The Schmitt Family

2010-12-07T20:38:00.000-08:00

First Snow of the Year

Snow Angels

Snow Women

made with the neighbor Junior

Pey told me when I was rolling the bottom ball, that I was taking all the snow, since she could see the grass.

Snow ball fight with Junior

This is about all the snow we get each year, so I had to let her go out and play since it is usually all melted the next morning.

Love the winters here!

2010-11-04T12:40:00.000-07:00

Santa Came Early....

This is my new toy, oh and how do I love it so.

This is the Cricut Cake. I had heard about it while I was in Canada visiting family. It was $500 and at that time there was NO way I could afford this wonderful toy.

I came home, got busy with life, every once in a while it would cross my mind, but still knew I couldn't afford it.

Sunday we were flipping through channels, and there it was, on an informercial. There is was, showing me all the beautiful and wonderful things I could do, heck Scott was even watching. The commercial told me that I needed to call right then, to try this amazing machine. Which of course I didn't because Hello it was Sunday, and after looking up the price $400, I still could not afford it.

On Monday I searched the internet hoping to find it for less money, and hoping Santa would get the hint and bring it for Christmas. Well Santa wasn't reading my posts on Facebook on how much I was sure I needed this machine, poor Santa I am sure he was very busy working.

I decided to torture myself and call Michaels, just to ask their price. The nice lady told me $399, oh but wait... it is on sale for....$150 today.

WHAT? REALLY? SHUT UP, NO WAY!

Thanks to my fun money stash, I was able to let Santa off the hook and get it myself.

NOW Santa, Please, Please, pretty Please can I have some cartridges for christmas :)

My Neighbor and I didn't waste any time. We started playing with it right away to make Hello Kitty items for her daughters 4th birthday party on Saturday.

Cupcake toppers

Large Hello Kitty, Strawberries and Butterflies for the cake.

2010-10-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

Dinner Anyone....

Pey decided to create a restaurant this afternoon.

Preparing my meal

My egg salad sandwich

She was so cute, she took my order and even used "ma'am"

I think we have eaten out way to much for her to pick that up.

2010-10-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

Princess

I love having a little girl who loves to be dressed up.

2010-10-17T20:14:00.000-07:00

Another Zoo Trip

Pey had the day off school, so her and I headed to the zoo for the afternoon.

She has always wanted to ride the train at the zoo, so this was the day I finally gave in and we went on a train ride.

She loves to sit on the statues that are all around the zoo.

Sharing her cotton candy

"Take the pic quick mommy, the penguins stink."

Combing the goats

2010-10-17T19:52:00.001-07:00

Pumpkin Patch

Pey's kindergarten class went to the pumpkin patch with their "olders".

Pey and her older in the hay maze

Pey side tracked with picking pumpkin flowers

Still looking for the perfect pumpkin

Pey and her older Bobby with their pumpkins

**Pey is in a special kindergarten class that has a program which has high school kids come into her classroom to work one on one with the kindergarten kids.

2010-09-13T22:29:00.000-07:00

Peyton's First Day of School

and accessory

Peyton all dressed up and ready to go to her first day of kindergarten with her backpack, lunch bag and pink/purple accessory.

Going into her classroom

Two days before school started, she was at the neighbors house playing and came home crying. She continued to complain that her arm hurt, so I took her to urgent care only to find out that she had fractured right above her elbow.

It has made for an interesting start to school. She is having to learn to write with her left hand and also try writing with her right with the cast. She seems to be doing really well with it for the most part.

We all look forward for her to get it off, since she can't run, ride her bike,go to the park, go out for recess, no gym class, basically anything that could cause her to fall.

Me being vain, looks forward for the day she can wear the cute clothes we bought for her, that are waiting since she can only wear short sleeve shirts right now. Thank heavens we have been blessed with nice weather still.

2010-09-13T22:08:00.000-07:00

Spending Time with G-ma Nebeker

On the way home from Canada, G-ma Nebeker, Pey and I stopped and spent the night with G-ma's sister Geraldine and her husband Wendell. They live on a farm just outside of Pasco, and had three week old kittens.

Pey was in love and if she could have, would have brought them home with us. She was so excited to hold them and be able to feed the mommy cat.

We took G-ma Nebeker to the Bonneville fish hatchery. It was fun to see the huge sturgeon and feed the ducks.

We love G-ma Nebeker and were glad that we had a few days to spend with her.

2010-09-13T21:51:00.000-07:00

A Saturday with the

Watson Clan

Everyone except Scott who had to stay home and work.

G-pa and G-ma Watson with the grandkids

G-ma Nebeker with me, Rob, Jill and Kids

Wiley and Peyton giving a bird a 5 year old funeral

G-ma Watson and Pey

G-pa Watson's New Toy "Argo"

Grandkids waiting for a ride on the Argo

Rob, Jill, Me and Parker

Teagan, Parker and Peyton ready to go

2010-09-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

Fun Times Up North

Peyton and I spent a few weeks in Canada with my family while Scott had to work. She loved spending time with her cousins, her and Parker seemed inseparable while we were there.

Parker and Peyton playing at the county fair.

Parker, Teagan and Peyton enjoying one of the nice days we had while we were there.

Peyton playing at one of the neighborhood parks

Peyton in her tent we made on G-ma and G-pa's deck

Chillin with G-pa, G-ma, and Caylee

Berry picking at a local farm.

Go faster Caylee, Go faster

Teagan looking for berries for her bucket

Parker, Peyton and Teagan on the church steps

2010-09-08T12:24:00.000-07:00

Oregon Zoo

Elizabeth, Peyton, James and Wiley

Peyton being a big girl, she carried that purse most of the day.

Peyton and Elizabeth

I can't believe I let her out of the house in that outfit.

James and Baby Nicole in the "Mac Daddy" double stroller.

Sorry Rob, Scott still wont give it up.

James

Mommy and Peyton

Wiley, Elizabeth, Peyton and Mommy

Elizabeth

Cowboy Wiley and Princess Peyton

Hanging out in the polar bear cave

Daddy and Peyton

Taking a break after a long day at the Zoo

2010-09-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

Point Break Beach on the Oregon Coast

Uncle Rob and Baby Nicole

Wiley

Uncle Rob, Aunt Jill, G-ma Ivana, Uncle Kurt, Peyton

(By this time she didn't care how cold it was, the coats were in her way)

G-ma Ivana and Peyton

Peyton telling me she is Princess of the rock.

2010-09-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

Deep Sea Fishing

Nebeker Reunion

Peyton and I went to my sister in laws family reunion at Newport Beach in July.

Deep Sea fishing was one of the activities planned for one of the days.

We had to be ready to board the boat at 7:30am for a five hour fishing trip.

Even though Pey had asked Scott for months to take her fishing, I am not sure this is what she had in mind, plus it was so cold.

Rob (before he got sea sick) with the kids heading out.

James

Rob and Wiley

Elizabeth

My nasty ugly Sea Bass fish.

It was an interesting experience, don't think I would do it again, well at least I wouldn't give up my sea bands to a certain brother who was majorly sea sick.

Since it was all family on the boat, they took those who were sick back to shore about an hour and half into the trip. I was happy to get off with Pey who was not doing well since I had caught my nasty fish.

2010-09-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

Chopped

Peyton decided to finally get her hair chopped off. While I was at the salon waiting to get mine done, we were looking through books and she told me that she wanted hers cut.

Peyton:Mommy, I want to get my hair cut as she was pointing to a horrible 80's style

Me: No, no you really don't.

Peyton: Yes mommy, I really want my hair cut.

We asked her about five times, Scott asked her if she was sure, which she assured us she was. I was amazed he was okay with it. His only response was "How do you tell her no, when she really wants it."

My only request then was that we cut at least 10" so we could donate to Locks of Love.

So we said good bye to waist length hair for her cute little bob.

Peyton after getting her hair cut

Mommy and Peyton after our hair cuts

Peyton with her pony tail for Locks of Love

2010-09-08T10:28:00.001-07:00

Pey Turns Five

We had a small family dinner with Karl, Julie and the kids on July 18th for Peys birthday since she was having a larger party at Chuck E Cheese the following weekend.

Looking at her princess birthday card.

Pull Peyton

She had begged for months for a Pillow Pet, so we thought we would surprise her with one for her birthday.

2010-09-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

Peyton's 5th Birthday At

Chuck E Cheese

Princess Peyton with her Chuck E Cheese Crown

The princess cake Pey wanted

Peyton, Jasmine, Priscilla and Elizabeth

James, Jameson, Jasmine, Chucke Priscilla, Peyton, Elizabeth and Wiley.

Peyton and Daddy

Aunt Julie and Jessie

Mommy, Aunt Jill and Nicole

Baby Nicole

Uncle Rob and Grandpa Lee

Pey had such a great time with her cousins and friends. She was very spoiled by everyone and loves all of her gifts.

Next year I think we might have a quiet party at the house :)

2010-06-03T20:54:00.000-07:00

Family of Five again

It has been a crazy and busy couple of months. There are days when I question what day it is.

We went from a family of four to a family of five again. After talking with a friend when I was having a little break down, I called placement desk and within a couple of days we had a three month old boy placed in our home. Yes for some reason we attract boys, which in a way I think Pey likes because then she will always be my girl.

Baby A is extremely cute, chubby and has some good rolls for a little guy. He has the puffiest cheeks which makes me just want to kiss them all the time, and of course has the baby no neck going on.

He is such a great baby, eats, sleeps and poops. He is now sleeping through the night which is wonderful. If I could be promised all babies would be great like him, I would take two or three of them.

Pey has been such a great help. We have going out down to a system. Big Boy (16 months) is all boy and constantly on the move, so there is no letting him walk by himself. When it is just Pey, Me and the boys, we put him in the stroller, which Pey pushes and I carry baby in his carseat, or I carry both boys and she carries the diaper bag.

Thank heavens to the stores that have the double carts, you know who you are and we love you even though you may be huge!!!

Pey has really stepped up to be a great big sister and will play with Big boy as long as he doesn't bite her or pull her hair, we are working on that and hopefully he will grow out of that stage very quickly.

2010-04-17T23:28:00.000-07:00

Four going on I don't know what....

Pey has decided the past two days to have a "growing up" meltdown. I am sure it has to do with the fact that lil man went home this week, and she considered him her brother.

She woke me up yesterday, telling me that she never wanted to grow up, she didn't want to get as tall as the ceiling, and she wanted to stay four forever so she didn't have to leave us.

After hours of trying to reassure her that we are never giving her away, which I have to say was not working as she was asking me to pray to Heavenly Father that she wouldn't get any bigger, I decided to tried the birthday subject.

Me: Pey if you stay four forever you will never have any more birthdays.
Pey: But I want presents
Me: Then you have to have birthdays and you will have to turn five, but not for a long time
Pey: I don't want the presents then, I want to stay four.

I am ready to pull my hair out. She has gone on for two days about this, even though we tell her that she is not going anywhere and we love her. I might have to find her a grief support group for kids loosing their foster siblings.

2010-04-17T23:27:00.000-07:00

She is such a princess

2010-04-17T22:59:00.000-07:00

Is He Just Not Delish...

This is our lil man, who we wish we could have adopted but the judge ordered him to be returned this past Tuesday.

What...

Look at me mom

Me and my lil man,
about an hour before returning him to his parents

No way was he going to smile for G-ma Michelle

Scott and his boy

Love and miss this little guy, my heart still breaks looking at these pictures.
Maybe one day he can be apart of our forever family.

2010-04-12T22:13:00.000-07:00

Family Pics Finally,

It has been years since we have had some family pictures taken. Thanks to our amazing and wonderful friend Michelle, she took some yesterday of all of us before lil man goes home tomorrow. (Might at the ones of him tomorrow, as he won't be in the system anymore.)

Just the three of us

Pey was SO done by now, we had taken a bunch with the boys with us before this.

My Favorite little girl, loves to have her pictures taken.

2010-04-12T21:56:00.000-07:00

I Love To See The Temple,
I'm Going There Some Day....

Me and My Man

Me and My Baby Girl

My Two Favorite People

My Favorite Little Girl

2010-04-12T21:09:00.000-07:00

Now We Are Five

Wednesday March 31, we received a call from placement desk asking if we would be willing to take a 14 month old boy who was very active.

