caleb is going to china

with christmas coming up, the first grade classes at school are going to take a "trip around the world" to see how other countries celebrate christmas (or what ever they call it in their country). all of the kids received a paper to create a "passport" to be able to travel to different countries. caleb has been so excited about this and keeps asking if we celebrate kwanzaa (eventhough i've said no each time). anyway, he was talking about it the other day and said "mom, i'm going to china." he then paused and said "will it be a long drive?" all i could do was laugh....they are only going from class to class within first grade.

"well it's about time"

that's what you all are saying huh? well, my lack of posting hasn't been for lack of happenings. it has mostly been from lack of energy and motivation.

things are going well at school and i am loving, mostly, every minute of it. the kids are great and fun to work with. the staff is amazing and so helpful. i have already made a lot of good friends there.

as for our family, we are just going with the flow. caleb is doing well in 1st grade (actually a little bored with it i think). troy is talking more everyday. his new favorite word is "MINE". oh that dreaded 4 letter word.

a few months ago, brandon and caleb got quads (4 wheelers). they have had fun riding them. brandon did have a little incident that landed him in the ER on labor day weekend. luckily it was just a dislocated finger and some scratches. you ask why the ER for a dislocated finger? well, the EMTs that responded wouldn't try to set it b/c they were afraid that the bone might have splintered. if they messed up, it could sever a nerve and he could end up losing his finger. who ever thought it would be such a big deal? anyway, here's a picture of his finger (if you want to look)

here are some more pictures of the boys

sorry that it has been a while. i promise to do better. i might even post tomorrow....WHOA! :)

give blood, be a hero, traumatize your child...

ever since my 2 nephews had their medical problems when they were born and needed blood transfusions, i have felt a need to "give" back. i am eternally grateful for the medical teams that saved/helped them and the blood donations that they received. i figure the least that i can do is to help save someone else.

when i was in high school i gave blood and ended up with the nurse holding the trash can and my (then) boyfriend holding my hair out of the line of fire. i had decided to never give blood again. well, that was until as i explained before. in january was the first time i had given since high school. everything went pretty well until about half way through when my eyes started going out of focus and i started feeling hot. then i got cold and clammy. they elevated my legs and gave me a wet rag to use and i made it through just fine.

yesterday, i decided i would try again. i didn't really feel well but thought "what the heck, if i get sick...i get sick. no big deal!" so i went. brandon and the boys went with me 1) because i don't trust myself driving home (just in case) 2) we were headed out to do errands and go to a birthday party. so, i get all my paperwork done, give blood without any funny feelings. i was proud of myself! if you have ever given blood before you know that you have to sit in the canteen area for 15 mins. to make sure that you are okay and eat your cookies and drink your juice. well that is what i was doing (brandon and the boys were sitting with me) all was fine and brandon wanted me to leave early. my stomach did feel a little uneasy so i said "let's just wait." meanwhile, the last donor came and sat down in the middle row on the end (i was on the back row in the middle). there were a few other people left there that were just chatting away. i looked at my watch, it was 12:47. i could leave at 12:51 (i know big deal 4 mins. go ahead and leave but leaving just didn't seem right). here comes the traumatic part...remember the last donor...well i happened to glance at him after looking at my watch. i thought he was stretching his neck from side to side then his back arches, eyes roll back in his head, mouth falls open and eye lids don't shut!!! he started sliding out of his chair so i jumped up (a little too fast and got light-headed) to see if he was okay-things still not registering...big guy like him this should be a piece of cake. meanwhile, he is turning green and everything is still open....FREAKY!!!! so i yelled for help, the people in the front row turned around, they were clueless until i yelled. (that man was lucky i was behind him. who knows how long the poor guy would have sat there like that! j/k) so all the workers run over, put him on the floor, elevate his legs and start talking to him. no one knew the guys name so they had to dig up his paper work...his name was jared. they started talking to him, patting his face, rubbing his arms....NOTHING....everything still open!! we started pulling back the chairs to make more room so that they can put screens around him to give him some privacy (or in case things got bad, i don't know which). just before the screens went up one guy started pounding...yes, pounding...on his chest right over his HEART!! jared finally comes to...looks around completely confused... they start asking him questions and the rest of us turn to leave.

