OWENS Est. 2001

Update Time

2010-09-20T03:58:00.000-07:00

I have a couple months worth of catching up to do!! I probably won't break it all down into weeks and or months becauase that might take me too long and I'd probably wind up rambling on and on! I'll try to summarize what has been going on in our neck of the woods!

In JULY i did a lot of scrapbooking with Mechel and just as I thought I was getting somewhat caught up...I went and took and developed more pictures! At any rate all the scrapping was a lot of fun!
We took the kids to a local Monster Truck show. It was fun, but kinda damp and rainy and muddy!
I learned that the microfiber couches I have, I do not really like. I shampooed them, and they look improved, but not what I wanted. I shampooed the carpet and that looked great for a few days! LOL
I was officially signed off in the O.R. and began my orientation as a scrub tech in the OB department. I love getting to train and learn from all the girls, they are great!
The kids practically lived at Grammies during July. They knew school was right around the corner and they couldn't get enough of Grammie and Papa's house!
Rented "She's Outta My League" and we laughed a lot...two thumbs up!
Stayed busy with some Forest Fires, the good ole Cheap Seats kept the fire fighters happy!
Went to the theatre and saw "Grown Up's". We laughed a lot at this movie too.!
To finish up the month of July we took the kids to Phoenix to do some school clothes shopping, eat at Famous Daves and swim in the hotel pool!

Now for August...

I watched the Time Traveler's Wife while Matt was at work and I would not tell you to watch this movie, it was pretty strange!
I registered to be a bone marrow donor, just had to send a swab of my cheek to see if I match anybody out there. I'd help if I could!
I got to pick out and order cabinets for our new house. I chose a gorgeous knotty alder with a dark stain. I can't wait to see them installed!
We had our 2nd Annual School Year's Eve for the kids. Just a little night of fun, dinner, dessert, reading, games and some fun decorations...obviously school started for them!
Went to Vegas with Andy and Mechel for a weekend. Stayed at the Excalibur for the first and probably last time. Saw a hypnotist show, walked a lot, shopped, ate, it was hot, finally rode the NY NY coaster, and of course went to the wax museum! Had a blast tho!
Karissa started a pre-pre K. She hated the first day and wouldn't go. Cried the 2nd day and 3rd, shoot cried for the firse 6 or so day, but she finally warmed up to it and does great!
I started a dreaded Biology class. It's really difficult for me!
I wanted to go to the Payson Rodeo, but it rained so we opted out!
Got to take the kids to a little spot in the woods I'd been wanting to do a mini photo shoot at. Turned out to be a lot of fun, had a picnic while we were at it too!
Matt got a nice buck with his bow. I think it scored 185. Can't wait to have it back to hang on the wall!
Went to Phoenix to have Matt's knee looked at, probably needs surgery again. Ate some great food, oh and bought a boat that we have been saving up for!
Took the boat to the lake the following day and had an amazing time!
Played a lot in the sprinkler cause it was dang hot!

So now it's September!

Labor Day weekend we spent at the lake of course! Friday we took Auntie Brooke along and had a lot of fun kneeboarding and tubing and swimming! Saturday we had Uncle David, Uncle Ryan and his girlfriend Kelly along. More swimming, crazy Uncles on the tube and kneeboard, lotsa junk food too!
Made our reservations for the Polar Express in December...which is coming up fast!
Sit at home on Tuesdays and Thursdays while Matt's in class till 1030 at night!
Celebrated Matt's 33rd Birthday with his parents, had lasagna, salad and bread. Made a dirt cake which I served up in the back of a Tonka dumptruck. That was pretty fun!
Kylie and I made her science project which was a big butterlfy cake! It was a lot of fun and she said she's sure she got an a plus!
Really wanted to go to the Navajo County Fair, but that didn't go my way.
Got to watch my Green Bay Pack win their first 2 regular season games!
Went to the local Oktoberfest! Bought some fabric, a shirt and some caramel apples!
Made some craft projects...still making some craft projects!

Ok well I think that kind of sums it up for ya! Gonna try to add some pictures later!

Independence Weekend

2010-07-08T16:18:00.000-07:00

It was here and now it's gone! Happens so fast...every year at the 4th Matt sits there and says how Christmas will be here in no time and sure enough it is, and at Christmas he tells us how the 4th will be here in no time and it is! Time sure does fly!
So this year on Saturday I did the Carissa's Run at 530 am with my girlfriend Mechel. I got home about 7 and got evrything ready for the parade. Matt had to work Friday night so he was going to sleep while I took the kids. The parade was pretty lame! Someone whined somewhere and so the parade had to be totally dry, no water balloons, squirt guns, hoses, nothing! It's such a fun tradition to attend the parade, but I honestly don't know that we will continue to do so. After the parade I made a quick stop in at a baby shower and then home to get dinner all ready. We had our friend Garth and his girlfriend over for dinner which was fried chicken, potatoe salad, buttered bread and a dinner salad. I finally made the flag cake I've been wanting to do for the past few years. We stayed home and watched the fireworks from the comfort of our front yard! We got to visit with friends and family which is always important, but Matt missed seeing his brother Jared! We know it will be here again in no time and look forward to fun traditions and celebrating our country's freedom! So grateful for all the service men and women that have made that possible and continue to do so!

California

2010-07-08T15:26:00.001-07:00

Wow has it really already been nearly a month since I last blogged?! I knew I was slacking, but not this bad! I suppose I will start with our California vacation, which went a little something like this…..

The night of Friday June 25th, I packed up the car and situated car seats so we would be ready to rock and roll. I went to bed about 1130 pm, I was preceded by everyone else by a couple hours with the exception of Brooke and Tayler who went to sleep around the same time as I did.

We woke up at 230 am on Saturday, loaded everyone up and were on the road for San Diego at about 3 am. Our plan was to drive the 7 hour and 45 minute journey while the kids slept, we figured it would save a lot of headache…and it did! It took everyone about an hour to get comfy and fall back to sleep, but then they all slept until around 830 when we stopped for breakfast.

We made it to our hotel at noon, thank goodness for tom-tom, Brooke’s little GPS device…that really saved our lives! J We were able to get an early check in after we went and did a little shopping. Once we were all unpacked and freshened up we decided to head down to the Seaport Village and check out the naval ships and other sites. Everyone was pretty tired, but we did a little swimming in the pool and went to bed, so far our trip was going smoothly!

Sunday was our day for Sea World. Sea World is a lot of fun, it’s nice because there isn’t really any standing and waiting in line which helps with little kids patience and I supposed even us big kids! We watched Shamu, sea lions, dolphins in the Blue Horizon show, Pets Rule show and I’m probably forgetting a show or two. Matt, Brooke, Tyler and Kylie rode the “Journey to Atlantis” ride and got drenched! I was supposed to go, but Karissa was not happy about me going so Matt traded with me and I have to say after seeing how soaked they were, I wasn’t too disappointed! The kids got to feed and pet Bat Rays, feed sea lions, and look at all sorts of other marine mammals. My least favorite part of Sea World was the $8.00 pieces of pizza I bought for lunch…gag! Matt and I got to go out that night and enjoy a delicious dinner at a place called Phil’s BBQ. I just LOVE BBQ and well Matt loved that we were on some live web cam while waitin gin line and so he was putting on a show! The end of Sunday and our trip was still going pretty good!!

Monday was our designated day for the beach so of course you know the weather wasn’t going to cooperate. It was chilly, misting rain and overcast! We decided since we were going to head to Anaheim that evening we might just head north a little earlier and look for a beach. We wound up going to Newport Beach which was a great beach! However, the weather was only slightly better, but we were going to make the best of it. We had to rummage up as much silver change as possible for the parking meter because you know here in Heber we don’t typically have to use those so it slipped our mind LOL! We packed our lunch for the beach and set off for a good few hours at least. The water was a tad chilly at first, but then it warmed right up! We were all having a good time…until, yes until….we notice the lifeguard rescue boat zooming over to a group of people out in the water a little ways. We then notice that Brooke and Tayler are in that group…yep we sat there in astonishment as we watched a lifeguard jump off the boat and pluck our Brooke and Tayler out of the water along with several other people! We could tell they were standing and moving so appeared to be ok, so we were confused as to what had happened! We watched until the lifeguard then jumped off the boat with Brooke and Tayler and swam in with them. Well, long story short, they got caught in a riptide, I guess really Brooke did more than anything and Tayler was doing her best to help. Pretty scary for them, thankfully all were ok, but it kinda made our so far smooth trip get a little bumpy. Needless to say, they didn’t go back into the water! It was sand castle time and bury the kids time for them. We went to our hotel and swam some more because apparently everyone felt a little safer in the 5 foot deep pool! After we all showered, we grabbed some pizza for dinner and hit the hay; we had an early morning coming up!

Tuesday morning we said hello to the Magical world of Disney! The kids had anticipated Disney for what seemed like eternity to them and it was finally here. We tried to be to the gates right as they opened, but we missed it by about 45 minutes only because finding your way into the parking area for the theme park is a total nightmare! The weather started out cool and overcast which helped with the crowds a bit. We started at Space Mountain where they told us Karissa was not tall enough; we tried to dispute this because she was seriously like a hair short! Matt waited with her, Kennedy and Kylie while the rest of us hopped on Space Mountain. We rode Big Thunder Mountain, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan’s Flight, Splash Mountain, Astro Orbiter, Winnie the Pooh, met the Princesses, Minnie and Mickey, and rode numerous other rides. We went on everything that everyone wanted to do and by nights end, we were ALL ready to go home! We started to watch the fireworks display, but decided to head towards Main Street and the tram asap to beat what crowds we could. We were making decent progress, but by the time we hit the turnstyles Matt and Brooke who were behind Tayler and I, were frantically informing us that Kylie was missing. My heart sunk to my stomach and I felt sick immediately. No one was sure when they saw her last or where she got separated. Brooke and Tayler stayed at the exit with the rest of the kids while Matt and I went back to search. How would we ever find her in the crowds of thousands, in the dark, would she think to stop, would she keep walking and searching for us? What if I never see her again? A surge of emotions flooded through me as my mind raced and could only think the worst! I headed straight to guest services and explained our situation which I imagined they had heard countless times before. As soon as I was through giving her description, they were contacting security and my phone rang. It was the baby care center in the park, they had our Kylie. I couldn’t get there fast enough, and I had no idea where there was! It turns out she got separated from us when we made a turn and she didn’t see us turn. She was thankfully smart enough to go to a Disney employee and ask for help. I cannot even describe how grateful I am that she was so smart!!! That was it…that was enough…I was ready to go home.

We really did have a wonderful time, the kids all behaved rather nicely, Brooke and Tayler didn’t even fight too much…kidding of course! It was a dream to have them along to help out. It really was a great family vacation aside from those couple mishaps that thankfully turned out ok!

