The Smartest Potato Heads on the Block

Latest Happenings

Friday night we got a call from our friends - 14 elk in the open space behind their house!

Liam's 3 inch long cowlick got buzzed on Saturday...plus he won't hold still for a haircut so this makes it less painful....for me and him!

Luke reads Liam a bed time story - what a good big brother!

Ode to Buddy

Buddy

1991-2008

Today Mom and Keith had to put Buddy down. I am so sad. He was the best dog ever - really. He was never aggressive and was good with the kids and just a wonderful and loving dog. He had a long life and we will all miss him.

Buddy was always great with the kids - he even participated in the occasional dress-up!

We got Buddy the summer that Mom and I moved back to Idaho -1991 I guess. Grandma and Grandpa had some puppies at their farm and we went out to get one. We picked Buddy because he had "headlights" on his eyebrows and he was the calmest one of the bunch. That summer I went to Alaska and Mom trained him. While I was gone he got some kind of parasite or something and lost most of his hair! But by the time I got home he was normal again. Mom did a great job training him, he has been so good his whole life. He could wait practically all day to go outside to the bathroom. We already had Mikey the cat at the time we got him and he was probably offended that we got a dog, but somebody had to make up for Mikey's attitude. You couldn't ask for a better dog than Buddy. And of course secretly Mikey and Buddy became BFFs.

When I told Grace about Buddy, she was very sad. But when I said he would go to Heaven, she got really happy and said "He can see Grandma Linny and Papa Don's dogs there!" She was so excited that he wouldn't be alone in Heaven. Buddy, Paco and Chica can all run and play together. Thank goodness he is now free of pain. We will miss him so much.

Memories with Grandma

This week Mom came to visit since it's her spring break. The kids always have a blast with Grandma. Here are some memories of her visit.

At the library- we love books!

Liam found three little books that he carried around all day.

We went out to eat and afterwards Grandma bought Luke and Grace one of those gigantic bubble gum balls. For some reason the kids look slightly terrified as they show us their "see"food.

A good picture of Grandma and the grandkids.

As I was taking a picture Luke ran by at just the right moment.

Grandma and Liam

We love you Grandma Pam!!!

More Easter Fun

On Easter Sunday we went down to Grandma Linny and Papa Don's house for Easter dinner. There is always lots going on and the kids love to play with their cousins.

Grace brings out her inner opera diva.

Liam and "Seffers" - as Grace would say- getting into mischief.

For some reason there is a basket of wigs sitting by the front door - don't ask!

Eggstra Special Easter Fun

This morning we went to an Easter egg hunt at a park in Highland. Let me tell you - it was FREEZING!! The kids were excited but wanted to leave as soon as the egg hunt was over. They got their eggs, traded them in, and we were out of there. It was fun though. Also a note, you can click on the pictures and they will enlarge if you want a close up.
Luke, Grace, Liam and Mommy decorated Easter eggs this morning. Luke video taped part of the process. If you want to see his video, go to Luke's Blog.










This last picture is of the empty bowl that the kids say had lots of dough left. They would lick the bowl clean if they could. We are making sugar cookies later today but we all agree the dough is the best part!

Rock Star?

Well I am trying a new video with some changes. I hope you can all see this and I have no idea what is going on with the other videos. I think I messed them up. You should be able to view this video for as long as it's on this site. Good luck and let me know if it doesn't work!

Wildlife

This morning Adam called me as he was leaving the house to say some deer were at the mouth of the little canyone beside our house. It is always awesome to see wildlife around here, and it really got the kids out of bed in a happy mood which is a bonus. So far we have seen mice, voles (neither of these by choice I might add), 3 toads (caught in our window wells), a rabbit, deer, and coyotes (yesterday we had one in the backyard).

Collections

Well I have been reading Natalie's blog and she talked about the Tuesday Tell All, which is basically a blog that gives you ideas to write on your blog, once a week on Tuesdays. So I am going to do it. This weeks topic is Collections. If you want to know more about it click here.

So I have been thinking about things we collect and I have to admit we don't have a lot of things like that. I have been doing Flylady and because of that I have thrown out a lot of things that I think are "clutter" in an attempt to make my house easier to clean. HOWEVER, I still have things that I like...Adam would say that I like to collect diaper bags. I like to get new ones, I don't know why. I also like holiday plates, I like to get them out during that season and put cookies or fruit on them and things like that. Adam and I also wanted to collect different pitchers but we haven't really gotten into that yet.

Adam likes to collect old church books. For a while he would actually go to DI to get them, but now he doens't have so much time to do that.

Luke is the big collector around here. He collects rocks, Pokemon cards, and most recently, feathers. It helps that we have bird.

