The Phair Family Six

Christmas Morning 2011

2011-12-27T15:02:00.000-08:00

I took a lot of video on the camera and didn't get a lot of pictures, so you get what you get and you don't throw a fit! I will have to post some video later. The kids tried to wake us up at 3:30 in the morning but we told them (Krew) to go back to bed and they could wake us up at 5am. They did exactly that and at 5am they were shaking us awake! It's a good thing though because by the time we were done opening presents and eating breakfast it was time to get ready for church! We had church at 9 and then had to go to Nic and Alli's ward at 11. I played a pianos solo (Silent Night) and the kids sang a quartet of Samuel and Away in a Manger. It was really good when Christa was behaving and not yelling every other word into the microphone. Craig had to sing a solo in Nic and Alli's ward and it was great. The spirit was strong in both meetings and I felt so much gratitude for my Savior Jesus Christ and for fulfilling his purpose and mission here on the earth.

For Christa everything was fantastic! Everytime she opened something she would gasp and say: "I love it!"
Kole really wanted an air soft gun and he thought that he didn't get it. When he was all done opening his presents, there was one left for him and Chase. He opened it up and it was a set of 2 air soft guns. He was really excited about that. He also got some drawing books. He has been getting into drawing lately and he does a great job!

Chase got to hand out all the presents and was a present opening machine. He and Kole got a lot of the same things, art supplies, basketball shoes, candy, books and an air soft gun. The family also got a couple wii games which made Chase VERY happy!

Krew is just sitting there so sweetly, waiting to be told that he could open presents. His favorite presents were his skateboard and art kit.

Kole looking handsome at 5am!

It was a great Christmas day and we got to spend the rest of it after church by having leftovers at Nic and Alli's and then going out to my cousin Raury's house for dinner. It was nice to see a lot of family and the food again, was great. Donny cooked tri-tip and Walt made his delicious spaghetti. Craig and I brought the bean boozled jelly beans and it was a hit. It was hilarious to watch people play. Several people gagged, and heck, that always makes for a great night! Merry Christmas 2011! Bring on the new year!

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Christmas Eve 2011

2011-12-27T14:49:00.000-08:00

For Christmas Eve we went over to Nic and Alli's house for a wonderful evening and meal. Grandma and Grandpa Phair were there and we watched christmas movies, played games with the kids and ate GREAT food. Alli decorated the tables beautifully and the food was delicious! Did I say that already? Well, the food was really good. Anyhow, we also did the nativity with the kids.

This was taken right before dinner. This is in Nic and Alli's new house.

I like this picture except for my femme hand.

Krew and Christa right before dinner.

Christa posing for the camera.

Christa dancing with Grandpa Phair. Precious!

After the nativity Nic and Alli gave presents to us all. The kids got candy and they got Craig and I a frame. It is really nice and I can't wait to get some pictures in it.

Bob and Rita opening their presents.

When we got home from Nic and Alli's, the kids got to open one present (pajamas of course,) before bed. They were really excited for Santa to come. Off to bed they went and Craig and I finished up all the work that we had to do that night! We finally got to bed around midnight I think. Not so bad considering that all the wrapping had been done the night before! Thank goodness!

Ding Dong Ditching

2011-12-27T14:29:00.000-08:00

Right now my calling in church is the Cub Scout Den Leader. I am having a lot of fun doing this with my boys. During the christmas break we decided to go ding dong ditching. Each boy brought a box of ding dongs that we wrapped up and each boy decided who they were going to ding dong ditch. The boys would run up to the door, drop off the present, ring the doorbell and run. It was really humorous to watch these boys! It was a lot of fun!

Chase wrapping up his ding dongs.

All my little cub scouts.

Ding dong ditching at the first house on our list!

Positive Notes Recital

2011-12-27T14:23:00.000-08:00

Christa and Krew were in the Positive Notes singing class this fall and they just had their Christmas recital. It was SOOO cute and Christa was definitely a little show off. Krew was sweet and good and sang great the whole time. I was really impressed with them.

And hello, how cute are they?

Christa did great until the last couple of songs and then she just became a booger. She would either sing way too loud and be a stinker or not sing at all. When she wasn't singing she was taking off her apron, untying her dress, making faces, looking between her legs, etc. It was great.

Krew was a singing maniac!

Christa when she was singing good!

Christa is FOUR!

2011-12-12T17:46:00.000-08:00

Christa is four! Today is her birthday and she got to open up one present this morning, which was this beautiful birthday dress.
She LOVES it!

She was also adamant that she have straight hair, she even got out the blow dryer and straightener to get me to do it! She told me: "I'ts my birthday! I have to be happy!"

She had a few friends over to make cakes.

I let them do everything, the eggs, oil, water, etc. They did a great job.

OH, what a homemaker she will be! Cooking with a smile. It is her birthday after all!

They also got to choose what color they wanted their cake to be. That was fun.

Lunch time while the cakes are cooking.

Presents!

Giant chapsticks! Awesome. No really, she loves them!

Christa's finished cake!

Our little Trailblazer

2011-12-12T17:40:00.000-08:00

Christa always talks about wanting to be a cheerleader and as much as we try to dissuade her, she insists that she wants to be. A couple weeks ago she found this trailblazer dress in her closet (I thought that I had it hidden!) and she wanted to wear it, so I dressed her. I have to admit, she makes that look pretty stinkin' cute!

Go Trailblazers!

Krew's first loose Tooth!

2011-12-12T17:36:00.000-08:00

Krew's first loose tooth! The adult tooth was growing in behind it and Craig wanted to pull it but Krew had a PANIC attack and was freaking out. I didn't even make him get on the bus to go to school because he had made himself sick! He was laying on the bathroom floor crying and saying his stomach hurt. It was kinda funny I must say! Then I gave him an apple and he took one bite and yelled: "My tooth fell out!" He couldn't find it and I asked for him to give me his apple and I found his tooth still in the apple! All was well and I took him to school. He was so excited to tell his teacher!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-13T20:03:00.000-08:00

This Halloween was on a Monday and I went to the school to help with the parties. Krew was a wolf. He was a wolf because Christa was little red riding hood. Those two are so funny together. They are like best friends and can play for hours together. It is so cute.
During the party he shared his snacks and chair with her.

The cute little Red Riding Hood and her wolf, holding hands even. I think he is a reformed wolf!

Chase was a vampire. We dressed him up better that night because he couldn't have face paint at school.

Kole was a nerdy soccer player. It was great! All the way down to his pink pulled up socks, which by the way, he wore for like 5 days without washing. He has a pink sock fettish I think.

It's almost time for trick-or-treating!

Now that's a scarey vampire!

We went trunk-or-treating in Poppa Walt's parking lot and then we went trick-or-treating with some friends from church. The kids had a lot of fun running from house to house. This was the first year that Kole got to go with a friend and he just got to run from house to house. He had a blast but I didn't get any pictures of him!

The stash! Of which all gave willing to the mom and dad candy tax.

Family birthday party for Kole and Chase

2011-11-13T19:50:00.000-08:00

On Sunday the kids had their primary program and then we celebrated Kole and Chase's birthday with family. We had grandma and grandpa Phair, Chris, Kiana and Cooper Rookstool, Walt and Nic and Alli Phair. We also invited over Kantica Towell and her daughter Savanna and Josh and Kyla Barleen and their family. We love them and they are like family!

For some reason Chase had some troubles with his candles, but Kole blew his out in one blow!

Chase was outraged that Kole blew his out so quickly!

They got money and candy from family and friends. Chase also got a Ducks hat! he was in heaven!

He loves this hat!

Uncle Chris, Kiana and Cooper also got them the little Trek-Deck Skateboards. Those were a hit!

And what is a party without playing the shocking game?!!!

And spankings?

Happy Birthday boys!

Our little Pumpkins

2011-11-13T19:41:00.000-08:00

Here are the finished pumpkin projects. Aren't they good-looking? I was talking about my kids! But yes, the pumpkins look pretty good too!

Chase's 9th birthday!

2011-11-13T19:36:00.000-08:00

As a tradition for birthdays, we have put a dollar in a balloon for each year they are old. We put them on their bed at night while they are asleep so that when they wake up they have to pop them and get out their money. Kole got eleven dollars and Chase got 9!

Chase didn't have school on his birthday so we went shopping and got his vampire cape for Halloween and then it was present time. After he opened his presents we ate dinner. He wanted Totino's pizzas for his birthday. And pumpkin pie of course! I love that my kids like pumpkin pie. After dinner he ate almost his whole pie in one sitting!

Chase got some books, a CD player, and some CD's.

Chase opening his CD player. When he saw that Kole got one on his birthday he was so jealous and he wanted one BAD! He loved it and we listened to his new CD's for days!

Chase is a wonderful, nice, smart and spiritual little man. He just finished his first season of tackle football and is doing good in school. He is going to play basketball this winter and loves to play the singing and dancing games on the Xbox 360 kinect. He is very good at them. The guy has got some serious rhythm! He is also so spiritually minded. He is always the first out of our boys to go and bear his testimony on a fast Sunday and is good at being involved in our morning scripture reading conversations. He is quick to help his brothers and will always give me a hug and a kiss! We love Chase so much and couldn't imagine our family without him! We love you Chase and Happy Birthday!

With his money from the balloons we went to the dollar store that day and he bought as many packs of army ninjas as he could. They are all watching while he eats his pie! Hilarious!

