Fall Break

This last weekend was fall break so we decided that we needed to do something "fallish". Instead of hitting the local attractions we thought that it would be less money, work, and chaos to just do something fun with my BFF and her kids. So we found a local pumpkin patch and took the kids to pick out their very own pumpkins to take home and decorate.
This is Ty's pick. Don't ask me about the hat he just brought it maybe he felt pumpkin picken was in need of a cowboy hat. He looks really cute in it so why not?!
Once again obviously I am not a photographer. I didn't even get one of them looking at me.
Reggie has some kind of reaction to pumpkin picking or to hay bells because he was a very mad little man.
So much for a cute photo op. Between my picture taking skills. lighting, and a really ornery baby this is all i could get. Oh well cute enough!

Ruby's pumpkin
Ashton and Ty were the only ones that wanted to carve theirs.
Jordyn double painting
Gavin's artwork
Nick concentrating very intently on his paint job.

After pumpkin decorating I made some sugar cookie dough that they all got to cut out their own cookies. Then after they were done cooking we were going to decorate them but, the cookies didn't really make it to that faze. Most of them got eaten even before we got frosting on them. Oh well:) We had a really fun day!!!!

Jordyn the big #3

My one and only daughter is officially three! I love having a girl. She is a typical toddler terror but at the same time the cutest little princess that we just adore. She makes us laugh all the time. She dresses up in dresses taps us on the shoulder and ask you to dance (it just makes you melt), she has the most adorable laugh, loves to have tea parties, tries to be one of the boys (taking her shirt off like the boys do when they wrestle), and likes to tell you princess stories. An example of a princess story is "Once upon I time there was a princess me and lived happy after after. She also an expert at staying out of bed at bed time all she does is say that she is snuggling with daddy and it gets her an extra half hour/hour of stay up time. She already has daddy rapped around her little finger but, it is ok he doesn't really mind. We love her so much and are so grateful to have her apart of our family. This year was Jordyn's third Birthday and this was the first time I decided to do something "girlie" just for her and it was a lot of fun. She had I very fun and busy day. First thing she did for the day was get a surprise from her dad. He showed up after breakfast with balloons (he tried to make sure that there was a picture of every princess in the bundle) and a really big cupcake for her. Jordyn thought it was so awesome. Then later in the afternoon she had her first party with her little girl friends.
Reggie enjoying the party. He got to be the only boy. I had the party when the boys were at school so they wouldn't over power it. So it could be all about her.
We played a couple of games, hot potato and this is a picture of duck duck goose.
My niece Ella playing duck duck goose. She was the youngest one there so it was a new concept for her, she made me laugh.
All the girls got to decorate their own cupcakes.
Fun times!!
"Happy Birthday toooo Youuuu:)"
Oooo I wonder what's inside
This is all the party goers. We also had some beads and chains and they all got to make their own necklace to take home. I wanted a picture of all of them with their necklaces on but not thinking very well I didn't do a close up for you to see them. My BAD! Oh well they all looked really cute in them.

After the party was over she decided to chill out, watch a movie in one of her birthday presents, and take a much needed nap.
After nap time G-pa and G-ma came over with another present. Her first tea set or in Grandma's words a cocoa set. She loves it and plays with it all the time.
Then in the evening when dad was home. He wanted to take her out to dinner and have everyone that works there sing happy birthday to her. So she got a Olive garden dinner, another present from the family, and ten waiters sing to her which she thought was so fun. At the end of the day lets just say she went to bed without any snuggle time with dad she was done. It was a really really GREAT day!

