Smart Crazy Days

Alanna's Baptism

2012-01-11T15:02:00.000-08:00

So my baby Alanna is 8! It is unbelievable! Where does the time go? Alanna was baptized on Sat. Jan. 7, 2012. It was a great day! We had great support from friends and family!

Egg Drop!

2010-06-17T21:19:00.001-07:00

Hunter's GATE class had an egg drop. They had to come up with something to protect their egg as it was dropped...and sometimes launched off the roof of the school.

Hunter's egg was in a tissue box duct taped in an egg carton section, packed in tissues, and suspended by rubber bands!
It took some work to release it from its cocoon.

....and all was well....the egg survived!
Whew!

Zane is a Bobcat!

2010-06-17T21:09:00.001-07:00

Zane has officially joined the ranks of the cub scouts. He has a good time going to his den meetings.

He has earned his bobcat....the holding of the scout has now been banned since this picture....but it was nothing we did...promise!

Zane's Baptism

2010-06-17T13:34:00.000-07:00

It's unbelievable that my little Zane got baptized...my baby boy!

I am so thankful Craig could baptize Zane....he is such a good dad!

Little Zane and his Dad.

Congratulations Zane!

Zane's 8th Birthday Party!

2010-02-17T13:44:00.000-08:00

Zane picked out this skateboarder cake out. He thought it was pretty cool. I can't believe my little buddy is already 8!

For Zane's party we went to king putt mini golf. As you can see it is a fun black light golf course in an Egyptian theme.

Here are all the cute kiddos from the party.

After golfing we came back to the house for cake, presents and playing.
Hmmmm....do you think there are too many kids on the trampoline at once?

Happy Birthday Zane!

Winter trip to Utah!

2010-01-15T13:51:00.000-08:00

We made a quick jaunt up to Utah this winter and visited my brother and his family. It was so fun to see all the pretty snow....which they always have a lot of in the winter. Everyone had a great time sledding. I was a beautiful day!

We went to visit Antelope Island in Salt Lake. I had never been before. It was magical. The pictures just don't do it justice. Each branch and twig was covered in little ice crystals and there was a lovely white fog hanging in the air. It was truly our own little winter wonderland.

The kids picked up this little trick, courtesy of Uncle Aaron, of shaking the trees to let snow and ice fall on every one's heads.

We even got to see some bison grazing. I am so glad we went when we did. I can't imagine that it is any prettier any time of year than on the day we went!

Alanna's 6 year old Princess Party!

2010-01-01T13:57:00.000-08:00

Alanna had a Princess birthday party this year. She invited a bunch of her friends, and we gave each of them a princess crown to wear. They were such beautiful little princesses.

I made this little barbie princess cake.

We played some fun games. One of them was to dig for jewels in the sand....it was a total hit by the way. I wish I had taken a picture of "pin the crown on Alanna" . We had a poster picture of Alanna and they had to put the crown on her head. We also took pictures of the girls when they came with their crowns on and then printed them off on the computer and mod poged them to a little journal book with the title "My princess book"

We had a very fun afternoon!

Christmas Time in New York

2009-12-21T14:25:00.000-08:00

I've always wanted to go to New York during the Christmas Season. I wanted to see the big Christmas tree in Rockefeller Plaza.

So this year, Craig took me! It was so fun!

I liked looking in the windows in the stores to see their Christmas displays.

Yes, we even went for a ride through central park. If it hadn't been so cold I wouldn't have used the blanket in the carriage...you know... germs and all....but it was cold so we did use it!

This building would play Christmas music and the snowflakes would flash in time with the music. I loved it!

Hunter's Robotics Competition

2009-12-05T14:29:00.000-08:00

Hunter is in a robotics group at school. This is the first time they went to a big robotics tournament.

The team had to program the robots and set them on a course to rack up points. Each task requires a different program.

These are other kids from his robotics team....I know the pictures aren't very good but that is what I have to work with!

Zane's Marathon

2009-12-05T14:19:00.000-08:00

Zane ran in the Las Vegas kids marathon. He is such a good and fast runner it was awesome and so exciting to watch him!

The Secret Garden

2009-11-30T14:18:00.000-08:00

When the cousins came for Thanksgiving, we went to the Secret Garden. It is a fun little place to visit!

We like the underground viewing area to see the dolphins

There are animals to see....but I thought these three animals were cuter!

Zane's and Hunter's Soccer Teams

2009-11-29T14:09:00.000-08:00

I love watchig the boys play soccer! It is so fun to see them play and how good they are doing.

Zane's soccer team

Hunter getting his award at the end of the season. I can't find any of his pictures! Sorry Hunter!

Family

2009-11-28T15:39:00.000-08:00

My Family

While everyone was here for Thanksgiving we had our family pictues taken. I don't know if they want their names all over my blog so I'll keep it super vauge!

