I AM WONDER WOMAN?

UPDATE

2010-05-08T09:37:00.000-07:00

Wow! It has been forever since I've posted. I haven't forgotten about it just not being in the right mindset to sit and type. The Reese family has had an eventful few months. I will post some pictures later, but I thought I would tell you about in my own words. First off all of the snow is gone from our yard! YEAH! I thought it would be here until June but the last little bit melted from our yard last week.

In February we met our dear and wonderful friends, The Paynes in St. George and had a FABULOUS weekend playing and catching up. I miss you guys dearly and Sean is still insisting we come up and see you so I guess we're going to have too!

On March 8 Fred's mother, Nancy, passed away unexpectedly. It has been a very trying time for our family as we deal with her loss, but Sean told me after I told him Grandma Nancy went to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus that- It's OK mom don't be sad, she will live again. My testimony has grown so strong from this statement that yes she will live again and our family will be with her again. I LOVE Fred and he gave such a moving tribute to his mom at her funeral. He needs all of your extra prayers right now.

I got my letter from NAU for this next fall and I'm on the alternate list for the Dental Hygiene program. So remember me in prayers that someone will decide to not go to NAU and decide to go somewhere else so I can get in. I think I've been down on myself lately for not getting into the program, but my wonderful, supportive husband told me I did everything that I could. He's right I busted my bum for 2 years getting A's and B's and I feel like the letter said, Your good but not good enough! Oh well! I hope to hear in July whether I get in...

Sarah turned 13 on May 1st, that's right people, Fred and I are the parents of a teenager! SCARY! Good thing she's a good kid and we love her and I'm pretty sure she loves us too!

Sophie is still playing soccer, but we're taking the summer off. I'm proud of all she has accomplished playing soccer.

Sydney is starting to get the "reading thing" she has struggled with it, but we are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

Sean is 5 and is excited for Kindergarten next year. All of my kids will be in school! How sweet is that!

I'll update more, Fred is yelling for me to come and help change out ceiling fan lights.

Sick of Snow

2010-01-27T19:19:00.000-08:00

I know, I know evrything lately has been snow, snow, snow. Well guess what that's all we got around here right now is snow! We had over 4 feet of snow fall on us last week. I was in my house from last Wednesday night until Sunday morning. I have cabin fever! My testimony has also grown in being prepared we knew and were told to prepare for power outages, having enough food and water, etc and I'm glad to say we had plenty. With that said I'm going somewhere warm for Spring break. I also haven't blogged in awhile. I'll find some time, but this semester I'm taking Microbiology, Computers, and a photography class...so watch out for better pictures!

Sledding At the Park

2009-12-09T16:51:00.000-08:00

What happens when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade? Well what happens when 20 inches of snow gets dumped on your house and your kids have 2 snow days and your tired of being stuck in the house and you just need to get out? Go sledding! The plowtruck finally came to our neighborhood and I told the kids I would take them sledding. (Nice Mom, right!) Here are some of the pictures I took of the kids while sledding. Some other kids before us made a ramp and the kids were like we need to destroy this because it could be dangerous and we could hit a tree and get hurt and I saw it and said, "Wow, you could get some AWESOME air!" Now who was the responsible adult today! HMMM!

Enjoy the pictures!

Sydney

Sarah and Sydney

Sophie getting AWESOME air!

Sean

I decided I wanted to have some fun, but after the ride down Sean told me I was too big! Nice kid.

Tomorrow everybody goes back to school including me for my last day of finals!!!

Blizzard 2009

2009-12-08T17:11:00.001-08:00

Another winter has come to Flagstaff, it started to snow early, early Monday morning and snowed all day. The schools cancelled halfway through the day, in my opinion they should've just cancelled them first thing in the morning. I finished my anatomy final and then they cancelled classes at the college! YEAH I'm so relieved to be done with that class, I enjoyed it, but WOW I'm tired but I learned our body is sooo amazing, Heavenly Father is AMAZING!

Today we had a snow day and tomorrow we have a snow day! The plowtruck hasn't even been on our street and in my cul de sac it's just snow piled about 2 feet!

Sean showing how deep our cul de sac snow is!!

Yeah the snow on this side of the house doesn't see the sun, so I think we are pretty much guaranteed a White Christmas. (At least in this spot)

The kids had a snowman made but it got buried in the snow!

Lake Powell 2009

2009-10-26T09:09:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the month we were invited by the Controller of the Little America Hotel's to join his family on a house boat at Lake Powell. The answer was a no brainer except would my family be able to behave themselves so that Fred would still have a job and how was I going to contain Mr. Sean? We had a great time left on Thursday and came back Sunday. Lake Powell is 2 1/2 hours away from our house and it is definitely one of the most beautiful places on earth. I think I've become spoiled because I don't know if I can ever go back now without being on a houseboat. Here are just some of the pictures...

Sean and Maxwell (Maxwell just turned 5 in August, yeah he was twice the size of Sean)

Sarah jumping off of the side.

The full moon coming up as the sun went down.

LOVE the hair!

Celebrated Sydney's 7th Birthday!

Sean's favorite place to be the HotTub (Doesn't it look inviting!)

The Family at Rainbow Bridge, very big and very beautiful!

Do you see the ranger? She is going to tell our group your to close to the bridge, some of the local tribes consider Rainbow Bridge sacred and you're NOT supposed to walk under it.

Meg, Cassie, and the guy we rescued! Sunday coming going back to the marina took us about 5 hours. The wind was awful and the lake had white peak waves (VERY choppy!) The guy was in a kayak and going nowhere, so we had him on aboard, he's from Montreal, I think he was amazed with all of the kids we had!

Sophie on the tube!

White men CAN jump!

L-R: Eric, Cassie, Porter, Bowen, Fred, Sean, Sarah, Meg, Mark, Maxwell, Sophie, Sydney, Elisa

We had a GREAT time and Fred still has a job so I guess we behaved!

LUCKY!

2009-10-16T10:29:00.000-07:00

WOW I haven't blogged in forever, I guess since my "bad" week. Life is on the upturn and I have a wonderful husband who LOVES me and children who "tolerate" their crazy mother. I'm halfway done with last semester of Pre-requisites and will submit my application for NAU's Dental Hygiene program by Feb. 1, 2010. (Keep me in your prayers that the committee will like my application and accept me!) I will post more when I have the time, just felt like I had to move on from despair and appreciate how LUCKY I am to be alive and have such wonderful supportive people in my life!

PS-My hoodie says LUCKY so I thought that to be an appropriate title for this blog. Not that I just wanted ya'll to look at a wonderful picture of Elisa standing at the top of Lombard street!

Infinite Power of Hope

2009-09-18T17:54:00.000-07:00

I was having a bad week, until I saw this. Please watch and enjoy, comment on your feelings if you would like to share.

BAD BOY

2009-09-14T21:36:00.000-07:00

Boys, boys, boys. I think they are trouble. I picked up Sean today and his teacher told me he is having a hard time listening to her words and is disrespectful. And then I get the evil eye like I'm a bad mother. Oh what to do, what to do. I'm going to blame Fred for this one. Look at this sweet face, does he look like a monster to you? (Don't answer that!)

Totally "WICKED"

2009-09-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

This past August 5 Fred and I celebrated our 14th annieversiary. Fred decided to surprise me with a trip to San Fransisco to see "WICKED" and spend a few days away from the kids. A little bit of trivia for you- Fred and I have NOT been anywhere alone together since our honeymoon 14 years together in San Fransisco. We were due for a trip. I told him I would go, but I had to do some homework. (Who does homework on a vacation? Do you see how dedicated I am?) We flew in on the 5th and saw Wicked that night. I LOVED it! I want to go back, San Fran would make a great girls trip. Anyone want to go!

Cell Phone Pics, I don't know why we didn't ask someone to take a picture with both of us, next time I guess.

We had a great time we used public transportation or walked to everything. The wharf, Golden Gate Park, we even went to a Giants game! I think Fred had to balance his manhood out after sitting for 3 hours at the show!
At the Beach!
The Giants Game! Again another cell phone pic.

I LOVE Fred and I'm so glad he gave us the opportunity to "Defy Gravity" for 3 days! (My FAVORITE Part)

Summer of 2009

2009-09-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

Wow! Where do I start? This summer has been super crazy. We had a great summer, uneventful didn't go anywhere magnificent. We just laid low and chilled in Flagstaff. I had 1 class this summer, English 102 online, I thought easy I can do it. WRONG! Take a look at the first word you read on the introduction. WARNING! You can't put a warning sign on a class. Can you? Anyways, very intense, but I'm proud to announce I did get an A so spending 33.6 hours a week reading and writing paid off!

Oh what do you do in the summertime when all the leaves are green? Check out some of the things we did:

We went on a picnic and swam at Oak Creek with our friends, the Bean Family!
Sean enjoying the chocolate pudding and cheese puffs! MMMM Healthy picnic!
Sydney and Emerie
Sarah as the Little Mermaid
The Grizzly Gang (wouldn't stand still long enough to take good picture) The water was so cold your feet would start to go numb! BRRR!

Sophie played AYSO soccer, Bad mom warning!!! I did not take one picture! I'll have to ask the more responsible mother's if they had any. Their team was called the Grape Juice Comets. I think they won 2 games out of 8 not the best record , but they had fun. Sophie scored lots of goals, and had fun playing with Taylor and Sadie.

My sister, Kristin, and her family flew out from VA and we took a train ride up to the Grand Canyon. Fun times!
Parker, Kristin, Sean, Sophie, Dad
Sophie, Parker, Sean, Brady, Brenden and Sherriff Tucker. (Sydney was freaked out and wouldn't take her picture with the sheriff and Sarah started her 1st day of school.)
This picture freaked out my mom.
Yep! Same as last year, still there the Grand Canyon!

We had a great time with cousins and next summer maybe we'll get to go back and see them and tour DC!

The 4th of July

2009-07-15T08:12:00.000-07:00

This year was pretty laid back. We watched the parade, saw a lot of interesting characters, but our favorite part was when the veterans and the active duty military men and women went by. What a blessing it is to live in a free country! Here are some of the highlights from the parade:

Hopi Dancers

Only YOU can prevent forest fires!

More Hopi People

Sophie's Club Soccer team

Darth Maul giving Sean a High Five

Darth Vader lives in Flagstaff and he has a gut!! (looks like he needs to get out and hike a little more)

We had a great day, BBQ with family, a very low key day, but ended it with a yummy patriotic dessert-raspberry sorbet, vanilla ice cream topped with blueberries.

PS- some you may be wondering why I have this song playing for 4th of July...funny story during the parade we heard this song and realized it was the Gay pride float, but the best part of it was the Christian church floats that were behind them. The old man driving the tractor didn't look to enthused about it. It made Fred and I laugh!!

