Stowe Blog

JDRF activity to the bounce house

2012-02-04T13:38:00.000-08:00

Brooklyn is apart of of a little JDRF group in in Albuquerque, every couple of months JDRF gets everyone together to do some kind of activity. This activity couldn't have come at a better time as Brooklyn is getting more and more emotional about dealing with Diabetes everyday. She's the only kid at her school with diabetes, so she feels a little alone with this. Lately, she has been asking for a break from diabetes. I wish I could give her that break. Today was fun spending time with other kids and parents that deal with what we do each and everyday. I was speaking with another mom and her daughter was diagnosed when she was 3 and she's 6 now. She showed me the tips of her daughters pinkies, they were totally black from being poked too much. I really admire these kids and all they do, they deal with challenges each day that we all take for granted. Brooklyn had so much fun today, and it's always good for her to see that there are others out there just like her. When we ate as a group everyone was whipping out their meters, insulin pumps and shots. I think it's good for Brooklyn to see that. Brooklyn had a low blood sugar right before lunch because she played so hard. Before I got out my meter and juice another mom walked by and said "Oh, I'm sorry your daughter is low". She smiled and rubbed my arm. It made me feel good that I'm not alone in this as a parent too.

Blake turns 4

2012-01-10T08:46:00.000-08:00

Blake turned 4! We drove all night from Utah on the the 2nd, and got home around 2:00am on the 3rd. Blake wakes us up at 7:00am and asks for his #4 breakfast pancake, oh man were we tired! We roll out of bed and made him his birthday breakfast. I usually have some time to think about what kind of cake I want to make, but I had no idea what I was going to make that day. I knew I was to tired to spend hours of time on a cake. So I went and bought a dump truck and a box of brownie's. So easy, and he seemed happy. He's been wanting a pillow pet for over a year now, so that was his gift from us. My friend Jenny gave me her kids old "Cars" set that her boys don't use anymore. So we gave that to him too, he loved it. Blake is the comedian in our family, he's completely goofy and full of energy. We love him to pieces. Happy Birthday Blake!

Christmas and New Years

2012-01-10T08:37:00.000-08:00

This year we spent Christmas in Idaho and New Years in Utah. We had a great time with our families. We did lots of fun things in Idaho. Our kids loved going sledding behind the 4 wheelers. We also went icescating in Rigby,it was a man made rink and the owner of the home fed us homemade french fries and hot chocolate:) They let youth groups and FHE groups come for free, they were very nice. We also went to Big Judd's to eat their giant hamburgers. One hamburger fed my whole family. On Christmas Eve we had a nice program at Kelly's house we had bread bowls and soup and had a cousin gift exchange. My cousin Jill made Holly and her kids quilts out of all of Nate's favorite t-shirts, I'm sure Holly and her kids will treasure those blankets. On Christmas morning we opened presents and went to church. My brother got ordained an Elder, it was neat to be there for that. Afterwards, we all went to see Nate's headstone that just got finished. It's a beautiful tribute to him. Christmas Dinner we had at Holly's, Kelly made her famous Coconut Cream pie. We played some fun win-it-to-win-it games with all the kids and played Just Dance on the Wii. We had a great time with my family, it was really nice for all of us to be together.

In Utah we visited Rich's family, our kids loved going to the bounce house with their cousins. We had a lot of fun visiting with Ryan and Stacie and meeting their new baby Payton. We stayed with Rich's parents for a couple of days, Grandma took my boys out for their birthdays. We were able to see Amy and Devin's house in Eagle Mountain. We had a Sunday dinner at Grandma Stowes house. We also had fun visiting with Aunt Allie and her family too. Alli made a special sugar free pie just for Brooklyn, I thought that was so thoughtful of her to do that. We spent News Years with Crystal and Jason, they threw a fun party and they let us stay with them for a few days. Thank you! On Sunday we visited our old ward in Saratoga Springs, it was so good to see our friends. I got to hear my good friend Shellee teach in Relief Society for the first time. She did awesome. Our friends Julie and Adam had us over for lunch after church, it was really good to visit with them. We have missed them a lot. We took the kids to see the lights at temple square, that's always fun. Before we left Utah we made sure to visit Cafe Rio, it's been two years since we have eaten there. It was delicious as usual.

It was a fun trip, we were ready to come home to our own beds but not ready to leave family and friends. We are looking forward to this new year and being closer to everyone.

Happy New Year!

Landon fell asleep while he was sledding:)

My sister Kelly and my brother in law Josh.

All of us.

My brother and sisters.

My niece Grace. I love her chubby cheeks.

My nieces Emma and Riley trying to see how many candy canes they can balance in 1 minute.

My sister Lauren and Blake

Trying to unwrap candy kisses with gloves on.

All the cousins.

My sister's Kelly and Holly

Caroline and Lauren

HUGE!

My nephews, Mason, Parker and Joshua

Weston and Blake with their cousins Landon and Ethan

My sisters Kelly and Lauren, and my brother Steven.

My sister Caroline and her husband Nick.

Holly and Grace.

Blake picking is nose, nice.

Brookyn took her role as Mary very seriously.

My niece Katelyn

Christmas Party with Friends

2011-12-12T12:56:00.000-08:00

On Friday night we had a White Elephant party at our house. We had about 20 adults come, it made a fun night. The white elephant gifts were hilarious this year. By the end of the night my legs were killing me, I don't think I had sat down all day to get ready for the party. We had bread bowls, soup and salad. I wasn't sure if I wanted to get the camera out and snap pictures of everyone, I didn't want to be annoying with a camera. But... it's kinda sad that I won't see a lot of these people again after we move. Rich and I have not fallen in love with the state of New Mexico but we LOVE the people here. It would have been a very long 27 months if we wouldn't have met such amazing people.

Jenny and Kerry
They'll be here for another two years. They plan on going back to Alaska when he finishes his residency. Jenny is the only one I could get to run a half marathon with me this year. I had a lot of fun running with her.

Theron, Lisa, Natalie and Antoinette.
Theron and Lisa will be here for good, they have a dental practice here. Such a fun couple to hang out with, Lisa is the most thoughtful and giving person I've ever met. She would do anything for anyone.
Natalie is born and raised in New Mexico, she's crazy about green chili!
Antoinette is our neighbor, she's the BEST! She plans on leaving NM the end of next year sometime.

The Spragues
Marjorie has 6 kids, people like her are meant to have that many children. She's a really good mom, I really look up to her.

Heidi - I have gotten to know Heidi better this year because I watch her daughter 3 times a week.
Shawn and Cami are such great people. They'll be leaving NM when Shawn finishes his PHD.

Heather Hollbrook. We missed her husband that night, he had to work. They'll be moving soon when Brad finishes his residency. Heather is the one who started our recipe nights. We hold them once a month and rotate houses and themes. Something I look forward to every month. Heather always has great recipes.

Rich and Katie.
I've posted about them before. I love Katie to pieces, and I think my Rich has found his second half. Him and Rich are a lot alike. They text all the time in the middle of night. I know that Rich is going to miss this guy a lot when we move.

Dana and Shane
Dana is really sweet and super crafty, she can make and do anything.

Shawn won Rich's white elephant gift. Lucky him!

Rich won this brownie pan.
His favorite dessert is brownies and the crust is his favorite. This pan gives each piece a crust. Rich scored big time.
I got a bottle of gross pig feet for my gift:(

Weston is 6

2011-12-08T15:47:00.000-08:00

Weston turned 6 on Monday. We did a little family party this year. I can't believe how much this kid is growing.

A few tidbits about Weston...
1. He is very tender hearted and thoughtful.
2. He loves to brush my hair when we watch movies.
3. He's usually the first one to say thank you after I make a meal for everyone.
4. He wants to be strong like his dad. I often catch him doing push ups and bench pressing the barstools:)
5. He is really funny about making sure he has protein in the morning with his breakfast. We try to all have protein with are meals now to help with Brooklyn's blood sugars. If I ever forget to give him some kind of protein he will always remind me that he needs it.
5. When I ask him what he wants to be when he grows up, he wants to build houses and take care of sick of people.

