Thursday, April 24, 2008

My daughter, Napoleon Dynamite


The other day I picked up Morgan from school. When I got home Randy looked at me with that "Do I have a story for you" look, when the phone rang. It was McKenzie calling home from school. Randy hands me the phone with a smirk. I pick up the phone and hear on the other end, "Mom I need some chapstick." I turned to Randy confused to which he whispered "It's Napoleon Dynamite." I started laughing and said to her "Do your lips hurt real bad." Apparently she had called not 5 minutes before asking Randy for it and he told her I was at school picking up Morgan and to try and catch me before I left. Unfortunately I had, and the result was this conversation. I am glad she missed me, it made it even funnier when I heard her on the phone. So I went back to school with chapstick in hand, went into her class and proceeded to tell her teacher this little story, she had a good chuckle. Kids are great.

It's Over!!! (for now)


Randy had his last official school thing for spring semester. Now he has a week and a half off and gets to start all over again. The summer semester has two blocks and usually people only take one of the blocks, or very few credits, not my man, he's going both blocks 15 credits altogether being crammed into 7 week sessions. He really needs/wants to finish this December so we can get down to Southern Utah. The first block will be nice but the second will be brutal. So when the kids are out of school wanting to have fun with daddy he will be in class or on the computer, gotta love school. This pic was Randy and I goofing around and I was laughing so hard that couldn't keep my eyes open for the flash. What do ya do.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Jack Sparrow, Field trips, Hats, Football holds and Kleenex games

The girls' school had their annual read-a-thon in February and Michelle, (the one in charge who did an amazing job) was able to get a Jack Sparrow impersonator (who I think does a better job than the one at Disneyland)"Black Pearl" and let the kids take pictures with him and his ship. So he came a few weeks ago and this is the result of that.


Apparently with out his get-up he is blond and looks nothing like him, pretty amazing I think. I was only able to get Morgan's class, McKenzie's went right before I got there. Morgan is in the standing row 3rd from the left.

The reason I didn't get to Jack Sparrow in time was because I was on a field trip with Morgan's class. We went to a local nursery to see lots and lots of plants (they just got done with a section on plants and how they grow). Then we went to Krispey Kreme for a quick demo on how donuts are made and a free donut, then we went to Petco to see all different kinds of animals. The kids had a great time. This is one of Morgan's classmates McKenna sitting together on the bus.

Randy wore a baseball hat (which he hasn't done in a while don't ask me why). Micah thought it was sooo cool that he wanted one too. The one he has is too small so Randy took his Michigan hat and made it as small as it would go and Micah and that hat were inseparable for about a week, until I bought him a Superman hat at the store. I got a few shot of him with it on, but this one was my favorite. I told him to hug himself, he came up with the rest. What a goof.

Will, my bro., and his fiance Alina come over every once in a while to play with the kids and get a meal. The kids love it when they are over, me to. This was recently when I was trying to finish getting dinner ready and Malia had had it playing on the floor, which she often does. Will came over and decided she needed to become a football. I love her expression, "I wonder what he's gonna do with his had next?"


Lastly, as I am trying to blog these long-awaited posts (I'm sure) Malia needed some entertainment and the closest thing was a Kleenex box, which BTW is the best toy in the world for a baby. It took about 30 seconds before all of the Kleenex was out and shredded. I had a good laugh.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Blogging withdrawl

I can't believe how long it's been since I blogged last, things have been pretty nuts around here for a few reasons. We have two laptops, the new easy one to use, and the slow annoying huge monster that we bought when McKenzie was a baby. The reason we bought the new one was cuz Randy can't take the old one to school and work to do his homework, there is no battery life to it anymore unless it is plugged in. Since it is the end of the semester here, that means that Randy takes it to work every night and school everyday in order to finish the huge projects that he's been assigned. So here I have been at home stuck with this horrible beast that really is not good for anything except checking emails and reading blogs, but I can't take it anymore and and so I am giving in and blogging. There will not be any pics, I hate to download them to this one, it just makes it slower, but as soon as Randy gets to take a breath, I will oh so carefully pry the good computer out of his unsuspecting fingers and post some pics.

So, some of things that have happened lately are that I was able to go to the Sunday Morning Session of Conference a few weeks ago (my bro Will and Fiance had an extra ticket) and Randy was soo kind to let me get out the house without the chitlins and enjoy a morning filled with the spirit. I have to say that was my first General Conference not watching it on the screen. We were there for Music and the Spoken word (loved it), and then Conference was just amazing, even Pres. Monson said that session was awesome.

Some friends of ours (the Sweats) that moved away from us to go to the land of warmth and fun in Cali, recently came back cuz Matt had a job to do. So Christina hung out with us a bit, which we loved. Their two boys Ethan (or Efan, according to Micah) and Reese (or Reese's Pieces, according to Efan) have grown so much and are the cutest things ever.

Some other friends (the Jackson's) that also left us to go to the sunnier/warmer part of the state came back to finish packing up and cleaning their home so they could rent it out. We had them over for dinner and let the kids play as much as possible before they really truly left again. This time we won't know when we'll see them again, (at least until Randy graduates and we move down there for school and will be closer to them). We love their family and my kids talk about them a lot when they are not here. We both have four kids and each them are the same ages (within months of each other) It was great having them around while we were able to and can't wait to go down there to be close again.

