Our CRAZY WONDERFUL Life

Sweethearts 2012

2012-02-12T09:10:00.000-07:00

Last night was Hillcrests Sweetheart dance. It's a girls choice dance and Lindsay asked Kayden Finlayson. These two have gone to school together since 3rd grade. When we moved from our old house, they moved too and Lindsay and Kayden started Sandcreek together in 6th grade and they knew no one but each other. They have stayed friends through all these years! His mom also happens to be a dear friend of mine! Here she is with me and Chris before leaving to pick Kayden up.

Jenny came over to tie her sash for me. I don't do bows well but she does and this is actually the second time for a dance she's come over to make sure Lindsay's bows look perfect! Thanks Jenny!!

All ready to go

A close up

Megan Searle did her hair again and I'm always amazed at the wonderful job she does! She's done it now numerous times and she's never done the same hair style twice!

Nicole was generous enough to let Lindsay use her convertible Mustang again. We love having this car around, it's so fun - Kenna is sure this car is her destiny! Since it's February and still cold, she had to keep the top up! Here she is leaving to pick Kayden up

They were in a group of 14, for dinner they did a progressive dinner. I made the lasagna for the main dish but our house served the 'light' dessert. It was the final stop before the actual dance. They had frappe and I didn't think that was enough so I made Oreo truffle pops and had some fun heart shaped gummy candies too! After the dance they went to Avery's house for the real dessert - Here is Kayden and Lindsay enjoying some frappe

I couldn't let them leave without taking a few pictures but getting them all together for a good picture was quite the challenge. Here are a few of the boys 'planking' in my living room - Yep, Kayden is on the bottom of this pile

Strike a pose!

And a few of Lindsay and Kayden

Wait, one more before you leave!!

This was such a fun evening for them all. I can't believe this is Lindsay's last girls choice before she graduates, it's been such a fun time in our house getting ready for dances. Not to worry, Kenna turns 16 in May and it will start all over again! This was a fun group of kids to have over and I've said it before, Lindsay has some really great friends!

Can you do that?

2012-02-08T08:10:00.000-07:00

The other day I came into the living room and found Jace watching a cartoon and this is how he was 'sitting' - it made me laugh so hard! He then asked if I could do that, to which I said, 'heck no!'

New school pictures

2011-12-31T17:53:00.002-07:00

Okay, so these pictures are about 2 months old and it isn't the beginning of the school year but, I don't purchase the pictures from the school, I get the ones I can control how the kids look. I just forgot to post these when we got them taken, I was too consumed with picking a family picture. They are however, the current photos of the kids for this school year. I didn't post any of Lindsay since she already had her senior pictures taken.
Makenna - 15 sophomore

Emily - 12 7th grade

Alison - 8 3rd grade

Baylie - 6 1st grade

Jace - 5 pre school

Here is one of all 6 of them -

All of the pictures turned out so cute and it was hard choosing which pose to put on my wall. I can't believe how quickly my babies are growing up - where does the time go?

SURPRISE!

2011-12-31T17:23:00.000-07:00

The Tuesday before my birthday, I had plans to have lunch with 3 friends at our favorite Mexican restaurant. When I got there, I was in for a huge surprise. Two of my good friends had worked together to get about 20 of my friends together to surprise me for my 40th birthday. As you can see as I'm walking in the restaurant, I was clueless as to what was going on! (A HUGE thank you to Brooke, my camera happy friend for all these pictures!)

I'm still in shock, looking at everyone at this point. I couldn't figure out how some of them knew each other and how a few little groups of friends became all one big group of friends - for this celebration anyway.

Nicole Hall, one of the ring leaders, made this sign and went to the restaurant early to decorate the place! She got me all dressed up in this get up as I entered the restaurant. Can you see one blinking red thing at my left ear? Yep, she had blinking red chili pepper earrings and all!

You can't see everyone in this picture or the next but I was so grateful for each one of these ladies for coming and making my day a bright one! I definitely have the best friends ever!

Nicole even got my favorite cold stone ice cream cake -complete with all 40 candles!

Chris and the girls knew about this surprise for several days beforehand. Chris call the school and got Lindsay and Kenna released from school to come eat lunch with me - don't they look cute with their mustaches??

Deb Weldert, Tracy Hanks, me and Brooke (my camera loving friend)

My cake!

All the candles are lit.....

One BIG breath...........

And, BLOOOOOOOW!

Kara was in town and happened to be near so I had her come on over! (I was so glad, Nicole tried to text her but accidentally texted her home phone so she didn't get the information about the surprise)

Chris stopped in to get Jace

There were GAG GIFTS GALORE!! This jar says "40 sucks" and was full of 40 suckers

A hot flash fanner

Even a homemade bra! Nicole sewed tube socks to the cups of this bra and added candies in the bottom to weigh it down - it's seriously hilarious! (That's Nicole sitting to the right of me, Angie Lords is on my left)

Like I said, gag gifts galore!! Here is a small sampling of some of the items I received

This was such a fun surprise, you can see why I say I have the best friends! I can't believe they were able to pull it off without me having any knowledge of any of it! I'm not one that's usually surprised but I really had no clue and it was one of the best days ever! Thanks ladies..... it was great, just remember what could happen when you turn 40 - you know what they say about paybacks!

Looks like we were good this year!

2011-12-31T16:18:00.001-07:00

When we woke up Christmas morning, we all realized that we had indeed been good this year. Santa had not only found us, but was very generous!

Since Christmas was on a Sunday this year, we let the kids go through their stockings and see what Santa had brought before we headed to church. Here are Jace and Emily checking things out.

Baylie found a kitty webkinz in the top of her stocking and was happy about it!

Jace just beginning to 'dig'' into his stocking - he's sitting in front of the 'Hot Wheels Wall Tracks' Santa brought him

Lindsay was super thrilled with her new MacBook Pro Santa brought her!

After church, we came home (the kids put their jammies back on) and started unwrapping the gifts that were under the tree...... Jace

Kenna and Emily with Jace looking on

Lindsay with Baylie and Ali watching her

me (it was a new tripod for my camera)

Chris

Ali, showing off her new webkinz - a walrus she named Wille

After all the presents were opened....... we had a bunch of smiles and a big mess of paper and boxes!

Each of the kids always gets a new outfit and this year I found Jace the best shirt. It has a guitar on the front that he can REALLY PLAY! He absolutely loves it, but I think I'm already tired of it!

This picture is a bit out of order but here is Makenna with her gift from Santa. It's a big high heel shoe chair!

We had a great Christmas, we love this time of year we have to celebrate the birth of our Savior and be grateful for His sacrifice for each of us. It was wonderful to have Christmas fall on a Sunday and the kids were really good about not opening gifts until after church. We are truly blessed and this time of year definitely reminds us of the blessings we have and to be more grateful each day for them.

Christmas Eve jammies

2011-12-24T18:48:00.005-07:00

It's no secret anymore what the kids will open on Christmas Eve, but I still love how excited they are to get new jammies. They talk about it for days before hand wondering what theirs will be. It's a fun tradition for them and one that I love! Here I am passing out the jammies to each of the kids. Chris is normally the one on Christmas Day to pass out the gifts but I know which ones are the Christmas Eve jammies so that's my job. It does help that I wrap them in the same paper and don't reuse that paper on any other of the gifts.

Here they are, waiting for the unveiling!

One, two, three..... OPEN

I love how excited Ali is for her 'peace sign' jammies! Kenna looks thrilled as well. I wish I had a good picture of Jace, he absolutely LOVED his!

And, pose! Even Bella wanted in the picture!

I'm not into the 'matchy, matchy' jammies at Christmas and I don't even like them to look like they're Christmas jammies, I want them to be something they can wear year round. I try really hard to find some that represent the kids' personalities or something they will just love, like Jace with his airplane ones, or Ali's peace signs. I think they were all super happy with their new jammies!

Christmas Recital

2011-12-22T18:50:00.004-07:00

This post is a little out of order, the girls had their Christmas piano recital last Thursday the 15th but I didn't get the pictures downloaded that evening. This year, Jeni Cutts, their piano teacher has 19 students so the recital lasted longer than in the past but it was great. She has several talented students and it's always nice to hear Christmas music being played on the piano. Here is Ali, she played 'O Christmas Tree'

Emily played a medley of Christmas songs, including 'O Come All Ye Faithful, Silent Night and Hark the Harold Angels Sing'

Lindsay and Kenna played a duet of 'Carol of the Bells'. Lindsay also did a solo piece called 'Tarantella' it's not a Christmas song but she worked super hard on it at the beginning of the year and had it memorized so her teacher wanted her to be able to perform it.

A big sigh of relief after the recitals are over, each of my girls get so nervous when they have to play in front of others. I keep telling them that's it's good for them and one day it will subside and will become easier. Here they are with Jeni, their teacher and a wonderful friend of mine!

They all did an amazing job and I am so proud of them for continuing on in taking piano lessons. I know it's not always easy and there are times when it's down right frustrating but they push through and I can surely see the progress each of them is making in developing this great talent. I love hearing each of them play!

Pre school Christmas program

2011-12-21T13:22:00.004-07:00

Jace's pre school had a little Christmas program for parents today. His class is really small, only 6 kids, but they worked hard to learn the songs and sang their little hearts out. Earlier this morning, Jace was telling me he didn't want to go (I think he was nervous and remembering last years program at the nursing home). Being the mom that I am, I drug him there and handed him off to Mrs. Natalie crying. When I returned for the the program, I wasn't sure how he would do but he did fantastic, he was the loudest singer and was a ham for my camera! Here he is, notice he's sitting between the only 2 girls in the class :)

Singing 'Jingle Bells'The class also told the Christmas story with Mrs. Natalie. She would read the book and let them fill in words to the story, it was so cute!

After the program, Mrs. Natalie had gifts for each of them to take home. She told us that it was up to us whether we had them wait to open them on Christmas or let them when we got home.

We absolutely adore Mrs. Natalie!Well, there was no way Jace was waiting to open his present and he was thrilled to find it was a paint and poster set and he jumped right in and started painting. Thank you Mrs. Natalie!!

Jace is really enjoying having Mrs. Natalie again for preschool this year and like I said earlier, we adore her! He's had a harder time this year without his friends from last year in his class and there is at least 1 day a week that I hand him off crying but he always ends up having a great time. Mrs. Natalie does a great job with the kids and this program was just that. We look forward to many more fun things she has planned this school year!

Root family Christmas party

2011-12-19T10:16:00.001-07:00

This past weekend was the annual Root family Christmas get together. Kara and Brett were kind enough to have the whole gang at their house, again. There wasn't any snow for sledding this year so we had to improvise and come up with new activities. The kids made and decorated sugar cookies...... (look at Grandma Root asleep on the couch behind Baylie in this picture) Baylie working hard on getting her cookie just right!

Jace biting into his cookie.......YUM!

Lindsay and Zach adding the finishing touches to some cookiesHere Zach is holding up his cookie for all to see...... it says, 'stud muffin' he used different frosting colors to make the muffin, quite clever Zach!There is always story time with Grandma. She always get the kids books and stuffed animals to go with their stories and sits and reads the books to the kids before giving them to them. Baylie looks a little tired but Kacie is looking on intently.

Jace and Gavin wanted Grandpa to read one of Jace's books. Jace was grandpa's little buddy this weekend and wanted to be with him all day long

There were moments of just hanging around..... Here is Anjela giving Dexen snuggle time, although I don't think he is appreciating it!

Zach, Kenna and Lindsay

Haley and Emily.........

There were 'minute to win it' games. Lindsay is trying to move the cookie from her forehead to her mouth using only her facial muscles.

Ali, trying to get all the jingle bells out of the box - shake it!!

