The Quarnberg Family

Lake Powell 2011

2011-07-25T09:02:00.000-07:00

Going to Lake Powell with the Stegelmeiers at least once a year has been sort of a tradition now for the past few years. They are part-owner of a house boat and so we are able to go stay with them on the house boat. It is such a fun vacation for the kids and the adults. The weather was great for two of the days.

The 2nd day was wet and rainy but we made the most of it by hiking and just hanging out instead of water skiing, etc.

Fishing was another good thing to do when it wasn't sunny enough to swim

Aubree has gotten a lot braver as she has grown up. She was scaring me a little bit on some of the climbs she was doing. She would run up and down the red rock with no problem.

Swimming with dad

There were a few "firsts" for the kids on this trip. Kylee got up on water skis for the first time! It was so fun to see her do it. Aubree dared to go on the knee board and actually pulled herself up onto her knees for the first time, and both Aubree and Braden jumped OFF the platform at the top of the house boat into the water. I COULD NOT believe it! Braden continued to jump off again and again. It is so high. I'm sure that seeing other little people do it helped because Quinn and Kaison had been doing it before them. I am impressed they had the courage because it is scary!

The most fun thing I think the kids do while at Lake Powell is go TUBING. They love it and would stay on for hours if we would let them! Amy and I even took a turn and it really is fun.

Okay, funny story. While on our hike, Krehl was up ahead of us with his kids. I don't remember which one of his kids had to "go" if you know what I mean. Anyway, when we caught up, Krehl's shirt sleeve had been ripped off. What a nice dad to sacrifice his shirt for the cleanliness of his child's back side! He had ripped his sleeve off to provide some TP for his son!

Krehl and his infamous shirt

Hanging out by the fire

Hike to Lake Mary's

2011-07-24T09:39:00.000-07:00

This is at the beginning of the hike at a place by we parked the car. Aubree, Kylee, cousin McKennah and Braden

While we were in Salt Lake, we spent a day hanging out with my dad, Jeannine, Tiffany and McKennah. They took us on a hike to Lake Mary's which is up by Brighton ski resort. There were pretty wild flowers so of course, Aubree was loving it. It was a really neat hike and as we got higher, there was actually still snow on the ground! We had a mini-snow ball fight and there was even a section where the kids could slide down the snow! Part of the hike is going through a stream so we had to just hop along exposed rocks to get up it. It was fun and good to see my kids actually can hike when they need to. Sometimes they are whiny about hiking but they did pretty well this day. However, Braden did get upset and wanted to be done with the hike. Jeannine ended up carrying him part of the way and he is not a light load!

Final destination! The lake was so pretty. The kids and Gary took their shoes off and waded in the water. Brrr...did I mention there was still snow on the ground? This water was not warm!

My cute dad holding Bree's flowers

Jeannine, Dad and Gary

Webb Reunion and Salt Lake trip

2011-07-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

This weekend we traveled to Salt Lake to go to a family reunion on my biological mom's side of the family. My cousins and I decided that we should not just get together for funerals, but for happy occasions. We have only seen each other the past few years for my mom's and grandpa's funerals so it was high time we got together for some reason other than that. Of course, seeing my relatives of my mom and grandpa made me miss them and think of them even more, but it was really great to get together and visit with my cousins, aunt's and uncles. It is sad that we don't keep in better touch, but I am hoping we start doing the reunions on a more regular basis.

It has been so fun this summer to get to spend time with my brother's family. They have lived in Maryland for 3 years and they are moving to Germany for the next 3. They came and stayed with us for a few days in July and then we got to see them again at the reunion. This is their youngest Xander alongside Mr. Muscles himself, Braden.

This is Ron and Steph's daughter Gabby with Aubree. They loved hanging out and got along great! They are only 9 months apart and had a lot in common.

Here is Ron and Steph's oldest, Abby, with Kylee. They are about 10 months apart and had so much fun together. They both love animals and seemed to really like hanging out.

I love this pic of Steph and Ron! We are going to miss them. It would be awesome if we could figure out a way to visit them in Germany while they are there.

Here is the group pic of the family reunion! It is crazy that we all have all these kids! I remember when I was a kid along with all my cousins and we would play at these reunions. Now we are the grown-ups! My cousin Wendy put it together and even had fun games for the kids to play.

On the way there, we stopped in Springville for a wedding. One of the girls I taught in Young Women's in Houston, TX was getting married and I wanted to see her. She converted to the church when I was the YW Pres. in Houston so she has a special place in my heart. She has since gone on a mission and gone to BYU. I'm sure her life has not been easy since her family has not been supportive of her decisions but she is a strong girl and I admire her.

Amy and me at her wedding reception

Snowbird Summer

2011-07-17T08:42:00.000-07:00

Gary and Braden after the Alpine Slide!

Aubree to the top of the rock wall

Kylee and Aubree spent hours going up and down the rock wall!

That's Kylee upside down and Braden jumping on the other tramp.

While we were in Salt Lake, we met up with the Stegelmeiers at Snowbird to play! I wish I would have had a picture of my face at the end of the zip line. I had been waving to Braden and Gary and when I looked forward I sort of freaked out. I thought I was going too fast and wasn't going to be able to stop in time! My face went from laughing and smiling to sheer terror in the blink of an eye! So irrational, I know. But the worker and Gary said the look I had was priceless. It was pretty funny.

An interesting scenario played out before we got there. We were at a stand still in the canyon for a long time because of an accident. Everyone was outside of their car, waiting and watching. Gary ended up giving a guy about $50 worth of discount coupons to snowbird because we didn't need all the ones we had. They were on a can of Pepsi and we had a 12-pack. Anyway, when we arrived, we were walking in, and a car drove by, rolled down their window and gave us two wristbands for free to go into Snowbird. Apparently, they were leaving early and wanted to get full use of the price of admission. I sort of felt guilty and wasn't sure if we should use them. However Gary was excited and said that it was "karma" since he had given all those cans to the other guy! I guess I can see both sides but I still sort of feel bad!

Cabin Fever!

2011-07-17T07:35:00.000-07:00

Look! This could be your EYE-DOCTOR!

Our family had the opportunity to go to the Baucom's cabin and just R-E-L-A-X! I just love going there because it gives me a chance to really focus on my family and enjoy the beautiful mountainous terrain. We went horseback riding, hiking and I even attempted a run. However, the run was cut short because it was so tough to run up there! I think the high elevation really makes it harder to breathe.

Aubree was in heaven because there were wild flowers everywhere! She collected flowers all week and would put them in bouquets. She then was trying to sell the bouquets, which was pretty funny. Kylee and Aubree actually went the the cabin earlier than us because my brother Ron and his family took them up with them. They had to leave before us so that was a bummer. However, we arrived on a Thursday and got to stay until Sunday. The kids really loved it and got along great. Aubree got to ride a horse by herself for the first time although the majority of the time we would have someone with her or leading her horse. Kylee has loved riding horses for quite awhile now and she was definitely in her element up there.

My mom was her awesome, gracious self. It was so great to spend time with her and John. The food was amazing (as usual) and she made like 4 kinds of ice cream! We also had John's kids and some of their friends too and it was nice to get to know them better.

Heather on her trusty steed, Hoo-Doo

Mom on her horse, Benny

Aubree in her cute riding wear

Braden having fun in the hot tub

Mom smiling for the camera with wearing her earrings Kylee made for her

We did have one little mishap on Sat. night. We had saved the corn cobs from dinner to feed the horses. We were getting kids ready with jackets and shoes. It was really dark and we were going to take the gator to drive over to the pasture to feed them. We were finally ready to go and we could not find Braden anywhere. It was hard to see and we started toward the tack shed (which is pretty far away). I suddenly heard a yelp and scream and realized it was Braden. I started running towards his cries. He had made it almost all the way to the horse corral which meant he had to cross 3 water stream areas and lots of field grasses higher than his head! He had fallen on the last stream and got kind of wet and he was cold. I could not believe he had walked that far on his own in the dark. He did have a flashlight but wow. That kid is brave and independent!

Anyway, we got him back to the gator and we were still going to go feed the horses. Heather was driving and then it was just me and the three kids. We got quite a ways out to pasture and then the gator got high centered in the road! We all got out and tried with all our strength to push it over but we literally couldn't move it an inch! We had to walk all the way back to the cabin and get John to come help us! Needless to say, the kids ended up staying at the cabin this time and we went back to get the gator back. Crazy!

On Friday we went on a longer horseback ride with just the women and kids. Then our "guides" showed us the way to an old bear cave! The hike was steep but Melissa and Heather and everyone helped out Aubree and Braden a ton. It was worth the effort because the bear cave was really cool!

Mom and Heather look like they are matching poses and clothes!

This is Brian's wife Melissa and her friend along with Kylee. They were GREAT with the kids!

Braden, Kylee and Aubree at the bear cave

Kylee on her favorite horse, Top Gun

Fishing and Highline

2011-07-13T15:20:00.001-07:00

Gary and I took Braden to Highline Lake this morning to go to a fishing clinic for kids. It was really fun. They even gave all the kids free fishing poles. Braden cracked me up because it is super hot outside but he insisted on wearing a sweat shirt and sweat pants. He loves hot clothes...even in the summer. I don't get it but it makes for a funny look.

There were quite a few kids that came to the clinic and it was actually pretty informative. They had two little presentations that talked about the fish in this lake, the ecosystem and finally, how to fish. They provided a pole and a little tackle box with some lures in it. The only weird part was when the ranger said, "there is a saying in Colorado. You sip the whiskey but the water is the life here." It made no sense to me so I googled it to see if I could find this "famous" saying. I found it, I think. Mark Twain famously said, "Whiskey is for drinking, but water is for fighting over." That makes more sense except not to a bunch of 4-8 year olds!

Well, that's about it for now! Braden has Quinn and Kaison over to play so they are entertaining themselves for now and without the girls here, I had some time to post. Yea!

Ron and Steph's visit to Fruita!

2011-07-13T14:47:00.001-07:00

My Brother Ron!

Abby getting a little frustrated on the hills

Stephanie biking down Kessel

Ron getting ready for a jump on Rustlers

Rock ON!

Steph, me and Ron at the top part of Rustler's Loop

Ron, Gary and Steph

It has been so nice to catch up and spend time with my brother and his family. They have lived in Maryland (right by Washington DC) for the past 3 years and we have only seen them a couple times. They are going to be moving to Germany so they planned a well deserved trip out to Utah and here to visit with friends and family. They have 2 girls and a boy, just like us. Our kids got along wonderfully during their visit and it was so fun to see them have fun together.

They arrived on Thursday night and stayed through Monday. We spent our time biking, boating and eating! They were not used to the rocky terrain that Fruita biking is famous for but I think overall, they enjoyed it. Abby, their 9 year old, impressed me with her knowledge, piano playing and persistence. Gabby, their 7 year old, impressed me with her cute voice, bravery and willingness to do whatever was going on at the time. Aubree and her loved catching frogs and building a habitat for them (the big girls did this too!) Xander is their 3 year old and he is as crazy as Braden! They got along well for the most part and managed to get in some trouble, but not too much. He is obsessed with anything "Cars" and he loved playing outside. He was cute and fun and was a good playmate for Braden.

We took Ron and Steph to Texas Roadhouse on Friday night. It was so yummy. The wait staff treated us like royalty when they found out Ron and Steph were there for the first time. They gave us complimentary ribs and gave us a to-go box with rolls packed inside before we left. I think I will start saying it is my first time there every time!

The girls wanted to "camp out" in our backyard so we pitched a tent for them on the tramp. However, as we were getting ready to leave them by themselves, they started getting scared. Gary was a pushover and told them he would stay with them until they fell asleep, but then he would go inside. They agreed. Gary came in the house about 11 pm and the tent was all quiet. However, about 1am I heard talking and rustling. I went outside and all the girls were bringing their pillows in to sleep in the house. Maybe they will make it through the night next time!

I let the kids "paint" with colored shaving cream on the outside windows and they had a blast! Xander didn't particularly like getting his hands dirty but the rest of the kids had a good time. It is always nice to have a project or activity going I have found. Otherwise, it seems like everyone just says they're bored or they say they are hungry. I need to do a better job of giving them activity ideas so they can just have fun!

