Happily ever....so far

You gotta see this to believe it!

2011-05-03T09:45:00.001-07:00

Me shooting the AK-47, check out what was left of the tomato can I shot!

In true Gabe form he had to bring some guns up to shoot, and by guns I mean an AK-47 and a MP-5. So just up the road we have a shooting range and we all tried them out, and by "all" that includes me!
My family will probably pee their pants thinking of me holding a gun, because truth be told I am NOT a gun fan, and I am vocal on this fact. There are 3 scenarios where I find guns appropriate. 1) obviously war, 2) killing wild animals, or intruders in defense of your family, 3) the apocalypse.
I hate the idea of a gun in a house with children, although I realize that it is good to be prepared, too many people do not keep them locked up properly and this thought TERRIFIES me. I do however want my children to learn about the proper use of guns, learn to respect them, and know the rules of gun use thoroughly. The most important of which is that they don't come within 10 feet of a gun without parental supervision, and approval. There's nothing more dangerous than ignorance, seconded only by disrespect of these very powerful and very deadly weapons. I know people love guns for sport and I admit, shooting is alot of fun. I personally just don't think it is fun enough to accept the risks involved.

But before any creepos, think they wouldn't get their head blown off if they tried to hurt me or my family just observe my aim below. I haven't shot a gun in about two years and this video shows my first shot fired, straight into a shaving cream can from 40 feet away

Welcome Home Gabe!

2011-05-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

Well the kids were so excited to have Uncle Gabe home from Iraq just in time for Easter. The Easter Bunny couldn't have brought a better surprise! He is only on leave for a few weeks, but still they haven't seen hime since August, so they were thrilled. Cate will not leave "Gabbie's" side. We couldn't have gotten better news while he was home than the fact they finally got Bin Laden. We're just grateful that he'll be far from any revenge attacks for a while. Although he was a little ticked he was missing the party over there. I can imagine there is some serious celebrating going on.

Although at least he got to come home to a new four wheeler. He sent Chris some money to buy him one while he was gone, so they could go riding when he got home. It's no bullet bike, but probably a lot less deadly too. After all Gabe's near death experiences on those, I'm hoping he's ready to trade for ATV's. He and Chris have been up on the mountain like crazy since he came home. Scouting trails and running through mud and streams. We had to get a power washer just to find the ATV's after they brought them home. They didn't leave much dirt on the mountain let's put it that way.

A Birthday fit for a Princess!

2011-04-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

Well in true Diva style Cate had her birthday in Disneyland. My Disneylandpost was a bit sparse and missed this important event, so I figured I had better include at least the Birthdays. WE had planned an all day celebration where Cate could go with Chris and I to spend the whole day as she wished. However I woke up sicker than a dog and spent her whole birthday at the hotel in bed. So we had to take a raincheck for the next day, but she took it like a champ. We dressed her in her favorite Ariel dress, and mommy did her special tinkerbell hair with a crown from the bibbity bobbity botique,and we had her makeup done in fairy hollow. We did a photoshoot in front of sleeping beauties castle and then headed over to meet Tinkerbell and Irridessa. Then for a special birthday lunch at Ariel's Grotto. She had spaghetti and meatball pops and got to meet all of the princesses, except forSnow White. It was very cute when she met Cinderella, she actually lost her shoe when she hopped down for a picture, so Cinderella helped her get her shoe back on! It was too funny, you don't get Cinderella to put your lost slipper on every day you know! Our very favorite princess was Belle. She was sooo sweet and personable, just geniunely nice. Cate's favorite of course was sleeping beauty.

Soccer 2010

2011-04-26T16:00:00.000-07:00

Well better late than never right. I thought I was behind on blogging before well I have now skipped an entire year! Yes that's right the boys are now playing soccer for the 2011 season and I am barely posting last years. Lovely, but I guess maybe my stubborness to not give up entirely may just come in handy. Well these pics are my favorites from the season, you can't see Cai's face above, but there's a whole lot of action packed into that picture. Cai made leaps and bounds this year as far as his soccer skills go. His confidence and drive have really helped him learn so much this year. His dribbling and defense are great. He actually is really going after the ball instead of letting everyone take it ahead of him and he has even scored some points!

Cole is playing on a team with some friends from the neighborhood, and they are doing awesome. Cole has such a tremendous knack for sports things have seemed to come really easy for him. He's no prodigy or anything, but he really seems to enjoy sports and is showing alot of promise in soccer. He has only scored a few goals, but he has gotten a hold of the ball alot, and has been able to get the ball away from the other team and down to the goal to help assist.

A Treasured Life

2011-02-01T10:56:00.001-08:00

Well growing up I never realized how lucky I was to have a mom to teach me the value of work. When she lost her mother at the young age of 16 it truly devastated her. She was the baby of the family, the only one living at home, and she was momma's little girl. She always told us how hard it was on her. She didn't know how to take of herself and now she was thrown into that role along with taking care of the house, cleaning, cooking, and managing the household checkbook.
The theme of our growing up was "do it yourself or die trying." My mom could do anything herself, if that meant fixing a plumbing leak, remodeling a bathroom, building a house, sewing a quilt, growing a garden, or making homemade bread and homecooked meals. I remember my friends were always in amazement of what a great cook my mom was. She was a straight from scratch cook. We NEVER ate a frozen meal while I was growing up or anything except mac and cheese from a box.
But not only that, while finances were always tight in our family growing up, she found a way to earn a little money here or there making cabbage patch dolls, strawberry shortcake dolls, pound puppies, doll clothing, etc. to sell so that we could have extra money for Christmas gifts. Many of our toys were homemade. She made big clipboards for us to draw and paint on that were shaped and painted like a big strawberry, or a huge teepee made out of denim and alluminum poles. She made a big dollhouse for my sisters and I, she made the dolls of course too, and also sewed quite a bit of our clothes as well.
She taught us to work hard in the garden too. We had a HUGE 1/2 acre garden plot, with raspberries all along the back of it, with a big strawberry patch, and a orchard on another 1/4 acre along the side. We were very busy to say the least. I remember my mom teaching me how to soak the seeds, and plant them in the rows. Which plants were vegetables and which were weeds, and how to irrigate the rows in long ditches. She taught us how to suck the nectar from honeysuckle, and peel rhubarb and dip it in sugar. We learned to shuck wheelbarrows and wheelbarrows full of corn, boil it, and cut it off the cobs for the freezer, we snapped and canned beans, made jams and jellies, and stuffed zuchinni into every imaginable recipe including apple pie.
We rarely ever had money for candy, and if we did we had to pedal on our bike to the Safeway or Maverick. We ate out about once a year for our big birthday dinner. We could choose anywhere we wanted to go which was usually Sizzler. Because to us that seemed sooo fancy. I mean they had shrimp, and all you could eat shrimp what could be more fancy?
As I got older, I resented being poor a little more, and felt like it was unfair that I had to work for my own school clothes and spending money. No 14 year old really understands the life lesson being learned there. Until I quit to take care of Cai when he was 6 mos. old I had literally never been "unemployed" a day in my life since I was 14 years old. It took it's toll in some ways, I saw my friends do more extracurricular activities, and watched their parents hand them money for extra stuff, and buy them name brand clothes. But now I am so grateful that I learned how to take care of myself, and learn the value of work.
I learned how to fix things and build stuff from watching my mom, I knew how to cook and I knew how to work hard and earn enough money so that when I went off to college I could do it all on my own. Without spending a dime of my parents money (aside from my car insurance.) It wasn't easy by a long shot, but I did it. I guess my mom had the tough love philosophy, which doesn't always sit well during those moments of learning and trial, but looking back I can see how much stronger I am as a result.
Not everything was hard work growing up, we had plenty of fun too. My friends used to tell me how "cool" my Mom was, because she would let us play and have sleepovers more than their parents did. But mostly she was just fun to hang out with. We would goof around and laugh and laugh till our sides hurt. We would stay up late and we would watch Saturday Night Live until my dad would come down stairs and make her go up to bed. We spent a lot of time talking and philosiphizing about life and the gospel. My Mom was such a good example of living the gospel. She lived the things she taught, and wasn't showy about it. She didn't flaunt moral superiority in your face, or stand on the street corners and preach and pray, she just lived it and we felt her love of it just by being around her. We lived it too because we learned to love it like she did. She was adamant about never judging others. She always used to say that "you should never judge a person for what they have done, because you never know how many of their mistakes would have been yours too if you had, been given the same opportunities to make them." My Mom wasn't perfect as no parent is, but she loved us and defended us fiercely. I remember in fact when a neighbor was spreading false stories about me and a car accident I had been in, she stomped right down to his house and had the poor man in tears by the time she was done with him. She wasn't afraid to stand up for herself or her kids if she felt she wasn't getting a fair shake, which was embarrassing sometimes, but also comforting that she cared that much.
Coming home to visit from college was so much fun. We would try to get everyone together as often as possible, and if one of us was going to my parents house, it wasn't long before all of us were up there. We would tie quilts and goof around, watch movies, make yummy treats, and try new recipes, and we would talk and play games until 2 a.m. She loved going shopping with her girls and we all would usually spend too much money buying stuff we talked each other into buying.
As a grandma she was every bit as committed to giving them homemade gifts. She was not a fan of toys and worldly things, but she always had them stocked with quilts, books about Christ, family night kits, Songbooks, and pillowcases and in a pinch grandma could whip up a skirt, swimming suit, or pair of pajamas from her fabric closet in about 10 minutes flat. She made the grandkids toy boxes, and tents, and tooks them for long walks down to the beach or up in the mountains to pick chokecherries, or just admire nature. She took thousands of pictures of them playing in the sand at the beach, sledding down their hills, or playing up in the mountains behind their house. She loved getting the grandkids together at her house.
Things will never be the same, all we have are the memories. I just hope that I can teach my children even half the valuable lessons I learned from her, and feel blessed that I was able to have her a part of my life for as long as I did. She knew the pain of growing up without a mom, and as difficult as it was on her, she never wanted us to feel so abandoned. She raised us to be independent, perhaps because she knew deep down there would come a time when we needed to be.

Hello There!

2011-02-01T10:44:00.000-08:00

Well I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. For some reason I had lost every desire to post. I just couldn't move on past my last post. It felt a little too much like leaving my mom behind, and moving on. I really didn't want too. I still don't want to, but I owe it to my kids to continue to document what our family is up to occasionally. Those who read my blog know just how occasionally that is (very very occasionally), but it's better than nothing. It's my only stab at documenting our life. I will forever miss seeing Garden City listed on my viewed list. But I have a feeling my mom has got a much more intimate spot in witnessing the goings on in our house now, than she ever did before.

I think the best place to go from here is documenting some of my favorite memories of my mom.

Cathy Pope precious mother and grandmother

2010-10-07T10:50:00.001-07:00

GARDEN CITY, Utah – Catherine Irene Lewis Pope, 57, returned to her Heavenly Father on Tuesday, October 5, 2010.

Cathy was born April 21, 1953 in Montpelier, Idaho to Calvert and Agnes Lewis. She grew up in the Bear Lake Valley and was the youngest of six children. At the age of 16 her mother passed away leaving Cathy as the only child at home. She assumed responsibility for the household and developed self-reliance and determination. In 1971 Cathy married her eternal companion Howard Max Pope and they were sealed in the Logan Utah Temple.

Cathy was mother to five children for whom she devoted her life. Her children learned the importance of provident living through her example of finding a good bargain and stretching a dollar. She was never idle and thoughtfully performed many acts of service without thought of recognition.

By fostering an atmosphere of love, she created a home that nurtured deep family unity. Using her home as her canvas, Cathy’s unending creativity made her a true homemaker in every sense of the word. She enjoyed working with her hands through gardening, carpentry, cooking, sewing and quilting. This desire to develop and share of your talents is instilled in her children.

Cathy served valiantly in many church callings throughout her life. Her deep personal testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ resonated among all who knew her. She leaves behind a rich legacy of faith and family to her children and grandchildren.

Cathy is survived by her husband Howard, of Garden City, Utah; her children Kerrie Taylor (Toby) of Lehi, Utah; Courtney Guymon (Chris) of Smithfield, Utah; Candice Eborn (Stephen) of Pueblo, Colorado; Cami McCabe (Patrick) of Queen Creek, Arizona; Nicholas Pope of Provo, Utah; and 12 beautiful grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents and one elder brother.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, October 9, 2010, at 11:00 a.m. at Garden City Chapel, 65 South Bear Lake Blvd. with Bishop Howard M. Pope conducting. Friends may call prior to the service from 9:30 to 10:50 a.m. A viewing will be held on Friday from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Matthew’s Mortuary, 702 Clay Street in Montpelier, Idaho. Interment will be in the Garden City Cemetery.

Disneyland Day 1

2010-06-28T21:20:00.000-07:00

Well the kids have been dying to get to Disneyland. We were going to go in the fall and then Chris' brother couldn't get leave, and everyone was too broke before Christmas so we decided to wait for spring. Chris' brother is going to be deployed to Iraq so we thought we would give one last hurrah before he's gone for a year and a half. I was so glad that we went. The kids absoloutely loved their Uncle Gabe and were so happy to be able to go to Disneyland with him and their Grandma and Grandpa Guymon. We decided to fly this time since Cole and Cate have never been on an airplane. As much as Chris and I travel with his job, that's pretty pathetic. They absoloutely loved it. Cole was just dying as he looked out the window. Luckily it was a small commuter plane, because as we took off he was bouncing up and down in the seat yelling "Mom, Mom, look we're flying!" Cate and Cai looked out the window and were excited but Cole could not contain his delight when we were finally airborne.

We flew into Long Beach, which is a tiny little airport so it was great for the kids and their Grandpa had come ahead of us and was ready with a gynormous "Mormon Van" for the trip. We had to make a ceremonial stop at Tommy's for lunch. Where almost everything on the menu is slathered in Chili.

Then Grandpa had also gotten everyone a disney character T-shirt. So after we finished lunch he had them spread over the back of each of our seats. Grandma and Grandpa Guymon tried so hard to make it as fun as possible they really went above and beyond.

After lunch we headed straight for the park. We got 6 day passes for the price of 4, so we were glad to be able to take things at a slower pace and still get to see the whole park. We had to stop for pics at the Walt Disney Statue, and then headed over to Fantasyland.

