Cuteness

We cannot wait for this cutie to come into our family! I'm OK to let him cook for a while longer, but the kids are DYING!!! They want to meet their baby brother :)

Merry Christmas

3rd Trimester Belly

In a few days I will officially be in my third trimester. I knew this pregnancy would go fast, but geeze! Thought I better capture the moment, since this will be our last baby, right? Probably, maybe...

We're home!!!

No pictures today -sorry! In fact, it may be a while before I have time to post our vacation. My week is already jam-packed, and it doesn't even include any Christmas shopping. Yikes!!! We had a lovely time in Cancun, and we all have much better tans than I expected we would. It was sunny and warm. What a shock to come home to the cold weather! We turned our heater off in our house before we left, so it was 50 degrees inside when we got home. Brrrrr! We could see our breath in our house. We all decided that 3 weeks was slightly too long of a vacay, but we weren't quite ready to come home after 2 weeks either.

We are SO back to reality now. Busy, busy. Here's the agenda:

• Presidency meeting
• Doctor's appointment
• I guess the Dentist since Brooklyn lost a filling
• Piano lessons (twice)
• Violin lessons
• Baseball (twice)
• Finish the Christmas tree (almost done)
• Christmas cards-printed, but not addressed- coming to a mailbox near you
• Put the lights on the house (mostly for Jim :)
• 4 huge suitcases full of dirty laundry
• Shopping for some maternity clothes. Yes, I am showing. At 6 1/2 months, it is impossible to squeeze into regular clothes any longer.
• Grocery shopping & Costco
• Big YW's activity on Wednesday night
• Ward Christmas Party
• Brooklyn has a birthday party to go to
• Try to scrub down my stale house that has been sitting for 3 weeks
• Squeeze in something fun to do since it's track break
• Organize my NEW CUSTOM CLOSET that my hubby built while I was gone! Yes, my husband can build stuff. Anything I want, and I LOVE IT!

I think that about does it for this week! I don't even care that I have so much to do. It puts a smile on my face to be able to do all the things that I love...taking care of my husband and my babies. It feels good to be home.

Why I love Cancun

• Sleeping in


• Lazy days building sandcastles on the beach and jumping waves


• White sand and clear blue Caribbean water


• 5 brown babies


• Quality brother/sister time playing Uno


• 5 star resort and a room that will comfortably fit the WHOLE family


• Tableside guacamole & bananas flambe


• Happy hour by the pool with half price virgin daquiris and chips and salsa


• Hearing my kids try to speak Spanish to the natives


• A husband who has fed the kids and done the dishes everyday since he got here :)


• No meltdowns (except for when Diddy did a face plant off the sidewalk into the grass)


• Walmart


• A family who is content to just do whatever, and they don't have to be entertained constantly.


• $4 movies & taking the girls to "Luna Nueva" (New Moon).

We are LOVING our vacation. It's paradise here. The resort is totally decorated for Christmas. The kids are excited about that. Be back in a couple of weeks!!!

Photo shoot of the kiddos

Our little outing up to the mountains was fun. The kids were more interested in exploring than taking pictures. Kids will be kids. I got what I could without having to spoil their fun. A few of my favorites...

This is my last post before we head off to Cancun for 3 weeks. I may post while I'm there and I may not :)

Sneak Peek

There was no school yesterday, so I thought I would take the opportunity to haul the kids up to Mt. Charleston for a little photo shoot. Trying to get those Christmas cards out of the way before we head to Cancun next week. Jim said that I can't pay any of my really talented photographer friends to take family pictures. He thinks I can do it myself. I think he over-estimates my skills. Taylor and Blake are always complaining that I don't post enough about them...that it's always the little kids. So, here's a little peek at my grown up girls.

More to come...

Take me out to the ball game

Lincoln started his first season playing club ball this week. He was a little nervous. I only took a few pictures, 'cause I didn't want to embarrass him in front of his new teammates. I am excited for club ball. It means long practices, and hard work for Lincoln. He fell asleep in the car after practice today. From Seastrand Park to our house! He LOVES it, though. He said, "Mom, I love this team! All the players can throw. And when I throw it to them, they actually catch it!" It is sooooo different from Little League. They are running serious plays, and Lincoln is learning so much. I'm excited for him to have this opportunity to get better, and play in tournaments. He eats, sleeps, and breathes baseball. It's all he cares about, so I'm glad he gets to play.

Trick or Treat 2009

Trick or Treating is always fun in our neighborhood. The streets are packed with people, and most of the homes hand out candy. Kinda reminds me of the old days when I was a kid trick or treating. We got so many trick or treaters that Jim just sat with the door open and handed out candy for 2 hours straight.

Tinkerbell

Elpheba

One of the houses ran out of candy right as Brooklyn got up there, so the guy gave her a dollar. She gave it to Diddy. She said, "Diddy, I already have a dollar at home, do you want it?" It was cute.

These two girls are growing up way too fast. They are too cool for school. "Twenty-fi Cent" and our little hippie. My dad kept calling Blake "Two dimes and a Nickel" :)

Our little Travelocity Gnome was miserable all night. Taylor is so sick right now. She lasted as long as she could trick or treating, but Nana ended up walking home with her.

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! I have to get busy putting up Christmas now. We are spending Thanksgiving and the first 2 weeks in December in Cancun. Can't wait, but that means Christmas needs to be done before I go. The kids can't wait to get the tree up...

