Isabel's 3yr old Dora Party

More Fun Pictures of Fall Activites

Catching up

It's been forever since I blogged. At least one family member has been sick now for 3 weeks. Jamie is still battling a sinus infection. And to be honest, we're in survival mode. I had walking pneumonia for 2 weeks and finally got rid of my congestion and cough the last couple of days. Here are a bunch of pictures from Halloween. Well, just before the actual big day, since we left our camera at Gma n Gpa Kings' house right after these pictures at Pumpkinland in Orem. Enjoy the fun pics!

What I Aspire To

“I don’t want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children.I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone’s garden.I want to be there with children’s sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.”

Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Collin's Big Bedtime Chat

Tonight we went to Chick Fil A to support a family who is losing their 8 yr old son to leukemia. The doctors have done everything they can, but this sweet boy, Trent is at home to die now. If you want to donate, look up the number for the South Jordan Chick Fil A (at the District) and you can get the bank info to donate. His family needs help with medical bills and to fulfill a few last wishes for their sweet son. Anyway, before we pulled in the drive-thru, I explained to my kids why we were at a restaurant we wouldn't normally eat at, and they had never been to. I told Collin that a little boy was dying and that we were going to help his family with some money. He was so sweet, he asked, "will the money help him not die?" I told him no, but that it might help him have some fun with his family before he dies, and it will help his mommy and daddy pay for all the hospital bills. He told me "well, that's important." He then remembered his little friend Justin and how his daddy died and they put him in the ground. Then he said, "Don't worry mommy, he's in heaven now with Jesus, and Trent will be with Jesus too, and with daddy's sister Jody". I told him he was right and I was so proud of how well he understood everything. He was worried that Trent's mommy and daddy and family would be so sad. I told him we could pray for them. So after family night that's exactly what he did. There is no greater faith than that of a child's.

He later told me a story about a giant who got sick and died and his friends and family were so sad and they had to bury him in the ground, but that he couldn't come back alive because he was too big and would break heaven, but that Jesus would visit him. I couldn't help but giggle, but I think that Collin was really thinking hard about all that we had talked about earlier that day. He said that he didn't want any of his family to die until they were really old, even older than grandmas and grandpas, he said.

He then told me that he was smarter than Grandpa. Isabel asked him which grandpa, Grandpa King or Lange, and he said BOTH! I told him that maybe the grandpas knew more than him because they have lived a lot longer. He said, "no, I think I am much more smarter, but they're kinda smart, like you mommy"! Aren't kids the greatest!

Tagged

My sister Emily tagged me with this one, here goes:

8 Things that Happened Yesterday:
1. My baby G snuggled me forever and grinned and giggled, priceless
2. My first baby "wiggles" a.k.a. Collin is 5 and tall and lanky and I can't believe it!
3. It snowed!
4. Princess Bel played happily with her cousins without clinging to me constantly!
5. We drove clear to Santaquin for a baby blessing...totally worth it.
6. Jamie totally stuck his foot in his mouth talking to his big sisters best friend
7. I froze at church, hasn't happened in forever...not ready for winter!
8. Lazy night at home, fell asleep instantly when head hit pillow....rare!

8 Things I look forward to:
1. Another baby or two, just not right away.
2. Cancun or Hawaii for a whole week although I'll probably desperately miss my kids.
3. Another professional back massage and eventually zero back pain
4. Being debt free...will that ever happen with the whole bailout crap?
5. Summer nights...I know that they just ended, and it will be a while, but they are my favorite!
6. Taking some art and photography classes.
7. All my kids potty trained. I'll certainly celebrate that day!
8. My sweet Mother-in-law to return to full health!

8 Things I Love About Fall:
1. Definitely the colors and all the trees changing.
2. The breeze, the smell of the rain and snow.
3. The holidays are closer when fall comes. I love the holidays! Being with family is the best!
4. Cozy fire huddled reading books with my kids.
5. Collin loves that fall means storytime at the library again. All summer he kept asking when it would be fall!
6. Fall is when Jamie and I met.
7. All my children were born in the fall!
8. My birthday is in the fall.

8 Things on my wish list:
1. All my babies happy and healthy and snuggled close to me.
2. Carribean or Bahamas Cruise
3. Go Back to my mission someday.
4. My babies to stay tiny forever, nothing better than snuggling a tiny baby in a warm blanky.
5. Skinny jeans :)
6. I wish I could be around for Sarah and Pedro's first baby.
7. To see my best friend Dawn more often, and to see her sweet baby!
8. To be waverunning again.

