Yes we are still alive. I should say that we have been busy, busy but that would be a lie. I just don't take time to update things. I would rather sleep to be perfectly honest with everyone.

This fall/winter we have been just hanging out. My brother got married in October (I am very slow). It was a great wedding. We drove down to Albq, NM. That is were Reta's family is. The wedding was at her sisters house. The house was a dream house. We are very happy for them:)

So then we go into Thanksgiving. We were able to stay here. My parents came up and we had dinner with my family and then over to David's house. Thanksgiving is always to busy for use. And too much stuffing our faces. This year we also had Trent get Baptised during the holiday break. Very exciting.

Then into Christmas which is always very fun with the kids. David was able to take the week off so we had Christmas at the house then took off for New Mexico. My parents were not able to come up this year because they had spent two weeks during Thanksgiving. So I wanted to spend time with them. David was not happy to drive but he loves me.:) What a great guy.

We had Ethans Birthday down there with my parents. Ethan turned 2 on the 29th. He was just so happy to be able to open every present he found. It even rolled over to Andrew and David's birthday in January. He knew it was a present so he thought he was suppose to open it.

I will post pictures later. Like I said I am very slow. You know Christmas was just two months ago really am I suppose to have my pictures on the computer already?

We are getting ready for spring to jump out at any time. My kids are tired of the house and want to play outside. The snow has been great but they have not been able to play in it as much as they would like. I don't like the wet that is all over my house when the snow playing goes on. We have enjoyed this winter.

So that is the update for now. Hope to be better at keeping things posted.

What Pool?

So this is a picture before reading...look how nice it looks. I have not put the other pictures on my computer yet. I will do that later. But at least you know some of my summer plans. I am not a very good blogger. I forget or just am lazy. Lazy is most of the time.


Yesterday we were going to go to the pool after reading. Tuesday we read from 2-3 at Grandma Searles house. She is awesome. Well all morning it looked like a great day but NO when the afternoon comes in so do all the clouds. So we thought we would put the sprinklers under the tramp and let them play for a while before it started raining to much. They did have fun but I do wish the weather was warmer so that I could use my pool pass that I spent so much money on. That is one reason I can't go to all these field trips. If I would have known the weather was going to stay rainy I would have waited to buy the pass and then I would have been able to enjoy more field trip days.

Shipping Anywhere

It is summer time and we have had some fun planning trips for the summer time. One big rode trip is to Oceanside, California. So we went and bought a roof carrier because we have to much stuff to fit in the van. Yes a van but we still have too much stuff. Four kids does that to you. So we had it out to see if it would fit all our suitcases in it. Well Ethan thought is was for him and climbed inside and he thinks he is ready to go. He has his blanket and himself. What else do you need? He is a cute little boy. It is going to be lots of fun. I can't wait till July gets here. I myself am ready to go tomorrow. Just so excited.......

I am very slow at posting our Spring Break pictures. We had lots of fun. We went to Farmington NM to visit my parents for a couple of days. It was very busy because it was the 15th. (If you are an accountant then you know how busy it gets) Why did we visit during that time? The kids kept begging to go to Farmington so that is the time we had to get down there. It was on our way to Flagstaff to visit some friends. So we stopped and had fun in the hot tub and played with my brother Brads dogs. Thursday when we were getting ready to leave Brad came over and asked if the boys wanted a ride on the motorcycle. Ryan had a smile on his face that would not go away. Andrew will give it a try next time. They love visiting. They have so much fun doing nothing but being at grandma and grandpas.

When then finally made it down to Flagstaff and had so much fun playing with friends. (The Reber's) Andrew and Ryan didn't want to go anywhere unless Caden and Matthew were with us. We want to thank the Reber's for letting us crash there already busy weekend. We had tones of fun. We went down to this zoo that is called Out of Africa. FUN FUN FUN...

We got to feed the giraffe the kids loved it. You get so up close with these animals. We had a great tour guide. She stopped at every animal.

Caden and Andrew

Those are snakes...Sadie was very brave to get in there and pet the snakes. The boys loved to get in there and touch those snakes. They were BIG...

They had this Tiger show that was neat to watch. They had workers that would get in there with the tigers and chase around and play with the tigers. They had a cub show. I didn't get many pictures because my camera is not good at action pictures. If was lots of fun though.

Time Goes By

This house has changed so much. This his Grandma and Grandpa Chipman's house on the farm. When I was little they had several arches of land north of the house that we would run around on. They had a motorcycle that the boys would fight over and the tree swing over the Irrigation. They sold that land and there is now a church on it but still that house sat. We had tons of summers out on that grass. Now that Grandma and grandpa are both gone the house has changed hands. My cousin now lives there and is trying to fix it up. The time goes by and it look so different. It does look really good. I should also find some pictures of the inside and take some now. Michelle has done a great job making it hers. I will never be able to call it Michelle's house. It is still Grandpas house up on the farm....