My momma and papa

My sister and her family

My sister and her family

Of course my little family!

My brother and his family

My brother (if you have a cute girl for him to date let me know!)

My brother and his baby. His cute wife couldn't make it this year. We missed you Laura!

I love this picture of me and my brothers and sisters!

Thanksgiving

2009-11-28T15:09:00.000-08:00

I love having Thanksgiving at my home. Every year my sister and I switch off and take turns. This year was my year. When I was little my mom was the Thanksgiving host. Sometimes my Grandma and Grandpa Williams would come and Uncle Al and Aunt Debbie and my cousins Brett Brock and Brandon. Now my Grandparents and my Uncle Al have passed away but my cousins still try to make it. Also, my family trys to gather on this one holiday. This year we had a great group and I love seeing them all.....my dad even came all the way from Africa, my brother and his cute boy from Mississippi, my sister and her family from Maryland, my brother and his family from Utah, my brother from Oregon, mom from Utah, sister and her family from Vegas, 2 of my 3 cousins, and some friends from Craig's work......LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! I didn't get too many pictures, but here are a couple including the annual turkey bowl!

I usually can get one nutty picture of my brother Aaron...

Our annual Turkey Bowl.....Craig was sore for a couple of days! (Granted he had played earlier with the young men from our ward!)

Annual Trip to Washington D.C.

2009-11-09T16:43:00.000-08:00

I love our fall trips to Maryland. I love the cool air, the fall leaves, seeing my sister and her family, seeing my kids playing in piles of leaves, riding the metro into the city...okay okay, I love it all!

This year we were out there for Halloween. We were able to trick or treat with cousins. They had a great time and made a huge haul of Halloween candy!

We went to this fun park place that had a carousel and a spooky train through the forest. It was so much fun. You would think that the kids would be scared of the guys with chain saws and masks, but they would just mock them the whole time!

We made a trip to Lurray Caverns in Virgina. They are sooooo cool. It was enormous and had so many formations! They even had an organ hooked up to the stalagmites that would play different notes...it was amazing!

We stayed with our friends the Beverleys who moved to Virgina a couple years back. We went on a walk thorough some civil war areas.

Craig picked up this little walking stick friend.

I love the sight of leaves falling like rain. We love to run and try to catch the leaves as they fall. It is trickier than you might think....those leaves can be quite wily.

The kids played in the woods by the Beverleys house and caught critters in the stream. Look at that crawdad! My kids could get lost out there forever...and of course I would worry forever that they are picking up deer ticks.

Civil War fields

This is a church near Valley Forge

There was beautiful stained glass everywhere. I loved the depiction of Washington praying

These were cabins at Valley Forge

One of our favorite places to visit is the National Arboretum in Washington D.C. There is a koi pond with hundreds of koi fish.

The Bonsai tress are so interesting and old. There are some that are hundreds of years old!

Of course the National Zoo is a must see. We were so sad that "Happy" , the enormous hippo has been moved to a different zoo. He was one of our favorite animals! They are doing some remodeling and I think he was off to find some new lady friends.

Taking a rest at the Native American museum.

Jefferson Memorial is Craig's favorite memorial.

I loved this holly tree so we had to get a picture with it

Hunter's favorite memorial is the Lincoln memorial.

I love family vacations!

October Fest.....Family Style!

2009-10-06T20:14:00.001-07:00

The kids had Monday off from school, so a group of us took a little trip up to St. George to Staheli Family Farm. We had a great time. Here we are in the 20 acre corn maze.....yes we got lost! We wandered around in there found a way out somewhere on the side, had to go back in and finally ended up coming out the same place we went in.

The kids all picked out a pumpkin out of the pumpkin patch.

My mom lives in St. George so she also came and spent the day with us.

The kids had so much fun swinging from hay bales,

and playing on the slides that landed in a pile of corn,

where they also found it necessary to bury themselves and each other in the corn.

After the farm we went to the pizza factory and terrorized that establishment for an hour and then made the trip back to Vegas. Alanna and Zane were asleep before we even got out of St. George. We had a great time....and were completely beat by the time we got home!

Shark Reef Field Trip

2009-10-06T20:03:00.000-07:00

Zane's class had a field trip to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. It was his (and my) first time there.

Zane and his friend Hailey are sitting in a tunnel where the fish and sharks swim over and all around you.

I made Zane pet one of the sting rays....it took some convincing but he was glad he did!

I know you can't really see this, but this is Zane and Leighton in an area that was so cool....it was like you were in a sunken ship

They kids went in a little learning room and talked about different parts of sea animals and their defenses....and made one super creature.....Zane the sea monster!

Sierra's Choir Performance

2009-10-06T20:01:00.001-07:00

Sierra had a choir performance for her Madrigal choir group. They sang before a play, Taming of the Shrew, in downtown Henderson.

