San & Quinn

Remember the Alamo!

2012-01-30T17:41:00.000-08:00

The Alamo is the number one most visited place in all of Texas!

So we visited it while Grandpa was here for the monster truck show.

(It was a boys only event so there are no pics of it. )

"Remember the Alamo!"

I remember the Alamo from when we visited it in 2005. I remember it being a very boring place to visit. Basically an old empty building. It is still an old and mostly empty building.

Why is "Remember the Alamo!" the famous saying? Not because it was a stunning victory but because it was a stunning defeat, everyone died. How sad. All the Alamo boys stood their ground against the mexicans and were slaughtered. "Remember the Alamo" became the battle cry for the men who eventually defeated Mexico and took back Texas. Today's equivalent would be yelling "remember 9/11" before running into battle in Afghanistan.

It is also sad to be in jail as you see.

In other news, I read Jack 100 books and he wrote all the titles on his chain. The reading the books was easy, getting him to write them all down was the hard part.

Tessa continues to be the center of attention and the most lovely baby in the world.

I finally caught her lip-tucked-in pose on camera. She does it all the time but it is very elusive when being hunted for posterity.

The boys are still boys...

biker boys.

And funny boys.

We are getting ready to move again. San Antonio has been very good to us and we hate to go. In primary they sang good-bye to us. (we team teach the 8 year olds) and the primary pres was telling the children that we were moving to Del Rio "but they will still be in Texas." Phew! good thing she didn't alarm the children. Texans can't imagine the horror of moving out of Texas!

Del Rio, here we come...

Breast Friend

2012-01-20T14:29:00.000-08:00

It was so fun to have Jamie come to visit me for a couple of days. I am soooo glad she can fly stand-by for free and that she is brave enough to do it with her two kids!

We went to the Japanese Tea Gardens, really cool! I wish my pro photographer could be here to take family pics there, it would be awesome.

The kids even got to feed the gigantic coy fish.

Chase thought they were stinky.

On our way to the airport we stopped at Chick fil a to get some lunch and let the kids play. We were so absorbed in talking that we forgot she needed to get to the airport. I dropped her off at the curb at 1:42 for a flight LEAVING at 2:07! But she made it!! Crazy! We are such airheads now. I blame it on the pregnancies, being a mom makes you a space cadet sometimes.

WE all had a great time, thanks Jamie!!!

Baby Pics

2012-01-15T13:34:00.000-08:00

My sister Tracy got a new light for indoor photography for Christmas and Tessa and I were more than willing to help her try it out. Tessa is such a sweetie!!

Savannah (my sister Laura's baby) and Tessa are just 6 days apart.

A basket full of baby cuteness!

A 4 year old Chase

2012-01-08T13:39:00.000-08:00

Today is our sweet Chase's birthday, 4 years old.

Chase is one amazing kid. He is laugh-out-loud funny, super smart, quick to give love and a fun little shadow who follows me around making my day joyful. He is also our drama king, quick to be offended and stubborn as can be. I never thought I would have a child like him yet I don't know what I would do without him. He is my Chasie Boy and I love him!

The blowing action shot:

All the little Captain Americas at the Captain America Party

We played lots of little games, including a couple of 'catch the bad guys' games.

Everyone was pretty excited when they caught him.

Each boy got his own cake to decorate.

I bought a bunch of fun candy, sprinkles etc. so there could be lots of variety in the decorating.

But they all pretty much turned out the same!

Some of the games got a little crazier than others!

On to the today, the actual Birthday!

This morning the boys were still pretty enamored with the masks

I love this pic of Tessa with the mask watching Chase opening gifts.

Buying only one gun for Chase would have been useless, just lots of fussing about whose turn it is and crying when the turns don't come soon enough. Quinn said his parents did alot of this double-buying when he and his brother (2 years apart) were little. This is the kind of thing I wouldn't have dreamed of doing before I had kids, "They could just take turns!"

Little did I know.

Tessa left her mask on for the better part of an hour. I was so surprised. She was quiet and very attentive to all the festivities. She is so alert and becoming a real part of our daily family life. What a joy!

I Have been waiting six months for these...

2012-01-05T17:55:00.000-08:00

New family pics!!

I have been dreaming about these photos since the day Tessa was born! (Oh why don't I live near Tracy?) Now my dreams have come true. A spanking new photo to frame and add to the growing wall of family photos. Hooray!

This photo warms me from head to toe. It makes me want to tell them to "just stop growing, stay little forever!"

Mommy and her little sweetie pie!!

I love all our photos, isn't Tracy fabulous?

Thank you, Thank you Tracy for making my dreams come true!

Want some amazing photos of you and your family? Call Tracy! Seriously, if you live in Utah, call her.

Why did this happen now?

2011-12-04T18:28:00.000-08:00

"Do I look hansom daddy?" Jack asked Quinn today.

"Yeah sure buddy," Quinn replied distractedly from the computer.

Then he really looked at Jack, saw the baled patches on his head and turned in time to see Chase still in the act. Scissors to the scalp, just chopping happily away.

This pic was taken immediately after I informed them that their punishment was banishment from the scissors until I see fit to let them cut again. He was feeling pretty sad about it.

If this would have happen at any other time in the past year and a half I would have just laughed and shaved their heads...I mean, they're boys! Who cares if they have hair? But, we have family pictures scheduled in 2 weeks. These pics have been dominating my thoughts. Our first family pics with Tessa in them.

Oh well, at least we will always remember this humorous little incident, it will be immortalized in our family pictures.

P.s. Here is some Christmas cheer, enjoy!

Is anything more magical than watching someone experience a lit Christmas tree for the first time?

She was genuinely thrilled to be so close that she could touch it.

Fuzzy jammies, check.

I love the reflection of the lights in her eyes.

These pics make me want to curl up under the tree with a warm blanket, hot chocolate and some Christmas music. Cheers!

December

2011-12-01T13:25:00.000-08:00

Are these the kinds of pics you take in December?

It was such a lovely day, high sixties and sunny. I took Tessa out to wait for Jack to come home from Kindergarten.

And then he came home, yeah!

But he doesn't like is picture being taken...

Lots of running jumps at the leaves

He took a turn behind the camera, not bad.

Then Chase took the camera...he always makes me laugh.

What a comedian.

It's been kind of hard to get into the christmas spirit, wonder why?

obsession

2011-11-30T10:37:00.000-08:00

I typed "obsession" into google because i wasn't sure if I spelled it right.

The definition popped up:

the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc

Yep, I'm Obsessed

A Rough Day

2011-11-18T12:53:00.000-08:00

Last night I said to the boys: "Ok time for bed guys. It's been a long day." Thinking to myself that it has been a long day for ME, not necessarily for them.

"yeah Mom it has been a long day. I had a really long, rough day." Jack says in a sad little voice. "It was such a hard day. Really tough and a rough day."

Jack is not a complainer and he LOVES school so I am a bit concerned. I ask him in my kindest most you-can-tell-mommy-anything voice "Why was it a rough day kiddo?"

"Well. (big drawn out sigh) it was dwissiling (drizzling) off and on...and off and on all day. When it was time for recess it was ON. So I had a really rough day today."

"So, you didn't get to go outside for recess today because it was raining? And that was your really rough day?"

Exasperated sigh, "YES!"

Oh to be a kindergartner again.

Chase and Jack in Jack's school cafeteria

I took Chase to Jack's school today to eat lunch with him. Chase was so excited. As we pulled into the parking lot i saw a prime space up front and made to take it when I saw that it was labeled "principal".

"Oh principal!" I exclaimed as I threw it into reverse, "we aren't the principal."

Down the row I spied 2 more spots and zoomed down and into it but, "Ah, Counselor, Secretary We aren't the counselor or the secretary either! Gotta find another spot."

The next available spot was out in the boonies. "Here's one we can park in." I exclaimed as we pulled in.

"Does it say Mormon?" Chase asked from the back.

"What did you say, Chase?"

"Does this parking spot say for Mormons mom?"

HA Ha!! "Yes, this is a great spot for us mormons Chase."

I am so glad to be a Mom, I absolutely love the funny things my kids say. I have been going to lots of various Dr apts for myself lately and on all the forms with the occupation blank I always fill in mother. It sure makes me feel good to know that my full time job in life is to raise these little ones. I've gotten quite a few comments about it from the Dr staff. I always say, "Its the best job in the world!"

Our family

2011-10-31T07:33:00.000-07:00

In Pumpkins!

Isn't baby Tessa pumpkin adorable?

Oh, and in costumes....

I think I like us as pumpkins better:)

2011-10-05T10:36:00.000-07:00

"You better read this whole post!"

Or Chase is gonna put the smack down on ya! Scary isn't he?

I can never keep our boots in the closet these days....

In preschool they made a poster of what the kids said they wanted to be when they grew up, can you guess what Chase said? Quinn's got 'em doing simulators already.