WELCOME HOME

2009-06-26T13:35:00.001-07:00

We FINALLY bought a house in Flagstaff and we FINALLY feel at HOME. It's not in the middle of the street, but in a cul-de-sac. I LOVE it and can't wait to start doing some work on the house amd let my creative juices flow because they haven't been flowin' in awhile. I'll send out address cards soon to you all with the new address and if you ever need a place to stay while in or driving thru Flagstaff please give us a call...

Piano, Dance, Soccer

2009-06-26T13:21:00.000-07:00

I forgot to include some other important stuff that happened over the last month that happened a long with all of the other stuff...

Sarah and Sophie had their piano recitals...

Sarah playing Bella's Lullaby

Sophie playing Spanish Guitar

Sarah decided to take up dance with her friend, Maddie...it was a LITTLE different from what she expected...she thought it was ballet, but it turned out to be modern dance...she has decided not too keep doing it.

Sophie participated in the English Soccer Challenger soccer camp, this is Sophie with her coach, Daz, they come over from England and spend the summer teaching American children how to play the game. She got player of the week and a really cool poster from some British soccer team or should I say British Football team...

I NEED A NAP

2009-06-15T16:48:00.001-07:00

OK so here goes, the last month has been crazy, crazy, we moved(new house pics later), Sarah and I went to Colorado, Sarah and Sydney graduated from 6th grade and Kindergarten and I was camp director for our Ward camp. Here are some highlights from the last month...

COLORADO(Four Corners, Mesa Verde, Telluride, Ouray Hot Springs)

Sarah sitting on all 4 states at one time...

Sarahs class at the 4 corners.

Sarah and I in a KEVA

Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park

Telluride, CO

Sarah and I standing on SNOW, we camped out NO HOTELS!!! (very cold)

Ouray Natural Hot Springs

SIXTH GRADE GRADUATION--Can my first born be a 7th grader?

Sarah and her classmates...

The GRIZZLY Bunch

Sarah and Mrs. Laurie

KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION--What more can I say!!!

GIRLS CAMP-- Our theme this year was SURVIVOR...I was the Ward Camp Director and my good friend, Stacie Bean was the Assistant Camp Director, together I think we made a pretty good team and had a successful week.
Tuesday night it was just the YCL's and ME...Good night except we could've done without the wind and rain...

Learning how to use a chainsaw!!!

The First Years Skit

Our Virtue Climb...we unhurled our banner of Virtue...Camp was truly a great experience especially since I got to be there with Sarah...

The AWESOME leaders doing our dance to I'm A SURVIVOR!!!

All of us with the Bishopric in our Survivor shirts--we have a great group of YW in the Lake Mary Ward...WOO HOO

Happy Birthday Sophie!!!

2009-06-08T07:10:00.001-07:00

Today is Sophies 10th Birthday, WOW once again where has all the time gone. So here is the Top 10 list of why I LOVE Sophie!!

10. She is an AWESOME soccer player!

9. I LOVE Sophie's blonde hair and blue eyes.

8. She does very well in school and her teachers adore her.

7. The child is a sponge when it comes to information and she can spout off facts like no other.

6. She LOVES to read.

5. She shows compassion for her family and friends.

4. She loves her sisters and brother. (most of the time)

3. She is all "REESE"

2. She makes me PROUD to be her Mother.

1. Fred and I LOVE all of the achievements she has accomplished in her TEN years of life and she has so much more to give.

WE LOVE YOU SOPHIE!!!

I need a VACATION!!!

2009-05-15T20:18:00.001-07:00

I think I need a vacation...I finished school for the semester, had Sarah's b-day, Fred survived river rafting on the San Juan river with Sophie's class, we bought a house and will start moving in tomorrow, Fred and Sean are at the Father and Son's outing tonight and I hope they both come back, I'm going with Sarah to Colorado on her 6th grade outing, plan Sophie's 10th birthday, and I am the camp director for our ward so girls camp here I come. I think that is ALL I have to do in the next 4 weeks. I'll let you know how it goes!!!!

Pedicure Party

2009-05-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

Sarah had a great birthday, we decided to do a Pedicure party...

Maddie, Emily, Scooter and Sarah
The Cake, I did not want to cut into this masterpiece!
Remember they are not professionals
Do I have to wear this silly crown?

Happy Birthday Sarah!

2009-05-01T09:15:00.001-07:00

May Day, May Day--Annoucing Sarah's 12th Birthday Today...WOW has it already been 12 years since my first born first appeared. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful daughter, she is sooo loving and kind. I'm proud of the young woman that she has become, speaking of that, she is sooo excited to go into YW's.

Here's the top 12 Reasons I LOVE Sarah:

12. She plays the piano very beautifully, (she just got the music to Bella's Lullaby!!)

11. She is awesome in school and every teacher has always enjoyed having her in class.

10. She is kind-hearted.

9. She still thinks boys are gross. (for now)

8. I am in debt to her for always helping me babysit the kids.

7. She inspires me to be a better mother. (I'm really trying)

6. She truly cares for her friends.

5. She LOVES her sisters and brother, even though I think they get on her nerves sometimes.

4. She is a daddy's girl and Fred has a special place in his heart just for her.

3. I LOVE that she was the first-born and has tolerated Fred and I as parents for having her be the guinea pig for our parenting. (I think she's holding up pretty well)
2. She loves to do spur of the moment activities like me. (we don't plan very well at this house)

1. I am HONORED to have her for a daughter and I wouldn't change anything about her!!!

I LOVE YOU SARAH!!! Happy 12th Birthday!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Sarah:
Looking forward to the Future

Princess in Training

Sarah Nicole Reese, May 1, 1997

Gilly!!!

2009-04-24T15:18:00.000-07:00

This is for Aimee, they are unable to access SNL skits in the UK...ENJOY--Paddy does a great impression of Gilly.

April 20

2009-04-20T18:04:00.000-07:00

Wow- what a day so many things have occured on this day, some good and some bad. First, let's reflect on the month, April the flower is a Sweet Pea, and the gem is a Diamond. (I know specifically because of this I chose this month to be born) It's the National Frozen Food-Weight Loss-Humor-Child Abuse-Month (whatever that means) and I'm a Taurus. April 20 has had some famous people born on this date, and I'm not talking about myself. HA HA King Henry IV, Adolf Hitler (NOT SO GOOD), Jessica Lange and Joey Lawrence(WOOO)are among some of the few they you may be familiar with. TODAY I'm 34, not an exciting number, but a number worth mentioning. Today was non-eventful, Sydney stayed home sick, had a chemistry test (got turned into a Take-home test, best present EVER!) Sean got sick at school, and Fred came home sick from work. I did laundry, homework, Statistics test and now I'm blogging. I think as you mature (who wants to use the word old) you reflect on where the time has gone and how much you appreciate all you have. I appreciated all of the shout-out's on FB and my family for calling. I feel very privileged to have the family and friends that I have and I appreciate your kind words to me as I embark on the 34th year of my life!!!

PS- I had Sydney take a picture of me, so I could see how MATURE I look!!! (I had my hair done to cover up the gray UGH!!)

Coming to America

2009-04-16T13:24:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you have 10 kids and 5 adults at the Airport? A homeland security nightmare. My sister, Aimee, along with Paddy and Alfred flew in from England April 2, and we decided to go down and greet her. Her plane was delayed so we had to entertain the kids, not very easy in an airport. Sean made a mad dash for the security check-in which made the guard stand up in case she had to tackle a 4-year old.

Cian, Paddy, Sean
Going to get the Luggage!

My mother has started an Easter Egg hunt tradition, and the kids look forward to it every year. This year my mom splurged and got a bouncy house and cotton candy machine.
Sean had a cotton candy beard!
Sarah and Sophie making the cotton candy

All of the kids waiting anxiously to search for eggs!
And they're off!

All of the cousins with Grandma Wright!

Great-grandchildren of Grandma Wright

We had a great time, Aimee came up to Flagstaff for Easter and we ate at the infamous Little America Easter Brunch, forgot the camera, but we would've had some great chocolate fountain face pictures.

The night before she left we all had a good-bye dinner for Aimee and the boys. It was so hard to say good-bye--

Aaron, Megan, Me, Mom, Dad and Aimee
Have you ever tried to get 11 kids to sit still for a picture, it's like herding cats!!!

Baby Alfred, I'm going to miss the Lil' Booger!

Happy Easter

2009-04-11T18:57:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to take the time to tell everyone how I feel about this Easter weekend. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ and all that He has done for me. What a great time to reflect on the atonement, His death and His resurrection. I feel so blessed to know that he did all of this for me so that I can live with Him again. In this time of uncertainy it is important to know that He is watching us and LOVES us.

My favorite hymn is "I Know that my Redeemer Lives" and I love the 1st verse:
I know that my Redeemer lives. What comfort this sweet sentence gives! He lives, he lives, who once was dead. He lives, my everliving Head. He lives to bless me with his love. He lives to plead for me above. He lives my hungry soul to feed. He lives to bless in time of need.

Fred and I just got back from the Flagstaff Family Food Center serving food to the homeless and working poor. This non-profit organization feeds people each night and our ward was assigned to volunteer this afternoon. What an incredible opportunity it was to go and serve these people who are in need. They were so grateful just to be able to have a warm meal and a warm place to come and sit for a while. (IT SNOWED TODAY!) My heart goes out to these people who came to the Center tonight and I LOVED serving each and every one of them. We are all children of God no matter who we are or what our situation is.

Big News at our House!!!

2009-04-06T17:29:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to make an announcement, last week Fred was offered the position of General Manager at the Little America. I'm so proud of him for working so hard to prove to the Company, he is capable of running their hotel effectively and efficiently. This has been one of his goals, to become a General Manager and it's been great to see him achieve it. Way to go!!!

Spring Break 2009

2009-03-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

Spring break was very low-key this year, Fred was only able to take Wed-Fri off so we decided to have a Staycation here in AZ. We thought about doing Bryce national park and Zions, but we needed some sun. The first few days the kids really wanted to go to Camp Verde, so Sophie and Sarah invited their friends, Taylor and Maddie for an adventure in CV--
Celebrating St. Patrick's day at the bowling alley
Jumping on Grandma's Trampoline
Sean peeking out of Grandma's window

We went back to Flagstaff, picked up Fred and dropped off our friends, then headed back to CV to play with cousins. We originally planned to stay 2 nights down in Phoenix, but the kids were having too much fun with cousins and grandma we stayed 2 nights in Verde an one night in Phoenix. Fred and I ditched the kids one night and travelled to Jerome, which is an old mining town about 30 minutes from CV and ate at the infamous "Haunted Hamburger" for dinner. We don't get to see each other very much so it was so nice to be able to spend some alone time with Fred.
Yummy Steak fries and Yummy Burgers!!

Playing at Grandma's with the cousins, Sean in his usual outfit of just underwear!