It was awesome to get to spend time with their family. On Monday, they headed out to the Baucom's cabin and even took Kylee and Aubree with them! We are going there on Thursday so we will get the girls then. It has been so quiet around here and I have been able to get some things done. I have also got to spend some one on one time with Braden and that has been great. I discovered he is really good at the game Memory and I am really bad. I must be getting old because my short term memory is horrible with that game! It is pretty pathetic that he is winning me, legitimately...and he is 4. Maybe I need to start taking ginkoba or whatever that stuff is that is supposed to help your memory.

2nd Week of Summer Vacation

2011-06-15T12:54:00.000-07:00

This week was just as fun as the first week of summer! We have had our friends, the Chapman's, staying with us while they are in transition to move to Texas. We are so sad they are leaving us for the Lone Star State, but it has been fun to spend more time with them while they "live" with us for awhile. I recruited their kids to help me plant all the flowers I bought and we got them all in the dirt. I am so excited to have pretty flowers blooming in the front yard. Mostly I planted perennials so they will hopefully come up every year now. We got snow-cones afterwards which really hit the spot!

Kylee and Aubree are in art camp all week and they have just loved it. The theme for the week is "New York" so they have done various crafts and pictures having to do with New York. They really want to do art camp again next week but I have held off. I want to spend time with them too! I will post some pics of their work later.

Wednesday I had Jenny come and give massages at my house. She trades massages for eye care/glasses at Gary's office so I am the lucky recipient of that! Michelle got one, then me, then Amy. It was heaven. I have been pretty sore with all my mountain biking and running so I absolutely loved getting a massage. That night I took the activity day girls to a new bike park here in Fruita. It was fun but I was unorganized and it became chaotic. I had plans of having a little lesson about biking and then working through some skills together. However, we got there, got the bikes out, and the girls sort of did their own thing for the whole time. Before I knew it, it was 7pm and we hadn't even rounded up the girls or bikes up yet! I got back to the church late and felt like it just didn't go like I wanted it to. I need to be more prepared for next time.

Thursday I went mountain biking with Amy and Michelle again and that was great. We did Zippity Do-Dah, which is becoming one of my favorite rides. After I got the Kylee and Aubree from art camp, we went to the rec. center to swim. Amy, Melissa and Darcy all came with their kids so it was a blast. All our kids LOVE the water so they were in heaven.

Friday night we had a big pasta pot-luck dinner at the park with all the friends that were doing the Highline Hustle the next morning. I didn't do it this year, but Gary did. We played at the park for a couple hours and just had fun. Gary has been promising our kids that we will do a camp-out on our back porch sometime, and he decided this was the night. To be honest, I wasn't really into it but I was a "happy camper" and went along with it! The kids absolutely loved it. We brought out the mattresses and blankets and told "scary" stories. Braden and Aubree would NOT go to sleep and continued to make up stories until LATE into the night! Braden's were hilarious because he would get a scary sounding voice and then say things like, "there was a bear...a big bear...on the dark side of the moon. He was afraid of the dark..he stole all the flashlights...and that is the end." He had quite a few like that!

I lasted until about 2 am but with Braden on one side of my and Aubree on the other, I could not go to sleep. They were either rolling or kicking me or snoring. I finally snuck out and went into the house! I was glad I stayed out there in the first place to hear all the great stories. Gary and I told some stories too. "Bloody Finger" and "10 Holes" and "I gottcha where I want you, now I'm gonna eatcha!"where the ones we told. It is funny how such dumb stories entertained our kids for so long. They wanted to tell them again and again!

Saturday morning was the Highline Hustle! Gary did awesome and came in with a really good time. He had to swim 1/4 mile, then bike 16 miles then run 3 miles. It took him like 1 hr. 41 min. I did the race last year and got 1 hr. 59 min. so he was way faster than I was! I think I would've been a lot faster this year though because the weather was a lot better. Last year it rained and was cold the whole time. I hope to do it again next time.

Amy Stegelmeier making her last turn before the finish!

Gary "jogging" to the finish!

Darcy Case smiling to the end!

Darrin Case happy to be done

Tri-athletes! Chad, Mindy, Gary, Darcy, Darrin, Amy, Phil and Melissa! Job well done!

We stayed after the race and played at the lake. It was sunny and even though the water was freezing, all 3 kids swam in it! I stayed on the beach and watched or read a book. it was great. After, Kylee and Aubree went to Makell's b-day party and then later, Aubree went to another b-day party for her best friend Amber. It was a day of partying! Gary and I went out to dinner with friends to celebrate the race. The Stocking's, Latteiers and Martin's came. It was a beautiful night so we ate out on the patio and watched the sunset. It was a very enjoyable night!

Braden throwing rocks into the lake

Kylee working on her tan

That about wraps up this week! You gotta love summer!

1st Week of Summer Vacation!

2011-06-04T07:13:00.000-07:00

This week was the first week the kids were out of school and it did not disappoint! Actually, it felt like I was the one on vacation because I played as much as they did with my girl friends! Monday was Memorial Day and Gary and I were still on our rafting trip. We got home about 4pm. Our friends, The Chapman's, are staying with us for a couple weeks because they sold their house here in Fruita and they won't be moving to their new house in Texas for 2 weeks.

So we all had dinner and just hung out Monday night. Tuesday, I tried to get laundry done from the trip and then took the kids along with Bree's and Braden's friends Amber and Logan to the Shelledy Elementary School park. They played forever! I switched off from reading a book and pushing them on the swings. The weather was great. It was so nice to be outside. The one downside was that Aubree lost her favorite "Littlest Pet Shop" mouse. She has taken this mouse everywhere since she got it for Easter. She was very disappointed and sad. I told her if she wanted to spend her own money, she could buy another one. She promptly said that yes, that is what she wants to do! Michelle made us yummy lasagna for dinner and it great. Aside from the whole "sharing a husband" thing, I can see how having a "sister wife" would have its upsides! We help out with each others kids, clean up the messes and make food. It's been fun to have her around.

Wednesday I woke up early to go running with my friends. Amy, Darcy and Michelle were there. They run every Tuesday an Wednesday at 6:00am. I make it a few times a month with them. That is early for me! I am always glad when I go though once I get past the tiredness factor. After I got home, I took Aubree to help me pick out flowers to plant in our front yard. We met up with Chet, the guy who did our landscaping in the front. He took us to the Palisade Nursery, which sells wholesale. I (and Aubree) picked out a ton of flowers. Aubree kept saying, "this is paradise!" She said this was the best day ever because it included pretty flowers and getting a mommy daughter day all in one. She is so sweet. I took her to lunch and then we went to Walmart. We searched for another LPS mouse but couldn't find one there or Target or Walgreens. I told her we would look on ebay for it too. It was another great day.

I was preparing to make French Toast for dinner when I realized Braden and Payton had the water on (again outside). They had successfully created huge mud baths in the sand box and were literally covered with mud everywhere! This is at least the 3rd time they have done this. They love dirt, mud and water. It is like a magnet. I got them in the tub and got them cleaned off. Gary made the dinner (yea!) and we ate every last bite of the french toast and bacon. Michelle was at JUCO that night so she wasn't with us this night.

Thursday I went road biking with Amy, Darcy, Michelle, Melissa and Mindy D. We drove out to Highline Lake and rode the route of the triathlon that is happening next weekend. It is hilly and about 20 miles. Then they all ran the 3+ mile running loop right after our bike ride. I am not doing the triathlon so I plopped down and read a book on the park grass! It was relaxing and I loved it. It has been nice having Michelle's daughter, Cydney at our house. She has been a built in babysitter for when I go do these fun things! After we got home, we got ready, ate lunch and then took the kids to the Dinosaur Museum. They have a new T-Rex display that is amazing. It is gigantic and constantly moves and roars. My kids loved it. Braden had been just watching it for 5 minutes and it did one of the huge roars and he screamed in this high pitched loud voice. The loud roar sort of freaked him out! After the dino museum, I took my kids along with Mason (their friend) to another park. Again, I read, they played. That night, I made fajitas for the everyone but Michelle and me because we were going to a girls night out to dinner. Did I say that this week I played as much as my kids? We went to Famous Daves and just laughed and had a great time. We went to Red Mango after for frozen yogurt. Fun day!

Friday I went (again!) with my girl friends mountain biking. We did a trail called "Holy Cross" and it was very difficult. There were lots of "hike a bike" sections. However, the sections that were ridable were a lot of fun and pretty thrilling. There are lots of rocks and technical sections so I have a lot of room for improvement on this one. Afterward, we went back to Red Mango for smoothies and frozen yogurt.

After we got back, Chet brought by all the flowers I purchased. I set them all up and got to work planting. I even got Kylee, Aubree and Braden and even some of the Chapman kids to help! We dug holes, watered and planted for hours. I took them for snow cones after. I then took my kids to the Relay for Life field for about an hour. My friend, Jen Bensen, is a cancer survivor and was speaking at the opening of the relay. She is amazing and gave an uplifting and positive speech to us. Her husband spoke after. It was inspiring to see all the people there for a common cause. I couldn't stay but I was glad to have gone for a little while. We went home and ate Italian Chicken from in a crockpot (my families fave) with the Chapman's.

Today is Saturday and I am worn out from the busy and fun week. I need to get the kids breakfast and start on "Saturday's work!" Tonight Gary and I are going mountain biking with friends (Horse Thief). It is Tyler Jolley's b-day and they organized a ride and dinner after with their friends. Gary has been gone to Green River since yesterday morning. He is working on fixing a tractor part and needed his dad's shop and tools in Green River. Hopefully he will be home soon!

Memorial Day Weekend River Rafting Trip!

2011-05-30T14:33:00.000-07:00

Our friends, the Stegelmeiers, are big time river rafting and kayak junkies. Every year, Krehl tries to draw out for all kinds of river trips. He also gets a bunch of buddies to put in their names as well to draw out, (to have a better chance of getting the chance to do it). The "Gates of Lodore" is a really hard one to get. In fact, there is only like a 3% chance to draw out. Gary had put his name in along with 7 of Krehls buddies and Gary drew out! I have never been on a multi-day trip and I had heard that this is a really good one. The river is running REALLY high this year which means faster water. I'm in!

We traveled Friday night to the put in camp ground in Jensen. We arrived close to midnight and it was pouring rain. There were 15 of us in all and we all had to put up tents and get situated in the rain. Well, Gary put up our tent while I stayed in the car. He is such a good guy! After we finally got to bed, we heard blaring music from another camp site. So rude. I was surprised the group with the music wasn't more respectful to other campers. They were noisy until about 2am. Oh well. Anyway, we got up the next morning (still raining) and packed everything up and launched the rafts. We started with 5 rafts but decided we really only needed 4 since so many of the group were kayaking.

The weather cleared up (thankfully) but I was extremely grateful we were wearing rain pants and rain jackets. It was cold anyway and the water was freezing. We only had to go about 10 miles on Saturday so we stopped and had lunch, went on a hike and enjoyed the ride. That night we had BBQ pork sandwiches, corn on the cob and peach cobbler. So yummy. The best part was I didn't have to cook any of it! Gary and Krehl took care of almost all the cooking the whole weekend! We just visited with the other families around the fire and enjoyed each other's company. Jen and Lory Quarnberg came on the trip as well. We don't get to see them much and they are a lot of fun to be with. Jen cracked us up with all her E.R. stories.

I slept better the 2nd night. I was glad for all the trees around our campsite so I could hang all my wet clothes on! Our tent leaked and my bag was sitting in 1/2 inch of water in the morning. Almost all my clothes got wet in my bag. Bummer!

The rapids were so fun on this trip! The rollers were my favorite. It was like we were going on these crazy water roller coasters. There were some tricky rapids to maneuver and get through and I was glad to have Gary rowing. He is really good at it! It was a memorable wonderful trip. If I go again, I hope it is sunnier!

Kylee's 9th Birthday Luau-Slumber Party!