Sometimes I take pics of them just because they look so big to me. Why are they growing up so fast?

They are so strong!! Jack made this slide for Chase and held it for a surprisingly long time. Chase took a number of trips down. I think they miss their swing-set.

I am not the most fun mom. I don't regularly sit down to play with my boys. I always find myself preparing a meal, cleaning up after a meal, picking up around the house, putting things away, organizing papers (the list goes on and on) instead of just playing with my boys. The other night after they were in bed I lugged a couple buckets of toys up the stairs and set them up like this:

Just because. Just because I thought they might like it.

I guess I can be a fun mom sometimes:)

And now, the person you have been waiting for:

"Baby Girl"!

I have so many names for this little sweetness, here's a sampling:

"Sweetie Pie"

"Cutie Doll"

"Honey Bunny"

"Sugar Girl"

"Snuggle Bug"

"Doll Face"

"Little Sissy"

"Little Darling" wearing her "Pretties"

"My Pal"

We paint our nails together now.

The other day a friend of mine who has three boys (all the same age as my kids) said, "Lets get together and do something, I am in serious need of some girl time." I though to myself, "Oh, she probably needs some girl time because she doesn't have a girl." Then it struck me that I thought of the time I spend with Tessa as 'girl time'. It is amazing to me how different it is to have this little girl in my life. I love her so much!

She isn't ALL sweetness ALL the time though!

I love Jack's face.

Quinn took Tessa upstairs with him this morning while he got ready for work. I walked past my bedroom and this is what I found:

Just sitting and enjoying the moment...what a great daddy.

Couldn't let this one pass by...

2011-09-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

Here are the 5 pregnant girls from my ward at my baby shower in Tucson.

We all had our babies between May 31 and June 30th! Pretty Amazing!

Too bad we don't have a pic of all of us with our babies:( That would be fun.

Preschool Boy!

2011-09-07T09:39:00.000-07:00

Our little Chase is getting so big!

This face says to me:

"Geez guys, why do I have to take this pic? (but i secretly like it:)"

Showing off his "nap mat" and pillow.

I made the covers for them. He is at preschool from 9am-2pm three days a week so they have a little nap time. I have no idea how they expect 10 little 3 year olds to actually nap. Oh well, I guess that's their problem, he he.

The pointed toes hanging off the end of his mat means he really is old enough not to nap:)

Out in front of the school.

He was so excited to take his lunch box, "Just like Jack!"

Inside the classroom

Busily "working"

It is a bit crazy that he will be gone most of the day but I think he will love it. It has been lovely being at home alone with Tessa this morning. I can finally sit down, relax a little and write a blog post. Speaking of Tessa...

Tessa Girl is 2 Months Old!

My how she has grown from this:

She weighs 11 lbs and is 23 inches tall!

Which means she has grown 5 lbs and 4 inches in just 2 months:)

We all adore her very much

Especially Daddy

He often has long "conversations" with her:

But most of his time is spent corralling these crazy boys.

Here they are on their way up to bed:

I had to add this pic in. This is how crazily Jack and Chase enjoy the stairs!

San Antonio!

2011-08-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

WE are here, we are moved in...and we are loving it!

Heres the house in pics:

Decor is obviously not finished:

A picture of the infamous STAIRS!

(When we moved, their only request was that we move to a house with stairs,

this request was made many times)

The boys are making good use of the stairs. I don't have a pic of them sliding down the stairs yet but be assured, they make the trip about a hundred times a day.

The backyard dream land!!

This is the kind of backyard I dreamed of when we were baking in the Tucson heat with rocks, fake grass and very little shade. This is amazing.

But wait....

It gets better....

We occasionally have COWS!

(and DONKEYS, who knew there were actually donkeys hanging out in the world?)

Here is Jack's attempt at feeding them, under the fence.

We are in a little gated community in a semi-cul-de-sac so the neighborhood is great. When we look out the back windows there isn't a house for as far as the eye can see. To top it all off we are just minutes from everything. It took me 5 min to drive to walmart yesterday. Heaven. I could get used to this. What could we do to slow down Quinn's training so we could stay longer? Maybe I could 'nancy kerigan' him in the knee? (or was is tanya harding?)

In other news:

Jack is a Kindergartener!

I was worried that all day kindergarten would be too much for him. He is gone from about 7:30 am until almost 3:30. I was wrong! He loves it and doesn't even seem worn out at the end of the day.

Meanwhile, Tessa is doing lots of new things like:

Growing her eyelashes:

(Her's will catch up the boys soon at this rate)

Having wardrobe malfunctions:

Sitting in the Bumbo seat:

Crying:

(Ok, not new but she is making herself heard if she doesn't get what she wants)

Trying the jumper:

Daddy's idea. Definitely not ready.

Above all she is still Momma's little sweetheart and the sugar sprinkled on the top of my life. She is truly wonderful, how did I ever live without her?

This is really it...

2011-08-13T14:31:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we are actually moving. I thought maybe if I just pretended that we weren't ever leaving that it might never happen. Alas, after 5 1/2 years in Tucson we are bidding a fond farewell to it all. We will miss this hot deserty place. All three of our children were born here and this is the only house they have ever known as "home".

Things we will miss:

Our ward!

All our ward friends!

Living just 2 hours from Quinn's parents and my sister Lo.

The "dry" heat.

The awesome winters.

The amazing Zoo.

Sonoran Hot Dogs (I am crossing my fingers that they have these in Del Rio)

The mountain biking

My chiropractor

Our wonderful friends (they deserve to be mentioned twice)

The Children's Museum

Eegees

The ghetto race car races (just a mile from our house)

Quinn being able to ride his dirt bike in the desert by our house

Our grapefruit tree

Never having to mow our artificial grass:)

Things we are looking forward to in San Antonio:

Stairs!!

(the boys only request for when we moved was that our house have stairs)

Chase's preschool

Jack's school being a mile from the house

Living near things!

Sea World

Quinn gets to fly a fun plane

etc.

So, this is poor baby Tessa's room right now:

WE are about ready to go.

By the way...Here is the pic of Quinn's last flight in the C-130

He got the traditional cooler dumping

No post is complete with out an updated pic of Tessa. She is getting so big and so adorably chubby! Still the best baby in the world. :) Not that I am biased or anything;)

These boys love their baby sister

2011-07-12T15:52:00.000-07:00

They are very proud of her, they were going on and on to the other kids at their preschool today about their "new baby sister Tessa."

(I thought the bare chest didn't start till boys were teenagers? apparently not!)

They like to play with her:

Surrounding her with their micro-machines...

They play their bionacles while she watches...

Even playing dress up...

This is a little shaving kit Quinn got while he was deployed, the boys normally use it to hold a few cars but it made a handy little backpack for our pint sized girl....ready to go camping!

A few misc pics I love of her, always just chillin'

She is seriously the best baby.

She sleeps like a champ and is happy as can be when she is awake.

We love her!

More Tessa

2011-06-23T20:57:00.000-07:00

Don't you just want to kiss those lips?

Tessa

2011-06-20T16:46:00.000-07:00

Tessa is a most blissful little person!

She occasionally opens her eyes

Yawn!

Mostly we have been doing a lot of this:

I never understood why people loved the newborn stage. My boys were born at term (or over!) and came out hungry, crying and rarely sleeping. That, combined with breastfeeding problems and my own pain made the stage unenjoyable to me. This time around is night from day! She is just a sweet, sleepy cuddly baby who nurses well and has a most happy mommy. I am sure enjoying this time with our sweet new little spirit. Hopefully it lasts!

2011-06-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

Tessa Jane Nixon is here!

Born June 18th at 12:50 am

She is a tiny little thing at 6 lbs 1 oz.

The boys came to see me before the hard labor started:

Here she is in all her sweetness

Daddy and Mommy love her to pieces already

I adore her wrinkly little feet

Besides being very tired, we are all doing well. I didn't have an epesiotomy so i am feeling much better this time around and we are hoping she wakes up soon to eat!

Bed Rest

2011-06-11T19:46:00.000-07:00

So, I went to the Dr. on Thurs and I almost didn't come home! My blood pressure was high and they sent me to the hospital for more testing. Thankfully the additional testing showed that things are ok and I don't have full blown pre-eclampsia so I was able to go home. Phew!

On my way out the nurse told me that I am supposed to be on bed rest...my first thought was "Yeah!! I get to lie around all day and not feel guilty about it!"

Turns out that bed rest is more like NOT lying around all day and feeling guilty about it!

I'm not the best bed rester.

In my defense she did say "Modified Bed Rest" Meaning: I can be up for an hour at a time.

Quinn's question: "Did she say how long you have to lie down in between your hour(s) up?"

Guess I could get away with a lot if I started doing back-to -back 'up-hours':)

Wish me luck. I am 37 weeks right now and hoping to make it till the 23rd if possible so I can be induced by the Dr. I like (darn him for leaving out of town today for a week!!)

