Jacob & Alisha Family

New Year's Cookies

2012-02-08T13:05:00.000-08:00

The kids both did a lot about the Gingerbread Man story in school this month and they kept asking when we could make gingerbread man cookies. I like sugar cookies better than gingerbread so this is what we did. I love to see the different levels of ability and ideas in each of their cookies.

Just take the picture so I can eat them!

Tirzah hasn't had a picture up for a while so I added this one. Her first taste of sugar (red licorice) and she was happy while I fixed dinner!

Just thought I would add this.

It is Rylie at about the same age. It is fun to compare!

Christmas Card 2011

2012-02-08T12:57:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas2011

Happy Holidays from theHarris family. We have been in Bismarckfor almost a year and amazingly enough we could be here for another year. It is the first time in our marriage we arenot packing boxes and house hunting after being in one place for 12 months. It feels great!!

Jacob upgraded his Safetycareer from the construction site to the corporate office. The demands of corporate life were eyeopening the first couple of months, but he has settled in nicely. I think his favorite perk of the job is flyingin the company jet to visit job sites across the country. He is spending lotsof time with the youth in our ward as the Young Men’s president. He also transferred to a new National Guardunit in Lehi. It is a Med Evac. Unit andhe is the 2^nd in command. Needless to say he is a busy guy that still finds time to do dishes andgive piggy back rides to bed.

I have enjoyed arrangingour new home and now moving onto the decorating part instead of repackingboxes. I have started teaching pianoagain and am really enjoying my students (one of them is Rylie and she is doinggreat!). Being the mom to four kids hasreally kept me busy. I still find a wayto travel with all of them, although Bismarck is way far away from almosteverything!

Rylie (7) continues beingour creative director. If I don’t getthe trash out quick enough half of it ends up in her bedroom-empty bottles,boxes, and other odd and ends speak to her in a way I just don’t understand. She loves having a little sister and takestime every day to play with her. Herfavorite part of first grade is science.

Mason (5) startedKindergarten this fall and got the highest marks of his class (his teacherconfided) this quarter. He is often seenwith a calculator in hand and you can’t drive down the road without himspelling signs and asking what they say. Mason’s free time is spent looking at books or playing computer games.

Zach (3) is my littlebuddy. Several times a day he says,“Mom! Mom!” What, I say. “I’m right here.” He replies while sittingtwo feet away from me. His kitchen stoolfollows me around during breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything in-between.

Tirzah (8 months) is anangel. She has been such a sweetheartand we all adore her. She is rolling alittle, sitting, teething (her first tooth appeared today!) and laughing(mostly at her brothers doing silly things to entertain her).

We are so blessed to bewhere we are. We have the gospel ofJesus Christ in our lives, good friends all around and family that lovesus. May your new year bring adventuresand blessings to you.

With love,

The Harris Family

*Our Christmas tree isIdahoan! Our friends and neighbors the Taylors brought it back from Bear Lakeat Thanksgiving. We have both decided that next year’s will be a North Dakotatree because it lost half its branches in the 1000 mile journey on top of theSuburban!

Gingerbread Houses 2011

2012-02-08T12:47:00.000-08:00

We made amazing gingerbread houses this year.

Master creator-Rylie

Focused builder-Mason

Candy constructor-Zach

Or was it candy eater-Zach?

This is the "kid" tree we set up downstairs. I had some Christmas shopping to do one afternoon and left Jacob with a project for the kids. They had glass balls to fill with brown paper and glues eyes and brown pipe cleaners onto to look like reindeer. When I came home I was amazed at the creativity. They were all different and we even had a version of "Max" from the Grinch.

They decorated their tree downstairs with their reindeer balls and candy canes, then set up for some serious tree admiring.

Rylie's school Christmas program

2012-02-08T12:40:00.000-08:00

The 1st grade performed the Littlest Christmas Tree for their singing program this year. Rylie was chosen to be one of the trees and she had a little line to say. The music department provided all those costumes for the elves and the trees, I think they are pretty cute. Rylie is the tree on the far right with white tights.

Here she is getting decorated by Santa's elves.

Singing one of the songs.

She loves singing and even did a duet with her dad in the Christmas Sacrament meeting program this year. It was beautiful.

A friend Janae, Rylie and their music teacher Mr. Bonley

The performer!

Rylie's school was choosen to participate in the lighting of the Mehus Belle Auditorium tree. Because the 1st grade was already practicing a Christmas program they were choosen from the school. Here she is with some classmates and brothers by the tree.

Carthage Jail

2012-02-05T20:14:00.000-08:00

We spent one morning at Carthage Jail.

I love this statue of these amazing brothers.

This quote is near the statue-

'In life they were not divided, in death they were not separated'

Our family

Their family

This is the downstair living space for the jailor and his family.

The key and behavior stick for prisoners.

There were two rooms upstairs-this one with bars and another just regular room. Joseph, Hyrum, John Taylor and Willard Richards were in the regular room when the mob attacked. "A group of men with blackened faces and guns rush toward the jail. The four men tried to hold the door against the mob, but Hyrum was immediately shot and killed. The mob forced the door open just as Joseph turned to leap out the window. He was shot twice in the back and twice in the chest as he fell from the second-story window. John Taylor was shot four times but miraculously survived. Willard Richards escaped without even a hole in his clothing." (historicnauvoo.com)

There are so many details the missionaries tell you about during the tour. Things like the jailor moving the prisoners to a different room to be safer. Willard Richards moving the wounded John Taylor to the barred room and hiding him under the straw mattress. This mostly likely saved John Taylor's life because the weight of the mattressed probably stopped his bleeding. Willard Richards being promised safety in a blessing before. And so many others I don't remember.

The door to the room where the mob attacked. The hole in the edge of the door is an actual bullet hole from that day. The rest of the door is a reproduction.

The whole presentation at the jail is amazing. There are so many opportunities to feel the spirit starting with the beautiful paintings that you first see when you walk in to the visitor's center to the video you watch before going through the jail and finally the audio experience you listen too in the upstairs room.

These are the paintings and Mason really wanted us to take a picture in front of them before we left.

This is outside the jail and the upstair window Joseph fell through.

Thank you so much Joseph and Hyrum for all you endured to allow my family to be a forever family.

Thanksgiving dinner

2012-02-05T19:34:00.000-08:00

The Nauvoo sites were open Thanksgiving morning so we left the kitchen behind and headed out first thing. We worked up a real appetite with all our walking around and were very ready for our feast that evening.

This is a picture from the window of the house we stayed at. We were right on the river and it was beautiful.

The kid's table in the royal turret!

The wonderful chefs and su chefs.

Robyn and I both packed most of our kitchens to make this amazing feast appear hundreds of miles away from both our homes. It was worth it! Thanksgiving dinner and it's leftover only come once a year and we were not to miss it.

2012-02-05T19:22:00.000-08:00

We were so lucky to spend Thanksgiving with some of our cousins in Nauvoo. They came from Tennessee and we had a great time together.

Here are some of our crew.

Matt-Zach-Mason-Rylie-Emily-Derek

The boys wanted to pose for pictures while we waited for one of the exhibits to open.
Matt and Derek

Such a handsome boy.

Pioneer Pastimes was a building with several stations that showed how the pioneers made some of their essential items. This is us watching the rope making. Notice how we are the only people at the station? This is how it was the whole weekend, we had every tour mostly to ourselves. The missionary couples were excited to have people visiting and focused their presentation on our Jr. primary level. (With the exception of one gun enthusiast who needed the explicit attention of every person, regardless of age, in order to continue talking.)

Rylie was chosen to spin the wheel to wrap the rope.

The missionaries had great comparisons to the gospel in every exhibit. We didn't just learn about rope making, pot throwing, bread baking, weaving and barrel building, but was also learned about how each of those can be compared and related to the gospel and it's teachings.

Mason and Emily worked the paddle to keep the rope tight.

Robyn and I were the rope cutters.

Learning about clay pot throwing. They used clay from the riverbanks.

On the carriage ride. This is a great picture of the temple on the hill. I can remember being in Nauvoo with my family as a little girl. And having the temple actually there, just where the early Saints had built it was amazing. It changed the spirit of the whole experience.

(The Latter Day Saint temple is the white one.)

Looking at these empty grass fields it is hard to believe how busy this town must have been in 1844 with nearly 12,000 people.

It was cute how attached the driver was to the horses. We heard the same joke more than once about the team not having a release date for their mission. They also mentioned the horses names more than once. It was a nice ride, I guess they do need a little acknowledgment.

Each citizen/member of the church was given a one acre plot to homestead. This grassy area is left unmowed to show how large a one acre plot is.

Crazy carriage riders.

Practicing being a pioneer.
Rylie

Mason

Zach

They would have made great pioneers!!

Blacksmith shop where we all received our praire diamond rings.

Herding our crew into Brigham's home.

I loved that bench the mom could sit and rock with her baby right by her or remove that brace part and have a whole bench to rock kiddos on.

A typical kitchen. We learned the women could tell oven temperature with their arms. If they could stick their arm in a count to a certain number before they had to pull it out from the heat it was ready for pies. And a shorter counting time meant it was ready for bread and so on.

The cute sister missionaries at the printing press.

More printing press.

Caleb, Robyn, Jacob and I have all decided to go on missions at the same time and request Nauvoo. They made it look so fun and we had a great time while visiting!

My little Indians

2011-12-14T19:20:00.000-08:00

Rylie has been collecting feathers for a little while and decided to craft with them today. She helped the boys make their own paper feathers and headbands, then made one for Tirzah. I was packing for our Thanksgiving trip and they were getting ready for the Thanksgiving play they were planning to do with their cousins during Thanksgiving dinner. Rylie knew her class would be making pioneer bonnets and she and Mason also made some great turkey masks. I wish I had taken a picture of them.

Happy 3rd Birthday Zach

2011-12-01T19:05:00.000-08:00

Zach got a basket cake filled with gummy bears.

I think he was excited for this one.

He loves this new game.

I just happened to grab this at the store and it has been a huge hit. They even share it very nicely with very little fighting. Love that!!!

First Cereal

2011-12-01T19:04:00.000-08:00

I love giving babies their first food. I love the look of suprise the first time the spoon goes in their mouth and then when they discover the cereal on their tongue and try to manage it. It is always such a messy event.