2011-05-23T15:48:00.000-07:00

Kylee had a fun group of friends over for her birthday party. Here we have: Kayla Keith, Kylee, Emeline Thygerson (in back), Lexie Schafer, Carli Dare (in back) Emma Graves, Ella and Nora Storer. She has a luau theme and we did everything from limbo to a hula dance-off. We also make tiki hut picture frames, played freeze dance and watched tangled. The girls didn't conk out until midnight and then they were up at 6:45 am! I think everyone had a good time.

Ella Storer

Eating cake

Make a wish!

Nora Storer

Kylee, Emma and Ella

I got this cute cake from City Market. It tasted yummy too!

Pinata and Birthday Fun!

2011-05-23T15:47:00.000-07:00

Braden Preschool Graduation

2011-05-23T15:37:00.000-07:00

This past year I did "Joy School" with Braden. There were 5 kids total and it was so much fun! The 5 moms of the kids take turns each week teaching the curriculum. We had preschool on Tuesday and Thursday each week. The lessons are very structured and I was surprised at how time consuming the preparation was when it was my week to teach! However, the kids did really well and overall it was a great experience getting to know these little children and their unique personalities. We had a pre-school graduation for them and they loved the hats and being able to stand in front of their families and "accept their diploma!"

Birthday Rainbow

2011-05-23T15:25:00.001-07:00

After we got home from getting Kylee's ear's pierced and eating at Hot Tomato, a beautiful rainbow came out! It was a full rainbow and was right out our front door!

See, there is a "pot" at the end of the rainbow...too bad it is an outhouse pot and not a pot of gold!

Kylee gets her ears pierced!!

2011-05-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

Kylee has been talking about wanting to get her ears pierced for about 6 months now. I told her that she could do it for her birthday if she still wanted to have that for her birthday present. She has been looking forward to this for a long time and she definitely still wanted to do it when her birthday came!

I have sort of dragged my feet on letting our girls get their ears pierced. I, myself, am allergic to earrings and have a feeling they might have inherited that allergy as well. It was miserable for me when I was younger because my ears were always getting infected (eww!) and I even passed out one time while I was cleaning my ears! Anyway, I'm hoping Kylee has a good experience and doesn't have the same problems!

Kylee with her Dad right before we go get her ears pierced.

"Pre" Earrings...

We went to a cute little shop in Fruita called "It's a Girl Thang!" to get the job done. Can you tell how excited she is? Kylee told me that the day before we went, she couldn't stop thinking or talking about it at school. She was psyched!

Here is the "after" picture! She got these cute little flowers with turquoise in the middle.

She looks older now to me! Kylee told me she feels like her whole face looks different now! I think they are adorable!

Q Family Reunion at the Sand Dunes!

2011-05-14T16:07:00.000-07:00

Every year we take a trip out to the sand dunes near Green River, Utah! This year we didn't have as many people come, but it was still a lot of fun. All of Gary's siblings came and our kids had a blast with their cousins.

Kiana and Stetson

Braden was in heaven because he got to play with his cousins and the sand dunes all in one day.

Lory, Scott, Gary and Mom Q chillaxing on the couch.

Sand dunes here we come! Braxton, Gary and Braden

Braden

Kylee

Climbing the big sand hill

Kelsee and me enjoying the sand on our feet

Weird bug in the sand. There were some strange beetles, stink bugs and other interesting bugs in the sand. Aubree showed her morbid side by catching one of the big beetles and banging it over and over again with a sand shovel! She picked it up after the head was chopped off and the guts were still dangling from it. YUCK Aubree!

We had a bit of a problem getting home after we were done. Widge mangaged to get his truck stuck in the sand. There was a killer hill that the trucks had a really difficult time getting up. It ended up taking an extra long time to get everyone home to the Q house. I went on ahead in a 4-wheeler because our car was parked above the hills. I went to the house and got the chicken noodle soup warmed up.

This is Wendy. She is Gary's cousin. She was fun to get to know better since we went back early (with Aunt Sue too) to get the soup going.

Braden LOVED the soup! It's his fave.

Gary still has the stuff!

I think the day REALLY wore out Braden! He played, and played and played!

New Years Eve!

2011-01-04T07:52:00.000-08:00

For New Year's Eve this year, we went with a group of friends to Glenwood Hot Springs and then to our house for a party afterwards. We were originally going to go to St. George to stay for a few days, but the weather was horrible! We decided the icy and snowy roads wouldn't be worth it. Plus, the St. George weather was supposed to be cold as well, and the whole reason we wanted to go was to be warm. Instead, we headed up to Glenwood. The hot springs were a lot of fun. It was a weird feeling being so hot in the water, but having our head out in the freezing temperatures. In fact, we even got little ice crystals in our hair as we were soaking in water! I had to keep dunking my head underwater because my ears and face were so cold.

We got home and made burgers and home made fries (using Gary's new french fry cutter, I might add). It was so fun because we got the kids involved with some fun games like musical chairs and limbo. We had some great music, laughs and friends. What a great start to the new year! Amazingly, all the kids stayed up until midnight. Too many fun things to do...who wants to sleep with all that going on?

Icing on the cake!

2010-12-26T13:24:00.000-08:00

So Gary totally surprised me this year for Christmas. He had made a few trips to Green River to build "Aubree a dresser." I had no reason to not believe him, so I told all my friends and family about this dresser. I was so excited to see it. He was hoping to have it built by Christmas. Anyway, it got closer and closer to Christmas and Gary told me that he wasn't going to have it ready. Christmas came and we opened presents. After, Gary told me to go look in the craft room. He hadn't built Aubree a dresser at all! He had built me this awesome craft table! It is perfect for beading my jewelry because it is big and has a bunch of compartments for my bead trays and shelves for baskets of stuff. As you can see, I haven't been able to do much beading yet as our kids have taken it over. However, once they go back to school, I hope to have it as a perfect beading area for my jewelry making. I can't believe all the lies he had to tell in order for this to be a surprise! I asked him all sorts of questions about the dresser and he would come up will all these fake answers. I am glad he did though. I totally love the table!

It is amazing how things fall into place and just work out sometimes. So I just told about the fake dresser story. Well, lo and behold, my grandma Urton called me to tell me about this bedroom set that she was wanting to keep in the family but that she had no room for anymore. We have been looking for a bedroom set for Aubree for quite some time. On the phone, I was sort of on the fence. The set originally belonged to my great grandmother but I had never seen it before. I didn't know what kind of condition it was in and if it would be the right style that Aubree would enjoy. I was so thankful to my grandma for thinking of us. But to be honest, I just didn't know if we would be interested. Aubree had looked at a lot of furniture and seemed to be picky. I have been to a lot of 2nd hand stores and antique stores. There is an awful lot of junk and overpriced furniture out there that to me, is just ugly. I didn't want to be uncaring to my grandma, but I wasn't sure that we would want to have the set if it was beaten up and trashed.

Imagine my surprise and joy when we got to finally look at the furniture my grandma told me about. It was in excellent condition, and I loved the design of it. It is also so awesome and sentimental since it has been in our family for like 70 years! Aubree loved it too, so we were sold! We loaded it up and hauled it back to Fruita! This was just icing on the cake to a great holiday visit to Utah! Thanks to my grandma and grandpa for giving us this awesome bedroom furniture!

This shows the dresser on the left and the vanity that came with the set. I love the 4-poster style bed as well. There is also another twin bed that we need to get a mattress for that we will use as a day bed in her room. yahoo!

Q Party

2010-12-26T09:00:00.000-08:00

Every year we have a party with Gary's side of the family. This year it was on Dec. 26th. After we opened all our presents on Christmas day, we then headed to Green River. We had it the next day at Gary's parent's house. It was a lot of fun. For some reason, I totally spaced bringing presents for the gift exchange! We were supposed to bring a little present for each person in the family. Then we would do the gift exchange white elephant style! Since I didn't bring gifts (and Kaylyn forgot hers from Salt Lake) we went to the local gas station to find some gifts. My picks were mostly candy but the gas station did have a toy aisle and we were able to get some decent things. Popular gifts that got stolen were toy guns, snap gum, lip gloss and games.

It was fun to spend time with the Q side and just hang out. Unfortunately, Kristin and Scott's family couldn't come this year because they had already planned their vacation to California. I'm sure they were having fun in CA while we were in Green River, but they were missed!

Christmas Day!

2010-12-25T09:23:00.000-08:00

Yea! Christmas is here! The kids were obviously excited. They are all wearing their new PJ's they got for Christmas Eve.

Aubree loved her new slippers too

Kylee tried on her new tiara, halo and tu tu. She used to not even like dress-ups. In fact, just last year she wouldn't have wanted dress-ups or barbies, but she sort of got back into it this year. Maybe since she's been playing more with Aubree, she realizes it is actually fun. Before she thought she was "too old" for all that kind of stuff. I guess you are never too old to be a princess!

2010-12-25T09:20:00.000-08:00

More presents!

2010-12-25T09:17:00.000-08:00

Kylee made out like a bandit with all her loot this year! Mostly she got clothes but some other highlights were her guitar, art supplies, movies and all of the kids received pillow pets!

Here is Aubree's conglomoration of presents! Highlights for her were the "Hide and Seek Jo Jo," luggage, braiding hair Rapunzel barbie and a scooter!

Braden got lots of clothes (which her needed really bad...not fun for him to open but that's what he needed!) He also got a cool "Cars stunt park" toy that he loves. He also got some remote control toys and some spy binoculars!

Here is Braden reading a Cars Book he got.

Staying with KayLyn and Trax

2010-12-20T10:01:00.000-08:00

We went to Salt Lake over the weekend and got to stay with KayLyn and Shane. What I love about hanging out with them is that their kids are so great with ours! The cousins played and played and played. It was a blast! The older kids would swing Braden and Aubree into their giant bean bag. Woo-hoo!

We decided to take the kids on their first ever trip to temple square to see the lights. Another first was the Trax train ride! We went with the Baucom's, Heather and the Thackers. What a fun experience!

Here is Tanner, Braden, me and Aubree

Kylee and Gary riding the train

Shaylee and Travis

Just waiting for the train

Classic Skating

2010-12-20T09:54:00.000-08:00

Kylee skate/dancing to Y-M-C-A!

We got to go with the Thacker's to Classic Skating. This was Aubree's first time rollar skating, and Kylee's first time at an actual roller rink. It brought back memories for me from 20 years ago! I used to go with my friends to Classic when I was 12 or 13. It has changed a lot and now the rink also has a whole other section with bouncy slides, bump and jumps and other fun things. All three kids were in heaven. Tanner and Stetson were awesome with the kids and helped them with skating as well as giving them prizes from all the tickets they got from the games they played!

Temple Square

2010-12-19T10:11:00.000-08:00

Gary and Celeste

Becki and Heather...when did Becki get so tall and grown up?

The temple really is majestic and beautiful

Tanner, Shaylee, Stetson, Travis and Aubree

Tanner, Braden and Stetson (Braden LOVED hanging with the big boys!)

Gary and John

On the way home...

2010-12-19T09:46:00.000-08:00

We didn't get to see Danielle on our trip to Salt Lake, so we stopped by Walmart to say "hello" and "good-bye." She had just got off work from there so we met in the kids area. It was a fun little detour!Kylee bought a giant jaw breaker from the candy machine. It was gross, messy and huge! Let's just say that it conveniently disappeared shortly after she got it!

2010-12-19T09:00:00.000-08:00

Dance Performance!

2010-12-03T10:31:00.000-08:00

Here is the whole group together at the end

Kylee's song for this one was Miley Cyrus' "Pop It Lock It" and the girls loved it!

"hip hop it"

Kylee would sing and practice this dance all the time! She did great.

Aubree did such a great job too. She was so cute when they would start to run around in a circle...she just would start laughing. She was having fun!

Thanksgiving 2010!

2010-11-25T08:32:00.000-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving, my dad and family came to our house! It was so fun.

Gary's birthday actually fell right on Thanksgiving this year. The kids had fun decorating his cake with smarties.

McKennah, Aubree and Kylee getting ready to eat!

Cute Jeannine and Tiffany

Tiffany, Dad and I cutting up stuff for dinner

Thanksgiving fun

2010-11-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

This was a great day. We ate yummy food, celebrated Gary's birthday, spent time with family and even went mountain biking. Woo-hoo!

Gary looks like he will have no problem blowing out his candles!