The Last Couple Weeks

2010-06-11T08:20:00.000-07:00

Since it's summer, our lives are seem to be going even faster than they would normally! We celebrated Memorial Day by having some friends over for a BBQ, it was relaxing and very delicious! The kids finished up softball and T-ball this week and they are happy to be done. They liked to play, but they never wanted to quit playing around the house or with friends when it came time to go to the games! We got a little 2 day camp out in last week, the weather was perfect and we can't wait to camp again! We really look forward to summer for our camping trips! I made the decision to get back into the groove with my school and have enrolled for Biology this fall. It's gonna be a lot of work so while in school I won't be working as much so I can focus on my school work which is more important right now. I'm still taking it slow, but want to get my RN eventually..LOL! So we have our California trip coming up in just two weeks! Everyone is really excited, especially Karissa. She wakes up EVERY morning and asks, "when are we going to Disneyland?" Poor kids can't comprehend time so I'm sure it seems like a lifetime to wait for her. We got our garden planted, didn't make it as big as last year, but just planted some of our favorite stuff which are tomatoes, several different kinds of peppers, strawberries and potatoes. We laid some sod in the front yard a few weeks ago and it is taking off great. It's so nice to have some grass out there even if it's not a big area, makes such a difference. So basically that's it in a nutshell!

Brooks & Dunn

2010-05-27T17:56:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had the chance to go to Brooks and Dunn's "Last Rodeo" concert in Phoenix. We had a great time! The show opened with Jason Aldean, someone we weren't very familiar with since we aren't HUGE country fans. We knew who he was, but never paid a lot of attention. Well after the show was over we bought both of his CD's! He rocked!! Brooks and Dunn were awesome as well! They have a lot of great music, it's sad to think that they are hanging up their hats! I'm sure we will see them back eventually for some sort of reunion tour or something along those lines!

Karissa's ER visit

2010-05-16T16:04:00.000-07:00

I am not posting in sequence as I am sure you are aware, but just posting as I remember the events! So of course as my luck would have it I had to visit the ER with Karissa and it was the night her daddy left for Texas. It went a little something like this...
10 pm: Everyone is in bed...asleep!
220 am: Karissa rolls off my bed to the floor which she has done before, and Kylie comes in asking for something for her throat. I pick Karissa up and put her in bed and go get Kylie her medicine. I come back to lay down and Karissa is telling me her arm hurts, but she isn't too frantic about it. I try to get her to go back to sleep because mommy has to be up in 2 hours for work.

225 am: still upset that her arm hurts so I decide I better investigate. I switch the light on and notice what looks like some blood on the shirt sleeve so I pull the sleeve back and to my horror I discover why my poor baby is telling me her arm hurts!

227 am: call my dad and tell him that he or my mom need to come over asap and stay with the other kids because I have to take Karissa to the ER for stitches.

235 am: leave for the ER

330 am: arrive at the ER, fill out her paperwork, get her into a room, put lidacaine on immediately to get her ready for some stitches.

500 am: still waiting due to some other emergency and I decide I better call in to work, no way I am gonna be able to function!

545 am: they start to close her up, she sat so nice, they said wished all their little patients were as easy going as her.

615 am: we leave and head to walmart because she deserved a prize and she told me she wanted a dolly! well she got 3 dollies that morning!

730 am: arrive back at home, totally exhausted. and it was a light with no light shade that she managed to hit her arm on the sharp corner of something!

Mother's Day

2010-05-16T15:50:00.000-07:00

Wow it was already a week ago! Well I had a very nice, peaceful, relaxing day! It started with a delicious breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs made by my wonderful husband. We got to enjoy our breakfast together while the kids were all still sleeping. The kids gave me some great home made gifts which are of course the very best kind! I got some flower seeds that I need to plant and some yummy chocolate too! I got to go visit with my mom for the afternoon which was really nice too! I hope everyone else had an enjoyable day like I did! Happy Belated Mother's Day!

Texas!

2010-05-16T15:47:00.001-07:00

Matt and Tyler took a little road trip to Texas on May 2-5 with a buddy of Matt's. It was all to hunt for Turkeys! I told you a couple posts ago that we call Tyler, Tyler Turkey well he has really been living up to that name recenlty! It was a great opportunity for daddy and son to spend some quality time together. They had a really great time and each brought home a turkey!

I"ve been slacking!

2010-05-16T15:40:00.000-07:00

Dinner for our house Sunday the 16th - Saturday the 22nd:
Sunday- Chicken Fried Steak on a Stick with Roasted Potatoes and Asparagus
Monday- Meatless Chili with a mixed salad
Tuesday- Chicken Enchiladas with Rice and Beans
Wednesday- Lemon Pork Stir Fry with basmati rice
Thursday- Greek Chicken Sautee with Orzo pasta and a romaine salad
Friday- We will be out of town so Aunt Brooke gets to cook :)
Saturday- BBQ Skirt Steak with Potato Salad, corn on the cob and grilled zuchinni halves
I will do my very best to come back and post all the recipes, but if they aren' t posted and you want them sooner just message me! I'm trying to finish out my menu for the remainder of the month and blog about a couple other things as well!

Tyler Turkey

2010-05-02T14:33:00.000-07:00

When Tyler was first born someone started calling him Tyler Turkey, and actually when he was in the NICU they gave him a little plush Turkey. The name has stayed with him on and off, but has been put on the back burner for the most part to make room for new nicknames that come along.
Well anyway onto the real post...Tyler went turkey hunting with papa last week and he had a great time. They went out bright and early on a Saturday morning, but they didn't have any luck. In Tyler's own words..."me and papa were sweating like pigs, we walked and walked a lot of miles. then we heard some turkeys, but a coyote barked and scared them away and we never got to see them. we found one little feather, but then we went back to the pick up and sat there and then we went home. i told papa we should have went to the other hill cause we would have found a turkey." So they took the next day off and tried it again on Monday morning. "so this time we went up on my hill, then went down the hill and when we got to the other side we sat by some trees. papa called the turkeys in, they came pretty close about 30 miles(he means yards), and then papa shot it! it was pretty sweet." So all in all he had a great time with papa like always! Here are a couple pictures of them with the bird after they brought it in!

The Brother

2010-05-02T14:11:00.000-07:00

Tyler has a special role in our family, as do all the kids, but Tyler is the only boy. He is the little brother to Kylie and the big brother to Karissa and Kennedy. We realize that even tho he may be younger than Kylie he is going to grow up to be her protector just like he will be for his younger sisters. He has such a kind and compassionate heart already at such a young age. He watches out for his sisters and truly loves them unconditionally. He is always happy to let them play along with whatever game he may be playing or play along with whatever game they might want him to play. We are so proud of him for being such a great Brother!

Update

2010-04-25T18:35:00.000-07:00

We are eating better!!! This is our healthier dinner menu for the coming week! Nothing fried! Not even using any butter!! It's kind of hard, but it's better for all of us! I hope it lasts..lol!
Sunday: Steak Kabobs with Sweet Onions and Green Peppers
Monday: Chicken Marinara with Asparagus
Tuesday: Baked Cod with broccoli and salad
Wednesday: Tomato Bun Burgers
Thursday: Rosemary Chicken with Asparagus
Friday: Green Onion Burgers
Saturday: Blackened Chicken
I got put on call tonight for work, which isn't really a bad thing. I get to stay home and relax since I was up late last night having a blast with some friends here at the house. We had a fun mini girls night we hope to make a monthly tradition! I have work Thursday and Friday night. I hope the weather stays decent so I can plant my garden this week!

Newest Pictures

2010-04-25T17:56:00.000-07:00

Looking at some pictures!

Getting ready to go play at the park

Tyler practicing his swing

She was a good fielder

Playing catch

Easter Pictures

2010-04-25T17:46:00.000-07:00

It's been a few weeks...

2010-04-23T17:02:00.000-07:00

Since I last blogged three weeks ago we have been a little busy which I guess is why there wasn't any time for blogging! I'll give you a quick run down on what's been happening and what's coming up next in our lives!

Celebrated Easter with Matt's family
had a nice quiet Easter Sunday at home together
i started my training in the O.R and totally love it!
had a couple bar-b-que's with some friends
worked!
cleaned the yard
prepped the garden
hauled some scrap metal
did some shopping
i got sick with what we thought was strep but thankfully just a bad sore throat
tyler started t-ball
kylie started softball
took Karissa for pre-school screening, but she is too young and not ready to sit still!
i painted my kitchen cabinets
got to visit with my sis in from San Fran for a weekend!
put up a clothes line

So I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting, but just quickly thinking back that's kind of what we have been up to! What's coming up? Well as always...there is work, work and more work! I've got to decide what class I am going to take this fall. The kids just have a month of school left to go! We are making our plans for our summer vacation to Disneyland and Sea World in June. I'll add some recent pictures later on tonight along with my menu for the coming week! Hope to hear from everyone soon!

Egg Coloring

2010-04-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

Last night we sat down after dinner and colored our eggs! Kylie and Tyler each got a dozen a piece and Kennedy and Karissa split a dozen between them. I wasn't overly happy with the color, as they weren't as vibrant as I think they should have been. I used vinegar in some of the colors and lemon juice in others to see if they showed any different, but they all turned out a little too pastel, but anyway it was still fun. So we have a few dozen hard boiled eggs to gobble up which probably won't take too long at our house! A few pictures...and Kennedy loves to say cheese anytime we tell her we are taking a picture, so notice her CHEESE face!

Spring Break

2010-03-26T20:10:00.001-07:00

We got a mini camping trip in to Roosevelt over our Spring Break. It was a nice little break from the real world, but it ended much too quickly! The weather was perfect, not too hot and not to cold! Tyler had a blast doing a little fishing with daddy. We also enjoyed riding the quad, the beautiful scenery, scoping out quite a bit of wildlife which included some quail, coyote and whitetail deer! We had some fun target shooting, exploring the area and of course eating a lot of yummy food! We are already ready to plan our next trip and hoping some friends will join us as well! I think the kids would love to have some additional play buddies along! Here are a few pictures!

This Week..3/21

2010-03-21T18:23:00.000-07:00

We are going camping! We are all so excited, it's finally spring break and time for a campout down in the desert where the weather is warm and beautifully perfect for camping! We had initally planned to leave a couple days ago, but then realized we had a friends wedding reception we wanted to attend on Saturday evening as well as a couple things we needed to finish up before we could leave. I am also taking a class at work that takes place on Tuesdays which was going to interrupt our trip so we figured we could leave after class on Tuesday and things are right on track for that as of now! The kids are so excited! Kylie and Tyler love to set pretend traps for different animals and check it out the following mornings to see if anything has been disturbed. The kids love being outdoors so it's going to be a great time! I'm still posting the menu for this week because obviously I"ll still be cooking a little, but pretty laid back this week!! So here goes...
Sunday...Pot Roast with Potatoes and Onions
Monday...Beef and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Tuesday..We will grab something on the road
Wednesday..BBQ Ribs on the grill
Thursday..STILL DECIDING
Friday...No Bull Burritos
Saturday...In Class I'll bring home a pizza!
Sunday...Gonna be in a class again so I'll put something in the slow cooker before I leave

Some Random Stuff with Pictures

2010-03-21T17:55:00.000-07:00

I finally cleaned off the memory card on the camera today and decided after uploading them all to my online storage account that I'd post a few of the random pictures! The most important in these random pictures have to do with the awards Kylie and Tyler received at school on Friday. Tyler was awarded the "Character Counts Award", he was recognized as being a kind, generous, thoughtful and overall great kid! We barely got him rushing back to his seat. Kylie was awarded for perfect attendance as well as a school improvement award. They are both doing wonderful, we were so proud to have both the kids recognized in a special way!

And here are just a couple random pictures of Kennedy, also one of Tyler with his very good buddy Payton. Notice the scowl on Karissa's face....this is her usual look!

