O'Donnal Family

72 hour kits

2009-05-11T09:56:00.002-07:00

OK most of you are in my stake so you should know about the Stake President's challenge to us. The rest of you...our Stake President has given us different monthly goals to meet. This month is to get together our 72 hour kits. Randy and I have quite a collection of 72 hour kit stuff because we are really really really into outdoors/camping type stuff. Of course we can improve some things so that's what we're going to work on. I wanted to give each of you an extra challenge to get yours together also. You never know when you'll need it.
This link gives you the very basics of what you need for a 72 hour kit.
http://lds.about.com/library/bl/preparation/72_hour_kit.pdf
We have the whole month to do this. So what we're thinking about is breaking it up and doing different things each weeek for FHE. Here's my plan and you are welcome to join me. If you do, I'd like to hear your ideas on what you're going to do or if you used mine...let me know how it goes. We'll go off the basic list from the link I just gave you. I'm just going to give you some extra advice on things that we have learned from.

May 11: Fuel & Light- We're going to make fire starters. These are the best ever that my sister-in-law taught me. You collect drier lint. Yes everybody can do that. Then you get those cardboardish type egg containers (not the styrofoam). Shove as much lint in each egg space as you can. Then melt wax and pour it over. It will soak through the container so make sure something is underneath. You can either buy a block of wax to melt or you can scrape all your old/burned out candles into a pan and melt them. Then when you need to start a fire you just break off one or two "egg" things and it does a very slow burn to get the wood started on fire. Make sense? If you have questions let me know. We're also going to spend time making sure the batteries in our flashlights work and that we have appropriate matches, flares, etc.

May 18: Bedding/Clothing and Miscellaneous--at the moment we have all the kids emergency clothes in one big suitcase. Well, we have a lot of kids so it's quite heavy. They are big enough now to where they can carry some of their own load. So we'll be working on individual bags. I'm planning on using their school backpacks (so I have to wait till the school year is over...I'll get new ones for them in August). Their bags will consist of clothing and food mainly. Food will be done next week though. Now a suggestion for clothing...living in AZ you could probably get away with shorts/t-shirts. However, you never know what the circumstances will be. When we pack clothes we always do pants and long sleeve shirts. The reason for this is because you can always cut them into cooler outfits but you can't make cool outfits warmer...make sense? If you have a baby, make sure you add anything you will need for that baby...diapers, wipes, formula, etc. Oh one more thing. Something that we have always added to our 72 hour kits is a kid game, paper, pens, etc. This is to give them something to do. If you are stressed and really in an emergency you are going to want something that is familiar to the kids that they can take their minds off what's going on. I think we'll put something like this in each of the kids bags.

May 25: Equipment and Food/Water--Equipment is self explanatory. We're going to check our inventory and make sure all our gear is functional and that we have basics. Now because we go camping a lot we kind of have some "luxury" items. I think this is ok. The more prepared you are the better, right? The basics are fine for now if you don't want to overwhelm yourself. As for food, there are SO many different options. We used to have everything in one big tote but I'm going to put it in the kids bags this time. I haven't quite decided what I'm going to do for food exactly. We've done the #10 cans before but I don't know that I'm a fan. I like that you can use the can to cook with and heat water but it's really bulky. So I'm going to think more on this and I'll get back to you. If you have good suggestions let me know.

June 1 (yes I realize it's not May but we missed the first week in May for 72 hr kits so I'm using this one): Personal supplies/1st aid kit and Personal documents--This part is not quite so hard. I'll be copying all our important documents. I'll also get together our first aid kit. Make sure you remember to put in any personal medications that you absolutely need. I also add vitamins because if we're in an emergency then I'll want to get all the nutrients we can.

OK so this is just my generalized plan. I'll have to make more details each week. Let me know how it goes. I hope we can all help motivate each other!!

Mother's Day

2009-05-11T09:50:00.002-07:00

Wow!! Who else had a wonderful Mother's Day? I don't even have any pictures...how sad!! I woke up to string tied to my bed (this was paybacks for what I did to Randy one Father's Day). I had to follow the string ALL throughout the house. I picked up a card and a few gifts (Under Armor shirts...the best in the world) along the way. The final destination of the string was to my chair at the table. Daddy and the kids made me a scrumptious breakfast! Jacob had decorated the plate so cute. They had mangos, grapes, pineapple, and ginormous chocolate covered strawberries. Then my drink was a fruit smoothy. The kids all hovered around me while I ate. Later that evening the kids put on a play for me. They were absolutely adorable!! I'm pretty sure I have the best husband and kids in the world...sorry to all the rest of you :)

Check it out

2009-04-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

So I broke out my embroidery maching this past week. It's been quite a while since I've used it. My cousin wanted me to embroider 3 towels per kid for her. They turned out SOOO cute!! Now I want to make some for my own kids.

