Kemptons Kingdom

Birthday Party~

2011-08-09T13:33:00.001-07:00

Ok so we had a little party for Adalee's 1st Birthday! I know, I know she is only 1 and has no idea if we have a party or not but it was more for me then for her! We had a bunch of friends and family come over to help us celebrate. We first let the kids run around in the backyard and play on the slip-n-slide. They had a lot of fun! (as you can see!)

Even Adalee got in on the fun! She hung out with Matt and had a ball!

Before eveyone got there I got out some fun party necklaces and Adalee got so excited! She imediatly went over and put them all on! She is such a girl!

I couldn't even get her to take them off to put her swim suit on!

This is my attemps at a fun cake for her. I tried to make a little lady bug for her (she has pink and brown ladybugs in her room!)Its not great but she still liked it!

Thanks to everyone who came to help us celebrate! We love having such great friends and family close by! We really are so blessed to have such great people in our lives! We say it often and we mean it! We love you guys!

Adalee is 1!!!!!!!

2011-08-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

Adalee, From the very beginning you have stolen our hearts! You are a sweet girl with a quick smile! I have loved to watch you grow into the fun little(almost) toddler you are. You are so happy and silly and love your daddy and brother. I love getting you up from your nap and having you giddy to see me ( or to get out of bed but i think its me) On your first birthday I want you to know how much we all love you! So far in life you can crawl, stand on your own, feed yourself (sort of) you say Dada and mama and tatu but I don't think you really know what those mean yet. You love to climb on anything you can find. You like to drive your brothers cars and make sounds for them. You have the brightest blue eyes and adorable smile that make people in the grocery stores stop me to talk to you. Thank you for coming to our family! We love you so much!

Love, Your mama!

Let Freedom Ring!

2011-07-04T12:31:00.001-07:00

I love this awesome country! Sometimes I wonder with the government we have and the leaders of this country making choices that I don't agree with but i still love this country. I loved in a country with socialized medicine and don't want that, I have visited places where the government is corrupt and has lost a lot of control and I don't want that, and I know that even with all the "stuff" going on I don't like this is still a blessed country. We sang the national anthem yesterday in church and I had tears come to my eyes. What a great song to remind up of all that has com into making and keeping this country free. Free to choose, free to live, free to speak and free to worship. We are free to raise our children how we want to, free to defend our home and family. My sister has a brother in law that just arrived in Afganastan and he has been sending letters telling about the conditions there and what they are having to live with and endure. I am so grateful for those who are willing to leave their home and family to defend our country and those that cannot defend themselves. SO with that I just want to day!

I am so thankful for the beautiful land in which I live! And I truly hope that God will continue to Bless America!

Get Real!

2011-05-20T16:35:00.000-07:00

OK So my sister and I were talking today about how women need to get more real with each other! We all struggle with different things everyday! We have good days and bad days but we keep them to ourselves! We need to share these parts of ourselves, we need to know we are not alone in this. I am sure most of you know several women that you see and just think, "Man they really have it all together, their house is always clean, they always look amazing, their kids are well behaved and quiet and nothing seems to frazzle them." I am sure that there is something about them that is not always perfect! We all have those things.

I for one have many things! Now I am not saying whoa is me or that my life is hard (it certainly could be harder) but I am saying I am a real mom that lives in a real, usually not clean house who on most days has something smeared on my shoulder or pant leg. I love stopping by a friends house in the afternoon and seeing that they too are still in their PJ's! Or talking to a friend and hearing them admit to taking some kind of medication that helps them be a better wife and mother. Or having another admit that they don't really like their 11year old today! I love it when we can talk about struggles we are having with our kids and the things we are trying so that our child will not sound his siren type cry that can be heard from across Costco! WE ARE REAL PEOPLE WITH REAL LIVES AND REAL STRUGGLES! We need to embrace these and help each other realize that we are not alone in this. We have each other! We need to stop comparing ourselves to others and start embracing the people that we are at our best and worse! We all have those days when our husband gets home and we grab our keys and holler GOOD LUCK as we walk out the door. ( We also have the days when life is Really really good and we wouldn't change a thing! I love relishing in the fact that this is real life! Not some Mormon mommy blog where our house looks AMAZING all the time, there is fresh baked bread or cookies coming out of the oven everyday and our children are perfectly well behaved scriptoriun who can teach Gospel Doctrine with the best of them.

I am glad there are some moms out there that do seem to have it all together! I am glad for the ideas they share with us of how to make our lives better and I am so glad there are beautiful women who inspire and encourage us to be the best we can! BUT I am so glad for the people in my life who are real!!!! Thank you and Keep on Keepin on!!!! I LOVE YOU GIRLS!!!!

what we have been up to!

2011-03-22T14:18:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of what we have been up to lately! Totally random and not really in order but that's how life goes right?

This is tolsons new favorite thing. He loves to do the dishes! He is actually pretty good at it now. It does use a lot more water then when I do them but hey I guess he is having fun learning how to clean! Can't argue with that!
Adalee's new talent is that she can pull herself up to standing and loves to do it. She is still learning how to sit back down without falling but hey its a work in progress!

She also loves to crawl into things. She is trying to get the plug/cord that is behind this little table.

She also loves to be under the coffee table. She will crawl all over under there and likes to do zerberts on the bottom shelf while lying on her belly! Funny girl!!!

Ok he looks really really skinny here but he is sucking it in ( I promise I do feed him). He was washing the car and showing me his muscles! what a hunk!!! Love this boy!

And yes we got snow at our house a few weeks ago! This is the view from our front yard of the park. You can't even see the mountains in the back because they were all white. So fun! Tolson said that it really was winter because it snowed! He keeps asking if it is going to snow again!

Adalee keeps making this smunchy face and I love it! most of the time she will have one eye closed more then the other so she looks like a pirate! She is so happy all the time and does a pretty good job of keeping up with her brother!

Two very sharp teeth!!!!

I love these cute kids and love being a mom! There really is nothing I would rather be doing then be home with my kids! I love them so much and am so blessed!

8 wonderful years!

2011-03-15T07:43:00.000-07:00

OK so I don't have any pictures from our wedding on my computer so I guess this will have to do. 8 years ago today Jason and I were married in the Mesa Temple. The day before Jason was so sick and was not sure he was going to make it(to the wedding). I was a little worried but we got him up to mesa and hoped for the best. The next morning we went to the Temple, took pictures (best idea ever) and got married at noon. I don't remember a lot about that crazy day but I do remember the feelings I had as I knew I would be with this man I loved forever. We had a fun reception that night and danced and laughed like kids. Spent a wonderful week up in the snowy mountains and began our life together. Now 8 years and three kids later we are even more in love and still make each other laugh.

Thank you Jason for 8 amazing years. You really do make my life the wonderfulness that it is!

I LOVE YOU!

Funk!

2011-03-09T08:08:00.000-08:00

WARNING* I am venting!!! read at your own risk!

OK so lately I have been feeling in a funk. both physically and mentally. I am so done with the post pregnancy body of mine. I can't fit my clothes, I really don't like the way my body looks right now and don't get me started on the roll of bread dough I am carrying around on my middle. My skin is being funky (who sold us the lie that acne is only for the teenage years) I get headaches all the time and I am just tired. I try to exercise and feel like it is doing nothing for me. I just feel like some days I am sinking into this place where I am not happy! I do realize I am so blessed and should be so happy but really I just get grumpy and frustrated when I think about me. I feel stuck with my body I feel stuck with my life and I feel like I am not making any progress. I know I will be fine. I am just in a funk and I know this will pass too but oh how annoying it is to be in it. ugh! I just want to scream and cry and run and have a little pity party and then feel better but I know those things won't make me feel better. Not really sure what the solution is yet but I will keep looking.

I am sorry to vent but I guess I just needed to get this off my chest. Thanks for listening!

Gratitude!

2011-02-27T11:55:00.000-08:00

Ok so today in church there were several talks about gratitude. I realized that I have gotten out of the habit of posting my list! so I am going to try to get back into it! I really appreciated the talks. They were very uplifting and to make it even better, I had a sweet baby girl asleep in my arms. So here we go

I am grateful for Tax returns and hard work! with these two things we have been able to pay off ALL of our debt! The only thing we own money on right now is our house! we had collected a small amount in debt over several years and I was tired of having to pay so much interest on it and having another bill hanging over us so we made a goal to pay it off as quickly as possible. so we snowballed our debt (taking the smallest amount and paying the most we could on that one until it was gone then going on to the next and doing the same) It was great. within a few months we had paid off one card and then with selling the piano and a few things we paid off another and then yesterday we paid off the last of it! and now we are FREE FROM DEBT! And if at all possible we will never go back!

Second I am grateful for talents and ambition. Yesterday I started a project that I was a little unsure about. I am attempting to recover the bench swing in the back yard. we got it as a gift several years ago and the fabric on it was really thin so it did not take long for it to rip and fall apart. So when Joann's had a big sale on outdoor canvas I got a bunch and am now trying to re make the bench and top cover/canopy for the swing. I am not an experienced seamstress so this is all guessing but my mother did teach me a few things about sewing and I have made a few cute things that turned out pretty well so I am hoping that this will work too!

I am so grateful for good friends. We have spent time with friends a lot the last few weekends and I love it. I must say I am missing Jessica and Tolson is really missing his Brady (as he says it) today when we woke up to snow he asked me if it snowed all over the world last night. I told him I didn't know but it snowed by our house. He then said well it snowed at Brady's house too! I am sure it did! He loves and missed him. In this I must also include my sister as she is my best friend. I am so glad she is close by so we can spend time together and so that our kids can play too! I just really am so grateful for the good people I have in my life! I can't imagine what life would be like without good friends!!!

and last (for now) I am grateful for Sunday afternoon naps! In fact I am going to go take one right now! Enjoy your Sunday! ( I know I will)

Boogers and Babies!

2011-02-05T07:39:00.000-08:00

First I would just like to say... I love the exclamation point! Its my favorite thing to use at the end of a sentence! I use it all the time while texting! and if you notice most of the titles on my blog posts end with it too!!!! its just makes everything so much happier!(in my mind anyway!)

So on to boogers and babies! Right now I have both, I have boogers stuffed inside my head and I have a baby that has boogers coming out of her head! (I also have a little boy with boogers but that's a whole nother blog post) I really don't like having a stuffy nose but even worse is having a baby that has a stuffy nose, can't breath, can't eat well, can't sleep well and sounds like an old smoker, and there is not a whole lot I can do for her. She hates getting her nose even touched so trying to get her to let me wipe, suck, spray or even smear off is a huge challenge! and two days into it she got an ear infection! I hate when babies are sick! Hate, Hate, Hate it! Lets just hope it is short lived and that we are all back to our Booger free selves soon!

Finished flowers!

2011-01-31T14:08:00.000-08:00

ok so here are some very non professional pictures of the finished flowers. I am so excited about these. I am on the hunt now for some pearls and beads to put in the center of some to make them a little more elegant. Now I just need to get a bunch more finished and get to selling them. I have a few more done (some beautiful white ones(they are my favorite)) but I don't have pictures of them. anyway I hope you like! If you want to buy some or have me make you something specific just let me know!

WAHOOOOO!!!!

2011-01-24T14:50:00.000-08:00

Debt Free!!!!!

Ok so this is a little bit to exciting for me not to share. We are not quite there yet but I got a check in the mail today for $1200 for selling our Piano (I am still a little sad about that)! We are so close to being Debt free! I am fully confident that if we are smart with our Tax return this year we can accomplish this goal! Its hard not to spend the tax return on fun things but if we can get rid of this last little bit of debt it will feel sooo good! Of course we don't have our house paid of but to be Debt free is so rare these days. Most Americans spend more then they make every year! Last year I read the book The Total Money Makeover and it totally changed my outlook on money! I have not perfected the system but we are working on making it work for our family! Its a great book and a great system for making your life more financially secure! Its not about making money but about using the money you make wisely! You should totally check it out!

Anyway I was so excited when I got the mail today and the feeling of being that much closer to a goal is very very fun!

Crafty Me and Blog hopping

2011-01-16T13:10:00.000-08:00

Ok so lately I have been in a very crafty mood, not quite sure why but non the less I am. So I have been doing a lot of crafty blog hopping. I am not really a crafty person by nature. I can craft but have a hard time coming up with ideas on my own. So I love that there are so many crafty people out there willing to share their talent. I have so many crafty blogs that I go to all the time to find fun new ideas. Here are a few of the things I have ben doing lately.

I discovered these silk flowers and have been dying to try them. My sister and I get together this week and had so much fun. these were just from some scraps of fabric we had on hand. I can't wait to go to Joanns and find more. Think of the possibilities!!!!!!! These arn't all put together yet, just layed on top of each other but they will be soo cute when they are done.

Ok so this one is not really crafty but fun. I have a powder room downstairs in my house that is the main bathroom for guests. I sort of copied this idea from a friend but I am going to decorate this bathroom for all the holidays! I just think it is a fun space and I can do fun things with it. so for Valentines day I hung some sun sparkely hearts from the ceiling. I try to buy one new little thing for decorating my house (for each holiday) every year. This year I made this -->

It was an idea I was for a Christmas ribbon tree and I thought "Hey I could do one for every holiday if I wanted" I thought it turned out very cute. pretty cheap and easy too!
So now it sits on my fun plant shelf in my entryway.

Like I said I am not really a true crafter but I try and sometimes it works!! I am making some really cute leggings out of knee-high socks for Adalee so when I get them all done I will post those too! Its so fun having a little girl I can make things for! Sorry Tolson but there really isn't as much cute boy stuff out there!

I would love to know what crafty blogs/sites you guys follow or get your ideas from!!!

Tolson the Photographer

2011-01-16T12:59:00.000-08:00

Here are some fun pictures that Tolson has taken lately! nothing fabulous but he has been loving taking pictures of anything and everything as you can see. So I just thought I would share! Life from the perspective of a 4 year old!

I have a Question!!!

2011-01-07T14:21:00.000-08:00

Ok so my little man has started into the question phase. I have heard of this phase in a child's life and even had small doses of it but have never REALLY experienced it. Tolson has entered that phase. Jason has been working a LOT this week (as of the end of the day Thursday he has worked 58 hours and will probably work two more full (10 hour) days before the week is out) Soooo I have been at home with my children a lot this week. So we have been going on walks and playing/working in the backyard, cooking, cleaning, etc. tolson has been very curious about everything. For example we will be in the back yard and he will ask "What is Dirt? Where does it come from? Why is it different then this dirt? " So I answer and then he will ask " what are you doing?" (this seems to be the questions of the day) followed by "Why?" I try to answer the best I can and explain thing so he can understand them. I am really glad he is learning things and wants to know about everything... but sometimes at the end of the day when you have had no other adult contact and your 4 year old has been asking questions all day and following you around asking the same thing over and over... well lets just say I was a little exasperated!!!
Well Last night Jason was home for dinner and tolson was starting in on his questions. Jason kept saying ok take two bites and then you can ask another question. I was just laughing! Now you know how I feel! I know its a phase and he is learning and I am so glad! He is such a cute little boy! and I love that I can be home with him and be the one to answer his questions!

Fresh Start!

2011-01-02T10:08:00.001-08:00

Ok so I am not one for New years resolutions, it seems like you are just setting yourself up for failure. I do however believe in a fresh start. There are goals that I write that I accomplish and some that are a work in progress... for years. So even though I think resolutions are not for me, I do think I will set some goals for the coming year (years in some cases). January just seems like a good time to do this. When I was in school I would do this in May too when summer would begin. It just seems like with all the Holidays, life just gets crazy and normal everyday life gets put on the back burner for a while. Well now it is time to get back into a schedule and why not make some much needed changes to that schedule. So here goes! Here are 11 things I would like to do in 2011!!!!