We also carved pumpkins the night of Chase's birthday. I love carving pumpkins. NOT! But it was fun and I think the kids had fun!

Dad hard at work on Christa's pumpkin. Christa wanted a witch and as she watched Craig carve it she got upset because the witch was not pretty, and she wanted a pretty witch. But then she felt bad about crying for a pretty witch and she told dad that it was a beautiful witch!

Kole's11th Birthday!

2011-11-13T19:18:00.000-08:00

Kole's birthday was a lot of fun. We had a big family party for both boys but on his actual birthday he asked for hamburger and rice stroganoff for dinner and we opened presents and had pumpkin pie. He got one pie all for himself!

Opening presents.

He got some books, a CD player, a couple CD's and some new church shoes.

Krew loves to wrap up all his own toys and give them away on other people's birthdays. This is one of the gifts that was in that paper sack. It was full of his toys! So cute.

We love Kole! He is such a joy in a lives. He is an 11 year old who is just like his father! He loves to do things with dad like go fishing and play sports. He also loves to pick on his brothers and sisters. He just finished another season of classics soccer and will be playing basketball this winter. He is playing the piano and can play Joseph Smith's First Prayer. He bore his testimony in church last month without any prompting and is doing a great job of memorizing his articles of Faith. He just finished the 13th! He also made the 5th and 6th grade h0nor choir for the county. We are so proud of him and we love him so much. Happy Birthday Kole!

Cub Scouts at the Sheriff's Office

2011-11-13T19:06:00.000-08:00

I took our cub scout pack to the Sheriff's office and they got to meet the officers and detectives that were they. They received a tour of the building and then they got to play in the cop cars and meet a K-9 cop! The kids loved it, even when they were being scolded by the detective leading the group!

They gave the kids free reign with the cars. Probably too much. Those kids probed every inch of those cars! Why did they like sitting behind the bars the most? The officer told as that 1 out of every 5 kids in our group would be behind those bars. Nice....thanks Sheriff!

THe K-9 cop! He was a cool dog and the kids loved him!

Halloween Bunko

2011-11-06T17:43:00.000-08:00

For bunko this month we were supposed to dress up. I couldn't think of anything, but I eventually decided to dress up as an AWESOME and PREPARED runner. I have on a pair of Craig's silver boxers and my high socks with gels and tissues stuffed in my socks. I also have my vaseline around my neck just in case! It was funny how many people asked me what runner's use vaseline for! Chaffing folks!

It's all about the pose.

There were several really great costumes that night, but most of them still looked cute. Look at that adoreable Minnie Mouse, witch, devil and Cinderella in the back. On yeah, and the runner. She's cute.

Robots and Princesses

2011-11-06T17:38:00.000-08:00

Krew and Christa have been drawing like crazy lately. Krew has drawn 100's of robots and Christa has been going to TOWN with the drawing of princesses! Here are several of Krew's robot books. It's been great because they will spend hours together drawing! I have several great pictures of Christa's princess pictures. I will take some pictures and post them later, but I wanted to get this one here before I forgot!

Pop Warner Football

2011-11-06T17:25:00.001-08:00

Chase played tackle football for the first time this year and I think he really enjoyed it. After practices he would come home and show us his warm-ups and run around the house.

Chase was number 65 and he played offensive lineman most of the time.

It was a lot of fun to watch Chase out there on the field. He loved his team and his coach was great! We will have to wait and see next year if he decides to do it again!

Student of the month and such

2011-11-06T17:23:00.000-08:00

We received a letter inviting us to go to the student assembly because Krew was going to be getting an award for being student of the month. When we got there, all three of our kids ended up getting an award. It was pretty awesome.

Chase got an award for being one of the top 10 readers.

Krew got a student of the month award for being kind.

Kole was recognized for being picked as a Navigator for the school. He gets to help kids safely walk to school once a week.

Krew with his award. It was a great day and I couldn't help but be proud when the principal stopped me in the hall later and said: "you have one of the fastest kids in the school (Kole who has the 1-mile record since 2nd grade), the smartest kid in the school (Chase), and the nicest kid in the school (Krew). How true, how true! My kids are pretty fantastic aren't they!

Princess Party

2011-11-06T16:50:00.001-08:00

I and several friends decided to get together and put together some parties for our little girls! I hosted our first party and we did a princess theme. They all dressed up and they got to do a lot of fun princess games and crafts.

Let's play pass the slipper.

This is where the girls had to run and dress up in their princess accessories and then get their picture taken. It was so funny to watch the girls try to get everything on. Especially the shoes!

A meal fit for a princess! I had made a super cute cheese and meat platter using my pampered chef cut outs. The cheese was in shapes like hearts and such. As I went to take it out of the refrigerator, I dropped the dish and it shattered and it was all ruined. I was soooo mad! Oh well, what do you do.

Christa eating her decorated cookie and sporting her beautiful rapunzel hair.

Making a princess bracelet.

How fitting for my little princess! She is you know, just ask her!

Missionary Challenge-Worm Style

2011-10-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, we are famous for missionary challenges. Every new missionary who comes to our house for dinner gets a food challenge and if he accomplishes it, he gets a large blizzard. So, we have been doing this for years and these particular two missionaries failed their first challenge but wanted to redeem themselves and try again. So I made it pretty easy. ALl they had to do was eat a worm. This elder finally got up the nerve to do it.

When he finished he started to freak out saying: "it's crawling back up, it's crawling back up!" "I need a drink!" It was pretty hilarious, but he did it!

This elder's first challenge was to eat a four course meal in baby food. After one bite he spit it out all over my table so I thought that there was no way he was going to eat a worm. But he said that if Chase would do it then he would do it.

Chase said: "Ok!" and immediately swallowed a worm! That's my boy!

Then finally the second elder got up the nerve and did it! Three successes in one night. I'm impressed!

Cub Scout Family Camp Out

2011-10-23T17:30:00.000-07:00

We took the kids with the cub master and his family out to Lake Juanita. It was a beautiful lake and a nice campground with a trail around the whole lake. The kids got to fish, roast marshmallows, swim, tell ghost stories, do rope tricks and other stuff too. Trevor is an especially gifted story teller. We were all laughing because he told a story that lasted at least 45 minutes!

Chase swimming in the really cold water!

Chase and Trevor.

Kole was dying to catch a fish but never did. Trevor was the only cub scout to catch a fish!

Dad helping the kids fish and teaching Dazzle how to swim. Poor girl probably got thrown into the lake about 15 times! She never learned to like it.

Pretty Dazzle!

Christa wanting to swim. I forgot to pack her swimsuit so I put her in one of my undershirts and underwear. Classy swimwear, I know.

Trevor showing off his fish.

Nice catch buddy!

Me and Christa!

Chasey

Krewby in the water.

And Chase

And Krew

Our Anniversary at Camp Dakota

2011-10-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

For our anniversary we went camping at Camp Dakota with Kirsten and Chris. It's a high adventure camp. We spent two days playing paint ball, riding the zip line, doing the ropes course and eating good food. It was a lot of fun and we want to take the boys their next year. They also have a remote-control race car track, panning for gold, metal detectors to find coins, golf frisbee and more. It was so much fun to go with Kirsten and Chris. They are so much fun to be with and we can totally be our goofy selves around them.

I was told that paint balls don't hurt very bad. Bull crap! Craig cornered me and shot the crud out of me. I was so shocked I didn't even think to fire back at him. I had some serious welts. But then we got put on teams and our team won two rounds in a row and I was the only one of our group of four who was on the winning team. What now!

Kirsten showing off her raw sexiness.

Cooking our awesome dinner of tri-tip, skillet potatoes and such. It was very tasty!

Craig is an excellent chef!

Chris on the ropes course. The ropes course was really fun and a bit scarey. Knowing that you were hooked up and couldn't fall helped, but it was still scarey. There was a gal who had gone on the zip line with us and she was bawling because she was so afraid. When she got to the ropes course, she wouldn't even attempt it. Poor thing, and I thought that I was afraid of heights!

Kirsten on the ropes course.

Craig being crazy.

Craig and Kirsten are DEFINITELY cousins! Love you Kirsten.

The zip lines were soooo much fun. The first run was scarey but after that I just had a blast. I even tried the tricks they told us we could try.

Craig, of course, was an animal on the zip line as well.

Harness up folks. Now that was really comfortable and VERY flattering.

The Nashville Tribute Band LIVE!

2011-10-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

Craig and I found out that Jason Deere was going to be playing music from his last 2 CD's and his newest one, "The Work" in Grants Pass and I HAD TO GO. It wasn't even a question. His first CD was Joseph, (all about Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel), the 2nd CD was called the The Trek, (about the mormon pioneers) and then the The Work focuses on missionaries. His first CD is my favorite but I love them all. It is amazing to watch them play live. His band is called The Nashville Tribute Band which is made up of Jason, the band Due West and several other well known musicians and song-writers who are all LDS. The most amazing thing to me was how Jason bore his testimony thru his words and music. It was amazing and the spirit was really strong all night long. And, I have to mention that the musicianship was incredible. Definitely some of the best live music I have ever heard!

Watching them sing some of my FAVORITES! They brought tears to my eyes. Craig and I loved it and we wish that we could get them to come to Klamath for a Youth Fireside or stake fireside or something. If you haven't heard them before, look up The Nashville Tribute Band. They have a website.

Craig and I with Jason Deere. What an amazing and talented man!

