Cait's first haircut

First picture shows how long it was in the back. I love that it was growing so much. The downfall was that it didn't grow at all in the front and so she had a mullet. Christian thought it was awesome but since he is staying home and is hair challenged he said I should get it cut. My friend Mitzi did such a good job. And we can still give her piggys. The picts don't do it justice. And now like a good and crazy mom I now have a tiny piggy of her cut hair to put in her scrap book.

Thanksgiving

We were watching the BYU game upstairs and Jessica watched the Wisconsin game all by her lonesome. She was happy her Badgers won.

Mom and Dad watching the BYU game.

My sweet niece Alyssa.

Alex my awesome nephew

It was barely in the teens temperature wise and all the kids still went into the hot tub. They loved it.

Woking Girl

Since Christian was laid off I went back to work. We have been very blessed for me to find a job and get hired on within 3 weeks. It has really taken off the stress and now Christian can really look for something that will be good for him and our family in the future. So for now he is Mr. Mom. I think he is hoping for a moo moo for Christmas. He is awesome and is taking pictures of the different power struggles I am missing out on. This one was Cait was mad Christian wouldn't give her a brownie so she went and got in her seat and sat there "waiting for her brownie". Well it never came so she went to sleep.

My job is working out well. I am an office Manager for an online tax company in Provo called TaxHawk. I have worked a full week now and so far they are pretty easy to work for. I am very busy and any spare second I have I am learning tax laws and rules.

Thankful Theodore

One of my friends does this at her house (thanks Jocelyn) and so we copied her this year and I am pretty sure this will be a tradition from now on. I want my kids to understand all the many blessings we have. Some small and some so big even at a time when we are out of work and may have a little more stress than usual. So I found this little turkey on line and printed him off. His name is Theodore. He is so fun. On every feather for FHE we note all the things we are thankful for. Some are family members, our house, soccer. Landons are ALWAYS food related. But we filled it up pretty fast. Then I am cutting out more feathers and everytime they think of something they are thankful for they can give Theodore more feathers. I am hoping we will have a big fun turkey by the end.

Brenten is 7

I can't believe Brenten is so big...7...am I really that old? In one year we will be baptizing our first kid. So crazy. We had a low key birthday for him but I think he loved it. He got his first pet, Shelly, the hermit crab. He is doing a good job of taking care of her but we realized she is missing one of her legs when we got her so she may have to get traded in. Brenten says he wants to buy another one because Shelly is lonely. So he will probably have another one soon. Our friend, Melinda, and her boys came out to enjoy the fun. Coop and Brenten have been best buddies forever. Or at least about 6 1/2 years. This year Brenten said he wanted a cheese cake for his birthday. I was like are you kidding me. I have never made one so I was a little nervous. So he got online and looked at different picts/recipes and decided he wanted a white chocolate raspberry cheese cake. I don't know if he could have found a harder one. But it turned out delicious. I am thankful for the frozen raspberries in my freezer. that really helped. Thanks Mom.

I love my Brenten. He is growing into the sweetest of boys. I love that he will wink at me when I help in his class and isn't embarrassed (yet) if I say I love you in front of his friends. And more times than not will repeat it. He is so adventurous and love to play any game. He is such a little joker and thinks that he is the funniest kid around. I don't want him to grow up any more.

October Candids

Brenten loves the climbing wall and now that is colder we just run a space heater in the garage when they climb. He is getting too brave.

I got this bean bag for my sis and her hubby. Well they left money for me and I went and picked it up for them. We get to use it until they come get it from me. It is so huge. It took me another lady a teen age boy a random stranger and 40 min to get it in my car. My seat was all the way up and I looked ridiculous driving home. The kids are enjoying it while they can. It is HUGE.
Cait and the boys decided to empty out some flower boxes and make my front porch a sand box. YUK!!! That is what she said when she came to me after trying to eat it.

Landon loves jerky. I love his face when he tries to eat it. Caits hair will finally go into one pony tail instead of piggys. And she will keep flowers in unless she is napping and then out the come.

Bikes

I need to get a better picture. But since Christian has been home, he took off Landon's training wheels and his pedals. This is what we do to get them coasting and learning to balance. He went out with him every day for a little bit and practiced. We were amazed with in a week he was ready to have his pedals back on. We continue to work with him. He likes to go really fast down hills and stop at the last possible second. It is so scary. But maybe that is why I am glad Christian is working with him mostly. He still needs to work on going up hill. For this reason I wish we had more flat areas here. But soon we can move his seat up so he doesn't look like a monkey on a tiny trike. He loves that he is getting so big.

Halloween Fun!!!