one of the guys from the front row looks at me and asks "is he okay?" i said "yeah" (thinking he was talking about jared). he said "no, him" and points to caleb. with everything happening so fast i totally forgot that caleb had just witnessed EVERYTHING!!! he was totally freaked out...actually i don't know if freaked out is the right phrase...traumatized. i walked over to him and he walked away from me, wouldn't talk or look at anyone for about 30 mins. i felt so bad!!

there i was...trying to do something good and end up screwing up my kid (not really, he was fine later)! note to self, don't take the kids or make brandon keep them in the car!!!

i survived....just kidding!!

so, i made it through my first week of school. and i have to say that it was quite the experience. the kids that i teach are great kids and we are going to have a great year. i am so used to dealing with younger kids that i had forgotten how to handle the bigger kids. surprisingly, for some of them, there wasn't much difference between kindergarteners and 6th graders. i have already threatened to send some back to kindergarten to learn the basics (keep your hands to yourself and no whining or throwing tanturms, yes we had one already). all in all, it was a great week. i am really excited to be teaching. i was reminded of why i got my degree in teaching. aside from being a mom, it is definately the most rewarding "job" ever!

big news....

just for those of you who don't know, i got a new job. i was offered the job of 6th grade science teacher at simonton elementary. i was hired on tuesday and started with district meetings on wednesday. needless to say, i have been busy beyond belief and am feeling a bit overwhelmed. i am so excited about this new opportunity. caleb and i will have the same schedule, for the most part, and troy will be with one of my good friends. it has been almost 7 years since i graduated college and am having to dig back in my brain to remember certain things. i actually get to put to use all the learning i paid for. if any of you have sixth graders this year, i'm their science teacher!

high flyin'

last month we went to visit my sister in utah. while we were there we went to lagoon. the last time i went was like 9 years ago, the summer before brandon and i got married. anyway, when we got there caleb wanted to ride everything. my mom and dad were there and they kept the babies while we went on rides. i was going to skip the skycoaster because 1- it's $15 a person to ride and 2-i didn't think caleb would want to ride it. was i ever wrong! he begged to ride it and i caved. we waited for what seemed like forever. then it was our turn.

1- listening to our instructions
2- getting raised up to the top of the tower
3- flyin' high
4- waving at the camera
5- all finished and getting lowered to the platform


caleb had a blast!! he didn't make a sound until we had gone back and forth a couple of times (i think he was a little freaked out, more than he wanted to admit). when he finally said something it was "that was awesome!!!"


i have a video of us but i can't get it to post or does it normally take forever for videos to load? if i can get it to load i'll get it on here.

flashback friday...

i was just thinking back to this time last year and looked at my pictures from the 4th last year. then i realized that i only have pictures of troy. we went to gilbert's 4th of july celebration and caleb was busy with the rides, games, slides, jumpers, etc. anyway, it is unreal how troy has changed. what do you think?




hope everyone has a great and safe independence day!

are these MY children????

let me explain...troy has become the pickiest eater ever. his diet consisted of cheerios, gold fish, yogurt and bananas. that was about all i could get him to eat, until wednesday night. i had a can of black beans in my pantry and thought "what the heck, why not try." he ate them like he hadn't had anything to eat in a month, but he has done this before. the real test is the second try.....amazingly the same thing. third try...and this is what he looked like...





he couldn't get enough. and to top that off, he ate spaghetti for dinner. we have tried several times to no avail. now i will stop with troy before i jinx myself.

