And the story goes on...

Dance anyone???

2011-03-11T10:57:00.001-07:00

Look who started dance!

Kaylee's award!

2011-01-17T20:05:00.004-07:00

Kaylee is such a good artist! She entered The Christmas Lamb show. The Springville Art Museum puts it on and only 70 out of 430 win.

She did a great job of drawing Mary and Joseph. She was so proud and she looked beautiful!

Getting her award. She got a $10 bill, a special silver dollar and a pack of gum!

The whole family!

Ward Camp out

2010-09-19T15:15:00.003-06:00

We went to our ward camp out up at Heber Valley Girls Camp. That place is amazing! The cabins were great, the kitchen and the pavilion was awesome and the ropes course was fabulous! Here is a family picture in front of our cabin, They had a ropes course you could go on. You had to climb up a 35 foot pole then walk across a wire then take a zip line down. Here I am at the top of the zip line.

Here is Kaylee going down the zip line. She wasn't scared at all!

Here she is walking across the wire!

Here is Cory going down the zip line.

Here is Cory helping Ashley whittle a stick. Because Ashley needs a pointy object to play with, right!?!

Here is a girl from our ward teaching Kaylee and her friend how to do it.

Our cabin stayed up playing games. Here we are in a heated game of scrabble! I know, crazy!

Here is Ashley with her friend Doul jammin out to music. They were hilarious.

Here are our bunks. Cory was wonderful and blew up the air mattress for me! We had a fun time!

The past year...

2010-08-07T14:20:00.006-06:00

This is for you Hillary! The last summer we have done a lot of fun things. My mom and dad took me and the girls up to Scofield to go fishing for the day. We had a pretty successful day catching 13 fish. Not bad for their first time fishing My dad helping Kaylee get her fish in.

My dad helping Ashley reel her's in.

Waiting for the fish to bite!

We went up Payson Canyon to have a hot dog roast with my sister's family. They were up their camping. The girls had a blast playing out in the woods, climbing trees and finding all sorts of treasures. Here they are with their cousins by the camp fire!

They spent a lot of time climbing this tree. Every time Ashley got up I would hear MOM I can't get down.

Kaylee turned eight this year and had a birthday that seemed to last for a week. She loves to draw and paint so I had my good friend make her an art cake! She loved it.

She wanted to go to Brick Oven for her birthday dinner. We had spent the whole day out on the lake and we were a fine shade of pink and exahusted but we are always up for Brick Oven.

For her party we took a group of friends and cousins to see Despicable Me. They loved it and for those of you who have seen it, the youngest girl is exactly how my Ashley is. Ashley lives in a world with unicorns too and loves to make annoying sounds and ask if she is bugging you. Here is the group!

Before we went to the movie they all came to the house for cake and ice cream and playing outside. It was a fun day!

We took the kids on a hike to the Grotto. It is the perfect hike for kids and they love to play in the water at the top.

My mom made Karate Kid head bands for the kids (We had just seen the movie). They stuck a pose and thought they were pretty cool.

Of course we went to Lake Powell and this time we made the trip up to Rainbow Bridge. It is truly amazing. Cory was loving the fact he was able to finally take his own boat down. The past three years he hasn't been able to take it down.

My sisters and I took the kids up to Olympic Park. They had a ball. Plus it was a nice escape from the heat. We did the Silver Bullet (Alpine Slide). Ashley loved it. She kept telling me to go faster.

The kids loved to watch the skiiers go down the ramp and land in the pool. We spent about 20 minutes just watching them. I was amazed at how young some of them were. There was a 10 year old out there doing it.

In June we took a Mexican Cruise and loved it. The girls loved goint to camp carnival every. Here we are in front of the rock formations at the end of the Baja of California in Cabo. We saw seal, colorful fish, dolphins and sting rays. Very Cool!

At one of the stops we went to a resport and used their beach and pools. Cory went down the water slide head first (not noticing the sign that clearly states do not go down head first) and hits his head on the bottom of the pool and cuts his forhead open. Thanks to our trust surgeon and he lovely assistant, they got him sutchured up! As payment we took them to dinner that night on the boat and told him to order anything off the menu, on us :D I thought we were quiet thoughtful.