She is standing by her friend Emily in both pictures.

Summer....in a thousand pictures or less!

2009-09-29T21:05:00.000-07:00

Summer was a little different for us this year! We followed Craig while he worked, we went sight seeing, swimming, and relaxed. So first stop we went to Reno. Next we stopped up in Twin Falls and visited with my grandparents. Then we went to So. Ogden and stayed a week and a half at my brother's house while Craig went on our wards youth trek in Wyoming. Lastly, we headed down to Salt Lake where we spent the bulk of our time. So here goes, like I said in a thousand pictures or less (although you may question that number before we are through!) some of the fun things we did on vacation!

On our way home from Utah we stopped at Cove Fort....truth be known, that's where I like to stop for bathrooms because they seem to be better than your random gas station bathroom. Then we kinda got roped into a tour...the kids wanted another pioneer yo-yo.

Alanna on top of Cove Fort.

We had fun playing with cousins and even some 2nd cousins!

Sierra and Sorayah. I love this because me and Sorayah's mom (my cousin Kristen), used to play together at family reunions....now we have girls about the same ages!

Sierra likes to eat the roses in Aunt Calene's garden!

Apparently you only need 1 computer to entertain a whole passel of kiddos!

While we were in Salt Lake we went to a bunch of different wards and buildings. We went to this old church after I had driven by it and wanted to check it out. It was super cool. I love the stained glass with Joseph Smith and the first vision depicted.

This was the front of the chapel.

We went to Gardener Village with Becky and Megan. It was so great to see them again.

We went on two different candy factory tours. This one is the Sweets Candy Company...I recommend this tour....so fun! The kids came away with a lot of candy.

Nothing says beauty like a hair net!

Kennicott Copper Mine.

Hunter even earned a scout patch while we were there.

Utah State Capitol Building in Salt Lake City

There are beautiful murals inside. It is a very pretty building.

The whole Family!!

O.K. Lets talk 24th of July parade in Salt Lake City....

1st.....it was bugger hot!

2nd......it was stinking long

3rd....it was really good.....but I don't think we will do it again...once is enough. It was crazy!

These horses had checkerboard patterns cut into the hair on their rumpus! I'm easily impressed.

I loved this float....but then again it shows one of my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon.

HOT....mmmmm.....popsicles

Visiting the Salt Lake Temple grounds. Beautiful.

We were able to attend church in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Wow....there was some beautiful architecture in the chapel....and during sunday school, you could look out the window and stare at the temple.

So while in Salt Lake we stayed in an apartment at a place called Old Farm. I decided to cut Alanna's hair...I used children's scissors...not too sharp but it got the job done.

At the apartment complex they had these big ponds with ducks in them. We thought this one was so funny. We called it the grandma duck.

Wheeler Farm

Apparently not enough ducks at the apartment....more ducks!

We went to a place called the Gale Center. It is Jordan and this is an old dug out.

They had the funnest little museum area. The kids played and played!

My brother Aaron and Zane at the Ogden Train museum.

Alanna and Coral

Visiting the Ogden temple.

On the temple grounds there is a little pioneer museum that is packed with old artifacts.

Perry's Egyptian theater. We went on a tour one day and then went to a movie there on another day. Inside the theatre they have a "night sy" so little stars blink overhead the whole time it is dark.

Fort Beunaventura

Canoe rides!

Cousins!

The BSA rope corse in Ogden.

Hunter

Zane

Craig

Zane...again.

Alanna

Hunter...you can always spot our kids by the BYU apparel.

At the library there was a chinese program.....and of course here is Zane who loves all things asian...except for maybe seafood.

We went to the cutest little library with this fun tree. They also had some fantastic stained glass windows that had story book characters in them.

We went to the Ogden Nature Center with my brother and his family. We loved being able to hang out with them so much this summer! This is a little pond where the kids were looking at little frogs.

They also had an area where there were a bunch of cool birds of prey and other big birds. (Do you like how knowledgeable I am about them?)

When we visit our cousins in So. Weber, we like to go to the Hill Airforce Museum. There are tons of planes there but the kids really like to go to the hands on area to play. Hunter is doing a flight simulation.

Zane is flying a computer plane as well.

Here is the whole crew all ready for take off!

Alanna and Zane

We went to the Zoo with our friends the Butlers and the Briggs....and let me tell you it was a hot day, but we had a great time!

Here is the train ride to look at sad animals on the perimeter!

We had to get a picture with the lion drinking fountain....its been there since I was a kid!

Hijacked Happy Birthday

2009-08-27T23:59:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTINE !!! No, Christine is not writing herself her own birthday blog. I hijacked her blog to wish her a happy birthday.