Last post for the night...

2009-04-11T00:15:00.002-07:00

Whew!! This is my last post and then I'm caught up...YAY!!!
I don't know why but this kid has THE MOST kissable skin!! It is so stinking soft.

From march and april

You know, I think trials are amazing!! We are given trials and most of the time cannot see the end in sight. We try to figure out why we're given those trials and what we're supposed to learn from it. My pregnancy with Tanner was one trial after another after another. I was almost at the point where I was bitter to even be pregnant with him. We had a hard time getting pregnant with him...no, not getting pregnant. I just have to think pregnant and I am. We had a hard time listening to that prompting that another child needed to come to our crazy household :) Wow! I'm glad someone else has a bigger picture and better plan in mind than me! It took more faith than I knew I had to go through the things we did with the pregnancy and with other life challenges. In Tanner's baby blessing it talked about how he would be a comfort to his mother. There is nothing more true than that statement. Sometimes our biggest trials end up being our biggest blessings!!! Every time I look at Tanner he is a reminder that Heavenly Father is watching out for us even when we think He's not. Tanner reminds me of the amount of faith we need to have to go through trials. He reminds us that if we turn to the Lord and do the things we are asked we will be blessed for them...maybe not right away like we want but we WILL be blessed. I just can't imagine our lives had we not listened. We would not have our little Tanster and what an empty hole that would have created in our family!!
Times are hard right now for everyone. It seems like everyone I know is going through some sort of major trial. I don't want to be preachy or anything but I hope that you all have a "little Tanner" in your life that reminds you of the things you need to do to make it through your trials.

Picture overload...part 2

2009-04-10T23:46:00.005-07:00

CAMPING-LAKE PLEASANT
The kids earned a special trip by filling up a jar with pebbles. They chose to go camping. It was just a one-nighter so we went to Lake Pleasant. We got there at semi-dark. All the good flat places were taken. We slept on the biggest slope! We didn't realize it until we woke up the next morning and ALL the kids had slid down the hill to the bottom of the tent. Randy took them fishing. Grandma and Grandpa O'Donnal came down. Rusty and Sarah and their kids came too. I love taking my kids camping!!

HIKING IN SEDONA-VALTE ARCH
We went up to Cottonwood for a weekend during Spring Break. We decided to take the kids hiking so we went to Sedona. We had fun on the hike. We were aiming for Valte Arch. We didn't make our destination though. Next time we'll have to leave the wimpy girls at home.

From march and april

From Collages

TANNER
Holy fatness Batman!!! How cute of a chunky butt can he be?? He has developed this crease on both legs that is absolutely fat and adorable!

From march and april

And he's now fat enough that both his dimples show! Before he only had one dimple...that cheek must have been chubbier.

From march and april

PINEWOOD DERBY
Jacob got to participate in his first pinewood derby this year. He had a very cool car. And can you believe I did not get a picture of him WITH his car?? What a horrible mother! By the end of the derby his tail fin thing had broken off so I couldn't get a good one afterward. He had so much fun making it! It was Mr. The King from the movie Cars.

From march and april

OK this picture really makes me laugh. Obviously I didn't know it was being taken. Last week I had 2 labs, a quiz, and 4 essays to write so I pulled our comfy chair up to the computer. I guess I must have been wiped out!!

From march and april

Picture overload...

2009-04-10T23:24:00.002-07:00

OK here's more picture overload. We did a lot in February and March!!
GOODYEAR BALLPARK
We had a blast! The kids LOVED walking around the ballpark. We definitely get spring fever for baseball and really like the ballpark being so close to us. Oh yeah and we will forever be Cardinals fans (except Randy).

From feb and mar 2009

Say cheese...little stinkers!

From feb and mar 2009

Gotta start them young...

From feb and mar 2009

RIDING QUADS
This is my brother Dave. Him and his wife Rande live in Scottsdale. We all went to ride quads. I think it may have been a little dusty. His face was disgusting!

From feb and mar 2009

This one's Jacob. It's sad to say but the only way I can tell the kids apart on the quad is the color of their riding gear.

From feb and mar 2009

They had a really cool kids place up there that was fenced off for them to ride around. Oh this is Garrett.

From feb and mar 2009

My little Caleb Monkey! He's the scariest one on the quad. That's why the picture of him is OFF the quad. When he's on I run around because he would do jumps and flips if he could.

