Happy Birthday Rory and the Lucky Leprauchaun

Happy Birthday Rory! Today my hubby turned 27!!!! I can't believe it. I was watching Desperate Housewives the other day, and Lynette was interviewing for a job. These girls came out of their interview and were talking about how old 35 was, the one girl said, "don't talk to me about it, I just turned 27 and I feel ancient!" I had to laugh because I really don't feel ancient at all! So anyway, Rory turned ancient today. He is such an awesome hubby. He helps me all the time with housework, cooking, bathing the kids, and loves to play with the kids. He is very loyal to the people he loves, he will stick up for them no matter what. He just got a promotion at work and I am so proud of him. I love him so much and am so glad I made the right decisions in my life that led me to him!


Ok, enough with the mushy business. Yesterday was St Patrick's day and so the leprauchaun came to visit the kids. That old St. Pat is a tricky fellow, he colored our milk green, hid the kids shoes, and tossed their clothes on their curtain rods! He tipped their lamps, turned their stuffed animals upside down and even left treats in their shoes. I have been trying to learn some new techniques with my camera, so here is a picture of Connor's shoes with the treats sticking out. I don't have the best camera for professional shots, but I am trying to improve my angles and try some new things.


I have also been learning how to decorate cakes (sort of). Candee came over and we made this cake for Debbie's St.Patrick's Day party/ Rory's birthday. It was pretty fun except the kids wanted to help and their hands were filthy (I made sure you got that piece Candee). Here are my cakes I've made so far:

Candid Moments....

About a month ago I decided to subscribe to a mail order scrapbooking thing. Every month they send you ideas for scrapbooking, photography, journaling, invitations, etc. I have loved it. I have gotten some really great ideas for my scrapbooks and have really been thinking about the pictures I take. One of the cards explains ways to discover candid moments with your camera. It gave some ideas for taking pictures of your kids while they don't know you are taking them. The card says that when your kid is hard at work they won't notice you taking their picture, this way you can capture those faces they make when they are concentrating. The next section on the card says to capture playtime, secret moments and emotional moments, these all create some of the most personal pictures.










Anyway, I thought every so often I would share some ideas I get and hopefully someone else will gain something from them!

Happy Birthday Kadence!!!!

Today my little girl turned 3 years old. Oh how time flies when you're having fun. She is such a joy in our lives. She has Rory wrapped around her finger along with my grandma Bet. They just can't get enough of her. Her favorite things right now are her pink jimmy (blanket), curlers, dresses, barbies, Littlest Pet Shop, Dora kitchen, and anything else girly. She has been potty trained since she was just over two years old, can spell her name, knows her birthday, knows her phone number, and knows how to get whatever she wants--- she knows how to throw a fit! Kadee is so stubborn and can be really mean when she wants to be. Tomorrow night we are having a party for her at the Wave Pool. She picked out her cake and is really excited. We love having her in our family and look forward to watching her grow (I don't, however, look forward to when she is a teenager!).

PS I don't know why it says Monday, Feb. 9, her birthday is today Tuesday, Feb. 10, silly blogger!

Weekend Away

This weekend my mom took the kids so Rory and I headed to Salt Lake. We went to the Gateway Mall and shopped in the rain and then we went to see My Bloody Valentine 3D. Oh ya, that's right. Rory LOVES horror movies. Me, not so much. I had my eyes closed for about 90% of the movie. The 3D effects were really neat though. They are going to have the new Ice Age movie in 3D there, so I think we will take the kids when it comes out. We then went to the Home Depot and Rory got a new drill/saw combo. I got a shelf for our laundry room. I was so excited. It's the little things :) We then went to dinner at Red Robin and back to the Little America. I love that place. It is so nice and clean. We got in the hot tub and Rory met this guy that plays in all the Hailstorm church movies. I had already gone back to the room because I wasn't feeling so hot. Turns out K wasn't either. My mom said she had a fever and had to keep running to the bathroom, poor thing. We then went to the Little America Breakfast buffet and did a little more shopping and headed home. It is so nice to get away every once in awhile. I love my kids, but the break tends to make me a better mom. I just wanted to tell my mom and my grandparents thanks for everything... we couldn't have done it without you!