I'm actually a little late. Her birthday was yesterday and unfortunately I didn't do a very good job of making it a special day. (I'm hoping this helps smooth things over a little bit... :))

You see, for Christine her family always comes first. Whether it's for soccer, or basketball, or dance, or ice skating, or scouts, or school, or homework, or laundry, or dinner, or piano, or violin, or my job.... the list goes on.... we always comes first.

And for some reason we have a hard time expressing our appreciation...

Thank you Christine for all that you do!!!!! You're the Best!

I tease her about how old she is getting and how long we have been married (it seems like forever...:)), but the longer that we are together the more I hate being apart.

If I were at home I'd have some better (ie. more embarrasing) photos, but these will just have to do...

This one just might get me in trouble...

We Love You Christine!!! Happy Birthday!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIERRA!

2009-08-15T21:13:00.000-07:00

Happy 12th Birthday my Sierra!

Wow! 12 years has gone by way to fast! When Sierra was born she was such a sweet and mild baby!

She hardly ever cried. If she did, it was from being held too much by her momma and needed to get down and play on the floor. Sierra has always loved books ever since she was little...she could read before she went to kindergarten and she still loves to read. She also had the cutest curly hair.

I am also happy to report that she is still very mild mannered and has the kindest heart. Here are some pictures from over the years.

Playing in the snow.

Her 3rd birthday!

A Halloween bee. With finger stingers and all!

Snuggling with mommy.

She is so excited to finally be in young women's at church. I'm a little sad because that means she isn't my tiny baby anymore! She just dosn't seem to stay young no matter how much we tell her to! It is good to know some things are still the same.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUNTER!

2009-08-07T21:28:00.000-07:00

Well today my Hunter is turning 10! It's amazing how time goes. One day he is my new born baby.....

and then he soon is Mr. Handsome getting baptized....

and now he is 10. He has been such a cute boy growing up.

He loves BYU and likes to go to BYU games with his dad.

He also loves to go on father and son camp outs.

He is a great scout!

He likes to make things out of paper. Here is a boat he made boats and the kids sailed them down a river in Idaho.

At dinner I was telling the kids it will be interesting to see what jobs they have when they are older.....right now Hunter is still wanting to be a robotics engineer. He can do it...he is so so smart! We love you Hunter! Happy Birthday ! Remember no matter how old you get, you will always be your momma's baby!

Reno

2009-08-06T08:45:00.000-07:00

So this summer we went out of town forever. We have pretty much been following Craig around as he has been working. We started off in June in Reno. Craig would work while the kids and I would go and play! We have some friends that live in that area that we hung out with in college (GO BYU!) a million years ago before kids! Now both of us have 4 kids each! So we got to do a lot of sightseeing with them! We went to the Nevada State museum which is in an old coin mint building. Its a great museum. This is our states fossil.

They have this cool little ghost town

and a mine replica you can go down into.

We can't forget the mammoth skeleton! We had a good time there!

We went to some parks and of course my climbers had to climb an enormous tree! I had to assist a bit helping them get down. If there is a tree Sierra will climb it and then someone else is sure

to follow.

We went to the State Capitol Building in Carson City. We like to collect the commemorative state coin with the governor on it. We are now up to two governor coins. We looked around the capitol and saw a display about Nevada.

After that we played in the grass outside and waited for Craig to get off work and find us.

He finally came!

Another day we went to a small children's museum. They had a treadmill wall that the kids climbed on forever.

There were various activities for the kids to do there.

One day on the way home from somewhere (it all runs together) we stopped by a speciality candy/chocolate store and bought some candy, and that's where we found this giant prospector!

While we were staying in Reno we stayed in a condo, but on the last night we were there we stayed in the Peppermill Hotel.

It was really nice and we had a great time. It was really pretty and we stayed out at the pool for a long time. We also ended up getting pool side service at the pool...we were hungry and when in Rome.....I guess you eat a little $20.00 pizza!

Our last day in Nevada we went to Virginia City. Craig was even able to come. We were so excited he was with us!

The kids had been looking forward to going there the entire trip. It is slated as the liveliest ghost town in Nevada! It is a cute, fun old town.

We went on a train ride

and even got held up by robbers!

Pine Wood Derby

2009-07-12T20:49:00.000-07:00

In June Hunter had a pine wood derby. Zane wanted to do a car as well! I must say their cars were pretty cool. Hunter's had the body shape of an SR-71 without the wings....I think it might be my favorite one he has done to date! Zane's was a black car with a cool silver lightning bolt.

Awards

2009-07-12T19:49:00.000-07:00

Sierra is in Jr. High this year and at the end of the school year she was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. She also earned straight A's. We are proud of you Sierra!

At Hunter and Sierra's spring piano recital Hunter earned the most practice hours for the elementary school kids. We were excited for him and frankly quite surprised as well. Hunter also earned straight A's this year in school. He will also be going over to the junior high in the mornings for math and then back to elementary school for the rest of the day. We are proud of you Hunter! Good job!Our little man Zane just finished up 1st grade and earned AB honor roll. He had to work hard on his homework. We are proud of you too Zane!