It took a couple of weeks for her to figure out how to manage the spoon and what to do with the food in her mouth. Now she loves it.

Pumpkin Patch fieldtrip with Rylie's class

2011-12-01T19:02:00.000-08:00

It was a great day to visit the pumpkin patch. It was so much fun for the kids. They had several playthings made out of one ton hay bails that the kids could play on. There was a pyramid with tunnels, mazes, an obstacle course, zip line, slides and other structures to climb. They also had a corn box (a large digging area filled with corn kernels to dig in with shovels and buckets). Each of the kids were given a small pumpkin to take home.

Zach thought he was a first grader and insisted on being in the class picture too.

A Day at the Park

2011-12-01T19:00:00.000-08:00

Just enjoying some beautiful fall days at the park.

Zach and Tirzah

2011-12-01T18:58:00.000-08:00

Don't you hate it when your headband falls down and your arms are too short to put it back up on your head?

Zach said he would talk to Tirzah while I finished what I was doing. I didn't realize he would also join her in bed as well!! She was quite happy to have him in there with her.

Happy 7th Birthday Rylie

2011-12-01T18:56:00.000-08:00

The birthday girl choose this amazing dinner for her big day.

Snowy french toast trees and sun.

She had a water party with her brothers and loved it.

Happy Birthday cute girl.

Triceratops Hair

2011-12-01T18:53:00.000-08:00

Mason is into fixing his own hair and really likes to make it spikey. On this day he came to me with a big smile and asked if I knew what kind of hair he had fixed this time. When I didn't get it right away he told me it was Triceratips hair and looked at me like-isn't it obvious.

If you use your imagination you can see three spikes.

I love little people's creativeness and imagination.

Kansas City with my cousins

2011-12-01T18:44:00.000-08:00

Over Labor Day weekend we went to Kansas City for a cousin party. Ashley, Whitney, Cami and I got together with our very patient husbands and all of our munchkins. We tried it last year and had such a great time we decided to do it again. On Sunday we visited Liberty Jail. The church has built an amazing replica of the jail. They have such detail in what you see and hear and learn about that special place.

These girls really remind us of ourselves many years ago. Even though there is a year between each one you would never know it. They are great friends every time they see each other.

Some of our crew listening to the presentation at the jail.

Liberty Jail

Ashley-Cami-Me-Whitney

We were able to convince a quilt shop to reopen and extend their shopping hours just for us. These girls have some great smooth talk. Of course then someone did have to buy fabric, but that didn't seem to be a problem as we came out with bags full of it!

On Saturday we visited a Farm/Petting Zoo/Old School House. Here is Mason showing off his school drawing.

It is really hard to get a picture with all of them in it, but here are a few with their awsome cowboy hats from Whitney.

Feeding the goats was way fun. The best part was that we didn't have to buy any bottles to feed the goats. There were lots with leftovers in them that the kids picked up and gave the goats.

Some goats became a little demanding if you ran out of milk.

Izzy and Rylie

Lydia and Rylie

She is such a good baby.

Our air conditioning broke in the van right before this trip. We weren't able to fix it for the trip and so had to take the truck. We filled every seat! It was a 12 hour drive and I was a little nervous how it would go with everyone elbow to elbow. Amazingly enough- it was fine. I know there were a lot of people that were excited for us to get together and said a lot of prayers that we would all make it. I think they really helped us and I am so glad we all did make it.

Can't wait for Omaha next year!

Thanks Cousins and Husbands for a great time!!

Bike Parade

2011-12-01T18:43:00.000-08:00

We decided to plan a bike parade for our neighborhood the first weekend after school started. It involved going door to door and passing out about 150 fliers the Sunday before. Deciding on the perfect route. Setting up big posters at the three entrances to our subdivision. And, of course, decorating the bikes.

Rylie wanted streamers and balloons.

Mason wanted stickers and balloons.

Zach and Tirzah got balloons.

We were all nervous we would be the only ones, but when it was time to start we had quite the crowd. One of our neighbors said he counted 100 participators. Along the way there were a few people cheering us on from their houses too. The bike decorations were all great, however our balloons didn't make it to the starting line.

It was so much fun I think we will try it again next year.

First Day of School

2011-12-01T18:23:00.000-08:00

First Grade

Mrs. Johnson

We will miss your creative directing today.

We will miss your dynamic smile.

We will miss your happy adventures.

We will be anxiously awaiting your report of the day away from us.

Hiking the Teton

2011-12-01T18:17:00.000-08:00

Devin had been planning to hike the Grand Teton during his summer visit to Idaho for quite a while. He had two buddies that were planning to go too. About a month before the visit Jacob found out about it and decided to join the group. Growing up with the Grand in daily view we have heard many stories of people making the big hike. It involves rock climbing, camping part way up, hiring a guide, difficult and scary paths as well as an amazing view and major bragging rights if you make it. My Dad was able to go with a group a long time ago and he still talks about it with awe. Devin did a lot of researching and decided they could do it without a guide and without having to camp. Jacob started researching and they watched YOUTUBE videos of the difficult parts and each bought a couple books to take along. Devin provided the vision and Jacob provided the resources (he had all the climbing gear). I drove to Idaho a week early and enjoyed a long visit with Devin, Nicole and Brynlee. Jacob, of course, had to fly in Friday afternoon and only stay for the weekend. His plane landed about 4:00 Friday afternoon and they started hiking at midnight. One of Devin's friends backed out earlier in the week and the other only went a few hours before turning around to go home. Devin and Jacob continued on together. They packed crampons, climbing harnesses, ropes, shoes and other gear, water, food, ice pickes and first aid kits. Their packs weighed about 45 lbs. Jacob started experiencing altitude sickness at about 4 miles into the hike. They found a cave and decided to take a short rest. They rested about an hour, then continued at sunrise. At 1000ft. from the summit Jacob became too sick and disoriented to continue. They would soon need to start using the climbing gear to reach the summit. With Jacob not thinking straight it was not safe to continue. So with their dream in sight, they had to turn around and start the long hike back down. They hiked a total of 18 hours, 16 miles, and 7500 ft. Devin admitted wanting to chuck his heavy pack off a cliff he was so frustrated about having to carry it all the way back down the mountain. Jacob didn't get over his altitude sickness until about 3 miles from the end.

Nicole and I were so anxious about our hubbies that we couldn't wait for them to get all the way home. We decided to meet them at the bottom of the hill in Jackson. That was probably not the best idea. They were two of the most tired, disappointed, weary guys I have every seen. We all wanted to go eat and hear about every detail of their adventure, but they could hardly keep their eyes open during dinner and just wanted to go home and crawl into bed. Our conversation went over and over what they could have done to lighten their packs and overcome altitude sickness. I was glad they were not driving themselves home after seeing them so tired.

Here are the weary hikers with the rescue party.

I didn't even take any pictures of our great time with Devin's family. I drove straight to the cabin from North Dakota with the kids. I was a little nervous about doing it by myself with Tirzah being so little, but that never stopped me before. We loved our time at the cabin. There was canoeing, four wheeling, bike riding, hanging out by the river, games and good food.

Then the boys went on their big hike and Jacob drove home with me on Sunday.

Brynlee and Zach

These two are about 9 months apart in age. Brynlee has just turned 2 and Zach will soon be 3.

Look at that hair color!

First Smiles!!!

2011-11-30T20:15:00.000-08:00

Here are some other cute expressions we are loving from her.

Indian ruins hike

2011-11-30T20:07:00.000-08:00

We took a Saturday and explored some Indian dwellings on the Knife River. It was just a short drive away and a good chance to get out of Bismarck for the day.

Lewis and Clark visited this Indian village during their winter camp of 1804-1805.

This is a reconstruction of an earthlodge used by the Hidatsa and Mandan Indians.

Here are the kids using the meal grinder. That long pole behind them leads down into the food storage cellar.

You can see the master bedroom and kitchen in this space.

The amazing hikers.

The river was very high and flooding the lower plateforms so we just viewed it from above.

Happy 4th of July

2011-11-30T20:03:00.000-08:00

Watching the parade.

It was sooooooo hot. We actually ran into the Family Dollar behind us, during the parade, and bought spray bottles to fill with water and spritz ourselves with. It was hot, hot, hot. Look at those red faces.

We watched the parade then went to some friend's house for a picnic. They had rocket building and shooting at the picnic for all ages. It was the best part of the day for a few in our family. Then it was to the watertower hill to watch some fireworks. We had a great view of several different firework displays.

Summer Fun with Harris Cousins

2011-11-30T19:52:00.000-08:00

Next on our summer trip was a visit to Utah. Here are some of our cousins having dinner with us at Robyn's house.

Robyn is queen of finding deals for everything and she found a great one for Hogle Zoo while we were there. We were able to get into the zoo and ride the train and merry-go-round twice with all the kids for a very small amount of money. It was a really fun (hot) day.

Jacob's brother Eph and his wife Geraldine and their three kids were visiting from California the same time we were. They planned a picnic at the park and brought all the cousins bubble toys to play with. It was a great way for the kids to play together and get to know their cousins they don't see very much.

In the background you can see the solar oven Luke (Jacob's other brother) built to cook his hot dogs and chicken. He is very into being prepared and practicing his preparedness lately.

Zach demonstrating one of the bubble toys.

James and Tirzah catch some zzzz's together.

James is about 8 months and Tirzah is 3 months.

Grandma Jane holding Tirzah Jayne for the first time.

Boise Trip

2011-07-20T20:19:00.000-07:00

We headed over to Boise next to meet Kate and visit Megan and Ryan.

As you can see Kate and Tirzah were instant friends! Kate shared her toys so well maybe we will come visit again.

Kate is 4 months and Tirzah is 3 months.

Bella was also excited to have friends to play with and this trio was more than willing to play. They did get a little too strong with not enough coordiation once or twice and some of Bella's toys ended up on the roof instead of on the grass to retreive!

Looks like fun in there!

Don't mind if I do joint you!
It took forever to fill the tiny pool because everyone wanted to be sprayed.

Thank you Ryan, Megan, Kate and Bella!