"He actually said..."

2011-06-07T20:09:00.000-07:00

Quinn crept in from work this morning at 2 am and said to my sleeping form: "I'm sure glad you're pregnant right now."

So, usually nothing can rouse me at 2 am except a crying baby but this? from a man who hates pregnancy almost as much as a pregnant woman? Did I really hear him correctly? Maybe I'm dreaming. What could cause this crazy "gladness" over my gigantic condition? and at 2 am none the less.

"Cause if you weren't, I would be deploying in 2 days."

oh, I see now. At least there's one reason to be glad:)

All alone...

2011-05-27T17:20:00.000-07:00

in a good way.

I am all alone today. Nobody asking me to get them anything, nobody running around making the house messy, nobody begging for treats before dinner because they are "so hungry!" It is kind of amazing.

Quinn took the boys camping for the day/night and I have now enjoyed about 8 hours of quiet and peace. It is kind of awesome.

I cleaned up the house as soon as they left and it has stayed pristinely clean all day. I made homemade bread, napped and watched a few episodes of Greys Anatomy. It is kind of blissful.

Pretty much blissful...for a very short while:) I really do miss those little ones and all their noise and chaos. I am glad I have many many more years of kids running around, messing up the house and making this place feel like home.

I have not spent a night alone since Jack was born! Life sure changes when you have kids. In a way it feels like I'm not really alone, what with this little girl bumping around inside me. What an active little muchkin!

I have been perusing the old pics on Quinn's laptop here and found this little gem:
I am way excited for this little one on the inside to be this age on the outside...six months, chubby and happy. Also, it will be great to get this body back!!!

A great Pregnancy Picture!

2011-05-11T19:13:00.000-07:00

After my last post about never liking pregnancy pics, I finally got a great one!

Look at that little face, doesn't that expression just say it all?

Yeah, pregnancy is weird.

2011-05-05T11:02:00.000-07:00

I have looked at my blog a few times and thought, "I should really post something else so the bad news bit will not be first on my page..." but I am so tired when I am pregnant and only get around to the necessities. This is all i can think about:Does anyone out there actually like their pregnancy photos? Maybe if I got them professionally done. I do like this little ditty though:
Probably because those boys are so darn cute! I sure love them. Quinn has been out of town alot lately so it has been lots of time with just me and the muffin men (as i like to call them). And they are so good! They pick things up off the floor and refill my water cup. They play at the park while I sit there like a bump on a log and rarely ask me to get up to help or play with them. (and they are nice when I tell them I can't help them because I don't want to get up!)

Chase is so funny, he does crazy thing like this:
All on his own! and they shower now which helps my back when it comes time to wash them. Cute face.I've been doing more baby-prep. Including another quilt:

The edges of the rounds will fray more as it is washed.And recovering my car seat. Pretty good way to make a blue seat look girly, doncha think?And a few misc: Workouts with daddy...And Easter:

With the priceless egg hunt face:

Only 8 more weeks to go until I have something *really* exciting to blog about. Until then...

2011-04-23T16:33:00.000-07:00

The Air Force was handing these out yesterday:

So, of course we got one. It was kind of the thing to do. All the people who signed up for their chance to get out of the Air Force early (with an extra $50,000) and waited and hoped ...and hoped and waited all had their hopes dashed. Meanwhile, those who already only had less than six months left on their commitment were handed a golden 50K ticket. Does that make any sense? Pay people 50K extra to get out when they were already going to get out? No, it makes no sense, that is why the Air Force did it. Ridiculous.

With the way things are going for us lately:

1. Hoping to get a good assignment and getting Del Rio.

2.Hoping to get out of the AF all together and then not.

We are starting to feel like this:
It sucks.

I have been keeping Elder Wirthlin's talk Come what may and love it in mind.

What would we do without the gospel?

People actually came to visit us!

2011-04-17T09:16:00.000-07:00

Thats right folks. My sister Julie and her family drove 12 hours to visit us in humble Tucson....and we all had a great time!! Here are the kids together in our house.

Elsa decided to show off her muscles by picking Jack up during the good-bye hug.

Eli had to one-up her by picking them both up..

And Canyon joined in by doing a little airplane style Chase pick-up.

They loved having their cousins here. These are all the pics I took, how lame! I will blame it on the pregnancy. I am 29 weeks now, can you believe I still have 1/4 of this pregnancy to go? I sure can't. Ugh.:)

5 years old!

2011-03-24T07:46:00.000-07:00

My Jack boy turned 5!!

We got to be in Utah again this year for his birthday so it was a fun cousin party on the agenda:)

All the fun kids at the spiderman party.

And just for comparison, here he is at about a year...so big now!!!

Girl Quilt Finished

2011-02-07T12:36:00.000-08:00

I am in love with this quilt! I couldn't stop working on it until it was done.

The colors really spoke to me, just enough girly-ness without too much pink.

I added the little butterfly trails on some of them, and used a different quilting style for this one.

The back, including the "quilt label":

Wish I had a little baby to wrap in it right now!!

Oh, I had my official ultrasound today. Everything looked good/healthy and she confirmed that it is a girl, hooray!

2011-02-06T09:16:00.000-08:00

I had a birthday (30! eek!) shout hooray!

My mother-in-law made this amazing cake, doesn't it look professional? Coconut, my favorite. I got to go on an awesomely long date with my amazing hubby who took me shoe and fabric shopping! Plus, dinner and a movie:) He picked out some wonderful surprise gifts, who could ask for more?

Also, I have caught the sewing bug again: This time a quilt for Jack.

The back:

Details:

I love the little "windows" that show each character, so cute!

Do you think he likes it?

Next in Quilting: the amazing baby girl quilt! I am so excited!

The greatly anticipated news....

2011-01-26T17:22:00.000-08:00

Well, at least it has been GREATLY anticipated by me.

I went with my little sister Laura to her ultrasound yesterday because I happened to be in Mesa and her husband happened to not be able to get off of work. She got the happy news that she was having a girl and as the Dr. was finishing up I said, "So, is it my turn?" He said he was a bit curious to know and that as long as we wouldn't tell anyone he would take a quick peek. (I hope this post isn't "telling". I do leave him un-named)

It was so fun for Laura and I to find out together!

Ahhh, what a wonderful day.

p.s. Since I found out about 24 hours ago, I have purchased girly quilt fabric and about 10 super cute outfits. This news may be dangerous for the pocket book.

Glorious Grapefruit!

2011-01-14T17:32:00.000-08:00

We planted this little tree in our back yard 5 years ago, with high hopes of having a few years of grapefruit. Unfortunately, we were wrong. No fruit for 4 years.

Fortunately, our fruits have finally come in!!

(and surprisingly we STILL live here to enjoy them)

Aren't they lovely? Lucky for me my in-laws have a huge tree and always supply us with plenty of grapefruit for the winter months. I have eaten at least one a day since we got home from the Christmas break.

Here is a comparison, the ruby red baby is from our tree:

Ahh, all done, I really do eat them 2 at a time....why not?

I must mention that these grapefruit would have never been without Quinn's tireless devotion to fertilizing, flooding, digging about, pruning and general fussing over our little citrus trees. Yet, we will never experience the oranges...if they ever come.

My little treasure..

2011-01-10T17:42:00.000-08:00

My husband is an awesome gift giver and never lets a birthday or christmas go past without a nice surprise. This year he got me some sweet sporty shoes and Pres Monson's Biography, great taste!!

But the real treat this Christmas came from my sister Tracy.:

I love love love it!! And did I mention that she made that frame all her self? She purchased the rope looking part but the rest was just raw wood that she worked her magic on and made into a beautiful frame. It goes with my decor and I look at it many times a day thinking, "I just love that." It's important to have things in your house that you look at and it just makes you happy.

Heres the old frame for comparison:
Here's a better view of the frame:

Thank You TRACY!!!

Look at that boy GO!

2011-01-05T14:42:00.000-08:00

It is so fun when your kid learns to ride a bike! Jack picked it up in about 2 days (probably because we waited about a year too long to let him try!!) and now he is a biking machine!

Oh the cuteness!

The problem was taking Chase along...until I rigged up the trail-along bike and viola!

Poor Chase can barely reach the pedals so he really is just along for the ride but it is easier to maneuver than the trailer.

Now we're just a regular riding party and I love Arizona winter for this!

It is so fun to have my kids growing up. We went to the children's museum today and I saw several mothers nursing babies while trying to keep their toddlers in view. Sometimes chasing the toddler down while trying to hang on to the still nursing baby and dragging the stroller along. It looked exhausting! I remember it well...that was me, just about 3 years ago. How time flies.

My children are so much more manageable now.

Then it hit me...in 6 short months I'm going to be the nursing, stroller toting mom again...eek!