Ahhhh Sunday Mornings!

2009-05-24T07:37:00.000-07:00

This morning the kids were playing a Bible trivia game.

The Question: Who were the people who lived in the Garden of Eden?

Alanna's Answer: Adam and Even....I mean Eve.

Alanna's Ballet Recital

2009-05-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

Alanna had her first ballet recital last Thursday. She was so cute! She danced to a song called 'Jennifer Juniper'.

I must also say she was the best! She was so fun to watch!

Summer Time!!

2009-05-20T10:18:00.000-07:00

Summer in Las Vegas is already in full swing. The kids had been begging for a long time to go swimming.

So finally about 2 weeks ago we let them hop in the pool. They had a great time!

Now school needs to let out so they can get even more swimming time in!

Broken Foot!

2009-05-20T10:01:00.000-07:00

So.........my foot is broken....and has been for the past 4 weeks! How did I break my foot, you ask? Well prepare yourself for a tale of danger and intrigue......I broke it while watering the lawn...yes....watering the lawn. I stepped back, rolled my foot, and apparently broke a bone. My first broken bone! I went into my doctor's office the other day for an X-ray to see how it is healing...so far it isn't doing much. I believe he said something about my age...how if I were younger it would heal better....but I'm not really in that category anymore! Thanks Jeremy! My doctor is our good friend....or was until that comment! Just kidding he is great and has been awesome. It sure pays to have a good friend who just happens to be a podiatrist...although he may be rethinking his association with me after this. I have had to wheel around the house in an office chair for the past 3 and 1/2 weeks. I told Craig I was going to be a woman of leisure...but truly it has been a complete pain in the rumpus! I can now walk on it a little...so that's a start! I have to wear this gorgeous walking boot for about another 4-5 weeks...I guess depending on how these "old" bones heal!

Apparently You Can Get Rid of Anything on Craigs List!!!

2009-04-21T09:37:00.000-07:00

So my yard had sooooo many palm trees. Someone went a little palm crazy. They are so tall that Craig can't trim most of them anymore. I got a letter from our HOA that they needed to be trimmed.....so I put them on Craigs List.....and voila I had a couple of people that wanted them. It was quite the affair! We had 4 that we were getting rid of in the front yard and 9 lining our back wall in the back yard. They had guys come in and dig around the tree for a couple days (we had thirteen palms), then they came in with a crane and pulled them out trimmed them up and loaded them onto a flat bed to haul away. We liked watching the crane....hoping they wouldn't hit our house or anything else. Now we have planted a little garden where the some of the palms used to be. Hooray for Craigs List! My brother and his family were here during spring break and they helped us so much getting our yard put back together and getting the garden in. Thanks guys!

Alanna's surgery

2009-04-19T17:50:00.000-07:00

I wanted to write about Alanna's surgery but haven't done it yet. She had a surgery on April 1st. She had some bumps under her skin that we thought might be some kind of cyst, but then some would disappear and others would appear. Anyway the doctor decided to biopsy them, so we had same day surgery for her. She was such a trooper. It hardly even fazed her at all. She got to play with toys while waiting. Then she got to drive a black hummer to the operating room. The nurse told her she was so fast that they beat the doctor. She wasn't quite as chipper when she woke up... but she and Daddy got to play the leapster for a while. We just got the results back last week and the bumps don't seem to be anything bad...but we don't know why she is getting them. Her pediatrician was talking to her and he said the old adage is that you don't want to be interesting to your doctor....and he looked at her and said "you are interesting".

Camping

2009-04-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

Over spring break we went camping to a place called Nob Hill with my family and my brothers family that was here visiting. Uncle Nate and my little nieces came for a bit as well. To tell the truth, while we were driving I was doubting Craig and the place he picked, but when we got to the right spot it really opened up into a cool area. There were so many boulders and cave like areas. The kids had a blast exploring and climbing all over everything. Hunter liked using his pocket knife to do some whittling. I used to think that camping was nice to do every now and then....but not so much any more. We had a good time and everything....I just want to sleep in my own bed and be able to shower, and have a toilet that isn't a patch of dirt behind a rock. Is that too much to ask? I guess what I'm saying is that now I think I am more of a day trip kinda girl when it comes to roughing it. We went on a hike and found a couple of geo caches. On the way back to camp we ended up in a kind of a bad boulder valley place and were having a hard time figuring out how to get out. The kids found a way to tunnel under some boulders and we finally were able to get every one out. On the way home from camping we stopped by a place called key hole canyon where there are Indian petraglyphs. We were glad uncle Aaron's mini van made it though that dirt road. There was also a cool spot where it looks like a waterfall has smoothed out and shaped the stone. The next night we had a big slumber party with all the cousins that were here. I fell asleep during the movie....what can I say!

