Small and Simple Things

Nutcracker!

2011-12-13T10:03:00.006-07:00

Brandon, Lindsay and I had the opportunity to go see the Nutcracker with some very dear friends on the 3rd of this month. I had never seen it so it was so fun. The night was unforgettable. Lindsay was so excited about the whole thing. She wanted to go to a "romantic restaurant for dates." We went to Carino's and she was so good. I loved watching her fix her silverware and napkin and wait so patiently for her food and then use her best manners at dinner. She was in heaven the whole night. My Brandon on the other hand. He was really well behaved for the most part. During the ballet which he really did like, he pretended to be asleep and would snort as he "woke up suddenly". It was a night filled with lots of laughter, choking on crayons, a train that we had a hard time ditching and wet pants mixed in with a little lateness. It was such a fun night, one that will be fixed in my memory forever. And Shane was so wonderful. Not only did he stay home with our younger kids who were too young to go, he also watched our friend's son. Truly truly I had such a blast!! I wouldn't have changed a single thing about the night!

waiting for our friends to come pick us up.

Lindsay and I during intermission. She was bouncing up and down in her seat the whole first half. I kept asking her if she had to go to the bathroom, but she always said no. At intermission she told me she was bouncing because she was having so much fun!

our favorites were the Waltz of the Snowflakes and the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

We decided since Logan and Sophie didn't get to go, we would bring them home with a little souvenir. Yes, Sophie broke the foot off her ballerina the next morning. (sigh)

Naughty AND Nice

2011-12-13T09:55:00.003-07:00

Sophie. What can one say about this girl right now? She is destructive. She is kind. She breaks everything around her. She's sweet. I can't keep up with her! She will ask me to cuddle and "have a book". She's both naughty and nice. If it can be emptied, dumped out, ripped, broken Sophie will do it. And it's always on purpose. And she's not ashamed. "Sophie!!! Did you break this ornament?" She will always reply, "yes. Sorry mom." She has broken so many of our Christmas decorations this year!!! She's a destructive little tornado right now!! ON the other hand, she has been so sweet, and kind and thoughtful to everyone in the family. She'll bring drinks to people, give hugs and kisses and she's very obedient. What to do?? I just hope this stage of breaking everything around her will soon pass because in every other way she's just a joy.

Take my picture!!

2011-12-13T09:25:00.004-07:00

The kids love having their pictures taken, especially with Peter. These are my favorites from a few days ago.

Forever Family

2011-12-08T15:34:00.002-07:00

Our first family picture. It's not easy getting 7 people to look good at the same time!

First Haircut

2011-12-08T15:23:00.003-07:00

Peter was born with lots of hair. It stood straight up and he got comments where ever we went. It soon started lightening up and falling out. He had a severe comb-over look and I thought about cutting it, but I just couldn't!!!! I've never had a hard time doing things like this, but with my last all these things are so bittersweet. On our trip to Utah my brothers in law were giving me a hard time teasing that if I would just step out of the room they'd take care of it for me. It was all in good fun, but it was the final push I needed to go ahead and just get it done.

Before:

After:

He looks a little traumatized, but it went really smoothly. Not a single tear was spilled. From Peter anyway.

First Meeting

2011-12-08T15:17:00.003-07:00

I already shared Peter's story and now for some pictures of the first the kids met their brother.

Peter's Story.

2011-12-08T11:53:00.010-07:00

I know I know, it's a little late. I mean he turned 6 months today! 6MONTHS!!! I blinked and he's almost sitting up all by himself. He's tried rice cereal, bananas, and peas. He's not a fan of any of it, but seems to tolerate the cereal best. He will not take a bottle unless there's water in it. He loves rattles and his bird toy. For the past half year Peter has been the cause of many many many hours of lost sleep and frustration, but he has also been the primary cause for joy and laughter. He is SUCH a social boy. He's happiest when being held, played with and loved on. It works out well that he has plenty of people in his family who love to give him that attention. As hard as he's been I wouldn't trade a single second of the past 6 months for anything. As time passes, memories fade and I wanted to record the story of Peter's birth before I forget too much.

Peter's story actually begins with the birth of Sophie. While I was in the hospital with her I kept thinking to myself, "I only have to do this one more time." One more time checking in to have a baby, one more epidural, one more delivery. It was actually really bothering me. I was fighting with myself the whole time, "Will you just shut up?? Concentrate on this. Forget the future, just focus on THIS time." I was able to tuck these thoughts away for a while. Shane was happy with our family the way it was. I felt bad, but I never forgot those feelings in the hospital with Sophie. I knew we had one more to go, and I wasn't ready to talk with Shane about it yet.

Over a year went by and my good friend Melissa had a baby. She wrote a beautiful little post about her family being "all together now"

"With Mason's arrival, we're All Together Now. And when we're working, we work all together now. When we play, we play all together now. With this blog, our stories and photos are all together now. And what we are striving for is to be able to say, in the hereafter, that once again we're all together now, and forever."

Well, I read this and felt such an amazing confirmation that it was time for my family to be all together again. I've never been nervous about telling Shane when I want to have another baby, and I wasn't really nervous about doing it this time. Maybe a tiny bit apprehensive. I knew he would be supportive and I knew that deep down he knew there was one more as well. But I also knew that it would take a lot of faith for him to get comfortable with the idea of jumping from 4 to 5 little ones.

Needless to say things went my way :) and when I was about 8 moths pregnant Shane said to me, "I think I'm finally excited about this little one."

I had my first braxton hicks with Peter when I was only 20 weeks. It freaked me out. I thought it was way too early, but my doctor said that it's actually very common for women to experience them early when they are pregnant with any number after 4. When I was 6 months I started having real contractions. They weren't painful, but they were very consistent. Every night between about 7 and 10 or 11 when I went to bed I would experience contractions. The further along I progressed the stronger they became and I had a couple of scary nights around 32 weeks when I didn't think they would stop and I was going to have my baby way too early.

I have never experienced misery like I did while being pregnant with Peter. I was so uncomfortable, swollen, tight. Just breathing was hard let alone take care of my 4 other children who needed me and didn't like for me to take naps (Logan.). I had horrible headaches, was in the bathroom 24 times a day, couldn't sleep. My arms and hands went numb all night and were very painful all morning every morning. It was just awful and I began hoping I would have the baby early. I was around 35 weeks when I started hoping we would just go ahead and get it over with! The only thing getting me through my days and weeks left was the fact I knew I would NEVER have to do this again.

When the night finally did come we ended up having to call our good friends the Watts. She was wonderful and came over at 1 in the morning to stay with my kids and then take them all day until my mom arrived from Utah.

They checked me right away when I got to the hospital and I was at a 6 and 60% effaced! But they baby was still very very high. They wanted to measure my contractions and the second I got hooked up to the monitor the contractions stopped. Completely. I was devastated until they assured me I wasn't going anywhere even if the contractions had stopped. I got out of bed and walked around, and bounced on the birthing ball, all in hopes of starting the contractions again and bringing the baby down. When the doctor came in an hour later to check, she announced I was at an 8! My heart leaped and my stomach turned knots. On one hand I was completely excited that I was going to experience a magical birth with no pain!!! On the other hand an 8, I always thought, was too far along for an epidural. The baby was still too high. I wanted the doctor to break my water because that's all it takes for me to get going. They started me on PIT instead because the doctor was afraid the baby was too high and would come down too fast or something, I didn't really understand. Even with PIT nothing was really happening. When my own doctor came in the morning he expressed his concerns, which were many. I just kept hoping he would say he'd break my water. He did and upped the dose of medicine. This was right before 8 am. He also said I wasn't at an 8 but still at a 6. What? Weird. But it helped him feel much better about things. Things started getting very painful very quickly, honestly even with an epidural I don't know how it could have hurt worst. Again, the only thing that got me through was the fact that I knew this was the VERY LAST time doing this. I was gratefully surprised by how Shane seemed to know exactly what to do and how to act. I guess after 4, he was an expert. He was really great and I needed his support to help me cope. 3 hours later it was time. The doctor came and wanted me to push. I did and I heard a "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop pushing!" Was he serious? 10 seconds later, "Okay, now give me like half a push." Half a push? What's half a push? Okay.... and out came Peter. "It's a boy!" they announced and Shane and I were not surprised in the slightest. Peter. Peter William. He was here. Finally.

I was a mess. I've never felt so relieved in all my life. From the instant release of pain and from the realization that I was DONE. Since living together and loving eachother in heaven, my family was here. We would live and love together again. There are few greater blessings than having your family who knows you and loves you and will stay with you always. And now, with Peter, my family is complete. Forever.

Peter!

2011-07-11T20:38:00.000-06:00

"small and simple things"

Summer buzzes

2011-06-03T12:12:00.002-06:00

Growing up I remember my little brother always getting a summer buzz. We used to rub his head all day long! (We also really enjoyed peeling his weekly sunburns, but that's a whole other story) I'm not a fan of the way a buzz looks, but it sure is nice to have two less heads of hair to get done in the morning. Yesterday we did a really short buzz for both boys. Logan was crying when I started. "I don't like it mom. I really don't like it!" I felt bad, but I kept telling him I had to keep going. He was really upset until Brandon came up and we did the same thing to him. Now he likes it, but he doesn't like us rubbing his head. Luckily for us Brandon doesn't mind.

Lucky Seven!

2011-06-03T12:01:00.006-06:00

Lindsay is now 7! I can't believe how fast time has gone by. She is such a joy to our family. She is the one who always always reminds us about scriptures, family prayer and family night. She NEVER forgets, and let me tell you on the nights we do and it's too late to do scriptures we really feel guilty!The day began with a fishing trip, she came home and we had a breakfast of german pancakes and eggs and ham. Then opening of the presents began! She got a pottery wheel, which was very popular with the whole family! The cake she wanted was "A Yellow Cake" I ke

pt asking what that meant and she just kept saying "a yellow cake". She helped make and decorate it. After lunch we headed over to Boondocks and had LOTS of fun. When that was over I was very very thankful that she wanted to go to Red Robin for dinner and I didn't have to cook or do dishes! She really wanted us to tell them it was her birthday, which we did. When they came to sing to her, she got pretty embarrassed, but really enjoyed it too. It was a grand day. I hope she had fun!

bumper boats. I can't believe how soaked they got!

at Red Robin. Sophie is a girl after my own heart. She couldn't get enough of the fries with Ranch Dressing!

yay for cake!

Fishing

2011-06-03T11:53:00.003-06:00

Memorial Day was supposed to be our fishing day, but because of the wind we didn't get a chance to go. Sooooooo early (like 5am) on Lindsay's birthday we got up to go fishing. Logan caught 2 fish (his very first 2!) and Lindsay caught 2. Brandon got lots of strikes, but didn't end up catching anything. We were really proud of him though because even though he was disappointed about it, he was still very excited for his brother and sister. They brought a few of the fish home and Brandon gutted one for the first time. It was hilarious! I took video of it, but didn't think I should put it up because of all the grossness involved. He said he never wanted to do that again!

MacGyver!

2011-05-04T15:31:00.005-06:00

Did you ever watch this show? Well, Shane and I both did and we both remember LOVING it! Shane found it streaming on Netflix and so we decided to see if our kids would like it. Boy, do they ever! Every night they ask to watch MacGyver. They play MacGyver now and Logan likes to be called "MacGyver". I told him one night, "goodnight MacGyver." He responded, "Goodnight Mrs. MacGyver." It's really funny.

MacGyver makes everyone happy! ;)

Our fun dad!

2011-05-04T15:06:00.007-06:00

Brandon and Lindsay were able to go to "Bring You Child to Work Day" with their dad last week. They were SO SO SO excited! They got to miss school to be there. They had lunch, played games, designed websites, and to top it off Shane's company called the ice cream truck to come for an ice cream party at the end of the day. Talk about a hit with the kids! I never let the kids get icecream from our dang truck that starts coming around right and DINNERTIME (??? hello???) so they were thrilled about their treat!