Reggie' Very First BIRTHDAY

October 1, 2011 was Reggie's first Birthday. It was a very emotional, happy, wonderful day! In the first few weeks of his birth we almost lost him a number of times. At that point we really didn't know if we would see this day. It warmed my heart so much when he woke up on his
Birthday and stood up in his crib with the BIGGEST grin and it didn't go away the whole time that the kids and I sang him "HAPPY BIRTHDAY". He is our miracle baby. He is doing so much better today than the Doctors ever expected. If he didn't have the four scars to show for it no one would ever know. He is doing amazingly wonderful. Reggie is standing, trying to walk (he did take three steps once but is too chicken to try again), says a few words, eats anything you put in front of him, loves to go up and down stairs, always gets excited when he sees his daddy, has two teeth, loves to laugh, and tries so hard to keep up with his brothers and sister already. I thank my Father in Heaven almost every day for letting me keep him. My little man has taught me I feel more in this year of his life than I might be able to teach him. We love him so much and are so grateful to have him apart of our family.


This is the super cute banner my BFF made for Reggie. I don't know why I didn't get a picture of all of it, it had a bunch of pictures from the last year of his life. It was so much cuter than anything that I would have pulled together.

Present number one already interested in just the box (typical). He already thinks he is an expert climber. p.s. I don't always take him to the part naked we stripped him down for the cake.

This is the adorable cake or big cupcake that my mom made for him to dive into. I forgot to get a picture before we took the candle out.

He did enjoy it very much.

So did the dog!

All the other kids did not have the patience to wait for him to open presents so they were good helpers.

Testing out another present. OOOOOO fun:)

Ok this wasn't on him birthday a couple of days after I just thought it was a funny picture so I threw it in. It isn't red boogers he had a good time with a licorice that his sister left too low.

Thanks to everyone that gave him a gift, helped with the party, and shared the day with us. IT WAS A WONDERFUL DAY!!!!!!!!!!!

The absolute craziness of life!

Alright when I started having kids people would tell me that life will get busier and busier. I thought life was already nuts but, this last month was insane. Let's see I think it began when Cory decided he wanted a dog. Our dog Meisha that we had for six years was ran over by a neighbor at the beginning of April. It really sucked and I thought we were going to wait a while or Cory said if ever to get a new dog. But, then he started looking on KSL and it was every day. He seemed so anxious to get a puppy and he wouldn't tell me why he changed his mind. So we bought a puppy. The following day I started a new job. She was really cute but we noticed that her eyes were a little goofy and it was somewhat difficult to take care of her and work. We were concerned about any long term effects or other problems that she might have so after having her for a week and a half we sold her to someone that wasn't concerned. The moment we sold her we regretted it. We got attached to her goofy eyes and all. We were even so rude as to ask them to sell her back to us but, it just wasn't happening. This is the crazy eyed cutie.

Even though I was ok to wait a little bit the rest of the depressed family talked me into getting a new puppy only a few days later.

She is pretty cute! She is a Shih Tzu like Meisha and we decided to name her "PIPER." Now that we have her we are ok that we didnt get the other puppy back. We have had her for a week now and she is loving being apart of our family. Potty training is not fun and the protecting her from my little ones and them from her keeps me on my toes. But, we are so happy to have a dog again:)

Ok the second thing is that I already mentioned. I started a new job. It is a little strange. I haven't worked since Ashton was born almost eight years now. It is a data entry job that I can do from home. It is helping seniors with diabetes find the best diabetic supplies. It is exhausting but, I am grateful to have it. Every little bit helps financially and I am trying to save up for Christmas ( I know that dreaded word).

We also had three members of our family start school. Ashton started second grade, Ty got to go to the big school and start Kindergarten and Cory went back to UVU to get his Criminal Justice degree.

Ty was very excited to start Kindergarten. His best friend Nick is in his class and ended up on the same table. He is the one in the Orange shirt. They have only been in school a few weeks and Ty already tells me that he has a girlfriend. What is up with my boys and the girls they don't believe me when i tell them that girls have "cooties." I guess when you got it you got it!


Also in the last month we have bought and sold a number of items. Don't you just LOVE KSL!!! It makes things so nice to buy and sell but, wow we have ran around a lot meeting buyers and sellers. We have bought a dog, sold a dog, and bought another one. We sold our Tahoe and bought a minivan. I know I know it is official I am a MOM. It is hard to look cool in a minivan even if you don''t have kids in it with you. It is just more practical for us. The minivan came with a handicap chair lift so we sold that and we also had a stove that we sold.