A Tin Can

2010-03-21T16:47:00.000-07:00

Matt has always wanted a little tin can fishing boat and even more so since Tyler really enjoys to fish. Their dream of owning one came true a couple days ago! A buddy of Matt's had one he wanted to get rid of and so the boys scored! The kids are super excited to have it!! After they brought it home, they washed it up and put some polish on it too! Guess I'll try to get my car done next!

Better late then never...

2010-03-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

It's already mid week, but I thought I'd get my menu posted so I have something to follow!! I keep carrying over dishes from week to week because things come up and we aren't home to cook! So here is how the week has gone this far...
Sunday...Basic Burritos(basic because its ground beef with onions and green chiles and thats it)
Monday...Pizza from Little Ceasars( i worked a day shift and didn't much feel like cooking once I got home)
Tuesday...Chicken Breast stuffed with cream cheese and pesto served with brocolli and cheese pasta
So that brings us up to today which is Wednesday
Tonight...Weds..Something with my grill, but what I do not know!! I'll update you later when I decide on tonight LOL...you see I was planning on working tonight, but was just informed I was going to be on call!
Thursday..Famous Dinner(this is minnie hamburger patties with mashed potatoes and brown gravy over all)
Fri...Ckn Blt Wrap, Bacon Stuffed Jalapenos, Loaded Devil Eggs
Sat...Lasagana

A Happy 9 Years To Us....

2010-03-16T18:06:00.001-07:00

This past Tuesday, as in one week ago, Matt and I celebrated our anniversary. It has been a wonderful 9 years. Now I can't sit back and say it has been easy and blissful every step of the way because I'd be lying! We have had our share fair of trials, have found things to nit pick at each other over, yelled a little more then we should have, but that's part of marriage, at least in my opinion. It has made us all that much stronger, those things we had found to nit pick at each other for have turned into strong points that we can laugh about now! I wouldn't trade the last 9 years for anything, nothing at all!

Matt is my EVERYTHING, and cliché as that sounds, it's the truth. He can make me laugh at anytime, even if we are in an argument. I think it's one of his strong points; he has a great sense of humor! He's my protector, I feel absolutely safe with him around, like nothing or anything could harm me. He's my provider, and the provider for our children. There have been times it has been hard, but not because he didn't want to provide, but because our recent economical situation had made it difficult for him to find work, although he was persistent and found something. He's handsome! He's my rock! He loves me unconditionally! He's a loving and caring father, he loves to play with the kids and make wonderful memories for them. He's so generous and unselfish, he's always willing to stop and help the stranger stranded on the side of the road with a flat tire or pull someone out of a ditch. He is just truly my everything and I look forward to many more years with this man!

We were able to go away last Saturday and spend the evening together without the kids, thanks to Auntie Brooke keeping them overnight and Grammie keeping them until we returned home on Sunday afternoon. We stayed in Phoenix and had dinner at the most wonderful restaurant I think we have ever had the pleasure of dining at! Ruth's Chris Steakhouse which came recommended by a few patrons, and thanks to them we are now in love with the experience! It was so nice to have a little alone time together, as it's few and far between for us. We share our bed most nights with 1 if not more children and due to work schedules sometimes go for a few days without even seeing one another! It was much needed and much appreciated! So Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband...i love you babe!

Working Out

2010-03-11T07:40:00.000-07:00

I'm doing my best to stick to it and I think I am doing pretty good..for once! If anyone wants a work out buddy you really should hit me up! I've just been using our local gym. It's really nice to feel energized after working out! I've been looking at some of the work outs that are advertised on TV all the time such as Insanity and P90X, but I don't really have the room at home to do them. I'll be doing my best to stick to the gym routine and eat healthier! It can be hard working nights tho because it seems like all you want to do is eat, you get bored and need to stay awake! I'll try to pack healthy snacks for those occassions! My goal is to firm up and in the process I'd like to lose a pants size or two along with about 6 pounds and I'll be happy!

The Menu

2010-03-08T14:47:00.001-07:00

While I stuck to the menu last week pretty well, I did wind up skipping a meal on Friday due to working so I shifted a thing or two over to this weeks menu in case you are wondering why it's a duplicate. If I don't get around to posting a recipe, just ask for the specific one if you are interested! This has been great for me to keep track of what's for dinner, hope it might be a help to some of you!
Monday- Shredded Beef BBQ on Rolls with a side of either baked beans or potatoe salad.
Tuesday- Ordered dinner in for our anniversary, we both worked!
Wednesday-Butter Chicken with green beans and toasted garlic bread
Thursday-Baked Ziti with a tossed salad and toasted onion roll
Friday-Chicken BLT wraps, bacon stuffed jalapenos and loaded devil eggs. This is like all appetizers, but its fun to do for dinner sometimes!(working so this is gonna be iffy)
Saturday-Out of Town
Sunday- Crock Pot Burgundy Beef with Egg Noodles

Disneyland Give a Day

2010-03-06T21:21:00.000-07:00

We had been planning on a trip to CA this summer with the kids to visit good ole Disneyland and Seaworld. I computed our costs and started saving our money. After watching countless commercials for the Disney Give a day get a day promotion I decided to check into it. Well it turned out to be even easier than I thought. We gathered up about 60 childrens books, altho we only needed 40 and donated them to a charity. We already got our vouchers for free tickets and now our entire family can enter for FREE! I felt good of course giving the books to the schools that are in need of them, and happy to earn free tickets for the family!

Class of 2000

2010-03-06T21:10:00.000-07:00

It's coming up on our 10 year class reunion. They are trying to get an idea of when people would like to have it take place so if you haven't voted yet here is the link...go place your vote!
http://mogollonhigh2000.blogspot.com/

What's Cooking

2010-02-28T22:33:00.002-07:00

Monday-Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas with Spanish Rice
Tuesday- Out of Town...no cooking
Weds- Pork Chops stuffed with sun dried tomatoes and spinach served with broccoli
Thurs- Chicken Cordon Bleu with Fresh Green Beans
Fri- Apple Butter Pork Loin with Asparagus
Sat- BBQ Shredded Beef with beans
Sun- Crock Pot Burgundy Beef with Lemon Mashed Potatoes
I'm going to try to come back on and update this with all the recipes since I've had some people asking, but if I don't get around to posting a recipe you are interested in, then just ask and I'll get it to you!! If I am not following someone elses recipe then it takes me a while to put it together because I rarely meausre and I just toss everything together! I'm going to make some type of yummy dessert, probably on Weds so I'll add that once I decide on it!
Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas(burrito style)
This recipe was shared with me from my mother in law. I have made some adaptions, but the basic recipe is from her so I have to give her credit of course.:)
1 Block of Cream Cheese Softened
Half a Pint of Sour Cream
1 small diced onion
2-3 Cups of Shredded Cheese
Shredded Chicken(about 25 oz if you use canned)
Salt, Pepper and Garlic Powder to taste
1-2 Cans of Rotel
2 small cans diced green chilies
1-2 Cans of Green Sauce
About 2 dozen tortillas (i prefer the burrito size uncooked from costco)
First drain your chicken if you use the canned kind and add it to a medium sized mixing bowl, season it to taste with the salt, pepper and garlic. Next add the sour cream and cream cheese, mix well. Add about half the shredded cheese, the green chilies, onion and a can of rotel, mix well to incorporate all. Set the mixture aside. Cook your tortillas if you chose the uncooked brand, while you cook the tortillas you can heat up the green sauce in a saucepan and set aside. Once all tortillas have been cooked you are ready to assemble! First heat the oven to 350 and spray a glass baking dish with non stick cooking spray. Take your tortilla and dip in the green sauce, spoon a few tablespoons of the mixture into your tortilla and roll it up just like a burrito, place it the baking dish and repeat until all tortillas have been filled. If you have extra filling left over you can freeze this! Once your baking dish is full, take any remaining green sauce and pour over the top, take the other can of rotel and sprinkle this along with the remaining cheese on top. Place in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly! Serve with chopped lettuce, tomatoe, sour cream, hot sauce, rice and beans! ENJOY!
Pork Chops Stuffed with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Spinach

1 Tablespoon olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon
2 cloves minced garlic
6 sun dried tomatoes, diced
1 (10 ounce) bag of frozen spinach. Thawed and excess water squeezed out
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1/2 Teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/4 Thyme
1/4 cup of white cheese of your choice, i like feta
1/3 cup reduced fat cream cheese
4 (4oz) center cut pork chops
1 1/2 Cups chicken broth
1/2 lemon zested
2tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons dijon mustard

Warm the 1 tablespoon oil in a medium sized saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until gragrant, around a minute. add teh sun dried tomatoes, spinach, salt, pepper and thyme. Cook until combined, just a couple minutes. transfter the mixture to a medium sized mixing bowl. add the cheeses, stir to combine and set aside.
Using a sharp knife , cut a pocket into the thickest portion of the pork chop. Stuff each pocket with 1/4 of the spinach mixture and close the chop around the stuffing. You can season the outside of the chop with some additional salt and pepper.
In a small bowl combine the chicken broth, lemon zest, lemon juice and mustard.
Warm the other tablespoon of oil in a large heavy skillet over medium to high heat. When the pan is hot add the chops. Cook until golden and cooked trhough. Transwer them to a side dish and tent with some foil to keep warm. Add the chicken broth mixture to the skillet over medium high heat. Scrape up the brown bits from the pan as the broth simmers. Reduce the broth by about half to make a light sauce, around 10 minutes. Spoon some over the pork before serving!
Chicken Cordon Bleu

1 cuup milk
1 cup dry bread crumbs
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded to about 1/4 inch thickness
salt and pepper to taste
6 slices cooked ham
6 slices swiss cheese
2 tablespoons veg oil
1 (10.5 oz) can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 350. Put milk and bread crumbs into two seperate shallow dishes.
2. season the chicken with salt and pepper. Place one slice of ham and cheese on each piece of the chicken. Roll and secure with toothpicks.
3. Dip each chicken roll into milk, and then into the breadcrumbs.
4. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium to high heat. Brown the rolled chicken on all sides.
5. Arrange the chicken in a 9x13 inch baking dish.
6. In a small sauce pan over medium to high heat, blend the soup and heavy cream, season with salt and pepper to taste.
7. Pour over the chicken and bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, until no longer pink and juices run clear!
Apple Butter Pork Loin

2 (1.5 pound) Pork Tenderloins
Seasoning Salt to Taste
2 cups apple juice
1/2 cup apple butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teasopoon ground clove

preheat the oven to 350
season the pork with seasoning salt and place in a 9x13 baking dish or small roasting pan.
pour apple juice over the pork, and cover the dish with a lid or tin foil.
bake for 1 hour in the oven.
while the pork is baking, mix the apple butter, brown sugar, water, cinnamon and cloves.
after the hour, remove pork loins from the oven, and spread the apple butter mixture over them.
cover and return to the oven for 2 hours or until fork tender!

Kylie's Baptism

2010-02-23T18:28:00.000-07:00

Kylie was baptized this past Saturday. The program was as follows:
Conducting: Bishop Slade
Piano: Aunt Kandra
Opening Song: When I am Baptized
Conducting: Grammie
Opening Prayer: Mom
Talk on Baptism: Grammie
Musical Number "Daughter of a King": Auntie Brooke
Baptism of Kylie by her Papa
Talk on Holy Ghost: Uncle Jared
Confirmation by Papa
Closing Song: The Still Small Voice
Closing Prayer: Dad
It was a very special day for Kylie and for us as we are so proud she made the decision to be baptized. I truly think she understands the decision she has made for herself. We love her so much! Thank you to those who participated and attended to share this special time with all of us!