First birthday cake I made with using buttercream frosting and a piping bag. Don't look too close, it's not perfect. I went to a cake decorating class at the church and had so much fun with it. My friend Antoinette printed out this edible picture to put on the cake, Weston thought it was pretty cool to eat his face:)

Table for 6

2011-11-30T14:10:00.000-08:00

I finally started a food blog, Rich was noticing that I was posting more recipes on our family blog then the kids:) So I thought I would separate the two. Who knows if anyone will ever read it...but it's been helpful to me to start organizing my recipes that I use a lot. I don't have a fancy camera or do I know how to take really beautiful pictures of my food, but if I post the recipe on my blog it's a recipe that we really enjoy. So you'll just have to trust me!

http://teri-tablefor6.blogspot.com/

Thanksgiving Day

2011-11-27T13:41:00.000-08:00

We had a nice Thanksgiving this year. We started off the morning with the kids doing the Turkey Trek run. They have been practicing on my tredmill for two weeks. I love how when Weston runs he watches his shadow off to the side, he likes to see how fast he is going. I'm surprised he didn't run into anyone because he doesn't look ahead of himself. After the race, I finished making my part of the meal for Thanksgiving and we headed over to Lisa and Theron's for Thanksgiving. They always throw great parties.

Antoinette invited the Elders to join us. She loves these boys. I think this must have been their 4th meal in the day, because all they ate was pie.

Played some games on their xbox. Had a little dance off too:)

Lobos game

2011-11-27T13:12:00.000-08:00

Went to a Lobos basketball game last month. Our friends Lisa and Theron invited us to sit with them in their box seats. They really do spoil us by inviting us to things like this. Thanks Lisa and Theron:)

Lisa and Theron
He is the man that put braces on teeth and gave me straight teeth again! Lisa is one of my most favorite people here in New Mexico. She's been a really good friend to me.

Rich and Katie
It's always fun hanging out with these two.

Scating with Brooklyn

2011-11-26T21:44:00.000-08:00

Me and Brooklyn went rollerscating with some of her soccer friends a few weeks ago. It's always nice to just focus on being with one of my kids for afternoon. We had a great time, I love being a mom to Brooklyn. She's a special little girl.

New Mexico...The Land of Enchantment

2011-11-07T20:25:00.000-08:00

What's kinda cool about Albuquerque is that when I walk my kids to school in the morning we always see hot air balloons. I have tried to find the beauty in living here, I struggle with the xeri-scaped yards with no grass, and all the dust in the air from living in a desert. But... I do have to say that I do think seeing hot air balloons this close to my house is very enchanting. I will miss seeing this in the mornings when we move in April.

Halloween

2011-11-01T20:34:00.000-07:00

Carving the pumpkin an hour before we left for trick-or-treating. Normally I am not a procrastinator, but with carving pumpkins I am.

She makes the cheesiest smiles sometimes.

Went trick or treating with Antoinette and Noah.

I think we have enough candy to last us a year. Brooklyn has the most amazing self control when it comes to sweets. I think if my boys were diabetic it would be really hard for them to eat sweets in moderation. They could seriously eat their entire bucket in one night. Brooklyn ate 3 pieces of candy this night and was totally satisfied.

Not one, or two, but 4 lollipops at once.

10 minutes before the trunk or treat I dared Rich to wear this TIGHT wet suit. I thought he looked hilarious, but he said he wouldn't wear it unless I wore one.

Mine was not nearly as tight as his. I have not dressed up since I was a kid. The minute we pulled in the church parking lot I regretted this! The kids thought it was fun, but I was self conscience all night.

Family Pictures at Old Town

2011-10-20T19:29:00.000-07:00

My friend Heather took our pictures again this year, she picked the location this time. We had never really walked around Old Town before, it's a neat part of Albuquerque. Getting a group shot can be difficult, it was harder for Samantha to sit still this year and smile. Heather is really good at taking candid pictures of my kids, I love how she can capture their personalities.

Thanks again Heather!

That's a wrap.

Meet my friend Antoinette

2011-10-18T18:41:00.000-07:00

When we moved to Albuquerque in April of 2010, I had no idea the kinds of experiences we would have here while Rich was in school. I wasn't expecting to find a better ward or make better friends then the ones I left behind in Saratoga Springs. I remember the first time we pulled into our chapel I immediately felt like we were home. The inside of the building looked the same as our old one, the people looked friendly and nice too. Soon, we started to build friendships and over time we felt like we were apart of a ward family.

I didn't know too many of my neighbors around me though. The neighbor to my left is a nice man, his name is Steve. He's really handy and smart with cars, super nice, and would do anything for anyone. He reminds me a lot of Adam Johnston in are old ward. I like having Steve next door to me. My neighbor to my right is Antoinette, the first few months I didn't get to talk to her too much. She works during the day so when I would get to see her it would be when she was outside working in her yard or watching her son play. She has a contagious personality, she always has a smile on her face and always seems lit up inside. She has the best sense of humor and can really make you laugh.

Over time me and Antoinette became better friends. I invited her to our "recipe nights" that we do monthly and she seemed to have a fun. I did sometimes wonder if I should invite her to church, but my biggest fear was pushing her away or ruining our friendship. One afternoon we were talking in my living room and I asked if she wanted to come to church with us. I still remember how those words felt coming out of my mouth, I couldn't believe I was asking her this! She answered back, and said she would come. I was excited she was coming to church, but more relieved that I didn't offend her and that she was still my friend:) I have never invited someone to church before, so it was a scary thing for me to do this. When we hear lessons at church about being a missionary I always thought that applied to everyone else but me, it has always terrified me to share what I believe. I've never felt knowledgeable enough or that I had the right personality to be open about the gospel.

She enjoyed church and kept on coming, I loved having her with me. I kinda felt like I was bringing the "cool" girl to church, everyone LOVES her. A month later she started to take the missionary lessons. She was lucky to have some great Elder's. There was a special spirit brought into our home when we would have these discussions, I felt like I was being converted to the gospel again too. It reminded me how fortunate I am to be apart of this church. We were also doing the discussions during a very difficult time for me, I had just returned home from my brother-in-laws funeral. Having the Elders come over and teach Antoinette the gospel was very comforting to me as I was struggling with my sister's loss.

On October 8th 2011 Antoinette was baptized by Rich. The spirit was incredible that day. On Sunday she was confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost.

I remember when we were applying to P.A schools we were hoping to get accepted somewhere back East or somewhere really fun and beautiful. When we found out we were moving to Albuquerque, we were thrilled to be accepted into a school but not as excited to move here. Watching Antoinette being baptized was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I'm so glad we were led to come to Albuquerque, and I was able to meet Antoinette. She's been a wonderful blessing to our family.

These pictures were taken right after her baptism.

Elder Johnson and Elder Chalk

Antoinette's beautiful kids... Antonea and Noah.

Antoinette and Cami.

All about Blake

2011-10-06T17:41:00.000-07:00

Rich mentioned to me the other day that I have very few pictures of Blake on our blog, and even in his photo box at home. I have a million photo's of Brooklyn with her being my first, a good amount of Weston and with Blake I don't have as many. So this post it all about Blake! I love this little boy so much, he was my happiest and most content baby I have had out of all my kids. He'll be 4 in January, but everyone always thinks he's in kindergarten. He's a big boy and a huge goof ball.

I took Blake and Samantha to Explora this week, I had fun taking pictures of him. I hope he will forgive me someday for the lack of pictures I have of him, but I will try hard to make up for it.

Love you Blake,

Mom

xoxoxoxo

Blake loves coming here. It's a science museum where kids can walk around and tinker with different experiments.

He loves flying this airplane, it's the first thing he wants to see when we come.

This is the GIANT elevator! Blake calls it the "Alligator" though. Sometimes we ride the "Alligator" two to three times, it's bigger then their room at home.

Making electricity, he loves this section of the building.

Forget Not

2011-09-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

This talk by President Uchtdorf made a huge impression on me, I feel very blessed to have latter day prophets and apostles to guide and direct me in my life. His talk can be watched here.

By Gordon B. Hinkley

2011-09-20T08:07:00.001-07:00

Get on your knees and pray.
Then get on your feet and work.

(My friend Antoinette posted this quote on her blog and it has stuck with me all day, thought I would pass it on.)

My four blessings...

2011-09-18T21:48:00.000-07:00

Love these kids.

Weekend movie night in my bed.

Back in Albuquerque for 7 more months...