8 People I Tag:
1. Emily Stout
2. Alice Thurber
3. Shanae Freeman
4. Desiree Martinez
5. Jennie Cowan
6. Jenny Arvidson
7. Jenny Petersen (I know a lot of Jenny's!)
8. Kari Schwitzer

Collin's Big Number 5 Birthday Bash

We did a crazy thing and invited 11 boys to Collin's party, plus the parents of three of them from out of town, and the grandparents on both sides. However crazy, it was tons of fun and a huge success, if only a bit chaotic. The kids had a blast. It was a batman theme, as you'll see from the pictures. We started out with a rousing game of "Duck, Duck, Goose". Every time someone got tagged, especially if it wasn't her, Isabel got up and ran around the circle. Then when Collin finally tagged her Goose, she stayed sitting, very cute. The kids all loved chasing each other and the highlight was being "it". We then got out a pinata, which happened to be Lightning McQueen since we couldn't find a batman one, or a bat for that matter, but it was very cute. Jamie was very creative and used a garden hoe and a tie-down to dangle the pinata for the kids to hit. The kids loved it. None of them broke it open, (but Mommy managed to break the clip it was hanging from when she tried to "help" hit it with one of the kids) so we then pulled a bunch of ribbons from it, I guess the idea is that one of the ribbons pulls open a secret opening and the candy comes out. However, Mommy stuffed too much candy in the darn thing, and that didn't work either. In the end, Jamie just ripped it open, dumping all the candy out, and the kids went at it.
The next game was pin the shield onto Batman (see pictures). That was a hit too. Each kid had a bat logo with their name on it that they got to pin onto Batman's chest. On to the presents, totally cool gifts, then birthday boy blew out his candle (#5), and we ate the cake. My friend Alicia made these fabulous bat hats. Sooo much fun. I think that Collin was a very happy, very tired boy. He loved it! Happy birthday my big, tall boy! I love you so much!

4 Cheeses

Collin very matter of fact to Isabel: "Bel, did you know there are 4 kinds of cheeses?"
Bel: "Oh"
Collin: "Yep, white cheese, yellow cheese, Mac n' Cheese, and string cheese!"
Bel: "Oh yeah, Mac n' cheese, yummy"

Later that day...Collin to James (they were having 2 sleepovers before Collin's big party): "Did you know the piggy ate all the pies on 'Word World', that means he is greedy."
James: "That's just because he's a pig."
Then they took turns telling very silly jokes that didn't make much sense. In the midst of this, James whispered his joke to Collin. Each time one of them made a 'joke', the other fake laughed very crazily. Collin laughed very loudly and slapped his knee after James whispered his 'funny' joke, then 2 seconds later he said, "What did you say again?" LOL

Confessions of a "Homemaker"

So, this is a bit embarassing, but also pretty hilarious, so I will share despite the fact that I want to hide in a corner. Last night I got the ironing board and the iron out and after dusting them off, affixed some iron-on patches to Collin's worn out "holey" jeans. I left them out to dry and in the morning Collin ran over to the ironing board sporting his newly patched jeans and said, "Mommy, is this your sewing machine?" LOL ha ha ha Pretty sad that he doesn't even know what a sewing machine is. He asked me how I put on the patches and I explained that I used the iron to press the patches on with heat on the board. He said, "Oh, I never saw such an ironing thing before!" Don't mock me now, they make "wrinkle free" shirts for a reason! Terrible I know, I should be better.

And it's not that I don't know how to sew, it's just that I rarely make time for it. I always have the best intentions...oh well! Sad it's somewhat of a lost art. I should have taken advantage of my mom's tremendous skill in this arena and gleaned some basic sewing skills from her. She is a master seamstress. She made most of our dance dresses in high school, a lot of our everyday clothes when we were little, and she even made her own wedding dress!!! One talented woman. Sorry I didn't carry on the tradition momma, I'll leave that one to Emily. She apparently has more patience for it than I do!

My Kids Make Me Laugh!

Whenever Isabel wants something warmed up, she asks me to "beep" it! It makes me laugh every time, it's so cute!

Yesterday Isabel spilled something and she told me sorry and without missing a beat, Collin said, "Isabel, sorry doesn't make the whole world better"! That had me rolling.

Every time a door opens be it to the bathroom, the garage, the front or back door, or especially the gate to the stairs, Gavin lets out a high pitched squeal and takes off running for it. If we close it before he gets out or through it, he growls at us! He is so fishy!

Love you all! Here's to all the funny things kids say and do!

Hupcakes and Blessings

So the other night we were walking back from the park and Isabel was in the wagon, when she started laughing really hard at a little inside joke she and Collin had...they do this quite often. Anyway, when Isabel laughs really hard, she starts hiccuping...a lot! She was so cute she started giggling even more and said, mommy my hupcakes won't stop!