The top picture is Steve Martin giving my neice, McKennah a ride. The next is my dad riding down Kessel. The bottom row is me giving Aubree a ride, then Ashley and Riley Martin blazing down the trail. It was very chilly but worth it.

2010-10-31T10:46:00.000-07:00

Gary didn't go as the oil spill while he was at work...he went as a jailbird. Much easier to sit at a desk and help his patients. Braden went as a parrot; Aubree a bumblebee and Kylee a witch. So fun!

Our fun friends had some great costumes!

BP Oil Spill and Clean up worker!

2010-10-31T10:44:00.000-07:00

This year for Halloween, Gary created a costume that represented the huge oil spill that happened in the gulf this year. He got real reeds, weeds and grasses and drilled them into a huge black board he built. He also spray painted a couple of stuffed animal birds and glued them all onto the board. I went as a BP Oil worker and wore a jumpsuit, goggles, hard hat, etc. It was really fun to go as something no one else was! We had a fun time and even won a couple of "awards" for our costumes at different halloween parties!

Vegas trip with the girls!

2010-09-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

In front of Bellagio water show

I had the opportunity to go to Las Vegas with 7 friends this past weekend. It was so fun! We stayed in a time share that Melissa has, and we added on a room so there were a total of 4 beds and 8 girls. Luckily, the beds were big so we just shared. We road tripped it in Amy's big Excursion and I am so glad we did! We had some funny, interesting and enlightening conversation to say the least. We stopped at Cafe Rio (one of my favorites) in Cedar City on the way down and didn't arrive until about 10pm in Vegas. We checked out the lights and sights and ended up going to bed pretty late. We decided to go to the hot tub before bed. A couple was already in the pool and I am sure they were excited to see the 8 of us heading in their direction! Hopefully we provided comic relief because we definitely didn't help them with their romantic hot tub experience. Darcy's impersonation of a cow, I am sure, was a highlight for them. It was for me! Finally, bed! Unfortunately, I couldn't sleep thanks to an overly fluffy pillow! I forgot mine at home and the one in the hotel was super "poofy" and firm. Amy had the same problem and we made a plan to buy a pillow while we were here!

Friday morning we went to the Las Vegas temple. Before we left, we went to the cafe inside South Point casino. We joked that it was ironic we were inside a casino, smelling like smoke and then we were going to go to the temple. The cafe was actually really good. Then we were off to the temple. It was so beautiful inside and out. There was an atrium inside where you can go and enjoy flowers, trees and bushes in about 10 degree cooler weather than outside! It was hot the whole time (around 98 degrees) so the atrium was perfect. It was a neat experience to go to the temple with girlfriends. The Celestial room was gorgeous and had these amazing chandeliers. I loved it.

After the temple it was time to rehydrate with some Coke and ice cream so we headed to Sonic. That night we headed to the strip for some dinner and the "O" show! The O show is a Cirque De Soleil production and it did not disappoint. It had this amazing stage that would go from water (deep enough to dive in and do water tricks/synchronized swimming); and then within seconds, it would turn into a regular stage they would walk across! The story line of the show was pretty non-existent and I leaned over to Darcy and said, "What is going on?!" many times. I finally stopped trying to figure out what was going on and just enjoyed the "visual stimulation" of the thing. Acrobats, bendy asian girls, clowns, weird guys in red overcoats, lots of women dressed in little bridal looking getups, humpback skinny guy in a tux and a really buff black guy with a bare butt were all part of the show. They did amazing things with their bodies and the set was so incredible. I see why it is so famous and so loved.

We literally had to run from our dinner at Cabo Wabo to the show because it took forever to get our receipts and pay for our dinner! We were seriously in danger of missing the show! We must have looked like quite a site...8 women running up and down stairs and across streets and through Bellagio to get to the show. Of course, in Vegas, we were probably not that obvious considering all the other crazy people to stare at!

This is a funny picture with Mindy and Emily. Check out the couple behind them totally making out! Major PDA. The guy did look up when he saw my camera flash. They just laughed a little and went back to snuggling.

We wanted to go dancing that night and walked around looking for a "suitable" place. We had heard about an outdoor venue by Harrah's that we thought would be a perfect spot. It's outside so we thought the porn style characters might stay away. However, surrounding the dance floor were cages up a level with woman in leather bras and I guess shorts that were basically providing eye candy for all the men (and maybe women?). Not everyone in our group felt comfortable in that scene so we decided to pass.

We went to a piano bar for a few minutes and decided a piano bar would be a lot of fun for the next night so we made a plan to come back. By now it was 1am-ish and all were getting tired. We still wanted to hit Walmart for a pillow for Amy and me so we were off. Also, Mindy L. was needing food and we saw an In-N-Out by the Walmart so we naturally went through the drive-thru for food.

After getting some grilled cheese's, Amy surprised us by pulling into an empty, deserted parking lot. We had been jamming to music in the car the majority of the trip and it seemed high time to do some dancing! We couldn't find a dance club so we made our own. We cranked up Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies" and danced in the parking lot with In-N-Out hats on. I'm sure we looked crazy and drunk but again, in Vegas...nothing out of the ordinary! It was so fun!

We finally made it to Walmart for pillows and breakfast food and went back to South Point. It was a super fun, eventful and tiring day. The pillow did wonders and I slept like a rock.

We all slept in the next morning and then hit the pool. It was a wonderfully sunny day and it felt so good to relax and soak up the sun. After a couple hours we got ready and headed out for another day of adventure. First on the list was the Cheesecake Factory, another favorite for me. We talked and laughed and enjoyed great food. We then went shopping at Town Square for a little while and I was a little disappointed I didn't find anything I wanted to buy. We decided to go to another show that night and bought discount tickets to the V Variety Show. Again, we were in a hurry to make it to the show so we started our running tricks again! We made it to the show and personally, I thought it was great.We joked that we were going to go to "Thunder Down Under" (of course, we didn't) but when we saw the men from the Variety show after the show sans shirts, we figured we should get a picture and pretend they were from the other show. heehee. In this theater, it was more musty, smaller and not as professional as the O show (obviously) but it was 4 times cheaper than the O show and I laughed a lot. We got pictures with some of the acts. There was a juggler, strong shirtless guys that would balance on each other in weird positions, two brothers from somewhere like Croatia? that did synchronized rope whipping, drum playing and other fun and funny things. The best and last act was a guy that impersonated everyone from Mick Jagger to Lady Ga Ga with funny costumes and lip synching. I laughed and laughed. it was very entertaining. He also did the 3 tenors, the Jackson 5 and Sylvester Stallone(sp). We went to the M&M Factory and did some more shopping after the show and then headed back to the hotel. Some of us were still up for a piano bar, so me, Darcy, Mindy D. and Emily all went back to Town Square for the piano show. It was already 2am and they closed at 3am so we only had an hour to watch. The piano/singer guys were so talented! I wish we could have come sooner. There were definitely some raunchy parts but if you just ignored those parts, it was very enjoyable! They played Prince, Pink Floyd, Wheezer, and some college fight songs.

just sat in the back and sang along to what we knew. We tried to make a request by putting our request on a napkin and setting it on the piano like we had seen others do...however we didn't realize that they were only playing requests with money in it! We are such amateurs. Now we'll know for next time!

The next day was time to go home. Check out was 11am and we weren't much before that. We had cereal for breakfast and packed all our crap up and hit the road. The drive was really fun and we entertained ourselves with stories, and doing this funny thing Amy told us about. We put my camera on "sport shot" and then the person would blow their lips together...you know like when your blowing on a kids belly? Well we do that and take a series of pictures and Oh...My...Gosh...it was so funny.

Everyone's face, hair, lips and eyes come out in these contorted crazy faces! We had fun with that for awhile.

Our trip was made longer by a deter due to a forest fire that has gotten out of hand. It had been burning since June but over the weekend had doubled in size. We had to make a detour and go through Piute instead. Before the detour, we stopped in St. George for lunch. A lot of places were closed but we found this little strip of shopping that had open restaurants. I had Panda Express...yummo.

We finally dropped off everyone and I got home to my awesome family around 10pm. It was so good to see them and hear about everything that went on in my absense. They got to go to Melon Days and they had a great time. They didn't even have time to miss me I don't think! Anyway, this was a successful and exciting trip and I hope we get to do it again sometime. Good times...good times....

Did I mention we had a really long drive in the car?

What? Is there something wrong with my face?

Give me a kiss!

Melissa looks like she is rolling her eyes and saying "What-ever!"

1st day of school!

2010-08-23T08:32:00.000-07:00

Well I don't know who is more excited about the 1st day of school, Kylee, Aubree or me! Yesterday we spent a lot of time organizing back packs, supplies and picking out clothes. I had Kylee go through her closet and try on a bunch of her old clothes to see what she has grown out of and what still fits. I sharpened 24 pencils (by hand...harder than you think!) and we started bedtime early. The kids were so excited and nervous. They both woke up at 7am (a huge feat for Aubree...she usually sleeps in until 8:30!) They got ready without complaining and were ready to go way before the bus came at 8:30. We took some pictures and I thought everything was going to be just fine. However, the bus pulled up and Kylee zipped right on and headed back to sit by a friend she saw on the bus. Aubree started up the stairs and then immediately turned around to me with a look of terror on her face! She started whimpering and saying she didn't want to go. I just tried to help her along and sort of pushed her on up the stairs. My heart was just breaking! I started feeling tears in my own eyes! I feel so bad that she gets so scared sometimes. I called out for Kylee to please sit with Aubree. I don't know if she actually did, but I hope so. I will hear the whole experience after school today. I am also hoping Aubree makes it to her classroom okay. I don't know if they have teachers/helpers to help the younger kids find their rooms or not but I told Aubree they would. I asked the bus driver if he could help her find an adult to help her and he said he would. I am nervous for my little Aubree! Kylee is a little nervous too but she is so excited, I'm not as worried about her. She's a big 3rd grader now and she knows right where to go when the bus lets them off. This is a big day! New school, new teacher, new kids, first time on a bus...anyone would be nervous I think!

I actually had a nightmare about this last night! I dreamed that I put the girls on the bus and it turned out it was the wrong bus and the girls were missing and I couldn't get a hold of anyone to find out where the bus went and where the girls were. I didn't know who to call or where to go for help. I literally woke up sweating and had that feeling of helplessness and sorrow! I was seriously sooo relieved when I realized it was only a dream!

We just got landscaping! Here the girls are in front of our new tree!

Kylee is starting to be a little poser for the camera!

Aubree loves this outfit! She wore it for her birthday party and then has had it laid out for the first day of school ever since!

Here comes the bus!

Aubree's Birthday!

2010-08-20T08:53:00.000-07:00

Aubree decided that this year for her birthday, she wanted to have a slumber party! On Friday, we had the girls come to the house for the big night. We had fried chicken for dinner, then cake and ice cream. Aubree picked out a bunch of fabric and we sewed little pillows for the girls. The girls got to stuff their pillows and they seemed to love it. Then we did a "spa night." I had them put their feet in a bubble bath, then put yummy smelling lotion on. We then went on the back porch and painted toes and fingernails! They watched a movie and played barbies for the rest of the night. The night owls (Aubree, Brooklyn and Regan) were finally in bed by 11:30. And by the way, they did not sleep in the next morning. 7am came and BING! Everyone's awake. Gary made pancakes and bacon for breakfast. It was a really fun night!

Regan LOVED the make-up more than anyone! Every time I turned around, she was putting on more lipstick!

Puckering up with their lipstick lips!

Soaking their toes in the tub

Gary had them all going with acting like a bear/monster

Chloe having fun!

Silly Amber

Lizzy

Regan!

Opening presents

Pillow making!