2009-04-08T20:07:00.001-07:00

We have already been having fun with the cousins for spring break! Today we went to the Springs Preserve. We went for a walk through the trails and then played at the fun park! The kids and Dads set fire to leaves with a magnifying glass. Look at all these tigers in the tall grasses!

We also had a little picnic. It is great to get together with cousins!

Dirty little secret

2009-04-06T18:41:00.000-07:00

So we eat a lot of cold cereal.....so when it is on sale I buy a lot and stock up. We ran out of room in the cupboard where we keep the cereal (which holds a lot by the way). So we were throwing it in the closet under the stairs. I needed to get behind/under the cereal today to put something away, so the kids pulled the cereal out for me...and then played with it for a while....those are some big building blocks!

Railroad Hike

2009-04-06T18:27:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Hunter's cub scout pack went for a hike to some old railroad tunnels. It was a really cool hike. Zane and I had to come a little late because of a soccer game, so we had our little family turn around so Zane and I could see the tunnels too!

Spring!

2009-03-20T07:52:00.000-07:00

Well here in the Las Vegas area, spring has been here for a couple of weeks now. For some reason allergies also seem to be in full swing. Lately when when I go to get in the car there is a fine yellowish dusting on it.....pollen etc. I've tried to capture some here for you to witness! No wonder my nose is itchy and I'm sneezing. I thought I'd take some pictures of the blossoms before they are all gone! Now I'm dreading the heat that has already started to creep up on us this week! Happy Spring everyone!

Grandma's House

2009-03-18T13:50:00.000-07:00

2 weekends ago we went to St. George to visit Grandma. Craig had to stay home and work, but the rest of us went to play. We had a good time. We went to the movies and ate at the Golden Coral. Grandma also showed us where her burial plot is...so we went and danced on Grandmas grave....I know we are kind of weird, but we have a good time! The kids love to hike up the mountain right behind Grandma's house. Of course Zane wanted to go just a little further and went through the turtle fencing. Uncle Nate also came around so we got to play with him....I need to remember to get a picture of Uncle Nate with his mullet wig....divine! All in all it was a great weekend.

Happy Birthday Zane!

2009-02-17T10:53:00.000-08:00

Today is Zane's Birthday! I can't believe he is already 7!

He is my toe head....who knew my genes would be strong enough to get a super blond baby with Craig and all his brown hair and brown eyes! I love this picture with his cousin Kimmy I think they look like little twins!

I still call him my "babyzane". I think he will always be my baby Zane. He is so rough and tumble, yet has such a tender heart. He is the one that can make Craig laugh. He really tickles his funny bone. He is such a momma's boy. I love his hugs and kisses with those lucious little lips. Did you know Zane loves anything Chinese or Japanese? He also really likes soccer and is so good at it. So fun for us to watch!Zane loves to exercise. This is his first kids marathon!Zane dosn't really care for the confines of a shirt. This is this last summer at my grandpartents farm...it is the truely the essence of Zane!

He knocked his tooth out when he was really little, and now he has a tooth about ready to come in...it will be so wierd to see him with a front tooth. We Love You Zaney!

Ode to my Valentine-Craig

2009-02-12T14:37:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know our story I'll make it short and sweet.... We dated....I said I would never marry him (too uptight) and he said he would never marry me (to wild). Well here we are almost 16 years later. So here is my ode to my Valentine. (I'm not sure what an "Ode" really consists of but this will have to suffice!

I love Craig because he quiets, calms, and reassures me (I'm the worrying type)
He deals with my phobias and psychosis (and even adopts some himself...hooray for purell!)

He is a great dad...a climbing post, a ride for tired little feet, a big pillar to take down!

He is the swing pusher

The baby tucker in-er

He loves BYU

He is the driver on vacations (sometimes I try to stay awake but I end up just talking gibberish)

He works long and hard so I can stay home with my babies.

He hugs and kisses his babies

He takes the kids on the teacup ride at Disneyland because it makes me sick
Sometimes I can not believe how perfect he is for me.

He is my confidant.
We think the same and laugh about it.
He is my secret smirk sharer.
He is the best shoulder kneader to help with my headaches
He is my love and my passion.

He is the brightest star on my darkest night.

Family Time!

2009-01-25T19:23:00.000-08:00

So my little Craig has been super busy with work. So we are working on making sure that we have some family activities. This Saturday we went on a cool hike. We went to see an arch rock bridge. The hike was actually pretty. Cool rock formations, little rocks with crystals coming out of them, there were also a lot of different kinds of cactus.... instead of just dusty brown desert like a lot of places are here in the vegas area. It was so enjoyable. We had great family time. We are trying to come up with a name like: Super family Nevada Saturday sight seeing trips...I know it needs work. Craig says our next Super Nevada fun day is in the yard doing yard work....I'm hoping for a ghost town!

