Babysitting Oliver

We were able to have "little" Oliver up to our house a few days ago. This kid is the chunkiest, cutest guy around. You really do just want to eat him up. Since my kids were sick for a while we hadn't seen much of him lately, so it was nice to get to hang out with him again. My 3 girls LOVE Oliver and cannot get enough of him. We will take him anytime at our house!

What's Been Going On?

There have been a few happenings in our lives over the past few days. Nothing to extraordinary or anything, but we have hit a few milestones!

• Friday night Kim & Luke took half the hoard and had a sleepover. My kids are so lucky to have such a fun Aunt and Uncle. They ate pizza, made brownies, played, and I am sure kept Kim and Luke up way past their bedtime! It was so nice to have "half" a break that night. Thanks Kim and Luke!!!

• Saturday morning I met up with the Jensen girls (& Josh) for a Birthday Breakfast for the newest member of the Jensen's, Shannon. We had a delicious meal, with great conversation. I love my in laws and I am glad Shannon has joined the troops! (for those of you who don't know, Shannon is Jill's friend and has been accepted into the Jensen Fold.)
  

Shannon, Josh, Heidi, Me, Jamie

Jenny, Teri, Jill, Shannon

• I had to work a lot over the weekend. I admitted someone (who was still very young) with brain cancer who ended up passing away the next day. It made me thankful for my health and my families health. I am so blessed!
• Paige and Morgan are finally old enough (and not sick) for nursery!!! We took them for the first time on Sunday. They were so cute walking to nursery with Oakley. They had no problem joining in the fun. I still can't believe they are that old!

It was a chore to get them to stand next to each other and smile. So this is what we got for a pic.

Oakley was so excited to be the big sister and have Paige and Morgan join her in nursery. We actually double the class with our family.

• Heidi, James, and Josh came up to play yesterday afternoon. My boys LOVE when they come play. I have no pictures of our adventurous afternoon, but everyone had fun eating Wendy's, playing with toys, getting presents, and running and chasing each other. Thanks for making the trip guys!
• Last night ended with a dinner with our old neighbors from Kaysville. The Allens are some of our favorite people and we hadn't seen them for a couple years. They came up with their 3 boys and you would have thought our kids had been friends forever. They all joined up and went downstairs and played. It was so nice. Unfortunately, I have no pics of this event either. I guess I wasn't in the picture taking mood yesterday. It was good to catch up and hang out last night and it better not be 2 years before we see them again!
• And last, but definitely not least. Actually, it may be the most exciting news I am reporting (no offense to everyone else that made this list). We went all day yesterday with NO incident!!! I finally get to change my ticker!! WOOT WOOT!!
  

Beautiful Hair

Paige and Morgan are mistaken for boys all the time. Even when they wear pink flowery shirts. This week I have finally done something with their hair in hopes of corrected the wrong assumption of gender. I had never really even tried to do their hair before because when I would look at them it never seemed like they had enough hair to do anything with. Well, I was wrong. Just look at how cute they look in little pig tails!

I am sure they will still be mistaken for boys, even with their hair done. Sometimes I wonder if people are even looking at them when they say how cute my "boys" are...

Lips

Oakley is fascinated with "lips," which is what she calls chapstick. She will go through our drawers trying to find all the Carmex (or any brand really) she can. She applies and reapplies often. She would carry around tubes of Carmex all day if I didn't stop her. I don't know where this obsession came from.

Oakley had 5 tubes of Carmex this time around. She would take each one and try them on her lips. Maybe she was testing them out or something...

I LOVE her big brown eyes. And I love how she can barely hold all the Carmex in her little hands. I think my fave is the top right picture. You have got to enlarge the picture and see just how cute she is!

Bruised...

We played dodge ball last night for mutual. It was a fun version of the sport. If you got hit you would sit down in that spot, then if a ball rolled your way you could grab it and try and get someone else out to get back in. Lets just say that I was a little competitive. I wasn't good...but I was competitive. I have multiple bruises to show for it. The gym floor is hard. I have no clue how I got bruises on my hand. I am still trying to figure it out.

Unfortunately, I was out a lot, but I would be on my knees the whole time trying to get a chance to get back in. I guess my body just can't handle things like this anymore.

Grandma Teri

Grandma Teri came up to play this morning. I LOVE Grandma days! She brought cookies, puzzles, and, most importantly, herself! My kids love to play with their Grandma Teri and I love the "break" it gives me! Thanks Teri!

Our Valentine's Surprise

We were in charge of cleaning the church this weekend. And of course, we were not on top of things. We called the people on our team Saturday morning and told them we would be at the church cleaning in 20 minutes if they wanted to come help, but didn't expect much because of the short notice. To our surprise a lot of them showed up. We were finishing up and our neighbors asked us what we were doing for Valentines. We said nothing. They told us to bring our kids over to their house and they would watch them so we could go out to eat. We told them they had colds and a knack for throwing up, but they wouldn't take no for an answer. So, that night we dropped ALL 5 coughing kids off and headed to Chilis. It was such a good break after such a long, not so fun, week.

