Happy Birthday Emma!

Last week my baby turned 1! I think Emma could tell it was her special day. From the moment we woke up we all sang Happy Birthday to her. She smiled, danced and clapped her little hands while we did. We waited till the night when Chris got home from work to celebrate. I made dinner, and we ate cake.

At first she didn't really know what to do. All of this cake for her?? She kept looking at me for approval. With much encouragement from all of us, she slid the cake toward herself and sunk her little hands into it.

She sat there like that for a minute, then slowly put her face right into the cake. Classic.

By the time she was done, it was a mess. But she had so much fun we didn't care.

Her next favorite thing to do is take a bath, so that was on the list of activities right after the cake. (For more reasons than one).

Once she was all spic-n-span and smelling cuddly like babies do, we showed her her presents. She climbed on top of them and claimed them as hers. Then Crew showed her how to open them, and it was a whole new world.

I think she will do just fine come Christmas morning! She enjoyed opening her presents, and playing with all her new toys.

Happy Birthday little squeaker! You sure are a handful, but one of the cutest handfuls I've ever seen! We love you so much and are so blessed to have your spirit and light in our lives.

Naughty or Nice

We went to see Santa at the mall today. Kaylee informed me that it is not "the real" Santa. I confirmed that he is just one of Santa's helpers who reports back to "the real" Santa on whether you have been naughty or nice {and also what present you would like}. The set up they have here in Colorado is amazing. It's sort of like a "fast-pass" at Disney Land. You check in, they give you a time to come back, and when it's your time you see Santa. No long lines and kids going crazy! I loved it. Much more enjoyable!

This was the photo that was taken with Santa. I had to choose between three different ones. The first one Emma wasn't looking at the camera, Crew was smiling, and Kaylee was doing something funny with her arm. The second one all three of them weren't looking at the camera (pretty sure they were looking at me {oops}). The last one is the one I picked. I feel bad because Kaylee looks like she doesn't want to be there at all. But I promise she was the most excited one. Emma is just happy to be out of the stroller, and totally loving the balloon snowman she got from the elves.

This is our family photo that we got taken while we were in Utah for Thanksgiving. It's going on our Christmas cards, so if you want one of these beauties in your very own home, just let me know!! Aren't we a handsome bunch??

I have tons of pictures to post of Emma's birthday. She was such a sweetie for her big day. I love that girl! Can't believe she's already one!

I'm still alive...

I just wanted you to know that.

It's been a crazy last few weeks. We spent time with family in Utah, and Arizona over the Thanksgiving holiday. We moved from Kansas to Colorado. The kids and I just barely got into Denver yesterday and we are trying to adjust to the cold weather. Emma refuses to wear socks. So I got a few comments from the locals today when I went to get some groceries. What do ya do? Just a couple more days and she'll be one, where does the time go?

I'll have more details to blog about soon. I still have so much to sort out with the move, and catching Kaylee up with school. Gotta love the trailer life!

Along came Mr. Alligator...

This Halloween was different than any Halloween my kids have ever experienced. It was COLD! We celebrated our Halloween on Wednesday at the ward's Trick or Trunk. It was cold, windy, and dark. I was not able to get any good pictures of the kids due to these circumstances. But have no fear- I have plans of dressing them up and getting some good pictures soon. (Who doesn't love to dress up and take pictures?)

We did however go to the little zoo here the week before Halloween. They were having a Halloween thing, where kids dressed up and got candy. It was warmer. It was nice actually, mid 70's- beautiful! It's crazy how fast the weather changes! Here is our little Wonder Woman Emma. She is getting so big!

I recently took her to a doctor for an ear infection and they weighed her in at 17 pounds. She's a little on the small side (like all of our kids), but they measured her head (twice) and she has one big brain in there! She was in the 95% for her head size! Yup, she's a smarty! A petite smarty to be exact.

**I had to mention this before I forget**

This morning while eating breakfast Kaylee and Crew were talking about alligators and crocodiles. Kaylee said that they were the same thing and I told her about the difference in their snouts. Crew said, "yeah, and they can climb trees too." I paused, looked at him questioningly, and was about to correct him when he said, "they snap monkeys out of the trees!" I almost fell out of my seat laughing! We sing that Mr. Alligator song by the campfire all the time! Kids are so cute!

