more from the shoot!

Keep in mind these are not totally edited, I have only played with them on photoshop a little but I just thought they were cute to share. Ciera did an awesome job.








try to get Kaden to look casual and this is what you get.

an awesome reference for Tulum

As I mentioned in my pictures from the trip post, we were able to go to the Mayan city of Tulum, and check out the ruins. Our tour guide was amazing but Mary and I kept talking about how we thought that he might not have the whole story. I kept looking at the layout and I knew that this was not a city, but a temple. The whole place - the layout is the same as solomons temple. And when I got home I started trying to do a little research (during naptime of course) and I found this site and since I don't have time to relay all of the things that we learned in tulum on my post I thought I would share the link for anyone who is interested in reading about what we saw. It truly is amazing. http://www.yucatan-revealed.com/Christ-In-Tulum.html

photo shoot

So Last night I had asked Marge (aka Ciera my sister in law) if she could take a couple of family photos for us since the last ones we did were a year ago and so we planned to go out, but then of course Danny ended up going in to work today so we decided to just take the kids out and get theirs out of the way first! They were not exactly cooperative but she still got some really great shots. Here are my favorites of Brin - I am still trying to pick my favorites of the boys because we got so many cute ones of them... the Princess was kind of a stinker. Thanks again Marge!

I'm not really sure what is up with her putting her hands in her mouth all of the time.


I wish they had these boots in my size!

our captain's dinner redo!

Okay so the night of the actual Captain's dinner (where you get all dressed up and some women wear prom dresses that wouldn't have even fit 10 years ago with inappropriate body parts hanging out) none of us had our camera and I assure you it's a shame because we looked hot. But we didn't want to buy any of the pictures the staff took so we got dressed up one more night and took our own! Dinners were so much fun and I will never forget our little Hector and Timoteo (Tim of course). They were so much fun and so we would sing with them during their little show and I even did the conga around the dining room...that's right, who've I got to impress? It was a blast and I am really wishing I would have brought Tim and Hector home with me because their service was amazing!


In all of our glory on the grand stair case of course.

Grandma singing a little ditty with Hector.

Hector and Aunt Becky chit chatting.

more from the trip

As promised here are a few more photos of our trip, these are from our shore excursion in cozumel. We actually left cozumel and took a boat out to Playa Del Carmen and then a bus and then a tram thing to the ancient Mayan ruins of Tulum. It was 110 degrees with 100% humidity so they kept telling everyone to drink lots of water and just when I thought I was going to jump off a cliff, it started pouring down rain! I have never been so grateful to be soaking wet in all of my life. The ruins were amazing and I couldn't stop thinking about how these were the very people that I read about in my scriptures. I love it!

We hiked up a small hill to get to the ruins and before you get to them, this is what you see.


Lots of buildings like this and our tour guide was amazing and explained to us what each building was for... but that would be a really long post!

I think it's amazing that these archways are still standing.


There were crazy iguanas all over the place kindof running around like the rabbits we have at home this one stopped to catch a glimpse of Danny's mom down on the beach! (she had never swam in the ocean!) It just about climbed into my bag!







What trip would be complete without a picture of a mayan ambulance?



And a cute little mayan paramedic to boot! He actually got my email because he wants to talk to Danny about coming to work in the states.

okay cut us a little slack here - I felt like I had layers of filth on me, I had my spa treatment that morning (won it in a raffle!) So I had oil all over me and then sunscreen on top of that followed by ridiculous amounts of sweat and then rain! We were looking so hot!

world traveler

Ok so I am home! I had a crazy fun time and had some time to relax as well. I ate my weight in all sorts of wonderful foods and I did not wash one dirty dish in 10 whole days! It was fab! Our first two days were in Disney World and it was so much fun. The first night we went at 4 pm and it was a halloween party.... we went trick or treating all over Magic Kingdom - I'm not kidding 5 grown women running all over disney world with trick or treat bags and we made a haul too! We didn't wait in one line and we rode every crazy roller coaster in the park as well as splash mountain of course! The second day was hollywood studios and that means the "tower of terror". can I just say - oh...my...goodness! I'm pretty sure my sisters arm will never be the same after the sitting next to me on that ride not only once but twice...amazing. So there you have it the first leg of the trip... more to come!

rough couple of months

So I wanted to do a quick post so that people don't think I disappeared off the face of the earth or something. Sorry about the lack of posts, I'm sure you've all been beside yourselves because I haven't posted lately! As many of you know I had a miscarriage in July and then we finished out summer and things got crazy getting Parker ready for Kindergarten. This past week Kaden got the flu (complete with throwing up all over my bed at 2 am) and then all three kiddos got the cough/cold nasty nose combo. To top it all off I had another miscarriage and had to go in for another little fun surgery on Saturday and so things are a little nuts around here. I just wanted to thank everyone for their kind words and tasty treats! We have felt very blessed and I must say I have the best Husband in the world. He has been amazing as well as my family - I am so glad we get to live here so close to everyone I don't know what we would do without thier love and support.
As rough as things have been, there is some exciting things going on as well. This Thursday I take off with my Mother in law and my Mom and sister and aunts and grams for a two day trip in Disney world and then a fabulous 7 night western carribean cruise. I am excited and I think it will be just the break we all need! Once again kudos to the Husband for taking on 10 days of kiddos with no help from me! What a guy!