2011 Phair Family Reunion

2011-10-21T06:54:00.000-07:00

We had a great family reunion this August and yes, I am just now finally getting around to blogging the pictures! We went to the coast and I really liked our campsite with direct access to the beach. The kids had a blast in the water even though it was FREEZING! Cherise and Lyle brought marshmallow guns and we all had a sticky marshmallow war which was awesome!

Krew and Jensen battling the waves. We had to keep an eye out on the kids because there were some pretty good waves going on and they would walk really far out into them. I was afraid one of them would go down and we would never know it!

Joel and Porter.

Kole, Krew and Rorie

Christa in the lighthouse. We had to wait for a long time to see the lighthouse, but it was beautiful up there. I got unusually nervous having the kids walk up the lighthouse stairs. Maybe some heights anxiety going on!

Waiting for our turn to see the lighthouse.

Krew and Dad

The lighthouse. It was fascinating to see the pictures and read about the history of this lighthouse. I loved the stories about how the children would have to be tied to a rope before they could go outside to get water or feed the animals because of how windy it was!

We went to the Bandon Wild life Preserve and it was pretty awesome! The kids LOVED it and we all got a lot of hands on action with the animals. The best was the Lion that Craig got riled up and the monkey that was entertaining us by showing off and copying our noises. It was pretty hilarious. Craig kept harrassing the poor Lion and he came at us with a roar a couple of times. Thank goodness for electric fences. He was an old and cranky lion who just wanted to be left alone.

Kole holding a possum? I think so, but I could be wrong!

Kole petting a skunk. Quite fitting pits nasty, quite fitting!:>

Chase holding the ferrett. He thinks he wants one. I think not.

Krew holding the possum?

Christa and her Uncle Andy. She really loves him and he teaches her all kinds of neat things to say!

Zach Burnett

The Burnett family with the baby Tiger.

Our family with the baby tiger.

Joel, Lisa and Pete Phair with the baby tiger.

The Nielson clan. Yes, they are with the baby tiger.

Joel and Pete

Kole and the baby goat

Jacob Nielson

The stare down. I know how you like to win Craig.

There were a lot of free range deer, goats, llamas and such. Lots of them were pretty nasty and diseased looking so I was afraid for the kids to touch them, but it was neat to see domestic deer. You could get cups of food to feed them, but watch out. I think both Krew and Chase were attacked by hungry animals in search of their cups.

The baby leopard.

Drew Burnett

Megan Burnett

Rylie Nielson, and Krew in the background feeding a diseased looking lamb. Awesome.

Chase, Annalee and Kole.

Rorie helping Christa wash her hands at the campground. What a good cousin!

Oh! So sweet!

Pete and his truck.

Oh man! I love this one too! It makes me sad to see it because the Nielson's just moved to Tooele, Utah and Krew and Rorie were good buddies! Miss them a ton!

Christa riding Porter. Porter was such a good dog and just took all the kid abuse. He looks so sad though! :>

The reunion was great, but we were definitely missing all the family members who couldn't make it. I am so grateful for families!

Halloween Craftiness

2011-09-29T08:45:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to post some of the fun Halloween things that I have been doing for my stampin' ladies. These Halloween cards were fun to make and I love the little treats.

Stampin' Up is also now selling cookie stamps! I love them! You make the cookies and then stamp them with the design of your choice. I am going to have to try this today and I will post a picture of how cute they are! I know, I get excited over cookie stamps.

Christa's first day of preschool

2011-09-13T20:42:00.000-07:00

Christa was soooo excited for school to start today. She loved her new shirt with a hood and wanted to wear it so bad, but I told her that it would ruin her hair. So, she promised not to wear it until after preschool. As soon as it was over, she put her hood on. She was also sooo excited that she went out to the car a half hour before we were supposed to leave and buckled herself in the van. She sat there until I was ready to go. Silly girl!

What a stinkin' cute girl!

This picture is my favorite.

I put my hand up on my hip.......

Yeah I know, I'm cute......

When she got to school she immediately hung up her school bag and sat down to do a puzzle. Of course....

Christa with her hood on, getting ready to go home from her first day of preschool!

Christa's first girl fight.....

2011-09-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

This happened a couple weeks ago but I had to post it so that I didn't forget to write it down! So here's the story! We were at Chase's football practice and Christa was racing with another little girl. Christa kept winning the races and the other girl was getting mad. Finally she pushed Christa and slapped her in the face. I saw this happen and before I interrupted I just watched to see what Christa would do. She paused for a minute and then pushed the girl back! She started to yell at the girl "Don't you ever do that, I will never race with you.." on and on. Finally when she was done telling the girl off she turned around and shook her booty at her! I almost died laughing! At least I will never have to worry about Christa defending herself!

After the incident, she came over and told me everything that happened and we talked about a better way to handle the situation. Then she said: "I won't push her again, but I can still win her in races right?" My answer: Absolutely.

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First Day of School

2011-09-06T15:50:00.000-07:00

Here's the boys getting ready to head out the door on their first day of school! I don't know who's happier, me or them! Chase woke up this morning at 5am and got dressed because he was so excited! Christa had to get in the picture too because if she wasn't going to get to go to school, she at least wanted to get into the picture!

My three handsome boys! Krew is 6 going into 1st grade. Kole is 10 going into 5th grade and Chase is 8 going into 3rd grade.
I got to go with them this morning because I was bringing donuts to hand out to teachers and parents from the PTA as a welcome back to school thing. It was fun and I am really excited about this new year. I love all the kids' teachers and I think the new principal is going to be great for the school. ANd of course, the PTA is gonna rock!

Day 3 homemakers challenge

2011-09-03T20:46:00.000-07:00

Today's Martha challenge was to was the top of the refrigerator and wash all the fronts of the cabinets and polish them. Done and done. I love it and my kitchen smells so pretty!

How beautiful is the top of this refrigerator! I would totally lick it too!

l
I love the magic eraser. It got all the stains off the front of my refrigerator that I didn't get yesterday. We also had a great day as far as attitudes and making our home more full of life. I was really able to monitor myself better and everyone had a good day. Dad came home today with 140 pounds of elk meat and we all went out for pre-fast sunday blizzards. All the kids wanted to complete a missionary challenge to earn their blizzards. Kole ate a spoonful of mustard, Chase ate a worm, Krew sucked on a large ice-cube for a minute and Christa ate a spoonful of ketchup. We had a lot of fun and I am looking forward to church tomorrow and getting to go see grandma and grandpa Phair tomorrow and Michelle and Andy and their family. Only 3 more days till school starts! Woohoo!
The challenge tomorrow is clean out the oven and microwave. Well, that's not going to happen because of the sabbath, but I am excited to do that sometime next week. I might to combine a couple challenges into one day since we are leaving to medford for two days!

Day 2 Homemakers Challenge

2011-09-02T21:56:00.000-07:00

I love this homemakers challenge! I love how everyday there is a Mary challenge and a Martha challenge. For those of you who know the story of Mary and Martha in the bible, this is very fitting. This challenge tries to help us to more fully tap into the Mary and Martha characteristics in our lives and homes.

So today for my Martha challenge I was supposed to clean the inside and outside of my refrigerator. This has been needing to get done for ages and I finally got it done. It is all sparkling clean and organized once again! Now I am just wondering how long it will be before the soy sauce spills all over the place? For some reason that soy sauce sure is messy! It took me a while to get this project done today because we had to go out a few times today, so I finally finished it around 4:30pm. I probably spent a total of 2 hours on cleaning it and it was pretty gross, so that's not bad. It was nice not to feel lots of pressure to do all the other house cleaning today as well. The house is fairly picked up, the laundry is fairly caught up and the kitchen is fairly clean! But...my refrigerator is fabulously clean! I would even lick it for free I think......

The Mary part of the challenge was to identify some ways in which we as women and mothers can bring more life into our homes. We are the nurturers and givers and we have all the power to decide what kind of home we will keep. How will we use that power today for good? What will we do to bring joy to those whom we serve and love? For me the answer came simply in that I need to serve more joyfully! I want to wake up in the morning happy and enthusaistic so that that will spread to my family. I want to have a quick smile and say yes whenever possible and not always have a scowl on my face.

Right now I am dealing with a child who is very difficult for me to deal with. I know it is partly the age stage that he is in, but he is close to unbearable a lot of the time. He makes it his life mission to pick on, pester and start fights with others in the family constantly. I have little patience and so it is VERY hard for me not to be aggravated, frustrated and stressed out all day long. Then, at the end of the day, I feel so bad that I wasn't able to help the situation out more than I did. I think that this can all change by changing my attitude. His behavior might not change over night, but I decide how I let it affect me and I know that the Lord will help me overcome these emotional roadblocks that change the whole atmosphere of our home during the day.

Did I raise my voice today? Yes I did. Did I also try to love, encourage and smile more? Yes I did. At the end of the day, could I have done better? Yes I could have! Do I wish school started yesterday? Yes I do. But, tomorrow is a new day, and I will wake up and cheerfully face what awaits me and make it a great day!

Why do I want a clean house?

2011-09-01T21:45:00.000-07:00

Day 1: Why do I want a clean house? Well, part of the reason is because I don't want other people to ever see my house messy, but that's just a small reason why I want a clean house. Here are my biggest reasons for wanting a clean house.