1. Have at least one fun outing, trip, special day with my family every month. Making memories is very important to me and I hope that with camping trips or trips to the Mt's or the zoo or to see cousins will become fun memories for my kids and help us to build strong relationships. I think learning and laughing together is so much more important then stuff! I would rather go camping then buy my kids new toys. I hope they will agree!

2. Get up early! Read my scriptures and/or Ensign article, exercise, shower put my tennies on and get my day going. There are a lot of things encompassed in this one. I love to sleep! but I need to get my day going. I also need to be better about reading my scriptures. I know that if I exercise in the morning then I will get it done. I am NOT going to make a weight loss goal but I do want to get healthier and have more energy to play with my kids. I also want to start my day with the spirit! My family is so important to me and If I can be my best self then I can be the best mom/wife for them too!

3. Have a date night at least 2 times a month. We are not in a place where I can say every week. The money for a babysitter and then going to do something and eating is just not in the budget right now. I know I can be creative and do a lot of no or low cost dates but with two kids its harder to just drop them off at the in laws. but I know its important so I am sure we can figure out 2 times a month!

4. Buy a new(er) car. We have been wanting a new car for a while and I am afraid we will need one soon. Jason's favorite thing to do is look at cars, on line, while driving by, anytime. For a date a few months ago I took him out to test drive cars. That's all we did and it was so fun. So this year we will make it happen!

5. Have FHE every week! We are pretty good about doing this but I want to make sure that we really do it! planned lesson and all! I just got a new calling where I will be preparing a lesson every week for kids about his age. So I think I can use that as our lesson and have fun activities to go with it already ready! I know its kind of cheating but I am sure it still counts. I am sure there will be times when we will have to do something else and that is OK with me. I just want them to be real and make sure our kids know that it is important to us.

6. Budget! Budget! Budget!!! This one should have been right after the car goal. I do the books in our house and the budget. This is definitely something I need to get better at. This past few years we have made a scary amount of money (bad scary not good scary) and yet we have survived. (Tithing works!!!) That has not been fun or easy and will not change any time soon I am sure but I know we really are blessed. I think about the families in other countries that make as much per year as we do in a month. I thank Heavenly Father every day for our wealth and blessings. But I can do better. So this year I am going to make and stick to a strict budget every month. I want a new car (since I will be the one driving it) and this is how we are going to do it. I also want to pay mostly cash for the new car!!!!! Wouldn't that be fun!!!!!

7. Finish the backyard. We have been in our house for 5 years and still have a lot of dirt in the backyard. Jason has done a lot of work on this and I know it is hard for him! I haven't helped much because I know he can do it sooo much better then I can so I just stay out of the way. But this year I am going to get in there and help him. I may not do it perfectly but I can help. when its done it will be AWESOME!! ( by the way this was on the list last year too!)

8. Be better at scheduling. If I want to accomplish some of the things on this list I am going to have to be better at scheduling. I think this will also help me sleep better at night. Some nights I lay there thinking about all the things I have to get done the next day. If I have them written down and scheduled then I wont have to worry so much right?

9. Cook good, yummy, healthy food for my family! I like to cook and I like to try new things. the problem is I like carbs and a lot of them! I love pasta, bread, cookies, sweets, treats and most things that are not good for me. So along with cooking I want to try new recipes once a week and find healthy ones that work for us! If you have any good ones please feel free to send them my way!!!

10. Exercise at least three days a week! I know I mentioned this one in the get up early one but I feel it needs its own goal. Being a mom is the best job in the world but it can wear on you sometimes. I need some me time every once in a while and exercise is great for that. There is a gym opening just up the street and it is cheap. If I can get a new babysitting gig I will join. Then I can have the me time I need, be healthier and have more energy!

11. This one sadly was on the list last year but... GET A FREAKIN JOB WITH BP!!!! I can't believe this was on my list last year and is still not done!!!! I promise if this is not done by the end of the year we will have moved on to something else!!! There is not much we can do to move this one forward but pray and be patient! ITS BEEN ALMOST 2 YEARS!!!!!!! but we feel it is the right thing for us so we are sticking to it! Lets just hope it comes sooner then later!!!

So that's all! I am going to print this up and post it on my bathroom mirror so I can re-read them often. I hope that the new year find you all well and healthy and setting new goals for yourselves. I will do my best to report in on how things are going! Good luck with you and yours! I hope your new year is full of hope, health, love and laughter!

Christmas Time is Awesome!!!

2010-12-30T14:19:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas Time! Its so fun to decorate and shop and find the perfect thing for everyone! Jason loves getting a real tree so every year we go find a great tree to have in our home. It smells so good and looks awesome! Can you see in the front the fresh flowers too! Santa knows me well!!!

Adalee loved her jumper thing! I don't even know what it is really called! she loves to be sitting up or standing so now she can do that and play and see us all! Happy girl!
Santa brought Tolson his first Lego set. He and Daddy will have hours of fun bonding time with these. They played for hours on Christmas day and didn't even want to break for breakfast!

Adalee enjoyed opening her presents with the help of Mom, Dad or Tolson.

But she loved the paper the best!

We hope that you have all had a great Christmas. We did!!!! I love the lazy days of playing and hanging out with family that come after the craziness of the preparations! I love my family and all that I am blessed with. I am so grateful for the Savior and the special holiday that we can celebrate His birth.

Exhausted!!!

2010-12-29T14:37:00.000-08:00

Today I am exhausted! I have been up the last two nights with a sick kid. I am also Grateful!!! I am so glad that I am blessed to be this little persons mother. At around 5 this morning as I am sitting there on my sons bed with his head in my lap I was thinking about how tired I was (since I had been up since about 3am and hadn't gone to be until 11:30) I was also thinking about how good it made me feel that he wanted me! He could sleep better knowing I was there with him. I tried going back to bed several times but he would cry and wake up and then throw up again. so I stayed in his room with him and rubbed his back and just let him sleep in my lap. I was remembering how much better it made me feel when I was sick and my own mother did those things for me. SO yes I am tired and yes I do wish I got more then 3 1/2 hours of sleep last night but I am also so glad that I can be the one he wants, the one that will make him feel better. I am so blessed to be that person! Thanks you Tolson for helping me be the best mom I can be! I love you!!!

December fun

2010-12-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

ok so isn't that the cutest picture ever!!!!!

Playing at the park! No snow here!!!

This Huge Owl was in the tree behind our house!

Drooling up a storm!

My handsom boys!

November in Pictures!

2010-12-20T19:17:00.000-08:00

OK so I started off the month with a gonga deal! with my coupon magic I got all this ( minus the canisters) for $5.26. I don't do this very often but when I do it is so fun!
Tolson and I built this Chinese tower in honor of my parents. We have so much fun playing games, building with blocks, making cakes in the sand box and just hangin out!

Boys will be boys! Gotta love the dog in the back! We had a lot of fun with cousins this month.

Adalee bundled up with her cousin Holly during a cold day at the park.

Jason hanging out with the babies! Adalee and Cody are exactly one month apart. can you guess which one is older? (they are cousins)

Tolson and Morgan Playing in a tent with the zoo animals. We have built lots of tents in our house lately! This is one of my favorite memories as a child so I am happy to assist with the building of tents whenever possible!

So that is our month in a nut shell! We had a lot of fun at Thanksgiving with some of Jason's family coming to visit! Its so fun having family that you feel so close to. I am so grateful for my family! All of them! I am so blessed to get along with and have great relationships with my siblings and my in laws (on both sides) I came from a big family and I married into a big family! Thanks for all the love and laughter!!!!!

He is the MAN!!!!

2010-11-20T21:45:00.000-08:00

El Tour de Tucson

Today was the El tour de Tucson which is a 109 mile bike race around the city of Tucson. It starts in the heart of Downtown and goes around the whole outside of the city. There are about 9,000 riders in the race tat come from all over. From what I have been told this is the largest bike race in the US. Its a bit crazy for those trying to go anywhere because of the traffic issues 9,000 riders cause but Tucson has been doing it for 28 years so they try their best to make it work. Jason has been training for this ride and today was the day! He left at 4:30am to go pick up a friend and get down to the starting line. He said that by the time it started (7am) he couldn't see where the line of cyclists ended. What an amazing thing to be part of!!! the bike route has lots of hills and hard turns as well as two washes that they have to get off and walk across in the sand. He did an amazing job and We are so proud of him. Here are some fun photos from the day!!!

Adalee was so excited to see her Daddy cross the finish line! She had to take a little nap while we waited to make sure she had enough energy to cheer for him. She was soo good while we stood in the sun and waited.
Tolson is a little too big for his stroller but with all the thousands of people and bikes I didn't want him running around too much. He did great. Got a little bored when he could't find his daddy as we watched bike after bike go by but he was so happy when it was finally his daddy!!!!! Some day I am sure he will be doing these kinds of things WITH his daddy instead of just watching from the sidelines!!!

A Happy man!

A very tired, very happy Jason after riding 109 miles in just under 7 hours! I can't even imagine riding for 7 hours!!! He really is the MAN and I am soo proud of him!

sad saying good bye

2010-10-15T08:54:00.000-07:00

For the past 3 years Tolson has had a buddy that was his best friend in the world. Tomorrow they are moving to Nebraska. He doesn't really understand this idea and I have not had the heart to explain it to him. (I am very very sad too, but that's for another post) These two boys have been like brothers. They play and laugh like brothers and they fight like brothers. It seems like almost everyday Tolson asks to play with Brady. They have had so many good times together.

They have had several "Campouts" together. This week Jessica and the kids were staying at our house for a few days and we made a tent for the boys to sleep in. ( I didn't get a picture of it though) they have so much fun together its hard to sleep!
They were playing the backyard and having a ball! What a team huh?

We went to the zoo with a whole bunch of friends and they had a blast. After we were done, we rode the train one last time together. Sad sad day! They loved it though!

Usually after the zoo we go around the park to over by the ball field. There is a little outdoor workout place there and some Ramada's. We take our lunches there and let the kids play on the equipment. They love it and there is never anyone else there. As you can see they were having a great time.

This picture has nothing to do with Brady but the sad face was just so cute! I don't even want to think about how sad he will be when he really figures out that he can't play with Brady any more. WE are hoping to plan a trip to meet up with the Grays (at Disneyland, ssshhhhh). I am so grateful that my little man has had such a great friend. I hope that they will be able to stay friends over the years. And who knows maybe they will be in the MTC together or something!!!! We are going to miss you Brady!

getting older!

2010-09-24T08:41:00.000-07:00

Ok so Tomorrow is my 31st birthday! I have two great kids and an amazing husband. I live in a cute little house and drive a fun car. My life is pretty good. I was thinking about what I want to acomplish in the 31st year and have decided I have about 20 lbs I need to lose. ( 10 from having a baby and 10 from before the baby!) So I am putting it out there! I will be doing workouts at home, walking and riding my bike. Anyone who need some motivation and wants to join me is welcome too. During Tolson's preschool I will be walking at Udall since its right next door, but I have been waiting for it to cool off a bit! So there you go! I bought some workout DVD's and have worked out the last two days! I hope I can stick to it. Wish me Luck! and agian if anyone wants to join me please feel free, it always helps to have someone do it with you!

My little man

2010-09-11T10:18:00.001-07:00

I love my little man!!!!!

Really how can you not? He is so stinkin cute and I don't just mean his looks. But yes the dimples, blond hair and bright blue eyes along with that awesome smile just make everyone fall in love with him. but along with that he is such a sweet boy. Lately he has been a daddy's boy which I love but he is still my little man.

His future wife is one lucky woman. Here is why....

He tells me "I love you" several times a day and at random times.

Anytime we are at the store he wants to get some flowers for me.

He loves to (help) cook.

He loves to (help) clean the house.

He always gives me presents.

He likes to share with me

He always wants me to Hold him at night before he goes to bed.

He gets very upset if I cry and wants to make it better.

He gives me kisses when I get hurt.

He is a sweet little boy and wants to make everyone happy and feel wanted.

What wife wouldn't want that. Lets hope I can keep some of the sweet in him until then and those teenage years don't take it away. I love my little boy and Love being his mom. He is such a big helper with Adalee and is always willing to help me with whatever I need, even if its just a hug and kiss. How blessed I am to have such great kids!

Adalee photo update

2010-09-03T12:23:00.001-07:00

Here are a bunch of pictures from the last few weeks. Sorry there is not a lot of writing but I like pictures better anyway! Enjoy!

Our little man holding his baby sister for the first time. He loves her!

Blessing day! Don't you love the gang signs!

Nanna Riggs giving her a bath!

First time at church! I didn't have any church clothes that were small enough to fit her yet!

I love having a snuggly baby! So sweet!

Grandma Kempton giving her the first bath! She loved it!

Doing my best.....

2010-08-27T07:36:00.000-07:00

ok so most days lately I feel like I am doing my best and always falling behind. I know, I know I only have two kids and there are so many of you out there that have several more kids then me and are doing just fine. I guess my days are filled with Diapers, feeding, pumping (thanks to Mastitis and the so called baby safe antibiotics that make my baby scream) getting baby to sleep, trying to get a shower in there and then all the other household stuffs that are normally on my list. I am doing fine and surviving but i have been neglecting the not as important things... like this blog. Adalee is 3 weeks old and I haven't even posted pictures of her birth yet. So I sat down to do it right now and realized I need to pump before she wakes up and wants to eat again! So again you get no pictures but someday you will, and really Jason put them on facebook so if you haven't seen them there then go check it out! Well Tolson woke me up at 6:25am so I did get a shower today! So far so good! Here is to a great day!

Coming Soon!

2010-08-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

ok so I promise I will post about Adalee's birth and some pictures soon! First I just need to catch up on some sleep so I can complete sentances and then we can post. It will be soon though I promise.

More baby photo's

2010-07-29T16:27:00.001-07:00

Here is the blessing dress that My mom bought for me and then changed it so we liked it better. I am not a big fan of collars on baby stuff and this one had some ugly scratchy lace on it too so we took off the hole thing and just added some cute little flower lace to the neck and bodice. So cute!!!
This is the laundry hamper I found for the baby room and it matches perfectly. Silly I know but cute!

My sister Michelle did this vinyl quote for me to put over her crib and I love it.

and this is the Diaper Clutch I made yesterday. Not professional but I thought it turned out pretty good. I made it a little big so there was lots of room and I could use it later as a hold all bag for when I am just running somewhere quick. Be warned if you are having a baby you might get one of these from me as a gift since I love them and they are not too hard to make! So cute

and Finally this is my new Diaper bag. I bought two and had to decided which one I like best. I liked both of them but fell in love with this one when it came. I might just keep this and use it as a travel bag after I don't need it for a diaper bag. Love it, love it, love it!!!

More Baby stuff

2010-07-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

So I have been trying to get the finishing touches done on the room and making sure I have everything I need for this little girl to come to our family. Now that I am pretty much done I am very anxious for her to get here!!!!!!! Here are some pictures of the things I have finished lately.

Wooden letters painted pink with brown edging and a few wooden lady bugs.
This is a pot that I already had that was green with a black and red ladybug so I just repainted it pink and brown and made the ladybug to match. It is not perfect but it is very small so was hard to do but I think it turned out cute.

Here is the whole thing. Nothing too special but I thought it was kind of cute!