This is what our kids have been up to during our insanity. The boys are trying to fit into their dad shoes (they are some pretty big shoes to fill).

And we found Jordyn like this when we were cleaning out our van. She said she was tired so we said go take a nap and this is where she decided to take it. At least she picked a shady spot.

So between dogs, vehicles, school, homework, work, canning(yes it is the season), and everyday house cleaning, laundry, and taking care of a husband and four kids needless to say I am TIRED!! But, hey I am not complaining life is in a good place for us right now and I am very HAPPY about that.

Oh and on a side note we have been informed that we have two new nieces or nephews coming to add to the family. One on the Russell side and one on the Slade side. So Congrats to them!

THE COUNT DOWN IS OVER

CONGRATULATIONS CORY!!!! On July 6th Cory Graduated from the Police Academy. We are so proud of him. He has been talking about doing this for a really long time so I am glad that we finally made it happen. He worked really hard. He was up at about six every day to go to work. Worked until three or four. Came home change and went to the Academy until nine or ten at night. Then he would go for six to eight hours on Saturday. Being exhausted doesn't quite explain the last year. He almost dropped out when Reggie was born but with a lot of help from his class he got caught up and made it through. I am really glad that he decided to continue. He graduated in the top five of the class. Now his next goal is to continue his schooling and get a Bachelor Degree in Criminal Justice. First thing first we got to make it official and get a job. I don't have any doubts he'll get one and that he will be a GREAT cop. We are applying all over but it is a long process so I'll keep you informed. Or keep us informed if you hear of anyone hiring.


Oh yea this is my husband!!



He had a lot of family support. Thanks to all our loving families.

This is his Graduating class. Cory's on the back row second from the right. Not the best picture sorry not the best camera.

This is when they handed him his Diploma. Can you tell he was excited? He was beaming ear to ear all night. The guy on the left is Captain DeMille Cory always spoke highly of him.

WATCH OUT!!!!

Cory and I took the boys shooting for their first time the other day. So when I say WATCH OUT I mean WATCH OUT!!! I know this is a thing that people have all kinds of strong opinions on but, this is ours. Cory has been going to the police academy for the last year and they talked about kids and guns. Their advice is that "Curiosity kills the kid so kill the curiosity". If you teach your kids gun safety at a young age then they won't be so curious. We did a little object lesson and went over all the safety rules five thousand times and kept a close eye on them. I feel like it was a good thing. With Cory trying to be a cop we have had guns around a lot and will probably in the future. So if we teach them and give them a chance to shoot them when it is appropriate then I pray we can avoid any horrible accidents. Ok so that is that take it for what it is worth. It was fun we'll do it again soon.


SAFETY FIRST:)


Ashton getting his first instructions. They both were more comfortable with the 22. They were nervous about the kick from the glocks.

Ty's first shots. CONCENTRATE.

Ashton got pretty good by himself.

This was Reggie's first experience crawling around in the car. We will wait a few years yet for his turn on the gun.

Look at this expert.

Look at this not so expert.

Fun Faces

I was just looking through some pictures and liked these pictures they make me laugh so I thought that I would share:p


Cheesy Princess

I was trying to get a cute picture of Reggie and I but he just was not cooperating. He looks more annoyed than anything. He is very stubborn ( he gets that from his father).

I always have to get a pouty face picture of all my kids because it is Cory's favorite. He will torment, tease, make faces at, scare or what ever he can think of to get them to do it. I do have to say Reggie makes the best one he holds it for a while before he cries. I know I am going to give in a lot with him.

I think he is bored. Do think he bored? I think he is bored. Thanks Ashton for the photography.

I know, I know they are pink glasses. He borrowed them from Jordyn and thought they were so fun.

I think Ashton is trying to catch a fly. Once again Reggie isn't having it and I totally didn't mean to chop Ty off it looks like he is the only one with the cute smile. My BAD!