Camping-Kylee's broken collar bone

2010-08-07T09:28:00.000-07:00

We went on a camping trip up to the Uncompadre with some of our friends. The Case's, Dare's and Sagers' all went. The night went really well and we had fun by the fire. However, the next day, Mindy, Darcy and I took some kids four wheeling. We were going down a hill that had some jumps on it, and Darcy rolled the four wheeler with Eden and Kylee on it. Kylee was screaming pretty bad and we knew she was pretty hurt. We were pretty far away from the ER, but we went ahead and packed up everything and tried to get to Fruita as quickly as possible. It turned out that she did have a broken collar bone. Also, she had really bad road rash up and down her right arm. The nurses had to clean the wound which was pure torture for Kylee. The good news is that the break was a "clean break" and they said she would be totally healed within 3-6 weeks. Darcy had major bruising and pain in her back as well. Luckily, little Eden escaped with only minor scratches. It just makes me realize how precious life is and how dangerous four-wheelers can be. We sometimes think we are invincible but this was a wake-up call to all of us to be more cautious. Poor Darcy felt so bad but the reality is that it could have been any one of us. Lesson learned!

Jody, Braden, Caden, Lizzy and Kendra

Keeping warm by the fire...Shad, Chad, Jaya, Carli, Gary, Mollie, Eden Jody

Gary the cave man!

Look at the big stick Carli found for firewood!

Kylee's Baptism

2010-08-05T13:46:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful day for Kylee's baptism. So many relatives and friends came to support her. It was awesome! My grandma and grandpa Urton came; my dad, my sister Tiffany and daughter McKennah; my mom, John and Becki Baucom came; Gary's sisters KayLyn and Kristin along with their families; Gary's brother Lory and his family came; Gary's mom and several of our friends from here came. We had a luncheon at our house beforehand and then headed out to the stake center for Kylee's 5:00 baptism. Kylee asked me after she was baptized, "Mom, does my skin look really extra clean now?" Kylee was excited and said she did feel different after she was baptized and confirmed. She is a special little girl and I can't believe how fast she is growing up!

Almost all of the boy cousins on Gary's side...we are just missing Travis. Good looking group of boys!

All the family members who came out for Kylee's baptism (except KayLyn, who is taking the picture!) I didn't think I would ever get a picture with my mom, John and my dad in the same photo! Funny how important events sometimes bring people together. It might have been awkward for them but they didn't act like it was a big deal. I love them all!

Andy and Kayla Keith with Kylee and Gary. Kylee and Kayla have been best friends for years. I let Kylee wait a couple of months to have her baptism so she could do it with Kayla. As an added bonus, Kylee's other close friend, Carli was also being baptized this day as well! I can't believe we didn't get a picture with all three of them. I will have to ask Mindy if she has any to add.

Kristin, me, Shaylee and KayLyn hanging out on our deck before the baptism

Grandma and Grandpa Urton, Dad, Andy, Gary, Krehl and Tiffany

Kaden, Lory, Jen, Kiana, and Pat Quarnberg

Before the baptism, the kids just wanted to play the game cube!

This is Tate Quarnberg. Hide your daughters!

Mud fight!

2010-08-03T10:22:00.000-07:00

Aubree and Chloe!

Mud zombie!

Kayla and Kylee

Braden!

It will be nice when we get a yard. For the time being, the kids make the most of what they have by creating lots and lots of mud! Fun for them....not so much for me. However it is funny to watch them play and cover themselves in the mud and the muck!

Dinner Group

2010-08-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

A group of my friends and I decided to try a "dinner group." Basically, each person cooks the same meal for all 8 people in the group and then we all get together and collect one meal from each friend. So, on the night that I prepare for the group, I make 8 batches of the meal and then freeze it. In exchange, I receive 7 other meals. We've done it for 3 months now and except for the night I have to cook everything, I love it! While I am trying to cook the 8 meals though, I get frustrated and it always ends up being a very late night. However, being able to just pull a meal out from the freezer that one of my friends made, and just heat it up is awesome! I love the variety and the yumminess. This month, I did chicken shish-ka-bobs. I will not be doing that one again! It took forever to skewer 64 sticks and plus, I kept getting slivers from the bamboo! They turned out good though. Here are the pics!

7 trays of shish-ka-bobs....finally! I think it was close to midnight!

Good thing I know a good eye doctor...although I don't know if he could help his own self if he actually poked his own eye!

Lagoon 2010

2010-07-26T12:55:00.000-07:00

I have so many great memories of going to Lagoon as a kid. I even got a season pass with my own money when I was about 14 and would go with my friend on the bus to play at Lagoon all day. I thought it was high time to give our kids the same experience! We took the three kids on Monday and they had a total blast. Kylee went on every scary ride including Wicked and the Colossus! She has no fear. Aubree and Braden had more fun on the kiddie rides, so for part of the day Gary and I split up to take Kylee on the big rides and Braden and Aubree on the smaller ones. We saw 3 different families we knew while we were there! Small world. I loved it and can't wait to go again next year!

The Tidal Wave!

the fountains were a great place to cool off!

Dinner with the family

2010-07-25T12:35:00.000-07:00

We had a fun night at my dad and step-mom Jeannine's house on Sunday. 3 of my 4 sisters were there and we were just goofy and silly the whole time. We don't get the chance to spend a lot of time with them, so I thought it was so nice to be able to hang out with them for awhile.

My dad is tough...he can handle crazy Kylee!

McKennah and Aubree were inseperable. They wanted to "perform" a song for us but they couldn't stop laughing long enough to sing anything!

The girls were holding up Braden...he's no lightweight either!

The Sisters: Danielle, Tiffany, me and Tawny (too bad Heather couldn't be with us :( She is in Seattle working as a traveling nurse right now)

Yummy banana dessert Tiffany made. This is dad and Tawny

Braden with his "Grampa Bob"

Tiffany swears this is the ugliest face ever. I don't agree. How can she be ugly? She says it is really ugly without makeup but I still don't buy it!

Ahhh...

Happy face Gary. He must be realizing how lucky is to have such a cool wife.

Tawny is so excited as well. Woo-hoo!

Tawny's good friend Sarah with Gary. He looks scared, doesn't he? We learned that Sarah and Tawny are very good at lying through their teeth...they will say something totally straight faced as if it were true, even though there is no truth to it! Watch out people!

Sisters Tiffany, Tawny and "Grama Nean" She doesn't look like a grandma though! She could be a sister as well!

Rock Wall

2010-07-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

We decided to try something different when we went to Utah this trip. We had heard how fun Snowbird was during the summer, but had never been. We got there when it opened around 11am and I figured we would be done by about 3pm. Well, I was wrong! It was so much fun and the kids had a blast (so did I). They have an alpine slide, a zip line (which was super high and Kylee still went on it), a bungee trampoline, a rock wall, a ropes course up high, some bump and jumps and more! My mom, Becki, 2 of her friends, Darryl and his daughter Romee all came. We even saw my Uncle Doug and Aunt Tanya Webb there. We just brought a picnic lunch and then went to a late dinner at Cafe Rio when we finally finished. We would have stayed longer but the rides all closed at 8pm. We were there all day long!

Kylee played on this rock wall forever. She would go down, go up and ring the bell and then do it all over again! I bet she spent an hour or more on it.

Aubree liked it too. She would go up just a little ways and then slide down. She had way more fun going down than up!

2010-07-24T10:35:00.000-07:00

Mammy treated us all with ice cream cones!

2010-07-24T10:28:00.000-07:00

This is the ropes course. It is scarier than it looks! Kylee loved it. Aubree did it but needed some encouragement. I was proud of her that she did it though. Even I got a little scared!

Aubree and I on the alpine slide...woo-hoo!

mom flying down the slide

Braden didn't go down on his own but he liked to pretend he was!

Aubree picked these pretty flowers for our hair.

Summertime at Snowbird

2010-07-24T09:35:00.000-07:00

These bungee tramps were so cool. You could go really high and Braden loved it.

Both Kylee and Aubree were able to do back flips! Kylee even did a double back flip!

Strike a pose..vogue...vogue...vogue

Waiting in line in the hot sun was not fun

West Water Rafting Trip!

2010-07-07T18:00:00.000-07:00

Gary and I were able to go white water rafting on Monday. 24 of us took four rafts and two kayaks down the river. The rapids were thrilling and the weather was gorgeous! The first 5 miles or so is mainly flat water, the next 5 have some AWESOME rapids and the last 5-7 miles are flat again. Krehl hooked on a motor for the last stretch and we hooked up all the rafts together and cruised on outa there! It took all day and we didn't get home until around 6pm (We met at Stegs around 7am) so it was a long day! Thanks Amy and Krehl for inviting us! Gary rode in the "mini-me" which is a tiny raft that gets a lot more action than the bigger rafts. It only flipped one time, which is good! It is meant to carry 3 or 4 people, but during our stop for lunch, 6 of us girls tried to take it across the rapids. It was so much harder than it looked! We got almost all the way across the river and then the current would take us down stream again. Oh well, it was fun trying! We also jumped off a cliff right near the end of our trip and that was pretty fun. What a great time.

Highline Hustle

2010-06-12T18:12:00.000-07:00

me, Val, Darcy, Darrin, Amy, Gary, Chad sporting our tattoo numbers!

This year, we tried something new! Gary and I both signed up for the Highline Hustle. It is a mini-triathlon held in Mack, Colorado at Highline Lake. It is right by our house (like 10 miles away) and we thought it would be a lot of fun! I trained with my girlfriends and Gary hardly trained at all. In fact, I don't think he ran before hand at all. Well, maybe once. Anyway, he smoked it! He did so great. He beat everyone in our group except Chad (who is amazing and works out every single day)! The weather was super rainy and we were soaked from head to toe the entire time (and not from the swim). The hardest for me was the running at the end because it was a muddy, hilly mess! However, it was a lot of fun and I want to do it again next year. I just hope the weather is better. The race consists of a 500 meter swim in the lake, 14 miles of road biking with some pretty steep hills and then running for a little over 3 miles. I took way too much time on my transitions and know that I can improve a lot there. I was just glad to finish because I was dead tired and cold by the end of it!

David Cook Concert

2010-06-09T18:31:00.000-07:00

I drove to SL to see David Cook in concert with Amy, Valery and Kris (their mom). It was held after a soccer game at Rio Tinto and I am so glad we went to the soccer game first! I have never been and after going, I can totally see how people get hooked on it. It is so fun to be a part of the crowd with all the energy going on. David Cook was pretty great but it was a super short concert. The good news is that we got to go onto the field pretty close to the stage and see David close up. He really is a great singer.

The other awesome thing was that I got to see my old college roomie, Noelia! We had lunch the next day and got to catch up. She is a great friend and I loved seeing her again. I felt bad that Braden was such a terror! Luckily, we were seated outside so he could run around a bit. However, he kept giving Noli dirty looks. I don't know what his deal was. I tried taking him shopping after and he wanted nothing to do with it! I think he was just tired.

I also went to dinner with my Dad and sisters. It is always nice to spend time with them. I feel I don't get to spend enough time with any of them and so when I come to SL, we always try and plan a get together. Jeannine wasn't feeling good, so she didn't come. I felt bad about that because I wasn't able to see her at all the whole trip. Hopefully next time she will be feeling better. Anyway, we ate at Italian Village and it was super yummy. I forgot how wonderful their pizza benders were! Braden came to the restaurant and was fairly good. He got a little crazy and had to go the bathroom like 5 times in an hour but other than that, he did fine. My dad watched him that night so I could go to the concert. He was still awake at 11:30 pm when I got home! I think he loved hanging out with "Grampa Bob". They were snuggled up watching TV just enjoying themselves.

Overall, it was a nice trip. I got to spend some great one on one time with Braden, which I loved. I stayed at the Baucoms and they are always wonderful. They were pretty busy this time so I didn't get to see much of them but we did get to eat together. Becki just LOVES Braden and it is fun to see them play together.

Random photos

2010-06-03T13:45:00.001-07:00

On our way home from Utah, we found a field that had tons of flowers growing! We stopped and took a few pictures

Braden

Kylee is getting pretty good on the four-wheeler!

Amy is like a 2nd mom to my kids! We love her!

Braden playing in our shower!

"She thinks my tractor's sexy"

2010-06-03T13:38:00.000-07:00

Well, Gary got his wish and purchased a tractor. He is on that thing morning and night. He loves it! The kids love it too. I even learned a thing or two on the thing!

Watch out!

Bonfire in the backyard

2010-06-03T13:01:00.000-07:00

Shortly after we moved into our new house, we had a big bonfire to burn a bunch of garbage, boxes, wood, etc. that had been accumulating in our garage. It was a fun night...Until I got socked in the eye with a marshmallow!