1. It makes me happy
2. It makes everything else happening that day seem less stressful (don't know why, just does!)
3. A dirty house makes me cranky and then I feel really overwhelmed with the enormity of a whole giant dirty house (thus the crankiness!)
4. The spirit cannot dwell in dirty places
5. It makes me happy

Okay, so a clean house makes me happy. I am not expecting perfection of myself but I am excited to tackle a new cleaning project each day to keep me on track of all the things that I think about needing to do, but never actually get around to doing. The dust on my blinds is disgusting and I have been thinking forever how I need to clean out my refrigerator! Well guess what, day 2 is cleaning out the refrigerator! Alright, let's do this!

Join me in the challenge!

2011-09-01T09:21:00.001-07:00

Join me in the 31 day homemakers challenge! Go to www.homemakerschallenge.com and get started. It starts today and I am really excited about it. The gal who wrote the book is not LDS but a good Christian and has lots of great wisdom to share! Who's with me? I will keep you posted on my progress!

Zuppa Toscana Recipe (Olive Garden Style)

2011-08-31T07:10:00.000-07:00

Alright, I am posting this recipe on my blog because I have gotten a lot of requests for it. So here you go. I made it yesterday for the first time and have actually never even tried it at Olive Garden. I am not a huge fan of Italian Sausage so I didn't think I would like it, but I had to make something Italian and I wanted to try something new. My friend gave me the recipe and so I went for it. I used Kale for the first time ever. THat's weird stuff. From those who tried it last night, I was told that it tastes like Olive Garden's. I still am not a huge fan because I still don't like Italian Sausage and it was pretty spicy!

Zuppa Toscana

1 lb ground Italian Sausage
1 1/2 tsp crushed red peppers (less if you don't like so much heat)
1 large diced white onion
4 tbsp bacon pieces
2 tsp garlic puree
10 cups water
5 cubes chicken bouillon
1 cup heavy cream
1 lb sliced russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes
1/4 of a bunch of kale

1. Saute Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a large pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients.
2. In the same pan, saute bacon, onions and garlic over low-medium heatfor approximately 15 mins. or until the onions are soft.
3. Add Chicken bouillon and water to the pot and heat until it starts to boil.
4. Add the sliced potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour.
5. Add the heavy cream and just cook until thoroughly heated.
6. Stir in the sausage and the kale, let all heat through and serve.

This is supposed to be the original recipe from Olive Garden.

Cub Scout Bike Rally

2011-08-28T15:23:00.000-07:00

This picture has nothingto do with the bike rally but I take horrible pictures and this one is halfway decent so I decided to add it in!

I kept this one cuz, what's a picture of Craig without him doing something kooky!

How did she get to be so photogenic?

Kole riding the mile to get his bicycle belt loop.

Bro. Nicosia taught the bike safety class.

Bro. Seaver taught the bicycle repair class.

Craig leading the boys in the mile ride.

Darron teaching Krew how to ride a bike without training wheels!

Christa and her friend Madelyn getting ready to have a little picnic.

Go Krew!

Chase riding through the obstacle course.

Picnic underway.

What would a bike rally be without a giant donut?

Chase mastering the obstacle course!

Christa's FIRST hair cut!

2011-08-28T14:23:00.000-07:00

So after over 3.5 years, I finally decided to give Christa's hair a trim. It seemed like I was cutting a lot off but when I put it in a baggy to save, it was only a tiny amount! It's a little shorter now and her curls sprang back to life. I am hoping now that her hair will grow back in more thick now.

Summer Movie Night

2011-08-28T14:20:00.000-07:00

We have some great friends who invited us over for a BBQ and family movie night. They set up a projector and we watched Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2.

We roasted hot dogs on sticks and had lots of yummy movie snacks.

Christa enjoying the hammock with friends.

The movie was projected up against a sheet on the side of the house. Ingenious!

Thanks Davis' for a great night!

OMSI

2011-08-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

The day after the Timbers game we hung out with Craig's cousin Kirsten and their kiddos. They also got to hang out with Craig's cousin Jennifer's son Cyrus. He and Kole got along really well, and all of the kids get a long really well together, so it's always fun to see them. We went to OMSI and they had a blast.

2nd cousins

They got to pet this giant snake. Even Christa went right up and didn't seem scared at all. I wish that my dad had been with us. He loves snakes.

Christa is putting on a puppet show for us.

They had a great room for the smaller kids where they could just play in sand and water all day. I think they would have stayed their all day if they could. Thanks Kirsten for making our trips to Portland AWESOME! Oh, and I also have to say that it was my birthday this day and Kirsten threw me a midnight birthday party with several of Craig's cousins, his mom and dad and his aunt Joann and her husband. She made me an awesome ice-cream cake and I LOVED IT! Thanks Kirsten! You made my day!

Go Timbers!

2011-08-28T14:09:00.000-07:00

Craig got tickets to a Timber's game thru Safeco. We got to sit in the suite and watch the game while eating chicken strips and giant hot dogs. The game was a lot of fun. Neither of us had ever been to a professional soccer game. We were surprised at how rowdy the fans got! It was entertainment just to watch the fans.

The fan section. When the timbers would score they would start up real chainsaws. That was pretty awesome.

Craig and I up in the suite.

Summer Track Season

2011-08-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

Every summer OIT puts on a kid's track event every other week. Kids can come and sign up to several different track events and it is only .50 cents per event. The kids love it and even Christa does a few races. They all walk away with lots of ribbons and a boosted self-esteem. Kole battled against a girl he knows from school who is a great athlete and always gives him a run for his money. Aspen beat him in their first race and then he barely beat her in the 2nd. Then they ran the mile together and Kole beat everyone but a highschool girl who only beat him by like 3 seconds. His competetive drive really suits him well while running!

Here is Chase coming in from the 400. He really pushed hard and did a great job!

Dad motivating Krew as he competes for first in his age group at the 200.

Christa is just happy to get a ribbon. What else matters anyways, ribbons are pretty.

And posing for the camera is pretty awesome too, because: "I'm so pretty!"

Chase doing the high jump.

Forever Family

2011-08-28T13:57:00.000-07:00

This summer Craig and I got to be a part of something SUPER awesome! We got to be their for our good friends the Barleens, while they went through the temple for the first time and were sealed together as a family. Kyla asked me to be her temple helper for the day. It was an honor to assist her throughout the day and to see their lives changed forever! Kyla has become a great friend to me and we love their family so much! This is a picture of their daughter Taylor, who is the same age as Christa and they are little buddies!

Josh and little Grayson! Father and son.

Josh with his two children, Taylor and Grayson.

The whole Barleen family, Josh, Kyla, Grayson and Taylor.

Congratulations guys!

Backyard Bucks

2011-08-28T13:48:00.000-07:00

This summer we have had a couple of bucks that have hung around in our backyard/field. On one day, they stayed until evening when Dazzle finally became to annoying for them and left. Look at those racks.

Dazzle wasn't very smart and she would charge the deer and they would charge right back. Luckily she was fast and could get away before they pulverized her with their hooves! It was fun for the kids to stand up on the swing set and just watch the deer. We had neighbors taking video and such. It was pretty cool.

Summer Swim Lessons

2011-08-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

Christa started swimming lessons this year and she is in the preschool class. Her teacher was a boy named Jackson and I laughed as I watched her use her feminine skills to manipulate him during the lessons. ANd for the most part, it worked! We told him that he needed to be more firm with her in lessons!

Christa in her tutu swimsuit. Nothing else of course, would be fit for a princess.

Krew was in level 1 this year and by the end of the summer had graduated to level 2.

I was impressed with how well Krew learned to float in the water, bob for rings and kick his feet with the paddle boat. It was funny when he would kick because he never watched where he was going. He would go crooked and the teacher would have to straighten him out over and over!

July 4th, 2011

2011-08-28T13:35:00.000-07:00

Christa and Jacob holding hands on the way to the parade.

Phair family trying to smile into the sun!

Christa and Krew waiting patiently for the parade with their plastic candy bags.

The Nielson's were smarter and stood with the sun at their backs! What a great lookin' family!

And the parade begins!

Cousins

Drew and Rayah

Zach and Jacob

How cute is this, all lined up along the street for the parade.

Uncle Lyle, Grandma Phair, Aunt Cherise and Aunt Michelle. Aunt Michelle brought bagels with strawberry cream cheese and bacon for us to try. Apparently it is to die for! I don't like anything sweet with my bacon so I wasn't a fan, but apparently the others really liked it!

That's MY man.

Mount Roxy

2011-08-14T14:35:00.000-07:00

We were over at Grandma and Grandpa Phair's house and we decided to go for an evening hike. We decided to hike mount Roxy in medford. I think it is called mount roxie ann but I am sure that I spelled that wrong so I am going to just call it mount Roxy!

Cousin Jacob showing off his muscles at the top of the mountain. What is it about teenage boys? They have to take their shirts off and show off their muscles! The older boys kept trying to get the younger boys to take off their shirts, but luckily Kole could still care less about looking impressive for those around him!

Cousin Zach. No shirt and muscles.........

Jake and Zach..no shirts........muslces...........

Me at the top of the mountain. It ended up taking a few hours and was probably about a 6 mile round trip thing. I was the the third person to the top and I ran most of the way back down. It was a lot of fun and the view was beautiful!

Aaaahhh, see.....beautiful view of the Medford Valley

Holy cow...seriously boys.........

Games and Thangs......