From feb and mar 2009

And of course the princess. She's not so fond of the loud noises. She's getting better.

From feb and mar 2009

JACOB TALENT SHOW
Jacob tried out for a talent show at his school and made it. He played "Follow the Prophet" on the piano. He was SO very cute and very proud! We were very pleased with his performance and hope that it builds his confidence to continue practicing.

From feb and mar 2009

DR. SUESS DAY
The kids had a Dr. Suess day at school. They could dress like any character. Garrett chose Thing 1 from Cat in the Hat.

From feb and mar 2009

He also had a "special guest" come read a book in his class...his Grandma Fuller (my mom). They happened to be out here for a visit.

From feb and mar 2009

INDIANS GAME
Over Spring Break we took the kids to one of the Indians game. Jacob made a sign for the Indians and held it up at the bullpen. They tossed him a ball and made his day! After the game the kids got to run around the bases. I really love spring training and how personal it is!!
Caleb was SO happy!!

From feb and mar 2009

More snow fun

2009-04-10T23:14:00.002-07:00

We were able to go to the snow twice this year. I love being able to go...and then leave it where it is and come back to warmth!! Yep...I'm a wimp!
Was he aiming for the camera?

From mingus mtn snow fun

Our very disabled snowman...

From mingus mtn snow fun

Aahh...how cute! Love this picture...check out Mr. Evil grin with a plan in the background. Yep he ruined mine and Caleb's snuggle moment by plowing us with a snowball.

From mingus mtn snow fun

We took Travis (a cousin) with us.

From mingus mtn snow fun

Family pictures

2009-04-10T22:56:00.002-07:00

I just realized I never posted my fabulous family pictures!! Stephanie Frazier does one heck of a job on pictures. She's got a great sense for it!!!

From family pictures

Doesn't that chin just make you want to nibble on it?

From family pictures

This is a favorite!

From family pictures

Beach pics from January...yes I'm a slacker!

2009-04-10T22:41:00.002-07:00

I never did post our San Diego beach pictures.
I absolutely LOVE this pic!! Randy sure loves his little man!

From sandiego

We hadn't planned on playing in the ocean because we were just there for the sunset. Ya right! The kids kept going in farther and farther. They absolutely loved it even though they were freezing!

From sandiego

We went to the USS Midway. Very cool!! We also got so see a destroyer deployed. Talk about giving you a sense of pride!

From sandiego

More beach pics...

From sandiego

Well that's at least a glimpse of the fun we had. A few pics out of the 400 that I took that weekend :)

Caleb's 5th bday

2009-04-10T22:07:00.001-07:00

So my little monkey is now 5. I can hardly believe it. Yes his bday was February 2 and I'm just now getting to this in April. So I'm a little behind! This was by far one of the most fun cakes I have made and got some really good WOWs from the kids.

His very favorite present!! Compared to the clown bike that he was riding, this is ginormous! He barely fits but he loves it and of course it makes him go faster. He is my most dangerous little child.

I LOVE COUPONS!!!

2009-03-25T17:12:00.002-07:00

OK so I know I haven't posted for a while. Life just got even more hectic last week. My kids have been home for spring break AND I started two new classes for school...Biology and Microbiology. I'm going to be insane possibly by June!
Anyway, that's not why I'm posting. I am posting because I love coupons!! I've been doing Coupon Sense since July. I loved it SO much that I became an instructor. Well, today I scored HUGE so I just have to share my excitement!! I don't know why we never knew about this while we were going through college or when we had 2 kids in diapers. Man, I have never spent SO little on groceries and got SO much! My pantry is filled to the brim and my budget has been diminished significantly...good thing with the economy the way it is! So here is what I got:
FRYS:
4 boxes PB Crunch cereal
2 boxes Life cereal
6 boxes Quaker True Delights granola bars
6 boxes Johnson and Johson buddies bars (soap for kids)
9 packs Stride gum
6 Pillsbury pizza crust dough
2 Pillsbury French loaf dough
My total........$4.83!!!!! You can hardly buy one box of cereal for that!! My total savings was a 97% savings of $88!!!!!!
BASHAS:
2 boxes Banana Nut Cheerios
2 boxes Honey Nut Kix
6 boxes Mentos gum
2 Lysol toilet bowl cleaners
Total: $5.68....saved $18.35.
WALGREENS:
1 Gillette Fusion Gamer Razor
1 BIC Soleil razor
6 packs Trident gum
2 BIG bottles Listerine
2 Coppertone Spray sunscreen
2 Colgate Total toothpaste
Total: $14.42.....saved $43.89....PLUS I got $17 in Register Rewards which I can go spend on anything in the store!!