My Menu This Week

2010-02-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

   So I didn't do too good with the menu last week, but it wasn't entirely by choice! I made Mon-Wed dinners and after that nothing! Thursday night I went to a bridal shower so the kids just got some quesadillas before I took off. Friday, my back was out and I wasn't about to stand over any counter or sink and I can't even remember what we wound up having! We got a pizza on Saturday from Bashas and it was just as good as Tiana told me it would be..ha ha! I worked yesterday so brought home some mexican food for dinner.
   This week I am going to do my absolute best to stick to the meal plan! So this is how it is currently set to go..
Monday-Country Fried Steaks with mashed potatoes and gravy
Tuesday- Roasted Garlic White Pizza
Wednesday-Chili Dogs with potato salad
Thursday-Mexican Chicken with rice
Friday-Lasagna, salad and garlic bread
Saturday- Chili
Sunday- Apple Butter Pork Loin
   Now this is subject to change, but lets hope it doesn't!

Cooking

2010-02-17T15:51:00.000-07:00

I love to cook! I love to bake! I don't love to clean up, but the process that leads up to it is very fun. It's always so rewarding when you finish whatever it is you are preparing. It doesn't even matter that most of the time you put so much time and effort into a dish and it's gone just like that. I am pleased when my family is pleased with what they are eating!
I like to make a menu for the week so I have my dinners all planned out ahead of time and can prepare by gathering any ingredients from the store that I might not have on hand, and that is usually a lot of ingredients. LOL I wish I had been saving all the menus from weeks past, but instead I just toss them at weeks end. So now I am going to keep my menus posted on here and that way I'll always have something to keep track of. I suppose if it becomes too much posting or whatever I can start a seperate blog, but then again it's not like many even read this ha ha!
So this week beginning with Monday, yes I know the week begins with Sunday, but I started it with Monday; we are having
Monday: Spaghetti with meatballs, salad and garlic bread
Tuesday: Jalapeno Chicken with steamed green beans
Wednesday: Steak Sandwiches
Thursday: Country Fried Steaks with mashed potatoes and gravy
Friday: Leaving this day open as for now, might not be home to cook!
Saturday: Roasted Garlic White Pizza
Sunday: Taco Soup
I usually aim to make one new recipe per week and this week that is the Taco Soup.
I took a picture of last nights yummy dinner for you to enjoy...

Kylie has a big day ahead of her

2010-02-16T19:07:00.002-07:00

Just a quick note to let everyone know that Kylie is being baptized this Saturday at noon!

The Tooth Fairy

2010-02-03T07:48:00.000-07:00

No, nobody lost a tooth. LOL I took Kylie and two of her friends to see the movie last night. It was a belated Birthday party for her. I think I am grateful that the other 2 girls she invited were unable to attend because on the ride home I about lost my hearing from all the shrieking they were doing, LOL!! They all loved the movie and then we had pizza afterward and came home. Thanks to Grammie for keeping Tyler, Roo and Kennedy so I was able to focus all my attention on Kylie and her friends.

And a quick picture of the Karissa and Kennedy sitting so nicely yesterday while I got my eyebrows waxed!

So

2010-01-31T19:56:00.001-07:00

just really quickly, can I tell you that I am annoyed. Why can't I get our picture to show up in our header anymore? It used to be there all nice and big but now it just says THE OWENS BUNCH. I have tried to change layouts and all google it and to no avail. If anyone can help, will you? Please and thanks!

Kylie is 8!

2010-01-25T16:33:00.001-07:00

My oh my! We cannot believe our baby is 8 years old already. I can honestly remember the day she came to us 8 years ago! We weren't quite ready for her to come, but she did. I had gone into the hospital for a follow up ultra sound due to some minor problems I had. Well after the results came back, they came in and asked me, "are you ready to have your baby today?" I remember thinking, what?! They said, ready or not you have to stay and have her today. According the her measurements from the last couple ultra sounds and this one they noticed she had stopped growing and called it fetal growth restriction which was being blamed on my placenta. The placenta had basically matured quicker than it should have so she wasn't getting the proper nourishment any longer. I was at 37 weeks so technically I was full term so it wasn't a huge deal, but it was because Matt was at work and I didn't pack my bag! :-) My mom was along thankfully! So at about noon on the 21st of Jan 2002 they induced my labor. My body was NOT ready, I had not dialated at all so we knew I had some work to do. They started me on pitocin which is used to make your uterus contract and it contracts darn hard with that stuff too. I was in some pretty good pain all through the night and into the following morning and I was not making any progress. They finally broke my water at noon on the 22nd and the contractions I thought were painful were nothing compared to what I was about to feel for 8 more hours! I wanted an epidural and I wanted it NOW, but since my body wasn't progressing they said I couldn't have one or it would wear off before it came time to put it to use. Matt of course had made it up there and spent the entire time with me. It was getting very frustrating because nothing was happening. So on the 22nd around 5 or 6 my mom decided to go home and eat and wait to see what had happened because at this point I was only dialated to a 3! My doctor also decided to go home and get some rest and Matt decided to head out for some dinner. I tried to rest but to no avail, so my lovely nurse decided to get me up and walk me to the hot tub. She didn't even leave the room when I was pulling on the call light because I was pretty sure the baby was coming! They quickly got me back into bed and checked me and I was an 8! Whooo, time for that epidural I wanted since noon the previous day haha! Time to tell Matt, my mom and the doc to hurry back. Well the epidural didn't come, because I went from 8 to 10 and ready to push within minutes. Matt walked in and they had me all ready to have that baby and my mom made it in the knick of time too, same for my doctor. Kylie Nicole entered the world on the evening of the 22nd at 815pm weighing 6lbs 1 oz and 18 inches long. She was healthy and beautiful! I was glad to have it over with, little did I know I'd be doing it 3 more times! Ha Ha...So I wish I had a scanner to get some pictures on here from when I was pregnant with her, but I don't so I'm going to attempt to take a photo of a photo and post that! We love Kylie Nicole and are so very proud of her and the beautiful little girl she is today!

I have an addiction....

2010-01-13T23:18:00.000-07:00

TO THE FOOD NETWORK!!! So calm down people, it's a good addiction. Well it's good because I get to see so many different types of food prepared and I get all sorts of good and totally fun ideas. I love Giada and Rachel Ray and Ina Garten and Paula Deen and theres a new one coming out that looks amazing too! And really there is nothing else worth watching on TV most days anyway!!! I don't see why it would be a bad addiction at all, do you? LOL I'm still being a good little mommy and wife and doing my duties on the homefront, but that channel is on from the time I get up till I go to bed or until Matt comes and complains! Ha Ha... Who else just loves this channel? Don't be afraid to admit it!

Ok people

2010-01-07T11:41:00.001-07:00

I have slacked off on my blog and feel bad about that! So since Halloween let me just tell you what happened in no particular order! We had Karissa's 3rd Birthday, Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping. I scored some great deals as usual and started and finished almost all my Christmas shopping on that day. I'm so glad Kelli went this year, it felt like the old times! I think this was year #7! I got to go with some friends to the opening of New Moon. Yes, if you didn't know I am a Twilight lover! Ok we also had my Birthday and of course Christmas and New Years. We took the kids on our annual Polar Express ride last month as well. We got to enjoy a lot of time with our families over the Holiday's which always means a lot. We got to talk to Elder Blake all the way from Brazil on Christmas morning. It was nice to hear his voice after a few months. I'm so glad I only have one son to send off on a mission! I couldn't survive much more than that. LOL
Our most recent event was last Sunday when Matt took me to the Cardinals game. He got me tickets for Christmas. I didn't want to watch the Cardinals, you see they were playing my Green Bay Packers and I got some sweet seats up close to watch the Packers hand it to them! Hope it happens again this Sunday!
Matt and I have been keeping busy at work and the kids just started back to school after their Christmas break ended. Kylie has her 8th Birthday coming up which means her Baptism is near. We haven't set an offical date, but we will let you know when we do. I'll go ahead and post a few random pictures on here, but I'm pretty impatient and most all the pictures are already loaded on my FB account. Ok all thanks for reading!

Happy Halloween

2009-11-02T16:26:00.001-07:00

This year we had a vampire, an army man, a kitty cat and a cute skunk! We took the kids to a trunk or treat instead of going around the neighborhoods. We have found this works a lot better! The kids get just as much if not more candy. It's all in one centralized area that is blocked off from traffic so it's so much safer in the way of traffic. They enjoy it, so it's good! Here are just a few pictures from our night.

2009-10-31T16:34:00.001-07:00

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Tyler is six!

2009-10-29T12:00:00.002-07:00

Tyler is six! Happy Birthday to our one and only little boy! The time sure is flying by! I can remember his birth like yesterday, which was a rather scary experience for us. He had some respiration problems and was flown from our hospital to a hospital in the Phoenix area that could better handle his needs. He recovered nicely and you'd never know he had a rough start. He is such a sweet boy, so sensitive and kind. We had hoped he would have gotten a brother, but he loves his sisters so much. He is a great help to everyone and looks up to his daddy and grampas and Uncles so very much. He wants to be like all of them! Tyler we hope you had a fun Birthday and know we love you so much!

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Pumpkins

2009-10-29T11:18:00.004-07:00

Matt and I had planned to take all the kids to the pumpkin patch last Monday. Kylie and Tyler were out of school for fall break. The kids had spent the night at Grammie and Papas on Sunday night, they will stay there any chance they get! Anyway turns out that Aunt Brooke and Grammie both had come down with the flu pretty bad. We were advised that Kylie and Tyler should stay at their house so they don't come home with any germs for the little girl. So we wound up taking just the two little ones to the patch while Kylie and Tyler were held hostage at a sick house..ha ha! Everyone wound up getting better, but poor Brooke had it pretty bad!
Tyler's class had a trip planned to the pumpkin patch for Friday so he wound up getting to go afterall. So this year Kylie missed out, but I brought her home two nice big pumpkins to choose from and she was fine with it.
We got them all carved with the exception of Kennedy's. She didn't want to hand it over so we just let her look at it on her high chair tray! So here are some of the pictures from our adventures.

Kennedy had a P-A-R-T-Y!

2009-10-22T19:59:00.003-07:00

We didn't get to do much celebrating on Kennedy's actual Birthday. You see, my sister was getting married the following day so the rehearsal and dinner took place on the 8th. We were travelling to Phoenix on Kennedy's Birthday afternoon and the poor thing actually got sick and threw up all over in the car a couple times. She turned out to be just fine, we were thinking maybe a touch of car sickness. Anyway, everyone did wind up getting sick on Saturday. Kennedy still got to see a lot of people on her Birthday including her great grandparents, two great aunts, my brothers and of course Nicole and her almost husband Chris, her gramma and bumpa and lots of other friends! Anyway, on Sunday we had her offical Birthday celebration and she got to see Grammie and Papa and Auntie Brooke too! Thank you to everyone for all the great Birthday gifts! She loves them all!