Kylee turned around with her stick/marshmallow and got me right in the eye! Yowsers!

Oooy, goooy goodness

Gary with Aubree...ahhh

Quinn

me and Braden

The kids love the big dirt hills in our backyard!

Kylee's turns 8!

2010-06-03T12:13:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that my little Kylee has reached 8 years old already. Some days I wish she was still little and more dependent on me. Other days I think, "only 10 more years and she can move out!" Just kidding...a little. She has brought a lot of happiness and pride to me as her mom. She is so smart! She has great analytical ability AND navigational skills. Her memory is amazing. Unless it is "remembering" that I told her 5 times to clean her room. Then she forgets. Anyway, I love her for all that she is and am so thankful to have her in my life. She loves to hug, kiss, snuggle and talk. She gets a little over zealous with all of these things and we have to tell her to back off at times! However, I know in the back of my head that these are the times to cherish. I am sure that when she gets a little older, she will not want all the hugs and kisses. She might not want to just sit and talk. She'll be doing her own thing. I hope she will always want to be close to us and share her feelings, thoughts and stories about her day. We love our Kylee!

On her "real" birthday, May 19th, we didn't do anything big. I made a cake and we ate it with the Dare kids and Mindy. It was a fun "mini" celebration.
On May 27th, we had a huge ice skating party at the Glacier Ice Arena. We had about 12 kids and it was a blast. Kylee scored on the presents and got mostly zhu zhu pets, baby zhu zhu's and zhu zhu accessories (car, boat, stroller, etc.) She also received crafty things which she totally loves.

On the ice...

Jaya and Brooke

Kylee, Heidi and Jody

Alex, Blake and Tayson

Kayla and Carli

Whitney and Aubree

Gary and Braden

Opening presents!

Tayson and Blake sporting the gangsta signs (?) Maybe it's just peace signs. "Peace Out!"

Cute!

Kayla and Kylee

Alex striking a pose

Braden skated really good for about an hour (with Gary or me holding onto him from his armpits). We were tired of holding him up so I got this sled and all the kids took turns in it! They loved it.

Blake and Alex fell all over each other! Once they were down, they had a hard time untangling themselves. I decided the picture was more important than helping them up right away. They were laughing (luckily) and finally got up.

I was amazed how great the kids did at ice skating. It was a first time for a lot of the kids and I was worried at first when they all wanted to hold my hand and couldn't even move forward on the ice. By the end ALL of them could skate on their own and were actually going fairly fast! The boys were hilarious. They have no fear. They would skate really fast, fall down, get up and literally start running on the ice again! It was awesome. The kids didn't complain of falling, being too cold or wanting to go home. They just kept brushing themselves off and going for it again. It was a super fun birthday!

Grandma and Grandpa Urton's 50th Anniversary

2010-05-03T13:29:00.000-07:00

My Grandma and Grandpa have been married for 50 years! They are still as in love now as they were 50 years ago. They are best friends and it shows. They had a reception in Sandy and we were happy to be able to be a part of it.

my grandma's wedding dress

Aubree and Grandma Neene

How could I not love this guy?

New House!

2010-05-01T15:28:00.000-07:00

We have been building our house since August of last year and it is finally finished (well, mostly!) We moved in the day before Easter and it has been so awesome!

Moab 1/2 Marathon 2010

2010-03-20T15:09:00.000-07:00

Playing at the park afterward

me, mom, john and heather

Braden playing

Krehl, Amy, Val, me Suzy

Krehl

Heather and mom (Bonnie Baucom) coming in together! How awesome is that?

Who knew I would be in the ER an hour after this picture?

I made it!

John did great!

So this year I decided to run the Moab half-marathon again. This is my 2nd race and I even recruited my sister Heather, my mom and John Baucom to run with me! I also had a few friends running it as well (Suzy, Amy, Krehl, Betsy and Val) so I was totally raring to go! However, the whole month of March I had been super sick and the night before the race, I was having major thoughts of just not running. I had flu-like symptoms and a really bad hacking cough. I started taking antibiotics and loaded up on Advil and Dayquil and decided to go for it.

We drove to Green River, UT and stayed the night and then the Baucoms, Heather and I drove to Moab early that morning. I actually felt great! I couldn't believe how well I felt considering how bad I felt the night before.

Anyway, we start the race and I was feeling fine. The first 3 miles I ran with Heather and had fun catching up with her and her life. Then, she decided to walk for awhile and I went on ahead. The next 5-6 miles I felt really good and then the last two I felt really tired. However, I didn't feel like there was anything out of the ordinary. After all, I had been running for 11 miles...of course I would be tired. I finished the race and got a 2:20 time which I was happy about. Last year I got 2:12 but I wasn't sick so the 2:20 was wonderful to me. We visit with everyone afterwards, get something to eat for lunch and all of a sudden, I have sudden intense pain in my chest! I'm telling you it was awful. I have never hurt so bad except maybe labor...and that is only a maybe. I told Gary to take me to the ER in Moab because something is going terribly wrong!

Luckily, the Baucoms were right there and were able to take our 3 kids and drive them to Fruita for us. They got them all situated, fed and ready for bed by the time we got home. We were in the hospital for 4 hours!

Turns out I was just really, really dehydrated and my potassium levels were too low. After 2 liters of water through an IV I felt fine. I can't believe I didn't drink more water/gatorade on the run! I was sick, so I'm sure my body was working extra hard and needed extra water and electrolytes. I have been "dehydrated" before where I felt really thirsty and lethargic. This is not how I felt going into the ER. I can't even describe it! Anyway, I am so glad that I am back to normal and it wasn't anything too serious. It was a hard, painful and expensive lesson learned...drink more water!

Little Salt Wash

2010-03-16T15:02:00.000-07:00

The culprit

Aubree is up the hill at least 20 feet away from the dog

She is really upset

So sad!

Yay...doggie is gone so back to playing!

We love to go on this little hike/bike ride behind our house called the "little salt wash". Someone recently added a rope swing to a big tree and so now there is even more adventure! As most of you know, Aubree is terrified of little dogs she doesn't know. This teeny, tiny dog came by (on a leash, with the owner) and Aubree freaked out (bless her little heart). The dog wasn't anywhere near her but for some reason, she just got really scared. I know I shouldn't have laughed and caught the moment with my camera, but it was just too funny not to. Sorry, Bree...you'll laugh at this later!

Ouray Hot Springs

2010-03-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

Here he goes!

Get ready for the dunk!

Bree, Gary and Kylee

Gary and Braden

This year, for Spring Break, we drove a couple of hours to Ouray and swam in the hot springs. We were worried it was going to be too cold and snowy, but we got there and it wasn't bad at all! There were hardly any people there and the kids had a blast. Kylee kept going into the cold pool, then the super hot pool and then the regular hot pool. She is crazy if you ask me. I dipped my feet in the cold pool and about died. However, Gary was a good sport and swam with her in the cold pool (all the way across!) and then they made the rounds to the other pools. Braden did this funny thing every time he would go underwater. He would make this face...call it a look of distress...and mouth wide open...then all of a sudden he would just go under. It was hilarious. Later, we went to Applebee's for dinner and them home. Since we couldn't go somewhere warm and exotic for spring break, I think this was the next best thing. We had a great time!

Cute random pictures

2010-03-05T14:49:00.000-08:00

Lizzy and Braden...aren't they pretty?

Men prefer blondes...or in Braden's case, being blond!

yum yum

Aubree with one of her best friends, Amber

Good friends!

When in doubt, throw it out

2010-03-05T09:46:00.000-08:00

Well, I am officially in spring cleaning mode. I decided to clean out the fridge for three reasons: ONE-It looks like my container of chocolate syrup threw up in there

TWO-We are almost ready to move into our new house, and how could I put this dirty, nasty fridge in a brand new CLEAN house?

THREE-I really need to go grocery shopping, the fridge is almost empty, so what better time to clean it out?

I found some pretty interesting things in there. How long do condiments last, anyway? Does soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and Caesar dressing go bad? My philosophy is that "when in doubt, throw it out." I don't remember the last time I made Caesar salad so off to the trash the dressing went. I threw away some tarter sauce that expired in '08. Why did I have tarter sauce in there in the first place? Anyone who knows me knows that I can't stand seafood and never make it (except for the occasional tuna sandwich). I don't even know how the tarter sauce got in there. I know, I know, seafood is SOOO good for me! I should be eating it all the time. And I am really depriving our family. Well, let me tell you. It does NOT taste like chicken! And yes, I have tried all sorts of varieties and still do not care for that fishy, ocean taste. Sorry. There were also many other things that got tossed. There was dried milk granule things all over. There was some very questionable produce items. It also makes me nervous that there was a package of granny smiths from Sam's Club that had been in there for like 2 months but still looked beautiful. Are they really still good after all this time? I don't know. Chuck to the garbage. And now....drumroll please....my refrigerator is nice and sparkly. I also took down half the papers/calendars/schedules on the fridge and tossed them.

I wonder how long before the next juice/milk/unidentified object decides to spontaneously combust and I will have to do it all over again. Hopefully not before my shiny, happy fridge gets a new home in our new basement!

Now if the weather would take the hint and turn to Spring. It is snowing again! We had two good days and now snow. Oh well. I have a clean fridge. Maybe I can just stare into it and get some UV rays from the light...no probably not. Anyway Happy Friday!

Aubree the Explorer

2010-03-01T14:45:00.000-08:00

On the hunt...

Look at this pretty rock!

One day, after school, Aubree stated that she wanted to be an adventurer for the day and she proceeded to put on sunglasses, a hat and a treasure collector (i.e. box). She went outside and started picking up interesting things and pretty rocks. It was fun to see her use her imagination like that! We have gone on nature walks before but usually I am the one putting it together. This time, it was all her!

Chamber of Commerce 70's dinner

2010-02-27T14:40:00.000-08:00

Every year, the Fruita Chamber of Commerce holds a banquet/dinner along with an auction. We have gone every year (I think!). They always have a theme and this year's theme was the 70's. It was so fun to see how everyone dressed up! There were lots of disco diva girls (with a whole lot of skin showing...eyes up honey) and there was even a couple of girls on roller skates. The hair was awesome ranging from major fro's to long and straight. We had fun sitting at a table with our friends (Jolley's, Heap's, Lowe's, and Cornum's). I wasn't feeling great so we didn't dance as much as we would have...I love to dance! Oh well...it was fun to see everyone else bust out their 70's moves!

Ski day with Kylee, Amy and Kaison

2010-02-24T14:23:00.000-08:00

Poor Kylee got stuck in this powder forever!

Face plant!

She was doing so well, she started keeping her legs closer together and turning

Me, Kaison, Kylee and Amy

Kylee always wanted my poles even though she has no need for them at this point...

Kylee pretending to drop my glove off the ski lift.

Kai and Amy

Kylee and Kaison with his hot dog

Amy and I took Kylee and Kaison skiing at Powderhorn! We put them both in lessons for the first part of the day and then picked them up to have lunch together and then skied with them in the afternoon. Kylee was so happy that she got to miss a day of school and hang out with me (and I was pretty stoked too!) I still can't believe that Kaison is only 5 and skis as well as he does. Kylee did an excellent job as well and has really improved from last year. It turned out to be a wonderful day!

Christmas Eve Traditions

2009-12-24T16:42:00.000-08:00

Every year for the past 6 years or so, we have gone sledding on Christmas Eve (except for the years we were out of town). It seems like it has snowed more than ever this year, but when we got to the sledding spot, there was tons of dirt and not as much snow! However, the kids didn't seem to care or notice. Aubree is a very fair weathered girl, so she pretty much stayed in the back of our friends truck drinking hot cocoa! Braden didn't want to sled, but he loved playing with the Keith's dogs and playing in the snow with Quinn!

I had fun driving Krehl and Amy's new "razor" 4-wheeler (not sure if you call it a 4-wheeler...it is more like a heavy duty dune buggy). A bunch of kids piled in and we went up and around all the hills. It was a blast!

Snow fun at the new house!

2009-12-17T16:28:00.000-08:00

While Gary and I were working at our new house, the kids had fun playing in the snow. Braden fell in a ditch but then realized it was a lot of fun peeking out from it. He stayed in that hole forever!