Sooooo....if you are ready to save some big bucks let me know and I can get you signed up. It seriously is the most fabulous thing I've done. It does take a little extra time to get the coupons ready, clipped, and shopping list. But to me it is totally worth it to save THAT much money!!

San Diego

2009-02-09T10:48:00.006-07:00

Look at me go. I'm already updating again. I think that might be a record :) Back in January we had the opportunity to go to San Diego. My nephew, Sean, graduated from the Marines boot camp. I just have to say it was one of the most amazing ceremonies I have ever been to. It gives you a renewed sense of patriotism to watch these young men want to serve our country.

He's the one directly in the middle. They all moved with exactness and were so tremendously polite. It was amazing!

We used to live near this particular nephew but when we moved to AZ we had to move away. He was one of my kids favorites. Sean would always take care of my kids. Not because he had to or anything but because he LOVED being around them. My kids attacked him the moment the ceremonies were over!

This was the first time Sean got to meet Tanner. I have a picture of every single one of my kids sleeping on Sean's chest. Well, Tanner's just squinting from the sun and not sleeping but it's the same pic I have of all his siblings.
We sure are proud of Sean!! We're looking forward to going back in August when Sean's brother, Samuel, will graduate from boot camp. I wish we could go out to South Carolina in April when my niece, Little Melissa (well, not so little anymore) will graduate from the Marines there as well. Our family will have 3 Marines by the end of the year. Ooh rah!!

Long...catching up

2009-01-29T11:45:00.011-07:00

OK well I'm not sure where the last three months went. Oh yes I am...I had a baby! Actually we have the best baby in the entire world. He is a fabulous sleeper. I only get up once or twice at night since the day he came home. He is super patient. I guess he has to be with all his siblings taking so much attention.

He's a cutie! We sure have enjoyed having him. I must have gone through so many trials during the pregnancy and delivery so that I would be more appreciative. We are very blessed to have such a sweet spirit in our home! So because he is such a fabulous baby I decided that I should get my last couple generals out of the way. So I'm taking 6 credit hours thru Rio Salado...online. I just have to take Anatomy this semester then I can apply for the nursing program. It's about a year wait after that but it's almost all online. Yes, I'm crazy!! Anywho, here are our happenings for the last couple months.
I'll spare you all our Christmas craziness. We had fun. We stayed home for the first time in 10 years. Our kids didn't even wake up till 7 am. It was the most relaxing and enjoyable Christmas morning I have ever had. I want to stay home every year now!
The Saturday after Christmas we went to Cottonwood with Randy's family. There was snow on Mingus so we HAD to go play. The road up the mountain was ICE. I was a little nervous to go up since two trucks were sliding down it almost hitting us. However, the manly boys said it was possible so we went.

The kids had a blast! Well, Brianna didn't enjoy tubing she just liked kicking the snow. Jacob kept eating the snow...hopefully not the yellow stuff :) Caleb thought it was a rollercoaster. Garrett is just silly and has fun no matter what is going on. I got to try snowboarding...looks easier than it really is. Randy and Rusty (his bro) spent most of their time "building" the trail. They bring shovels and are funny making bumps or whatever to add more fun.

Garrett had his birthday. He actually got two of them because we did one while we were in Cottonwood. It's one of our traditions that the kids get to pick out their own pan and I'll attempt making the cake. I'm by no means a professional. I just enjoy doing something fun for my kids.

We went to the Science Center over Christmas Break. The kids always love going there. It is fascinating.

We also went to the Train Park in Scottsdale over Christmas Break. My kids LOVE that place! My brother lives over there and we went to help him with some things so we stopped by while we were in the neighborhood.

OK I'm at least caught up thru last year. I'll finish January maybe by the end of February...hee hee.

Anyone up for a challenge??

2008-11-11T14:12:00.002-07:00

My sister-in-law says she's tired of being fat. So I came up with a program for her that has walking/jogging. We set a goal that she's going to do her very first 5K (3.1 miles) on January 31st. I can't remember which one it is but it's somewhere here in Phoenix and probably costs maybe $20-25. Anyway, if any of you are up for that challenge let me know. I can email you the program if you want to start. It should basically take about 20-30 minutes 3-4 times per week. It's not that difficult but I know the hardest part of exercising is being motivated to do it.
The idea is to do the 5K at the end of January and then continue the training for a duathlon (run 2 miles, bike 12 miles, run 1 mile) in March. That one is in Prescott so you may or may not want to drive for that. I have family up there so I'm going to do that as well. Happy training!!