Family Happenings

 So we have just been busy doing the usual. I teach Kaylee her school, we play outside, go fishing tons, play around the campfire, and eat tons of yummy food! We took these pictures last Sunday after church. Just wanted to show you how cute these kids are!

 I just want to point out that the camper behind us is not out camper. It is our friend's camper who just so happens to be taking our picture. We should have taken it in front of ours, but oh well. I still think they all turned out pretty good.

Heads up on Halloween!! We got our costumes, and we are all ready. The kids have been playing in them already so I had to put them up so we can still get some good pictures for the big day. I'm really excited, cause they all look sooo darn cute, especially little Emma!! How fun!! Can't wait to share!!

Kaylee turns 6!

I guess Kaylee turned 6 two weeks ago, but I wanted to share what we did. First of all, she was so excited when she started getting all sorts of birthday cards and packages in the mail. She just felt so important. Every time we stop at the post office now she asks if she got anything!
For her birthday we spent the day driving to Kansas City (a two hour drive... that took more like 3). My gps took us the wrong way and we ended up passing a Cabella's, you know we had to stop for Chris! We didn't tell Kaylee where we were going, just that we had a surprise for her. So when we stopped at Cabella's she said, "Is this my surprise??" ...Not quite.

We found our way to the nearby mall where there was a Build-A-Bear Workshop. She had been talking about going there for months, and she was beyond excited when we let her pick out whatever she wanted.

She ended up with a cute pink bear named Alexis. She even picked out a birthday shirt for the bear and a pillow and sleeping bag! All ready for camping!

We had a fun BBQ over at one of Chris' buddies campsite and brought a cake. I still can't believe how old she is! She is growing up too fast! We are so blessed to have such a sweet little girl.

I caught this on camera, and I don't know why but it makes me crack up every time I look at it! Crew is really turning into a little ham! He is hilarious, and always makes the everyone laugh. We love him too... he's a keeper!

And then there is our little squeak-squawker Emma. She is climbing on everything now! She can climb up the little stairs in our trailer (just can't go down them yet), and she pulls herself up on anything she can reach. Her favorite thing to do is stand up by the shoe box that holds all our shoes and start pulling them out one by one.

She also just got her first two teeth in! She will chomp down on your finger so fast! It can be painful for such a little girl! I love this picture of her...she is sporting all things in which I have made for her! Leggings, Onesie, Headband, and Flower! Soo cute!

We have been really enjoying this new life style. It's amazing how stress free it really is. The weather is significantly different from Phoenix, but we are managing. We have already pulled out our winter clothes, and turn on the heater every night. Seeing as it's only the beginning of October, I am curious to see how we will survive much longer!

Down the Road...

We made it to Kansas safe and sound. It's green...really green. We are in a really small town that is just a 15 minute drive from a small town. It's very quaint, and cute, and I love it!

Where we are staying the Wi-fi connection (or lack there of) plain ol' stinks! So we went with a Verizon card, and the phone reception here stinks too! Go figure! That's why you're only getting one photo right now (it took me 30 minutes...you should feel lucky!) We drive daily into the town nearby, and visit the public library to mooch off their free Wi-fi, and quiet atmosphere for Kaylee's school. So far everything is just great!

The drive to Chris' work is less than ideal, so next week after Labor day we are moving closer. That's one benefit of living in a trailer I guess! This time I am not even stressed about the move at all!

The kids love where we are at, Chris loves the fishing, and I love having everyone together. We are truly happy, and extremely blessed to be a family again. :)

A Big Move.

I don't really have much spare time these days.

You see, we have just decided to pack up our whole family and go on the road with Chris.

We are leaving within the next two weeks.

Watch out Kansas....here we come!

{please send all your sanity my way, I'll be needing as much as I can get}

The Nutty Scientist!

This year we have decided to keep Kaylee at home and do an online school. With Chris traveling alot, we thought it would be easier so we could go visit him without pulling Kaylee out of school.

We have finished Day Two, and it's awesome!

Today for Science, Kaylee learned about the Scientific Method. So we held a little experiment where she got to practice the Scientific Method on a bunch of nuts!

She's totally loving the goggles (completely not necessary, but it's fun). Crew on the other hand...not loving that there is only one magnifying glass.

After smelling, touching, tasting, measuring, grouping and classifying, Kaylee drew her conclusions of the nuts. She is soo smart, and I am loving that I am able to teach her. We had two "ah-ha!" moments today where I could literally see it just click with her, and that was amazing! She is loving this too!

