Do you love to Crock Pot?

I do! Especially on hot days when I don't want to heat the house anymore by turning on the oven. So, imagine my glee when I came across this blog. A new crock pot recipe for everyday this year! Just in time for summer!

It's a first day of Summer vacation MIRACLE!

Everyone slept in until 8:00 this morning! That might not seem like a miracle to you but take this into consideration: every morning this week, one of my boys has been up BEFORE the alarm clock even went off at 7:00. AND...Lucy slept from midnight until 8! So, really, it is a first day of summer vacation miracle!!!

I'm in Love

It's official, I am crazy in love with this little girl! Just the fact that she had a bad night (she's teething) and I had intermittent sleep, but I still just want to eat her up proves that I am whooped! And can you blame me? Look at that face!

Last Monday Lucy turned 6 months...6 months!!! I honestly am freaking out a little that she has been with us for that long! It saddens me that the newborn phase is over but at the same time, she is so cute and interactive and learning so much that I can't wish for time to stand still.

Here are her 6 month stats: 17 lbs. 11 oz. , 24.9 inches. That translates to 79th% for weight and 20th% for height. Oh my! Two little sharp baby teeth poked through last week and her top gums are swollen. She is on the fast track for teeth! She is sleeping pretty well (except for last night) and is such a delight! She loves her brothers as they make her giggle; Curtis can actually make her belly laugh which is an almost unbearable sound. She is starting to get a little hesitant about other people, always has to make sure mom is close by. She really is such a happy baby and our whole family is smitten!

Both of the boys have had a stomach bug the last week. Sam and I have both had to clean up barf on more than one occassion. But, I think they are both doing better. Last Friday was Noah's Kindergarten Share. His class sang about 4 or 5 songs for us and then showed us their "portfolio". The songs were hilarious and oh, so cute. I laughed to the point of tears. Here is the video of one of the songs from the Kindergarten Share. Unfortunately, I shake when I laugh so the picture is pretty shaky! I love how they all start to giggle before the "bums out" part. I think Noah was most excited about the portfolio, though. In there was a certificate from the Mileage Club showing that he had run 79 miles this year! He is an amazing little guy! Yesterday I took him to the Dr. and she was checking his lung capacity and said it was well above other kids his age/size and that he is really in shape. I've got to find some good sports programs for him!

Curtis had a busy week with a field trip to the park one day and swimming the next. He also went bowling for Cub Scouts. Noah, Lucy and I were able to go bowling too which was fun. Curtis didn't care about form or style, he just wanted to see how much energy he could get behind that ball! He would practically run up to the line and sling the ball down the lane. It was quite a sight to see.
I took him to the Dr. last month and he has grown 3 inches in 6 months! He is gaining on me quickly! He has been working hard at home trying to earn money so he can buy Legos. He will ask me what chores he can do so he can make the most money! Legos are the hot item in our home. Sam got a Lego catalog in the mail a few weeks ago and at any given time during the day I can find one of the kids just poring over the catalog deciding which Lego set to buy first. Curtis actually slept with it last night! He told me that if he won $1000 he would buy the $499 Millennium Falcon set for Sam. Such a thoughtful kid!

Thursday is the last day of school which brings mixed emotions for me. I'm planning on doing fun activities every week with the kids and making sure they aren't bored at home all the time. The part I'm not looking forward to is the fighting. Those boys have a love/hate relationship. My sis told me about someone she works with that when he was growing up and fighting with his siblings, his mom would send them to the front porch until they resolved their differences. They hated it so they very quickly learned not to fight! I have been using this tactic and it is actually working...hopefully the summer will be fight-free! Am I dreaming thinking this?