Chris and I trying to get the red pom pom onto our noses just using the whiplash effect ~ didn't happen.

But we looked cute trying!

Grandma and Grandpa with all 14 grand kids!

We had a good time hanging out and visiting with everyone. We always have a fun time when we get together, which isn't very often! I must mention that there were family skits again too. Laura had a prize for the best skit and I just want to tell David and Anjela, WE WERE ROBBED! We are already looking forward to next years festivities!

Lip Sync

2011-12-16T08:43:00.003-07:00

We happen to have our kids going to the best elementary school in Idaho Falls. There are always fun things happening and each year before Thanksgiving break, the kids have a lip sync. There was a try out process and Ali was involved in one of the groups that was chosen to perform for the whole school and parents! I will say the whole program was quite the shin dig and it was a great time, not only for the performers but for those who came to watch. Ali's group performed a Muppet 'classic' "manamana"
Here she is ready to perform!
Here is her whole group

This was a fun opportunity for Ali and her friends and since they are only in 3rd grade, there will be several more opportunities for her to be involved in all the fun things Rimrock has to offer!

Sadie's 2011

2011-12-04T16:06:00.004-07:00

Last night was the 'Sadie Hawkins' dance at the school. It's a girls choice dance and Lindsay asked Brent Empey. She actually agreed to come back to the house after picking him up to let me take a few pictures! Here she is with Brent

Lindsay, Brent, Trevor and Avery. They were all in a group together with 4 other couples. They went to Pizza Pie Cafe for dinner before the dance.
This one is my favorite! The boys are such characters :)

One more picture before they left. It was extremely cold outside, who knows why none of them are wearing jackets!

Lindsay said it was a fun evening, after the dance they went to Megan Call's house for dessert. She will only have 2 more dances before graduation, another girls choice and then prom - man the year is flying by!

Decking the halls

2011-12-02T18:29:00.004-07:00

This past weekend, we were able to get out the Christmas decorations and get the house ready for Christmas! I love how excited my little ones get and how everything seems so magical to them! The weekend before Thanksgiving, I found this cute idea on pinterest and was determined to do it, even though I'm not a crafty person. I was really happy with how it turned out. While I was decorating the front door, Chris was putting up the Christmas lights and hanging my big wreath on the house.
As it came time to trim the tree, Lindsay and Kenna were in a hurry to get to a basketball game, so much for family time! Here they are putting their ornaments on the tree.

Baylie was all smiles as she hung her ornaments.

Ali and Jace..... say cheese!

Emily, reaching way up high to put on her ornament

Family snapshot after it was done!

Jace is so excited for Christmas, he is on the countdown! He is such a sweet little boy and has been hard at work coloring pages for everyone in the house. He folds them up and has put them under the tree and has instructed us, "not to peek" they are his gifts to everyone.

Even though it's a bit crooked and some of the lights are out, it still looks great! Way to go kiddos!

I've been really good this year about not moving the ornaments after the kids have put them on. Each year, I give them a new ornament with their name on it and the year I give it to them. Those are the ornaments that have taken over my tree, I think there are only about a dozen of mine on it this year. The kids' are lumped together and there are places that need to have something added, but I've let them do their thing and they are happy and excited about how it looks. One day, and I know it will come way too soon, I will get to put my ornaments back onto the tree, until that time..... the kids can enjoy every magical moment of this Christmas season!

Family pictures

2011-11-22T17:55:00.008-07:00

It's been a few years since we've had family pictures taken so I decided it was time. I thought with Lindsay being a senior, this may be the last time we take them before our family dynamic changes. There were several taken of just the kids and then the kids' individually too, I might post those separately but here are a few of my favorites of all 8 of us.

Now, the hard part of deciding which one to hang on my wall. It was a fun afternoon and when all is said and done, I wonder why we don't remember to do them each year!

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T17:02:00.014-06:00

Halloween, I think I've been on the record before in saying, is such a ridiculous holiday. The kids all love it and really, it's all about free candy and dressing up so why wouldn't they? I guess I'm in the minority of those that don't enjoy it. I didn't even put up any decorations this year, I just wasn't feeling it. This year, our Halloween festivities consisted of 3 separate nights of FuN! First, we had a ward trunk or treat, followed by the schools spooktacular and finally, the night of trick or treating itself. I do have to pat myself on the back for being on top of the costumes this year, usually I am scrambling at the last minute to think of things for the kids to be, another reason I dislike this day!
Here are Jace and Ali at the ward trunk or treat. Ali was a 'wild cat' and Jace was a skeleton.

Baylie, a lady bug moving from car to car

Emily, a baby

Kenna and her friend Hannah, just hanging out

I guess the kids thought 'trunk or treat' really meant to get into the trunk because I have several pictures of them in the trunk. Ali, Jace and Baylie with their friend Maya.

The next Halloween activity was the 'spooktacular' at the school. It's a carnival where all the classes have activities for the kids to do and each teacher gets to keep the money raised in their own classroom for classroom use. I like that part of the spooktacular as teachers always need things in their classes but the whole overall atmosphere is nothing but chaos! The kids start out doing a costume parade for all the parents in the gym. Jace wanted to go with his friend Tyler but as he entered the gym and saw me, he was done! I guess he's not as ready for kindergarten as he thinks he is :) Jace is right behind Tyler and just about in tears.

Baylie during the parade

Ali during the parade. I had stopped the whole parade because Ali wasn't paying attention for me to get a picture of her, so I called out for her to stop so I could get a good one!

Eating the caramel apples they purchased in Mrs. Brintons (Baylie's teacher) room

Our jack o lanterns. Baylie picked out 'tangled' for her pumpkin, which turned out great but it didn't last too long. Jace wanted a smurf, Ali wanted a ghost and Emily did a skull. They all were really cute, I wish I would have taken pictures right after they were done.

Jace, posing with his smurf jack o lantern

Everyone heading out for trick or treating...

Emily took off and went with her friends while Ali, Jace and Baylie got driven around by Kenna in the neighborhood. Once Chris got home, he took them to grandmas and a few other houses in the ward. I think they all had a great Halloween, but I'm sure glad it's over....at least until next year!

Emilys start in YW projects - a quilt

2011-10-22T21:05:00.005-06:00

A few months ago, Aunt Anjela came for a visit and brought with her a lap quilt kit for Emily to make and use as one of her personal progress projects. It falls under the divine nature value, to make something for your future home. It was a little harder than the quilts the older girls did as it required 13 different squares to be cross stitched, ahead of time. She worked hard all summer. (I didn't get any pictures of her doing the cross stitch part, I don't know where my mind was). Anyway, when she completed the cross stitching, we invited Anjela to come help us finish the whole quilt. Here is Emily learning to put a quilt on quilting frames

Emily and Aunt Anjela, getting it just right.....

Starting to tie...........

Up close you can see that each square represents a part of the Christmas story. There is a square for Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, a sheep, a donkey, 3 wisemen, a stable, a star, an angel, a shepherd, a camel and a drummer boy.

Emily holding up the finished project

We are so lucky to have such a talented aunt to help us with these projects. I am so proud of Emily for working hard and finishing it. We had a great time with Anjela picking out the fabric for the completed look too. Way to go Emily, it's a beautiful quilt and one that will be a welcome Christmas decoration in your future home!

Jace is 5

2011-10-17T19:58:00.003-06:00

I can't even believe it's been 5 years since this handsome little guy came into our family! He is definitely all boy and we are still in awe of him everyday! He has been so excited for this birthday, I don't think there ever has been another kid as excited for a birthday as this one! He had been anticipating for weeks, asking how many more days until Emily made him a little paper chain that he could tear off a link everyday until the BIG DAY! He faithfully tore off a link every morning and let us all know how many more days until his birthday.
Here he is getting ready to eat his most favorite food in the world, french toast for breakfast! He had to go through the whole day until he could actually open his gifts. He was a trooper all day long and didn't ask too many times how much longer!

All the anticipation of this day and all the waiting and wondering how many days was well worth it when he finally got to open his remote control helicopter! He actually was with me and picked it out weeks before so it wasn't too big a surprise. I told him when we got it that we had to save it for his birthday and that he needed to forget about it, didn't happen!

We went to Red Robin for dinner but we had to promise that we wouldn't tell the waiters it was his birthday or he would hide under the table. He didn't want to be embarrassed, I guess. We came home and let him blow out the candles on his cake, we were all too stuffed to eat any. He kept telling me all week he didn't want a birthday cake (he doesn't like cake) only ice cream. Well, this morning, he decided he did want a cake. Not just any cake, a helicopter cake. I knew there was no way I was going to find a helicopter cake, so I just grabbed a random cake from the bakery and bought a match box helicopter, put it on the cake and he was thrilled as can be!

Make a wish and blow them all out!!!
\

He had a great birthday and I think after all his excitement, he wasn't too disappointed in the outcome of the day! He is such a great addition to the family. He is definitely spoiled by ALL of us. He is a wonderful little guy and we just can't get enough of him!! I think I'm going to have a hard time next year sending him off to kindergarten, he's been my buddy the last few years and I know I'm going to miss him during the day!

Senior pictures

2011-10-12T11:00:00.006-06:00

This post is a little late because Lindsay had her senior pictures taken back in Aug. just before school started. They all turned out great, these are just random ones that I love. I still have to decide which poses to hang on my wall and she has yet to decide which poses to get as wallets to hand out to friends.

This is definitely one of my favorites!

A friend of mine and a lady in our ward, took them. She used to have a photography business in Texas. I think she did a great job! Maybe she shouldn't have taken so many, it's too hard to choose which ones are my favorites, I've only posted a small fraction of her pictures and I have family pictures scheduled in a few weeks from now. I still can't believe Lindsay is a senior, she received some admission information from BYU yesterday and boy was that hard! I know there are great things ahead for her so it will be exciting to see what her future holds but why can't she do it all from home?

Homecoming 2011

2011-10-02T14:12:00.003-06:00

Last night was Hillcrest's homecoming dance. It happened to fall on the weekend of General Conference so there wasn't any day dates and the young men in Lindsay's group, picked up their dates after the Priesthood session. They had dinner and played games on Friday night so that all the kids could watch conference. Once again, I am so grateful that Lindsay has such a great group of kids in her life! Here she is all ready to go......

I think her hair is very cute, it is supposed to look like little flowers!

David Norman is the young man that asked her to the dance. He left a head of lettuce and a jar of jam on our doorstep with a note that said, "Lettuce jam at the dance together?" Lindsay had to go through the lettuce to see who was asking her. We thought it was a clever way to be asked and have no idea how he got his name in the lettuce as it was fully intact.
Pinning on the boutonniere........

Her wrist corsage

A few more pictures before they head out

The dance was held outside in the parking lot of the school. The theme was 'carnival' and they had a canopy which Lindsay said was small so all the kids were smashed together if they wanted a cover overhead. She did say it was fun though. We are excited each time she is asked to the dances and I still love shopping for dresses and helping her get ready. She had a great time last night with David and the others in her group!

Jace, back to Pre School

2011-09-07T09:21:00.003-06:00

Jace started pre school again this morning. He was all excited and ready to go and since he had been to Mrs. Natalie's before, he knew what to expect. Here he is walking out the door. Yes, it was HOT out but he insisted on wearing this long sleeved shirt.

Once we got there, he noticed that all his buddy's from last year weren't there. He was really apprehensive and decided he didn't want to go. Here he is with his new class. He wouldn't let me take a picture with him and Mrs. Natalie and I even had to walk him inside and a few tears were shed but Mrs. Natalie said he did great once I left. When I came to pick him up, he was happy again and let me take a picture.