Cabin with the Henwoods

2011-07-20T20:07:00.000-07:00

My cousin Whitney came to visit while I was in Idaho. We made a quick day trip to the cabin together. I think the temperature was in the high 70s so the kids were very timid about getting in the freezing river water. By the end of the afternoon, though, all the big kids had ventured in. This picture was taken right before Izzy lost her footing and started floating downstream. None of the adults had bathing suits on and were reluctant to jump in to save her. Eventually I was able to get the canoe paddled over to her to grab onto. She was pretty upset about floating away, but it was kind of hard not to laugh because Callum, her older brother, was standing right next to her waist deep in the water saying, "just put your feet down Izzy!" She said she was trying to keep her flip flops on her feet and couldn't keep them on and stand up with the water pulling them away. I was just glad she had the life jacket on, even though she is a very good swimmer.

Twin cousins.

Rylie and Izzy
Part of our crew.
Rylie-Izzy-Mason-Callum-Zach-Tate
Taking naps are Tirzah and Whitney's three-2 year olds and Katelyn, who came to help us with all those kids!

We love Idaho!

2011-07-20T19:47:00.000-07:00

We were able to spend Father's Day with my Dad. He spent so much time doing major tune ups on all the bikes available. I think he had 15 bikes ready ranging from training wheels to Grandma style. He even had a bike trailer we could use. Rylie and Mason had a blast biking around the drive way and down the road a ways. He earned all his praise and adoration we gave him for Father's Day.

The pacifier cousins on their twiner blankets from Nana.
I found Zach like this on Olivia's bed when I check on him one night. They were both sound asleep. He loves Olivia just as much as Rylie and Mason do. She is such a good Aunt to them and entertains them the whole time we are visiting. She would go to dance at 6:00 AM and dance hard all morning then come home and entertain all afternoon and evening. What a gal. My dad even hauled all those bikes up to the cabin so we could go for a ride down the road. I have great memories of bike riding at the cabin with my family and am so glad my kids get to do the same thing. Rylie just learned how to ride without training wheels in May and she did great on the gravel/rock road. She was a little banged up by the end, but was still happy to get back on her bike.

The bike my mom is riding is mine from my preteen years. When you have two garages and two sheds to store things in I guess you can keep everyone's bikes throughout the years. I highly doubt we will have Rylie's first bike for her children to ride when they come visit. It was so nice to have something for everyone.
Meeting Grandpa and Granny for the first time.

Mason's graduation from the YMCA preschool

2011-07-20T13:34:00.000-07:00

Mason attended the YMCA preschool all day Tuesdays and Thursdays starting in January when we moved here. As part of their curriculum they had swimming lessons every Tuesday mornings. His favorite week was the dinosaur one. He couldn't stop talking about all the cool things he learned about dinosaurs.

Mrs. Wilkens was a great teacher.

Megan was the aide in the classroom.

Ty was Mason's best friend.

2011-07-20T13:27:00.000-07:00

Mason and Zach spent most of each day like this the first two months of Tirzah's life. They really love her and wanted to show her everything they could. Every sound she made, every movement her hands and feets did was amazing and had to be reenacted by them to anyone and everyone. Mason has alread heard her first words and translated them for the rest of us - wow and yes. She really kind of enjoys/tolerates their love for quite a while. She doesn't look away from them until towards the end of this video and it is long. I think she loves their attention.

Just for Nana.

2011-07-19T13:08:00.000-07:00

Mason has been dying to go to Space Aliens to eat since we moved here. So for his birthday that is what we did. After playing the games and winning tokens this is what he traded them in for. He really wanted me to take this series of pictures and send them to Nana to show her how cool they were.

Tirzah's Blessing

2011-07-19T12:19:00.000-07:00

My family came to stay the weekend we blessed Tirzah. They drove 11 hours to be with us for a day and a half then drove another 11 hours to get the boys home for school Monday. If they didn't miss any more days of school they didn't have to take finals! It was very special to have my dad there to participate in the blessing and to spend a little bit of time with everyone at our new home in Bismarck.

We went down to the river for the first time and walked along the path. It was the first warm day we have had since moving there in January. I was a good thing we went because then it was cold again and then it flooded and it is still under several feet of water.

We found some great trees to climb and take pictures in.

Mason just recently decided he was afraid of heights. Jacob threw him in the air a few weeks before this to reach a balloon on the ceiling and he freaked out. He fell to the floor hanging onto the carpet for dear life. See how he is hanging onto that limb. He really wanted to be in the tree, but was terrified the whole time.

Very charming boys.

Zach wanted his picture taken in a different place.

The blessing Jacob gave Tirzah was beautiful.

An updated family picture.

I am so glad my family made such an effort to be with us on this special weekend.

My mom made that beautiful white blanket for me when I had Rylie. I have been so excited to use it again with Tirzah.

Happy Mother's Day!

I loved sharing this day with my mom and my new daughter. What better way is there to celebrate Mother's Day than hosting my mom in my home and hearing my husband use his priesthood to bless our daughter with my dad participating as well.

Happy Easter 2011

2011-05-04T13:47:00.000-07:00

Waiting to start the Easter Egg Hunt Saturday morning before Nana flys back to Idaho.

Happy Easter Sunday.

Nana came!

2011-05-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

We love the week Nana spends with us after a baby is born. I insisted that she wait and come a couple weeks after instead of immediately after this time. I have lots of energy the week after and lots of people around to help, plus a great husband. A few weeks later everyone else has done their service and the husband needs to get back to work. By then I am tired, our ward meals have come and gone, the houses need some help and the kids need someone to pay them lots of attention.
As you can see-when she came she was the center of it all for a while.

She reminded us how to properly swaddle a newborn. She gave Tirzah her first real bath.

There was very little crying with the use of the in-bath towel to make her feel safe.

Tirzah received her special blanket with a silky crocheted edge from Nana (this one has a slight Spanish flare with the multicolored edge!). The the other kids all have one and they love to rub the silk edge when they snuggle in it still. She helped Rylie build a snowman. Rylie may have been a bit bossy.

She let these two do the hurricane machine at the mall.

She took these two to story time.

There was a real Easter bunny at story time!

Mason disappeared at the library for minute and this is where Nana found him.
Playing chess with a little girl in the reading nook.

Thank you so much for coming a taking such great care of us!

Happy Halloween I mean Dress Up!

2011-05-04T12:41:00.000-07:00

Just practicing for the big day only 6 months away.

Rylie even dressed Tirzah as a witch.
She is a very good big sister.

She has arrived!!!

2011-04-04T12:30:00.000-07:00

Tirzah Jayne Harris

April 1, 2011

7 lbs. 3 oz.

19 3/4 inches

Here is the story . . .

I really wanted her to be born on my birthday, which was her due date. We had been planning on giving our next girl my middle name and then she just happened to be due on my birthday. This made it even more special because I was born on my aunt Kalle's birthday and we share the same middle name. So when I felt the first contraction (at around 10:00 AM) I thought, oh no not today. I remained in denial for the next few hours and tried to just sit down and not do much so they would stop. Jacob came home for lunch and I told him I was having a few contractions, like 5 in the hour he was home. He left and said to call him if I wanted him to come home. I was hosting book club at my house that night and I was very excited about it and was thinking I could do that and then later we would head to the hospital. With the other kids we never left for the hospital before 10:00 pm and they were born hours after that, so I thought I had a while.

I had planned to do the grocery shopping that day, but was starting to feel like I couldn't do it with all the kids and occasional contractions. I talked Jacob into leaving work an hour early to help me with that. (I think Jacob was in denial as well because I really had to beg to get him to meet us at the store.)

At 5:30 we were home and unloading groceries and I finally decided I better give up book club, because I couldn't carry on a decent conversation without pausing for pain quite often. When I finally called the backup girl to host book club, I think my brain and body said OK then let's have a baby and things started moving along much quicker.

I called our neighbor that was taking the kids to let them know it was probably happening tonight. I still thought it would be hours away. Jacob fixed the kids dinner and I thought about what a funny birthday April Fool's Day would be and if she was born today no one would believe us when we called.

At about 6:30 pm I decided to start packing bags for the kids and myself. A little after 7:00, after a particularly long, painful contraction I said it's time to go!!

We dropped the kids off and were headed to the hospital at 7:35 pm and at 8:40 pm had a baby in our arms!

It was a little surreal how quickly it all went and I spent that whole night telling myself that she was here and it was over. I just couldn't believe it.

Here are the hospital details if you want to know:

The nurse was asking questions about what was going on and how far apart the contractions were (2-3 minutes) and she was very noncommittal about this being the real thing. I was also afraid that after all this time she would check and say I was only halfway there. That is always a big fear of mine. She checked and her eyes got really big. She said the good news was that I was dilated to an 8, but bad news was that I didn't have time for an epidural.

Just a side note-I had contemplated not having an epidural because my back hurts for months after and I always associated that with the epidural. Earlier that afternoon I had decided that was a silly idea and I was totally planning on the epidural. I was pretty disappointed and a little scared about doing it without. My biggest fear was I didn't know how much longer it would be. Going by my experience with the other kids I still had a good 2-3 more hours to labor. I told Jacob I could do about 5 more contractions and then I was done.

I did get a little Staten in an IV. The nurse said it would make me feel like I had, had a couple of shots. I was not sure if she meant like shots in the arms or alcoholic shots. She said the alcoholic shots and I thought I guess we'll see how that feels. Jacob said I did loss all my inhibitions and just started talking (and screaming) letting everyone know what was happening, what I was feeling and what I thought we should be doing. I think it was a combination of the drug and being in the worst pain ever!

Well, it was a matter of minutes not hours. The nurse said to wait and let the doctor get his gloves on, but I was having nothing to do with the waiting and pushed that baby out as fast as I possibly could in one push.

The last pregnant picture.

An hour later-a beautiful baby girl.Meeting their new sister.

Sledding in North Dakota

2011-03-21T13:34:00.000-07:00

We have a hill on the side of our house that is just perfect for the kids to sled on by themselves. It is just outside the kitchen window so I can watch them from the warmth of the house. I'm not is very good shape to haul kids up and down a hill on a sled right now. I limit the amount of times I have to go up and down the stairs so sledding is out. They go almost everyday when Rylie gets home from school. We did have two circle sleds, but we worn one out so now they all go on one!!!!

Untitled from Alisha Harris on Vimeo.

Finally a snowman!

2011-03-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

Since we moved here New Year's Day the kids have been asking weekly if we could build a snowman. They see all this snow outside and know that is what you are supposed to do. Too bad it has been TOO cold to build one. We have to explain that the snow has to be a little bit sticky/melted to get it to stick in a ball and below 0 degree weather just doesn't provide the right snow. So now that it is March and the snow is melting we have our first snowman of the year. Rylie and Mason did it completely on their own!