I asked some questions about the history of this little guy and then ran upstairs to ask what Scott thought. He had worked all night and had been asleep for about four hours, when I asked him if he was okay with it, I got a mumbled yes from him, so of course I said yes.

We received a call about an hour later from placement desk, saying that the little guy would be ready to pick up around 11:30am and to come to the office to get him. Poor Scott, I made him get up as I figured out really quickly, there was no way I would be able to carry two 14 month old toddlers and they said he was more attached to men. (Yes our other little guy is 14 months as well.)

Me, being the naive mom of raising boys, thought all little guys were going to be perfect like our first little guy. I quickly found out that boys are completely different.
When they said he was very active, they were not kidding, there was no way of getting that boy to stay still. I also quickly found out that they were wrong about him being attached to men, he has to have me in his view or he freaks out.

Life has been interesting and busy since we picked him up. Lots of adjusting and getting settled in. We love him though and grateful we have the opportunity to have him in our home and apart of our family for a while.

Scott and his boys

Baby boy and lil man at Bonneville Dam.

2010-03-16T21:42:00.000-07:00

Oh To Feel Normal Again....
I thought I would blog about this now, because I don't know how I will feel after Thursday and if I will want to.

In early February, Scott and I found out we were expecting. I know some of you knew this, some expect, and some are just learning about this.

It was a total shock and a great surprise as we have wanted to have another child for SO long. With our past history with pregnancy loss (Ectopic and a miscarriage), my Dr is great at being on top of everything and getting me in right away to check things out.

We had to wait a week for my HCG levels to be high enough for anything to show up on an ultrasound.
We went in for the first ultrasound on the 12th of February, they said the pregnancy looked good, was probably around 5 weeks as their was no heartbeat yet, but normal for that time, everyone was positive that it was a good pregnancy, but were scheduled to come back in next week to check again.

The next time we went it, there were two yolk sacs (identical twins) but no heart beat. We were told that it was a weird ultra sound. My Dr. wanted us to give the pregnancy time, as twin pregnancies can be different, we could still be really early (I have to say, every time I heard that I wanted to scream, no I am not really early, I was keeping track), anything could happen.
Deep down my heart was breaking, from our past experience, to me this was not looking good.

We have had five ultrasounds since finding out we were expecting. After this last ultrasound my Dr. finally agreed with the ultra sound techs and my gut feeling that it was not going to be a viable pregnancy.

We had hoped and prayed for a miracle but for what ever reason, it was not to be at this time. The good out of this, is we know we can get pregnant, now to try and find out why we can't stay pregnant. Best explanation without it being tested yet was from my friend who did one of the ultrasounds said to her it looked like twins that did not separate properly.

We have decided to have my Dr. remove the pregnancy on Thursday morning, as it is not coming naturally, like my last miscarriage did.

Though it hurts so much to loose another pregnancy, I am eternally grateful to our Heavenly Father for our beautiful daughter Peyton. She is truly our miracle child, and I am so grateful to have her in my life.
I am grateful for family and friends who have prayed and fasted for us and this pregnancy. I am grateful for each of them, for their faith,love and willingness to help in any way possible, even just a note letting us know they are thinking of us.
I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ, for the atonement of our Savior, I am grateful for prayer and for priesthood blessings, for the peace and comfort that we have been blessed with at this time.

I know Thursday will be hard, I do look forward to feeling normal again, this is really taking a toll on my body this time, to be able to move on and to be able to try again.

2010-03-08T22:03:00.000-08:00

New Calling
Well, they finally decided what to do with the crazy situation. I was released from teaching the 14 year olds, or as I like to call it "fired for telling the kids to grow up and act their age :)

I am now the new...wait for it....wait for it....building librarian.
Totally not what I expected, I don't think callings ever are though. The councilor who extended the calling to me, asked me about four times if I thought I would be able to do this calling, all I could think of was "really, do you want me to say no?"
I have been raised, taught and believe that we are extended callings through inspiration and that we agree to those before we came to this earth, and that we will be blessed if we accept them and fulfill them to the best we can.

I do have to say that I am not to sure about this calling yet, but I am willing to do my best, and hopefully gain a testimony of the importance of the library.

2010-02-16T20:15:00.000-08:00

When Will It End

***Disclaimer... I am venting, if you don't like it, don't read it...***

We have had a lot of extra stress in our lives lately, which it sounds like many of us are all being tried in different ways.

We have had a beautiful little boy in our care for the past five months. We love him dearly, even when he thinks screaming tantrums are a good idea. He has two siblings who were placed in the care of a different foster family.

The very first time I met the other foster mom, she told me that the plan was to move lil man to her home, and from that day she has tried very hard to accomplish this.
This has added so much extra stress to our lives, which could have been avoided if the state should have stopped her from the very beginning and told her that this move would not happen, as the children are not up for adoption, but instead they have created this mess from letting her push.

We have had to attend two horrible meetings to determine living arraignments for these children, which I believe the state was never planning on moving the kids, it would have been nice for them to say that in the first meeting, and for this FM to realize that instead of continuing to push, oh yes she still is.

We have been counseled over and over to be the bigger person, as the other FM was not. That is dang hard when she tells a room full of people that our house is not safe for "her kids" to be in (sad thing, they are NOT her kids), she calls me "Miss Amy", and tells me I have no life because I don't work outside the home and I have a few minutes to talk with the parents after visitations.

This whole case is a mess. It seems that everyone has an issue with someone. Most of the people are complaining that we have a horrible Social worker, that she doesn't know how to do her job, and that she is not doing it properly.
The bio parents have issues with certain foster parents and don't want their kids in their home. Then in the next breath, they think this case has gone on too long and they want their kids back.

Me being the crazy, lets be nice person am stuck in the middle of them all. I hear info from the SW, I hear from the bio parents, I got a call from one of their lawyers, which I don't think he liked me since I told him that in my non professional opinion, they are not ready to have their kids back.

I am tired of it all. Scott had to remind me the other day that we need to put the focus back on our marriage and family and stop letting FC run our lives.
I have tried to step back, I didn't go to court today, which I am glad I didn't as they sat there for three hours and then rescheduled. In the end the SW called and encouraged that I attend next Tuesday.

I am not sure what I am suppose to learn from this, and may not ever know why we are going through this, but at least we have a beautiful little guy, who we love and know that he is safe and healthy.

The other stress in my life is my church calling. I have been teaching youth Sunday School for the past three years. In each of the classes I have had those certain people who choose to be disrespectful, and make it very difficult to get through a lesson, or to even have the spirit in the classroom.

Over the years I have tried many things: candy, non traditional lessons (scavenger hunts, Jeopardy, Readers Theater, etc), I have sent the kids to adult sunday school class if they are turds, I have had parents come in, I have had the Sunday School President in.
When I go to the parents, which tends to be close to the end of the year, the parents seem to be ticked off that I waited so long and put up with their kids crap for so long.

This year started out no different. I talked with one parent the first day, kind of joking with the dad, who went home, ripped into his kid, the kid came back with a hateful attitude and decided that for the next four weeks he and his little buddy would make life horrible.
They would tell me they were not going to participate, they would push and push until they could tell I was ready to beat them, and say "oh I'll stop now before she tells my parents.", they would talk through the prayers (keep in mind these are 14 year olds, not 4 year olds).

I finally got so ticked one day that I told one of them that he was teaching the next week. I didn't have my manual, I have had a hard time keeping track of it this year, so I told him which lesson, where to go to find it, and was not really concerned as his mother teaches adult sunday school class each week. I told his dad as well the lesson number and title.
The kid came the next week, didn't prepare a lesson, stood up for 30 seconds and sat down and told the class to play hang man. I offered him the lesson material, which he refused, so I handed it out to the class, asked each of them to read certain scriptures and questions and have them teach their class mates. Of course one of the kids told me he wasn't going to do it, which was fine, I pulled him out of the group and gave him his own section to do. They took about ten minutes, we went over it, and then I let play hang man for the rest of the time, which of course these two kids did not join in.
Close to the end of the class, I pulled them both out with the Sunday School President and we told them that if they can't respect me that they would have to attend a different class. One of the kids started to cry, saying he hadn't done anything wrong.( In just this class he had told me three times he would not participate or do things I asked him to do)
They both went and told their parents, which in turn their parents blew up because they both feel that their children are perfect, I am making it up and hate me for telling their kids to basically grow up.

I am so frustrated, from talking with the SSP and Scott talking with the Bishop, they both know how these kids can be, heck the kids in my class have told me that this is normal behavior for these kids.
I was told these two kids were suppose to be pulled out and have special lessons on respect, which has not happened. I have been on "teaching break" for the past three, which has been really nice. I had one of my kids come up to me last week, commenting that I wasn't teaching his class. I feel bad for the rest of the kids, they are all great kids, and don't deserve to have to deal with two punks who are disrespectful and make it hard for everyone else to learn.
Scott talked with the SSP the other day, and supposedly I am being switched to a different class, which I think is lame, as I feel that the two kids have learned nothing other then how to get rid of a teacher.

I have prayed about it and thought and know that I am in the right. We go to church to learn and to feel of the spirit. I was not able to make it through 1 lesson without having to stop and deal with the behavior of these two kids. I know they are teenagers, I know they are boys, but I do expect that if I am going to put the time into a lesson that I would expect the kids to show some respect and listen or pretend to listen.

Oh the stress, the life lessons, I am sure this will all make me stronger.

2010-01-29T23:20:00.001-08:00

Latest Cakes

I did this suitcase cake while I was in Canada this summer for my SIL brother who just returned from a mission in NY city.

Much thanks to my mom for helping me and for my dad for spending the day with Pey so we could do the cake.

This flower cake was done for Lil Man's mom's birthday at the beginning of January.

This is Lil Man's first birthday cake that I made for him. Loved that I was able to incorporate his present in the cake.

2010-01-26T23:05:00.000-08:00

Peyton getting "Kylie Hair"

I love Pey's hair. Thanks to her daddy she has always had really long hair,(yes, sometimes it is a pain and to have to listen to the whining over the tangles, but it is beautiful). I have always wanted to curl her hair, but could never get it to stay curled with the curling iron.
Thanks to my friend Leslie and a post on her blog she had of her lil girl, I became a fan of the pink foam rollers and hair gel.

Peyton Sunday morning with G-ma, waiting for me to take the curlers out. Poor kid, she woke up through out the night, asking if it was time to take them out.

End results with G-pa and G-ma

Such a poser. Love this little girl and her curls.

2010-01-26T22:32:00.000-08:00

Lack of Blogging

Last week Scott was looking over the blog and told me that it looked like I had lost my desire to blog, and that I needed to start again.
He suggested I just take a few minutes a day and blog, I laughed at him and told him he was more than welcome to sit and blog.

To please Scott, I will try better.

2009-10-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

Peyton Turns "4"

This year, I thought I was still going to be able to get away with picking the theme for Pey's party, and I was finally going to get to do my "mad hatter" theme. It was all going great, until Pey was introduced to Strawberry Shortcake. She received a Strawberry Shortcake doll for Christmas, and fell in love.

We had a lot of fun, and thanks to a great friend for suggesting a park party, we had no mess at the house to clean up. I think this might be a new tradition in our family, I am totally for a clean place after a party.

I showed her some designs on the internet and this is the cake which she wanted me to make. ( It originally was suppose to be covered with fondant, but since she is four and doesn't like the taste of fondant, I opted to just ice it instead.)

With the stress of getting everything done, I just had to laugh as I was making this cake, it was totally hot outside and the icing around the side of the cake started falling off as I was putting it on.

I could not find invites when I went to the store, so I decided to make them instead. Everyone on the back had a different character.

I couldn't find any "strawberry baskets" for the kids to decorate, so I found green bags and we had the kids start off by decorating them to use for the candy hunt.

We had roped off a section before the party and threw a lot of candy on the ground, to make Strawberry's garden.

We did a relay race with the kids. A few of them actually understood the game and did it properly, some just grabbed the spoon and candy and ran, and Pey decided that since I didn't let her go first, she would pout instead. Oh the hormones of an only child.

Me being a little spacey that day with everything going on, forgot my camera at home, so we were using our phones. Thank heavens for technology.