Happy 1st Birthday Kennedy Paige

2009-10-22T19:14:00.005-07:00

So this post is 2 weeks late, but I've had it written in my mind for a long time! :-)Was it really a year ago that I was giving birth to my final baby? How fast the time goes by. The days leading up to Kennedy's birth were pretty normal really, but exciting because I knew I was in labor. I mean fourth baby, I feel pretty qualified to know whats real and what's not. Imagine my surprise after contracting pretty vigorosly for 2 full days only being dialated to a 3! I was ready to call and schedule the induction myself when fortunatley things started to change on their own. So a year ago our one and only little red headed baby was brought into the world. Kennedy is such a precious, happy little girl. She rarely cries, and if she is crying she has some good excuse. She loves her big sisters and brother so much, her face really lights up when they come around. She is zooming all over the house these days and is now starting to want to walk! I can wait for that, really I can! She is in the 84% for her height and weight. I think she was around 23 pound and 30 inches when we had her checked. I could be off on those numbers so don't quote me!
I am going to post a handful of pictures leading up to this point!

The last time my belly will look this way...

Kennedy's First Halloween

First of many Polar Express Rides

Just a pretty picture

The princess on her Birthday

Tyler the Wrestling Champ

2009-10-22T19:01:00.004-07:00

Last month Tyler got to participate in a week long wrestling event. He got to train after school each day learning some crucial techniques and at the end of the week there was a wrestling match. Tyler was thrilled to put it midly. He loves wrestling around at home and talking about being a wrestler in school when he is old enough. He loves all sports for that matter and we are excited about that and hope he maintains his love for them so we can watch him have a good time when he's older. Anyway it was a great night, everyone went home a winner with a medal and a t-shirt. I took WAY TOO many pictures of this event as usual, but I'm just posting a couple for you to check out. The first picture is Tyler with his best friend Fisher and another good friend and cousin Braxton.

2009-09-19T18:39:00.002-07:00

Just the regular happy Miss Kennedy

A cookout one night...yes she loves soda!

I'm sure Kylie was asleep still or spent the night at Aunt Brookes..

Sisterly Bath Time

Aunt Brooke telling the kids goodbye..

Lotsa love for Kennedy

We looked like twins..not on purpose either lol

Playing Catch Up

2009-09-19T13:15:00.002-07:00

I was getting good at keeping my blog up to date, but looks like I have fallen behind! I guess it has been just over a month since my last post so I'll try my best to give a small recap of the events that have taken place in our home.

First off our beloved Aunt Brooke moved up to UT to start her school at Dixie. Talk about seperation anxiety...lol!! Kylie misses her like no other, as do all of us, but it's so good for her to be on her own and getting an education. Good luck Brooke, we love you!

I started back to school on August 24th, taking the first of a few required bio classes, and it's hard! I can do pretty well when it comes to English, grammar, Psyc classes, even basic math, but science is just not my thing! I'm about 4 weeks in now and if it keeps up like this I am betting I'll need to retake it! It's really kind of a downer since I whizzed through the other classes, but oh well!

The last weekend in August I went to Las Vegas with my sister and some of her friends for a mini bachelorette party. We had a great time! We spend the majority of the weekend at the fabulous pool at the Monte Carlo and of course another bunch of time we spent eating the yummy food!

Aug 31...Matt and I both start jobs! Yes, both of us! He got a job at Renegy and I got a job at the hospital in Show Low. I'm working in the OB department as a health unit coordinator and patient care tech. I'm still doing the orientation, but so far I really really like it! Aside from the fact that everytime a baby is born I get a little misty eyed! LOL Matt's job involves a lot of labor work, and getting really dirty! He doesn't care so much for that, but is grateful to have a job! We are still working on a routine with schedules, school and our kiddos! It has been working out pretty well for the most part since we are fortunate to have help from both of our parents! Thanks Moms and Dads! :-)

Labor Day weekend we took the kids to the valley so they could enjoy the pool while we had a bridal shower for Nicole. We had a tea party theme which turned out to be pretty cute! The kids had a blast with daddy in the pool while I did shower stuff.

Sept 11, my elk hunt starts! If you don't know, I enjoy archery and put in for some hunts. I was drawn for a cow tag which was pretty exciting to get the first real opportunity at using some of the skills my wonderful hubby has taught me. However, I've only had 1 real chance to go out so far! Blake took me and it was fun, we got close, but didn't get a shot!

Sept 13- Matt turns 32 and Blake has his farewell! I hope Matt had a decent birthday, although he had to sleep most of the day due to his work schedule. I love my hubby so very much and I am so fortunate to have him. He's so wonderful in so many ways!!

Sept 16- Blake leaves for Brazil! I was sad when Matt's other brothers left for their missions, just sad to think two years would pass that they would be away from their family, but when Blake left I was really really sad! I guess it's probably because I am closer with him, have known him longer since he used to come play with my little brother before I even knew Matt! I think having all our kids so attached to him also made it harder to watch him leave. Anyway we know he will serve a great mission and be a great missionary!

I think that pretty much brings us current! I'll try to post a few pictures from recently a little later!

The First Day

2009-08-13T17:36:00.003-07:00

Wednesday marked the first day back to school for our kids. Kylie of course being in 2nd grade feels like a seasoned little school goer already, but Tyler had his very first day! You saw how the night before went in my post below so I'll tell you the the morning of the 1st day went!

It started with waking up at about 6:15 and getting the kids up by 6:30. Kylie is always hard to get from her bed so I have to raise my voice as loud as possible without waking everyone else up..haha! Tyler rolled right out of bed with that excited anticipated look on his face. I gave them both every choice under the sun for their breakfast and Tyler chose Lucky Charms which was really no surprise to me, Kylie went with waffles!

They finished the breakfast and went off to make their beds, brush their teeth, wash up, get dressed and get their hair all ready. Tyler wanted to spike his hair, but it's a tad too short for this yet, however he managed, yes he managed, didn't really want my help, to get the front flipped up a bit at least! Kylie is difficult with her hair, never knowing what she wants and always changing her mind! However, she finally decided and they were ready to go!

To my surprise Tyler wanted to ride the bus to school on his first day and he got on with no hesitation! They were excited though because before they got on, Papa got to stop by and wish them good luck on their first day. I of course met them at school to get some pictures, mainly of Tyler being his first day of school. He seemed to be right at home!

After school was out I did go pick them up, just in case they had a bad first day. I think I was more nervous then anyone! However they both had a great first day, loved their classmates, their teachers, and everything!

I got misty eyed watching them get on the bus, and once they were off I actually full on cried. I will probably do that every year! I was sad thinking that Kylie is in the 2nd grade already, and sad thinking that Tyler was starting school now. I got even more sad thinking ahead to when my other two start school and Kylie and Tyler are that MUCH older! My how time flies! I just want to cherish it now and sometimes wish I could freeze it!

Here they are eating their breakfast...

Ready to leave

Tyler's 1st Day Outfit

Kylie's...

Off to the bus

Tyler's First Bus Ride

Tyler in his class

and I popped in for a quick picture of Miss Kylie too

School Year's Eve

2009-08-11T21:31:00.002-07:00

It's officially School Year's Eve!! The new school year kicks off tomorrow for Kylie and Tyler. I decided it would be fun to make tonight a special little night, like their last night of freedom, ha ha! I just quickly made a few little decorations for them along with a yummy dinner and some brownies for dessert! The kids really enjoyed it and thought it was fun. After dinner they picked out their outfits for their first day and I gave Kylie a quick touch up on her toes. I'll have pictures from tomorrow to post soon so check back!
Everyone eating their dinner..

Kylie the 2nd Grader

Tyler the Kindergarten Kid

Kylie Picking Out her Outfit

Tyler even tried his outfit on

Letting her toes dry

Karissa's Pedicure..sort of!

2009-08-08T14:14:00.002-07:00

If you know Miss Karissa, you know she only needs a split second of time to get into anything! She is so quick and knows when you aren't paying attention or probably won't be paying attention for at least a little while!

So she hears me get on a phone call the other day and decides she needs to give herself a little relaxation. Her feet must have been feeling awfully tired! I finished up the phone call and of course my first thought is wheer is the QUIET Karissa? I walk from my bedroom to where I can see our front door propped open about 10 yards away and find her relaxing in a nice foot soak she has created for herself!

..... yes thats a gallon of milk to her left! Somehow she managed to get herself a little tub, open the fridge and grab the milk and go sit down to make her little foot bath all while Im running my yap on the phone paying no attention to her! :-} It wasn't anything you could get upset over, just laugh and take the pictures. She was enjoying herself afterall and she really only dumped a couple cups worth of milk in there..haha!

My How The Garden Grows!

2009-08-03T09:14:00.002-07:00

So in May we decided to plan ourselves a little garden, well let me back up! We bought ourselves some seeds in April and started trying to do in indoor germination. Ha..this turned out to be a nightmare! We did finally get some to sprout, but after we placed them outside in the little mini green house we lost ALL of them to the WIND! I suppose that comes with our lack of gardening and paying attention to all the elements mother nature has to offer us. Anyway early May we made ourselves a small little garden space outside and bough some mini plants to pop in the ground. We planted strawberries, 2 different kinds of tomatos, anaheim peppers, bell peppers, watermelon and cantaloupe. There was a late freeze and we lost both cantaloupe and 1 of our 2 watermelon plants. In early June, we popped a few pumpkin seeds in the ground in place of those lost plants. To date, the strawberries have pretty much been laid to rest although the rest of the plants are thriving. Our one remaining watermelon is growing finally after that little freeze we nursed it through, no fruit has sprouted but the plant itself looks good. The pumpkins are amazing, the leaves are HUGE! We love our anaheim pepper plants and will grow these yearly! They taste so good and each plant produces numerous peppers so well worth it! We were pretty disappointed with the bell peppers as each plant has only produced one pepper and small peppers at that. The early girl tomatoes which are like a cherry tomatoe plant are doing great! They taste so good! The big beef tomatoes have a lot of big green tomatoes growing and we can't wait until these are ripe for the eating! We have had fun trying out our green thumbs and at least now we know we have the ability to grow things! I got a few pictures this morning when I was in the garden...
Here is a shot of the entire garden, it's small, but great! The weeds on the outside of the bed are crazy, but the garden itself has none!

Here are the crazy pumpkin leaves..

And the first sprouted pumpkin!

Anaheim Pepper

Our thriving tomatoe plants

Some of the yummy cherry tomatoes

Happy Birthday to Brooke & Blake

2009-07-29T20:18:00.003-07:00

July 13----The twins turned 19! It's amazing how fast time flies. It seems like yesterday that Blake was a little boy playing with my little brother David all the time! Oh and little miss Brooke was so tiny (she still is) when I saw her for the first time. They were just about to turn 9 years old when Matt and I started dating and now here it is ten years later and they are about to venture out on their own journeys in life!
Brooke will be leaving in a few weeks for college in Utah. It's not too far away, but it's too far away! This is especially true for little Kylie. She is attached to her at the hip, her shadow in every sense of the word. I think it's gonna be pretty rough when the time comes to seperate them!
Blake will be leaving us in September for two years to serve a mission for the Church. He will be serving the Brazil Manaus mission. It's gonna be crazy not seeing him for two whole years! He like Brooke has also grown a permanent shadow named Tyler.
We will all miss the twins being around all the time, but wish them luck on their journeys! We love you guys!