Creative Thursday-Tuesday Edition

Several months ago I was reading this blog and decided I wanted to take an idea from her and implement it in my life. So, Creative Thursday was born. Every Thursday my wonderful friend Emily and I get together and scrapbook (or make cards, or organize pictures, craft rooms, etc). I think we have only missed one week since we started because Emily was sick. We trade off hosting each week and usually the host provides lunch and snacks. Sometimes its quesadillas, last week Emily just wanted a PBJ (because her kids don't like them! What?) and today it was fantastic Cafe Rio! (thanks Adam!) Oh, and the snacks...I think we are getting a little out of hand with the snacks! I took a picture of them with my new camera phone but I can't figure out how to use the micro SD card! But, take my word, we had quite the spread of treats!!! Anyway, we both look forward to these Thursdays because they have proven to be a stress release as well as a creative outlet. We hardly stop talking from the second we get together and it's like pulling teeth to get us to end! This week the kids get out early on Thursday so we decided we needed to change the day to Tuesday so we didn't have the older kids for the whole afternoon.


We had Liv take a picture of us but neither of us were happy with it but I'm going to post it anyway for the sake of documentation. Next week we might put on a little gloss for a cuter photo.

I'm so glad I have had Emily live around the block from me for the last 5 years and I'm not sure what I'll do when she moves in 2 weeks! She is an amazing friend and has made my kids and I feel like her home is an extension of our own. I feel so blessed to have you as my friend, Em! Love you!

Blog Funk

Anyone else sick of seeing that picture of Curtis? Sheesh.
I have kind of been in a blog funk lately. I've thought of blogging several times but every time I sat down to do it, I just didn't have the energy. I'm not especially feeling it right now but I had to do something!

Things have been a little stressful on the church calling front. As most of you know, I'm the stake Young Womens president. About 40% of the year,it is a pretty mellow calling. A meeting here, an activity there. Then comes Standard's Night, Girls' Camp, Youth Conference, Opening Social, etc. And the craziness sets in. This year, the stress is about 10 times worse!

For Youth Conference we are doing a Pioneer Trek and started planning awhile ago but had no real concrete plans except the date and place. Then our Stake YM's presidency got released so its like we are starting over with the planning. Thank Goodness for us, the new President is one of my favorite men in our stake. He is close to my dad's age and goes to Girls' Camp every year as the priesthood chaperon. He is awesome. I finally feel a little relief about this whole Trek thing. Oh, and because I have a nursing baby, I'm planning a Trek I can't participate in! Bummer!

A few months ago, I went to a meeting with the Stake Presidency and all the Bishops in my stake. We have a pretty small youth group and some of the kids are really suffering from the lack of a structured program or the strength of a bigger group. So the Stake Pres. proposed that we combine all the youth in the stake for weekly Mutual activities. That way, the age groups can split up and have more than 2 or 3 in their group. Several more meetings have followed and I've had a few stressed phone calls from parents or young women leaders. Finally on Sunday, the program was presented to all the youth, parents and leaders in the Stake. I think it went well and am excited to get the program up and running in the coming weeks. After that meeting we went straight into a Trek meeting so all the youth and parents could be there together and hear the plans. My presidency and I kind of took charge of that and it worked out fine.

Last Tuesday, Sam was called to be on the High Council so right before our 2 youth meetings Sunday afternoon, he was ordained a High Priest and set apart. He is nervous about the calling but also excited for the learning opportunities he will have.

So, Sunday afternoon, I was feeling pretty relaxed that all these things were taken care of. Then came Monday afternoon...

We had a very capable Girls' Camp Director called that already had a ton planned before we even had a meeting with her. So, I wasn't feeling too stressed about that. Yesterday I got a call from her telling me she just found out she has some medical problems and may not be able to go to Camp! Yikes. So, we have to call an assistant that can take over the whole thing if need be. The stress is starting to creep back in.

I think this year I might lower the mellow percentage to 25...

