Alayna's Tuacahn Performance

Here are some pics of Alayna's choir performance in Tuacahn a couple of weeks ago. Some of the area schools in the County got together and put on this wonderful show of 50s songs. They all did a great job and Alayna has had a great time in choir. Her teacher is the choir teacher so she has really enjoyed it.

Welcome...Miss Ellie May Hirschi

No...We didn't have another baby, we just got a new dog. We still have Roxy, but this is a little indoor something to play with. She has been a fun addition to our family. The kids have loved her and she is potty training quite well I must say. We are kennel training her and she is pretty smart. Anyway, that's about it!

Kayle's Dr Appt & Pheasant in the Backyard

So Kayle is going to have surgery next month. I took him to the doctor for a cyst he has had on the back of his neck since he was little and they are going to remove it now along with some sinus work and his adenoids will be removed also. He is nervous, but he'll do great, surgery seems to run in the family...


This funny pheasant is just a random photo that I took last month, but I love this little guy. He visits every once in awhile and this month he came with a girl. It was fun to have them up so close. They are beautiful birds.

Ethan's Flat Stanley Report

Sorry for the long break...After I catch you up, you will see why I have not been around much. You won't get it all, but you will get an earfull! So in 1st grade at our school in Mrs. Gubler's class, the students color a little paper guy named Flat Stanley. They mail him or e-mail him to any place in the world and he spends the day with a friend who shows him around the area they live and takes pictures and you learn about the area. It's pretty fun. Well, when Kayle did it last year, his did not come back. Well, I was not going to let this happen this year so I e-mailed Ethan's this year and actually ended up with two different cities. It was really fun. These are pictures of Ethan doing his report from Iowa. My Grandpa's niece really went all out. She and her husband took so many great pictures and even sent Ethan a John Deere shirt and mini tractor. His other niece sent another report from Kansas with other fun pictures. He really loved getting the mail and the e-mails and learning about different states and his family. It was a lot of fun. A big thanks to Mary and her family and Barb and Terry. You are wonderful!

Spring Break Week of Fun...Day Six

The big finale...Just kidding, our last day which was yesterday, was a fun day. I didn't have to teach, so the kids and I headed out a little earlier to Snow Canyon Park. We met my friend, Raelene, and her kids there and did a little hiking. Raelene had never been in the park before, so it was fun. We went down into the caves and the kids liked holding the flashlights and seeing a cool new spot. We then hiked down to the smooth red rocks and enjoyed the view. It sure is beautiful there! After, we hiked back and enjoyed a little snack amidst the Purgatory workers who were cleaning trash all around us - good times! After the park, we grabbed lunch and I took the kids back to the Washington Rec center for swimming. We had used our week free pass so we wanted to go more than once. I didn't swim this time, but the kids sure had a great time. Rhett went around with Trista and Alayna and they had a ball. After, we went home and Richard and I went on a date later with his sisters, Amanda and her husband Jeff, and Toni and her little baby, Sophie. We ate at Wingers and went to the Joseph: A Nashville Tribute out in Tuacahn. It was a great concert. We really enjoyed it. We didn't get home until almost midnight, so I'm a little tired today, but Rich and I are headed off on a bike ride with some friends this morning so I better kick it into high gear! Anyway, we really enjoyed our week and if any of you get the chance, have a fun week like I did. The best part was spending all that time with my kids and not worrying about the house work or the laundry and also getting to share the beautiful area we are so blessed to live in. I tried to tell the kids that people from all over the world come to see what we are blessed to live in every single day. It was a wonderful week!

Spring Break Week of Fun...Day Five

Day Five was a more mellow day, but still fun. I met my friend Raelene at the park above Coral Canyon and we had a picnic and let the kids play. It was nice to have a more relaxing day and just enjoy the sunshine and visit. The kids had fun and they love the big park, so it was a great day. This was my last day to teach aerobics for the week and I wanted to tell you some cute stories about that. I decided that since the kids were off, they had asked me to go to my class with me. I told them if they wanted to go they had to participate. Now, keep in mind, that I teach advanced senior cardio aerobics. So most of the participants are between the age of 55 and 85, but these are people who are in really good shape and the class is a great workout despite what you would think. It's pretty hard. Monday, I took Alayna and Trista. Alayna loved it and Trista reacted how any normal almost teenager would react - not too thrilled. She did tell me afterward that she like the second half better. That was a positive note. Wednesday, I took Kayle and Alayna. Kayle actually asked to go which was a surprise, but I said hey that's great. He did the whole class and after he said - that was a really good workout mom. It was so cute and he asked to go again. Today, Sage had slept over at our house (my nephew) and so he and Kayle and Ethan went. EJ was so cute, while we were stampeding and doing some other excercises, his pants kept falling off his skinny little waist, so he'd stop and yank them up and keep going. The boys loved it and afterward, Sage told Kayle - we should do this everyday! My class loved having the kids there and it was fun to share that with them because they've never seen what I do during the day while they're gone. Anyone else want to come to my class???