on to caleb...the kid hates to clean, doesn't see the need nor does he care that he can't find the floor in his bedroom (yes, it gets that bad). he has taken up to 3 days for him to clean his room, no tv, no computer, only food and water. and yes he was in there the entire time....anyway, earlier today he came to me and said "mommy, i want to vaccum the floor." first of all, he hates the vaccum (it hurts his ears) and secondly (see above explanation). i was on the phone with brandon and i told him what caleb said. then brandon said "maybe he is trying to earn more minutes to play the xbox?" surprisingly, NO, he just wanted "the floor to be smooth". so here he is in action....



he went down the hall and everything. what???? is this really my child????

are these MY children? this is a good thing but will it last? i'll have to wait and see.....

a week of "lasts"....

okay, so i'm a little behind yet again....baseball and school are now over. caleb had his last baseball game on the 17th and his last day of school was the 23rd.

first the baseball game...it has been amazing to see the improvement that caleb has made since his first day of practice. he has really grown to love the game of baseball. he made a lot of new friends and "reconnected" with some old teammates. (i say old like they've lived a life time...they're only 6 or 7, oh well)






troy became quite a handful at the games. he would try and run to brandon when he was out on the field or try to snack on some left behind treats. thank goodness for the concession stand and red vines (red licorice for those who don't know)...yes that is what is on his face. he ate about 15 of them all by himself that last day. that was the only way we could get him to sit and stay in the shade. good trade if you ask me...sugar high vs. sunburned baby...i'll take sugar high any day.


now for school...who would have thought that it would be cold and raining on the last day of school...in may in arizona no less? well it was and did and it was NICE!!! we (the parents) had a little party for the kids and they sang songs to pass the time..not much else to do. they had an honors assembly. caleb was awarded student of the month for march. i was proud, he didn't have a clue nor did he care. mrs. king was his teacher and she was great. caleb thought the world of her!






so we made it through kindergarten...first grade here we come.....

playing catch up........

okay...so i've been a little busy lately...not really just reading the Twilight series. just check out my sister's blog if you don't know what it is all about (boo on my bloggers list).

last week caleb had his kindergarten celebration. it was really cute! it's crazy to think that he will be in first grade come august...time in flying by!!




sorry the pictures aren't clear. of course, as soon as i got ready to start taking pictures the batteries started dying...just my luck.


we also went to the diamondbacks game on saturday. it was little league day and the kids got to parade around the warning track. we left troy with my m-i-l and all 3 of us got to walk together. there was only one other kid from caleb's team that came so we had a small group.


as we got around to the exit we looked back and saw ourselves on the jumbo-tron. you can see us in the bottom left corner. you can see brandon taking a picture of us on the jumbo-tron. it was kind of weird!



we had a lot of fun and the diamondbacks won 10-4 over the mets. it was way more exciting than the score sounds...not the blow out that it looks.

tagged.........

A. Attached or Single? attached
B. Best Friends? Brandon & Boo
C. Cake or Pie? Cake(red velvet)
D. Day of choice? Friday
E. Essential item? Clean underwear and thanks to gravity... a good bra
F. Favorite color? Green
G. Greatest Accomplishment? My children & my degree in math
H. Hometown? Uriah, Alabama
I. Indulgences? Dr. Pepper & Twix
J. January or July? that's hard...january b/c it isn't 200 degrees out but july is my birthday month
K. Kids? 2- Caleb and Troy
L. Life is incomplete without? family and a good book
M. Marriage date? Dec. 17, 1999
N. Number of siblings? 2- 1 bro. 1 sis.
O. Oranges or Apples? Apples but not granny smith or red delicious
P. Phobias or fears? Losing a family member and snakes
Q. Quotes?
R. Reason to smile? Happy kids, good husband, fun times, pedicures
S. Season? spring for the new flowers and fall b/c cooler temps are on the way.
T. Tag three friends? whoever
U. Unknown fact about me? I just called in to Dr. Phil for Miranda....j/k....My celebrity crush is Anderson Cooper.
V. Very favorite store? Target
W. Worst habit? I'm a junk food junkie
X. X-ray or Ultrasound? Ultrasounds by far.
Y. Your favorite food? a green salad or shrimp
Z. Zodiac? Cancer....crabby, crabby, crabby.....at least that's what Brandon would say.

wow...a temple in gilbert!!

my father-in-law called us and told us about this last night. a member of his bishopric sent him an email about it. the location is going to be somewhere around greenfield and pecos. i didn't know if this was supposed to be shared info until i found this on a friends blog. so, i guess it's official! here's the announcement below...


