The 4th of July

I have always really enjoyed the 4th of July. We usually celebrate out in Lewiston with family. This is a run down of our day.

First we start out with a parade. Tanner rode in the parade again this year with our neighbor's.
Notice Jeff with the mega phone. Yea he rocks and gets the kids lots and lots of candy.

After the parade we strolled through the city park, and looked at the different booths. Then we went to my parents house and had lunch. After lunch we played a few games of volleyball, and then decided it was time to play in the water. Every year my dad floods the lawn with pipes, and it always turns into a huge water fight.

And of course boys will be boys.

Now it is time for cotton candy. (My mom gave my dad a cotton candy machine for father's day)

After we got Tanner cleaned up we went to Newton Dam where my brother had his boat. We went on a boat ride, and Tanner, Nixon, and Jeff rode on the tube. Lexi missed out because she was snoozing in the car. When we got out of the boat Jeff was anxious to go because of his allergies. We got home around 7:30 and got the kids in the bath and ready for bed. At 9:30 we met up with several neighbors and did fireworks. Jeff was especially excited for the fireworks since he made a little trip up to Wyoming to get the good stuff. (No pictures, I left my camera at my parents) It was a good day. Happy Birthday America!!!

Good old fashion fun.

It was so fun to watch Lexi playing with the hose. She was in her own little world, and didn't have a care in the world.

I remember doing this exact thing when I was younger, man those where the good old days.

What Now?

Now what? The answer to that question is I'm not sure. I'm still a little bit in shock that we finally got an offer on our house, after years of putting out the for sale sign and nothing happening. What's even crazier is that this whole thing happened in less than a week of listing our home with a realtor. I know it's not a for sure done deal yet but it looks like it might be. The buyers are already qualifed for the loan, and their house has already sold back in Kentucky. Right now I have mixed emotions over the whole deal. Yes I'm excited that it sold, and we can move on with our plan of building again. At the same time I'm sad to leave this house that we have so many memories in. I'll always remember how hard Jeff and I were working on the house so we could get moved in before I was to give birth. Lexi was born three days after we moved in, and I loved the feeling of bringing home my new baby to our brand new house. What makes it even harder to say goodbye to our house is to leave the best neighborhood ever. I've come to have great friendships with my neighbors and my kids love playing with all the neighbor kids. It is hard to imagine having better neighbors than I have now. I'm not 100% sure but, if things go as I would like, we are going to rent one of the town homes just down the street while we decide what we are going to do next.

Here are a few pictures in memory of our first home.

Time for a change

It might be time for a toddler bed.

Nixon's been climbing out of his bed for a little while, but today was the first time he got stuck upside down. He makes me smile everyday.

A little R & R

We decided to take a trip while Jeff was out of school for spring break. We wanted to go somewhere warm so we headed south to Las Vegas. The weather was perfect!!! Upper 70's and low 80's the whole time we were there. The kids were so excited to go stay at the condo and swim. It was a nice relaxing week because we left Nixon at Grandma Barlow's house. I was sad to leave him and I missed him a ton. But it was sure nice not to have to deal with naps, and constantly be pulling him away from the edge of the pool. Here are some highlights of our trip.


A DAY ON THE STRIP.

We spent one day on the strip. We went to the M&M and coke factory, and spent a ridiculous amount of money on some M&M's and a few swirly straws. We watched the fountains in front of the Bellagio. We had a yummy lunch at the Cheesecake Factory (I had never eaten there and I must saw I loved it).

PLAYING AT THE POOL.
We spent a majority of our time playing at the pool. Tanner loved it!!! He asked us if we could live there FOREVER. Lexi had fun too but would get tired of it after a hour or two. Tanner was swimming all over the pool, doing 360's and flips into the pool. Lexi was a lot more cautious she would play on this little landing that was ankle deep. She wouldn't let you take her out into the water. Even with a life jacket on she wouldn't go farther than the stairs. It felt so good to lay there in the warm sun.

THE BASS PRO SHOP.

The kids had a blast in this store. It is basically a huge sporting goods store. They have live size displays of almost everything in the wild such as: elk, bears, lions, giraffes and so one. The biggest hit was this huge aquarium. We had to go to this place twice because the kids wanted to go see the fish again.

We had a great week in Las Vegas. But I sure was excited to get back to my Nixon!!!