We also did "Put the diamond" on Strawberries crown. Scott was busy talking with one of the dads, so no pics of that.
I will have to get his phone for the pics of opening gifts.
She received Two barbies, two mini strawberry shortcake dolls, two betty spaghetti's and a pink purse, tinker bell bubble bath, a horse, princess hair clips, Bubbles, a movie, and a Dora globe game you hook into the tv.
Thank you to everyone who came and spoiled her. She really loves all the gifts and still plays with all of them.

2009-10-08T16:45:00.000-07:00

More Camping

I think we were trying to make up for past summers. For us, we did a lot of camping this summer. Before Pey and I went to Canada, we had promised Pey that we would go and camp at the beach.

Pey saw this and kept begging until we went over and took pics. I love the one with her and Scott, I swear she is thinking " Daddy, you are SO weird."

My little fire I was so proud of. Yes I have no idea how to make a "real" fire, Scott was sleeping, so Pey and I decided to make one ourselves. It ended up me making it while she played in the sand.

What can I say, she is a weird and funny kid, but I love her.

She saw this elephant sandals in one of the stores, and she thought she just had to have them.

2009-10-08T16:19:00.000-07:00

7 Years

This past June 28th, Scott and I celebrated 7 years of marriage.
As I look back over the years, it is crazy to see how fast time has gone. How much we have both grown with the ups and downs, and how grateful I am for having such a wonderful husband.

This year we decided to stay local and went camping as a family. We had a blast, Peyton enjoyed it after she got over the fact we were not going to the beach. It was so nice to go and relax, and have some family time.

Me and Pey on a walk

Scott teaching Pey to throw, Pey waiting for the ball

Scott deciding to teach Pey to throw rocks. It was all fun and games until he was sitting down and she threw one that hit him in the head. Poor guy, I couldn't stop laughing, as she ment to throw it a different direction.

Daddy and daughter by the river

Pey and her caterpillar. Bugs are one thing, my kid is not afraid of.

Pey's photography and us finally remembering the camera has a timer.

2009-10-08T12:51:00.000-07:00

Crazy, Busy Life

I haven't blogged forever, that even Scott noticed and commented on it the other day. If he is commenting, I guess it is time to start blogging and try and catch up.

These past few months have been very busy, filled with anniversary, mini and long vacations, work, change of jobs, callings, birthdays, new addition to our family, and house hunting (still no luck there).

I will now try and play catch up, even if it turns out to be just a bunch of pics.

Yes, we are living a crazy busy life, but it is our life and we are loving it.

2009-07-22T21:20:00.000-07:00

Fathers Day

This year I decided to make Scott a card, slightly because I was lazy and didn't buy one, and I couldn't remember the song he really liked on the singing cards, when I was looking.
Goggle is my best friend when it comes to craft ideas.

For my class, for the past few years, I have had the kids make HUGE cardstock ties for their dad's. I started this when I was teaching in primary and have continued now with the teens. I then make them find their dad's and have them wear them for the last hour of church. I am proud of the dad's that wear them, and for the men who encouraged Scott and my dad to wear theirs this year.

2009-07-22T20:53:00.000-07:00

Peyton's First in Primary

Peyton had to give the scripture and prayer in primary on Father's day. I called and got the reference so we could practice it at home because as social of a girl as she is, she was not to happy to go up on Mothers day to sing, so I wanted to help her out a little and let her practice.

“Successful . . . families are established and maintained on
principles of faith, prayer, repentance, [and] forgiveness”
(“Proclamation, paragraph 7”)

She did a great job, from the first day in primary she wanted to stand at the small podium and talk, so she finally had the chance.
I made Scott help her, so when she said the prayer, she didn't pray for a "baby brother or sister" in front of the whole primary, as she does prays for a sibling in every prayer.
Her only complaint after church was, that daddy was not sitting down at the back giving her the thumbs up sign, as they had practiced and said he would do.

2009-07-22T20:31:00.000-07:00

Busy Weekend

Fathers day weekend, was a crazy weekend. I had to make cakes for a wedding, Scott and I had to speak in church and Pey did her first scripture and prayer in primary.

Around the end of May, I received a call from our friend who was in the Bishopric and asked if we would be in town for Father's day, then asked if Scott and I would speak. After giving him a "little bit" of a hard time, I told him Scott and I would love to do it.
When I called Scott to let him know that Randy had just called and asked if we would be in town, and that I had to speak in Sacrament meeting, Scott laughed and laughed, as the last time Peyton got sick Sunday morning, and I got to stay home with her and he had to stretch his talk and take the whole time. I let him laugh and joke for a few moments, then informed him, he was speaking too.
I am so glad we had a month to prepare, as building up to that weekend, we were so busy, so it was nice for the extra time.
The talk we were asked to speak on was Elder Richard G Scott, Honor the Priesthood and Use it well, from the Priesthood session in October 2008.
Amazing, amazing talk, a recommend read if you have a few minutes.
I am so thankful for the Priesthood in my life, and for a husband who honors his priesthood, honors me as his wife and Peyton as his daughter.

2009-07-22T19:53:00.000-07:00

Am I Ready....
A friend in our ward came to me at the end of May and asked if I would do her wedding cake on June 19th.
First thoughts were, am I ready for this? I took some Wilton classes about a year ago and have played around with cakes since then, but have not done an actual paying job. After talking with her and looking at different idea's, and learning her dad did this as a career. I agreed, heck why not do a wedding as the first one.

When all the decisions were made, I made two huge sheet cakes, 80 cupcakes and a small cake for the groom. It was a great learning experience, and really fun playing with flavors. I am sure that is what everyone around me thought as well, as they all benefited from my experiments.
I have the best neighbor ever, who volunteered to come and help. She stayed all day, helped with all the decorating, and then helped with the delivery, as Scott was busy with Youth Conference and then had to head to work.

It was a slightly stressful weekend, when it was all done, I was almost completely happy with the turnout. I am always a harder critic on myself, and she seemed pleased with the end result.

2009-05-13T22:23:00.001-07:00

The Faith Of A Three Year Old

Miss P was playing outside and being three and not knowing you don't pick mommies flowers decided that she needed this one.
It was quickly forgotten at the front door as she was playing with her friends. The next morning, she found it next to the shoes all withered up. I explained that when we pick flowers they need to be put in water or else they will die.
She was insistent that we put it in water, so she went and filled one of her cups with water and put the flower in it. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I thought it was dead, so I decided to just leave it on the counter for the day and throw it out later.
To our surprise, later that day, this is what we found. Her faith is amazing.

2009-05-13T22:05:00.000-07:00

Why Can't All Days Be Like This...

Miss P and a friend playing in her pool in April.
To bad it has not been hot enough again. There is hope for this weekend that we will be able to pull it out again.

2009-05-13T21:46:00.000-07:00

Her New Love

We were in the mall a few weeks ago, and Miss P saw Build A Bear, cute store but VERY dangerous to take a three year old into.
We went in to look and came out with a $20 stuffed dog. Thank heavens she didn't realize that you could get clothes for the puppy.

2009-05-13T21:26:00.000-07:00

Miss P's House

Miss P outgrew her outside toys over the winter, after asking her what she wanted, we replaced her slide/swing with a playhouse.
She was asleep when we picked it up, so she had no clue what it looked like until I set it up for her.
Her reaction was the cutest when she saw it.
Miss P: (total giddy voice) I love it, you are the best mommy and daddy.

There was no way that I was going to be able to keep her inside. Even though it was cold and starting to rain, she had to be outside playing in her new house.
I can already see that this little house is going to get many hours of use this summer.

2009-05-13T21:19:00.001-07:00

Melt My Heart

Dancing with her Daddy.

(Sorry, pics are crap as they were taken with my phone.)

2009-04-16T21:38:00.000-07:00

WHY DID YOU HAVE TO GO ON VACATION SAM.....

Miss P has been in gymnastics for a few months now, and seems to really enjoy it. She is in a class with two teachers. The guy teacher (Sam) is great. Her girl teacher, not bad, but not so great.
We missed class this week as we were out of town for Easter, so I called in and set up a make up class for this morning with Sam.
We get there to find out that Sam is not there, he is on vacation. There was six children in this class, and P was the only girl, which didn't seem to bother her. They started off warming up with one teacher, then after about 20 minutes they moved on to the bars, and P's normal girl teacher came and replaced the first teacher.
Who know's why she didn't finish teaching the rest of the class, or split up the class, instead she jumped around, did kart wheels and jumped on the trampoline, while the kids ran around and did their own thing because P's normal teacher was not doing so great at keeping them all together.
I get so tired of wasting my money, on these girl teachers that don't teach my child gymnastics.
Please don't teach my child or let her roll a foam block around when you should be teaching her, HELLO, I CAN DO THAT AT HOME FOR FREE!!!
Please pay attention to my child a little more, then maybe she would not be at the chalk bowl constantly. She was very kind to share it with all the kids though, as she threw it in the air.
Yes I know my child seems to NOT have the best attention span, this class today was a serious joke. I really don't think there was any teaching going on.
I know she is not there for competition and that it is for fun, but if I am going to pay good money, please teach my child.

SAM, PLEASE DON'T GO ON VACATION AGAIN, MY SANITY NEEDS YOU!!!!

2009-04-15T22:41:00.000-07:00

We are NEVER alone

I am so grateful for my Savior, for His perfect example, His love, and His ultimate sacrifice He made for all of us.
I know that even when time are tough, I am never alone.

2009-04-15T21:13:00.000-07:00

Easter
Thank you Grandpa and Grandma N for such a wonderful Easter, we had a great time with you, Miss P keeps asking when we are going back to G-pa's and G-ma's.

This year we spent Easter with G-pa Lee and G-ma Ivana. My Man and I started the weekend off by doing a Temple Session, which was so nice.
We got to their house later then planned, and arrived to a yummy pad thai dinner. Thank you G-pa Lee, it was SO good.

Miss P was a little sad after dinner to realize that Rob and Jill had taken the trike with them when they moved, as that was her favorite toy. I think she got over it quickly, as she found other things to play with and didn't have to share any of the toys.
She loved the cats, which seemed to be very relaxed this weekend. They would just lay there and let her pet them, which is not normal.

After settling in, we had Miss P put her basket on a table before I put her in bed.
She woke up around 7am wanting us to wake up, I told her not yet. She was really good to wait another hour before bugging again to get up.
I finally decided to drag my butt out of bed and head downstairs with her.
Not knowing that Mr. S had moved the little table that she had put her basket on, as I went to bed before Mr. S did, Miss P headed to where the table was suppose to be, turned around with slumped shoulders and pouting that the Easter Bunny didn't come.
G-pa Lee was standing there, and encouraged her to go a little farther into the living room, where they had moved the table. She was SO excited to see her basket, and that the Easter Bunny didn't forget her.
We had put together some eggs and placed them around the living room for her to find. It was so funny to watch her go and find them, she did a whole lot better this year on finding them.
She was spoiled like always. She received a Dora watch, a CTR necklace, a Book of Mormon stories book, a way cute Curious George outfit (Thank you G-pa and G-ma), and her own mini copy of the Book of Mormon with her name on it.
The Easter Bunny brought me a docking station for my Iphone, which I love, and he brought Scott clothes.

I was very impressed with Miss P at church. She went to class without any whinning, and seemed to have a great time. She came home with a little coloring craft of the resurrection, she was so proud of it, she had to show everyone and tried to sing "Did Jesus really live again", which every time she plays with her craft now, she sings the song.

We of course had an the best dinner. I think we are going to have to spend more time in with G-pa and G-ma N, so we can get some cooking tips and lessons.
I am amazed with all the junk I ate this weekend, I still was able to loose weight.

It was so nice to get out of town, relax and let G-pa and G-ma spoil Miss P.

2009-04-15T08:48:00.000-07:00

Melt My Heart

I could hear this morning that Miss P was awake watching cartoons. Oh how I SO wanted to just sleep a little longer- That's what I get putting her to bed by 8pm and me staying up until after 12:30am.

She came upstairs calling me, wanting me to go downstairs with her.
Miss P:Mommy, you come downstairs with me?
Me:Why, you have the TV on, mommy just wants to stay in my warm bed and sleep.
Miss P:You come with me, because you are my best mommy in the whole world.
(While giving me the biggest hug)

How could anyone NOT give in, when told you are the best mommy in the whole world.

