Ice Fishing

Randy's boss invited a couple of his coworkers to go ice fishing last weekend.  Randy opted to bring Micah along so they could have some bonding time.  They went out to Scofield and fished for a few hours.  Micah caught 2 fish by himself and helped reel in 5.  He thought that was soo cool.  Randy didn't take the camera (the one downfall to having a big camera), but one of the other guys brought his so he took a couple of shots of my boys.  Here's Micah and his 1st fish.

Randy helped dig the whole for fishin'. 

They had fun, got a little wet but it was nice for them to spend some time together.  Randy said the snow was coming down pretty good the whole time they were there.  Luckily we were just getting rain here (at least till that night).

Growing up

On President's day McKenzie decided she was going to be brave enough to finally get her ears pierced.  Randy and I decided to let them decide when to do it when they turned 8.  Mac has always said she wanted her ears pierced but when it came down to it she couldn't go through with it.  We've been to Claire's numerous times and watched many girls getting their ears pierced just to give her an idea what it would be like.  She has talked to many of her friends who have already gotten theirs done about how it felt.  She has always been our little researcher.  She won't do anything remotely scary or unfamiliar until she knows all of the pros and cons. Apparently the pros outweighed the cons at this time and she was ready.  Randy talked her up all morning, getting her psyched to do it.  We even got to watch an older girl (teenagerish-who did not even flinched when it happened thank goodness) get hers done right before McKenzie's turn.  Here she is getting the dots put on.

 Malia really wanted to be her moral support and hold her hands.  Whenever Malia has a hard time going #2 on the potty she always begs for Mac to come hold her hands.  It was really sweet.

 Before the holes and smiling.

 Getting really nervous at this point.  If only I could've been in her head right then, I can just imagine what she is saying to herself right now.`

 Right after they were finished.  Her look is priceless.  She got to be thinking, "I can't believe it,  I DID IT!!!"

 The after shot.  She has some seriously small earlobes.

 The close up of the earring she chose.  It's a pink daisy.  I figured let her pick something she is going to want to wear for the next 6 weeks. 

We also let her pick out a few pairs of earrings (since we were given 20% off for getting her ears pierced) and so I think she will be set for a while on earrings.  She's very excited to have them in, a little nervous about doing stuff with them in like sleeping, (don't ask) but I know the novelty will where off soon and she won't even know they are there soon.  We are just really proud of her for taking this big leap (not that pierced ears were on a mandatory list for us) but we are just so happy she is becoming so brave.  We love you little Mac. 



John H. Glenn

The 2nd grader's do biographies on a famous people and since Morgan is now a 2nd grader, it was her turn.  She chose the astronaut, John Glenn.  I remember doing this with McKenzie 2 years ago when she had Amelia Earhart.  I've noticed I have a hard time letting them do it completely on their own, (which is funny because that's all I remember doing as a kid when I had projects.  I hated doing them because my mom never really helped me, which I'm sure she did a little) Anyway, her presentation was on Valentine's day and she decided to make a poster.  The kids were told they could dress up like their famous person but I really just could not come up with a astronaut outfit that wasn't going to cost an arm and a leg that didn't look like it came out of a dumpster, oh and one that Morgan approved of (which was nothing).  So we opted for just the poster and reading her paper.

  She had fun coloring in the letters and helping me glue things on.

She did a really good job, however I can't get the video to upload, so you'll just have to take my word for it, lol.  Two more years till I have to do it again, phew!

Valentine's FUN!!!

What an exciting V-day weekend we had.  It just seemed like it kept going and going.  But I think the kids had fun.  Saturday was spent making and frosting cookies what seemed like all day.  Sunday was church stuff and then Monday came, and boy did it come.  It was nuts from sun up till sun down.  I didn't have time to make breakfast that morning so my poor deprived children had to have a bowl of cereal, cuz I'm mean I tell ya.  I dropped the kids off at school and had to pick up something for Morgan's class party that I had forgotten about.  I didn't know if I was going to have time to come home first before I had to run back to the school to do Micah's party, but I purchased something cold so I ran home really quick and found these in a box on my doorstep.

 And no for the collective. . .Awwwww!  This is the 1st year I've actually gotten roses on Valentine's day.  I always say it's not worth it because the prices are so jacked up on V-day.  But I got to tell ya, it was worth every penny.  I love roses, they are just so. . .amazing.  Lame I know, but it was really nice to get them at least once while I'm alive.  Thanx toots, they were (are still actually) beautiful.

Anyway, back to the craziness that was enveloping me.  After I cleaned up the flowers a little, I hurried and gathered everything else I needed for Micah's party and then raced to the school to set up.  We played some fun games and frosted/decorated cookies.  One of the games was "How many conversation hearts can you pick up with chopsticks.  The kids loved it and it was seriously the quietest game we've ever played.  Micah was even able to pick up a few.

 Malia tagged along with me this time, I usually try and drop her off at a friend's, but this party was really low key and I had tonz of help from mom's that I let her come.  She really liked don't eat Pete.