We are really excited to have Mrs. Natalie as his teacher again this year. She is such an amazing teacher and so supportive of the kids. Even though all his friends moved on to kindergarten, we are sure he is going to have an amazing year and look forward to all the learning and growth he will do this year!!

Helicopter heaven

2011-09-03T21:09:00.004-06:00

We headed down to Soda Springs to watch Lindsay and Kenna run in the Cardinal Classic, an annual XC meet and it ALWAYS falls on Labor Day weekend. On our way through Lava Hot Springs, we noticed a helicopter behind one of the little gas stations. I jokingly asked Jace if we should stop and ask if they will give him a ride, and of course he was all over that! I had to tell him that if we stopped we would be late for the girls' meet. On our way back through Lava, I noticed the helicopter was still there and this time, there was a big sign on a truck that said, "helicopter rides." I told Chris we should stop and check it out, he turned the truck around and we found it to be pretty cheap for helicopter rides so we decided we would go for it! Of course, Jace couldn't have been more excited as that kid LOVES helicopters! Here are a few pictures we took. This is me in the front seat as we took off during my flight. Baylie had decided early that she was not going to participate in this family activity. While Chris and I were signing waivers, the pilot took her to the helicopter and buckled her in to show her that it was going to be okay. She still didn't want to take any chances and didn't end up going.

Jace thought he was in helicopter heaven! He was so thrilled and it's all he can still talk about!

Chris getting ready to get in. We ended up taking 2 separate trips since the helicopter could only take 3 of us at a time.

Jace rode with Chris and Ali. Ali is just on the other side of Jace.

All buckled up.....

Lift off.......

The smile on Jace's face tells us it was AWESOME!!!

After Jace, Ali and Chris got off, it was mine and Emily's turn. We were still trying to talk Baylie into going but to no avail. Being the spoiled little kid that Jace is, he ended up going a second time with us and he loved every second of it. All the way home, he kept saying, "that was the funnest thing of my whole life," or "can we talk about the helicopter?" He just couldn't get enough, he even said to me, "you wanna know what's funny? I'm four and I rode the helicopter, Baylie is 6 and she wouldn't." It was such a fun spontaneous thing we were able to do and we definitely made the day of our cute little Jace, and that was worth it! Too bad Lindsay and Kenna had to ride the bus home with their team, they really missed out! Jace is already asking to go do it again for his birthday........

First day of school... Part 2

2011-08-30T16:00:00.003-06:00

With the freshman getting their own day at the high school yesterday, Lindsay and Kenna didn't have to start school until today. As usual, they weren't thrilled with me taking pictures but they'll get over it! This was the last time I get to send Lindsay off to her first day of school while living at home. It was a bit sad for me but as you see on her face, it wasn't for her! Kenna and Lindsay walking to the car.

Lindsay, Emily and Kenna. Lucky Emily won't have to experience riding the bus to school in her jr. high years. Sandcreek is located right behind Hillcrest so she will get to catch a ride with her big sisters And, they're off!

This really was a sad morning for me. After they left, I thought about all the other things that will be the 'last time' experiences for our family with Lindsay (while she's living at home) and I really don't think I'm ready for all this; last Thanksgiving, last Christmas, last birthday, last spring break, really the list can go on but I'm hoping not do dwell on these things and hope to make Lindsay's senior year a great one! Kenna is excited to not be a freshman and I know they'll both have great school experiences, they have fantastic groups of friends!

First day of school

2011-08-29T10:11:00.005-06:00

This morning we are officially back to a little normalcy and into a schedule. Summer is a great time but I sure like having a routine with everyone, it just seems to make the house run a little smoother. Emily, Ali and Baylie went back to school today. Lindsay and Kenna won't start until tomorrow. Here are my 3 girls all ready for their school day to begin. Holding up their fingers showing what grades they will be in this year. Emily is in 7th, which is also officially, Jr, high! Ali is starting 3rd grade and Baylie 1st grade.

Ali and Baylie in front of their school

Baylie and Mrs. Brinton. We love Mrs. Brinton, Ali had her last year for second grade and we heard she was moving down to teach first grade and I had to request her - she is a fabulous teacher and I know Baylie will thrive in her class!

Her room was fairly empty when we got there so I was able to snap a shot of her at her desk too!

Ali with Mr. Guymon. She really wanted him for her teacher and we knew he was a popular choice. I opted not to request for her as all the 3rd grade teachers are good. She was telling me that she wouldn't get him since so many people were requesting to have him. She was happily surprised at registration when she found out she was placed in his class!

After taking Baylie and Ali to school, I was off to take Emily to JR HIGH!! I still think she's too little to be heading to jr high, but she was really excited. It will be a whole new world for her. Full of new friends, classes, teachers and opportunity!

It was a great morning and all went smoothly as we got ready for the new school year. Chris was able to give each of the kids a father's blessing last night to help them be comforted and ready to tackle this new year! They are growing so fast, time needs to slow down!

Mud Run 2011

2011-08-25T14:17:00.005-06:00

Last weekend was the cross country teams annual 'mud run.' Hillcrest uses it as a practice, they don't run it competitively, as a matter of fact, they pride themselves on coming in dead last! Makenna really enjoys the mud run where as Lindsay hates it! Here they are somewhere near the beginning since they aren't very covered in mud, yet! Notice how Lindsay is trying to ward off any mud that might be thrown her way..... Here, they are getting ready to crawl under a barricade and again, Lindsay isn't ready to get down and dirty. She was the last one standing last year too~

Kenna, the mud warrior!

Trudging through the mud towards another barricade, Kenna has no problem digging deep and chillin' in the mud

Kenna stops to pose while coming under the barricade!

Moving along, slowly but surely ~ this course is a 2 mile course. Lindsay had said that they wanted to finish in 59:59 but the teams time was actually a bit faster at 54 minutes. Well beyond the other teams. They stop and play in a canal along the way and just make it a fun event. As I remember last year, they sling mud at the spectators too! Now, fully covered in mud, can you pick Lindsay out?

Lindsay with a few of her friends after the race....

Kenna and some of her friends, strike a pose!

It was a brutally hot day they tell me (I had to work, so I missed this year). Ali was nice enough to let Lindsay have some of her shaved ice. What a nice treat after a hot, muddy race!

I was really not happy to have to miss this run as I think it's funny to watch them all trudging through mud! Even though Lindsay doesn't enjoy this meet, she'll look back and have fun memories of this event! Kenna, loves it - I think it's her favorite meet of the season!

Yellowstone

2011-08-24T14:17:00.005-06:00

The morning after the backyard camp out, we headed up to Yellowstone National Park. It was a nice day and we looked forward to spending time together and enjoying the scenery of Yellowstone. I actually have to admit that Yellowstone is NOT one of my favorite places, it's the same stuff over and over and if you've seen it once well, you get the picture. Here is a beautiful picture I took along our drive. Here are the kids at biscuit basin

Kenna over looking the top of the falls.

We entered the park at the West entrance and usually the roads are crowded with bison, this trip was completely different. We didn't see much wildlife at all and were very surprised. As we made out way around the lower loop, we finally came across some bison. This guy was seriously 4 feet from my window! He was huge and Emily was concerned that he would come closer to the car and she proceeded to scream, "shut the window, shut the window!" We were all laughing but she really was scared and lucky for us, he decided to just walk along side our car, too close for comfort! We watched him and he crossed the road behind us to a car and pooped on its hood! That really had us laughing!

Here is Jace at the sapphire pool at biscuit basin - The water is such a stunning color!

Lindsay, Ali and Kenna sitting on rocks near the falls

We made it Old Faithful and here are the kids waiting for it to erupt! You can see the steam coming up from the ground before the actual eruption.

There she blows!!

This was really cool. As we were watching Old Faithful erupt, off to the left, Beehive geyser was about to erupt too! One of the park rangers was telling us that Beehive only erupts once or twice a day and it only happens 2-3 times a year that it will erupt at the same time as Old Faithful. We had never seen Beehive before and so it was great to have been there one of the 2-3 times a year that it erupts along with Old Faithful! Beehive is a larger geyser than Old Faithful, Beehive will get to be 180-190 feet in the air while Old Faithful is only about 150 feet.

Here, Chris is teaching Jace to put his hands in the little stream flowing from sapphire pool at biscuit basin. It's warm water and Jace thought is was fun, even though you aren't supposed to be messing in the water.

We stopped along one of the paths at biscuit basin for a little family picture!

We had a great day exploring Yellowstone. The last time we went, Jace was just a few weeks old and Baylie didn't remember going either - they all thought it was fun and have asked to go back! This is one of Chris' favorite places to take a drive - it is fantastic that it's pretty much in our backyard, but give me a couple years before I'm ready to go back.

Backyard campout

2011-08-23T10:18:00.003-06:00

Two weeks ago, Chris thought it would be a great idea to sleep in the tent in the backyard. The little kids were super excited about it and we totally on board. I have to admit that I was not. I opted out of this adventure since my nice comfy bed was only a few feet away. It was getting dark by the time they even set the tent up but that didn't stop all the excitement. Chris started a fire in the fire pit, and they were set. Lindsay and Kenna didn't sleep in the tent either, they had early morning cross country and wanted a good nights sleep! Here they are posing for a picture before going to bed. Chris gathered the empty twin mattresses from the house to take outside to sleep on, yeah we really know how to rough it!

One last picture before I headed into bed.

They all slept great except for Emily who came into the house and slept in her bed after feeling scared. I will let you know that they also watched a movie, that's right, Chris somehow was able to hang his Ipad up in the tent so they enjoyed a movie on Netflix. Yep, we really know how to rough it!! I am glad that the kids had such an enjoyable evening and that Chris is willing to do fun things with them!!

High Adventure July 27-30

2011-08-22T10:17:00.004-06:00

Part of Chris' calling as the Young Men's president is to go with them on their high adventure camp out, it's for the boys ages 14-18. This year they went to 'white clouds.' It's located in the central Idaho mountains near Challis. It was an 9 mile hike into where they would set up camp and they spent 3 days hiking, fighting mosquitoes, playing in freezing water, and enjoying the scenery. It was a 'real' back packing trip, they could only take what would fit in their packs. Lucky for Chris, we have a neighbor that back packs and lent him his pack, tent, and had several tips for him. They also only ate freeze dried meals and trail mix! Here is Chris with a few of the boys Some of the scenery........

Chris, at the lake. Nice mosquito net hat, I know!

This was one of the lakes they hiked to. The glacier kept the water freezing but that didn't stop them from sliding from the glacier into the water. If you look really close, you can see 2 little black marks on the glacier, those are some of the boys and that is where they slid into the water. The 'slide' was about 100 feet long and even though the water was freezing, it was fun!

Chris had a great time on this trip. came home sore, but had fun! This was the last high adventure he'll attend with the boys as he was released a few weeks ago. Now, we'll just wait and see if he volunteers to go when Jace gets old enough, or they put him back into young mens!

Swimming lessons

2011-08-21T16:43:00.006-06:00

Swimming is a life skill that I think is so important and lucky for me, my kids love to swim! Each summer we spend quite a bit of time at the swimming pool taking swimming lessons. This summer was so busy that we were only able to get in one session of lessons. Lindsay drove Ali, Baylie and Jace several of the days when I was busy or working and Chris was able to take them on their final day, which is diving board day! Here are some of the pictures he took.
Ali getting ready to jump off the board.....

Swimming back to the side. Ali is a really good swimmer and it seems to come really natural for her.

Baylie's turn

Her teacher was directly under the diving board waiting to catch her....

Ready for her towel.

Jace's class was practicing by jumping into the water from the side of the pool.

He had a teacher waiting in the pool to catch him as well. When he got on the board on of the teachers asked if he wanted help and he said yes. The teacher just dropped him into the pool to the waiting teacher. He was all excited to do this so I'm not sure why he decided to get help.

