So this morning, my two little ones might be classified as driving me crazy : ) The have almost literally been on top of me all morning long & if they haven't been on top of me, they have busted open the yogurt container on to the kitchen floor or getting the block of cheese out of the fridge skewering it with a shishkabob(sp?) stick & taking bites out of it. But just a second ago, Aubry went to the bathroom & washed her hands & then came up to me with a questioning look on her face. I asked what she needed & she said..."Can I dry my hands on your pants?"
Even just typing that makes me laugh out loud! Ahh, those hilarious moments as a mother! They make each day laughable & fun, regardless of my childrens distructive hands.
Leila

I think I might actually be ready for the Christmas Season to start soon. My friend Ashley & I went boutique hopping last weekend just for the fun of it. I actually mean, just for the fun of it. I didn't even take any money with me. When I was done, I felt so excited for the holidays. I went home & baked cinnamon rolls...lol So needless to say, I have felt "inspired", for lack of a better word, to start a project. I was looking at a fabulous home decor store's website & saw a picture of some amazingly CUTE Snow Man Hats. So I went to the store & looked @ the price tag & almost stopped breathing. They wanted $79.00 for ONE of them! Well, rich or poor, there is no way I am paying $79.00 for one christmas decor. Unless it's a tree! So I went home & made 3 of them :)
Leila

This is my fabulous cousin Shelley :) She has the most amazing vinyl business and home decor blogs. Check it out houseofsmiths.blogspot.com She really is amazing!!!
Leila

I LOVE sisters! There is nothing sweeter then when two sisters are best friends. Aubry was giving Kylie a kiss all beter so Kylie could be happy.

This is Kylie hiding from her doom...SHOTS!
Leila

We are at the Dr's office getting ready to get shots. Oh what fun this will be...NOT! Aubry is completely restless & touching everything. While Kylie is hiding under the counter. All in all, the Dr says they are doing great. Aubry is above 97% for height & weight & Kylie is 95% for height & 50-75% for her weight.
Leila

We are on our way to Colorado for Phil's sister's wedding. Right now we are in northern New Mexico & it is so beautiful! It is all green prairies. We have been driving for a while & we decided to stop & take the kids potty. So I decided that I would give him a lesson on how to efficiently take girls potty outdoors. First was Aubry & that went without a hitch. Next came Kylie...& apparently she had to go potty REALLY bad. Before I had time to pick up her legs completely, she started to pee. She got pee all over her clothes, legs & my hands! So of course I took her bottoms off & rinsed her off with water. But I don't have a towel or paper towels & I didn't want to use toilet paper & have it fall apart all over her legs. So I had her run around in circles. I have to admit it was a very funny & cute sight.

I am at Sam's Club with my Mom. I have to say, it makes me think about when I was a little girl and would go to the grocery store & look at all the produce and ask..."Mom, what's that?"

I always forget to rotate the pic.

I am the smartest woman

I am the smartest woman in the world...I have figured out how to post to my blog from my phone. YAY!!

Oh Today Will be a Day...

Today is my sweet darling Kylie's birthday party. Oh what fun it will be! I am excited for her to celebrate with her friends. She is the middle child of our family & even though I always swore that I would never allow her to experience the side effects of it, she has. She rarely gets new things of her own, which I have to admit that it breaks my heart. I am the middle child of  7 & it was the same way for me & I did not like it at all. So that is why we are having a birthday party for her regardless of me being pregnant & contracting on & off @ only 11 weeks. Things have been very crazy around here with this pregnancy & I have definitely had some high stress levels because of it. But I am hoping that things are beginning to calm down & life can start having a little bit of a more normal rhythm to it. So on we go with this birthday party with all it's slip & slide glory & blow up pool fun!

Later today I will take my kids to get their hair cut, except Landon because his head is buzzed, by my sister Genessa, She is in hair school right now & I have to admit that she is AMAZING & she isn't even out of school yet. 

Then tonight I am celebrating my sister Amelia's birthday with my sisters & cousin with dinner & creme brulle, made by yours truly. If I don't have any contractions today it will be a miracle.