The toothfairy has been visiting us quite often lately!

She lost the first one (a bottom tooth) the middle of January and the other two in February. The top one she lost at school the day the dentist visited! Rylie thinks this is a great way to get rich.

Just a small update.

2011-03-09T12:51:00.000-08:00

Rylie is an aspiring artist.

She made this for the "Friend" so look for it in the future.

It says "Heavenly Father created this world for me"

It has a picture of a lion, the tooth fairy and I can't remember what the other thing is.

She has lost three teeth in the past two months and so the tooth fairy is very popular in our house. Too bad she didn't show her new toothless smile in this picture.

Dr. Seuss's birthday was last week and Mason was the first person to take the traveling Cat In the Hat home for the night. (I did have to throw it in the wash first thing. It was too gross to imagine what other houses and germs it had visited.) Mason even let his borrow some PJs. He thoroughly enjoyed writing about everything we did with it.
This is how Zach takes his naps now.

On the couch.

With a book.

Falling asleep mid page.

2011-01-21T08:27:00.000-08:00

Untitled from Alisha Harris on Vimeo.

Bismarck house

2011-01-19T12:14:00.000-08:00

We are renting this house until the Gillette one sells and then plan to buy this one. It was a huge blessing to be able to rent until we are ready to buy and not have to move twice or live in an apartment. Now I just need the other house to sell soon. Here are some pictures. There are quite a few so enjoy. I have never felt the need to show off a new home before, but someone has been asking to see what it looks like so here you go Robyn.

From the front door into the living room.

Still from the front door.

From the opposite end of the house looking toward the front.

To the side of the kitchen is the laundry walk through and entrance from the garage and hallway to the master bedroom and other bedroom.

Master bathroom and walk-in closet.

A very empty baby room next to the master bedroom.

These are the only two rooms upstairs.

To the downstairs.

Those boxes are waiting for someone to buy or build a bookshelf.

Empty family room downstairs.

Those boxes are waiting for someone to decide if their contents are important or not.

This picture is taken from the front of the treadmill in the last picture looking back.

This is the awesome playroom and door to the bonus craft room which is a very large closet or very small room, however you view it. I view it as all mine!!!

Looking from the treadmill corner again back toward the stairs and hallway to the bedrooms.

Hallway to the bedrooms.

1st one is Rylie's

2nd one is the bathroom

3rd is the furnace room

4th is the boy's

the one you are looking at straight down the hall is the storage room.

Rylie's room.

She gets to sleep on an air matress until we buy her something else.

The boy's room.

Mason on top.

Zach on bottom.

We love having a two car garage.

No more frosty windshields!!!!

The view from the front door.

LOTS of SNOW!

The view out the back door and our backyard with swing set!

LOTS of SNOW!!!!

Good bye Gillette

2011-01-19T11:49:00.000-08:00

We have decided to try out a new state and the luck winner is North Dakota.

We moved out of Wyoming New Year's Eve and into North Dakota New Year's Day. What a way to start the New Year. I have decided I don't need to make any New Year's resolutions because they are all about a fresh start and we are starting about as fresh as you get. New job, new house, new town, almost a new baby, new schools, new stay at home mom. I think I will just focus of making all those new items work out well for everyone.

We were very sad to leave a wonderful ward, but I think we have jumped into an equally great one. The week before we left I had two days of packing planned. (I had already packed the majority of our stuff before Christmas). One day of loading, one day of driving and one day of unpacking planned. Then our friends from Gillette decided to get sealed in the middle of that week. While I was grateful they were doing it much sooner and we could go, it also meant giving up a whole packing day because the temple was of course in Billings (a 3 1/2 hour drive both ways). I am so glad we didn't stay home to pack it was the most special temple experience I have ever had and so worth the entire day. I as so glad we were able to be there with them.

The next day I was close to a melt down and called some ward members. Thankfully Sister Allen and Chris were willing to give some serious service and came to help. She packed my whole kitchen while I ran around and packed odds and ends. Chris shoveled the sidewalk in freezing temperatures. Without those two I never would have made in time. Then of course there were those priesthood holders who came and on the coldest Gillette day ever, packed the Uhaul. I did end up hiring some labor help and all together we had 9 people and were loaded in 2 1/2 hours. Then Sister Pope helped by providing a hotel room in Bismarck for us the next day so we could relax before moving in.

The Uhaul did break down 2 hours away from Bismarck, but really it wasn't a problem. The biggest pain was Jacob having to wait 2 hours for the nearest tow truck to come from Bismarck and tow the Uhaul to our house. When we were all unpack we called again and they came to tow it away.

I had hired laborers to help in Bismark, but that morning 9 guys from our ward just showed up and had us unpacked before the laborers even arrived. It was soooo cold. 0 degrees and windy. They were all so energetic and excited for us to be there I didn't even hear a minute of complaint. Then we had meals and people calling to check on us the next few days.

Now that we are all unpacked and feeling more at home I hope we get the chance to repay some of the service we have received the past few weeks.

In honor of leaving our Gillette house I thought I would post a couple pictures of the finished bathroom Jacob did. I love how it turned out.

Christmas morning 2010

2011-01-19T11:34:00.000-08:00

We partied too long and late Christmas Eve to open pajamas before bed. Instead they were lined up oldest to youngest down the stairs Christmas morning. Everyone had to change into their new jammies before opening presents. Thanks Nana and Grandpa for the cute new Pj's.

Savoring the moment.

No that is NOT his pink chair-it is Olivia's.

He loved it though and sat in it whenever she wasn't.

Santa's smallest elf and biggest elf.

My dad always hands out the presents from under the tree and this year he had a very interested helper. Not only did he hand out presents, but he could help unwrap them as well!

My dad had 3 or 4 of these hats he handed out Christmas morning. Mason wore his the next two days straight. When he was helping me set the table he announced he was Santa. Whenever I said, "Mason can you . . ." He would calmly but insistently reply, "you mean Santa." This repeated about 5 times until I finally focused and remembered to say "Santa" not Mason. When I did he gave me the biggest grin of happiness that I remembered and would play along.

Adventures at Targhee

2011-01-19T10:17:00.000-08:00

As always we went skiing at Targhee during Christmas in Idaho. This year Rylie and Mason went to a ski lesson for the afternoon. My mom volunteered to watch Zach while I went out for a run or two. I was 6 months pregnant so I was planning on an easy run or two to just enjoy being out on the mountain. On the second time down I was standing up after resting for a minute and my binding snapped. Jacob and I were very near the top. We decided it would be easier to go back up and maybe ride the lift down than try to walk all the way down. Tanner passed overhead in the lift and Jacob yelled to send someone down to help us. The climb up was very difficult with a 6 month belly, but we made it and there was a first aid worker waiting for us at the top. She said she would have to take me down in the toboggan instead of riding the lift.
I have always wanted to ride one, but not be seriously hurt and after that ride I don't ever want to ride one with a broken limb or other injury. It was the bumpiest, scariest ride ever. We turned to go off a cat track and she disappeared down the hill and I was still up very high in the sled waiting and waiting to go over the edge. It took about 20 feet to stop us when I did come off the edge. I was very grateful when it was over and I could get off.
Hopefully next year's token ski trip will have more skiing and less sledding for me.

Rylie was the skiing machine.

By the end of the day she had mastered going up and down the magic carpet beginner hill completely by herself.

Mason enjoyed it, but said he cried, "A lot" when Nana asked how it was. His teacher said, "you only cried when that boy threw snow in your face."

So maybe the skiing was ok, but making new friends was not.

His class took 2 hot chocolate breaks-how hard could it have been.

The master lodge man.

He was not feeling 100% and only wanted mom. Some of his babysitters had to be very creative to distract him while I was out riding the first aid toboggan.

Cute story about Rylie and Mason

2011-01-19T10:08:00.000-08:00

I have a funny story to share about Rylie and Mason. The other day we were reading in the Friend about a family who went camping and there was a thunderstorm. The little boy was scared and his mom helped him say a prayer that the storm would move away. Soon after the prayer the thunder became softer and farther away and the little boy was so happy Heavenly Father had answered his prayer. A couple days later the kids suited up to go sledding outside. It was probably 5* and very windy, but they insisted on going. We have a hill on the side of our house that is the perfect size for independant 4 and 6 year old sledding. They came back in about 30 minutes later and said it was too cold. Mason said Rylie had said a prayer that the storm would move away so they could play outside and not freeze. He had the saddest look on his face when he explained that Heavenly Father didn't answer his prayer. I had to explain that our prayers are not always answered the way we want them to be and that sometimes there might be other people nearby praying for a storm for some reason. That night when Mason said the prayer at dinner he added, "Please don't let anyone be praying for a storm tomorrow."
I love how little minds grasp new things and see how they use it in their little world.

Happy Halloween 2010

2010-10-25T12:34:00.000-07:00

Trunk or Treat a week early.

Zach wore that happy little smirk the whole time we went around. It was the best discovery of his life so far-If you dress up and say trick or treat people give you candy.

Now he is crying in my ear because I won't give him any of that candy. He keeps pointing to this picture as I type, pointing at his bucket and saying/whining, "Mine" "Butet" and "Tandy".

The cutest and happiest

Witch-Skeleton-Stitch

I have ever seen.

Mt Rushmore

2010-10-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

My cousins made the long drive (7-9 hours) to meet us at Mt. Rushmore (1.5 hours for us). We had a great cabin in some beautiful fall mountains to share. Saturday we drove to Mt. Rushmore and enjoyed the path around the base of the monument.

Mom's can't have a picture without some little people hanging on close by.

We 3 (really 4, but my oldest cousin couldn't make it) have become. . .

We 17!!!!!

What a crowd and mostly happy with each other for the weekend.

It was really sunny so we are all squinty eyed for our Mt. Mushmore (said by Mason) picture.

"LIR"-the trio

"Lydia, Isabelle and Rylie"

They were never far from each other and made up some fun things to do together. They had triplet hair dos for the weekend and with their blond hair really looked related.

After the monument we went for a drive through the mountains. Needles highway was the best place. There were some very different rock formations. Our fearless leader made the executive decision to turn around at one point and walk around this tunnel that we had just driven through. It was a great decision for the kids to get out of the cars and enjoy some rock climbing. For such a young crowd we sure didn't miss much of the rocks. They could go anywhere and sometimes their parents were the slow ones.