2011-09-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

Coming back to Albuquerque after my brother-in-laws funeral has been tuff. I think about my sister and her kids all the time and wish I could be there to help out in some way. It's been hard to see how quickly my life can go back to normal here, it makes me feel guilty when her life is hard right now. I kinda feel like I'm going through the motions of life and we are just trying to get through the last part of school so we can move to Idaho. At the same time I'm trying to enjoy the time we have left here, we've made some wonderful friends here. Rich's next two rotations are out of town, so he'll be gone until the middle of November. We spent are last afternoon together at our favorite park.

Soccer

2011-09-18T21:22:00.000-07:00

We just started soccer for the first time and we are LOVING it. I never thought I would get so into these games, it's exciting to watch them play. Brooklyn has surprised me a lot, she's pretty aggressive out there on the field. She's all over the ball! She's not the shy little girl that I used to know.

Weston also just lost his first two teeth.

All muddy after the game,.

Little video of Weston warming up...

Blake gets his tonsils out

2011-09-01T16:54:00.000-07:00

Blake got his tonsils out yesterday, he has been looking forward to this day because he knew he would get as many popsickles and pudding as he wanted. He hasn't cried or complained about pain at all, he's pretty tuff. I do feel like I am came home with a different kid, his voice is totally different! It doesn't sound like my Blake at all.

First Day of School

2011-09-01T16:47:00.000-07:00

Weston's first day of Kindergarten

Brooklyn's first day of Second Grade

To Holly,

2011-08-29T17:03:00.000-07:00

I want you to know how much I look up to you(even though your my little sister). You have been such a example to me these past weeks of the kind of person I hope to be someday. I have been amazed at the strength you have shown during this incredibly hard trial that you've been given. You have strengthened my own testimony of the plan of salvation. I've always believed in it, but you seem to have such a clear understanding of God's plan. I know that Nate may not be here physically with you but he is always watching over you and your sweet kids. He was a amazing husband to you and a good dad to your kids. What a great reunion you will have with him again someday. These past weeks my love for this gospel has grown, I know that our Father in Heaven if very mindful of each of us, especially you at this time. You've also taught me how sweet and precious are time here is on earth, and nothing really matters but the relationships we have with our families. Each day really is a gift and I hope I can be better at looking at it that way. I know that you have some difficult days ahead of you, but like you said..."I will survive this". I am confident you will survive and you'll be a example to everyone around you. I want you to know how much I love you, and I pray for you constantly. Can't wait to see you in December. Love, Teri

Bath Time with Samantha

2011-08-05T08:42:00.000-07:00

Samantha LOVES her baths. She's been growing up so fast lately. We love her to pieces.

Big Day for Brooklyn

2011-07-19T12:26:00.000-07:00

Today was an exciting day for Brooklyn and me. The past couple of months we have been training on a insulin pump with our diabetes educator. We completed the training last week and today was her insulin pump start day. I still have a lot to learn, but I learn something new everyday. This little machine is going to make our lives so much easier! Brooklyn is so excited that she doesn't have to get a shot with each meal, snacks and at bedtime. We only have to change her infusion site every three days, and that is practically painless. Just a quick little poke and a small tube is inserted under her skin. I've been battling with our insurance to help cover the pump, they weren't contracted with the company that sells this pump so it's been quite the process to get all of this to work. This little machine cost $6,700, so we are grateful that our insurance finally decided to cover the pump 100% with the monthly supplies. I was hoping they would atleast cover 80%, so we were thrilled when they said they would cover everything. We feel very lucky. She's been waiting for this day for months now, we are both glad it's finally here.

This is what her infusion site looks like. We just have change the spot every 3 days. She also got to pick out some cute skins for her pump.

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-06T08:45:00.000-07:00

This year our friends the Burk's hosted a 4th of July party at their house. We had a great time. There was a lot of good food, the kids had fun swimming and then we did some fireworks in their yard. This holiday has always been one of my favorites, here are some pictures....

Heading to the flag ceremony and pancake breakfast at the church.

Dinner later that day at the Burk's

I have been on a mission to find the perfect New York Style cheesecake recipe. My friend AnnaMarie posted her recipe on facebook that she uses, so I gave her recipe a try and loved it. It did take a few times of making this before I ended up with a pretty cheesecake with no cracks. When I met with Brooklyn'd diabetes educator back in April she said that cheesecake has half the carbs that regular cake w/frosting has. So I have been wanting to find a good basic recipe that I can top with different things. I've also learned that cheesecake freezes very well, I have a ton of it in my freezer from all the practice cheesecakes I made. I'll post the recipe soon for those who want to try it.

Rich and Katie, two of the coolest people we know.

Playing at the pool

She has quite the hour glass figure:) I love her rolls.

My friend Antoinette's cute little boy Noah. They live next door to us. They are the best neighbors.

Lisa playing with Blake.

Fireworks...

Too much fun for one day, Samantha is out:)

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

2011-06-20T18:20:00.001-07:00

Rich was able to come home for fathers day weekend. We were all so excited to see him. I have to admit having him gone can be hard, I have good days and bad days. We talk on the phone every night when he's away, it feels like we are dating again. I do love that. I think missing Rich has made me realize how important he is to our family, we function so much better when he is home. Our kids are lucky to have him as their dad and I feel lucky to have him as my husband. Here are some pictures from our weekend together.

Rich's Father's Day Breakfast.... Buttermilk biscuits, eggs, bacon, fruit and O.J.
I couldn't get him to smile for this picture, this is as good as it gets.

My friend Lisa offered many times to watch all our kids so we could go out on date. I finally took her up on her offer, we went out to dinner and a movie on Friday night. We had a lot of fun:)

Father's Day Dinner...
Shish kabobs, sweet baked potatoes, grilled pineapple and homemade potato rolls. For dessert we had Rich's favorite chocolate cake.

My friend Lisa invited us to go swimming at her community pool on Friday.

Sami is finally walking! She's 15 months and she just barely took her first steps.

Rich pulling the "Kenny Chesney" attire with his swim shorts and cowboy hat.

Explora

2011-06-20T18:20:00.000-07:00

I finally took the kids to Explora last Friday for the first time, it's a childrens science museum. Our kids loved it, I think we might get a pass here for the year. It's nice because it's indoor and it will give us something to do during the hot summer. I loved watching my kids tinker with the different experiments, and watching them play and be creative. I have been surprised how much there is to here in Albuquerque, there are a lot of places to visit geared towards families, and it's all really close to us. We are never bored. Here are a few pictures at the museum...

Take me out to the ball game

2011-06-11T09:33:00.000-07:00

We went to a Isotopes game last Thursday, we had a lot of fun. My friend Lisa had extra tickets and invited us. My boys love baseball and so does Rich, we've been wanting to go to a Isotopes game since we have moved here. It was too bad that Rich was out of town, he would have loved this. This is are first time sitting in box seats, I've always wondered what it would be like and it was awesome. They have a living area for you to sit if you don't want to be outside the whole time, I thought it was funny that most of the guys were watching the basketball game on t.v and not watching the baseball game. We were also given dinner, nothing too fancy but it was perfect while watching the game. Hot dogs, chips and a plate of desserts to choose from. My kids were in heaven and we were definitely spoiled. They better be ok with going to the cheap seats next time, because we might not see seats like this again. I'm not even a huge fan of baseball but there is something about the atmosphere I love when going to a game. Here are a few pictures...

Hot Summer Day at Cliff's

2011-06-04T17:51:00.000-07:00

We went to Cliff's Amusement Park today, we had so much fun! I left Samantha with a friend, I didn't dare take all four kids to the park without Rich's help, I would have come home with one or two missing. Rich is out of town on a 6 week rotation right now, we miss him and wished he was with us. We were able to get into to the park free because JDRF held their 2011 Walk to Cure Diabetes kick-off in the morning at the park. Our kids could hardly sit still through the meeting as we talked about fundraising and getting into teams, they just wanted to get on the rides. We all had a blast, here are some pictures...

Preschool graduation

2011-05-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

Weston graduated from Preschool two weeks ago. He loved playing and learning with his friends each week. He's really excited to start school with Brooklyn in the fall. I still can't believe I'm going to have two kids at school all day! My house is going to be strangely quiet with just Blake and Samantha at home. They are going to have to learn to like each other too, it seems like they are always fighting over the same toy lately. Samantha is not scared to smack her older brother when she feels like he deserves it. Blake will miss having his big brother to play with all day, but it will be interesting to see how our day goes with just having two at home. Weston will have the same kindergarten teacher that Brooklyn had, I'm so glad because I love this teacher. I am a little worried that Weston might be the class clown, he loved to make his preschool friends laugh. He's quite the comedian, he gets that from his dad.