We then proceeded to Spring Break and had two really nice days in which we spent seriously alllll day outside, (McKenzie and Morgan got a little burned) riding bikes, playing with chalk, playing at the park, etc. but we also got ready for Aunt Wauwee (as my kids say) to come and play with us. Her sweet hubby sent her away to spend time from her kids and rejuvenate herself to come hang out with me, (however I don't know how much rejuvenating she got done with my kids around). She was also going to spend time with another friend that lives in Toelle. So she came Wed, night and we did fun non-kid things on Thursday, like doing a session at the temple, getting pedicures, going to see a chick flick with our soon-to-be sis-in-law. My kids love it and Morgan keeps asking when Loralee (another nickname) is coming back. We all had a blast, but the time unfortunately had to come to an end, so we took her this morning to meet her friend at Temple Square in Salt Lake. After which we stayed and did church touristy things that we still haven't seen with the kids. We figure we better get this done before we leave and never come back and regret not taking advantage of the fact that we lived in Utah for short period of time. So we took the kids to the Beehive house, the roof of the conference center and then the church history museum. By the end of the museum the kids were "done" and so we called it a day. It sure was fun.

Sorry about how long this post is, as soon as I reclaim the better computer I will post some pics.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Different Tag!

Thanks to Deena I have gotten my first legitimate tag ever! The A-Z's of Me

A - Advocate for: My kids. They deserve the best right?

B - Best Feature: My eyes, I like the color blue that they are, and coincidentally Randy has them to, so now all our kids have amazing blue eyes, I love it.

C - Could Do Without: Could or need? I need to do without chocolate but am having a hard time convincing my cravings of that.

D - Dreams & Desires: To go back and finish school, to travel and see the sites, outside of the US, and you’ll think this one is weird but to conduct the Philharmonic.

E - Essential Items: Chocolate, my mini food processor (I hate chopping onions myself), and a piano.

F - Favorite Pastime: playing around on the computer, watching Lost or the Office, getting outside with the kids when it’s nice.

G - Good at: playing the piano, listening to my friends, and borrowing ideas from other people.

H - Have Never Tried: Wake boarding, snow skiing, surfing.

I - If I Had a Million Dollars: I’d pay off debt (including Randy’s schooling), buy a house, and take my family on a fun vacation.

J - Junkie For: Finding old friends through Blogger and Facebook, Oh and of course chocolate.

K - Kindred Spirit: My sisters (all of them even if some don’t like to blog yet, Shauna).

L - Little Known Fact: I use to be skinny until I had kids (hee hee)

M - Memorable Moment: Being sealed to Randy, having each of my four beautiful kids (especially Malia making me go through 12 hours of labor after Micah’s 3).

N - Never Again Will I: Complain I'm fat when I looked as good as I did in high school.

O - Occasional Indulgence: Pedicures, I've had maybe 2 in my whole life.

P - Profession: Chauffer, nurse, teacher, maid, engineer, secretary, cook, oh and a MOM!

Q - Quote: There are no small parts, only small people

R - Reason to Smile: When my kids learn something new or do something unexpected.

S - Sorry About: not keeping better touch with my friends

T - Tag Some Friends: my sister's and in-laws (that include you Kendra and Julie)

U - Uninterested In: Country music

V - Very Scared Of: Something bad happening to my kids and not being able to do anything about it.

W - Worst Habit: Cracking my knuckles

X - X Marks My Ideal Vacation Spot: Hawaii, anywhere in Europe, my Grandpa’s cabin in Northern Wisconsin.

Z - Zodiac Sign: Virgo

Friday, April 4, 2008

Rad Kids

McKenzie took part in a program called Rad Kids recently. It teaches kids throughout elementary school how to deal with different potential scary situations (fire, gun safety, bullies, kidnapping). It is a great program and soo happy McKenzie was able to participate. Today was graduation and for it they did a demonstration for the parents on what they have learned, mainly for someone who is trying to hurt or abduct them. The instructor was amazing, works for our Sheriff's department, very big and yet the kids did great. I filmed McKenzie while she was doing it, I thought she did great.

McKenzie Defending herself in Rad Kids Demonstration

Tag your it!

Sami tagged everyone who read her blog so I am tagging all of you. It's really simple though, so don't fret. Here's what to do: You pick up the nearest book, turn to page 123, and post the fifth sentence. So here it is:

(OK so to preface this, the closest book was Randy's text book on Life-span Development, so here it goes).

Cesarean deliveries also are performed if the baby is lying crosswise in the uterus, if the baby's head is too large to pass through the mother's pelvis, if the baby develops complications, or if the mother is bleeding vaginally.

Maybe this will help some of you, or not. I had a good laugh copying it though. So all of you readers out there, it's your turn, I will have fun reading what you find.

PS I made another slideshow from photobucket at the bottom of my blog. I will put new pics in there every once in a while, I think it's easier to use than the picassa one, and you can see it better.