The Rees' Pieces

Christmas in March!

2010-03-26T22:40:00.000-07:00

I know it's hardly Christmas time now and who would want it to be. (Sorry a little of my sarcasm escaped.) But, I was catching up on reading blog posts during my spring break and realized I hadn't even posted anything from Christmas. How sad :( SO even though I need to play catch up I figured I could at least start by posting my cute boys with Santa from our ward Christmas party.

I hope David didn't kill Santa :)

Cute Costumes!

2009-11-22T19:59:00.000-08:00

We let the kids pick out their own Halloween costumes this year. We usually do a theme and Mom suggests ideas for costumes. But this year we went to the store and let them browse until they found something they wanted. They all actually turned out really cute. David was a ninja, Paul was Wolverine and Seth was a magician.

Lauren was adorable as a little fairy. She liked wearing her headpiece as a necklace though. She couldn't have been any cuter though.

The boys with their cute pumpkins. They had a lot of fun carving this year and all had ideas for their pumpkin.

I don't think my pumpkin was feeling very well though...

Halloween Fun!

2009-11-22T19:50:00.000-08:00

At the Rees house we love Halloween. Last year we were especially busy though so we didn't decorate or have our usual big fear factorish Halloween party. So this year we had lots of ideas and some fresh blood. This isn't a great picture of the house but it kind of shows the front yard. This year we got a new inflatable spider that turns it's head. It's pretty cool if I do say so myself.

We also had our party again this year. All the couples looked pretty cute. Here are just a few of the pictures from the party.

It's hard to tell from the photo but Angie was a lady who was missing her little doggie. It was pretty funny. All I can say is I hope things worked out in the end. LOL!

Mandi had an awesome witch costume and Scott...well he came as a germ covered organism. :)

My witch hat had a veil with little spiders on it. Unfortuneately in the picture it just looks like my lips are all crazy. Josh is the evil jester with me. His mask was pretty freaky. He loved trying to scare the kids with it.

We told David and Marnie it was a costume party but I guess they didn't have time to dress up before they came. They were feeling pretty groovy though. :) David I told you to put that cup down. LOL!

It's crazy the lengths some people will go to for a Halloween party. I mean really tatoo's are not necessary. :)

What a 'wicked' trio...literally and figuratively!

Of course the Gibbons won the best couple costume for their delightful representation of Wesley and Buttercup. What will they think of next?

Family Pics continued...

2009-11-22T19:28:00.000-08:00

Here are the rest of the pictures that I didn't get posted last time. Considering how grumpy Lauren was we actually got quite a few cute photos. Seth was being adorable and luckily the boys are old enough now to do really well...especially when promised a Kid's Meal and a piece of See's candy upon completion. Who says bribery isn't effective? :) Not two teachers, that's for sure.

Family Pictures

2009-11-22T19:12:00.000-08:00

It must be that time of year. We haven't taken family pictures for over a year now and it was time to get ready for Christmas cards. I figure it will be the only thing I get done ahead of time for the holiday season this year. This one is an adorable one of Lauren. She needed one by herself too.

10K in Tahoe

2009-09-29T18:11:00.000-07:00

5 years ago, 2 children ago, 10 lbs. ago, and one husband who was home night I ran a 10K in Lake Tahoe. I had a wonderful running partner, Edie, who went out with me faithfully 3 or 4 nights a week to run. It was a wonderful experience and I've wanted to do it ever since. But for the last 4 years I've been too busy with life. So in January I started running. Very slowly, painstakingly, moderate amounts of running done mostly inside on a treadmill. But at least I was running. I did a 5K in spring and the beginning of summer. But what I really wanted to do was the 10K in Tahoe. The last time we went was 2 years ago, when my mother, father and husband all ran the 10K. My brother David lives in Reno and we don't see hime very often so when we go we get a 3 bedroom condo and all stay together. It's a lot of fun and so I was excited when we decided to go. My running was not nearly as fast or advanced as I wanted it to be and with work taking over my life, my running schedule got somewhat sidelined. But once we made the nonrefundable deposit on the condo I figured I'd better make it happen. I was only up to running 5 miles so I interspersed .25 walking here and there into my routine to make for the 6.2 mile total needed. I knew I couldn't worry about my time as there just aren't enough hours in the day for the training I needed and I still need to lose more weight. So I set my goal on completion, not on a specific time.