2011-08-14T14:24:00.000-07:00

The boys got to play a lot of survivor games up at day camp.

Here are my group of boys next to the bow and arrow range.

Chase wearing the bow and arrow glove. He thought those were pretty cool.

After the second day of shooting Chase really started to get the hang of it. It was fun to watch him do all of these things for the first time.

Catapults and guns

2011-08-14T14:18:00.000-07:00

At day camp the boys got to make their own catapults and then shoot mini marshmallows. Chase really enjoyed this, although he would have rather eat the marshmallow than shoot it!

Chase decorating his BIG DOG bandana.

Our group at the BB gun station. Chase had a lot of fun here too and he was a decent shot. Kole has been doing this for a few years now and he got an award for being one of the best shooters at camp that week and his score was sent to districts.

Cub Scout Camp Day 3

2011-08-14T14:08:00.000-07:00

Chase preparing a fire. This day they made pancakes over a fire from a plastic bag. They had to make the mix in their bags and then poor it on the griddle over the fire. It was really messy and almost all of the pancakes burned, but it was fun and the kids still ate the pancakes.

Kole and Trevor

So shy.....

Kole's camp troop

My camp troop all lined up. We were supposed to have a team shout and so ours was: "We are mighty, we are tough, we are the big dogs, we go ROUGH!" They did so good and everytime we were in line we would shout it and bark like dogs. We want the best cheer for camp.

After lunch they had a visit from a fire fighter. He showed them all the gear they have to wear and taught the boys what to do if they were ever caught around a fire. It was great.

Cub Scout Tiki Masks

2011-08-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

One of the activities at camp was to make their own tiki masks. My group of boys were great and they had a lot of fun with this project.

Kole rolling his eyes at me for wanting to take a picture!

Kole decorating his mask.

Kole's friend decorating his mask as well and he was so kind as to let me take his picture without the eye roll! What a good boy!

Cub Scouts Egg Drop

2011-08-14T13:45:00.001-07:00

This year for the egg drop Kole put an egg inside a gallon of milk. He wanted it to make a big mess and it did. It was awesome.

Chase came up with his idea all by himself. He wrapped his egg in a pancake and then duct taped it. He also duct taped the plastic bag to it to act as a parachute. He didn't want his egg to break and it didn't. The parachute worked perfectly!

Cleaning the pavement after all the eggs were dropped.

The fire department comes every year to help us do the drop. It was a lot of fun to watch and to see who wants to protect their egg and who wants to destroy it!

Cub Scout X-games

2011-08-14T13:29:00.000-07:00

THe director of the camp giving out the awards for the x-games. Chase's team won and Christa, of course, is latching on to Ken, even though she has never met him before. She is so funny like that and sometimes its embarrassing. She will just go up to and talk to, hug, kiss or whatever whoever is around her whether she knows them or not!

Kole the crab.

Do the bunny hop!

Kole and his team buddy.

Survivor Cub Scout Camp 2011

2011-08-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

Kole with some other scouts in his group.

They let Krew play in the x-games at the end of the week and he was thrilled. He did really great!

Chase getting ready to push that basketball with his head across the field and back. His team was super fast and they won the whole x-games that day! Yes, that was my group of boys and yes, I take all the credit!

Christa with a friend of ours. She of course, loves her!

Kole got stuck on a team with a lot of little guys but him and this boy in the picture were really fast and were the only reason why their team didn't come in last place. Kole was a really good sport though and didn't let it bug him. That's good for him considering how competetive he is.

Krew's Kindergarten Graduation

2011-08-12T13:43:00.000-07:00

At Stearn's the kindergarten graduation is a big deal. It is a graduation and a party with cake, pinatas and more. I helped set up this year and tied the ribbons on ALL of those balloons!

Each kid got a diploma and a sack of goodies to take home and use over the summer.

Krew walking in with his class.

Krew spotted us and smiled for the camera!

They sang some great songs and then had each kid tell what they wanted to be when they grew up. Krew said that he wanted to be a spy.

"I want to be a spy!"

Getting his diploma from his teacher.

Dad and the grad! We are so proud of our boy. He had a great kindergarten year and excelled at everything that he did!

Teacher Appreciation

2011-08-12T13:33:00.000-07:00

This is what the kids gave their teachers at the end of the school year. They had great teachers this year and I am super excited that Kole is going to get Chase's teacher this next year!

The Coast in June

2011-08-12T13:26:00.000-07:00

Word to the wise, never camp when you are running your first marathon. It was awesome taking a shower afterwards in the nasty campsite shower when you can hardly lift your arms to take your sports bra off! I saw a spider coming down from the ceiling and I just thought: "awesome." But, other than that, we had a great time at the coast. We did most of our beach time after I ran so Craig set up a chair for me so that I could sit when I wanted to. My legs were pretty much toast! I didn't get to take a nap or anything. I ran for almost 5 hours, took a shower and then we headed to the beach. I think I was still jazzed at the fact that I was still standing and that I had finished my first marathon! Here's Chase just chillin' at the campsite.

Kole looking overjoyed!

One of the favorite past times of this trip was throwing rocks into camp chair drink pockets. I was amazed at how many they got in there and it seemed that they never got bored of it, even when we were sitting on the chair they were throwing at!

This was the tree at our campsite. It was huge and awesome. The whole campsite was like this and at night I couldn't believe how loud the frogs were! It sounded like they were everywhere, and they probably were!

Smiling or has to go potty? You decide.

Adoreable Megan!

Krew

Krew had just had a birthday so he brought his birthday money and bought some keepsakes from the coast. I guess it doesn't need mentioning that a week later he wanted to sell them for a quarter at a yard sale!

Krew on the beach.

Christa loved the beach. She loves getting dirty and sandy so this was definitely her thing!

I love the candid shots of kids on the beach. This one is especially my favorite!

Newport Marathon

2011-08-12T13:13:00.000-07:00

Joel and I getting to run the Newport Marathon. I was pretty nervous because this was my first marathon and up to that point I had never run past 13 miles! I knew I was going to DIE! And well, I did, but it was awesome and I did better than I thought I would!

Close up! Check us out....

Our scenery on the run.

During the run Joel really helped me keep a steady 9:15-9:30 minute pace. At every rest stop we stopped to walk for about 60 seconds and then we would run again. I think we did this until about mile 16 and then we started to add longer walk breaks in because I was already starting to really feel it! By the time I got to 20 miles it was all a mental endurance game. I hurt and was tired but it seemed possible. I was just glad that I wasn't one of the people who were passed out on the wayside or puking. I actually felt pretty good for most of the run. I remember for the last few miles that it almost felt better to run than it did to walk. We would run to one sign and then walk to the next and just kept going.

Joel and I after the race. I have to give Joel serious props because he is probably the only reason I did as well as I did because he really kept me going when I probably would have not pushed myself if I was alone. I finished at 4:49 which I was happy about. No Boston qualifier but it was under 5 hours and that was my goal!

What up.....check it.......

Craig, my biggest supporter who follows me around on my crazy running whims and never complains!

kissy, kissy!

We camped out the weekend of the marathon and Corey and Heidi Jentzsch came up with their family. They brought their trailor and we had a really good time! It has been so much fun to hang out with them and we look forward to many great memories with them in the future! Here is Christa posing for the camera.

Christa and Megan.

Chase roasting marshmallows.

Just hangin' out.

Mitchell mastering the art of the campfire marshmallow.

Spring School Carnival-GO PTA!

2011-08-12T12:59:00.000-07:00

This year our school formed their first PTA in probably about 10 years. A friend of ours instigated and then a few other families fell in line including us! It ended up being our friend as President, another father as vice-president and me as secretary. We are often the only ones at meetings but have doing very well over all for our first efforts. We decided that we wanted to do something fun for the kids so we raised some money and put on a spring carnival for the kids before school got it. What a big endeavor to put together for the three families who took most of it on, but we also had a great family get lots of prize donations for us and we got lots of help at the carnival.It was an awesome success, the kids had a great time, and the PTA earned quite a bit of money to put towards new playground equipment!

Two of our booths. Christa had a blast making the rounds over and over again!

Cake walk!

Fishing!

Bounce house!

Toilet paper toss!

Face painting!

Duck Pond!

Pick a sucker and win a prize!

Sno-cones!

Pizza!

Sponge toss (throw as hard as you can at the face!) Craig really egged the kids on for this one and it was a lot of fun. A teacher was supposed to do it but he never showed up so the PTA vice-president took the sponges! His kids had the most fun throwing sponges at him I think!

His kids getting ready to get dad! It was a great night. We had 2 bikes donated and countless many other things donated by local businesses. Woowoo! Go STEARNS!

Krew's family birthday party!

2011-08-11T14:07:00.000-07:00

Birthday spankings!

He's smiling. He must like spankings. Hmmm......

Birthday stash!

I can't believe that my little Krewby is six! He is such a joy in our lives! He is still the boy who can't eat without getting food all over his face and does everything at his own pace. He loves to be silly and show off his dancing tricks to me. He's still got super fast hands and is a great little reader! He did great in school and was the kid who the teacher could count on to help anyone else who needed help. He got moved up into a first grade reading class and everyone in the school knows who he is and says hello to him. He is so easy to get along with and such a sweet treasure! We love you Krew!

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Krew's Bouncin' Birthday #6

2011-08-11T13:55:00.000-07:00

Krew wanted a race car themed birthday party and so I did it up! He also wanted to do it at the bounce house which was great by me. I didn't have to stress about doing it at my house and somebody else clean's up. Love it!