At my baby shower Carlie painted these cute wooden ladybugs for decorations and then sent them home with me. I re-painted one (just so it was the same pink) and made it into a small bow/clip holder. My sister is going to make a bigger one for me later but I thought this would work for the tiny clips.

and here is a fun pregnancy picture of me at 38 1/2 weeks. I don't have many pictures of me prego so I figured on a Sunday when I was dressed up and looked pretty good I would document how big I really was. Anyway there you go! Hope you are enjoying all the fun baby stuff as much as I am.

fun few weeks!

2010-07-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

OK so I guess I didn't take as many pictures as I thought I did. We have had a fun few weeks here of parties and getting ready for this baby to come.

First was my baby shower. I didn't take very many pictures and my mom (that took some for me) hasn't sent them to me yet so here you go. The only picture I got was of the YUMMY food. Carlie and Brandi sure know how to throw a great party! they did such a good job and everyone had fun. Thanks for the great time girls and for all the fun stuff!!!!!

Next was Jason's SURPRISE 30th birthday party! It was almost a surprise! He is too smart and figured I was doing something and then when we pulled up to the Holmes there were very recognizable cars there so he figured it out but had a great time anyway!

We played Minute To Win It games and everyone had fun. I was in charge so I didn't get very many fun pictures but everyone played and had a good time. Several of the games we kept playing again and again after we had gone through all of them. It is so fun to just hang out with good friends and be crazy and have fun. Thanks everyone for the good time and for Helping celebrate Jason's birthday!!!

p.s. the pictures are Me and Aaron picking up Penne pasta off the table using only a spaghetti noodle in our mouth, and the next one is Carrie and Emily fishing for pretzels with a sticky gummy worm.

Its coming along!

2010-07-08T09:02:00.000-07:00

So I am making progress on the baby's room. There are still several things I want to do but for now I am getting there. here are some pictures of what I have done lately.

this is the front layer of the curtains. My sister had ordered a bunch of fabric for her baby room a few years ago and then passed the leftovers on to me. I had just enough to do panels of the polka dots and then had to buy some brown to do the backing.
I picked a light cotton brown so some light would still get through but it would be dark enough in the room. I think they turned out pretty cute!

This is the Lady bug I made (with no pattern) for her. Its certainly not professional but I think its cute. I might add some eyes too but I like it like this.

This is the shelf I painted and the little wooden ladybugs I painted for her room. I have 5 of them and am not sure what to do with them yet but I am sure they will come in handy. Those booties are socks that look like they have ballet shoes on! they are so dang cute.

Well its coming along. More to come and only a few weeks to do it!

oh and we are going to name her Adalee Mae Kempton! (unless she comes out looking totally not like an Adalee and then we will have to figure something out.)

Helping Daddy!

2010-07-06T16:01:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we had a day of projects. Jason and Tolson had so much fun working in the back yard. we are building a fenced in area for the trash cans and yard tools. the welding was all done and now it was time for paint and pickets. Tolson did a great job helping but of course you can give a three year old a paint brush without.....
getting some in his HAIR! Normally no big deal but this is oil-based paint that is made to put on metal so it doesn't come off very easily. We tried to wash it out but no luck. So Sunday morning we gave him a hair cut (which he needed anyway) but there was some all the way to the scalp so he now has a black spot on his head. Oh well he had fun!

they also cut the cedar pickets and screwed them onto the frame. Tolson loved helping Jason bring the wood over and give him the screws. Jason would have him put a screw on the end of the drill and tolson would say ticket please, then Jason would give him a pretend ticket and then tolson would put one on for him. Love his little imagination. I love that my boys love to work together. Jason is such a good dad. I know that these projects would be so much easier and faster if Tolson didn't help but what fun he has doing it and he gets to learn a lot too.

Camping trips!

2010-07-02T09:25:00.001-07:00

OK so here are some pictures from our last two weekends of camping. I know I was a little crazy going camping TWICE being 8 months pregnant but hey I love camping. The first weekend was a family reunion with Jason's extended family and the second was my family (parents and three siblings and their families). We had a great time both weekends and loved being up on Mt Graham. Who can argue with 70 degrees, cool breezes and shady trees. Anyway here are some pictures of our fun.

I know they look like beer bottles but one of the treats we enjoy when camping is Henry Weinharts Root Beer. If you haven't tried it, do, it is sooo good!!! Tolson had fun playing with the bottles and making Beer goggles!!!
My sister brought her Quad and the kids had great fun taking rides on it. We camped up from an organized site so we had to go get water and take the trash down and this came in very handy.

Tolson loved playing with his older cousins. They are so good with the little ones and are always willing to help. We roasted hot dogs for lunch one day and the kids had a great time.

These are pictures from the first weekend(sorry they are in the wrong order)

This is Tolson playing with his Favorite Uncle Neil. After camping on the Mt we came down to Safford and had a swim party /BBQ and he loved playing in the water. What a great uncle to take him around and help him swim! They both had a great time!

This is Tolson with his cousin Amulek. They are great pals and loved exploring and chasing bugs. they were taking bread out to the woods to feed the animals. I hope they remember these adventures together.

So that was our fun weekends camping on the beautiful Mt. Graham. It was hard to come back to the heat of Tucson but we will survive (I think) camping and being pregnant wasn't too bad I just had to remember not to wear myself out too much. We definitely ate too much food but we went on a lot of adventure walks and explored with the kids. I have wonderful memories of camping growing up and hope that I can give my kids the same fun adventures! If any of you ever want to get out there and make some camping memories call us and we would be happy to go with you. Happy Camping!!!!!

Cheesecake!!!!!

2010-06-14T16:07:00.000-07:00

Ok so I have never made a real cheesecake before. I have done something close but not a real baking one. We were having some of Jason's family over for Sunday dinner and He requested a cheesecake. Usually his brother is the gourmet cook and does fun amazing things for dessert but he didn't really want to make a cheesecake so I volunteered. I found a few recipes and then combined them to make my own. It was not that hard and turned out really really good. It had a brownie layer on the bottom, then a layer of caramel and pecans, then the cheesecake layer then caramel, pecans and toffee bits on top. Oh man it was good. I am going to have to write down the recipe so that I can make it again. In fact I am going to put it on here. So here you go!!!

Brownie turtle cheesecake

1 package brownie mix and the ingredients to make it

3 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened

1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk

3 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

1 cup caramel ice cream topping

2 Tbsp flour

1 Heath bar smashed into small bits

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottom only of 10 inch springform pan. Prepare brownie mix as directed on box and spread evenly in pan. (if it looks like its going to be too thick leave some out) Bake 35 minutes or until set. Cool on wire rack.

In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually add in sweetened condensed milk. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. In small bowl mix 3/4 cup caramel with flour and add 1 cup pecans. Spread over brownie mix not getting too close to edge (it will stick to the pan). Pour cheese mixture into pan and spread evenly. Bake at 300 degrees for 50 minutes or until set. (it will still move a little in the middle but you don't want it like jello! If you over cook it, it will be dry.) Remove and cool at room temp for several hours. Chill in refrigerator. Remove sides of springform pan and garnish with remaining caramel, nuts and toffee bits.
Tip: to cut a cheesecake dip a knife in ice water between each slice.

you will want to make this a day a head or first thing in the morning the day you want to serve it. It does take time but is not difficult to do. I hope you enjoyed the recipe and maybe will try it some day! Good luck and happy cooking!

getting ready

2010-06-08T16:00:00.000-07:00

ok so as of tomorrow I will be 32 weeks. I am starting to feel the pressure of making sure everything is ready for our little girl to come. So this is a picture of what my nursery looks like. ok just kidding. not at all! I really like this set and am going to use this "theme" in her room but I am going to have to make the stuff I want. Buying this stuff is way too expensive. It doesn't look like it would be too hard to sew on a lady bug shape to a blanket so I am going to try it. I will let you know how it goes. I have a bumper pad from my sister and bed skirt that I am going to use that is brown and pink with brown polka dots. It will match perfectly and go great with this theme. I started going through the clothes today and hanging some up and am going to have to wash some of them so her room is starting to look like a baby room now instead of a big mess. We got the dresser up stairs yesterday (thanks to a kind neighbor) and now I can start filling it. My mom bought me the cutest socks for this little one. They look like they have little black patent leather shoes on them but they are socks, pink purple and white! soo cute. so there you go that's whats been happening here.

We got a big bed for Tolson on Saturday and he loves it. He feels like such a grown up boy. although he always tells me that he doesn't want to grow big. sorry to say son. its going to happen if you like it or not!!!!

So there you go. I guess the countdown is sort of on. !!

Happy again.

2010-06-06T09:54:00.000-07:00

Ok so I didn't want everyone to worry so I just wanted to post on here that it was only a few days and it passed. I am on top again and feeling great (except being tired all the time and having feet or head in my ribs) We are starting to get a lot of things ready and get a lot done in preparation for this baby girl. and I think we have decided on a name. (if it changes don't be mad) We really like Atalie Mae Kempton not positive on the middle name either but its looking like we will do atalie for the first name. anyway there you go. Getting very excited to meet this little girl!

Bad Day!

2010-06-02T09:15:00.000-07:00

WARNING: Ramblings of a pregnant lady.

ok so generally I am a pretty happy content person! its something I kind of pride myself on. I don't get upset easily and I don't stay that way long. I can usually see the good side of anything or anyone and am happy with life in general. Yesterday was not one of those days. Monday night when going to bed I felt like crying but didn't have a good reason. I didn't sleep well and tossed a turned all night. So Tuesday when I woke up feeling the same way I was not excited. I tried to just get on with the day and figured my day would get better but by 10am I had already felt like crying 3 times. I know I should just cry and get it out of my system but there was no real reason so its not worth the crying headache. I got my tennis shoes on and got to work trying to get the house clean and checking things off my list but never really got over the blues of the night before. This is a very frustrating feeling for me. I am generally very in control of my emotions and being pregnant throws that out the window. Sometimes I think I would rather be sick then feel anxious, scared, worried, grumpy, etc. I know some of you are thinking no way pucking your guts out every day is so much worse. It may be, I don't know but I wonder sometimes. I have really been doing good with this one and have been feeling good... until yesterday. I know there are things I can do and things I can take to help right now but I just hate not being able to just choose to be happy, its frustrating! I love being a mom and I love being able to bring a child into the word to join our family but ugh! anyway I guess I just wanted to put down in words how I was feeling and get it off my chest. Today is a new day and I am going to try to have a good day. I really am so blessed and have so many wonderful things and people in my life. I am thankful for the great friends I have and the blessing of my wonderful Husband and son. I am grateful for where I am in life and for all I have experienced. I know its been a while but I am going to share my list with you again of some things I am grateful for today.

1. my life
2. my husband
3. my health
4. my baby girl (coming soon)
5. good friends

thanks for all the love and support I feel each day. I hope your days are good and that you can choose to be happy.

p.s. you know its a bad day when you can't even make chocolate chip cookies that turn out right. at least they still tasted good!!!!

Not my Favorite Picture!

2010-05-26T10:01:00.000-07:00

ok so this is really not my favorite picture but I haven't posted any on here of my pregnant belly so here you go. I am 30 weeks and carrying very high. also keep in mind that I am sitting down. Tolson had just been talking to and kissing the "baby" in this picture! He loves her already and I think will be a great big brother. We were hiking on Mt Graham with my family and had so much fun playing in the creek. Not as easy to hike when you have a big belly in the way. Well there you go, for those of you wondering how big I am getting ..... there you go!

29 weeks and counting

2010-05-20T08:28:00.001-07:00

ok so I went to the Dr on Tuesday and I am now 29 weeks along in this pregnancy. I am feeling pretty good and am so glad that things are going well. I tried to have Tolson take a picture or use the timer but It just didn't work so when Jason comes home I will try to have him take one. I passed my glucose test this week and am so glad that I don't have to do the 3 hour one. I have lots of issues with my pregnancies but I am so glad that I am not sick the whole time. I hope the last two months go as well as the rest.

So I have nothing exciting to report about or write about at all except that things are boring with this baby! and that is the best news ever. we still haven't for sure decided on a name but have a few we like. We like Atalie, Alayna, and a few other that are just ok. We will just have to see what we like in 2 months and what she looks like.

Hope you all are having a great day and that those of you that are prego are doing well too!

Good Deals!

2010-05-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

OK so this was my shopping trip today! I did get a few other essentials but am not including them in this because they were not the great deals I got. OK so here is a list of all that I got.

6 boxes of cereal

3 cake mixes

2 suddenly salads

1 scalloped potatoes

6 cookie mixes

2 frosting

2 chex mix

1 cheerio snack mix

1 bugles snack

1 steamers veggies

1 Trix yogurt

1 delights yogurt

at regular price these items would have cost me $82.34

with my coupons and sale items I spent........$14.34

that's a savings of $68

there are 27 items on the list which makes them about .50 a piece.

now I know that these foods are not the best healthiest foods for our family but when I can get this stuff for free or cheap then I don't feel so bad about buying the good healthy stuff. SO there you go ! My shopping trip for today was all about coupons and sales and it worked and was worth it. Now if I would just take the time to do this every week then I would be in good shape.

Motherhood!

2010-05-10T11:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Mothers Day, a day to celebrate our moms and thank them for being the best moms they can be and for doing so much for us. I love my mom and all the other moms I have had in my life. I love my sisters and the great examples of motherhood that they are to me..... But I want to celebrate the blessing of BEING a mom! I love this job more then anything else I have done. It is the greatest blessing to me. Growing up I was never very good at anything. I played soccer and was OK, I sang in the choir and was OK, I was just OK in school and was mostly just OK with being OK. I hope you all don't take this the wrong way but I feel like I am actually GOOD at being a mom. Not to say I am perfect or that I know everything or am the best there is out there but I feel like I excel in this area. I know I only have one child and he is three so we are far from seeing how I am really doing but I love being a mom. I love the feeling of being needed and that I can make everything better. I love reading with Tolson at night and rocking and holding him before bed. I love letting him help me with whatever I am working on. I love that for the past 3 years I have been watching other kids in my home and feel like I have done a great job with them (which is hard some days since they aren't my kids)

This may sound a bit proud to you all but I really feel that I have been blessed with the talent to be a good care giver and friend and mother to my little boy and whoever else I will be blessed with. I am sure after saying that my next child will be a difficult one but I guess I will just have to take what I can get and love it.

I know there are lots of you out there that are struggling with fertility issues or with difficult children or with the possibility of never having a family and I don't know what to say to you. I have no idea how you feel and I am hoping that I will not offend. I have had my own issues with child bearing and feeling hopeless. I am sorry and I hope that the Lord will comfort you and bless you with what you need.

I still just want to say how blessed and grateful I am for the privilege I have to be a mother. There is no job, no calling, no accomplishment that I feel will be more fulfilling then that of being a mother. I hope I will keep learning and keep loving and keep trying to be the very best mother I can. Take time today to hug your kids and feel the joy and blessing it is to be a mother!