2009-04-14T22:45:00.000-07:00

Hug Your Little Ones A little Longer

My heart breaks tonight for the Spohrs family.
Mom's Blog
(Keep trying, her site is receiving a lot of traffic)

I found a link to their story on The R House blog site tonight.

I am so grateful for my little girl, even when she has attitude, and will make sure each day to hug her a little longer.

2009-04-08T22:36:00.000-07:00

Crazy Little Girl

A few nights ago, I had gotten home from a really busy day, really hoping the babysitter had Miss P in bed, no such luck. Oh well I thought.
I gave her a quick bath, and did our normal bedtime routine of scriptures and books. Even though, she was getting in bed 45 minutes late, I was so happy it was that time of day, as I was SO exhausted.
I crawled into bed, with some stuff I needed to read. I could hear her making noises, she had come out I think once, she always says "I need to tell you something....", (we are trying to break this, and have her stay in bed).
Around 10pm, she came out again, I thought she was going to the bathroom. At midnight, I was woken up to the sound of her playing and her CD player. I walk into her room to find her coloring and to see she had gotten into the paper towel I keep under her bathroom counter, ripped it up so her babies had blankets, all over her floor.
After taking it away, telling her to go to bed, I went back to bed to sleep.
At 2:30 (ok, I thought it was 2:30), I woke up again to the sound of her CD player, and I also heard Mr. S downstairs. I thought, great he can deal with whatever she is doing. He came up a while later, thinking she was asleep with the radio playing, only to find her laying in bed listening to her "stories." He told me the next morning that it wasn't 2:30, it was actually 3:30am.

Yup, who knows what she was on, but she stayed up until 3:30am playing, rocking in her new chair, coloring and listening to her stories in her CD player. She was even able to wake up at 8:30 the next morning, take no nap and still be in a good mood all day long.

Thank Heavens, she has not repeated it.

2009-03-17T22:52:00.000-07:00

Oh To Be Able To Sleep Anywhere...

Mommy...Daddy...really, I don't need naps anymore.

2009-03-17T22:42:00.000-07:00

Bring on SPRING....

I saw these last week, and had to take a picture for Chelsea and the rest of my Canadian family.
Doesn't it make you want to move closer.

Growing up in Canada, and spending many, many winters freezing, I am so grateful to live here where we have blooming flowers and budding trees in March.

2009-03-17T22:10:00.000-07:00

Chuck E Cheese.....

Where A Kid (or Adult) Can Be A Kid.....

Yes, that is My Man in the play tubes at Chuck E Cheese, we suckered him to go in with the two P's.

We finally were able to get the two of them to stay in one area for a pic.

Miss P in the cage.
Miss P crawling out of the cage
"Enough pics mom, I got to go."

Out of all the bracelets, rings, lipstick, girly toys she could have gotten with her 461 tokens, she chose Cotton Candy, two suckers, a crazy straw, and a pirate outfit. (Which Miss P thought was the best toy.)

2009-03-05T21:56:00.000-08:00

Anyone Hungry For Fish

A few weeks ago, we went for a drive to Bonneville Dam. At certain times of year, they have huge fish swimming up the fish ladder, but not that day.
They also have a fish hatchery at the location, so we took Miss P over to see that, so she would be able to see some fish.
I had no clue Sturgeon fish could be so big.
(sorry for the poor clarity on the pics, they were taken with my phone. )

Mr. S and Miss P feeding the fish.

And maybe some of those "flying fish".

At Bonneville Dam, posing with all the animal pictures.

2009-03-05T20:16:00.000-08:00

Miss P's Payback To Her Daddy

Miss P on Sunday decided that her daddy needed a little love, while we were at G-pa Lee and G-ma Ivana's house.

For those of you who really know Mr. S, knows he strongly dislikes Winnie The Pooh.
This disliking goes so far, as he doesn't like any Winnie the Pooh items in the house, no toys, no clothing, and of course doesn't want Miss P to watch Winnie the Pooh.

Thank you Jim and Tammy, for the Winnie the Pooh gifts to Mr. S, we have had some fun over the years, and Miss P gets to have some Winnie the Pooh toys. Hopefully one day we can make it out east to have waffles with you.

2009-02-24T23:46:00.000-08:00

I am the meanest mom....

Yesterday, I was trying to clean up the house, and was in the middle of making my bed, when Miss P came over with a chocolate bar that Mr. S had left on his night stand.
Now if you know my daughter, she has a slight addiction to TV and Candy, which we are trying really hard to break.
She is only a loud to watch "two kids shows" a day, which is usually when I am on the treadmill, and if she wants candy, she only gets it after nap time now, on days that I feel like letting her have some.

Yesterday, when she saw the chocolate bar, she was sure her daddy wanted to share with her. Keep in mind it was about 10am. After I told her no, she could not have any, she went sulking to her room.
I look up to her standing in her doorway, sulking and saying, "You don't love me."

Wow, I thought I had at least another 10 years before she used that line on me.
Raising a little girl, makes me more grateful for my parents each day, and so sorry for the pain I was growing up.

2009-02-20T21:08:00.000-08:00

Long Night

How I hope and pray for a quiet, peaceful sleep tonight.
Last night as I was putting Miss to bed, she mentioned her back hurt, I inquired a little, but didn't think to much about it. A few hours later, she woke up crying, which is not normal for her.When I checked on her, she was complaining her back and stomach hurt.

She is one who does not complain about pain. Being sick never seems to slow her down, she actually seems to have more energy when she is sick.
Miss P had fallen back a sleep by the time I was done talking with the advice nurse.
From talking with the nurse, we packed her up and headed for the ER to make sure she didn't have a bladder or kidney infection.

Like always the ER seemed kind of busy, even at midnight. They were all really nice and even bumped her to the top of the list since there was a possible kidney infection. I was grateful for that, but felt sorry for those who were there before us.

I was impressed, they have upgraded the ER, and made a child area. The kids section of the ER has Drs and Nurses that actually know how to deal with scared kids, the rooms have pictures which children have painted, cloud plastic over the lights, and a tv which they play movies to calm the kids. It helped the situation a little better that her room had the new space dog movie which she has wanted to watch.

Long story short, almost two hours and a really blah movie later, we were being told she was fine, they didn't know why she had the pain, and we could go home.

We shall see if anything else comes from this, but for now it looks like she is fine and we shall all have a good sleep tonight.

2009-02-20T20:46:00.000-08:00

My Country Girl

Tonight I was reading Miss P an Elmo pop up book, one page was about life on a farm.
She turned to me pointing to the picture,
Miss P: Mommy, we need a barn.
Me: A barn?
Miss P: And some piggies, and I will make them mud and then wash them off.

Forget kitties and puppies, my baby wants pigs and horses. Reading Charlotte's web to a three year old may not have been the best idea.
Aunt Kim, we are going to come your way one of these days, so she can "play" in your barn.

2009-02-18T20:43:00.000-08:00

Anger Singing
Ever since Miss P was small, she has loved to sing. Any where we go, she loves to sing at the top of her lungs, especially in church.
When she gets mad, what ever the song of the day is, she will sing in a sad, whinny/crying voice.
Tonight, she is sitting on her bed, refusing to go to sleep, singing in her crying voice
"I looked out the window(sniffle, sniffle) and what did I see (sniffle, sniffle) popcorn popping on the apricot tree. (sniffle, sniffle).
Now imagine that, but tonight she has decided to add in a very loud voice to it all.
Oh the fun times of raising a three year old.

2009-01-12T21:09:00.000-08:00

I Love My Little Girl....

Conversation between Mr. S and Miss P this morning.
A little background, Miss P must be in the middle of everything. I guess it has to do a lot with her being an only. Mr. S was giving me a hug, and she tried to squeeze in between, when she was suppose to be eating.

Miss P-( trying to squeeze in the middle)
Mr. S: No P, this is Daddy and Mommy time
Miss P- (goes behind me and hugs my legs)
Mr. S: Miss P, get up and finish your lunch, or I will swat your bum
Miss P: No, this is my brand new bum, from Heavenly Father.

I guess this weeks lesson in sunbeams was Heavenly Father has a body like us.

2009-01-06T21:46:00.001-08:00

My baby is growing up

Sunday was Miss P's first day in primary. I can't believe that she is a sunbeam, or in Miss P's words "sunbeep" already.

Our primary room has a little podium for the kids, and I was told when she saw one of the kids get up to give a talk, she was telling everyone that she wanted to get up and use the podium.
I think she might be giving her first talk sooner than later.

2009-01-06T14:43:00.000-08:00

Quiet Moments....

I am truly grateful for the opportunity to have some quiet moments in my crazy day for reflection.
I just put Miss P down for a nap, and was making lunch, and thinking about the blessing the Lord has given us lately.
My thoughts went back to us moving into the place we are at now, we were given the opportunity to manage a small complex of apartments, for a small rent discount, which we thought was great, because our rent would be a little cheaper and a lot bigger place.

As I was thinking today, I was able to see a small glimpse of the bigger picture, of how the Lord has guided us these past few years.
Mr. S lost his job about a year after living here, than he starting working a job which had him traveling 4 weeks with one week off. He was offered the position which would keep him home, but it was going to be a huge pay cut from what we had been use to the past 5 years.
We felt it was right and gladly accepted, as he would be able to be at home with us and have a calling. Paid our tithing faithfully, knowing that the Lord would take care of us.
In November we were offered the opportunity to take on more responsibility with the complex, which would give us a better discount on rent. The owner called the other day, telling us that she had made a mistake and since November we had been over paying on our rent, and she owes us money.

I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father, who give us comfort, inspiration and directs us in what is best for each of us. I am grateful for the law of Tithing and for the blessing which come from that.

2009-01-03T11:39:00.000-08:00

Princess Pey Pey

Miss P is into the whole "princess" thing. She has only seen Cinderella maybe twice before, and not recently, almost everything must be Cinderella.
She decided when she woke me up yesterday, that she needed to play dress up.

This is Miss P with her princess hat, snow white cape (one of the capes I made her for christmas), and her Cinderella dress.
Oh, to have girls. They are so much fun.

2009-01-03T11:25:00.000-08:00

What do ya do...

We love to play games in our house, but we don't have a lot of three year old games. Yesterday we picked up Hungry, Hungry Hippo for Miss P.
Her and I were playing yesterday afternoon, until I quickly realized that being an "only" does not suit her to well.

This is Miss P, telling me that my hippos were not aloud to eat any of the balls.

She is trying to make her hippo eat them all.

She decided to be nice, she said my hippo's could eat those two balls.

This is her disgusted face because I started to tease her, by getting the hippo's to eat all the balls.
She got up and said " I quit".

Who knew, my three year old knew that phrase. It was really funny. When I started to play with it again, she hoped off the couch, stating that she "still quit", and came to play.
We will have to work on the "poor sport" attitude, because it might not be so cute in a few years.

2009-01-03T09:15:00.000-08:00

She thinks she is so grown up....

Miss P loves to role play with me. She will often tell me that I am the "Miss P" and she is going to be the "mommy".
This morning was no different.

Miss P: Mommy, you be the P, I be the mommy.
Mommy A: OK.
Miss P: P, what do you want to do?
Mommy A: I tired mommy, I want to take a nap.
Miss P: No P.
Mommy A: I hungry mommy, make me breakfast.
Miss P: No P, lets go to Ikea and eat there.
Mommy A: Mommy, are you going to pay?
Miss P:No, you will P.
Mommy A: But mommy, I a kid, I don't have any money.
Miss P: Well look in your wallet?
Mommy A: I don't have a wallet, only mommies and daddies have wallets.
Miss P: But I not big enough yet to pay.

She is such a kick some times, and makes me laugh.

2009-01-02T22:58:00.000-08:00

Fun Memories...

This past week, we took the kids to Kids Club. They have a large play structure like McDonald's, but a whole lot bigger. They encourage parents with children under that age of three, to go in with them, this really made my brother want to go even more.
I am not sure who was more tired after playing for a couple of hours, us or the kids.

Partial front view of jungle gym.
Teagan and Shand.
Miss P, Parker and me going down the slide

In the stinky ball pit, not for those who are afraid of germs. I had all the little kids in the pit attact Daddy S with the balls.