Craziness

So, I think I should change my blog to "My Crazy life" because it sure has been crazy. Starting with crazy hair day at school. Curtis wanted "spikey" hair but have you ever tried to spike curly hair? Doesn't work so well...this was the end result!
Yesterday Noah came home from school with a new bike! They had a fitness and safety fair at school the night before and had a bunch of drawings to enter and they pulled Noah's name out for one of the bikes! Awesome! He was pretty excited.
Yesterday at scouts, Curtis got all of his prizes for selling Scout-O-Rama tickets. One of the prizes was a really nice, sharp pocket knife. Sam and I both let him know that he could absolutely not take the knife to school. Can you see where this is going? Yeah, he took it to school today and before he even got into the school he was showing it to his friends and got caught. He is now suspended until Tuesday! I am actually glad he got caught because I think the suspension will really drive it home to him that when you break a rule, you pay the consequence. He was very upset and crying when Sam went to get him and again when he came home. I think he gets it...I hope he gets it!
To end off this post, another picture of Lucy. Just because she's so cute! A shout out to my talented Aunt Terry for the beautiful quilt she made!
Happy Friday!

OK,OK!

I know, it has been forever since I have updated my blog but it seems like I just haven't been able to catch up with laundry, cooking, cleaning and taking care of the kids. I feels like everytime I sit down to blog, Lucy wakes up from a short nap...have you ever tried to type with a baby in your arms? Not an easy task. So, let's see how far I can get before she wakes up!

So, to wrap up the Disney post...we had 2 more glorious days at Disneyland that were very warm and very crowded. We got very spoiled with the Fast Passes so it was hard for us to wait in lines. But we did and survived. I thought that spending 4 days there would be too much and we would be bored but there was still more that we didn't do! One of our favorite things was in California Adventure, it was Talkin with Crush. It was an interactive movie where the turtle Crush from Finding Nemo talked with the audience. It was so cool! I don't know how they do it...must be magic!

Saturday morning we were in Frontierland and I had run to find a bathroom while Sam, kids and my parents went on the steamboat. When I came back, Mat was standing by the steamboat and said there was a "Dream Maker" right there. I asked what she was doing and Mat said "I don't know but she just made that lady over there really happy." So I followed her over to the lady to see what she was winning and the Dream Maker asked me if I had any questions. I said I just wanted to see what the lady had won. She told me it was VIP seating for Fantasmic! So I congratulated her. Then the Dream Maker asked if I was going to be there that night for Fantasmic, I said "yes", and she said "wait here and I'll give you VIP seating too!" Woo hoo!

So that night, all 16 of the family made our way to front row seating for the show. It was so awesome but poor little Noah was so worn out that right before the show started (10:30pm) he closed his eyes and did not wake up until the next morning!
(When we got home and looked through our pictures, Noah said "Hey! I don't remember riding in Katya's stroller!" That's because you were sound asleep, buddy!)
All in all, we had such a great time and I am so grateful to my parents for making our dreams come true!!!

Two weeks ago, my Dad and I (along with half of Salt Lake) stood in line for 8 hours to audition for Deal or No Deal. It was such a crazy day! At each interview we were given either 15 or 20 seconds to make an impression. I guess I said something interesting because I made it through all 3 interviews. The last interview was with one of the producers of the show and she said "you never know when I might call you!" It was a lot of fun. Hopefully I get a call someday but I'm not expecting it anytime soon...one of the producers said he interviewed a girl 2 years ago and just called her last month to be on the show!

Let's see, what else? We started Lucy on rice cereal...she still isn't too sure about it but she has low iron levels (just like her mama) so the iron (along with a supplement) should help with that. She has also started to roll over. She doesn't do it very often but she has gone both front to back and back to front. She is also trying to scoot a little. She is such a little sweetheart.
Noah celebrated his 6th birthday this month! We had a fun pirate party with 7 little boys. They walked the plank, sword fought and hunted for treasure. Noah had a great time and is already looking forward to next year's birthday party!

OK, that's it. I can't think anymore but I promise (Melissa) that I will blog again sooner rather than later!