Farewell Oprah

I can't believe I never gave Oprah a proper farewell post. What is wrong with me?

For as much as I love to hate her she has accomplished a lot. Watching these last shows where they've gone back to see where people are, I've been very impressed with all the good she's done.

So farewell Oprah!! Good luck on your new network. Too bad I don't have the channel so I could continue our love/hate relationship.

Out With The Old, In With The New

Goodbye ugly white tile and dark brown grout that always looks dirty no matter how many times it gets cleaned.Goodbye old lady looking tile/back splash

Goodbye blue counter tops
And goodbye white cabinets that always look dirty and were possibly built at the same time as the house.
I won't miss any of you.

We Made It

I say we because today was Bella's last day of Kindergarten and I think I had a harder time than she did. In fact I know I did, because she hardly looked back on the first day. I on the other hand missed her like crazy in the afternoons.

But she had such a great year. Made lots of new friends (I even got the courage to let her go to new friends houses. Thanks to all the experienced moms who got me through it), learned a lot and is fully ready for 1st grade.

I'm so excited we get to spend the summer together!

Sometimes I feel like I have triplets. These 3 are always together.

It was hard to get a good shot of everyone. This was the best I could do.

Sydney

cute little feet

Awesome

SNL was awesome last night!

And I'm reminded why I have such a crush on Justin Timberlake.

Happy Birthday Seth

Seth turned 33 today! We started the day with breakfast in bed (of course all the kids joined in), then that night it was dinner(just the two of us) at Royal India. He has been thinking of nothing else for months.

I feel so lucky to be married to such a wonderful person! Great husband, father and friend!

Love you Sethy!!

Are You Kidding me #28

I can't believe it, but this is Claire at 20 months when the twins were born.And here are the twins this morning...also 20 months!
I can't even imagine having a baby right now let alone 2.

For a 3 month period I had 4 kids under 4!!!

Which is why that time of my life now seems like a blur.

I remember it, yet I don't. It's weird.

I just pray my kids are forgiving of all my faults. Because having 4 so close together caused a lot or craziness at times.

But I wouldn't change a thing!

St George 2011

We were able to get away last weekend for a little family vacation and it was so fun!

One day we went hiking in Snow Canyon where Bella said "mom! This is the best vacation ever!!".

The trip consisted of hiking, playing at the park, eating, swimming, swimming and more swimming. Bella was in the pool for almost 2 days straight and went a full shade darker!

We also got to spend some time with the cousins since they were on their way to California.

And since my dad was also there he offered to watch the kids one night so we could slip away and have some alone time. It was great!

The only picture we got as a family and you can't see Syd on Seth's back.

Bella wearing her train hat

The twins swimming with dad

Slice of Heaven

Driving to St George a few nights ago I was stuck by this amazing love I have for my kids.

We were trying to get them to fall asleep (it was night) so we had a primary cd playing and it was totally quite.

All I could think was I wish I could save this time in my life forever. I love that my kids need me and this love I felt for them at that moment was so overpowering.

Kindergarten Program

Last week Bella had her end of the year Kindergarten program. The day before she came home and said (I had just come home from the hospital) "Mom I know you can't come cause you're sick. It's ok if no one comes from my family." So sad.

I was feeling so blessed that I was out of the hospital and well enough to see her preform.

She did a great job!

Singing her heart out

Hospital Stay

Last week I had really bad abdominal pain so after 4 days, and one where I couldn't even stand to get out of bed, I finally went to the doctor.

At first they thought it was my appendix but after a CT scan they determined it was Crohnes Disease and wanted me to have colonoscopy to make certain.

I ended up staying the night at the hospital.

Luckily I have great family, friends & my ward who watched my kids, brought meals and came to visit.

Yesterday I found out the results of the biopsy and it turns out there is very little trace of crohnes and it was just a bad infection.

I am feeling so thankful!!!

A Day In The Life Of Claire Bear

For the record, it took her less than 5 minutes to do all that damage.
Her sad little face is so cute. That's probably why I didn't get that mad.
Cute Bella cleaned the twins off before I even had time to take them out of their crib and later helped me clean everything, without being asked.

Ahhh!!! Much Better!