Daddy S in a turning tunnel. We were trying to make him spin all the way around.

We also took the kids to Chuck E Cheeses or as my dad likes to call it "a kids casino" this past week.
After about two hours, 200 tokens, over 700 tickets, and needing a Chuck E Cheese Anonymous, we left with a foam hammer, lipstick, and lots of laughs.

Miss P's new favorite ride. She is so much in love with horses. Aunt Kim we are truly going to have to send her your way in a few years.

Isn't she the cutest. She actually fell asleep with all the noise.

2009-01-02T22:38:00.000-08:00

Our Holidays

It was crazy as always in our house, with just a little more snow than normal.
Daddy S was blessed to actually have Christmas day off, which was nice to just relax and be lazy.
We had Grandpa and Grandma W with us Christmas day to open gifts before they headed south to see Rob and Jill. Shand,Chelsea and the kids hung out with us, played games, and ate a lot of food.

On Saturday, we all headed south to see Rob, Jill, their kids and Grandpa Lee and Grandma Ivana.
There we were all able to open our exchange gifts, and I had made all the kids "superman/princess" capes.
Thought I would get some thank you's out, in case I don't get the cards out soon.
Thank you Cory and Leia for the game, I look forward to playing it with My Man.
Thank you Rob and Jill for Miss P's barbie, she loves it.
Thank you Mom and Dad for the Jewelry and Aruba gifts. One day hopefully we will get to all go as a family.
Thank you Grandma Ivana and Grandpa Lee for the snow globe and teddy bear. Miss P loves it and sleeps with it.
Thank you Shand and Chelsea for the food, the fun and the memories.
(I will post video of Christmas when My Man gets it off our camera.)

2009-01-02T22:30:00.000-08:00

Ever year for Christmas, we get Miss P a new pair of PJ's.
We saw these in a store just before Christmas, and had to get them, even though we had to go to two stores before we found her size.
They say "What Santa doesn't bring me, Grandma Will."
That is so true in our house. Our little girl is very spoiled by her grandma.

2009-01-02T22:12:00.000-08:00

Play Group

One of the mom's in our ward started a play group when her oldest daughter was young, and has kept it up, as she had more children.
We have taken all the mom's in the ward, who are interested and slit up the kids in age groups/siblings, and have play group once a week.
Each mom hosts play group at her house once a month. We as mom's get to drop our kids off at one of the houses, and then have two hours of free time (free babysitting) to go shopping, clean house, what ever while our kids play.
Then on the third Friday of every month, all the play groups get together for a large play group where we meet at different places,(pumpkin patch, zoo, swimming, kids club,etc) to talk and let our kids play.
When I hosted in December, I decided to let the kids decorate gram cracker houses. I made the houses before hand, then let them put the candy on it. They had so much fun decorating their own houses, and eating the candy and icing.

Kids decorating their houses. Miss P with her finished house. I think she ate more icing than she put on her house.

N is the funniest kid. He had a snow storm of icing hit his house. He had more icing than candy on his house, and all over his hands.

I am crazy enough to do it a second time that day, while I was watching little P. She was so funny, she would put a red licorice on her roof, then when I turned away would eat it. Then she would put another one on the roof, and repeat over and over again.

2009-01-02T21:46:00.000-08:00

Playing in the snow with cousins

While my brother and sister in law were here for Christmas, they brought crazy carpets, so we decided to dress the kids up and go sledding.

Snow family pic. Miss P loved sledding down the road, not to fond of the idea of going down the steep hill.

Uncle S and Cousin P. Yup Uncle S went down the hill in a bag.

Are they not just the cutest family ever. I would put up with all the snow in the world, if we could live close to them.

Daddy S and Uncle S riding down the hill on an inflatable boat. P and Miss P hugging.

Thanks for the fun and the memories, Uncle S and Aunt C. We love you.

2009-01-02T21:11:00.000-08:00

What The Crap Is With This Weather.....

I thought we were all done with the snow this year, until I woke up this morning, looked out the winter to snow on the ground. What The CRAP!!! (Yes, those who know me well, know that is my favorite word)
I loved living in Washington because of the green winters. I love the green grass year round, tree's with leafs on them in late November, the years that are a little warmer, which allows me to plant flowers in January.
I have become accustomed rainy winters and only having a few days each year with a small dusting of snow, which would always melt by the afternoon, as I grew up with snow all winter long, that never seemed to go away.
This winter is not normal. It started out normal with a few days of dusting snow, which was all gone by early afternoon, then we got hit with record snow for this area. Yes it was not as much as when I grew up, but it was a lot for this area.
I am grateful that as soon as it gets above freezing that the snow melts very fast.
Instead of being a total grump about the icky weather, plus having a three year old who LOVES the snow, we got dressed up and played outside for many hours over the icky snow days.

2009-01-02T20:58:00.000-08:00

She is such a little Parrot

Last week I was teasing My Man, and he turned and called me a "turd". From down the hall we heard Miss P call out "Bucket".

Yup, my three year old is copying her daddy and now says "turd bucket".

2008-12-29T20:10:00.000-08:00

My Little Angel...
Yesterday, we were driving to church, and talking about boys who wear white socks with their dress shoes. (Scott forgot his Sunday socks, and we were out of town.) I mentioned that I hope we teach our little boys to wear matching socks. (no I am not prego)
From the back seat, I hear Miss P, telling us that she has a little brother.

Miss P: Jesus is my little brother mommy.
Mommy: Yes Jesus is your brother.( Thinking...sure, she can think he is her little brother.)
Miss P: Mommy, is baby Jesus a real baby?
Mommy: Yes P, Jesus was a real baby.
Miss P: Where is he mommy?
Mommy: He is with Heavenly Father.
Miss P: Did he come from your tummy mommy or Heavenly Fathers?
Mommy: No P, he came from Marys tummy, his mommy.

She is always so inquisitive, and comes up with the cutest things.

2008-12-20T14:57:00.000-08:00

Reflections of Christ

I saw this on another blog, and thought I would share it as well. This video is a wonderful reminder of what the true meaning of Christmas is.
May each of us be able to have the spirit of our Savior in our lives at this Christmas season.

2008-12-09T21:19:00.000-08:00

Crazy, Crazy Week

This past week was one of those weeks where Miss P and I should have locked ourselves in a padded room.
Early last week, Miss P was upstairs playing with the girl I babysit. All of a sudden I hear Miss P totally crying. This was not the cry that "someone took her toy", or "I don't want to go to bed" cry, this was "I am really hurt cry". I ran upstairs to see what was going on, only to see her covering her mouth and blood all over her hand.
After cleaning her up, checking out her wounds of cut and bruised gums, I found out that she was jumping on her bed, even though she knows she is not suppose to, fell and hit her mouth on rail of her bed.
Of course she has not learned from it, as she was jumping again on it tonight when we were getting ready for bed.

Wednesday of last week, Miss P and I were out doing some Christmas shopping for Daddy S, since he was at work. We were heading to Target, and were just around the corner from it, when I stopped for a pedestrian. All of a sudden, I realize we had just been rear ended. I was so ticked off, Hello People can you NOT see the brake lights and stopped truck??
I hop out to see the back of my truck, and notice it was a teenager in the car that hit us. We were blocking a lot of traffic, so I told him to follow me around the corner, into a parking lot.
This kid, his friend and I all get out of our vehicles to check out our vehicles.
The punk kid went back to his car, it looked as if he was looking for his insurance info. I went to my truck to get a pen and my phone to call My Man.
When I got out, I look up to see the little jerk driving away. If you thought I was mad that he hit me, oh no that was nothing when I saw him drive away. Of course I was in total shock, I didn't get his plate number, it was totally dark so I didn't get the type of car he was driving, so there was no hope on turning him in.
HELLO JERK!!!! Did you not see my three year old daughter in the vehicle, as you were driving away. Does it ever cross your mind, how she was, if she was hurt, if I was hurt. Yeah, so my vehicle was fine, just a scrap, as you hit my hitch receiver, which I hope put a nice BIG hole in your front end. GGGRRRRR
Miss P was fine, just really scared, thank heavens. I have been blessed with daily headaches and back pain which comes and goes, and a knowledge that if it EVER happens again, to not move my vehicle until I get at least a license plate number.

We should have gone home. Miss P was fine and wanted to go to Target. After we talked with the police and had some time with My Man to calm down, Miss P and I headed over to, one of our fave store which is going out of business, before we went to Target. We were trying on some clothes, Miss P was taking some pants off, slipped and hit her head on the bench. Yup there was that "I am hurt" cry again.
I have told her, she is going to have to start wearing a helmet if she continues to hit her head.

Yes, this past week, was one of those weeks, we should have just locked us in a padded room. Hopefully, this week will be better, and the headaches go away.

2008-11-23T22:43:00.000-08:00

More Spiritual Insight

I have not always been very good at Visiting Teaching, as you could ask some of my companions from the past. I am trying to be better.
This past week my companion and I went out, and I had the opportunity to do the lesson. I am so grateful that I did, as it gave me the opportunity to review the talks from General Conference, which of course I used for VT, but I was also able to use it this week with my Sunday School class.

I told the ladies who we visit, I am not sure if it is that I am getting older and appreciate conference more, or if it was just so dang good this time, I truly enjoyed listening and learned so much.
I thought I would share some thought from what I learned and taught, from the different talks, yes more then one talk, I was unable to just choose one.

For me, conference was a lot about being prepared as hard times are to come. I started off with Elaine Daltons (link) talk and her quote "In the strength of the Lord, I can do all things." She goes on about temples and virtue.
What a great reminder that, it is only through the Lord that we can do all things. As I read her talk, it made me think about Temples and how we can go to the temple and find peace, but also we need to make our homes like the temple, were we can retreat to our homes when times are hard, and have that peace.

Elder Godoy, (link) his talk on Testimonies was excellent. I loved how he said "Great events are not a guarantee that our testimony will be strong." We are NOT guaranteed a strong testimony. A testimony is something that has to be worked on, on a daily basis.

“But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe [and I think that was my case as an investigator], let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words” (Alma 32:27).

If we just start with a particle of faith or desire to know, the Lord will bless us with a true knowledge and a strong testimony of the his gospel.

Elder Aidukaitis (link)talked about the Book of Mormon. Here is a quote from him that I loved.

“. . . Without reservation I promise you that if you will prayerfully read the Book of Mormon, regardless of how many times you previously have read it, there will come into your hearts . . . the Spirit of the Lord. There will come a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to his commandments, and there will come a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God”

I love that he reminds each of us, if we prayerfully read the BOM, not just read it, we will have a stronger desire to be obedient and have a stronger testimony of the Savior.

Elder Cook (link) was the last talk that I quoted from.

...he gained comfort and then reassurance. Our prayers are that way when we go to our Father in Heaven. We know He cares for us in our time of need.

What a great reminder that our Heavenly Father loves and cares for us, and also is there to comfort us in our time of need, IF only we will seek him in prayer.

there will be lean years and plentiful years.²⁰ The Lord expects us to be prepared for many of the challenges that come. He proclaims, “If ye are prepared ye shall not fear.”

How true is this today. How many times have we been told to get prepared. From talking with one of my dear friends a while ago, I was reminded that when we are told to be prepared, how much more that means then just our food storage. We must also be spiritually prepared. We never know when our testimonies are going to be challenged. It might be that we become ill and are unable to attend our church meetings, it might be through people we come in contact with who fight against the church and our beliefs. If we are not prepared spiritually, how will our testimonies withstand the trials.

“Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you.”

The Lord knows each of us personally, he knows what we are feeling and going through. We have been promised with the blessing, that if we are prepared, and are obedient to the comandments, we do not need to fear, as the Lord will helps us with whatever we may face.

2008-11-23T22:29:00.001-08:00

Spiritual Insight

These past few weeks have been full of spiritual insight, which I am so grateful for.
Last weekend we had Stake Conference. In the adult session, Saturday evening, one of the talks was on Tolerance for others. This hit home, as the thought came that our children watch, listen and learn from our actions. I have noticed with with Miss P a lot lately.
Earlier that day, we had been out in the vehicle dropping some stuff off for donation. There was a line, and we had to wait a few minutes.
From the her car seat in the back, we hear Miss P chirp up to the car in front of us
" Get out of our way" and "Honk at it Mommy." (I am not the honker in the family.)
Oh yes, our three year old has slight road rage from watching mommy and daddies example. Needless to say, when I have the desire to express my thoughts on others peoples driving abilities, I remember the little ears in the back.