TANNER

2008-10-28T15:12:00.008-07:00

Well, I guess some of you may already know that little Tanner decided to come four weeks early. That is very weird for me considering mine are usually a couple days overdue. I am much happier to have him outside my body than in!! This pregnancy was a rough go so it's nice to have such a beautiful finished product and be done being pregnant. My water broke at 2 am so we went in. I decided I'd go without an epidural because all my other deliveries were easy and I wanted to see if I could. My contractions really weren't that bad for quite a while. They kept messing with the Pitocin because his heart rate kept dropping with each contraction. Well, I had finally decided I'd had enough and I'd take the epidural. They said if I was less than a 7 I could have one. The nurse checks and says "You're a 9. Oh and that doesn't feel like a head." So they rush to get the ultrasound machine and are frantically trying to find the head. Too late!! I was ready to push. I had never had that huge urge to push with my other ones. I think when my brain heard he was breach I was NOT ready to have a c-section and I knew if the doctor got there he would want to do that. The nurse tells me not to push but I really couldn't help it and out pops his butt. Randy's face was hilarious. He said "A butt??" I would go into all the embarrassing details but many of you may gross out so I'll spare you. Let's just say that one of the nurse's who ended up delivering him had to go to the ER afterwards because of amniotic fluid in her face. Poor thing!! It was their own fault since they put in some intrauterine thing to fill up the water I had been losing.

Oh he was born October 13. He was 6 pounds 14 ounces and 18 inches long. That is TINY for us!! I guess it's a good thing since he was backwards.

He always has his hand up to his eye. It's so cute but I'm afraid he's going to scratch his eyeball out.

What's cuter than a little baby bum??

I love his little naked back!! His skin is SO soft!! I think he's cuter because he's so small!

The kids all love him to pieces! Brianna is a mini mom. She wants to help with everything!! Jacob just loves to snuggle him. I didn't know he would be so attached to Tanner. Garrett loves to laugh at the silly noises Tanner makes all the time and how his eyes roll all over the place. Caleb is just waiting until Tanner can play baseball with him. They are all very cute with our little peanut.

Looky looky

2008-09-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

OK so most of you probably don't know that I went into labor last Wednesday. They gave me the most painful shots in the world to stop my contractions. It didn't stop them but slowed them down at least. They didn't put me on bedrest but they said not to be doing things that cause contractions...oh like any sort of movement? Argh! So I've been trying to do things that are "sit down" types of things. I am almost caught up on my scrapbooks...yeah!! Then I decided that I'd try to make some bows for Brianna's hair. Why not? I have time now. I found some awesome sites that gave instructions. Ribbon is so cheap and I finally found the alligator clips at Sally's hair place. So Randy went and had a boys night with my brothers and I sat and made bows. I couldn't believe how easy they were to make!! Very fun! Brianna loved them. Guess I'll need to get more ribbon and try some more.
Here are the 2 websites I liked the most in case you want to make some yourself.
http://bowdesigns.50webs.com/
https://www.theribbonretreat.com/custom/free_projects.aspx

I can copy things. I just can't come up with the cuteness myself.
So that's my life lately. I'm not good at sitting still. It's too boring. I like to be up and doing stuff. I just have to make it until at least October 10 so I'll be 36 weeks at that point. Hopefully I can keep finding stuff to do sitting down :)

AHA...finally found something for Stephanie

2008-09-19T08:59:00.000-07:00

I've been cleaning files off my computer. I knew if I looked hard enough I could find a good picture of Stephanie since she's posted some wonderful ones of me :) These are from girls camp in 2007. The girls had to make outfits out of newspaper. Stephanie's was awesome!! She was the winner. Mine I think was a wedding dress. They stuck water balloons in for my boobs. So when I went on stage I turned around, grabbed them, and threw them out to the crowd. And what's with the makeup?? Who agreed to that?

My husband is the best...

2008-09-18T19:36:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let you all know that I think I have the best husband in the world. He brought a rose home the other day for no reason at all. I am really not a flower person. I figure they just die anyway so what's the point? However, this had to be THE most beautiful rose I had ever seen. It was HUGE!! He's awesome! I think I'll keep him.

FLAG FOOTBALL

2008-09-15T15:29:00.000-07:00

OK this cracks me up...grown men playing flag football. I don't know why it makes me giggle. But it's Randy's newest thing. It's a league through the City of Goodyear. The team is Randy, Dennis and Don (my brothers), JT Brown (cousin), Jared Biggs, Ryan Taylor, Doug DeGraw, Brad Quinet, and Mark Merrill. Their first game was last week. Here are some pics of it. Oh, and any of you that may know Biggs make sure you tease him about his TIGHT fitting shirt!!