Ashley learning how to boogie board. She didn't quite get the hang of it but she sure had fun trying!

Kaylee loved boogie boarding. She became pretty good at it. Much better than mom!

And last but hopefully not least we were at a families house and they had just caught a baby fox a month earlier. It was nervous when the girls were around (I don't know why with Ashley around. She is amazing with animals...um maybe not). Cory was able to hold it and i have to admit, it was quite cute.

Family Pictures

2010-08-04T22:29:00.006-06:00

For those of you who are still following my blog (I doubt it) here are some updated pictures of my family. We had my sister take them a couple of weeks ago and it reminded me why we don't get pictures taken often. Cory hates smiling, Ashley can't smile normal, Kaylee is always smiling and my smile is masking me telling Cory and Ashley to smile normal! I was happy with how they turned out. Thank you katie, you are awesome!!

I'm Back!

2009-11-06T21:07:00.003-07:00

I know it has been a while but my sister has been after me for months to make a post. Here are a few pictures from the last six months (not in order of course). This year for Halloween my mom and I dressed up as Minnie and Mickey Mouse. We had a parade around the school and Ashley and my nephews came to watch.

Kaylee and Ashley wanted to be Fairy Princesses this year. I attempted to make their costumes and am quite proud they turned out.

This is Cory's brother, Riley and his fiance Shar. We are excited to have her as part of the family. The girls love these two. Ashley figured out how to make foam darts stick to her face.

This past summer we went to Flaming Gorge and Kaylee learned how to repel down a small cliff that was by our campsite. She loved it!

We spent many days out at the lake cooling off this past summer.

The girls and I went hiking up Payson Canyon with my family. They love to be outdoors whenever possible.

My family also hiked Timp cave this summer. The kids were quite the troopers and so were the adults! What a beautiful area.

Kaylee caught a lizard at Lake Powell this summer. She didn't want to let it go but we convinced her to let if go home!

This is just a typical picture of Ashley. She is such a cutie and keeps our lives interesting!

Toothless Annie!

2009-04-30T21:35:00.006-06:00

I had my camera at school today and found Kaylee outside with her friend. I thought I would snap a picture of her to show what a beautiful girl she is. She loves to jump rope at recess!
Kaylee has lost 5 teeth within the last three weeks. I thought I would capture this awkward stage in a child's life and share it with you all!

Broken Arm

2009-04-30T21:18:00.002-06:00

*These pictures are in the wrong order but I'm not taking the time to fix them!!*
Last Wednesday, the girls and I were out on the boat just hanging out in the driveway. The girls are so excited to get out boating. I was reading a book and all of a sudden I hear a grunt from Ashley, a thud and then a cry. She had fallen off the back of the boat. I immediately jumped up and jumped off the boat and I could tell she had broken her arm. Cory was at work so I called my dad to come and pick me up and take us to the hospital and called Cory's aunt to come and take Kaylee (she was there in 30 seconds literally, what an angel!) She snapped her upper arm in half and they needed to do surgery. They put two pins in it and we spent the night at the hospital! The picture above is her three day's after it happened. We moved her mattress into our room so she wouldn't roll off the bed and so I could keep an eye on her throughout the night. She get's up at least once a night to go to the bathroom and she can't do that on her own!
Ashley and all of her loot! Thank you to everyone who came to visit her or called her. She loved all the attention!
When we left the hospital, she got to ride in a wagon. She was out of it with drugs but she made sure to hang on to that Popsicle! In the emergency room they gave her the pink bear (she hasn't let go since) and in the pediatrics they gave her the blanket (her new favorite).
This is just after they brought her out of surgery. Cory was so worried about his little girl.
This is a picture of the arm. It doesn't do it justice. The blue spot on her arm is where the bone was putting pressure. Her arm bent the opposite direction. She went into shock and didn't cry too much. What a sweet little girl! Happy to report she is doing much better today!

Birthday Surprise!