Later that night, Isabel and Collin were in their PJs and Isabel was super cinderella, and Collin was superman with the cape and everything. Collin was the superhero saving the princess in distress, and he went to Isabel laying on the ground saying she was hurt. And he started giving her a blessing. It was so sweet, because he's seen daddy giving Gavin and Isabel blessings when they're sick. He asked that Heavenly Father would heal her...very sweet, but of course Jamie had to explain to him that only daddy can give blessings. We had a mini-priesthood lesson with him. Jamie told him that it was good that he believed that Heavenly Father would heal someone who's sick, but we only call on that power when someone's really sick. And that only daddy and other men who have that power can use it. I think Collin was a little confused, but he got the basic idea. I love how well my kids play together (most of the time, when Collin isn't teasing like all brothers do). They really love each other. Collin told Isabel last night that she was the "best stister (that's not a typo, that's how he says it, with an st at the beginning) that I could ever have".

The other night we were at the pool swimming together. When we finished we went to the hot tub to warm up before we got dressed. Of course we had the kids just sit on the edge and we splashed hot water on them. The three kids were sitting in a row on the edge with Jamie and I in front of them splashing them with the hot water. Isabel was in between her brothers. She grabbed both of their hands, then pulled them into a hug on either side of her and said, "we're a happy family", "Daddy, can we sing the family song?" It's the one that goes I love Collin he loves me, we love Isabel yessirree, she loves us and so you see, we are a happy family. That's one of her favorite songs. So in the hot tub at our gym, we sang that song...and I had tears in my eyes. It seems kind of silly now, but it was such a touching moment for me. I am so glad that my kids love me so much despite all my faults, and that they know that we love them, and that we're a happy family, and we will always be a family. I just melt every time my kids tell me and Jamie that they love us. And my Collin who suddenly became a tall lanky smarty pants "big boy" has me wrapped around his baby finger when he says, "Mommy, you are the best mommy in the whole world". I know that's not true, and I certainly try, but he really believes it and he makes me feel so much better when he says those words to me. My kids are so sweet, and they make all the endless laundry and dishes worth it. They make all the sleepless nights easier to bear. I am so grateful for my kids and for their dad who is such a family man and would do absolutely anything for them; for our family. Sorry so longwinded...just feeling very humble and grateful for my countless blessings, at the end of the day, I am the best mommy to my son, and that is worth a million bucks!

CinderellaS and their Prince

Londynn Stout was over at our house playing. She had worn her new Cinderalla costume she got for her birthday. Isabel got one for Halloween and they look almost identical. So, we got some cute pics with Collin shmoozing and loving the camera! You go girls! They have so much fun together!

Our Baby G is 1 year old!

We just had a nice small mellow party for G and it worked out great. He got a few toys and some clothes, but of course he played with the bags, paper and boxes too! He loved his cake and wasted absolutely no time tearing it apart. He even tried to dive in it while the candle was still lit. Here's some pics of his big day: Gavin dove in and got really messy, not the least bit surprising! The other kids decided to join him and eat the cake with their hands too. Lots of fun!

Big Scout Party

So we actually had Gavin's birthday party on Saturday, just a small party with Grandmas and Grandpa. However, I have been so busy since then, I haven't had time to post the pictures of his cute party. Jamie is Cubmaster, and I'm Cub Scout Committee Chair, and we threw the big Blue and Gold Banquet to celebrate scouts. We did a huge dutch oven dinner (we had food in 12 different dutch ovens: funeral potatoes, BBQ chicken, green beans with bacon, cornbread, peach cobbler, apple crisp, and cherry chocolate cake) which was SO yummy and had a great turnout. Here are some pics of the "big scout party" as my kids call it, then next will be pics of Gavin's b-day.

Big Bro Little Bro

Gavin sure loves his big bro and follows him everywhere. They play chase and sword fight and tickle wars. Gavin just giggles and grins. They have so much fun together. In this picture, he's wearing Collin's spiderman slippers that he stole from him and ran away giggling.

Our Little Night Owl...Who? Who?

It's Isabel! She won't go to sleep these days. If I delay her nap at all, she is up forever at night. If I wake her up from her nap before she's ready, she's way cranky. She won't sleep in her own bed. I either have to lay on the floor by her toddler bed, or sometimes we compromise for me laying next to Collin in their room. Or she lays in our bed. The other night Jamie and I got desperate. We really wanted to watch a show together, but she wouldn't go to sleep and she was crawling all over us and asking a million questions like kids do. So finally we pulled out the secret weapon...dun dun dun The IPOD! She watched "My friends Tigger and Pooh" on Jamie's ipod with his huge headphones while we watched our show. So cute...really cute when you're not getting any sleep because a beautiful princess is the one waking you up instead of the one snoozing :) Any ideas how to get her to sleep in her own bed? I have used her sticker chart, other bribes, slept by her...she is crazy! She just wants to talk and laugh and needs a drink or to go potty a hundred times. I need ideas people!