Here he is using a noodle to swim to the side.

The kids loved swimming lessons and I was disappointed in only having time for one session this year. They all did well and are developing good water skills.

All she'll want for Christmas

2011-08-20T14:10:00.002-06:00

Okay, so it's not her two front teeth but, Baylie lost her first tooth!! Her two bottom teeth had been loose for months and she wouldn't let anyone pull them out. I finally bribed her with 2 dum dum suckers if she let dad pull the loosest one out. The next Sunday, she was eating an apple and the second tooth fell out on it's own. She put her tooth in a plastic bag and wrote her name on it. She hung it up on the fridge so the tooth fairly would come and know whose tooth it was. This really happened on July 16, I am just extremely behind on blogging!

Pioneer Trek June 23-25

2011-07-16T20:45:00.011-06:00

The girls had the opportunity to re-enact the pioneers trek with our stake for 3 days in June. Here they are leaving in the wee hours of the morning on June 23rd. At the stake center with some of their 'family' while waiting to board the buses.

Here is Lindsay, on the far left in the pink skirt and Kenna, on the far right in the blue and green bonnet during the women's pull. The women's pull is one of the things they re-enacted, it represents the period of the trek when the men were called to join the Mormon battalion. They said it was pretty hard!

My three girls hanging out with one of their pioneer sisters, Breanna.

Lindsay, carrying the family baby and her "Ma" Melanie Nelson. Emily is behind them in the turquoise skirt and bonnet.

The pony express came and delivered letters from home. Here is Lindsay reading hers with her pioneer brother, Tyler Nelson.

More pulling of the hand carts along the trail. Lindsay is on the far left with Kenna right behind her. Emily is on the far right, in the turquoise skirt behind her friend, Cassidy Nelson.

Here is Kenna pulling, she's on the far left.

They had plenty of fun too. Here are some of the pioneer games they participated in. Kenna is on the left in a yellow skirt, spitting sunflower seeds into the pie tins on the ground. She said she made it several times!

Here is Emily smiling for the camera while Cassidy has to eat a whipped cream pie for her part of the relay race.

Emily is in the orange skirt and yellow bonnet and Lindsay is in the brown skirt with turquoise bonnet. They're 'trying' to throw and catch the hoop with the sticks. You can see Emily giving it a whirl!

Kenna and Breanna 'milking' a glove for a part of the relay race!

Lindsay doing a gunny sack race!

Getting ready to pull their wagon across the river, Kenna is on the right in a yellow skirt and Lindsay is in her brown skirt looking on.

Kenna in her yellow skirt, helping to pull the cart through the river....

A bunch of tired kids! Lindsay on the far right and Emily is right next to her~

Lindsay, Kenna and Emily with their whole trek family!

What a great opportunity these girls had for 3 days! I was so grateful they had an awesome "ma and Pa" to look out for them and help them. They came home extremely tired and sunburned. They also took family names in who they 'trekked' for. Emily was able to take my grandma's name, Karen Root. She wasn't a pioneer that crossed the plains but she was a pioneer in joining the church and bringing the gospel to my dads family which brought it to me! They have gained some wonderful memories that will last them their whole lives and their testimonies of what the pioneers went through for us has been forever strengthened.

Swing batter batter batter

2011-06-29T19:47:00.005-06:00

Jace was able to play on a t-ball team with a group of boys (and a girl) from our ward and from his preschool. He was so excited about playing and for the most part, enjoyed the season. We had a lot of cold windy days but Jace was happy to bundle up and go. Here he is sitting in the dug out waiting for his turn at bat. He's sitting in the middle of two friends, Tyler and Carson. Playing in the grass and dirt is always part of t-ball, right? I guess it was good there was no action at 3rd base.

And now stretching....

He loved playing pitcher. Here he is on the mound

Running with the ball to put it on the t. Looks like he beat the runner. He had several outs this season by out running the runner to home plate. Way to go bud!!

His turn at bat..........NICE swing!

Running down to first........

Every time he made it to a base, he jumped on it! It was pretty funny!

Stopping to pose for a picture with dad, who was coaching 1st base!

Jace had a great season. Even though he was one of the youngest on the team, he held his own. He would tell us that his team won every game, even if they didn't. On the way home from one of the games, he proudly told Lindsay that he was the best one on the team, and the second best! I'm glad he enjoyed playing. I had a great time visiting with the other moms and I was a bit sad for it to end. Can't wait until next year!

Piano recital X4

2011-06-20T20:24:00.000-06:00

On Wednesday June 1st, Lindsay, Makenna, Emily and Alison had their end of the year piano recital. It was held at the piano gallery in the nice recital room. The girls have worked really hard this past year to develop their talent and I'm very proud of all they have learned and accomplished. This was Alison's first year taking piano lessons and her teacher says she caught on very quickly. Here she is playing her piece, "Raindrops" by Willard Palmer and Amanda Lethco. It was a short piece and she had it memorized within a week. She played through it twice and then her teacher, Jeni Cutts, played a duet part with her. Emily played "Unchained Melody" by Alex North. (Yes, the one recorded by the Righteous Brothers) She worked hard and played it flawlessly.

Makenna played, "A River Flows in Your" by Yiruma. Lindsay learned this song a few years ago and Kenna liked it and wanted to learn it. She did amazingly well and had a majority of the song memorized when it was time for the recital. She's still my girl that struggles with WANTING to play the piano but she has persevered, stuck to it and is doing great things.

Lindsay played, "Hungarian" by Edward MacDowell. This song was extremely difficult with lots of different dynamics - Her teacher was constantly telling me she couldn't believe how quickly Lindsay was picking it up and what a hard song it is to learn. I'm always pleased to hear things like that and when I looked at the music, I knew there was no way I could pick it out! She has played several times in sacrament meeting this year with different arrangements of hymns Jeni has found her and she even played at Ali's baptism and on mother's day when I was asked to sing with Kenna, Emily and Ali. Lindsay is a great little player and I hope she will continue into her college years.

They were all thrilled when it was over, as they all get really nervous. I was so proud of them and it's always a pleasure to hear them perform something they have worked so hard to learn. I love hearing them play at home, there is something about the piano playing in the background that helps peace abide!

I look forward to the upcoming year to see even more growth.

Jace's Pre School graduation

2011-05-23T10:40:00.006-06:00

Jace has finished his first year of pre school! He made lots of friends and is just sure that the minute he turns 5 in Oct. he'll join them in kindergarten. I've tried several times to explain that he has to wait until the following year and that they'll always be a year ahead of him but, after a few times...... Here he is waiting for the program to start, he's sitting next to his friend Noah. They sang several songs that they've learned throughout the year and unlike at the Christmas program, he sang! It was a cute program and Mrs. Natalie had previously asked each of the kids questions about themselves. Jace said that he wanted to be a pilot when he grows up and that his favorite color is blue, yellow, green, and orange! She also had them share something they've learned through the year and she said that something they say at the end of every class is, "Adios Amigos." Jace came to the microphone to tell us that this meant, 'goodbye my friends.'

Here he is being presented with his pre school diploma..........

He took some flowers to give to Mrs. Natalie after the program to thank her for being such a great teacher! Here they are together. We are happy that Jace will be in her pre school class again next year!

Jace has come along way this past year. He started out being a shy little stinker that wouldn't talk to other adults or sing in the Christmas program, to a handsome little guy that talked into the microphone during the program (okay, he's still shy around other adults)! He has learned to write his name and he will always point out on a bag, bottle or anything that has the recycle symbol on it, that it says to recycle! He's learned to count t0 20 in Spanish, by 10's to 100 and can't count by 1's to 56 without messing up! He's well on his way to being ready for kindergarten ~ too bad he's not going with all his friends. shhhh, but don't tell him that!

Egg drop project

2011-05-18T10:38:00.006-06:00

Emily's final project before moving on to Jr. High was to create a holder for a raw egg that when dropped, the egg wouldn't crack! I had seen these huge marshmallows in wal-mart and when she was talking about what she wanted to do, I ran to get some! She took a shoe box and lined the inside with these giant marshmallows. In between the marshmallows, she put a large plastic Easter egg, which would hold the raw egg. She lined the inside of the Easter egg with little marshmallows.

and just added marshmallows all over.

She took more of the ginormous marshmallows and attached them to the outside of the box, for cushion on impact. Here she is with her creation, which she named Meggie!

I went to the school to see if her egg survived or not. Here is the guy dropping 'Meggie' from his bucket lift/boom truck. Look closely and you'll see Meggie, just below his hand after letting go.

The moment of impact, all the marshmallows came flying off....... It really hit hard!

Here she is ready to open the box to see if Meggie kept the egg intact.

The moment of truth............ Sadly, her egg didn't make it!

This was a fun little project, even if her egg didn't survive! It was fun to go see all the other creations her fellow classmates came up with. I really thought she had a great idea, what's softer than marshmallows? I think Meggie was so heavy that when it hit, it hit hard and even the marshmallows couldn't soften the blow! People in the audience watching even cringed when it hit, myself included! She did receive the award for most creative 'holder' for the egg and was given a LARGE candy bar!! Nice job, Emily, at least we had a fun time with this one!!

Caught in between 10 and 20

2011-05-16T08:28:00.000-06:00

Makenna celebrated her 15th birthday the day after our anniversary and I must say, 15 years ago she was the best anniversary gift EVER! I forgot to take my camera to dinner but she wanted to go to Johnny Carinos, the Italian nachos are her favorite! When we got home, she opened presents and we had cake! Here she is with some of her gifts, she already had a few we brought home from New York. Unwrapping.......

We found this matted print in New York and I found a frame for it. Any of you that know Kenna, knows that she LOVES shoes and the higher the heel, the better!

After opening presents, the little kids all wanted their picture taken with her sitting on her lap. It was amusing when Chris decided he did too!

Makenna doesn't really like cake but loves cookies and cream ice cream. I found the cookies and creamery cold stone ice cream cake! It was delicious!

Blowing out the candles....

It is such a delight to have Kenna in our family. She is a great big sister and she's so much fun! When she gets on a cleaning roll, there is no stopping her (those are my favorite days)! Happy birthday Kenna! We love you!

19 years!

2011-05-15T22:00:00.005-06:00

19 years ago, I married the most amazing man ever! I challenge any girl to find a man that's even half the person he is! I am truly blessed to be able to share this life and eternity with him! This is what we looked like 19 years ago.......

How we have changed.............
In keeping with the past few years tradition, here are 19 reasons why I love this man!

1. Lindsay
2. Makenna
3. Emily
4. Alison
5. Baylie
6. Jace
7. He always puts mine and the kids' needs above his own
8. He makes me laugh
9. He loves and serves the Lord
10. He's an amazing dad (and the favorite parent of all 6 kids)
11. Works hard to provide for us
12. He sets a good example of how to live
13. He helps the kids with their math (because they know I can't)
14. He gets breakfast ready every morning, even if it's just cold cereal or toast
15. He waits up for the kids to come home at night (I usually fall asleep)
16. He unloads the dishwasher every morning, so it's ready to be reloaded through the day
17. He is unselfish
18. He treats me like a princess
19. He helps with all the household chores without complaining!

It has been a wonderful 19 years, and I am grateful everyday for Chris (some days I might not act like it). I'm thankful for the man that he is and for the quiet example he sets for me. I am blessed to have found a man that treats me with kindness, respect and one that puts up with me! I can't imagine what my life would be without him in it!