I felt really bad that on the first day Cai got hurt. We were going on the storybook land boat ride and boat operator stepped on Cai's finger as she was walking along the side of the boat to get to the front. She must have stepped on it with the corner of a hard-soled shoe or something because she took a huge chunk of skin of the side of his finger. We didn't realize how bad it was until I looked at it after the ride. Needless to say he went straight to the first-aid station. They were so great and knew just what to do to help him feel better. They loaded him up with bandaids, tylenol, ice and about 6 buttons a person for all of us. They even gave him two walk-on passes to the Toy Story 3D ride, for six people each time. So we literally walked onto it 3 times without having to wait at all. We kept joking that soemone else needed to get hurt the rest of the trip so that we could get more free stuff (jokingly of course)!

Then we headed over to Autopia. The kids were ecstatic, that they got a drivers license, and that they got to "drive" the car. Cate was pretty crazy behind the wheel but the boys drove like pros. I guess all those hours of Mario Kart finally paid off!

We stayed to watch the fireworks that night and froze our butts off. They kept delaying them waiting for the wind to slow down, which it never did. So we froze to death for an hour and a half for nothing. But other than that we had a pretty great day. It was fun to see Cate and Cole really get into things more than the last time we came. Cate was only 1 and Cole was 3. But srprisingly they actually remembered quite a bit from the last trip.

Cai's baptism

2010-06-28T10:30:00.000-07:00

Well the big day finally arrived. I am so proud of Cai, I have always admired his strong desire to do what is right. Although I had to laugh a bit, when I told him about his interview with the bishop! It went like this:

Mom: "Cai are you ready for your interview with the bishop?"

Cai (with a look of terror): "What does interview mean?"
Mom: "the bishop will just ask you questions about baptism and your testimony about the church. He'll ask you if you're keeping the commandments, and maybe if you tease you little sister."

Cai: gets a devious look on his face after I mention teasing his sister and says "I'm gonna say no!"

We had to have a little discussion about telling the truth always even if it's scary, but I about laughed my head off! The look on his face was sooo funny.

He shared his baptism day with two other kids from the ward Kiley Jensen, and Nicole Buttars. It was really cool that they are the first group to be baptised since the formation of the new Smithfield South Stake. Each stake has a book where they record the baptisms that take place and his group will be the first ones in the book! That will be something fun for him to remember. Since we had to share the program, our family didn't do too much in the program, but all the kids getting baptised and their siblings got up and sang "When I Am Baptized." I had made up a poster and we had done some practices, and they all did so great, it was really cute.

I totally wasn't prepared for how much I would be hit by the spirit. I felt like I was about to burst into tears during the opening song. There is something so amazing about watching your kids make those covenants, and seeing the future that lies ahead of them. In 4 short years he will be recieving the priesthood, and attending Young Men's! It all goes by way too fast. It was also just awesome to see Chris as he took Cai into the font all dressed in white. It always makes me so proud to see my husband perform priesthood ordinances. It is amazing to remember the power that he holds, and how much it means to him and me that he is worthy to hold such tremendous power. The influence of the spirit was so strong that day, I hope that Cai never forgets what an amazing experience it was.

Cai's grandparents both chipped in and got him a beautiful set of scriptures, Cai is so excited to have his very own, and has even sat down to read them a few times without any suggestion from me. He was so excited the first day of Primary after he got them. He was so proud that he had looked up the longest scripture in class and read it all by himself!

The bishop gave him a pure white handkerchief during the baptisimal program that was part of a magic trick of course. Our bishop is amazing and a magician! He taught them all about repentance by making a red hanky dissapear and replacing it with a pure white one for each of the kids. The primary president brought over a darling picture Mat with two ovals cut out for a poem and a picture of Cai. Then in sacrament meeting they presented Cai with a hardcover Book of Mormon with a message from the bishopric inside. We have such an amazing ward they really made his baptism special and went the extra mile to make it memorable.

After Cai's baptism we had a brunch at the house, where we had his favorite pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes and cinnamon rolls. His Uncle Gabe bought him a CTR ring and his grandma and grandpa Callister got him a tie tack of the angel Moroni.

Mother's Day

2010-06-13T14:47:00.000-07:00

Well I took the advice of my mother this year. She said that on Mother's day instead of getting depressed about all those stories of perfect Mothers who do this that and the other, or feeling that you aren't being truly appreciated, she said that every Mother's Day she would just try to be the absoloute best Mother she could possibly be. Which I thought I would try this year. Having a positive attitude made such a big difference. I stopped thinking about myself and instead focused on what I could do for others.

After church Chris surprised me with a gift from Him and the kids, and I have to say I was thrilled. We had both kinda agreed that finishing the backyard would be father's/mother's day for both of us. I have been wanting a set of Jane Austen Novels for ages, and had dropped some hints about a year ago, but hadn't mentioned it since. He found the most beautiful set of classic novels I have ever seen. There's 3 of the Jane Austen classics, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Litte Women, Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, and Jane Eyre. They each have a ribbon book marker like scriptures do, and I have already read 3 of them since.
How did I ever snag such a great catch. Every woman probably feels the same, but I totally hit the jackpot! What an awesome hubby and father!

Cai's 8th Birthday!

2010-06-13T13:26:00.001-07:00

Wow when your kid turns 8 it makes an impression. Cai seemed to age 3 years overnight. 8 is such a milestone, there's Baptism, Cub Scouts, Senior Primary (I guess that happened in Jan.) I was just freaking out over the latest batch of Beehive girls to come into Young Womens. I remembered when they were the older girls in Junior Primary when I was Chorister, because that really wasn't long ago like 5-6 years. Well in another 5-6 years Cai will be fourteen! A Mom never gets over how fast time goes by. At this rate Cai will be in Young Men's before I know it!
You already heard me rave about what a great kid he was on my Valentine's post so now I will just show you how darling and mature looking he is in his pics for his baptism announcements! Thanks to my sister/photographer Kerrie, for the awesome pictures.

He was such a great little model. I have gotten so used to coaxing, prodding, and trying to get the kids to sit still that I didn't realize how cooperative Cai had gotten recently. He may have a future in modeling he got pretty into it, coming up with poses and taking it all so seriously, What a cute kid! Always trying so hard to do the right thing.

Now when exactly was May? I think I missed it.

2010-06-06T20:07:00.001-07:00

Oh yeah I was covered in dirt and PVC glue! I got a tad obssesed with finishing the yard and ignored everything and everyone for a few weeks. I really need to learn to multi-task. That's supposed to come with the female brain right? Nope, I think I got skipped on that gene. I wanted to finish it a few weeks before disneyland so that we wouldn't be leaving freshly layed sod to fry while we were out of town. The feeling of rolling out sod onto bare dirt is indescribable maybe not doing it, but seeing it go down like lovely green carpet! Amazing! And watching the sprinklers pop up and water it! Amazing! I wish I had a before pic, but I don't so here's the after!

A Soggy Easter

2010-04-05T09:58:00.000-07:00

Well the beautiful weather we'd been having couldn't last through the holiday. About 3 days before Easter we ended up getting snow every night. We still had a really great Easter anyways. Chris' parents and brother Gabe came up to stay for the holiday. They came on Saturday and we went out to the Smokin Blues BBQ place in Providence. They had awesome BBQ with the exception of the ribs. they had good flavor, but were very tough. They even had fried pickles which were surprising but delicious. Their smoked turkey was unbelievable.

We hit the hot tub that night and watched "Where the Wild things Are." Which was pretty good, but could have been better in the plot arena. The monsters behavior was just very strange, and the storyline seemed to flail around for a purpose. The kids had fun though. They love hangin out with their Uncle Gabe. Cole had a tummy ache, and we were afraid he was coming down with something, but it resolved itself by morning.

Easter morning the kids were not allowed out of their rooms until 7:00 Gabe slept down in Cole's room with the boys and Cai kept pestering him to know when it was 7:00. At 7:03 they came to wake us up. After getting a sneak peak at Christmas, they all had to stay in the kitchen until I got the camera set up for the big reveal. They were very excited about the toys, not so much about their new church shoes. We went without the Easter Sunday clothes this year, since the boys have way too many dress shirts and pants already. Cate has too many dresses, but I did splurge a couple months ago at Gymboree and bought her one. Yes I am weak. Every year we say we're taking it easy, and then we don't and this year is no exception. Cai wanted a Wii dance game so we got the Dance Dance Revolution 2 with the floor mat. He was a little unsure about himself at first, but he seriously played it all day. He improved so dramatically it was amazing. Kids catch on so fast. All of us tried it, and I can tell it will be our families new favorite activity.

Cole is obsessed with the Lego Power Miners, so he got a big drill thing with a big monster. We also got him a Lego project container. He has about 20 lego things he's built on his dresser so they don't get ruined, so at least this way he'll have someplace to keep them.

Cate got a Zhu Zhu pet house and baby Zhu Zhu and a gift card for build-a-bear. She also played with her "pets" all day.

Then Grandma, Grandpa and Gabe gave the kids the Easter gifts they had brought. They got the boys a remote control truck and a hummer, and Cate got a new Barbie scooter. They absoloutely loved their gifts. They don't realize how lucky they are to be so blessed. After seeing the poverty of the children in Mexico, it was a little harder to enjoy all of our abundance knowing that others have so little. The little village where our B&B was had houses back along the river where the families didn't have running water and barely had walls. It really makes me feel ashamed, to look around at our excesses. I think I'm going to make a separate post about one of the families and see what we can do for them.

We had Easter dinner here. I made a smoked ham with dutch oven potatoes, homemade rolls, and asparagus, with a strawberry shortcake for dessert. It was the first time we put our dining room table together with the drop leaf table in the family room. I had always hoped we could fit the two together in the dining room for a larger crowd and it worked beautifully. Then we could fit twelve people around with plenty of room to move around. Chris wasn't thrilled about lugging the table over, but he'd be fine eating every meal over the kitchen sink if it were up to him. Men just don't get setting a nice table. I put out my white table cloths, chargers, my nice silverware, and glassware, and the whole nine. I LOVE that stuff! It's like playing tea party as an adult! Then we watched "The Testaments" before the Guymons had to leave. It was such a fun Easter! It was really nice having Conference weekend over Easter. I didn't get to dress the kids all up, but it was nice taking things at our own pace and not having too strict of a schedule. It would have been perfect if the weather had cooperated.

Happy Heart Day!

2010-02-12T11:37:00.000-08:00

What is not to love about Valentines Day! Flowers, chocolates, little cards with adoring messages. It just makes a person happy no matter what. The boys have been waiting and waiting. Cai woke up at 4 a.m. and got in bed with me. He woke again at 6:30 and laid awake next to me until 7:30. Finally he says, "Mom get up! Today is going to be the best day ever, I totally can't wait to go to school." Believe me starting the day on that note was a blessing in and of itself. I'm usually pushing and prodding them along amidst angry grumbles about when the next vacation day they will get.

So to my favorite Valentines in the whole world. Here's what I love about you:

Cai

Cai you are so easy to love, you have a such a sweet sensitive personality. I love that you are always looking out for the needs and feelings of others. I love to watch you when you are imagining something. You get so quiet and thoughtful you can almost see the stars in your eyes. I love your dramatic personality. You can really ham it up, and I love your great sense of humor. I can always count on a goofy expression on your face and a funny one liner. You are also so talented and creative. I love that you enjoy painting and drawing and build things just like me. We love you so much and are so happy that you are a part of our family.

Cole!

We should have spelled your name with an exclamation mark on your birth certificate! I love your sparkle and zest for life. You are always so passionate about whatever you are doing. One of my favorite things is watching you play the Wii. Your bouncing, jabbing, jumping, punching air karate, is so much fun to watch. I love that you leave your heart wide open
and put it all on the line for your friends and family. You just care so deeply, it makes my heart ache when you are dissapointed. You live life at one volume and that is loud! I love that you are so focused and particular when you are doing something. You always try so hard to do things exactly right, whether it is coloring, sports, puzzles, games or Wii. I just know that your focus and tenacity will really take you places.

Cate

Little did we know after naming you after TWO queens (Catherine Victoria) that, that was just what we were getting... a little princess. I could hardly believe my ears when shortly after pronouncing "mama" for the first time "shzzzzzz (shoes)" was soon to follow. Your preference for pink

started before you could even crawl, and we can't get away with a single outfit that isn't slathered in pink. You are trying to grow up so fast it makes my heartache. I love that you know what you want and do everything you can to get it. Your persistence, determination and creativity is exhausting at times, but I am certain that those are the exact qualities that will lead you to greatness. You don't take no for an answer. You know what you want and you go to work getting it. I can already see your talents coming into focus. You love to create, decorate, and cook already. I can't wait for the day we can do those things together even more. I know I get frustrated with the day to day "projects" you get into (Valentines cards for your Grandmas SLATHERED in sparkly pink lipgloss, cutting and cutting and cutting tiny pieces of paper, dumping out glitter all over the hardwood floor, I'm sure we'll be finding glitter for years to come out of the couch cushions and cracks in the floor) but I'm certain that SOMEDAY you will be a very talented little crafter, artist, and cook. I love your bouncy blonde curls and sparkly blue eyes. It is a rare day that your aren't smiling for most of it. We love you so much, and no matter how old you get or how much you hate to hear it, you will always be our baby girl.

Chris

What good is a Valentines day that you can't schmooze your sweetheart? I know I tell you all the time but I thank my lucky stars everyday that I get to spend the rest of eternity with you. I NEVER thought I could be so compatible with another human being. We fit together so perfectly. Our humor, our tastes, our interests (most of them at least), we even see eye to eye on politics. I love that you help me compenstate for my weaknesses and make me want to be a better person. I have no clue what made you set your sights on that strange girl with the purple hair, red lipstick, wacky clothes and combat boots. But I am so glad that you took the time to see what was under all that, and I'm glad that your were persistent enough to let me see how compatible we were even though we seemed worlds apart. The 13 years we have been together have been the happiest of my life. I admire you so much for all that you have accomlished. I honestly just stand in awe of you sometimes. Thanks for putting up with my quirks, my weaknesses, my crazy projects, and my hairbrained ideas. Plently of people would have had me committed by now, but you have always supported me. I shudder to think of a life without you in it.

I found it!

2010-02-04T10:16:00.001-08:00

Here is the perfect way to get your kids motivated to do their chores, and set goals. It is really cool and my kids are loving it. After some research to find a way to get our family going on a more consistent schedule. I came across this website, at myrewardboard.com. Cai and Cole are really excited about it love to add their "happies" every day. The program keeps track of their progress, allowance, and goals then it pays out once a week. It has a piggy bank, chore chart, goal chart, and offers extra star points for perfect chores days or meeting their personal goals.