Silly boy

I have to admit it takes me way to long to get me and the kids ready in the morning. I'm not a morning person so I usually get up when the kids get up which is around 7:30 to 8:00. I get the kids breakfast, then clean up. Then I try to get the kids content with something (which is usually a video to watch) long enough for me to take a shower. But of course there has to be a fight over what movie to watch (We cancelled our cable a while ago and just have an antenna now, and we do not get any channels with cartoons. Man I miss the Disney and Nick Jr. channels.) So now I've finally got my shower over with, and I move onto hair and makeup. If I were able to do this without any distractions it would normally take me 30 minutes, but with my curious climbing little boy it takes me twice the time. He loves to climb on the toilet then onto the counter. I'm constantly pulling him off the counter. To bad he is not more entertained by whatever movie is playing. One day he decided to watch instead. He got into the sink and was just watching me. I pulled him down, and he got up into the sink and did the same thing. After a few times of this I figured he's not hurting anything so I let him watch me while he chilled in the sink.

I know that almost all of my morning chaos could be solved if I would wake up an hour earlier and get myself ready before the kids get up. It seems so simple, but WHY CAN'T I DO IT.

SPRING FEVER

Man oh man do we love this weather. It feels sooo good to finally go outside and have it be warm. My kids are lovin it. I think we went to the playground 4 or 5 times in 3 days. On Friday we went to Willow park to see the animals. The kids had a blast seeing the animals. Then we went to the playground, and played and had lunch. Here are some pics of willow park. My battery died so I didn't get any pictures on the playground.

I'm glad we got outside the last few days because I think it's suppose to storm this next week. It might even snow. What a typical spring in Utah.

Gotta Love Those Beaters

Making cookies with dad, need I say anymore.

Well actually I should explain the chocolate all over Tanner's face.

Whenever we make cookies, pudding, cake, whip cream, etc. Jeff ALWAYS puts a little dab on his nose and continues doing whatever it is he was doing. The kids laugh and tell him he has something on his nose. Jeff denies that there is anything on his nose and this goes on until all the dough is gone. So now Tanner does this, but as you can see he gets a little bit carried away with putting the food on his face.

A day in my life.

The winter months can seem very long, and not too long after the snow comes and stays I'm looking forward to spring. Being at home all day with three crazy kids can be very exhausting. After picking up after the kids and trying to clean the house all day to have it look like I did nothing that day can be very overwhelming at times. Here are some pictuces of things that are pretty common at are house.

First Words

Today Nixon said his first understandable words!!! I was sooo excited because he is 15 months old, and should be saying several words by now. I'm starting to be a little concerned but, not totally freaked out yet. I'm pretty sure he can hear because he responds when you talk with him. Such as, you ask him for a kiss and he will give you a big wet slobbery kiss. At his doctors appointment just recently I brought this speech delay issue up with the doctor. He didn't seem to worried yet either. However he gave me some information on a program I could contact that could help Nixon. Next week a speech therapist is coming to test or observe (I'm not sure what they do) him, and see if he qualifies for this program.

Anyway back to the story. Nixon LOVES his daddy. As soon as Jeff comes in the door Nixon squeals and gets so excited and runs to daddy. Most of the time Nixon wants his dad to hold him and play with him. This morning when Jeff was getting ready to leave for work he was telling all the kids he loved them and was giving them a kiss. Nixon was following Jeff around and he said,"I love you." Jeff and I looked at each other in shock. It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen.

Holiday parties

We had an awesome Christmas!!! This is how it went:




December 23rd Party with the Low Family.

The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins. Santa came and picked up the coats each family brought to donate to someone in need. Opened presents, gotta love that, and of course the food was excellent!!

December 24th party with the Barlow Family in the day.

Again, the kids loved playing with their cousins. Santa came and brought each of the kids a gift. We read the Christmas story from the Bible while the kids dressed up and played their part. Lexi was an angel who ended wearing purple because that material had sparkleys in it. Tanner was a wise man who wasn't really feeling like participating. Then again, was another great lunch. And of course PRESENTS!!!

December 24th evening back at our house to have our own family party.

For the last few years this is what we have done. The kids each get to open a present from us and of course they are new PJ's(I know very original), and then there is one present for the family, a new Christmas book. We read the new story have hot chocolate and watch a Christmas show. This year we just found a show to watch on T.V. In the past we have watched a DVD on the birth of Christ, but our DVD player is broken. Then it is off to bed. Usually I'm up forever this night wrapping presents, but this year I didn't procrastinate.

December 25th

YEAAAH Santa came!!!

The kids had a great day!! We opened presents first thing in the morning. Then we have cinnamon rolls and play with our new toys the rest of the day. That is our Christmas day. I feel lucky to be able to spend the whole day with my family at home. All the Christmas parties are over, and I love how it all works out to be able to spend Christmas eve and Christmas day at home.

But that's not all. Then comes NEW YEARS!!

December 31th The last of the parties.