Unfortunately this day was for kids who were 5 years old or older so Logan missed out, which believe me, he was really feelin' it. So Sophie and Logan and I went to a cute little cupcake shop in Boulder and then played on Pearl Street for a while.

That night, because he had earned 10 tracks and because we hoped to ease the pain of missing a day at work with dad, Shane took Logan out on a guy's night out. They went to McDonald's and then to the movie Rio. Logan came home all smiles and stories. It was nice to see that 3 out of 4 were able to have such a grand time with their dad!

Easter Bunnies

2011-05-04T14:23:00.004-06:00

Our Easter was pretty low-key this year, which I was grateful for. I'm runnin' low on energy and was grateful we got invited to a small neighborhood easter egg hunt so I didn't have to find one. We had Easter baskets and our traditional Rabbit Cake, and colored eggs. Other than that, there weren't a lot of festivities around here.

One thing that surprised and delighted me was how well my kids treated each other as they were decorating eggs. "Oh man, Lindsay that one's great!", "Good job Brandon!" ,"Ah, sweet Logan!" .were the comments that filled the room as one child would proudly retrieve their egg out of the dye to show. It really made me very very happy.

This was actually taken the Sunday after Easter Sunday, but they all looked so great, I wanted to capture the moment. It was bright outside - can you tell by the squinting? We found an old suit of Brandon's that fit Logan and Logan was SO excited to wear it and "look like a man". Brandon was feeling jealous. He walked into our bedroom and said, "I would like to give you a demonstration. Here is a boy who looks stupid and ridiculous (pointing to himself). And HERE is a boy who actually looks very handsome (pulling Logan into the room). Do you see the difference?" In the beginning we were getting a kick out of it, but after about a half hour of insisting he looked horrible, we started getting upset and made him stand in front of a mirror telling himself he looked handsome. Eventually he gave up the moping and complaining about not having a suit. I just hope we don't have to go through that again when Logan wears his suit next week!

We love this time of year when we get to remember our Savior's great sacrifice for all mankind. We're so grateful for Him and for the breadth and depth of the Atonement and for the opportunity it gives us to become better individuals and a better family with eternal possibilities. We are indeed trying to be more like Him.

Still here....

2011-04-26T13:16:00.003-06:00

Yes, the Gebs are still alive... barely. I've missed blogging and finally decided to sit down today to do a few posts. I'm not going to even try and play catch-up, but there were a few things that were important to me to share. Suffice it to say that since my last post we had Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Valetine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and Spring Break - all of which were great. Kids got sick, kids got better, we had fun nights and hard nights. We've done lots with great friends and our loving family and had many nights with just us. AND I'm pregnant. This pregnancy has been difficult, but I'm almost done. I have very little energy and so this past few hours have been really wonderful for me. I think I will have to blog and scrapbook more towards the end of this pregnancy because it offers a GREAT disctraction, requires very little energy but also makes me feel productive and happy. So hopefully you'll be seeing more of the Gebs' before life gets turned upside down by our 5th child!

Hooray for visitors!

2011-04-26T13:03:00.003-06:00

In February Shane's youngest sister came to visit. It had been a LONG time since we had seen her family and so we were really excited they came to stay for a few days. We were worried the weather and our kids being sick might keep them away, but the kids started feeling better, and the weather ended up being fine! Hooray! We headed down to Colorado Springs and toured some caves and Garden of the Gods. I really really liked Garden of the Gods and can't wait to go again. We hung out at home Sunday and then went to the zoo Monday. They are such a great family and their boys are hilarious so we really had a lot of fun with them! Plus we've been such party poopers that if any family wants to see us they've had to come here. I can't wait to feel like going out and traveling again after this munchkin is born. :)

Cave of the Winds (lots of fun, but kindof expensive and long for Sophie)

just the boys

the whole crew

1st Grade Showcase

2011-04-26T12:42:00.003-06:00

Lindsay had her 1st grade showcase, "Once Upon a Time". She was SO excited for this day. She picked out her very best dress and was feeling very confident about how pretty she looked. After getting ready she was coming downstairs and I started to announce, "Here comes the..." she stopped me here and inserted, "the most beautiful girl in the world!" Another cute comment she made was, "Mom, I don't think my friends will even know what to say when they see me in this beautiful dress!" I have NEVER seen a child get so excited about something. She did a great job. She was always paying attention and seemed to know most of the words and all of the actions. We went out for ice-cream after. Sometimes I feel like she gets a little overlooked and so it was fun to have a night so special to her.

Everyone got a chance to quickly wave hello to their families. Lindsay is the very last person on the right side of the second row.

One of her special parts was doing the "boomwhacker" She did a great job. One of the only kids who actually stayed on beat more than half the time.

2!

2011-04-26T11:35:00.005-06:00

On April 6th of this year Sophie turned two! Grandma and Aunt Stephanie came for a visit right before her birthday so she was able to have a birthday party and really got the feel of opening presents and eating cake.

When I presented her with her cupcake at her first party I asked Shane, "Do you think she'll even know what to do with the candles?" Boy did she ever! She blew them out about 3 times before we could even finish the song! Blowing out candles is one of our kids

favorite things so we put candles in everything on their birthdays.... the cake, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

She's such a sweet girl with so many little quirks that make her one of the funniest members of our family.

She says "really" in front of everything!

"Mom, I rewee hungdee (hungry)" ( I hear this particular one 10 times a

day)

"Mom, I rewee owie."

"Mom, I rewee done."

"Mom, I jump rewee high!"

"Mom, I rewee tied (tired)"

I'm not sure how long it will last, but I "really" like it!

She loves getting her back, legs and arms scratched. When we scratch her arms and stop doing one, she holds up the other one for us to do. Then if we stop with that one, she holds up her other. If I stop scratching her back before she's ready she looks and me, "Mom." she says simply and stretches her hand on her back to let me know I need to keep going. This little quirk can come in handy. Like when she starts throwing tantrums in church. We can get them to stop pretty quickly if we just start scratchin' away!

She loves loves loves the iPad. She calls it "mypad" and she can get it away from anyone! Brandon doesn't even stand a chance with it if she's in the room. If someone else wants a turn she better either be in bed or they better take it up to their room and shu

t the door to play with it in peace. It's amazing to me how well she can get around on that thing too! But she gets frustrated when she slides her fingers across the computer or my phone and nothing happens. It's funny!

Just about a month before turning two she finally started talking and ever since then has been talking more and more and more. Her vocabulary is really expanding and just yesterday she saw a piece of sidewalk chalk and told me it was "blue". It really surprised me and I think it was an accident since she hasn't gotten the color right since, but the fact that she's even thinking about colors is encouraging.

Some of her favorites include:

FOOD: yogurt, mandarin oranges, fruit snacks, and anything with peanut butter

DORA: she loves Dora. She has a Dora book, doll and bathtub toy that she gets so excited over every time she sees them

FAMILY: she adores her brothers and sister. She's always tackling them to give them kisses and hugs. She knows where everyone is all the time. "Sophie, where's dad?" "Work." "Where's Logan?" "Dansars (downstairs)" And every morning she gives Brandon and Lindsay a hug and kiss and yells good-bye to them as they ride away to school.

SIPPY CUP: We have let her have this bad habit of a sippy in bed. She loves her cup so much she gives it a hug every time she gets it.

SINGING and DANCING: Popcorn Popping, I am a Child of God and The Itsy Bitsy Spider top the list for songs she likes to sing. She loves dancing to the soundtrack of Tangled, but I've never seen a girl get so excited over a song as she does for "Rolling in the Deep" and "Rumor Has It" by Adele.

TRAMPOLINE: she loves being out on the tramp. "Mom, I jump rewee high?" is how she asks to go outside.

Shane and I both agree that we've seen her mature very quickly this last month. She doesn't cry as much, she does more things on her own and she's much happier. It couldn't have come sooner. I think Heavenly Father is blessing us as we get ready for her new little brother or sister. I don't know how much she knows about a new baby coming to our family, but my stresses about how she's going to handle the change are much less than they were about 3 months ago when we were really struggling with her behavior. We're very grateful for this sweet daughter of God and love her to pieces.

Halloween Time at the Gebs'

2010-11-08T13:20:00.006-07:00

For me, the thing that really starts getting me in the mood for Halloween is our

annual trip to Fritzler Corn Maze in Greeley. There are all sorts of things the kids love doing. The Jumping Pillow, Shooting Corn and pumpkins, "go cart racing", walking through "The Beast" (even if it's a little scary) and other fun activities. But most of all... picking out the pumpkins.

Who knew climbing a tower of hay could be so much fun?

Duck Races... I think this was a lot of fun. The kids got to keep their little plastic ducks. Those ducks were very much loved for a week after. Especially at bathtime.

The best shot I could get of all four munch-kins together.

Carving the ole' pumpkins. (I wish I would have gotten a picture of them all lit up. The kids drew their own faces and did most of the cutting out this year.)

Of course Halloween isn't Halloween without costumes, and our costumes for the year were......

Buffalo Bill

Our Future Dr. Lindsay Gebs

Our Baby Bunny

Our Tough Pirate

Since Halloween was on a Sunday and we opted not to do Trick-or-Treating, we had a Halloween party instead. It was a lot of fun! We had Halloween Eats galore and fun games like......

Donut eating contest.......
Bobbing for apples....
a fun "pin the grin on the jack-o-lantern", which there are no pictures of and trying to get ping pong balls out of an empty tissue box by wiggling your hips.

What a fabulous Halloween we had this year! On to Thanksgiving!!!!!

Rain Gutter Regatta

2010-11-08T13:16:00.003-07:00

Brandon's Cub Pack had a Rain Gutter Regatta a while ago. He was very excited for it! He and his dad looked online for some ideas. Brandon found one he liked and built it himself. He was really excited for it. He thought it would do really good. And it did. He won first place out of everyone! We were all very proud of him.

This is the final race... for all the marbles!

A proud boat racer.

Coney Head.

2010-11-08T13:12:00.004-07:00

The kids are always wanting me to give Sophie a "coney head" The think it's hilarious! Sophie rarely has the patience for it.

I love this picture. Logan had just spit water in her face. Isn't her expression priceless?

I think Bath Time can be one of the cutest times to take pictures of kids. I actually had my camera for a fun morning of getting clean with my two littlest ones.

Fun FHE

2010-11-08T13:09:00.003-07:00

We had a fun Family Home Evening a while ago. We learned about missionaries. Our lesson was on Ammon and what made him a good missionary. Then for our activity we all wrote Shane's nephew who's currently serving in Honduras. For our treat, the kids made their own name tags. They had a lot of fun with that. Logan said his looked the the Sphinx!

We're grateful for missionaries all over the world who are working so hard. We hope will become better missionaries!

10 TRACKS!

2010-09-20T10:57:00.003-06:00

For those who don't go to Centennial a track is a piece of paper the kids earn for good behavior or quick thinking at school. They are given out by any faculty member of the school. This year Shane and I decided that for every 10 the kids earned they could earn a special reward. They each got to make a list of 5 rewards to choose from. The include things like swimming, getting a date with mom and dad, getting happy meals, or late overs. Surprisingly Brandon was the first to earn 10. He chose $5 in Wizard 101 (a internet game he's addicted to) money. Lindsay earned her 10 a few days later. Logan is 1 away ( I WILL find something to give him one today!) from earning his first 10.

So last night Lindsay chose to make a fancy desert and play restaurant "A la Lindsay" is what she called it. She wanted to light candles and everything. She chose Molten Lava Cake as her desert. It was the perfect reward for her. She loves cooking so much and she really did most of the cooking by herself. Except for cracking eggs. Oh, Lindsay DOES NOT like cracking eggs. I tried teaching her to do it "cleanly" but she just can't quite grasp it yet. She hates getting it on her hands. But she did a WONDERFUL job! I don't think she could have been prouder of herself!

Everyone absolutely loved them. Brandon started licking his plate which inspired Sophie and Logan to do so as well. This upset Lindsay a little bit. She yelled, "Is this the kind of behavior you would have at a fancy restaurant??" She got her brothers to stop, but not Sophie. It was really fun.