Sleepovers, Curlers, and Brunch

During Christmas break my nieces came over for a sleep over. It was a lot of fun. Connor and Kadee just love them to pieces and we really wish we got to see them more. Aniston was such a big helper! She bathed the kids, got them in their pj's and kept them entertained. Kadee got a baby Alive from our next door neighbor and they all sat and played with it for hours. They thought it was so neat that it peed and pooped and I kept telling them, it's really not that neat! Probably because I've changed a few thousand diapers in my time!
We then went up to Helamen Hollow with Ror's family and went sledding. Connor loved it, but Kadee went down the hill one time and she was done. So we went inside and she played with Danae and Booga.



Saturday we went to our annual Branch girl brunch. Laurie and Dena are turning (or have turned) 50 this year. Happy Birthday girls!!! As always we laughed and gossiped a little and ate too much. They are some pretty fun ladies. I'm glad that Debbie includes her daughter in laws in all that stuff, in return I try to explain the ways of the world to her so she isn't quite so naive.

Last night Kadee and I decided to put curlers in her hair. She sat so still and was so excited to look like a "princess." She slept on them all night and really didn't want me to take them out this morning. I explained to her that the point of the curlers was to curl her hair and we needed to see if it worked. Boy did it! I told her she looked like a cute little poodle. She didn't like that too much. She kept saying "I want to look in the mirror, I look like a princess."

Merry Christmas!

My friend Tammy posted a Christmas letter on her blog. I thought it was so cute so I decided to do the same. This has been an amazing year for us. Rory is stilling working for the Sheriff's office and is also on the SWAT team. He loves all the training he gets to go to and I love the pager going off at 3 in the morning scaring me to death! Ok, that has only happened twice, but it scared me to death both times. He really enjoys his job and so I really can't complain, if he has to work he might as well do something he loves! He also loves hunting so the kids and I had the opportunity to go with him to Wyoming antelope hunting. I can't say I liked the hunting part, but it was so fun to be together as a family. We had so much fun we decided that we are going to take the kids on some sort of vacation every year, so next year we are taking them to California for my family reunion.

Connor turned 4 this year. I can't believe how big he is. He started preschool and is really loving it. He is so smart. Since this is my little brag letter I guess I can say that! He already knows his phone number, how to spell his name, his address, and can identify most the letters in the alphabet. He is a sunbeam and loves to learn about the gospel. Him and K fight over who gets to say the prayer and I love that they are so excited about it.

Kadee turned 2 this year and is a little handful! She is too smart for her own good. Anything Connor does she wants to do and so we have some fights. I am really proud of her though. She decided she wanted to go potty on the toilet and has been completely potty trained for about 6 months now. She knows her birthday, her colors, and loves to draw. She is our little princess and she knows it!

I have been doing really well myself. I started on Remicade treatments for my Crohn's disease and am a whole new person. I had forgotten what it felt like to be healthy and am so grateful for my health. I was called to be the 2nd counselor in the YW presidency in our ward about 3 months ago. It has been an amazing experience.

The most exciting thing to happen to us this year is the building of our home. It took us about 7 months and we couldn't be happier with how it has turned out. We love everything about it. I thought I would hate living by the river, but I have really enjoyed everything about the house. I love having property for the kids to run on and room to put all our stuff.

We have had so many great experiences this year and look forward to next year and all the exciting things that will happen. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Thursday we went to Salt Lake to the Jazz game. Our seats were really good and it was a fun game. Rory always finds the best deals for Jazz tickets. The Jazz won, which is great because I have never been to a live game when they have lost. The kids stayed with my grandparents and I thought they would go to bed early, but they were up until almost 11. My poor grandma.

Friday we went to Provo for my Remicade treatment and then did a little bit of shopping. We are FINALLY done with all our Christmas shopping. We then went to my dad's house and C and K got to play. I only see my dad about every 6 months, so it is always nice when we get to visit with them. Saturday we went to see grandpa Wally and Kristene. My kids love their house. They have a son that is 9 and so of course Connor adores him. They played and then we headed home and the weather was ridiculous. We saw 31 accidents. I was so nervous. The canyon was a mess, trucks were stuck, people were stopped in the middle of the road. I wanted to turn around and stay in Salt Lake another night, but Rory had to work so we toughed it out. It took us 4 hours to get home from Salt Lake.

Today I had to speak in church- yuck. I was so nervous. I really don't mind teaching, but I hate speaking in sacrament. Here are my cute kids in their Sunday best. They really are good kids. They are so well behaved in church. Kadence is going to be a Sunbeam here in a couple weeks and I can't believe how the time flies by. I guess it is time to have another one :)