New York City

2011-05-15T18:34:00.000-06:00

For our anniversary, we took a trip to New York City. Neither of us had been there before so it was a fun experience. I can't say it was a vacation, as everything and everyone in NYC is moving full speed ahead all day long and well into the night! Horns are constantly honking, thousands of people moving at a quick pace and it was just amazing to see how different our lives are from theirs. We left on Wednesday May 11th and returned on Sunday the 15th. We definitely couldn't possibly see all the NYC has to offer in a few short days but we did our best to see what we could! I took 249 pictures total so to condense to just a few for this post was hard! These photos are in no particular order - I did think this first picture was an appropriate choice to start with...... We got around Manhattan mostly using the hop on hop off double decker tour bus. It would stop randomly and you could either stay on or get off and explore then wait for another bus to come along.

There was an M&M's world store just one block from our hotel, of course we had to go in and get some! So many colors to choose from!

One of the things we planned before leaving was seeing the musical 'Wicked.' It was more than worth the $$ we spent on tickets and I would have been happy to see it again, on this same trip! I've been searching online to see where else it's playing, somewhere closer so I can go again and take the girls! That's how much I LOVED it! We also saw, "Phantom of the Opera" and "RAIN, a tribute to the Beatles." Both were fantastic!

Sitting in the Gershwin Theatre with my playbill

We went to the 'top of the Rock' observation deck~ man, what a view! Here is Central Park with the city surrounding.....

The Empire State building

Central Park, again

We took the ferry out to the Statue of Liberty...... She's much smaller than I thought she would be.

This is what will be the new 'Freedom Tower' at ground zero!

We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge

Here is one of the ponds in Central Park, it's the same pond where part of the 'stuart little' movie was filmed.

We took a pedicab ride through Central Park (poor guy that had to pull us around all afternoon)

Standing in front of the 'mall' in Central Park

The "friends" fountain. This is where the beginning of the show 'friends' was taped.

other fun things we saw...... the late night theatre

American Stock Exchange..........

Radio City Music Hall, where the rockettes perform

St. Pauls Cathedral - the largest Catholic Church in the world

We went into FAO Schwarz where I got to play on the piano from the movie "big"

The 'flat iron building' - it's located at the start of the financial district.

Broadway...

The Hershey's store in Times Square

In the middle of Times Square........ I love this guy!

We had such an amazing trip, I can't wait to go back! NYC has so much to do and see, I think it would take quite a few trips to see it all. We did shop along Canal street and scored some cute purses for the girls and the food is excellent! It was a great way to spend our 19th anniversary! This was, believe it or not, the first trip we have ever taken together that was just us. We've gone plenty of places but we've always gone with people, it was nice to have Chris all to myself for a few days! I wonder what our 20 year anniversary will bring???

Commencement 2011

2011-05-08T17:43:00.012-06:00

Last night was the commencement dance for the high school. Lindsay was asked by a young man named, Alfredo, who is a foreign exchange student from Mexico. We took her up to her friend Avery's house to wait for their dates to pick them up and take a few pictures. This is probably my favorite picture of Lindsay of all the commencement pictures I took!

Here she is just after arriving at Avery's house. Besties ~

A shot outside...... still waiting for their dates.

We thought we were going to get their just a few minutes before the boys came, but we ended up waiting about 30 minutes so we took a ton of pictures of the girls together.

Waiting some more........

Lindsay and her parents. I have to point out that the ONLY reason Lindsay is taller than me in this photo is because she is wearing heals and I was barefoot!

The girls went upstairs to wait for their dates, here they are coming down the stairs once the boys got there.

Lindsay pinning the boutonniere on Alfredo

Sliding her corsage on her wrist.

The two girls, showing off their corsages. Notice the pearls in with Lindsay's roses and the jewels in Averys. They were gorgeous!!

A group shot that none of them was ready for.

A few more before they go

a close up

On their way out the door

And, they're off!

These dances are always so fun for me! I love picking out her dresses, helping her get ready to go and of course, I LOVE taking pictures. She always tells me I take way too many but I want to make sure I've got plenty for her to look back on and remember details! She looked gorgeous and I'm thankful she puts up with me making such a big deal out of things!

Mother's Day tea

2011-05-07T17:13:00.002-06:00

I had the opportunity to go to Baylie's kindergarten class yesterday to attend the 'mother's day tea' that her class had for their moms. They had a cute program of songs, a dance, a reading about their mom (which the teacher read out loud), and they got to stand up and tell why their mom was special. She was really excited for this day but did tell me before she left for school, "don't bring your camera!" I think she knows me better than that! Here is Baylie and some of her friends singing one of the songs. Waiting for her turn to stand up and tell everyone why her mom is special.

When it was Baylie's turn, she stood and said, "my mom is special because she helps me clean my room!" I thought it was cute and funny at the same time. During the reading about her mom, the teacher would start the sentence and then the kids had to fill in the blank. Baylie's was, my mom is prettier than...... and she said, "a rose!"

Here she is getting ready for another song. They used these ribbon things that they waved around at certain points. She is making sure hers is ready to grab!

This was during the dance, it was a dance for the kids and their moms. It was a cute song/dance. I hurried to grab my camera but then it was over so she's just looking cute instead of dancing and looking cute!

The kids made flowers out of their hand prints to give to their moms. Here is Baylie with my flowers.

They served the cutest little cupcakes with raspberry frappe!

I had her teacher take a picture of me and Baylie together under the Happy Mother's Day sign.

It was such a fun morning and it's also so great to see the kids excited to have their parents come into their classrooms. I was thinking that my kids are growing up so quickly and I'll only have 1 more of these kindergarten mother's day teas to attend. Thanks Baylie for singing so well for me and saying such nice things. I love you and am so glad you are my daughter!

Pioneer children sang as they sewed and sewed and sewed...

2011-04-29T08:29:00.004-06:00

In preparation for the pioneer trek the stake is going on this summer, the girls had to make pioneer skirts and bonnets. We spent a couple evenings with the ward and one long Saturday afternoon at home with Cathy. Cathy is a friend that I work with and she volunteered to come help the girls get their skirts sewed. I have to admit I am so grateful for this help since I don't know how to sew myself.
Here is Makenna, cutting out material that will be some of their bonnets. Lindsay is getting one of the 'brims' ready to be sewn to the bonnet.

Emily is stitching around one of the brims.

The girls were able to get their bonnets done while sewing with the ward for 2 evenings. We spent a Saturday afternoon, 6 hours to be exact, with Cathy getting their skirts done. Here is Cathy, seeing where to hem one of Lindsay's skirts.

Kenna is working on one of the ruffles of her skirt. Lindsay is in the background doing some of the sewing.

There was A LOT of ironing that needed to be done. Here is Emily helping with that. I have to admit, that a majority of the ironing was my job, I also got all the ties for the bonnets sewn and ironed.

ALL FINISHED!! Here are the girls modeling their skirts and bonnets. Each girl has 2 skirts and 2 bonnets for this 3 day trek.

I was impressed with how easily the girls picked up this sewing project. Cathy was a great teacher, she didn't just do it for them but showed them how to do each step. I think that Kenna or Lindsay could take material and make a skirt on their own if they had to. They are all excited for this trek and are counting down until it arrives. They have to take a family name of someone to represent on this trek and Emily is going to take my grandma, Karen Root. She was the first person on my dads side of the family to join the church and that has trickled down to the rest of the family and I'm excited that she is able to do that! We all had a great time sewing together and as much as I was dreading it, it actually turned out to be a fun time!

Easter 2011

2011-04-24T17:33:00.007-06:00

I didn't do well in taking pictures for our Easter activities. We had a ward dinner and Easter egg hunt on Saturday evening, I forgot to take my camera so no pictures of that. Although I'm happy to report that all the kids got plenty of eggs from the hunt! We went home to color our eggs and the kids had a great time. Lindsay was off with friends celebrating Avery's birthday so she missed out! Here are the rest of the gang enjoying themselves as they color the eggs. Emily getting ready to 'dunk' one

The result

This is the only egg I colored. I put it in the yellow and left it in the color for at least 5 minutes. The kids had tried using the yellow and it just wasn't very bright so I was determined to get one of the eggs yellow!

It wasn't very colorful but turned out cute! I decided it might not be a good idea to purchase your egg coloring kit after Easter the previous year for 10 cents, as this is why I decided the colors weren't vibrant, they sat around for a year!

Ali, putting an egg in.

Our finished products!

Sunday morning I caught Jace with his basket.

We have early church so we didn't have time to thoroughly go through what the Easter bunny brought. Once we were ready for church........... Jace showing off his new Easter tie!

Baylie.....

Ali....

Emily.......

Makenna.....

Lindsay......

Can't forget the group photo

It was a wonderful Easter day. We had Chris's mom, brother and his wife over for dinner after church. We had some great lessons on the atonement, Christ's resurrection and are grateful for this Easter season which gives us the knowledge that we can live together forever because of Christ's sacrifice for each of us!

2nd grade Reader's Theatre - starring Ali

2011-04-21T13:04:00.004-06:00

Ali's class had been working on a readers theatre and invited the parents to come watch. Here she is with her group and friends that she read with. Ali, reading one of her parts.

Still reading..........

After they were done, taking a bow.

She did such a great job. Her teacher told me how nervous she was before the parents got there, but you couldn't tell by how well she read!

Ali's group with their teacher, Mrs. Brinton.

Ali has had such a great year this year. Her teacher is fantastic and is always doing fun things, she has some great friends in her class and she is excelling in her school work! I was so glad I was able to make it to this. I was running late and showed up just as Ali's group 'took the stage.' Ali is such a fun girl, keep up the great work! We love her!

Bowling fieldtrip

2011-04-21T13:03:00.006-06:00

I was able to go with Jace's preschool class on a field trip to the bowling alley. Since Baylie would get out of kindergarten while we were gone, I took her out of school early to go with us. The kids had a great time and the moms sat around laughing and having a fun time too. Here is the little group we bowled with. Baylie, Tyler, Jace (not paying attention) and Madeline. These two kids are friends in the neighborhood. Baylie picking up her ball,

There is goes...............

Baylie, Jace and Tyler.

Jace, picking out his ball.

At the end of the lane.

And it's off....... I love how he has his hands raised way up over his head! He did this every time!

Best buds!!
Here Jace is with the little group of kids he knows well. They are in our ward and/or neighborhood. Reagan, Jace, Carson, Tyler, Noah and Madeline!

This was a fun field trip for all the kids and moms too! I have loved this year of preschool as Jace knows these kids well and I'm becoming better friends with their moms. All these kids will head to kindergarten next year, except Jace. We talk about next year and he'll say, "then I'll just go to kindergarten with them." If only it were that easy!!

Ali's baptism

2011-04-09T20:38:00.007-06:00

Ali's baptism was on Saturday April 9, 2011. She had been anxiously waiting for this day since she turned 8. Here she is right before we left for the church. Ali with mom, dad and Jace at the church.

Ali and dad in their baptism jumpers.

Ali and mom

I am usually good about taking many more photos but things were a little chaotic with all the people we had so I didn't even get a big group photo with everyone. Back at home, her is Ali with her sisters and brother (Jace wouldn't stay in his suit for photos).

Grandma Jackson, Grandma Root and Grandpa Root with Ali

A Root cousin photo, minus a few.

We had a yummy lunch when everyone got back to the house. Here is Ali dishing up her 'I am special today' plate.

Aunt Angie helped cut the 5 foot sandwich.

Some of the group! Uncle David in the back is showing off his 'light' yogurt.

Aunt Anjela and Kyton

Ali looking at the journal Grandma Jackson gave to her.

Aunt Anjela made her some cute 'choose the right' blocks.

And, the long anticipated scriptures...... This was such a special day for Ali. She was beautiful in her white dress. She sang with Makenna and Emily while Lindsay played the piano 'If the Savior stood beside me' during the baptism program and she even had a little solo part. She did so great even though she was nervous. We are so grateful to have so much family and many friends that came to be here with us as we celebrated this day with Ali. She is such a good little girl and we are so happy that she chose to become of member of Christ's church.