Ella, Weston, Brady, Ethan, Ragan and Shelby

Mother's Day weekend

2011-05-09T14:24:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we went to our first JDRF(Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) event. They provided lunch for everyone, following lunch a drug rep talked to us about the Omni Insulin Pump, it's sounds like a cool little pump. Brooklyn is going to be trying out some pumps next month, so it was good to get some information about this one. After lunch everyone bowled and I forced myself to get out of my comfort zone and mingle with some of the moms and talk to them about what pumps they've liked for their kids. It was really helpful to talk with other parents who know exactly what it's like to have a diabetic child. Brooklyn was a little shy to talk with the other kids, but I think it was good for her to see all the other kids that deal with type 1 diabetes each day like she does.

When we got done with bowling, it was really hot outside. We went home and the kids played in the water to cool off. Sunday morning, my family brought me breakfast in bed, and gave me their presents. I loved all the homemade cards, my new crockpot, workout clothes and some chocolate covered strawberries. My sweet neighbor brought me over some flowers, and another friend made me a CD with some fun music on it. After church, Brooklyn and Weston gave me a foot rub. Brooklyn told me as she was rubbing my feet... " Mom I want to be just like you, I like your hair, your make-up, your clothes, but I DONT want your feet!". It was pretty funny. I don't blame her, I do have some pretty ugly feet. After the foot rub, Rich made everyone dinner. He doesn't enjoy being in the kitchen, but I like watching him scramble in the kitchen trying to find where everything is. After dinner, me and the kids had a little wrestling match and then they went to bed. After that, Rich and I watched "24" on Netflix with our chocolate covered strawberries. I had a great Mother's Day!

Easter 2011

2011-04-26T13:07:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Easter weekend this year. It was a lot better compared to the previous year. Last year we were traveling with our moving truck on Easter Sunday from Utah to Albuquerque the entire day, so we weren't able to do all the Easter things that we normally do. I still remember Brooklyn asking if the the Easter bunny would come to our new house in New Mexico. I have to admit that the Easter bunny did not visit us last year. I was tired from the move, and still recovering from having a baby, and Rich was busy in school. The last thing on our minds was coloring eggs, doing baskets and making a nice meal. Hopefully we made up for it this year.

So with Brooklyn having Diabetes, we cut WAY back on candy. They had a few treats, but they mostly got dollar toys like bubbles and kites and a $5.00 movie. They didn't seem to miss all the candy that most of us look forward to each Easter. I think I missed the candy more then my kids, I have a HUGE sweet tooth.

The Easter Bunny even brought me a new waffle maker. We've been without a waffle maker for over a year now, so it was nice of him to surprise me with one.

After breakfast we went to the primary Easter egg hunt. The primary leaders were nice enough to let Brooklyn exchange her eggs of candy for sugar free candy at the end.

The white house plays this game every year.

Later that day we went and colored Easter eggs with some friends.

Easter Dinner

The girls in their dresses.

My handsome little boys.

All of us, except Rich. Someone had to take the picture.

Running with Jenny

2011-04-17T14:23:00.001-07:00

Two months ago I asked some of my friends if anyone wanted to do a half-marathon with me. I didn't think I would find anyone who would want to do the run, which is ok. I enjoy running alone and just listening to my music. I was surprised when my friend Jenny called me and said she had been thinking about doing this run with me for a few days. She has never ran a half marathon before, and she seemed a little unsure if she could do it. As I've been doing my long runs with her, it's been neat for me to see her confidence being built and accomplish these long runs each week. I really looked forward to our Saturday runs together, we talked about EVERYTHING! It was fun to have a running partner for this race. When we saw the finish line Jenny's kids ran and crossed the finish with her. It gave me goosebumps! Crossing a finish line always feels awesome, but doing it for the first time is really neat. I crossed my first half marathon with my sister-in-law Stacie and I still remember how great that felt. I enjoyed watching Jenny accomplish this goal that she thought was so far out of her reach. We celebrated her accomplishment later that night at Outback Steakhouse. YUM! Eating after a race is always guilt free:)

This was also my first race of running with my vibram shoes. I really liked wearing them. I don't think I would do a trail run with these shoes, but they are great on pavement and on the tredmill. I haven't had any knee pain since I've started running on the balls of feet and not landing on my heels first, these shoes force you to run that way. I've had fun trying these out, I'm thinking that I will be wearing vibrams for a long time.

Preschool field-trip to the Natural History Museum

2011-04-17T14:23:00.000-07:00

Playing at the park

2011-04-17T14:22:00.000-07:00

This was a fun evening at the park. My kids think bringing our dinner to the park is the coolest thing ever. They love it when we switch the normal routine for dinner. I love watching them play, it's a nice break from the house and being surrounded by all of the messes that my kids make. It's not always easy to just walk away from a messy house and take a break from all of it. But when I have days like this at the park with my family it makes coming home to a mess seem totally worth it.

Samantha is giving the camera some crazy eyes in this last picture, it's kinda funny:)

She's one

2011-04-02T19:04:00.000-07:00

This last picture Samantha looks a little tipsy! She wasn't feeling well on her birthday, it was hard for her to keep her eyes open. She kept them open just long enough to finish her cupcake.

Lake Fenton, NM

2011-04-02T18:43:00.000-07:00

Our neighbor Steve offered us his camper trailer this weekend. So we headed off to the Jemez Mountains and camped at Lake Fenton. It's beautiful up there, and I was dying to get out of the house. The pictures above are happy pictures of our trip, but I have to admit that most of our camping trip was not fun. We usually love to camp but this trip everything seemed to be going wrong. Rich and I were up all night with Samantha who screamed the entire night because of new teeth coming in. Then Blake woke up and peed all over his sleeping bag. To make the night even better the people camping next to us were blasting their music all night long. At one point during the night I begged Rich to just hook up the trailer to our truck and just drag us home, but he said it wasn't legal to have us in the trailer while he pulled us. So morning came and Rich and I laid in bed trying to get the energy to get up and do some fun things with the kids. We honestly just wanted to go home because we were sooo tired. The kids woke up excited and ready to play so we went on a little hike and had lunch. It was a short trip but atleast the kids had fun. Better luck next time.

White Coat Ceremony

2011-03-27T15:54:00.000-07:00

We hit a huge stepping stone in Rich's schooling on Friday night, he finished the didactic part of his P.A program, which means he is DONE with school and finals forever! He has 1 year of rotations starting next month then he is expected to graduate April 2012. We've been told that the 1st year of P.A school is brutal, I think that's an understatement . It's been such a fast pace program and these students are cramming so much information into their heads and a lot is expected from them. It hasn't been an easy year for us, but it made this ceremony even more special because he had to work so hard to get to this point. I'm so proud of him.

Taking the Oath

His Class

Rich and Geoff.

Rich and Cam

Rich and Jen

Rich and Aaron...these two probably spent more time together then me and Rich have this past year. They did most of their studying together.

Rich and Steffanie.
Steffanie also did a lot of studying with Rich this past year, she's so nice and really smart.
Oh, and she's standing on step, she's really not 6 ft tall:)

Rich and Dan.

This video is super short, the memory on my camera was full so it only let me shoot about 10 seconds.

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!

2011-03-27T15:52:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn turned 7 last week. She chose an "Artist Palette" for her birthday cake. This girl loves to paint and color. So this was a perfect cake for Brooklyn. We got her some new art supplies and the Nanny McPhee movies. Brooklyn went back to school this past week, and I've been so impressed with how responsible she is with always checking with the nurse before she eats anything. She has been really good to tell me and the school nurse when she doesn't feel right. Today she even tested her own blood sugars for the first time. She's really getting the hang of things. I think she has adjusted to all of this more then I have, I need to follow her example. As much as I wish she didn't have to deal with this new diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, it's been neat to see what a strong little girl I have. Happy Birthday Brooklyn! We love you.

Rollercoaster of a week...