Big Lake Camping

2009-07-29T19:59:00.002-07:00

So probably my most favorite camping spot is Big Lake! However, we only get up there once a year or so since it's a pretty long haul for us and to make it worth going we need to be able to stay at least a few days. Well anyway about three weeks ago we went up for a few days and enjoyed ourselves as we always do when camping. Kylie invited her best friend Emmie along and that worked out really well. We were skeptical, wondering if she'd get homesick or the girls would have a disagreement, but it went great! Matt and I brought our bows and we did a little practice shooting, the kids enjoyed the gorgeous area and we were lucky to be camped where someone had built some pretty cool forts already. We attempted fishing and swimming! Actually only the girls attempted the swimming, of course it was too cold. Tyler was the one doing the fishing and he would have sat all day if we let him, unfortunatley he didn't catch anything except a weed! The most comical part of our trip was the kids including the big one named Matt trying to find a squirrel in a tree. I think Tyler wanted to eat the thing in all honesty, but he is a pretty avid outdoorsmen just like his daddy and uncles and grandpas. Matt found a gorgeous area with some tall wildflowers that we took the kids to for some pictures. However, you know when camping you really don't have nice clothes for pictures so the only ones that looked good were Kennedys! Anyway we of course have numerous photos, but I've posted just a few of them for you to enjoy. We are going to try to sneak one more camping trip in before school resumes in a couple weeks!
This was a pretty cool little set up if I do say so myself..

This is one of the forts, you probably can't see it, but Emmie and Kylie are in there

Daddy relaxing with Kennedy and Karissa

The girls just waking up and ready to eat!

Trying to swim, but not really!

Trying to fish, but no luck!

Trying to find that darn squirrel

Finally, the meadow of wildflowers that Kennedy was so precious in!

It's Official...

2009-07-28T21:48:00.002-07:00

I am officially a C.N.A (certified nursing assistant)! My license was validated yesterday. Now I'd really like to put this to use and use all the great knowledge I learned in my last semester of school. So ya short post, but there it is!

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-12T08:34:00.005-07:00

Fourth of July has come and gone yet again. It seems two holidays come and go around here in the blink of an eye, which means Christmas is right around the corner! We had a good holiday getting to visit with family and enjoy some good food and all the festivities that go with our Country's Birthday.
I started the weekend on Friday by getting up and cruising around to all the yard sales...unfortunatley around here they are mostly junk sales! I did get a couple good things, but after a couple hours of driving all over I was sadly disappointed I didn't come up with more treasures. Oh well I'll hope for Labor Day weekend! The rest of Friday for me was spent getting my house picked up and then I had Blake's girlfriend come over and do my hair for me, my roots were needing a pick me up! I also had my sister in laws Brooke and Kandra over and gave their tootsies a little pedi, making them look festive for the fourth! The boys went off and did their own thing while all us girls got to sit around and catch up.
So this is how I started Saturday, the actual 4th of July...(after the anvil woke me up that is :-)

Kandra and I along with an estimated couple hundred others joined in the 1st annual Carissa's Run. We had to be there by 530 am to register and get our shirts. We participated in the two mile fun run/walk, but we did run a portion of it and she even pushed Gavin in his little umbrella stroller while we cruised. It was a great event and I'm sure as the years go on it will have more and more people turning out to support such a great cause!
Then it was time to get ready for the parade, which we did. Kylie and Tyler were at Grammie and Papa's house getting ready because they were going to be riding on the float they were doing based on Glenn Beck's 9/12 project. So I got Roo and Kennedy ready and tried to get a picture, but this is the best I wound up with!

The parade went pretty much as usual, it was hot and there were lots of...interesting floats that drove by. Of course our favorite was Papa's float that had Kylie and Tyler on top of it. Here they are...

Poor Kennedy got doused with a big spray of water during the parade, she let out a shriek but once we picked her up out of her carseat she was happy as usual. It was her first 4th of July and we had her looking festive as ever!

After the parade ended I went to the park with my mom and Kylie to check out the booths and any games and or rides for Kylie. It was pretty worthless really, the best part was the frito pies we ate right before it rained! However it was still nice to go and spend a little time with my mom and Kylie by myself.
Once the park ended we all wound up at Matt's moms where we visited with some of his family that had come up to watch our spectacular firework display. We had a nice big bbq and ate some great food! We weren't quite sure when the food would be done cooking as there was SO MUCH of it...and here is our master chef El Dobo grilling it up...notice Uncle Matt with little Gavin!

I painted the kids face for the parade and just for fun that day and Tyler was the only one really showing it off!

We went to the field to watch the fireworks with some friends and then came home to go to sleep! That was a long day, but full of fun!

Our 1st Camping Trip This Year

2009-07-05T10:22:00.002-07:00

...and we hope to have a few more before summer is over! However, summer is disappearing fast so we need to hurry up! Last weekend we loaded up and took the kids just about 20 minutes away from home, but we had a good time as usual. Matt's brother Blake came out one afternoon and hung out with us and helped the kids build a fort which was probably the highlight of their trip. We finally got to enjoy using the camp chef that Matt's parents got us for Christmas and we truly did enjoy it so thank you!! We ate a lot of food, relaxed, built the fort, shot our bows, played some games and relaxed some more! It was a great time!

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-29T10:03:00.002-07:00

You may have thought I didn't see,
Or that I hadn't heard,
Life lessons that you taught to me,
But I got every word.

Perhaps you thought I missed it all,
And that we'd grow apart,
But Dad, I picked up everything,
It's written on my heart.

Without you, Dad, I wouldn't be
The person I am today;
You built a strong foundation
No one can take away.

I've grown up with your values,
And I'm very glad I did;
So here's to you, dear father,
From your forever grateful kid.

By Joanna Fuchs

I know I'm a week late, but we have had a busy week.
We are so greatful for our wonderful fathers! They have both given us so much! Happy Father's Day to our Dads!
It's been so wonderful getting to watch Matt grow as a father the past 7 years. It's so amazing how much our kids love and adore him. He is great with them! Thanks for being so wonderful to our little babies! I love you and Happy Fathers day!
We got to spend Fathers Day at the lake with my dad and my siblings which was a pretty good time. I have a few pictures to post!

Updates

2009-06-17T18:33:00.002-07:00

Sorry I've slacked off the last month or so, but things got a little crazy as they tend to do at the close of a school year and the start of summer. I'll try to put everything into a nutshell and be brief. We haven't had anything too exciting take place this past month. As I said school is out for summer for Kylie and myself. She's very excited for the break and happy because her best friend moved in right next door! All the kids are enjoying summer and our gorgeous weather. I too am excited to have a little break from the classes and spend some time at home doing pretty much anything I want too! Tyler finished his t-ball season last week and ended on a good note by hitting a home run! He loves baseball and his papa loves to play with him which really encourages his love for it. Tyler will be starting Kindergarten in August and he has been pretty excited up until recently. I think it finally hit him that his freedom of coming and going with his grandparents and daddy is going to come to a halt! Kylie will be in the 2nd grade, and she finished 1st grade as the top reader in her class! Our little Roo, is a handful and I'm pretty sure she will continue to be that way! She is a spoiled rotten little thing and she knows it and takes full advantage! I think she is gonna be lost come school time and not know what to do. Kennedy is growing along at a rapid rate, have you seen her thighs lately? She's def got the chub that all my babies get! It's funny because she was so spindly for so long! Anyway all the kids are happy and healthy and enjoying summer!
Matt and I are enjoying it too, we are trying to get a camping trip planned here one of these weekends, but as it goes things keep coming up that prevent it. The summer has been pretty steady with some business for the toilets so thats been a blessing to us. We planted a garden this year for the first time. It's nothing grand, but it's a start and at least I think we figured out we can successfully grow something! I am going to be taking my state board exam for my CNA license this month and then I'll start back to school in August. Anyway that's about it for the time being in a nutshell as I said. I'll post a few random updated pics a bit later!!

2009-05-03T13:26:00.000-07:00

Tyler finally gets to play T-ball this year! He has been asking for the last 2 years when he is going to be able to play and he's old enough this go round. He's very excited too! He has his first game tomorrow afternoon so we'll have more pictures to share at that time. They had team pictures on Saturday and afterwards I took a few of him on my own so everyone can see what a handsome little prince we have here! His team is the Pirates if you can't read the uniform. So if you are around come by the park tomorrow at 4 and watch him play!

My Coupon Savings

2009-04-15T17:26:00.000-07:00

Ok so to some of you and probably a lot of you this might seem pretty mediocre, but it is really exciting for me!I joined coupon sense last month and I have gone shopping two times with my coupons. The first time was exciting and I saved, but I also shopped for other food items and combined in one check out so it was a little harder to see the rewards. This time I just grabbed a few of my coupon items in one transaction at Bashas. I could have got more, but since it was the last day of the sale a lot of things were already sold out. Anyway as you can see in the picture I got 3 boxes of Frosted Flakes, 3 boxes of Barilla Pasta, 4 cans of Dole fruit and 3 bottles of Kraft Ranch dressing. I spent $5.30 with tax for all that and earned 1 gallon of free milk on my next trip in! So I saved $33, but if you count the free gallon of milk I am getting thats about $35.00 and that pays for my monthly membership to coupon sense right there in one little trip! Yes like I said earlier I am excited! P.S. That's an 86% savings right there!!

Homemade Give-a-way

2009-04-04T12:23:00.001-07:00

Ok, I can't guarantee that what I make will be something good, but I'll try my best! haha

The first 3 people to respond to this post will get something made entirely by me! Whatever I want! HOWEVER! This offer does have some restrictions and limitations~

1. I make no guarantees that you will like/ enjoy/ want what I make!
2. What I create will be especially for you.
3. It'll be done this year. (That's 2009 folks)
4. You will have no clue what it's going to be.
5. I reserve the right to make something extremely strange, should my heart desire it.

The catch is that you must re post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 3 people who do the same on your blog. So win an AMAZING homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure you post a picture of your amazing home made awesomeness when you get it from yours truly! Who's in?

Spring Break

2009-03-30T07:56:00.002-07:00

The kids and I had last week off for Spring Break so we decided to load up and take a camping trip to the lake. We went with Spencer and Kelli and their kids. We all had a blast and really didn't want to have to come home and face reality! I suppose getting home to a long hot shower and our own beds was pretty nice though. The water was still too cold to swim in although one day the kids did a little splashing around off the shore. We got to take a couple nice boat rides, do some fishing, have a pic nic lunch at a playground, roast marshmallows and just enjoy some quality time relaxing. I think all in all it was a pretty good time...no complaints! Oh I almost forgot the funnest part of the trip for Kelli and I...we got to back up and turn around my expedition...pulling a boat trailer. Now you may not find this funny, but had you been there I guarantee you would have. Neither of us have a clue when it comes to that and we were working with some tight spots and trying to avoid scratching my car with all the sticker bushes. I won't go into detail, but I'll say we had all sorts of crazy ideas on how we were gonna get that baby turned around. In the end...Kelli directed and I drove and we got er' done! I have a ton of pictures, but just grabbed a handful to put into a slide for you to enjoy!!

Kennedy

2009-03-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

Just got a cute picture of Kennedy this morning after I got her ready for the day. I added a few little things to it with a photo software I was playing around with. Anyway enjoy her cuteness and have a great day!

Happy Anniversary Sweetie

2009-03-12T13:14:00.003-07:00

Matt and I had our 8th anniversary this past Monday. We both say it seems longer, but we promise we mean it in a good way..ha ha! I suppose this June we will have been together for 10 years and that is a long time! We celebrated on the weekend before our anniversary by going out and having a nice dinner and to see a movie. Brooke was nice enough to keep all the kids for us and not just while we had our date, but overnight too! It was nice getting some alone time. So 8 years later we have built and sold a couple homes, are attempting to build our 3rd, have 4 wonderful, beautiful, healthy children, our own portable toilet business :-), a few vehichles (lol), some toys, many more blessings that I just couldn't possibly continue to list, but you get the idea! So Happy Anniversary to my wonderful, funny, caring, affectionate, funny, kind, giving, funny and handsome husband! I love you babe!