Good thing I won't have a toddler to chase around:)

2011-01-01T12:45:00.000-08:00

Or more accurately:

Why I'm nausious, bloated, tired, grumpy etc.

Yep you guessed it:

I'm super excited that my little sister Laura and I are due the same day!!

June 30...only 6 long months away...ugh.

On a side note: My sister Julie and I were due the same day when I was pregnant with Jack, how cool is that?

Winter has come a calling...

2010-12-30T15:08:00.000-08:00

Quite literally!

My brother made this man and then rang the door bell, he's so funny!

It has been snowing like crazy in Utah and it is beautiful! It has been so fun to sit in a cozy house, playing games iwth family and eating lots of good food while watching the snow fall outside. This is what Christmas vacation is all about!

Some of the highlights:

Making Gingerbread houses, yum!

Quinn's was particularly inventive:

Got some great gifts...

Can you say happy boys? or what?

When Chase opened his gift from grandma he said, "Its just what I wanted!!" He had never seen it before in his life. It's great when whatever you get is exactly what you wanted.

Played with all the big cousins:

And have a ball sleeping in the same bed every night, such sweeties!

For my friends in the snowy North.

2010-12-04T11:34:00.000-08:00

I snapped these photos as we lounged outside yesterday

It's December and my boys aren't wearing any shirts

Which is fine because it isn't even cold here!

My toesies enjoyed the weather very much

And eating juicy strawberries helped us feel very posh

It was lovely to sit back, enjoy the feel of the mid70 degree air and watch my funny boys...

(Mark, he gets his ribs from you!)

This is Jack's "Spider Man" shot

Looks more like a "Crazy man" shot to me.

THIS is why people live in Arizona!

House transformations

2010-11-23T09:15:00.000-08:00

My sisters were talking the other day and one of them mentioned my change to white picture frames and the other couldn't picture it. So she emailed and asked that I post a few pics of my recent projects and my house so she can picture it. Honestly ladies, you should just come see it in person!

Here's the coffee table before:

And after! Including new rug and throw pillows:

The old entertainment center

Picked up this treasure at an antique store in town

(are all of you Tuconians aware that there are great antique stores in Tucson? There are!)

Painted:

Antiqued:

I love how the antiquing makes all the details pop out!

And in the house, complete with "family" sign I also painted:

p.s. is it too early for Christmas decorations? I didn't think so, my house is all decked out!

The chairs have had a few transformations

Here is the first change in 2008:

Now in 2010, love these fabrics! And no, they are not practical but who cares?

They make me happy when I look at them:)

(also, pre treated the fabric with stain guard and they wipe off pretty well!)

My kitchen wall. This used to have one picture on it.

I painted all the frames, many of them I already had so it didn't cost much!

(My christmas things are in there so its not completely how it looks normally but you get the idea)

Another wall of pics.

I love the oval frames and the round framed mirror was a great find at Goodwill!

No before pic of this little gem but it was brown/ugly.

Now it is my adorable end table!

My favorite compliment from anyone thus far was my friend who said, "I saw that before you painted it and I honestly thought it was way ugly and it looks great now!" She didn't have the vision!

This wall is still under construction. Tracy is making me a fat white frame for my timp pic for Christmas, can't wait!! And I have a cool framed scripture to go where the Christmas sleds are now. The little thing on the right is my collection of antique finds at the local stores.

Oh, and my garage during the chaos.

I knew somehow I was going to organize it to fit our new van when it came.....

And here it is: the Swagger Wagon! The boys think it is so cool, even cooler than Daddys truck! Probably just because it is newer,

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

My painting ideas came from www.allthingsthrifty.com Check it out.

A Musical Meeting with Ellen

2010-11-16T09:19:00.000-08:00

My cousin was on Ellen!! She is famous. I love Ali, she is such a fun loving person. Way to go Ali!

Mission San Xavier

2010-11-13T19:55:00.000-08:00

We took a little morning trip to this mission that was build in 1783 by some friars from Spain. As we were there and learning about the history of it I realized 1783 was a really long time ago...who knew anyone but the Indians were here then?

It is totally in the middle of no where.

I love the white of the building against the deep blue sky.

The whole place was abandoned at one point and wild animals were living inside. They did major restoration on the whole thing.

They are just cute.

Deep in the labyrinth.

The Indians come to set up little eateries in the stalls on the mission grounds. There were about 7 or 8 stalls and all of them had the exact same menu. Fry bread, fry bread with sugar, fry bread with cinnamon, fry bread with meat, fry bread with honey. It was hard to choose who to buy from when they all look exactly the same and they are all eying you to see where you are going to spend your money. We chose the people who had two cute little kids:

I thought Jack and Chase looked cute playing under the table with these little Indian kids. Seeing them made me thankful that Quinn has a good job.

Have I mentioned...

2010-11-02T11:33:00.000-07:00

That my awesome mom is coming in 2 weeks and that we have tickets to go see:

So You Think You Can Dance Live on Tour!!

I can't wait!

Halloween

2010-11-01T15:32:00.000-07:00

We were the bat family for halloween. I wanted to do Batman and Robin for the boys but who wants to be robin?

Of course this pic is a little lame because you can't see Quinn's camo backed bat on his shirt and you cant see the boys awesome bat capes!

Chase particularly enjoyed the sugar feas!t

Carving pumpkins is really fun! Why did i not remember how fun it is?

The Man Hike

2010-10-16T21:52:00.000-07:00

Quinn and a couple buddies from the ward decided to hike/camp MT. Wrightson, a mountain you can see from our house. It was a warm day and they didn't anticipate any bad weather. Well they returned home today triumphant and a very tired. They survived "hurricane force winds", pelting rain and hail, freezing temps and a very steep and little used trail. It was a mini epic and just what a man needs every now and then.

My favorite quotes from the retelling:

"I should have brought a jacket."

"Paul didn't bring a tent, just a tarp."

And last but best of all:

"We were talking around the campfire when Costco came up which naturally led to diapers and before we knew it, here we were...3 guys on the top of a mountain talking about which diapers we prefer."

A Date

2010-10-15T13:14:00.000-07:00

I went on a real date with my awesome husband wednesday night. We did just about our two favorite things, mountain biking and eating. We weren't able to start until almost 5:30 so it was a race against the darkness. It was a bit hot when we got going but as soon as the sun went down it was perfect. The air was soft and warm and we caught glimpses of the amazing desert sunset at every turn. I wish the picture did it justice.
I love dates! I wish we were those people who did them every week. Quinn is so nice and fun to be with, especially when he isn't playing daddy and I love just being myself and having a break from my mommy side. Quinn opened doors, carried all the water, stopped to give me drinks, loaded/unloaded my bike and warned me of the sand traps and cactus. What a gentleman:)

Also, I got up early this morning to bike by myself before Quinn left on his Man Hike (more details and pics to come, hopefully) This little friend jumped up from the desert floor and wanted to hitch a ride!
I was seriously crusing along at a good clip when my tire flipped this cactus up and into my leg. I stopped as quickly as possible and gingerly unclipped my foot from the pedal. I was so glad I thought to grab my phone and snap a pic before the delicate (or not so) extracting procedure. I tell ya, the desert is beautiful but extremely sharp, thorny, rocky, hot and unforgiving!

My Boys

2010-10-11T15:57:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned lately that I love being a mom?

How could I not with these two guys hanging on me day in and day out?They seriously make me laugh...And they make me happy when I am sad.
Quinn was telling the biker dude from the previous post that he is an AF Pilot. He then turned to me and asked what I do.
"I have the best job in the world.
I hang out with those two all day and let Quinn make all the money." It really is the best job in the world and I am starting to realise that I won't be employed in this capacity forever. Better enjoy it now...I plan to.

Utah-Fall Style

2010-10-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

We had an awesome trip to utah a week ago but a one week trip was too short! The best part for the boys was hanging out all day with their cousins. Jack was in "play and play" heaven. (Every morning when he wakes up I ask him what he wants to do today and he says, "Just play and play all day.") Here are all the utah cousins all on one slide at once! We hung out with Becca up the canyon. I love hanging out with Becca up the Canyon, it brought back many fun memories. We hit arches on the way home and camped for a night. It was so FUN!! We were able to hike to quite a few of the arches.
I love these boys!

A nice man from new zealand offered to take our pic. 80% of all the tourists there were from other countries. Those Europeans know how to vacation. They come here for a month or two at a time and visit all the national parks.

Here are the boys on the Harley of the guy who camped next to us. He is on a month long bike ride around the country. How do these people get the time away to vacation for so long?

I see you!

I'm a lucky girl

Vacation is awesome...

2010-09-06T16:54:00.000-07:00

You may not think of Little Rock Ar when planning a vacation, and frankly neither would we, but we are loving it none the less. It is fun to be back in the Big Rock (as our boys affectionately call it) where Quinn and I have spent some considerable time in the last 5 years.