2011-03-15T20:20:00.000-07:00

Last Monday Brooklyn was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. We have been trying to figure out what has been wrong with Brooklyn for quite some time. We were relieved to finally get a diagnosis, but I was completely caught off guard with this news. Brooklyn was admitted to the hospital for 4 days to get her started on insulin and to get her blood sugars regulated. It was really hard for me to watch Brooklyn get so much blood work done, and get insulin shots 4 times a day and watch her little fingers get pricked with each meal and before bedtime. It was the hardest week of my life and I didnt think I could handle another day of watching her cry and beg the nurses to stop giving her shots. It literally felt like my heart was breaking. I don't think I've ever felt this sad in my entire life. I wasn't doing a very good job as a mom holding it together either, when she cried I cried. I thought taking care of 4 healthy kids was plenty hard, I didnt think I could handle this new challenge.

Rich and I started the education classes at the hospital, nothing was sinking in for me. The diabetes educator, doctor and the nurses used words that I didn’t understand. It also didn't help that I wasn't sleeping at night, I read pamphlets and books that the doctors were giving me all night and then when I tried to sleep I couldn't stop thinking about how this was going to change my life and Brooklyn's life forever. As much as I wanted to leave the hospital, I wanted to stay there at the same time because I knew we were safe there. I felt completely inadequate to be able to take Brooklyn home and care for her.

In the hospital we shared a room with another little girl that had just had her tonsils removed, she was expected to go home the next day. As I looked over at this mom and her daughter I was jealous. I thought... this little girl will go home and recover and my little girl will go home and have to get shots her entire life. It seemed so unfair. The following day I took Brooklyn to the kids play center at the hospital and she sat next to this little boy who appeared to have cancer. I immediately felt grateful for Brooklyn's diagnosis and my attitude started to change. Brooklyn will live and long and happy life she just has to take extra steps each day to stay healthy and feel good.

My sister-in-law Amber called me and asked if I wanted her to come for a visit and help me with Brooklyn. She has a son that was diagnosed with diabetes 3 years ago, so she had been in my place before and knows how overwhelming it is. I told her that I would be ok, but deep down I wanted to scream on the phone "Yes please come help me!" I think she sensed in my voice that I wanted her to come, so she did. She flew out from North Carolina and was here before Brooklyn was discharged from the hospital. Amber came to the rescue, she taught me so much and made me feel like I could do this. We had very late nights of her teaching me the basics of how to take care of a diabetic child. More and more information was sinking into my head and I was feeling a little more confident that I could handle this. I honestly don’t know what I would have done without her help.

We are slowly getting a routine back into our home and adjusting to all of this. This is a how are day goes...

7:00am - Check Brooklyn's blood sugar before breakfast. If she's high, then I have to give her extra insulin with her meal. I then count how many carbs she is eating for breakfast and measure out her food. Then I do the math to figure out how much insulin she needs with her meal. (Amber spent an entire night teaching me how to do this, when it finally clicked in my head we were both so excited!)

10:00am - Snack

12:00 am - Lunch - Check her blood sugars again to see if she's in her target range. Count out her carbs for lunch. Do the math and give her another insulin shot.

3:00pm - Snack

5:00pm - Check her blood sugars. Count out carbs for dinner, do the math. Give insulin shot.

7:30pm - Bedtime

9:30pm- I check her blood sugars while she is asleep, and give her another insulin shot to last her through the night.

2:00am - Check blood sugars. If she is low, I have to wake her up and give her a juice, and re-check her in 15 minutes. If she is high I give her a dose of insulin.

The next day this all repeats over again. I feel like I have a newborn again with waking up in the middle of night, it's exsausting. Hopefully I can get used to waking up like this and not feel like I am dragging during the day.

I'm grateful that there is medicine out there for diabetics, I'm already noticing a change in Brooklyn. I've been told that she will be a new person and have the energy that a 7 year old is suppose to have. Her doctor believes that there will be a cure for diabetes in Brooklyn's lifetime. It was encouraging to hear that.

We spent an entire day in the E.R because there were no rooms in the hospital for her to be admitted.
I ordered Brooklyn this pillow pet for her birthday that is next week. I gave it to her early so she would have something to sqeeze with all the shots, she LOVES this pillow.

The play center was really nice, I think the both of us would have gone crazy sitting in the hospital room all day. We only had to go back to the room for meals and shots.

An art project that she made in the playcenter.

She loves all the colorful bandaides, it cheers her up.

Aunt Amber and Brooklyn.

Both of us miss her a lot. Yesteday was my first day on my own with everything, it was nice having Amber with me to double check everything I did, and it was just nice to have her there as my friend.

Amber made this darling sticker chart for Brooklyn, if Brooklyn does well with the shots during the day she gets a sticker. At the end of week she gets a prize. She also made my boys one, it's easy for them to feel left out with all the attention Brooklyn is getting.

Our family has been given so much service this past week, it's amazing to see how much people care. I'm grateful to be here in New Mexico right now, I am surrounded by so many people who would do anything for us.

thirty-two

2011-02-27T20:40:00.000-08:00

Me, Jenny and Marjorie all have February birthdays so we thought it would be fun to go out to lunch together. I've lived here in Albuquerque for almost a year now and I've never eaten at Dion's. Apparently it's "the place" to get a really good sandwich and pizza. So I was excited to finally try it, I loved it. I thought my food was really good and it was affordable. I actually had a dream about my Turkey and Swiss sandwich last night and the yummy Italian dipping sauce that you get with your sandwich. It was a fun lunch, we ate, laughed and had some good conversation. Me and Jenny have the same exact anniversary, we were both married on 08-16-2002. How cool is that. Marjorie, is pregnant with her 6th child right now. If I ever need advice on parenting or how to deal with hard child, she is the one to ask. She's got this mom thing down.

Here's some of the gifts that were brought to me on my birthday. I was very spoiled and felt very loved. Our R.S president made me this beautiful french chocolate torte. It was heaven! I hid this cake very carefully in the fridge, I was a little selfish with it too. Sister Bender also made me the most perfect loaf of bread I've ever seen. I had another friend bring me some homemade rolls and jam. Homemade bread and jam is probably my most favorite thing to eat.

Natalie and Katie took me to Tucano's for dinner. I haven't been here since Rich and I were dating. Oh, and the pink scarf I'm wearing my friend Lisa got me. I see ladies wearing these all the time, but I wasn't sure if I was hip enough to pull off a hot pink scarf. I talked myself into wearing it that night, Brooklyn thought it looked "cool". I even had to watch a You Tube video on how to tie it, I was that clueless on how to wear it. It was kinda fun to wear something different and try something new.

Speaking of trying something new... I had to take a picture of the sushi on my plate so I could prove to Rich that I tried a new food. I've never had sushi before, so I thought I would give it a chance. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. I also tried shrimp for the 2nd time in my life. I disliked it the first time I tried it and hated it even more the second time. I think it's the texture of it I don't like, it feels like I'm eating a big fat worm. I don't think I'm refined enough to eat fancy foods like this. I don't know why I put salad on my plate either, all I ate was the unlimited meat and pineapple that the servers kept bringing to the table. After we stuffed our faces full, we went and caught a movie. It was a fun night out. I haven't spent a lot of time in downtown Albuquerque, but I liked it. It's a cool city.

I also got these beauty's for my birthday. I've been needing some new running shoes. I have been wanting to try a minimalist shoe for over a year now, but have been to chicken and a little vain to actually wear these out in public. I really do look like a duck with these on, and it doesn't help that I wear a size 10 shoe either. When I tried them on in the store I fell in love them, it was like wearing a glove on my feet. I've been wearing them for a couple of weeks now and running is completely different for me. I feel like I take quicker steps and I don't have this heavy running shoe weighing me down. These shoes probably aren't for everyone, but so far I'm really liking them.

It's been a fun couple of days. Now on to March...I have one little girl that will be celebrating her 1st birthday, and another little girl that can't stop talking about turning 7. It's going to be a fun month.

Monday Monday

2011-02-22T14:19:00.000-08:00

When I woke up on Monday, I had the song "Monday Monday" by the Mamas and the Papas in my head, it was stuck in my head all day. It was kinda annoying. I wanted to do something fun on Monday because it was a holiday and Brooklyn was home. I couldn't think of anything too exciting so I first checked the dollar theater, there weren't any kid movies. Darn. My kids LOVE going to the movies. So I asked the kids what they wanted to do, and they wanted to go to McDonald's for an icecream and go to the gardens to see the fish. So that's what we did. We first headed off to McDonald's drive through got the dollar icecream cones and headed to the gardens.