2008-11-19T18:29:00.000-08:00

My Old Man

My Man turned the big 30 on November 19th. For the past year and a half he has pretended to be 30 so he could play on a soccer team for 30 and over, so we joked last year that he was going to turn 30 twice. He no longer needs to pretend.

Poor guy,I am sure when he woke up on the 19th, I had forgotten his birthday. Since he woke up to a half done cake, I told him it was going to be a carrot shaped cake, as it looked like an orange tear drop. I was having difficulties at 10:30pm coming up with the top, as I was exhausted. I am also sure he must have thought, why did we spend all this money on cake classes.
(Ha ha, he didn't know his surprise)

A few days ago, while he was outside, I had one of his friends at work send me pictures of his truck. Monday night, I baked the cake, then had to hide it outside (yes, it was completely covered so animals didn't get into it) so he wouldn't find it. Tuesday, I had to wait till he left for work, put the girls down for a nap, then I started to decorate the cake. When I finished it later that night, I had to hide it so he wouldn't see it, and ruin the surprise.

The afternoon of his birthday, just after he left for work, Miss P and I headed out and bought him some balloons, then headed to his work to drop off the cake. He had no clue what we were up to, so it was a great surprise when he walked out of the shop and we were standing there with balloons and his "real" cake.

Happy Birthday My Love!!

2008-11-17T22:25:00.001-08:00

How do you not laugh...

This afternoon, Miss P and I had just gotten back from the store. She had opened the passengers side door, and then decided to climb out the drivers side. I went around the truck to shut the door, and she headed to the house door. All of a sudden I see her out of the corner of my eye, run around the front of the truck to meet me. She didn't make the turn and ran straight into our neighbors car and fell flat on her back.
While I was holding in laughter, making sure she was okay, I was totally thinking it was the funniest thing I have seen in a while.

2008-11-03T22:49:00.000-08:00

Tooth Fairy

And We Get Upset When They Lie to Us...

When Uncle R and Aunt J were away, Cousin E had a loose tooth. There was some extra drama, as it was her first tooth to loose, and her parents had left her with her crazy aunt who tried really hard to talk her into to just letting us pull it out.

She was almost ready to let Daddy S pull it out one night. He was being so kind and patient. She was complaining that it hurt, so he got her the anbesol and put it on so it wouldn't hurt. He was about to pull, when she chickened out. The next morning, G-ma W being the genus that she is, gave each kid a chewing vitamin C, and that tooth came out within two bites.

I decided that it needed to be a little special as this seemed to be a traumatic time for her. So I made her a card with a picture of the Tooth Fairy and a personal note. I put the note in a zip lock with 4 quarters (even though we all joked around about putting $50, since Uncle R and Aunt J were gone, just to mess with future visits from the tooth fairy in their house.)

It was fun to watch her excitement. She was talking about how she got a picture of the tooth fairy, and that the tooth fairy left her a note.
Bad thing is, Miss P was watching all of this, and has talked about it since, "When the tooth fairy comes and leaves her a note." I am going to have to remember I did this for when Miss P looses her first one, as she has a really good memory.

2008-11-03T22:37:00.001-08:00

Hanging Out with the Kids.....

Aunt J left melting chocolate, one afternoon we decided to let the kids each have a bowl of chocolate and let them dip away. Poor W, he missed out since he was napping.

One morning I woke up to find, W had taken off his PJ's and was playing dress up. He had the dress on upside down. That is the leg hole over his shoulder. Such a pretty boy.

One afternoon while the girls were napping, G-ma took the boys out back to play. Yes W put my mixing bowl on his head for a hat, and the purple bow goes to one of Miss P Mr. Potato head ride on toys.

It was such a blessing to have nice weather, so the kids could go out back and play. Thank you to My Man for letting me keep the sandbox and slide/swing and for not getting rid of it. And thank you so much G-ma and G-pa for the fence and making more room out back for the kids to play. It has been such a blessing to have.

2008-11-03T22:23:00.001-08:00

Pumpkin Patch

J Feeding the goat. Then J licking the fence. YUCK!!!!

Miss P(yellow vest), W (Blue coat) and E(in pink) climbing the hey pyramid.

Me and Miss P on the hey ride to the pumpkin fields. Daddy S and Miss P with her pumpkin.
I guess the rule was the kids must be able to carry the pumpkin, they are not that strict as my child had to get the biggest one.

2008-11-03T21:29:00.000-08:00

When my bro decided he needed to take his wife to Hawaii......

Uncle R and Aunt J planned a trip to Hawaii without kids in October. Uncle R, talked my mom into watching the kids, who then talked me into helping.
I was scared to death for them to leave their kids, as this was the first time that they had been away for this long, and the boys are really attached to their mommy and daddy, and usually end up in mommy and daddy's bed.

I am totally shocked how well the week went, and know that Heavenly Father was there answering prayers. We decided that instead of going to their place to watch the kids, we would just stay at our house.
I thought I would be all smart with sleeping arrangements. We put G-ma in the spare room on the futon, which is downstairs. Then we put R and J's three kids in Miss P's room, and Miss P with us on our floor. We had it all planned out that R and J would sleep downstairs the night before they left, as they had to leave early, and hopefully the kids would stay asleep, so there would be no freaking out that mommy and daddy were leaving them. That back fired, as their two year old woke up in the middle of the night, then their 5 year old went down, which woke up the the one year old. I didn't know this was all going on, so I went in and grabbed Cousin J who was crying, brought him into my room, trying to calm him down. Aunt J came up to get ready, and told me the rest of the kids were downstairs awake. Well that ended sleeping in, and of course then Miss P was awake, so they all went downstairs to hang out. I think Miss P had more of a melt down that I left with Grandpa to take Uncle R and Aunt J, then their kids were.

I changed the sleeping arrangements the first day, and put J (one year old) in our room, easier for naps, so the kids could still play in Miss P's room, plus if he woke up, he wouldn't wake up the rest of the kids.
After about four nights of being woken up in the middle of the night, one night sleeping on the couch because he wanted to play and not sleep and I didn't want to wake up My Man and Miss P. His pack in play very quickly ended up downstairs in the living room. Why I didn't think of that at the beginning.

We had some fun times. We tried to do activities to keep them from getting bored and killing each other. We visited the pumpkin patch, library for story time, McDonalds play land, shopping, we even had the tooth fairy come for a visit for E who lost her first tooth.

Over all it was a really fun week, with lots of memories made. We all survived, grateful for the beautiful weather, and were really excited to see Uncle R and Aunt J
We were all very impressed with My Man, he was very calm all week long with the kids, even when E (5 year old) started choking Miss P over a toy.

Uncle R and Aunt J, look out for when I get knocked up and have my septuplets.

2008-11-03T20:54:00.000-08:00

Teenager

I think I am raising a teenager stuck in a three year old body.
Today has been full of interesting moments with Miss P, which have ended her up in time out, to give her time to think of these moments.

Daddy S: P, come help clean up your toys.
Miss P: No, You have to do it, I don't want to help.

*******
Mommy A: P, no you can not watch tv, we are cleaning, and you need to take this stuff to your room.
Miss P: Your so mean

*******
Mommy A: P, sit up to the table and eat your dinner please.
Miss P: I want to watch my movie. (She has a little DVD player we let her use to watch movies on.)
Mommy A: No P, leave the DVD player and come to the table.
Miss P: Your so mean. (Repeated a few times, yes it seems to be her favorite phrase today)

******
Mommy A: P, it is time for scriptures and bed, pick up your toys.
(Five minutes later, as she is playing with the toys, that she is suppose to be picking up, with me continually telling her to pick up)
Mommy A: P, just stop talking and put your toys away.
Miss P: You hurt my heart.
Mommy A: What? I hurt your heart.
Miss P: You hurt my heart, telling me that I can't talk.
Mommy A: If you don't talk you will focus on picking up and not playing.
Miss P: You hurt my feeling, you hurt my heart, you hurt my belt, you hurt my doll. (Yes, she starting telling me that I hurt every toy that was around her.)

Poor kid, she is getting over being sick and I am starting to get sick, so she really had no chance for sympathy or patience today with her attitude.

2008-11-03T19:48:00.000-08:00

Cutest Little Equestrian

This year, I was having a hard time coming up with a costume idea until we saw a horse costume at Target, which Miss P loved, as she loves horses.

After some thought, I came up with an idea, asked our good friend K, and decided that Miss P would be "Aunt K" for Halloween. Thanks K for making it happen, the helmet cover made it extra cute and authentic.

It has been really fun, getting the costume together this year. Miss P was the cutest, telling everyone that she was going to be "K" for Halloween. She was so excited, when I showed her a picture of K, when she was in competition, that even though Miss P's horse was black and not brown, she was going to look just like K.

My Man had to work, so I dressed her up, and went out with our neighbor, her son and another boy in our complex.
We made it to about three houses before I decided that the poor horse was a little much for her to wear around, as she was not able to keep up.
Then about 45 minutes into it, as the other kids were shedding parts of their costumes, she didn't want to wear the helmet any more. So in the end, she ended up just wearing the coat, and getting a lot of candy.

2008-10-27T23:06:00.000-07:00

My thoughts.....

DISCLAIMER......So no one gets offended, first off, These are MY THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS!!! I am not writing this to make anyone feel bad or to offend anyone. I have just been thinking about this for a bit and now I am going to blog about it. Ok, there is my for warning.

About a month ago, I read a blog about a book, that I have been told that I need to read. I don't have a lot of desire to read this certain book, but was interested in reading the blog to see someones thoughts about it.
They said how this book made them feel like something just was not right. In the end, this person decided to not finish it, as she finally decided the contented was something that she did not want to put/ store in her mind.

This has made me do a lot of thinking. What are things in my life that I am putting into my body, either by watching, reading, eating, that is harming me or my spirit.

Some of you know, I love Greys Anatomy. My brother lived with us, just after Miss P was born, and he introduced me to the show, which has caused a love addicted to the show. Of course, I had to pass this addiction onto others.

I have been a faithful watcher. If I missed the show for some reason, I could be found watching it on the laptop, as soon as they posted it on the internet. I just had to see who was with who, who was fighting with who, and when they actually did surgeries, what twists they had.

At the end of last season, I was probably just like all the other fans, dying to find out what happened, to all the characters, especially since it had been a short season due to the writers strike.
The season started again, of course I have been watching, waiting to see what happens with Derrick and Meredith, are they actually going to make it this time? Is George going to get to take the test and is he going to pass? What twists are they going to throw at us this year? You get the point.
I am a total fan and loving my addiction until Thursday. This seriously opened my eyes, and reminded me back to the book thing, and what are we putting in our minds.

For those who don't watch, this is what is disturbing me. There are two female actresses on the show, who the writers have decided to have them try a lesbian relationship. At first you think it is not going to go anywhere, based on what the one is saying. In the end of the episode, they make it very clear, that this relationship is not over where it got to the point of almost showing two girls having sex. Hello, this is not some cheap adult movie. It was for me very disturbing and very disappointing, that this is what the show is coming to.

Now, I know this is a common thing in the world today. No I do not agree with it, and strongly believe that relationships are to be between a man and a women, not a man and man or women and women. LINK
Do I hate or shun people that are in these kinds of relationships, No. I do not agree with the choice though.

Ok, back to Greys. I am so disappointed in the show. Come on, there are some things that just do not need to be shown or implied.
It was very interesting to see the next day, how many other people shared the same feelings as I did, regarding this episode. We are all very disappointed with the show and the writers. I am to the point, that my next letter is going to be to the network and show. If we want to see a change, we must stand up for what we believe in.

I have been trying hard to improve my life, make it better, live the kind of life that I am trying to teach my daughter to live and also the kids in my sunday school class. I am really trying to declutter my life and mind of things that don't live up to these standards. Am I perfect no, not close, but I am trying to be better.