We left CV and headed to Phoenix to stay at the Pointe Hilton at Squaw Peak, it is a really fun place. The resort has a great water park and we spent all of our time there. Everyone chilled on the lazy river, I think I've come to a point where I'm so glad my children are getting older, we were all able to do the lazy river without leaving anybody out because of size.

Sarah, Sophie, Sydney
We also went to a Spring Training baseball game and watched the Oakland A's and the Seattle Mariner's. It was fun to watch, I got nice and red. We lasted a little over an hour and the kids were done, but we did get to see Ken Griffey, Jr play.
Ummm black wasn't a very good color choice!
Sarah trying to keep cool!
Sydney just loved running around on the grass!
Sean trying to convince the Cotton-Candy man to sell him one for $1

We had a great time, got warm and came back Saturday night, just in time for it snow on us AGAIN!!! We are now officially ready for summer!!

It's Been a While

2009-03-26T20:22:00.000-07:00

Wow!! It's been a long time since I've blogged. Life has been super busy and I finally have a couple of hours where I can just sit and write. School has been extremely busy this semester, Chemistry, Anatomy/Physiology, Statistics, and Dental Hygiene 100/101. I've learned so much about the body, it is absolutely amazing how everything works, I'm in awe!! By the way ask me about any of the 206 bones or the many muscles that I've had to memorize over the past 6 weeks, yep that's pretty much what I've been doing.

**Sean had his birthday party, we took him and a friend to the Aquaplex (indoor waterpark) here in Flagstaff, we get to the front counter and pay to go swim and then a lady comes out and says someone pooped in the pool so we couldn't go. I think the lady could've been a little more discreet, but that's how they roll in Flagstaff. So I decided to take them to Peter Piper Pizza, now if you are a local in Flagstaff you know not to go out on a Saturday, why do you ask?, because all of the Native American's are in town. (Disclaimer: I'm not prejudice, I'm just stating a fact) We were the only white people besides the one other family in that whole restaurant. It turned out to be quite the adventure, Poor Sean dropped his tokens and a lady picked them up and gave them to her little boy. Sarah saw this happen and came and got me, I confronted the lady and she lied to me, I was going to make an issue of it, but I was afraid I would've had a bow and arrow pulled on me. (OK a little harsh, but I was mad) Enjoy the pictures!!

Not Really!

Getting the Heck out of Dodge
Oh Yeah! He left the house dressed like this, swim trunks and snow boots!!

**Sophie had another soccer tournament in Phoenix in Feb. She is really improving and loving the goalie position, I'm so glad Sophie has found something she is truly enjoying and excelling in.

It's always a treat to go Phoenix in the winter, we went swimming and just soaked up the sun, even though the weatherman said it was a chilly weekend, 70 degrees.
Sydney doing a bellyflop!

Fred taking a nap

So when the Reese family goes on vacation we always seem to have a "Griswold moment"-we were out eating on the balcony and Sophie shuts the door, well the door automatically locks, no one has a key to get back in. We try to figure out how we can throw one of the kids over the balcony, but luckily for Sophie's sake a flagged down a maintenance worker and he was able to rescue us!

**Sydney has told me she wants to be a hairdresser when she grows up, well I think she thinks she's all grown up because she gave Sean a haircut. He woke up and I thought he had really bad bedhead, but nope Sydney cut his bangs for him. He's quite the looker.

Before, yeah he went to school like that!
All better!

Here Comes the Sun. . .

2009-02-10T09:57:00.000-08:00

After a dark and gray weekend, here comes the sun. . . I am so grateful that the sun rises and sets everyday and WOW what a difference it makes!!!

(maybe it will melt the rest of my snow, so I won't have to shovel) :)

Phooey on Puxatawney Phil!!!

2009-02-10T08:09:00.000-08:00

Last week Phil, the groundhog, came out of his hole and predicted 6 more weeks of winter. Well, I think we just got 6 weeks worth just in the last 2 days. It has been snowing non-stop since early Sunday morning. The kids had a snow day yesterday, but I didn't (College stinks). Today we both have snow days. YEAH!! Last night Fred didn't get home from work until after 10:30 pm and we had to shovel over a foot of snow just so he could get the van up the driveway.

I should get the Mother of the Year award for having my children out in the snow at 11:00 pm.

Sydney making a snow body! No angels around here, there is nothing sweet and angelic about this weather.

We measured just over two feet of snow that fell on our table. (Note this table was clear last week)

The one time Fred forgot to cover his bbq. We won't be able to find his cover until it melts.

Overall, I should be grateful for the moisture because this area has been under a severe drought for the last decade, but does it have to come all at once.

Happy Birthday Baby!!!

2009-02-08T15:06:00.000-08:00

This morning Sean woke up and said, "Today I'm a big kid!" He sure is, today Sean turned 4. He has been saying all week that he is 4 and not 3 anymore, but today it's official. I guess my reasons list won't be very long so here goes:

The 4 things I love about Sean:

1. He makes me SMILE :)

2. He loves me unconditionally. (He can be in trouble and then come up and hug my leg and say I love you, MOM!) AHHH!

3. He is such a boy. (Now this might not be a big thing, but living in a house full of girls he definitely has the boy thing figured out)

4. He truly loves his sister's. (He may be the little brother, but I can see that he will stick up for his sister's)

I LOVE YOU SEAN!

PS. This is how Sean usually dresses, in his underwear!(again another boy thing)

I'm in TrOuBLe!!!!!

2009-01-27T14:48:00.000-08:00

Look at this sweet face, what am I going to do with it! She is SIX years old going on 18... I ran into her teacher yesterday and she told me that Sydney asked Graham, a kid in her class, to KISS her on the LIPS and he DID! What am I going to do with her, so I laughed and then asked her who she kissed and told her to NOT kiss anyone else until she was 25...(don't know how long that will last) She also wore mascara to school last Friday!! What to do, what to do... What will HIS mom think? She will probably tell him to stay from Syd, she's trouble...what kind've family does that girl come from anyway!!!

Ft. Lowell Shootout

2009-01-20T12:47:00.001-08:00

This past weekend we went down to Tucson to watch Sophie play in the Ft. Lowell Shootout. It was so warm and nice! Sophie's soccer team was just put together this year and they have not won a single game. They have been playing these awesome Phoenix teams that practice 5 times a week and have to try out or be invited to be on these teams.(So my sister says!) So it has been a little frustrating, but we are getting there and I think we finally had a breakthrough this past weekend because our record was 1-1-1. The girls were so excited, they won the first game 3-0 and Sophie was goalie and blocked 4 goals(she said there was more, but I didn't count them) I'm so proud of the way she has been playing, she is really liking the Goalie position, me not so much. Way to go United 99 and way to go #7!!!

Whew!!

I'm so glad that I got that ONE!

Warming Up

Sophie and Coach Jack

Snaggletooth Sydney

2009-01-20T12:41:00.000-08:00

Sydney has been losing teeth like crazy lately, not unusual, but she has been the one pulling them!! Here are some funny pictures of her with a snaggletooth. I think she thinks this is a new way to earn money!

Here We GO. . .

2009-01-11T20:18:00.000-08:00

I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years! We had a great Holiday and everyone is enjoying 2009 so far. I didn't make any New Year's resolutions because I don't keep them. I've got a lot to blog about about so here goes. I had a great holiday, my mother and I flew over to England to spend a couple of weeks with my sister, Aimee, who had a baby in November. His name is Alfred Ronald Holden. (It's a very proper English name!) We flew over Christmas morning so everybody ripped open presents very fast and then I was off!!!

We flew out in the afternoon and got to England the morning of the 26th!! (Long flight!)

England is very beautiful, but my most favorite thing I got to see were these two guys my nephews, Paddy and Alfred!

The minute we landed it was GO, GO, GO!!! We went everywhere I need to get a map just to remember all of the names of the places we went to. So here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip. England is very interesting, we speak the same language, but we really don't. I sounded like a redneck compared to there proper dialect. I found it quite hilarious they don't use the word restroom, but you ask, "Where is the toilet?" I guess we are a little more discreet over here.

My Toilet Pictures!LOL (The French Bathroom is a little dark, Toilette)

This is the village of Canterbury, it is about 15 minutes from my sister's cottage, these are shots of the town, the Canterbury Cathedral, the Nativity (observe the white Joseph and Mary with the black baby, Jesus. HMMM) The Mini Cooper, these are like Slugbugs over here and you would have to yell out MINI everytime you saw one.

My brother-in-law, Phil is an actor and was in the production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He played Doc, I mean Sarge, for copyright purposes. He is in the red vest and my sister, Aimee is in the purple vest. (even though she wasn't in the show) The show was great and I'm so glad I got to see him at work!!!

We went to a couple of castles, Dover Castle and Leeds Castle. Dover castle was closed, but we got to walk through Leeds. It was very beautiful and OLD!

Dover Castle (The Germans flew over this on their way to bomb London, one of the only castles not damaged during WWII)

Dover Castle from another view, it sits on the White cliffs of Dover. Did you see the movie, Robin Hood w/Kevin Costner? These are the white cliffs they came back to after the Crusades!

Leeds Castle-this one had a moat and was very beautiful, it must be so nice to be royalty,(my family knows who's Queen at this house!!) (I have lots of pictures of this, but to long to post, I think you get the jist)

A closer view of Leeds Castle, they were having a wedding there and these are the groomsmen out front(I think they could've dressed up a little better) Leeds castle is an active castle, meaning you can stay there, have banquets, etc. The last owner didn't want it to be JUST a museum.

The Leeds Castle mascot, The Black Swan. After getting really close I found out they are very mean and will attack.

King Henry VIII was walking around the castle, he told me to keep my hands off of his jewels. Notice I look a little taken aback.(Pervert, no wonder he had so many wives, they probably couldn't stand him!)

One Sunday after church we drove to the shore of the English Channel, notice the windblown look. It was so cold, Europe was having record breaking freeze while I was there so almost every picture I have my coat on. BRRRRR!

Does this need any commentary, I think not except that Robert Pattinson was in London over the Holiday!

This is Paddy and me in front of someone's Flat. There homes are right on the street and they paint their doors different colors which I love!! I would love to have a flat over there. FUN STUFF!

I just wanted a picture with one of those BIG FANCY English hats they wear to weddings!

This was a sunset that I captured one evening, the sun was a bright orange, it was so beautiful poking through my sister's hedge.

Mom, Aimee, Alfred, Paddy and I getting ready to celebrate New Year's!

Aimee and I--We went to a village to a party with some of their friends, they played Musical chairs with kids and then the adults. Guess who won, OH YEAH--USA 1, England 0!

Alfred's cute little bear pullover, it looked like we were carrying a teddy bear around.