I'm really proud of how hard the kids have been working at school to earn these tracks. I hope we get to have more fun 10 track nights!

The Adventure Raising Brandon

2010-09-20T10:10:00.005-06:00

Brandon is one of a kind. Absolutely an original piece of work. It is really a wonderful thing being his mother. I love him very much. He is frustrating, love-able, kind, a great helper, and hilarious.

Here are some recent stories from my adventure of raising him.....

He is such a good brother. And for the most part he is thoughtful and likes playing with his little sisters and brother. Sometimes though, he likes playing with their emotions. The beginning of last week Brandon had Lindsay and Logan afraid to go to sleep. He was telling them about a bad dream he had in which the basilisk from Harry Potter was coming and he was screaming... trying to get everyone to cover their eyes. Him and dad were the only ones and so the basilisk was looking at everyone else killing them. Of course he saw the reaction and thought it was pretty neat so went farther farther into detail about how scary it was. I was so frustrated because it took 10 minutes to calm Lindsay and Logan down. After that I asked Brandon to only tell me or his dad about bad dreams.

Brandon has a REALLY bad habit (well, Lindsay does too actually) of leaving his bike behind the van. I can't tell you how many times I have been pulling out to go somewhere and have had to slam on the brakes before I run over bikes, scooters, toys or water bottles. Brandon never understood why it was so important for him to park his bike elsewhere. "Nothing ever happens!" or "It's not a big deal!" he would exclaim whenever we would get after him about it. Well finally, much to mine and Shane's dismay, something did happen. I was pulling out and Brandon's pegs got caught on the tire and totally ripped it open. ARGH! So $175 later I really hope Brandon has learned his lesson.

Another bad habit that runs rapid in our family is nose picking. I'm not sure how I raised Lindsay and Brandon to be such horrible nose pickers, but they are. Bad ones. It's gross. We've been really trying to break the habit. One afternoon I caught Brandon going to town.

"Brandon! For the love! Stop picking your nose!"

He looked at me for a second. "Mom, how do you stop picking your nose?"

"What do you mean how do you stop picking your nose? You take your finger out!"

"No, mom, I mean... it's so addicting! Do you think I have caffeine in my boogers? I just HAVE to pick my nose! It's kind of like I'm a smoker... I just can't stop!"

Oh boy! I was a goner! I was laughing so hard!

These are the highlights from just last week. At least I can be sure he'll always keep us on our toes!

Mesa Verde!

2010-09-10T16:52:00.008-06:00

This year for the Gebs' family reunion Tawnee and Dan planned a wonderful weekend at the amazing Mesa Verde National Park. If you have never been here, it's well worth the visit. It's

amazing to go into the cliff dwellings that are thousands of years old. Getting into them was a lot of fun too! You have to climb huge ladders, crawl through crevices, go up and down steep stairs and walk along a 12 inch wide switch back up the steepest narrowest cliff I have ever experienced. It was such a new adventure! We all had a really great time!

Brandon was chosen as a "Jr. Ranger". He lead us along the first tour we took to Cliff Palace and the Ranger brought up the rear.

These are pictures of Cliff Palace. We also visited Balcony House (my favorite), Spruce Tree House, and Long House

This is the stairway we crawled through to get out of Cliff Palace. Pretty steep with a steep ladder at the end to finally get back up on ground.

Here we are scaling the 32 foot ladder to get into Balcony House. This one was my favorite. It was the steepest and most adventurous. It also had the best story I think. There was a spring coming right out of the rock into this dwelling. A severe drought came into the area making it necessary for those who lived here to defend it. They did so by creating all these crawl spaces you had to go through in order to get to the spring. Our ranger told us they believed they would just wait there for people to try and come in through the little caverns and they would just kill them. There's a "murder hole" in the balcony house where they tossed the bodies of people who died trying to get water. It's crazy! It made me grateful for my running water in my own home.

Brandon always pulls this weird face whenever I ask him to smile. It's really quite annoying. This is taken outside one of the rooms in Balcony House.

This is the switchback against the cliff coming out of Balcony House. I don't do many things like this so for me, it was such an adrenaline rush! And Brandon started yelling ad screaming "That was AWESOME!" when we reached the top.

Lindsay climbing out of the "kitchen" room in the Spruce Tree House. It was actually a really pretty shot, though I didn't do it justice. We were in the dark and there was a ray of light coming through the ceiling shining right on my girl. Maybe with some doctoring we can get it looking good?

This is one of my favorite pictures. It was a long day for poor Sophie who wasn't getting very much sleep. Before every tour begins, the ranger tells everyone to spit out their gum, keep any snacks in your pack and only to drink water. Well, we let Sophie gnaw on a piece of licorice just for the silence it offered. Whenever a Ranger came we'd just hurry and turn her away or take the licorice and hide it. You can see how much she like it!

It was a fun trip! We'll be going again someday!

Stinker

2010-09-10T13:53:00.003-06:00

And this is what Sophie has been up to for the past month.

Not sure what her problem is lately, but I sure hope she gets past it because it can get frustrating! She's still cute though.

Logan's playgroup!

2010-09-10T13:48:00.004-06:00

We decided not to do two years of preschool for Logan. Instead he is in a playgroup with these fine boys. They meet once a week from 9:30 to 1:00. They get to eat lunch together and play. He also gets to play with his very good friend Luke every Friday at about the same time as his playgroup. It's heavenly! For him and me. He gets very upset if we don't remember to bless him in his playgroup, just like we bless Lindsay and Brandon to do well in school. It actually was so upsetting for him that, trust me, we don't ever forget anymore! He lives for these days and I'm grateful he's already getting the opportunity to play with such good kids!

First Day of School 8/18/2010

2010-09-10T13:35:00.003-06:00

Is it truly possible that he is in 4th grade? I mean, how could this have happened? Brandon is so excited about this year. He LOVES his teacher and I think is going to become an over-achiever just because he wants to make his teacher happy. He's doing really well. Already he has earned 10 tracks for his first reward of the year and was chosen by Mr. Johnson to be a representative from his class for the "First Friends". It's a group of kids who welcome new kids and their families to the school. He will give them tours of the school and if they are in his class befriend them. Proud of the little bugger.

Lindsay's in the 1st grade! Oh-me-oh-my! She was so excited this year to stay in school all day long! To get to have lunch at school and to participate in specials are the highlights. She loves school and was so excited for this day to begin. She's doing really well as well. She likes her teacher and is a really hard worker. She doesn't like to make mistakes and so always tries her very best with everything she does!

I'm excited that I no longer have to ride to school. Brandon and LIndsay do a good job to keep eachother safe. I was totally nervous the first time I sent Lindsay without me. She of course was exasperated. "Mom, it's not a big deal! I can do it!" she kept telling. And they do well... most of the time. Sometimes they come home right in the middle of a fight and that's always heavenly.....

Here's to another great year at a great school with great teachers!

Good Hit!

2010-09-10T13:13:00.004-06:00

For the grandmas and grandpa who wanted to see Brandon play ball, but didn't get the chance this summer. This was his last game. He wanted to hit a home run sooooooo bad! He came pretty close!

My, oh my how this boy loves baseball!

What a crackup!

2010-06-30T09:49:00.002-06:00

Lindsay has been crackin' us up lately! I can't believe some of the things she says. We had Purple Cows last night (a grape milkshake) she made a grossed out face and looked at Shane. "Dad, I think you did something wrong, because this does NOT taste right!"

Then again she had a funny little conversation with Shane.

"Dad, did you know Mom's going to have 5 kids?"

"What??"

"Did you know Mom's going to have 5 kids?"

"Did she tell you to say that?"

"No."

"Well, why are you saying it?"

"I don't know something just told me to say it."

pause

Lindsay, "I thought you knew because you're the smartest guy in the whole world."

She has also become quite the little food critic. Everything I make lately she wants to play "Iron Chef" so she of course is always the judge giving critics like... "Perhaps a little more salt would have made it better." And "I think if you had stirred it a little longer that would make it smoother." So as you can imagine I have been feeling a little sensitive about my cooking. So for breakfast the other day we had bagels. Lindsay LOVES bagels... she would eat them for every meal every day if she could but I was excited because I knew I couldn't screw up bagels! I walk over very proudly and give it to her and she looks at it.... "I think if you didn't spread the cream cheese so chunky I would like it better." SHEESH! I give up!

She is our sweet quirky little 6 year old and I'm so happy she's in our family!

Throwing UP!

2010-05-05T20:13:00.004-06:00

With the exception of Brandon all the kids are SICK and throwing up. Tis no fun... tis no fun. About 20 minutes ago after Logan's last episode, I got to thinking about how they are all doing basically the same thing and yet they do it SO differently. For example. Logan does NOT want to throw up. He (and this is really gross) cries and keeps swallowing it until the force is just too strong and it pushes it's way up through his closed mouth... making it come out his nose and everything. (I told you it was gross). Poor little Sophie just doesn't understand what's happening and wants to be cuddled and held. She's not "good" at throwing up yet and it requires a change of clothes (hers and mine) almost every time it happens. And Lindsay is very quiet about the whole thing. She just gets up and quietly throws up in the toilet (or on the way) and then apologizes for the mess and tries to tell me she doesn't really think she's that sick. 5 minutes later she's throwing up again... and without my knowledge because of how quiet and discreet she is about it. The term "suffering in silence" is NOT in Brandon's repertoire and he screams.... really screams for about 10 -15 minutes with his head hanging over the toilet bowl. And in between his throwing up he questions life and why can't he just have his resurrected body now.

I don't know why, but it just struck me as interesting. So many ways to do the same thing. Huh.

At least I didn't post any pictures!

ONE!

2010-04-15T13:24:00.005-06:00

This has by far been THE fastest year of my life! Our Sophie turned one a little over a week ago on the 6th. At one, she weighs in at 17 lbs. 12 oz. and is 28 in. long. That puts her in the 10% for her height and 5% for her weight. We knew she was small, but know we know how small she really is!

She is just a joy to our family. She only has one tooth, crawls like crazy, loves climbing stairs and opening doors and drawers which result with many smashed fingers and lots of messes for mom to clean up! Just recently she began pulling herself up to furniture and walk along it with the support. She can say,"da-da", "ma-ma", "ba-ba" "hi", and "nigh-nigh" however she really chooses not to say them. She loves to babble and once in a while she will oblige our pleadings by saying one of her 5 words, but it doesn't happen very often. She loves her brothers and sister and dad! When dad comes home she is right there with her siblings in the welcoming procession line.

We tried to take some pictures of her... and found out she hated her tutu. This makes a photo shoot very difficult, but here are some of the better ones.

The best part of taking pictures was taking the tutu off and playing with it!!!

I was giving her a pixie stix while I was taking pictures! This is after we are done, she found the wrapper and enjoyed eating it.

Brother came in when he heard crying to try to help. What a good little guy!

We celebrated her birthday in Utah! I will post more pictures of her party when I get them from my family because my camera died. Why does that always happen for important occasions?

Sophie's dancing

2010-03-19T14:24:00.002-06:00

Here is just a taste of Sophie dancing while we were at the parade in Disneyland. You'll have to excuse me in it.... I was just trying to get her more excited!

Kiss Me I'm Irish!

2010-03-17T09:14:00.003-06:00

When the kids woke up this morning, I said, "It's St. Patrick's Day!" Brandon said, "I could sense there was something special about this day!" Even though it's not a big holiday, it's fun to have a day to do something out of the ordinary. I made cute cupcakes I got from Jenny, her picture, not mine. We'll have Shepard's Pie and Soda Bread for dinner (my family REFUSES corned beef and cabbage) and cute little cupcakes afterward. Hope everyone has a great St. Patrick's Day, don't get pinched!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T09:13:00.002-06:00

Personalize your own greeting

California!

2010-03-12T10:12:00.010-07:00

We arrived in California Saturday and Sunday took the day to go to the beach. We had a really good time! The kids loved feeding the seagulls. I don't think anyone else appreciated us bringing hundreds of seagulls scavenging for food. Oh well, we'll never see them again! The waves were really strong that day because of the earthquake in Chili. We were encouraged to stay out of the water but that didn't stop us from having fun in the sand!