This was the last decent and the strong and daring husbands lined up down the rocks to lift each child and wife down one by one.

Sunday, Camie found this great hike to some waterfalls for us. It was just the right distance to wear the little legs out for naps. Plus it was pretty.

We loved the weekend together and can't wait to do it again!

Happy Birthday Zach!

2010-10-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

Zach turned two!

He sure looks cute in this picture, but he has sure developed the "two year old" attitude. I miss my sweet baby already. He thinks he rules the house now.

We had a great family party at the swimming pool. He was not as into swimming as Rylie and Mason were at 2. I guess we will have to plan a better party next year.

Mason thought it would be a good idea to show Zach a picture of Nana and Grandpa so he knew who the presents were from. He got a piggy bank and lots of change to fill it up. He loved that part. He does not like that he can't carry the bank around and can only look at it on the dresser.

Just in case the "lovie" phase ends soon I wanted to document this.

Zach attached to the blanket that looks like this burp cloth under his cheek when he was about 1. After couple of weeks of dragging the blanket around I remembered my mom had also given him some burp cloths with the blanket. I found them and he easily traded in the blanket for them. Ever since they have been inseparable. He will sometimes leave it in the crib and save it for just nap time and night. But other times he has to bring it in the car and to the store. I was glad there were two so I could wash them one at a time.

A couple weeks ago he lost one. It was close to his birthday and my mom sent another one in his package. It looked different from the other two and it took a little getting used to, but now he likes it just as much.

He loves it tucked under his chin. He will walk around with his arm up and his head against his shoulder with his lovey in between. When he is sleepy he rubs it all over his face (which means it needs to be washed a lot!). He also loves the silky crochet around the edge. See how it is tucked under his chin for his nap with his fingers still hanging onto the edge even when he is sound asleep.

Zach's new place to sleep.

2010-09-13T15:15:00.001-07:00

This is where I found Zach when I went in to wake the kids up for school.

Rylie is scooted clear down to the bottom and he is comfortably laying on her pillow.

Yes that is the TOP bunk!!!

When they woke up she was very surprised to see him in bed with her. She had no idea he had climbed in with her during the night!

Rylie is "6"!!

2010-09-13T14:08:00.000-07:00

Guess who met us in Billings for a special birthday weekend?

Two of our favorite people--Nana and Olivia!!!!!

We had fun in the pool, eating out, playing a new game and watching movies. It was a perfect party for Rylie.

Here is the cute girl on her birthday.

I had no idea what to get her for her birthday and rather than just guess, Jacob and I took her to the toy isle and let her choose. So no surprises, but she LOVES what she got. I would have never picked a "pillow pet" and it is just what she wanted. It didn't leave her side all weekend. She had to give it back to me Monday night so I could wrap it for her birthday on Tuesday.

Billings Temple

2010-09-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

We visited the temple grounds on Sunday. Too bad they lock the the gates when the temple is closed. This is as close as we got. The grounds are beautiful and I wish we could have walked around them. It was kind of a rainy, windy day though.

Thanks to my mom for hurrying the 5 1/2 hour drive to watch the kids so Jacob and I could go together on Satuday. The last session was at 2:00 so she had to start early. That is dedicated Nana babysitting.

The kids found a way through the gate, but us "big" people didn't fit!

In this temple's foyer, behind the check in desk, the ceiling is a glass dome that frames the angel Moroni perfectly. It is fun to see as you are walking through.

We also went to a pond and walked around on the paths. Some kind people shared their bread with us and we fed the ducks too.

A few years ago Olivia thought it was hard enough to entertain just Rylie, but in the past year Mason and Zach have followed Rylie's example and become "Olivia worshipers". They all LOVE her and she is such a great AUNT to them!!!

First day of school.

2010-09-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

Rylie started Kindergarten

Mason started Preschool

Rylie is in all day, everyday Kindergarten with Mrs. Smith.

She comes home with more energy than ever, everyday. Our house is sooo quiet while she is in school and we miss her excitement. She sings us her new songs and loves every minute of school.

Yes, Mason insisted on wearing his rainboots.

He is in preschool 4 days a week for 3 hours and he sings his new songs for us everyday. My favorite was the Hookie Pookie the other day.

Mason says the funniest things. Here are the ones I remember.

What Mason wants to be when he grows up:

2009: a pumpkin grower

2010 earlier: a worker (this took some interpretation from Rylie. "You know mom like the guys who fix the roads and build things."

2010 today: a saver "because I am sooo fast" as he runs around and around the house.

At the babysitter's house "Mrs. Kim if you need help with anything just get me because I have super powers"

He tells me all the time he is magic. Today he saw me only put one box of granola bars in his backpack and when he got home he said he was magic and pulled out two boxes.

Cousins make the best of friends

2010-06-26T21:52:00.000-07:00

Just sitting and singing together on the porch.

I really want to say "two little love birds", but that is just gross when it is your cousin.

So instead I will say "two cutie pies"

It has been sooo warm the past couple of weeks that we have spent a lot of time in the water.

Brothers are good friends too!

These are the bathing beauties of the house.

Happy Father's Day

2010-06-26T20:18:00.000-07:00

Here is a sample of some of the delicious Father's Day Cuisine we enjoyed.

Jello watermelon with mini chocolate chip 'seeds' in a real rind.

It was a real crowd pleaser.

Then there were the hamburger and fries.
AKA-cupcake 'buns' with brownie 'meat' and seasame seeds and frosting.
Sugar cookie 'fries' and frosting 'fry sauce'
In perfect red baskets from Walmart.
Just a side note-we love these baskets. With two families in the house we run the dishwasher 2-3 times a day. I haven't wanted to go to paper because of the waste and expense and these great baskets were a good compromise. We just put napkins in the bottom and rinse them with water after breakfast and lunch and somtimes dinner.

Happy Father's Day to our favorite dad!

My catch of the day!

2010-06-26T19:57:00.000-07:00

I just about ran over this baby bunny with the lawn mower this morning. She slowly hopped away and all I had to do to catch her was keep the dogs back and reach down and pick it up. I brought it into the house immediatly and let the kids hold it for a minute. Mason said he would think about what we should do with it. Then at dinner he suddenly said, "Mom I am done thinking."

I said, "Oh, about the rabbit?"

"Yes, and I decided we should keep it!"

Her name is Nellie and she already escaped out of one home and is now living in the butterfly tree. She even has a designated blanket that she loves to hide under.

"Mom I have to rock her to sleep now because that is what I have been doing every night."

OK, but we haven't even had her one night!?
Then later I hear her singing and rocking and the bunny sleeping.

She is a very good bunny sitter.

The beginning of summer fun!

2010-06-06T15:21:00.000-07:00

Abbie

Mason
Matt

Emily

Rylie

Happy Birthday Mason

2010-06-06T14:41:00.000-07:00

Mason's birthday was on a Sunday so we had ice cream and opened presents that day. Then on Monday was the kid party that involved a trip to the fire station.

Here is the handsome 4 year old.

These three are great friends.

They were so excited to sing to Mason and eat his cake.

Future Firefighter
This fireman gave the kids such a cute tour. He really enjoyed sharing his job with them. The kids loved seeing all the trucks and hoses.

This was what the fireman was the most excited to share with us. This is a brand new million dollar station with everything a fireman could want-even a pole to slide down!

He was showing us the upstairs living quarters and Zach escaped from me and headed down the hall. I didn't think much of it and headed after him. The fireman stopped midsentence and pushed past some kids to sprint down the hall after Zach. What I didn't know was that the upstairs opening to this pole is not locked, I didn't even know that it was around the corner. Luckily the fireman did and knew he needed to get there quick. Zach had triggered the gate, which automatically opens the floor around the pole. He was standing at the edge of an opening to the next floor. He fireman quickly picked him up and hearded us away from the pole. He said they had to beg to get the pole installed and that the fire chief threatened that the first broken leg and the pole is out. So the fireman was concerned about both the safety of my baby and keeping his pole!

A quick trip to Idaho

2010-06-04T21:48:00.000-07:00

My kids LOVE going to their Nana and Grandpa's house. They ask me all the time if we could just live there. We were able to go on a spur of the moment trip a couple weeks ago and we all loved it! Jacob had drill in Utah for a week so we headed to Idaho.

We celebrated Mason's "early" birthday with mini ice cream cones and presents. You could eat 4 or 5 or 6 of these and still not be full of ice cream. It was great!

It was also Olivia's dance recital and it was worth the trip just to see her perform. She has become an amazing dancer and did great in all 5 of her dances! My mom even had to perform in a "mom's" special number dance. She pulled out some moves we didn't know she had in her. We may be requiring a little more in our Christmas family talent show.

Of course a trip to Idaho isn't complete without visiting the farm with my Dad. He always treats us to an exciting ride around to see what is growing. This time we drove around some cinder pits and even though I know he is a confident driver I was a little nervous looking down the steep road into and out of the pit. Mason must have sensed my nervousness because he kept saying, "Grandpa we should just go back to the rode."

Fun with our cousins

2010-06-04T21:28:00.000-07:00

Our cousins surprised their Dad for his birthday and drove from Utah to Wyoming to be at our house when he came home from work. He was very surprised! It is a really long drive just to say "Happy Birthday" and go home the next day, so they stayed the rest of the week.

We visited the duck pond together.

These two ate more bread than they threw!

Rylie has become quite the artist. She created this all by herself the other day and was quite proud of it. So was her Dad-he is the one that had her pose by it and took her picture!

These two had more to keep track of than us. They had 10 babies and had to keep them safe from our "babies".

Aren't baby geese cute?

What we have been up to lately.

2010-05-02T21:54:00.000-07:00

The only explanation needed here is to know that, of course, it was permanent marker that his brother gladly found for him in the highest, darkest cupboard in the kitchen.

It did come off in about 3 days.

You do have to notice his cute new haircut-no more wings!!

Crazy posing for the camera!

More crazy posing in adorable, new PJ's from Nana!!

Modeling a great, new haircut we both LOVE.
Less snarls & less maintenance.
Win-Win for both of us.
I love the bows and curls, she just wanted a plain ponytail so we compromised and cut it off.
Spying on the neighbors!!
This is their favorite place to play and they can climb up by themselves.