Weve gone to our favorite Pizza place, our fav frozen custard shop, worked out at the old gym, gone to our former ward and basically driven around town repeating, "Oh, remember when we (fill in the blank) here?" and "Thats where we did such-and-such." We're reliving the glory days like an old married couple .

We hiked to the top of Pinnacle peak today, the highest point in Arkansas. The first time we did it Jack was in my tummy, the next time Jack was on Quinn's shoulders and Chase was in my tummy; this time Jack hiked himself, Chase was on Quinn's shoulders and ? was in my tummy. It is so fulfilling to hike an entire mountain in less than an hour :)

I am in full vacation mode, I have done absolutely no cleaning and very little child care chores (those have all fallen to Quinn as he had been out of town for 3 weeks so it's his turn). Just lots of swimming, eating free hotel food, reading and just having a blast with my husband and kids.
Oh, the best part? We still have 7 more days of this ahhhhhh......

By the way, JK I'm not pregnant....just wanted to see if you were paying attention. Ha, ha

The swimmer boys

2010-08-24T18:53:00.000-07:00

We spent a long weekend in the pool at my in-laws house.

My boys are becoming quite the swimmers.

Here is my little "Noodle Cowboy" He was so cute peddaling his way around the pool on his "sea horse."Jump!

That is a belly-flop waiting to happen!
But then he pulls out of it at the last second:
Geronimo!

This is Jack's "Crazy Jumps"
This is why i love my camera, look at that face!

A big BIG thank you to Grandpa Nixon. He wins the award for long-suffering with our fish named jack. Example: He spent 4 hours in the pool with him on Monday!

(And jack still complained about getting out)

This monster came walking past me...

2010-08-18T14:32:00.000-07:00

during naptime. Very quietly...just tip-toeing along on its way to the toy room. I looked up from my scriptures and supressed a laugh as I watched for a minute until it banged into the corner.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing Mr.?"

"If you thought I was a pillow, you wouldn't put me back down for naps." Came the muffled reply.

He has got a point there.

Although I wasn't fooled, he got major points for creativity and did not have to go back in his room for naps. I love my 4 year old! He just gets funnier and funnier.

Speaking of funny. Chase is our ham.

I love having a few hours alone with my little pal while Jack is gone to preschool.

He is my little helper, here he is helping with the bathroom cleaning and growling at me while pretending to be a lion. He's a multi tasker.

In other news. Quinn is gone. He left for Little Rock, Ak yesterday. The boys like to call it "BIG Rock", what is it with men and everything having to be big?

I sure miss that Capt of mine. It is not as much fun without him. It is cleaner around the house though. Military boots, back packs, lunch boxes, camel baks or wallet lying around. Gotta look at the bright side right?

We are going to visit him in Little/Big Rock for 9 days over Labor Day, so excited!! The kids are pumped about swimming in the hotel pool/hot tub (they asked repeatedly if there was in fact a hot tub), having waffles for breakfast every day and sharing a room. Flying sure costs alot now. Last time I flew the three of us to Little Rock Jack, not quite 2, sat on my lap and Chase was in my tummy, we all shared a single seat! Now it will take three tickets but it sure will be nice not having to carry anyone around.

I leave you with a pic of the last time we were in the Big L.R.

The best vacation ever!

2010-07-24T20:38:00.000-07:00

Our cruise was better than we could have even imagined! As first time cruisers we weren't sure if there would be things we wouldn't like about it, i.ee sea sickness, the food, the entertainment etc. We were pleasantly surprised. The food was gourmet, the service was impecible (we felt like kings!) and Alaska was amazing!

Smiling down on Seattle from atop the space needle.

Experiencing Pike place market.

It has been on my list of things to see for a long long time.

Formal eveing on the ship. It is fun to get dressed up again, mostly just to see Quinn in his Tux uniform, theres something about a man in uniform. He got lots of comments from people about his uniform. Unfortunately this pic doesn't show his 8 medals... 8 medals!

Me on the zip line, what a view of Alsaka!

Quinn crossing one of the sky bridges.

One of the views from our helicoptor ride.

The glacier we landed on and walked on, awesome!

Can you tell the helicoptor is ON a glacier, how cool!

The most amazing thing to me about the glaciers, next to their size, was how BLUE they are! The water was like none I had ever seen.

Our train ride to the top of White Pass Summit.

Then we got on bikes and biked down from the summit, 3000 feet!

I was pretty proud to get this shot while biking.

A different Glacier, a different mode of transportation, canoes!

I saw alot of this.

The view out our state room window. Mountains, tirquoise water and tiny ice bergs!

Me in the climbing competition.

The mens and womens climbing contest gold medalists, yeah, we rock.

I won't describe our competition, it takes away from the glory.

We got to check this place off of Laura's to-do list.

These gardens are pretty amazing, even their trash cans are perfectly planted and groomed.

The Craigderoch Castle

Now the cruise is over but one thing remains...the pounds we put on eating the amazing food!

Crusin'...

2010-07-14T15:03:00.000-07:00

Alaska here we come!

Were going to do this:

And this:

And even a little of this:

8 Adventure filled days away from the kids.
8 Days to focus all my attention on my Capt and having fun.
I can't wait!!

San Diego

2010-07-07T15:40:00.000-07:00

We had a fabulous trip to San Diego. We love Sea World, we loved the weather, we loved the boats, we loved staying in the hotel, we loved eating out, we loved the BEACH!

"What is this strange substance inbetween my toes?"

Chase loved the ocean until the attack of the giant seaweed.

It was hilarious, he is such a drama king.

The weather was cool and cloudy, such a relief from the AZ sun!

All cozied up in a towel, so sweet!
My dreamy hunk!

(Notice he is actually floating on air)I thoroughly enjoyed just hanging out with my boys on the beach, we went all 3 days!Chase being Chase on our boat tour of the day, what a ham!
A family pic with everyone in it, yeah!

The other ham in our family.

The USS MIDWAY

Another fam pic, not as great...
All the airplanes were Heaven for all 3 boys in the family.

And another fam pic, we did good!

Camping Mt Lemmon

2010-06-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

It was wondeful to escape the heat and camp on Mt Lemmon. It was about 103 in the valley when we left and as we arrived at the campsite it was 76, awesome!

Here's chase helping carry the gear down to the car, what a helper, ha ha!

Can you resist a face that dirty and yummy. Just the right combo of dirt, chocolate and marshmellow. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for coming, they rock!I actually caught some pretty great zzzzs thanks to my ear plugs. When asked about his favorite part of camping. Jack thought for a minute before answering confidently: "MARSHMELLOWS."

We're Home!

2010-06-11T14:25:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when I am in Utah I can't believe we still have a life here in AZ and then we make the 12 hour trek home and viola! Our whole other live is waiting for us:) Look how full our car was!

The drive home is always so beautiful.

Chase was glad to be back to our frige where he can finally get his own drink of water, wahoo!

They love standing on the chairs in the backyard looking over the wall at their little friend next door. Chase's perch looks pretty precarious doesn't it?

The best part about being home: Fun with Daddy!

Family Pics 2010

2010-06-02T21:25:00.000-07:00

My amazing sister Tracy Anderson of Anderson Photography

was gracious enough to take our yearly round of family photos.

Thank you Tracy!

I am so lucky to have her, for so many reasons.

The pics turned out amazing. I love this man. So glad to have him home with me again.Chase always makes us laugh, he has the most expressive face. Funny story about the above pic.

I was trying to copy my brother and Sister-in-laws kissing pic, featured on her blog here. This illustrates the difference between their kids and our crazy Chasie! Good thing we love him so much:)

My precious and good Jack. He is just a good kid. What more can I say?

Last but certainly not least! Super rope-swing mom!

He's graduating already!?!

2010-05-25T06:28:00.000-07:00

My baby graduated from preschool!

Well, really, he graduated from his first year of preschool. The program was so cute!

At dinner he was asking us every five minutes if we could finally go to his program.

Waiting for the program to start, this is his excited face and dance.

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine"

The Kazoo song, so fun!

"Nobody likes me, every body hates me guess I'll go eat worms!"

The 2 graduate cousins. Jack loves Elsa so much!

It was an awesome experience for him to be able to go to preschool with his 'twin' cousin.

I hope they call me on a mission...

2010-05-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

I really wanted to take pics of the boys by the MTC so I can frame them for their rooms.

I think they will make handsome missionaries someday.

(Don't you think these pics will make a super cute scrapbook page in about 15 years along with the real pic of them entering the MTC? I hope so!)

It was such a beautiful sunday morning, I love utah in the spring!

P.s. not much spring today, I took this pic from the porch 5 minutes ago!

The Nixon Ranch

2010-05-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

We just got back from 4 fun filled days at the Nixon Family Ranch in the middle of no where, Wells NV to be exact.