It may be time, no definitely time for a schedule

2010-01-28T10:06:00.000-08:00

For anyone who knows me, I am not a schedule girl. I fly by the seat of my pants on a daily basis. I am at my best in a hardcore crisis, but the daily grind.....UGHHHHH. I would rather chew glass. I live for a challenge as long as it does not involve endurance. The endurance part is truly the worst. Maybe I am not so different from anyone else, I am just overindulgent in my whims and calendrically challenged.
But it's definitely time for a change. We have a typical bedtime and routine beforehand, but breakfast lunch and dinner are totally sporadic depending on the activities of the day or when Chris gets home which is usually sometime around 6-9 p.m. (see my problem). Chores are sporadic for the kids, and I just float from one mess to another it seems. But mostly I try to find an emergency project for Y.W. or the kids school, or the house, as a diversion. I really live for the diversions. But this approach is soooo not working.

So for the past two days I am really trying to act like an adult. The kids have before school and afterschool chores, and we are trying to eat lunch at noon and dinner at 6:30 at the table together with or without my husband. So far so good, but just wondering if anyone has any grand ideas that are REALISTIC. I've done some research on the internet, and some people (mostly those that post their 3 page schedules) are probably a little on the hyperschedule side of things. So if anyone has any simple ideas that they've found work please let me know. We are still a work in progress. I may need to post a countdown to see how long I can keep this up.

Christmas and New Years!

2010-01-06T13:43:00.001-08:00

What a crazy, but awesome holiday! The kids could hardly wait for Christmas this year. It made me remember those sleepless nights as a kid, just dying for morning to come. We could hardly sleep. We promised the kids this year that we would deck out their rooms for Christmas. I have been wanting to get to it anyways and since they have way more toys than they need, we could limit the toy shopping a bit. They were so excited. We couldn't have them sleep in their rooms for about three nights before Christmas so I could set it all up, so that just added to the drama.

Cai's room is very scienceish (wow that sounds smart), he already had a big T-Rex head that our dry-waller made in the plaster above his desk, and a few dinosaur skeletons so we went with a science theme. I built him a new headboard with two lightboards inside it to showcase some new animal x-rays and a few little cupboards behind the pillows for his "treasures" (code for the crazy junk he can't get rid of). I only had to spend about $15 for the wood since everything else was left over from construction. I love how it turned out! We bought him a new lightning lamp globe thing, and put glow in the dark planets all over his ceiling. I built shelves in the columns on either side of his art desk finally to showcase his rock collection and science books. Cai's exciting Christmas included losing his first tooth! We were all at Grandma Guymons opening presents and he had just opened his microscope kit. He took the tweezers out and pulled on his tooth with them and VOILA! He actually pulled it out and then quickly examined it under the microscope. You should have seen the look on his face he was totally in shock! The first photo is just before he lost an and the second is right after.

It was so fun to see Cole in his Kindergarten Christmas program. They sang a ton of songs and they all knew them so well. It was fun to watch. Cole was so excited to get a rudolph shirt just like Cai. For Cole's room he is very interested in planes, trains, cars, etc. so we continued with the vintage planes, trains, and automobiles theme in his room. I built him a big roll-out trundle box to fit under his bed for a new AFX slot car track. Then we could screw down the track and he could play with it easier without having to put it away and rebuild it every time. Chris was salivating over that one. I don't know if it was for Cole or him. It's funny to watch dad's live vicariously through their kids sometimes. But Cole loved it, it even had an upside down loop and a section that goes up on the wall. Then I hung up airplanes all over his room with an airplane and helicopter that fly around on fishing line. I put up part of the track for Chris' train eventually we want to finish the track all the way around his room, but later. Then we put Chris' dad's old Matchbox car set into a shadowbox frame to display on his wall. He had some cool European cars and American ones with moving parts that were pretty unique.

Cate had one request for her room. She wanted "pretty" pillows, and that was the one thing I didn't finish in time, but she didn't seem to notice. I made her a valance for her window and made a quilt top for her bed. I was pressed for time on getting it quilted in time so we're going duvet style right now. Then I made a big canopy over her bed out of tulle, and an Asian style umbrella. It took a marathon session to finish the quilt and I managed to cut it out and piece it together in less than 24 hours while Chris took the kids to his mom's in S.L.C.. I only got 3 hours of sleep but I finished it!

Thankfully with their rooms complete I will never try that stunt again. Good to have a deadline, but so not good for the Holidays I think birthday's would have been a better idea. Especially since I had a gynormous wedding cake to do the week before Christmas too. I felt like I ignored everyone trying to get stuff done, so sorry If anyone felt neglected. One of those things that seem like a good idea at the time, but later you really pay for it. I loved this cake though Christmas weddings are so fun and I loved doing the snowflakes. Flowers just get really old.

We partied all week between Christmas and New Years in our traditional style. It seems when all my sisters and brother get together the fun never ends. We spent a few days up in Garden City sledding and playing in the snow, and then everyone came to our house to play games and hot tub. My mom and dad watched all the kiddos for us and the kids and spouses all took a priceless opportunity to all go out to eat together and catch a movie. It is so fun to hang out together as adults and actually get a chance to talk to each other. Thanks mom and dad! It was an awesome evening. The house was even still standing when we returned home.

We took a few days in between Pope celebrations to hang out with Gabe and Debbie. Chris and Gabe brought all of Chris' D.J. equipment in the house and set it up for the kids. They lined them all up outside the theater room door and turned on the fog machine and laser lights. It was hilarious to watch them dance like rock stars! I think the bass about shook the house down! Then we went to the fun park for pizza, bowling, laser tag, and the softplay. Then we all packed up and headed to Kerrie's for New Years Eve, and had a great time. The kids stayed up until the ball dropped, and then we all had a fun Blue's Clues Birthday party for Colin in the morning before everyone had to start heading home.

Posting Spree!

2009-11-03T13:04:00.000-08:00

Well in my usual all or nothing style, I wanted to post the latest at the Guymon house, and hopefully include more than just my health drama, so here's what we've been up to:

Halloween!

Well pardon the pics, since I still haven't replaced my old camera, and my little Nikon Coolpix runs through batteries like crazy and is having lens problems so I have had dead batteries or a defunct lens. Thank heavens for crappy cell phone cameras, but despite all.... the kids have had a great halloween. We actually managed to get our costumes figured out early in October, so that wasn't much of a stress. Cai was Woverine, although he couldn't wear a mask most places so we gave him hair like Logan's with big chops like he has in the movie. Then we had gotten some Wolverine claws for his birthday that fly out and have sound effects, so he got to use those a little
Cole has wanted to be a ninja for about the last three months so his costume was a piece of cake. He had a tough time keeping his special Ninja weapons backpack in it's package until halloween night, but he finally got to wear them. Somehow I knew four swords and daggers would dissapear or break before Halloween. Cate was very close to being a fairy, but she found the Super Girl costume and was sold. I was just glad to have her chose something that wasn't slathered in pink princesses. So somehow for the third year in a row the kids have managed to keep some kind of theme. Last year they were a fairytale... knight, dragon and princess. I guess this year it was superheroes.
The kids were excited that they could use the pumpkins that they grew in their garden to carve. So I let them have free reign on the design. The colored what they wanted in marker and then I carved it. I took a bit of creative freedom in interpreting Cate's jack 0'lantern face, but kept pretty true to the original. I've decided I need to be a little less picky, and honestly didn't have the time or interest in doing a super complicated carving this year. I was shocked at how gynormous Cole's pumpkin grew. All summer they excitedly watched it grow bigger and bigger! I could barely lift it by myself to get it into the house to carve. At the end of night I had to laugh. The boys were determined to take-off early to get the most candy possible. They went with a big group of boys their age and hit tons of houses in the neighborhood. But still when they arrived home and everyone dumped out their candy, Cate's pile was by far the largest. She left later, came home earlier and still she had almost twice as much. Chris said she was a little charmer. She would go up to the door and announce "trick or treat smell my foot!" and then run back to her daddy exclaiming "they were home!" At one house she said "thanks stinky!" Somehow that non-traditional tactic worked because Chris said nearly ever house gave her several pieces of candy. This just confirms my theory that a little blond curly haired girl can be as big of a stinker as possible and still charm her way into getting whatever she wants!

Viva Las Vegas! U2 concert

Pope family trip to Moab

It was so much fun to get to spend a weekend with my sisters and parents over General Conference weekend. We wanted to meet somewhere half way in-between Pueblo Colorado, Mesa Arizona, and Logan Utah so we came up with Moab. We managed to find a group camp site down there where we could fit a bunch of trailers and a few tents and we managed to find a great place. It was about 17 miles from Moab, but it was so pretty. It was a short hike to some pretty red rock formations, with ATV trails straight out of the campsite. The kids just had a blast with their cousins. My sister Cami couldn't make it since her whole family caught the swine flu, so we were really sad and missed them terribly, but the whole rest of the family was able to get together. The kids just loved playing with their cousins. We hit a few hiking trails in Arches, but I think the kids had the most fun hiking to the rock formations near camp, and making Halloween masks, pet rocks, and decorating Halloween cupcakes. We even let them put their masks on and trick-or-treat from trailer to trailer. As usuall we ate way too much food, stayed up way too late talking and laughing, but I think we all decided that the camping trip needs to be an annual event. Although It certainly could have been warmer. The first night was FREEZING! The kids and I ended up in my parents trailer, but the next two nights after Chris got there we stayed in the tent, and were at times a little too warm since we were so paranoid about bundling up after the first night! So maybe next time we'll go for a slightly earlier time in the year.

Update on U.C. and Thyroid

2009-11-03T09:41:00.001-08:00

Well first off thanks so much for everyone's prayers and fasting. It has been a rough few weeks and I have felt like my body (and mind) was just falling apart. First my Thyroid had suspicious growths, then my U.C. meds were damaging my kidneys, then the doc decided to put me on Prednisone. About the most horrific medication with awful and embarrassing side effects like acne, weight gain, "moon face," mood swings, OCD, joint pain, and on and on. Then finally after weeks of waiting and worrying I find out that the growths on my thyroid are benign! What a relief. They are still too big, but the doc isn't forcing me to have them removed right now, their size is a worry, and if they get even half a cm larger I wont have a choice anymore and I will have to get my whole thyroid removed. But at least I can let that go a little now while we try to get my U.C. under control again. They had to take me off my Lialda for two weeks until my creatine levels went down again, and I have had a major flare up since then. I just started the Prednizone on Saturday and have only noticed a little puffiness in my face so far. The doc called yesterday and said my blood levels were back down again on Friday, so he's going to start me on Asacol (the non time realease version of Lialda) for three days and have me go in for another blood test on Thursday. I'm kinda hoping that there was just something about the time release that my kidneys didn't like but we'll see. The Asacol is a pain just because it is 4 pills 3 times a day, but I'll take that over the prednisone anyday! So please all I ask is that no one laughs at me when I look like the stay puffed marshmallow man in a few weeks!

Thanks to all who helped Taylie

2009-11-03T09:37:00.001-08:00

Thanks so much everyone who linked to Taylie's blog and helped raise money for her treatment. There were 358 links made totalling $716 dollars and then the man who donated for the links offered to double his previous commitment and donated her family $1432! So it just goes to show that small and simple acts can go a very long way to help when many others are involved.

Inspired to do something!

2009-10-07T10:18:00.000-07:00

Well I am sitting at home reading blogs because I'm such a moron and lost my keys AGAIN. For those of you who don't know me that well I am extremely absent minded to a ridiculous degree. I'm supposed to be volunteering in Cai's class right now, but can't since I lost my keys AGAIN! I'm too frustrated with myself to do something productive and started scanning facebook and blogs to get my mind occupied. I came across the most wonderful story on the blog of a friend of mine and I was inspired to do something to help as well. Nothing like someone elses mountainous problems to make you feel like yours are just a mole hill.

There is a little girl named Taylie who is 4 years old and recently diagnosed with AML Leukemia. Her family is obviously terrified and drowning in medical bills that are only going to get higher. I came across a link to her blog, and really felt inspired to help out, and any one can do it too. It just takes a minute of your time to help this family. If you want to help all you need to do is write a short introduction about Taylie on your blog with a link to http://www.tayliebug.com/ then go to adashofseason.blogspot.com and leave a comment there indicating you made the link on your blog and you're done! Someone has offered to donate $2 for every blog with her link as long as you indicate you have done so on adashofseason.blogspot.com. So easy for a family that could really use some help. I was so impressed that someone would do this for a little girl they hardly know. We live in a beautiful world, full of beautiful people who really care.

BTW her family is having a charity 3K run/walk, 5K run October 10th. The 5K and 3K walk start at 10 a.m. and the 3K run starts at 10:20 a.m. Early registration is closed, but you can register there.
Location: American West Heritage Center4025 South Highway 89-91Wellsville, UT 84339

Birthdays!

2009-07-07T11:24:00.000-07:00

Well since I haven't posted since Chris's B-day I figured I had better get things pulled together. This is suppossed to be my subsitute for a journal or scrapbooking! So I can't let it go too or I'm doomed to forgeting my kids lives.

Cai's B-Day

Well Cai turned 7 in May. We took it a little easier this year and let him invite 4 friends to the funpark. I am embarrassed that I didn't get him a decent cake made, but I had just finished doing a wedding cake and was a little burned out and had very little time. In fact I can't even find a photo of the one I did make. Oh well at least he got a little cake and cupcakes for his B-Day party with his friends from Sam's Club. They had a wonderful time at the fun park. We bowled ate pizza and played lazer tag. They had a blast! Me, Chris, Cate and their uncle Nic even joined them in Lazer tag. It was pretty funny to watch Cate running around with a vest on as big as she was. But she caught on very quickly and did really good. It was Adults and Cate against the boys. That weekend his Grandma and Grandpa Guymon and Grandma and Grandpa Callister came up for his last soccer game, and then we all went to Pizza Plus, since the Grandparents HAVE to go there when they're up, and I don't blame them. We went home and opened presents. Had Cai's "Ghost Town" cake per his request. I had envisioned something more grand but it pretty much ended up being a big chocolate square with two skeleton men battling it out.

My Birthday!

Chris really surprised me for my birthday this year and arranged for a baby sitter to come. He had planned the whole evening and it was awesome. He made reservations at La Nonne for dinner which was excellent. The food and atmosphere really reminded me of Italy so it was fun to reminisce about that. Then we went to see "Angels and Demons" which was really fun to see an entire adult movie with no interuptions. It was also fun to watch them race around Rome and remember the sites we had seen. It was really a good movie. It makes me want to read the book again. I had already kind of given myself my birthday/mother's day/Anniversary gift when I got my ring in NZ. So I wasn't really expecting much but Chris let me get new dishes anyways. And considering what he got for father's day I didn't feel too badly about the splurge.