Cinders trip

2008-09-15T11:29:00.001-07:00

We had our annual Cinders trip. The cinders are in Flagstaff. We go every Labor Day. It is always gorgeous and we always have a ton of fun riding quads. I absolutely LOVE camping!! My kids are so awesome when we are camping. I'd go every weekend if we had the time. We like the type of camping where no one is really around. There are no facilities. We're just in the middle of nowhere. We took over 300 pictures so I guess I have to narrow those down to just some of my favorites. That's hard!!

Oh FYI, the crazy guy doing the wheelie is not Randy. It's his brother, Rusty!

Another month went by???

2008-09-15T10:49:00.000-07:00

OK so see how it's been another month since I've been on again. This seems to be my life. It is just flying right by. One of these months is going to slow down I swear. It definitely wasn't this past month though.

Jacob got baptized. Wow! That was a little crazy. There have been sometimes where I've actually quite liked Satan's plan where I could just make him choose good choices. He seems to have really grown up since he was baptized though. It's almost like he actually realizes that he is responsible himself now. We remind him of that every once in a while and have been trying to let him have a little more freedom with his actions/consequences. We had quite a crew at the baptism. My parents came from MO. Randy's parents were there. We had aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, neighbors, friends, etc. It was a great turnout for such a great event!!

We went to the races up in Prescott. That's what Jacob wanted to do for his birthday. My brother-in-law, Tim, was racing. Talk about one of the most redneck of redneck activities. I couldn't help but laugh at everyone around me. I finally told Randy in the middle of it that I think I'd fit in more if I was wearing a tube top with my pregnant belly hanging out. There was a lady sitting about 10 feet away from us that was so excited for the 50/50 raffle to come around. She said "I'm buying 5 of them since I have a 50% chance to win". Meanwhile the bucket is filled with hundreds of tickets. I'm wondering where her math was on having a 50% chance to win when she had 5 out of hundreds of tickets. Tim ended up winning his race which really made my kids day. They thought he won just for them. It was fun.

Other stuff I've been doing...canning. I canned 56 quarts of peaches. Thank goodness Jacob loves to help can stuff. He came home from school and did an amazing job helping me. I never would have got it all done in a day if I didn't have him helping me. Guess I should have taken a picture of him but our hands were covered in slime. Randy actually helped me a little too. It sure makes me grateful to my mother for teaching me how to do so many things.

I think that's all for now.

Hello again!!!

2008-08-15T09:01:00.001-07:00

I want to know who has checked my blog the most and been most frustrated that I haven't posted anything new?? I can't believe it's been over 3 months. Our summer got a little hectic for a while apparently. School has started and things have slowed down a little. I'm not going to go back and repost pictures because I took probably over 1000 pics this summer. So I'll just go from here and maybe try to keep better updated :)
I guess some of you may know of some things that have happened around here. I guess our biggest news that a lot of people don't know (because we didn't tell anyone before we split from the Sarival Ward) is that I'm pregnant. Now since it's been 3 months since I've posted and I was pregnant before that I only have 10 weeks left. We're having another boy. We think we're going to name him Tanner Austin but we're not 100% on that. The kids like that name though.
Other news...Randy graduated from ASU in May!!! We are glad to be finished. That was sure a long haul through college with so many kids but I'm grateful Randy sacrificed for us and went through it anyway. In May we also celebrated our 9th anniversary. Time flies when you're having fun, right?
June was very busy! Our ward got split and I got kicked out from being with my 2 brothers and my cousin. We're in the new Canyon Trails ward. A couple weeks after it split I went to Girl's Camp with my partner in crime (Stephanie Frazier). We sure have lots of fun up there!!! The rest of the leaders may think we're crazy but we think it's fun. What's more fun than playing Marco Polo in Walmart and having some stranger join in the game? When I got back I got called as the Young Women's President. WOW! I love the YW so I don't mind but life is going to be busy for a while esp when the baby comes. I knew I needed excellent counselors that could take over while I'm out. I couldn't have better ones!!
July was also action packed. We had a family reunion at Panguitch Lake, UT. It was so gorgeous up there!!! I could have stayed another week or so except that I was already annoyed at the lack of phone service. It was nice for a while but when you're trying to conduct real estate business on vacation with no service it doesn't work out so well. We went on lots of hiking and fishing trips. At the end of July I got to go on the Pioneer Trek with the youth. Originally I was suppose to go as a Big Sister but I was pregnant and they wouldn't let me. So Stephanie and I traded and I went as a photographer. That was awesome to capture the youth but next time I am definitely going as a Big Sister. Then maybe I won't be lost for 4 hours in the dark on a quad in the rain with mud splattering from head to toe and 3 pounds of it in each eye. That's my long story short about that.
Anyway, school just started. That makes life a little easier but then harder at the same time because then our day is packed with getting homework finished and everything else.
So...that is the last 3 months very condensed! Sorry it has taken me so long to update this. I'll throw in some pictures over the next week or so...hopefully! Now I have to catch up on reading everyone elses who have actually been posting.