Decisions, decisions.....

2011-04-06T14:02:00.006-06:00

About 3 months ago in anticipation of Ali's baptism, we found a beautiful white dress for her to wear. It was a little boutique that was going out of business so we got the dress for a really great price! When she tried it on at the boutique, it fit her perfectly but I also knew that if she grew at all, it would be too tight. I decided it was only 3 months away and it would be fine! The evening we got home from the Grand Canyon, something told me to have her try the dress on. When she put it on, I could see it was my worse nightmare coming true............. it was TOO SMALL! With only 3 days before the baptism, we had to rush out and find another one. Ali had such a great time in 'Elegance in White' trying dresses on that I had to take pictures of her in all of them. Here is a look at just a few, as she tried on about a dozen. This was my personal favorite........... not the one she picked. She would put one of the dresses on and go the mirror and twirl around and around, she said she felt like a princess. She would go back into the dressing room and say, "mom, this dress goes in the yes pile." I kept telling her that they couldn't all go in the yes pile that she had to choose just one! Needless to say, it was a long process!

And the one she chose is...............

It was a fun morning being able to take her to look for a baptism dress. She would have me text pictures to her big sisters to see what they thought too. She looked cute in each of them and this just made her even more excited for her big day!

The Grand Canyon

2011-04-05T21:21:00.016-06:00

On Friday April 1, we decided that we would head out for the Grand Canyon in the morning. We were making final reservations that evening at 11 pm. We woke up Saturday and headed out for the 11 1/2 hour drive. As we arrived at the Grand Canyon, it was sunset! I had to stop to get a picture because it was so pretty! As we were driving through the canyon towards our hotel, it became dark quickly and we noticed this sign. Emily didn't see it but when one of us commented on it, she didn't believe that we saw a 'mountain lion' crossing sign. We kept teasing her, saying "oh, look... there's one over there" or something similar and she was so freaked out. On the way out of the canyon, I had to be sure to get a picture of the sign that caused her such stress!

My 6 beauties loaded up and ready to go! (actually, I think we were just getting out somewhere since Jace is out of his car seat)

Stopped for a photo and the Grand Canyon sign.

It was SO windy!!

Baylie got tired and Lindsay was so sweet to give her a piggy-back-ride!

Here's where we almost lost Kenna! Thank goodness Lindsay was there to help her back up - It was great posing on their parts, but I love that Kenna has the look on her face like something is really wrong!

Emily up on a rock!

It really is a magnificent sight!

Lot's of '1..2...3...wheee' for Baylie and Jace on this trip!

Baylie getting a closer look at the canyon bottom.

Lots of walking.......

and tree climbing.... they thought they had to climb the trees and yell for their pictures to be taken

It was a great spontaneous trip and I'm so glad we had the opportunity to go! At one point on the way home, it wasn't so great -

The nice police officer in Northern Arizona had Chris get out of the car to explain the ticket to him. He also told him that he only charged him for going 75 in a 65 instead of the real 82 mph he was going. Me and girls thought it would be so funny to snap a picture while he was out with the police officer....... one day he'll look back on this and laugh! The Grand Canyon was a beautiful place, the sights were breath taking. The kids travel in the car so well that it's fun to be able to go to places that we haven't before. What a great 4 days we had!!

Beiber fever

2011-04-01T08:09:00.004-06:00

Last week I was able to surprise Kenna with something she had been wanting for awhile now. I sat on her bed waiting for her to come into her room to snap these shots. Here she is in total surprise as she walked in. It was quite funny, she ran in and out of the room. I'm not sure if it was in disbelief or what but when she came back in, notice her phone in hand, she was already texting her friends to share her excitement! The other kids were so excited too, they couldn't wait to see her reaction and were right in tow behind her.

She is still in disbelief - I actually got her a life size cut out of Justin Beiber! I swore that I wouldn't get her one but the opportunity presented itself and I knew how happy she would be about it, so against my better judgement, I bought it.

I did attach a note to Justin that said, "congratulations on your 'A' in honors history (she was excited to have brought her 'B+' up to an 'A')keep it there and in the rest of your classes so I can stay living here with you." I used him as an incentive for her to continue to work hard in her school work, it was really the only way I could justify making the purchase.

Needless to say, it was a huge surprise and she was beyond thrilled! I love being able to do fun things that will make my kids excited and this was definitely a good day being a mom! I still think this Justin Beiber cut out is a bit ridiculous but worth it for the surprise I was able to pull off!

Smarty Pants

2011-03-31T13:10:00.004-06:00

This post is a little late but Baylie has finished her kindergarten skills book!! Everyone knows that I am NOT a fan of the skills book and although I know it helps the kids learn, I just really dislike having to be the teacher, I just don't have the patience for it! Here is the book with all the kudos from her teacher written on it and the medal that she earned for finishing. The skills book consists of 60 pages or skills that need to be passed off. Some of them are as simple as knowing your address, birthday, phone number and counting to 100. Where my lack of patience comes into play has mostly been on the rhyming pages. There will be an 'an' for example on the top of the page and subsequent words that end in 'an.' Baylie would be going along reading just fine, "van, can, ran, man, bat" What?? Yes, that was among my frustrations. Other pages are words that need to be read without sounding them out, like this one.

For each page that was passed off, they got to put a sticker on the back "chart" of pages, so they could see their accomplishment. For the past month or two, Baylie has had only 3-4 left to pass off. She would come home from school and I would anxiously ask if she passed off any skills because she was so close, only to hear, "1" or "no." The day finally came a couple weeks ago when she pulled out the skills book and showed me all the boxes had stickers on them!!!

Proudly showing her book and medal!

Way to go Baylie!! I'm so happy that this is over and I'm sure she is too! This is really my least favorite homework that ANY of the girls have had to do! I've saved this skills book in the hopes of getting Jace started on it early so when kindergarten comes around for him, my frustration level won't rise too high!

My baby girl turns 6

2011-03-26T13:30:00.009-06:00

My sweet little Baylie turned 6 yesterday!! I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She had a great day and was even happy when she woke up (those of you who know Baylie, know she is not a morning person)! Here she is enjoying her breakfast of french toast!

Opening gifts was the real reason she was happy to get up and get going. She had been asking since the night before if she could open them.

Jace and I went to her kindergarten class to take treats to her class. Here she is wearing the 'birthday crown'

She also had the 'share sack' that morning so we got to watch her tell her class about the item she brought to share with them. Her teacher Mrs. Killpack is trying to get out of the picture and notice the happy birthday Bailey written on the white board?? Yep, she spelled her name wrong! Passing out the treats of brownies and kool-aid bursts

YUMMY!!

She wanted to go to 'chuck o rama' for dinner (I forgot my camera) so we all went and took grandma Jackson with us. We came to have birthday cake and ice cream.

The big girls told her that since she left two of the candles lit, that means she has two boyfriends. Here she is just before walking out the door to school, showing off her age!

Happy birthday to my sweet Baylie! She is such a good girl and a joy to have in our family!

Here are some random pictures of Baylie a couple days before her birthday. She was supposed to dress up as a pirate for a birthday party and Kenna took these before she left for the party. I love her big blue eyes and smile!

Showing off her fun side!

We love this girl!

Watch out young women's here she comes......

2011-03-11T09:34:00.004-07:00

Emily turns 12!! I can't believe how quickly the years have gone and that I have another daughter in young women's. She has been waiting for this day for some time, it seems they just reach a point when they are so ready to be out of primary.
Here she is with her breakfast, a fried egg on toast.

Opening her presents.... (this one is blurry) another girl wearing make-up, ka-ching!!

She wanted to go to Red Robin for her birthday dinner, here she is showing off the balloons they gave her to wear and her birthday sundae.

She is a girl after my own heart and loves a white cake with raspberry filling, I was more than happy to get her one!

Make a wish and blow out the candles...........

Happy to show us how old she is..... with a little help!

Happy birthday Emily!!! We sure love what a fun personality she shares with us and are so proud of the young woman she is becoming. She is a huge helper to me around the house and with her little sisters and brother. She usually always has a smile on her face and it sure helps brighten our days!

I can't wait until I'm 8

2011-03-06T14:02:00.004-07:00

Ali has been anticipating her 8th birthday for some time and it has finally arrived! She is an early riser so she didn't get her breakfast in bed, in fact, as I was in the kitchen peeling potatoes to throw in the crock pot at 6:45, up came Ali. We quickly made her birthday breakfast of breakfast burritos, the fruit was thrown on the plate by her dad to make the picture look better! She was anxious to open her presents so we sent her down stairs to wake up the rest of the kids. We have 9am church anyway so it was all good. Here is Ali with her gifts.

The favorite gift was 'sing it' for the WII. We got one for Christmas and it's been a huge hit, who knew there was more than one?

New outfit.

After church we came home to eat. She wanted pork roast and potatoes. I put the roast in the crock pot the night before so it's really tender after cooking for 12-15 hours. When I woke up, I realized I didn't turn the crock pot on!! I was so upset thinking I had ruined her birthday dinner but I just cooked it on high and it was fine, not as tender as we like though. Since she had a birthday cake with her friends yesterday, she wanted a chocolate pie for her dessert.

Blowing out the candles.....

Proudly displaying her 8 fingers.

Ali is such a joy in our home and seriously one of the funniest kids I know. She makes us laugh daily and are so grateful to have her in our family! We are excited for her to be baptized in a few weeks, she is anxious for that day as well. While we were in Salt Lake a few weekends ago, we stopped in the distribution center to let her pick out her scriptures and she is counting down to the baptism day so she can get them. Happy Birthday sweet Alison - we love you!!

Birthday party times 2

2011-03-05T16:14:00.007-07:00

With so many birthday's in March, and Ali and Emily's only 5 days apart, I decided to have a combined birthday party for them. They wanted to have a party at the gymnastics center that isn't too far from the house so back in January I called to reserve the gym. We had a great time eating pizza, cake and playing around with all the gymnastics equipment.
Here's Emily climbing out of the foam pit after swinging into it. Ali and a couple of friends jumping around on one of the trampolines.

They built an obstacle course on the 'floor exercise' area and the kids had a great time with that. Here's Ali with a few of her friends waiting to take their turns.

Emily and her friends opening gifts. Emily still opening gifts.....

Emily with her birthday cake

Lindsay and Kenna came with us to help me out and they were great helpers, getting pizza for the kids, pouring and refilling drinks etc.

Ali chose to have a cake made out of cupcakes.

Ali with her friends getting ready to open gifts

Look ma, no hands!!!

Playing around on the rope swing and falling into the foam pit was one of the favorite things at the gym.

. Chris made it home from Salt Lake midway through the party and the kids were so excited. Here he is with Jace and Ali in the pit!

Group photo of Ali and her friends in the pit - look closely and you'll see the girls.

Emily with her friends in the pit.......

Ali and the friends that came to help her celebrate -

Emily and her friends that came......

It was such a fun day for these two girls! We all had a good time, I even took a turn on the rope swing, it's a lot harder to get out of the foam pit than you would imagine! Neither group seemed to mind that the others were there as the gym was plenty big and tons of things for everyone to do! I don't know why it took me so long to figure out how much easier it would be to have 1 party for 2 girls then trying to have them individually! I'll have to remember this for the years to come! Happy Birthday Emily and Ali, we sure love having you in our family and enjoyed spending the day with you and your friends!!