We went and spent a day in London, I will go back and spend more time there one day, but we did enjoy the day we had. We took the Train from Canterbury and then rode on the Tube(subway) to get where we needed to go. Our first stop was Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard. Quite crowded didn't get to see a lot, but was very cool!

The Queen Mum was not in the Palace that day, the England Flag has to be flying and it was just the Union Jack!

Practicing my curtsy in case I ran into any Royalty!

Sneaking in a shot of the Guards as we walked by. I think they were suspicious of me!

Hyde Park, very big and very beautiful!

The Burberry Store, I had a bag all picked out, but I knew Fred would've had the divorce papers ready by the time I got home! LOL

Aimee and I at the Pub for lunch!

A Shout Out to my home state, ARIZONA!! WOO!! WOO!!

Hey look it's Big Ben! Did you ever see the movie, European Vacation with Chevy Chase, well if you did the movie is a lie. There is not a round about going around Big Ben, but we did drive on the biggest roundabout in the city.(a little crazy)

Westminster Abbey

The London Bridge(a little bit of Trivia, all of the bridges over there are called London Bridge)

It was a great experience to go over there, we didn't just do tourist things, but I got to see how my sister lives each day and to experience what it's like to live in a different country. I loved it, but I'm so thankful to live here in our beautiful country. My mom and I spent one of our last days there taking the ferry over to Calais, France. (I think my brother-in-law was trying to get rid of us) It was quite an adventure!

First off, we were only going for the day, it's a 45 minute ferry ride from Dover to Calais. Did you know you can see France from England? It was cool! So our boat was delayed because someone died, makes you want to travel on Sea France doesn't it. So we make it over to Calais with a couple of hours to explore, let me tell you it was soooooo cold, I thought I had hypothermia and we were going to have to amputate my toes. I have to tell you the best thing about France was the pastries, we stopped at a little pattisserie, Pattissirie de Fred. The bakery was named Fred, I found this funny. We wanted to go to Paris, but it was crazy expensive and with the money exchange even more!! Next time!

Aimee also blessed her baby, Alfred while I was there and what an incredible experience it was. The Spirit was so strong that day and the Gospel is truly the same no matter where you go. Her ward was very nice and very welcoming to my mother and me. Thanks for the Great time and the memories I'll always have!! I Love You Guys!

My ride home! Coming home from vacation is always bittersweet, but I'm so thankful for Fred and my mother-in-law, Nancy, for putting up with my children for 2 weeks so that I could enjoy spending time with my sister. Thanks and I love ya!

It's a Jolly Holiday

2009-01-09T14:24:00.000-08:00

Just returned from a two week vacation! I just got home from a 13 hour flight from London and I will blog about it as soon as I wake up from my NAP!!!

I Just got SnowBlowed!

2008-12-17T15:54:00.000-08:00

Quick Funny story--I was out shoveling snow, of course I was out shoveling snow, and my nice little old neighbor felt sorry for me and came over to help me. This poor man, he usually retires to Palm Springs in the winter, but they aren't leaving until after Christmas and he is sure getting his money worth for that snowblower. Well I'm trying to get the ice off of my driveway and as I'm scraping ice off, he comes by with his snowblower and forgets to switch the blower and well let's just say I had taken my coat off because I was getting warm and SWOOSH snow all over me. I just had to laugh because I'm trying to find humor in this weather that makes me want to cry.

Our House -- we have a very steep front yard, which makes for a really good sledding hill. The driveway is a Beast to get up when it's covered in snow.

The kids out playing in the snow today!

Piano Recital

2008-12-17T12:59:00.000-08:00

Sarah and Sophie are both doing very well this year with piano. They had their holiday recital and both played very well. Their teacher, Gaby Emmons, held it at a local retirement center and I could overhear them talking about how much they enjoyed listening to the music. My videos aren't working so I'll figure it out and post later!

Snow is Falling All Around

2008-12-17T12:49:00.000-08:00

Last year we got slammed with snow and it looks like this year or at least for now it's going to happen again. The kids are on their second snow day from school, and it keeps coming!!! I should be grateful for the moisture, but not so fun when my van wants to slip and slide on the road.

These were taken yesterday and the snow is still falling!!

Catching Up

2008-12-17T11:58:00.000-08:00

I have to apologize to everyone, life has been pretty hectic around here. I finished the semester last week and hopefully I will end up with an A and two B's. (Rough Semester) December has been pretty busy for us and today it is snowing and I can't drive anywhere so I thought I would sit and blog.

THE POLAR EXPRESS

On Dec. 8 we had a group of 67 people take a ride to the North Pole on the Polar Express, it was great fun and we had a great time seeing our friends that came up from Tucson. I highly recommend this to everyone who has this program nearby. They read the book, serve hot chocolate and cookies, and Santa comes and gives all the little children bells to hear the Spirit of Christmas!! Enjoy the pictures!!!

Ford, Sydney, Sean, Fred and Sophie

The Cannon Family, Cory and Taylor Harding

The Bean Family and Richards Family

Elisa and the White's(Tim, Rebecca, and Jenna)

CRAZY kids and the Haymore Family

Santa passing out bells!!

Sean DID NOT want to go home!!!

Holiday Lights

2008-12-02T15:59:00.000-08:00

The Little America in Flagstaff has a BIG holiday lights party for the community, they hang over a million lights and then invite the community to come and celebrate the beginning of the Christmas Season. The girls get to dress up as elves and they help in the craft room for the kids to make ornaments, but Sarah was to COOL this year so we let Sophie's friend, Taylor, wear it and they had a blast. Sarah and Maddie helped and even Sydney and her friend, Emi, helped pass out coloring pictures to the little kids. Each year they have Santa Claus come in some special way and this year he rode in on a Ranger all decked out and the kids loved it!! A lot of people come and the lights are so beautiful, I call it Flagstaff's Temple Square!
Yeah Right!!! HO! HO! HO! Too COOL for SCHOOL!!! Sean taking my picture!

The kids had a GREAT time, but of course we had to WAIT for Fred to go home, it was a long night, but he did treat us to a yummy dinner in their restaurant.

Happy Turkey Day

2008-12-02T15:48:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving To Everyone!!

There are so many things that I'm thankful this year when it seems we should all be down in the dumps. I am THANKFUL for my husband, my children, my family, Fred's JOB,(very important these days), my education, my Faith, the Gospel, my health, my family's health and so many other things. Thanksgiving was great, we went down to my parent's house in Camp Verde and it rained and rained. Dinner was great and then I went to see Twilight with my sister, Megan and sister-in-law, Dandi. We had a great time, loved the movie, a little campy, but then again I loved the movie, "Girls just want to have Fun!" My family is known to LOVE bad movies, remember Troop Beverly Hills, anyone. Fred had to work the Little America buffet so I didn't get to see him until after I got home from the movie.

The Kid's Table

Kicking and Screaming

2008-11-19T09:05:00.000-08:00

This past weekend Sophie had her first soccer tournament down in Phoenix. If you can guess by the title, Sophie was kicking and I was screaming. We didn't win any games, but they didn't give up and that is all that counts. (RIGHT) I'm really proud of Sophie, her coaches think she has the potential to be a really good goalie. I beg to differ, that position scares me especially when you have a whole team trying to get to you!!! Even though it scares me, she had some really great blocks and I'm super proud of her giving it her all. GO UNITED 99!!! #7 is the BEST!!!

I have more ACTION pictures, I just need to get them from Megan!!!

Our New President

2008-11-08T20:46:00.001-08:00

This past Tuesday, I took the opportunity to VOTE. I believe that this election was very critical to our Nation. Although the guy who won is not who I voted for, I was very moved and impressed by his speech. I will pray for him and hope that he leads our Nation in the right way as we head into these tumultous times.

On the lighter side, Fred and I watched SNL alot to keep us laughing throughout this election. This video is of SNL's Amy Poehler doing the Palin Rap, I can't get enough of it. ENJOY!!!!

OH I WISH I WERE AN OSCAR MEYER WEINER!!!

2008-11-08T16:15:00.000-08:00

I am taking a 9 week course at NAU called FYE 101(yes it's a requirement) that helps you acclimate to school as a Freshman, we have to complete 4 passports in certain areas and one of them was to get involved in the community. They have an event here in Flagstaff called the First Friday Art Walk and I read the Wienermobile was coming to town and participate in the Art Walk. So I called our friends, the Beans, and we met up and took a tour of the Wienermobile. The kids kept yelling "Yeah we get to go and ride in the BIG WIENER!" I think my kids just like to say the word, wiener. I guess I do to because I've mentioned it a few times already. wiener, wiener, wiener... Anyways, we bundled up and headed out and after we experienced the "Wiener"mobile, we went and got crepes for everybody!! They were scrumdelicious!! Once again I give credit to Stacie for taking the pictures!! Thank you for hanging out with us!!!

Random pictures of the Wienermobile!!

Family Picture by the Wienermobile!

Inside the Wienermobile and Our Yummy Crepes!!!

HaPPy HaLLowEEN!

2008-11-08T15:27:00.001-08:00

I have been so crazy lately with school so I haven't been able to blog, but I have an extra hour so I thought I would catch up!!!

Trunk or Treat!! We had a great time on Thurs. Our church held it inside even though it wasn't that cold outside. Sean--pirate, Sydney--Hannah Montana, Sophie--Baby, Sarah--Theodore(from Alvin and the Chipmunks).

Thanks Stacie for the pictures!!(A new one is on my Christmas List!)

On Halloween I always try to do something fun for dinner so this year we had the Pumpkin Pizza from Papa Murphy's. Love the just throw in the oven and it's ready dinner!

Our Pumpkin Pizza (TASTY!!!)

Sean decides he doesn't want to be a pirate anymore, so he decides he wants to be Spiderman! (Whatever!) Stacie and the girls came over and we went Trick or Treating for about 2 hours. I can't believe they lasted that long, the weather was nice, but we had to climb some hills!!!

Spidey in Action!!!

Hannah Montana and Spiderman!! Emi and Sydney in ACTION!!!
By the end of the night I was holding the wig, the microphone, the spidey mask and 2 candy buckets!!

Theodore, Alvin, Simon
(Sarah, Maddie, Emily)

You know when your kids are getting older when they take pillow cases out trick or treating, Sarah had over 8 lbs of candy!!!

Sophie and Sadie as BABIES!!!

There's no Place like Home!

2008-10-25T23:03:00.000-07:00

We had to leave the football game a little early, so we could get to our Halloween party. It's always fun to dress up one day out of the year and be anybody or anything you want to be. My friend, Stacie, had a Dorothy costume that she let me borrow (THANKS A LOT!)and we turned Fred into the scarecrow! We had a great time and ate lots of yummy but scary foods!
We had a great time and at the end of the night I tapped my Ruby slippers and POOF we were home!

Little Red Riding and You know WHO!--The White Stripes

Yummy Desserts! POOP and Blood Drenched Cake!

We had a great time!