I love Halloween. I love when the little one finally realizes all they have to do is say "trick or treat" and they get candy. Cait cheered after every house. The boys loved everything about it. Decorating cookies. Carving pumpkins with power tools. Seeing friends and lots of parties. I really lucked out this year. All the kids were costumes we already had or a hand me down. Brenten was a fire fighter for the 3rd year in a row. Finally his costume fits. Landon was Nemo. he was so excited when he saw it in our Halloween box. Cait was a cute fat monkey our friend let us borrow. She was so cute and loved her slippers.

Laid Off

Christian gets some unexpected time at home. A little over a week ago he got laid off. YUK!!!! I love having him home and actually we are so busy we don't really see each other that much. Like today, he is at a networking/job search group thing until 4pm. And I believe he has it again on Wednesday. Lets just say it has been a crazy 1 1/2 weeks.

In this time I have had migraines or the lingering effects of the last one, we have lost our insurance and found out COBRA is $1000.00 a month. Okay if you are out of work how can you afford that much $$$ for insurance. Our computer ended up with like 98 viruses or something insane like that. I have had a bout of kidney stones. Probably the hardest was when Brenten asked us on Sunday when we get to go to Christian's super cool work Christmas party and Christian had to remind him that he doesn't work there anymore. Brenten was trying to be big but he was obviously sad and Christian felt so awful.

Even with all the stress of zero income we there are some definite positives. My brother was telling me that he doesn't know anyone who hasn't been laid off. And they have similar comments of enjoy the time off. We are trying. Christian is working so hard to find work. I am glad I don't have to nag him and I am trying to find work also.

That being said.......

Landon is now riding a bike with out training wheels. We think by the end of the week he will be cruising all over on his own. Christian has been going out with him every day to work on it. And then he and Brenten have been going over to the bike park to work on their skills. Unfortunately when it is too wet they can't go. Cait has had a lot of snuggle and one on one time. She loves it. I even got Christian's help to do a little photo shoot of the kiddos.

Aside from not knowing when we will get work, we are excited to see what the future holds for us. Christian has not been enjoying his job for about a year now. I am hoping he can find a job that he can enjoy and will help our family for the future.

Hawaii - Oahu

there are more pictures on facebook.

ALOHA!!!! We had a great trip to Hawaii, especially being our first time. The weather was perfect as was everything else. It was Christian and I and his parents. NO KIDS!!!

My mom was awesome and came to our house to watch the kids for us. She did the school/soccer mom stuff and everything. It was great timing because she was cleared just a couple of days before our trip, by her doctor, to lift Cait. She is not even a year out from a major back surgery. What a trooper. Brenten didn't even want us to come back since that would mean Grandma would leave. I have been told lots of things since Grandma has left.....

Brenten "Grandma makes pancakes and eggs in the morning. They are not really for dinner mom"
Landon "Grandma's car is a LOT better than yours"
Brenten "Mom did you notice, Grandma fixed everything....the garage door, my door and the oven door" (they all squeaked really bad)

Everyday they find a way to tell me how great Grandma is. I love that they have such a connection with her and I never questioned that they would be in better care than when I am here. In fact that was such a comfort. I didn't have to worry about the kids because I knew they were well taken care of.

Back to Hawaii. We had a great time. Sorry but this is more for when I scrapbook that I can remember it all. Lets see.

Sunday we got in late around 8pm. Once we got the rental figured out and checked into the hotel (in Waikiki) we were starving so we got Subway. Not exactly what I was planning on eating in Hawaii but it worked great.

Monday we just checked out the area. Our hotel was in a great spot. Next to lots of shopping and next to the beach. What else does a girl need. So we checked out the beach for a while and then got food for in the hotel. We ate lunch. Then Christian and I headed back out to swim in the ocean. It is awesome. We were warned the Waikiki beaches are not the best but we found some great areas not to far and the waves were fun. And we saw some giant sea turtles. We couldn't get close but they were still so cool. I didn't have my camera and was bummed so I was going to bring it back. We didn't see turtles there the rest of the trip. I couldn't help but think how much the boys would like it. After a few hours we came back got ready and went to eat dinner and check out the shopping.

Tuesday we did a tour on a bus around the island. It was great because I saw all the places we NEEDED to go to. And we got to go to the dole plantation. At around noon we showed up to the Polynesian Culture Center (PCC) we had a guide there. I loved our guide mostly because our names are the same. Well not really she was from Mongolia so she had like 24 letters in her name and then beke at the end so that is what she goes by. She showed us all around. They have made up all the islands and we took a little boat through and they told us about it. Then we went to all the "islands" and they had a show. They were great. Very entertaining and interesting. And they had a boat parade. At five we finished our tour and then we went to the Luau. It was great food and of course they had dancing. they had these little guys about Landon and Brenten's age doing the Hula. they were so cute. I wanted to bring them home with me. We had a little time before the show so we took a tram over to the temple and to BYU Hawaii. At about 7:30 the show started. I knew it would be good but I was really surprised. It was so impressive. Better than I could have imagined. By the time we got back to the hotel it was 11 or so.