Grace doesn't really collect anything, and of course neither does Liam. They just like to play with everyone elses stuff.

And now that I think about it you could say we collect toys. It seems like they are everywhere and we are always getting more from somebody. They have spilled over into the basement, which is fine with me since it's kind of a free for all down there right now. I am learning how to let go and not feel guilty about getting rid of a toy that somebody gave to us or bought for my kids. It is a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Thank You!

Thank you everyone for coming to my birthday party last night. It was so fun to have everyone there, I am really blessed to have such a great family and to live so close to many of them. I know some of these pictures are blurry but I feel bad that I don't have any others to choose from! Aunt Sharon, it's all your fault! I love you guys!

Danielle & Lyndsay

Me and Adam (& snugglers in the background)

Kim & her evil boyfriend Tyler

Patrick

Great Grandma Wanda & Liam

Luke and Grace help me blow out the candles

Chad and Brenda

Kyle

Brenda, Grandma Linny & Grace

Uncle Bob

Okay so maybe Kimmy's boyfriend is not evil, but this picture does not help! We had fun talking and hanging out and the kids were on a sugar high from the yummy chocolate Costco cake until about 10pm when they hit the super nova stage and then exploded into bed where they immediately fell to sleep. It's always fun to have everyone over. Thanks again you guys.

Happy Birthday from......my chiropractor?

You know you are getting old when the only birthday card you get in the mail is from your chiropractor.

Okay so maybe I am getting depressed about turning 30, but give me a break! I do have a few days to go till my actual birthday, and I know my friends and family love me. There...now I am making myself feel better about it. At least I get a free adjustment.

Liam's Fashion Statement

Okay so our kids never wear robes in the real world, but we found this one in Grace's closet and decided to pass it on down to Liam. He liked it at first and then he didn't. I'm sure he would rather run around naked, like all our children prefer. Those pesky clothes, who needs 'em anyway?

Green Paint is Delicious!

Or at least Liam thinks so. Thank goodness it's non-toxic! The kids absolutely love to get out the paint. These are fun because they are finger paints. We have lots of little artists at our house!

More Videos

This is Grace sledding on to the street. It is a beautiful day out today!



This is Liam and his funny shaky smile he does so well.


And this is the kids singing the Eensy Weensy Spider, at dinner of course. Everything interesting happens at dinner. Well, almost.

Dinner and the Makeup

Things are always "happening" at the dinner table, at least I know our kids aren't the only ones who won't sit still and use their utensils. Here are some funny faces from dinner time.



And last but definitely not least, this is Grace after she got into my makeup (again). We have decided not to take any more pictures of her doing bad deeds lest we encourage her with negative attention. So enjoy this picture and know that it is not the last mischievious thing she will do, but the last that will be photographed.

I Have My Space Back!

Adam has accepted a job at Wasatch Advantage Group in downtown Salt Lake. We are so excited and I finally get my office back! Okay so it's really OUR office but I was kicked out last month and sorely missed being able to check my e-mails whenever I felt like it. To read more about Adam's job, click here.

Slide Show!

Powdered Sugar, Baby!

So today Luke had a friend over to play and Grace went over to a friend's house to play so it was just me and the boys at our house. Luke and Beau were down in the basement playing and eventually Liam discovered they were down there and went down. Of course a while later Luke comes upstairs and says "Liam is into the cane sugar!" Luke had gotten into my food storage (the powdered sugar or "cane sugar" as it says on the bag is on the TOP shelf) and gotten down a bag of powdered sugar for Liam. Thanks Luke. Liam poked a hole in the bag and was covered in powdered sugar. I even tried to vacuum it off of him but he didn't go for that. So you know that little brush attachment that goes with your vacuum? It turns out it works great for vacuuming up powdered sugar off cement floors, plastic bins and wooden chairs. I love my Dyson.

Get Jazzed About Reading

Today Luke's school, Ridgeline Elementary, had their Jazzed About Reading assembly. Out of 78 schools, Ridgeline came in 4th and got to to have a Jazz player come to the school. Paul Millsap came and read the kids 2 stories and even dunked the ball a few times. Luke read his minutes everyday - he loves to read and he really helped his school with all his minutes. Way to go Luke!

Family Night...Say Cheese!

Here is some more video of the kids. We are finally starting to feel better and are getting back on track. This is right after dinner and Liam is making some funny faces and doing his shaky smile. Grace sings Twinkle Twinkle and Luke is busy with his new Star Wars Legos that he just bought with his own money. We love our kids...we think they are pretty darn cute.

Hair Goo Gone Wild

This is something typical that happens at our house....welcome to our world!