NAU Homecoming

2008-10-25T22:54:00.000-07:00

Today was such a crazy day! Run, run, run was the theme for the day, but at least it was a FUN day. NAU had their homecoming game today against Weber State, so we invited our friends, Stacie and Kerby Bean (Kerby is a Weber State Graduate) and our friends, Carson (NAU graduate) and Colby(I think BYU Graduate? OK totally wrong, he's a UTE!). We had a great time, the Lumberjacks got lost, but we had a good time. I also fulfilled a homework assignment for my NAU class by attending the Football, so I guess you can say I got my homework done this weekend.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman!

2008-10-23T16:09:00.000-07:00

No it's just Sean! Fred and I went to Target last night after the whole Scarlett Letter incident and my dear husband loves to shop for Sean.(It's his only boy!) The weather up here is getting cold and Sean needs some new pajamas. We found some really cute Superman pajamas with the cape and Lightning McQueen. We got them home and he automatically falls in love with them and wants to put them on, but only after we wash the pen marks off! He tells his dad, I love you dad - your the BEST dad ever!(with emphasis on BEST) How can you not want to shop for someone when you get that response each time? So we wake up this morning and he will not take off his Superman pajamas--I had a big Biology test this morning and I didn't have the time to argue with him(it's called "pick your battles"). I bargained with the kid and told him he could wear the shirt, but he had to wear jeans with it! Let's just say all of the kids thought he had the coolest shirt on ever today! The teacher told me they had to take the cape off because Sean kept running around and distracting the others! They got a kick out of it!

The Cape!

The Scarlet Letter

2008-10-23T16:02:00.000-07:00

I would like to state a fact--Husbands do not watch their children while the mom is gone! I came home from school last night and there is Sean with an A on his forehead in pen. I also notice earrings, eyeshadow, letters written on his back, and
something resembling nipple covers on his chest(can you say nipple in a BLOG!) all in PEN. Gotta Love it!

SURPRISE!!!

2008-10-23T15:39:00.000-07:00

Was the word Fred heard Sat. night! I wanted to do something BIG for Fred's big 4-0, so I planned Surprise party for him. He told me that he didn't really want to do anything for his birthday so of course, I planned family pictures on that day and then we had dinner from Pig in a Poke! (Some celebration right!) So I started to devise my plan and let him think that we didn't care about this HUGE age landmark--so I told him his mother was going to come up and watch the kids while we went out to dinner! Everything went off without a hitch barely and he was completely surprised. Check out the video (kind've dark), but we had a great time with family and friends! Afterwards, he was so grateful that we really did care about His "Special" day and he was especially appreciative of the Black Balloons!

Hiding behind the Landing waiting for Fred!

Fred's SURPRISE!

Mick and Megan, Sarah and Nancy

When you get OLD you need EXTRA fiber, glasses, and Adult diapers!

Let's just say the Cupcakes and Chocolate Fountain were a HIT!

I just wanted to let Fred know that I LOVE him and I appreciate everything that he has done for our family! I didn't make a list of the 40 reasons why I LOVE Fred, (that would be a LONG list) but He knows that I respect him, he's an AWESOME daddy and I love to watch him with the kids, and I love that he LOVES me and I LOVE him unconditionally! Happy Birthday Babe!

Family Pictures

2008-10-17T11:40:00.000-07:00

What a day! Tuesday was Fred's 40th b-day and I haven't blogged about it yet, but I'm getting there. I'm still trying to make a list, 40 thing is a lot to write about someone! I knew Fred was going to be getting off of work early so I went ahead and scheduled our family pictures for that evening. It was so cold--I mean really cold--the kids were complaining, Fred was complaining, can anything go right! Will these pictures even turn out! Wendy just dropped them off to me so take a look and see what you think! (I think the only one who enjoyed himself was our dog, Max!)

Wendy had to give Sean a sucker so that he would look at the camera!

Thank you Wendy for doing such a Beautiful Job--As Fred put it thanks for making us look good on such a crappy day!

Hart Prairie

2008-10-10T11:38:00.001-07:00

I already have the title of "Lunch Lady", but this week I became a "Bus Driver". Mountain school takes there kindergarten class up to Hart Prairie up in the Peaks and lets them explore the forest and collect pine cones and the leaves that have changed or are changing color. We had a great time, the kids didn't complain too much about the hike and I'm so glad that I didn't have to take Sean(THANKS Stacie!) or else I would've been carrying him all the way back UP the hike.

BIG NEWS! Sydney says she has a boyfriend(I don't even think she understands the term, but I'll just let her keep thinking that he is a boy and a friend) and his name is Josh! His mother tells me they chase each other at recess so I tried to take their picture, but Sydney got shy!

It's Almost Time

2008-10-09T19:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, I don't want to be cheesy, but have you seen the new Twilight preview. It took my breath away!! I am so excited!!!!!

Here's the BRAND NEW Trailer just released today!!!

Three Princesses and ONE Prince!

2008-10-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we were supposed to get our family pictures taken, but it was soooo cold, we had our first Fall storm, with snow in the mountains and the wind that blows right through your bones. So instead of cancelling our shoot, she just did the kids for me. The kids were really great, it was a very FAST shoot because of the weather, but they turned out beautiful!

They have such pretty meadows up here and I wanted the "look" like your walking through a field of wheat or tall dead grass!(mental picture) I also saw this gorgeous pink chair that my friend, Wendy got off of Craig's List(I need to get on that website) anyways I thought that it looked like a great "princess" chair and my brain started thinking I have 3 princesses she has a great chair which equals great pictures. Low and behold I ask her about the chair and she does photograpy. My mom came up to help me with the tulle skirts and pretty much ended up sewing the tulle skirts for me. So THANK YOU mom for the skirts! Here are a few of my favorites even though all of them are my favorites! Thank you Wendy Shepherd for taking such Beautiful pictures!

Enjoy!!

SARAH

SOPHIE

SYDNEY

SEAN

6 Things I Love about Sydney

2008-10-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

Today I would like to wish my Sydney a very, very Happy Birthday! Today Sydney is 6 years old and I just wanted to honor her today on her 'Special Day'. Now I have to be honest here for a minute because lately this child has pushed every button that I own. I didn't know there was a "Ferocious Five stage, but this child definitely has IT. I love her very much, but woo I hope Six is a lot better.

So here goes!

6. I love that she doesn't suck her thumb at school. (may not seem like a big thing, but IT is!)

5. I love that she is kind to her friends.

4. I love that she is kind to her brother and sisters. (Most of the time)

3. I love her SMILE and her generosity(just recently she cut off all her hair and we are going to send it Locks of Love)

2. I love that she makes sure to give us lots of hugs and kisses before she goes to bed. (Now I don't know if this a stalling tactic, but Fred and I sure do appreciate it)

1. And the #1 reason why I love Sydney, is because she's Sydney!

Fall is in the Air

2008-09-30T22:14:00.000-07:00

I've have been soooo busy with school lately that I haven't really had much to blog about, but I love the Tell all Tuesday sight (Thanks Dani!)that gives me ideas to write about!

Today's topic is Fall is in the air. What do you love about Fall?

Fall has definitely hit Flagstaff, first it starts off with that crisp in the evening and morning, where it gets chilly and you need to wear a hoodie! The leaves are finally starting to change and we are going to be doing family pictures here pretty soon. Fall is my favorite season because it's not too cold, but it's not too warm. Just PERFECT! The only thing I don't like about Fall is I know Winter is coming and I'm not a big fan of the cold! What do you like about fall?

Last years Fall Pictures at Lockett Meadow! Happy Fall!

I AM THE LUNCH LADY!

2008-09-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

My kids are going to a charter school this year, so part of the requirements to be able to attend this school are the parents have to volunteer for 50 hours throughout the school year. I work with Sydney's class, Sophie's class and Sarah's LUNCH hour. Today I went up to the school and they assign about six kids to clean up after lunch. Well let's just say they are supposed to clean up and some of them don't really try at all. Can I just vent right here-do people not teach there kids how to clean anymore! I mean come on--LAZY, LAZY, LAZY! So here I come, being the lunch monitor that I am and I had to teach some basic cleaning to these kids! I showed them the correct way of wiping down a table,(just slapping the sponge onto the table never cleaned anything)folding the table and sweeping the floor. They probably thought we hope this lady never comes back,but guess what I'll be back every Monday from 12:20 to 1:00!!!! Hey at least I don't have to wear the HAIR NET! (no cafeteria at this school, they have to bring their lunches every day!)

Anyways, thought is was funny that I, Elisa was working in my daughter's cafeteria!

Started What?

2008-09-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

Quick Blog-

So I had to take Sarah into the Doctor the other day to get her meningitis and tetanus shots, the check-up is going fine and then the Dr asked me if She Started yet. I'm a retard, the first thing that came to my mind is Started what? but before I could open my mouth I answered NOT YET! Sarah looked at me mortified! Oh and I'm sure she will be even more mortified to know I blogged about it. It just goes to show that my baby girl is growing up and I'm not ready for her to be a TEENAGER! I have two more to go after her and all I can say is I'm so glad that Sean is the last!

The BuMblebEE's

2008-09-05T15:46:00.001-07:00

Do you remember in a previous post that I mentioned I was a soccer coach? It wasn't a JOKE! Well we just finished our season (Thank Heavens!) We had a great season, I believe we lost only 2 games and I say believe because at this age they aren't keeping score, just learning how to have fun! WHATEVER! Those little girls knew when we scored 9 goals and the other team scored 0. Seriously this happened at our first game, I kept thinking we are TOTALLY AWESOME and then I remembered that we don't keep score and it's for the YADA, YADA, YADA!

Let me just tell you how I got suckered into coaching, Sydney wanted to play soccer so I signed her and Sophie up, now I was just sitting at home doing my homework when AYSO called and said your daughter doesn't have a coach and would you be interested in volunteering. I guess I was feeling pretty good, because I went ahead and said yes, knowing that I would have a co-coach. So we have a first practice and all of the girls are doing really well except for Sydney, she kept complaining, it's hot, my feet hurt, can I get a drink of water? Let me just tell you this - Sydney got off pretty easy, because I didn't want to look like a total witch in front of everyone, although they could probably see the steam coming from my head from frustration! I think she egged me on because I was her Mother and she knew she could get away with it in public. She would also run off during the games and start playing on the playground. I would be looking for her to come and in and play and there she was or should I say there she wasn't.

Anywho, my bumblebee's were great and I'm so glad that's over for the season and I know next summer when I see AYSO on my caller ID, I'm not picking up the phone!

Bumblebee's L-R

Lightning Lexi, Bring it Brienne, Cool Catelyn, Mighty Maddie, Sassy Sydney, Bubbly Brooke, Awesome Autum, Energetic Ella

Gotta Love a Woman in Uniform!
Do I look Confused?
"Our Goal is the Other Way!"
"I can't wait to play on the Playground!"

