Miss Teresa

Cali's cute and wonderful pre-school teacher is Miss Teresa. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons our house becomes an extension of pre-school. Cali likes to pretend that she is Miss Teresa. In fact, today she is only answering to the name, Miss Teresa. Today Miss Teresa made a car with the extra boxes from the Macey's caselot sale. Each box was a different car seat containing her children. Which are, of course, named the exact same names of Miss Teresa's three daughters

On their way to Target.


Here's Maddy and Samatha, Lexie is in the other car seat.

What Would You Do?

If you walk into your kitchen and you see this.......

this

this

and this, what do you do?

A) Scream and yell at the children to get off of the table?

B) Calmly remove the children from the table, and give them a lecture about the dangers?

C) Do nothing, just walk back out of the room and pretend you didn't see it?

D) Take a picture, then tell them to get down, thus sending them a mixed message that what they were doing was cute and funny and ensuring that they will do it again and again.

You know which one I chose. What would you do?

A Copy of a Copy

I hope to have some pictures soon of Christian's trip with his brothers on top of Balanced Rock Mountain. The hike is pretty impressive, it took two days, and the views from the top are spectacular. So, hopefully I will get copies of those very soon.

This picture was taken post hike. Left to right Dustin (18) Christian (30) Carson (24) Carter (1.8). I thought I'd throw in the ages for those of you who don't know these crazy brothers, and also because Christian is 30 and I think it's pretty awesome, that I'm not......yet.

For any of you that have seen the movie Multiplicity, you will remember that Michael Keaton's character can't get everything he needs to done in a day so he creates a copy of himself. Which is pretty fine, until he makes a copy of a copy and then gets Steve. It has been a long standing joke between these brothers that Christian is the original. Carson is a copy. Dustin is a copy of a copy, thus making him Steve. The joke is even more ironic, because none of the really look copies at all.

Under Construction

I've been having a hard time getting my blog to look the way I want it. My last banner and background color were inspired by my Disney trip, but my Disney hangover is coming to an end, so I am working on making it look a little more "me".....whatever that is.

An Extended Weekend Get Away

On Wednesday Christian's mom, Vicki, came to help me tend my kids. Our work schedules were all turned around, and I needed some help. So Vicki came on Wed. and helped Cali get to school, after school she took them on adventure. They went to Provo and made a stop at Shopko, where Carter came away with a Cars back pack and two books. Cali made off with three coloring books and the new Barbie movie. Then they were on their way to Helper. They stayed in Helper all day Wed. and then off to Melissa's house (Christian's sister) in Castle Dale. There they watched the Barbie movie and ate pizza. Then Vicki took the kids to my mom's house, which is just down the hill from Melissa's in Castle Dale. They stayed there with my mom, Gwen, until Friday when I came to pick them up. In the mean time they played dress up, went to the park, went to the dollar store, visited a farm where they saw a cow get milked, and many more wonderful activities.


Christian and I rode down to Helper on Friday morning. I dropped Christian off at his parents house and he and his brothers went on an overnight camping trip (pictures and an account of this adventure to come). I continued on to Castle Dale where my kids were enjoying the nice weather with my sister Bethany in my parents back yard.


I just wanted to take a minute and thank my family for being so supportive. Especially my mom and Vicki. They are both willing to drop everything that they are doing to support us and help us. Thank you!

Cali wearing her Grandma Gwennie dress-up outfit (grandma has some killer dress-ups) as Carter jumps through a hoop. He was a lion.



Bethany petting Carter, he's still a lion, as he comes out of his "lion cage" aka our playhouse and favorite place to play as children.


Picking grapes at Grandma Vicki's. Aren't they beautiful? Both kids ate enough to keep their bowels regular for years.

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Four wheelering with Grandpa Carl.

Another Boy

My friend Dorey is having a baby boy very soon. It's her second boy. I went to her baby shower last week, and I just wanted to throw a shout out to her. She is one of the very first people that I met when we moved to Herriman, and she has been a good friend of mine ever since. She is a very talented party-thrower and gift-wrapper. She always does everything up right. We are both from small towns and have a never ending supply of small town stories, which we will share with anyone! Thank you Dorey for being such a good friend to me. Also, in the above picture is my good friend Regina. Thanks Reg for letting my drive your new Mazda!

Any baby wearing this shirt will be a pimp fo' sho'!

A Family Outing

Does going to the dentist count as a family outing? Well, we all had cleaning appointments last week. We have to schedule everyone at the same time so we can tag team the kids. I wouldn't normally document such an event, however, it was Carter's first dental visit and Cali came away with three cavities. Which sent me into a depression about what sort of mother has a four-year-old with three cavities. The really horrible part is that Cali and I brush her teeth every night together and I had noticed a little black spot several months ago. So now she has three "silver stars" which she proudly "shines" every night.