Krewby in front of one of the bounce houses. I can't believe I got him to stop bouncing long enough for me to take a picture. It was non-stop bouncing and running action. The best birthday party idea ever!

Kole catching some air!

Christa taking a quit rest....breathe.....

Her hair rubber bands fell out so she was looking particularly awesome!

Christa's Preschool Graduation

2011-08-11T13:46:00.000-07:00

Christa wanted a braid for her preschool graduation and so I gave it a try. Finally I can braid her hair!

Isn't she so pretty! All ready to go and graduate!

Cheese Grin!

Our little princess!

I love the gowns that were made for the graduates! So cute!

Christa's teacher Sara talking about how fun Christa is to have in class. She is a super smart cookie and learned so much from teacher Sara!

What a great graduation gift. She was afraid to set it down because she didn't want anyone to take it.

Daddy and his grad!

Cub Scout Bowling Time

2011-08-11T13:39:00.000-07:00

This summer we took the scouts bowling to get their bowling belt loop! Kole and Chase can't wait to get their bowl on!

Time for pizza and nachos! Definitely the best part about going bowling. Yes, definitely.

Krew rockin' the lanes!

Go Krew!

It's so heavy!

Mom, stop taking pictures and let me bowl!

My Crack is leaking....

2011-08-10T10:22:00.000-07:00

Last week Christa was showing me a scratch on her leg and she said: "Mom, look at my crack, touch it, touch it!" I was busting up, but it got even funnier when the next morning she was sitting on the toilet and she yells: "Mom, something clear is coming out of my crack!" Dad, in the other room, overheard and started to freak a little because he didn't know that she meant the scratch on her leg. He said: "Molly, did you hear her, you really need to get in there and see what's wrong." I was dying! It was pretty stinkin' hilarious! Christa and her cracks!

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Miles for Monte

2011-07-24T13:53:00.000-07:00

Some friends of ours, Doug and Claire Fogelquist have a son who has many physical handicaps. They were throwing a Miles 4 Monte fundraiser 5k to raise money for him to get a mobility chair. They live in Missouri and I was so bummed that we couldn't be a part of it, that we wanted to do one here instead. It was a windy day but we had several people show up and it was a great evening!

Miles for Monte registration.

The goody and prize table!

Our little group of die-hards who also wanted to support the cause!

On your marks.......

Number one fan!

Adrian pushing Kole to run his 5K PR. He ran it in 22:16. He beat my fastest 5k race!

Krew was a little running maniac too!

A friend of ours pushing their two littlest kids in a stroller the whole time! Later that night they lost their keys and lost their stroller into the canal! It was pretty funny and if you want the full story, just ask em...........

Our number one fan's husband...he did awesome!

Anne and Christa. How sweet!

Nic and Alli rockin' the track.

Another great friend who came out to support! Thanks to everyone who made this a great day and who supported such a great cause!

Hawaiian Day

2011-07-24T13:39:00.000-07:00

For Hawaiian Day at school the boys got to dress up in their $ store Hawaiian garb! I was surprised that they wore it, and even more surprised that they kept it on. A nice bright look for a dreary, dreary spring!

Free Museum Day

2011-06-19T14:01:00.000-07:00

On a day off from school I took the kid's to the local museum on Free Museum Day! Sadly, I don't remember having ever gone there before! It was really neat and the kids liked the jail the most. They stayed in their for a long time!

Even Christa got a thrill from being behind bars. This could be bad.....

Kole liked the animals.

Watch out for the beaver!

Krew in a log! It was a good day.

Pine Wood Derby

2011-06-19T13:44:00.000-07:00

We had to make 3 cars for the pine wood derby this year because Krew wanted to race in the open class. Kole and Chase both made really neat cars with the help of dad and they had a lot of fun racing them. This is a picture of the Webelos den leader and Craig trying to make sure that the cars were lined up correctly. Kole's car is the car in the middle and Chase's car is the car by Craig's left hand.

All the scouts and kids waiting at the end to see which car crosses first! Intense!

Someone gave Christa a car to race in the open class. Basically it was the square block of wood with wheels on it, but she was thrilled and she even got an award! She was pretty excited about that!

Krew got an award in the open classas well!

This boy is going to be ready for cub scouts!

Chase got third place this year and got a box to put his car in!

Kole got second place and was kinda bummed because this is his last year to race but he was a good sport and his car did great! Of course, the competetiveness in him really wanted first place!

Chase receiving his den awards.

Kole receiving his den awards.

Franny Panties

2011-06-09T09:36:00.000-07:00

So Christa's latest silly phrase is Franny Panties! She was watching spongebob over the weekend with cousins and she was intrigued, apparently, by crabby patties, but only heard Franny Panties. We had hamburgers yesterday and she kept saying: "I love franny panties, they are so good!" Everytime we tried to correct her she would say: "No, it's FRANNY PANTIES!" That girl cracks me up!

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Portland in May

2011-06-08T14:40:00.000-07:00

Before Craig and I went to the coast we went to a Progressive Awards dinner in Portland. We stayed in a funky but cool motel and the food at the dinner was excellent. We had some very interesting table guests too. One in particular. He was the guest of another guest and he was drunk and beligerent. He loved everyone and wouldn't shut up the whole night and wanted us to all go out and karaoke with him after the dinner. We escaped before he shoved us in a cab, but others weren't so lucky. By the end of the evening Progressive reps were apologizing and nobody could get the guy to leave! Interesting evening to say the least.

After the dinner we got to hang out with some friends of ours from Simmons Agency. We walked downtown Portland to find Voodoo Donuts. We passed lots of people and we realized that we were the odd people out! We got asked for money several times and someone even tried to sell us some marijuana. It was sweet! When we finally found VooDoo Donuts I was excited to try the bacon on the maple donut. I was not impressed with the store. It was actually pretty filthy and I wouldn't take my children in there ever! The maple bacon donut was okay but other than that being a unique kind of donut, the donuts didn't taste any better than any other donuts I have ever had. It's a good thing that we were in good company!

These are the sweet robes that were in our closet. How did they know that my alter ego is Panther Woman!

A look at our cool room.

The day after the Progressive dinner Craig and I went to the Portland Temple and took a picture where we got engaged almost 13 years ago. Feeling pretty lucky that day. Not only for the amazing man that I have but also for the life that we have. Seeing how others live and how confused they are about life makes me so grateful for the gospel and the happiness, peace and comfort it gives!

Salishan Part 2

2011-06-08T14:35:00.000-07:00

The view outside our window at the Salishan resort. It was beautiful.

The golf course that Craig got to golf on. He decided that we need to take couples golf lessons together and I think that would be fun. Neither one of us really want to go out golfing with others because we don't know what we are doing!

The bridge we sailed under to get out to the ocean and whale watch.

The boat we went whale watching on. I played the Titanic almost the whole time, just standing at the front of the ship watching for whales!

View of the ocean from the boat.

Another view from the boat where we saw the whales.

Seals waiting to greet us when we came back in.

Cute little seal.

Salishan Coast Trip

2011-06-08T14:33:00.000-07:00

Craig and I got to go to the Coast for a Simmons Agency President's Club and we had so much fun. It was rainy but the coast was beautiful and it fun to meet up with friends from the Simmons Agency again! They are a really neat group of people!

We stayed in the Salishan resort and we got to do a lot of fun things. Craig went deep sea for the first time and unfortunately, he was really sick the entire time. So sick, that he didn't even get to fish! I don't think he will do that again anytime soon! I got to go out whale watching with another group and we saw a mommy and a baby whale close to the coast. Craig and I also saw 2 whales just off the coast while we were walking this beach. It was pretty neat.

Craig and I taking our own picture on the beach.

Try #2.

Try #3.

Beautiful sunset. We took this while at a bonfire on the beach!

Sun going down on the coast.

Craig and I at the bonfire.

Mothers Day 2011

2011-05-09T13:44:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to make a quick post about how great my Mother's Day was! Last week I was super busy and sick all week. On Saturday I threw an all day Scrapbook Crop. We started setting up at 6am and were done around 10pm. Super good but super exhausting! When I got home that night, not only had Craig helped me pack everything up, take care of the kids and go to several soccer games alone, he also mowed the lawn and cleaned the house! It looked so good when I got home. That is seriously one of the greatest gifts for me. Housework is such a never-ending mundane and time consuming thing that when its done for me, it is sooooo appreciated. I love starting a Monday morning without a whole list of cleaning to do's! Thank you so much Craig!

Also, on Sunday morning my kids gave me their great gifts that they had made at school. I LOVED them! I also got flowers and a gift card to TARGET. WOoWOo! We had pie for breakfast and even though my kids didn't like it, (who doesn't like pie for breakfast) anyway, we had a great day at church and I loved our lesson in relief society about where our treasures are and what we are willing to give up for Christ and that ultimately we will have to be willing to give up everything we have. Also, that we need to put the same excitement into our spiritual progression as we do in so many other aspects of our lives. For me, it is easiest for me to study my scriptures in the morning. Also, I love to exercise which I often let take the place of my scripture study because for some reason I place more importance there. I know it's wrong and backwards in my head but I justify that I can only exercise in the morning and I can study my scriptures some other time during the day. And of course, that usually doesn't happen. So, I have a new goal to get up at 5am and study until 6 and then exercise until 7 or 7:15. On the days that I exercise at 5, I will come home at 6 and study until 7. I have tried this before and it has worked out well but it is a hard schedule to maintain, but I understand the importance of it in my life and am going to make this work! And in a day that I don't exercise because I chose to study instead, I have to feel good about the fact that I made the right choice and I know that Heavenly Father blesses us for our righteous efforts!