As I am trying to make a better me, to have the spirit with me more and in my home, I am sad to say, this love addiction with Greys must come to an end. This episode, has crossed my line with content which I do not wish to put into my mind. I am sure it will be hard, as I am sure it is with all addictions,( maybe one day i will be rid of my sugar addiction) but in the end I know it will be worth it. On the brighter side, I will get to bed earlier on Thursdays.

2008-10-27T21:52:00.001-07:00

Miss P's Cute Moments

The other day, I wanted to tell My Man something but did not want Miss P to hear it, so I thought I would try the "plug her ears" thing. As soon as I said plug your ears, I look over and she has plugged her nose. Were going to have to work on that.

Tonight, I had put Miss P to bed, and I was folding laundry. I opened her door, she looked like she was sleeping so I went and put her basket of laundry on her floor. On the way out, of course I had to stop and take a look. She is extra cute while she is sleeping. I kissed her on her forehead on the way out, only to see her little lips make the kissing motion back.
Hmmm, I thought she was a sleep, is she making this motion in her sleep?
Of course, I have to try it again, same response, with an added little smile from her, as she rolled over.

Miss P is a little singer. If we let her, she will sing at the top of her lungs in church. On key-sometimes, right lyrics- nope, happy and loving it- always.
Sunday was our wards Primary program. Miss P was loving it. She was standing on the bench, singing away. We had to stop her when she continued to sing while the kids were doing their speaking parts.
We were reminded that it is going to be our little girl up there next year, as she will be a sunbeam. I decided to come home and make her a CD of the songs that they should be singing next year. I love LDS.org.
She is having a blast. When we are driving she asks for her "church music", and then as a song starts she wants to know the name, and what the song is about. Then she trys to sing along, mostly just humming the music, throwing in "Holy Ghost" or " Jesus was baptized".
Can you tell what she is learning about in nursery and our FHE.
I am so glad that she loves to listen and tries to sing along. I love that I have this opportunity to sing with her, and also talk and teach her about the gospel, while we drive around.

2008-10-23T22:47:00.000-07:00

KIM.....I NEED YOU!!!

I have this wonderful, amazing friend, who offered to help me loose some baby weight after I had Miss P, and went walking with me. When she first offered, I thought I was going to die, as I was totally out of shape, but she was so kind and patient, and soon I realized that three miles was not that much, we were able to have some wonderful conversations, and made some good memories. It was going well, until I started to take some school classes, and things got busy, and I stopped working out, then Colorado stole her from me.
I have tried to start walking again many times since then, I even at one point talked My Man into a treadmill, which later had to find a new home.
Yesterday, I braved the scale, always a scary thing to do, and have come to realize that, it is time to try again.
Kim, I need you here to go walking with, and make me get into shape.
My Man was not going for my plan to walk 5-6 miles. I was proud of us though, to get out and walk 3 miles today, and maybe over time I can work us up to the 6 miles. Miss P even got into it and ran about a 1/4 of a mile with Daddy S, without stopping. Oh to have her energy.
So even though, Colorado has stolen you away from us, I thank you Kim for your patience, your friendship and for getting me started on walking, I hope this time I can keep up with it, and one of these days we can all do Mt. Saint Helen's.

2008-10-23T22:16:00.000-07:00

Update on Dance Class

Miss P's teacher called this afternoon. She said that she had been thinking, and that she doesn't think that this dance class is right for Miss P. According to her, Miss P is just not "getting it", doesn't follow her, and has a hard time staying on the tape line, and since they were doing some hard dances this session, this probably is not the class for her.
We had made plans at the end of the last class, that I would sit in on the next class to see what Miss P was doing, plus I wanted to see how the other three year old's were doing. The teacher doesn't feel that it will help, and that it would be more of a distraction for Miss P.
Then of course she wanted to know what I thought. People really should know not to ask a parent that, after they have just put their child down. I didn't think it was to appropriate to tell her off, as she is Miss P's nursery teacher, and we have to see her at church. Even though, I wanted to yell at her and tell her how dare she make me feel that my child was not good enough for her class, because she didn't constantly stay on a tape line. Like I said before, HELLO SHE IS THREE!!!
The teacher actually sounded shocked, when I told her that Miss P was doing some of the dance moves at home. So yes, my child does pay attention in her own way, and does know how to do some dance moves, even though she may not stay on some tape line.
My Man plans to talk to the teacher, and probably tell her what I refrained from and maybe more. I will have to try and calm him down about the issue before Sunday.
The teacher wants Miss P to finish off the month, as they will be doing tumbling and just have a fun class this next week. My Man wants her to go as we have paid for it. I feel there is no point, as the teacher doesn't want her in the class. It's not going to help my child's self esteem to go to a class that she knows she is not wanted at.
So the search is on, to find something else to put her in, maybe swimming, gymnastics.... We will update when we find something else.

2008-10-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

Imaginary Friends

As of tonight, Miss P has a house guest, named Miranda.
At dinner she was trying to tell me to look at Miranda, and I was a little confused what she was talking about, looking to see if she had a doll on one of the chairs, that she had finally given a real name to, instead of "big baby" or "little baby".
Nope, it turned out that she has an imaginary friend named Miranda. Who according to Miss P has red hair and pink clothes.
When I told My Man about her new friend, he actually was very unimpressed. I just had to laugh, as he plans on teaching her that we don't have imaginary friends, and they are not real.
We shall see what tomorrow brings, if Miranda is forgotten over night, or My Man makes her go away.

2008-10-20T18:40:00.000-07:00

The Savior's Visit to the Nephites

I know I promised an update on my lesson, sorry it has taken so long. Life has been busy at our place the past few weeks.
In church, I have the wonderful opportunity to teach course 15. It took me a while to figure out the best way to teach them so they would actually pay attention. Yes teenagers are very similar to primary children, so it has worked out well since I served in primary for over two years before I was called to be their teacher.
Ok, enough rambaling. The lesson was on the the death of Christ, the destruction at the time, and the visit to the North Americas. I had read over the lesson Sunday night, trying to think about how to teach it. I was talking with My Man, and had the idea to recreate the destruction. When it popped into my head, all I could think of was, I NEED A FOG MACHINE!!!
I started asking people their input on how best to teach the lesson. I wanted this to be a lesson that the kids would remember for the rest of their lives, and hopefully help with gaining a testimony.
I origionally had the thought of having someone come in and pretend they were there at that time. As I was debating on who to ask, one of the boys in my classes name kept coming to my mind, so I called him and asked him if he would do the part. I gave him the chapters we would be talking about, told him kind of what I had planned, and then let him take it from their. He did a great job, the other kids in the class listened, which was huge, as they like to talk.
My Man, our Niece N and I had gone to the church Saturday night to test the fog machine and set the room up alittle.
Sunday, I had My Man leave early and start the fog machine, I had the kids meet me in the kitchen, were we started the lesson. I started with telling them that this lesson meant a lot to me and asked for their reverence. I read from the bible about the crucifixion of Christ, what he endured for each of us. I was trying to help them picture what it would be like if they were there at that time. We then left the kitchen and headed up the stairs, which My Man had turned out the lights so it was kind of dark. The kids then entered the fog filled room, which we had a picture of Christ on the cross, that they could see when they walked in, and had scattered the chairs, so they were not sitting right next to each other. We had a small lamp for some light, and I let them watch the part in the Testiments, which was the destruction part. When that was over, I told them that we had a visitor who would like to share his experience of being in the North America's when Christ appeared there. That is when I had the boy in my class do his part.
After he was done, I read some more scriptures of the experience and bore my testimony to them.
It was a great experience, I had a lot of fun planning for the lesson, and making it something that they would remember.
I am so grateful for the gospel in my life, and for how much I grow from the different callings. As most of you know, I was scared to death when I was asked to teach this class. I can now say how much I love each of the kids in my class, and am grateful for the opportunity
to teach them, and also to learn with them.

2008-10-20T17:33:00.000-07:00

To Dance or Not To Dance

In September, one of our friends told us about a little dance class for three and four year old's. The class is inexpensive and more on the casual side, which I thought would be a great way to introduction Miss P to sports/clubs. I wouldn't be putting out to much if she didn't like it, which is a bonus.
The class is set up, that the parents drop off the kids, and come back after class is done. The teacher ( who is also Miss P's nursery teacher) really doesn't want the parents in the room or in view of the kids. I can understand, as she wants the kids to focus on dancing and not the parents.
Miss P has only been to four classes, and I sit in the hall with two other mom's from our ward and talk while our daughters are in the class. The first two classes, as far as I could tell, she seemed to be doing fine, of course she likes to do her own thing, as she is three.
Last week, she had three melt downs. I thought it was because life was crazy, as I had my brothers kids here, so she was tired and her normal schedule was off. Miss P also told me that she had hit her head on the floor, so that was the cause of one melt down.
Today, we had bought her new dance shoes, and she came out complaining that her feet hurt.
The teacher in the middle of class when I went in to try and get Miss P to go back and dance, told me that she just wasn't sure about Miss P and the class. She repeated it again after class was done, that she just wasn't too sure about Miss P and getting it. The teacher said that Miss P seems to be in her own little world, and has a hard time staying on the tape line. HELLO, she is three!!!
I feel that the teacher doesn't want her in the class, and that is her nice way of saying it. Since she doesn't let parents be in the room, I have no idea what they are teaching to help at home. I asked if next week, I could sit in the back and watch to see if I can help Miss P, as we have one more class this month that I have paid for.
Miss P tells us that she likes dance class and still wants to go. We tried to talk to her, telling her that she really needed to listen to the teacher. My Man doesn't want me to pull her from the class, as he doesn't want her to quit.
What do I do, I have a kid who likes the interaction with the other kids and something to look forward to each week, even if she doesn't "get it." I have a husband who doesn't want her to quit, and a teacher who seems like she is implying that she wants our kid out of her class.
Any Suggestions.......

2008-09-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

Oh The Imagination Of Three Year Olds

Today, I have had to have my camera at arms length, as my little princess is starting to be very creative.

This morning as I was doing laundry, I had folded a blanket and put it on the couch. Instead of using the blanket as a blanket, she decided to play with the blanket and that it was going to be her puppy. Now the blanket has nothing on it that resembles puppies. What made it even funnier, was she had three dolls and a stuffed bear on the couch, but insisted on using the blanket.
She had me hold and pet her puppy while she set up its bed, which was the place mats. After she made sure her puppy was comfortable, she had me move out of the way, so she could up a place mat down for her pillow, and lay down herself.

Later this morning, I asked her if she would like to get in the bath. She said no, she wanted to watch her "kid shows".
I was doing some stuff and went upstairs, which she decided to follow. I was in her bathroom doing my hair, she had come in and was leaning over the side of the tub playing with her toys, I asked her again if she wanted to get in. Next thing I know, she is in her tub, fully clothed playing with her toys. No, there was no water in the tub. She was really happy to just be playing that she sat in there for about 15 minutes, until someone came to the door.

Tonight, one of our neighbors came over and asked if we wanted any crab, as her husband had been out at the beach working, and came home with extra. I am not a seafood lover, but told her I would come grab some for My Man.
Miss P was on the potty doing her business, so I decided to run out and grab some, leaving the door open, so she could come out when she was done. I was talking with the neighbor for a few minutes, and kept looking back at my door, amazed that Miss P had not come out.
I headed back to the house to see what she was doing, thinking she was just watching TV, as we were watching a show together before the neighbor came over.
I walk in the door, and call out her name only to hear her say...
Miss P: Mommy, I in here.
I walk down the hall towards the bathroom, shocked she is still in there, only to see my little girl sitting in the sink.
Miss P: I clean myself mommy.
She had striped down to her birthday suit, climbed into the sink, and filled it with water, and was taking a bath in the bathroom sink.
The things she thinks of, really makes me laugh and keeps me on my toes.

2008-09-04T20:29:00.000-07:00

Life is not that bad.....

I have been thinking about writing this post for over a week now, and just have not taken the time to sit down and do it.
Most people I have found, I am included, find things to complain about our lives. When something is not perfect or the way that we expect it to be, we feel that life is too hard and unfair. I have had my fair share of self pity days, oh poor me, why me. Looking back at these times I chose to give into self pity, it really didn't get my anywhere.
I read an amazing blog the other day. Someone I know shared three different experiences of people I believe she knows. This blog made me really ponder my life and my little challenges. It has also made me change the way I deal with the trials that I am given.