Aubree's Ballet Performance

2009-12-16T16:17:00.000-08:00

Aubree is now in ballet and tap. She takes the class once a week from Miss Lara. She loves it! She likes performing (as you can tell from the photos). It was so fun to see her having so much fun up on the stage!

Ava is in the younger class. She comes to play-group too. They both did a great job!

This is Lara Ross. She is an awesome dance teacher! I also run with her and we've skied together as well. She is a ball of energy and her enthusiasm rubs off on everyone!

The song was "Santa's got a hot rod" and the girls loved it!

Christmas Set up

2009-12-03T09:29:00.000-08:00

Nice happy face, Kylee!

Kylee still pouting...Aubree not being able to reach!

Yea! Christmas!

Girls being reindeer, Braden doing a somersault!

We heard about Kylee's eye all night...

We put our tree up and the kids had a blast...except for when Kylee got poked in the eye with the tree branch. You can tell in the pictures she is not a happy camper! Is it just me or are all the toy commercials evil? My kids want everything they see! I know the things they are saying they want are things they will never play with. Santa is going to have to be very selective of what he/she buys this year. They just can't have it all!

I went to Target last night with all three kids to go Christmas shopping for their friends. The girls did pretty good but Braden had the hardest time! He wanted to play, play, play and buy, buy, buy. It is hard to explain that we are buying things for other people, not him! I let him play for awhile but he kept taking off to the 'boy' aisles. I finally had to strap him into the cart and let me tell you, it was not a pretty sight! He screamed and kicked and managed to stand up and out of the seat belt! Kylee and Aubree both brought $2 of their own so they were able to get a little something for themselves. That was probably considered a 'cave-in' by me but oh well. It made for a more enjoyable experience!

New House

2009-12-03T09:22:00.000-08:00

We have been building our new house now for 5 months. It is slow going but so exciting! Gary has helped where and when he could, but mostly we have sub-ed it out. This past weekend John, Widge, Gary and Terry all went and helped put in windows and the front arches! I love how it is looking. We took the kids there last weekend and just cleaned. It took several hours just for me to sweep! I hope it doesn't take that long when it is actually finished. There were wood pieces, cement pieces, saw dust and dirt on every square inch so I am thinking it won't actually take that long...right? The clean-up is not nearly finished either. We just have it framed for now, but when the sheet rock, etc. goes up I will start all over again with the sweeping and cleaning. The kids had a blast putting all the wood pieces on the forklift and taking a ride over to the dumpster on the front of the fork lift and dropping them in from 15 feet up. It looks like it will be the middle of March until completion. I can't wait!

Halloween 2009

2009-12-03T09:07:00.000-08:00

Aubree with Mrs. Reid

I don't look scary...just annoyed!

Gary the Imagination Mover and Braden as the cowboy

Heidi and Kylee make a great with pair!

Aubree with Mrs. Suchar

This year, Halloween costumes were easy! Aubree wanted to be a princess (again) and just used her dress up clothes she already had. Kylee wanted to be a witch (again) with a new hat. She thought that if she wore the same witch dress, with a different hat, people wouldn't be able to tell that it was the same costume. Who am I to dispute that? Bought her a hat for $2! Braden was a cowboy and we had the hat and vest already. I cut up the fringe off a cowgirl skirt costume we had and just glued them onto some of his jeans for chaps. Yea! Kids costumes DONE! Gary wanted to be an Imagination Mover and ordered his coveralls online. He did the most work on his costume and it turned out great. Too bad 9 out of 10 people didn't know what an Imagination Mover was! I had a bunch of sheets I used to make a mummy.

We had a fun Halloween with lots of parties and candy. The Baucoms came out and that was awesome. John helped Gary with the new house yea! Becki brought a friend and they dressed up and went trick or treating as well. They ended up with more candy than all the kids put together! Here are some favorite costumes I saw at our Halloween party:

Chad and Mindy Dare were a smashing couple...Popeye and Olive Oil!

Doug and Michelle as a really stylish ref and the devil herself!

So creative! A nurse and Swine Flu!

Hike to Dinosaur Hill

2009-11-25T09:42:00.000-08:00

Aubree wears dresses almost every day...even for a hike!

me, Sheryl, Braden and Noelle

He's a climber

Claire, Aubree, Sheryl, and Noelle oh, and baby Colt in the backpack

The Camp's came to visit and we had such a nice time. The weather was great, so Sheryl and I took our kids to hike up Dinosaur Hill. We played cards at night and basically just enjoyed each other's company!

Roar like a lion!

2009-10-19T07:10:00.000-07:00

Braden looks like a blind, happy lion

Gary looks like a deranged, psycho lion!

Aubree looks like a tentative lion

Kylee looks like a crazy but mild lion!

The kids were roaring like lions, so I had to take a few pictures! Since I am the author of this blog, I have the prerogative to NOT show my lion face!

This week has been fun. I went on a super fun mountain bike ride called "Lemon Squeezer". I usually stay in Fruita for our mountain biking, but on Friday, the boys took us to Grand Junction for the "lunch loop" rides. There definitely were some technical spots I had to get off and "walk a bike" but I really enjoyed the whole ride. We went with the Stegelmeier's and the McKinlay's. After, we had some yummy food and Kristy's house. She actually made beans in the crockpot for burritos. I've never soaked beans overnight and then cooked them all day. She then mashed them up with meat and onions and spices and then mixed in cheese. Delicious!

Animal Expo

2009-10-19T06:45:00.000-07:00

We have had a busy and fun couple of weeks. Last weekend, I took the kids and Whitney to the "animal expo." I thought it was going to be kind of like a petting zoo with all different kinds of animals. Turns out it was more for pet owners (mostly dogs) because there were all these vendors trying to sell their wares. Who knew there were so many things to think about for your dogs? "Oopsie poopsie" will come clean up all the poop (from your dogs, not your kids diaper...darn) and there were homemade pet treats that looked good enough for me to eat! I felt weird though because the people in the booths would ask, "do yo have dogs or cats?" I think I was the only one that came that said, "Nope. No pets in our house!" There was one thing that was the highlight. Camel rides! For (only) $6 a person, you can be led around a stall two times (that's two times) in the small arena! Personally, I thought that was a lot to ask but I gave in and let Whitney, Aubree and Kylee all ride. Here are some pictures:

Giddy-up!

There was one petting stall! Cute little ponies.

Check out the humps in that one!

After the expo, we went to this fun little park by Orchard Mesa. There were lots of trees and hills so Kylee ended up climbing trees and Aubree ended up rolling down the hills more than using the park equipment. It was perfect weather and very relaxing.

Later, we got a babysitter and went out to eat and to a movie. We finally got to see "The Proposal". I thought it was really good! I didn't realize it was already out on DVD when we went to the big theater. Had I known, I would have gone to see the other Sandra Bullock movie out, "All About Steve." The day after we saw "the Proposal", I saw the big display with that movie on it at Redbox! Coulda watched it for a buck. Oh well!

Family pictures at the cabin

2009-09-29T16:32:00.001-07:00

We took our camera with the hopes of getting some good family pictures with the awesome scenery. We took a lot of pictures and came up with a few good ones. The exposure/flash made a lot of the pictures look washed out so we were disappointed about that. Oh well, it was fun and I do like some of them!

Baucom's Cabin

2009-09-29T16:10:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun at my mom and John's cabin a few weeks ago. It was relaxing and beautiful. I read, rode horses and just enjoyed some down time. Kylee rode a horse all by herself! Aubree was a little more hesitant and didn't rush right out to get on a horse. However, I was really proud of her because she did ride (with another rider) and she was a good sport. There were a few places that I was nervous for Kylee but she held on and did great! Her horse had the option to walk over some of the higher logs or jump. Her horse jumped and Kylee literally laid all the way back and then all the way front! She held on though even though she did have a look of terror on her face. There were other spots where we crossed through the river and climbed pretty steep terrain. All the kids did great. Braden LOVED it. Here are some pics:

Updates!

2009-08-22T12:40:00.000-07:00

It's been crazy and busy for the last couple of weeks and I wanted to write about what was going on in our lives lately. Last Sunday was my first time back to gospel doctrine and relief society. It was great. I loved Primary and I have to admit, I kept thinking about how they were doing in there, but I really loved the g.d. lesson and I felt welcomed and happy in relief society. I was asked to give a lesson in r.s. for next Sunday, so I am kinda nervous to do that. I don't suppose the sisters will want to do a coloring project like we always did in primary! We'll see how it goes. Monday, we closed on our loan to build a house! I am so excited. We have our house plans complete and now we are just going through the steps to get approved to build the house. I keep dreaming of all the fun I'm going to have decorating the new house! On the same note, though, I am dreading cleaning it...it is so much more house than I am used to cleaning. I am jumping the gun here though. It will probably be at least 6 months before we even have it built and we will have plenty more headaches just getting it built, I am sure. Gary is excited though and he is lining up all the contractors to get things ready to go. We went out to lunch at Famous Dave's to celebrate our closing on the loan. Woo-hoo!

Tuesday was the last day before Kylee started school so we wanted to do something fun. We took the kids to the park to play with friends and then Amy and I took 9 kids on a hike! They didn't last very long but it sure was fun. We went to back to school night that night and met Kylee's teacher. Then went to Stegelmeiers for sloppy joes! It was a great way to kick off the school year.

Wednesday Kylee started school! She loved her first day and knew a lot of kids in her class (which was great). She didn't want me to walk her to her class and was like, "why mom? I know where it is. You don't need to even get out of the car!" She is very independent, that girl. I went mountain biking after that and then took Aubree in to get her shots. She was a champ and tried to hold in her crying at first but just couldn't do it. She yelled a little and it broke my heart. I feel so bad that they have to go through it! I took her out for a Frosty and fries afterward and it was nice to have a little one on one time with my little Aubree! One of her legs that she got her shots in is really swollen now (3 days later). Is this normal? I don't remember swelling with Kylee's shots. I will have to call the doctor if it is still puffy on Monday.

Thursday I had kids over most of the day to play with Aubree. I watched Chloe and Mary at first, and then Lizzy and Caden after. Mary started crawling, yea! It was cute to see her scoot around. Chloe would get so excited and tell me to come watch...she'd say, "come on Celeste, she's crawling and you're missing it!" Aubree also had an eye exam with Gary and unfortunately, her eyes have gotten worse. Gary said she is developing more of a lazy eye, and we might have to start patching. I just hope we can do it when she is not in school. She loves her glasses though and she picked out a new pair that are really cute. They are black with pink on the sides and top . We had the Mckinlays over for "cantaloupe a la mode" and s'mores. You take a whole cantaloupe, cut it down the middle, scoop out the seeds and then put vanilla ice cream in the middle of the cantaloupe. It is super tasty! Try it sometime!

Friday was the first day of school for Aubree. I can't believe she is in kindergarten! She has grown up so fast. She came home all excited and she was wearing a "first day of school" visor she made in class. She looked cute. I hope she continues to enjoy school! Then, that night, we went to the "circus" in Fruita. I was so excited and thought it would be a real, live circus with lions or elephants or something but boy was I wrong. It consisted of a circus tent, some weird looking people, lots of loud roaring music (mostly the Spongebob theme song about 100 times) and a couple of circus workers who didn't look like they were even enjoying themselves. The announcer guy kept trying to sell stuff during the entire show. "We sell ice cold coke-a-cola, right here, exclusively! Get yours now! Here comes the snow cone man...get your snow cone...get your balloon! get your cotton candy! Meet spongebob at the end if you buy a chocolate bar!" It was really ridiculous. However, the kids seemed to like it and for $10 buck admission, what did I expect!

Anyway, that brings me up to today. It's been pretty quiet so far (thus this novel of a journal entry!) I got up early and ran 5 miles with a bunch of friends. They all ran 10 miles but I just didn't have it in me to do that many! It's been forever since I've ran more than 3 or 4. Then, I've just been home. I prepared my lesson for tomorrow and now we are going to get ready to go boating at Highline Lake. It is hot so it should feel refreshing to jump in!