Girls Weekend

2010-05-03T14:47:00.001-07:00

OK so as some of you know I went on a girls weekend with my sisters and mom this past week. We went up to BYU for Women's Conference. The Conference is Thursday and Friday all day and then we were staying in Salt lake on Saturday to have a day to play. Wed afternoon we headed to the airport to fly to Las Vegas and then on to SLC. When we got to the airport the flight was delayed an hour, no biggy, or so we thought. When the time came, they loaded us onto the plane and then kept us there for another hour and then had us get off again. There was a bad wind storm in Las Vegas and they weren't letting planes land. We told them just to skip Vegas and go straight to SLC but they didn't think they could do that. anyway about 3 hours later then expected we got on our way. Well during all this time of waiting I started to get a migraine. Its starts with getting holes in my vision. then moves on to pain in my head and numbness in strange parts of my body like one arm or half my face and my tongue. (I know weird) So then it moves really into my head and I can't think straight. I hate this part because I can hear and see but can't comprehend anything that is going on. Not fun! Its a good thing that I wasn't going on this trip alone and that I didn't have Tolson with me. So anyway we got on our way and headed to Vegas. Well the flight was horribly bumpy and just before we landed I couldn't take it anymore. I tossed my cookies. I have never done this before and really it wasn't that bad. I think my body had just had enough. SO we hobble off the plane and head for the bathroom and then have to get right back on. the second part went better but still not fun. My head was feeling better but oh man did I feel like CRAP!!! we got to SLC at about 1 ish and then headed down to Provo. by the time we got into our dorms and into bed it was almost 2:30. Not a fun day for a sick and tired pregnant lady. Needless to say I slept in the next morning and missed the first session! so worth it. Here are some fun pictures of the weekend.

This is me and my sisters and mom. The flowers were amazing. Sorry about the closed eyes. there were several cameras going at once. In order, left to right, top to bottom: Kelli, Treisa, Michelle, Me, Juli, Ida and Mom.

Saturday we got Hot Stone pedicures. I only get to do this with my sisters on our girls weekends and it is so fun and so worth it. the only problem was that it was cold and everyone was wearing closed toed shoes. We wondered all over the mall trying to find some cheap flip flops to buy so we didn't mess up our nice pretty toes!!! Don't you love the foam ones they gave us.

We toured the conference center and the Beehive house. What a cool place to see. Maybe some day I can get to be there for conference.

This is Treisa, Ida, Me and Michelle at one of the classes. We learned a lot and enjoyed being there together. In some of the classes they had tables set up and had service projects going on during the talks. We helped make memory boxes for moms that have a baby that dies at birth, Quilts, and Procedure dolls.

We had such a great time together and learned a lot. I am so glad I have an amazing Husband that lets me get away sometimes and refresh with my sisters. I am also sooo glad I have sisters I get along with, even my sister-in-laws feel like my real sisters and I can't imagine not having them in my family. I can't wait to see what we plan for next years girls weekend.

Crafty Creations!

2010-04-21T12:02:00.000-07:00

So ya know how ya go to a Super Saturday and never get all your projects finished so they sit at home in some corner waiting for you to get to them and then you add some more the next year cuz you never find time to get to the other ones but there are some cute ones this year.... ya know that feeling. Well some friends and I decided to get together to finish the projects that we had started. so here are some of the things I worked on.

I made a pillow case for Tolsons little pillow. I had made him a pillow several months ago and just had this little white with pink flowers pillow case of my grandmothers to fit on it. Sad for a cute little BOY. So he picked out some fabric and I made a new case for his little pillow. He loves it.

These I-Spy bags were from like three or four years ago. I don't know what took me so long to get them put together as it really ended up taking me about 6 minutes each but alas I did it and now I have a girl and boy one for my house.

This was just something I wanted to do recently so it hasn't been waiting around forever. I figured while I was sewing I would give it a go. I bought this maternity skirt a few weeks ago and love it. I had seen several skirts with a tool fringe on it and wanted to try it on this one. I bought some tool for a whopping $.49 and added it to the bottom.

Here is the finished skirt and I love it. Makes it a little more fun and flirty. although I don't know how flirty a maternity skirt can be. I love it and and glad it turned out so cute.

SO we got lots of things done that day. All of mine were sewing but there was lots of painting and cutting and tooling and all kinds of things among the girls. The kids also had a great time running around at the Bedonts house and I am sure made a huge mess upstairs.

Thanks girls for the great time and the opportunity to finish some projects. We will definitely have to do it again!!!!!

Freezer cooking!

2010-04-14T07:58:00.000-07:00

ok so I didn't take any pictures of my adventures in cooking yesterday but I will tell you all about it. My sister Michelle and I have done freezer cooking sessions a few times and have finally figured out some tricks and tips for making it easier. First thing is * Don't do it when you are both Pregnant!* We were both so tired by the end of the day that I was not sure that it would be worth it. We started this time by doing a few things on Monday in preparation for the all day session on Tuesday. I made Enchilada sauce, browned ground beef diced ham and went shopping. ( I was supposed to cook my chicken too but didn't get to that.) So then Tuesday we just cooked and assembled all day. We made Funeral potatoes and added diced ham and frozen broccoli. ( 4 bags full, that will be made into 8x8 in pans full) Then we assembled 5 - 8x8 pans of chicken enchiladas. Through out the day we were making bread in the bread machine to be used for hot pockets. We ended up with 3 ham and cheese, 3 pepperoni and cheese and 6 taco each. We didn't make as much as we wanted but these are easy to do later. We also had a roast in the crock pot all night to shred and make into burros. We of course didn't get to that so we will have to do it later. Usually we end up with about 15 meals. This time was only 9 and I am so glad we didn't do more. It was great. I do love spending time with my sister and the kids played pretty well together. And now I have some ready made meals in the freezer for when I don't feel like cooking.

By the way this is a great thing to give to someone who is having a baby! (this is not a hint for me by the way although I won't turn it away) I know they get meals for a few days after for RS sisters but to have something in the freezer is great. I had a few given to me when I had Tolson and it was sooooooo nice. Just make two of what you are making for dinner and give the other one away. Its not hard at all and it means a lot to the person receiving it! Just thought I would share.

So to continue with my Domestic Goddess groove I am in, now I have 9 meals in the freezer too!

Domestic Goddess!

2010-04-08T15:51:00.000-07:00

Ok so whenever I have to fill something out that asks my occupation I put down that I am a Domestic Goddess. I am sure quite a few people have gotten a good laugh out of that title. SO on Tuesday I decided that I should be a little domestic and create some scrumptious treats in my kitchen. Here is what I made....

I found a really Yummy recipe for super moist, sour cream banana bread. It made 5 loaves and man are they good. They aren't very banana-y but they are yummy and soft and light. and they go great with......

Strawberry Freezer Jam. I used a low sugar recipe for this one for several reasons. First I already had a box of low sugar pectin. It takes us a long time to go through these and by the end they are grainy with sugar. and you use a lot more fruit and you get that yummy fresh fruit taste with the low sugar kind. And really who needs to add more sugar to their diet. They were so easy to make and turned out really good.

I also found a recipe for a Strawberry-Orange Freezer jam and oh man I love it. It is very tangy and orange-y but still fresh and yummy like strawberry! This batch didn't make quite as much but it will still be good.

so all in all I made 15 yummy treats for my family and all of them work great in the freezer. The only problem with making all these creations is that mess that I have to clean up afterwards. Oh well I guess cleaning is part of the Job description for a Domestic Goddess.

Easter... a little late

2010-04-08T15:31:00.000-07:00

We started off the weekend on Friday when we had Brady and Jessica Come over to help make cupcakes. The boys had such a great time "helping" us and loved decorating their cupcakes.
These are the cute bunnies and chicks that we made. Brady kept insisting that he wanted a marshmallow and then licorice but,then promptly spit them out. I guess you gotta check and see if you still don't like things. They had a great time. We made just a few for examples to have on sat at my family picnic.

We ask the Easter bunny to bring basket to us on Saturday so we can keep Easter Sunday special. We usually do a family Easter Basket so we all can share but this year we didn't really get anything for Mom and Dad but Tolson Shared with us. He had such a great time looking at all his stuff. By the end of the day the grass stuff was spread all over the living room. Gotta love that!

We went for a picnic with some of my family and had lunch and an egg hunt. The kids had such a good time. Tolson loved dumping his candy in to the back of his dump truck. What a cute boy!

The kids all spread out their loot and gobbled it up. Then after that we made the cute bunny and chick cupcakes. They had so much fun playing with their cousins. I guess that's part of what Easter is about. Spending time together and remembering how important it is the we work to all be together forever! I hope that you all had a great Easter.

My Favorite Boy

2010-03-30T10:20:00.001-07:00

OK seriously, Is this not the cutest little boy in the world? Well My world anyway. He loves to get his little Lightning McQueen stool and "help" me in the kitchen. He really could stand for hours in front of the sink "washing the dishes".
Before church on Sunday he wanted to make his own sandwich. Isn't he handsome? (by the way my kitchen s not dirty, just well loved and used)

do you see the absolute joy on his little face. He loves playing and "washing the dishes". Both sinks are full of water and he is having a blast. I know its wasting water but its so hard to say no when its not the TV and he loves it so much.

Jessica and I took the boys to a new park the other day and they had a blast. They usually fight like brothers (and love each other like brothers too) but this day they just played and played. I think we were there for 2 1/2 hours just loving the weather and the nice new park.

SO CUTE!!!!!! What can I say!

hummm I wonder what my little girl will look like???

Girls weekend in Safford

2010-03-24T11:21:00.001-07:00

This past weekend I went to My sister Treisas house in Safford with my sister Michelle and our kids, well her girls anyway(and Tolson). We made cute skirts for the little girls but I didn't get a picture of the finished product. We made lots and lots of flower clips and ribbon clips. We stayed up late every night and ate chocolate and ice cream, watched chick flicks and really enjoyed being sisters. Here are some pictures from our weekend

Michelle and Treisa making skirts our of very cute material we found for cheap. We didn't get all of them done of course but they will be very very cute when they are done.

When we were making the flower clips we stuck the finished ones in our hair to keep them from getting mixed up with all the making supplies. We ended up with a head full of clips.

I promise we won't wear them like that.

Here are all the clips I made. Some are for my baby girl (when she comes) and some are for me. I also helped my nieces make a bunch and figured out how to wrap a headband with ribbon to change it up a little. We had a great time.

When we got home Jason had left us a cute message on the front walkway. You can't read it very well but it says I love you, Welcome home Mom and Tolson. There is a pot with flowers in it and a Monster Truck for Tolson. What a cute Husband I have.

I love spending time with my sisters and the kids have a great time, But I do love coming home. There is nothing better then sleeping in your own bed next to the warm body of your husband. I am so glad that he knows me well enough to know that I need sister time every once in a while.

Thanks Jason and Thanks Michelle and Treisa for a great weekend.

Fun weekend!

2010-03-15T16:29:00.001-07:00

ok so I was looking at my blog thinking that I should post something new....but I couldn't think of anything fun to write about. Duh I had a wonderful weekend with my sweetheart.

SO today is our 7th wedding anniversary! It is so weird to think that we have been married that long but yet 7 years is not that long compared to many people and to how long I hope to be married!!!

This past weekend we ran away together. I wasn't sure if we should do it because it always ends up costing more them I want and Money is always tight and ya know if we are going to go I want to do it right and have fun and not worry about money. SO we got a pretty nice tax return and with Jason (hopefully) leaving soon we decided that it was important that we go. SO I booked us a room on Priceline for a great resort in Scottsdale for a great deal. We took Tolson to Grandma's house and left on Friday at about 5ish. We weren't in a hurry (which we usually are when we go to the Temple) so it was nice just to drive and not worry about what time it was or anything. We stopped at In-N-Out on the way and had a yummy fast dinner.
We got up to the Scottsdale Plaza Resort and Spa to check in and felt kind of silly in our old boring car. (Driving in Scottsdale you see lots of luxury cars. ) anyway we went to check in and I saw that we were in a room with two double beds. I asked if there were any king rooms available , it was our anniversary and I hoped we could get a king room. The guy was kind of grumpy and said that he would look. He took his sweet time and then said that he found one for us. When we got to the room we discovered that he had put us in a Villa. It was so nice. WE just hung out and relaxed all weekend. We did some shopping and went to the Temple, hung out by the pool and ate yummy food and just spent time being together. It was so nice, we didn't want to come home. But alas we did. Now we are back to reality but feeling refreshed and still very much in love.

I am so glad that I found a wonderful husband to spend my life with. Thank you Jason for a wonderful 7 years! Our life has been so blessed and I know that the best is yet to come. (if anything can be better then what we have.) I LOVE YOU!!!

Tell someone you love them today!!!!

Three new posts! - Carmelitos!

2010-03-09T08:12:00.000-08:00

ok so I have already posts two posts today but I had a lot of catching up to do and I have actually been taking pictures so here you go....

Ok so I have never made or had Carmelitos but oh man they are good. I was checking out the food blogs that I follow and found this recipe on sisterscafe.blogspot.com . I decided that I have all the stuff so I was going to try them. so here is my tutorial on how to make them. If you want it go to their blog and check it out (I don't feel like I can steal it and get credit)

so you mix up this yummy oatmeal mix with sugar, butter, oatmeal and flour. I could eat this all by itself!!!

press half of it in the bottom of the pan and bake it, them top with chocolate and nuts.

drizzle the caramel mix over that. it uses ice cream topping instead of melting wrapped caramels. I just happen to have some so I was in luck.

then you top with the rest of the oatmeal mix and press it down to bake it.

here is the finished product and half the pan is gone already and I just made it yesterday. I would have eaten the whole thing myself but I did want to sleep last night. You really should try this recipe. IT is sooo good. check it out at sisterscafe.blogspot.com

Have a great day and enjoy your kitchen!!!!

Helping Daddy!

2010-03-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

Tolson loves to help his daddy! If you ask him to do anything and he doesn't want to, if you then ask him to help daddy he will get all excited and run to go help.

Here is Tolson helping daddy work on the car. He would ask everyday if he could help work on the car or truck. he just puttered around while Jason worked and thought it was the best thing ever!!!!!

This is Helping to dig some trenches in the back yard for our landscaping project. he loves using his dump truck to move the dirt and using a little plastic shovel to fill it up. He really is a big helper. What a joy he is to have in our home! Just thought I would share on some of the fun.

Park and Zoo!

2010-03-09T07:39:00.001-08:00

Last week Tolson and Brady took Jessica and I to the Zoo! What a fun time we had. When we got there the parking lot was FULL so we went to another part of the park and eat lunch. Then we fought the crowds and enjoyed the zoo. These boys love the zoo (what kid doesn't) and I think we do too. Here are some pictures of our adventures.

the boys found some little birds to chase and had a great time. They chased these two birds for several minutes. They are scoping them out now to see if they will come back after being chased. Two cute little boys!!!

Couldn't get one with his eyes open but its still cute!

They always love this part of the zoo. We love it too cuz we can sit down and they can run and run and run!

Ok on the the park. This was a trip to Aqua Caliente park two weeks ago. Jessica and I both needed to get out of the house so we took a picnic and the boys to the park to run around and play baseball. They had a blast!

This is trying to get them to both look at the camera and smile at the same time.

So instead they looked at the water and we got a cute picture!!! Its is so fun to watch them explore and look for new things. They had fun watching the fish and ducks and we even saw some turtles.

Confirmed

2010-03-04T14:13:00.000-08:00

ok so we had our Big Sonogram today and it went great. I had to be there at 9am and had to get a bunch of stuff ready and take tolson to my sisters before so I couldn't sleep this morning. I was not feeling anxious about the Dr. Appointment or anything, just had too much to do and not much time to get it done so I got up early and got to it. Got to the Dr 5 min early (which never happens) and got called right in. Jason wasn't there yet so I asked them to send him right in. The Sono tech was so nice. She was fast and took lots of measurements and looked for lots of things. She checked the skull, the spine, the pallet, the nasal bun(I don't know what that is but I guess if they don't have it, its a sign of downs) kidneys, bladder, heart from all angles, brain, fingers, toes and everything looks great. better then great it looks perfect!!!!! I was soo relieved to see it all and have it all look so good. I feel like I am finally getting excited about all this, and girl too! I can't wait! It will be so fun. 5 months from today is my due date so I feel like its a long way to go but I am sure it will be here before I know it. Anyway it was a great appointment and then I saw my Dr right after and he is so great. A bit crazy but a wonderful Dr. He was excited because I had gained 2 lbs. I haven't gained much weight (well almost non) and so he was glad I started to gain a little. he was cheering and I told him that no woman ever wants someone to cheer because they GAIN weight, only when they lose it. he just laughed and said in this case he is happy! I thought it was funny!