Thank you Myndie for the pictures!

In Honor of LABOR Day!

2008-09-01T19:22:00.001-07:00

I saw this in another blog and thought it would be fun to reminisce on this LABOR day!

HOW LONG WERE YOUR LABORS?

Sarah- 10 1/2 hours
Sophie- It felt like all day, but HARD labor 4 hours
Sydney-4 hours
Sean-4 hours

HOW DID YOU KNOW YOU WERE IN LABOR?

Sarah- Woke up at 2 in the morning called Hospital and they said to wait a couple of hours before coming in! Can you believe this the child was 2 weeks overdue and they had the nerve to tell me to wait to come in!

Sophie- Finished walking around The Arizona Mills mall and had a huge contraction which stopped me cold in my tracks and then I still drove back to our hotel while having contractions during rush hour in Mesa, AZ

Sydney-I was induced, but my water broke on its own after 3 hours of potocin? and that's when all hell broke loose!

Sean-Also induced never felt any pain because I got the epidural right away!

WHERE DID YOU DELIVER?

Sarah- ST. Marks Hospital, SLC, UT

Sophie- Chandler Regional Hospital, Chandler, AZ

Sydney- Orem Community Hospital, Orem,UT

Sean- Orem Community Hospital, Orem, UT

DRUGS?

Yes, Please!

Sarah- Demerol, epidural

Sophie- Stadol, NO EPIDURAL (Yeah that's right)

Sydney- Yoga breathing- got tired had what they called walking epidural, was informed when I had Sean they don't do these at Orem so whatever the man shot into my back WORKED!

Sean-Epidural-straight up!

WHO DELIVERED?

Sarah- Dr. Elizabeth Graul (Fred felt more comfortable with a woman down there!)

Sophie- Dr. Kels (never met the man before I had her, but I loved him!)

Sydney- they kept calling the Dr and the Nurse almost delivered her and then lo and behold Dr. Gregory Gordon stepped in to save the day! He must've drove the porsche that I have helped pay for up to the Hospital!

Sean- Dr. Gregory Gordon

I loved them all and I am so glad they helped deliver healthy babies!

Sarah Nicole - 8 lbs. 14 1/2 oz

Sophie Elisabeth - 9 lbs.

Sydney Kate - 7 lbs. 11 oz.

Sean William - 7 lbs. 1 oz.

THE STRIKERS

2008-08-23T16:31:00.000-07:00

Sophie played soccer this summer after taking a 18 month break from it. She is so much fun to watch, she is a go getter and really gets in there. She plays the position of Forward(I think thats what they still call it) After her first game in July, a couple of parents asked if she played club soccer, so now we have signed up for club soccer that will take us to tournaments in Phoenix once a month and one in Colorado next May. She is so excited about being able to still play a game that she loves and is learning to get really good at it... I'll let you know how the season goes.

I am officially a Soccer Mom!

PS I will post her official soccer photo when I can get my Scanner to start working! Also, I need to go MOM MY RIDE!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

2008-08-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

This is Helen Lucille Olsen Wright and today she turns 91 years young. She is an amazing women, she still goes to water aerobics, volunteers at the hospital and plays with her Bridge group weekly. I can only hope that I can still be going like that when I'm her age. I love that my children have been able to meet most of their great-grandparents, it's amazing having all four generations together.

Yesterday, we drove down to Mesa and had a big BBQ with my extended family of Aunts, Uncles and cousins and their kids. We had a great time and I love seeing and catching up with them. The kids had a great time swimming, we are almost out of swim season here in Flagstaff, but I don't know if one even started! The food was great and my Grandma was so excited to have so many people there to celebrate HER!

I love you Grams!

Olympic Spirit

2008-08-22T10:03:00.001-07:00

Who has gotten into the Olympic spirit this year? We have! We have loved the swimming, gymnastics, beach volleyball, track and field, and of course, speedwalking! (Loved it) Fred and I were laughing so hard I thought I was going to wet myself.

This year has been great for the US, Michael Phelps, Sean would scream at the TV--Go Michael Phelps Go!
The women's gymnastics team did awesome
and I just can't believe people can run so fast. I would still be getting into the blocks as they were crossing the finish line. The Women's soccer scored the Gold and so did the Beach Volleyball, both men and women! We even loved watching the Redeem Team play basketball, but my most favorite thing to watch is the medals ceremony-I love to watch them raise our flag and it gets me all teary eyed. I love our Anthem! I am so grateful for this beautiful free country that we live in. What an exciting summer! Let me know what you enjoyed about the Olympics this year!

I hope that everyone had a great summer and are ready to settle into a new school year! I know I am, I start school next week and I'm ready for the challenge. Summer school was great, glad it's over and I got A's in both of my classes.

ROCK STARS?

2008-08-22T09:05:00.000-07:00

OK quick blog...

About a month ago Fred was asked to serve in the Elder's Quorum as 2nd counselor. He has enjoyed the calling very much and by him taking it, we have truly been blessed. (We now get the soft benches at church) So anyways, last night they held their weekly meeting at our house and after it was done, Fred asked if I would set up Rock Band for them. As soon as I got them going, I snuck down with my camera and recorded them! I thought it was so funny to see these 3 'grown' men take turns and becoming 'WANNABE' rock stars! They are singing Nirvana, hence the Nirvana picture, do you see any similarities? That's what I thought! Enjoy!!!

Words of Caution--It's pretty intense so look away if you have too!!

1st Day of School

2008-08-19T10:58:00.000-07:00

TODAY, August 19, 2008 is the day that I've been looking forward too all summer. TODAY, the girls started their first day back to school at Mountain Charter School, not that I haven't enjoyed the summer spending time with my girls, but come on--they need a BREAK from ME!

Sarah starts the 6th grade, Sophie is in a 4th-6th grade multi-age class and of course, Sydney is in Kindergarten. They have all grown so much since last year--I found last year's pictures so take a look and see how much they have changed!

I hope that every mother has a GREAT 1st day of School!

Hit the Road Jack!

2008-08-18T15:16:00.000-07:00

Sydney and Mrs Joni

Sydney starts kindergarden tomorrow after being at home for nearly SIX years! I thought the day would never come. We met her teacher, Mrs. Joni today and I know that she is going to have a great time. As for me, I think it will be bittersweet, I've wanted this child to go away for a LONG time and now she's leaving me, I think I might get sad. I LOVE Sydney and I hope that she has a great time and makes lots of friends, because as her preschool teacher told me, "She probably won't be your valedictorian, but she will have lots of friends." (she meant this as she is a social butterfly and she can talk and do assignments at the same time)

GOOD LUCK SYDNEY!!!!!

Sydney's Signature (Do you think I gave her a hard enough name to spell?)

Let's Go Edward! Let's go!

2008-08-14T09:11:00.001-07:00

If you haven't figured out which "team" I'm on, then you need to read the Twilight series! I finished Breaking Dawn on my trip to Vegas and I LOVED it. (My family is super glad that I finished it especially Fred) If anybody else out there has finished it let me know what "team" you're on! If you haven't seen the latest trailer check it out!

Save the date-12/12/08

Let's make it a girls night and don't forget your Team Edward Shirt!

WhaT HaPPens in VeGas. . .

2008-08-13T21:54:00.000-07:00

What does happen in Las Vegas? Apparently a lot when the Reese's are in town for 5 days. Fred had a conference in Vegas so we decided to take the kids on one last romp before school starts. We headed out last Friday, on I-40 and stopped at our favorite Route 66 dive The Snow Cap- they have great food and a fun atmosphere and of course, Sheriff from the Cars movie has retired there.

SATURDAY- We played with our friends, the Beans, apparently I didn't take any pictures at their house so you'll have to check out the Bean's blog! We had a great time catching up and enjoying each other's company. It was like we just moved away from each other yesterday! We also ran into our other Tucson friends, the Spalding's, they were lucky because they didn't have their kids. I kept telling Fred I wanted to go and watch Mamma Mia and kept singing the song-Sean picked it up and here is his rendidtion!!!

SUNDAY- YES-we were good and went to church with the Beans, with all of the sinning going on around us how could I not go to church! Fred and I had a dinner that night so I got to get all dressed up and we went to some "fancy" Wolfgang Puck restaurant and ate with some of the people that work at the Grand Hotel in SLC.

MONDAY-the Bean's came over and swam with us at our hotel, Mandalay Bay, we had a great time hanging out at the wave pool, the kiddie pool and the lazy river, OK to rent a tube there cost $20, now Sarah was the one who checked on the prices, so I can't verify the accuracy of what she was telling me, so we floated along the lazy river, actually it felt like a workout doing squat walks going around that thing a million times! (tiny exaggeration)

TUESDAY-We met the Beans and went shopping-let me just give you the equation and you can guess how it went- Two moms and EIGHT kids! Yeah that's what I thought! That night we went to the Shark Reef aquarium with Fred, it was fun, but jeez EXPENSIVE!! (am I sounding like a cheap skate-because I meant too!)

Video of the Shark Showcase, enjoy it so you don't have to spend thousands of dollars when you take your family there, just say we already saw it on Elisa's blog!

Then we took the kids to the M&M factory, more EXPENSIVE crap, so I let my kids get the $2 tube of mini M&M's. They were just excited to get their own M&M bag!

After the M&M factory, Fred had to go back to his closing reception, the Styx played and he caught a drumstick! So I decided to take the kids to see the Bellagio fountains play, I love them and I could sit and watch them forever! The kids loved them and had a great time watching them. Now I loved the Mandalay Bay, but Holy Crap that hotel is the last one on the Strip, so as were walking back to the hotel, I just kept telling the kids, just keep looking forward, don't look down, don't look around, just keep looking forward! I swear the next time I go back I'm not taking Kids! The NKOTB are playing Oct 11, anyone want to go! Loved them in HS!

The Bellagio Fountains!

So I didn't get to go to France for my Anniversary, but I did get to see the Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas, I bet it's even more grand in Paris and that's something I'm willing to BET on!

Who Pooped in the Park?

2008-08-07T10:46:00.001-07:00

Not me, but the Grand Canyon sure would like you to know who does. Wednesday we took Parker to the Grand Canyon, because when we asked him if he wanted to go see the Grand Canyon,he said "What's that?" You can't come to AZ and not see the Grand Canyon. We decided to drive the back way and go through the Reservation- we saw some Native Americans (Politically Correct), but then we saw a sign and I couldn't resist, we had to stop, but we couldn't find the nice Indians behind us!

We finally got to the Grand Canyon, we now know why they call it GRAND, it was beautiful, and I think we were the only ones that spoke English! I made sure all of the kids didn't get to close too the edge. Because that is one long fall and nobody is recovering from that!

This is the LAST thing you see IF you were to fall at the GRAND CANYON!