Location: Gilbert, Arizona, United States.
Announcement: April 2008
In his first temple announcement since becoming president of the Church, President Thomas S. Monson announced the construction of two temples in Arizona: one in the Gila Valley and the other in Gilbert—bringing the total number of temples in Arizona to four. "It is my personal priority to make sure members of the Church have access to the blessings of the temple," said President Monson. "It is here where members learn of their divine origin and destiny; where they are strengthened spiritually as individuals and as families. Temples are sanctuaries from the storms of life."1
Located in the southeastern section of the Phoenix metropolitan area—just south of Mesa—Gilbert and its surrounding communities enjoy a high concentration of Church members, who currently attend the Mesa Arizona Temple. A temple in Gilbert will help relieve demands currently placed on the Mesa temple, which serves well over 70 stakes throughout southern Arizona.

this is rare.....

on saturday, troy woke up at about 8:30. he was in our room b/c my b-i-l kody stayed the night with us and the spare bed is in troy's room. brandon was already up and came in to get troy. i went back to sleep and woke up at 10:30....soooooo nice! anyway, when i walked out of my room i saw this.......



brandon said that when troy woke up he laid him in the floor to change his diaper. when he got done, troy grabbed his blanket, laid on top of it and fell asleep in the floor. he slept like that until 11:30....tv on, phone ringing, cooking breakfast and everything. poor baby must have been exhausted b/c i can only remember one other time that he has fallen asleep in the floor.

caleb's field trip.....

last thursday caleb went on his first field trip to the Arizona Museum for Youth. it had art work by local artist. the kids also got to make their own works of art. caleb loves art and really enjoyed the time they spent there. he actually listened to the guide and really looked at some of the pieces. i was asked to chaparone and really enjoyed being able to spend that time with caleb. for many of the kids the highlight of the trip was getting to ride the bus. so many of them don't ride the bus to school and that was a real "treat" for them...what little they know at this age.

flashback friday...

this is a picture of me when i was 5 years old. the missionaries are bro. and sis. bean. they were "my" missionaries. they are the only people, that i can remember, that my mom would let me sit with during church (other than her or my granna). i love them and they love me. they are like another set of grandparents to me.

i still keep in contact with them. they have never failed to send me a birthday card. they came down from utah when brandon and i were married. when caleb was born, she sent him a hand-knitted sweater and hat. they sent me a sympathy card when granna died and i always get and send them a christmas card w/ pictures. just

recently, i received an invitation to her 80th birthday party which is today. sadly, i didn't make it but if i had had the money, i would have been there. i plan on visiting them this summer when i go to utah. i truly feel lucky to have them both "in" my life. they have left a great impression on me and i feel their love every time i see a picture or think of them....

i'm a princess!!!!!!!!!

You Are Cinderella!

Dignified and hard working. With a gentle and soft-spoken manner you have something many people don't. Patience. Even through the moments of heartbreak you're still able to hold onto all of your hopes and dreams. Bide your time; your dream will come true.