Hello

Hello World, I thought I should write and let you know that I haven't forgotten about you.
  I had surgery February 22 on some icky girl stuff. So, I have been trying to heal & keep up with life. I have spent most of my time laying in bed or slumped on the couch. Hence the no blogging action.
  But now I am going to be sewing & making some fabulous things for a boutique that I am going to host. So I will be very, very busy with that. This is me asking for forgiveness in advance for not posting more. But I am going to try and document my journey in getting ready for this boutique & all the sewing. Maybe that way I will know if I want to get myself into this again. 
But one last thing...I started potty training Aubry today! Yep, March 2, 2010, I took her little pullup off & had her sit on the toilet to go potty. She is doing really well for not being 2 yet. Mind you that she will turn 2 in 5 weeks. If any of you have any ideas or tricks, let me know. This might be my 4th kid, but it's always worth trying something new when it comes to potty training; well, for me any how. Enjoy your week & I will be back sooner then later. Loves!
P.S.- If you feel so inclined as to give me a little boost of confidence & a show of love, please click on the option to become a follower of my blog. It is on the top right of my blog. I love the ones I have & hope for more :)

Aubry's "Broken Arm"

So yesterday I went to my doctors office, because my tonsils are the size of golf balls. While I was in the room waiting for the results of my strep test, Kylie and Aubry were playing with the stool with wheels that spins. You know, the one that the Doctor always says " Oh, don't play on that sweet heart, we don't want you to get hurt." We'll I usually watch pretty closely when the kids want to play with it. But it all happened so fast, Aubry was on the stool, then Kylie spins the stool, next Aubry falls off onto her arms.
Well, the next thing I know, I am calling her pediatrician, taking her in to be seen, then going to an urgent care to get x-rays and a splint. Next they check her ears and they are infected...oh and she seems to have just started a cough, so they check her lungs and she is wheezing!!!! So not only was her arm jacked up, her ears were killing her and she was having a hard time breathing. So they also gave her a shot of antibiotic and a breathing treatment. Oh wow. oh WOW.
So we came home and I was exhausted, because lets remember that this all started because I am sick. My neighbor, Jen brought us delicious pizza for dinner and my dad called and asked if he could borrow my truck to move some furniture. Most of you know this, but some may not, my Dad is a Chiropractic Neurologist . So I told him what happened and I took her splint off so that he could feel her arm. I know, I know, I sound crazy right? My daughter has  a broken arm and I am going to let him wack it? Well, when the doctor looked at the x-ray, she couldn't find anything definitive. So, I figured, what the heck, it's worth a try. So, my Dad checked her out & told me that her radius bone in her forearm was out one way & the other bone in her forearm was out the opposite direction. He did 2 very quick adjustments (one of which had a very loud POP) and then iced it. Within 30 minutes she was showing signs off improvement. When I had her at her doctors office and urgent care, both doctors looked at her elbow and tried to see if it was dislocated and tested to see if they could put it back in place. But nothing would happen. I showed my dad what the doctors did, and he told me that that adjustment was actually pushing the bones farther out of place.
So now, she still doesn't use the arm much, but the theory is that her elbow is sprained pretty badly. I figure if she doesn't show signs of using her arm by tomorrow, I will take her to the hospital for further x-rays and evaluation. But thank goodness the bones are back in place. Now all we have to deal with are the breathing treatments and both of our antibiotics.
Oh and I failed to mention that Phil is out of town, in Spokane, Washington and the kids had a half day, so they got our of school early. So a big shout out say THANK YOU to Shalice for taking care of my kids for 3 hours.
So that was my Wednesday, how was yours?

The "Things" List

No matter how hard any of us try, those never ending things find a way to rear their ugly heads & demand attention. So yes, today is going to be a day of cleaning for me. I want to be cautious & not go hog wild crazy. But I still would like to accomplish some things. So here is what I am going to do. I am making a list of everything that needs to get done & then I will proceed to evaluate and see what is most important. Because if I try to do to much, it will cause contention between me & my kids. They come first.

So on with the list... But one last thing. This is really putting myself out there, so please don't judge.  