Poor Little Zaney!

2009-01-17T21:38:00.000-08:00

Friday I took Zane into the doctor because he had a cold and his breathing wasn't great. Shallow and rapid. Anyway, they put the pulse/oxygen thing on his finger and it was like 86 or something...bad. So the doctor started giving him a breathing treatment. We were there forever. He had to have 4 treatments and finally got to 91. Still not great but okay. He wanted to put him in the hospital if we couldn't get it into the 90s. So he prescribed meds and steroids and we had to get a chest x-ray. Results=pneumonia. We talked with another doctor friend who wasn't to satisfied with Zane's pulse /ox rate called another doctor friend of his and got us into him. This other Doc. puts kids in the hospital with rates below 93. We went to him and he gave more meds too and we finally got Zane's number up to like 95-96. Yea! This all took all day. Poor Zane looked horrible. Apparently the human body likes its oxygen. We have a follow up appointment on Monday. He is already doing much better and is as wild as ever. He was sad he missed going to a birthday party and missed playing in his first basketball game.

Facebook

2009-01-17T21:31:00.000-08:00

So......I've discovered facebook. My friend Cindy told me to go get on it....whatever. Now I'm totally addicted. I love it and I'm having so much fun finding people....there are tons of people on it. I've even found 4 of my friends from grade school from when I used to live in Africa. (Which makes me think of my Africa days which leds me to consider posting a recent picture of myself in my traditional African outfit my dad brought me last time he was there...alas I don't know if I have the courage for that! Pondering). Anyway I sound like a commercial for facebook, but I really am going to have to reign myself in and not neglect my family. One more post......then off to facebook.

I'm a Wimp!

2009-01-07T08:44:00.000-08:00

I've always thought I was fairly tough, but now I'm not so sure. Yesterday I got these "Invisaline" teeth shaper things from the orthodontist. I had braces about 5 or 6 years ago, but didn't wear my retainer. He said he could mostly fix them with invisaline. Anyway, my teeth hurt! Then when I take off the teeth trays and brush my teeth and put them back on...they really hurt. Yesterday I should have been handing out towels with the amount of spit flying out of my mouth. I know this is a sad sad story .....but sniff sniff....they hurt.

2009-01-01T10:20:00.001-08:00

Free Glitter Graphics, Happy Birthday Glitter Graphics

Happy Birthday Alanna!

2009-01-01T07:24:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday Alanna!

Well, today is your birthday! You are our New Years baby. Your brothers and sister were so excited to see you! We always tell you there are fireworks for your birthday. Alanna is known as our "Crash Baby" She seems to be a magnet for head injuries/concussions. This is the one where we actually had to be admitted overnight to the hospital.Here is Alanna's first Birthday. I can't believe my baby is turning 5, and this August will be going to kindergarten! You are so excited while I just want my kids to stop growing and be my babies forever! We love you tons and tons!

Christmas !!!!

2008-12-28T21:58:00.000-08:00

The weekend before Christmas we went down to Arizona to Grandma and Grandpa Smarts house for our annual Christmas party. The kids got to play with cousins. Sierra and Hunter got to ride Grandpa's horse by themselves! Are these guys related or what? Mom went shopping to finish up for Christmas....yikes! Saturday night we went Christmas caroling on the hay wagon, talked about what we are grateful for, exchanged gifts and had a visit from Santa. Quite a night! We came home Sunday night, so it was a quick trip.

Christmas Eve we sang Christmas carols and looked at Christmas lights. We also had Chinese food from Pick up Stix (fah ra ra ra ra: Reference -The Christmas story). We also read the story of Jesus' birth of course. The kids also had fun tracking Santa on the NORAD web site. Of course every Christmas Eve they get to open one present...which is always pajamas!

Christmas for us was really fun! It was exciting for the kids....So exciting that those stinkers woke up at 3:00 a.m. Some went back to sleep. Others were yelling that they were hungry at 4:30 and yet the rule still stands...don't come downstairs until 6:00! I really think that is quite fair.They got presents they didn't think they would get because Mom already said no....especially to the turtle. I mean come on we are about the farthest thing from pet people. Animals are to eat. I told Sierra she should name her turtle "soup". My sister and her family and my brother came to dinner on Christmas night. I love Christmas! What am I going to do now without my Christmas music?

SNOW DAY!