Another teenage driver

2011-02-26T22:18:00.005-07:00

Kenna is officially DONE with driver's education and has her permit! Her last class was today and she must now spend the next 6 months chauffeuring us around while I sit white knuckled in the passenger seat, before she can take the driving test and get a license to drive without an adult in the car. If there is anyone out there over 21 and wanting a chauffeur, I know Kenna would be more than happy to oblige you! Well, two kids able to drive - sure makes me feel old! It has been pretty convenient to have a teenage driver to help with errands or run kids here and there, I just hope I can keep the fighting to a minimum over which girl gets to drive!

Young and sweet, only 17!

2011-02-20T16:27:00.006-07:00

I wanted to really make sure Lindsay felt special on her birthday since it fell on a Sunday and we spent the weekend in Salt Lake. We woke up early and make her breakfast in bed, which consisted of bacon and eggs, grandpa Luman style, toast and apple juice. She had friends over until midnight last night so this was pretty early to be waking her up. Chris, Ali and I (the only ones that were awake) went into her room singing 'happy birthday' and handed her a hot plate of food. I don't think she was too pleased that I also had my camera in hand. Here she is smiling anyway. Showing off the 'you are special today' plate.

Once the rest of the kids were up, they were excited for her to open her presents. Most of her gifts she already had as she got to choose them while we shopped in Salt Lake the day before, another reason why I wanted her to feel special, she already knew her gifts. There were a few from grandma and grandpa Root, grandma Jackson, Aunt Kara, Aunt Laura and one from each of her siblings. Here she is showing off Aunt Kara's gift.

Pomegranate 7-up, one of her favorite drinks.

After church we came home to her requested meal of Italian chicken. YUM!

Chocolate fudge birthday cake and cookie dough ice cream.

I could barely fit 17 candles on her cake!

Blowing out her candles....

Happy birthday Lindsay!! It's never fun to have your birthday be on a Sunday, especially when you are a teenager but she made the most of spending time with us and didn't complain that she didn't have friends over!! She gets more beautiful everyday, not just in her appearance, she's a great example to all of us and she makes good choices that will continue to bless her as she gets even older!! We love that she is in our family and love that she is such a fantastic big sister!!!

Weekend in Salt Lake

2011-02-19T22:28:00.007-07:00

With the kids out of school last Friday, we took the opportunity to head down to Salt Lake and spend a few days together. We did have to come home on Saturday evening because Lindsay wanted to have a few friends over to hang out for her birthday which was Sunday. We did a lot of fun things and we all enjoyed it.
We stopped at the reflection pool in front of the Salt Lake temple. This picture is out of order but Jace couldn't be happier about the food he was able to eat at the Little America restaurant, we ate there twice since we were staying there it was convenient. Here he is posing with Baylie and his waffle.

We wandered around temple square. Jace was just a baby the last time we took the opportunity to actually stop and walk around.

We ventured up to the 26th floor of the church office building for a panoramic view of the city. Here I am with Jace, Salt Lake temple and tabernacle behind us.

The capitol building, from the church office building.

The temple and tabernacle....

Our cute kids......

Me and Chris......

We went to the visitors center. Here are the kids with the Christus.

Baylie and Jace stopped to pose with Joseph Smith.

We took the tour of the conference center......

Our tour guide took us right down to the front where the pulpit is. She told us all kinds of stories about the conference center and we enjoyed this tour a ton. She even told us the seats we were sitting in are the same spot that President Monson sits during performances. I decided that I was probably the one sitting in his seat!

She took a picture of all of us, in the Friberg painting room. This is a room full of original paintings from Arnold Friberg. Most of the paintings are depicted from stories in the Book of Mormon.

On the roof of the conference center in front of the fountain.

Of course we had to swim in the pool at Little America...... Here's Ali and Emily playing around.

Ali showing off her 'starfish' float.

Chris with Ali, Baylie and Jace. Emily isn't too far in the background.

Emily and Ali, still playing around.

Lindsay and Kenna headed to the hot tub!

Emily, Lindsay and Kenna in the elevator heading out to gateway to do some shopping.

We shopped until Chris dropped!! These are but a few of the bags he had to carry around for us, he's still smiling at this point!

Of course you can't go to Utah without stopping at Nielsen's Frozen Custard! Caramel Cashew...... DELICIOUS!!! We actually stopped on our way into town and again on our way back to Idaho Falls (who knows when we'll get there again).

This was such a fun little get away. Too bad it wasn't to warmer weather but we still enjoyed each other and that's what was important!

Sweetheart ball

2011-02-13T13:45:00.006-07:00

Last night was the sweetheart dance for the high school. It was a girls choice dance and Lindsay asked Tyler Nelson. She sent him a poster that said, "will you be a sweetheart and go to the dance with me?" She had attached a little box of conversation hearts and on the back of some of them, she spelled out her name. He then had to unscramble the letters to see who was asking. I don't why but I didn't take any pictures of that. He answered with a rose that said yes. She also went to get her hair done from the same girl that has done her hair for the past few dances but instead of taking her boring old mom, she took 2 of her friends and they all got their hair done together, and because of that, I have no pictures of that either.
Here is she all ready to go (excuse the mess of piano books near the piano) We found her dress online as Idaho Falls doesn't have a modest dress shop - I'm still surprised by that! Here she is with her siblings with the exception of Emily who was off babysitter for some people in our ward.

One last check in the mirror......

These next two pictures are out of order. My good friend Nicole offered to let Lindsay drive her mustang convertible GT - what a lucky girl!! (I must say that Kenna was beside herself the whole time this car was in our possession as it's her dream car!)

And, she's off to pick up Tyler. It is a pretty sweet car!

A quick little story, Lindsay forgot the boutonniere in the refrigerator and as soon as she left, I realized it and had Chris take it to Tyler's house. She called when she realized what she had done and we told her dad was on his way. The next day, Tyler was telling Chris that he noticed the sweet car in his drive way and figured it must be her even though he didn't recognize the car but that she was just sitting in the drive way. Then he said he saw Chris drive up and hand off the boutonniere. We all had a good laugh!

Lindsay and Tyler at Tyler's house. Since she wouldn't come back to the house to let me take pictures of the two of them, I had to rely on his mom to take some and she did a great job!

More of the cute couple

Pinning on the forgotten boutonniere

putting on the corsage

What a gentleman....

The two of them in front of the car

One last photo before they drive away....

They headed to the school to have their pictures taken so once the dance started, they wouldn't have to wait in the picture line and then they went to one of Lindsay's friends' house for dinner and games before the dance.
Here they are getting ready to play a game, one of the moms is explaining it to them - Lindsay is on the right about the 3rd person in.

Playing one of the games

Lindsay, Tyler and the group of friends that they went with.

Lindsay had a great time on this date and I'm grateful she makes good choices, not in just picking out modest dresses to wear but also in her friends. She has a great group of friends that she does things with. I will try to remember to scan in the professional picture when we get it back.

Reverently, quietly

2011-01-09T18:12:00.003-07:00

This past Sunday Jace was picked to be one of the 'reverent kids' to help remind the others as they come into primary to sit quietly and fold their arms. He was pretty funny, when I noticed him up there, he would try not to smile at me but he was so proud of himself for being chosen that he couldn't help it. I thought it was so cute that I had to run find Chris and get his phone so I could snap this picture of Jace. Of course once he realized I was trying to take his picture, he wouldn't smile.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-29T21:06:00.005-07:00

Christmas is always such a fun time when you have little ones in your home. The much anticipated day arrived at our house with a bang! I had told the kids on Christmas Eve that they couldn't come upstairs to see if Santa had found us before 7 am. I have had sleeping issues lately where I wake up around 5-5:30 and then can't go back to sleep, so I was up and showered before they ever came upstairs.
Santa definitely found us this year and he was really good to us! Here are the kids going through their stockings and checking out what each other received, Christmas morning.

More going through gifts

Here are some favorites.. a RC motorcycle for Jace

Baby Alive for Baylie, and it was a good thing Santa brought extra diapers for this doll as Baylie was feeding her every time we turned around!

Kenna got these boots as well as the news that she would start driver's ed in January!

Here's Ali practicing the hula hoop....... she's a pro already!

Jace and his 'buzz lightyear wings' and his guitar

Emily headed to the garage to try out the rip stick Santa had brought her!

I got the turkey in the oven fairly early on Christmas morning so we had a big lunch instead of dinner. Here is Chris carving the bird. It was delicious, if I do say so myself!

Jace at the dinner table. He doesn't like to eat any foods other than breakfast foods. Pancakes, french toast sticks, cereal and this was true on Christmas as well. Here he is with his plate of french toast sticks, he's such a crazy kid!

Here are the other kids ready to eat a yummy turkey meal!

Chris and I supervising Lindsay and Kenna in the kitchen as they washed the dishes after dinner!

Washing dishes, such great sister bonding time!

We had an absolutely wonderful Christmas spent together. We are grateful for this time of year when we can reflect on our blessings and the birth of our Savior. Yep, life is good!

Christmas Eve traditions

2010-12-24T21:09:00.003-07:00

Christmas Eve has been a good day at our house. We took the kids to see the movie 'yogi bear.' And as evening approached, we had our traditional dinner of hoagie sandwiches, egg nog, little smokies, crackers and dip, etc. After dinner, we found the kids 'tracking Santa' on the computer. Jace was so into it, he sat near the computer all evening, as we watched a movie, he kept us informed as to Santa's whereabouts. We had our traditional opening of Christmas Eve jammies. Here the kids are with theirs

Tearing into the packages...........

Looking around to see what every one else's look like............. I do have to admit that the kids got also either slippers or a robe, except Baylie. My poor little girl was so sad, she had tears. I hurriedly ran out to the store to grab her some slippers. In my own defense, I had looked and couldn't find any her size that would match her new jammies. I really didn't think it would be that big of a deal, boy was I wrong!

Here are the kids showing off their new jammies. (I'm not into the whole matchy, matchy jammies, I just like to find ones that they'll like and want to wear again)

We concluded the evening with Chris reading from Luke 2, the story of Christ's birth and why we even celebrate Christmas.

Again this year, they are all having a 'slumber party' in Lindsay's room. I think they do that so they'll all wake up together and we won't have any late sleepers. Anyone that knows Baylie, knows she has been known to sleep until noon, if we let her!

Pre School Christmas program

2010-12-24T20:56:00.002-07:00

The last day of pre school this week, we were meeting at an assisted living center for a program that the kids were going to put on for the residents. Jace had been really excited all morning, singing his songs and he wanted to wear his sweater, since Mrs. Natalie told them to look nice. As we arrived at Parkwood Meadows, I could tell Jace wasn't too excited anymore. I don't think he realized the program wasn't going to be at Mrs. Natalie's house.
At the beginning as the kids were lining up, Jace looked over for me to snap a picture. Here they are getting ready to sing 'jingle bells' which is why he is holding bells. As they started to sing, he wouldn't look over at me and continued facing away from me for the entire program. Notice all the other kids singing and Jace isn't?

Even as they sat down to help Mrs. Natalie read a story to the residents, he still wouldn't look at me, little booger!

He is at least smiling in this one, but still not looking at me. He didn't sing or help with the story. I know how he will act at these things, I'm still wondering why I bother to drag him out to them!

Because he's so cute, that's why - even if he won't sing or look at me to take pictures!

Root family Christmas

2010-12-20T10:24:00.006-07:00

This past weekend, we met my entire family for the annual Root family Christmas party. We met at Kara's house in Rexburg. It was a fun filled day full of....
Sledding at the St. Anthony sand dunes.
Here is Ali on her way down the hill. Me, Chris, Baylie and Jace on our way up the hill

Chris and Baylie

Kenna sitting on top getting ready to head down

Chris and I stopped for quick pic

Lindsay, Ali, and Kyton waiting for Anjela to shove them down the hill

Jace, just finished coming down on his saucer

Ali, hopping on my lap for a ride down with mom. Laura, Kara, Haley, Brett, Gavin and Emily are also in the picture.