This is as much sand as Sophie would tolerate. She did not like that stuff! It was really funny!

Monday morning we were up early and ready for Disney! I was so bummed when we arrived and I thought I didn't have my camera! Shane's mom took some good ones of us which I forgot to get from her but hopefully will be able to get them from her soon. After lunch I discovered my camera in the bottom of the bag and so that was great. This picture is of Logan after he got his "honorary citizen" award. A worker saw him sharing a sucker with his sister which fell out of his hands and broke. She gave this button to him and he was very proud of it!

Finding Nemo ride. I like the rides the whole family gets to go on together and this was one of those few!

The Jedi training was cool! I thought Logan was going to have a heart-attack when Darth Vader came out!!! Darth was trying to get kids to join the dark side. "Who will join with the power of the Dark Side?" Logan's hand shoots up, "ME! ME! I WILL!"
Waiting for Captain EO. It's a 3Dmovie with Michael Jackson. At the end Brandon asked me if that was a boy or girl. I told him I didn't know ;)

Tuesday morning we decided to go over to California Adventure and see what was there! It's such a fun place... almost as good as Disneyland. This is while we were waiting for Soarin' Over California, a really great ride!

Logan was very very excited to "meet" Lightning McQueen. It was a fun moment.

What a CUTIE! She was such a good sport. She didn't get any sleep on this trip either and yet she was happy throughout.

We were at Brother Bear and got to find out what animal spirits we were. Shane was a wolf, me and Lindsay were bears, Brandon was an eagle, Logan was a beaver and Sophie was a moose.

4 crazies!

riding the ferris wheel

While Gramma and Shane saved our place in line for Playhouse Disney the kids and I ran over to meet Donald.
Playhouse Disney! We went to this especially for Logan. IT was Wonderful! We saw Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Tigger and Pooh and Little Einsteins. It was great! They did a very good job!
Tower of Terror. This ride was really scary. There are no words to adequately describe how scared I was in this ride. It was great, but SCARY! I didn't think Brandon liked it, but he went on it again later so he must have. Brandon came up with a phrase that we loved and will use forever more after this ride. He said, "Oh man, that one was so bladder-hurting!"
One thing about Disneyland and California is that they are really good at making the wait in line seem tolerable. First of all you can never really tell how long the line is because just as you think you are almost there, you go around the wall and discover another labyrinth of gates herding hundreds more people to the front of the line. But they do set things up so you at least have something to look at! This is in the Tower of Terror.

This is the Screamer. It is the best roller coaster I think! So much fun! Brandon absolutely LOVED it!

Waiting for the parade to start!

The Pixar Parade! This had floats from all the Disney/Pixar movies and was very very fun!

Back to Disneyland after California closed. We headed straight to Fantasyland for Small World and the parade.
So this is right before we went on A Small World. I couldn't believe all the dolls on this ride! Brandon really didn't enjoy it but boy-oh-boy did his baby sister! She was screaming and reaching for all the dolls and dancing (which she has never done, but has been doing all the time ever since)!!! It was so cute to watch! I loved it even more because of her. I guess that happens a lot. I loved Disneyland, but it was even greater because I was there watching my kids have such a great time!
The night ended with a celebrate party in the streets of Disneyland. Sophie loved this too! She was dancing like crazy! I tried uploading a video of it because it's too cute and for some reason it isn't working... I will try to get it up though because it's too cute not to share.

Wednesday the adventure continued with a drive down to San Diego to go to Sea World. The scenery was GORGEOUS! I have to admit I was not expecting San Diego to be so beautiful! It was so green, with rolling hills, orchards and ocean in every view! Not only was it beautiful, but it smelled so good!! I loved it. And just right as you're getting close you turn a corner and there is one of our beautiful temples! It was one of the best drives I've ever had!

Now Sea World. It was so much fun, but all you are really paying for it to see the shows, which are wonderfully done! The actual aquarium part was just okay. Since it wasn't very crowed, Shane and the kids got to sit right up close to the Shamu Show. They were really hoping to get wet and they did! Although Brandon didn't get as soaked as he wanted. "Only 34 drops!" he claimed. Of course it was more than that ;).

So after Sea World, we were at the hotel and I forgot to delete all the pictures after Shane download our pictures on a disk at Shane's mom's house before we left and I was running out of room soooo..... yes, as I was trying to delete the pictures one by one.... I DELETED THEM ALL!!!!!!! So there are no pictures of Sea World. I went online and found a few to share so we can rememer.
This is when the audience and trainers are putting their hands together chanting "Sham-U Sham-u" to get him (them) to splash the audience.
So Shane and the kids sat right next to this little podium where the whales came to show off. They were probably right where that kid is in the blue shirt towards the bottom left.
Splashing splashing! It really was neat to see how far they could splash. It reached up 16 rows of bleachers!
The shark exhibit was Logan's favorite part and Lindsay's was the paranas. Brandon's was the whale show. He is convinced, as is almost every child who sees the show, that he is destined to be a whale trainer.

Our second day in San Diego, we went to Legoland. This is a really fun place to visit. At first I thought that it would mostly be for Logan, but we all really enjoyed ourselves. Almost all the rides were "Logan friendly" He even got to experience his first roller coaster, which he said was "awesome"

They had these electric cars that the kids could drive. It was only for kids 3-5 years so of course Brandon just thought it was the most unfair thing ever. He felt better when I let him be in charge of pictures, and even better when we walked around the corner and there were bigger cars on a much bigger course for kids 6-16 years.

He passed his driving test. This is his license.

They had fun displays all throughout the part made out of legos. There was a really fun safari ride with animals made out of legos.
The kids loved this game. They rode in the boats squirting people and people had guns and were squirting them back from the sidewalk. IT was fun to watch and they got pretty wet!

My favorite part of Legoland was Mini USA. They built famous cities in the US all out of legos! It was absolutely incredible. There was Washington D.C., Las Vegas, New York, San Fransisco, New Orleans, Mt. Rushmore. There was also the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower, the Sphinx. It was just unbelievable! The kids were ready to leave this area way sooner than I was!

After Legoland we headed back to Shane's mom's house where Uncle Troy and Aunt Linda were waiting for us! We were so glad that they were able to come spend a few days with us in Disneyland!

We went over to Fantasyland in Disneyland on Friday morning. This is the place where you find Cinderella's castle, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Dumbo and A Small World. I really liked it here so I was bummed that it was SO BUSY! Friday was the busiest day of all and it felt really crowded to me, but I was told that it still wasn't even that bad.

Waiting in line for Peter Pan. Which was actually a really fun ride!

Here we GO! Off to Neverland!

After Fantasyland we went to Toon Town. This was a really fun place! Very crowed, but a lot of fun. All the rides were ones that Logan could go on and every building has some type of lever to pull or door to open that created crashes and smashes and explosions and funny sounds. We had a lot of fun here.

Waiting in line.... lots of waiting in line at Disneyland!

Obviously Sophie couldn't go on this ride, so I stayed with her, but I could hear Lindsay screaming her head off! It was really funny. She loved it!

This is Mickey's house. Minnie was standing in front of her house and Goofy was in front of his and they were signing autographs. Since my kids weren't really into that I just took some pictures, but I begged them to go with me inside Mickey's house. They didn't really want to, but there was no line and I since I was getting certain that we were not going to meet Mickey (which I REALLY wanted to do) I wanted to at least go to his house. It's a very fun place. The kids loved it and as we were walking through out to the "movie barn" the kids got more and more excited. Out in the movie barn they were showing really old Mickey Mouse movies and there was a short line. They were opening a door and letting 5 or 6 people go through at a time. As we got closer, I heard a mom exclaim to her child "There he is!" I realized then, that we were going to meet Mickey Mouse!!!!

I was so so so so excited about taking this picture! It was wonderful. I was just sad that Shane and Sophie weren't with us. Don't feel too bad about it though... I'm pretty sure neither one of them cared.

We stayed until Disneyland closed Friday night which was really fun! They have a GREAT fireworks show that I didn't get any pictures of but that the kids and I just loved. It would have been better if we had gotten better seats, but it was still really great! By the time we got home it was 1:00 am. The kids loved knowing that they stayed up until 2 am Colorado time! They were definitely troopers but boy did it wear them out!

The first thing we did on the last day of our wonderful vacation was to head over to California Adventure to see the play Aladdin! It was such a great play... they did a wonderful job, and Brandon really did like it despite this picture. While we were waiting for it to start, he said to Uncle Troy, "Wake me up when it starts." and layed his head down on Kyle and fell right asleep. Shane and I always wondered what it would take to wear out our kids, they are so crazy full of energy ALL THE TIME, and this was our answer. Just take a vacation where we are walking all day for 8 days straight, staying up late and getting up early. They were SO TIRED by the end of the week that were really were glad to leave, which I didn't think would ever happen.

The Bug's Life show was really great too. They had stink bugs that sprayed actual stink in your face, the bees stung your back and the other small bugs crawled under your bumb as they were leaving the theater! It was CRAZY!
The favorite roller-coaster was the Screamer! It was a lot of fun and while Shane, me and Brandon were on it, Aunt Linda and Grandma got pictures of Logan and Lindsay with Woody and Jessie!

Everyone got to choose one last ride and Shane and I took Logan on his... Buzz Lightyear. The ride kept breaking down as we were riding on it, but that didn't hurt Logan's feelings, it just gave us a longer time to shoot Zurg!!!
IT was raining when we were leaving. The kids still wanted to shop for their souvenirs and we had to get some caramel apples. By the time we were done, WE WERE DONE! Everyone was so cranky and tired and I was frustrated but despite that last wet miserable hour......

We had a WONDERFUL WONDERFUL TIME at the HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!

2010-01-21T16:05:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

New Year's Resolution

2010-01-13T16:41:00.002-07:00

One of my new year's resolutions is to scrapbook more. I haven't done much scrapbooking at all for the past LONG time and I feel it's important because it's our family's history. Anyways, here's the page I did today.

Logan's #3 birthday!!!!

2010-01-13T12:51:00.005-07:00

November 21st Logie turned 3 years old! It was a really fun day, one that he had been waiting for for a long long time. Before we did anything, Logan absolutely insisted on opening his presents! He had been waiting for a week for this moment and to make him wait longer seemed too cruel!

I feel like we are moving past the car obsession into some new obsessions. In a way it makes me happy to not have to line all his cars up anymore or watch the movie at least once a day and play the game at least once a day, but in another way it makes me sad. They were such a HUGE part of him for so long and now it's sad to see him grow out of it! He does still enjoy them, but his new thing is puzzles and legos! He LOVES putting puzzles together and is really good at the ones he has. He LOVES LOVES LOVES legos. He has played with his legos every day since he got them and when he got some new ones for Christmas those just got added to what he got for his birthday. Logan'll just play and play for hours by himself. I have to be careful not to forget about him.

A favorite tradition we have made in our house is you don't only get to blow the candles out on your cake, but you get to have them in your pancakes, grilled cheese sandwiches and hot dogs (Logan's birthday menu). The kids love it and we like it too! Although by the end of the day when I was saying "Happy Birthday Logan" he said, "Mom! Don't say that anymore!" I think he got a little sick of me saying that.

The cake I made Logan was HUGE and so we invited some friends over to help us eat it. Logan was thrilled to have some friends come over for his "birthday party"

Logan is such a good boy. He has one of the most tender hearts I have every seen. He loves his family so much! He is a child who you want to make happy because it makes him so happy. He kept saying, "these are the best legos ever!" Or "These are my favorite puzzles ever!" Everything that day was his favorite something ever!! I bought him a pair of shoes and they were the coolest shoes ever for a long long time.

An interview with Logan:

What's your favorite color? Black

What's your favorite food? Cookies

What's your favorite toy? legos and cars

What's your favorite thing to do? ummmmm... play

Where is your favorite place to be? Uh. In a hideout

Who is your favorite person to play with? Uhhhhh Luke, and Sydney and YOU and Daddy.