2008-12-18T08:30:00.000-08:00

Snow day! So whats the big deal? Well the big deal is that we don't get snow days in Vegas, but apparently MY Christmas wish has come true.....Snow, and lots of it. It is amazing. Yesterday it started snowing tiny little flakes, and I was in heaven. We had to hurry to get the camera! We didn't want to miss it. Then it continued to come down. We had huge, fluffy, soft, quiet, white flakes....real ones! The kind you see in places where it really snows. Then it started sticking.Then building up. Next thing you know, we have a snow man in the front yard. The pool started to turn a little slushy. The poor trees here are not meant to uphold tons of snow. The kids loved it....Sierra eats it. Zane is ready for rogue snow balls. Alanna is forever cold. Hunter is wet and happy.I'm am totally in heaven. The next miracle....school is canceled due to snow....in Vegas. I love it.

Family Vacation

2008-11-24T12:22:00.000-08:00

Each year around August or September I start working on Craig to convince him to go to Washington D.C. So far it has worked! Of course this year we had to inlist my brother in law John, to help convince him. I think the tables started turning in my favor when John started the innocent texting campaign! Well it was beautiful. I love going in the fall. I love the weather, kicking and crunching trough the fall leaves, smelling the dry leaves, and the cool fall air. Sorry but we just don't have that in Las Vegas. We had a great time. We stayed with my sister and her family. We got to visit with my Dad and go on a beautiful walk with him. We spent 10 wonderful days together as a family and it was my idea of Heaven! One day we went to see the Washington D.C. temple and the leaves started blowing down on us. It was beautiful. We had so much fun trying to catch the falling leaves. The leaves are surprisingly wily! We enjoyed visiting the sights. As usual we were the touring maniacs. We saw everything from National monuments to nature's monuments! Of course we couldn't miss the zoo and the Amazonia building!We had to go look for "The Awakening" since it is one of the kids favorite things to see. The sculpture had been moved since last time we saw it. I think one of the main reasons I love going to D.C. in the fall is because it really is some of the best family time we have together all year.

Halloween Week

2008-11-02T17:32:00.000-08:00

It's strange how one little holiday has turned into a week long celebration. It seemed as if it would go on forever. I just hope my kids had fun. We went to a fun Halloween party the weekend before Halloween, as well a some lame Halloween fest at the University of Phoenix. Then the next week of course was trunk or treat at the church... in which fun was had by all. Maybe too much fun. Then we had a Halloween Party for the kids on Thursday. Lots of kids....lots......and lots.....and lots of crazy. We played games....and more games....well you get the idea! Finally, Friday was Halloween. Now for the most gruesome of all Halloween tales...brace yourself for the following and advert your eyes for the weak stomach. 10 stitches from a scissor accident. Sierra was sewn up in time to still hit trick or treating!

Can I go to bed yet?

2008-10-21T21:26:00.000-07:00

What a day! Craig is out of town ....yet again....on Tuesday, which is the nightmare day of all days. It all started with a 4 alarm headache. 4 alarm meaning I pop 4 ibuprofens without a 2nd thought and am glad I did 30 minutes later ahhhhhh. I finally took Alanna for pictures today. She is the poor 4th child who has been ripped off in the professional picture department. No one year old pic, no two year old pick, nope...no 3 year old pic, ok finally 2 months before she is 5 she got the 4 year old pic. ooooo bad mommy. I've already had a discussion with her and begged her not to hold it against me later in life. Anywho...later in the day she wanted to take a nap so by all means she did. I cleaned a bit and got ready for my cub scouts. Well long story short on my way to school to pick up the scouts and my boys, poor Alanna blew chunks! I went home called moms cancelled scouts. Alanna showered with her clothes on first; it was a shower by layers. Cleaning out the car was fun or not...I finally took the garden hose to it...yep inside the car. Then I rememberd I could take out the seats, which I did, which are still on my front lawn; by my Mccain/ Palin yard sign, and finished the job. I doubt it's dry yet, and actually the inside of the car probably isn't dry either from the phase one washing. I also called our friends (soccer coach) and said we won't be going to Zane's soccer practice and please pay the picture guy for me. (Come on I'm good for it!). Now it is 9:42 the kids are in bed (mostly) and Craig walked in the door. Can I go to bed yet?

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-01T20:39:00.000-07:00

So today is October 1st. Guess what? I love October....mainly because I love Halloween. Of course I also love October because it can finally cool down (which we still are waiting for)! I'm excited because I'm finally figuring out some of the things to add on to my new blog here (thanks Laura, the blogging guru!). Happy Fall! Happy Halloween!

My Cute Kiddies

2008-09-07T12:31:00.000-07:00

Hunter
Zane
Sierra
Alanna

Crazy Christine

2008-09-07T12:24:00.001-07:00

I think Christine is a little cuckoo....

-Craig

Here Goes Nothing!

2008-09-04T11:51:00.000-07:00

So.....My sister in law Brit asked me start a blog, which I told her flat out NO! It just seemed too hard! Who knew the site it so user friendly....which it has to be for me because I'm not too technical. I looked at her blog yesterday and then my other sister in laws today and I guess I'll give it a try! So like I said here goes nothing!