Cate's Birthday!

Yes this time of year is quite busy with Birthdays they come about every two weeks from the beginning of May to the end of June. So sorry for the monster post, I'm trying to catch up. Well the little princess wasnt quite old enough for a friends party so we went to Salt Lake to Chuck-E-Cheeses by her request. I't pretty sad when you're just excited at the end that all the tokens are gone, and then spend about an hour choosing their 5 cent prizes, Oh the choices! A sparkly comb, or a puzzle that will break in ten seconds flat? She had a great time, though and that's what matters. She had to stand in front of the stage to watch the silly animatronics people and dance to the music. She's got some great moves! We went over to Grandma Callisters to opend presents and have Cake and Ice Cream. She desperately wanted a purple Barbie cake, so I managed to get the cake baked, but not decorated when we left home. So we stopped at Walmart on the way home and I bought some ready-made frosting and decorated it in about 10 min. Grandma Callister didn't have any red so we ended up with a Cinderella blue instead, but Cate was a good sport. She got a "Baby Alive" and a bunch of baby stuff. And of course new clothes! She had a great B-Day, and I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that my baby is now 3 years old!

Cole's Birthday!

Well Cole is such a good sport. His Birthday is dead last and it gets a little difficult to wait that long, but he did great. He had his cousin Gavin and Collin up so we had a pirate birthday party. We were trying to get a bunch of stuff done on the yard before we left for Colorado, so yet again I rushed through getting a cake baked. I figured I would make his requested pirate ship one for his friends party that will be who knows when. We hoped we could have it when we returned from Colorado, but all kinds of unexpected events occured. Our trip was permanently postponed due to the death of my Hero "Uncle Dean." It really rocked our family to the core. In my mom's family Aunt Claudia and Uncle Dean were just the rock that the rest of the family relied upon. My mom lost her mom when she was just 16 years old, so my mom's oldest sister (Claudia) and her husband Uncle Dean were more like grandparents to us. So due to funerals and my sister from Colorado coming up here, we just stayed in Garden City and hung out with the family. It's not often that all of us get together since we're spread all over the place so it was great. But like most family get togethers we all get each other sick. My nephew started getting sick and later we discovered it was Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease, so Sunday morning Cole woke with a fever. We still aren't sure if he's got it so his Birthday party with friends is gonna be really late! Oh well better late than never. He had a good party with the cousins though. They all dressed up like pirates and we drank Shark's Blood punch and let the kids decorate their own chocolate cupcakes with pirate stuff and then had a treasure hunt. Coley was thrilled to get several lego sets and a new Wii game. The Wii has been "broken" for a while, so we "fixed" it and let them play. Cole also finally got his Easter bike replaced. He got a new one for Easter that broke almost immediately. We could not find a better bike in the entire valley, and believe me I looked. The construction was pretty shoddy and two screws stripped the threads in the handlebars making the bike useless. Fortunately they took it back but the only bikes around were the same brand or worse in Logan, so we finally took a risk on a motorcyle bike. It didn't get great reviews but we were desperate, and he is IN LOVE with it. He had been riding Cai's old one around since Easter, which had a crushed seat I ran over in the van. We managed to bend it back but the seat kept tilting back. It worked temporarily, though until we could replace the other one.

What we've been up to besides Birthdays:

Soccer!

Came and went rather quickly. Although both the boys played this year many of the games got canceled due to the rain. Cole who had begged to play since last year suddenly ran out of enthusiasm at the first practice. It didn't take long for him to get into it again, and I think he really had fun. He was more familiar with it than Cai was so he ended up being a pretty good player. Cai improved greatly this year. His endurance was a lot better and he understood the game much better this time. He took the ball all the way down the field several times but didn't ever get a goal. It's so funny to watch at that age. It seems they just kick it right to the goalie cuz that seems to be what they should do. I guess strategy will be the focus next year.

Cole's Preschool Graduation:

Cole is moving on to kindergarten next year so this will be his last year at Billye Sue's. He is so excited. And I must say so am I. It was a little rough when Cai went into first grade. They are so close and Cole got pretty stir crazy. Not to mention the fact that Cate will now be in preschool leaving me with four entire hours a week to myself. I am making a vow to spend it painting!

We had a friend of mine from high school come stay the weekend with us. It was fun to spend some time with her family. We went to the Zoo and they had the "Friends of Willow Park Zoo" kids Fair so that was fun there was crafts and games for the kids, and then that evening we went to the Demolition Derby at the Fair grounds. My kids just love them. They had a great time and we watched a car get flipped over right in front of us. They couldn't stop talking about it. It was really fun to catch up and spend time getting to know each other again.

Cai had his first year of Baseball this year also. He is really into it more so than any other sport he has tried before. He used to complain about soccer and basketball, but he is really loving baseball. He is doing really well too, he played first base for a few games and his coach has even been pitching to him. Hopefully his interest isn't short lived.

Chris and I have been working our butts off to get the backyard gazebo and patio done. We had to get that done before we can get the rest of the yard tilled up and ready for grass. It is so nice to have a place to put the grill for now and enjoy the waterfall! I think our neighbors have gotten more out of it than we have up to this point. I can't wait to get things put back together back there. We are probably going to wait on the deck and driveway to the back garage until next year. We ended up getting a new hot tub for a great price for Chris' father's day present. Bullfrog had a factory direct tent sale at the Lee's in Logan. We really needed to get that first before we build the deck. We had a pad poured underneath the covered area in back and then we'll build a deck around it so that it is sunken in. The kids are having a ball. I thik they're in there about 3 times a day along with all their friends. But they haven't asked to go to the aquatic center once this summer!

Then at long last I finally finished the tile in the downstairs bathroom and the glass tile and hearthstones around the fireplace in the family room! Now I just have to paint it. Although I did finally get the walls in the dining room and the walls down to the basement all touched up. It made such a difference, I can't believe it took me so long. Now next on the project list is getting the game room/downstairs kitchen decorated. I have been searching for inspiration forever, and finally found what I had been looking for. We wanted it to look kinda retro urban loungeish. Which sounds a little odd but I really have it all figured out in my head. The real challenge is finding art deco decor to match, but I finally found the perfect prints for the walls! They're vintage 30's jazz club posters. They have female lounge singers on the front advertising different Jazzclubs in New York and Chicago. Just picture a look like the movie/musical Chicago. Chris LOVES that show, and I knew these were perfect for the theme we were going for. I just can't believe I found them. They even have a rusty orange color that matches the stained concrete down there to a "T." Then we want to make a lamp to go over the future pool table (now air hockey table) that looks like these lamps that were all over the set of the last Norah Jones concert we went to. They look like huge drum lamp shades with different colored pendant things that hang around the drum. So they'll be reds and oranges. I love it when plans I've had in my head for years begin to materialize.

Funny and Freaky Photo's

2009-05-06T06:43:00.001-07:00

For your enjoyment, and my own I wanted to compile all of our goofy and down right scary looking photos. So enjoy!

You gotta zoom in on this one to get the yuck factor.

This classis was hiding in the background of a birthday party pic!

After fearlessly diving in, he actually came up happy (2nd photo)

Note to DCFS: this is an optical illusion, I do not make it a habit of hanging my kids off cliffs for a photo.

The living dead? Or just compromised genes. Probably the later.

He's Finally 30!

2009-05-04T11:54:00.000-07:00

Well at long last I am no longer married to a twenty year old. I don't often get the chance to be the one cracking "old" jokes, so I may revel in this occassion a little too much. Yes I am older, but still I just gotta rub it in a little. Some trips down memory lane, this is Chris at 19! Doesn't he look like a baby! We actually picked up my wedding dress on that trip.

And now a decade later!

We took the kids down to Moab to go camping for Chris' B-Day and we all had a blast. We tried to camp but a sudden rainstorm freaked us out when we arrived so we hurried and made hotel reservations, then the rain stopped an hour later. It sprinkled during the night on Saturday, but that was about it. We wished we wouldn't have jumped the gun on a hotel, but that storm came so hard and fast, and while Chris was calling around most hotels only had a few rooms left! The rest of the trip was beautiful. We did some easy hikes, took a hummer ride and had dutch oven chocolate cherry cobbler on the bank of the colorado river for his "Birthday Cake." We figured a campfire would be more appropriate instead of candles, because lets face it it's about the same effect at his age (JK). I'm glad we got away though, with soccer and t-ball games on the way camping may be a little tough for a while. If you want pics of the rest of the party go here.

EASTER!

2009-04-14T13:44:00.000-07:00

I found this video on the LDS Church website. I loved to so much I had to haul my computer to church on sunday so I could share it with my Laurel class.

I can't believe that Easter has come and gone the calendar confirms it, however the weather and my internal calendar just seems a bit off. I usually am anticipating spring so much I can hardly wait, but this year, I really don't want to tackle all of our outdoor projects. It just seems we have barely wrapped up the inside ones. I really can't wait to have it done, I'm just running out of steam to do it myself. In fact I am ashamed to admit I just noticed a Christmas garland outside that has not yet been removed. I keep thinking I would get to it but the ladder has been in the extra garage surrounded by mud. Shameful! To still have Christmas decor up AFTER Easter! A perfect illustration of the state of affairs at our house though. Oh well, enough whinning lets talk about Easter!

We had two visitors come to stay with us. The top picture is Easter loot they scored from Uncle Gabewhen he came about a week ago. The second pic is what Grandma Guymon brought for Easter (a dress and doll for Cate and street hockey gear for the boys). Much to our kids delight they are doomed to be spoiled. They are the only grandkids on the Guymon side so it gets rather ridiculous, although they would never complain. While Grandma was here we had projects to do of course she is a great sport about helping watch the kids, and helping in the manual labor department as well. Every holiday has been tainted with one project or another this year, but Grandma had fun with the kids while Chris and I painted his Logan office and I tiled the downstairs tub surround. The kids were in desperate need of new bikes, so Chris and I got the kids some new ones since their birthdays are still a ways off, I don't think they would have let us wait another minute. In fact Coley declared he would not ride his "little bike" to school ANYMORE! I admit it was way too small for him, but we thought bikes for Christmas would have been a little bittersweet since they couldn't ride them till spring anyways. I guess the cheapskate in me has to apply a big toy purchase to some sort of holiday! Cai got a big 20 inch bike with handlebrakes and a kickstand those were about his only requirements since every picture of any bike he loved. Cole just wanted a big bike so he got one with flames all over it, and Cate (if you haven't guessed already) wanted a princess bike with a basket. We couldn't even wait for the big day to give them their bikes. We ordered them in and I had to go pick them up so I took the kids with me, and they were so excited to see them. Cole nearly wanted to ride it right through the store. I figured since it was supposed to rain the rest of the weekend I would let them ride on them while the weather was good on Friday.

Easter morning was really fun, Cai came into my room at 6 a.m. I told him we would go out and look at baskets at 7:30. So Cai crawled in bed by me and proceeded to ask me if it was 7:30 yet every 15 minutes. They had already received their big gift so the baskets were mostly small toys a DVD and candy, but they were ecstatic nonetheless. The Easter bunny had a great idea this year by the way, each kid was assigned two colors of eggs to hunt for so that each kid got exactly the same number of eggs and the Easter Bunny could hide them according to how old they were (i.e. easy spots or harder spots). We'll have to remember that for next year. We picked up some really cute wind up toys from a store in New Zealand called Catch & Kiss, they're all metal and mechanical so the kids can see how they work. Cai's is called Pintacuda and Cole's is called Sparklz. Cai's walks like a bouncy bug and Cole's spins and makes sparks. The boys loved them and so did we. You can see them and more at Kikkerland.

Somehow we had a bit of a Swedish food fest on Sunday I didn't realize until later that we had Swedish pancakes with lingonberry preserves for breakfast, and Swedish hamballs for dinner. Maybe it was one of those subconcious things.

Colitis checkup :(

2009-04-03T12:38:00.000-07:00

I knew I was in for a talking to at this checkup. I made the dumb move of stopping my meds for a few weeks after the colitis was in remission. And sure enough it came back with a vengeance. Then just as I was getting it back under control with my meds again, we left for NZ and I left my meds sitting on the bathroom counter of my mother-in-laws. The colitis really punished me the first few days of our trip, and it was hopeless to have the prescription called in since the pharmacist there had never even heard of Lialda or Mesalamine, it's generic name. He gave me some over the counter meds and I took a constant dose of 800 mg. Ibuprofen to keep the swelling down, but still did not have a happy tummy.
To make matters worse the doctor pulled the good news I felt I had gotten after my last colonoscopy out from under me. The nurse called after that one and said that they had not found any biopsies showing dysplaysia. The first colonoscopy I had some biopsies that were indefinite for dysplaysia (pre-cancerous abnormal cell growth), the indefinite means there was something going wrong in cell growth but they couldn't confirm or deny if it was dysplaysia. Well since the second colonoscopy showed none of the biopsies as having any type of dysplaysia, I guess I had figured the first biopsies must have been fine, since it is more difficult to diagnose during an active phase of the disease. So I took the clear biopsies last time as an indication that since I was in remission, they would be more accurate and all was well. But apparently that was not the case. My doctor said that he has always taken the maximum numer of biopsies for each colonoscopy, but you can't sample the entire colon, it just isn't possible. So just because he didn't sample an area with dysplasia (definite or indefinite) this time does not mean that it wasn't there in the first place or isn't there still. They just didn't catch it in a biopsy. He also warned that one pathologist to another could have very different opinions about a sample. To one pathologist they would be less concerned or more concerned about a sample it is VERY subjective. Then he started drawing timelines again for me on a pad of paper showing the progression of colitis all the way over to cancer. Putting me about in the middle, but cautioning me that my colitis seems to be more aggressive than he would typically expect for a patient with my duration of the disease. So no matter what I would HAVE to take my meds all the time, I can lessen my dosage a bit during remissions, but never go off it completely. Because the more my colon stays inflammed the greater my cancer risks are.
So I am just trying not to freak out too bad, I am not there yet. There is so much I can do to take better care of myself, I just can't get too complacent again. I feel like such a baby for feeling so sorry for myself all over again. I have so much to be grateful for. Some people have U.C. so bad they can barely function or have to go on hard core steroids, and my meds have been working. It just sucks to have your mortality thrown in your face every three months. You feel like you're living with a ticking time bomb inside you're body. You don't know when it's going to blow or if it even will. And just getting used to the ups and downs and mention of yourself so close to the "C" word. Watching the doctors fearful expressions and the nurses being extra nice to you as you come out of the examination room. You don't know if you're just imagining it all because you're scared, or just desperate for any clue of how scared should I be about my situation. I ask about percentages and likelyhoods, to find some gauge, but at the end of the day all I can do is the best I can to take care of myself. My next colonoscopy is the 4th of June, so hopefully that will shed a little more light on this confusing and complicated disease. So I guess I'll just take it one test at a time. We didn't come here to Earth to know what the next day will bring, just the reassurance that whatever comes along we are not alone. I have been given some great promises through answers to prayer and all I can do is have faith in that plan for me. Thanks for your prayers, sorry for being such a blubbering idiot. I don't think I have any filters when my emotions get the best of me (or anytime actually), so I just write and write and write. Some kind of therapy maybe I don't know. But I'll keep ya'll posted

Cheerio Mates! We are back in the states!