Anyway now we need a name for this little girl. We like unique names (like Tolson) but don't want something too extreme. I want it to be kind of short and hopefully use Marie and a middle name since that is mine. SOOOO any suggestions would be great.

Hope you all had a great day too!!!!

Car Update!

2010-03-03T08:16:00.000-08:00

ok so we didn't buy a new car but Jason has worked on them a lot and got them up and running (sort of) He worked and worked on the truck to get it working and ready to pass emissions. He finally got the check engine light to go off so he took it to do emissions right away, it finally passed but them we couldn't renew it online because he had gotten a ticket. so we had to wait until Monday and go take it in to the MVD. but alas we got it done and he can drive it again. ( the check engine light came back on on the way home for the MVD but he is registered so we will worry about that later!)*sigh Now with my car we are heading to safford this weekend to have my Bro-in-law help us replace the CV boots and ball joint. should be fun!!!! Thanks Jessica for letting us use the Jeep! You are WONDERFUL! I have to say though we are having car envy from driving a nice new clean car instead of our old ones. oh well someday we will get a newer car!!!

so there you go, cars on the mend! now for the Sonogram tomorrow I will see if I can somehow get some of the pictures on here so you can see our little one in the making!!!!!

New Car!!!!!

2010-02-26T09:15:00.001-08:00

OK so yesterday Jason comes home and says " Do you want to hear something funny? The check engine light just cam eon in your car!" The reason this is funny is because he is driving my car because his car is not registered cuz we cant get the check engine light to turn off and get it through emissions. we have tried everything we know how to do (and almost $600) and it still won't work. (by we I mean Jason) SO now we have to work on my car too. Happy times for us. At least I can be really grateful that my husband knows how to and is willing to work on our cars. WE also have friends and a brother-in-law we can call for help and advice when we need it. Its a bummer that both of our cars are well over 10 years old and both need work but they have been paid for for over 5 years and I am so glad for that. I think the time will be coming soon that we will need to replace one of them with a newer more reliable family vehicle so we have been looking.... a lot.....at new cars. Here are some we like.

We are usually a Nissan Family but I really like this Chevy Avalanche! It seats 6 comfortably and it can also carry stuff in the back with a covered bed you can lock stuff into and it tows a lot so when we get our camping trailer we can pull it fully loaded. They are really nice inside and don't cost an arm and a leg. (just an arm) This is what I really want. and I love this color too!

This is a Nissan Armada! We like these cuz they are big and can carry a lot of people and stuff. they can fit 7 plus have some room behind the seats for a bit of stuff. They tow a lot and are a nice ride. the third row folds flat so you can keep it in and still use the space in the back. A cousin has one and loves it. (I don't think there will ever be 7 of us so it seems silly to get one of these but we will see.)

The last is the Nissan Pathfinder. These are nice and not too big. They still have a third row so you can fit a few more people if needed and/or stuff. I have liked these since I was a teenager and have wanted one for a while. The questions is if it would be smarter to get the armada because they are about the same price and have about the same features one is just bigger then the other and has more towing capacity!

SO there you go. I am sure you all don't really care but it is fun to dream! I am hoping that our cars will be fixed soon so that we can have a good car for me to use while Jason is at the BP academy. I would love to take some road trips and see friends and family.

Well I hope that you are having a good car day and want to say thanks to the Awesome friends that have and are letting me use their cars while mine is being used to keep that family income coming in!!! YOU ARE AWESOME!!!

Its a .......

2010-02-18T15:39:00.000-08:00

Ok so It is not 100% but I have looked at a lot of Sono pictures and I have had two boys and the Dr was pretty sure that we are having a ..................

Girl! So In two weeks and the Big sono I will find out for sure but I am pretty sure it is right! I am very excited. Don't get me wrong I LOVE my little boy but it will be very fun to have a little girl too! When I called Jason and told him the news he said, " I am very excited but a little freaked out!" I can understand that. My Dr said that if you are going to have a girl you should have an ugly one! but with the looks that Tolson has I am not so sure that will happen! (not that I want an ugly girl, but you can see what he means) I am very excited and hope that this exciting news doesn't change in two weeks when we get to look closer and longer to make sure.

Well there you have it!!!! The news you have all been waiting for.

lots of stuff

2010-02-17T10:55:00.001-08:00

ok so I am not sure what order exactly I am going to do this but there is a lot going on and I am actually remembering to take pictures now with my fun new camera so here you go!!!!!

A few weeks ago we decided that it was time to put Tolson in a big boy bed. It was red and scratched so we painted it. Well being red we had to prime it and them paint it a few times to get it all covered. Jason made a tall wooden stand thing to hang them from and we got to work. we sanded them all and then got to painting. it only took one day but then we left them out to dry and it rained so then we had to wait for them to dry again!

but they did and Tolson helped us wipe them all off and get ready to put them together. He had so much fun helping put together his "little bed" as he calls it.

We got it all screwed on and put together and he loved it. he always loves to help "work" with dad and fix stuff. He is definitely his fathers child. using tools and working on projects is his favorite thing!!!

so he slept fine the first night and has had no problems since then. I wasn't sure how he would act in the morning now that he could get out of his own bed but he just sat in bed and called for me to come and get him. I think I scared him too much with his crib telling him that if he tried to climb out he could fall and get hurt so now he won't get out of bed without mom telling him he can. kinda funny huh!!! anyway so that the story of the new bed!!!

On Saturday before Valentines day I went with my parents and niece and nephews to a Chinese New Years celebration at the Chinese Cultural Center. My parents will be going to China for a year to teach English so they wanted to show the kids some of the fun things they will see and do there. We had a great time. they had food and dancers and some dragon dancers, games, a jumping castle and lot of fun things to see and do.

at the end they had a table where the kids could make a tiger mask or fan (its the year of the Tiger). Tolson and Sydney had a great time coloring and playing with their stuff. Tolson made a fan and thought it was a stop sign (its a hexagon) so he was telling everybody to stop and holding up his sign. luckily everyone thought it was cute instead of obnoxious. We all had a great time.

Well there you go. WE have also been trying lots of new stuff lately. Tolson had his first icee yesterday and painted for the first time. He is at such a fun age and I love playing with him and hearing his say "daddy I want to play with you" after dinner every night.

No news on the Border Patrol or the baby. I have an appointment tomorrow and then a big Sono on the 4th so we will see then what it is! Hope you all are doing well and that you are healthy and happy!

And as always, I Love comments!!!!!!!

mega blog coming soon!

2010-02-17T09:42:00.000-08:00

ok so we got our now fixed computer back from my wonderful brother who fixed it for us. so I have lots of catching up to do. I haven't quite figured out how to upload pictures from my new camera but I have a lot to share and some fun things to write about. so I am just sending a warning out now that there will be some long posts coming up soon! maybe during nap time today I can get to them. anyway have fun waiting in anticipation!!!!!

Wendy

Baby news!

2010-02-05T10:55:00.001-08:00

Ok so my Dr appointment was good yesterday, he says I am boring and to stay that way. I like being boring. Its much better then being interesting because it means everything is going well. I am now 15 weeks and am feeling pretty good. We couldn't tell what it was yesterday but maybe in a few weeks we can find out. If not I have a full Sono scheduled for the 4th of march and we will for sure be able to find out by then.

Anyway just thought I would give you all an update!!! Hope things are going well for you and that you have a good February!!!

For the love of food!

2010-02-02T10:16:00.000-08:00

Ok so I know this is a silly one but oh my gosh I love food. Now that I am feeling better I am loving food again. Still not quite up for cooking grand meals every night but I do love eating them. I made my first roast the other night and loved it. I have helped make these before at family gatherings and such but never attempted it at home. So I got a really lean pork roast at CostCo and put it in the crock pot with yummy butter red potatoes and carrots with a bunch of seasonings and mushroom soup. yummy!!! the only problem was that it was not until 2:30 that I thought enough to put it in, soooooo two hours later I took it out put it in a pan and then put it in the over for a hour. I was worried that it might not work but it was juicy and delicious. Jason eat a lot of it and so did Tolson. I was very proud of my first roast. I bought a 10 lb bag of red potatoes and am trying to find some yummy things to do with them. If you have any great ideas let me know. I know that the picture above it not of a roast but I also found this Lemon cheesecake recipe and really want to try it. I 'll let you all know how it turns out. wish me luck!

Drum Roll Please. . . . . .

2010-01-23T09:32:00.000-08:00

OK so I figured I am not going to get any more fun comments so I guess I better Spill!!! I was going to have you all guess but some of you already know so I won't keep the rest of you waiting. Here are some hints though...

It takes two!!!

Third time is the charm for us!!!

Its a long process!!!! ( but at least not 2 years like some animals!!!)

Pink or blue?!?!?!?!?!!

I am so glad to not be sick anymore!!!

I am hoping for a girl but will take a cute little boy too!!!!

alright you guessed it.....

We are having a baby!!!! I am almost 13 weeks and things are going really well. I have an awesome Dr who takes really good care of me. I get to see my baby every two weeks when I go for my appointments. I know its seems like a lot for being so early but after having one baby die and then two miscarriages they are keeping close tabs on me which makes me feel a whole lot better. I was sick, sick for the first several weeks but I am feeling much better now. I am actually starting to get excited about this one. I am sure you can guess why I wasn't letting myself get excited. But I am pretty sure that things will continue to go well and we will have a cute little baby the first part of August.

Well there you go I guess its public knowledge now!!! Wish us luck!!!!!

P.S. now you know that I like getting your comments so please feel free to continue doing so!!!

extra extra... read all about it~!

2010-01-21T09:21:00.000-08:00

OK so for the few of you that actually read my blog I have some fun news!!!!

There are a lot of things up in the air right now in our life so you may be thinking...

Did he get a call from the Border Patrol?....

Do they know where they are going????

Did She get a new calling?

Are they staying in Tucson????

What happened????

Well I am going to be really mean here and see who is really reading my blog...

I would like you all (whoever you are) to post a comment on my blog so I know you are out there!!!

and then I will share my fun exciting news about our family!!!!

have fun!!

Ravioli!

2010-01-13T08:14:00.001-08:00

OK so this week I tried again to make homemade Ravioli. I love pasta and especially filled pasta. Mine did not look this good but I wanted to post some kind of picture so here you go. I have tried to make this before and it turned out ok. I made the pasta dough and tried to roll it out thin enough and it worked great but then when you put the two layers together it made them kinda thick and chewy so I had heard that if you use wonton wrappers it works great so I tried it and I don't think it is worth the effort. Jason and Tolson ate it up and said they liked it but I didn't love it. I did make an amazing sauce though that I will have to do again. It was a creamy tomato sauce. YUMMY!!! so decidedly I will just have to buy my stuffed pasta until I can get a pasta roller and ravioli mold and than maybe I will try again. It is so fun to try new things in my Kitchen though. I love to cook and share the fun things I make with my family. so I consider this attempt not a flopp (cuz I created a really good sauce) but not really a success either! oh well there is always next time.

Now to try a sweet Hawaiian bread...... Wish me luck!!!

Worst Day/Best Friends!!!!

2010-01-06T08:57:00.000-08:00

OK so yesterday was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day! I woke up in the morning with the signs I was getting migraine. It starts with me loosing spots in my vision. I got up and took a shower and went down stairs to wait for Emma to get here. When she got here I turned on the TV ( i know, i know) and went back up stairs to lay down. She is very mellow in the am and was fine to just sit and watch. then Tolson woke up about 9:30 so I got out of bed again got him down stairs and got him something to eat. then went back up to bed. this is hard to do knowing you have a 2 and a 3 year old running loose in your house but at this point there was nothing I could do. My right arm was numb and my face was tingly! I know weird but I have seen a neurologist and he said its normal. So i decide I need to get up and see what I can do. Sometimes when I drink some caffeine it makes it settle down a little in my head so I did! and boy was that a mistake. now I was feeling horrible nauseous and had a pounding headache...... and in steps a friend. Allison had seen on facebook that I was getting a migraine and called to see if she could come and get my kids. I feel bad about this cuz I am getting paid to watch Emma so I hate to send her off to someone else. But alas I let her come and get them, then I crawled (literally) up the stairs into my dark room and got under the covers to try to sleep for a few hours. Still feeling sick and having Mt Dew in my veins I had a fitful bout of rest but it was dark and quiet so it helped. I woke up around 1pm and called Allison, only after much insisting, she brought the kids back and we played for a bit. Then I took them to my sisters and they played with her kids while I sat on the couch and talked to Michelle. By 2:30 I had mustered enough energy to get off her couch and head out the door to the Dr appointment that I had already scheduled and could not miss. On days like this I really wish I had dark tinted windows. driving all the way to the UofA was not fun, but I made it and I survived.

By the end of the day my head was not going to explode and I thought I would survive the day without loosing my cookies. My husband was wonderful and did his best to take care of me. another wonderful friend called and brought over dinner for us so I didn't even have to cook. and yes the dishes are still on the table but I don't care. I survived with the help of some guardian angels.

Well now that my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day is over and I lived I am glad to face another day and see how much I can get done. Thanks again to my wonderful friends, husband and sister for helping me get through that!!!!!!!

Perfect 10!!!

2010-01-04T09:08:00.000-08:00

ok so now that we have moved on to 2010 we have new hopes and dreams right? I am shooting for a perfect 10! I know that this will be hard to accomplish but I feel like if I try hard enough and practice and prepare it can be a perfect 10 ( and even if not we will try to get through the bad stuff quickly and happily and then it won't seem so bad!!!) now this perfect 10 will not be in the arena of a prefect 10 woman but in the area more like gymnastics! I figure in that sport you are judged on more then just looks! you have skill, style, precision, and I am sure many other factors that I can't think of right now. So as a Mom a Queen and a Domestic Goddess I am sure there will be many factors I can judge or be judged on!

So I don't have any great new Years resolutions for this year except that I want it to be an awesome year!!! There are a few things I am hoping will happen this year .

1. I would like to have a baby! (sorry if that is TMI!) but hey I do!

2. I would like Jason to get a job offer and assignment with the Border Patrol.

3. I would love to have our backyard finished

I am sure there are a lot more but I can't think of them right now! Well here is to a new year and to it being the perfect 10 year for all of you!!!!

Deep breath

2009-12-30T11:16:00.000-08:00

OK so I still don't have a camera to take and post pictures but we are getting one... soon! We had a very fun and crazy Christmas. It was wonderful and tiring and busy and relaxing all in one. Jason sister Robin and her family came to stay at our house which was very fun. Tolson loved having "friends" at our house everyday. He was very sad this morning when he woke up and they were not here and their stuff was all gone too. It really made me appreciate our house and what a great blessing it is. We had Christmas eve at Jason's moms house and had a great time with almost all of his family, everyone was there except one family. : ( We then brought the kids home and put them to bed (late of course) and then we back to moms for the fun wrapping and assembling frenzy that takes place every Christmas eve. WE then got to bed about 1:30 and didn't get up until about 9 when we actually woke Tolson up to open presents. My parents came over to enjoy the joy of Christmas with children and then we had breakfast. we then just hung around for a few hours and then went up to my parents to spend Christmas Day. It again was crazy with small children and lots of food, and again we got to bed late. Saturday was a bit slower but Jason got up early to go play paintball with a bunch of the guys in the family and good friends. I hung out with my sisters and the kids played most of the day. then again on Sunday we went back to Jason's mom's house for Birthday parties. There are four birthdays in his family within a day or two of Christmas. we had a great time and again got to bed late. By Monday I was so exhausted I went to bed at 9pm and slept for 12 hours!!!!!