This is Emerald Bay at Lake Tahoe. It is on the top of this mountain that overlooks the bay where the race began. At one point just off the start the roadside drops off on either side and all you see is the Lake flanking both sides of the road. It's beautiful, breath-taking, and a little scary all at the same time. So anyway the day of the race came and I was apprehensive and tired. Of course the week leading prior to the trip I got hardly any sleep. Josh dropped me off at the hotel as everyone was still sleeping. Then I caught the bus up the mountain with the other runners. We got dropped off at the top about an hour before the race starts. Once the race got going I was enjoying running outside and it doesn't hurt that the first mile is all downhill. I was surprised though at how fast the time seemed to fly by as I ran. It wasn't even until about the 4th mile that I started to get tired. But I kept going slowly but slowly. Anyway I was able to run the whole thing without stopping and walking.

This is me speeding up because I'm so glad it's almost over. I thought maybe I hadn't pushed myseld hard enough til the end when I tried to push harder and there wasn't much left. But I did pass these women in my haste to finish and be done.

This is the family. Glad mom is done. We enjoyed the beautiful view off Pope Beach where the finish line was.

My brother David Sam, the Rees'es and my parents, David and Lynda.

Yeah! A goal completed, a chance to sit down, and I met the time goal I secretly made for myself!

Just wait til next year!!!

Yosemite

2009-09-06T23:31:00.001-07:00

Yep so I saw a lot of 'this' in vacation. And as you will see towards the end of the pictures the boys all picked it up too. It's a good thing I love my hunka hunka burning love :)

I'm just happy because we got the tent set up without killing each other. Always fun.

The boys always crack me up. I put them all in the same sweatshirt for identification purposes. This was our first camping dinner. Nothing like top ramen baby! Don't ya just love my round camping tablecloth on a rectangle table. Don't ask me how I got a circle one I don't even remember. I've never been camping and found a round picnic table. Weird!

This is the family all smiles before we left for our biggest hike. It probably wasn't a good omen that we had to park almost a mile away from the parking lot to the trailhead.

This was about halfway up the hike. No more big smiles. We were hiking up to Nevada Falls which is about 3 miles round trip. Doesn't sound to bad right? Except did I mention that first mile is pretty much straight up and then you hit 600 steps. Add a baby on your back, toddler in Josh's case and you get quite a workout. We did make it to the top and it was well worth the hike. It was a gorgeous waterfall and a wonderful accomplishment to make it to the top. And I'll tell you what, it hurt going down too. I'll never forget Josh telling Paul, who was 5 years old at the time to "Man up" and stop whining. He still whined quite a bit but he made it. David was a trooper and carried the water supply for the family. Both Lauren and Seth took naps during the ordeal, I mean hike. Must be nice.

It was smart to do the longest, hardest hike the first day because after that everything just seemed easy. Including this 50 step walk from the car to the base of the waterfall to which Paul said, "Was that it?"

This picture is so funny because we were at a beach were across the way you can see the hikers going up El Capitan. I turned around to get a picture of Seth who was running across and down he biffed just as I snapped the picture. So that black dot out there is Seth.

I don't remember which fall this was but it was a fairly short hike. The really funny story to the picture is why Josh had to crop it the way he did. We were hiking along the path when an older gentleman passed us. Josh was ahead of me so I could see his reaction as he did a double take. The gentleman was hiking in hiking boots, a t-shirt and boxers. Then when we got there and went to take pictures he was standing next to us by the log.

This was on top of Sentinel Dome. What a gorgeous view of the valley and Half Dome.

This is about the spot that we saw a bear when we were going up the trail to the top of the rock.

Corona Del Mar 5K

2009-09-06T23:25:00.000-07:00

This is seriously one of the crappiest pictures of me that I have. So you ask why am I posting this? So that when I run the 10K at Tahoe hopefully I look awesome compared to this pic! :) This was a fun run though and I want to do it again next year of course with a much better time.

Josh actually ran with me this time too which was fun. Except he beat my time by 2 minutes and he doesn't run. Yep I'm really that slow. How sad considering I've been running since January. That's okay. We brought two babysitters down with us to watch the kids while we ran. We were the only ones set up on the beach. It was a great beach day.

Joelle & Dave

2009-09-06T23:11:00.001-07:00

This is Joelle and Dave coming out of the Fresno temple after a beautiful sealing surrounded by family and friends. We were all very happy for them because they two awesome people who make a wonderful couple. We enjoyed being able to share this moment of their life with them! We love you guys!

Seth was being really sweet with his sister. He was giving her kisses. Notice the sweaty head. It was extremely hot and humid that day. Nothing like the end of May in Fresno, California.

Such a good picture of the family. Notice Seth is missing in action because he was getting in trouble at the time. And Paul was crying and grumpy. Good times.

I love 1 o'clock church!

2009-06-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

You gotta love 1 o'clock church. Both boys fell completely asleep during sacrament. Thank goodness Lauren was in the mood to sit on the floor and play with her toys cause my lap was completely full. It's been almost 4 years that I've been sitting alone and we only had 2 kids when I started. Let's just say I don't exactly get as much out of church as I used to. :) But I still go!