After church we had some leftover food from the Scrapbook day and then I got to take a nap! It was such a great nap. The kids stayed downstairs for hours while I slept! Then we played board games with the kids and played with the dogs. That night, the kids tucked me into bed and gave me hugs and kisses, and even a lick (Kole of course.) What a lucky mom am I! Happy Mother's Day to me and Happy Mother's day to all of the women in my life who are amazing! Especially my own mother who is beyond amazing in so many ways! Her strength of character and spirit never cease to amaze me. I love you mom!

P.S. Brutis is gone. We decided that it was too hard to have 2 dogs and decided to give up Brutis. The kids said good-bye this morning and we were going to take him back to Double-C. Craig and I were feeling kinda bad about that but then a friend of ours stopped by and said that she would take him for a week while we were gone and see if they want to keep him. I am so happy! I know he will love it there and I hope that they love him too! Bye, Bye Brutis!

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Easter 2011

2011-04-25T21:52:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter this year! It started out on Saturday when we had an Easter dinner with Bob, Rita, Nic, Alli, Cherise and her family! The food was so yummy and we had a good time just sitting around, watching basketball and chatting. On Sunday, the kids woke us up at 6:30am (we warned them not to wake us up before that!) and we found the Easter baskets and the easter eggs that the bunny had left for us. What a great bunny! Christa was super excited to put on her Easter dress and after she was all dressed she kept twirling around in her skirt and telling my what a beautiful princess she was. She loved her shoes almost as much as her dress so she was definitely the bell of the ball!

Church was great and I felt the spirit very strongly in all the meetings. I found myself feeling so grateful for the atonement of my Savior Jesus Christ and that he gave us the greatest gift for free. He conquered death so that we could live. Christa came in to me after her classes and said: "Mom, Jesus died for us! He had nails in his hands and then he was in a bed. And then....he lived again!" It was so cute and it brought tears to my eyes.

I got to have a good conversation with the boys today about Heaven, and Jesus and why we have to forget what we knew when we were in Heaven before being born. They really are understanding the gospel and know why they are here and they know that they are literal children of God. That is so precious to me and I hope that they continue to strive to find their own testimonies of the Savior and what he has truly done for us.

Christa standing on the toilet showing off her beautiful Easter dress!

Krew showing me his Easter basket. He is so funny. Lately he takes his shirt off every night when he goes to bed. Chase is in the background already going to town on his chocolate bunny. Why waste time right......:>

Chase with the two most important things on his lap. Chocolate and peeps!

Christa and dad opening Christa's easter eggs to see what is inside.......

Kole protecting his Easter loot!

Salt Lake City Trip

2011-04-25T21:02:00.001-07:00

This month we got to go to Utah to visit my mom and dad and Tory and Tyler. We also got to visit Craig's brother's Jamie and Josh and their families. It was an AWESOME trip! We had so much fun and I am always sad to leave family. We went there this year in April because I wanted to run the Salt Lake City Half Marathon with my dad. It was almost exactly a year from when he had his heart surgery and now he is running half-marathons. I am so proud of him! We had a great run. The weather was good and I was able to set a PR for myself. Nothing spectacular but I ran it in 1:57. Kole and Craig ran the 5K and Kole finished in 25:14. He beat my 5K PR by 11 seconds and was third overall in his age group. We are also very proud of him. He is going to be my pace-setter from now on!

Christa got to wear her easter dress to church on Sunday and she was so excited. She is still such a girly girl and loves the pretty dresses and shoes!

Jordan and Christa have devel0ped a special bond. Christa absolutely adores her! It was so fun for them to be able to spend time together. Jordan is turning into such a beautiful, talented, capable, smart and independent little thing. We love her!

We got to go up into the cottonwood canyon and walk in a river bed that was dry. It is full of big rocks and we got to climb all over them. The kids LOVED it. Especially throwing the rocks and trying to make them break.

Bradlee and Brock just owned those rocks and poor Christa had a little difficulty getting around but she absolutely loved doing it. She didn't want my help and only took my hand when she had to climb over a very large rock.

Krew posing on the rocks.

Chase posing on the rocks!

Max was able to come and hang out with us on Sunday. We went to his ward to watch him give his talk which was excellent. I love his new haircut. He is so handsome and I really liked watching him play with the kids. He is a great role model for my children! Keep up the good work Max.

This is probably my most favorite picture from the trip. The sun was beginning to set and they both look so cute. What's better than a grandma/granddaughter picture anyway huh?

I was so happy that grandma had planned for us to color easter eggs there. This is one of the things that I hate to do. Not so much fun as an adult and we weren't going to have very much time to do it when we got home so this worked out perfectly. Well, pretty perfectly. All until a whole glass of egg dye got dumped over by one of my children and then another child of mine dumped over a glass of juice! Sheesh kids.......But the kids had a lot of fun doing it together and I know it is one of those things that they will always remember.

Krew and Bradlee.

The whole group going egg crazy!

Tory helping the kiddos.

A picture of my dad, me, Craig and Kole after the race. My legs were so sore from running so much downhill and my dad was hurting too. Still trying to recover, my legs feel like lead!

My dad and I before the race.

All of us at 5am! Let's go ruuuunnnnnnn!

The night before the race we got to go to a ward party with my family and there was a very silly clown there and the kids got to play a minute to win it. Chase stacked cups and Kole had to throw a ping pong ball in all the cups. It was a lot of fun.

Chase after he finished stacking.

The very silly clown.

Curly Christa.....Kinda

2011-03-31T18:47:00.001-07:00

The other day I tried to blow-dry Christa's hair and then curl it. This is what she got. The curl lasted about 20 minutes. I will have to explain to her someday why she got her daddy's hair. Poor Christa!

Still super precious and cute though! At least she did get some natural curl with her ultra fine hair.

Oh my lambs!

2011-03-31T18:40:00.000-07:00

Christa and I got to feed some tiny bummer lambs this last week with her preschool teacher and her kids. It was really cute to watch Christa try to shove the bottle in the poor little lamb's mouths. The lambs were so tiny! I don't think I have ever seen lambs so small. One was only a day old.

The lamb is looking for some more milk!

This lamb could not figure out how to drink out of a bottle very well. Sarah just had to shove it in the lamb's mouth and hold it shut until the lamb got most of it out. Silly little lamb.

Spring Break

2011-03-29T17:05:00.000-07:00

Our spring break this year was great, except for the freezing rain, snow, and wind that blew our roof off! Seriously, we have to get our roof replaced! Corey and Heidi Jentzsch and their family came and visited and we had so much fun! They stayed with Cherise, so poor Nielsons, they had a lot of company and fed a lot of people, but we love them! We played a lot of kinect, ate a lot of food, played games, talked and just generally had a great time. The guys got to go out and shoot squirrels and the girls went to lunch and window shopping. The kids played non-stop and never seemed to get tired.

If you know me, then you know that I do not stay up late very well. I tried though. Whenever I sit down however, this is what happened. It doesn't help that I was holding a sleeping Christa either!

I don't have many pictures. Only the ones Heidi sent me because apparently, I didn't take any pictures! Thanks Heidi. This is a fun picture of our family on the last night they were there. The remainder of spring break was spent having friends over, trying to clean house, trying to take care of new dogs and trying to relax. Trying is the key word. School is back in session, soccer starts and my laundry still isn't caught up! Oh well....life goes on and we love every minute of it!

Meet Dazzle

2011-03-23T17:52:00.000-07:00

Here is Dazzle! She is a 9 month old lab/springer mix. They call them Labradingers! She is beautiful and has very soft fur. She is a very mild tempered dog and is great with the kids. She puts up with everything they dish out to her. Christa is especially loving! She plays but isn't too rough and she doesn't hardly make a peep. She doesn't fight her crate at all and is quiet all night. She has a little potty training and training in general to do but is a great addition to our family. We are going to put in an invisible fence this weekend so that she can be outside lots and run and play. I want to train her to run with me so I will have a running partner.

Dazzle trying to get Brutis.

Kole and Dazzle.

These two dogs put together are still way easier than Kasey was. It is much more pleasant to have them around! I think they will both be great pets for the entire family. We've had them for a week tomorrow and I still don't regret our decision. A week after Kasey I already knew we were in trouble!

Meet Brutis

2011-03-23T17:10:00.000-07:00

Here is our new Dachsund named Brutis! I finally decided that we could look at dogs again and so we went to the Humane Society and Craig found his perfect dog. You will meet her next. I liked her but I also felt bad for little Brutis. He was such a cool little dog that I had to have him too. Craig thought I was crazy when I told him that I wanted to get BOTH dogs! There was no way I could tell him to get Brutis instead of Dazzle (Craig's dog), but he was totally fine with getting both. So far he has been a great dog. He is 3 years old and has only had one accident in the house since we got him. He loves the kids and is pretty obedient. He only barks when he is in his crate but we got him a little training collar and it seems to be working like a charm! He loves taking a bath and can do a trick! When you get out a dog treat he runs in a circle and then waits to get his treat. It's awesome. He also loves heat. During the day when he gets sleepy, he sits on the heater vent. It cracks me up because when the heater is blowing his ears flap. Pretty hilarious!