2009-03-30T14:39:00.000-07:00

Well I've never had a worse case of jet lag, but it is great to be home. We had a couple of rough flights getting back, alot of turbulence, crying babies, and a rough landing in SLC. But we made it! I gained about 5 pounds in a week so I guess I'll be hitting the gym hard, but I have to say it was worth it. The food was great. The best fish and chips I've ever had in my life, and tons of outdoor activities to do! I just am not in the mood to catch up on laundry, grocery shopping, and paying the bills, but life goes on unfortunately. For pics of the trip visit our travel blog here.

Don't know what you got until it's gone!

2009-03-05T18:32:00.000-08:00

And it was a total piece of crap! I'm talking about our old computer may it rest in piece. We got a sweet deal on on a new Sony all in one PC from Best Buy, and I'm loving it! I had no idea how difficult life was with our old one. I had been swearing our next computer would be an IMac, but hey we all have to compromise, and ANYTHING is better than our old one. I mean we got it when we were first married and that was nearly ten years ago!

So bring on the posts. We have been slaving away on our new wood floor, so many things have gone by the wayside: laundry, posting, supervising my children, cooking, jsut to name a few. But I actually think it was worth it. I am loving our new floor in the living room and upstairs addition. We finally have been able to move in! Our contractors probably loved installing baseboards around our couches and piano, but hey we were a little anxious.

To catch up:

Fun in the Snow!

Okay we have been crazy busy but we had to get outside a play a bit, just so my kids didn't forget who their mommy was. We had a ton of fun making snow men, and having a snowball fight. Here are the kiddos with their snowman family.

Welcome Home Uncle Nic! And Welcome into our Home!

Well about a month ago my brother came home from an LDS mission in Eugene Oregon. The kids were very excited to see Uncle Nic. We were even more excited that he was going to come stay with us until September while he finishes up his Associates at BATC. Which will be really fun, to have the kids get to know Nic a little better. And even me, he was only 6 when I last lived at home so besides family get togethers, I haven't come to really know Nic as an adult as well as my younger sisters.

Cate and Friends

I just had to include some pics of Cate and her cute little friend Sienna. We have started to get them together to play, since they are so close in age, and so similar. I can't believe Cate is now old enough to go play at friends houses, and have them come here. I am not liking my baby grow up so fast. It was pretty cute though both girls have curly blonde hair and when Sienna came to play the other day she was wearing a jacket exactly like the one Cate had on earlier that day. So I had to get a pic, and also got them making butterfly cookies in their dress up clothes. It so SO DIFFERENT watching two little girls play. They are so darn cute, and SO GIRLY. It is all about princesses, fairies, and baby dolls with Cate.

5 things tag!

2009-02-03T22:07:00.000-08:00

Well I'm a loser as usual and just noticed I was tagged almost a week ago! Did I tell you I'm goin nuts with this construction project? Probably at least a hundred times. It's gonna be a theme for a while that's all I can say!

5 things I was doing 5 years ago:
1. Had just sold our house we LOVED to prepare ourselves to move to Logan and save some scarce cash.
2. Moved next door to my in-laws in their rental home.
3. Installing new Pergo, tile, and painting said rental home (while pregnant with Cole.)
4. Trying to imagine it might just be possible we would eventually move to Logan as we had been promised by Chris' company for the last 2 years.
5. Dealing with back problems and had to call 911 and be removed from the house on a backboard in my G's by firefighters. I tweaked my back and couldn't move a muscle without excruciating pain. It happened after a shower, and I was stuck face down naked on the floor for an hour trying to figure out what to do as my 2 year old screamed. It took all I had and lots of tears just to get my G's on. My most embarrassing moment EVER!

5 things on my to-do list for TODAY
1. Take the kids to school
2. Hang half our doors and paint the other half
3. Get Cate out of her P.J.'s before I had to pick Cai up at 3:00 (yeah I'm a deadbeat mom lately, she had fruit snacks for lunch too just to rack up a few more points)
4. Go to Young Women's
5. Pick up some M&M's for Cai's 100 days of school trail mix tomorrow.

5 things I would do with a million dollars
1. Pay off our debt
2. Buy a new 4 wheel drive hybrid SUV
3. Buy Chris the Rat Rod truck of his dreams.
4. Set aside money for the kids college.
5. Invest the rest

5 places I've lived
1. Montpelier, Idaho
2. Dingle, Idaho (no Dingleberry jokes please)
3. Fairview, Utah
4. Salt Lake City, Utah
5. Logan, Utah

5 jobs I've held
1. Bakery and Checker at Terrells Foodtown (4 years)
2. Cashier at McDonald's (2 months)
3. REM Inc. (manager of a group home for people with disabilities, 2 yr.)
4. RISE Inc. (Regional Director of SLC area serving people with disabilties, 8 yrs.)
5. Chrysalis (Associate Director in Logan serving people with disabilities, 1 yr.)

5 things I want to be doing in 5 years
1. Be at least 20 lbs lighter
2. Have my crap together
3. Have my paintings in galleries
4. Sleep at night with only two people in bed when I wake up.
5. be a foster mom for kids at risk.

5 people I tag
1. Jenny Radford
2. Candace Molen
3. Kerrie Taylor
4. Candice Eborn
5. Cami McCabe

Christmas Pics at last!

2009-01-10T08:32:00.000-08:00

Well as usual It has taken me forever to get my pics from my camera. Our computer is so old it won't recognize my camera so I have to download them onto Chris' laptop and then burn a disk. It's a little ridiculous, but a new computer is not really at the top of the priority list right now, maybe for my birthday! Anyways here are Christmas pics at last, and a few of the new family room paint.
Can you tell they're a little wound up with anticipation?

My favorite picture of the kids opening presents. Cai is admiring Cole's new lego's while Cate has just ripped her little pony from the wrapping paper. You can see that the wrapping paper is still midair from her exhuberance!

Cole and Cate giving Santa hugs. Last year Cai was the only one to sit excitedly on his lap and this year he was the only one who wouldn't get near him. Go figure.

Sledding at Grandma Pope's the one and only shot I got before my battery died.

The freshly painted upstairs addition and mural.

The new garage/playhouse from the south windows. Looks a bit different from the last post eh. the little side part with a door is a playhouse for the kiddos and then there will be a platform with a ladder to reach the loft area above, for many sleepovers to come, and probably lots of storage too!

One crazy Christmas!

2009-01-04T17:15:00.000-08:00

Well we managed to pull off Christmas in the middle of an apparent war zone. We managed to cram our Christmas tree into an already overflowing living room, and got all the presents shopped for despite staining the floor in the basement and painting the upstairs. We even managed to accomodate Chris' family overnight. The kids didn't mind "camping" in their new tent on blowup matresses in the half finished addition. What a crazy mess! I must say, I have never been more relieved to get Christmas put away! Without the tree I feel a little less cramped.

We did have a really great Christmas though despite all the chaos. We went up to my parents the monday before and stayed until Christmas Eve day. We were surprised to discover that my sister from Colorado (who we didn't think was coming) came for Christmas after all. Unfortunately for them a few hours after leaving they got a call from the Pueblo police department. I guess that shortly after they left their house it was broken into, and all their electronics were stolen. They were shaken up and pretty devastated, but we were so glad they weren't home when it happened, and even happier that they could be surrounded by family as they dealt with all that stress, and fear.

We went sledding, played with cousins and ate way too much food. Then we came home Christmas eve. I did some last minute shopping and then we came home to make cookies for santa. We've been a little lazy the past few years and did the ready bake variety with christmas pictures on them. We watched "Joy to the world" the church DVD about the nativity and the kids got to open up their new christmas p.j's and a "little people" nativity set, which they loved. We all went around and decided what gift we were going to give Christ this year and put it in a little blue box my friend gave us. She sent the cutest little poem with a little empty box to put your "gift" (acts of service or improving yourself) to Christ in. The kids really got into it, and it was such a spiritual evening, they really got it this year. I am so proud of my kids. They have such a sweetness about them, and try so hard to be good (most of the time).

After hatching a few schemes to "catch" santa the boys finally agreed to go to bed like they should, but took forever to go to sleep. Then of course Chris and I didn't get to bed until about 3 a.m. nothing like procrastination.

Cai was the first to wake up and he had to practically pry Cole out of bed but finally managed. They ran in to check out their stockings and found the air hockey table. So they played a few games before Cate finally woke up. They got completely spoiled as usual. The boys got the hockey table, a Wii with different games and some smaller toys. It was pretty funny, they kept opening up Wii games and finally Cole said "mom you have to have a game system" (like I was a total idiot) They didn't notice that Santa had already set it up. The way he says things is sooo funny. When he really wants to emphasize something he talks really slow and with almost a southern drawl. "Mawm, yu haf tu have a gaym siyustum." Cate got a princess sleeping bag, a sleeping beauty doll and horse, a princess makeup and hair kit (pretend), can you tell she's into princesses lately. She is totally obesessed. She actually asked me the other day, "mom will you marry me?" I told her she will have to find a boy to marry when she is big, big, big. So now she always asks "mom will a boy marry me?" when I say yes she jumps up and down and says Yaaahhy! SOOOO SCARY!

My in-laws were kind enough to take the kids for five days so we could get started painting. I can't believe it took us 4 days to paint the upstairs family room. It had alot of trim work and I did a mural on one wall, but still, it was ridiculous. We thought we would be getting the hardwood down by now! Chris about had a heart-attack when I put the colors on the walls and ceiling to test them. I really wanted a pale chartreuse green ceiling to tie in the mural and grey/taupe walls. He was extremely skeptical and kept asking what's wrong with white. I promised him that I had been contemplating this color scheme for about 6 months and I probably spent more time contemplating that than my decision to marry him (totally joking, we dated for 2 years before marriage). After asking him if he had ever been dissapointed by a room I had painted and he had to admit no (even though I have painted some wild rooms they pull together). New Year's Eve we went out for Taco Bell at about 9:30. we really wanted to go someplace nicer, but were covered in paint. So we opted for one of the few drive-thru's that were open, and painted in the New Year!

Re: Nativity

2008-12-16T20:53:00.000-08:00

For those requesting info on the live Nativity, it was just south of the Celebration Center, but I believe that the night we went was the last night they were doing it for the season. I'm sure it is an annual thing though, so there's always next year, SORRY! This was our first year going. but speaking of live Nativities look at this AWESOME pic of my friends family here. Totally the best Christmas card idea ever!

Enjoying the season!

2008-12-14T15:37:00.000-08:00

Well despite our current chaotic living environment, this has been such a great Christmas season. I am finally feeling like I have presents figured out and almost entirely shopped for, and we can relax for a few days at least. We're going to have to start painting and staining and flooring here soon, and I may have an entirely different attitude on the season. So I wanted to be sure and document these last moments of peace enjoying the Christmas spirit. We had the chance last night to go out to dinner as a family to a real restaurant instead of McDonald's which was actually quite enjoyable. We then went to a live nativity scene in Nibley (and of course I forgot my camera.) Even the kids seemed to really understand the significance and reverence of that Holy night by seeing that scene. We walked up a long snowy road to a farmhouse with little paper lanterns lining the way. We passed the Bethlehem Inn and stood by the fire to warm up a minute and then entered the stable. There were sheep, donkeys, goats and even a camel. It really struck me how humbling and spiritual a barn could really have been. They had a narration of the story playing while live actors played it out. There were only a few people at a time in the barn so it felt very intimate, and even the kids were very reverent while they pondered what had happened that night. Cate got so excited when she saw the star and said "the star! my found it!" it was so sweet, she kept whispering to me and pointing "baby jesus, baby jesus." We even got a hayride back to the van. I hope the kids got a much out of it as I did. With all the hustle and bustle of the season that night was just what I needed to bring into focus Christ's humble birth, and the glorious gift His life was to us all. My goal is to keep that spirit fresh throughout the holidays, so simple and so powerful. Tonight we made a gingerbread house from a kit I got at Sam's. That was the best ten bucks I ever spent. It had all the frosting, candy, and gingerbread we needed, and the kids had a blast. It only half wrecked my kitchen, which was nothing compared to if I had made it myself (which honestly I wouldn't have had the energy to do). So all I need to do now is neighbor gifts and get Christmas cards out!

What a Turkey Day!

2008-12-02T11:36:00.000-08:00

We had a blast down is St. George with my family for the holidays. It was mostly sunny so it was great to get a rest from the Arctic north, and mostly it was great to see my sisters who live out of state. The kids just loving getting together with their cousins. We played at the pool about every single day, and hiked snow canyon with the kids. They had some simple hikes that the kids could manage, but apparently not me. I totally twisted my ankle like an idiot. I wore flip flops and was holding Cate in one arm and my mom's camera in the other. So obviously I couldn't let either drop to regain footing so I went straight down on my ample rear-end, and hurt my ankle. Every time my family goes hiking or biking I end up having an accident. My most famous one was doing a complete flip over the handlebars while mountain biking slick-rock in moab. At least I had a better excuse this time. Although the flip flops were definitely a bad idea.