2009-04-10T16:23:00.005-06:00

I had a wonderful surprise today at school. My class was at recess and the principal called me and told me I had students in the music room messing around with the stuff in there and I needed to go get them out. I was upset, to say the least, and the whole way down to the music room I was trying to figure out which students were down there and what was I going to do with them when I got there. Well my whole class was down there and they, with the help of my mom and sister Katie, had planned a surprise 30th birthday party for me. This is me realizing what was going on.
This is the amazing cake my good friend Keri made for me. She took my class picture and recreated, by hand, each student, principal and teacher. She had each detail on there including patterns on shirts, hair accessories, and glasses! It was fabulous. I didn't want to cut it.

My class made up a song and dance to Rockin Robin and they performed it for me. They were awesome! I have such a great class!

Here were all are, my family and my students! What a great group!

Here I am with some of my students admiring the cake! Like I said earlier, I didn't want to cut it but the kids all enjoyed eating their faces!

Here is my wonderful principal who is the best to work for! All the students are watching me cut the cake, hoping I wouldn't cut their faces!

Spring is in the air!

2009-03-21T19:15:00.008-06:00

This is Jessica's sister, Katie, and I thought it was about time for an update from her. She is really busy with school and life so I had a bunch of pictures of her girls and things that they have done so I am posting it. I hope she doesn't mind! :)

I took her girls and my two boys and we met my sister-in-law up at the zoo a few days ago. Kaylee was so excited because I took her out of school to go and they called her name over the intercom to come down to the office. That is really cool I guess! Ha! We are loving the warm weather! The kids were wonderful and we had a really great time!

All the kids in front of the wooden elephant.

Then in front of the real ones.

Kaylee, Makenna (my niece) and Ashley on the rhino.

They are the cutest girls ever! There is a bear in the background!

The zebras...even though it moved behind Kaylee when I took this picture.

Me with all the kids in front of the giraffes.

Ben & Kaylee...they are such good friends, well most of the time!

Ashley had to ride the tiger.

Kaylee

Kaylee rode the fox. They really couldn't make up their minds there were too many to choose from.

Kaylee trying to be a gorilla.

This is as close as I could get Ashley to do it! Ha!

Ashley

We took our dad's new boat out for a test run this past week. It's only 70 degrees but it was still fun and the kids loved it! Since I was the "official" photographer, I am posting this too!

Ben & Kaylee

Ashley just being Ashley! What more can I say about this picture!

Jessica had a nice time getting some much needed relaxation! She went back to the school after we were done so it didn't last too long!

We had a BBQ on the boat since it has one on it. Cory did a great job at it!

Here is dad...he was all smiles on his new boat! We loved it!

Ashley's time-out! We love this face!

Jessica and her family!

Kaylee got to drive the boat back.

Last but not least, another of Ashley's faces! Ha! That girl really keeps life interesting!

VIP

2009-01-06T20:39:00.002-07:00

Ashely learned the VIP song today in preschool...I'm a VIP in my family, I'm a VIP you see... But this is how Ashley sings it - "I'm a bee, and I pee in my family" HA!! That is so Ashley.

Playing in the snow!

2008-12-28T16:08:00.007-07:00

We had a fabulous day with the cousins playing in the snow. The day after Christmas we had my family over to go snowmobiling, sledding and lunch complete with hot dog roast, hot chocolate, roasted marshmallows and more! Here is Kaylee coming down the hill.
Here is Ashley testing her new sled she got for Christmas.

All the kids being pulled behind the snowmobile.

Cory pulling the kids. They had so much fun and then come warm up with some hot chocolate.

This is the hill in the field they would climb up and slide back down.

Here is our set up. We had a fire going, and a portable stove set up in the trailer.

Here is Kaylee and Ben eating by the fire!

Cory, Kaylee, Ben and my dad roasting some marshmallows. We had a fun day!

Ashley, Sam and Tyler playing in the snow!!

Maiden Voyage

2008-11-21T07:29:00.005-07:00

Cory got the boat running so we bundled up and took it out on the lake for it's maiden voyage! We had a full house, 10 adults and 4 children. It was freezing so hats, gloves and coats were a must! (I win mother of the year for forgetting these essential items for my children!) Luckily Katie shared hers!