Honor Roll and Mr. Smarty Pants

2009-06-28T10:44:00.000-07:00

David made Honor Roll again. We are very proud of this hard working, intelligent young man. His Grandma Judd likes to take him to the Dollar Store and get him stuff when he earns Honor Roll. She has been doing this since Kindergarten. After the ceremony we were walking out and Paul and Seth just had to climb the tree. As Paul is getting down he asks me. When I start school (he starts Kindergarten in August) will Grandma get me stuff too? :) Gotta love the way his mind thinks. He is one smart cookie. We will soon see if he decides to apply it in school or not?! :)

I'm A Monster!!!!

2009-06-28T10:33:00.001-07:00

Still catching up! Poor baby! This happened the beginning of May. David had a molar coming in and it had been sore for a couple of days. Then one morning he wakes up and looking like this. Then he proceeds to tell me this story. He said, "Mom I woke up and I went into the bathroom, and I looked in the mirror, and (in his best Frankenstein voice) I was a Monster!" So of course I made him an appointment that day to see the dentist who started him right away on antibiotics.

But within two days he looked like this and it was getting worse. So we ended up in the ER where they prescribed him another antibiotic and sent him home. That one didn't help either and the swelling was starting to go above the eye which can be very dangerous so we ended up back in the ER the next day as well.

This is him in the ER. He ended up getting an IV antibiotic and a lovely nurse who got blood all over the place when she put the IV in. He was a trooper and eventually the swelling went down and the infection got under control after 4 different antibiotics and the IV. A week and a half later he went into the dentist to get a 'baby' root canal. Who knew an abyss tooth could wreak so much havoc.

Paul's Preschool Graduation

2009-06-24T16:16:00.001-07:00

Paul is such a cutie! When I started blogging I promised myself I wouldn't be one of those people who never updated for months at a time and yet here I am in late June. I have a sticky note on my computer with a list of things I need to blog about. So here I am trying to catch up. First on the list is Paul's preschool graduation which took place at the end of April. :) At first I thought it was a little silly to have a preschool graduation but it turned out soooooo cute. The kids were in their little cap and gowns and came out the Eye of the tiger song, one of Paul's favorites with boxing gloves.

So glad to have grandparents close by to share in these kind of experiences.

I don't think Paul takes a bad picture. Here he is looking cute with both his dad and grandpa.

They did some songs as a class. He went to a preschool program at the local high school where students are involved in their classes. So their graduation was held in the high school gymnasium up on the stage with spotlights and sound systems and everything. We even got a DVD of the ceremony.

Paul brought us all to tears though. Each student had a chance to sing a song. Here is Paul singing the ABC's. While several of the children were too shy to perform when it came time Paul had no problem at all. Then the Ms. Libby, his wonderful teacher, had each of them introduce themselves and she would ask them, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" She got many responses that were cute such as a princess, a mermaid, a baseball player, and Batman. When it was Paul's turn and she asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up he said, "I want to be just like my dad!" You just can't get a better answer than that. We love you Paul! Kindergarten better get ready because Paul is on his way. :)

Lauren's 1st Birthday Party!

2009-04-21T20:34:00.000-07:00

Lauren is such a cutie. She can be such a serious, studious baby sometimes but when she smiles it's just adorable. We had a barbecue for her birthday and invited some friends and family. The weather was perfect, the kids got to play outside in a little pool with a slide and Lauren was entertained by some family members.

Sharing the cake with everyone. She did not eat one bite of cake but she sure tore through it and left a hefty mess on the ground.

What girl doesn't like chocolate cake? This one apparently.

Pretty, pretty princess sitting on her throne, or more accurately, Grandma's lap in front of all her presents.

Her brothers helped her blow her candle out. She kept grabbing for it. I was afraid she was going to burn her fingers.

Saying thank you for all my presents. Now she actually has some pink, girl toys to play with.

Happy, Happy Birthday Lauren dear, Happy days will come to you all year. If I had a wish that it would be a happy, happy birthday to you from me! Love you baby!

Easter Fun!

2009-04-19T11:20:00.000-07:00

It's fun celebrating Easter and other holidays because the older boys remember what the holiday is and what we are going to do to celebrate. So they've been totally excited all week anticipating the coming of the Easter Bunny, dyeing the eggs and having many, many egg hunts.

Paul finding all the chocolate in his basket. Love the early morning hair.

David doing a David smile. He's getting so old now he still really enjoys everything but his reactions are starting to get more subdued. I can't believe he will be getting baptized in 4 months.

David finding eggs. Last year we hid eggs that had grass, rock and pebble exteriors. We didn't repeat that again as we continued finding eggs for many months afterwards.

Paul has quite the eagle eye and has always been able to spot hidden eggs better than both his other brothers. He reminds me of my brother David Sam who could always spot things before other people with regular vision could.