Wednesday We went to Pearl Harbor. I am a little ashamed but I don't know a lot about our history, Pearl Harbor in particular. It was pretty cool. We didn't have to wait in line so that was great. We took a boat over to the monument. We could see where the ships are still today. Well parts of them. and you can see the oil that still comes up from the ship. they can't fix it with out disturbing all the bodies that are still in the ship. After Pearl Harbor we went to a flee market at their Stadium. It was huge. I mean HUGE. We didn't even see half of it. We found some lunch and headed back to the hotel. Christian and I, of course, headed out to the beach. At night we went to check out the shops. they have all these street vendors out selling random things, dancing, or playing music.

Thursday We went snorkeling in Hunama bay (i don't remember how to spell it). It was great. I have never tried snorkeling and I think it may be my new favorite thing. After I got over my freak outs. I had a hard time relaxing and not hyperventilating and my back would get super tight. But once I made myself relax it was so awesome. We swam over the coral reefs and there were fish everywhere. I swam with a little sea turtle (but didn't know it) Every time I would turn so would the turtle. Everyone said it was practically on my shoulder. Christian would swim down and scare things out of their holes. A 3 foot long eel came out and swam right at me and swam under me. I freaked out of course, which meant I took in a bit of ocean water. It was really so cool. We decided to drive up the east coast line of Oahu. So we drove and checked out different beaches. Incredible how the beaches are so different even though they are so close. We went to one with a blow hole (of course Christian's favorite to say). And we went to Laniakea Beach which is the home to about 20 sea turtles. So cool. It made the whole trip for me. This time I had my camera ready. I got some pretty good pictures. I could have touched it we were so close but since they are endangered we are not allowed to. We also went to La'ie beach (Pounders). Christian and I wanted to go back there with boogie boards or something. The waves were great.

Friday We drove up the west side of the beach to more of the North Shore. The beaches were great. We swam at Waiamea Bay The sand was great. And the water was like a swimming pool. No waves and it was so clear. You could see 20ft down. Christian jumped off Jump Rock. I guess he had to with a name like that. There was a bouldering (climbing) spot too. Christian was so bummed he didn't have his shoes, but he climbed a little anyway. Just couldn't help himself. While we were there this lady told us about Sharks cove. So we went and checked it out. We decided we needed to go snorkeling there. We also went to Banzai Pipeline (where they have the big surf competition in the winter)

Saturday We went back to Shark's Cove and got snorkel rentals and went snorkeling. This one was a little harder to get into because of all the rocks but it was fun. We like Hunauma bay better but this was good. It was deeper in parts and I saw big schools of fish. We were there most of the day. And then we drove the rest of the coast we hadn't gotten to yet. it was the south west side. This is definitely the poorer area. Christian's mom made the comment "look there is camping on this beach" As we went they were definitely not campers. There were so many homeless people and they have their own community. So sad. There will little babies and it was so dirty. They had tents up and enough stuff that they had been there for many months if not years like this. We continued down the road and found a great beach. And the waves were huge and crashed right on the beach. We weren't allowed to swim only surfers. I could just stare at the waves all day. After we got back we had a late lunch and then Christian and I went to the beach for our last swim in Hawaii.

Sunday We hung out and got packed. We checked out of the hotel at 11am and then found a church. We went to a couple of hours and then headed out to check out the Capital Building. We don't know if we actually saw it but there were a few that could have been it. And then we went to Hilo something (I'm sure you all know the name) but it makes me think of Hello Kitty. Its a big store of Hawaii stuff. After that we headed out to turn in the rental car and then to the airport to wait and wait.

We got in Monday morning. Christian headed off to work and I came home to let my mom leave and hang with the kiddos.

So so busy

Lately I feel like I get busier by the day. I feel like I get nothing done and on top of it I feel like my kids have gotten close to no quality time. I love that my boys are in soccer but I can't wait for it to be done so that we can have more time together just us. Earlier this last week I was feeling like my chest hurt all the time. So I decided to make a change. First change is I don't care if the house gets clean. I will work on certain things but if it doesn't get done oh well. It really is true the dishes will still be there in the morning. The next thing was that I set out a little bit of time for each kid to just play with them. and the last thing I changed is no more gym on Wednesdays. I thought I was going to die but i just get up early and work out and then I am done. It has been amazing. For one, my chest doesn't hurt anymore and I don't feel like I am going to have a melt down at any time. The hardest thing for me was to admit to myself that I couldn't do it all and be sane at the same time. I had to get over that too. So if you come to my house and it isn't clean. Sorry, I don't care anymore. I am playing with my kids. Or watching TMZ. My new obsession.