Above is all the yummy things we devoured that night. I still feel bloated. Unfortunately, they ran out of their GOOD fries and gave us some crinkled ones that tasted like elementary school's soft, baked fries. Yuck. But they did give us a free Molten Lava for our unhappiness. (We didn't make a big fuss about the fries, but they asked how they were and we told them what we really thought.) We ran a couple of errands to take advantage of our kidless time and then picked the hoard up. We really have the BEST neighbors and it was the best surprise present anyone could give us!

Another GREAT surprise was we didn't have any throw up on V-Day. YAY! I didn't get to change the ticker, because, unfortunately, we had throw up on Sunday. But I am so thankful for one day without our constant friend. It was so nice!

I hope you all had a great Valentines Day and were able to spend it with someone you loved!

Wanna Play Kitchen?

I was upstairs doing whatever it is I do and decided I should go downstairs and check on Paige and Morgan. I heard them playing "Kitchen." I was so excited that they had been playing so well by themselves. I walked into the room and my excitement turned to utter despair. Morgan had thrown up all over the table, chairs, carpet, and even the kitchen cupboards. AND she was playing in it with the utensils and dishes!!! I felt like crying. Really, I did. I picked Morgs up and got her cleaned up. I didn't even want to go back downstairs and deal with the grossness that was awaiting me. I felt like ripping the carpet up and throwing it out. Have you ever tried to get throw up out of old shag carpet? I am so done with throw up.
I know. Gross. I just wanted everyone to get a little glimpse of what we deal with day in and day out.

Here Morgan is serving up a mean batch of regurgitated oatmeal and pears. Any takers?

I did finally start cleaning this mess up and upon finishing I came upstairs to find that Miss Oakley had thrown up all over herself. Ah, I love vomit. So, my friends, my ticker still hasn't gone up one day. I guess Jake was right. We should have the ticker count the number of HOURS without incident, not days.

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On a much happier note it is Brooke's birthday today!!! Brooke is so fun to hang out with, shes beautiful, has multiple personalities (which I mean in a good way), and she loves my kids. And they love her just as much! We love you Brooke!

Happy Birthday!!!

Aiden and Andrew called Brooke today and wished her a happy birthday. Aiden informed Brooke that he was going to come down to St. George and make her a Birthday cake AND that it was going to be a flower cake. Brooke is so lucky to have Aiden to make her birthday so special! ;)

Another Sale at Old Navy!!!

I LOVE Old Navy's kids clothes. LOVE them. I love that their clothes look like miniatures of what grown ups would wear. I sometimes wish they would make the same clothes in my size. Today I got a box in the mail filled with my kid's summer clothes. Yes, it is the baby sale once again at Old Navy. I didn't go as crazy as the last sale, but still found some cute things. This is a picture of some of my faves. I had been looking for simple, plain shoes for the boys and found them for $10 at the sale. YAY! So, all you mom's go check it out. They really do have some CUTE clothes for a great price. Have fun shopping!

No "Sick Days" for Mom...

I wanted to call in sick this morning. I woke up freezing, my head hurt, my body ached, and I had some feelings of uneasiness in my belly. I heard Paige and Morgan talking to each other, but I continued to lay in my bed hoping all my kids would magically go back to sleep. No such luck. So, today will be a day full of TV shows and movies. Wait. Who am I kidding? That is what everyday is like in our house. The difference is I won't feel guilty about it today...

Suggestions Appreciated

Over the weekend Trent decided to tear down another wall. This one was the wall that separated our playroom and a hallway. It really is much nicer and much bigger. The kids have actually played down there a lot more with the wall being gone. I think they are able to maneuver their four wheelers and riding toys better with the extra space.

So, this is where I need help. Now that it is open and semi connected with the rest of the basement I need help on colors. Originally, I was going to do some type of burnt orange and a dusky blue/gray. But now that it isn't enclosed in a room I am hesitant to do such bold, drastic colors. I am thinking a light charcoal color for the main walls and then one accent wall with a more "interesting" color. We are going to build a climbing wall with the gray holdings you see above. I was thinking that wall could be the accent wall. And the rest of the decor would be metal industrial looking shelves and such. Trent and I are pretty conservative when it comes to decorating and colors, but it is a playroom, so I am trying to branch out. Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas for cute colors for the walls and decor. I am VERY open to suggestions.

DI

I have been going through toys my kids never play with to give to the DI. And really that is a lot of toys because my kids don't play with any of them. I got this beauty out and set it on the DI pile. And what do you know? All my kids got it off the table and played with it for 30 mins straight! They have barely played with it for 30 mins total for the 2 years we have had it. Why are kids (or my kids) like that?

As if I didn't like the stuff before...