Little Superman finding eggs. Josh was worried that he needed extra time before the other boys but he did just fine and needed no help finding eggs. He loves these Superman pajamas with the cape. All in all we had a wonderful Easter this year other than Lauren being sick and throwing up all day. I guess that's par for the course when you have 4 children. Thank goodness they are the sweetest, cutest, most lovable 4 kids a mom could have. I'm a lucky mom. Vomit and all. :)

San Clemente Fun Run

2009-04-13T21:57:00.001-07:00

So last Saturday I ran my first 5K in San Clemente. I've only been running a couple months and I've lost over 20 pounds but I'm certainly not a "typical" runner. This was a really fun trail run up in the foothills of San Clemente. We were fortunate enough to have my mom watch the kids Friday night and we went down and spent the night at the beach. That was just as exciting as the run.

Saturday morning bright and early before the race wearing my lovely number.

This is what we did while waiting for the actual race to start. We could have showed up like an hour later and still totally been fine. Now we will know for next time.

Here I am finishing the race. About half way through my run I realized I had something none of the other runners had...a chest and a backside! :) The run was a little hilly but I didn't think I was that tired or sore afterward...until later that night. Fun fun. I came home and signed up to do it all again in 2 months. :)

My little angel is 1!

2009-03-31T20:59:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it's been one year since my beautiful little angel was born. Since it's been a year and I can now laugh about how she was born I want to tell the story of her exciting birth.

Lauren being the fourth child came quickly, even more quickly than we expected. I worked full time up until I was about 36 weeks pregnant and then it was spring break so I got a week off. I had been having lots of contractions and had even gone to the hospital twice before when the lovely contractions stopped and I was sent home both times. So when I started having contractions at 2am I figured I had plenty of time and decided to get as much sleep as I could. By 4am I realized the contractions were getting steadily worse and woke Josh up. We called my mother in law to come watch the boys but knew it would take her an hour to get to the house, so we called my mom as well and had her come right over. During this maybe 20 minute period the contractions were increasing exponentially and I told Josh I thought we should call an ambulance. Seth(our 3rd son) was born a mere 5 minutes after I was wheeled into the labor room. We had a Mr. Toad's Wild Ride to the hospital with him with Josh driving about 90 miles an hour and blowing red lights and stop signs. I didn't really want to repeat that drive so I told him we needed to call an ambulance to be safe.

After a few more intense contractions Josh called for the ambulance. Ambulance 302 arrived along with a fire truck around 4:30 am. They tried to ask me some questions and as I was in transition I was a little short with the EMT's. So they decided to transport me to the hospital. My water hadn't broken so they thought they had plenty of time. Neither one had ever delivered a baby before. Jeffrey Allen was the EMT in charge and I'm sure hoping this would simply be a transport. They tried to insert an oxygen tube in my nose during a contraction and I almost punched the EMT. Thank goodness it wasn't my first baby and I knew what was going on. They were trying to time the contractions and I told them the baby was coming. So J. Allen checked and saw a crowning head. He asked his partner for some safety glasses. I guess he thought the baby would coming squirting out. Then he said, "Uhhh push" and with my next contraction Lauren was born. After having 3 boys the first thing I did was ask, "Is it still a girl?" and the EMT answered, "I don't know yet." I was a little concerned with that answer but he was totally focused on cutting and tying the umbilical cord.

They had not let Josh ride in the back of the ambulance so he was following behind the ambulance. So when we pulled into Desert Valley and they opened the Ambulance door the EMT was holding Lauren and they wheeled me into the hospital and carried her. I passed my placenta as they were wheeling me down the hallway which was a lovely experience.

They took Lauren into the nursery. Due to her traumatic entrance into the world she was taken directly to the nursery and put under the heat lamps and given oxygen. I had to go into the delivery room and wait for the Doctor to come check me out. He even sent me a bill later for the "delivery". It took about 3 hours after her birth but I was finally able to hold her. She was by far the smallest of my babies weighing in at 6 lbs 5oz. She was the sweetest little angel.

Anyone who has been around Lauren knows how serious a baby she is. She is a mama's girl and a sweetheart and finally has started smiling. She is our beautiful little angel and made quite the entrance into this world. I couldn't imagine not having a daughter and I can only hope that she and I have the same wonderful relationship that my mom and I have. Happy 1st Birthday Lauren!

St. George-Quynn's baby blessing

2009-03-31T20:29:00.000-07:00

We went to St. George for Quynn's (Dan & Dawn's newest baby girl) baby blessing in March. This is the only pic I got of Dawn and Quynn together. We had a blast seeing all the Rees family and letting all the cousins play together.