I also finally got to see TWILIGHT! I went with my sisters and had a total blast. Except for the fact that Cami who sat next to me actually fell asleep for most of the movie. That's right completely passed out. She didn't read the books so that's her only excuse. I kept turning to her to laugh or comment and she was snoozing away. I have to say it was great, I don't think anyone could have nailed it the way the book did, but on their budget they pulled it off pretty well. We took the liberty of hitting Denny's at midnight since the kids were asleep anyways, and laughed until I could have puked. Everyone in the joint had to have thought we were drunk. Oh my goodness I have funny sisters! We haven't been out on the town without kids or husbands ever I don't think. Thanks to our husbands and my dad for being such good sports. Dealing with a bunch of sick kids couldn't have been fun. And true to form we all got each other sick. The flu tends to be an inevitable companion to our family get togethers, but I actually think it's worth it anyways. Here's Coley passed out on the couch with the flu.

And a big thanks to my parents for sacrificing their timeshare points so that we could all get together. It was definitely the best thanksgiving ever!

From the mouths of babes

2008-11-18T10:21:00.001-08:00

I had to share the most darling thing that Cate just said. We were sitting at the computer finding a game for her to play when she saw the picture of Christ above the computer and said "Jesus crying mommy?" I asked "why is he crying Cate?" then she said "him hand hurt, need bandaid." For any nursery workers who think that kids aren't paying attention in class you never know what they are picking up. I just know we haven't discussed that subject in any recent FHE lessons, my boys are obsessed with the Book of Mormon stories lately, and since they get to pick the lessons, that is usually what we focus on. What a sweetheart. She can barely talk and understands at least a little about Christ's sacrifice for us. Definitely one of those "makes it all worthwhile moments."

BOO!

2008-11-03T06:28:00.000-08:00

No one was very scary for Halloween this year except maybe me. The kids were a fairytale. Cai was a Knight, Cole was a dragon, and Cate a princess of course. She recently discovered princesses and that is about all she talks about. Chris and I were Static Cling and Dirty Laundry. I had my hair ratted out and painted blue with lint all over it and blue and white sparkly makeupon my face then I had my skirt hitched up to my knee and the kids clothes and socks pinned all over me. Chris was supposed to wear a laundry basket with clothesline suspenders full of dirty laundry, but Cate fell asleep for the ward party so she missed out and Chris stayed home with her. Halloween night the kids went to the mall to trick or treat and after we were done they were so loaded up with candy they didn't really need to hit the neighborhood, but how could we not. Grandma and Grandpa Guymon came up to hang out with us so we carved pumpkins ( Cai made the one with the face and spider on the side, and me and Cole made the skeleton hand ones). We tried to hit the pumpkin walk, but apparently it is all cleaned up for Halloween night, but he kids had a great time anyways. Now we just have to get through all this candy without any cavities!

Catchin up Again!

2008-11-02T17:31:00.000-08:00

I really have been awful at blogging lately, but we're a little swamped as usual. Cai has been playing basketball, and he's been learning alot. It is so funny to watch 1st and 2nd graders play. Cai could barely dribble the first game but made a lot of progress. I realized I really stink at getting out and playing sports with my kids there were a lot of players that really knew what they were doing out there. Maybe I ought to learn too. We have a goal for next summer I guess.

The addition is coming along these pics are actually kind of old, we now have shingles on both roofs, all the doors and windows, soffit and facia on the addition and half of the siding on it too. The inside has all the electrical done, and insulation blown in, sheet rock is supposed to start tomorrow. My old laundry room is now a mudroom with a large cabinet to expand my pantry and a bench with storage compartments beneath and a ton of hooks for jackets and backpacks. Cai and Cole's old room is now a fully functional laundry room with cabinets and countertops. I am so loving my new laundry system. My bedroom used to be laundry sorting and folding central and now I have it back. The hardest part is still having all the kids in Cate's room, but we're making it work. The new garage has a little offshoot for a kids play house. We wanted the garage to look like a little house back there, since we'd be staring at it out those southern windows forever. We decided to go for the 12/12 pitch live in trusses so that we could have a ladder in the playroom and the kids could play in the "bonus room" above the garage too. Then when they're older it would be great for storage. I'll have to update the new pics, it's kind of hard to tell with just the trusses up.

We also got to go down to Salt Lake over UEA. Chris had to sit at the convention, so I went to my sisters and we hit the scarecrow festival. The kids had a ton of fun. They had all kinds of free games and blow up rides. The blowup rides were finally our downfall however. They were so large that once your kids headed into them you couldn't see them inside and never quite knew when they were coming back out, and after a while you started to wonder if they had already come out and were lost, or if they were hiding inside. My 3 year old nephew got lost for about 10-15 minutes and my sister was hysterical we combed the grounds and finally found him. He ran into a blowup ride and sat in a corner waiting for Cai and Cole. Then we decided we would hit another ride and Cate and the boys sat in line while Kerrie and I talked. We looked at the line a moment later and the boys had gone in, but Cate was a little nervous sometimes so I wasn't certain if she went in also. I peeked in and around but couldn't tell so I sent a worker in to look. He didn't see her so I started panicking. I searched the other rides and the worker gave her description to the other operators. No sign of her. Kerrie and I split up again to search. I went to the bouncing castles she had been wanting to go into and no sign. I went behind them just in case she wandered back there and saw an exit. I totally freaked and knew I had to get help right away so I went to talk to their EMT guys by some four-wheelers and just broke down bawling trying to describe her to them. We all started looking around and I saw my sister coming across the field with her. She had made her way all the way over to the stage area, and was climbing around on the bleachers when Kerrie saw her. I can't tell you how relieved I was. When they're lost you just start imagining all kinds of terrible things, wondering if you'll ever see them again. Needless to say after losing two kids we were DONE with the scarecrow festival! Those blowup rides were our undoing. It was impossible to be sure where they were, and there were so many kids. Anywhere else you would go with your kids on a ride, but those you just trusted they would come out the other end someday. YIKES! I forgot my camera that day so here's a cute pic of Cate I took the other day. No more giant blowup rides for her until she's 10!

Tagged!

2008-10-19T14:57:00.000-07:00

I actually don't think I have ever been tagged, thanks Jenni. Well here goes.

2 names you go by:

-court

-courter (Quarter) I hate this name but really love the people that started calling me courter. My awesome Aunt Claudia and my cousins her children, they still call me that to this day.

Two things you're wearing right now:

-shorts (I'm freezing but we just got our laundry room in working order yesterday, so we are WAY backed up on laundry)

-sweatshirt -I just love warm and snuggly clothes. If only it didn't have to get so cold outside to validate them.

Two things I want very badly at the moment:

-a cure for cancer

-my cousin Leslie back. She always called me Courter and was always my hero. I wanted to be the kind of mom/person/friend she was. I just wish she could have had a bit more time on earth to show me more, and time for me to tell her what a great example she always was to me. She was so commited to the gospel, so funny (I will never forget her laugh), and so selfless. A truly beautiful person, and deeply missed.

2 favorite pets that I have had

-Dexter our Yorkie he was the greatest dog we miss him so much!

-Our turtle Thomas is pretty great. He's low maintenance, doesn't complain, and keeps it pretty clean unlike our Chinchilla.

2 things I did last night:

-I drilled a vent through the wall for our dryer, and did my first load in our new laundry room. I just sat on the floor for about twenty minutes in bliss watching the clothes spin. No more laundry in a tiny little closet/room, no more ironing board on my kitchen door, and no more tripping over laundry baskets trying to access the garage!

-We watched our windows go in the sunroom walls, and the vinyl banister I have always hated come off my front porch! I love progress!

2 things you ate today- today is a very bad day to ask

-about 3 snack size snickers

-nachos loaded with jalapenos and guacamole.

2 things you plan to do today:

-finish this tag

-take a nap- I love Sundays

2 longest trips you've taken in the last 5 years

-Our trip to Italy this summer

-Victoria, Canada -both without kids thanks to awesome in-laws and family!

2 favorite beverages

- trying to go Vegan (except for cheese and fish) I have developed a recent love of soy milk, I definitely prefer it over milk now.

- Ice water with lemon

No Dysplaysia!

2008-10-06T10:44:00.000-07:00

Well I was just sitting down emailing my brother who is on a mission right now to update him on my U.C. and I got a call from the hopsital. They said that the biopsies were clean and there was NO DYSPLASIA! I am so relieved I'm just bawling. It has been such a roller coaster the last few months. At my first appointment I thought the doctor said I had low-grade dysplasia, then at my 3 month follow-up he said it was indefinite for low-grade dysplasia, and now it shows NONE! (For those who are unaware there are three stages of dysplasia indefinite, low-grade, and high-grade. At high grade it pretty much means removal of your colon which has many nasty side effects.) These results are far more accurate as they were taken while I was in remission. I am so grateful for everyone's prayers, I truly don't think it was by coincidence or accident that there was such a difference in the biopsies from last time to this time. Miracles do happen!

It's All Good!

2008-10-03T11:00:00.000-07:00

I just went in for my 6 month follow-up colonoscopy, and things went really well. The Doc. discovered that my U.C. is officially in remission, and ulcers were healing up well. There were only a few red areas that he saw, and where they removed the polyps last time has healed up really well also. He said that on a scale of 1-10 regarding how worried he was about me he used to be a 7 and now he is less than 1. He cut me back to 2.4 g of lialda, so that will be nice. It is a very expensive prescription. He took a ton of biopsies and we should be hearing back from the pathologist by Wed. of next week in regards to the dysplasia. I am really interested to hear what these results are because the last time they were reviewed was when the disease was active, and it is far more difficult to diagnose dysplasia when the disease is active. So cross your fingers for me. Last time they said the cells were doing something abnormal but were indefinite as far as confirming or denying dysplasia (a precancerous indicator).

The joys of Boys!

2008-09-28T14:19:00.001-07:00

To steal a line from my sisters blog. Although mine probably has different implications entirely. We all stayed home from church today (except Chris) because Cate has been throwing up nonstop since Sat. morning. She cannot hold anything down, and who knows if the boys may be contagious. Although I think the video shows they are more than healthy and rambunctious. Interesting to note the incredible differences between my boys and little girl. Please excuse our transitional living situation (i.e. air mattress in the boys room/laundry room) and the lack of sheets on my bed (compliments of Cate's puke). Also you may want to mute the music below.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice!

2008-09-28T13:20:00.000-07:00

Cate is getting so big. She just went over to her friends house to play for the first time last week. It was so cute and so sad all at the same time. She and her friend held hands the whole way. This video was shot of her and her friends across the street dancing on Cates drywall "stage" downstairs. She keeps dissapearing to her newfound stage, and I can hear her singing "dance, dance, dance, dance" all the way upstairs in the kitchen. We decided we would have to put a small stage in the toyroom downstairs.

Crazy Summer Fun!

2008-09-18T20:06:00.000-07:00

I think I have blogged with that title before, I added the "CRAZY" to differentiate it, but I don't think I was all that succesful. Oh well. It has been crazy and fun so to heck with originality.

We have had so much going on lately dealing with life, but we really have done some fun things I want to post, I just haven't had the time. So bring on the slideshows!

Pictures!

2008-09-14T21:30:00.000-07:00

It is amazing how we take the simple things for granted when our computers and electronics are all working in perfect harmony, until they stop. I am so relieved to be able to blog with pics again. Who wants to go through the trouble of reading all those words to describe what we're up to?

Anyways I finally caught Cate outside of the bathtub singin her new favorite Queen song. We Wiw Wock Coo! Fortunately our video camera is compatible with our computer.

Complete the Cure

2008-09-05T14:44:00.000-07:00

A close friend of mine recently sent me this link in an email. Her son Toby has Leukemia and this program helps raise funds for Pediatric Cancer Research. He was diagnosed at the tender age of 3 and is nearing the end of treatment. There is so little we can do to help besides offer our friendship and support, but this site has a great way to help fund new research.
September has been designated as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. HopeKids is proud to announce they are commemorating this month by partnering with Children’s Cancer Research Fund in an interactive web campaign titled CompleteTheCure. The goal of the campaign is to bring awareness to the childhood cancer experience — the progress and the challenges. CompleteTheCure.com will feature six short video clips about childhood cancer. For each video clip viewed, a corporate sponsor will make a donation in support of pediatric cancer research. The more times the videos are viewed, the more funds that will be raised to help advance promising childhood cancer research. You can visit CompletetheCure.com, watch the videos and watch the money add up that will go to research. A couple of ideas to help spread the word: Post the website and information at bottom of every September journal entry so everyone visiting your blog site sees it and visits the CompleteTheCure.com. The more people that watch the videos the more awareness we can create about the importance of childhood cancer research and the more money we raise.

Thanks for your help every little bit helps.
Courtney

First Day of School

2008-09-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

I seriously cannot believe that school has started. The summer was such a blur. Life just speeds up every passing year as the kids get older. Cai was very excited for 1st Grade. We went to back to school night and got to meet his teacher. She is sooo friendly and welcoming. It turns out she is one of Chris' clients. One that he always talks about. She has two Beagles, so whenever the topic of getting a dog comes up he has to comment about her GREAT dogs. The first day of School Cai had to wear his "My Band Rocks" T-shirt. Unlike Cole, Cai doesn't usually care about what he wears, with the exception of two shirts his "Caution Extremely Awesome" shirt and the band one. He was so excited to get a new backpack and shoes. He had to show everyone who came over his new Z straps for about a week. We were worried about his endurance for first grade (he was complaining that kindergarten was too long) but he has not complained once. I think the recess and lunch helps. On Thursday Cate and Cole and I went and had lunch with him at school. He was just beaming with pride that we were there. He was so sweet about it. He introduced me to all of his friends, showed Cole how to dump his tray, and had to give each of us a big hug before he went out for recess. He can be so sweet and loving sometimes.

Cole had a great time at Parent night for Billye Sue's preschool. He was very confident about everything. He too got to pick out a new backpack, which was way harder than picking one for Cai. Cole has major opinions on what he wants and doesn't want. I had a hard time talking him out of Speed racer, Lightning McQueen and Spiderman, but he finally went for a cute canvas camo one. He already has a character backpack he takes to Grandma's houses for sleepovers, but I was hoping we could find one without the cartoony look. I know I'm being superficial, sorry I really do try to let them go with their own look, and it is almost painful sometimes. I don't want to destroy their confidence and make them feel like they have to look like kids in Gap ads or something in preschool, but they just look so darn cute in those ads I can't help providing a little redirection towards good fashion when I can. Yeah that is superficial. Okay back to Coley. He made a major accomplishment the week before preschool when he began riding his bike with no training wheels. That boy is destined for a life on wheels, and it totally freaks me out. Nothing is more terrifying to me than off roading, motorcyles, and risky driving, and I can just see where his interests are forming in that direction. He is definitely going to double my gray hair. Cai just barely started riding his bike without training wheels the beginning of the summer. As with everything else Cole does it is way above his age. The first day of school Cole picked out his Hulk smash T-shirt and I bit my tongue even though I had just bought him some darling new clothes in Park City. Cole rode all the way to and from preschool his first day and was so excited to have made cookies for the whole family which he brought home in his backpack. He had each cookie assigned to a specific person and set them on the counter until Cai and Daddy got home. After Cai returned from school he saw them and polished them all off. Cole didn't realize until later and I just had to lie and tell him that Daddy had his too. It just would have broken his heart not to. Cole got a little mouse at parent night that he got to bring home and give it a name to take back to preschool. Then Billye Sue takes the kids pictures with their mouse and puts them all together in a book. He named his Softie. I'm not at all surprised Cole LOVES soft things. Billye Sue does several of these personalized books throughout the year and they are such fun keepsakes. Overall it was a great start to the new school year for all.