Some Pictures

2009-03-12T12:55:00.002-07:00

When Kandra and Gavin came out for a little visit a few weeks ago we got all the Owens grandkids together for a group picture. As any of you know trying to get more than one child to cooperate at a time is pretty hard. We only have 6 to work with and I just can't imagine what it would be like with so many more! However, I think we got a decent picture of the munchkins! After that was over I snapped a couple of my kiddos as well. I also got a few pictures of Kennedy and Gavin that I really love. They are just about a month apart, yet Gavin looks so much older than Kennedy! Anyway, we were happy to get to visit with them again and can't wait to see them and Jared in just a couple more months!

Desert Camping

2009-03-02T13:06:00.002-07:00

We finally decided to load up and take the kids camping! It's pretty sad, we have our beautiful luxury camp mobile and we have only had it out two times now in the past seven months! Ha Ha...! Anyway, we went down by Lake Roosevelt for the weekend. The weather was gorgeous! Matt thought it was a little hot, but I like it a little warmer than he does. The nights were still fairly cool, but it was very comfortable overall. The kids had a blast as usual exploring around camp, taking quad rides, playing games, setting traps for the wild animals, which consists of my marshmallow roasters some prickly pear cactus and rocks, and lounging around. Kylie and Tyler hiked to the top of a big hill which you will see a picture of them next to a cactus. This really wore them out, but I promise it wasn't our intention when we suggested it.. ha ha! Anyway, sorry I haven't blogged in forever, but things have been busy as usual. I'll try my hardest to get on and do it more often. I get frustrated easily tho because I can't figure out the layout half the time and I quit! Anyway, enjoy!!

Happy 7th Birthday Kylie!

2009-01-29T17:54:00.002-07:00

Kylie turned 7 last Thursday! Time is going by faster and faster these days. We celebrated her birthday on Thursday with the family. It was unfortunate that some of the family had to miss. Kylie's papa Owens was in the hospital with a back injury so of course grammie was there too. She missed them there, but was happy to have the rest of the family with her. She chose to have cupcakes in place of a cake this year. The following Saturday we had a small party with a few of her girl friends from school. The girls came over and they got to make their own pizzas, eat cupcakes, and play like girls do. She had a good time on both days! I am so proud of what a good big girl she is turning into. She is such a great help around the house and with the little ones. We love you Kylie and hope your birthday was happy!

Tubing/Cardinals in the SuperBowl

2009-01-19T08:33:00.004-07:00

So we don't have the snow here right now for tubing, but a couple weeks ago we did! Matt found the perfect run for the kids. It was a nice long hill with a very gradual downgrade. They loved it! Karissa especially, she never wanted to get off the tube! We have a slight chance of snow toward the end of this week, so maybe we will get to go play in the snow again! Anyway here are some of our pictures from the tubing!

Now then onto our AZ Cardinals!! I won't pretend to have been a fan because I really wasn't, but I'm still very excited to see them getting a shot at the title!! It's crazy they got this far. I really thought toward the end of yesterdays game things were about to turn around for them, but they held on and proved to belong! So Go CARDS!!!

Christmas 2008

2009-01-09T14:38:00.003-07:00

Well we had a great Christmas. We got to spend it with our family which is most important. My sister came from California to visit and Jared and Kandra and Gavin came out from Ohio. We had a nice Christmas Eve dinner and program at the in laws which has become a nice tradition to look forward too. Christmas day we made the rounds from my parents to Matt's parents and back home again in time for a nap! You forget how much work is, especially toting four kids along! A week before Christmas we took the kids on our annual trip to the North Pole..ha ha yes I said the North Pole. We take them to the train depot in Williams for the Polar Express ride. I think I look forward to it more than the kids do! All in all, it was a great holiday. I have a lot more pictures than what the slide show is playing, but I'm having some difficulties as usual with this blog! I promise to learn it better one day!

The Christmas Tree

2008-12-12T12:44:00.003-07:00

We took the kids out to find our Christmas tree on Tuesday afternoon. It was a tad chilly, but we still found our little tree. It's such a fun tradition for us! We take hot cocoa and have fun driving through the woods as a family. We typically go to the same area each year because we have had such luck finding a tree we love. We didn't get little Kennedy out of the truck because it was so chilly, but the other kids trudged around to help us search. We found one we all agreed on, daddy cut it down and we brought it home. It's much tinier than the last few years as we are in a smaller place. So on our way home we looked back and the tree was within a foot of being lost to the highway! The wind had caught it and lifted it up over the tailgate and a branch was saving it! LOL We got it home safely after that and brought it in to be decorated right away, we couldn't risk leaving it outside for some thief to take...haha only kidding but the kids were concerned! Anyway I got the lights on and then the kids got to hang the majority of the ornaments with the exception of branches they could not reach. I've got some pictures of our adventure for you! Merry Christmas!

Don't mind my hair..I don't lol

2008-11-27T02:05:00.001-07:00

What I am Thankful For….

It's pretty tough to try to start at one point, not wanting to seem that I might be overly thankful for one person or thing than another!
Let's just start with Matt, my wonderful, giving, caring, unselfish, husband! He's truly my best friend. I'm so thankful for all he does for me and our little family, because without all his hard work and dedication to us we wouldn't be where we are today. I love you babe!
My beautiful, healthy and sometime patience testing children; Kylie, Tyler, Karissa and Kennedy. I couldn't be more thankful to have been blessed with such wonderful little babies! They can make me feel like pulling my hair out, locking myself in a padded room and screaming, but you know what…it's all worth it! I love them and all the new things they have brought to my life.
My siblings, Nicole, Ryan, Joshua, and David…although we don't live nearby they are always on my mind. I am thankful for having them all to grow up with. I of course am especially close with Nicole, being my sister and closest in age, but thankful for all the playtimes with all of them growing up, all the wonderful memories.
My parents, the ones who gave me life, who afforded me the opportunity to become who I am today. I am thankful to have them live nearby, that they can share in my life and my children's lives. I know the kids are also thankful for this as they love gramma and grampa dearly!
My in-laws, mother, father, sister and brothers! I feel thankful because I know so many people don't have good relationship with in-laws, probably particularly the mother-in law, but I do! I am fortunate that they live nearby as well and my kids can spend time with them and have a close relationship with them.
All my extended family, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. I love them all, am thankful for the relationships I have with them and wonderful childhood memories I have thanks to many of them!
My wonderful friends be it the old friends that can complete my sentences, although there are the new ones I don't doubt can do that as well. I am thankful for so many fond memories and look forward to many new memories with the new friendships I have formed!
I suppose I could list a lot of material possessions that I am thankful for, and trust me I am thankful. I am thankful for the roof over our heads, that keeps us dry and warm, the vehicles we have that carry all of us from place to place, the toys we have that let us have fun together and spend time with one another, etc…etc…
Lastly, but certainly not least I am thankful for the MAN who created all of this, our Heavenly Father. I may not seem like it at times, but I do not forget Him and the many blessings He has bestowed upon me and my family.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Trying to update...

2008-11-12T21:19:00.003-07:00

I'm having some trouble getting the page updated. I spent a long long time creating a slideshow and it won't work on here! :-( So I'll try to slowly post some random pictures now and some more in the next few days, just bare with me. Everyone is yelling that I haven't updated in a long time...sorry!
As most all of you know we had our little girl, Kennedy Paige. She was born on October 8th, after a few long and uncomfortable days of contractions! She was healthy and all went well. Kennedy weighed 6lbs 10 oz and was 20 inches long! She's doing great as she is already a month old. Time sure does seem to fly these days!
We had a fun Halloween. Kylie was a kitty, Tyler was batman, Karissa was a lion, and Kennedy a bumble bee. The weather was pretty decent that night, not too cold. We took them to the trunk or treat at Bison ranch and they made a pretty decent haul!
Tyler just had his 5th birthday last month and Karissa's 2nd is coming up in just a couple more weeks. Kylie will be 7 in January...now that's really sad for me to think my first is getting so old...you would think she is 16 if you talked to her! ha ha!
My school is almost over for the semester and I'll admit that I'll be glad, even though I only have 3 classes, it has started to feel a bit overwhelming having a new baby on top of the regular every day life demands of running a household and all that great stuff. I'm grateful for the support from everyone tho! Matt has been wonderful, helping to watch the kids when he is able to so I can go to class and or get my school work done! My mom and Laurie (mom in law) have also been a tremendous help in this department. Thanks!!
We have TURKEY day coming up...YUM YUM! I guess we will be going at it on our own this year, as plans just aren't working out to get together with everyone...that bums me out cause it's great to be with family, but things just don't always go as planned you know!
Did I ramble on enough and update everything? I think so...I hope so! Well here they are as promised..random pics for your enjoyment. Now leave some love..take care until next post which I promise to do better at doing much quicker!
This is Kennedy in her coming home outfit..

The kids shortly after getting the baby home

Kylie being a big help

Kennedy on her new blankey from my friend

The pumpkin patch

The Elk, etc!

2008-09-19T19:10:00.002-07:00

Matt got his elk today! It was a tough hunt! He only had until next Thursday to find one and he did it today! I knew he would get one and a nice one at that. He's such a good outdoorsman! Anyway go figure, the elk dies at the bottom of a steep canyon. Thankfully there were a few itty bitty trees that stopped him from going any further; which would have made it nearly impossible to get him out. Thanks to the winch on the in laws four wheeler and some man power they managed to hoist the big beast to the top! Blake was able to leave school to come help and then of course Brandon and Roger helped as well. Laurie and I got to watch and wrangle Karissa. Karissa did not like it at all! She actually called it a bug at first! LOL Now the excitement is over and hopefully Roger can get a nice one soon too! Here are some pics from the days adventure and a video or two of them pulling that monster up the canyon!
Lugging it up the hill!

Tired out

The Crew

Matts Prize

Ok time to update...

2008-09-03T20:40:00.002-07:00

I haven't been too good at keeping up on this blog! I guess things just got a little crazy. I'll just try to give you a little run down on what's been going on around here without making it too long!
We moved last month, back to our very first home! Our little trailer, it's a bit cramped right now, but it's not a big deal. We just broke ground on a house and we are going to try to move fast on it so we can have a little bit more space! This is the 3rd house we have built in the past 4 years, but the goal is to build and sell them so we can build our "final" house without having to get a mortgage on it! We are getting close to that goal, thanks to my hard working hubby!
Kylie started 1st grade last month! :-( Wow how time flies with the kids! She seems to be doing well so far and really enjoys her teacher. Tyler didn't get to go to pre-school this year because the school had to cut the program due to lack of funds. He has been getting to hang out with daddy and papa a lot which he really enjoys. Our little Karissa is close to turning 2 already which is crazy. I don't know where the time is going. She is talking a lot now, will copy almost any word you say. I just finally decided its time to break her of the bottle. She only gets one at night, but thats stopped! It's been a rough few nights, but I see the end in sight!
Matt has been busy as usual with all sorts of differnt projects from our port a potties, hauling scrap metal and digging the septic system for the new house. He's been going out a lot to scout for his big elk too. He has a hunt starting next Friday that he's really excited for. Poor guy sprained his ankle the other morning, but thankfully it's getting better fast!
As for me, Im 33 weeks pregnant and I can see the end closing in fast! I am anxious for this little girl to come meet us all! We are still deciding on names, so for those asking...nope we don't have anything picked quite yet. I also started school! I decided to pursue a nursing career, so I've got a lot of work ahead of me, but I'm excited about. Matt has been really supportive as has all the family!
Well I guess that's kind of it in a nutshell for now. I will post some recent pics for you all to see a little later on! Nite Nite

A haircut for Roo

2008-07-01T16:27:00.002-07:00

Karissa got her first haircut today. Just a teeny tiny trim too keep it from her eyes. She didn't want to sit in the chair by herself so she sat on my lap for the haircut, but afterwards I got to snap a couple pictures of her in the chair. It's kinda sad tho because now she looks so much older to me! So here are the before, during and after pics!