We had a wonderful time with family and friends and really enjoyed having Christmas morning with just our little family (Grandma and Grandpa were an added bonus) we enjoyed the real Christmas spirit with out little Christmas program on Christmas eve and enjoyed the love shared between siblings and cousins. We are so grateful for all those in our life that bring us so much joy and peace. We are grateful for friends that we include in our family and for family that we count as friends. We are grateful for the Savior and all that his life means to ours.

I truly hope that you have enjoyed that crazy holiday season as much as we have and hope that your New Year will be amazingly blessed!!!!!

FaMiLY pIcTuReS

2009-12-15T10:33:00.000-08:00

Ok so we had our family pictures done by a wonderful Photographer! (Thanks Michelle) We went to this cool building complex where we had our engagement pictures taken and had fun messing around. here are some of the best ones......

One of the funniest things that happened that day is that we were trying to take a picture of Tolson swinging between us and he slipped off our fingers and landed superman style on the grass. needless to say he was not happy but we were laughing so hard we had a hard time comforting him. I was bummed we didn't get a picture of that!!! It was classic.

No pictures!

2009-12-15T10:22:00.001-08:00

Ok so I am feeling like I have nothing to blog about since I don't have a camera to post pictures of the fun things going on in my life. We are finally ready for Christmas ! Got the tree last week and had fun decorating it. Tolson did a great job and hasn't messed with the ornaments since we put them on. He really is getting soooooo Big. I can't believe some of the funny things he says and does. Jason got the lights on the house last night and apologized several times that it is so late. I don't really care as long as they are on. Some presents are wrapped, some need to be bought still but I am feeling very ready. My sister-in-law and her Family are coming for Christmas and are staying at our house. I am very excited about this but am not excited about cleaning my house and not sure how much I will be cooking and cleaning while they are here. Luckily my Mother-in-Law lives about 5 minutes from here so we will be over there a lot.

Other then Christmas coming there is not a whole lot new and exciting from here in the Kempton Kingdom. Still waiting to hear from the Border Patrol and don't expect to hear anything until at least after the first of the year. It will be very fun to see where we are going to end up.

Well I better get lunch made and get off to start cleaning my house. They will be here in one week. Can't wait to see you Robin!!! Hope you all are having fun getting ready for Christmas and not adding too much stress to your lives. That's not what it is all about! Enjoy this time of year, especially if you have little ones. Its so fun to try to see thing through their eyes!! What an amazing world we live in and what a wonderful time of year. Love you all!!!!

Sad Goodbye!

2009-12-01T07:31:00.001-08:00

Ok so last Sunday I got released from my calling in Young Women's. (at least that's what I hear, I wasn't there) I have been serving in the YW's program for almost 5 years. I have loved it and will miss it greatly. There is something about being with the youth of the church that gives me strength. They have to deal with so much and are so faithful. They are amazingly talented in so many ways. It is very fun to do activities with them and learn new things. I loved teaching as it gave me an opportunity to constantly be reminded of the things I can do to be better. I am very sad I will miss girls camp this year. (well maybe, you never know) I am going to miss being with them every Sunday and will miss their sweet smiles and hugs. but alas.....

I will get to go to Relief society again and get to actually know whats going on in the ward. I won't have to leave my house every wed night and I won't have to prepare a lesson every week. Don't get me wrong I didn't mind those things I just will enjoy not doing them for a while.

I was not surprised by this release as I figured when Jason leaves for the BP academy I would be released anyway. It will be nice to be home with him every night for a little while before he leaves. For those of you that are not on facebook Jason has finished all of his initial application process and is now ready to be approved for hire and given an assignment. We don't know how soon that will be or how much warning we will have so we are a little nervous about him getting a call and having to leave in two weeks or something but I hope it will be a little more then that. We have been waiting for this for a long time but now that it is closer, its a little scary! (and exciting!!!)

Well goodbye to my beautiful young women and the amazing group of women that I have been able to work with. I hope that you will still say hi to me in the halls and give me hugs and smiles when you see me. I will miss you greatly!

Funny Tolson!

2009-11-18T14:43:00.000-08:00

OK so last night I was telling some friends a funny thing that Tolson says and they told me I need to put that on my blog so here it goes.

We potty trained Tolson last month and he is doing great. While you are in the process of potty training you look for any kind of clues if they need to go so that you can catch it before it ends up being a mess. So while potty training Tolson if I ever heard him toot I would ask him if he needed to go potty, to which he replied "no mom I just pop"! I have no idea where he got that from except that it sounds like a bubble popping so he just figured that's what it is so that's what I will call it. So now all the time when he toots he will say "I pop mom!"

Oh the funny things that kids say!!!!

Yard Sale!

2009-11-16T07:59:00.000-08:00

Ok so this past Saturday we had our very first Yard Sale! I have never done one and have not been to many. Jason is on our HOA board and suggested we do a neighborhood one and that he would do all the signs and advertising etc. He has been pretty busy the last few weeks so I ended up doing most of it. I am not complaining at all I am just saying! we have been gathering stuff to get rid of for a few months so we had a good stuck. I wish we would have sold more but hey I made over $100 so I can complain about that either! I had to go around to the other houses to tell them that a donation truck would be here after we were done to get whatever we didn't sell or want. That was not a good idea cuz I ended up spending $20 at other peoples houses. I bought a cute train set (well 6 Thomas cars) that I am very excited about for Tolson for Christmas and some Razors (I know, at a yard sale?) for Jason! (our awesome neighbor and her sister are coupon queens so they get really good deals on stuff and then re-sell it for cheaper). I did the yard sale with Jessica and we had a great time. She came over Friday night and we made Pizza and sorted and organized all our stuff. then we just hung out on Saturday while people shopped our stuff. at the end of the day we still had lots of stuff so we sorted through it and made a donation pile (a big one!!!) and put it on the curb. about an hour later I had a lady ring the door bell that didn't speak any english and ask me if an item in the pile was for sale (well her daughter asked me) I told them I was just getting rid of it and they would have whatever they wanted. They took EVERYTHING out there. They didn't even look in the boxes to see what it was before they loaded it in the truck. oh well maybe they will get something from it. it was just funny! anyway it was very fun and now I have some Christmas money to shop with on Black Friday!!!! I am excited about this Christmas as it will be very fun to see Tolson get really excited about his presents and the whole season! I hope you all have a fun Christmas and enjoy getting ready for it.

p.s. my camera Broke :( so I won't be posting any pictures for a while!!!

Alaska 2009!

2009-11-12T13:47:00.000-08:00

WARNING!!! PICTURE OVERLOAD!

In June of 2009 our Family took a Cruise to Alaska. My parents had been gone for 2 years on a mission so upon their return (may 2009) we went on a trip with them, their 6 children and our Spouses. No small children allowed. It was so much fun. Here are some pictures of that trip.

This is the Girls (missing Ida) at Butchart Gardens. Jason wants to Build a fountain like that in our yard. Well maybe when we get our dream house he can do that!

Bear Hugging!

A Not so Friendly Bear!

This is Craigdoroch Castle in Victoria, BC. It was built in the 1800's and is very very cool inside. I could live there!!!!

Butchart Gardens was an amazing place. There were probably hundreds of thousands of flowers there. I think we took so many pictures there that my sisters camera refused to work any more. If you are ever in Washington go see it. Beautiful!!!!

Jason was Rock climbing on the Ship! 200 feet above the water! and What a hottie he is too!!!

We had My sister take some formal pictures of all of us on the cruise. There were two formal evenings that we had dinner and went dancing. It was so fun to dress up and party the night away!

Here are all the Girls!

And the whole Family!

it was a wonderful Trip that we will remember for ever! I have always wanted to go on a cruise and who better to go with then your own family!

Dreams!!!!

2009-11-06T12:05:00.000-08:00

ok so I have no pictures but maybe I can find some to add to this.

I have lots and lots of dreams, most of them may seem worldly but it is the intangibles behind them that I want the most!

Owning an SUV

Hybrid camping trailer

Sapphire ring for Spencer

No Debt

To actually decorate my house

New bedroom set

New BABY

A weekend away with my hubby

Going back to Australia

Taking Jason to New Zealand

Biking down Haleakala in Hawaii with Jason

Doing a BIG 12 days of Christmas for someone who needs it.

Lasik and laser hair removal ( totally worldly, sorry)

Taking Tolson to Disney land

Letting Jason buy the Truck of his dreams

A full CutCo set of knives

Nice New pots and pans

A huge walk-in Pantry

Many Many more......

These are just some of the fun things I would love to have or do. It may seem silly to post them all here for the world to see but here they are. I have been thinking a lot about them lately and how to accomplish some of them. I do not want them all at once and don't worry I won't go into huge debt to get them. (one of them is to get out of debt!!!!) I hope that sometimes you stop and thing about your dreams.

If you don't have something great to look forward to, then its hard to see past today!

Love/Hate relationships

2009-11-02T13:14:00.001-08:00

Ok so now that all that is over with..... I am moving on. I really have a lot to do but not very much motivation to do it. Jason heard back from the border Patrol last week and they said it will probably be another several months until his Background clearance is done so not to hold our breath. I am LOVING that he will still be here for several months but I am HATING that we still have to wait for long. Other then that I have to get ready for a yard sale in two weeks(LOVE the money, HATE getting ready), clean my house (HATE) so I can decorate for Thanksgiving and then Christmas (LOVE), Work on my Christmas sewing projects (yes I said sewing), we have another craft fair coming up,(LOVE) and I decided that I am going to run a 5K with Amber and Allison in December. I DO NOT enjoy running (HATE) but I am doing it to support Amber (cuz I think she is amazing(LOVE)) and cuz I need to lose some weight and get fit (HATE). I do much better at exercising if I have something I am working towards so here I go! Running! other then that I am just grumpy today cuz I had to do the budget for the month (HATE) and there are lots of unplanned expenses this month that I have to figure out where they will come from. UGH! I have a love hate relationship with money (don't we all) SO there you go with all my loves and Hates today. I don't really like the word Hate but sometimes it is just fitting.

Well I LOVE you all and HATE that I don't hear from you more. I hope that with the holidays coming up we can all catch up and at least try to keep in touch. Now I am going to turn on some fun fast music and hope to get some things done around here.

Bummer!

2009-10-26T09:28:00.000-07:00

I had no better title then that sorry. So it has been a very bummer weekend. WE spent Most of Saturday in the ER waiting to hear something we already knew. WE got there at about 9:30am and were in our own room by 10:15. Unfortunately we were next to a kid that was in their for being very very drunk and he was very vocal and not very nice. The nurse didn't take any crap from him and was very tough. We were laughing most of the time. well after blood tests, an exam, and sonogram they told us that they could not find a heart beat and that I was having a miscarriage. This did not come as a shock to us because I had been having signs of that for a few days (which is why we went in the first place). I had cried most of my tears in the days before so I was ready. I don't understand why these things happen but they do and they did. I am very glad that I have learned a long time ago that I am NOT in charge but I am glad I know who is. I really have felt the spirit comforting me and reassuring me that everything will be ok. On Friday when I was pretty sure what was going on I was just sooo mad. I kept thinking "it's not supposed to be this hard" I still think that but now I know that Its not up to me anyway and maybe there are things I need to learn so maybe it is supposed to be hard.

Anyway I am just rambling but I just needed to put some of my feelings down in writing. I also wanted to say thank you to the good friends and Family that I have around me to help me and support me in the good and bad times. You guys are the best!!!!!

Today I am grateful for:

My wonderful husband
My cute little boy
my health
my home
my faith in the Lord and in His plan for me and my family.

Potty Training Time!!!!

2009-10-16T10:02:00.000-07:00

Ok so On Wednesday I started the official Potty training. It has been three days and so far is going pretty good. So many people said that it was sooo hard and yes it is but I guess I expected it to be a lot harder and so it hasn't been to bad. ( kinds like the glucose test when you are pregnant) anyway he is doing really well and doesn't want to put his pulls up on at night even cuz he likes his big boy underwear. He only had two accidents on Thursday and so far today (granted its only 10am) no accidents today. As you can see in the picture I covered the couches with towels and the floor with a blanket. Yes there is a lot of Orange in this picture. Tolson has decided that he likes to pick out his own clothes so i let him and I guess at least I can be glad they are in the same color scheme. oh well so there is the latest update on Tolson and the potty training. I hope that it keeps going well and that I will soon have a fully potty trained little boy. Wish me luck!!!!

Cooking club ( for lack of a better title)

2009-10-16T09:44:00.000-07:00

Ok so a few weeks ago I got together with some friends and we learned how to make Gnocchi (I think that's how you spell it) It was soooo fun. Allison taught us how to do it and then we all tried it. I of course am not in any of the pictures (tee hee) and I am sorry girls that they are so blurry. I have to tell you though I went to the Dr later that day and was weighed and was like 6 lbs heavier then I normally am and yes I blame the yummy food. Here are some fun pictures of the day.

Jessica showing off her crazy mad skills in the kitchen.

Emily cutting the noodles the whole time saying "Is this right, are you sure, really is this right it seems like it should be harder."

Amber - see if you can make it in my mouth!!!!!

I think Emily was the winner for the messiest hands. We had a lot of fun hanging out and learning a new dish. Thanks Allison for the new skills and the yummy food. I still have to try this on my own so Jason can have some and I can see if I can really do it.

COOKIES!!!!!!

2009-10-01T17:20:00.000-07:00

Ok so I have been wanting to make these cookies for several weeks but have never gotten to it. They are the Land-O-Lakes chewy chocolate chip cookies, and can I just say YUMMY! so I decided to share this great recipe with you all. I know you are thinking they are just chocolate chip cookies but they have a lot more butter and sugar in them then most and they are chewy and yummy! So here you go!

CHEWY JUMBO CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE

4 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups real butter, softened

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 Tbs vanilla

1 12 oz package of chocolate chips (2 cups)

Preheat oven to 375. Combine flour, baking powder, soda, and salt in a bowl. Set aside, Combine butter and sugars and beat at medium, scraping sides, until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla. Continue beating, scrapping bowl, until well mixed. Gradually add flour at a low speed until well mixed. Stir in chips. Drop by the 1/4 cupfuls, 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-14 min. Let stand on the sheet for 2 min then put them on a cooling rack. mmmmmmmm!!! My cousin that gave this recipe to me swears by parchment paper and says it makes all the difference but I have never tried it. Enjoy!!!

30 and thriving!