On Friday night we went to Pirate Island with Dan and Dawn which is a pizza place with a pirate theme. This pizza actually took up and entire table by itself. It was crazy! We played games and had lots of fun. On the way out we thought it would be fun to get a picture of the cousins up on this pillar. Notice all the cool stuffed frogs Uncle Dan got from the toy machine. You're awesome Dan! See if you can spot him in this picture. LOL!
After the blessing we went back to Dan's clubhouse and had lunch and a lot of wrestling. I'd say Danny (Teresa's hubby) got the short end of the stick. That's his face sticking out of the bottom of the pile. I think he was done wrestling after that.

This is the group picture of everyone after the blessing at the church house. We actually had all 5 Rees siblings in one place. Doesn't happen too often anymore. Mike was there but had to go open the library. We had a great time just visiting with all our family. The cousins got to go to Jumping Jacks where Teresa and I were accosted by some fathers who were horse playing in the bounce houses. :) The boys got to play some video games and the sister-in-laws got some ice cream and a ride in Teresa's car that won't be forgotten anytime soon. We are so grateful to be close to our family!

Part Deux San Diego

2009-03-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

I just spent an hour and a half catching up on everybody else's blog instead of updating my own. It's fun though and made me kind of emotional tonight. Not too sure why but got me thinking about how grateful I am for my beautiful family. So here's some more cute pictures from San Diego. Josh had a CADA Conference for school since he's the Sophomore Class Advisor. He was gone from Wednesday on but Friday night we drove down and crashed his hotel. :) It was nice weather and an even nicer break from life as usual. Friday night we walked over a bridge from his hotel to the Mall on Friars. We got dinner and then walked around a bit and even did a little shopping. It made me a little philosophical. It's a kind of high end area and most of the people walking around were wearing high end apparel and designer accessories. We were stared at by many due to the fact that we had not one or two (which seemed to be a large family down there) children but four. It just made me realize that the "jewels" of my life are my family. They drive me crazy, sometimes to the point of insanity, they make me mad, sometimes to the point of yelling and screaming, and they make me insanely happy to the point I feel like my heart could burst into a million little pieces. I am so glad I chose to be a wife and mother!

This adorable smile just makes me happy!

Like I said earlier David is all into the bunny ears...even giving them to himself.

I just love this one of Paul and Josh together.

Enjoying a nice weather day in San Diego. We even had the pool all to ourselves. The boys were avid little swimmers. They cracked me up with their goggles but they just HAD to have them.

Lauren was just too cute in her little swim suit. What a great weekend away! When can we go again?!

San Diego Trip

2009-03-20T21:21:00.001-07:00

This one could be a post card. Lauren is just kicking back on her lounge chair at the pool enjoying some breakfast (applesauce).

She was so cute. It was like she was gonna drive her stroller. And as my BIL Danny would say, "Where's Lauren? All I see is a bow."

My favorite people at the zoo. David just started giving people bunny ears and he thinks it's soooo funny.

Female Driver

2009-03-01T10:50:00.000-08:00

Just think in 15 years this will be a reality. Scary! But for now too cute!

Adelanto Gran Prix-An Annual Tradition

2009-02-22T15:13:00.001-08:00

Every year come February we go to the Adelanto Gran Prix. It's a desert motorcycle race with around 2,000 racers that runs on Saturday and Sunday. The first time I went I was 6 years old and my dad was racing. It was the 2nd year of the race. There was snow coming down and it was freezing. But we watched my father race and a yearly tradition was born. I've only missed 2 years of the race out of the last 28 years, one when I was away at college and one when I was a bratty teenager. As a child we could stand on the side of the famous mud hole jump, which is a jump on one side and a mud pit on the other. My brother and I would go home from the races covered in mud. We loved every minute of it. Throughout the years we had friends who would race. My father has raced a number of years as well as my brother when he was younger. Josh and I had just started dating the first year he went and my dad raced that year and came in 2nd if my memory serves me correctly. This year my cousin Joelle came down to enjoy the races with us and brought her fiance Dave along for us to meet. Here's the whole crew (minus me taking the picture) Grandpa and Grandma in the front finishing lunch, Josh up on top doing bunny ears on Dave, Paul to the left of Josh, David sitting on the bleachers between Grandpa and Grandma, Joelle at the top holding Lauren and Seth is next to here hiding in this pic.

We had great seats right in front of the mud hole jump this year. Much better than last year. This is Destry Abbott the winner of the Pro Race clearing the mud hole jump effortlessly.

This is another shot at the jump.

This is Lauren looking adorable in her motorcycle jersey sitting with Joelle and Seth giving a great profile for the picture.

This is Dave and Joelle together holding a sleeping Lauren. We all got a little dusty, dirty and sunburned but had a blast together as a family at the Adelanto Gran Prix.