What is your favorite movie? Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my favorite mov

ie iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssss.......... uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....... let me look (he runs to the movie drawer) My favorite movie is this one and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one (pointing to all the movies we own).

We feel so blessed to have Logan in our family. He is a great little guy who reminds us all the time to be happy and thankful for the thoughtful things others do for us!

A Gerber Baby

2010-01-11T09:31:00.003-07:00

So yesterday when I was making Sophie's cereal (Gerber Life as Lindsay insists on calling it!) I noticed a picture on the back of the box that shocked me!

I showed everyone and we all thought this cute little baby looked just like our cute little baby! So funny!

**** November and December post coming soon (I hope!)

WICKED

2009-11-10T14:48:00.004-07:00

Oh lovely night! We had so much fun going to Wicked!!!! I have adored this play for a while now.... at least 3 years and when I found out it was coming to Denver, I made it very known that I wanted Shane to take me. He took the hint, good boy that he is, and we got tickets!!!!

We had a wonderful night. We went to dinner at Maggiano's with friends. We were running quite late! Poor Shane was so stressed out that whole time about the time and who can blame him? He was so funny, checking his watch every minute (literally EVERY minute!) I think I would probably have been more concerned as well but I knew I would see the beginning the next night (How selfish is that???). So because we were running late we were running to the theater when Micaela stopped a pedi-cab! "Come on, you guys! Get in!" We took one look at that little cart and the little dude pedaling the cart and almost walked away until the biker to

ld us he could indeed carry all FOUR of us to the theater (Don't worry, we gave him a NICE tip!). As hard as his little legs peddled, and as many times as we thought we were going to capsize that little cart from taking fast corners, it was to no avail. We did not make it in time for the beginning of the show, but we had a good time getting there!

The show was everything I could have wanted it to be. My cheeks hurt from smiling all night long.

Since my mom was in town (also going to Wicked) we had her babysit. Grandma's make the very BEST babysitters!

My little sister was supposed to come with my mom, but she got sick and so I got lucky and went again to Wicked the very next night. We were in the very very back, but i

t was still wonderful. In fact, I think the performance that night was better than Thursday night's performance. The actors just seemed to be way more into it. It was so wonderful to spend a night with my dear dear husband and then a night with my wonderful mother! It was awesome. Thanks Shane and Mom for indulging my obsession with Wicked!

LOVE IT!!!!

2009-11-03T20:47:00.005-07:00

So I know this is a tad early, but one of my FAVORITE things about the holidays is Christmas music. Few genres make me more happy than Christmas music! Anyways, I have found a gem. I saw this and knew of some friends who liked the group so I thought I would try it out!

OH MY GOSH!!! It's so beautiful and wonderful!!!!! I can't wait for the season to officially begin so I can feel ok about listening to this cd over and over and over and over and over and over.......... Get it my friends... GET IT!

Halloween Happenings

2009-11-01T20:10:00.003-07:00

So, I can't get it in order, but here are some pictures from our Halloween weekend. We had a lot of fun. Lindsay had a party at school that Logan was able to attend. He just loved loved loved being there and Lindsay was so cute with him. She was very very attentive and took good care of him. We were able to go to Brandon's parade a little later in the afternoon and then our ward "Trunk-or-Treat" that night. The next day was Halloween! A lot of sugar in a little amount of time... needless to say the kids have been having a ball and I admit... it hasn't been too hard for me to deal with either ;)

treak or treating, Sophie just got to hang out in the stroller which she was only happy about for about 1/2 hour.

Our Little Witch

Lightening McQueen! As we were trick-or-treating he was "driving" from house to house making the car noises and everything. It was really fun to watch him enjoy his costume so much!

I love Brandon's face in this picture... it just sums up everything!

Brandon was the Avatar for Halloween. This was the first time I attempted to make a costume and it caused me a HUGE amount of aggravation! It did, however, make me want to learn to sew. I had one particularly hard night and was complaining out loud. Brandon was so cute, "Mom, it's o.k. I don't have to be the Avatar, I can just be a baseball player for Halloween... I mean we already have all the stuff anyways." Awwww... cute! It did teach me a lesson though. Next time I'm working on a project for my kids, I will not complain about it while they are around!

Uncle Robert!

2009-11-01T19:51:00.007-07:00

We had a fun visit with my brother Robert about a week ago. He was in Loveland with Weber State's football team and so we went and picked him up! It was a fun few hours for us. Brandon graced us with a performance with his recorder he brought home from school that day and we made cupcakes. Logan was HILARIOUS with his! What a fun time!

Gotta love those black sprinkles!

Bathing Beauty!

2009-11-01T19:44:00.003-07:00

Bathing Sophie is becoming a challenge and this is why... she can't keep her toes out of her mouth! What a cutie!

Highchair!

2009-11-01T19:40:00.002-07:00

We busted out the high chair for Sophie this week! She seems to like it and it's nice to have somewhere to put her while she makes a mess of crackers and I get dinner ready! She's growing up too fast!

My Daughter, The Chef.

2009-10-14T19:44:00.003-06:00

Lindsay just loves loves loves to cook, bake, whip, stir, puree, or chop( with a butter-knife of course) anything in the kitchen with me. Most of the time, this little hobby of hers is so fun! Sometimes, as all mothers know, I can do without all the "help". If I am in the kitchen, most likely she is right there with me helping

with whatever job I give her. The older she gets, the more she has gotten to do and the more she loves cooking! One of our favorite things to do together is watch "the cooking channel" as she calls it (The Food Network). Her absolute favorite show is Iron Chef. I have always liked how much she enjoys being in the kitchen, but lately it seems to have reached new heights. Luckily she hasn't ever tried to do anything by herself or without

permission, but she has taken to reading cookbooks! She loves going through Cooks Illustrated or Cook's Country (and who can blame her???)looking at all the pictures, trying to decide what she would like us to try out. This is really fun to watch, but for the past three night these magazines are what she wants for her bedtime books! That seems a little crazy to me! She is supposed to be keeping track of the books she reads everyday for school... what I am supposed to write down? Cooks Country "How to Frost a Cake" (this is the article we read tonight). It's only been 3 nights now, but I think tomorrow I will encourage a little Fancy Nancy.

Sydney!

2009-10-12T15:24:00.002-06:00

Logan just LOVES this little girl! He is so funny

because for a long time he wouldn't ever admit to liking anyone else. We'd try to talk him into liking more than just one person "Well, you like.... so and so...." and he'd yell, "No! I love Sydney!" He named his hippopotamus after her and if you ever want to make him the happiest little boy ever just tell him "Sydney's coming over." When she does comes over.... LOOK OUT!! You can hear the screaming and excitement no matter where you are in the house. It is so cute and so fun! He has loved her for the past year or so and still thinks the world of her! And who can blame him? She is pretty dang adorable!

Brandon

2009-10-09T15:31:00.005-06:00

Many of you know the struggle that Brandon has had in school which began in Kindergarten. In Kindergarten he struggled with his teacher. As a consequence of this Brandon just HATED school!!! He got in trouble almost everyday at school and then again at home. When I volunteered once and saw it was his teacher who didn't understand Brandon, didn't trust Brandon and blamed him for things he didn't mean to do, he quit getting in trouble at home. This helped a little bit, but he still really didn't like going to school. The next year started and 1st grade was good behavior-wise. His teacher was AWESOME!! She totally loved Brandon and didn't let his energy bother her. She was able to help him like school and feel good about being there, but he was still behind in reading. We practiced and practiced and practiced and he improved slowly and steadily but never "caught up". 2nd grade wasn't horrible, but he did get in trouble a lot for his behavior. I would hear parents freak out about how their kid got a warning or their first infraction and think to myself, "Oh please! I would be grateful if my son got his first infraction in March!" (He probably had at least 7-8 by then. On the bright side he always always told us when it happened). In addition he was still behind in his reading. I have always loved my Brandon and always thought he was one of the most awesome kids ever. I knew he was smart and that he was a good boy, but for some reason struggled in school. I tried to stay positive, but every Parent Teacher Conference was more discouraging than encouraging. Well Wednesday I had Parent Teacher Conference and needless to say I was pretty nervous! When I got there, the first thing his teacher told me was, "I just love Brandon." His teachers all have said this (excepting his Kindergarten one... I'm telling you they really didn't get along) so I wasn't getting my hopes up. Then she told me how Brandon is such a hard worker giving 110% to everything he does. She told me that he has such a positive and excited attitude about school which she loves! She said that if she ever needs something done quickly, correctly, and efficiently she knows she can ask Brandon. When she told me Brandon was doing really well in all subjects and was right on grade level for reading..... I got a little choked up. I was so embarrassed, but honestly I couldn't have been prouder than I was at that moment! I told her it had been a long journey with him and I was so glad that he seems to have turned a corner. It was the best Parent Teacher Conference ever!!!! It just goes to show.... don't give up. Even if it takes forever consistency will eventually pay off!

***********************************************************************************

Last night Brandon was saying good-bye to his friends. They were on their bikes and he was running along side them. He said he was looking down at his feet and "they were a blur I was going so fast!" Unfortunately while admiring how fast he was he didn't see the big ole' garbage can in front of him and ran right into it! That explains the eyeshadow. :)

**************************************************************************************

These are some drawings Brandon did in art. He said he watched a video that taught him how to draw these cartoon characters. He drew these when he got home. Pretty good, huh?

Hinges

2009-10-08T14:59:00.003-06:00

Today in class the teacher commented on how wiggly everyone was. Lindsay raised her hand and said, "I know a song to get the wiggles out." The teacher asked Lindsay to come up and show the class her song so she did. She told everyone they needed to stand up and get room to move around which they all did. When everyone was ready, this is the song she tried to teach her class.......

I can't believe she was so brave and did this!!! She did tell me later that "my tummy felt a little nervous when I was up in front of my class" I told her I didn't blame her one bit!!! She's such a funny girl!

6 months

2009-10-08T14:51:00.003-06:00

I am completely shocked that Sophie is already 6 months! She is growing up so fast it's almost sad! She can sit up pretty much all by herself, we just need to pad the area around her because she still falls every so often. Her brothers are the very best at making her laugh and getting her to laugh is getting easier, although she still can be very stingy with talking and laughing. She loves her baths, and loves to watch herself in the mirror while I comb her hair. Sophie sucks in her index finger and middle finger. She loves rattles and keys and her doll. We just love her to pieces!

Cousins!

2009-09-28T10:05:00.005-06:00

Over Labor Day weekend we got to go to Utah and meet a new cousin! Graham was born the end of July and it was so fun getting to finally meet him in person! We had a wonderful weekend! Family dinners, football parties, baptisms, blessings, and family pictures! Can't beat that! :)

This is my favorite picture from the whole weekend! I don't know why I like it so much, but I LOVE IT!!! Sophie, Steph, Zach and Graham

Sophie and Graham meeting for the first time

Our kids finally have a cousin on the Shelton side! Aren't they SO CUTE?!?!?

Graham is already shocked at how over dramatic girls can get... even at 5 months.

The Shelton girls

Sitting?!?!

2009-09-28T10:02:00.002-06:00

Over Labor Day Sophie started sitting! She is still pretty wobbly, but is getting pretty good at it! Which, as you can tell from the picture, she is just thrilled about!

Curly Sue!

2009-09-28T09:57:00.002-06:00

We wanted to capture a bit of Sophie's curly hair before it goes away. It's already starting to straighten.... so sad. Lindsay's hair did the same thing.

Funny!

2009-09-11T16:47:00.003-06:00

The kids are cleaning their rooms right now. They are pretty bad as it's been about 2 weeks since I've had them do it. Brandon came down the stairs and I asked him if he was done. He said, " Well, I was just wondering if it's ok if I just make a walkway?" I laughed. "No, it's not ok" He thought for a minute, "What if it's a really big walkway?" What a hilarious kid!!!! Being a mom cracks me up sometimes!

TWINNERS!

2009-09-10T18:57:00.003-06:00

Many of you know that I think Sophie and my mom look very much alike. Some of you might have even witnessed this likeness, but I wanted to post a few pictures to prove to all how RIGHT I am about these two!

at the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple open house.

my mom was a super good sport about this... hopefully she'll be an even better sport about my posting it! Love you mom!