We went to a party out at my parents house this year. We had a lot of fun, especially Jeff. My brother owns Motor Sports Unleashed so he brought a few of his big boy toys, and the guys and a few girls had lots of fun playing in the snow. We had pizza, eat lots of goodies, and played games until we rang in the new year. The kids had lots of fun playing in the hot tub. Thanks Grandpa and uncle Ken for always being so willing to get in with them. We all had a great time!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Nixon

YEAH Nixon is finally walking! He started to walk several weeks ago, but I'm kind of slow on putting things like this on here. Nixon is almost 15 months, and we are so proud of him. I was starting to wonder if he was ever going to start to walk.

Nixon is also our little climber. You have to constantly be watching him because he will climb up and onto everything. I have to pull the chairs away from the kitchen table, and the computer if I don't want to constantly be pulling him of the table or playing on the computer. We have a gate that I put up so he can't get to the stairs, but he will climb up the gate too. He has learned how to do stairs now so I guess I can put the gate away now. He also LOVES to get into the pots and pans.

Nixon defiantly keeps me busy and on my toes. I'm looking forward to him growing out of this stage where he is into everything, but I better enjoy this cute little guy at this stage too. I am also looking forward to him being old enough to go to nursery. I don't think I can remember the last time I was able to sit through Sunday school class and relief society. Even though Nixon keeps me super busy I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Merry Christmas

This time of year is one of my favorite's. I love getting together and celebrating with family and friends. Having a 4 and 3 year old makes it even better. To see them get so excited over Christmas, and watch their reaction on Christmas morning is the best! However, need we not forget the true meaning of Christmas. The celebrating of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I hope everyone has a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Let it snow!!!

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the soup mom made is so delightful, and since we no place to go let it snow let it snow let it snow.

Smilebox

I was playing around on this website, and I wanted to see what it looked like as a post. I'm not sure how this will look.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Nixon gets butched

Well it is that time, time for Nixon to get his first haircut. His hair was not too long, but he had this patch of hair in the back that would just stick out, and it always looked so messy.

I would of preferred to just cut the back, but I don't dare try to even the top with scissors yet so all I know how to do is just buzz it off. Oh well that works. Here are a few pictures of the process thanks to Tanner's lovely photography.

Here are just a few more of the many pictures Tanner took.

Now it is time to show you a cute picture of Nixon with his hair cut, except Lexi got a hold of the camera when Tanner was done with it, and I don't know want is wrong with my camera now. Here is a picture that Tanner caught of Nixon after his haircut.

Kind of hard to see how cute his new haircut is, but oh well. (The little girl is my niece)

So unless I can figure out what is wrong with my camera I might just have to wake up super early the day after Thanksgiving and try to get a deal on a camera. A camera was defiantly not on the Christmas list, but you gotta have one. Does anyone have any suggestions on good cameras? I would love love love a really nice camera, but I just don't know if I can justify that right now, so any suggestions would be great.

Happy Halloween

The kids had a very fun Halloween this year. The day before Halloween I had my photoshop class so Jeff watched the kids, and they painted pumpkins. He took some really cute pictures of them here are just a few.

Jeff is an excellent babysitter. On the occasions that he does babysit, and I might add that those times a pretty rare, when I come home the kids are usually bathed and in bed.

On Halloween this year the kids were in their costumes all day. We started the day out by going to see Jeff at school during lunch time.

The school kids loved seeing the kids dressed up in their costumes. All the girls came in his classroom and oohed and aahed almost the whole time. It is so funny to watch middle school kids and the way they act. That is such an awkward age anyway.

After lunch with Jeff we met my friend Amanda and her girls at Lee's, and did their little trick-or-treating around the store. Then we came home and had several hours of down time. I really wished I could of got Lexi to take a nap, but she had all ready had to much candy and was on a sugar high.

I wanted to take some pictures of the kids in their costumes before we went out trick-or-treating, and this is where a nap would of been really nice for Lexi to have had because she wouldn't cooperate at all.

Tanner was pirate again this year. This was mostly because of me he wanted to be batman, but I didn't want to spend what I thought was a lot of money on a batman costume. When I saw this pirate costume I thought it was so cute, and it was half the price of the batman man costume. He was happy with the pirate costume.

Lexi was a princess butterfly. She looked soooo cute. The picture at Jeff's school is the best picture I have that shows her costume. I need to put her in her costume one morning and actually get a cute one of her. Anyway, this is the kind of picture I could get.

Nixon was our cuddly little chicken. I got several cute pictures of him.

As you can see Nixon didn't like it to much when I would put the hood on.

Yes, it is time to go trick-or-treating now!

I can't remember a Halloween when it has been warm. The weather was so nice. We went out around 6:30 and didn't get home until around 8:00, and the whole time I was in long sleeved shirt and never even had to put on my jacket. Last year I remember the kids wanting go home after about 20 minutes because it was so cold. It was a fun Halloween and we got a TON of CANDY.