Isn't he sooo cute!

Dazzle and Brutis love eachother too! Sometimes Dazzle is a little to much for Brutis but he deals with it well and tries to give it right back! His short little legs just don't get him very far! Dazzle likes to put her big paw on his back when they are playing and there just isn't a whole lot he can do about it. It's pretty funny!

St. Patrick's Day 2011

2011-03-23T16:48:00.000-07:00

This year for St. Patricks day we were pretty busy so I didn't get to make the green food like I usually do, but I did put together a leprechaun treasure hunt for them. When they woke up there was a clue waiting for them on the kitchen table. They had to follow the leprechaun's clue to find their treasure. They had a lot of fun and even Christa got into it. When they let her find one of the clues she started making up what the clue said. It was hilarious! She has a very creative mind. They loved the pots of gold at the end of the treasure hunt! It was a great breakfast!

One of the clues left by the leprechaun.

They found the treasure!

Christa eating breakfast!

Krew stacking up his treasure.

Kole wondering where the little leprechaun went........

Chase and Krew enjoying their pots of gold.

Christa and her pot of gold.

A GREAT WEEKEND!

2011-03-23T16:31:00.000-07:00

Tory, Tyler, Bradlee and Brock came to visit us two weekends ago. We had SO MUCH FUN! I love being with my sister and her family. Tory is probably one of the very few people on this earth who actually get's me. I wish they lived closer! I love Brock and Bradlee and I was surprised at how well Bradlee and Christa played the entire weekend. I loved hearing Brock talk and talk about Buzz Light year. I loved hearing Bradlee sing Miley Cyrus and pretend play with Christa. I also love that Craig and Tyler get along so well. They got to fishing and shooting and they had a blast.

Bradlee and Christa hugging. Well, Christa is hugging and Bradlee is allowing it. This picture makes me giggle.

Christa loves her aunt Tory. She was often found just snuggling with her.

All of us at the RUn for the Music race. Oh by the way, I smoked Craig at it.

Tory and I got to have a girls night out and we started it by going out to eat. Then we went to YMCA ladies night out where I set up a stampin' up booth for a couple of hours, and we got to do Zumba. After that we went bowling and then to Wal-Mart to show our Justin Bieber pride. the shirts may or may not have been very small. I was being shy in this picture because there as a wal-mart employee close by and I didn't want to be spotted sporting this sweet outfit.

I don't know, just rockin' the Justin Bieber shirt.

Tory is definitely hotter than me in her tiny tee.

Oh yes, definitely hotter!

Random February pictures

2011-03-23T16:23:00.000-07:00

Krew doing his kindergarten homework. He is always good about coming home and doing his homework. He is doing great in kindergarten and from what I hear from his teacher, he is always kind, helpful and pretty dang smart! He must have gotten his smarts from me because Craig still has his!

What a cute 3 year old! She is so sweet and always quick to compliment others. She loves everyone and wants to do what is right. One day I had done something she thought was mean and she said: "mom, that wasn't nice!" I said: "Your right Christa, I am a bad mom." And she said: "No mom, your a good mom and I love you!" I wish we could all always have that attitude towards each other, even when someone does something hurtful to us!

Chase making faces for the camera. When do they grow out of this phase? Judging from Craig, my answer just might be never! Love my boys!

Christa and I chillin' on the couch. Just needed some mommy-daughter snuggle time.

Blue and Gold Banquet

2011-03-23T16:13:00.000-07:00

Kole and Chase both got to go to the Blue and Gold Banquet this year. Chase got his first award and they both made cakes to enter into the contest. The theme was courage so Chase made a CTR cake because it takes courage to choose the right. Kole made a cat litter cake because it takes courage to eat something that looks like cat litter!

Kole's cat litter cake.

Chase helping dad make his CTR cake. He wanted it to be Duck's colors.

He did a really good job of coloring the letters in with frosting.

Chase's finished cake.

Scouting has now taken a new turn for me too. I just got released from being an advisor in Young Women's and I am now the Tiger and Wolf Den leader. I am really excited but wish that there were more boys. Right now I only have Chase and one other boy. I am glad to work with them on scouts though and get a better feel for what I am sure I will be doing for a long time to come. Kind of hard to avoid when you have 3 boys!

Flag Football

2011-03-23T16:05:00.000-07:00

Chase decided to try out flag football for the first time. He was really excited about it and has been doing a great job. He is a fast runner and is great and grabbing flags! He has made several touch downs and is having a lot of fuN!

Christa looking cute at a flag football game.

Chase played against his cousin Jensen for his first game. I think they had more fun with eachother than actually playing flag football!

Chase is ready to play some defense! Watch out!

Valentines Day 2011

2011-03-23T15:55:00.000-07:00

This year, as usual, the Valentine's Bird brought the kids some treats and they exchanged valentines at school. Christa has only 6 kids in her preschool and she came home with all of this! I have never seen so much Valentine's Day loot in all my life! This picture doesn't even do it justice!

Krew made this for me for Valentine's Day. One paw fell off but I still love it! What a sweet boy!

Craig got me this for Valentines Day. I love pretty flowers on my table. I am so grateful for such a sweet and loving husband who is always trying to make me happy!

Chase made this for me for Valentines Day. It is a heart mobile. Love it!

This is a piece of homework that Christa did in Preschool to bring home and give to me. She is actually a really good colorer for a 3 year old!

Minute to Win IT!

2011-03-23T15:48:00.001-07:00

One night when the missionaries were over we decided to play a minute to win it game. You have to start with a cookie on your head and move it down to your mouth only by wiggling your face to get it there. It was hilarious!

So close he can taste it!

It was pretty tricky for Krew. I don't know why, he always has food on his face!

Chase, it's supposed to be fun, not painful!

Here fishy fishy

2011-03-23T15:42:00.000-07:00

Kole got a fish and Gracie has shown quite an interest in it. She is either lonely or hungry!

Missionary Mayhem

2011-03-23T15:14:00.000-07:00

Whenever we have a new missionary over to our home we like to present them with a food challenge. If they can accomplish it, the get a Dairy Queen blizzard. If they fail, well, they don't get a blizzard. It's very simple! Anyway, here are some pictures of our latest attempts. This was this elder's second challenge attempt. As you will see below, his first attempt was pretty difficult and it just was not going to happen. So instead, he had to eat this plate of watermelon in 2 minutes. He was sure he could do it but he came up about 2.5 pieces short! After all I had put him through, I gave him the blizzard anyway. What a good sport!

This is what he had left on his plate when the timer went off. So close!

This is the first elder during his first challenge. He had to drink a concoction that Craig and I put together from anything we could get our hands on in the kitchen. It was quite nasty. He sniffed it and took a drink or too and he got this look on his face that told me that he was never going to be able to finish it!

This was his final attempt before he gave up! I felt really bad for him that night. I promised him that next time I would give him an easier challenge!

Oh, doesn't he look up for a challenge! Oh and what a nice drink!

We have had a lot of fun with this elder in our home! His food challenge was to eat 5 sloppy joes in five minutes. He had already eaten dinner but pretty much demolished those joes.

THis is during the challenge and he is going for it!

Done and done. He did a great job and definitely earned his blizzard!

At the beginning of his challenge. Yummy.

Just keep running......

2011-03-23T14:38:00.000-07:00

I had a goal this year to run a race every month. These pictures are of my first three runs. Craig wanted to try to beat me in this race The Run for the Music, but as I predicted, he did not! I finished the race at in 25:25 and he finished it in 27:35 or something like that. Pretty good for him still since he didn't really run much before the race. If he actually started running I might be in trouble. My time was a 5K PR for me so I was happy. I was the 2nd girl in my age group and the 4th girl overall. This picture above is of Kole and Chase. Kole won the kids mile in a time of 6:21 which is a PR for him too! Chase won first place in his age group with a time of 9 something. They both did great and we are sooo proud of them!

Tory and Tyler came down to support us in this race. Tory and Tyler ran with us and it was a blast!

Tory and I after the race. So glad Tory made those shirts!

This is me after the race sporting the: "Yeah, I was number one, faster than Craig, oh yeah, uh huh!"

Tory and Tyler preparing for the race. It was a serious moment.

Chase coming through the finish line like a champ! That's my boy!

Kole coming in 25 seconds before the 2nd place runner. He was older than Kole too, so Kole got first place overall and first in his age group! What a fast little sucker! I think I even got a little teary as he crossed the finish line!

Family picture before our races.

Homeboys gotta love.

Tory and I ready to whip the boys' bootays!

Craig and I at the Couple Truffle Shuffle run in Medford. My time was better than my January time by almost 2 minutes. We are going to do it again next year and try to be contenders in the race. Oh, and the truffles were not good. Disappointing.

Craig getting ready to do his thang!

Craig and I before the couple truffle shuffle. It was a little chilly and my legs were numb!

This was my first race of the year. It was in Talent, OR and I felt really good! It was fun and I came in second in my age group!

What a great support group I have. I know it's not always easy for my family to follow me from race to race, but they do and we have so much fun. Before a race Craig always asks: "Why did I sign up for this?" But then when he's done he's always glad he did it. Kole is a natural runner and we all love being active together as a family. Can't wait till we can all run in a race together. Just Keep RUnning!