A side note: The dentist asked if I let my kids drink soda, which I do only on rare occasions. He also asked if we ate a lot of fruit snacks, which we do....by the pound. He told me that fruit snacks are just as bad for teeth as soda. Which would've been good to know 100 pounds of fruit snacks ago.

This is the same view the dentist had of his teeth. No cooperation.

A "gas" induced smile. Not much different than her regular picture taking smile.

Christian wasn't really excited about me taking a picture of the inside of his mouth.

The Only Thing Constant in Life is Change.......Right?

My life has been really crazy lately. I quit my job at the University of Utah's Registrar's Office. I've been employed there for eight years. I worked four full-time and I have spent the past four working a delightful part-time schedule. I wasn't planning on quitting and I really liked what I was doing, but I received a job offer that I couldn't refuse. Starting in October I will be working for the University of Utah Hospital in their education and training department. I am keeping the same hours (hurray for 20 hour work weeks!) but am going to have the chance to do something a little more creative.

So there you have it. My newest self inflicted reason to freak out. But, all freaking aside, I do feel like I've made the right choice. The only thing constant in life is change......right?

Pretty Cool if Your Name is Cali and/or Your Name Starts with the Letter "C"

That's Cali there between the A and the L. Is there anyway to photo shop the other tourists out of this picture?


Yes, I love that my daughter stuck her butt in my face right as the picture was being taken.


Yes, I also love that Carter can't hold still for the ten seconds it requires to takes a picture.


Finally, we all look relatively normal in a picture.

Possibly the Best Moment of Carter's Young Life

Cali had the Princess lunch and Carter had Lightning McQueen. He hugged the car and patted the car and was not one bit happy when we had to move on. He was also in several other family's photo shoots because he would not leave "McKeeeeeen". So, what do you do? March over to one of the many gift shops and buy him a Lightning McQueen. Which he only puts down to eat and sleep, wait I take that back, he's having a nap and it's in his bed right now.

More Disney Magic!

On our second day at Disneyland we had lunch with the Princesses. This may have been the highlight of Cali's young life. The food was really good, and it was so fun to see her excitement.

First Day of Pre School

Cali was so excited to get back to school. She went on Tues. and Thurs. last year, but this year she gets to go Mon., Wed., and Fri. While we were driving to school Monday morning Cali burst out with, "Shoot, I forgot to text Bailey. She told me to text her this summer and I forgot." I asked her if she even knew what texting was and she said, "Yeah, hand me your phone and I'll show you."

Demotivation

Check out these cool posters. They are not very motivating, but true. After being at work yesterday, I am pretty sure that I need to buy a bunch of these of our office.

Here's Where it Gets Crazy (More Disney Pix)

Carter's favorite thing at Disneyland...the water ball.

The dumbo ride was a favorite too.

We had to take some breaks and discuss which ride to go on next.

To infinity and beyond... and a sticky sucker.

My tough guy.

Seriously Super Hilarious

Everyone reading my blog today MUST check out my friend Tatum's blog. She composed a list of things that may happen to you if you live in Southern Utah. Anyone familiar with Southern Utah will find it very funny. If you are not familiar with Southern Utah you will still laugh because EVERYTHING on her list has actually happened to her or her family. If you feel like you need a good laugh today, check it out!

Finally! Arrival At Disneyland

So true!

Cali and Carter waiting to enter Disneyland

Are We There Yet? My Excitement's Getting Stronger!

Cali learned an, "Are We There Yet" song and sang it most of the way. In the process, Carter said his first full phrase which was......"Are We There Yet?" Followed by his second phrase, "I don't know".

Get Your Kicks

We spent the night in Barstow. The hotel was right on historic Route 66, which has been made famous in our house thanks to the movie Cars.

Viva Las Vegas

We stopped in Vegas on Labor Day to stretch our legs, and more importantly, visit with our friends Nicole and Alan. It was so good to see them and so fun to see their little boys. I wish we could have stayed longer, or that we lived closer!

M & M World. Carter was not quite sure if he was scared of giant M&M's.

Carter meets Carson. Carter loves babies and kept trying to grab Carson. Cole (Carson's older brother) asked his mother if Carter was a "walking baby", which is now my favorite thing to say.

Cali and Cole in front of the M&M race car.

Cali and Cole looking for fish at the Rain Forest Cafe. After eating at the Rain Forest Cafe I have decided that all eating establishments should have a giant aquarium and many motorized animals, it really keeps the kids entertained!

Back to the Real World

We had a very magical time at Disneyland. I've been walking around in a daze all day today, it's hard to come back to the real world. This is one of my favorite pictures from our vacation, Christian's enthusiasm for Tinkerbell is priceless.