Kaden Henry

This is our Kaden "Hengry" as Parker calls him! He is hilarious. Sometimes a little too funny for his own good. He has been having a rough time with life these past few days since his brother started kindergarten and the world has become such an unfair place. I was just sitting here thinking about him and decided I would do a little post so that later on when he looks through the books of these things he will know that I was thinking of him. Kaden had a rough start from the beginning, he was born at 35 weeks and I only held him for a second before they took him to the NICU. It was so hard not having him right there by me to hold and get to know. I pretty much camped out in there for the next two weeks though - thanks to the most amazing mom who came to stay with Parker (who was just 16 months old). I remember holding him with all of his tubes and sensors and worrying at every noise - but he was still just the cutest thing. He would always try to pull the tubes out of his nose and throat and I should have seen right there what a go getter he was. He is now a VIBRANT almost 4 year old and you would never know what a tiny little thing he started out as! He is so funny always making us laugh and I marvel daily at how smart he is. He loves his brother and sister and loves to annoy them too! Right now my favorite things about Kaden are in no practicular order
His teeth (see photo below... can you say orthodontist?)
the way he talks (mom, Bwin keeps twying to pway wiff my stuff!)
the fact that he is still a snuggle bug when he first wakes up from his nap.
I am so blessed to have these crazy kiddos and I thank Heavenly Father everyday for this little Kookoo bird - as we call him. He really is a "wild and crazy guy!"

check out those chompers!

He hearts my ipod too!

this picture makes me laugh my head off!

Motherhood

I'm feeling like a little bit of a failure tonight. I finally figured out why Parker was being so weird about the whole school thing, he finally told me that he gets nervous because he can't "do his letters." I feel so bad. We have worked on his letters and we read every night, but he still has a hard time recognizing letters (especially the ones not in his name!) He can spell his name but is having a really tough time writing it and he gets frustrated so quickly when I try to sit down and practice with him that now I don't know what to do. They are working on the letter M this week and so we worked on his homework tonight and he does great coloring in all the pictures that start with M but when it comes time to write it, unless he's really focusing, it's a mess. And if I try to help at all or correct at all he just puts his face in his hand and says "aahhhhhh I just can't do this" I am looking ahead to what I am thinking may be a long kindergarten year.... and I can't even think about after that. I feel bad because I don't want him to be frusterated and I feel like I let him down or maybe we didn't work on it enough, then I think - he's just a barely 5 year old boy and it will come with time....anybody wanna back me up on this?

Also I found these pictures I took of the kids at the park a couple of weeks ago... makes me think of the future... they were driving the jeep at the park....scary right?

Brin in the drivers seat....


I don't know what frightens me most, Brin driving or Kaden hanging halfway out of the car!

The world is right again.

So things are slowly getting back to normal. Parker is a real Kindergarten loving kid and yesterday I was dancing to some music in the family room with the kids and he threw his head back and was laughing and said "mom you're funny." So I took a deep breath and thought, even if I do embarrass him beyond belief the older he gets, at least I'll always be funny. That's enough for me! Kaden is BESIDE himself with how unfair life is and has taken up quite the career in whining, so we are relishing that. Brin is her usual sassy self and is experimenting with pushing the whiner around now that she doesn't have Parker watching her every move. I am trying to get my house in order and things ready to go for my one cruise that is coming up in 2 weeks! I can't believe it. Anyways, thats the update!

wow

Apparently once you start Kindergarten your mother becomes the most ANNOYING person in the entire universe. Here is how things went yesterday after I picked up Parker from school:

Me: "Hi bud how did it go did you have so much fun?" (waiting for the gush of info that I thought would obviously come rushing out of his mouth)
Parker: yep
Me: what did you do
Parker: just stuff
Me: tell me about your day did you love it?
Parker: it was fine.

Later that day his cousin Halle called and asked to speak to parker
Me: Parker the phone is for you it's Halle
Parker: oh thanks - "Hey Halle ... Yep I went to school...I did good
(I can hear her asking him something)

Parker looks back at me in the kitchen out of the corner of his eye and then takes the phone and walks down the hall to his room and closes the door! HELLO! What all of the sudden he's 20?
I followed down the hall and listened and I hear this:
Parker: "yeah I was just a weensy bit nervous ... like you know what I mean?" (what???)
since when does he say "you know what I mean?"

After he gets off the phone with Halle I go back to making dinner and he is watching PBS and I ask him:
Me: "so what did you talk to Halle about?"
Parker (not even looking up from the TV "just school stuff - it wasn't anything about you."

Need I say more? Apparently I have become the epitome of uncool....
Then this morning I decided we needed to have a chat about him being a little more respectful of his dear ol' mother and he put his face down on his bed and said
"mom, this is not working for me."