Up to our eyeballs in Halloween madness

Last week, we had the school carnival and the trunk or treat. It was so nice just to let the kids run off with their friends. Jim & I got to hang out and have some quality time. Next year we will be pushing a stroller :) I am enjoying the freedom this year.

Halloween week is always a little crazy for us. I usually get the kids costumes waaaayyy in advance, because my attention is quickly turned to all the different activities that they each have. 5 different school parties means alot of baking, sending in goodies, and "parent-helping" at school for me. I love this time of year, though. My kids never disappoint in the costumes they choose. It's always fun to see what they decide to be. Their little personalities crack me up!

Have you ever seen a cuter Tinkerbell? Thanks to my mom for buying this costume for her for Christmas. I had people stopping me and asking if they could take Diddy's picture, just because the costume was so pretty. Of course, Dylan loves all the attention.

Brookie was a witch for the school carnival. She changed her mind for the trunk or treat, though. I guess that's one benefit of having a ton of kids. I have a bin full of a hundred costumes to choose from if they change their mind at the last minute. You name it, we probably have it.

This is about as scary as I would let Lincoln get. He wanted something scary this year, and some of those costumes are just plain evil looking. He was fine with this, though.

Trunk or Treat. Brooklyn is a farmer riding a chicken and Blake is a rapper. It cracked me up to see all Blake's friends in those cute little witch, pirate, and bumblebee costumes. Then there's my child who wants to be a rapper. She called herself "Twenty-fi Cent"

Taylor is on the right. She is the Travelocity Gnome if you could not tell. I'm pretty sure that she will be the only Travelocity Gnome out trick-or-treating this year. Her goal every year is to make sure that nobody else has the same costume as her. She has been Elvis, she has been Abraham Lincoln. I love her random costume choices.

After the trunk or treat, the kids organized all their candy on the kitchen table. They spent 2 hours bartering and trading their candy with eachother. It was really cute.


Diddy tried a Warhead. She didn't really like it. You have to at least give your kid one Warhead when they're little, right? The faces they make are priceless.

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope we see you out Trick or Treating!

I am loving...

spending the mornings with this little girl. She is so sweet and cute, I just want to eat her up! We get to hang out every morning while Brooklyn's at school. We do all kinds of fun things, like go to City Stop and Target. She helps me with the laundry, and we watch cartoons. I love the time I get to spend with her.

Homework is very serious business :)

Today, we were at the store and I put Diddy in the shopping cart, and she looked at me with a mad face and said, "Why do I always have to sit in the BABY SEAT?!" I told her so I could reach her to give her lots of kisses. She seemed OK with that.

Keeping it real

Remember how I'm trying to keep it real? Well, this is as real as it gets. Jim has officially moved out of the bedroom. He has a really soft, cushy air mattress in the loft. He waited as long as he possibly could to move out, but it is impossible to sleep when you have a pregnant wife that snores so loud. We have been married long enough and had enough kids to where it's just not that big of a deal. Even though, it makes me feel awful for him. I calculate that with 6 pregnancies, he's probably spent at least 3 years of our marriage sleeping on the couch. Poor guy! So, here's the conversation with the kids...

Kids: Hey Dad, how come you are sleeping on that air mattress?

Mom: 'Cause your mom snores like a lumberjack.

Dad: No, 'cause your mom snores like a lumberjack being attacked by a bear!

Ha, ha very funny.

Drumroll please....

Look at this face. It makes it all worth it.

Here lies...

Roxy

We enjoyed having you part of our family for a short time. Even though you were extremely aggressive and violent and we never really could get you out of your cage. Your biggest accomplishment in life was knocking up Yoda, our other hamster. We could've sworn you were a girl. Thank you for entertaining the kids by eating crackers and running in your wheel. You will be missed...by the kids.

We buried Roxy on the side yard. Each of the kids threw a scoop of dirt on him, and said their goodbyes. There were crocodile sized tears from Lincoln and Blake, and alot of questions about resurrection... "Can Roxy be resurrected to our family?" I know. Bless their little hearts.

Redrock with our Czech friends

A couple weeks ago, our Czech friends came to visit us. Jim served his mission in the Czech Republic and met this amazing family. We have kept in touch over the years, and they send Christmas gifts every year. They spoiled the kids with gifts this time. They have come to visit twice, now, and Jim & I were able to spend a week with them in Prague when Brooklyn was a baby. Anyway, the kids took the day off from school and we headed up to Redrock to look around. We had fun being tourists in our own town.

Diddy didn't like that.

The kids weren't really cooperating with the picture taking, but I got them to pose for one group shot. I didn't realize that I got a nice sharp picture of the rocks behind them. I promise I'm a better photographer than that. I just had to post it, cause I thought it was funny.

So, I haven't been posting much lately, 'cause there really hasn't been anything very exciting happening. I have decided that I am going to just start posting the everyday stuff. Even if it is boring for everyone else. This blog is a record of my little family, so we are just going to keep it real...

Youth Conference 2009

For Youth Conference last weekend, we had a game show night. We had 3 game shows, and each ward filmed a commercial to watch between the game shows. Jim & my dad built this amazing Hollywood Squares set for "Bishop Squares". It was 16 feet tall and a huge hit. We also played Family Feud, and Are you Smarter than a Beehive & Deacon. It was such a fun night, and Jim did such a great job as a host.

My mom & I found him this sweet purple tux in the old costume warehouse. It pays to have family in theatre. It was a busy week. I was pretty much Jim's slave all week. Not that I mind. Youth Conference is the one time of year when him being Stake YM President + me being YW President + 5 kids= chaos & madness. Until next year...