Grandma and Grandma Nixon made our home on the range feel homey

Grandpa made the traditional waffles with the boys

Paddle boats out back behind the ranch house.

Uncle Dan and Aunt Michelle made the family complete!

Smores!!

The Colemans, we love you guys!!

Don't those boys look hansome? Oh, and the mountain is amazing too right? That place is gorgeous!

Quinn came home!

2010-05-13T12:30:00.000-07:00

We hiked to the wind caves...

We stayed in an amazing room at the anniversary inn...

saw the Logan sights...

and became a family again!!!

We celebrated...

with a lunch of chicken nuggets, canned pears and...

"spicy drink!"

Cheers!

Bottoms up :)

It is so great to have Quinn home. He is still the greatest guy in the world and my best friend. Right now he is up stairs reading stories to the boys for nap time, it is so nice to have a break!

Today's the Day!

2010-05-12T06:28:00.001-07:00

I get to see my Capt today!

Imagine those heart pounding moments in the movies where the star-crossed lovers rush into each other's arms after being apart for so long... that will be us. Wish me luck!

Oh, and we are staying here tonight, oh la la!

Happy Mothers Day!

2010-05-09T07:32:00.000-07:00

My totally thoughtful husband sent these shirts to the boys to give to me for Mother's Day.

(It's hard to tell but they say "I love my Mommy")

Aren't they cuties? Thanks Capt. for remembering this special day.

(I like how this pic happened to be of all 3 of us, can you spot the mom?)

I love my 2 sweet boys...

and this quote:

"Motherhood, is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels."

- First Presidency Message, 1942

I hope we will all "honor it's holy calling" this day and every day of the year! Happy Mothers Day to you!

2010-05-01T14:06:00.000-07:00

My sweet friend Becca is having a baby. I was lucky enough to be here to throw her a shower and enjoy all the excitement. Happy shower day to Becca!

Now that is a woman who looks like she is about to have a baby right?

You are great Becca, It was so much fun:)

6 years ago today..

2010-04-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

We had our wedding reception in this back yard:

I'm glad it didn't look like this though! We were lucky to have good weather on our big day.

I love my Capt he is so awesome!

He sent me this:

A kneaders gift basket!

Not only was it chocolatey, sugary, bready and packed with yummy carbs but he sent it in lieu of the traditional flowers. I thought it was just as beautiful and so much tastier! Thanks babe.

I sure am glad I married you:)

p.s. I found my own flowers to enjoy today, complete with snow!

(A More Real) Love Story

2010-04-29T13:41:00.000-07:00

This is so true...

It made me cry! How sad is that? When the husband jumps out of the mini-van It made me want to see Quinn pulling up to our house. I miss that guy! (and the mini-van would be nice too:) Even when I am sick of the dishes and the needy kids it still feels magical when we get away just the two of us.

I'm so excited, just 2 weeks till my hubby pulls in...wonder if he'll surprise me with a mini-van? ha ha

"Eat some dinner please!"

2010-04-20T21:15:00.000-07:00

Every night I ask him this.

Even though he doesn't always do it, at least he always makes me laugh.

His plate is well protected by those 3 guns, don't you think?

My mother..

2010-04-04T19:24:00.000-07:00

is the 'quintessential' mom according to my cousin, who thinks she would be lonely without all the mobs of children and grand-children in her house day and night, and I agree. Not only does she open her house to all the stray children who come back again and again, she welcomes us and always cries when we leave. I love you mom!

Happy Birthday!

Thanks mom!

Easter Eggs

2010-04-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

Jack hugging both of the green dyes. He knows what he likes!

Chase loves Mom...or Wow

Just mom and the boys.

Note to self: Buy 5 or 6 dozen eggs next year, the fun ended too soon!

2010-04-01T07:15:00.000-07:00

Checked out Google yet today?

Hint, click on "google"

Nixon Grandboys

2010-03-31T20:00:00.000-07:00

Four of them, ages 4, 3(almost), 2, and 1.

How cute are they?

We took like 50 pics of them, none of them have more than one boy smiling at a time.

I told Chase he looks like a Missionary Boy.

He is growing up so fast:)

Deployed

2010-03-30T07:15:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or is it crazy that my husband is gone all the time?!

Here he is, the commander with his crew.

(He is the second from the left, it is hard to tell!)

He does look hot packing heat doesn't he?

I don't know about the mustache though.

We miss you Capt N.

Is that a Leg Warmer?

2010-03-25T20:24:00.000-07:00

on my son?

Sure looks like a leg warmer.

It's not.

I thought he had taken one of his socks off, where did he put it?. As I removed his pants for bath time I found it... just a little farther up than I expected!

And to think the sock didn't even have a hole in it when I put it on him this morning. He must have played really hard today.

The Big-Wheel Brigade

2010-03-24T17:01:00.000-07:00

Big-wheel boys in action!

Jack is so glad Grandma and Grandpa brought his big-wheel to him!

Chase looking through his binoculars. How funny is he?

I just happened to look up and saw him watching the kids this way. He was gracious enough to turn his attention in my direction so I could capture his cuteness.

Grandma & Grandpa Nixon

2010-03-23T16:56:00.000-07:00

We were all super excited to have my in-laws come to visit, we love having them around!

They came bearing gifts for Jack's birthday. Oh, the perfect gifts by the way:

Six Shooters with Holsters

What more could a boy want?

They are wise grandparents: 2 sets of guns ....no fighting over who gets it, just a lot of good old shoot 'em up play.

I have to note that when she asked the people at Toys 'R Us

where the toy guns were they were aghast!

"We don't carry ANY GUNS!"

Oh geeze! Liberals.

The gigantic bubbles were a hit

Chase, this morning, in all his splendor.

Diaper-check

Business socks-check

Holster/guns- check

Thats really all you need for the day, right?

St. Patty's Day

2010-03-18T07:07:00.001-07:00

I was excited for St. Pats day as Jack is obsessed with the color green. I knew he would love it! We had green cereal in honor of the day. Life for Chase, Oatmeal for Jack, Kashi for Mom. I was worried the green would freak Chase out but he loved it.

Jack hated it! He refused to eat. Just when I think I know my kids...

Birthday Boy

2010-03-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

My little sweet Jack is 4!!

I love this boy, he is a super powered sweetheart. He is all rough and tumble boy. Always pretending to be some fierce animal, great warrior, or stealthy sleuth. Yet he never looses his tender heart and is always caring for the people around him. I love you Jack!

Here he is fresh home from being the Birthday King and Preschool and inspecting his cake.

Getting ready for the party, Buzz Lightyear style!

Someone is here!! The party begins!

Ring-around-the-Rosies and Duck-Duck-Goose

"Heavy, heavy hang over thy poor head what do you wish with a bonk on the head?!"

Smash that Pinata!

When that one last candle wouldn't go with conventional blowing....

He used super powered blowing!!

I'm a Winner!!s

2010-03-11T11:42:00.000-08:00

Is this news to you?

You're thinking, "We knew Sandra was a winner long ago!"

Ha Ha, but I actually won something! My awesomely crafty friend Sharla had a give away on her blog and this is what I won!

I love the fabric and so do my boys! They said I look cute, How nice is that?

time to wake up

2010-03-09T06:23:00.000-08:00

This is the hair we woke up to this morning!

I spend a lot of my day getting attacked by 'dinosaurs'. At least they are super cute dinosaurs!

What kind of dinosaur face is this? He tries

He said/She said

2010-02-27T17:57:00.000-08:00

We are having so much fun here with cousins. Elsa was over and I let them play Candy Land all by themselves. I sat on the couch reading a book and kept laughing at their comments:

"No Elsa you got a double blue!"

"I already did it."

"but you're still on green."

"No, that's your guy on green!"

"Oh."

Kids are so darn cute! They say so many funny things at this age.

I have other pics I want to post but I am working on my mom's brand new 27 inch Apple computer:Nice huh? Unfortunately I'm not too good with macs and can't get the pics off my camera. So, I can't do anything but at least everything I'm not doing is giant sized.

p.s. my super cute friend (She is so stylish!) in Tucson is doing a give away, check her out here.

Introducing Crazy Hair

2010-02-25T12:32:00.000-08:00

Daddy will now perform his amazing hair styling:

Drum roll please....Ta-Dah!
Drumroll Please....

Ta-Dah!!

I love their faces in this photo, "Daddy what did you do to my head?!"

I love this little guy

(and my camera that allows me to capture his cuteness!)

P.s. We miss you Daddy, the hair styling has been very boring around here since you left!

Do the Robot

2010-02-19T06:58:00.001-08:00

Jack has been loving his preschool here in Utah (Oh, did I fail to mention my husband deployed and we moved temporarly to utah? I'm a bad blogger) Jack is going to the same preschool in the same house taught by the same wonderfully sweet teacher that I went to when I was 4! Is that crazy or what? On top of it all he gets to go with his little cousin Elsa.