Count down to Hawaii

I was realizing that almost all my posts are about my kids. In my defense I have almost written many posts not about the kiddos but usually I am in the middle of situations so I am a little passionate about it so I end up deleting them so everyone doesn't think I am a lunatic. I always think I will come back and write later and done. So I am going to start mixing it up a bit. I am going to try and blog more and put more of ME into it. Ironically most of what I do is for my kids, with my kids or because of my kids.

But in 7 days and 2 hours I will be in HAWAII. I am so excited. My mom is coming to stay with the kids. (isn't she awesome) and then Christian and I will be flying off to the beautiful Hawaii and will be meeting his parents there. Yeah for us. I have not been very many places. So I am excited to be able to say I have been to hawaii.

Cait's 1st stitches

Cait got her first stitches on Saturday. Poor baby. We were walking across the street and she tripped on a man hole cover and fell face first. She split open her head and got a bloody nose. I really think it was harder on me. She cried for a little bit but that was all. I asked her if she was okay and she said yeah. As if there was no reason to not be okay. She was not happy about the actual getting shots part but loved getting my little pony stickers and a sucker. Now she loves to show people her stitches and says that her bandaid is "pretty".

We love love love Soccer!!!!!

We love soccer. We love it so much that Landon is willing to keep his shin guards on for 3 days straight to only take them off because of the big dent in his calf from the elastic being in the same place for 3 days. Cait can't wait for Brenten to take off his soccer stuff after practice (all sweaty) and then puts them on. Shin guards and shoes. I at least convinced her the socks were too yucky. She then goes around the house kicking soccer balls. We are having some fun.

storms

We have had some great storms. I love it. It is August and we are getting hail. I am an Oregon girl so I love a great rain storm especially if it is mixed with thunder and lightening. I love that my kids embrace my love for these storms and I think they are happy that I let them go out in them until the lightening gets close. Natasha, our awesome neighbor, would go out and gather hail for Cait and then she would eat it.

Kolob part 10

Notice the part 10 part. I have 9 short posts of our trip to Kolob. Humor me and look at all of them so this wasn't a waste of time. haha. Really this is mostly so I will remember when I get around to scrapbooking them.

Kolob part 9 - Bonfire.

Cait loves smores or she really likes chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows. She went straight to the shower after. My messy messy girl.
Brenten liked our little skewers. Didn't you know he is a ninja.
Christian is our expert fire started. I mean he could be on survivor. The wood was so wet but he still got us a bonfire.
Landon loves everything and gives me the best smiles when the camera comes out. He loves to humor me.
Brenten does NOT humor me. He is not a fan of my camera or my obsession of getting pictures of him doing everything. He doesn't like to make eye contact or "smile handsome". Maybe he gets that from his Uncle Brian. I still get some cute ones. I love a challenge. I just have to be sneaky.

Kolob part 8-lots of pictures

Kolob 7

The kids highlight is simple. Playing in the dirt. They get out their tractors and shovels and buckets. they were excited this year because they made mud. They put dirt in their buckets and then wait for it to rain and then stir it and play in it. Cait was excited to play outside with the boys this year.

Kolob part 6 - Catch a cow by the tail

Brenten cow hunting. When Christian was a kid his mom told him she would pay who ever could pull on a cows tail. None of them did. Phillip about got charged by a bull but still no tail. We some of the cows from below the cabin got out and were wandering by the cabin. Brenten thought he had a chance so he is trying to sneak up on the cow. If you look you will see the cow staring at him from behind the tree.


More cow hunting. Cait this whole time was yelling and screaming (a lot of screaming) and reaching out to the cows. When we would has her if she wanted to pet the cows she would say yeah yeah yeah. and nod her head like crazy. My boys when they were her age were terrified of anything that moved. Cait on the other hand loves all animals. She is obsessed. She gets excited any time she sees them. We need to go to the zoo. I think she would love it but worry about the screaming when she can't touch them.

Kolob part 5

We got for lots of hikes and usually we end up at the creek. Doesn't Cait look so little.
Cait throwing rocks. I was so nervous she would fall in so Christian would keep a hold of her hood.
The boys would always gather rocks on our walk and carry them down to the creek. Now there are just as many rocks if not more by the creek so we always tried to tell them they didn't need to carry rocks there but they thought their rocks were the perfect throwing rocks.