Challenge!

2009-08-28T17:10:00.003-06:00

Look at this face! It's just adorable right? Logan can be the most tender-hearted, sweet little boy. Since school has started however, he has become quite a challenge. Yesterday, for example, he had 5 major melt-downs before 2 o'clock. He throws at least 1 huge temper tantrum every day. The first happened when we are on our way to pick up Lindsay from school. He wanted to ride his bike, but sure enough he started crying almost as soon as we left. Even though I left a half hour early we were going to be late because he was going too slow. And he was going too slow because he was stopping every 3 feet to cry and scream and howl into the sky at the top of his lungs. One of the times he stopped was right in the middle of a really busy street. He wouldn't come and I tried everything! Finally I had to pick him up, but he held on to his bike with his legs. It was a nightmare! There were about 6 cars and who knows what the people inside them were thinking. I just don't know what to do. I thought I needed to spend some time one on one with him and that would help. It does a little but he still cries about EVERYTHING!!! I am just really hoping this stage leaves sooner than later!

CA-UTE!

2009-08-28T17:01:00.004-06:00

Sophie @ 4 1/2 months

This baby is cute! Even when she is being a pain in the rear end... she is CUTE!

She's been sleeping through the night really well until about a week ago so we tried giving her cereal to see if that helped (it has). Here are pictures of her very first time taking it.

She did really well. We were expecting her to spit it all over, and she did, but it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. I love doing all these firsts with babies. It's fun to watch them grow!

8/19/09

2009-08-28T16:41:00.003-06:00

Brandon's first day of 3rd (eek!!!!) grad and Lindsay's first day of kindergarten (double eek!!!) went without a hitch! They were both very excited. We met their teachers the night before and had back to school night Wednesday and I am really thrilled about their teachers this year. I think Lindsay's is going to be perfect for her and same with Brandon's. It's been nice getting back into a schedule although I already miss having them home ( and under my control) all the time!

Riding to school is something Lindsay has been looking forward to since we started last year with Brandon.

This is actually Lindsay's second day.

1st day in class! She is one excited Kindergartner! I didn't think she was going let me walk her in!!! She was just ready to go. I had to call her back to me and she told me she was going to go by herself. I told her, "Oh no you're not! It's my right as your mother to walk you to class on your first day!" Thank goodness she let me!

Cool Dude! He was super excited about getting a back pack that slung over his shoulder.

2nd day of school.

Last bit of summer

2009-08-28T16:27:00.005-06:00

Before School started we got in one last visit to the zoo for the summer. It was perfect weather and we had a lot of fun as usual. The kids really love going to the zoo and I do too. It's a great way to spend the day!

since it was a special trip we sprung for carosel rides.... does she look a little nervous or what???

We also got in a few more picnics up the canyon. This summer went by so fast! So fast! I didn't think I was going to be ready to send them to school but sure enough about a week before it was supposed to start the kids started fighting and complaining and so it was perfect timing because then EVERYONE was excited for school to start.

4 of the best kids in the world!

8 is GREAT!

2009-08-28T15:35:00.009-06:00

I love this smile! It's even better now because he's lost the tooth on the other side of his middle bottom two.

On July 31st Brandon turned 8!!! Time is going by so fast!!! It seems like just yesterday I was at the hospital with him as a baby. We had a hard time getting him here. He was quite comfortable where he was and DID NOT want to come out, but he has brought such happiness to our lives since then! We forget too often what a great kid he is. He loves everything.... legos, sports (all of them), friends, family, drawing, fishing and anything that you would consider "boy". Sometimes we think he was born into the wrong family because of what a goer he is. He is just always asking, "what are we gonna do next?" He loves being busy and going all the time and Shane and I aren't really like that, but we are so glad to have him pull us out of our shells that we sometimes like to hide in.

He has been wanting a bike for his birthday so we got him one. He wasn't expecting it and his face was really funny when he saw it! His jaw dropped to the floor.

For his birthday he wanted to go camping so we packed up and headed up to Rainbow Lakes. We felt so luck because we got the very last camping spot. But that's where our luck ended. The weather was cold when we got there, then turned hot, then cold again then hot on our hike and then it turned cold and colder and colder! We decided to go home which Brandon was really bummed about but we decided to camp out in our family room instead and they all really like that idea so hopefully it ended up being a great night for him!

a beautiful beave pond on our hike. we got there and there was a rainbow going across the sky. Mmmmm.... perfection!

the designated fire wood cutter. He loves anything to do with fire!

camping in the familyh room with popcorn and a movie!

Of course turned eight is a huge milestone for other reasons. On August 8, 2009 Brandon was baptized! I am so proud that he made this decision. He was so excited for this day. He talked about it all the time... even at night in his room to himself. Brandon was baptized with 4 other friends from the ward and it made it extra special. The spirit was very strong and even Brandon cried a little because he felt so happy. I feel very lucky to be his mother, he has a really strong spirit and I know he's going to grow up and bless his family from the life he will lead.

grandma and grandpa shelton came

gramma cracker came

a special visit from great-grandpa! he came all the way from California to be with us!

oh the fun that is Jessica and Melinda

Frog Hunting

2009-08-28T15:22:00.003-06:00

FROG HUNTING

We have had quite the summer for animals in the back yard. Some visits from bunnies... oh so cute at first and then a pain!!! They ate all of our produce in the garden. I was calling them little stinkers one

day because of it and LIndsay reminded me "you don't have to be rude". "What?" I asked. "Just because they got in the garden doesn't mean you have to call them rude names." Thanks Lindsay for keeping me kind! Anyways, our favorite visitors have been all the frogs. We have had SO MANY! For about a week that's

all the kids did was go frog hunting. They built habitats for the frogs, raced them in swimming pools, and just had so much fun catching them! Logan would chase after them saying "Come back here widdle (little) wascaw (rascal)" We just have enjoyed them so much! However Shane di

d mention he is getting tired to wait for them to hop out of the way while he's mowing the lawn (he still waits though, don't worry!)

Drooling

2009-08-10T14:14:00.004-06:00

Sophie is such a drooler! Not only does all the drool come out on it's own, but she loves to spit! Time has gone by so fast. I can't believe that she is 4 months old already! She is getting really close to rolling over. She is so funny when you can get her smiling and laughing, but she is pretty stingy with those things. It takes a lot of work, but very worth it when it does happen!

Aren't slobbery smiles the best??

I can't believe how fast time has gone by. It simply has been the fastest 4 months of my entire life! She's such a sweetie and is making her place in our family just fine! She already has gotten mad a few times and yelled at whoever is bugging her. This age is just so fun because every week they are doing something new or better. She loves her rattle, her doll and her links. She is done with the pacifier, preferring to suck on her fingers (not sure how I feel about that yet). She also sleeps through most nights and usually takes at least one long nap, as long as we are home for a stretch of time. She doesn't sleep well in other places besides her bed or swing or our bed. We're just excited to see her grow up!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

2009-08-10T14:04:00.005-06:00

While in Utah this summer we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House! It was bliss! I was so excited to have Logan and Lindsay see the inside of a temple and they LOVED it! This temple is a smaller one and it just gorgeous! It was a really great morning!

I'm really not going to drop Sophie, I promise!

Can you believe all I did was turn around and took a shot and this was the outcome?!?!? I swear I did not pose him!

Sweet girl

Logan and Grampa.. matchy matchy!

I love to see the temple... I'm going there someday!

My first Diaper Cake

2009-08-10T13:57:00.002-06:00

While Shane and Brandon were in Alaska we went to Utah and I was able to give my sister a baby shower with my mom and sisters and I made her a diaper cake! It was fun and easy! Definately a gift to keep in mind!

Take me out to the Ball Game!

2009-08-10T13:40:00.004-06:00

Since the beginning of June until the last Thursday in July Brandon has been playing baseball. Every Tuesday and Thursday... not a single practice or game cancelled... even in the pouring rain! Needless to say - it was a lot! But it was really fun. Brandon absolutely loved playing this year and it was so awesome watching their team get better and better. He had a really great coach this year who never let them get comfortable. Just when they were hitting the ball pretty good, he started pitching faster. It was a really great season. Lots of fun summer nights watching games.

Their team, The Twins, was actually a very competitive team.

Here's Brandon playing third base... he's going to get that runner out!

Brandon became a pretty good hitter and no wonder... just look at his form!

Some of the team-mates... especially friends from church Jonathan and Cole. That was really fun being on the same team.

Here's to next year!!!!

Alaska!!!!

2009-07-24T13:18:00.026-06:00

Shane and Brandon had the opportunity to visit Shane's sister in Alaska June 27 - July 5 this year. It was the most amazing experience for Brandon. He absolutely loved it and often asks when we can go back or asks if we can move there. I am really grateful that they were able to go together and thank everyone who helped them have such a great time, especially Shelley and Brenton for hosting the best family reunion to date.

Day 1, Saturday was just getting there. Since it was Brandon's first time on an airplane, Shane asked them to give him some wings, which they happily did. But when they landed in Seattle they invited Brandon and Shane into the cockpit. The captain talked with Brandon and let him pull levers and push buttons!!! No pictures, but how crazy cool is that??? Of course Brandon became convinced his calling in life was to be a pilot after that.

Day 2, they went to church. This is Shane's family. Tawnee, Shane, Kristen, MaryJane (mom) Ryan, Shelley, Dwayne (nice beard!) and Linda.

Orginially on Day 3, Monday, they were going to go to Kennecot Copper Mine, but because it was so rainy they stayed closer to home and killed some time a little lake nearby.

They saw a mommy moose with two babies. First wildlife spotting for Shane and Brandon.

At the lake they rode the ATVs, fished, and shot bb guns. What more could two boys ask for?

Shane really likes this video. Obvioulsy he loves that he was able to teach his son how to fly fish but he also thinks Brandon shaking his head to get the bugs off is pretty funny.

Canoeing out on the lake. This is one of the two fish Brandon caught while he was in Alaska. Pretty good... in a canoe with a fly pole, good job son!

Day 4 was action packed! They began their journery to Valdez where they would all be taking a day cruise to the calving glaciers. On their way there they took a little hike to

a old mining cabin, went to the North Pole and hiked up a glacier. Busy Bees!!

this is the cabin they went to, you can see it tucked in the trees on the left side.

At the North Pole Brandon bought himself a pocket knife wiht his name

carved on it. The little knife quickly became his prized possession. On their hike to the cabin however, he tripped and lost it. Obviously he was really upset about the whole thing, driving his dad crazy with the crying and complaining. Well, we thought for sure it was gone forever. Shane told me about it that night. I said a prayer asking Heavenly Father if there was any way for them to find the knife to let them find it. Shane also said a prayer as did Brandon and wouldn't you know it... 3 DAYS LATER on their way home FROM Valdez they stopped again at the miner's cabin because Shane wanted to just take a quick loo

k to see if he cou

ld find it where Brandon tripped and tucked under a rock, he FOUND it!!!!! Talk about an answer to prayers! A tiny 4 inch pocket knife lost in the Alaskan wilderness is found because Heavenly Father loves a 7 year old boy that much! I almost started crying when Shane told me he found it!

the infamous knife

This is the oil pipeline that runs all the way from North Alaska to Valdez. Of course they had to get out and make a little mischief.

can you see what that sign says? PLEASE do not climb or stand on the pipeline! What a bunch of rule-breakers! Oh well, had to take advantage of a great photo opportunity, right?

They also got out and hiked up a glacier on thier way. The picture doesn't do the blue justice. I guess it was just BEAUTIFUL!!! Everyone got their picture taken here because the color was simply outstanding!

This gives you an idea of the enormity of the glacier. The black specks on the white snow are people!

As I mentioned, they got to go to the North Pole on their way to Valdez. Of COURSE Santa was in the house and so they all got to sit on Santa's lap in the middle of the summer. How fun is that???