All the girls that were at this hill stopped for a 'girls photo.' Missing were Kacie and mom.

Story time with grandma. My mom loves to read and for the past few years, has brought some cute kid stories to read to the grand kids.

Dad is enjoying watching mom read to the kids.

Sibling photo. We had such a fun time taking these. We were all laughing, Laura to the point of tears. As David would say, "I can't possibly be any more handsome!"

Food!!! Here Laura is preparing her 'famous spinach salad.'

Brett made the most wonderful prime rib. Here he is carving the meat. We decided it was as good as any prime rib we've had in a restaurant. Nicely done Brett! Kara, the proud wife with Kenna, Emily and Haley waiting to eat!

SANTA came!!

Santa brought gifts for each of us there. Here is Lindsay accepting her gift, an itunes gift card.

Even Chris got to sit on the 'big man's' lap

All my cute kids with Santa.

Family skits~

Here are me and Kenna, trying to sell our donkeys who are Emily, Lindsay and Ali

Singing, "Away in a manger"

David, pretending to 'sled in his snow boots'

Anjela, dancing around in her 'green boots' Their skit was funny, they were the Roots in boots

Baylie is helping mom with her skit and something funny must have been said by the look on moms face.

We also do a gift exchange. Here are some of the kids during theirsAt the end of the evening, we stopped to pose for a Root family photo. We got pretty lucky and I think everyone is looking at the camera. I love that Nate is pointing the nerf gun Santa gave him at the camera.

It was such a fun day and it's a fun tradition. We started doing this about 4 years ago. We don't always get together for Christmas so we plan a weekend beforehand for everyone to be together to celebrate this season and enjoy each other. We definitely have a lot of laughs and fun when we get together. Thanks Kara and Brett for opening your home for a day full of chaos!

Superhero friends

2010-12-17T08:41:00.003-07:00

Jace has a cute little friend in the neighborhood and he is always asking if he can play with Tyler. They get along great and are so cute .
These pictures are from earlier this year when Jace was playing at Tyler's house. They got all dressed up in superhero costumes and wanted to show off their muscles. Luckily Tyler's mom thought it was cute too and snapped a couple pictures.
I think Jace is wondering if he's flexing properly or just watching Tyler because his face is so funny! And a different pose, flex hard boys!

I love that Jace has a good little friend in the neighborhood and can hardly wait until they are a little older to see what adventures lie ahead!

BYU game

2010-12-06T10:01:00.003-07:00

The Saturday before Thanksgiving, Chris had the opportunity to go down to Provo to see BYU play. This was an incentive for the YM to get the Book of Mormon read. Sadly, only 2 of the YM actually accomplished it. Here is Chris with Bro. Godfrey, Josh and Anthony. They had a fantastic time, and yes, BYU won that game! (actual order Josh, Chris, Anthony and Bro. Godfrey) View from their seats!

Chris has been serving as the YM President since the ward was split in May. He has enjoyed getting to know the YM in ward and has had some fun opportunities with them, this was just one of them.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

2010-12-01T08:28:00.005-07:00

We had a fun evening Monday night as we decorated the tree. It's one of my favorite things in the world to decorate the house for the Christmas season. There's something about the lights, the music and the ornaments that just bring a magical feeling into the home.
Here is Chris trying to fix the lights, you can see there is one section of lights that isn't working. Lucky for us, we have a dad that can fix anything! Here I am trying to help Ali and Baylie find their own bags of ornaments. Each year, I get the kids a new ornament to put on the tree. When they leave home, they should each have around 18-20 ornaments with their name and the year I gave it to them, to take with them. Emily, finding a spot on the tree for one of her ornaments

Lindsay, Emily, Baylie, Jace and Ali making sure their ornaments are in just the right spots. As you can see Lindsay and Emily weren't happy about me taking pictures and kept telling me they didn't want to be in them, luckily I'm the one in charge : )

Kenna and Chris smiling happily as they add ornaments to the tree

Our entry way table.

Our little Christmas village and Kenna

Our tile that reminds us why we celebrate this season

Our completed tree.......

It's only been 2 days since we put the tree up and have a few gifts underneath, Jace is already asking when he gets to open his. He's at a fun age where he is just giddy with excitement whenever we get to do anything that is in preparation for Christmas day. As I was wrapping gifts the other day, he was the one that got to take them and put them under the tree and nothing could have made him happier!

Count your many blessings #7

2010-11-27T15:02:00.003-07:00

The simple words of a primary song take me to my gratitude post for the day. "I have a family here on earth. They are so good to me. I want to share my life with them through all eternity." As this week of Thanksgiving comes to an end and we head back into our daily routines, I want to reflect on the week. The kids were out of school all week and Chris has been off work for most of the week as well. We've played games, eaten yummy food, shopped a little, but the one thing that I've loved the most about this week is that we have been together.

So, today I am thankful for Temples and the knowledge that we will continue to be together, FOREVER! I have truly been blessed with a wonderful life and I'm happy I took this week to reflect and share just a few of the things I am thankful for. The list can go on and on. Some of the things are silly, some are serious and I don't even think I could begin to "name them one by one" There are far too many things I've been blessed with.

Count your many blessings #6

2010-11-26T13:00:00.002-07:00

This afternoon as we sat down for lunch we found, as we often do living in a house with 6 kids, some unwanted writing on the walls. Okay so it wasn't on the wall, but on one of the cupboards. Of course, none of the kids would admit to the 'wall art' but I'm pretty sure I can rule out Lindsay, Makenna and Emily. This new found 'wall art' brings me to today's gratitude post.

Today, I am thankful for~ These lovely products can remove just about anything, like this drawing on the wall!!

I am grateful that my kids enjoy drawing, coloring and doodling, I just wish they would do it on paper only!

Count your many blessings #5

2010-11-25T12:19:00.003-07:00

On this day of Thanksgiving, I am watching my family play board games in the living room as we wait for the turkey to be done, and I have to say I am over whelmed with the love that I feel for each one of them. Each of them bring something special and unique to our family and for that I am truly thankful.
Today, I am thankful for my FAMILY

I am grateful to have such an amazing man in my life. One who works hard, one that is such a fantastic dad, one who respects and supports me, who is my best friend, and one who loves and serves his Heavenly Father.

Each of the kids are special and unique in their own ways. They each work hard in school, work hard to develop their talents and they each can make me laugh like nothing else. It always makes me happy when other people tell me what good kids I have.

I am thankful that my family are my best friends. As we sit together this Thanksgiving to eat and enjoy each others company, I know that I have been extremely blessed. There is nowhere I would rather be than here with each of them. Happy Thanksgiving.

Count your many blessings #4

2010-11-24T14:53:00.004-07:00

"The weather outside is frightful...." so today,

I am thankful for a warm house

This is a picture taken yesterday of my back porch. I could barely open the sliding glass door before snow started falling into the house. (that's Bella's little face looking out and the dark object above the snow drift is our BBQ grill)

Everyone who knows me, knows that I hate the snow. I am definitely not ready for the cold winter ahead. Today we've seen a high of 8 degrees, I am so thankful to have a warm home to hide away from the frigid weather outside.

Count your many blessings #3

2010-11-23T10:00:00.003-07:00

"And I've often wondered, how did it all start? Who found out that nothing can capture a heart like a melody can? Well, whoever it was, I'm a fan.... So I say, thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing, thanks for all the joy they're bringing. Who can live without it? I ask in all honesty, what would life be without a song?..........." (ABBA)
This song sums up my feelings on today's post of thanks.

Today, I am SO THANKFUL for MUSIC! I have loved music for as long as I can remember. I used to spend hours as a teenager listening to music and I haven't out grown that. It's on in my home, it's on in my car and it's the first thing I hear every morning as my alarm goes off in the morning to the radio. It really doesn't matter the type, I love all music (okay not the trashy heavy metal stuff). Music has the ability to change my mood from sad to happy, from drab to excited, and music also helps me to feel the spirit through hymns.

I have to admit I'm feeling pretty giddy just making this post. I'm grateful that my girls are learning to play the piano, I love hearing them play and I'm glad that they have almost the same amount of love for music as I do.
Again, I say "thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing, thanks for all the joy they're bringing. Who can live without it? I ask in all honesty, what would life be without a song?"

Count your many blessings #2

2010-11-22T14:09:00.002-07:00

Knowing that today is a BIG laundry day in my home, I am grateful that I live in a day of modern technology.

Today, I am thankful for my washer and dryer. By the end of this day, I will have washed and dried 5 different loads of laundry. I can't imagine having to scrub each individual piece of clothing on a wash board as they did in the olden days. Yes, today I'm definitely thankful for this wonderful invention!

Count your many blessings #1

2010-11-21T10:10:00.005-07:00

'Count your many blessings, name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.' Before this month of Thanksgiving slips past me and I am rushed into the excitement of Christmas, I need to focus on showing more gratitude. For this week of Thanksgiving, I will post each day, something I am grateful for in my life, blog style.
Since today is Sunday, I wanted to start with my gratitude for the gospel. I am so lucky to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am grateful for the truth that I am a daughter of God, the He knows and loves me, that families are forever and I'm so grateful for the Savior's sacrifice for me. I can't remember a time in my life when I didn't know these things, they've just always been truth for me. I didn't have a big "moment" that "hit" me and told me that they were true as some do. Yep, I'm one lucky girl!
I love that we as a family have been getting up each morning before the sun and have the opportunity to read together from the scriptures to help us strengthen our testimonies of the gospel. I am grateful for the Savior and His atoning sacrifice for me, which makes it possible for me to be able to repent and be forgiven that one day I will be able to live in His presence with my family, FOREVER! I am grateful to be able to serve Him in my ward as a primary chorister, humanitarian specialist and as a visiting teacher. I have come to love being able to share the gospel to the children in primary through music, helping serve those in the community where I find a need and I have come to love the sisters that welcome me into their homes each month and am happy that I can call them friends.
There is so much that being grateful for the gospel encompasses and these things are but a few, but I am truly thankful to 'Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.'

Sadie Hawkins

2010-11-09T10:57:00.004-07:00

This past Saturday evening was the girls choice, Sadie Hawkins, dance. Lindsay asked one of her great friends Colter Lowry. The theme for the dance was "Mario Party." She was in a group with 5 other couples and all of the shirts they had made were the same except each couple had a different color. The shirts have a picture of "birdo"(girls) or "yoshi"(boys) with the words, "partying with....." and then their dates name on the back. They went to eat dinner at one of the girls homes, went to a concert and then to the dance. After the dance they went back to another of the girls' homes for ice cream sundaes. Here is the only picture I have of Lindsay and Colter, thanks to Colter's mom. They had a great time, the only thing I regret is not getting any pictures. Since it was girls choice, Lindsay had to pick Colter up. I offered to go to the house where they were having dinner to get a few of the group but Lindsay said, "no thanks!" Now, there are no pictures because none of the kids took any. One day she will feel bad about not letting me come take any. (A mom can dream, right?)

Emily's 'new' eyes

2010-11-07T08:30:00.002-07:00

Back in September, I took Emily to see Dr. Kohler (one of the doctors I work for) and he informed me that she did indeed need vision correction. We left the office with contacts and I taught her how to put them and take them out at home. She did great!! A couple of weeks later, I had Chris bring her into the office so we could pick out a pair of glasses to use as a back-up for the contacts.
Here she is in her new glasses......... so cute! She wears the contacts during the day but does put her glasses on at night when she takes the contacts out and in the morning first thing for scripture reading. She was excited to get a pair especially since she had known with the contacts what it was like to see clearly. It had been bugging her to see things fuzzy again when the contacts were out.