2009-09-27T15:37:00.000-07:00

OK so this last Friday I turned 30!!! I kept thinking it was going to be a big deal and that I would feel different cuz you know its 30. But I didn't really! Last weekend Jason threw me a surprise birthday party. It was so fun. I loved seeing friends and family and just hanging out. We had yummy food and played Rock Band. Jason had borrowed a projector and set it up so it was huge on the wall. Everyone brought a yummy appetizer and Jason made a cake. Yes Jason made it. He snuck to his moms house and made a German chocolate cake for my birthday. I love him so much and that he pulled it all off. My sister and her husband came into town from Safford to be there and my brother drove over from the other side of town to be there for me!!!! I have an awesome Family and incredible friends. We stayed up until 12 playing and talking and eating. It was so fun. THEN this weekend Jason and I were able to go "out" of town to a resort in Rancho Vistoso. My parents took Tolson and we spent the day shopping, watching a Movie (Harry Potter - and yes I did like it) went to a yummy Italian restaurant, sat in the hot tub and just enjoyed the day together. It was so fun and so relaxing to just be us and just spend time together. So I had a great birthday!!! It is weird to think that I am 30 but I don't feel old and I am so excited for all the fun adventures ahead of me in my life. Thanks everyone for all the birthday wishes and for being part of my wonderful life!!!

p.s. sorry I don't have any pictures! It was a surprise party!!!

Life in general!

2009-09-10T13:52:00.000-07:00

why do I always put a exclamation mark after my title? I don't know but that's just who I am. I have been thinking a lot lately about life. I will be 30 this month and we are still in limbo of what changes may be coming and I don't know, just thinking a lot about life. Its funny how things don't work out how you plan but in the end they are better. I never thought that at 30 I would only have one kid (well technically I have two) but its just weird. I also didn't think that my husband and I would be at the beginning of a career change and possibly be moving. I did think that we would be out of Tucson by now though. We always planed 5 years or less, its been more then that since we got married but still we are close.

I just really am SO blessed. I have such great family close by, I have AMAZING friends that I have so much fun with and learn so much from and I am so in love with my husband and son. I always thought my kids would be about 2 years apart but it has been really nice only having Tolson at home because I can do fun things with him and I get to read to him everyday before nap and bed time. I think as you have more kids it makes it harder to do all those little things that take your extra time. I think it will be really fun to have him be the big brother and be big enough to help out and play with a younger sibling (no I am not announcing anything). I do really hope that we are blessed with more kids but I am glad for how great things have been.

I am just really grateful for all the wonderful things in my life.

Wonderful husband, Cutest funnest son ever, Being a mom

Nice, comfortable home, Cars that work and are paid for

Being able to cook and enjoying it, Green grass in the back yard, Rain in the summer

Great Friends, Having sisters, The church

Jason having a job, Having a healthy strong body

Ice Cream, Flowers, Chocolate

Anyway I am just thinking about all the blessings I have and I know that there is a plan for me and for my little family. I can't imagine going through this life without the Gospel and without the Savior by my side. Sometimes it is fun to look back on life and think about all the fun you had all the blessings and all the stupid mistakes you made. As long as we learn from them then it is all worth it! If we didn't learn anything we weren't looking hard enough!!!

I just wanted to take a few minutes to write about the joys I have in my life!!! I hope that you all can find your joys and hang on tight!!!!!!

Tolson's Birthday!

2009-09-06T17:26:00.000-07:00

Friday was Tolson's 3rd Birthday and we had a great day!!!! In the morning he helped me make the cupcakes for the party. He is such a big helper and loves the part where he can lick the beater! (don't we all) This was the before picture, I never got an after one but he was way more covered in chocolate!

We tried to make the cupcakes into car wheels! If you use your imagination you can see it. (kind of squint your eyes and picture a car over them) They were not as cute as I hoped but he didn't care and they were really yummy! They were made with Jr Mints and man were they good!!!!!!

Then we went out to lunch with Aunt Michelle, Morgan and Nana and Grandpa. After Lunch we went to Toy's R Us and played on the toys. He was so cute running from car to car and bike to bike. Right before I took this picture Tolson was in the pink one and Morgan was in the black on. They switched on their own before I could take the picture.

Ok such a boy!!! He sits in the Barbi Corvette and then gets out and looks under the hood. He was messin with stuff and then shut it and got back in and tried to start it! I don't know where he learned that one!!! He is just a boy!!!!

So that evening we had some friends come over for a little party. We played at the park and tried to have cake and ice cream there too but it got too windy! I couldn't even get the candle lit so we sang anyway and pretended! He didn't care he just thought it was cool.

He then proceeded to lick all the icing off of two cupcakes, he didn't even try my yummy chocolaty mint cupcakes! Oh Well!!!

So after a HUGE wind storm started we headed over to our house. (lucky we live across the street) We played and opened presents. We did our families traditional "Heavy Heavy Hang Over" song and bopped him on the head with the presents. He loved it and thought it was soo fun to have his friends there.

Even the adults got into the action!

It was soo fun to have his friends over to play with him and enjoy his birthday! We are so lucky that his friends parents are our friends too so we had fun hanging out and visiting! We are soo blessed to be here and have such a great group of people around us. Thanks for coming and helping celebrate Tolson's 3rd Birthday!!!!

All night long and the next day all he could talk about was seeing his friends again!!!!!

Slacking!

2009-09-02T13:58:00.000-07:00

Ok so I know I have been slacking a little on the posting. No good excuses except well.... no good excuses. I love reading everyone else's posts and seeing whats going on in their lives. Maybe its cuz my life is not very exciting. WE are still in Limbo waiting to hear from the Border Patrol. Jason has a Dr. appointment today to see about his wrists. once we get that in they I guess we just wait some more. Tolson Birthday is Friday and he will be a big 3!!! I am very excited about this and I will have something to post after Friday! We are having just a few friends to the park for some cake and ice cream. I am going to try to be creative and make some cup cakes look like tires and am going to do a few fun little games. We went to the Wal-mart (ugh!!) last night to get his bike and they didn't have the one we wanted. It was not a very fun trip and I HATE going to wal-mart. Those of you in the rest of the country will not understand. I think our wal-mart is the most ghetto, gross, crazy people filled, Wal-mart in the world. Soooo anyway we went to get a cute little tricycle for Tolson Birthday present I had looked at them and wanted to get one but thought it would be fun to go with Jason and get it together. So I got a babysitter for last night and we went and the whole time Jason was just not happy. They didn't have the one we wanted and when we left Jason was like "I hate Wal-mart". Anyway we went to the Hummer dealership and looked at H2's so he felt better. I am still not sure what we are going to do about the bike but I am sure we will find one we like.

Anyway I am getting excited about this birthday! One thing we did buy was underwear for Tolson. I am going to wrap it up and give it to him as a present. I am normally opposed to doing that for kids cuz I think its kind of lame (no offence to anyone that does that, I just remember getting things like that growing up and not liking it.) BUT I am going to start potty training right after his birthday so I want him to be excited about it and I thought if he got it for a present he might be better excited about them. so I guess the trip to wal-mart was productive after all.

well I guess I better stop rambling and get Tolson to bed. I just have to say that I am in love with the blogging world and am so glad that other people are better at this then me! I love hearing about my friends lives and their joys and sorrow and excitement and fears. I am glad to be a part of that and am glad you are all willing to share with me.

I hope you all have a really great day.

Thing I am grateful for today:

1. Brady Gray (he is tolsons brother from another mother)

2. Chocolate

3. Blogs

4. a dishwasher that works well!

5. My awesome Husband who will go with me to wal-mart even if he hates it.

Fruit Pizza Flopp!!!

2009-08-25T08:34:00.000-07:00

OK so I said before that I was not really creatively inclined! Here is the evidence.

I tried to make a fruit pizza on Sunday and I failed miserably. I make the cookie dough from scratch and rolled it out onto the pizza stone leaving a bit of an edge so it would expand. Well I guess I didn't expect it to spread so much. I went to check on it and it was dripping over the edge and onto the bottom of the oven. Soooo I put a cookie sheet under it to see if I could still cook it enough to use it.
SO the cookie sheet caught a lot of it but the stuff on the bottom was still cooking/burning and every time I checked on it smoke filled the house. I should have taken a picture of the bottom of the oven after I took the cookie sheet off. It was horrible. And I don't have a self cleaning oven!!!! So needless to say I did not make a fruit pizza! Alas I will try again!

Progress in the Back Yard!!!

2009-08-23T16:04:00.000-07:00

For those of you that saw our backyard as a barren wasteland you may be surprised to see all the green. Yes we have grass now! I know we are crazy for wanting to grow grass in Arizona in the summer but it worked and has not been too bad either! We are making progress on the master plan for the back yard so I thought I would fill you all in as we go along.

The pile of block in the back corner will someday be gone but for now ... well there it is! But look at the grass! Yes this is in Tucson folks! Isn't my husband amazing!!!!

We had our first casualty of the project...a broken rake. It was on its way out anyway but we helped it along. oh well I am sure there will be more.

SO this is that start of the path that will go from the porch all around the grass area. Jason worked on it on Thursday night for a few hours and got about 10 feet done. He is amazing and I am sure it will soooo awesome when it is all done.

On Saturday we were doing a little work out there mowing and picking weeds and cleaning out the sand box and we needed to trim the edges of the grass. We don't have a weed wacker so I used the scissors and trimmed it all by hand. Now you may laugh but I was glad I could do something to help. The backyard is Jason's domain (as is the garage) but I want to help so I don't feel so useless. So I got the scissors and went all around the edge and trimmed. It wasn't too bad but we went to Home Depot (Tolson's favorite store) and looked at edgers/trimmers that afternoon. It seems we will have to add to our tool collection as we continue on this project, which I am sure Jason wont mind at all. WE are excited about what it will look like when it is all done but it will be a lot of work until then. We have been waiting for the weather to cool off a bit and then we will really get going! I will keep you all posted.

Childrens Museum

2009-08-23T15:48:00.000-07:00

Family Home Evening this week was going to the Children's Museum down town. We met the Grays there and Tolson and Brady had a great time. Tolson wasn't a big fan of the dinosaur room but liked everything else. It was a great time.

Tolson and Brady Had a blast playing in the Fire truck!

They loved being together! I swear these two were best friends in the pre-existence!

They played in the submarine for like 20 minutes. They pretended they were driving it and loved pushing all the buttons and spinning the dials.

Tolson loved the Train room! He is a big fan of trains and thought it was so cool to ring the bell. This is looking down through a tunnel that was the front engine of the train.

We had a great time and love watching tolson play and explore! Its especially fun when he has a great buddy to go with. Thanks Brady for being such a good friend!!!

Cool Jon Schmidt Video

2009-08-18T14:06:00.000-07:00

I love this video. He talks at the end about arranging it for his 7 year old daughter! anyway I hope you like it as much as I did!

Creative attempts

2009-08-14T16:15:00.000-07:00

Ok so I was teasing on facebook the other day about starting a blog called creatively declined. I try lot of new things all the time and I am sure when Jason is gone for 5 months I will have lots of evening time to fill with things. I think instead of starting a new blog I might just post these attempts on here. I have been trying my hand at different kinds of cooking, sewing, jewelry making, I struggle with decorating but would like to get better and many other things. I figure my blog is called Kemptons kingdom and should share things that go on here in the castle so I will be posting all these things on here. Now I just need to get better at taking pictures of these happenings and document the fun. So there you go! Here is a forewarning that there will be some random posts about the little things I am trying! Hope you all enjoy the ride!

Camping on Mt Graham

2009-08-11T09:15:00.000-07:00

Ok so some days I feel like my life is in limbo. I don't have a whole lot going on or a lot to report so I feel like my blog is kinda boring. But at the same time its really just for me and whoever want to know whats going on with my life. So really It doesn't matter right?

Well this weekend we went camping (pictures to come later) It wasn't real camping as we were staying in a cabin with running water and a kitchen etc. but it was still in the mountains and still fun. We went to Mt Graham (over by Safford) with Jason two cousins and their families. there were 6 adults and 7 children in a little one bedroom cabin. it was very fun but a bit noisy at times. Tolson had a very rough night the first night (which means of course that I did too) He fell asleep on the bed I was going to sleep on so when we got ready for bed we moved him to the floor. well about 12:30 he woke up and freaked out cuz he didn't know where he was and where mom was. SO I tried to settle him down and had him come onto my bed with me. Well Tolson has NEVER slept in my bed or with anyone else before so he would not fall asleep. I tried everything I could think of until about 3:00am he fell asleep laying on my chest/tummy. well then I had to figure out how to move him off me and next to me without waking him up and find a way to still sleep on this twin bed. So needless to say I didn't get much sleep the first night. Poor Jason was awake the whole time I was trying to get Tolson to sleep so he was tired too. WE survived and then the second night we gave him benadryl. Now I am not a drug parent but sometimes you need your child to get a good nights sleep and this was one of those times. I think Jason cousins thought I was terrible but I don't really care. He slept well and so did I . That night two of the little girls that were with us took turns screaming and crying throughout the night. I felt so bad for their parents cuz we were all in the little cabin and they were doing their best to get them to be quiet but you can only do so much with a two and three year old in the middle of the night. SOOOO minus the sleep factor we had a great time. We just relaxed and played cards and eat really yummy food. I love being in the mountains and not having a lot of distractions. We went to go visit my sister who was camping up there too and just walked around and looked at the creek and the flowers and trees and it was so fun. We really want to get a little travel trailer some day so that we can go camp in the woods and still have some of the great comforts of home.

So we had a fabulous weekend and love spending time with family. Jason and his two cousins spent a lot of time together growing up so they are really close. Their wives are great and we all get along which I love. I hope that when we move we can still try to keep in touch and spend dome time together every once in a while.

Well I hope that you all had a great weekend and are loving life. I look around each day and am so grateful for all that I have been blessed with in my life. we may not have the nicest house or all the "things" that we want but we are happy and healthy and we have wonderful friends and family around us!

Hope you all take a moments to look around and see the small stuff in life that really is the big stuff!

Secret hiding place!

2009-08-04T13:43:00.000-07:00

Ok so Tolson and Emma (one of the kids I watch) have discovered the coat closet. I know its an odd picture and don't judge me for the mess but they love it under there. We cut out the back of the closet to get some extra storage under the stairs. We also put a little light in there. Tolson thinks its the coolest place in the whole house. I can hear them under there playing house (well sort of) and singing songs and laughing soooo hard. I am glad that I can witness all these cute things that they do. Today they found my baby doll and fed her and put her to bed. They were reading stories to her and then telling each other to be quiet. It was very cute!

Kids, kids, everywhere!!!!!

2009-07-26T15:49:00.000-07:00

What a crazy week. Not bad crazy though so its was ok! I had a total of 11 kids at my house this week. Some I had for several days in a row but I didn't have all of them at the same time. And the great thing is that I still got a few things done. I am really feeling the cleaning out and throwing away bug and hope it sticks around a while. I think knowing that we will be moving sometime in the next year or so (anywhere between 8 months to 24 months) makes me want to start now. especially because I am hoping to be having a baby sometime in there too. I just don't want to be stuck trying to go though everything by myself feeling tired and sick and having to get it done right now. I mean really we could get the call to go to Academy in 30 days and we will be moving to who knows where so I will want to put the house on the market as soon as he leaves and I want it to be already done and ready! SO I am getting the bug and trying to get things sorted through and organized. But with lots of kids here it makes it kind of hard. So really this week I didn't expect to get anything done and I did so yeah for me!

Well Jason's tests start this week. He has an Interview with three agents on Monday that is supposed to take 4 hours and then Tuesday he has his Fitness test and medical exam. We sent back to missing information from the background stuff so I hope they get started on that soon. This really is a very exciting time for us.

OK so I had to say goodbye to a good friend this week. They are in the border patrol and he is graduating from the academy and is assigned to Las Cruses New Mexico. I am excited for them but sad that they will be gone. Really who knows maybe we will get sent there too. Well, we went out to dinner on Wednesday (me, Kirsten(the moving one) and Emily. We were all in the same ward before this one and our families hung out together. We were the curly girls. Anyway we went to dinner at Austins and it was so yummy and fun to just sit and chat(no kidos). We stayed until they closed and then went to Emily's house and just visited and reminisced about old times and how much we have grown and learned in the 6 years we have been friends. We ended up staying up talking until about 2:15am! crazy but true! I will really miss her and her cute little family but I am so happy for them. Best of Luck Kirsten!