My mom came along for the ride! She's trying to keep Ashley's feet warm because ashley wore flip flops!

Cory in all his glory! He couldn't stop grinning!

Playing in the leaves!

2008-11-19T13:46:00.002-07:00

While Katie was watching Ashley, they went to help Mat's grandma rake her leaves. They made a huge pile and then they hung on a branch and dropped into the pile! She had so much fun with her cousins! Thanks Katie for taking such good care of her!

New callings

2008-11-10T19:48:00.003-07:00

Cory and I got new callings in the church! Cory is the Elders Quorm 1st councilor and I teach Relief Society. We are so excited. I don't know what to do because I haven't been out of primary for 8 years. This will be different. I still play the organ 4 months out of the year and two Sunday's ago Ashley and Kaylee were on the stand with me because Cory wasn't there. I was playing the closing song and I look down and Ashley is looking up at me and starts playing the pedals. I was trying to "kick" her off and telling Kaylee to get of off. Ashley just smiled at me. That's my Ashley! ( for those of you who don't know, the pipe organ pedals play notes. You don't play the bottom or bass with your fingers, you play them with you feet. I have not figured that out yet!)

Cory's new toy!

2008-11-10T19:36:00.003-07:00

For those of you who know Cory, he loves to get things that are wrecked or damaged and fix them up. That is how we got our truck, our last boat and now our "new" boat. He found this one that had spent two day at the bottom of a lake. It didn't have much damage so he got it. It took him about an hour and a half of work and he got it running! All he has to do it cosmetic stuff now.

Here he friend Matt is helping him change the oil in the engine.
Ashley hanging out in the storage room. She calls it her "kitchen".

Here is the view from the front looking back. Notice all the sand from the lake.

Here is the front view. The front cushion floated away so we need to get a new one and there is a built in cooler on the front and the lid floated away too.

Here is the bathroom. I will be so glad when we are out on the lake and Ashley can finally go in a toilet (she has issues going anywhere but a toilet). Notice the sand.

Here is the view looking towards the front. The front windshield is missing on the passenger side and the counter broke over the sink which is where Cory is storing the WD - 40 and other tools.

Another view of the boat.

I know the picture is dark but this is the best I could do to get a picture of the whole boat! I can't wait for summer now!

Halloween

2008-11-10T19:27:00.003-07:00

Warning: These pictures are not in order and I don't want to take the time to figure out the correct order! We had a fun Halloween this year. We always go over to my sisters house because we don't live in a neighborhood and we don't have trunk or treat. This is Kaylee at the end of the night. She was worn out. This is Ashley trying to eat the donut from the string. She eventually gave up and grabbed it and chowed down!

Kaylee bobbing for apples!

The group! My nephew Sam was a power ranger, Ben was spider man, my mom was a gypsy, Ashley was a unicorn (complete with sound effects) and Kaylee was a punk skeleton! Notice the difference in Kaylee's expression from the beginning of the night to the end of the night.

Kaylee and I made a chocolate pudding graveyard with Oreo dirt! Yummy!!

Me and my fellow teachers. Mrs. Claus, Hannah Montana, and a Lady Bug (My wings broke)

I took this picture before school. They were so excited. I ratted Kaylee's hair then sprayed it with white hairspray. It took some elbow grease that night to get it clean!

It's a bus ride!!!

2008-11-09T08:05:00.006-07:00

Cory planned a special date for me and a bunch of our friends. He didn't tell us what was going on, but told us all to be ready at 7:00 at our friend Amber's. We were all there waiting and up pulls Matt & Cory driving a South Park Short Bus. We were laughing so hard! Cory took us on a field trip to Tucanos and dropped us off at the front door. He was too embarrassed to get off himself but laughed as everyone else got off! We got tons of stares, pictures and people even trying to get on the bus themselves. We spent Sunday morning showing my family and most of Saturday night driving around Salem picking up people to enjoy the ride!