Messes...

2008-04-18T13:34:00.000-07:00

This is dedicated to Nikki. Don't worry...it does get better. Caleb has been our only child that is completely enthralled with making messes out of everything. I always swore I would never have "one of those kids" or be "one of those mom's". HA! I swear I watch my kids. I'm not sure when and how they make messes like these. I think they secretly lie in wait until you turn your head. They have their little plan all ready to put in motion.
This first one is a powdered sugar mess. Randy and I must have been really tired because we didn't even know the kids were awake. They were so helpful in getting Brianna up to the table and everything. Then they took a #10 can of powdered sugar and spread it all over the place. I mean everywhere...dust in the blinds, on the TV, movie cases, books, on every cabinet, chairs, table, counters, everything. Then Caleb thought about the wonderful idea of cleaning it up with water on the floor. So not only do we have powdered sugar dust to clean up all over, we also had glaze to clean up from the floor. Randy about freaked out. I laughed so hard I had to find my camera before we could clean anything up.

Next we have one of Caleb's favorite things to do for a while...pull out all blankets, sheets, and towels from the closet. He did this just so he could climb and lay on the shelves. This could be done in a matter of seconds. It didn't matter what I was doing. If I heard the noise it was done before I could get there. He always drags Brianna into it. He must think he won't get in as much trouble if he has her cuteness with him.

Popcorn...who needs a bowl? Of course it tastes better if it is spread completely all over the table and floor.

Life cereal...again, who needs a bowl? They were supposed to be sitting at the table. Instead they decided that emptying all the cereal--and smashing it into the carpet--would be a better idea.

I have NO idea what happened here. I think he had like 10 minutes while I was busy. How can you trash a room like this so quickly??

All of these pictures came within a months time. Talk about frustration!! I was wondering if it would ever end. Those were the times where you wonder why motherhood was such a great option. No one ever tells you the hard moments. They only told you the wonderful stuff about having kids. I tell Randy all the time now how glad I am that I actually like Caleb again. He was the best baby in the history of the world. But he was our only one to go through TERRIBLE TWOS!!!
Anyway, at least you know you're not alone going through these crazy times!!

New look

2008-04-08T12:34:00.000-07:00

Baseball season is upon us so I felt the need to support my St. Louis Cardinals!!! Go Cards!! However, I lost all my list of friends so I'll have to figure that out somehow. The thing I hate about being a Cardinals fan is that out here in AZ everyone thinks you are a football Cardinals fan even if there is a BAT under the Cardinal. No way. That's not for me. I've lived my whole life in MO and will be a Cards fan for the rest of my life. That's the only reason I'll go to a Diamondbacks game...if they're playing my home team.

Finally finished!!

2008-04-05T21:03:00.001-07:00

Check it out!! This is my latest creation. I had a ton of t-shirts from high school stuff that I really didn't want to throw away but didn't know what to do. So my sister-in-law told me to make a quilt. This is what I came up with. I'm so excited to have it now!!

Childhood games

2008-04-04T11:41:00.000-07:00

Does anyone have silly childhood games you used to play with brothers and sisters? Most of you know that I have 2 brothers that live in our ward. Well, during one of our Sunday dinners we were randomly reminded of a childhood game we used to play. It's called ABC blackout. You have to slyly brush up against someone or you can flat out hit them. Then you run away saying the alphabet. If you get to Z before they tag you back you say "blackout" and you win. The game goes back and forth since you keep tagging each other. Even if you do get to say blackout it really doesn't matter because the person chasing you will just touch you and start it all over again. We were laughing so hard when we were playing it. It's a really good workout, sprinting all over trying to get away.
Hope you have some games to share. We're still a bunch of grown up kids and will play just about anything.

Easter pics

2008-04-04T08:59:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I forgot to put up Easter pictures. I guess life got a little crazy for the last couple weeks. We were up to Randy's family for Easter. We went to the city Easter egg hunt. That was wild and full of kids but they all had fun.
I made all the dresses and vests for all the little ones. That was a little crazy but we got them finished and they all looked adorable!! They all said they looked like princes and princesses. All the kids were dancing with each other. It was really cute.