3 Little Bakers!

We had my niece Ragan Julander for 8 days while her parents were at Lake Powell livin it up. She was so much fun! These kids really played well together and they especially loved making cookies with me. They ate far too much cookie dough. I told them they were gonna turn into cookies, and Isabel kept telling Ragan that several times. Ragan looked at Isabel and said, "No, you don't call me a cookie anymore!" So cute and fun!

Six Little Known Facts About Holly

1. I love to plan! Whether it be a party, an outing, even cub scout pack meetings. I am, however the queen of procrastination, so I'm always madly and wildly running around like a rooster with my head cut off trying to make it perfect...because I'm also a perfectionist.

2. I love country music! Well, most of you probably know this by now. I have to set the record straight though. Some of you may think I only like it because Jamie does and it's always playing...which is partly true...he has great taste, neither of us like the twangy, I shot my dog and left my wife crap...but my love of country started when I worked at Granny's in Heber while I was in high school. We used to crank up the juke box while we closed (pretty much exclusively country music) and dance with the mops! :) My all time favorite was "Talkin bout men" Shania Twain baby!

3. I am scared of the dark...mostly when my husband isn't home...I can't go to sleep and I have to turn on all the lights if I have to go downstairs from my bedroom. I HATE going down in our basement by myself, even during the day. I guess I've read too many mystery books and watched too many forensic files.

4. I am an insomniac...well I sleep sometimes. It takes me FOREVER to get to sleep, but when I finally fall asleep I sleep hard. I am immune to alarm clocks, esp Jamie's 4am alarm. I completely ignore it, don't even hear him get up most of the time. My mom had to buy me an extra loud vibrating horrible alarm that my sisters who shared a room with me detested, just to get me to early morning seminary! LOL

5. I went to Lithuania on my mission, and yes I spoke Lithuanian...everyone always asks what language I spoke. Some missionaries spoke Russian, and my mission actually covered Estonia, Latvia and BelaRus as well. Since I've been home, yikes for 8 years now...BelaRus has been transfered to the Moscow South mission, and my mission is now called the Baltic misson. Lithuania is former Soviet Union, located above Poland and to the West of Russia. Huge culture shock people. I'll tell stories later if anyone happens to be interested.

6. My husband is known to sing "I Henry the 8th I am" to me to make me livid and thinks it's funny. Just so I know people are actually reading my blog and care...you'll have to ask me to get the scoop on that one. LOL :)

Six Little Known Things About Jamie

1. He is the best Home Teacher on the planet. The Seals will back me up on this. I don't think he's missed more than 2 months in the 7 years and 2 months that we've been married.

2. He is the best daddy in the world. He lets the kids climb, jump, stomp, dive, and ride on him. He reads endless books, and chases and spins and whirls them, even after a very long workday (Jamie routinely gets up at 3 or 4am to study and prep his classes, or work on whatever moonlighting gig he has going). He is more patient with them, even when he's more tired than me. He loves his kids more than anything in the world.

3. He knows several languages...that is computer languages and often wishes that I could speak those languages, because then instead of being completely bewildered and sometimes bored, I would be as excited about his computer code as he is. He passionately loves his job which is teaching 75 stinky, cocky, crazy computer nerd college students how to rule the world with computer code!

4. He is a very talented photographer and videographer. He is truly an artist when it comes to putting pictures and video to music. He absolutely LOVES music and usually only puts songs on his ipod that remind him to be a better husband, dad, and person. He loves down-home country music. He and I went country-swinging almost every date of our entire courtship. It was a freakin blast. We had never seen a movie in the theater together until after we were married. We went hiking, biking, on long walks, and dancing constantly.

5. He eats a bowl of cereal every night after dinner no matter what I make, whether he loves it or hates it. His mother can attest to the fact that he's done this since he was in grade school.

6. Jamie makes superb pumpkin pie! He makes several every year during the holidays. We always eat the first one...it's tradition, and it's absolutely delicious, decked with plently of real whipped cream, of course. We take the rest to holiday parties to let our families enjoy them. His grandma McRae taught him how to make the crust and he has made them every year since she died, carrying on her legacy, isn't that sweet!!!

Our Baby "G" Q

Our Baby "G" is really more of a little boy now. He's 11 months old and has already been walking for 2 months. He is practically running now, and climbing, and throwing, and getting into exactly what he know he shouldn't. However, he is the cutest, sweetest little dickens on the planet. I couldn't resist posting these beautiful shots. Isn't he Adorable!

Just a Few More Pictures. Farewell Summer, Welcome Autumn!