Redoing a bathroom -- Part 1

2010-05-02T21:40:00.000-07:00

First you have to assemble your well dressed helpers and insist they roll in the dust on the garage floor.

Then tear everything out of the smelly old bathroom no one ever wanted to use and Kilz most of it.

And slowly, ever so slowly, start putting things back in.

As soon as we moved in we new the downstairs bathroom needed a major face lift. After Christmas we gutted the room (because that is free and easy to do after Christmas bills set in). Since then we have been waiting for the right amount of extra cash and time (both very precious in this house) to start the rebuild. Now that Caleb (Jacob's brother who is staying with us for a while) is here we have free labor to help get the job done. It has still take until now to get just this far. I hope I am posting a finished picture before Memorial Day, because 6 more people are coming to stay with us for the summer and we need more than one bathroom to share!!!!!

Spring Break

2010-05-02T21:10:00.000-07:00

I turned "30"!!!

And celebrated with 7 kids under 5 years old. We had a great time.

Caleb & Robyn came to stay with us for the week and they spoiled me for my birthday. I did no cooking, cleaning and minimal kid supervising.

It was a crazy week because Caleb just started working at the power plant with Jacob and Jacob went to night shifts during that week. Robyn and I did our best to keep a quiet house until afternoon, but with that many kids and lovely Wyoming weather we fought a losing battle. I think Jacob got 3-4 hours of sleep each day that week. We are so glad it was only for a short time, but the timing couldn't have been worse.

These two discovered they were best "wrestling" friends. Derek is only two months older than Zach, but he played more with Mason. They spent a lot of time together.

Zach and Derek enjoying a snack together. They usually had to eat far away from each other because Zach would try to steal everything off of Derek's plate only to throw it on the floor!

Here are the other 5 enjoying some finger painting.

Emily (5), Abbie(3), Rylie(5), Mason(3) & Matt(5).

We did have one injury during the week. Fudge broke her back leg while jumping up on Caleb on the porch. She had to wear this splint and keep it "dry" during this "spring" break. We just wrapped it with a couple grocery bags. That was better than leaving her in the garage in a pen. Popcorn would get sooo bored without her and sit by the garage door waiting for her to come play. He was even gentle most of the 2 weeks she had to take it easy.

Happy Easter 2010

2010-04-04T18:19:00.000-07:00

A cute morning picture before the "HUNT".

We spent last weekend in Utah and were able to have an Easter Egg Hunt with some of our Harris cousins. There are a lot of kids under the age of 6 and they are all pretty good friends. I hope we are able to visit often enough to stay good friends with them.
It just so happened that my family was in Utah this weekend as well. They came down to ski with my mom's two sisters for a long weekend. We spent Sunday with them at Temple Square and at their condo the rest of the day.
Here is Aunt Olivia and the kids in a display bunk at the Museum on Temple Square.

PRECIOUS!!

Zach had a great smile for the camera the whole day. He was really cheesing it up for me.

Will you be our Valentine?

2010-02-11T19:46:00.000-08:00

Zach thought it was hilarious when the kids started putting these sticker, foam hearts all over him. He did not enjoy the taking off as much and had little heart shaped red spots all over for a couple hours after we cleaned them off.

Kindergarten registration!!

2010-02-10T13:11:00.000-08:00

Guess what I am waiting in line for at 6:00 AM?

Not movie tickets. Not concert tickets. Not a sale.

Just Kindergarten registration!!!!

There are not enough in town schools. If you are not in the first 60 then you get bumped (and bussed) to an out of town school. Our Elementary is the "best" in the district so of course I don't want Rylie bussed somewhere far away. So there I am 11th in line waiting for 2 hours to start the registration.

A nice member of our ward volunteered to come to my home at 5 :30 AM to watch the kids so Jacob could go to work and I could go to the registration.

I was expecting to be outside in the freezing cold so I just pulled a couple layers over my PJs with all my ski gear on top, a camp chair, hot cocoa, a blanket and a book. The principal came at 6:10 and let us all inside the school. I already like him.

After all that effort I sure hope we are still here in the fall so Rylie can actually go to Kindergarten there!

A Beautifully Warm Winter Day.

2010-02-10T13:02:00.000-08:00

It was relatively warm and we played in the front yard after running errands.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-10T15:59:00.000-08:00

We decided to do our own thing for Christmas this year and stayed home. It was fun to plan the activities and prepare our house for a Christmas at home. I don't usually put much effort into the tree and decorations because we are not there for the week or so of Christmas. Our tree was beautiful and our house looked great. We can't wait to try lights on the outside of the house next year. Of course we were off to Idaho the day after Christmas to enjoy some fun with family.

Here is Zach showing us how to be "soft" with the tree decorations.

I really loved my tree this year, but didn't get any great pictures. We worked on the lights for two days to get them just right and all working and then only the top 1/4 and bottom 1/4 worked the rest of the season, but neither Jacob nor I had the desire to figure out what was wrong. The morning after Christmas when we left for Idaho the whole tree was miraculously light, then when we came home it was not working again. Kind of a scrooge tree, but we still enjoyed it.

Our "angel" for the nativity reading on Christmas Eve opening his present too early.

We filmed ourselves performing the nativity and after the kids watched it they wanted to film it over again and do better.

The "kids/princess" table

The very sleepy adult breakfast table.

Keeping the driveway clear takes a lot of man power.

The fearless four wheeler driver/sled choufer.

Fearless sleigh riders.

Cousins becoming friends.

We came home with these two gems!

Popcorn and Fudge

Thanksgiving

2009-12-04T20:02:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving. My parents came out to visit with Carson, Tanner and Olivia. It was quite a change from the norm for us. We are usually the ones to pack up and drive for a holiday visit. After having a chance to host the party I am not sure which one is easier.

It is a plus to be in your own home, and not have to plan for a week in advance what every possible need could be for yourself and 3 kids and then pack in in your car.

It was eye opening, though, to prepare my house for guests and do the holiday food shopping. I actually had to us 2 carts at Walmart!! And I was only feeding 10 people.

Either way it is worth it to be with fun family members and make some good memories.

Here is a little of what we found to do in our new neighborhood.

Frisbee Golf

(while our turkey was cooking)

The Feast!!!

We had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner. Thanks to my mom who brought her recipes, just the right spices, new dishes, and her confidence and help in the heat of the morning.

The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed a day at Devil's Tower.

There were some climbers on it and we sat and watched them for quite a while.

Mason "reading" the tablet to Grandpa.

These three are inseparable when they are together. Olivia is such a great Aunt to Rylie and Mason. They hang on her every word. I don't think I had to get them into bed once while she was at our house. She can get their pajamas on, teeth brushed, story read and tucked into bed before I even know what is happening.

We found a cute little teddy bear to take home with us!!

Lots of help in the kitchen!!

2009-12-04T19:54:00.000-08:00

Those are some pretty cute helpers.

Zach is usually the only one on the stool helping me fix dinner, but on this night Rylie helped Mason get all decked out and they were all there "helping".

Very happy to help!

Bounteous Harvest (kind of)

2009-11-17T19:44:00.000-08:00

We just returned from a great trip to Utah/Idaho. Jacob had an extended drill for the National Guard this past week so we made a trip out of it and all went. We spent the weekend in Utah and then the kids and I headed to Idaho for the week. I had great plans of shopping and making applesauce. My mom saved me a ton of apples my dad had brought from the neighbor's trees. All I had to do was bring my bottles. We laughed that I should have taken some pictures of the applesauce making for a great blog post, but I didn't. When I got home and we unpacked everything from the car I realized how much we had "harvested" from my parent's. I decided it was blog worthy to take a picture and post how lucky we were to visit this time of year. Most of it was piled high in the garage and we just loaded it up. All we had to do was drive for a day to pick it up and drive for a day to get it back home.

Here is a list of everything we received:

From Mom and Dad: red potatoes, brown potatoes, carrots, beets, spaghetti squash, hubbard squash, beef, tons of applesauce and apple pie filling, mustard pickles, dill pickles, RASPBERRY JAM, not pictured: clothes from Olivia for Rylie.

From Grandpa Walters: variety potatoes, red potatoes (that I left at his house so mom gave me hers)

From Robyn, my sister-in-law: cute "Mormon" star decorated so it is not like everyone else's.

My mom also went with me shopping. I only get the bug to shop about once every two years and it was this weekend. I never thought I would be going to Idaho to shop at the "big" stores, but shopping in Wyoming doesn't offer much. I was looking for everyone, but mostly bought things for myself!

I think we will visit in October more often!

Some Cute Kids

2009-11-01T14:46:00.000-08:00

The kids looked so good this morning on our way to church I decided to take some pictures when we got home.

Thanks to daylight savings we had an extra hour this morning and I was able to finally finish Rylie's dress. I had really wanted to make her a cute peasant dress this summer, but it is now making it's debute for fall. I like how it turned out and Rylie loves it. We also tried a new hair do today-a braid across the top! I think everything turned out adorable.

Halloween 2009 - Super Sleuths

2009-11-01T07:54:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween!!

Rylie is "Darby"

Mason is "Tiger"

Zachariah is "Winnie the Pooh"

If you don't know who Darby is here is a picture of the "new" Winnie the Pooh" show so you can see what she should look like.

We had a great time Trunk or Treating and have enough candy to last us until Christmas. I have trained the kids to give me any chocolate they get and they are very willingly to share.

Chef Rylie?

2009-10-29T21:07:00.000-07:00

The other day Rylie was holding a stick and an apple by the pellet fireplace in our house and came up with a great idea. She thought she would put the apple on the stick and cook it in front of the fire. She worked on that for about 20 minutes. Then she decided the apple was too squishy (she had dropped it about 100 times off her stick, we taped it and everything and it just wouldn't stay on). So then she decided to peel it and cook it on the stove. After peeling it, by herself, she had me cut it and up it in some water on the stove.

She is doing this while I am half paying attention, trying to finish a project befor dinnertime.

Then she says she needs some sugar to cook it in. She tests the apples several times before deciding they were "done". Then she wanted to put some bread on them and eat it. This is when I started to pay attention and suggested adding oatmeal on top with some butter and brown sugar. Then we cooked it for a little while longer in the oven. She pulled it out of the oven by herself and was very excited about it.

We ate it for dessert and it was quite good!