Here we are in my sister Katie's driveway with all of us sticking our heads out the window.
Kaylee, Ben, my dad & mom, Sam & Ashley.

We made a stop at Grandpa Lee's house and dropped him off at church. I don't think he was too sure about us, and can you imagine the stares of people seeing Grandpa Lee getting off a South Park Short Bus at church.

Ashley and Sam's first bus ride! They were so excited. It even had seat belts! Safety first!!

Kaylee & Ben loved it. Ben wanted to work the swinging door!

Here we are last night. You can see Nicoel & Shaun peeking out the window.

Here's the group, (it's kinda dark, sorry) Chris & Michelle, Me & Cory, Matt & Amber, Shaun & Nicoel. We were laughing so hard all night, most had tears and we all felt like we had done a 1000 sit ups!

Cory & Matt! Who's driving the bus?

The guys, Shaun, Chris, Cory & Matt.

What a hot bus driver!!

Ashley strikes again!

2008-10-19T19:45:00.003-06:00

Has this ever happened to anyone else? I hope not! We had out home teachers over tonight and as they are standing at the door, getting ready to leave, Ashley runs up to the guy and spanks him right on his bum. And it's not just a little tap, it's a full on 180 degree wind up of the arm. She's not afraid to do it to anyone, just ask my brother-in-law Mat and Cory's uncle Steve!

What am I going to do with her?

2008-10-05T11:50:00.002-06:00

Ashley is a funny girl. She is always doing things that make us want to laugh and get mad at the same time. Usually laughter wins out. Last night, I told her to get undressed and get in the bathtub. I went in and this is what I found! She had forgotten to take off her underwear and she didn't even notice until we pointed it out to her. She is such a nut!!

Yummy!!

2008-10-05T11:41:00.004-06:00

My sister Katie bought a kit to make Halloween suckers. They came up yesterday and the kids spent a raining afternoon making suckers! Kaylee and Ben making Frankenstein suckers.

Ashley and Sam making their suckers. The group hard at work!
So proud of their final product! I have to admit, they were pretty cool! A close up!!

Dress Up

2008-09-24T15:49:00.005-06:00

Katie (my sister) watches my girls three days a week. She was at my moms today and this is what she found! Ashley and Sam had dressed themselves up! Ashley has on my old clogging skirt, squeaky shoes (that were Hillary's), my grandma's swim cap, complete with flowers, a lei and a purse! Sam was Super Santa with heels!! They crack me up! Close up of Ashley.
She always pretends she is a puppy or a kitty. Looks like today was a puppy day!

It's carnival time!

2008-09-03T20:19:00.005-06:00

We love to go to Payson Day Carnival over Labor Day weekend. Ashley was again having issues over something (imagine that) and wouldn't go on this ride alone. Cory went with her. It was kind of like an obstacle course.
Kaylee coming down the slide!
Cory and Ashley coming down the slide.
What cuties! I sure love these little girls!!

Kaylee will go on almost any ride with Cory, which Cory loves because he has a wuss for a wife and she won't go on many rides.

They both loved this little roller coaster, Ashley thought she was pretty cool even though it was going quite slow!
This is one ride Cory had to do alone! It twirled him around basically sideways, I was getting sick watching it!

Ashley's first day of school!

2008-09-03T20:11:00.004-06:00

Ashley had her first day of school yesterday! She was so excited to be big like her sister and go to school. I signed her up with her cousin so my sister could take them both! Here she is with her cousin Sam! Notice the back pack is almost half her size! Luckily Katie is picture happy and took tons of pictures for me!

Singing songs on the way to school. I bet Katie was excited to have two hours to herself in the morning! Yay for school!!!
Her teachers name is Ms. Amber. We have a good friend named Amber and Ashley is convinced she can't love two Amber's. Hopefully she will get over her issues and like her new teacher!

Back to School!!

2008-08-26T21:39:00.002-06:00

Well, I wouldn't let Cory take my picture of my first day of school but I just have to say this year is so much better than last year! As far as me being prepared, that is. I know what to expect now. I had a wonderful class last year and I have a good class this year. Cory is excited because I don't have to do much work at home now! Yay!!