Today was the mark of my 24th week...yay 6 months! Here's a pic for you that keep asking!

Ultrasound

2008-06-20T21:56:00.002-07:00

We had the ultrasound today. Everything appeared to be fine and the baby measured right on according to my due date of Oct 20th. At first the little one wasn't wanting to cooperate, keeping feet in between the legs, but then we got a spread eagle shot!

Yup another little girl for us! Tyler and Matt were a little bummed out at first because they obviously wanted another little hunting buddy to tag along, but they are over it! We are all excited to welcome another little girl into our home! We figure it will be nice for Karissa to have a little sister close in age and since Brandon and Amber just had the twin girls they will have a little girl cousin to play with! I plan to have a 3D ultrasound done around 30 weeks or so and get some more fun pictures. This little girl was very active today, moving all over! Waving, flexing, kicking, thumb sucking, rolling, etc! I wish I owned one of those machines to watch my baby whenever I wanted! LOL The tech told us the machine he had was the top of the line and cost over 300K! WOWIE! I guess we need to get into that profession! LOL

The Butter Dish

2008-06-17T15:58:00.002-07:00

Earlier today I thought to myself, where is Karissa?! She had been quiet for a little too long. I got up off the couch and went to the kitchen and found her sitting in her little chair with the butter dish in her lap. She managed to get it off the counter and was taking gobs of butter and slathering it in her hair. It looked like she was using it as lotion or gel or something. My mom-in-law says she thinks that Karissa was using it as conditioner because she saw Kylie putting conditioner in her hair this morning and that sure would make sense. Anyway, we found it pretty darn funny and I think Karissa did too! Here are some pics!

Nothing Special

2008-06-04T13:58:00.002-07:00

I don't really have much to blog about. Matt is gone to Missouri for a business trip until late tonight. He had to get out of bed last night at the hotel becasue of a tornado warning and head to the stairwell! Pretty crazy, but the tornado didn't come through thankfully!
Kylie just got back late last night from a little mini trip to Las Vegas! Her grammie and papa drove out to visit Jared while he was there for a short time for some interviews. They invited both kids, but Tyler decided to stay behind and I took him and Karissa to the valley Monday night to go swimming. So far I guess the summer has started out pretty good for our family.
Oh we are moving once again tho! Yup....gonna move back into our very first home, our mobile home! We decided it just doesn't make sense to be paying the money for rent when we could technically live somewhere for free. So this will be I think the 5th or 6th move in the last year! WOW! I feel like a professional mover lol!
I had my 20 week check up today. Everything was fine, I measure right on, baby's heartbeat was around 148bpm and was moving quite a bit while we were trying to listen. We scheduled my ultrasound for Friday the 13th so hopefully by then we'll know what we are having. In the mean time why don't you go play this little game for us!

Oh and finally here is a pic of me today half way thru!

Kindergarten Graduation

2008-05-28T10:28:00.002-07:00

Kylie's teacher put on a little graduation ceremony for her class last week. It was pretty short and simple and to the point. I must admit thats always nice when you are trying to watch a couple other kids in a small area! They sang us a couple songs and received their diplomas which ended it all. Kylie is moving onto the 1st grade and is very excited about it. She seems to be doing well with school especially the socializing aspect of it...i'm assuming she got that from me! Here are a few pictures from her graduation. Next week she has her final dance recital so be watching for a new post about that soon!

Mothers Day

2008-05-12T13:29:00.002-07:00

I hope all the moms that are reading this had a great Mothers Day yesterday, I know I did. We went to church, visited both our moms and relaxed at home. It was a nice quiet day which is all I can ask for! The kids each made me a cute card and Kylie brought home a little craft from school for me as well. Not really much else to say other than hope you had a great day! A few pictures too...

San Diego..May 3-4

2008-05-06T19:51:00.003-07:00

Last weekend Matt and I had a chance to go to San Diego to watch the Red Bull Air Race. It was a lot of fun! It was a really quick trip, but still a nice little get away for the two of us. We left early Saturday morning and drove to the airport to catch our flight. We were in group B to board and as we were walking down the hall to board they made us turn around! The plane was broke! Needless, to say we ended up getting into SD about an hour later then planned, but it wasn't that big a deal. We used Saturday to just mill around San Diego, eat some good food, check out the beach and relax!!! Oh we also watched Made of Honor which was really cute!! Sunday morning we got up, had breakfast and headed down to the bay which was where the airshow was. We were there all day until it was time to leave to come home. It was really neat watching some of the demonstrations prior to the show such as a coast guard rescue. The race plans were flying like 230 mph!! It was a lot of fun to see. However, i did suffer a small sunburn. I totally spaced using any sunscreen because it was cool and overcast, ya worst conditions. I am blistering on my chest which is where I got it the worst. OUCH...but all in all we had a great time!!! I'm posting some pics of a couple race planes, some randoms of Matt and I and the one I really love of the statue at the Naval Pier!

Girls Day

2008-05-05T20:52:00.004-07:00

So last weekend my girlfriend and I got a chance to leave our kids and go to a spa for the day! We drove down to Phoenix on Friay evening and got checked into our hotel and then went out to dinner at Red Lobster!!! YUM! Afterwards we came back to our hotel and sat in the hot tub for a short time before heading off to bed. It's so strange when you sleep away from your kids, I woke up a couple times throughout the night wondering why Karissa hadn't woke up yet! LOL We woke up Saturday morning and drove over to a day spa in Scottsdale where we spent about 4 hours having a massage, facial and pedicure. It was wonderful! I hadn't felt so relaxed in quite some time. Naturally after that we were famished, so we went and had a big lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. I would have been ok with just eating a whole cheesecake, but I settled for single slice. LOL Once our lunch was over it was time to head back up the mountain. It was a great little relaxing 24 hours away from home thanks to the help from my sis and mom in law watching the kiddies! Here are a few pictures that speak for themselves!

Easter

2008-03-25T11:04:00.004-07:00

We had a good Easter! A few days before Easter the kids and I colored eggs which was fun as usual. Karissa wanted to help, but she mostly just cracked a lot of eggs. On Saturday we had a picnic with Matt's family and hid eggs for the kids to find. It was fun, we had to hide them twice because the first time around Kylie had found more than Tyler and being as competitive as he is he wouldn't settle for second! LOL It was a nice relaxing day! That night Amber had her twins! We were all so excited to get to see them after waiting for so long, I know Amber and Brandon were even more anxious. Everything went well, and they are healthy beautiful little babies! On Sunday morning we let the kids find their Easter baskets and play around for a bit. We got them ready for church, and they went with Grammie and Papa so we could go up and see the babies. Kylie and Tyler we so upset that they weren't allowed to go into the hospital, but with RSV still going around they couldn't go in. So here are a few Easter pictures and one of the new little babies!!

Camping

2008-03-19T14:39:00.007-07:00

I haven't blogged in sometime. I know that's bad! Well we took the kids on a little camp out a couple weekends ago and had a nice time. I think the most exciting part of our trip was realizng after unloading the quad and locking the back that we didn't have a key to unlock it! The quad wouldn't fit in the truck either, so we had to drive about 10 minutes to find someone to cut the lock off, we got lucky and pulled into a garage type place that actually grinded it off! We got lucky!! It was a nice relaxing trip for our family. We always enjoy camping and look forward to doing a lot of it as it continues to warm up! I'm working on posting some pics, but it's giving me a hard time! They keep cutting them off! So bare with me and I'll get some soon!

Almost a mom for 6 years!

2008-01-09T16:15:00.001-07:00

Yep...that's right! I sit here looking at the calendar and dates of upcoming appointments and what not. The most important upcoming date is Kylie's 6th birthday in just 2 weeks! That means I will have been a mommy for 6 years already. Time goes by way to fast! It's hard to look at Kylie and imagine she used to be so tiny, barely 6lbs at birth! She's growing into a beautiful little girl! So don't forget to wish her a happy Birthday on the 22nd of this month!

Up until now....

2008-01-03T11:55:00.000-07:00

So since we are going on our 7th wedding anniversary and our 9th anniversary this summer of being with one another, we have had quite a bit happen in our lives. In that time we have had 3 beautiful children. Kylie Nicole born Jan 22, 2002; Tyler Ray born Oct 26, 2003 and Karissa Jane born Nov 28,2006. We still haven't really decided if 3 is the lucky number for us or not. Around the time I was pregnant with Tyler we purchased our first property, a little over 5 acres of land in Heber. We built our first house in 2003 and moved in the spring of 2004. What an exciting task to build your first house and a lot of work! Matt was able to do a lot of the finish type work himself since he has been in the construction trade since high school. In 2006 we decided it was time to try to sell our house since the real estate market was at a high, we wanted to make a profit while we could. I obtained my real estate license in the spring of 2006. We sold in late October of last year and realized...where would we move to?! We own our mobile home that we lived in previously, but we have tenants and couldn't just kick them out! So we moved into my parents where there was plenty of room for us all. Matt continued working construction and kept on trying to sell some homes! When we sold our home we didn't sell all the acreage so we decided we would build a "spec" home on another portion of the property. I believe it was around March of 2007 we broke ground on the home and by the time we were getting to the drywall stage we had a buyer! How exciting that was! We sold the home in July and purchased a small lot in the private air park here in Overgaard with intentions of building our 3rd home. This would be to sell, not live! As the months went on we really felt like we were imposing staying with my parents and wanted our own "space" again since we hadn't ever had to live with anyone like that before. It was great for the interim, but we started looking for something else. We found a pretty tiny little cabin that was affordable and so we made yet another move. We moved in around March of 2007. When I say tiny, I mean about 600 sq feet, 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. I thought it would last, but as the months passed by we were really starting to feel pretty cramped in there and with winter approaching and no real source of heat besides tiny electric heaters in the bedroom we figured we would start looking around for something new. We started to ask around and about that fast we were approached by a family we knew about renting their home. So in October we moved to where we are currently residing. We have a lot of space here, a fenced back yard with an in ground trampoline and a swing set so the kids LOVE it! For the most part, this house is working out. We have been holding off on building the spec home in the air park due to the up and down real estate market, but we are hoping to kick it off within the next month. We feel that the home will be finished up in a good selling season and hopefully I can sell it right away. Once we complete and sell this home, it's our hope to begin building OUR FINAL home! We have been doing the build and sell for obvious reasons...to make money! LOL We are hoping that we will then have enough money to build it without having to obtain any financing and if so it will be very minimal! Well I think that's it in a very small nutshell. I will update this frequently after any exciting events take place and what not and hopefully familiarize my a little more with the whole blogging scene!