 After Micah's party, I had enough time to go home, eat lunch really fast and then pack everyone up again to go to Morgan's biography presentation (post on that next).  She did a great job.  Right after that was her V-day party and I said I would help with that, so I was there for another hour or so helping with that.  The kids had made Valentine's card for the residents at the rest home right next door and when the mom's got there, we walking down the street to the facility to deliver them to each of them.  It was really cute and the kids had a lot of fun making them smile.  There was even one lady who's bday was that day so we sang to her.

 After delivering the cards, they came back and decorated cookies and had fun getting into their loot from their Valentine's boxes.  Here's Morg's table mates.

After school parties, we went home and put stuff away and loaded back up into the car so we could go here.

 The best place on earth.  After hearing rumors and doing a little research, we found out one was opening up on Valentine's Day in Midvale and couldn't miss our first Utah/Culver's experience.  We (meaning Randy and I) we soooooo excited.  Now we don't have to wait 2 years in between getting our fixes.  Luckily it's still a little bit of a drive, so we won't be going every weekend, however, we may have to make more trips to see Gma and Gpa Tucker and make the occasional stop for custard.

The girls liked it, I love Eah's face.  She just wanted to root beer, which is sooooo good, btw.

 Oh happy day for me and my custard (well that's the root beer again, but you get the idea)  Oh and do you like Where's Kilroy in the back?  You just never know when one is going to pop up.

 Randy was a little too excited about Culver's.  He made this creepy face and I told him it was going on the blog.  Sorry babe, it was just too funny.  Oh and do you love the subliminal "delicious" sign in the bottom right corner?

 We even convinced Aunt Dee Da to meet us up there for some yummy goodness.

 That night the kids had hinted that they were a little disappointed that we did not have our typical V-day dinner and festivities.  So the next night for dinner I made pink waffles with strawberries and whipped cream.  We even had sparkling cider (because we still had some left over from Christmas).  It was a fun/cute/romantic family dinner. 

Oh and they each got a little something from us at their place.  I didn't have time to even think about Valentine's goodies for my kids, is that pathetic, until after Valentine's day.  I was soo busy with everything else I couldn't even think about that till after.  I'm horrible I tell ya.  On the bright side though, I got all their stuff for 50% off.  I love after holiday sales. (horrible I tell ya)

I think they liked it though.  It extended the holiday out just a little longer and we all had fun together, and really that's all that mattered.  I Love My Family!!!!!!  (-k- now breathe)

New Camera, another Happy Day!

I've been waiting for this for a very looooong time.  My old camera was just not cutting it anymore and I hated using it because of how washed out everything looked inside, which is where I take a majority of my pictures.  I told Randy I didn't want birthday or Christmas presents last year, all I wanted was a new camera.  So we waited until our tax return came and purchased a new Nikon D3100.  It's a bigger camera and I'm not a photographer, so I have a few (hundred) things to learn, but am excited to see what this baby can do.  But wow, what a difference it makes, even if I have no idea what half of the buttons do yet.  The first pics I took was with the flash and then figured out to turn it off and holy cow, you could see everything. . still.

 Even bathtub shots come out.

 Mac was sick the day I got it, and so she was camped out on my bed while Morgie was doing post bath routines.

 I just remember taking pics of the kids at the table before and how awful they would always turn out.  I love this camera.

 Malia just had to show off her pillow pet.

 I've been dying to get a good shot of  the view from my window of Mt. Timp.  I have the best view in the world and have never really gotten a good shot of this.  Not that this one is the best but I wanted to give ya what the mountain looks like because this next shot there is one cloud hiding the face of Timp.

Stunning isn't it?  I get to look at this every day and now that I have a camera that takes awesome pics, I might be putting more of the mountain on my blog.

Oh Happy Day!!!

I have lots of family in the Midwest and when I had the opportunity of living in Wisconsin, I was introduced to a wonderful, magical place called Culver's.  It has the yummiest custard on earth (other than Kopp's but that's another story).  It is soo smooth and creamy and delicious.  Well I go through withdrawls quite often (especially since while living in WI I literally lived right down the street from a Culver's and I could see what the flavor of the day was on a daily basis), and I only get to have Culver's when we go back east to vacation at the cabin.  We mark all of the Culver destinations on our trip so we can hit as many as we can and get our fill to sustain us another 2 years.  This summer, we are heading back and of course we will make our usual stops there.  However, my sis in law Kristi heard a rumor that one was being built in the Salt Lake area.  I couldn't believe my ears and had to research it myself, and guess what IT'S TRUE!!!!  One is being built in Midvale, which is of course not that close to my house but a whole heck of lot closer than Cheyenne.  Now I will only have to drive less than an hour to get my fix opposed to 5-6.  I don't know when it will be done, but it's coming.  And I'll tell you what, I will be there with bells on.  I CAN'T WAIT!!!! (is that pathetic? I guess it can't be any worse than the nutty things that went on when we got an In and Out)  On the flip side however, this weight that I'm losing may be coming back because of this news.  I guess it's a good thing it's not going to be that close to our home.  Hurry Culver's, I've missed you!!!