Got Brianna's ears pierced

2008-03-26T10:16:00.000-07:00

So on a whim my sister-in-law and I decided to get our girls ears pierced. Brianna always plays with mine. It was actually Randy's idea. He thought she'd be cute with them pierced...as if she's not cute without them. She was tough. She only cried for a minute or so. That night at bedtime she said "Mommy, can I take my earrings out now?" I thought it might have been a bad choice at that point but she has been loving them. They're really cute!!

Our weekend camping trip...

2008-03-16T21:12:00.000-07:00

Check this out...I am posting again and it's only been a week, not over a month. Maybe I'm actually getting the hang of this.
So this past weekend we went camping just west of here to Hassayampa River. It was a pretty cool place. We had never been there before but heard about it from some friends. We went there to ride quads. My kids absolutely love camping and are actually perfect (well, almost) when we go. They are just outdoors kind of people...so are Randy and I so that works out well.
It was a really relaxing trip! I guess that's a good start to TWO weeks of spring break now.

Not so good at this...

2008-03-10T08:18:00.001-07:00

OK, so I've been getting razzed about not keeping my blog up-to-date. I guess I'll have to try harder. Maybe if I do it more often it won't take me 20 minutes to figure out what account I signed up under and how to post something new. I'm telling you I am technologically challenged :) After this post, I'm hoping to figure out how to add a slideshow.
I did get a camera in the past couple weeks so now I have no excuses for not having pictures. I guess I'll have to inundate my blog with pics of all the cuteness that happens in our house. Since it's been over a month since I last posted I'll give a shortened version of everything that's gone on. We've been having a blast around here.
In February we took the kids up north to the SNOW!! They had a blast. We went tubing with some cousins. I got to drive up and down the mountain of mud. It was quite interesting as we would start sliding every once in a while and I could see the HUGE drop off on the side of the mountain. My sister-in-law was cracking me up as she would grab onto the center console as if it was going to save her. Our lovely white Suburban was no longer white. It was a huge heap of red/brown mud...very fun!
The next weekend we took an adult only weekend...my 3 brothers and their significant others as well as another couple. Wow was that fun! We went and stayed in an awesome cabin that was 4500 square feet in Showlow. Then we went skiing at Sunrise resort. Talk about the best weekend ever. It was nice to enjoy some adult company, kid free. The skiing was great. There was a lot of powder. It was only my 2nd time skiing but I had lots of fun falling and getting back up. The green started getting boring so we went to blue. The only bad part about falling so much was that the snow was up to my shoulders when I'd fall. We're definitely planning another adult trip.
March has already been full of quite a few events and it's only been a a week and a half into it. We have gone to a spring training baseball game in Surprise which the kids loved. We went on a field trip to a dinosaur museum. The weather has been beautiful so we've gone to a few parks. We finished up our co-ed softball season (we got 2nd). Just this past weekend we planted a garden at my brother's house. That was very fun. I can't wait until we actually get some produce growing. We planted everything we could think of...tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green peppers, strawberries, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, radishes, corn, watermelon, canteloupe. I think that's it.
OK, is everyone happy now?? I'll try to do better, I promise :)

Here we are...

2008-02-05T10:46:00.000-07:00

I hear this is the new hip thing to do...have your own blogspot. I can't believe how many of my friends are on here and never told me about it. Hmm, maybe I'll have to rethink who my real friends are :) I'm wondering how I'll have time to keep up with this and still handle all the other daily stuff you have to take care of as a wife, mother, friend, etc. Life is hectic. We keep thinking someday it should get easier but it just keeps getting busier.
So a little about us. Randy is from AZ up north in a little town called Cottonwood (it's near Sedona). I am from MO in a tiny town called Horine which we hated so much so we really claimed Pevely. I know, it's not much better. I love small towns though. Everyone knows everyone. We met while I was going to college in Kirksville, MO. Randy was on his mission and actually served in our area. I didn't meet him until he only had a couple weeks left...good thing. He went home to his girlfriend who had waited for him for two years and I figured I'd never hear anything else from him. However, here we are almost 9 years and 4 kids later so obviously I did hear from him.
We have 4 kids...Jacob (almost 8), Garrett (6), Caleb (4), and Brianna (almost 3). They give us SO much happiness in our lives but at the same time make us want to pull our hair out. I still don't understand how they can be so sweet and good one minute and so stinkin' rotten the next. Whoever wrote Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde must have had children as their inspiration.
Alright, that's all I have for now. I guess I'll have to find some pictures to post or something. I'll get this whole thing figured out sooner or later.