Birthday Boy!

2009-02-15T17:26:00.001-08:00

I cannot believe Paul is already 5 years old. Where does the time go? I can still remember going to my OB appointment and the nurse asking me if I realized that they didn't deliver babies at the Dr.'s office. They sent me right over to the hospital and a couple hours later Paul was born. He was my largest baby, 9lbs. 1 oz. , and is now my smallest child. But that certainly doesn't mean he doesn't pack a punch. He is also my most entertaining child. On his actual birthday I would ask him how old he was and he would reply that he was still four. When I asked him why he said he wouldn't turn 5 until he blew his candles out. And he couldn't do that until that night when we got home and had his birthday cake. So he did blow out the candles and is now officially 5 years old.

This is a small birthday party we had for him.

Paul with his presents and current favorite pose. :)

Here he is blowing his candles out. Happy Birthday baby!

Snow fun

2009-02-01T12:44:00.000-08:00

Okay so this is going to be totally out of order and I'm behind but what else is new. So this picture is not us visiting Utah, it's our house. Not only did it snow all day long, we got almost 2 feet of snow, and it was cold enough that we had tons of snow for 3 days and it didn't all melt for like a week. I can't even remember the last time we had snow like that. It was perfect timing too because it happened the 2 days before we got out for Christmas break. And we just stayed home which is unheard of for us but was wonderful, an early Christmas present.
This is the boys and their snowman. Don't laugh at his arms! Some snowmen have arms like that, okay?!

Here's our winter wonderland. We actually made a track right in our front yard and pulled the boys around it on a sled. Stupid, yes but a good workout and the boys loved it.

David doing a snow angel. I was surprised at the boys, they played outside in the snow for hours each day for 3 days.

Paul loved digging in the snow and had to keep digging himself out as his legs kept disappearing.

Good bye snow. We had fun. Come again next year!

Sweet baby girl!

2009-01-28T20:16:00.000-08:00

Lauren was born with a cleft in her soft palate. She has no facial deformity or any problem with her hard palate but had a small opening to her nasal cavity. She had a cleft palate repair surgery and tubes put in her ears on Tuesday, January 27th at Loma Linda hospital. This is pre surgery at 5:45 am in the morning. What a cutie pie!

This is prepping for surgery. Everybody kept commenting on what a cutie she was. She looks adorable even in a hospital gown.

When they took Lauren off to surgery I cried. The anesthesiologist carried her off and she didn't even cry or fuss. Her surgery lasted less than 2 hours during which we ate crappy hospital food, listened to an MP3 player and cried and cried and cried. We had a pager which alerted us when surgery started, when it was over, when the plastic surgeon was coming down to talk to us and when we could go up to recovery and be with her. When we got the last page we practically ran up to recovery. Poor baby looked so sad, and lost and confused and in pain when we saw her it was hard not to cry, some more. Her little mouth was all stretched opened and cracked on the sides and her color was bad and of course she was hooked to a million things and I couldn't hold her at first which was really hard. But she was a trooper even then. Eventually they got her a room. I stayed with her Tuesday night. She was fussy which was expected but she could have been worse. She was fine as long as I was up walking around with her and taking her for walks. Good for her but hard for mom as it hit midnight, 1 am, 2 am, etc, etc, etc. We got about 2 1/2 hours of sleep sitting up in a crappy hospital chair. Finally Josh came down in the morning and I got to use the bathroom and stretch. She was doing well when they checked her in the morning and her palate was still intact. They discharged her around 10am which we were all extremely grateful for. We took her home, I got a shower and she got a bath. We both got comfy clothes on and took a nice relaxing nap at home.

This is her at home with her no no's on (arm restraints). Still looking very grumpy but she looks so healthy compared to after surgery. Now hopefully we can get her to take a bottle again, her mouth is still sore and she doesn't want it at the moment. Maybe tonight we can all get some sleep and keep the recovery rolling and smooth. We sure do love our sweet baby girl and are glad her surgery is done and over with!

Roller Skating

2009-01-24T16:55:00.001-08:00

For our friend Maxx's birthday party, he wanted a party at the skating rink. Our boys have never been roller skating so we got a baby sitter for the two younger ones and off we went/
Not to mention Josh and I haven't been rollerskating in about 10 years. Trying to get Paul going.
Paul taking a break from skating.
Dad and his look alike David practicing.
Dad and both boys. Luckily we all had fun and we had no major accidents. When can we go again?!

Monster Truck Show

2009-01-17T16:36:00.000-08:00

One of my awesome friends that I used to teach with (best partner I ever had, still miss teaching with her) gave our family Monster Truck show tickets for Christmas. Never been to one before, not sure what to expect but we thought the kids would enjoy it so off we went.