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

2008-08-08T05:15:00.000-07:00

Summer is soooo busy! So let me catch you up on our last few weeks of craziness. We just finished swimming lessons last week and that always messes up our routine until it's over, but the kids love it. I did mom and me lessons with Cate. I don't know how much she got out of it, but I knew I would be hard pressed to keep her out of the water. She is pretty fearless and is a little fish. I think after a few more sessions she will definitely have some skills learned. Cole was very shy at first which is normal, and cried the first day, but his teacher handled it great. She didn't let him sit it out, and dealt with the crying until he was comfortable. We didn't have one issue after that. Cai started level two this year and was excited to be in the "big" pool. He is growing up so fast by the first day he had remembered where to meet his teacher, what she looked like and her name. By the end of mom and me I still couldn't remember out instructors name. What a smart boy.

Secondly we have been plotting with our contractors for the past few months and finally broke ground on our addition and garage last week. The kids nearly had a heart attack when they saw a giant trackhoe make it's way through the side yard and start breaking up the cement patio in the backyard. They were really just parking it for the night but I guess wanted to make sure the arm would clear the roof (the patio is covered). The real fun began the next morning and I could hardly keep the kids from the sliding glass door. I had planned to be gone because I thought Cate would totally freak out (she screams if a four wheeler drives by). After some initial nervousness though she started thinking it was very cool. By the time we got back from swimming lessons they had finished the basement and were working on digigng the footings for our neighbors shop. By the end of the day they had all three holes dug. They trucked out most of the dirt besides what we would need to backfill, but I was definitely naive in calculating the amount of dirt we would have left over. The excavator left most of the dirt on our back neighbors lot (they don't have a yard yet) which very frustrating. Although they were digging out a shop too and had some dirt of their own that was not the plan. I hope they forgive us, they just recently had their lot graded. Sorry Natalie! I promise we will put it back the way we found it! They had to bring a loader in as well to make some "roads" through the dirt so that the cement truck could even approach to pour the footings and walls. I just keep thinking about the extra room and hope it is all worth it in the end. They just poured the walls yesterday, and will be cutting the hole through our existing foundation to the basement sometime soon. It is amazing what people can do. I really didn't realize how skilled excavators were to dig so close to the existing walls and under the roof! So besides digging the hole a little too close for the wall form guys, and dumping the dirt in the wrong place, you couldn't help but admire the skill involved.

The good the bad and the ugly is definitely the theme of the last few weeks. I had a follow-up visit with my gastroenterologist this week to check on my U.C. He felt the medication was slowing things down but I am far from remission yet. He gave me some different medication to try, and when they do my colonoscopy in another three months he may give me some meds during the procedure to really knock it out. I have felt almost entirely back to normal however, but for some reason I did better in Europe than I have since we got home. I swear I think Americans are poisoning themselves. I think we are way too chemical happy or something. I don't know if it is the pasteurized dairy products, the preservatives, pesticides, antibiotics and chemicals in meat or what, but we are getting it wrong and it's literally making me sick. I really need to do some more research and start going organic. Well the doc had some good news too. He is from India and is a little difficult to understand, not to mention the fact that most of what he said last visit sounded like another language with all of the medical terminology. But after a much better colitis vocabulary this time I understood that the low-grade dysplasia is actually "indefinite". Which as you may recall from my last post good news. It means that the pathologist could not confirm or deny low-grade dysplasia. The doc said there is still something going on there that we need to watch carefully, but it is not as bad as I had feared. The bad news however is that he described my colitis as moderate last time which from my reasearch meant that about half the colon is diseased, although in reading the pathologists notes he called it "pan" ulcerative colitis which the doc says means my entire colon is infected. So definitely good and bad news. He also was willing to talk statistics this time, where last time he wouldn't, and said too much was unknown at that point. He said after 7-10 years of having the disease there is an increased risk of cancer, and after 15-20 years you have a 20-30% chance of getting cancer and it increases from there. I'm not sure about the odds when they find dysplasia, but fortunately they are watching closely.

Happy Birthday Coley!

2008-07-13T22:15:00.001-07:00

4 at last! Cole has been trying to grow up too fast his whole darn life. He just can't wait to catch up to Cai. Well he also has a hard time making decisions for himself. He had mentioned he wanted a Ben 10 Birthday party, which was exactly what Cai had. So I really wanted to be sure that what he decided for his party was all him.

What we ended up with was Monster Trucks, for the cake at least.

He finally decided on balloon plates and napkins instead of Transformer ones, and then for some reason he just really wanted the yellow horse pinata, and swimming instead of birthday party games. So we had a mish-mosh Coley Birthday far removed from my typical theme parties. But what mattered was he made every decision. He had been begging for a four-wheeler first for Christmas and then for his Birthday for a pretty long time. His cousin Gavin has one so he really wanted a blue one just like Gavin's. There hasn't been a day go by since that he hasn't riden the thing. He has started to try his hand at four-wheeler stunts. He started riding one-handed, then standing up, then fish tailing, then standing with his opposite leg on the gas pedal his opposite hand on the handlebars all spread eagle while he was driving. That was also about the time mom decided to limit our

stunts for safety sake. He is so funny, and fearless, and just my cute, silly, sparkly eyed Coley. What a boy he is!

Holy crap that is long!

2008-07-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

and full of crap literally (sorry couldn't pass that up, and yes I might still be in Junior High). My attempt at being thorough and reducing misconception on that last post just ended up being very tedious, and did I say long. Sorry in advance.

Ulcerative Colitis

2008-07-13T18:53:00.000-07:00

I figured I had better do some damage control before the rumor mill gets people confused about my diagnosis. I just want to make sure that accurate information is out there. I don't want anyone freaking out or worrying too much, or what have you, so after a lot of thought I figured I had better get it out in the open a little. Anyone heard of Ulcerative Colitis? I hadn't until I found out I had it. And who knows maybe this could get people who have not had colonoscopies done and should a little incentive to GET TESTED! (This is where things may get a little yucky, so If you have a weak stomach or potty talk is just too much info. for you, you may want to stop reading about here.) I had some digestive problems for the last few years, and recently had diarrhea for 2 months with blood and mucus and no end in sight. I'm very slow to go to the doctor, but with our trip coming up, I knew I had to get that resolved. No one should be in Europe with diarrhea. Sorry this is so gross. But it is what it is. I don't want to skimp on the syptoms and risk someone experiencing anything similar any doubt in getting checked out ASAP. What finally convinced me was a girl on Oprah who came on the show to thank her for a show she did with Doctor Oz which convinced her to get checked out after having bloody diarrhea, and it turned out she had colon cancer.
Anyways, got the colonoscopy and they found a few polyps but they were not cancerous. After hearing that I thought I was in the clear, but after my follow up visit my world changed a whole lot. I learned that I had moderate Ulcerative Colitis (moderate means it has affected about half of my colon) with low grade dysplasia. Ulcerative Colitis is a chronic autoimmune disease where for some reason the body attacks it's own tissues. It causes inflammation and ulcers in the lining of the colon, causing it not to work correctly. The low-grade dysplasia means that the cells in the diseased areas are beginning to become abnormal it is not cancerous but can often become cancerous. So they have to watch things very carefully. My doctor was very concerned that dysplasia was present after only approx. 2 years (we're guessing) of having UC. They generally do not expect dysplasia until you have had UC for at least 8 yrs. So due to the speed at which the cells are becoming abnormal they will do another test in 6 mos. to see if it has progressed to high-grade dysplasia at which point they will likely remove my colon, or the portion that is affected. Fortunately, I guess the treatment of UC has changed dramatically in the past 5 years. It used to be that once any dysplasia is discovered at all they would remove your colon due to the cancer risk. Now they will just watch very carefully to stay ahead of abnormal cell development and wait until high-grade dysplasia is detected. It also used to mean that if your entire colon was removed you had to deal with a colostomy bag for the rest of your life. However now about 70% of people have had success with a new procedure that fashions a sort of mini colon out of your lower small intestine meaning after 2 months with a bag allowing things to heal you can have this procedure done, and just have watery bowel movements about 6 times a day. Unpleasant yes, but it definitely beats the bag! So I am very grateful that treatment options have improved so much recently, and I'm grateful that only half of my colon has been affected. The disease starts near the rectum and then progresses upward, there are not patches of the disease here and there. Also on a positive note UC can be cured by removal of the colon granted enough is taken and any areas of cancer have not spread to other organs. The only part that still freaks me out a bit is that my doctor said it is not feasible to test every area of the colon they can only take samples in a grid type pattern, there can still be areas of high-grade dysplasia or cancer in-between the areas they take samples from. He said he sampled and sampled until he was worn out from sampling during my colonoscopy and I remember waking up to a counter top full of 20-30 bottles that I didn't remember being there when I went under. From the research I have done people with UC have very good chances of survival and early cancer detection due to close observation. Typical symptoms of UC are abdominal cramps, headache, fatigue, joint pain, diarrhea, dehydration, excessive weight loss and malnutrition. Unfortunately I have not experienced excessive weight loss. It would be my luck not to have the only symptom that I would actually like to have. It has been pretty overwhelming dealing with such news at 32 (it is typically found between 50-70), but I am truly grateful that things were discovered relatively early (not early in life but early in the disease). They have me on about 4800 mg of Asacol (an anti-inflammatory medication) a day, and a slew of supplements, and I am feeling pretty much back to normal. So I have about 4 mos. before my next colonoscopy to check the dysplasia. Then I will continue to have annual colonoscopies. We are starting to get used to the idea more everyday. It doesn't mean I don't have my moments of WHY ME, but things could always be worse. I was given some pretty incredible promises through one of the most amazing answers to prayer I have ever experienced. I was having a particularly low couple of days and spending way too much time on the computer researching the disease (I think the Lord made my computer get a virus just to make me chill out a bit, there's some scary info out there meant for doctors eyes only)(am I using parenthesis enough by the way? Sorry I'll stop). After a lot of prayer, I kept getting the impression repeatedly that I really needed to read my scriptures. So I finally did and after randomly opening the book and glancing through 2 or 3 verses I just could not believe what I was reading. I have never had the scriptures seem as though what I was reading was written so precisely just for me in a place I never would have expected. In Alma 24:14 it reads: "And the great God has had mercy on us, and made these things known unto us that we might not perish; yea, and he has made thing things known unto us beforehand, because he loveth our souls as well as he loveth our children; therefore, in his mercy he doth visit us by his angels, that the plan of salvation might be made known unto us as well as unto future generations." I just knew that those words were coming directly from the mouth of the Lord to me, and that I will be okay, this was not going to end my life, and take me away from my children. My biggest concern was the thought of not being able to see my kids grow up, or maybe see my grandkids. I hate feeling so down sometimes because I know there are people out there who are way more entitled to tears than I am right now, and they are so strong in the face of things so much scarier! It is just inspiring. Hayley, Travis, Tara, you know who you are. So for now it is mostly the uncertainty of how fast the dysplasia is progressing that freaks me out from time to time. Symptoms are pretty much in check. I do however hold out the hope that low-grade dysplasia can be very difficult to diagnose during an active phase of the disease and it takes very experienced pathologist to determine indefinite to low-grade or high grade dysplasia. Many pathologists differ in their diagnosis of the samples, so maybe I am indefinite! I never wished to be considered indefinite before, and negative would be even better. So in your prayers remember to pray that I will be negative(sorry just trying to find some bit of humor, and double sorry for the parenthesis again)! I am the eternal optimist.

Summer Fun!

2008-07-08T20:45:00.000-07:00

We were so excited to have Aunt Candice up here from Colorado to play with us. We played in the pool and the slip'n'slide at our house and then continued the water fun at Cherry Hill on Saturday. The kids had a blast. The hardest part was keeping track of all of those kids, who wanted to be a million different directions at once. It was so fun to visit, play, and just have a great time! We just hated seeing the Eborns go home again.

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An update at last!

2008-06-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

I intended to blog while we were away, but it was ridiculously expensive ($60 and hr.) on the ship, and we were too busy in Venice. Then after arriving home I couldn't justify it until I had finished the laundry, mostly weeded my yard and found the floor in Cai and Cole's room. We left the house in a pretty disgraceful condition. After preparing for girls camp, doing a wedding cake, dealing with my new diagnosis, and getting ready for a long trip, my house took some abuse. Oh, well just my pride I guess.
What a dream come true, being over there was just like a fantasy. It was great to spend some one on one time with Chris. We are so lucky to have such a supportive family that lets us get away together from time to time. Every couple, especially with young children, NEED to get away and reconnect.
Well I can't very well give an update on everything we saw and ever picture we took, so I'll run down the hightlights of each city. Just click on Chris and Courtney's Travels in the sidebar under "sites we like to visit."

Bonjourno!

2008-06-04T15:27:00.000-07:00

Hello all, we just wanted to quickly post a few things to say hello. We are having a fantastic time. I have finally caught up to Italian time. We had a long layover in New York, so the couple we went with had a sister in New York and she took us to Julliard, the temple, central park and to the Museum of Natural History(the one from Night at the Museum). then we took another red eye to Rome. Which means we literally went two nights without sleep wearing the same clothes. But after one night of sleep I quickly adjusted to the time change. We were a litte nervous when we arrived in Rome because it was pouring rain. We were lucky enough to find an awesome cab driver who we hired out for half the day to drive us around. We saw a ton of stuff, and he was so great. We never would have seen so many things so quickly on our own. Not to mention the rain factor. But the driving in Italy, AHHHHH! I must say that I have NEVER held on so tightly. whipping around streets and cars that he thought were too slow. Honking and cussing in Italian. He was pretty hilarious, but it seemed that this was the style of all Italian drivers. He could get right up to the sites on restricted streets and knew a ton about the history of Rome, the best views, the best restraunts, the best gelato! We had so much fun! Just got into Florence tonight and we'll post more later, we get charged by the minute for internet access. Can I say the dollar SUCKS right now!

le n

It's Birthday Season!