Not to be forgotten, Crew is learning to write too. He is doing really well, and loves when he gets his "school time." Emma, is army crawling around, and she practically schools everyone else in cute-ness.

Summer Happenings...

This summer has been pretty relaxed. We just got back from St. George last week, and we had a blast. It's so fun to visit family. Kaylee simply adores all her cousins, and tells everyone about it. Crew loves playing with his boy cousins, cause he's tired of playing Littlest Pet Shop and Princess. Emma just loves the attention she gets from her adoring fans.

Our sweet Emma is growing fast. She's not crawling yet, but she can get where she wants by rolling and shimmy-ing herself there. She is a happy baby that is known to smile at everyone. It's funny when we go out and random people will get a kick out of the fact that she smiles and laughs at them (little do they know that she does it for everyone).  If she's not laughing and smiling, she's sleeping. And that's just as cute!

Ahh yes... the many faces of Crew. This is his go-to face when the camera gets pulled out. He is such an amazing little swimmer! He can swim to the bottom, and just about anywhere he wants now. All without assistance! He loves going swimming, and he also loves playing outside. It's blazing outside, but I let the kids play (with water bottles and hats) until they can't take it any longer. Seems to get them to bed a little earlier.

Kaylee is my little mamma! She loves taking care of her little brother and sister. She is doing great swimming, next summer we are going to try the swim team! She has a current obsession with "The Neverending Story 2," it's really weird. She is starting to like the science-fiction stuff. I am going to start reading the Harry Potter books to her and Crew at night. She is starting 1st grade in just two weeks and she's already counting down the days. Today she told me, "Mom, just 13 more days till school starts!"

So that's what's going on here!

Before and After.....again!

I have come to the end of another weight-loss competition. The first time I came away victorious, this time, I was up against some stiff competition and only placed 6th. I am still happy with my weight-loss. I wanted to lose another 10-15 pounds, and I am proud to say that I lost 11.

It's a tad embarrassing to show my before picture, but what they heck, ya'll saw me back then anyways. I went from a size {barely squeezing into} 12, to an extremely comfortable 4. {I might be bragging slightly}

I am tempted to continue with the weight-loss, or maybe just continue to eat healthy and exercise regularly and just see what happens. Needless to say, I feel great. I am extremely happy with my results.

Sweet Giveaway!

Hey guys! I am doing a little Giveaway on

"I Wash...You Dry"!

Check it out here! Don't forget to tell your friends!

Hurry because it ends next Monday (7/11) at midnight!!

Oh Happy Day!

I know it's late in the day....{alright it's just one more hour till July 5th}, but I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Independence Day! I am so happy to be an American, where at least I know I'm free. And I wont forget the men who died, who gave that right to me....{everyone join in!!} So I'll gladly stand up....ok ok...

Anywho, it's also my sister Heather's Birthday! SO..... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!

I made her an awesome cake that you just have to check out! But I posted it to my yummy food blog at:

http://www.iwashyoudry.blogspot.com/

{but you can click here  for the direct link to it if you don't want to browse the whole blog}

So go there and look at it!

Have a Happy Day!!

Update on Summer 2010

Not much has been going on here. Becca came to visit, but I somehow never got my camera out to document it. We had a great time! Thanks Becca!

Crew is growing up so fast. He talks sooo much and tells me how it is all the time. He is obviously 100% boy; jumping off the couch, motorcycle noises, dirt, bugs, you name it!

The other day I walked into the garage and Kaylee and Crew were looking at the wall. I said, "what are you looking for?" Kaylee said, "There was a big bug!" Crew says, "Don't worry Kaylee, I will crush it with my shoe. Just go sit over there, I will take care of it." {Ahh- my little man is soo brave!}

Emma is 6 1/2 months old now, she rolls everywhere, but refuses to use her abs long enough to stay sitting by herself. She'll get there soon enough! For now I enjoy her baby-cute-ness.

We have been BBQ-ing alot lately. It's so great with our new pool and huge backyard. I don't know how Kaylee manages to eat corn on the cob without any front teeth, but she does! She's super excited to start 1st grade in the fall and tells everyone all about it.

We just visited Chris in Texas for Father's Day and enjoyed his company. We miss him so much and can't wait for him to come home! Love you Daddy!!