Welcome to Wyoming

2009-10-05T14:49:00.000-07:00

We have relocated once again. It is lucky Wyoming this time and we are only 2 hours from Mt. Rushmore. We have bought a home and hope to settle in here for a few years. I love the little town so far and we have already made some great friends. The schools are great in Wyoming and especially in our district so I am excited for Rylie to have a great start next year.

Yes, it has already snowed! There were about 6 inches of fresh show this morning and the kids keep saying it is Christmas. They want to go play right now, but they all have coughs and I won't let them out for more than this picture. They used to New Mexico and Arizona where it is gone by the afternoon. I keep telling them there will be LOTS of snow to play in everyday this winter. It is supposed to snow more this week and get into the 40s. Wow-Welcome to Wyoming!!

Thanks Nana and Grandpa for the cute birthday outfit.

(We still just can't stop talking about it!)

PS. I finally cut his "wings" off this morning before this picture.

Happy Birthday Zach

2009-10-02T21:19:00.000-07:00

I think he is the cutest one year old around!

Rylie, Mason and I sang Happy Birthday to him about 10 times during the day. Once while we were in Walmart (that was Mason's idea) and Zach waved at everyone we passed with a big grin on his face like he knew what was happening.

We invited Zach's favorite people over for cake. They are the family that helped us sooo much when we first arrived and Zach loves them. He wants Elizabeth, the mom, to hold him everytime he sees her. By the time we got the cake out he was ready for bed, but soon perked up when he realized he could eat it by himself. The best part was when he started spreading dirt pudding all over his arms.

The birthday singers

This is a caterpillar cake with dirt.

Not exactly what I had pictured in my mind, but it still tasted good.

It was Rylie and Mason's idea.

LOVED spreading the pudding on his arm.

HATED the bath to get it off.

Zach took his first official steps two days ago!!

We have "walking" time every night before bed and boy do we have a helpful crowd. Rylie and Mason are so proud of him when he goes a couple of steps, they cheer and cheer. Zach took those two steps and then gave us the biggest grin of accomplishment. It was adorable!

Getting too big

2009-06-28T15:39:00.000-07:00

This morning I went to get Zach and he was on his knees in the pack and play. This picture was taken a few weeks ago, but it show how he was learning to pull himself up. We took the bassinet part out today. I can hardly believe it has been 9 months with him. He can now crawl and terrorize Rylie and Mason. He LOVES to stand up to the anything and looks especially proud of himself when he is standing. He eats vegetables now. He is a tease. He laughs at me when I tell him NO. He teases Mason a lot and still LOVES Rylie. Zach will grab Mason's toy and when Mason start yelling, Zach yells with him and smiles.

Ballet Performance

2009-06-28T15:28:00.000-07:00

Rylie's recital was last Saturday. She was sooo excited to go on the big stage and wear her cute costume. They have been practicing their dance since January. The last week of class they gave their teacher a heart attach when they all forgot most of it. They did great the night of the performance.

Jacob asked several times that evening if he should get Rylie a boquet of flowers. I suggested that ice cream afterwards was probably enough for a 4 year old, but he kept bringing it up. So finally at intermission he decided it was a must. They were selling them at the auditorium so it was easy to run out and buy. Mason was just about as excited about giving Rylie her flower as Jacob was. All three of them have oohed and awwed over the single white rose for days now. I don't think anyone remembers the reason for it!

Joy School Graduation

2009-06-28T15:23:00.000-07:00

We loved having Drake in our preschool. He is right inbetween Rylie and Mason, age wise, and a very fun boy. I loved doing Joy School with Bethany. It teaches so many good values that helped me know where to focus and what to teach my kids. We will be doing it again next year.

Mason's 3rd Birthday

2009-05-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

After looking through the cake book Mason decided on the hot dog cake. He also wanted hot dogs for dinner. He was easy to please. It was raining off and on all afternoon Sunday and it took Jacob too long to get a good fire going. I ended up cooking the hot dogs in the microwave. We did get to roast marshmallows, eventually. He loved his party.

What we did in Idaho

2009-05-26T14:19:00.001-07:00

We arrived in Idaho Thursday evening and only my mom and dad were there. It was a little funny to see the kids not know what to do without Olivia there to greet them. They gave Nana and Grandpa a few minutes of attention and then started looking around for their best friend. We all weren't sure what to do with them ourselves, we are so used to Olivia sweeping them away.

Then each day the bus came to take her to school left Mason with 20 minutes of tears and "I no want Livia go to school!"

Here are the sleeping beauties. Rylie LOVES sleeping with Olivia when we are there. I think she is getting less wild in bed and Olivia doesn't mind it so much anymore.

For the first time Mason got to sleep downstairs with the big boys by himself. He bunked with Carson. My mom took him down to bed most of the time and he would have her say his prayers for him.

Nana-"Mason say your prayers."

Mason-"No you do it Nana."

Then when Carson would go down to bed I think he let Mason watch Alvin and the Chipmunks while he got ready for bed. What a good uncle.

I had great plans to help mom do some projects to get ready for my sister's wedding this summer, but in the end the only thing we accomplished was some sewing. Here is Zach helping us out. He refused to watch from the floor or the swing and was much happier right up with us.
We were lucky enough to be there in time for Olivia's ballet recital and a Jazz competition. Rylie loved watching Olivia perform. Olivia was a very graceful Lily Pad in the Ugly Duckling performance.
The kids were very excited to go see Grandpa's farm, so that was one of the first things we did. There were very disappointed when we arrived and there were NO ANIMALS. From that day on they called my dad "silly grandpa" because he forgot to put animals on his farm. We did get to ride in his fancy new tractor that can drive itself and has a couple computer inside to help with planting.

When it was time to head back to Arizona we kids begged me to leave them at Nana and Grandpa's. As we drove down the road Rylie burst into tears. This has never happened at the end of a visit so I asked her what the problem was. She said she missed the puppies and wanted to go back. They still talk about the puppies and how they will see them when we go back in July. I don't know how to break it to them that Carson and Tanner want to sell them and they probably won't be there.

Maybe they will forget!

What we did in Utah

2009-05-26T14:10:00.001-07:00

Visited my cousin Chelsea and little Mary.

Stayed at Luke and Lindsay's house and played with cousins Jackie and Jazzy. Thankfully I brought our bikes with us and there were enough for everyone to ride. These three had a great time together.

The kids are so good in the car. We traveled 11 hours the first day starting at 5:00 AM and arriving in Utah at 4:00 PM. We made two 20 minute stops to feed Zach and one hour and a half stop to eat and get the wiggles out. I usually pack lots of food because you never know where the next place to eat will be. The road is pretty bare until you get to Price.
The next day we finished the trip and made the 4 hour drive to Idaho.

Ready to go!

2009-04-23T19:57:00.000-07:00

Ready or not here we come Nana and Grandpa

and Olivia, Carson & Tanner

and Utah cousins

and Grandma Harris!!!

(Mason likes to have his eyes closed and his mouth open for every picture lately.)

We love our Zach!!!

2009-04-23T19:46:00.000-07:00

This is the latest about our little guy.

He is 6 and 1/2 months old.

He loves fruit and hates veggies.

He weights 13 lbs 12 oz.

Mom calls him her little "Runt"

Dad calls him his handsome redhead.

He falls asleep in the middle of playing with the chairs.
Loves his big boy highchair

Happy Easter

2009-04-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

Here is our little diva posed by herself.

I bought the stuff, but she supplied the attitude. She has been asking for DARK, BARBIE glasses for about a year. I saw these at Kmart, but had to wait until the day before Easter to buy them (so she wouldn't see me buy them) for her Easter basket. We almost had a crisis because they had been moved in the store and no one I talked to knew where they were. I decided I would have to walk the entire store or have an Easter flop. I found them on my 2nd lap by the in progress summer display.

She saw them in her basket and exclaimed "My dark barbie glasses. Just what I have been wanting." Then later in the car she complained the entire way to church that they still let some light in!

I don't know about her.

I love new Easter Sunday clothes. I was even able to make a bow to match Rylie's dress. I am actually quite proud of myself. It was so fun I made several other bows from ribbon we had around.

Zach really does LOVE Rylie, but he HATES it when she holds him-even when she is sitting. He would much rather talk to her from a safe distance. Do you blame him?

Our community Easter Egg hunt was canceled Saturday due to 2 inches of new snow, wind and freezing cold. My neighbor was in charge of it and she said it was supposed to be 70 degree next Saturday and she didn't want to do it in the snow. They don't just do a hunt here-it is lunch, prizes and games. I don't blame her for wanting to wait.

Sunday the kids did a good job of waking us up before picking up any eggs.

Mason found two green eggs first and for some reason decided that was the only color he could keep. It took a while for us to convince him to keep all the ones he found. He would pick one up and say "Nope it's not mine, it's not green." and set it down and Rylie was quick to grab it for herself. Rylie bounced from one spot to the next all over the house. There are two eggs I can see still today that haven't been found. Maybe I will just take them.

During conference last week Elder Uchtdorf mentioned that it was Palm Sunday and it gave me an idea. We should talk about what happened in Christ's life each day of the week leading up to the resurrection. Jacob did a great job doing it and on Sunday the kids were able to tell us what happened from learning it in Primary. Even Mason told of the resurrection from his Nursery lesson.

Happy Birthday Jacob

2009-04-05T19:23:00.000-07:00

Running friends

2009-03-22T18:23:00.000-07:00

I found a friend here that like to run as much as I do. She also has a new baby only two weeks older than Zach. I asked her in November if she wanted to do a run exchange and she was thrilled. We have kept it up every week since then. It is great to get out and exercise by myself twice a week and know the kids are just as happy about having a friend over. Here is our schedule: Mondays at my house, she comes over whenever she is ready (we try to get it done before noon), one of us runs while the other stays in the house with the kids (she has a 4 year old boy too), then when the first one gets back the other goes. Wednesdays are at her house. Zach is almost 6 months old and I am proud to say I am up to 3 miles (very slow 11 minute miles, but at least I am running).

Here are Zach and Liana enjoying their running day playdate. I think they could be cousins they look so much alike. Blond, fair, and blue, blue eyes.