One couple, was in a horrible plane accident, they are in the hospital with severe burns, and their four young children are now in the care of family members, until their parents can recover. http://blog.cjanerun.com/

The second couple was pregnant with twins, they found out that the twins needed surgery, they were able to do the operation and then place the twins back in the womb. Things didn't go well, and the twins were born four months early, both passing away shortly after birth. http://marcandmegan.blogspot.com/

The last couple,went through the whole pregnancy, two days before her due date, she found out that the baby had passedaway.http://www.babymckallister.blogspot.com/

I am at awe of the faith and strength of these couples and their families. I don't know these people, but they are each amazing examples to me. As they share their testimonies of their faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, and expressing their knowledge that there is a purpose and reason for each of these trials.

For those of you who are close to us, know that My Man and I have had some challenges over the years, that have been hard. I have learned and am reminded that the Lord loves each of us. He know the trials we face, and that as we are faithful, they will make us stronger. He is with us, to help carry our burdens.
Back in March, there was an article in the Ensign, The Atonement At Work. Jesus Christ experienced every emotion, as part of the Atonement, that we will ever experience. He knows what each of us is feeling, He knows our sorrows, our heart ache, or bad days.
http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=cb0bd9ab50758110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&hideNav=1

I hope that as I go through out my life, that when I am faced with a "poor me moment", that I can focus on the many blessings in my life and remember things could be worse, and Life is not that bad.

2008-08-27T11:19:00.000-07:00

Shoe Fetish

I am coming to realize my child has been blessed with my love of shoes. As soon as I found out I was having a girl, I started collecting clothes and shoes for her. She has always had a variety of shoes, way more than anyone really needs. She has a drawer in her dresser reserved just for her shoes.

About a week ago, I peeked in on her before I headed to bed, only to find my little girl had put on her rain boots and fell asleep. I started to take them off, only to have her wake up and tell me, "no mommy, I need them."
What a good girl to want to be prepared. You never know when it is going to rain in the house.

Monday morning, still half asleep I rolled over at 5:30am to my little girl standing at my door in my high heels,

"mommy....mommy"
"yes, P"
"mommy, I sleep on your floor."
"yes, that is fine. go get your blankets."
Clomp, Clomp, Clomp went my three year old in heels back to her room.....
"mommy, I need help"

I guess I could have told her that if she would take off her heels, she would be able to pull the blanket and pillow a lot easier. How special am I, that she got dressed up to come and sleep on my floor.

2008-08-07T21:41:00.000-07:00

Laundry....Yuck!!!

I have heard you should learn something everyday. I have been doing laundry since Sunday, first at my brothers house, then to come home and wash everything in our house, due to a bug that has invaded Miss P's hair. I was so excited because I could see the end, I only had a couple of loads left. I threw in two pillows, and walked into the other room to list something on the computer. I had just been in there about a minute, only to have Miss P run in, telling me it spilt everywhere.
As I got up, I thought, crap what did she spill now. I asked her, and she just repeated, it spilt everywhere.
I walk into the kitchen to see water gushing out from under my washer and dryer, flooding my kitchen floor. Supposably, if you put too much in front of the water that drains into the machine, or over fill it, it tends to puck its water guts all over your floor.
Lesson of the day, if your husband works grave yard and has been a sleep for only an hour when you kill the washer, good luck on him helping or even hearing that there is a flood in the kitchen. Second, unless you have a strong desire to clean under your appliances, two big pillows don't always fit in the washer at the same time.

2008-08-01T20:52:00.001-07:00

She is too smart

This morning, I had made a pitcher of juice with Miss P. I poured a glass took a drink and left it on the counter for her to drink.
I was on the internet in the other room talking to my niece, when Miss P came in asking for a drink of juice. I told her I would get her some, if she would get a cup. She didn't come back right away, so I thought nothing of it, and she was probably watching "her kid shows." (as she likes to call them). A little bit later she came back in asking for some juice and also asking if we could make some more juice. As she was saying this, I was walking into the kitchen to get her some juice, telling her no to making more, as we had just made a full pitcher, only to find an empty pitcher on the counter. She had dumped the full pitcher down the drain and wanted to make more.
I told her to go to time out, trying to control my laughter. How can I get mad when I was not in there watching her. Well of course she saw me laugh. Make matters worse, when I went back to get her out of time out, I started to laugh again.

Later today, we were sitting on the couch, and I was asking her different questions on what she wanted to do, so I asked her if it was right to pour juice in the sink.
She replied no.
I reconfirmed that we don't, and it was not good that she poured the juice down the sink.
Only for her to reply, "But you laughed."

She is so smart and remembers everything. I think daddy is going to have to start disciplining on the funny ones

2008-08-01T11:50:00.000-07:00

Way to Much Dora

Miss P was out playing in the front yesterday with one of the neighbor boys. They came to the front door,and I could hear their conversation.

Miss P: Where do you want to go?
Junior: I don't know?
Miss P: Let's look at the map.
Junior: You watch way to much Dora!

She makes me laugh, and yes she watches way to much Dora. We were in Target last night, and she had a bunched up napkin. When we were washing her hands in the bathroom, she gave it to me to hold. I asked her if I could throw it out, only for her to tell me no, because it was the "treasure map." Oh I love that little girl.

2008-07-26T13:43:00.000-07:00

Fairy Doors
For those of you who have little girls, you have to check this out. The girl that I babysit for called me this morning, to tell me about Fairy Doors in Ann Arbor.
The first link is telling what this is all about. The second link has pictures of where people have put fairy doors. You can also google it for more links.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/21/AR2006042100588.html

http://urban-fairies.com/

Seriously, I am sure every little girl would love having fairies live in her home. I am for sure making Miss P one, I just have to find the perfect spot, and I want to make the pumpkin one for Halloween. I will keep you posted when I have it finished.

2008-07-01T17:13:00.000-07:00

We are here too

I have decided to use blogspot again, as well as keep our vox blog,

schmittfamily.vox.com.

Hope this makes it easy for everyone to choose which they like best.
Check us out often, to see what adventures we have had.

(For those new to reading our blog, our vox blog has the posts for our past year.)

2008-06-02T00:15:00.000-07:00

One Of Those Days

I have had a head cold for about a week, which finally let up yesterday, so of course my house was a mess, as I had been really lazy this past week. This morning I decided it was time to tackle the mess.
After I had cleaned up the dishes and started on mopping the floor, My Man and Miss P started to pitch in with the fun.
Miss P is a great helper when she wants to be, and when she is not throwing attitude, her favorite line at the moment is "I don't want to". I am taking any suggestions on how to break the attitude.
This was a good morning for her, as she really wanted to be mommy's little helper. She helped mop the kitchen floor, I have to say she did not to bad of a job, and then she wanted to help while I was cleaning the bathrooms, so I let her try the toilet. After a few hours, we finally had it all cleaned up and was looking really nice.
This afternoon, I had Miss P and a little girl that I babysit a couple times a week, her name is P as well,( we call her P Sue to help out with the confusion.)
Miss P decided around 5 that she wanted a bath, I was fine with that as she had not had one today, so I put her in, and asked P Sue to go and play in Miss P's room while Miss P had a bath.
I came down stairs to get my cell phone, only to come up to a huge puddle of soap on the floor and the two of them trying to get the pump part from one another. Yup my kid had taken the top off the bottle, the bottle fell on the floor and dumped out about half the bottle. Of course it is the huge Costco size one too.
I get P Sue out of the bathroom again, and Miss P is still in the tub, asking for more soap for bubbles. Yeah right kid, not happening. I should have given her what she had dumped on the floor.
As I was getting paper towels to clean up the soap mess, I see P Sue heading towards my room, forgot to shut that door. I had a little container of salt on my night stand that I had used to put in the steamer. With in just a few seconds that girl had it all over the night stand and herself.
I finally got her out of my room, back into Miss P's, so I could go back to the bathroom, finish cleaning up the soap mess. When I got that done, I headed into my room to clean up the salt, just as I was finishing that, I heard a lot of laughing and slashing. Back into the bathroom I go, to see Miss P in the tub slashing and P Sue standing next to the tub now soaking wet slashing as well.
I love those two little girls, they are keeping me young.

Wii Fit Baby

When I first heard about Wii Fit a few months ago, I had told My Man that I really wanted it. We were in Best Buy the day before they were suppose to be released, and the worker there told us that they were suppose to be getting ten in the next morning, and would probably sell out within the first few hours.
Miss P and I had gotten up the next morning while My Man was still sleeping (He works swing shift now), and headed to the doctors as I was not feeling that great. After the doctors, I decided to head over to Best Buy to see if I could get a Wii Fit, as Scott said I could get it for my mothers day gift.
We got there about 30 minutes before the store was to open, and there were a few cars in the parking lot with people sitting in them. About 10 minutes later a few people started to make a line up outside the door. It was not the best day, overcast and a little cold, welcome to Washington weather. Miss P and I decided to go and stand in the line, so we were sure we would get one.
For the next 20 minutes, Miss P decided to keep everyone in line, which grew after we got in line. She ran up and down the sidewalk, singing, dancing, asking everyone what type of cars were driving by, yes my little girl is far from shy.
A few minutes before the doors opened, a worker came out with 10 pieces of paper, and gave the first them to the first ten people in line. We received paper number 7.
OH YA BABY, I HAVE A WII FIT!!!!!!
Have I played with it, nope not really. I have to fight my 2 year old for it. The first day, I swear she played with it for a few hours. There is a running game, where your little person follows a trial, as you run. She played that game about 5 times in a row, and still wanted to go more. Poor me, I need to work out, I was dying after about the first time.
I think this is one of the best mothers day gifts I have picked out.

2008-05-26T00:13:00.000-07:00

Oh How She Makes Me Laugh

Today I decided that our house was a a big enough mess and it was time to clean it up. I told Miss P that she needed to go clean her room, while I worked on mine. Well an hour and a half later she had it done, of course she had to play with her toys and books while she was picking up.
At one point she came to the door and told me that her toys were taking a nap. Me being the mean mom, told her that was nice and that she still needed to finish her room. Sorry Miss P, no getting out of things when mommy is in cleaning mode.
I went to her door a few minutes later and heard her say "scriptures first, and books". She had her put her baby dolls in her bed, and was getting her Book of Mormon out so she could read them scriptures.
Her bedtime routine is that we read from the Book of Mormon, then she gets to pick out two books to read, then we say prayers. She is so cute and blows my mind some times how smart she is. I am so grateful to have the gospel in my life, and that I have the opportunity to teach it to my daughter, and for her desire to learn.

Final Cake Course 2

The final cake for the Wilton's course 2, had to have royal icing flowers and basket weave design. Dang does that ever take a long time. For this course we took three weeks and made flowers, which we put on our final cake on Thursday. It was fun to learn, but glad that it is done.
Fondant is next week, and I am excited!!

Super Husband

On Wednesday night, I received a phone call from one of the counselors in the bishopric, asking if My Man and I would speak on endurance/ enduring to the end in church on Sunday. Of course I said yes we would, and then called My Man to let him know we were talking.
I had put some ideas together throughout the week, and Saturday night, I finally sat down and worked on my talk until 2am.- not the smartest idea with 9am church.
Miss P and I had were all ready and waiting for My Man to come home to pick us up from his morning meeting. I had tried to get Miss P to eat some breakfast, as I had decided last week, that we were no longer taking snacks to church. She kept telling me no, she didn't want breakfast, even though I told her she was going to be hungry. She told me that she got snacks in nursery after play time. (little turd, she is very smart.) Well about 10 minutes before My Man came home to pick us up, she threw up all over, there went speaking in church.
My Man came home, just to be told that she had thrown up and there was no way I was taking her to church.
He went back, gave his talk, had to use up 30 minutes, since the on the spot speaker only used 5 minutes. Then he went and taught my sunday school class, which as he was walking out the front door, I told him to tell the Sunday School president that he would have to teach, instead My Man took the class. He said that the kids should show more respect to me now. I have two guys who like to talk all through the class and ignore me.
After Sunday School, he went into Elders Quorum, and with it being his month to conduct, he also had to teach the lesson.
So Miss P and I are calling him our super dad/husband for all that he had to do yesterday. I love him and he is a great man.