Well I have no profound thoughts for you this week! I love my life and the joy that is mine because of the blessing my Father in Heaven gives to me! I love my Husband! He is the most wonderful man in my life! I am so lucky to have him! My little man is getting cuter and cuter! I know you all will agree! He is the cutest little boy with a fun, happy personality!

I want a Wii!

2009-07-19T15:11:00.001-07:00

Ok so this weekend has been very fun. Friday I went to the movies with two of my sisters and our kids. We saw Madagascar 2 and had a great time. That night we went to a friends house for dinner. Oh my gosh!!! There were four couples there and no kids! We had a very yummy dinner of grilled steak, chicken and veggie kabobs with twice baked potatoes and Cobb salad. Then we played Wii for the next few hours. I have not laughed so hard in such a long time. It is so fun having really good friends that I know I can call for anything. I have never done this kind of thing before but I am so glad that I decided not to let being busy get in the way of making really good friends. I will be very sad to leave them but hope that we can and will stay friends for a very long time.

I am really hoping that maybe we can get a Wii for Christmas this year. It was very fun and I would love to have one in my home. I know Tolson couldn't really do much with it yet but he could try and I could play! We will see what happens!

this week I am thankful for...

1. Good Friends!
2. Yummy Food!
3. Laughing so hard you can't breath!
4. A wonderful husband!
5. Possibilities!

I hope you all do something every once in a while that makes you laugh! It is very good for your health and is fun too!

Fun weekend

2009-07-12T20:13:00.000-07:00

OK so I am not sure how long I will last here today but I feel I have been neglecting this lately so I am here to attempt. I pinched a nerve in my back this morning so I am sitting here trying not to take deep breaths and move as little as possible. I have been laying down all day so I am ready to be up for a little bit.

This weekend was fun. We got Jason's papers sent in to the Border patrol so now we wait again. It has been three months already and we are really just still starting so I am sure it will be a while. I am getting kind of excited about all the possible changes that may be coming. WE don't know where we will be assigned for the first year, we don't know when we will be going north or where. we don't know if and when we will need to sell our house and a lot of other stuff in between. so our life is very up in the air right now but I feel really good about it. I am sure as time goes on I will get a lot more inpatient. so anyway we got the paperwork off on Saturday ($17 for copies and $20 for sending it later) now we wait. BUT when we got home on Saturday night and checked the mail there was a letter saying that he is scheduled for a oral board interview on Monday the 27th. so that is very exciting. He will do the interview then they schedule him for the physical and medical exams and then we wait for the background to go through and then we are in. Its scary to think that when he goes to the academy I will be alone for almost 6 months. I know I can't complain and I shouldn't but that is a long time. I know some of you military mothers out there are saying 'yeah right, that's nothing" but I am sure I am going to have a hard time of it. I am tough though so I will survive!

Well this week I am so grateful for ...

1. A husband that is willing to carry me and wait on me when I am hurt
2. A son that loves his mom and dad ans tells us all the time
3. Usually having a healthy strong body
4. Progress toward our future
5. Friends with a pool that let us come over!!!

Have a great week and don't sneeze when your back is twisted

Playing in the Rain!

2009-07-08T13:16:00.000-07:00

We went out and played in the pouring rain yesterday. Tolson had the time of his life. Our roof rain runs off right into our new grass and makes huge puddles right off the porch. He had a great time splashing and kicking in the water. I love seeing him learn and exploring the world we live in. He is such a delight. I hope that you all let your kids go play in the rain every once in a while.

Baby Hungry!

2009-07-01T08:50:00.000-07:00

Ok SO we went to Safford this weekend and visited some cousins. We stayed with Adam and Amanda and their family which consists of two adorable little girls and a brand new baby boy. He is two weeks old and sooo cute. It really made me baby hungry. Another cousin came over to hang out for a bit and they have a 2 month old baby. Brand new babies are so cute. It really got me thinking about how old Tolson is getting and how old I am getting and that if I want many more kids I should get going. I was a little afraid that I would be sad when I saw the babies because I was due on the same day as Amanda. Its weird now to think that I might have a brand new baby right now but It did not make me sad. I was just happy for them. I know that my time will come again! anyway I love new little babies.

Fathers Day!

2009-06-21T16:13:00.000-07:00

Ok so we just got back from Alaska but I don't have any pictures yet so I will post those and talk about that when I get them.

Today is Fathers day so I would like to take a few minutes to talk about my father and then father of my children. I know it seems silly since they wont read this but still I am putting it out there. I love my dad. In church today one of the talks mentioned the theory that anything dad says is true. I believed that my while life, that my dad could answer any question and that he could do just about anything. Now that I am older I know that sometimes he just made stuff up when we asked him something and if he didn't know how to do something he just tried anyway and worked at it until he could figure it out. He was and is a wonderful example of service and always doing what is right.

I love my husband. He is amazing and I am so blessed to have him in my life. He is the best dad in the world. I know sometimes it is hard for him because Tolson is such a mamma's boy but he understands. It will be fun to see him if we ever have a girl cuz I am sure she will be daddy's little girl. I just have to say that Jason is a great Father not only for who he is but for the fact that he didn't really have a dad around much so he has had to look to others fr that example but he has done an amazing job. One of my favorite pictures I have of Jason is one of him holding Spencer right after he was born. it is a back and white picture and you can see one tear rolling down Jason's cheek. I don't think anyone understands what it feels like to be a parents until that moment. He is a wonderful father and I know our children will be greatly blessed from him as their daddy!

I LOVE YOU JASON! HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

Packing for alaska!

2009-06-07T15:41:00.000-07:00

OK so really how the heck do you pack for a trip to Alaska in the summer? So people have told me its is still chilly so you have to bring sweaters and jeans etc. then others say oh just wear t-shirt and shorts or capris. Then there is the issue of the cruise dress attire. They say in the book to wear resort type clothing... what the heck is that? and then it might be sunny but it might rain everyday so uggh! what to pack? Despite the fact the we don't leave until Thursday night I will have children three out of the four days this week before we go so I have got to get started. I am very very excited about going and spending time with my family and some with just Jason and I but I think I will miss Tolson terribly.

I went to Michelle's yesterday and we braved Wal-mart (ugh) to get some stuff for the trip and then took turns coloring each others hair. Now I am not one to lie about it but really I do color my hair sometimes and really its just getting it back to the color it used to be before I had kids and my hair completely changed. so yes I colored my hair. I am still hopping to cut it again before we leave so I can look fabulous for all the pictures.

But on to more heartfelt matters, a dear friend of ours passed away this week. I don't even know what to say about it except that my heart goes out to his wonderful wife and family. He lived an amazing life of service and love for his family and all those he met. He was not young but not old either. He has traveled the world and held grand kids on his lap while he reads a story. It is a tragedy that he died so young but it is a blessing that he lived such a full life and that he filled it with the right kinds of things. I think that anytime someone dies it makes me really take a look at my life and what is really important. I hope that I never lose sight of the most important things in my life.

I am grateful for...
1. The life I have been given and the agency to do with it what I want.
2. Being sealed to my husband and family for eternity!!!!!
3. Having known and been included in Walter Holmes Family
4. my health
5. Being able to focus on my many blessings.

Count your many blessings name them one by one....

kids kids kids!

2009-05-31T15:20:00.001-07:00

OK, all this week I had the joy of having LOTS of children in my home. I have been watching a little boy (Nathan) for about 2 years a few times a week and have really enjoyed it. well a few weeks ago I got a call from someone looking for a new babysitter for her 3 kids for the summer. I also have Nathans older brother in the summer. SO i started with all the kids this week. It was a little crazy but fun and better them I expected. I had Monday off since it was a holiday, then Tuesday I had 6 kids at my house. Now I don't have a very big house so 6 kids all day is a lot. The kids did great though. I have a 10 year old, two 7 year olds and three 2 year olds. I Was very worried how the little ones were going to do and how I was going to keep the older ones from getting too bored and how to keep my house from falling apart, etc. But really it went great. we played, watched a movie, the older kids went to the park across the street while the little ones slept. It was good. I had the three girls on wed afternoon and then all day Thursday too. We made cookies and watched a movie, went and played at the park and had a great time. Then Friday I watched Sariah Franklin. Tolson was soo done sharing his toys and his mom but he did great. My Good friend Brandi came with her two boys and we played at the park and talked. It was so fun. SO this week I have had lots of kids at my house but the kids were great and the money always helps. (especially cuz jason only worked two days this week, ugh! )

so that's my week in a nut shell. I am getting very excited about the cruise coming and can't wait to get packed and head out. It will be hard to be away from Tolson for so long but I am sure he will have a great time with Grandma and aunt Shanna! He will get to go see his best buddy Brady for a few days too so that will be a treat.

Well I better get off here and go write in my other Journal.

This week I am soooo grateful for...
1. Spencer and the amazing blessing he has been in my life!
2. A home that is clean and welcoming for friends and family.
3. Jason and his mad landscaping skills! he is the MAN!
4. My sister Michelle and the relationship that we have.
5. Yummy Neman Marcus cookies!

I hope that you all have a great week. Kiss your kids everyday!

New Hobby!

2009-05-24T17:18:00.000-07:00

So for mothers day my sister gave me a jewelry making kit, well two actually and I also went to Joann's and got some things. so I had alot of fun this week making bracelets. I have made four adult ones and I made three baby ones today. It is so fun to create something. I can see why people get so into hobbies like scrapbooking and such. I hope that I can use this talent to make fun things for friends and family and maybe make a little money too. Holy cow people sell these thing for lots of money. I have been looking on-line for sites that can give me ideas and patterns to copy and man some of the baby ones are pricey (like $50-100) We will see how mine turn out but I figure if nothing else I can practice and have some very fun gifts to give out when friends and family have new babies.

We also started to work on our back yard this week. This has been a tough decision for us since we don't really have the money to do it right now but we feel like we need to get started. So Jason priced out all the stuff we would need to get started and then when he went to get it it was almost $100 less then he thought. Blessings! We also rented a rototiller (sp?) and rototilled the back yard yesterday. I am sore and tired and I only did like 30 minutes. I am sure Jason is far worse off then me so I am trying not to complain. It will be fun when it is done but there is a lot of work a head of us. Maybe that is why we need to get started. We don't really know what our future holds so we need to be as prepared as possible right?

Well also this week in YW's I taught a lesson on personal records (journals) and the Bishop issued a challenge to our youth for the summer. there are five things they are to do. 1 Smile more 2. Read the Book of Mormon every day 3. Pray every day 4. Write in your journal everyday and 5. Bear your testimony at least once this summer. He didn't know when he issued the challenge that we were teaching the lesson on journal writing. SO I am going to try to be better at keeping a journal. I am not sure yet how I am going to do that, but I will.

I hope that you all have a great week and enjoy the weather wherever you are!

1. The wonderful family I came from and the one I am blessed to be a part of.

2. Rototillers!

3. Creating beautiful things with my hands

4. Hearing Tolson say "I love you daddy" and seeing Jason's face light up.

5. Good Friends , food and blackjack!

Stake Conference

2009-05-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

Ok so we just got back from stake conference. It was soo cool. WE got a new stake Presidency and I am sure they will be awesome. The new President is Cole Theis, 1st councler is Pat Trayner, and 2nd is Brian Kemp. I don't know Brian Kemp but I have heard wonderful things about him and I know that they will all be awesome. I can't even imagine what they and their families are feeling right now. I mean they just found out yesterday and then today here they are! Crazy but I know that its the way the Lord wants it so it works.

It was so cook to be able to hear from two general authorities today and last night. They really encouraged us last night and today to get our houses in order. Money , food storage, cleanliness, temple attendance. I am feeling very blessed to have received another offer for childcare this summer that will make some extra money. It seems that the Lord wants us to be able to find a way to care for our family and also remove our debt. We don't have much but I still feel it hanging over us. I am soo Grateful to be a member of the Lords true church. I know that we will be taken care of, even during this troubled time in the world, if we will keep the commandments and follow the council of the Prophets.

I am sooo grateful for ...

1. The Holy Ghost
2. being in love with my husband
3. Being a mom
4. yummy food
5. the ability to learn new skills and talents.

I hope that you all have a great week!

Home again!

2009-05-11T12:51:00.000-07:00

Ok sorry that it has been a few weeks since the last post. I have been busy getting things ready for my Parents to get home. It was so fun to be there at the airport with a lot of their kids and grand kids. They are such a great example to me in my life. It has been fun to plan the get togethers that happened after they got back. I love spending time with my family, especially my sisters. I was very sad that Ida and Juli could not be here but We will get to see them in a month when we go to Alaska! I had a very fun week this week. I got my hair cut.... I got to go shopping with my mom and sisters, I spent a lot of someone else's money on food and things for this weekend. I got a new dress for the Cruise. It doesn't have sleeves yet but I am hoping that my friend Jill will help me out with that part. I got to spend time with my husband and son and we had a great Sunday together with cousins, aunts and uncles, and each other.

Being a Mother

Ok so I love that Mothers day is all about honoring Mothers but what about being grateful that I am a mother. I really am soo grateful for the blessing it is to be a mother. I know what its like to ache inside for the longing to be a mother and hold a baby of your own. I think about all the people that cannot have children for whatever reason and my heart hurts for them. I know sometimes it feel like a sacrifice for all that we give up of ourselves to be a good mother but think of all the we gain in return. I think that mothers day should also be about the Joy it is to be a mother and we should thank our Heavenly Father for that blessing and privilege.

Ok so here are my top five for the week...

I am sooo grateful for

1. Being a mother

2. a husband that lets me stay home and grow and learn and cherish the time I have with Tolson.

3. My parents and the great example they are to me and my family.

4. a sister who knows me and loves me and is my best girl friend!

5. the Talents Heavenly Father has given me and allowed me to improve on.

I hope that you all had a great week too. If not Make this next one the best it can be.

Snow in April!

2009-04-12T16:18:00.000-07:00

OK so this week was great. lots of wind and craziness. On Friday Jessica Gray and I went up to the Church Cabin for an early day at the ward camp out. WE let the boys play and run around in the trees. It was very fun but windy and a little cold. We set up the tents and I put TOlson down for a nap. After trying to set the Grays tent up it was so windy that it wouldn't stay on the platform so we ended up carrying it (set up) over to the ramada where it was blocked from the wind. Other people started coming and we just hung out and helped where we could. That night it got really cold and windy so we had the BBQ inside and built a fire in the fireplace. Jason and Aaron took down the tents and we decided to sleep inside the lodge up in the loft. It was cold but we had lots of blankets and had a fire going for a while. we stayed up with the Grays and the Bradshaw's and played games and huddled by the fire. Needles to say I didn't get much sleep but at least tolson slept well. We woke up the next morning to a couple of inches of SNOW!!! so we packed up and headed down the Mountain. It was a little scary sliding on the road trying to get out of organization ridge but we did ok. It was cool to see the snow and a fun adventure but when you are not prepared for it, it is COLD! so that is my story for the week. We are watching my brothers kids this week so it should be full of great adventures!

Here are the top 5....

The Beauty of Snow
Warm Jackets
a husband that is willing to let me try crazy things (like camp in the Snow)
Easter and all that it means
a home that I can welcome friend and family into

well have a great week!