Birthday Boy Tyler

This week has been jam packed as usual. We celebrated Tyler’s 6th birthday and boy was he excited. He has been asking when his birthday would be for like the last 11 months. He opened his presents before school and got to play for a bit before they had to go to school. After school he wanted to go to Toys R Us and use his gift card from the grandparents. So we went and he found the best toy ever, a Playmobil knights and castle thing. I asked him what he wanted for dinner and he wanted salmon. I make this Lemon Herb Salmon and it is Ray and Tyler’s favorite. So I made that with steamed broccoli, and mashed potatoes and gravy. IT was Delic! We hurried off to Tyler’s soccer game after dinner then came back and sang Happy Birthday to him and had cake and ice cream. I think he had a great day.

I went with my friend, Christina, to pick free tomatoes and peppers. I was going to can salsa, but I had never done it before. I printed off some stuff from the extension office and found the water bath canner, jars and rings. Then I ran out of time, so I had to wait until the next day. I decided I wanted to get a food processor, I had looked into them a couple of weeks ago for shedding zucchini to freeze. Anyway, I decided to just get the one at Wal-Mart, but when I got there they were all gone (3 weeks ago they had like 10) To make a long story short, after an hour of having them look in the computer to see if they had any then digging in the back by the Wal-Mart employees, they found one. But then they didn’t have any of the regular canning lids, so I just decided that I didn’t want to stress about measuring everything EXACTLY to avoid botulism, and decided to just do freezer salsa. It still took me all day, but in the end I think I ended up with 13 quarts of salsa and a GIANT mess! IT took me days to recover from the mess. But the salsa is good. It was still kind of fun and I think I will do it again, maybe even tomorrow, now that I got a recipe from a couple in our ward that shared some yummy salsa with us.

Ray and I went to a play at the Hale Center Theater, with his work one night as well. It was called "Over the river and through the woods". I really enjoyed it. We got a babysitter and Kyle did really good, I was afraid I would have to leave during intermission to come home and feed him.
Yesterday night I helped a neighbor friend who was having a reception for her brother in her backyard. It was a fun night! My friends Christina and Linda helped as well. Ray stayed home and tended all the kids. Kyle once again did really good and went almost 4 hours without needing to be nursed!

Speaking of Kyle, he is getting so old. He is now 8 months old! He isn’t crawling yet, but he sits up really well and is a good natured baby. He loves getting around in his walker, he can go pretty much anywhere and even around corners in the kitchen and to the computer room. He does get stuck in the hall though.

Hello Again

It's been a super long time since I posted. I am not going to try to play "catch up" Here's some highlights of this past week.

We went to the Owlz game on Tuesday for "host family appreciation" night. They had all the host families go out on the field , then they read off our names and had our players come out and stand by us. Each player presented their family with a framed and autographed photo and they gave the "mom" a red rose. Here is us with our players. Kasey and Kevin. We have actually had 4 different players, Marcel was released early in the season and TJ got a blood clot in his arm and has been out for a while as well.

Trent and Tyler are both playing soccer this year, and for some dumb reason we didn't try to have Tyler play up a division (at least I think they allow that) so they are on different teams and divisions. So we have games Tues, Thurs and Sat, plus practice on Wed. 4 times a week is a bit much for me! Saturdays we have two games Tyler in am and Trent in afternoon. So yesterday seemed like I just went to soccer games all day. Ray had meetings during both games so it was me and all 4 kids at the games, we were late to both games. Pathetic!

I picked my final 4 peaches off my tiny little peach tree. I think I ended up getting about 10. Not bad for the first year, they weren't super huge, but I was surprised we got any at all. I had heard it takes 3 -4 years to get fruit.

I have been picking lots of yellow squash and zucchini. I want to freeze it but haven't gotten around to it.

Kyle is getting big. He is also getting another tooth, this makes 3 for him. He isn't crawling yet but gets around really good in his walker.

Oceanside CA - Family Vacation 2009

I haven't posted since May, what is up with that? NO TIME. Always a messy house. 2 Owlz players living here. Coupon addiction. 4 Children under the age of 7 including 6 month old nursing baby - like I said no time.

here are some pictures from our family vacation. We had a wonderful time with all of Ray's family.

on the road.

family pictures on the beach.

The boys with Lego VADER

The finished sand castle

Ray's parents (who made the whole vacation possible, thanks guys!)

Mohey Tawa Reunion

Time flies when you are having fun!

On Saturday the kids played kickball at the park with some of the neighborhood kids and dads. The boys had fun. It brought back fond memories for me, we used to play kickball a lot at my grandma Grimshaw's with all my cousins.






This is Kyle pulling Meadow's hair. Really she just started crying, but he did grab on to her hair.



















Tyler graduated from preschool on Friday. They had a graduation program where they sang songs and recited some poems. Tyler is quite the little singer. He knew all the songs and his voice could be heard over all the other kids. I was a little surprised, I didn't know he liked to sing so much, I guess he takes after his dad. I guess I was surprised because he really doesn't sing at home much. He did a great job! These are his buddies from the neighborhood, Ryan and Ethan.









Ray celebrated his 34th Birthday. It was a lot of candles for him to blow out!

Last weekend we went with the Grimshaw's to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes.