Brandon standing at the North Pole

They camped out that night and who doesn't love a great camping trip?

the bugs were so bad that everyone wore one of these hats to save their faces :)

Of course if they were stopped and there was an opportunity for fishing, Shane is dang well going to make sure he takes advantage of that opportunity. They fished pretty late and Brandon got a monster hooked. He fought it and fought it and even Shane tried to help, but the dang think got away! So before they left for Valdez in the morning, Shane and Brandon decided to go fishing again for revenge and Shane caught a pretty nice lake trout. They gutted him and cooked him and ate him for breakfast. Brandon said he was delicious.

On Thursday, Day 6, the whole family went on a cruise around the calving glaciers. It was a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

I'm told pictures can't describle how truly awesome these glaciers were. Shane said they were 20 stories high and chunks 5 stories high would break off and fall in the ocean. He said the sound and the waves they created were incredible. Here are just a few pictures of the glaciers.

The glaciers would have been cool enough, but of course it was also a cruise for spotting wildlife. They were able to see humpback whales, orcas, and dolphins. The captain told them humpbacks are pretty common on the cruises but they don't get to see orcas very often. About every two weeks is what he said. They were lucky enough to get to see two playing in the ocean! Talk about incredible. And the humpbacks... they never got to see very much of them, but what they did see was amazing. You can just tell how HUGE these animals are just from the video. I can't imagine what it must have been like in person.

Tthe next video of is a pod of dolphins playing with the boat, which the captain said they love to do.

In addition to the showstoppers: the orcas, whales, and dolphins, they were also able to see a ton of other animals on their cruise!

Here are hundreds of sea lions!

Shane said this on was showing off for them by dancing around the buoy.

They saw a seal. Kindof wierd to see one all by himself. Hopefully his family is somewhere nearby!

Puffins. I love these birds. I think they are the cutest little things and when Shane told me how sometimes they eat so much that they aren't able to fly for a while, well, it just made me love them even more!

Sea Otters

Shane and Brandon absolutely loved these little guys. They loved the way the otters floated on their backs and just looked at them like, "what are you doing here?" as they passed on by. The captain told them the whiter the face of a sea otter, the older he is. As you can see - here are a couple of grandpas!

They saw a Black Bear. Always fun... at least from a distance!

They were able to see quite a few Bald Eagles, Brandon's favorite bird.

After the cruise and before they left Valdez in the morning, Shane and Brandon decided they wanted to try and get a little bit of samon fishing. So, even though they were so tired and it was like 1:00 in the a.m., they decided to head out. Well, no luck with fishing, but as they were fishing a grizzley, (technically a brown bear because he was fishing and near the coast, which grizzlies are not) came out from the forest right across from them!! He started foraging a little bit. Shane made Brandon get in the car (thank goodness!) but he stayed outside to watch a little bit better. The bear was only about 30-40 yards from them and they were able to watch him for about 20 minutes before he headed back into the forest. Unfortunately the camera was all out of room and we weren't even able to get 20 seconds.

Friday, Day 7, completely exhausted they drove back home. Saturday was spent relaxing closeby 4-wheeling, floating the river and shopping. Sunday they went to church and packed up to come home. We picked them up from the airport Monday morning and had so much fun listening to their stories and looking at their pictures all day. Brandon was so wiped out that he slept in until noon the next day!

They all had so much fun! What a great thing for Shane and his brothers and sisters and mom to experience together.

Shane's family from left to right: Tawnee, Shane, Linda, Kristen, MaryJane (mom), Dwayne, Shelley and Ryan.

It was an amazing trip... one that neither one of them will ever forget, I'm so glad they had the opportunity to go.

PS thanks everyone for sharing pictures. I think I used at least one picture from everyone. I looked through so many pictures I almost feel like I was there!!! Someday though, I have to go in person!

Is that POOP?

2009-06-18T15:58:00.005-06:00

The following story contains some disgusting information: Reader discretion is advised.

Every parent knows that face… the face that strikes fear straight to your heart and causes a frenzy in the moments that sub sequentially follow. The face I’m speaking of, ladies and gentlemen, is that of a potty training toddler about to poop all over the place.

I’ll start from the very beginning, a very good place to start.

I was visiting with a friend of mine and she was telling me about what a hard time she had getting her potty training toddler to go numero dos in the toilet. She said they were cleaning up spots so much so that her and her husband called them dates. On their hands and knees spot cleaning their poor carpet talking and laughing together. (Ohhhh I know how cute it sounds!) I thought how lucky Shane and I have been that we haven’t had to clean up colossal poop messes while potty training. Oh, we have had accidents in the car, bathtub, outside, but fortunately all the accidents (with the exception of bathtub) have been contained inside the underwear and pants. All accidents that is until last Sunday night.

Our Logan has done shockingly well with his potty training. It really has almost been a pleasure teaching our 2 ½ year old son how to use the “big boy toilet”. He has had his misfortunes, but nothing out of the ordinary and nothing that was too problematical in fixing. We were feeling like champions! Until one Sunday night it all changed.

We had been waiting for and encouraging a poo-poo trip to the bathroom with Logan, consequently he was running around sans underwear. I should have known that wasn't a wise thing to do. He went a tiny bit in the toilet earlier in the day. I should have known then. We heard Brandon yell’ “EWWW is that poop???” There was a small drop on the offender’s leg. I should have known then. Shane asked “Did Logan poop on the floor?” Again a tiny drop and again, I should have known then!!! I go merrily on my way throughout the next 15 minutes and decide Sophie needs to be fed. While I am feeding her, rendering me helpless to any situation that occurs within the home - emergency or not, I see the face which has been aforementioned.

“OH NO! SHAAAAAANE!!!!!!!”

Shane sees the face as well and immediately springs into action. He jumps up, grabs Logan under the armpits, and rushes to bathroom as fast as he can go. Unfortunately it’s too late as Logan is dropping poop bombs all the way to the bathroom.

I hear a “Oh SON!” followed by a small crash (Shane slipped barefoot on one of the bombs) Lindsay, upon hearing all the commotion rushes to see what’s happening and steps right into one of the droppings, squishing it all in between her toes. Of course she does whatever any 5year old girl would do in a situation like this… she sits down and starts sobbing with a simply horrified look on her face. Brandon has by now come to check up on the situation and begins gagging and not only can he not stop gagging, he can't stop looking at the scene that is making him gag. And where is mom during this one minute episode? Sitting on the couch, where she was when it all began, laughing uncontrollably.

After the kids and Shane were all cleaned up the kids were sent upstairs and told NOT to come down lest another poopey toes incident occur. So, as it turns out Shane and I did get our poop scrubbing date after all. There were 10 poop spots in all… so it was a nice LONG date.

Lindsay's chant

2009-06-17T15:52:00.002-06:00

We have some friends over playing in the pool and this chant from Lindsay is what I am currently getting a kick out of:

"Brandon and Jackson sitting in a tree.... H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P"

Capturing a Smile

2009-06-14T19:11:00.004-06:00

We have been trying and trying to catch Sophie's smile on camera and are not having much luck! This picture is the best we've come up with. It's a cute picture, it just doesn't capture her personality like I want. We DO however have a cute video of her and Brandon "talking" to eachother for your viewing pleasure.

To the mountains!

2009-06-14T18:51:00.003-06:00

So last Saturday we went outdoors for the first time since Sophie has been born. They place we were aiming for, Rainbow Trout Lake or something like that, was closed so we just took a small hike that led no where, but did have a teepee in the middle of the forest! It was a really fun discovery, especially for Brandon and Lindsay! They were absolutely convinced we had found an actual teepee used by Indians. It was great! And wouldn't you know our luck continued when a couple of other hikers offered to take a family picture. We had a lot of fun. The hike was super short, but it was nice to be outside as a family again. And the most important part I'm told by my husband, is that Logan had his "right of passage" and "relieved himself" in the woods for the first time. Go Logan!

Taking a little break by the stream.

A Fancy Party

2009-06-14T18:30:00.005-06:00

The Friday after Lindsay's birthday we had a birthday party with friends. It was her first one and she was VERY excited! She decided she wanted to have a "fancy" party. If you have ever read Fancy Nancy, you know exactly where she got the idea! She loves (or should I say adores) those books! We got her invitations out and waited for the big day. While we waited she practiced being fancy. She made sure she drank with her pinky up and that we called eachother darling. The big day came, and it was oh so lovely! We dressed up, played games, did makeup, ate fancy cupcakes with icecream! It was such a fun afternoon!

Lindsay's fancy clothes and pose! (it's a kissing face)

Everyone came dressed up fancy, but they weren't quite ready yet. We got some play makeup and all the girls got to put makeup on! I have to say, it was one of the cutest sights I've ever seen! They were all very quiet as they concentrated holding their eyelids down with one hand and putting their sparkly eyeshadow on and putting glitter wherever there was ANY skin showing! SO fun!

A fancy girl accessorizes! They all got to make their own fancy sunglasses.

Instead of "Pin the tail on the donkey" we played "Put the lipstick on the princess"

Our oven broke the morning of the party and so the cupcakes were all sunk and horrible looking! I told the girls that truly fancy girls could make anything look fancy and so it was their job to make the poor cupcakes look pretty. They took on the challenge and succeeded I must say!

Blowing out the candles! 5 of them??? She's getting old!

Oh the fanciness!! What CUTIES!

Swimming!

2009-06-14T17:57:00.002-06:00

For Lindsay's birthday her brothers gave her a swimming pool. How generous of them right? Give a gift that they will also be able to get some use out of? Anyways, she loved it and the kids have been swimming like crazy! Logan slips and goes under all the way all the time. At first it scared him and he would cry, now he's not even phased. I have to say it's been a wonderful gift to me too. It keeps the kids entertained and happy for hours! We're hoping for some good weather this week so they can get back in without freezing! They will go swimming even if it's a little chilly outside and come in shivering, blue, and begging for hot chocolate!

Isn't she cute??

8 Weeks

2009-06-03T11:58:00.003-06:00

Our Sophie is 8 weeks old! She is getting to be so much fun! She smiles (not for the camera we are finding out!) and she coos. She still has some rough nights a few times a week, but for the most part has a schedule now which is helpful, even if it's not an ideal schedule. We just can't get enough of her and are enjoying her participating a little bit more in the family. Especially the kids... they all just love it when she talks to them and smiles at them!

5?!?!?!?

2009-06-03T11:48:00.002-06:00

Well, Sunday Lindsay turned 5! She has been so excited for her birthday this year and not shy about telling us exactly what we can do to make the day specail for her. She wanted her chair at the table to be decorated with balloons, she wanted balloons all around on the floor. She wanted a "butterfly cake with sprinkles inside and sprinkles on the icecream". We did our best and I think she ended up having a really nice day. Since it was Sunday she was excited that everyone was going to sing to her in primary. She told me before church that she was "really excited, but a little nervous" because "I've never had so many people sing to just me before!" It was a really great day! Happy Birthday my girl!

This is my absolute favorite picture from the day!

Fishing Season is here!

2009-06-03T11:37:00.003-06:00

Shane is quite a fisherman and has instilled this passion of his in the rest of our family. His favorite ways for fishing are fly fishing in rivers and canoeing around lakes. Unfortunately now that we are a family of 6 we no longer all fit into our canoe. He took the kids fishing over Memorial Day Weekend for the first time this year. Here are some pictures (out of order) of their first fishing trip!

In this picture they are coming back to drop off Logan, who was getting a little tired of being in the boat. Brandon canoed them back in. Shane decided that this year is going to be the year for Brandon to learn to canoe. He did really well, Shane is just helping him get up on the rocks to dock.

This is a picture of them leaving. Everyone is all smiles when they leave and then when they come back some of them are tired and cranky. It's kindof funny.

Fishermen Ahoy!

Preschool Graduation

2009-06-01T16:09:00.004-06:00

On the night of May 13th my little baby girl graduated preschool!

