been bike riding, running, walking, played tennis. It has been awesome. The boys have had no break. They have been at wrestling camp for the week. Wrestling is hard and Brit did not want to go but Robbie told him it was go to camp or start picking weeds at Bangeters. Monday morning he was up ready to go wrestle. Robbie has been commuting and it is old all ready. He leaves at 6 so that he can be up there by 7. The gas is eating up my fun money budget. He is excited about it though. He says he has some great kids and is looking forward to working with them. We are in such a crazy state right now. We need to be in BC so that our kids can get up there and feel apart of the school and community. We are still trying to sell the house. We have offers and then they fall through. I feel like we have put everything on hold because we are moving but who knows when. We need to get on with our lives. Robbie and the kids are so tired of the crazy lady that has started to live much more frequently at the house. So am I. I wish she would go away. Sometimes I don't want to make my bed or do the dishes. Sometimes I want to keep all the blinds closed and sit in my bathrobe and eat rice crispy treats and watch TV. Crazy Lady won't let me because someone might be coming to see the house. UGGGHHH.

1/2 Marathon Glory

We did it. We ran 13.1 miles and loved it. Robbie ran really fast and was so sore the next day. I ran really slow and didn't have any sore muscles. I probably needed to pick it up a little. We drove up with Rachelle and Steve, Honus, and Aaron. They all took off and 45 min. after Robbie came in I showed up at the finish line. It was great. Vickie, Rachelle's kids, Brit, Katelyn, Malia, Mom and Dad all were at the finish line. It felt good. I loved it so much I am signed up for the Top of Utah half Marathon at the end of August. Rachelle, Steve, Robbie, Carrie

Honus, Aaron, Robbie, Carrie, Rachelle, Steve 6:30 Eden

Mother's Day

I may have to rethink my stand on Mother's Day. This one was so good. There was no guilt. No feelings of being a crappy mother or anything. I know so not like me. Maybe the Prozac is working. It has been against my religion to go to church on Mother's Day for the last 14 years. My boys were so naughty or at least I thought they were and I was crazy. So the two did not mix. Let's just say Mother's day to me was Robbie taking the kids and getting them away from me so I could sit in bed and read and cry.

(This is the napkin Malia had made for Robbie and I to go by the food)

Well let me just say NOT THIS YEAR!!!. Sat. we were on our last week of training for the 1/2 marathon so we got up early and did an 8 mile run. Got back to the house and iced and then went to a lacrosse game (Breck's team won 10-1). I then came home and napped. A truly glorious nap. Rob decided we needed to go to the show so Star Trek it was. By the by, I loved it. Then he says he needs to blind fold me. He wraps my head in a sock( it was a clean stretchy football sock) and drives around forever.

He knocks on a door and this is who opened it. He had driven all over the place just to get us home. Malia was the cutest waitress. She sat us down and then pulled out her pen and paper and asked what I would like to drink. I asked what she had and she said Milk and Water. I chose the water and she wrote it very neatly on the piece of paper before she got it. On the table was set a nice lasagna meal that the boys got from Zeponies.

Then out comes the laptop. Britton was in charge of making me a slide show. I sobbed through the whole thing. This is me making them give me some momma love. It was the sweetest thing ever. and this was just Sat. Sunday I had to teach my Sunbeams so I actually went to a little bit of church and then we headed to Idaho to see our Moms. It was so good to see both mom and Vickie. I am a lucky lady to have two such great moms.

TV Addict

I grew up in a TV addicted family. I'll admit it. My name is Carrie and I am a TV addict. I don't know how this happened it just did. One minute I was watching Little House on the Prairie and the next minute it was 10 hours later, the sun is down and I don't remember getting up to use the bathroom. I know I have eaten because of the chips, sodas, plates that have accumulated around me are starting to overtake the couch. When did this happen. I'm not sure but what I do know is that I am a total addict.

I don't watch TV anymore especially during the day because once again addict. We use to not be able to schedule anything on Wed. because Lost was on. And then we got DVR. Oh how I love DVR. Sadly we got so much crap that my teenage sons did not need to see that we disconnected it. I love series. I have watched all the Crossing Jordon's and CSI (the original and Miami) when they were on TNT.

I have figured out how to feed my addiction and still not spend 14 hours in front of the TV. TV series rented at the video store. I love it. No commercials (DVR would be better but once again lots of crap on TV) and I can watch 2 episodes in the time it would take to watch one and I have the discs for a week. I have just recently watched the Dresden Files and Bones. I like them both.