Spring Break Week of Fun...Day Four

Day four was a trip to Zion National Park. We met up with Raelene and her kids there and enjoyed a picnic on the lawn at the Big Screen Theatre. We went on a nature walk by the river and saw the many many people camping there that week and then we went and enjoyed the Big Screen production of Dinosaurs Alive. It was an educational film about the discovery of all the new dinosaurs and how they find them and put them together. The kids loved it and everything was in 3-D. After the movie, I took the kids to one of the local rock shops in Springdale and let them pick out a "treasure" that they could take home. The girls and Rhett picked out shiny pretty rocks and the boys picked out some kind of animal tooth (surprise, surprise). We went home and did a little work weeding the yard and preparing it for Richard this weekend. We had a great day!

Spring Break Week of Fun...Day Three

Hi! I'm back. My computer was being cleaned out by my brother-in-law for a couple of days so that's why I'm a bit behind, but I wanted to catch you up on our fantastic week of fun that the kids and I enjoyed. Tuesday was day 3 and we went to the Washington City Recreation Center to go swimming. I had never been there before yet and it was a lot of fun. The kids loved it and we were joined by Murna and her kids, Amanda and her kids, and Kristine and her kids. It was a fun group, a lot of kids, and a lot of water! Later that day, Richard and I went on a bike ride with his brother Matt and his expecting wife, Nanette (so cute). We intended it to only be a few miles and maybe an hour of riding, but it ended up being a little longer (close to 16 miles) and needless to say, we showed up to the truck around 10 p.m. (notice the before pic was in the light). It was quite the adventure and I must say, Nanette was such a trooper the whole time and Matt sure took good care of her. It still was a good time!

Spring Break Week of Fun...Day Two

So, here it is Monday, and we had another fun day. I have to teach classes all week until 11:30 a.m., so we can't do anything until after that. Fortunately for me, that let's me have the kids do all their chores and have the house clean before we leave anywhere (it's a great bribing too and yay for mom to have a clean house!). My friend Raelene and her 3 kids joined us today as well as my niece and nephew. We packed up lunches and headed up the wash in my back yard up to 3 falls. We hiked all the way up to the top and stopped in the middle for some lunch. The kids really enjoyed playing in the caves and yelling loudly in the canyons and listening to the echo. It was quite a long hike (about 4 miles altogether) but the kids did really well. I must say, Raelene was the toughest, packing her 2-year-old daughter most of the way. She was a real trooper. We were pretty tired when we got back, but it was a lot of fun! When Richard got home, for family night we hiked up to King's Castle. It was quite a steep hill, but not too long. The kids really liked it and it had a fun narrow cave you crawled down into and through. It was pretty fun. We took the kids out for a treat after and just enjoyed the time together. I always like it when Richard is able to go out with us. We like being together as a family. Tomorrow will be another adventure!

Three Falls Cave


Up to the Top Fall - We Made It!


King's Castle - Rich and the Kids with the View of Hurricane behind them


King's Castle - Me & the Kids against the back wall by the cave

Spring Break Week of Fun...Day One

For Spring Break this year, I decided to do something a little different. Instead of pine over projects and stuff I need to get done, I decided to spend a fun week with the kids and really explore this beautiful place we live in. I wanted it to be a bit of a "staycation" as my sister-in-law, Julie, called it. So, it all started on Saturday. Richard, I, and the kids worked on the yard for a few hours and then packed up the truck and drove up around the mountain to the base of Molly's Nipple and hiked up to the top. We've always wanted to go up there and Richard had never hiked up to the top even though he's lived here his whole life. It was a fun hike and the kids loved it. We shot the pistol up at the top and took in the beautiful view.

Here we are at the bottom before the big hike...

We made it!

Rhett shooting the pistol with Dad

Beautiful Hurricane Valley...What a view!

Tigerette Spectacular 2009

Here are the pictures I promised to post. We had our drill team spectacular the end of February. We decided to have it on the stage in the auditorium because we had such a small team this year and it went really well. Jeff (my brother-in-law) MCed for us and did a great job (thanks Jeff) and my daughters got to perform in it as well along with my niece. It was fun to watch them and they all had a great time. It only lasted just over an hour and it was beautiful.

Alayna doing her "Wendy - Peter Pan" dance


Trista dancing with her group (not the best pic, but Richard took all these for me - thanks sexy!)


Me & Anna - I did try to stoop to make me not look so tall, but she is really short!