Short sleeve shirts and icecream in February? This is still crazy to me that we can dress like this here.

I still have my braces on, it's nice they are clear. But I really am ready to have them off. Hopefully, they'll be off in a few months if my teeth keep moving.

I have to comment on Brooklyn's lovely hair, she is so proud of herself that she can do a ponytail with a tied ribbon and a clip.

This white turtle doesn't come out very often, Brooklyn was happy to see it. This place never gets old and boring to us.

After the gardens and the aquarium we had to make a pit stop at the store. I REALLY did not want to go, but we needed milk and bread. I was worried that taking all the kids in the store would ruin the perfect day. We had a minor melt down and 1 unhappy kid because he wanted wanted a donut. We also had 1 smashed loaf of bread, but that usually always happens. Since I had my camera in my purse I snapped a picture of what it looks like to go shopping with my kids. I wonder if I'll miss this when I'm older and my kids are grown? Right now, I'm thinking not.

When we got home we had spaghetti and meatballs. The only part I don't like about spaghetti is how it leaves a orange stain on the highchair and all over Samantha's face. It really is such a mess to clean up. After dinner I hosed down my kids, and everyone was in bed by 7:30. I may not be consistent about everything with my children, but being in bed by 7:30 is a must. I think I would lose my sanity if they were up really late.
We had a good day. (Except for the store)

10 months in Polka-dots

2011-01-25T19:22:00.000-08:00

Here's our little Samantha at 10 months. She makes me so happy:)

Happy Birthday to Blake!

2011-01-05T16:01:00.000-08:00

Blake turned 3 yesterday. He's a big 3 year old, he looks like he should be 5. He's our goof ball, he has such a different personality then any of our other kids. He pulls really funny facial expressions a lot. He's a tuff kid, he doesn't cry very often only when he's really hurt. He LOVES food, monster trucks, curious george, spiderman and trains.

Rich made him a #3 pancake in the morning.

The night before Blake's birthday I showed him 3 different birthday cakes online and asked him which one he wanted, I'm so glad he wanted this crocodile cake, it was a lot of fun to make.

Anytime I ask my kids what they want for their birthday meal it's always pizza and rootbeer:)

Blake is really funny about wearing belts. He has to have one on every day. He's always the first one dressed in the morning, he rarely hangs out in in p.j's in the morning. We got him a spiderman belt, he was thrilled.

We had Rich and Katie over for pizza and cake. They are two of the nicest people we've ever met.
My Rich and Katie's Rich are a lot alike. Katie is P.A, she's been helpful to Rich while he's going through his schooling and her husband Rich is a professional fighter/Jiu-Jitsu instructor. He is training with the USA Jiu-Jitsu Olympic team. We will be cheering him on in Greece!

Happy Birthday Blake!

26.2 on the beach

2011-01-05T15:03:00.001-08:00

After my sisters reception in Santa Clarita we drove to Huntington Beach. I had a New Year's Eve marathon in the morning. We all got to bed around 11:00 pm that night. I started to feel a head cold coming on the night of my sisters reception. Rich ran to the store and got me vitamins and Airborn which I loaded up on. I woke up the next morning feeling great. I felt really lucky. This race is different then any other run I've ever done. Most runs I've done have at least a thousand people running it, huge crowds, lots of cars and a huge finish line. The man that organizes these races is an ultra-marathoner, he does 100 mile races. He only lets 50 people total in his marathons/half marathons. I really enjoyed running with a small group. We all cheered each other on and gave each other thumbs up when we passed one another. When I finished the Bear Lake marathon in 2008 my body felt broken when I was done, everything hurt and it took a long time to recover. I remember thinking after that race that I would never put my body through another marathon. I've been told that running a marathon for the 2nd time is always better. I am happy to say that is was! I felt great finishing this race, it was still hard and a challenge but I didn't feel like I was hit by a truck when I was done. I think training at a higher elevation and then running at sea level made a big difference and I cross-trained a lot more this time too. I absolutely loved running along the beach on the bike trail. There was a lot to distract me when I started to get tired, people playing volleyball, watching the surfers, people camping on the beach, families riding their bikes. There was so much to look at. Then of course my family was there cheering me on. Rich driving our car with all the kids, and my parents honking their horn along the way too. I would do this run again in a heartbeat! Here are a few pictures...

Rich snapped this picture of Blake while they were in the car following me. What a goof!

The man running next to me I recognized from the Bear Lake marathon. I sat by him on the bus ride up to the drop off point. I had a neat conversation with him on the bus, he was 63 when he ran Bear Lake. I remember thinking, gosh I hope I can stay active and in shape like he is when I'm older. He's done the Boston marathon and MANY others. This was his 80th marathon! It was neat to cross paths with him again. I asked him a lot of questions about how he's able to stay so strong and how he's able to keep on running in his late 60's, he gave me lots of advice. It was fun to run side by side with him for a few miles.

Samantha eating the sand.

Blake decided to strip down and take off his wet jeans.

Brooklyn chasing the waves.

Putting my feet in the cold water, it felt so good!!

The man with the blue shirt is Charlie Alewine, he's the director of the marathon. He's 61 years old and he's completed 202 races from marathon distance to 100 miles. Charlie set his new 100 mile PR of 25:34 at the Iron Horse 100 in Florida.

Bike trail

Views from the trail

Mr. and Mrs. Longshore!

2011-01-05T14:07:00.000-08:00

My little sister Caroline got married on December 30th! I couldn't be happier for her, she chose a great guy. She looked so beautiful all day, I don't think I've ever seen her so happy. Congratulations!

My Grandma and Grandpa Evans, my Aunt Connie and my cousin Alison.

My cousin Jeff and his wife Shannon and their son Max.

My mom looking so pretty!

My dad and Caroline

The reception was really fun, they had a really good D.J. So there was lots of dancing:)

Brooklyn loved dancing with her dad.

The wedding cake

The grooms cake.
Nick used to play football for BYU, and Caroline was a cheerleader in highschool.

Caroline wore my mom's wedding veil.

My cousin Kristi and her husband Swen.

Blake being a goof ball.

Weston hamming it up for the camera.

Brooklyn loved holding my flowers all day.

Father daughter dance.

My sister Lauren and Brooklyn in the visitors center during the sealing.

Caroline and Nick's grand entrance into their reception.

I love this picture of my parents.

Christmas morning

2011-01-05T13:42:00.001-08:00

Christmas morning gets better and better each year as our kids get older. Brooklyn is starting to get to the age where she is starting to ask for certain things. She really wanted her own umbrella and a new comforter for her bed. Our boys didn't really ask for anything specifically so that made it easy for me.

Waiting at the top of the stairs while I was getting my video camera out.

Brooklyn did get her umbrella, she was a happy girl:)

Samantha got a babydoll

Brooklyn's new comforter set.

SOCKS!!
My boys have a serious problem with losing socks! Each of them got 10 new pairs!

They got this nice wooden train set from my Aunt Kelly. She was in town in October for a huge yard sale in Albuquerque, she saw me eying this train set and secretly bought it for me. I waited until Christmas to give it to them. Thank you Aunt Kelly!

Ramona and Beezuz!! We love this movie.
Our new favorite phrase to say around here is "GUTS!, GUTS!, GUTS!".

Rich got me this cute apron from http://www.flirtyaprons.com/.

We got lots of puzzles this year, Weston is especially good at putting them together.

I wanted to make something different this year for breakfast. My sister-in-law Amber gave me a recipe for German Pancakes. They were good! It's kinda like eating eggs, french toast and pancakes all at the same time.

Brooklyn's new comforter.

The boys train set.

Snow in Albuquerque!

2011-01-05T13:34:00.000-08:00

I honestly didn't think we would see snow here in ALB. Everyone said it snowed a little, so I thought I would see a flurries of snow but never see snow on the ground. We were so excited when it snowed the week before Christmas, it lasted for about a day then it was back to 60 degree weather:(

Christmas Eve breakfast

2011-01-05T13:25:00.000-08:00

Being away from family during the holidays has made us want to start some of our own family traditions. On Christmas Eve morning we took the kids to IHOP for breakfast, we rarely go out to eat as family. Mainly because it can be hard to eat out with kids and it can be expensive. We had a really fun time, the kids loved their smiling face pancakes and I loved not having to clean up any breakfast dishes:)

Baking Christmas treats!!