Mykel...four....and everything else

Mykel had a birthday. She is now four and loves it. She got to go to the Jazz game with her daddy and loved it. The Jazz won. She also was so excited about turning four because she is now able to have makeup. It is just chapstick but she loves it anyways. She got a little makeup table and sits for hours doing makeup....Our little princess is getting so big.

Here are some other pictures that I will post just since I have not posted for a while now...Andrew loves scouts. He turned eight in January and that is all he talked about was being able to go to scouts. He gets it twice since David and I are over the Bears. He comes to our meetings then to his. He thinks he knows it all. A very big helper.Mykel is going through this stage that she thinks she has to be in a dress everyday. The stars on her head was her birthday hat from Preschool. She loves wearing it around the house. I had to buy tons more spring dresses since that is all she will wear anymore. I never thought she would worry so young at what she wears but she wears probably four outfits a day. You go in her room and she has every outfit on the floor. What a mess at FOUR.

Ryan is best by himself. He likes to fight with everyone when they are around. David and I have realized that when we want to see our cute little Ryan come out of his shell you have to take him by himself to someplace. That is when you get to see who Ryan really is. He is a really cute boy but I think he was suppose to be an only child or something because he has a hard time with brothers and sisters. I guess that is why he is in our family so he can learn how to deal with brothers and sisters. What a hard thing to learn. He is a very cute boy and we do love him.

Ethan is a very different child. He picks up on things that the other three didn't every want to do. He loves pattycakes and ring around the roses. He claps his hands and is very dizzy for most of the day.

Finally....

Ethan is one that has his own time frame. He cares less that he his suppose to keep up with his brothers and sister. 13 months later he can now walk...

Birthdays

Happy Birthday David. We love you. Enjoy your day.

What a very cute boy......Happy Birthday

Andrew is EIGHT!!!!!

I can't believe that I have an eight year old. I never thought time would go by so fast. I love that he is growing up but the responsibility that he is now eight. He is going to be baptised Saturday January 17, 2009 at 10:00 am. He is very excited!!!!:) I am a little nerves because this is my first. You rethink your own baptism of what to except but this is not yours it his your child's day. So it brings own a whole new meaning. I am suppose to have one of the talks. Yea I don't know if I am going to be able to hold it together. I am a cry baby so who knows what is going to happen. It might not be a talk at all. I don't like giving talks in the first place.

Here are some pictures of Andrew. He is a very cute boy and I love that he has made the decision to be baptised. What great blessing come with this great work.

Little Mess Maker

Ethan loves to open any drawer and pull everything out. He then leaves it all over the floor. He will come back and throw it around the kitchen. He needs to learn how to put it back in the drawer. When do they learn that. They sure learn how to empty drawer real fast. Cleaning up is not something they enjoy doing. I feel like I am always cleaning my dishes because of this. If I use them or not I have to clean them because they have been pushed around my kitchen floor. I love that he likes to explore everything. So much to learn so little time.

Family Time

I don't have much to say but things are going well. We had a very busy Christmas. Christmas Eve we had our Jolley Party which lasts way to long. Then Chirstmas morning the kids love that Santa has left his bag full of toys. We had a brunch with both parents at the house. It makes for a busy morning but I love doing it. Then we went to my brothers house for dinner and exchange gifts. We have lots of fun spenting time together. The kids love the play time.

Ethan also turned 1 this month. Just keeps us busy. We had a party for him and he loved it. He was excited for the paper and boxes and Christmas then he realized there was more paper and boxes for his birthday. Lots of fun. He grew up WAY TO FAST. Do they slow down? I miss so much.

I have to add this video. Ethan was suppose to blow out his candle but he thought it might be better to touch it out. He learned early about fire....

Thanksgiving

I am very slow about getting things done. But here goes anyways. Our family had a great Thanksgiving. We enjoyed a night of moving my parents Hugh piano; that they brought up for me, into the house Wednesday night. VERY HEAVY :( We did get a lot of help from friends and family. Thank You very much. The kids love the piano and for two days that is all they did.

Thursday we where able to have Thanksgiving dinner together at my brothers house. It was a very nice dinner. The kids got to play and had fun. We also had to go to David's families house for dinner. At least Randy's dinner was a lunch and David's family was late for dinner. Lots of food and not enough time to eat. The kids always have lots of fun to play with cousins.