1. Dishes 1

2. Desk 7

3. Master Bedroom 2

4. Girls Room 8-I really want to do this, but my girls should, not me.

5. Laundry 3

6. Vacuum 9

7. Dust 15

8. Master Bathroom 4

9. Hall Bathroom 5

10. Craft Room 6

11. Mop 11

12. Papers 10
13. Patching Clothes 14
14. Embroidery 13
15. Hem Pants 12
Now I am going to go back & number them in order of importance.

Now that I have prioritized my list I am going to try really, REALLY hard to focus on 1 thing at a time. 

Now it's time to walk the kids to school & then come home, read my scriptures & get started on my "things" list.

Wish me luck!

The Results of a Determined Woman to Have a Good Friday

Beware...Seriously LONG post.
So, here is how my Friday played out. I picked the kids up from school @ 12. Went to Phil's office to say hello and then took the kids hiking. I took them to San Tan Mountain & drove around looking for some trails. Well I couldn't exactly find any trails, so I finally parked the truck on the side of the road in a neighborhood and told the kids to get out. I then proceeded to put my children under a barbwire fence and off we went. 

We went through washes and brush and up rocks and boulders. At one point we were on top of a boulder pile & could see all the way to the Salt River...and that is when I noticed a trail. I thought to myself, I wonder if that goes to the San Tan Mine? So, off we went to find that trail & see where it goes. The kids were great and were excited for a good adventure. It wasn't till we were almost to the top, that they started to get tired. Mind you that by then we had hiked probably 2-2.5 miles. But alas, we made it to the top & the kids were so excited. The mine entrance has been blasted, so you can't get in anymore, but the kids were still excited & climbed all over the big rocks. 

While we were at the top, Raya collected an armful of rocks that she thought were special crystal rocks. She hiked those babies all the way down the mountain and then a mile through the neighborhood back to our truck without complaining once! I was seriously impressed. 
Kylie was my little warrior. She was the first one to the top & even though she would start to whine, she kept going and always wanted to lead the way. By the time we got back to the truck though, Kylie was so tired that she was crying, and she now tells me that she doesn't like to go to the tops of mountains because it makes her legs tired & hurt. Which I have to say, when she told me that, I thought to myself, this is one of those priceless kid speeches/mother moments.
The whole time we were hiking, Landon kept wanting to go off & explore all different kinds of areas. Which I thought was so completely authentic boy & I loved it and totally wanted to go with him. BUT, then I started thinking about snakes, cactus, spiders, gila monsters...etc, and I told him that he had to get his little booty back by me or else! He loved every second of the hike! I think he could have gone on for at least another hour. He kept telling me that he was going to go this way & that way. Up the sides of the mountain & climb the cliffs, and I just kept thinking about the snakes, spiders, scorpions...etc, and kept telling him he had to stick to the trail.
Then there was Aubry, I think she might have only touched the ground 5 times. One of which was when I was shoving her under a barb wire fence...LOL. Don't worry, the bottom wire was spike free. I literally held that little 30lb chunk of love 99.9% of the way and amazingly enough I was totally fine doing it too. Don't get me wrong I had to switch arms. But, I never felt like my arms were going to fall off.  I have to attribute that to my workout partner Jen & P90X. Aubry LOVED every second of the hike and it was one of my most favorite experiences of being a mom yet. I hope my kids can put up with me doing this a lot more often!
So then after the hike, I took the kids to Basha's and let them go in the Cub House, while Aubry and I grocery shopped. Can you guess what I bought?....DOUGHNUTS!!! A whole dozen & a half! Why so many you ask? Because on Fridays, if you buy a dozen Basha's doughnuts, you get half a dozen free. We then went home & I popped in some pizzas for the kids, hurried changed into my work out clothes, did my P90X Legs & Back workout for 30 minutes. Which by the way, I thought I was going to DIE! It hurt SO bad, and my kids kept telling me that it was easy and they could do that with no problem. All while they & their Father sat at the table eating pizza, watching me obliterate my leg muscles. I just have to say that my butt muscles were so sore that it literally felt like I had bruised my butt when I touched it.