Which Disney Princess Are You?


i saw this on tressa's blog.....i love anything disney! i don't know if the first part is true but i certainly hope the last part is.........

what???who???stupids!!!!!

yesterday, we loaded up in our "not new but new to us" car to go to brandon's parents house. i went to close the garage and noticed a funny look on brandon's face. he jumps out of the car and i look in to see this.....



someone broke into our car and stole the face plate off of the stereo, either friday or saturday night. looking closer we noticed that the panel was cracked and the stereo was bent in a few places where they had tried to pry it out. obviously they didn't get the stereo but took the face plate so that it won't work. luckly that's all they got. all of brandon's tools for work were in the trunk and one of his pay stubs got left in the car (it has his ssn on it) but weren't bothered.

we felt a little violated and i dreamed about things happening all night long. what do you do???

what a week!!!!

this week i turned into one of those annoying non-posters...sorry. now here it goes.

monday...caleb and i had dentist appointments. i hadn't been in a long while and caleb has never gone. bad mom, i know! we went to dr.-bro. goates (not sure which to use in this situation) and he was so good, highly recommended!!! caleb was nervous to begin with but came out overjoyed that it didn't hurt and that he "didn't even wiggle!" so then the race was on to get caleb to school. got that done and then i had a doctors' appointment that afternoon. i totally forgot that caleb has art classes on monday afternoons and brandon wasn't going to be home in time to take him. so, katie slater let caleb stay with her until time to go to art (meaningful service, thanks!!) troy went to my friends house (more service)! get to my appointment and wait and wait and wait. overshare coming up...it was "the" doctor that i had to go to and i heard one lady say "yeah we make you stay in there near naked so you won't get up and leave!" that made me laugh...so true! so i was on the 60 headed home when the thought came that i needed to slow down just a little....2 seconds later, the car to the left of me blew a tire. if i hadn't slowed down, i would have got the full blast of the debris and would have a shattered windshield. listen to the little promptings!!!

tuesday...troy had his 12 month check-up complete with 3 shots to his arms. we are sitting and waiting for the nurse to come in with the shots and brandon calls. "oh, i forgot to tell you this morning but one of the tires on the explorer is going flat. go find somewhere that has air and fill it before you head home." okay...so i forgot to mention that i woke up feeling sick...pukey and unsettled stomach...now i have to fix a flat tire. anyway, if you don't know albertson's on power and queen creek has free air...just don't forget to push the button like i did. so...the race is on to get caleb to school...done. pick him up and he has to go back to art class...to get his tie-dyed shirt he made...then on to baseball practice...done...go home finally. troy also started "offically" walking...he can stand up on his own, no pulling up.


wednesday....the usual...babysit jon...take caleb to school...got to caleb's baseball game and FREEZE b/c the wind was so cold (all you utah girls are laughing aren't you). we were on our way home and i remembered that volleyball was happening at 8:30....made it and had a blast...except for injuring my thumb that still hurts...

thursday...nothing but school and naps for me and troy.

today...HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY MOM! your the best!!!








p.s. troy learned something else this week....the "fish-out-of-water" style of throwing a fit...sweet baby (note sarcasm)

happy birthday to troy!!!

happy birthday troy! we had a good day today. after we took caleb to school, troy and i went to get him some birthday balloons. my mom wanted to send him some but didn't know if a florist would deliver out this far. i told her that i would just go get them instead. so we went to party city. they have a huge selection and good prices. troy thought that they were sooo funny! he played with them the whole way home.


he is such a funny boy and we love him so much. we waited and tried for so long to get him here that we feel extra blessed just to have him. he definitely keeps us on our feet and lets us know when things aren't right in his world. he is just learning to walk and should be taking off here pretty soon.



we love you troy and happy birthday again!!

troy's party...

last night we had troy's 1st birthday party. he won't officially be 1 until tomorrow. he was sooo cute! i have said before that he loves to eat and he had no problem digging in last night. i actually made and decorated the cake, my first ever. i even made the icing! i think it turned great! brandon even said that the icing was the best part and he hates frosting. i'm not a big icing fan either but it did taste pretty good, maybe b/c it was fresh. okay this isn't about me... caleb was so excited for troy. he stood guard of the cake until we cut into it. troy, of course, couldn't blow out the candle so we let caleb do it. everyone enjoyed watching troy dig in and he acted as if it was no big deal. we gave him one slice and when he was done with that one, he screamed for another (in true troy fashion)!