2008-05-18T16:58:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted forever! Our computer got a virus and has severely limited my internet time. Hopefully we'll be back in business today. Anyways May is a busy month for us, with Chris, Cai and Cate all only a week or two apart. So Cai celebrated with friends on Friday and then we celebrated Cate and Cai with Grandma's, Grandpa's, Aunt's, and Uncles on Saturday. Cai has been very into Ben 10 lately so he wanted an omnitrix cake (the watch Ben wears that turns him into different aliens). So his party was all about aliens, his friends were the star commanders and we did a comet toss, a rocket race, a Q&A game with space trivia like red light green light, and of course we had to launch bombs at the aliens (water ballons) and each other of course. He had a great time and got lots of loot.

Saturday we went to Cai's last game (they won!). Then off to Pizza Plus for lunch, Casper's for ice cream, and then home to open presents and have cake, our house looked like a birthday bomb went off. Holy Cow we are going to need an extra room for all the loot. Every year we think now why did we think they needed this extra or that extra so they'll have enough. Grandparents, go crazy, Uncle Gabe (who is on leave from Iraq, horray!) went crazy, and the kids definitely had the time of their lives as a result. Cate got the most darling gift from my mom. Cate is named after 7 Catherines in our lineage, one of whom is my mom. So my mom gave her a cut crystal sugar and cream bowl from Cate's great great Grandma Catherine Hayes King. She also gave her a history of her life, and some old pictures of her and the most heartfelt letter it was really sweet.

Thanks to everyone! The kids may get a little (okay alot) spoiled but they really do appreciate what they have. Mom makes sure to remind them about kids in Africa almost daily. In fact Cai almost went for the idea of having a service party with his friends, there comes a point when we just want to celebrate and not necessarily get more toys, so he was going to have his friends bring supplies for the local animal shelter in lieu of gifts, and then he could use it as a chance to give back to people or animals that really need it(family would still give Cai gifts of course). But at the last minute his 6 year old instincts just weren't ready, and I feel strongly that he should have the choice and be then one to decide. Our neighbor across the street did a service party and gave art supplies to the local family support center and emergency nursery. It was an awesome experience for her. Maybe next year.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2008-05-02T10:23:00.000-07:00

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Happy Birthday Chris! This is it your last birthday you can say you're in your twenties! Thank you so much for all that you do for our family. You are such a great dad and husband. Your kids think the world of you, I am continually having to remind them when daddy is coming home, because they want to wrestle, play games, or just give you a big bear hug. We are so proud of you and all of your accomplishments. I am continually amazed by everything you do and how well you do it. I hope you know your hard work and sacrifices are deeply appreciated and admired. You work so hard for our family to provide us a great life. We love you so much.
I couldn't ask for a better companion, I know I always joke about how I have no idea how we ended up together because we were so different when we first met, but I hope you know I couldn't be happier with my choice of companions. We are truly soul mates, we couldn't be a better fit for each other. Have a great birthday!

All in the eye of the beholder!

2008-04-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

Ohhh! Cai is having a funny week. I promise I really do have three kids, but after much debate I thought I just had to share this today. Cai came running into my bedroom to show me his "muscles." Which of course are a little overboard in the the pectoral department. He took a rice sock (a sock filled with rice makes a great heating pad when microwaved) draped it over his shoulders and stuffed it under his shirt. Ahhh the innocence of youth! It brought me back to Candices video of gabrielle stuffing balloons up her shirt calling them her "gorgeous things." He looks so intimidating doesn't he!

Pajama Party Ghost Stories

2008-04-21T22:05:00.000-07:00

Well the boys needed some excitement tonight because it is the first day of national "No TV Week." Cole had the idea of having a pajama night, and since we couldn't watch a movie, I promised them we could tell ghost stories if they were good during our family night lesson. Cai of course really bought into the idea and told a fabulous ghost story with drama, sound effects and the works. He even came up with the idea of a flashlight in the dark. We have never done it before I don't know where he saw that. He also had a great grasp of how to tell a ghost story. Thanks to TV no doubt. I think this experience will be good for us, I have been telling Chris we need a TV detox again. When we first moved to Smithfield we really didn't want to get cable because our lives always revolved around TV and you could not get one channel up here without a major eyesore of an antenna, so we went without for about 2 years. It was really easy after the first week, we really loved it. It was amazing how much time you have to talk and be more tuned in as a family without the distraction. We finally succumbed after I stopped working and Chris was working long hours at an outside office. I just got bored and lonely I guess, so we got dish network. At least the DVR grants us more control over what we watch and when, but it is really taking over again. So we'll see how this week goes. Chris is watching "Napoleon Dynamite" as I am blogging, so the kids and I are probably on our own for this one!

Cai brought His "A" game, Mom brought her "Z" game

2008-04-20T08:18:00.000-07:00

(Cai is number 3, way to get in there Cai) We were so excited to see how Cai's second game of the season was going to go. He has really started to pick up on the concepts of the game and did awesome at his last practice. He was really going after the ball and getting some great kicks in. At his game on Saturday he was great at first but seemed to really run out of steam after the first quarter. He barely ran after the ball and seemed so sluggish, so we laughed and joked about how we need to work on his endurance and make him run laps or something. The rest of the day he was being exceptionally whinny about everything. He went for a walk to the school with some friends to play on the playground and couldn't make it back on his scooter. I should have suspected something was up, but I just chalked it up to being in a bad mood and complaining too much. By the end of the day everything was getting on his nerves, and during his bath I finally made him get out because the bath was too cold (when it was very warm) Cate and Cole were splashing too much or stepped on his foot, etc., etc. Then as we were brushing his teeth I finally took a good look at him. His eyes were blooshot, His face was red and he was very warm. I took his temp. and sure enough fever. I felt terrible. All his complaints about being tired and achy suddelny made perfect sense and I felt like the worst most unobservant mom in the world. I had really been giving him a hard time about being whinny. So I apologized profusely gave him some tylenol and the rest of the evening went remarkably well. All he needed was a little sympathy, understanding, and tylenol. Get a clue mom! We are really looking forward to the next game!

Happy Birthday Aunt Kerrie!

2008-04-14T12:22:00.000-07:00

To an awesome Sister, Aunt, Friend, Mom, and all around great human being! We love Aunt Kerrie she has always been there for our family to support us. Even when her heart was breaking to pieces to see her nieces and nephews during her struggle with infertility, she wouldn't think to miss a family event for the sake of her own feelings. She always shows such an interest and love for all others around her. This picture is one of my favorites, a mother at long last! Kerrie deserves all the best the world has to offer and more. She now is the proud mother of two, and she is the greatest mom to those darling boys there ever was. We love you Aunt Kerrie, we hope you have a great day!

GO LOOPIES!

2008-04-05T19:10:00.001-07:00

Well it was hard to tell who was more excited about Soccer coming up, Cai or Cole. Cole somehow remembered after we registered Cai and hadn't discussed it for weeks, that we needed to go buy soccer shoes for soccer. He was just sitting in the car and brought it up out of nowhere. Cole has always been our little sports fan, and we were worried about how he would take things as he is not yet old enough to play. He has taken it fairly well though, and after we got Cai his cleats and shin guards Cai also became very impatient for soccer to start and asked me almost daily if soccer was going to start. Cai had his first day of practice on Thursday and then his first game Saturday. His team is the "Loopies" (all too approriate for a 5 year old team). They are very entertaining to watch. Cai had never played before, but he did awesome. He started the game as goalie and blocked every shot the other team kicked, four in all. Then later in the game they put him onto the field. He had a bit of a learning curve about where to stand and what to do when, but considering he had only a one hour practice behind him he did great. He has an awesome power kick! Cole was excited to cheer for Cai and kicked the ball around the sidelines, he can hardly wait for his turn to be on the team.

Book Tag

2008-04-05T18:54:00.000-07:00

Well the closest book to me was on my nightstand. It was THE SECRET by Rhonda Byrne and many other contributors.

On Page 123, the 5th sentence reads:

"Focus on the qualities you love about yourself, and the law of attraction will show you more great things about you."

This is a really great book if anyone is looking for a short book full of inspirational pick-me ups. It is so positive and uplifting. It reminds me of a quote I heard that negative thinking and worrying, is really just praying for what you don't want." That came from a woman with terminal cancer. She had the most strickingly radiant personality and enthusiasm for life, she really made an impression on me. Sometimes I think we can become so focused on our shortcomings that we actually bring about more shortcomings. So focus on the positive, and envision what you do want in your life not what you don't want in your life because the law of attraction will bring it about.

I really don't have anyone else to tag that hasn't been tagged already. Maybe that's a clue I need to find more friends who blog.

Guymons Easter

2008-03-31T13:27:00.000-07:00

Well we thawed out enough up here to have an Easter Egg hunt in time for Easter. The kids went down to Smithfield's Easter Egg hunt on Saturday, and then we went to McDonald's for pancakes, and hit IFA on the way home to look at the easter chics and bunnies. Then Grandma Guymon came up to stay with us and we had yet another Easter Egg hunt. The kids had tons of fun finding the eggs and were a little dissapointed when they were all found so they took them and hid them again themselves. Then we colored Easter eggs and talked about the real meaning of Easter. Then Easter morning the kids woke up entirely too early as mom did not get enough sleep the night before. They were thrilled with their new planet heroes and new Easter clothes. Cate's favorite was a little doll that has snap on clothes, and a Horton stuffed animal. We had Swedish Pancakes with lingon berries for breakfast, and then went to church to hear Chris sing in the choir. One of my favorite things this Easter was that Cai wrote the cutest note to the easter bunny about what he would like for Easter. All of the words are spelled phonetically with the word spacing a little unpredictable, but if you sound out each letter he did such an awesome job. He has been writing stories, letters, and notes all the time now that he feels like he an sound out any word. He gets so excited about it. Cole has done remarkably well too. He has started writing his name all by himself recently, and he drew a picture of a polka dotted egg. He also realized that he is part of the food chain. We were driving in the van one day and he said "Mountain lions eat meat, huh mom. I'm made of meat." I love being a mom to watch kids grow up and learn new things is awesome to watch. Cate has recently decided to serenade us with "E-I-E-I-O" continually, and with her 20 word vocabulary she does it amazingly well. She also has developed her own sign for swimming. When Kerrie and my mom got a hotel in Logan, the kids got to go swimming. The next day Cate kept rotating her arms in front of her when she saw I was getting her swim suit ready, I finally realized she was telling me she wanted to go swimming. The whole drive back to the swimming pool she kept yelling "MOM!" and then paddling her arms in front of her. Delighted that I knew exactly what she meant.

Happy St. Patricks Day

2008-03-20T19:55:00.000-07:00

Well Cai was a little devastated this St. Patricks Day. He got up and got dressed by himself, and in the morning rush I forgot that it was St. Patricks Day. So of course his first School St. Patricks day experience will be traumatic. No GREEN! When I picked him up from school he proclaimed "I had a really bad day mom, I got pinched 3 times. You should have told me to wear a green shirt!" So to make up for it we went home and made green waffles for lunch. Then Cai and Chris were in charge of the Family Home Evening lesson, which of course was about St. Patricks Day. Cai was St. Patrick and wore a kilt, Cole dressed up as the pirates that kidnapped him and introduced him to Christianity and then Cai rid our living room (Ireland) of plastic snakes. Then we were treated to an Irish jig by Cai who danced to the tune of weird Al Yankovich singing about what is worn under a Kilt(nothing). Unfortunately his father treated us all to a picture of a man in a kilt on a windy day. Very appropriate for Family night eh! Besides the colorful visual aids they both did an awesome job, Chris made a matching game, coloring pages, and burned an irish CD to listen to.

The best Valentines Day ever!

2008-02-27T14:04:00.001-08:00

Well my wonderful husband and his friends totally outdid themselves this year. Chris had meetings the week before Valentines day, so Chris and I went down to Vegas for the weekend. We went to some fun restaraunts, saw Mama Mia, and just hung out by the pool and watched movies in our room. It was a much needed break from the arctic climate of Cache Valley, and a priceless opportunity to feel like we were dating again. Thanks to Debbie for taking the kids.

Well if that wasn't great enough. Chris and some neighbors cooked up a Romantic Valentines Day Dinner. About five couples got together and the men did all the planning, cooking, and everything. We went to our neighbors house and they had decorated the table with candles, roses, and rose petals, they had Andrea Bocelli playing in the background, and then they made butternut squash soup, filet mignon, steamed asparagus with a viniagrette, Pome de Terre Anna (thinly sliced potatoes painted with rosemary butter and baked), with a crisp meringue heart for dessert with fresh whipped cream and raspberries. One of the guys was the head chef but everyone did their part. The men served us each course and then gave each of us a dozen red roses and a very thoughtful card. It was one of the most romantic things he has ever done for me.

Let us catch up!

2008-01-05T06:50:00.000-08:00

Well since we are a little new at blogging I thought we need to do a warp tour of the past 10 years. So here goes. Chris and I met at Westminster College while attending school. about 2 years later we married August 21 1999. We bought a house in West Valley and began our little family.

You may now kiss the bride! Our wedding took place in the backyard garden of our house in West Valley. It was an absoloutely wonderful day, although it poured the night before. We planted a flowering cherry tree which died that winter. Our first anniversary we were sealed in the Salt Lake temple. On that day we planted a Japanese maple behind the koi pond where we loved to spend our evening watching the fish and talking. That tree thrived, and is hopefully alive today.

Cai: Born 2002. Cai was a little butterball as a baby. He was happy and giggling almost continuously. This is one of my favorite pics of him. He is now in Kindergarten and wants to be an artist, a scientist, and really wants to be a daddy someday.

Cole : Born 2004 about a month after moving to Cache Valley was a little ray of sunshine. His squishy smile just brightens your day no matter what. Cole was 2 in this picture. He is now 3 1/2 and he loves playing with his older brother.

Cate(Catherine Victoria): is 1 1/2 and was kind of a surprise. One night after having a dream that my grandmother (recently deceased) told me I was pregnant and going to have a girl, I woke up the next day to take a pregnancy test. The result was negative. I joked about it with family, but then a few weeks later I kept having a nagging feeling that I needed to retest. After retesting I was pregnant! It must have been too early the first time. She was our souvenier from our trip to Victoria British Columbia.