2011-01-05T12:54:00.000-08:00

A few days before Christmas me and the kids baked our Christmas goodies to take to neighbors. I couldn't decide what to make so I made some of my favorite holiday desserts.

Pumpkin Roll

These little cookies are called Thumbprint cookies. My mom would always make these for our neighbors when I was kid:)

Fudge... who doesn't love fudge. Fudge reminds me of my Grandma Evans. She would always make fudge and popcorn for all the grandkids while we played monopoly.

The boys are doing their job by cleaning out the bowl.

Cinnamon Rolls.
I came across this recipe when I was visiting my sister Kelly in Idaho. Her neighbor had brought her these HUGE cinnamon rolls, it was the best cinnamon roll I had ever had. I'm glad her friend shared the recipe with me because these are a family favorite.

MallowBars... my friend Amy Ward and I share the same obsession with sweets. These Mallowbars are her recipe. I also made Suzy Taylors Oatmeal Bars, she made these for me once and I LOVED them. I also made some cherry and blueberry tarts.

Need I say more, we were tired!

Preschool Christmas Party

2010-12-17T14:30:00.000-08:00

We had a preschool Christmas party at my house this week. It was fun, we played games, read Christmas stories and ate some Christmas snacks.

This was a fun game. I wrapped up giant marshmallows to resemble snowballs and the kids had to try to throw it threw the snowman. After we did the snowball toss, we played "Santa Says".

Then we made snowflake quesadillas

All you do is take a spinach and herb tortilla sprinkle with cheese. Fold a white tortilla in thirds and cut shapes to make a snowflake. Bake or fry until cheese is melted.

Making Christmas bracelets...

Here are some snowman cupcakes I made for the kids.
Here's how you make them...

Frost a cooled cupcake, if you like coconut you can sprinkle that on top.
Flatten a large marshmallow with the palm of your hand. Cut a second marshmallow in half horizontally, then stack the halves on the first marshmallow to form torso and head.
Push a thin pretzel stick down through the snowman(this helps him stand up) then set him on the cupcake.
Use decorators gel to create a mouth, eyes and buttons, then add pretzel sticks arms and a wedge cut from an orange slices candy for a nose.
Accessorize with a candy hat(a junior mint secured to a thin mint with icing) and a fruit leather scarf.

**After I made these I realized I forgot to put the pretzel sticks on for the arms**

Preschool field trip to Krispy Kreme!

2010-12-17T14:25:00.000-08:00

YUM!!!

Making our gingerbread house...

2010-12-17T14:23:00.000-08:00

Wednesdays...

2010-12-17T14:08:00.001-08:00

The boys in my house sooo look forward to Wednesdays because the Burk boys come over all day to play while their mom does bookkeeping for her husbands dental office. In our last neighborhoood in Utah, Brooklyn was the lucky one because she had lots of little girlfriends to play with in our neighborhood. Weston didnt have that many boys his age to play with, so he usually tagged along with the girls. Since we've been in Albuquerque, Weston and Blake have more boys their age to play with, it's been really nice. My house is loud and crazy every Wednesday, buts it makes me happy that they have made some friends here. I have officially set Wednesday as my treat making day too, I have a serious sweet tooth. So when my friend Lisa comes to pick up her boys, I usually give her half of what I make because I have very little self-control when it comes to sweets. Last Wednesday we made Christmas cookies, I think I know why I only make these a couple times a year. A lot of work and such a mess! But sooo good!

Blake's best bud is Caleb.

Brady and Weston

Weston is 5!

2010-12-17T13:38:00.000-08:00

Our little Weston is 5. I can't believe he's going to be in school next year. Crazy! Weston is a tenderhearted little kid. The past couple of years Weston has changed a lot. He's not nearly as stubborn as he used to be, he is A LOT better at eating meals with everyone. He used to be extremely picky with food, it was a constant battle everyday to try to get him to eat. Weston loves baseball, the picture below he is holding his t-ball trophy. He carry's it everywhere. The morning of his birthday, we had a special breakfast for him before church. I stayed up the night before to make a Ironman cake that he requested, lets just say that I never want to make it again! It took forever to make, and it doesn't even look very good. He liked it, I guess that's all that matters.

Mickey Mouse pancakes, fried ham and eggs.

Blowing out the candles...

The following Saturday he has his 1st friend party! He would not stop talking about this party the entire week! The theme of the party was "Superhero's". All the boys dressed up as their favorite superhero. It was a crazy loud two hours but fun to see Weston so excited.

I bought a store bought cake for his friend party, the frosting on the cake tasted like tar. It was really nasty! The black frosting turned all the kids mouths black.

All the boys showing off their strong muscles. We sent out 10 invites thinking a few boys might not be able to make it, but all 10 came!

Opening presents...

Musical squares...

Pinata'

Eating pizza...

Ready for Christmas

2010-12-02T05:31:00.000-08:00

The tree is up and we're ready for Christmas! I love this time of year. Everyone seems to be happier, except for the man I saw at Costco yesterday. He was pretty grumpy, I felt bad for him. I love Christmas music, my radio station is set permanently on a Christmas station for all of December. I enjoy using Santa as a leverage when my kids fight during this month. Anytime they fight all I have to say is "Santa wont come to our house if you act this way" (very powerful words to a kid), their attitudes instantly change when I say those words. It's wonderful. I love going to church in December, singing Christmas songs as a congregation and hearing Christmas messages is something I look forward to. It helps me remember why we celebrate this season and to not get caught up in the hustle and bustle that Christmas can bring. Here are a few pictures of the kids helping with the tree. They were actually pretty helpful this year, no major fights or melt downs about who got to put what on the tree. Samantha is not crawling yet, thank goodness. I hope she stays planted on the ground until Christmas is over:)

And we're DONE!

Family Pictures 2010

2010-11-29T19:12:00.000-08:00

My friend Heather took these pictures for us a few weeks ago. We had these taken at the Botanic Gardens. My favorite pictures she took are the candids of my kids. She really got their personalities to come out in the photo's. It was a chilly morning so she started a leave fight with them, and that warmed them up and made it fun for them to get their pictures taken. We tried to get to the gardens early enough in the morning so we would have good lighting, but the sun here in Albuquerque is soo bright! It was hard to dodge the sun and get the best lighting, but she was still able to get some great shots of our family. Here are some of my favorites...

Daddy's fast car

2010-11-22T09:53:00.001-08:00

We had to say goodbye to "Quart" on Sunday. My kids loved this old car for some reason, we nicknamed it "Quart" a long time ago because we added about a quart of oil to it each week. My kids mostly called it "Daddy's fast car". I think it's funny that they thought a 98 dodge stratus was a fast sports car. It's been a good little car even though it burned oil fast, it's taken Rich back and forth to school for the past two years. It even made the trip out to New Mexico, no one thought Quart would make it on a trip that far. We put her on Craigs list late on Saturday night, and on Sunday morning while we were getting ready for church we got a call that someone wanted to come look at it. We honestly thought no one would want to buy it, it has a lot of problems that are expensive to fix. So we hurried and ran outside and washed the car really quickly and tried to clean it out the best we could. When the man came to look at it, he asked us to pop the hood but Rich couldn't get the hood open. Rich actually broke the lever that opens the hood right in front of the guy. It was pretty funny. So the hood was stuck and couldn't be opened. The man took the car for a spin and it over-heated as soon as he drove it down the block. We thought for sure we were going to have to drop Quart off at some junk yard. The man looked at Rich and said "I'll give you $450.00 for the car." Not too bad, considering we paid $600.00 for the car two years ago. The man that bought our car is a mechanic and he's going to fix it up for his daughter and give it to her. I thought it was sweet he was doing that for her, and it's nice knowing that Quart isn't going to be sitting in some junkyard collecting rust. My kids miss "Daddy's fast car", and I was really hoping this car would last us through P.A school. We can't complain, it's been a good car and we're thankful it lasted as long as did.

It's Weston's turn...

2010-11-07T16:37:00.001-08:00

Weston has been waiting patiently for his turn to play t-ball. He's watched on the sidelines while Brooklyn played t-ball and I could tell he wanted to get out there so bad and play with everyone. Well, it's finally his turn and he's LOVING it. He loves to be in the outfield to catch the ground balls and throw them to the base. He enjoys catching the balls more then hitting the ball. He still has 4 more games, but here are a few pictures so far from his season.