this is what the boys looked like when we got home. they "party-ed" hard!

go bats!!!

caleb had his first coach-pitch game on saturday. he played really well. he got 2 outs, one playing 1st and one playing 2nd. both times he stopped the ball and tagged the base. his hitting still needs a little work. he went 2 for 3, "striking out" at his first at bat. they get 7 swings of the bat before "striking out".




so now we start another season of baseball. i really enjoy it though. it reminds me of all the time we spent at the little league games when i was younger. i always enjoyed playing and watching!

flashback friday...

this was our family one year ago today. we were at caleb's first tee-ball game. i was obviously very pregnant with troy. wow, can you say puffy all over!! i think i had been to the hospital the day before with no luck. this night was terrible. after the game, we (me, brandon, caleb and my mom) went to applebee's for dinner. i started having contractions as soon as we got there and couldn't even finish my dinner for the pain. we ended up leaving before everyone finished because they were so bad. we got in the car and i laid the seat back to try and get comfortable and the contractions stopped. i would sit up and they would start again. lay back and they would stop, go figure. needless to say nothing happened that night and wouldn't for another 4 days when troy was born on april 1. no joke:)!

one word tag!!

**one word only

you’re feeling: tired
to your left: printer
on your mind: tagged
last meal included: hotdogs
something you find it hard to do: laundry
the weather: nice
something you have a collection of: barbies
a smell that cheers you up: oranges
a smell that can ruin your mood: poop
how long since you last shaved: days
the current state of your hair: up
the largest item on your desk/workspace right now (not computer): speakers
your skill with chopsticks: none
which section you head to first in the bookstore: kids
…and after that?: bathroom
something you’re craving: soda
your general thoughts on the presidential race: annoying!!!!!
how many times you’ve been hospitalized this Year: none
a favorite place to go for quiet time: bed
you’ve always secretly thought you’d be a good: phlebotomist (someone that draws blood)
something that freaks you out a little: snakes
something you’ve eaten too much of lately: chips
you have never: wrecked
you never want to: wreck

easter 2008

where did the day go? i felt like i was running all day long. kind of miss the feeling of last year's easter (check last post).

i got the boys new easter outfits. they both really needed church clothes, so i went all out. they were so cute. i took them out on saturday to make pictures and am i glad i did. they were both stinkers. troy wouldn't look at the camera and caleb didn't want to take "a dumb picture". well this was as good as we could get.




we did get individual pictures of the boys and here they are:




of course, the easter bunny visited the boys and here's what they ended up with.




here's troy checking out his basket (he was more interested in the grass)



caleb got legos and a bionicle (something with legos) and said "the easter bunny was thinking good!" it's nice to know that the easter bunny knows what kids want:)!

easter...last year...

since i missed posting on friday, i decided to do an easter "flashback" to last year.



i had just had troy on april 1st. easter was on the 8th so he was 1 week old. we didn't make it to church that day, understandably, but still had a nice day. we had dyed eggs the night before and hid them for caleb most of the day. it was quite uneventful but peaceful none the less. it was really nice to have my mom here to help us! thanks mom for all you do! you're the best and i love you!

i am thankful for the easter holiday and the reminder that it is of what Jesus did for us all...

flashback friday...

since it is getting close to troy's first birthday, i started thinking about caleb's first birthday. we were living in alabama. poor kid was sick with double ear infection but he was so good. he was always a good baby!

troy's first haircut

troy got his hair cut for the first time today. i was kind of nervous about it too. brandon's mom cut it for us and it turned out really cute. it was so weird to look at him and be able to see his eyes and ears without moving the hair first. here are some before and after shots. unfortunately, he has a double crown in the back and his hair stands straight up. now that it is shorter, it stands up even worse. we might have to start breaking out the gel....

before


after (with dirty hair)


after (with clean hair)