Here she is recieving her diploma

Brooklyn, Lindsay, Zoiee, Kiera, Taylor and our only dude, Jefferson

It's official. Lindsay will never attend preschool again (whew!) I can't believe how old she is getting!!! Which makes me feel old! We had a fun night. Ate some dinner, the kids played and then had the ceremony. It's been a lot of fun this year with the group that we had and I think I'll always do the co-op thing as long as I do preschool for any of my kids. It's fun, you know exactly what's being taught and you can't beat the price!

A Visit from Gramma Cracker

2009-06-01T15:32:00.003-06:00

Grandma Gebs came to visit us soon after Sophie got out of the hospital. Even though it was a short visit, it was a lot of fun. The highlights of the visit included a trip to the zoo and Sunday Night Dancing.

Bump in the Road...

2009-05-15T16:47:00.002-06:00

Last Thursday we had an unexpected illness with Sophie sending us to the hospital. We were supposed to go to Utah that day but Sophie hadn't been feeling well and I wanted to go to the doctor to get it checked out before we left. When he couldn't explain her 102 fever, he sent us to the hospital to get all sorts of fun tests... urine, blood and spinal tap. POOR GIRL!!! I said, "So I guess we're not going to Utah" and he told me he thought it might end up being a bad idea to go.

Luckily Shane was home and he took care of the kids while Sophie and I stayed in the hospital until Saturday night when she was given the all-clear to go home. She had to be on anti-biotics that were given to her through an IV. All her tests came back negative and turns out it was just a cold. I guess for newborns who have high fevers (it was up almost to 103 by the time we got to the hospital) it's just standard procedure to get these tests done and give them their medicine intravenously. I was very grateful for clean facilities and great doctors and nurses during our stay, but I had to wonder... is this standard procedure worth the 1 out of thousands who do end up having menangitis? I guess if you are that one... well, then of course it's worth it and it's always better to be safe than sorry, but perhaps standard procedures like these are one reason for high health care costs. And were they put into place to save that one? or to save the doctors from getting sued from families of that one that was missed? I suppose everyone has their own opinion and in this case Shane and I decided, for us, it was worth it. One thing's for sure... I am so grateful to live here where we really do have the best, not cheap or even affordable for some, but definately the best health care in the world.

Blessing Day

2009-05-05T15:12:00.005-06:00

We blessed Sophie this past Sunday. She looked beautiful in the dress my mom made for her and gotta love the shoes!

We are getting more and more used to having 4 kiddos in our family! It's been a huge adjustment, but we just love our baby Sophie and already can't remember what life was like without her! My parents and brother and sister came all the way from Utah to be here for the blessing. They came on Saturday and left on Sunday. We are so blessed with so much family support and love and we are getting excited for "baby Soph" (that's what Logan calls her) to meet the Gebs' clan this weekend!

Artist in the family!

2009-05-05T14:59:00.005-06:00

We were very proud of Brandon when his ceramic plate was selected to be in the SVVSD art show in Longmont! As you can see he was pretty proud of himself too. We had a nice night together looking at all the art from the elementary, middle and high schools in the district. There's a lot of talent out there, that's for sure!

2 weeks old (yesterday)

2009-04-21T16:22:00.006-06:00

I can't believe our little Sophie is 2 weeks old! So many things have happened in the past few weeks. I just can't believe how crazy fast time has gone by. When we first brought her home she was a little bit jaundice and had lost about a pound, but she overcame all that all by herself. When we took her to her newborn appointment at 10 days she had gained all her weight back and was just as chubby and pink as we could have wanted. The doctor was very impressed! Way to go Sophie!

Of course we also had Easter mixed in those two weeks somewhere. Our Easter this year was very low-key. Shane did a good job helping the Easter Bunny get some baskets ready for the kids. I think their favorite part was decorating our beautiful Easter Eggs!

Brandon took his decorating very seriously

Lindsay just loved decorating the eggs and was disappointed there weren't more than the 2 dozen we had

Logan loved dunking his eggs. He took one egg and dunked it in one color, a swift in and out motion, "pretty" he would say then he took the same egg and dunked it in another color repeating, "pretty" again. He did this over and over. It was so cute! I was sorry we didn't get it on video.

Sophie's first bath was a HUGE event in the house. The kids loved watching and "helping". The term "too many cooks in the kitchen" was very applicable that night! They were pretty good all in all though. And Sophie loved it! She just relaxed and enjoyed the warm water! She still loves her baths.

Sisters! All the kids have loved having Sophie around, but I think it's been extra great for Lindsay. She just loves having a little sister and will hold her all day long if I let her.

I think Logan is still trying to figure out where he fits in our family now since he isn't the baby anymore. He has never been a hard boy to take care of, but since Sophie has come he has become somewhat of a challenge. His hardest times seem to be when I am nursing. I don't like to do it in front of him because it upsets him (he's getting much better now), so he is left to entertain himself most of the time and it usually ends up with things that he shouldn't be playing in... like mommy's make-up.

We have had a lot of fun with our newest addition. There have been some hard times most definatley (4 really is a lot of kids), but we are grateful for Sophie; none of us could imagine our family with out her.

Introducing....

2009-04-09T18:30:00.002-06:00

Well here she is... our little Sophie! She is such a great addition to our family. We couldn't be happier. I have enjoyed having a newborn in the house again. Brandon, Lindsay and Logan all can't get enough of her, and who can blame them... she is awfully cute, if I say so myself! She's a good baby, doing all the things you expect a baby to do including staying awake at night! Enjoy the first of many pictures!

Crazy Day!

2009-03-06T12:42:00.002-07:00

Yesterday was crazy mixed up day at preschool in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday. Here's what we tried with Lindsay's hair. She loved it and actually kept it in!

"small and simple things"

Oh to be two!!!

2009-03-06T12:29:00.004-07:00

Sometimes I wish I could rewind time and feel completley comfortable doing things like this!

Because I know you're wondering...

2009-03-06T12:23:00.003-07:00

Ok...so here it is! I know a lot of my wonderful family and friends who aren't nearby have been wishing they could see pictures of my pregnancy and I haven't posted any. Well, this is for all of you... month 8 of baby #4!!! Incidentally... no names yet.

Mystery Words

2009-02-26T10:44:00.005-07:00

Both of my boys have had a mystery word that they use all the time! When Brandon was Logan's age, his word was "bocuts". He would use it if we asked what he wanted to do, eat, or watch. He would just say it all the time. Logan's is "sasa" and he uses it the same way! They just seem to substitute it for anything that they can't immediately think of a word for. Lindsay has shared in no such phenomenon. In fact the other day she told me that sometimes, "I talk like a genius." Funny Kiddies!

"Love and Friendship"

2009-02-18T13:37:00.004-07:00

Brandon had his 2nd grade showcase on the 12th of this month. It was called "Love and Friendship" I love going to these! They are so fun and I love to see how proud Brandon gets about the performance. They sang some really cute songs including one from "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" which I loved.

Brandon got to be part of the group that demonstrated their jump-roping skills. This one he was a little embarrassed about because he kept saying he messed up, but they just learned it that day. All he's doing is swinging it around the bottom and jumping over it. He did a really good job, I was proud of him!

Here he is getting ready to sing with the rest of the second-graders.

My super proud performer!

We had a really nice night and he was so surprised and happy that one of his old primary teachers came! He talked about it all night, so thanks for making him feel so good Sister Anderson!

30 Weeks

2009-01-27T09:46:00.003-07:00

So I had my 30 week check up yesterday... everything looks hunky dory and right on schedule (darn it!). But my doctor wants me to make sure and visit all the other doctors so that I will have at least met them if she's not available for delivery. So yesterday I met one of the men I had never been to. WE waited FOREVER! I was getting so annoyed because it had been almost an hour and I was ready to just leave when he finally came in. He was so nice and happy it made it hard to stay mad. And then he really made up for being late... he let Lindsay be the one to find the baby's heartbeat! He taught her how to hold the little tool they use and showed her where to put it so she could find the baby. She was so excited and it was really neat to watch her get to do it! So I guess sometimes it pays to be patient, right?

"Laying Eyes"

2009-01-21T13:38:00.002-07:00

About 3 weeks ago Brandon told me he did something really bad. I could tell he was upset by whatever it was, so after some prodding, he told me that he had a girlfriend.
"Really? So why does this upset you so much?"
"Mom! I'm like in the 2nd grade!! I shouldn't even be thinking about love and marriage!"

We finally came to the conclusion that he can like this little girl as long as he's not hanging out with only her at recess and as long as he promises he won't try to hug her, kiss her, or hold her hand.

So a few days ago he came home and said,

"Well, .... dumped me"
"Oh dear... why?" I asked trying not to laugh at the thought of him getting "dumped"
"Because I was passing her a note when I was supposed to be listening. And we both got in trouble and had to sit out at recess. That's when she dumped me"
"Oh. OK well maybe it's better since you're too young for girls anyway. "
"Yea"
"Brandon, I don't want you having anymore girlfriends, ok?"
"OK" then a minute later. "So, does that mean I shouldn't be laying eyes either?"
"Laying eyes?!?! What on earth is 'laying eyes'"?
"You know, like when you walk around recess looking for girls to love."
"Oh, yes no more laying eyes. Did you make that term up?"
Then he looks at me like I'm the most ridiculous person ever.
"No, that's what it's called"

Oh how I love my son! Hopefully he'll always be this open with me although something tells me not to count on it.

Utah!

2009-01-21T13:14:00.003-07:00

After Christmas we were lucky enough to go to Utah to visit some family. It was so nice to be "home" again and let my mom and dad take care of us. A much needed break for me and I love and appreciate them both.

the kids with Grandma and Grandpa Shelton

One of the things we did while we were there was sledding! I know not many people feel the same way, but I miss super snowy winters. It's fun, but just not the same enjoying the 70 degree weather in January! I mean yesterday we had a picnic at the park and it got too hot... Lindsay got a little tanned and rosey cheeked! To me, it shouldn't be this warm!!! Maybe the biggest thing that bothers me is knowing that most likely it will be snowing and cold in April when I feel like it should be getting warm! Oh well, I suppose I need to take what I can get when I can get it and just be happy.

Uncle Robert with the boys

Brandon learning to snowboard! He did AWESOME! We will have to see about encouraging this talent! And thanks to Uncle Robert who gave Brandon his old snowboard, it made him so happy!

The Season is OVER

2009-01-13T13:46:00.006-07:00

Well, we had a wonderful Christmas season this year. We were very very busy, but it all just added to the fun! Here's some of my favorite pics, in no paticular order.

Lindsay begged and begged for Pixos. She was so excited to get them and she does really well with them too! They proved to be the hit of the day as Brandon and Logan liked playing with them too (although this also caused some problems as you can imagine)

Every year we make Christmas cookies. I almost let it go this year, like I did with neighbor gifts and Christmas cards (I just ran out of time!) but we all decided that Santa really needed some pretty home-made cookies for his plate!

Christmas jammies!!! One of my favorite traditions! Every year we get new jammies. My family did it growing up and we have kept the tradition alive, and I love it!

This is a weakness of mine. Christmas Sunday clothes! Seriously is there anything more fun than buying beautiful outfits and dressing your kids up for the special day?

Decorating the tree. As you can tell, Logan particulary enjoyed himself. He loved decorating the tree so much he decorated and undecorated it as often as he could the whole month!

Brandon got his first bow and arrow set. He was SO excited! We took him out that day and he is actually a really good shot already!

We hope you all had a wonderful season like we did, although I have to admit... I am enjoying the slower pace of January.

Silent Night

2008-12-22T16:13:00.002-07:00

Jesus, Lord at thy birth.

I don't know why but I cannot hear or sing those words without emotion pouring out of me. It happened today as I was singing along to some wonderful Christmas music and it was in front of the kids (which is always embarrassing). I had a really wonderful opportunity though to bear my testimony to them because they were asking me what was wrong. I told them how happy the birth our Savior made me. And how I feel so blessed to have the knowledge being a member of the Christ of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints brings me. And I feel so full of love and thankfulness for a Heavenly Father who loved me enough to send His Only Begotten, even Jesus Christ my Savior and Master. I was grateful for that opportunity today and didn't want to forget about it ever. I hope all of you remember how much Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you and how much They just want our happiness.