We drove down to Kanab Friday afternoon and stayed in a hotel. We went to dinner that night and went swimming at the hotel. On Saturday we drove over to the dunes. The kids had a blast! Tyler and Trent loved riding the four-wheeler and going for rides in the dune buggy. We had a great day, we went over to the "corral" area and there were some large pine trees that kept it shady all day long. I loved that because if you know me I can not stand being in the beating sun for very long. When I was little we used to go to the coral pink sand dunes for Easter with my grandma, grandpa, aunts,uncles and cousins - good times. We would camp, which was fun, but it was nice to stay in a hotel, especially with 4 month old Kyle. We had a fun day and drove back home Saturday night.




This picture was taken on Mother's day. Apparently it was to sunny for the kids. They take after their mother and can't open their eyes if the sun is out. Kara is holding her mother's day present that she made in nursery ( a noodle necklace) she told me it was hers, so I let her open it and wear it. She is funny. She did the same thing at Christmas time. They made a wreath out of puzzle pieces painted green that had her hand print in the middle, she called it "her hand" she loved that thing, and of course it wasn't a present for me, it was hers.

Welcome to May

Over the weekend we went down to my parents house. Well, just Saturday morning we went down and came back Saturday night. Mitch graduated from SUU so we went down for the graduation. Go Mitch! Mike, Ashlee and Jensen were there too. After the graduation we had dinner then we headed for home. I wish we could of stayed longer, but it was a fun trip.

I haven’t been up to much. I have been kind of trying to work in the yard. I got some onions and peas planted and hope to plant more this week. I planted my tomatoes from seed again this year (inside) I did it a little bit later than last year (next year will do earlier) but they should be ready to plant in a week or two. I am excited, I love getting veggies from the garden, especially tomatoes, yum! I had some potatoes that I didn’t dig up last year and they spouted and were plants. The potatoes were where we were going to till so I moved them to a new location and they seem to have survived. I need to get my other potatoes planted too.

Kyle is just getting big big! I can’t believe that he is almost 4 months old. He is the best baby ever. He has been sleeping through the night which I LOVE! Just this last week he has discovered his thumb. I am against thumb sucking, only because I was a thumb sucker for way to long. I remember coming home from kindergarten and sucking my thumb on the couch. I also remember that it messed up the way I swallow (or that is what I blame it on) I would push against my teeth when I swallowed and the dentist said that I couldn’t get braces until I corrected it or it would mess up my teeth once I got the braces off. As far as Kyle goes, I think it is cute and it does sooth him. I still try to just give him the pacifier, but it seems to fall out and then when I check on him he has is thumb in his mouth. At least with the pacifier I can take it away when he is one. I guess if he is still sucking his thumb I might have to put a sock over his hand and pin it to his pj’s, that is what my mom had to do to Tennille when she was little. It got her to stop though.

Kara is still my little helper. She is a funny little girl. She always tells me when she is big like me then she can touch the ceiling, random.

Tyler is mister social butterfly. He has several friends in the neighborhood that he always wants to be playing with. He also likes to go everywhere barefoot, including riding his scooter.

We got out the bikes and Trent’s was to small, so we got him a new one and he has been riding it a lot. He is very thoughtful young man. A boy in his primary class had a birthday and so he came home and made him a birthday card and took it to him.

Well that’s our update!

The last few weeks

well, I think our blog is turning into a picture blog. We have been busy the last few weeks.

Tennille and I took the kids to an easter egg hunt the day before easter.

The boys didn't have school for the week after easter. It was nice for a day or two then it snowed.

On Thursday we spur of the moment decided to head south for the weekend. We stayed at my parents Thursday night and left Friday afternoon for sunny Mesquite. The boys and Ray had fun swimming and playing tennis. I got in the pool for about an hour, Kara wouldn't even put on her swim suit. We went with some of our friends and it was fun. We celebrated my birthday while down there too.

I am getting old!

On Wednesday some of my friends and I had our Ladies night out. We went to Provo for Gelato, it was fun.

And last but not least, Tennille had her baby. Here is a picture we took yesterday of her and Kyle. Kyle is so big compared to her. I think that it is cute that they are both sleeping.

more pictures

This one of Trent and Kyle makes me laugh. The angle of the camera makes Kyle look GIANT. Mostly like he has a huge head.

The ones at the bottom make me laugh too, because they were taken by Kara.

there are about 6 of these. Kyle's bottom half. I kept asking her if she could see his face, she would say "yes" as she snapped the photo. No faces, just feet.

this one I helped hold the camera up so it got his face.

not to much is new with us. I planted some onions and peas yesterday and worked in the yard. It was fun!

Kyle's Blessing

Ray’s parents and Brad came up this weekend. On Saturday Ray’s parents took the kids to Kangaroo Zoo. I think they all had a blast. It took Kara a while to warm up, but she had fun running around and jumping too. Kyle slept the whole time and Ray was at work.
That night we went to dinner at the Olive Garden with all of Ray’s family. It was just the adults and Kyle. It was a nice evening out. Thanks Ken and Louise!

On Sunday we blessed Kyle. My parent and Mitch drove up that morning and got here around 11 a.m. they helped me finish getting ready for the luncheon and helped get the kids ready for church. Ray gave Kyle a very nice blessing. We are so glad to have him as part of our family. All of my family (minus John) and all of Ray’s family were able to attend the blessing. We had a super yummy lunch after the blessing, thanks to all those who contributed, I ate way to much!
Tennille let me borrow her boys' little tux for Kyle. It is such a cute little outfit. Kyle barely fit into it.

The weather has been typical lately. Super warm/sunny one day and snowy /cold the next. Today we woke up to snow! I will be glad when in warms up and we can spend time outside. I am excited to get things going with my little garden.