THEY SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!!!

Our baby is 2 years old now!!! Though we've been seeing signs of the terrible two's coming up, it came upon us very fast! She chose French Toast Sticks for breakfast and McDonal'ds chicken nuggets with fries and peaches for dinner! She got an Elmo cake and enjoyed her presents. I got an awesome deal at one of those Rose Petal Cottages so she got that, a toddler learning palm pad (does alphabet and numbers) and a little puppy that she can walk on a leash. She got an Abby Cadabby doll (in the pictures) with the birthday money her G&G Holman sent her. I think she had a fun birthday!

I think everyone enjoyed the new cottage. It's always nice to find a present for a child that more than one person enjoys!! She likes to put the two sides together and make it an entire house. I also forgot to mention the Elma helium balloon ... I think that was the highlight of her birthday!! She had to take it to school to get the kids, to the store, etc. She wanted to take it everywhere with her (she even wanted it to sit in her high chair to eat dinner with us!)

I finally finished my project this weekend!! Wahooo!! I was really getting sick of my family room holding everything from the laundry room, and my laundry was really starting to pile up! It is now completely finished and it looks pretty nice. That was the last of our major projects for this house! Now it's time to put it up for sale!

Do you have any idea who this man is that I am taking my picture with?! I had the awesome opportunity to meet the man that crashed into our house!! I'm hoping he will email pictures of the plane sticking out of our bedroom. It was amazing to listen to! It was a true miracle that he is alive... I loved hearing his analogy on the importance of always having a plan in mind (and relating that to the youth on how the should have a plan so they won't fall into temptation) and also on the importance of not rationilizing. He talked about how he had many signs to not continue the flight, but he kept rationalizing, and finally he ended up crashing into our house.

Our other big news is that Elly is now sleeping in a "big girl bed"! I have never bought a toddler bed before, but I've always had a twin size bed to put them., but with 5 kids I ran out of extra beds!! I really didn't want to buy yet, so I found this bed on KSL.com for $20. Totally my price range! The little lights and moon glow in the dark. She really loves it and hasn't really had any problems with getting out and refusing to go back in. She tried one night, but I put her back in and she didn't try it again (whew!)

That's about it. I also saw the Dr. this week for my migraines. I have dealt with them for 20 yeras now and just suffered through, but with Richard leaving, I knew I would probably have more, and needed to be able to tolerate them. I have found a miracle medicine!! You put this pill on your tongue and it makes the migraine go away! It's not a pain killer, but reverses the constriction of the blood vessels.

Well, that should be enough for now! Hope all is well for everyone else!

Following in Daddy's footsteps

I'm posting my photo of the week. Elly was so cute trying to wear Richard's work boots around.

Here's a picture of my Laundry Room Progress!

I have decided that my life is constantly crazy, but it's never anything that I get to do!! It's always busy making sure everyone else gets to do what they want. I know my time will come and I love watching my kids (and husband) play basketball, baseball, volleyball, etc, etc. I've just been maintaining my cleaning schedule and trying to get things ready to sell the house. Unfortunately I didn't get around to laying the tile in the laundry room. I did get a step closer by removing a huge pile for D.I. (but 2 days later I found out I donated my frame that had our wedding pictures in it) and figured out the center and where the very first tile should go so that the rest will fall into place. I was able to purge out all files that aren't needed (phone bills, banks statements, etc.) and getting ready for tax season ... more like tax return! We got our Vegas hotel booked and have 21 days till we go to Disney! Wahoooooooo!!


Other than that ... same ole-same ole! Richard refereed 8 games yesterday, refereed church ball and played a game on Thurs., Rylan had baseball Tues, Wed, and Fri. I bought stuff for Richard to put strawberry blonde streaks in my hair. Hope to do that today and tomorrow and HOPE HOPE HOPE! to get the laundry room done!! Richard doesn't work on Mon with Martin Luther King Day so maybe we'll be productive. !

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Gettin' in the swing of things!

The tree is finally down!! Why does it take so long to get Christmas stuff put away? I think the outside stuff is hopeless until March. It's under about a foot of snow! I have no pictures for this week ... just been cleaning, organizing, and doing laundry laundry laundry. I hate laundry! Richard refereed Thurs and Fri and all afternoon and night Sat. Rylan had Scouts on Tues, pitching practice on Tues, practice Wed and Fri. I was going to start Addi in gymnastics but realized, "What am I thinking?!!!" I don't have time with everyone elses's stuff plus me babysitting to ad one more thing to my list! She just seems to really need something for herself and something to release her energy. Maybe swim lessons when we get back from Disney. We are working on the laundry room right now. I bought tiles on clearance and can't wait to get started on laying them down! Saturday the kids had a primary activity and I went to the BX for an addtl 50% off clearance sale. Totally scored on that one!! I got there right as they opened and had the store to myself for 1/2 hour. Guess the economy isn't affecting everyone! Richard starts his master's classes this week and church basketball starts. He plans to play and also referee for the church while maintaining his refereeing job and studying to make Master Sgt. Think he's overbooked? He was also asked to help coach Rylan's baseball team until he leaves. Oh! And Rylan had a "Track it and whack it" clinic on Saturday on how to hit the ball. Whew! Glad the week is over. I'm hoping to put all my sparetime into laying tile! Wish me luck! Kim

Vacations Over!

Well, as you can see, I've been on vacation for a bit. On Christmas Eve we left for Richard's parents. It was so much fun! We stopped at my sisters on the way and picked up a pizza to take with us up the mountain. It was starting to get dark and a storm was coming in, so I was getting a bit nervous. Last year we went up there we couldn't get up two hill with the van, however, I felt a little more comfortable with the suburban. We had no problems and got there just at the beginning of the storm. Richard's mom arranged for a couple in their branch that dresses up like Santa and Mrs. Claus come visit. The kids were floored to see Santa sitting in Grandma and Grandpa's living room. It was fun to watch Elly!

I don't think Elly quite knew what to do with the real live thing! She was just used to him sitting on the table reading her stories. I think he must have been bigger than she imagined!

We had such a good Christmas. The kids didn't get up too early and they all seemed happy with what they got. It wasn't an expensive Christmas, since we are going to go to Disneyland, but I didn't hear any complaints at all.

The next week we spent having so much fun in the snow! It made me feel a little bit better about going to South Dakota. It snowed 41" the week we were there. We woke up to 17" of new snow on Christmas morning alone. Richard and his dad took the snow blower out and cleared out the driveway. We got the 4 wheeler out and tied a tube to the back and had such a BLAST!!

As you can see, Elly was too sure about the 4 wheeler or the tube. We made it her try a ride just one time but she was very happy to watch everyone. Addi and Rylan are our daredevils and they were in heavan! We made 2 ramps out of snow and they made for good jumps! Here's a video for your enjoyment. One is Rylan and the other is of Richard.

Even Richard's dad took a ride (of course, we were much easier on him!) Richar'd brother came down and surprised us on New Year's Eve and the next day we showed him the new trails and he helped the twins make a slide. Yes, that's snow you see just right below the roof!

We had a lot of fun and was sad to leave our vacation, but ready to be home and get back into the swing of things! Hope everyone else had a great New Year!!