Us & the girls

Tagged by Raelene!

Anway, I know this is Raelene's way of getting me to post since it has been a bit, but in my defense, It was the Tigerette Spectacular (pictures coming soon), tryouts, and then everyone, yes EVERYONE, in my family got the stomach flu, the regular flu, and some kind of bronchial cold infection. So we have had an excuse. Anyway, for the sake of giving you something to read for now...I will oblige!

The 8 mysteries of me

8 favorite tv shows
1) Friends (yes I still watch all the reruns when I can and have them memorized)
2) King of Queens
3) American Idol
4) The Millionaire Matchmaker
5) Jockeys
6) Biggest Loser
7) News
8) I can't even think of one more show and I don't really get to watch these shows much!

8 things I did today

1) Went to a meeting for Alayna
2) Went to work
3) Played with Rhett
4) Took care of a sick Tris
5) Took boys to piano
6) Took Kayle to scouts
7) Took Alayna to dance
8) fed my family dinner

8 things I'm looking forward to

1) This weekend, hopefully get our yard more done! Yay for grass soon!
2) Having everyone healthy again....hopefully soon
3) Losing my last 5 pounds!
4) Spring break, no work and no running around activities.
5) Maybe having a date soon with my hottie
6) Going to bed tonight...yes I'm old, I like my sleep
7) Warm weather - I love sunshine
8) Catching up on all my e-mails, bills, and etc....never gets done!

8 favorite resturants

1) olive garden
2) red lobster
3) Wingers
4) Applebees
5) not a resturant, but I love california rolls from harmons (me too!)
6) Outback
7) Dairy Queen
8) Any good chinese

8 things on my wish list

1) For everyone to be healthy for a good while!
2) Finish our yard!
3) Get the boys' room figured out and done
4) Keep up with my laundry...yeah, right
5) Find the perfect summer dress
6) Spend more time with girlfriends
7) Spend more time with my honey
8) Spend more fun time with my kids

8 people I tag

Anyone who dares take this on...I dare you!

Kayle's Weather Debut...

Here is Kayle introducing Three Falls Elementary and the weather segment for KCSG. He is on the very right when the camera pans, 2nd from the right on the 2nd row.

Here is the web address if you want to check it out!

http://www.kcsg.com/39532912.html

Weekend Project...

Here is a little of what I have been working on lately. Trista's room we have been turning into a Hawaiian getaway and it is 95% done, so I will post pictures of the completion soon. I just finished painting all the walls in Alayna's Ladybug Cottage and we have the build shelves on the one wall and do a few other things, but pictures will come when it is done. Here is a picture of her dresser. I took the boys' old dresser, painted it black, and painted the knobs to look like ladybugs. It turned out so cute! I was very excited and I can't wait to see how it looks in her room. Enjoy!

Disney Pictures Part II

Disneyland Fun...

Well, we did it. I finally convinced Richard to head back to Disneyland after a
3-year break. This time, we went in off season, waited until the kids were older, and planned ahead ALOT. Anyway, the trip was awesome. We had a great time. The kids loved it and even though it rained a little, we had so much fun! Rhett was able to go on everything minus two rides and the lines were so small that we only waited maybe 10 minutes for a couple of rides - the rest we walked on. Some we even rode a couple of times in a row. Wednesday we spent the whole day at Disneyland and we even ended the day by seeing Mickey and Minnie together. So the kids were able to get a picture. We were so excited! The funnest part for the kids was the Jedi training camp. The kids got picked out of the audience to go on stage and learn how to fight like Jedis. They got to dress up and fight Darth Vader and Darth Maul (Sorry don't know how to spell those). They gave them little graduation certificates and the kids were so stoked. That was their favorite part of the whole trip! Thursday, we went to California Adventures and had a blast there. We went on Toy Story twice in a row and the kids loved shooting the guns and the 3D stuff. It was pretty cool. Trista and Alayna loved Screamin' and they ended up riding it 2 and 3 times. We rode all the little kid rides in both parks as well as all the main attractions, I think we may have only missed the Mark Twain boat and the Dumbo Elephants. We did everything else so it was pretty cool! We all got to go on Tower of Terror twice in a row with no waiting and Richard really liked that ride. The boys were not so fond of it and we had to bribe them to go on it again. We are so mean...
Friday, we went downtown to do some shopping and went swimming and just hung out. Saturday, we went and did our Magical Morning and rode the Nemo Submarines and a few other rides we had missed as well as some of our favorites. It started raining pretty good right before lunch, so we headed home. We got home late last night and I can't tell you how much I love my own bed! Overall, we had a blast and hopefully we won't wait 3 more years to do it again! Here are some of the highlights from our trip!

Congrats to My Bobcat!