Mom/Grandma Pam Passing

2009-07-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

My mom died unexpectedly in her apartment last Thursday. It has been a hard week. I loved my mom and her kind, sweet way. She was just at our house in Fruita the last weekend of June. I am so glad that we were able to spend that time with her. She was very nervous to travel and hadn't been to my house for over 4 years. We had been talking a lot about having her move to Fruita and she finally decided she would come down so we could meet with the people at "Independance Village" and get her name on the waiting list. We were in the process of moving to another house the weekend she was here, so it was pretty chaotic. My mom did really well (for the most part) and even helped with the kids where she could. We seemed to really bond and connect that weekend, and I was looking forward to her being closer to us so we could spend more time together.

My kids loved her. It is amazing to see how kids can be so non-judgemental. They were sweet and loving to her and talked to her about so many things. It was fun hearing their conversations. My mom was very attentive and asked them all sorts of questions. Kylee and Aubree loved the attention. One of my mom's favorite things in the world were dolphins. Actually, she loved anything to do with the sea. She was so simple in her likes and my kids could relate to them. They love oceans and sea animals and blue and things like that. They would just talk about these things and both my mom and my kids were so happy to do it!

I was at Lake Powell with friends when I heard the news. Gary told Kylee, and Kylee's first thing that she said was, "at least we got to spend time with her before she died." What a perfect way to look at it! Kids are so innocent and sometimes have a clearer understanding of the eternal perspective we should all have! My sister-in-law, Stephanie posted on her blog it was a "see you later" more than a "good-bye" to my mom. I like that. I know that I will get to "see her later." When I do, I know that she will be so much happier than she was in this life. She struggled with mental illness (which seemed to be getting worse) and a multitude of health problems.

My mom always had the attitude that she has lived a good life. There wasn't anything she wanted to still do and she was ready to "go" whenever that time might come. The silver lining for me is knowing that she has her mind back. She is with our Heavenly Father and she can finally think clearly and not have the anxiety and stress she has lived with for so long here.

I am in Salt Lake, planning her funeral. It is surreal and weird and sad. I am glad to have my brother here. We have worked together on everything and it has been really nice to have him around. The funeral will be this Thursday, the 23rd at 1:00. For anyone that is interested, there is more information about it at broomheadfuneralhome.com.

I didn't think I would be writing about this so soon after it happened, but it has actually helped. I am thinking about a lot of memories I've had with my mom in recent years. I wish I would have had more years to make more memories, but that is not going to happen. I know that she loved me and showed me in the way that she could, and that is enough.

2009-07-15T16:51:00.001-07:00

Alaska!

2009-06-22T15:41:00.000-07:00

Alaska was pretty amazing. We stopped in Juneau and Skagway. Our final stop was in Victoria, Canada. Here are some shots of our group on the boat!

Back off girls, he's taken.

Gary's mom Pat and her good friend Judy.

Jen and Lory (we got to cruise with them in January too! They are super fun)

Blaine and Judy Evans

Kristin and Scott

Juneau, Alaska

2009-06-21T14:35:00.000-07:00

Our first stop was Juneau, pronounced "Juno" Alaska. We took a tram to the top of this pretty mountain and then went on a hike after eating lunch. At a lookout, Gary got his leg stuck!

Ow, that hurts!

We saw quite a few bald eagles on our trip. This one is in captivity and was in a cage by our hiking trail.

There were SO many beautiful waterfalls, I couldn't believe it! Everywhere you looked, you could find a waterfall.

A bald eagle flying above the trees.

Jeep Trip

2009-06-20T14:55:00.000-07:00

The coolest thing about our Jeep Safari was seeing bears! We saw 4 different bears and the last one was just hanging out by the side of the road, rummaging for food! We sat and watched him for about 10 minutes.

We had a really fun experience in Skagway. We got our own Jeep and followed, caravan style, 3 other Jeeps. We drove like 60-70 miles inland and got to see the area so much better than from the ship or just walking around.

That's our Jeep guide in the middle. He was hilarious. He had a twang and funny expressions. He kept us laughing. He said things like, "the law'll gitcha if..." I liked him a lot.

The Yukon!

We got to see the "smallest desert in the world"

Playing with the Jeeps in the sand.

Such a pretty area.

Skagway, Alaska

2009-06-20T14:49:00.000-07:00

The only way to keep warm is with a little lovin'!

Brrr! It's cold!

There was this random toilet in a gazebo. Gary thought he'd try it out....hehehehe

Anyone need a furry bikini??

After shopping in Skagway, and purchasing about 7 of these gorgeous bikini's, (J/K) we decided to go on a Jeep Safari trip!

Alaska!

2009-06-20T14:22:00.000-07:00

Some of the nightlife on the cruise...

Scott did a great job "karaokeing". The guy that put on the kamikaze karaoke was really funny (with some raunchy humor at times). He would call out people to sing...people who weren't planning on singing at all...and then pick a song for them that he thought would work well with their personality. He totally picked up on the fact that Scott is a cop, and picked a song to go with that. I can't remember right now what it was (take this job and shove it?) but I'm sure it will come to me!

Cute picture of Gary's parents, Pat and Widge.

This was us A LOT during the "at sea" times on the ship. You can't beat a good game of cards. Especially with Jen's mom's homemade caramels!

Middle of the ship art deco. Super cool.

Kylee hid this note for me in my suitcase. I did feel a lot of guilt for leaving the kids for a whole week. It was so special to get her little note for me!

Whale watching

2009-06-19T15:24:00.000-07:00

Did I mention the pretty flowers everywhere?

The gardens in front of a big estate for the queen when she visits. The grounds are taken care of by volunteers! It was so fun to see the old ladies doing all the gardening. They were so friendly and sweet.

Sea lions basking in the sun.

Check out the size of that blow hole!

The whale watching was incredible. We saw tons of orcas. They travel in groups and we would see up to 7 at a time surfacing! They got really close to the boat and I thought it was fascinating. I loved it.

Canada

2009-06-19T15:16:00.000-07:00

Gary took some great photos of the beautiful flowers in Victoria

Here's our whole group!

Gary and I love to get a sunset picture on all our trips

This comedienne, Etta May, is so funny! I was dying laughing. She jokes about being old, fat, a mother and more. She was SOOO hilarious. She has a show on CMT.

Our last formal night on the cruise.

Beach day at Cocoa Beach

2009-06-16T21:13:00.001-07:00

I want to frame these pictures of Kylee and Aubree at the beach! Stacy did a great job of taking these pictures!

Kylee stayed in the water almost the whole time, while Aubree played in the sand. Such different personalities these girls have!

More Orlando

2009-06-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

Aquatica had the coolest 'lazy river' I've ever seen. It literally MAKES you go around it, without you giving any effort at all. Life jackets are required and it has actually a very strong current! Trying to get out is pretty hard and the little girls couldn't do it themselves at all. Kylee ended up getting way ahead of me and I had Lauren and Aubree with me and Stacy stayed out of the lazy river to get pictures. Anyway, Lauren got hurt and was bleeding, so I had to take the two little girls out and then had a heck of a time trying to find Kylee! She wasn't worried (of course) but it took quite awhile for us to find her! I was waiting at one of the exits of the lazy river, (still in the water) and these women actually had the nerve to tell me to quit blocking the exit. I wasn't blocking it at all but was just standing there looking for Kylee. I thought that was so rude! Kylee turned out to be at the other exit and eventually we found her!

When we first got to Aquatica, Aubree was super scared to go down any slides. It didn't take her long to figure out that they weren't scary at all...just way fun!

Kylee, Lauren and Aubree striking a pose worthy of Jasmine's world.

This was so funny! We had our fast passes to thunder mountain and we had to come back at 5pm. We got there early and the guy made us wait. Lauren was not amused and had no interest in waiting the extra 10 minutes!

Aubree loves the merry go round! Me, not so much.

Orlando pictures!

2009-06-16T20:51:00.000-07:00

Here are some of my favorite pictures at the Magic Kingdom! This one is of Kylee, Lauren and Stacy on the tea cups! I remember when I was little, and my dad would spin us super fast. It was nostalgic to be able to go on them again, but this time as the parent! The girls absolutely loved them. This was one of Aubree's favorite rides of the whole day!

All us girls having a great time!

I didn't realize how much appeal Minnie Mouse's house would be. Aubree especially took in every detail. She would back up to look inside the glass and get really close to all of Minnie's decorations and furniture to make sure she didn't miss a thing!

Aubree and Lauren in the double stroller. They each had their maps (although navigation was not their strong point!)

The kids took turns riding the foot rest of the stroller. It was not comfortable and there was much complaining about who had to ride at the bottom. Apparently, it was better than the other option...walking. Notice Aubree's look on her face!

Orlando Vacation!

2009-05-20T13:56:00.000-07:00

I thought I should catch up on my blog so I could get ready to post pictures from our trip to Orlando! We just got back yesterday and we had the BEST time. Of course, I forgot a bunch of things including my camera. However, Stacy Tait, is not only a best friend but a wonderful photographer! She took pictures the whole time and is sending me a CD of everything soon. I will post them when I get them! The trip started last Wed. and it was just Kylee, Aubree and me. We drove to Denver and stayed with the always gracious Camp family overnight. Our flight was early Thursday morning and Terry got us there in time to check in, change our seats around so we could sit by each other, and get on the plane. It was (thankfully) a direct flight to Orlando and we arrived in Florida about 1:30pm. Stacy was ready for us and picked us up and took us to her place. After eating, we went back out to do some shopping. We went to the outdoor outlets and not long after we arrived, there was a major cloud burst! It was raining like CRAZY and we had to stay in the shops longer than we wanted to because of the rain.

There was a little kiosk outside with live macaws in a little tree and they would let you hold the birds and get your picture taken (for $). Kylee actually had 3 parrots on her and we got the cutest picture of it! She had one on either shoulder and one on her head! The other girls (Lauren and Aubree) didn't dare let the birds rest on their arms, thank you very much! The rain sort of stopped and we made a run for it. We then went to dinner and home. My favorite part of the day was when we got all the kids in bed and Stacy and I just vegged on the couch and watched Lost. I miss having a friend to watch my Must See TV with! We also watched Grey's later on in the week!

Friday was the best day. Disney World baby! We scored free tickets and a free stroller rental from Stacy's friend that works there. The girls were all super troopers and stayed the whole, entire day and night! We didn't leave until after the rides closed at 10pm! Aubree loved the twirly rides and less scary rides. Kylee loved Splash Mountain and Thunder Mtn. She was so brave! Aubree and Lauren even went on the scary rides and loved them! However, when Aubree had the option of going on Thunder Mountain again, she decided not to. That's okay...it was pretty fast for a 4 year old! Lauren loved it though and her and Kylee went on it several times! To my disappointment, Space Mountain was closed. Man, I love Space Mountain. I remember as a kid waiting like 3 hours to ride on it. The fast pass makes it so we never have to wait in lines like that anymore. I love the fast pass! You just go get a pass, and it tells you when to come back so you don't have to wait in the long line. I have no idea why so many people still wait in the long lines. The fast pass is the way to go!

Beach day

2009-05-20T13:32:00.000-07:00

Saturday, we were going to go to a really fun water park called "Aquatica" but after seeing how packed the parking lot was, Stacy suggested we go to the beach instead. We made our way to the beach and had a sunny, sandy day. It was hot and perfect. The waves were really big and I went out and boogie boarded for a little bit. It was so fun! Kylee never came out of the water and she has the sunburn to prove it. I did put sunscreen on her, but forgot to reapply. Her back and shoulders and legs are FRIED! Poor girl. Aubree wasn't burned as bad, but right around her eyes she got super red and even a little blistery. The worst thing that happened though is when Aubree wandered off. There are miles of beach with all the same looking umbrellas and I couldn't find Aubree anywhere. I asked a lifeguard for help and she radioed the other lifeguards on the beach. Within minutes, they had found her. She was two lifeguard stations down the beach! Pretty far. She had just discovered she was lost when a couple asked her if she knew where her mom was, and showed her to a lifeguard station. I was scared! I joked that I brought lots of running clothes on this trip and then didn't run at all, but actually, I ran a lot on the beach when I was trying to find Aubree. I was so glad Stacy was there to keep Kylee and Lauren and help me look. What a scary feeling. She was safe and for that I am so HAPPY!