They really like each other!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-20T19:35:00.000-08:00

We were in Las Vegas for Valentine's Day this year with the whole family. Jacob had a 3 day certification class there and we all decided to go. We stayed at the Flamingo which is where his class was. It was fun to be there together for a few days. Once you get past the slots, smoke, scantily clad ads, and alcohol it is a great place. Actually, by the last day I was thinking there was still a lot we could do. It was too cold to swim so we enjoyed all the exhibits in a few of the hotels. We saw lions, a unicycle performance, the shark reef, M&Ms, fountains, and our cousins who live there.

This is at one of the interactive sessions with the birds at our hotel.

Best buddies already.
Zach LOVES Rylie to talk to him. He always has a smile for her.

Watching TV in our room at the Flamingo while I packed up to go home.

Valentine Cookies

2009-02-19T13:17:00.000-08:00

Rylie and Mason helped me make some Valentine cookies. It was interesting to see their different personalities during the project. I frosted and they sprinkled.

Rylie, as you can see in the picture below, covered every inch with sprinkles. I told her once to not do so much because they just fall off and too many don't taste very good. She, of course, thought otherwise and continued sprinkling her way.

Mason was a little more conservative in his decorating, as you can see under his picture. His first couple of cookies he coated, but after I told Rylie to not do so much he changed his style. It really bothered him that Rylie didn't listen and did it her own way. He kept saying, "Not so much Rylie."

Happy New Years

2009-01-11T16:04:00.000-08:00

We spent New Year's Eve with friends from our Branch. They have a big shop that they cleaned out and set up a projection screen movie and game sections. We had a great time ringing in the New Year with a pinata, card games and a bubble blowing contest.

Sister Hunsaker definitely won with this whopper!

Merry Christmas 2008

2009-01-11T13:51:00.000-08:00

We love being at my parent's home for Christmas. When we drove up to their house it was dark and their Christmas lights were on and Mason said, "The gingerbread house!" It was very festive with the trees all wrapped in colored lights and the house neatly outlined in white lights.

Here are Rylie and Mason with some of their favorite presents.

The adorable backpacks are from my mom and dad.

(Sorry Mom you look funny in this picture and so does Mason actually, but the backpack looks great!)

Santa gave them Dora and Diego underwear. You can see how excited Mason is for them. He doesn't actually know what they are for yet, even though I have attempted several times lately to teach him.

This is what Santa left for Rylie and Mason. Mason was sure it was his basketball hoop until someone said it looked like a rocket. He was suddenly not so sure.

It was indeed a basketball hoop and Rylie's big package was a kitchen.

Fun with Nana and favorite Aunt Olivia making a gingerbread train.

Zach's Blessing

2009-01-11T13:05:00.000-08:00

Isn't that just the cutest face ever?

Just so you all know how smart he is I will tell you he rolled onto his back right before this picture. And did it again several times the next week. I'm pretty sure we can say he is brilliant!

We waited until Christmas to bless Zach in Idaho with my family. It was worth the wait to have our families there. We picked Jane up in Utah on our way to Idaho and she stayed with us for the weekend to be there on Sunday when we blessed Zach. My Dad, Brother and Uncle were the priesthood that took part in the blessing. Jacob gave a great blessing while Zach cried and cried. When Jacob held him up, as all proud papas do to show off their beautiful baby, Zach took one look at the congregation and broke into the biggest smile ever.

We are so glad you all were there.Below is a partial shot of my mom and dad's beautiful, giant Christmas tree they get themselves and decorate every year.

You can also sort of see the cute booties I crocheted myself for Zach to wear with his blessing outfit.Thanks mom and dad for letting us do it at your house and for all the help with feeding our adoring family afterward.

Stitches and more

2008-12-31T14:28:00.001-08:00

The week before Christmas and the day before our family pictures Rylie fell and cut her eyebrow open. She said she was getting her energies out and started running around the living room when she tripped and hit the edge of our coffee table. She was very brave and didn't really even cry. We tried to make it sound adventurous to get stitches and she liked that. Look at that smile during the sewing.

7 beautiful stitches right along her eyebrow, just like her Dad's eye.

We made these cute reindeer cookies before Christmas. They were really fun and easy.

PS-The kids are wearing their hats and jackets because we had no heat in our house for a week (the week it snowed everyday). It is finally fixed and now we Thank our Heavenly Father for heat everyday in our prayers. It was miserable. I had friends invite us over to their houses, but I had so much to do for Christmas I needed to stay home. The kids watched a lot of TV so I could keep them wrapped up in blankets to stay warm.

Zach's carseat-Hang onto him!!!

2008-12-13T21:37:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving

2008-12-13T21:01:00.000-08:00

This is our wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with Jake and Bonnie in California. We had a great time just enjoying them at their beautiful home. Rylie watched movies with Bonnie; and Mason, well he was another story all together.He got the stomach flu the Saturday before Thanksgiving and was still sick the day we left. Each day and the every hour leading up to the time we needed to leave, Jacob and I kept saying it can't last much longer. He should be better by tomorrow or by tonight or maybe in a few minutes. Well we packed a throw up bucket for the 9 hour drive and pushed on.
The kids and I traveled a lot this summer in the car and we have a pretty good routine down. This however was THE WORST car ride I have ever had. We should have turned around 10 minutes down the road and stayed home, but we didn't.
This picture sums up how Mason felt the whole time we were there. Thankfully we didn't leave any germs at Jake and Bonnie's home and no one else got sick.
Bedtime stories with Grandpa Jake.

Rylie LOVED this little bike and Grandpa's back yard to ride it in. She was so warm and cuddly with Bonnie. It was fun to see how comfortable Rylie was with her and how freely she gave her love. Bonnie has ALS and is no longer able to eat or talk. That didn't matter to Rylie, though. She loved cuddling on the couch and watching movies together.

Even though it was a rough trip to California it was well worth it. Our visit with Jacob's dad and Bonnie was wonderful. The kids (well Rylie mostly) had a great time at their house.

Precious smiles

2008-11-13T12:45:00.001-08:00

Here it is. One of the most fun and rewarding moments as a parent. The first smiles. These are REAL smiles--he has the gas ones too.

He is six weeks old now and weighs 8lbs 14 oz.

The kids love it when he talks to them. I love his little coos too.

Mason LOVES his brother and can't wait for him to sleep with him.

First snowy day!

2008-11-13T12:21:00.000-08:00

First snow at our house!

What a surprise we woke up to Monday morning. We had just gotten our snow stuff out of storage Sunday night. We had no idea it would snow the next day, but what great timing. The kids were able to get dressed in their warm stuff and head right out. The played all morning. It is a good thing we didn't wait because it was all gone by late that afternoon.

Rylie said this was her Grandma Snowman.
"I want to play too, wait for me."

Halloween

2008-11-13T12:14:00.000-08:00

We had an beautiful Cinderella and and brave Pirate.

Pumpkin Details

2008-10-31T12:30:00.001-07:00

First you have to pick the perfect pumpkin at the pumpkin patch. One with no scratches or scratches in just the right places. One you can carry by yourself. And just the right color.

Here is Rylie's

Take a family picture to remember the fun trip to the pumpkin patch.

Then take it home to gut. Dad's are the best helpers for this so make sure you do it when he is home. Don't forget to save the seeds for Mom to bake.

Cut your pumpkin lid in a cool shape so you can get it back on just right. We like stars the best.

Then refuse to carve the pumpkin and insist on painting it instead. (Don't know where that came from, but it is much more kid friendly!) And finally place them in a strategic place outside for visitors to admire.

Scary faces for a Halloween picture. Rylie's pumpkin is painted as the Earth and Mason's has a ghost and green blob on it. Dad's was also too cool to cut and Mom used cookie cutters for her inspiration (a cat, pumpkin and ghost). They really loved painting the pumpkins. I had to do some major convincing for them to let us cut the top and get the seeds out to eat.

Sick Week

2008-10-19T18:46:00.000-07:00

Last Friday my mom went home after helping us out for 5 whole days. We were all sooooo excited to have her come and enjoyed every minute of her stay. She was able to take the kids swimming, make cookies, drive to ballet and freeze a weeks worth of meals for when she left. I feel so lucky to have a mom who will leave her very busy life and travel for a whole day just to cook and clean for me. Thank you, Thank you mom!!!

This is how we all felt when it was time for her to go, but especially Mason. I was worried how long it would take for him to adjust to having my time and lap occupied so much by the new baby. My mom took over for me and he would have liked her to stay forever. They were best buds for the week.
This was my first week as a true mom of three. The week was complicated with Rylie and I having the flu for most of it. We both feel much better today and HOPE it is gone. I think we will survive having 3 kids although I will definitely schedule grocery shopping for a time by myself. Pushing a cart that holds all three kids is a workout and slows me down.

Vernon and more

2008-10-12T18:36:00.000-07:00

This picture is taken out our front door on the porch after a rainstorm. After living in Albuquerque this is refreshing and beautiful to us.

The day Zach and I came home from the hospital the kids were so excited to be around their new brother. Zach went straight to bed and Rylie decided to keep him company during his nap. She brought her blanket and made herself a bed right next to his.
Our precious new baby boy.

Zachariah Quinton

2008-10-02T17:35:00.000-07:00

Zach has arrived! He is already a very good baby who listens to his mother because I REALLY wanted an October baby and he came at 4:17 AM on October 1st. He was 7 lbs 1 oz, 19 inches. This was my hardest delivery so far. I was expecting each one to get easier. We arrived at the hospital at 2:00 and barely had time to get the paper work and most importatly the epidural in before was born. He was born sunny side up (which I now know is nose up instead of nose down) and that is what caused most of my problems.

This is the first time I have had a roomate in the hospital and I would prefer the private room for next time. She was a great person to talk to, but she had a C-section and her nurses came to check her every 20 minutes last night. Then our babies would wake each other up. After two nights of no sleep I am glad to be home and hoping for better luck tonight. Even with a newborn it has got to be better that the last two nights.

We are so excited to have our little Zach here and have him so healthy and safe. Enjoy the pictures.

No Baby Yet

2008-09-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

So my due date is here today and quickly coming to an end still pregnant. I will post some of the funny things Rylie has said lately to distract me from still being pregnant.

"Mom what will we do with Mason when Zach is born?" I think she thought we could only have one boy at a time.

When looking at a blister on her foot that had ripped off, "Mom look what Jesus made me out of. It's on my whole body!" Amazing discovery of skin.

Baby announcement coming soon (I hope)!