WOW... this is all I can say WOW.
the end.

A weensy bit nervous.

So today was Parker boy's first day of Kindergarten! The PM kind of course. He was so excited he could hardly stand it. After breakfast he was ready to go except we still had 5 hours until it was time...yikes. Danny gave him a blessing before he left for work and Parker was soooooo blasted cute. I asked him if he was excited and he said..."yeah" and then he came over to me and told me in my ear that he was "just a weensy bit nervous". He got all dressed right down to his "uncle Dustin" shoes and put on his batman back pack and off we went. His teacher is very nice and I think she will be great for Parker. I went to leave and he looked a really weensy bit nervous for just a second but he was doing great by the time I rounded the doorway! Great job Parker! Talk about deja vu' Parker's Kindergarten classroom is the exact same classroom I was in for my first day at Broadview also - QUITE a few years ago! too weird.

Happy Birthday Princess

Brinlee turned 2 on Aug 17th! I cannot believe that my baby is 2! She is so much fun and is LOVING playing with her babies and pushing them around in her new doll stroller. She keeps us laughing and singing as she loves to sing You are my sunshine and itsy bitsy spider - over and over and over again! We love you Brin.

my Favorite Photography web site.

This lady has AMAZING abilities to capture emotion, her name is Erin Drallos. The reason why I love her work so much is because she started a foundation consisting of multiple highly talented photographers all over the country called http://www.acpcg.org (the American child photographers charity guild) they go to photograph families with children who are sick or terminally ill. You have to check out her portfolio - bring the Kleenex - some of the shots are of parents holding the newborn they have just lost or a child that just "got it's wings" I cry everytime. But her work is inspiring and I love reading about good people using their talents to do great things for others. Her site is now listed under my fav photography sites on the right. I have been following her work for over a year now and I just kept forgetting to blog about it. You gotta check it out. http://www.footprintsphotography.com/index2.php

back yard cont.

So here are some more lovelies from our back yard endeavor. The boys worked so hard, and it was so blasted hot. We dropped 10 trees and had only 1 fatality...my bedroom window! I figure with as close as those trees were to the house and fence line( I don't even know if I would have been able to get another company to try it) that's just the cost of doing business! We had to chop off half of the deck to get one of the stumps out! Kyle liked that part. They seem to enjoy sawing and hacking things apart - especially when they are connected to MY house not THEIRS! They did awesome.


Here is a tuckered out Dustin at the end of day 1


Back yard after finishing the first round!



Thank heavens I have connections to people who own excavators...I don't want to think of how much it would cost...



The only mishap - alas, we were planning on replacing all of the windows anyhow so ...not such a big deal.


Dustin's bottom way up in the top of the tree.


Kyle sawing my deck to shreds.


And Dustin tearing it away from the house.

My Brother

This is my brother Dustin. No he's not in special ed. And he doesn't usually dress like this - but he was doing me a HUGE favor! He and his two sidekicks Lyle, and Brandon came over to the house today and took down 10 huge trees from our back yard. We have had these trees in the middle of the yard and no lawn since we moved in of course and I have been wanting a nice lawn and area for the kids to play forever. They worked all day in the heat to take the trees out and I just hope they know how much I appreciate it because it will make my life so much better when the kids can play in the back yard! Thank you Thank you Thank you - we owe you! I couldn't believe how well it went off because we don't have a huge back yard and so these trees were dangerously close to not only our fence but also our house! They did an AMAZING job. Thanks again guys - and we love ya Dust.


Dustin before taking down the first tree.

oh yeah baby!



Dustin is on the left, and Brandon (who I will always think of as a monkey from now on - he climbs trees faster than anyone I've ever seen) is on the right.

the garden

Oh our little garden! We finally decided to get a garden going this year and I took these pictures last week of our tiny tomatoes! We are pretty pumped about having this actually work - we even had a salad the other night with lettuce from our one garden! yay!

guitar

So I am sorry but my heart melts when my Husband plays the guitar, and now - after much begging from Parker, he is teaching him. It is the cutest thing and it is also wonderful because Parker doesn't usually have much of an attention span with anything for any length of time. He will play guitar with Dad for hours. I love it. I told Danny that he was too young and that we should wait, but now that I have watched, I can tell Parker loves it and hey - if it means quiet peace...I'm on board! I think we will be getting him a child's practice guitar that will actually fit him.

Breaking Dawn

So I just have to throw this in...I did of course go to the midnight party to get my one book and it was so fun with my two partners in crime Amanda and Sarah (who will henceforth and forever be referred to as Edna.) Anyways we got home around 12:30am on Saturday and I started reading and I finished it sunday evening! It is AMAZING. Total surprise and that is what I liked best. There is no way you could see any of it coming. Awesome. Even my Husband is into it (who was making fun of me when I first started reading twilight.) He is almost done with the third book and can't wait to start breaking dawn. I am so glad that I am happy, I was a little worried that I would be hating it or something but it is fantastic! My all time favorite books ever.