I am not a huge fan of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream. Actually I don't like anything that is a mixture of mint and something else. Give me plain chocolate or plain mint, well, just give me chocolate. Anyways, I don't know if any one has noticed my ticker hasn't moved up a day at all. Not one day. Saturday 3 of the 5 hoodlums threw up and Oakley's was the most disgusting. She had just eaten a bottle of peaches and was on to mint chocolate chip ice cream when she started hurling. If I didn't like this mixture of ice cream before I can't even think about trying it now. I will never look at that stuff the same again.

And I now realize what that song was trying to tell me. That I would be dealing with 1..2...3....4 throw ups on Saturday. Nice.

It Must be a Sign!

Yesterday I took the boys to Preschool and on the radio was Plain White T's 1234 song. I was first introduced to this song when I was feeling old and uncool while driving Mia Maids around. Then Jill had it on her Ipod and I took a listen in Hawaii. I really liked it. So, back to yesterday, it was time to pick the boys up from Preschool, I get in the car and the song is on again! Score! I love when good songs are on the radio. The day progressed into evening and I went to our Young Women's basketball game and guess what was on the radio? You betcha! I couldn't believe my luck. I am still trying to figure out what it all means in my life. It must be a sign for something.....

Our Hawaii Post...Finally!

We really had a great time in paradise. Yes. It was a lot of work. And I mean a lot. But the kids had a great time and so did the parents. It might be a while before we try another vacation though. I need a week just to recover!

This was when we arrived. Trent and I really wondered if we made a mistake bringing the Hoard. The plane ride over was a nightmare. The first morning Paige and Morgan started stirring at 3:00. Morgan was up at 4:00 and the rest followed at 5:00. We had gone to the beach and then to the pool. I was already for lunch and a nap. I glanced at my watch...8:30?!?! We were in for a long day....

Aiden loved being in the water. He is our adventurous one! He always wanted to go in the big pool with his life jacket and Josh. Thanks to everyone for going in the deep with him!

Andrew loved the Pirate ship most of all and I didn't even include a picture of it. Duh. I love the bottom right picture. He would sit like that and wait for the waves to hit him. And the picture on the left was Heidi's doing. Yes, he is peeing in the Hotel's bushes.

Oakley had a lot of fun in the sand and the shallow water at the Pirate ship. The funniest thing was her swimsuit. Her cute little bum was always showing. I am sure she will hate her bum pics when she is older!

I do not know what is up with Paige's smiles these days. She is such a goof. She loved the sand too. It took a little while for her to get used to, but she did end up loving it!

Morgan realized she loved apples over there. The first one she ate she gnawed right through the core. She liked the waves too....when someone was holding her that is.

Trent ran the Maui Oceanfront Marathon while we were over there. I know, doesn't sound like anything I would like to do on my vacation. He did really well and came in third. They had to detour the race because of a fallen power pole so he ended up running 27.2!! I can't even imagine that.

On Wednesday Teri took all the girls over to Oahu to do a little shopping. We went to the fantastic swap meet. It was heaven-jewelry for cheep, Asians, clothing, and, of course, Lulu. We got to enjoy the whole day with one of our favorite people! (Lulu is Brooke's second personality of many). It was so much fun to shop all day, eat a peaceful lunch on the beach, ride the airplane without 5 kids, and spend way too much money! Thanks Teri!

The cousins. My kids were in heaven being on a trip with James and Josh. They couldn't get enough of them. Whenever they weren't within "seeing" distance they would ask where they were. They went through withdrawals when we got home. We almost had to put them in Rehab...

The Group. There were 19 of us total. It was quite a sight when we would go places together. It was so fun to have a vacation with the whole family (minus Annie)! It really was Heaven on Earth. Thanks Brad and Teri for giving us a great escape from life for a week!

Days Without Incident

I think all of you that read this very entertaining blog have come to realize my kids have issues, mainly digestive. We deal with throw up or diarrhea almost everyday. Over in Hawaii our kids got some sort of gumbo and had massive diarrhea and, of course, a little bit of throw up. We started joking that I need a ticker on the side of my blog that was titled, "Days Without Incident." Seeing how Morgan just threw up her breakfast this morning I thought I definitely need to start one. Here is to day 0.

Help With Laundry

When we got home we had to do quite a few loads of laundry. Between Trent, myself, Paige, and Morgan we finally got it all done last night. Paige and Morgan LOVE to help us. Now only if they knew what doing laundry really meant....

Back from Vacation...Back to Projects

So, we flew home Friday night to Saturday morning. We got in at 6:00 a.m. and got a few hours of much needed sleep. I was thinking we would spend Saturday getting back into the groove of real life, but Trent had a different idea. He decided to rip out the closets in our mud room. Here is to another project at the Jensen Hoard!

More to come on our FUN vacation. It will take me quite a while to go through all the pics and pick out my faves. So stay tuned...