Please enjoy the slide show, too many pictures to post separately!

This is what happens to a GOOD camera when BAD kids get their hands on IT!

We had a great time--We are off to Vegas tomorrow and I have my math final tonight! Wish me LUCK!

Welcome to Arizona!

2008-08-07T10:09:00.001-07:00

This past Monday, my nephew, Parker, flew into town from Virginia to spend some time with his "West Coast Cousins". Tuesday we went to Waterworld, down in Phoenix, boy is it hot down there. I think that I have already acclamated to Flagstaff weather, where the HIGH is usually between 75 and 85 degrees!

L-R Zoe, Megan, Wilson, Parker, Syd, Sean, Sarah, Cian, Sophie, Lucas, Tyson, Jonah, Aaron

Sean going down the kiddie slide- UH OH time for a new suit! (I didn't realize the elastic had gone out in his suit, poor kid walked around all day holding it up!)

WOW! I didn't realize the papparazzi followed me to Waterworld! HA! HA! Thanks Dandi!

Aaron, Baby Jonah, Me, Megan, Mick,

After we left the water park, I dropped the kids off at my mother's house and she took them to some "National Night Out" and they had their faces painted. Sean thought he was Batman and he DID NOT want to wash it off the next day! Thanks MOM!

All My Life

2008-08-05T22:41:00.000-07:00

What do you get someone for their 13th wedding anniversary? Well according to the anniversary gifts by the year-the 13th year calls for Lace for a traditional present and textiles for a modern gift, and a trip to France! (Hint, Hint) Textiles-hmmm! Lace-I could see as a gift and a trip to France (most definitely!)

If you don't already get my blog subject, today is Fred's and mine 13th Wedding anniversary! Did we do anything grand? No, but this Friday we are going to Las Vegas and you know what they say about Vegas, what happens there stays there! I bet lace would come in handy this weekend! (not really when you are sharing a room with 4 kids)

I just wanted to tell everyone how much I LOVE HIM. We have had quite the adventures over the past years and I know that there are many more to come. We've had some great times and not so great times, but I thank my Heavenly Father ever day for giving us both the good and bad times.

If you take everything that we have done together over the past 13 years, I think that our greatest achievements have been our 4 great children: Sarah Nicole, Sophie Elisabeth, Sydney Kate and Sean William.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! I LOVE YOU FRED!

PS-We danced our "first song" to All My Life sung by Aaron Neville & Linda Ronstandt

The Best of Both Worlds

2008-07-30T14:39:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, the Disney Channel premiered Hannah Montana's Best of Both World's 3-D movie and as part of our "let's do fun things around the house", we decided to throw a Hannah Montana party since we had tons of 3-d glasses from Wal-mart. The girls had a great time, they tye-dyed Hannah Montana shirts and then made their own individual pizzas to munch on during the movie.

The girls had a great time!

Slide Rock, AZ

2008-07-30T13:37:00.000-07:00

With me being in school this summer, we really haven't been able to go on vacation anywhere, so I told my girls we could do some fun things that are close to home. Growing up in AZ and being close to where I grew up I decided to take my girls to some places that I enjoyed going to when I was younger. (man do I sound old) Slide rock is a very popular tourist place in Oak Creek Canyon right outside of Sedona, AZ. It's the Oak creek that runs through this beautiful canyon and created a natural water slide hence the name slide rock. Enjoy the pictures and video- the water was terribly cold, but we still had a great time with our friends, Melanie, Emily, and Jane!

Eating lunch before we went swimming and no we didn't wait 30 minutes after we ate!

Sean was fascinated with the fish!

Some great video of the girls going down the slide!

Jumping off of the cliff! Sarah is in the first video and Sophie is in the second!

Did I mention the water was SUPER COLD!

We had a great day and stopped and got Ice Cream at the general store they have on site on our way home! Thanks to Melanie, Emily and Jane for spending the day with us!

Itty Bitty Sports

2008-07-30T12:18:00.000-07:00

OK, I haven't blogged in a while, but these past couple of weeks have been crazzzeee!

When Sean was born Fred was soooo excited to finally get his son because he was going to have someone to do sports with. Well, this summer we put him into the YMCA program Itty Bitty Sports for 3 & 4 year olds. It included 2 weeks of soccer, 2 weeks of baseball, and 2 weeks of basketball. It was a 6 week program so I've waited until it was finished to blog all about it.

SOCCER-BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM!

Sean liked soccer except for when it was time to play the game. He would dribble the ball up and down the field, but Fred said he would not budge when it came for game time. (I don't think he'll be the next David Beckham!) Bummer!

BASEBALL-MAJOR LEAGUE!

Next came baseball, all he wanted to do was hit the ball, he didn't care whether he caught it or ran around the bases he just wanted to hit the ball. In the video he hit the ball and has a pretty good swing.(like I know anything about baseball) Do I think he'll be the next Sammy Sosa? I don't know but if he keeps practicing on his t-ball stand that Fred went out and bought him, he might be OK.

BASKETBALL-WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP (OR CAN THEY!)

Last came basketball, now I don't know a lot of successful white players in the NBA(Larry Bird, Danny Ainge, and Christian Layton (HOTTIE), Oh and Steve Nash) Go SUNS! To watch this next video you have to nod your head to the left!

I missed his basketball classes, because I had class, so Sarah, my sweet little babysitter, took some great footage for me. Not too shabby on the backwards shot! I think what Fred got out of this, besides being oober excited he could watch his son learn about sports is that Sean really enjoys playing sports and doesn't want to play with dolls (not that there's anything wrong with that) Sean is a boy and likes to do little boy things. I think that Fred is not so stressed out now,(you know he has 3 older sisters) knowing that his son will want to play sports.

God's Country

2008-07-10T22:01:00.001-07:00

Every Wednesday night I go to YW's and last night we had a combined YW/YM activity. We didn't have very many kids show up, so I brought my kids along for the ride. It looked more like a Primary Activity with all of the Leader's little kids there.

Lake Mary is only 20 minutes from my house (Who knew, but really I didn't!) The YM leaders BBQ'd and the youth had a great time water skiing and riding tubes. After all of the youth took their turns, my kids got to go on the boat. They loved it, I think I need to buy a boat now! Sarah, Sophie and Emily(friend) went out on the wakeboarding boat, Sophie was the official flag holder and Sarah got her life jacket on and in the water and then got scared. I told her it's ok, I was scared my first time too. We had a great night and before we left I took a picture of one of the most beautiful sunsets ever. Wow! It makes you appreciate this beautiful earth that our Heavenly Father made for us.

Happy 4th of July - Redneck Style

2008-07-08T19:33:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we decided to go to good ol' Camp Verde to celebrate the Fourth REDNECK style. My sister, Megan, and my brother, Aaron and their families came up too. We made our own 4th of July tee's this year. I think they turned out pretty cute!

Friday morning we got up early and decided to do a Family Fun Run around my mother's circle that she lives on (about a mile long). My brother-in-law called it the NO FUN RUN. (Yeah, he didn't get up to run) Megan came in 1st, Sophie 2nd, and Fred, 3rd. I came in 5th, behind my nephew, Tyson, he sure is fast for a six year old.

After that (mind you were doing this holiday redneck style) without showering and in our hippie shirts we drove over to Clarkdale, AZ to watch my dad play his trumpet in his band that he plays with. Fred got pulled over and the cop gave him a ticket. (I don't understand why, we're not from there and we didn't know it was a construction zone!) He must've been jealous from seeing us in our tees and wished he was going to wherever we were supposed to be. We got to our destination and had a good time listening to my dad play patriotic music, (gotta love it!) Sean peeing out on the playground-remember we doing this REDNECK style (ever since he has learned to use the toilet, he thinks he can go anywhere), and rode on an antique fire truck.

We drove back to CV and we were all exhausted and HOT so we decided why don't we go down to the Verde River and take a dip. Now Camp Verde has a public pool, but remember we are doing this, all together now, REDNECK style. So enjoy the pictures of us at the river. Of course, we really stunk by the time we got back home, from the fun run, to being outside, and of course the Dirty Verde. Good think the picture is taken from far away because we were scary looking. You can also see why the Verde river is called the Dirty Verde.

We ended the day by playing the Wii and had a great day overall. I hope everyone had a great holiday!

The Talented Mr. Riley

2008-07-03T11:31:00.001-07:00

OK I have to tell you about Mr. Riley. He teaches my Beginning algebra (the math for retards according to my brother) and I truly think he would be the perfect candidate for the show, "Beauty and the Geek". Now I'm not trying to put down my teacher, even though I could probably break him in half, but he has such an eccentric personality. Of course, he knew he was smarter than all of us even though pretty much my whole class was a lot older than him.

Today was my final in his class so I just wanted to pay homage to my teacher that I've had for the past 6 weeks. Every day was something new to look forward too, What was he going to wear?, (loved the C3PO t-shirt and I had to chuckle to myself when he would peg his pants at the bottom (the 80's) Did he brush his hair? (most days I think not) and then his little remarks he made to us. (too many to post)

So check out his picture and don't be jealous that I got to spend 2 1/2 hours with him each day--by the way(for my brother) going into my final I had a 98% in the class and I feel pretty good about my final so I'll let you know about my math grade. I start intermediate algebra and eng 102 next session so I look forward to having a wonderful July 4th break and I hope that all of you do too.

SuPerSoNic

2008-06-28T22:21:00.001-07:00

I'm so sorry that I haven't written in a while and but life's been pretty busy for me this summer(husband, school, kids, homework SOCCER COACH (NOT A JOKE),kids, YW leader, (like just got back from girls camp), I have lots of pictures so I look forward to blogging about camp and coaching and I got to get enough nerve to take a picture of math teacher, Mr. Riley. Like I said I came home from camp today and guess who was dirtier than I was, yeah that's right Mr. Sean. I don't think their father bathes them when I leave. So I took a couple of pictures of him before I bathed him.

OK so I'm going to age myself, but we were in the car heading down to Phoenix last weekend and they have an old School rap channel that we like to listen too and they start playing a song that I would love to dance too with my friends. So of course, I started to get down in the car and Sarah (she's growing up) said, "Mom, people can see you!" Hey somebody must like my dancing because I picked up the Best Dancer award at girls camp this past week. You have gotta love tweeners.

STRESS BUSTERS!

2008-06-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

My life has been so crazy lately that I thought that I would look up some stress busters, I think I might try some and if anybody else has some ideas please let me know. If you’re feeling a bit stressed, try these to deal with it…

Dance naked in front of your pets.

Put your toddler’s clothes on backwards and send them off to school as if nothing is wrong. (NOTE: this also works well with the hubby who stayed at the pub too long.)

Jam miniature marshmallows up your nose and sneeze them out. See how many you can do at once. (Always have a witness on hand, just in case you attempt the Guiness World Record)

Tattoo “out to lunch” on your forehead.