Then Friday morning we got up around 7:00 (that is the earliest we will every get up) and got the kids ready and started out to enjoy Black Friday. We had lots of fun. We didn't go out for anything that we needed but we did find some good deals. We got the kids good winter jackets. And David got his ladder that he has won't for five years. Buying a ladder just gave him more things to do around the house. So if that is what he wanted. :)

Then Friday night we were able to go out with my parents for dinner (no kids). When we got home David watched the Jazz game and Ethan played with a balloon. He rolled around with it with my dad. He loved it. It is always lots of fun when family comes up to visit.

Growing up Fast

This morning was just like any other day. Well, besides the fact that Ryan wants to be independent at six years old. I am not ready for this. I was walking out of my bedroom to check on the kids and I turn the corner to the kitchen and Ryan is being so cute making his own lunch. I normally make all the lunches in the morning so I don't have to make lunch after school for Ryan. But since I told Andrew that he was just going to have pizza, Ryan took it upon himself to make his own lunch. What a cute kid. If he keeps this up he will make my mornings a lot easier to deal with.

Mykel the other day was signing Happy Birthday. So here she is for you to enjoy...This is her version of Happy Birthday. She has learned it from her brothers. Thanks:)

Lost

So this picture is late but here are our cute trick or treater's

Ok so I have been lost in my own little world. I borrowed a book (Twilight) from my friend Julie, just interested in what the excitement was about. So I started to read and now a week later I know why they love it. I have not read like that since...never. I couldn't believe they were really that good. I have not been up to anything else so I am just going to post some pictures.

Oh yea Ryan did have a birthday so he is now six and still a little stinker. He did have a great time with all his friends and enjoyed the attention they get from everyone on that day.

Friends

Do you ever have those days when you know you were suppose to do something and you didn't and then reminded that you are suppose to do that something through a lesson. This week I have been trying to be a better friend. Today at church the RS lesson was on being a better friend or how we can be better friends with VT. I think Shauna was trying to tell me something. I need to improve this area. So to those friends that are always great at being a friend; which, are a lot of you. Thank You. So in RS the lesson gave me a reminder what I need to do this week. I need to be better about being open and listen to the spirit but I am not perfect. :( So I do apologize for not always being on top of things. Now it is my turn to try to be like you gals and be better at being a good friend. Thanks:)

Running Water

Ethan is the funnest kid. He loves nights when dinner is done and he knows there is something else to do. Take a bath. As all the other kids have to shower before bed. When that water turns on he is the first to hear and come running. He will stay in that bathroom til the water has turned off and the other kids are in there bed asleep. My other children liked baths but I don't remember them wanting a bath all the time, and everyday. He is a fish out of water. When in doubt about fussy just turn the water on for a bath and he is all smiles. Very cute and easy to make happy.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I can't believe how busy times get. I feel like I haven't stopped since Thursday. I woke up and got the kids ready for school and got a phone call from my cousin at 7:30am. (This call was excepted) Letting me know that my grandpa had passed that night. Since then my days have run together and had no time for anything. We did have time to decorate cookies with our friends The Lefler's. My kids ask every year to decorate cookies with friends for the holidays. So it has been something fun to do every year. The kids loved the time with friends before family got here and the busy went with it.








Friday we planned flowers and tried to help with the funeral. Thanks to Michelle who had her head on straight and got things done. The viewing was Sunday night and the funeral was Monday morning. So when family got here Friday night we spent time just visiting with grandma and grandpa at my aunts house. Then Saturday was a day of figuring out what was what and last minute things for the funeral. There is a lot of work that goes into taking care of the house and everything that is left over from my grandparents life. Lots of memories. My grandfather was a man that kept everything. He lived a life to be very pride of. To have learned just one thing from his life is a lot to be able to pass on. My children loved to go visit him up at his house. We will all miss him. He is probably not missing us since now he is with his wife and son. What a wonderful reunion they have had.:)Thank you Grandpa for getting us all together to enjoy this weekend together as family. We love you and hope you are running and golfing with grandma and Jim. So after that we tried to get back to life for our children. The Monday before Halloween we carve pumpkins. So we went to get pumpkins. The cousins came over with their pumpkins and we sat around and carved pumpkins. We do this tradition for the children so THEY can have fun carving their pumpkins but as you can see in the picture I think the kids had lots of fun. Andrew did do a great job on his pumpkin this year. Thank you Trent, Tyler, and Kara for coming over and carving pumpkins.
One more side note... LOOK at what Andrew can do. Something new. He loves it. Good job Andrew.

Well that is it. My busy weekend. I had so much to say that sometimes it doesn't come out alright so if it sounds funny just blame it on my grandpa's passing and I am not all together. Thanks for reading.