Yesterday they made Robots for the letter R! How fun is that? He also learned a crazy little robot dance/run that I need to capture on video. I love Jack at this age. He is so fun to be with and has the craziest little things to tell me. What a great kid.

29

2010-02-18T18:19:00.000-08:00

So, I am the big 29, which according to my friend Luke Dean is the last truly enjoyable birthday. He told me to enjoy it and I sure did! Skiing at Snowbird, Swimming at Legacy with the kids, a professional Massage, Out to dinner and lots of sweets. Of course, with all the fun I was having I didn't bother to take any fun pics! At least I have this one of me with my sweet boys...and the sweet cake too!
I like being 29 I don't understand why everyone freaks out about 30, I guess maybe I'll know in exactly one year:)

2010-01-24T18:39:00.000-08:00

Chase is currently experiencing life as an only child!

He is lovin' every minute of it...well, except for this morning when we sat down to breakfast and he suddenly realised, "Wheres Jack?" He was a little upset when we reminded him that Jack stayed at Grandma's house last night when we came home.

He is hamming it up (as you can see below), making us laugh

and getting lots of hugs, kisses, and undivided attention. So, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa who caved to Jack's persistant,

"I wanna stay at Grandpa's house!!" and are keeping him for 2 nights.
I am sure he is enjoying having his own set of adults providing undivided attention.

I love the AZ Winter

2010-01-13T19:04:00.000-08:00

I LOVE living in Arizona in the winter! The last few days have been in the low 70s, all sunshine and mild temps! I was sitting outside today in shorts reading my book and watching Jack run around in a t-shirt and underwear thinking, "It's January and my kid is running around half dressed outside, how nice is this?"

I love it even more when I look at these pics from about a week ago in Utah.

We sure had alot of fun in the snow.

And all the powder sure brings a smile to our faces.

But I am perfectly happy to enjoy where I am right now. Ahh...

2010-01-08T08:27:00.000-08:00

Hi folks, Chase here. I had to write this post myself since my mom has been such a slacker blogger lately. Anyway, I am 2 today! Yeah! Aren't I cute?

This was the best gift:

Speed, I am speed.
Bye-Bye!

The Vapor Rub miracle

2010-01-05T07:31:00.000-08:00

When we were in Mesa for Christmas my sister-in-law read something on the internet about putting vapor rub on your kids feet to stop a cough. It sounded hokey but when Jack started coughing a lot last night I decided to give it a try. It is a miracle cure! He was hacking away for an hour, I put some on the bottom of his feet, put socks on him and about 2 minutes later he completely stopped coughing! I wish someone had told me this last winter when he spent 6 months coughing every night. Jack would cough so hard he would vomit...his throwing up in sacrament meeting was a particular memorable moment. So, to all you people with cute coughy kids: vapor rub + socks= miracle cure!

p.s. buy the store brand and save a few bucks, I did.

Reading

2009-12-14T14:22:00.000-08:00

Cheers to growing up!

I love that I can walk in a room to find Chase reading to himself.

(well, looking at the pictures) There was a time...oh, around the whole first year of his life or so,

that I thought he would never stop crying and just be pleasant. Lucky for me he grew.

I love my sweet, feisty little Chasie-baby.

The obligatory Santa pictures:

2009-12-11T20:14:00.000-08:00

I'm not a huge fan of Santa, I prefer the Christ side of Christmas and focusing on the family togetherness of it all but I had a surprisingly good time taking the kids to see jolly old St. Nick and they enjoyed it too. On the drive over Jack and I had a talk about sitting on Santa's lap. He was not interested. So I had to give him a pep talk about standing next to him and when if anyone asks him to sit on Santa's lap he can just say no. It worked out pretty good. When he was asked, he promptly said "NO, thank you" and didn't freak out about being in the picture. Chase was still pretty wary.

"Can I push it?"

The naughty-or-nice-o-meter. It said 'nice'...if you were wondering.

Jack's letter for Santa. We wrote it just before we got in line,

"Dear Santa, I would like a Buzz Lightyear. Thanks- Jack"

I then handed the pad over to Amanda to write her kids letters.

"Dear Santa, I am happy for Jesus' birthday. Love- Clay and Claire"
Thanks for putting me to shame Amanda!

Cute Moments Captured!

2009-12-05T18:08:00.000-08:00

I love having a real camera! The best part about it is being able to catch all the cute and funny faces my kids make...not the face that comes a second after the cute one that my other camera always captured. These little gems for example:

"Hi Camera!"

This is Chase winking. I love winking at him and getting this 'wink' back!

"I love Cereal!!!"

"Oooooo"

Notice the lower lip!

"Tuck that thing in son, your lible to catch it on a trip wire!" -forest gump

(the camera even caught the milk in mid-drip!)

To Infinity and Beyond!

Another wink;)

Jack has the smooth dancin' moves

Just plain cute:)

The classic 'underwear-on-the-head' shot made even better!

Annoyed

2009-12-01T19:33:00.000-08:00

I just found out that the kids Christmas party for Quinn's Squadron is on Sunday afternoon. Lame! They have always had it on Saturday in the past and the 1 year we were able to go (can you believe that Jack has had 3 christmas' and 2 of them Quinn was gone?!?) it was really fun. Crafts for the kids, food for the parents, Santa arrives on a C-130 and gives each kid a real gift. So, I am just annoyed that we can't go. Any thoughts?

Oh, also...the adult party that we can go to since it is on Saturday (Quinn's Birthday!) costs $50 a person! Is it just me or is that insane? I asked Quinn if we all get diamond earings with our meal.

p.s. I havn't posted since we lost our camera, I just hate posting without pics. Luckily Quinn just bought me this for Thanksgiving:

More to come...

Picacho Peak

2009-11-08T18:47:00.000-08:00

This mountain is pretty gnarly lookin' huh? We drive past this peak every time we go to or from Mesa so I guess we've seen it like 200 times now and always thought, "It would be cool to hike that someday." Lucky for us we have some awesome friends who were inspired by our Grand Canyon story and talking about fun hikes turned into actually planning one for the next Saturday, no time to loose!

It is a crazy trail!
The cool think about this mountain is that the trail actually goes to the tippy top. Since there isn't any place to put a normal trail they just put cables all over the place and you go straight up. We loved it...no boring switch backs here!

The view from the top is really cool. Picacho just sticks up in the middle of a huge flat area between mountains so it is amazing how far you can see!

Thanks to Cristy and Joel for making us do it. It was quite a big deal for us to get our first paid babysitter for our kids! We actually trusted a teenage boy with our children for 5 hours! I was so scared. It all worked out and we had a great time.

The bad thing is that doing all this fun stuff only makes us want to do more fun stuff. Anyone for the Superstition Mtns next weekend? ha ha

The Grand Canyon!

2009-11-06T14:07:00.000-08:00

I never really thought I would do it but I hiked the Grand Canyon!The hike we did was down a steep trail, along a plateau for about 6 miles and then up another crazy steep trail for a total of about 14 miles. It was amazing! Here we are at the top with Lindsay Melen, thanks for inviting us to come!
And one on the way out. The funny part is that when we were scouting out the hike the night before we saw some people coming up the trail and they went through a tunnel at the very top. So, the next day after we had been hiking straight up for 3 hours we came upon this tunnel, halileuja! We made it!...or so we thought. It turns out there are 2 tunnels, the tunnel at the top was another 45 minues up, sad! The stats:
15 degrees when we started
3500ft elevation loss/gain
1 MRE (per person)
64 oz of Gatorade
4 potty stops (those are a big deal in the wild)
14 miles
8 hours total hiking time

Now that is a serious hike in my book!
I love Quinn for doing this with me and sticking with me the whole way. We were glad we had him along other wise we would have missed most of the scenery due converstion, thanks Quinn!

2009-11-05T08:14:00.000-08:00

Halloween!

We loved carving pumpkins...
I am now a fan of the small pumpkin, so much easier to carve than the huge ones!

We sat out in the back yard watching them glow for an hour. Quinn and I sat and the boys were dancing around them, staring them in the eyes and were generally mesmerized by them.

Grandma and Grandpa were happy to have Buzz and Woody over for Halloween.

"You have candy for me in there, i see it!"

All the sugar really helped Buzz to take off!

Great Deal!

2009-10-17T15:19:00.000-07:00

I have breast fed 2 babies for over a year each and never had one of these:

Thats kind of sad really, I guess I am just not a vogue mother. But, the good news is I just bought one. Not that I am expecting a baby any time soon but because it was such an amazing deal! Normall $32 but they are having a deal where you just pay for shipping, $8.95!

Don't ask me why they are doing this but they are so you might as well take advantage of it and get one for yourself, or your friend, or to keep on hand for the next baby shower you get invited to.

Click here and use the promo code:

cranberry2.