Then I hurried and hoped in the shower for a quick rinse and we were out the door for dinner & a movie with our friends Jeff & Robin Raso. We ate at Streets of New York Pizza which is really good & then went to the AMC Theater (holy nice theater) and saw 
When in Rome. I was really excited to see the movie, but I have to tell you it is a serious Red Box rental only. Don't get me wrong, Josh Duhamel is HOT and I did get warm fuzzies. But the movie could have been SO much better. Plus, Phil was asleep before the previews were over until almost the end of the movie.
Few...well that was Friday...long day but almost every bit of it was enjoyable.

Over Coming It

Today was THE day. 

My dad had called me a week & a half ago & told me he had been thinking of me & felt like I needed a break from the stresses of life. So he set up a time that my kids could go over & have a sleepover at Grandma & Grandpa Gifford's. I was so blown away & super excited. We all worked together as a family & got the house nice & clean so I would be able to relax once I dropped the kids off at my parents house. 
I had every minute planned out. I was going to pick the kids up from school at 12 (half day today) & take them to my parents house. Then straight to the temple to do a session. I figured that was the best way to start the relaxation process. After the temple, I was going to pick Phil up from work a little early. Come home, do my workout & then do some crafty stuff together. Take some time to read & maybe go for a little hike. Then in the evening, Phil & I were going to go out with some friends to dinner & a movie. I would probably thrown in to the mix a little grocery shopping & buy doughnuts from Bashas (Friday is doughnut day at Bashas, buy a dozen, get a half dozen for free). Then Saturday, wake up & do my work out, eat one to many doughnuts. Then go pick up the girls from my parents & go out to Glendale to model for a studio photo shoot. 

But alas, it WAS all to perfect. My Dad called me this morning and broke the news to me that their son Hayden has come down with the chicken pocks... I was absolutely devastated! Words cannot describe my feeling at that moment :(

So after a some overwhelming moments & trying REALLY hard to get over the HUGE pity party that I was throwing for myself. I have come to the conclusion that I will try to make this fun regardless of the lost perfection I almost had. I am going to take my kids on a little hike & then still go buy the doughnuts. Next I am going to still try & do my craft stuff & find a babysitter for tonight. Here's for hoping I don't let the feeling of frustration filter into me & ruin my day.


Wish me luck!

Things

There are far to many things in life...period.  


Things that distract you, things that confuse you, discourage, stop & frustrate you.


There are also those things that Inspire you. Things that challenge you & lift you up. Things that teach you how to have that magical "thing"...that certain quality you see in other people.


But with all of those things before, there are also those things that you love. Your husband, your children, giving birth to your new baby, your talents & dreams. Laughter & sunny days. Surprises, and good books. 


All of these "things" are a part of our lives. Without them, our lives would be incomplete. But yet with them, things are often times overwhelming. 


Now to the point of my thoughts. sometimes the things we fuss over the most end up making us run in a circle. Why? Because they never end. They are here today and will be here tomorrow. 
But then there are those things that we forget will only be here today. We can't get them back. Yet, those things are almost always put off so we can finish just one more "thing"...
  Riding bikes with our kids, stopping what were doing to go & watch a new trick. Listening to their day, helping with puzzles & reading their favorite books. Beautifying our homes & creating something new. 

I want to make a goal for myself...
I want to commit to let go of the feeling of failure if I don't have everything perfect before I go & spend time with my kids.  Because in the long run, what is going to be remembered: Mom always had a clean kitchen or Mom was so much fun, we use to go hiking & ride skateboards together, bake cookies & cakes, color & make fun crafts together?

I am so excited about tonight! I am going to go & see this movie tonight with my cousin Alison. We lived around the corner from each other almost our entire lives & we are only 5 days apart. It will be so much fun to just hang!

I also have to accredit my happy & energetic attitude to a few other things. 1- Prayer & Scriptures. 2- Working Out.
Oh yes...I started doing P90X. It hurts SO bad & I totally rely on my work out partner, Jen, to be my personal cheerleader. But, I love it! I also walked my kids to school this morning. Which was so fun. I feel like I am becoming the best me. Now if only I can keep this up!

The other night my girlfriends & I were celebrating. We were talking about our husbands and a friend of mine made the comment that she loves how dedicated Phil is to me. I was shocked at first & then realized how incredibly true that is. I love my husband & am so incredibly grateful that he makes me feel like I am the only one he sees.