We got pit passes to go and see the trucks and drivers before the show. This was one of Paul's favorites as it was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle truck. It was a pretty cool truck and did pretty good in the show. The driver was pretty young but knew how to handle his vehicle.

This dinosaur truck was one of Seth's favorites'. We loved the eyeball windows. Pretty sweet! The driver was a girl so we had to get a picture with her. Girl Power! She wasn't the fastest out there but she had been named Rookie of the Year in 2008 and her jumps were outta sight!

All the boys including Maxx(Leigh's son) in the shades and his dad Mike. Seth is staring at the truck in awe. :)

If you are gonna go to a Monster truck show and raise up some good ole FROA members you gotta see Grave Digger and get a picture. The boys each have their own version that they sit on and ride around the house. (Yeah try to store not one but 3 monster trucks in one bedroom. Talk about a storage nightmare!)

Relief Society Lesson

2009-01-11T18:23:00.000-08:00

I always tend to think my kids look so awesome on Sunday so this time I took a picture. (How come I don't feel that way all during sacrament?)

Now just look at that picture. They say a picture says a 1000 words. Does it teach a lesson too? I had to lay everything out on the table to make sure I didn't forget anything. Is there some extra genetic wiring on the x chromosome that makes women do this for a single lesson or is it just me? I was teaching from the Joseph Smith manual, lesson 25 about parables. I had 4 baskets, one for each parable with visual aides for each. Then I had 4 visual aides for the table and lest you think one of my children put Mrs. Potato Head on the table by mistake, it was for the lesson too. Then I had my manual, my scriptures, my typed out 3 page guide and 40 handouts. They were planters cups lined with wax paper filled with kisses. They had a planter stick with Matthew 13 written on them. It's the scripture with all the parables in the lesson. I look at all of this and have to wonder; Is there something wrong with me? It reminds me of the movie RM, and pans from the Elder's Quorum room where the guys are saying, "Are you teaching the lesson? Nah man I thought you were teaching today." to the Relief Society where there's a harpist playing softly in the background and an ice scuplture on the table.

Spoiler Alert: Boring Material Ahead!

2009-01-07T22:13:00.000-08:00

This is my blog and my memory so I am documenting my classroom. Since I spend a majority of my life and energy here I wanted to have some pictures of it. This is our reading corner. In room we are "Wild About Learning!" hence the monkey/jungle theme. And I just really like it.

This is the calendar corner. Here we "Dive into Math". Yeah I know it's cheesy but I like it and my students really enjoy our room. You wouldn't believe the crazy stuff I do in this corner. You've never seen me do the macarena with 20 6 year olds. It's something else.

The important thing to notice in this picture is the beautifully crafted white cubbies made by my wonderful wood shop teaching hubby. It only took 3 years but I finally got him to make me something for my classroom and they are wonderful. I love them!

This is where all the important planning takes place. (Thats why it looks like a tornado hit it)

This is my desk.

My students hard at work. I have a great class this year. Thank goodness. This is my 12th year of teaching. Where does the time go? I'm just lucky that I still love my job!

Sunday School Class

2009-01-06T18:49:00.000-08:00

This is my Sunday School class. it is held every Sunday after Sacrament in the mother's lounge. This was actually a small class. There are usually at least 3 other kids and moms in there. We have a lesson (gripe about whatever happened that week), a snack (baby food, cheerios, biter biscuits), and sometimes we even get handouts (poopy diapers, spit up, half eaten food). It's one of the most enlightening classes I've ever been too. I can't imagine what my life will be like when I don't attend this class anymore.

P.S. Lauren is the one in the cute black boots. :)

San Diego Zoo

2009-01-05T21:09:00.000-08:00

We took the kids to the San Diego Zoo on New Year's day. It was beautiful weather and the zoo was not very crowded. We had a wonderful day! We usually go the Wild Animal Park so this was a fun change. This first picture was one of my favorites. We caught the tiger in mid-action.

My little hippos. :) David had the "Uncle Dan" stretch neck going on in this photo. I can't believe how fast they are growing up. This year I will have an 8 year old, a 5 year old, a 3 year old and a 1 year old. Where does the time go? They keep getting older and I'm still the same age.

This has got to be arguably one of the ugliest animals I've ever seen. I'm sure that some animal out there is uglier, I just haven't seen it yet. Up close and personal this little guy was even uglier if that's poosible.

The panda bears and the koalas were our favorites. It was really cool seeing both of them. Seth wanted to pet the Koala, he kept calling it a teddy bear. Too cute!

AWWW! Two of my cute men. This was when we went to see the Sea Lion show. It was pretty interesting and entertaining.

I don't look forward to the years when the kids want to go out on their own for New Year's eve.

Winter Wonderland

2009-01-04T09:32:00.000-08:00

At least that's what David called it. Here's a picture of our front yard.