I am still an addict though and have to tell myself. I just will watch one episode and then I will clean the kitchen. One more episode and then the bathroom. One more episode and........ Thankfully I only rent them occasionally because once again, ADDICT!

Spring Break

Spring Break started for us on Thursday. Robbie was given an award by the Elks Club in Bountiful. Bonnie Campbell nominated him for the service that he gives to the community and he was award the Citizen on the Year for this lodge. We just found out that he was also named Citizen of the Year at the state level.

My photos aren't the best but oh well. They had a dinner and then installed all of the new leadership in the lodge. They did the award at the end of the banquet. It was really nice.

We did a crazy all night drive that started at 9:30 and we got to Rachelle and Steve's house in Oregon. We love going and visiting.

Rachelle and Steve are running the Ogden 1/2 marathon with us and so we ran our 10 miles on Friday. I only ran 8 because of my crazy knee but I am doing a run 5 min walk 2 and I am still keeping at 12 min miles. In one week Robbie ran in 3 states, Utah, Idaho, Oregon. It was kinda fun.This is Rachelle after running 10 miles.

Saturday we went into Nyssa and had an Easter egg hunt. The Easter bunny brought so many eggs for all of the kids.

Ally, Shya, Malia, and Zoey after getting all of their eggs
One of the reasons we went to Nyssa is that Shya and Ally were sealed to Steve and Rachelle this weekend in the Boise Temple. Rachelle had the older girls before she married Steve and now Steve has adopted them and they were all able to be sealed as a family for all eternity. It was amazing to see them all in white in the temple. We love them so much.

Our family at the Boise Temple

After the temple we went to eat and them swim at the hotel that the other brothers were staying in. Of course Robbie was in the middle of things trying to get a 4 stack-Bridger, Dexter, Breckin, Robbie.

We had a really great time with Rachelle, Steve and the family. We needed the get a away.

Phoenix

Robbie had a coaches clinic that he went to in Arizona this week and since he already had a room I got to go a a great trip to Phoenix with him. I have been looking forward to this for a long time. Thankfully I have an amazing sister who watched my 3 children. Thank you Thank you Thank you!!! Us in the airport. I love going on vacation with Robbie. Even though it was a working vacation for him, we always have an adventure.

We really wanted to get some sun. We still haven't seen the sun in Utah for longer than a half hour yet. It actually was snowing the day we left and they had to de-ice the plane. It is snowing right now as I am typing this. We grabbed lunch and found a park and brought out the day glow legs. Sunglasses were needed.

We just soaked the sun up. Our vit. D levels were definitely charged.
We rented a car and were driving around looking for the LDS Temple in Mesa. This was the first week in April and so they were putting on the Jesus the Christ Easter Pageant and we just happen to get there at about the middle of it.

They put the pageant on next to the visitor center. It was amazing. It was huge. Their were hundreds of cast members. It was in Spanish the night we were there. I didn't understand the language but I did understood it because it was about Christ's ministry. We got there at the sermon on the mount so we saw Christ's ministry from that point on. Even though you know what is going to happen with the crucifixion and the betrayal and the garden of Gethsemane, and the resurrection it is still so moving to see it all acted out. Truly Amazing

I am married to a football coach. We were down there for a football clinic. We drove our awesome rental car around the area to no less than 6 high schools so that we could check out their facilities. We also went to Arizona State University and Mesa State. Could you get any crazier than that!!

These were out in front of the ASU stadium. My favorite color.

We ate well and stayed in a really plush hotel in Mesa. We had to work out while we were there so I ran 5 miles on the treadmill. Robbie ran outside but I didn't want to slow him down and make him worry so I did the treadmill.

On our way home we went out to see where the Super Bowl was played a couple of years ago. That grass field rolls into the stadium and then they roll it out to water and give it sun. It is about 2 feet deep and a security guard walked by while we were there and side it ran on a rail track system. Crazy just for a grass field. It also looks like a space ship.

I took all the rest of the photos from the plane on the way home for Breckin. He is scared of flying so these are for him. Grand Canyon

Utah Lake

Wasatch Front

We got tons of sun the last day we were there. It was about 80 degrees. We sat down by the pool and soaked up the rays. Robbie soaked up a few to many as his belly and back were lobster red. It was a great pre-spring break vacation. Thanks Robbie. Great get away