Go shopping. Buy everything. Sweat in it. Return it the next day.

Find out what a frog in a blender “really” looks like. (Hamster in the microwave works well too.)

Read the dictionary upside down and look for secret messages.

Make up a language and ask people for directions. (Works great at 7-11’s!)

Replace the filling of a Twinkie with ketchup and place it back in the wrapper. (KIDS: make sure you make a nice note titled - For Daddy, I love you.)

9 Reasons Why I LOVE Sophie

2008-06-08T10:29:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Sophie!

Today is Sophie's 9th Birthday and I wanted to dedicate this blog to Sophie to let her know how much I love her:

9. She is loving and kind to her friends.

8. She is loving and kind to her sisters and brother. (OK Most of the time!)

7. She is smart.

6. She is very artistic and draws the most interesting pictures. Some of them make me laugh so much I've almost wet my pets.

5. I love that she has blonde hair and blue eyes and that sets her apart and makes her her own person.

4. She organizes anything wonderfully, she has organized my shoes, my pantry, books, toys. You give her a task to organize and she gets it done.

3. She doesn't give up. She gives all she can when it comes to a project she's working on, sports and activities.

2. I love it when people come up to me and tell me how great Sophie is and how glad they are to know her.

AND THE NUMBER 1 REASON WHY I LOVE SOPHIE IS--

She's Mine (I'm so LUCKY to have a beautiful, wonderful, loving, creative daughter that it blows me away!)

Sophie had a great day, we drove down to my Mom's house in good ol' Camp Verde and had her favorite dinner, lasagna and then we had cupcakes and ice cream. She woke us up at 6:00 AM this morning to open her presents, but I told her she was going to have to wait another hour so that everyone could wake up. So enjoy the pictures of her fun gifts.

I do have to let you know about something Sydney said to me today. Friday I had my hair done and Becky(stylist's name) blew it out for me. So we're driving down to my mom's and Sydney is talking and tells me she likes my straight hair better than my curly hair. So I told her that Heavenly Father gave me my curly hair, and she then responded, "I'm glad he's not my Father!" I guess you all know what our next FHE will be about. Kids say the darnest things!

End of Year Recitals

2008-05-31T16:01:00.000-07:00

The hills are alive with the Sound of Music, especially here in Flagstaff where today we retired the piano and trumpet for the summer. Sarah has just finshed her first year of trumpet and her fifth year of piano. Sarah has become very musically talented and we are so proud of her. Sophie has just started taking piano lessons this past January and has picked up on it so well. Today was their piano recital and they had to have their pieces memorized so I was really nervous for them, but they got up, played and didn't skip a note. Sarah also had her end of the year band concert and what do you get when you have at least 85 kids on stage trying to play together on stage. LOUD! Yeah, that's right - poor Sydney and Sean had to plug their ears. (Enjoy the pictures of them demonstrating how LOUD it was) They were ready to go after the first piece. Luckily, they played the Star Wars theme for their last song so it kept his attention. I just have a give a woo hoo to my girls and let them know I am so proud of their accomplishments

Oh, and one last side note, after the recital Fred took Sean to get his First REAL haircut. Yes, he has had trims before, but now Fred thinks he looks like a boy. Poor Fred, on the way to the Father and Sons outing they stopped off at a convenient store to get a soda and Sean was taking his time when a man looked at Fred and said, "Just like a typical woman always taking their time to decide" This only motivated him more to get his hair cut, it looks good, but my baby is so grown up now. Ok so my camera has a video feature that I finally figured out how to use! Check it out!

Memorial Day Weekend

2008-05-28T12:45:00.000-07:00

First and foremost the Reese family would like to THANK all of the men and women who fought and made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can be FREE and live in this GREAT country.

This past weekend we went down to Tucson. Our renters in our house are moving out and we had to go paint and clean up the yard. (Thankfully the weather was so nice that it really wasn't bad being outside especially after shoveling snow on Friday) It was a busy weekend and we had a great time seeing friends, but not enough time. We have to go back down in a couple of weeks to do the cleaning inspection and give our new renters all of the keys and things. While we were there we stayed at the Hilton El Conquistador where Fred used to work and the kids had a great time swimming at the pool and going down the water slide. (Poor Sean he was too short!) I just want to thank our friends, the Hardings, for letting us crash at their home Sat night. I know it was crazy, but we had a great time!

What the Heck!

2008-05-23T09:38:00.001-07:00

WARNING DO NOT attempt to adjust the picture, YES, today is May 23, 2008 and once again it's snowing in Flagstaff. I swear, someone needs to kick Mother Nature in the you know what. It's amazing that only 3 days ago Flagstaff broke a record for record heat (84 degrees) it was so nice. I actually didn't have to put on a hoodie that morning. I think the only one who has enjoyed this snow fall is our dog, Max. He just loves running around in it. Oh and I watched a squirrel trying to find it's nuts! He was probably thinking I woke up to soon, I need to go back to bed, which is what I'm going to go and do.(I tried to take a picture, but those little boogers are fast) Anyway, have a safe and great Memorial day weekend!

Father and Son Outing

2008-05-20T08:56:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I LET Fred take our son out into the wild on their 1st Father and Son's campout. They went camping in an area called Bull Pen in Camp Verde. They had a great time and Fred said the whole time Sean kept asking, Is this camping dad? Are we camping dad? There is a creek where they went camping and Fred said Sean stripped down and got into the water unbeknownst to him until someone probably concerned for the naked child in the water asked Fred, "Hey don't you have the kid with the curly hair?" Fred said, "Yeah that's me" (nice response, HUH!) "Well he's naked and in the water." I think all of the guys got a laugh out of that and took plenty of pictures. (I hope they don't end up on the ward bulletin!) Fred said they had a great time bonding sleeping on the hard ground. I know they had a good time, but the girls and I all slept in my king bed nice and comfy.

Happy Belated Mothers Day

2008-05-16T09:22:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to wish everyone a "Belated" Mother's Day. The day started off really well we went to the famous Little America Mother's Day Brunch and I proceeded to eat a lot of food. They had made to order omelets, waffles, ham, prime rib and of course the chocolate fountain. Sean LOVES the chocolate, well I think everybody does, but not as much as him. I had to force him to eat a waffle before we had chocolate. I have learned that he likes the chocolate covered fruit (that still counts as a serving of fruit, right!), but he really loves the skewers that you put the fruit on. He just wanted more sticks (as he called them) let's just say that he was covered with chocolate. People stopped eating just to watch him eat his chocolate fruit on a stick. (I wish I had my camera, but I wasn't a blogger yet) I had to take him out to the bathroom to clean him up and we had to walk through the hallway lined with people waiting to get in. All I heard were people snickering and how much somebody enjoyed the chocolate fountain. I think I heard someone say he looks good enough to eat. Oh Well, I had a great day and I enjoyed getting homemade gifts from my wonderful children. I would just like to leave you with a poem Sophie wrote for me, it's called--

My Mother

My mom is really delightful,
She is very great to me!
She helps me with school,
And she is kind as can be!

Whatever she does,
she can do very well!
When she works at a shop,
She know the way to sell! (Side note, she drew a picture of me at the GAP)

She may be a little naggy,
And make me play with my brother,
And we may get into a fight,
So my little brother gets my mother!

My mom is so sweet,
A heart so tender,
She may be a little tense,
But I still love her!

(Another Side note, Sophie had the word mean in the poem, but her teacher suggested the word tense, You know I thought she gave me a funny look when I dropped off her lunch yesterday. Would a mean mother let her child go hungry? I think not and I think that was Wonderful of me to take it to her).

Anyways, one more quote from a lady who I think is Hilarious, Erma Bombeck
"All of us have moments in out lives that test our courage. Taking children into a house with a white carpet is one of them." (Don't you just love her!)

Oh and remember children make your life important without them we wouldn't have Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Infant Swim Resource

2008-05-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

Sean has been involved with a swim program called ISR (infant swim resource). It was featured on the Today Show this morning and his instructor, Colleen Haas emailed me and asked if the parents of all of her students could help get the word out of the AMAZING program. I'll start off with our story, living in Arizona everyone (well not everyone, but close enough) owns a pool. Drowning is the #1 cause of death for toddlers ages 1 to 5 and it's sad because it is sooo preventable. Sean loves the water and so we put him in the six week program to help him learn how to swim at the age of 2. It is mainly a survival course and if he falls into a pool fully clothed he will know how to survive. He knows how to float on his back and yell for help. You can check out video demonstration on their website at http://www.infantswim.com/ . Also you can check out http://www.todayshow.com/ and see Dr. Harvey Barnett, the man, who studied this idea that infants can float. We met him last year while we were in Tucson and I am so grateful to him for having a passion to save lives.

Sean and His Instructor Tracy

The End of An Era

2008-05-14T14:48:00.000-07:00

I'm sad and happy today to announce that we will no longer be buying diapers in this house again. I told Sean the stores do not make diapers anymore and he now has to where BIG Boy underwear. (I don't usually lie to my children, but the kid has to be potty trained in order for him to attend preschool while I go to school next Fall.) He got to choose underwear that he likes(Spiderman, Lightning McQueen, he wanted Go, Diego Go, but Fred thought those were too Girly!) and so far he has been doing good. I have finally graduated out of the "BABY" stage and we can close the book on that chapter AND I'm tired of changing diapers.!!!!

Yesterday in Flagstaff it SNOWED! Yes! it's May, but someone forgot to tell Mother Nature that. We have had such a crazy winter and I HAD retired my snow shovel for the season so to wake up to 3 to 4 inches of snow was not good. Sean woke up and was so excited he came into the den and proclaimed, "It's snowing! Yeah! It's Christmas!" Luckily, for my wallet, Christmas is still 7 months away and Santa is still making toys at the North Pole. The kids had delayed school schedule(they went 2 hours later), but I think they were relieved they didn't cancel school because this school year they had to take away 3 vacation days. Enjoy the pictures of the kids in the snow(taken on 5/13/08) and Sean's snow outfit (snow boots, shorts and Lightning McQueen shirt).

Me, Wonder Woman, Not Really

2008-05-14T09:23:00.001-07:00

Do I really think that I am Wonder Woman? No, but Sean has this obsession with Super Heroes he thinks he's Spiderman, Fred is Batman, and I'm Wonder Woman, I didn't even know he knew about Wonder Woman. (his sisters are whoever he can think of at that moment) AND I thought it would be a catchy name for my blog. When you think of Wonder Woman she is out fighting crime and looking good while doing it. So as a mother of 4 in today's world I have to be their Wonder Mother to help them fight off today's temptations AND look good while fighting off the evil bad guys. (Please don't take me too seriously!) I hope that I can live up to my son's new title for me, some days may be more wonderful than others, but I will give it a good try. Sit back, relax and enjoy and I hope to hear from you.