Backyard Swimming

We got a swimming pool for our backyard this summer (and hopefully for many summers to come). It's awesome because now I don't have to lug all three kids and all of our stuff to the city pool and be worried that they will some how be out of my reach in an emergency. It's a circular pool, 15 feet in diameter, and 4 feet high, perfect for our little family!

Don't worry, Emma is not floating alone in that little baby float behind the kids, she's sitting on my hip while I take pictures!

I'll be floating on this raft alot this summer!! Gettin' my tan on! Oh yeah!

Join my Swap!!

I am hosting a Summer-Time Swap on my food blog
 I Wash...You Dry !!

Check it out and join in on the fun!

The cut-off to join is June 11th, so hurry up and get over there!

Memorial Day Camping

For Memorial Day weekend Chris was able to get the weekend (and then some) off! We packed up Saturday morning and drove up north to beat the heat! We found a nice camp area in Kelly Canyon (near Flagstaff). We enjoyed tall trees, cool breezes, camp fires, smores, forts, naps in the shade, hikes and creeks, and of course good food!

Emma loves being outside, so do the other kids.

Emma rode in the hiking backpack and she loved it! We actually would just put her in it and let her sit there while we did other things like build awesome forts!

This was Kaylee's first fort, and she did great! Dad built the frame with Kaylee's input and guidance, and Kaylee gathered pine needles and placed them as high as she could reach.

Kaylee was all ready to sleep in her fort over night, until it got dark, and then she got scared...(we kind of knew that would happen) So she slept in the tent with us in the end!

It took us awhile to find the path, but we found a trail down to the bottom of Kelly Canyon where there was a small creek.

We showed the kids how to skip rocks, but they mostly enjoyed throwing sticks in the creek to see if they floated.

One of our small propane tanks ran out, so we ended up building a small fire and grilling our chicken over the hot coals. Dad showed Kaylee how to start a fire, keep it going, and even how to cook the chicken. Here she is basting the chicken in bar-b-q sauce.

A little cramped on the table (we left the other table at home), enjoying our dinner! It was a great trip, very relaxing, and we can't wait to do it again soon!

Weekend Plans

This weekend we made spur of the moment plans and decided to drive to El Paso to see Chris. It was a really low-key weekend, mostly just relaxed at his apartment, went swimming, did a little bbq, and just enjoyed spending time with daddy!

Today on our way home from Texas we stopped in Safford for a little lunch and a break from driving. I wasn't able to go to the Temple Dedication this last Sunday because we were in Texas, but we were still able to enjoy it's beauty today.

 It's located right beside a nice church building with loads of grass that was being watered...so my kids did what they instinctively do, and played like little monkeys!

It was a great break from the drive, and we got right back on the road and made it home in no time!

What a fun little trip! We are so blessed!

Intro to Summer 2010!

Let the summer fun begin!!

Grandma Toliver got Crew a Buzz Lightyear sprinkler toy for his birthday and the kids tried it out...success! I can tell that this is going to be a fun summer!!

St George Triathlon

Last weekend I travelled to St. George to compete in the St. George Triathlon. I have done several triathlons before, but they were the sprint distance. I decided to push my limits this time and do the Olympic distance. It is essentially twice the length of a sprint triathlon.

I brought my camera, but of course it never made it out of my bag. Luckily my brother-in-law brought his camera and snapped a few pics of me finishing.

Here I am just after sprinting to the finish line. During the whole race I was going back and forth with this other girl (number 397...never found out her name). It came down to the end, we were neck and neck, and she started to take off. I couldn't let her just beat me like that so we were flat out sprinting. I barely beat her by 1 tenth of a second! It was great! Although I felt like I was going to pass out after that!

My other brother-in-law Jesse competed too! This was his first time and he did so good! We met up at the finish line and snapped some pics.

After you are done they have tons of food that is just ready for consumption... I always eat the oranges because for some reason it's like my body is craving them! I think I did pretty good for my first Olympic distance, especially since I only trained for two weeks. Here is the break down of what you have to do:

1 mile swim (25.31 min.) 20 mile bike (1:17) and 10K run (1:03).

There are also transition times between the swim and bike and the bike and run... my total time was...

drum-roll please....

2:52.10!

Yes, that is nearly 3 straight hours of non-stop working out! But honestly it was not that bad and pretty enjoyable! I am excited to do another one soon!