You can't see the Penguins on the sled very well or the snowflake lights going down but all together it looked pretty good.

I went down to the OC, he he he, the other day to visit my beautiful friends. This is Amanda.

This is Thorey and her beautiful baby girl Charlotte. What wonderful friends I have. We've all known each other since elementary and junior high school. That's a lot of history. Kasey was there also but she left before I finally got to taking pictures.

Lauren was accessorizing. She's my girl!

Christmas Dinner

2009-01-01T22:17:00.000-08:00

You know there's something wrong with you when you start hosting dinner parties at 16 and catering your own birthday party in college. But what can I say I love to play hostess. I don't know anyone else in my immediate age bracket that has an entire China hutch filled with a complete set of China, crystal and serving ware. I am the go to girl for borrowing crystal platters, bowls and pitchers. =) Whenever in doubt of what to get me for a present you can never go wrong with some type of crystal item or serving ware. I really enjoyed making Christmas dinner this year. I changed up the menu a bit and added some new recipes. It all turned out very well and there were very few leftovers to speak of. Here's just a couple of pictures from dinner. Next time I'll take a picture of the table before we start eating too. It was sooo pretty. On that note if anyone knows where to get a book on ways to fold cloth napkins into fancy shapes and ducks and things like that I have a birthday coming up in January. =) And I'm getting tired of the fan, which is the only way I know how to fold napkins.

For those of you who don't know that's Josh's uncle Craig and his wife Mary, my parents and cousin (uncle) Matt.

We had swedish fish for dessert. Teehee...

Christmas at the Judd's

2008-12-31T14:55:00.001-08:00

For those of you who grew up seeing my parents' house in vivid, bright colors this photo is for you. Their entire house has been repainted pale yellow and accented with the blue seen here and they got blue carpet. The tile has been redone and even the fireplace hearth is all newly done. It doesn't look like the same house at all. =)

Paul here with his favorite Christmas present. "YOU WON'T LIKE ME WHEN I'M ANGRY" (hulk voice)

Seth here with his favorite Christmas present. And we have a whole series of pictures that's like where's waldo but it's where's the duster, ie. magic wand? It's in almost every picture.

Grandpa and Lauren waving hi.

Grandma and Lauren. It's hard to tell here but on my computer slide show Lauren's eyes are the prettiest bright blue.

Christmas Fun!

2008-12-31T11:12:00.000-08:00

Christmas was fun for the kids. I couldn't get it to post but I have a video of Paul shooting his dad with his automatic tommy gun. All the boys, adult or child, had a huge running around the house nerf dart gun war. It was pretty funny. But here's some pictures from our Christmas.

Lauren chillin' in her swing while everybody was opening presents.

Seth with his 'Pat Pat' rocket and the entire contents of his stocking dumped out.

Paul, Dad and Uncle Matt in the midst of battle.

We did some things different this year. Christmas morning the kids opened their Santa gifts and their stockings. Then we got ready and went over to my parents house. We exchanged gifts with them and had breakfast. Then we came back home and opened the rest of the presents and later had Christmas dinner. It was a lot of fun and the day was really nice.

Pictures with Santa

2008-12-27T20:43:00.000-08:00

This is the first year all the kids took a picture with Santa and no one freaked out, cried or ran away. [We must not be doing a very good job of teaching them to stay away from strangers:).]

We got Lauren and Seth together almost smiling.

David is too big to sit on Santa's lap. In this picture he looks like he's 10. I can't believe he will be turning 8 in 2009 and getting baptized. Wasn't he just born? Here's Paul looking adorable on Santa's lap.

Bah Humbug!

2008-12-26T09:33:00.000-08:00

Is it sad to be happy that Christmas is over? Even while Paul is wishing it could be Christmas again today and Santa would come back I'm already relishing the next 364 days until we have to do this again. But here's some cute pictures from Christmas Eve at Aunt Jody's house with the cousins. Here's all the cousins decorating cookies for Santa.

Kala helping Christy decorate a cookie. David's is long gone and eaten.

Seth licked more frosting off the knife than he spread on a cookie. Lets hope he didn't double dip!

Paul enjoying his delicious cookie.

This is the boys' idea of posing. Guess who's the diva? Cousin Emma while Hannah barely makes it into the picture.

First time!

2008-12-26T08:44:00.000-08:00

This is our first time so I apologize ahead of time for the inexperience and ineptitude and possible briefness of duration:). Josh and I have been talking about creating our own family blog for quite some time but we finally got a digital camera for Christmas so we can actually add
pictures of our unbelievably cute children. I guess I'd better back that up with a picture huh?! Notice the cute Christmas pajamas and slippers. I have more I want to post but I'm still learning and I just want to get started for now.