Two weekends ago Seth and I were lucky enough to get a weekend away in Park City. It was short but did the trick. I slept in until 10:00am! I felt like I was back in high school!
Sadly I forgot to document our great weekend.
Then this past weekend I was spoiled with a girls weekend in St. George.
My friend Lisa invited us, and it was just what I needed.
Swimming, Hiking, Endless Talking, Napping, Working on projects, Movies, and More Talking. That about sums up what we did.
Oh and did I mention 3 out of 5 were pregnant and then Lisa and I have twins. So I think we're off the hook for getting pregnant.
Seth was great staying home all weekend. On Saturday he and the other dads took all the kids (that's 5 men & 16 kids) to the park and had pizza.
Then this morning Bella told me that she learned a new dance from dad. She then pushed play on the CD player and proceeded to show me the moves to "Bye, Bye, Bye", by NSYNC.
Seriously!!! Why don't I have video of this?!! I would pay anything to see Seth and he girls dancing to NSync. Because apparently that's what they did...dance in the girls room. Bella loved it! Me & Amber at the pool

Chels, Marianne, & Lisa at the pool

All of us enjoying a hike in Snow Canyon.

Are You Kidding Me #27

I'm a huge fan of chocolate chip cookies. Ask anyone who knows me. But when I saw this I almost threw up.
Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies
Are you kidding me? Who thought of this?
Who doesn't love bacon? And who doesn't love a chocolate chip cookie? But together?
If anyone has actually tried these, I would love to know what you thought. I also saw this gem:
Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookie
Looks delish..but as one blogger said, "We made these last night and immediately acquired diabetes and died".
I think that sums up how sugary they are.
But if someone daring wants to try these and tell me how they are I'd love to know.

Curlies & Sickies

For the last few weeks Bella has asked over and over again if I would get her some pink rollers so her hair could be curly.
I finally remembered to buy some when I was at the store and it made her day. She was so excited. Claire didn't really know what to expect, but once the curlers were in, she was thrilled!! We're talking jumping up and down and talking non stop about her "curlies". It took her over an hour and countless times getting out of bed to finally fall asleep.
She was just that excited. They turned out pretty well. We still had to use the curling iron in the morning, but I thought they looked adorable.

The twins have been very sick this past month. First it was pneumonia and now high fevers (reaching 104.9) and throwing up.

They seemed a little better this afternoon so I took them out for a walk. When I looked down I saw this.

Bless Sydney's little heart. If she isn't just the most tender hearted little girl out there, I don't know who is.

That's her hand on top. She loves her sister so much.

It was too cute not to get a picture.

Dear Charlie Sheen

Please go away.

And take Mariah Carey with you.

Disney On Ice

Last night we took Bella and Claire to Disney on Ice. I won the tickets so this was a special treat for the girls.
We thought it would be fun to go to dinner before, so we hit up Seth's old work.
California Pizza Kitchen.
Lucky for us Seth still knows a lot of the people that work there. One of his good friends is now the manager, so we got the VIP treatment. It was great! I have to admit I was feeling a little spoiled.
When we got to the show I was pleasantly surprised to see that our seats were really good. I thought since they were free they might not be that good, but I was wrong.
I took a million pictures but this one about sums it up.

The girls were so excited!

Me & Bella

Seth and Claire

Seth tries to say he didn't enjoy it (if you saw anything he said on Facebook), but I know he loved it. Claire sat on his lap pretty much the whole time and was so darling. Telling him when to clap and answering all the questions they would ask the audience. My favorite was when Mickey couldn't find his broom and she started yelling to him "Mickey! It's behind you!".

Bella was equally cute. Announcing to me who everyone was when they came out. Like I couldn't see for myself or something. But it was fun watching her get so excited!

Such a fun night! Bella has already started asking if we're going next year.

Tea Party #2

This morning before school Bella decided we should have a tea party. She had been looking through the old blog books and saw a picture of a tea party we did a few years ago. She looks so little in that post.
The girls had so much fun. They are so lucky to have such a fun big sister.

Lets Get Physical Physical

The words of Olivia Newton John are ringing through my ears when I see this picture

There's Only One Me

This morning Claire was looking through the family scrapbooks and blogs books and she came across a picture of herself and showed it to me.
Teasing I said "Who's that? Breanna?" and she said "No, mom it's Claire Bear. There's only one me! There's only one Claire!'

So true!! And I wouldn't want it any other way!