So my little man just received his bobcat badge tonight and he was so proud I had to take a cute picture of him. He loves his picture being taken - can't you tell? Anyway, I am a little new to the scout thing being that this is my oldest son and I have no brothers, so when they asked me to go up and get my mother's pin, I had no idea what they were talking about, but I'm sure I'll figure it out after my next two boys follow suit....How fun! Anyway, a big congratulations to my little guy and I want him to know how much I love him and I'm thankful for the example he is to his little brothers.

Blonde Ambition

So...I've always thought that I might one day, just one, try to attempt to go blonde. It's always been against my better judgement, but I thought, hey, I'll give it a shot - it's just hair. Wrong!!! Hair is much more a part of me than I have ever realized until yesterday. After 4 1/2 hours at the shop, 3 full bleach treatments, 5 touch ups to the ends, some low lights, 3 toning sessions, and 3 shampoos, this is what I looked like....


Not so fun, huh?

Anyway, it was a fun joke for a day, especially since I had to volunteer in Ethan's class that day, teach aerobics, and work at the school. So just about everyone saw me and had their fun for the day. Well, it was good for my tolerance and self worth building, I'm sure...haha. Anyway, after an hour and a half of weaving some color back into it and trying to salvage a little bit of the blonde, this is what came out of it, which, by many accounts is much better (the pictures don't really do it justice). Thank goodness for the miracle of color...Ahhhh....

Update, Update, Update...Can you believe it?

I apologize...time has once again gotten away from me and I feel like the world is spinning and moving around me. Thank goodness I have patient and understanding friends and family, right? Anyway, here is a short, and not completely total, update on what has been happening the last month and a half since I updated! Ugh!
Middle of December, drill competition started and I was up to Bountiful for a weekend. I drove through a blizzard and that was exciting. My sister came up to the competition to see me with the kids too! Matt and Nanette announced they were expecting their first child, which was very exciting news! We found my Mom a place close by. Christmas was fun. Richard was on call, so unfortunately, he was called out at 6 a.m. Christmas morning and did not return until 1 p.m., so I did the Christmas morning thing with the kids by myself, but my Mom came over and was there and I was just thankful that in this day and age my husband had a job to go to. The kids had a wonderful Christmas and were happy with what they received. Grandpa had a mini stroke Christmas Eve and then was hospitalized for a day with a UTI and a high fever. We got the message they had sent him to the hospital when we were coming down off of Kolob where we had spent the day snow-tubing (which was really fun and I totally forgot to take pictures). He is doing better now.

New Years Eve we spent at home with the kids. We made ice cream sundaes and since we had no TV, we watched a movie and then shouted "Happy New Year!" When our clocks said midnight. By then, half of the kids were asleep anyway. The 1st weekend in January, I was off to another competition in Richfield and Richard stayed home and poured another section of our back patio area. We are hoping to get the yard together this year! Finally! The next weekend was my EJ's birthday. He had a small get together with a couple of cousins. We went to see Hotel for Dogs and then we ate pizza and they had a sleepover. They were up all night and didn't seem to have any side effects from no sleep! Believe me, I did! Oh, and Ethan finally lost his 1st tooth 1 week before his 7th birthday - he was so happy. He was one of only kids in his class that hadn't lost a tooth and now he has a whole bunch loose!

Dance has started back up for the girls and the boys are now in piano. Soccer will start soon and there is always plenty to do. We have just been trying to get caught up from the holidays still and get a litle done around the house. I have been busy painting and getting Trista's room ready (yes, she is finally getting her own room and she is thrilled). She wanted a Hawaiian room, so I will post pictures when I get it all completed. It's going to be so cute! We are taking the family to Disneyland in a week and a half and it's going to be so fun! Hopefully I will post pictures before 2 months later! I'm not much of a photographer and I'm not very good at the blogging thing, but I'm trying. Thanks for being so patient with me!

Since January 5th, I have been doing Isagenix and this health challenge with some girls that I work with at the school. So far, I have lost 8 pounds and 12 inches and I hope to lose 12 more. People think I'm crazy, but I think I will feel so much better. I'm just happy to have all the vitamins in my system and that I am finally feeling a little healthier. I workout so much, but I don't eat well, so this has helped me get on track. It's been fun!

My cousin, Stacy, had her baby boy this week, and I can't wait to see him. We have 4 people pregnant on Richard's side of the family right now, so there will be lots of babies going on in the next 6 months. It will be fun. Everyone has been doing really well in school and in life. I hope all of your families are doing well and enjoying this crazy life. I know I am.

Weird, fun, snow in Southern Utah... (View of the Hay Barn)



Merry Christmas kids!



The kids with Grandpa Louis on Christmas day!



EJ's 1st lost tooth!



Happy Birthday my little angel!