Happy nearly free shopping!

New York, New York!

2009-10-14T14:08:00.000-07:00

New York was everything I hoped it would be...and more! I know you are dying to know all the details, here are a few:

Here we are, the love birds, skating in Central Park. Most of our skate time was spent in the wrong part of central park, the Ramble. It is a more woody, hilly area, not very good for skates. This pic was at the Bethesda Fountain, Unfortunately you can't see the fountain as the random person who took our pic must not have thought we would actually want the fountain in the pic with us.

87 stories up, the top of the Rockefeller Center. This was one of Quinn's particular highlights. You could see the everything from up there! Including the lovely Empire State Building, pictured here with us.

Skating across the Brooklyn Bridge. I guess this bridge is the prettiest and everyones favorite so it is the cool thing to walk across it and enjoy the view of Manhattan. We thought it was cooler to skate across it. We were so glad we brought our rollerblades. We skated all over the place. Some of the city skating was a little crazy but it was all fun.

Under the Brooklyn Bridge is the Brooklyn Banks. A skate park that Quinn used to watch on skate videos when he was a teenager and dream of skating there some day. Good new is he got to fulfill his dream, bad news is not everything is as cool in real life as it looks in the movies. We still had fun finding it and he did a few tricks. I particularly enjoyed chillin' with all the Brooklyn kids who were either sluffing school or to look at it more positively: out on a lunch break, who knows?

The New York Stock Exchange. I didn't think this would be particularly interesting but did you know you can't drive on any of the roads directly surrounding the NYSE? or that there is a SWAT team there in full battle rattle every day? Or that there is a comedy troupe in suits and ties doing crazy stuff right in front of the building and broadcasting their antics over the web? Only in NY!

Not everything was perfect. Our boat for seeing the Statue of Liberty only got this close because of the high wind warnings from the Coast Guard. Bummer. I'll see you next time around Lady Liberty.

Quinn found some things he thought were more exciting than I did.

We ate amazing food like Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity. This is the exact same table that Jon Cusack and Kate Beckensale sat at in the movie. Cool.

New York Hot Dogs in Times Square. Our hotel was right in Times Square so we hung out there every night, it is hoppin at night. There are more people there at midnight than at noon.

And Cupcakes!! I ate so many cup cakes. These ones from Crumbs were beautiful but didn't compare to the yumminess of Magnolia cupcakes (Magnolia is famous on Sex and the City). They are my new love.

Last but not least, here I am with a real celebrity! Linny from the Today show. What you don't know Linny? (Click on his name to find out more) He is the guy who is at EVERY taping of the today show. He just stands there straight faced watching it all go on. He was surprisingly nice and personable. We had a good little chat. I was there in the crowd for a few minutes on 2 different mornings, it was so fun!

There is so much more we did and so much more we want to do. October was the perfect time to go to New York. Just a little chilly but not too cold. Can we go again next year?

2009-09-29T13:38:00.000-07:00

Have I ever mentioned that my husband is Wicked Awesome? Well, he is. Along with being nice, funny, helpful, cute, blah blah blah...he is also the kind of guy that makes dreams come true. Dreams like going to New York City, staying in a nice hotel on broadway, seeing the sights, eating the food etc. etc.
Yes, you guessed it, my Wicked awesome husband surprised me with the news about this upcoming jaunt to New York for 3 nights just because he knows that I have always wanted to go there. At first it was going to be a real surprise, like go to the airport with out knowing where we were going type of surprise but he just couldn't stand it any longer so he gave me 1 clue a day until I guessed it. (It took me 4 days) So, next week I will finally be experiencing the real deal. It will be like Seinfeld, Project Runway, Friends, Maid in Manhattan, Confessions of a Shopaholic, 27 Dresses, P.S. I love you, etc. (Ugh, do you think I watch too much tv/movies?)

Oh and did I mention that he got us 2 tickets to see Wicked on the real Broadway while we are there? Is that like amazing or what?! See, he really is Wicked awesome!

2009-09-26T21:45:00.000-07:00

Disneyland was awesome!! I loved it. We went crazy there. We stayed in the park all-day and came back to the hotel just beat every night was it was great! Jack was a real trooper. He had no naps, did lots of walking and went a long time between meals but he never complained. At the end of each ride, "I wanna do it again!"

Here we are with our two little mice in front of the pumpin Mickey.

Of course waiting in line was not the best part but Jack didn't seem to mind as he was like a monkey on those rails.

Chase needed more entertainment while waiting.

Daddy is good entertainment.

Before we went on this trip Jack didn't know who Buzz Lightyear was but now he can't get

enough of him. He keeps telling us that Buzz is his favorite.

Here he is on the Buzz ride, we rode this ride the most times of any. He asked for this ride after almost every other ride.

The life-size cars were so cool, it felt like we could just jump in and go for a spin.

Here we are on "It's a Small World" It really is a small world at disneyland Quinn saw a guy he knew from ROTC and I saw a girl from my high school like 2 hours after I made the comment that I wanted to see someone I know!

Fueling up for the long drive home. It was sad to leave but we did get to stop in and have dinner at a restaurant that Quinn used to frequent on his mission. It was some very authentic mexican food served by some very authentic mexicans in a town that looked very much like mexico.

Disneyland!

2009-09-20T09:27:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we are driving 6 hours to Disneyland (sorry all you Utah people who have to drive 12 hours, at lease there's something good about living in Tucson) and experiencing the most magical place on earth! Quinn has been getting me excited about it. He is like 20 times more excited than the kids. I have never been so Quinn keeps making comments like, "Oh, you are going to love the soaring over California, I can't believe you havn't been!" or "San, it really is like the most magical place on earth...like it really is!"

We have also been doing our best to get Jack reved up for the fun with quizes about who lives at Disneyland. I love to hear him answer "Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, that doggy" (pluto) and lots of his other friends reside at Disneyland.

Wish you could come with us, all though not for the 6 hours of Chase crying! Wish us luck.

Old Tucson

2009-09-16T15:57:00.000-07:00

We experienced the wild west at the Old Tucson Studios. I didn't have high expectations but since the in-laws were in town we thought we should do something Tucsonish. It was actually really cool! The whole place was like the old west with little buildings and cowboys riding around on horses.

The train was a kid favorite and the train conductor was awesome, look at that outfit!

Carousel was another favorite. A little warm up for disneyland.

Chase didn't like being put int he town Jail.

A good picture of the old west feel of the place. Since it was still kind of hot it was like a ghost town.

Grandma and Jack on the cars.

Grandpa and Chase

Mommy and Daddy even had a romantic drive, oh la la.

Camping!

2009-09-11T13:27:00.000-07:00

We finally took Chase camping. It has been a long time coming, but we are glad we finally did it!

We had a great fire, here is Jack gathering wood.
Chase has been doing this lower lip thing alot lately. I keep thinking of Forest Gump when the Sgt. says, "Tuck in that lip son or your liable to catch it on a trip wire!"

Our tin foil dinners were divine!

We made spaghetti tin foil dinners from some left overs, genius! Do you think Jack liked his?

They were glued to these little camp chairs. They kept moving them all over the camp and then sitting on them, just enjoying the view from each spot.

Smores!

It was awesome to be cold for once, Arizona summers never end! Notice all the wonderful sweatshirts and coats, ahhh. My in-laws came along and made the whole thing so much more fun, thanks for coming down guys!

2009-09-09T14:25:00.000-07:00

This last month we have been hearing alot of excited comments from Jack that start with "My Preschool..." and yesterday was finally the day! This is the face he gave me when I said, "Say Preschool!"

Excited maybe?

Daddy couldn't resist coming to take him to his big day.

I love this picture of him in front of the building. Just a little kid going to a big school.

I was nervous leaving him with all these people I don't know (it is a preschool on the base). When I dropped him off he just started playing and I was like, "Is this it? Do I just leave him?" The teacher assured me it was fine. I asked if they would do name tags and she said they would get to it later. So I left and enjoyed having 3 hours with just my Chase.

At the end of his long 3 hour day.
This picture says to me, "You did come back for me!!"

"I'm Outta here!"

Ah, and the best part. I asked him what they did and he wouldn't tell me anything. So I went in and asked the teacher how it went and if he told her his name. "Well, we had to figure it out. We were like "who is Jack? Which one of you is Jack?" and finally "Are YOU Jack?" He just nodded his head."

Jack has proven that you can go to school and make it through

without saying a word, not one word.

He says he is excited to go back tomorrow:)

2009-09-08T20:52:00.000-07:00

My screen saver was randomly scrolling through pictures when this one caught my eye. I felt it deserved posting. Mark dunking a soccerball over the head of a 2 year old while we all watch on.

Everyone's eyes are glued to him, I can just imagine in my mind the sound coming out of his mouth, "Aahhh!"Look at that face, what determination. Mark's antics never cease to amaze me. I love my brother!