I think he looks pretty cute in his uniform.

His first grass stain on his pants.

Weston feels the need to slide into each base. There is a rule in this league that you can't slide, he does it anyways.

I think Rich likes going to these game as much as Weston. He gets so proud of Weston everytime he does something good.

Halloween 2010

2010-10-31T19:11:00.001-07:00

Halloween this year was a lot of fun, but such a busy week! Even though we were doing fun things I'm ready for life to go back to normal and not running from place to place. We've been to pumpkin patches, trunk-or-treats, pre-school halloween parties, preschool field trips, school parties and parades. And between all of that we have been in the kitchen making halloween treats.

This year we have... Spiderman, two witches and a transformer.

Trunk- or -treat at church

After the trunk-or-treat there was a little carnival inside the church...

Cake walk

Fishing for treats

Face painting...

Bobbing for donuts...

I was surprised how Sami kept this hat on, she was really good at not pulling it off.

Brooklyn's costume parade.

Preschool halloween party at Lisa's, playing pin the nose on the pumpkin.

She made some cute"mummy" pizza's for the kids.

Playing more games.

Weston and Ethan showed up wearing the same costume.

Poor Samantha was dragged to all these events and missing her naps. I think she's ready to start taking naps in her crib again.

Pre-school field trip

Blake LOVED this duck racing game...

You had to pump the water and move the ducks to end of the track.

Pumpkin bowling

Tractor rides

Scarecrow dress up

Weston loved riding the horse, he really wants a horse someday. (So does his dad)

I couldn't get Blake to get on the horse, he was too scared.

Making Carmel apples dipped in chocolate. It tasted like a milkyway candy bar. I dipped some of them in nuts and some in crushed up snickers bars:)

6 months

2010-10-13T14:39:00.001-07:00

I can't believe Samantha is 6 months old already. Crazy!

Balloon Festival

2010-10-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

We went to the balloon festival yesterday! I've heard a lot of great things about the festival so I knew I wanted to go while we are living here. This is how our morning started... I woke up at 4:00am on Saturday morning and got everything ready so we could be out of the house at 5:00am. Once I was ready and breakfast was packed, I woke up the kids and Rich and we were out of the house my 5:15. We met our friends Ali and Anthony and followed eachother down to the festival. I'm glad they knew where they were going and what areas to avoid, because there were tons of people! We parked our cars at Anthony's work to save money on the 10 dollar parking fee, and walked 3/4 of a mile to where the festival was. It was a nice little walk, and the weather was perfect. It's finally getting chilly enough here to wear a sweater!

When we first got there some of the balloons were lit up like this.

The opening ceremonies started and the National anthem was played while the first balloon went up.

We found our spot and watched as the balloons around us started to get ready to go up.

We ate cinnamon rolls, fruit and juice for breakfast. Poor Samantha got her 6 month vaccine shots the day before this and wasn't feeling great.

Weston is just happy to be here.

Weston is mesmerized

So pretty! It felt like we were in a fairytale.

Waking up at dawn was so worth it to see this face!!

Samantha started to feel a little better....

Love this picture...

#810 balloon is dedicated to my sister Holly.

Me and my friend Alli.

Rich's friends from school caught up with us for a little while. Kaymarie has babysat for us before, our kids love her.

Break

2010-09-20T08:16:00.000-07:00

We've made it through another semester! Rich finished finals two weeks ago so this past week he had off. We did a few fun things with the kids, but mostly we just stayed home and enjoyed being together. It was really nice to not have to set the alarm clock all week, we just waited until the kids ran in our room and woke us up.

We started off the our break by going to the movies. We went and saw "Karate Kid" at the dollar theater. I even cried a little at the end, I thought it was really good. The kids enjoyed it too. They were doing kung-fu moves for the rest of the day. Sunday after church we headed up to Jemez Falls to go camping, it's about a two hour drive from our house. This place was so beautiful. I loved the tall trees and how secluded we were. Rich got really excited the first night we were there because he heard a elk. I've never seen him so excited about anything! The rest of the night I heard coyotes howling all night, so I didn't get much sleep. Someone had to stay awake to protect the family:) Rich was fast asleep. The next morning we went on a hike up to the Falls, it was really pretty. They have a few hot springs in the area that we wanted to see but Blake ended up getting sick so we had to leave early. During the middle of the week we stayed at home and Rich had a list of things that needed to be fixed around the house. On Friday night we went to a park and had a picnic dinner, that was fun. Saturday was probably my favorite day. It was perfect. Rich has a friend that works at a sports and wellness gym, and last month for our anniversary his friend gave him a complimentary 1 hour massage coupon for me. On Saturday I went and got the massage, it was heaven:) Then when I got home, Rich had organized my tupperware cabinet(it was a complete mess), scrubbed my kitchen floor, and did all of the laundry. I don't think I've ever loved him more then when I walked in the house and saw him cleaning:) Then later that night we ordered take-out from Chili's since it was our last weekend together before life got busy again. When the kids went to bed, we got out the "molten chocolate cake" that we ordered and ate it in bed while watching a movie. From the massage, to a clean house, to eating our favorite chocolate cake in bed, I don't know what could have made the day more perfect. It was a great way to end our week together.

Roasting hot dogs...

Rich trying to teach the kids how to skip a rock over the water

I feel like a mama kangaroo when we camp, this little girl is always attached to me.

Jemez Falls

hiking...

Blake was happy here, he got sick the next day.

Playing catch

The views...

Smores!!!

Camp Out!

2010-09-07T13:03:00.000-07:00

I took the kids camping with my friend Alli last weekend. Her husband was going to be hunting all day and so she thought it would be fun for me and the kids to hang out with her. Initially I said no, because the thought of me taking all the kids without Rich terrified me a little. Rich wanted to come but he had finals to study for. So I finally decided to go, I had been dying to get out the house anyways. Not knowing if this campout would be a blast or a disaster we took our chances and went.

One of the nights we were there it rained really hard for a couple of hours, the kids thought it was really fun. We played Skipbo in the tent while the rain poured down.

Samantha and A.J

I love this picture, Samantha was so bright eyed the 1st morning we were there. So I started to take pictures of her. I love her expression, if I were to guess what she's thinking it would be this..."Mom, why are you taking pictures of me at 6:30 in the morning!" Or maybe she's thinking..."Mom you look terrible, you need some lipstick and a hairbrush!".

What I love about camping is that it's ok to leave your makeup and hair stuff at home. I love getting a break from the routine of fixing myself up everyday.

We went on a little hike in the afternoon and found a little stream. Blake completely drenched his last pair of pants, so the next day he was wearing his p.j's all day. I thought 4 pairs of pants would be plenty for him for two days, obviously not!

Brooklyn loves being outside. She loves to pick me bouquets of wildflowers and weeds.

Brooklyn and Addison

Weston and Addison planning their attack on the rest of us. There were MANY water gun fights.

Weston has been working on breaking in his glove for fall ball that starts up next month. He takes baseball very seriously.

This little girl can color for hours.

Somehow I forgot to take pictures of us eating and making smores, that's my favorite part of camping. I love eating good food and talking around the campfire. I've always felt like it's ok to eat junk food when your camping, it's the one time that you can really just eat what you want and not feel guilty about it. I remember as a kid we never had sugar cereals at home, or twinkies or soda pop. But when we went camping we got to eat everything that we normally didnt eat at home. I LOVED it!

We did miss Rich while we were gone. It's always better when he's around, but I'm glad we went. It's always nice to get out of the daily routine that we all do everyday. It can be very mundane doing the same thing day in and day out. Sometimes I feel like I get in robot mode and I'm just going through the motions of life. When I notice myself feeling that way I need to do something fun with my kids so I can remember that being a mom is suppose to be fun and not a chore.

We're home now and it feels good to be home. Normally I dread doing laundry but I was excited to see my laundry machines and know they were going to wash our filthy clothes and make them smell good again. I was even a little excited to put some make-up on and do my hair, it's nice to feel like a girl again. I'm glad I took Alli's invitation to go camping, I really didn't think I would have as much fun as I did. I thought it would be more work then fun, but it ended up being the complete opposite.