Sleddng at Muller Park

Jeron has been in the Young Men's organization in our ward for a while now. Through this he has made some friends, but none better than Tyler. Him and Tyler are what I call "brothers from another mother" They are two peas in a pod. So with Jeron being off this last week, him and Tyler planned a sledding day for our two families. It was so much fun. We headed up to Muller Park in Bountiful. It was a lot of fun. The hill is nice and big. The older two were a little apprehensive at first. JJ finally tried it out, but Emma had to start in the middle. She stayed in the middle for the rest of the time. She is our dare devil so I was surprised that she never warmed up to the idea.

All my single ladies

Jeron with his little ladies

JJ

The Singleys brough a tube. Let me tell you that is the way to go down a mountain. It is so much fun. I will have you know I had the record of going the furthest, that is until Tyler beat me on our last run down of the day. I call a redo on that.

Ellie spent most of her time at the top of the mountain. Jeorn took Ellie an Elsie down one time each. That was about all htey could take. The last 20 minutes Ellie just cried the rest of the time. I kept checking her to see if she had some snow somewhere. I couldn't figure out what her problem was

The Brothers from another mother

Wow, tht is a long hike up.

Sledding turns Elsie into a Zombie.

Just checking things out, and it is a no go for launch for Emma.

Go get em' Jeron!

We had a lot of fun sledding with the Singleys. When we got to the car and took off Ellies boots I did figure out why she was crying. Ellies feet were like ice. Poor baby. Oh how I wish that she could talk. I will have to go back up to claim my title back for longest run.

Our Year in Review

January: We rang in the New Year like we always do. We hang out with Mama and Papa and eat yummy crab and all sorts of goodies. Then there was the SUGAR BOWL! Utes are number ONE! Ellie was up to her usual things like opening a burning hot oven. I cut my bangs. Those same bangs are just past the bottom part of my ear now. The kids had a weekend sleepover with their "cousins" Boo and Maddie. I taught someone how to make rolls. Mom and I took Ash to dinner on her birthday. JJ and Emma lost teeth. I started playing with my new favorite toy...my camera. Had some major family drama because of a post I made. Glad that is over. Learned that a balloon can become the toy for everyone.

February: More playing with my new favorite toys, my camera and photo shop. I am really loving this stuff. I just wish I knew what I was doing. I made a picture for Boos room. Emma got a bruise on her check. JJ had his first cavity. JJ made an awesome Robot for his Valentines party at school. I earned mother of the year by forgetting to send Ellie with Valentines to school. JJ and Emma say the darnedest things and it just keeps getting funnier and funnier. I came up with my saying about Ellie and Elsie "Twins separated BY birth." JJ turned 9 years old, and had a soccer cake for his birthday. Emma lost another tooth.

March: Boo is moving around more and more. My mom had a birthday. Doing time out with the nose on the wall and Ellie doing it even when she isn't in trouble. Gene has a birthday. Emma has a birthday and turns 7. Michael has a birthday. Elsie has her first birthday with the cake and all. The first year I combine a party for my kids...and the last. Emma gets her ears pierced. I will forever regret we didn't wait until she was 8. Something about choice and accountability. Smitty comes by for a play date with Ellie. They play barbies. Smitty not so thrilled with that but willing to do anything for his Ellie. We went to the Draper temple dedication. We had a leprechaun come to visit us on St. Pattys day. Ellie is pinching Elsie in the car so we have to move the car seat so my baby won't have track marks anymore on her arm. We headed out on our first family vacation. We went to sunny California with our great friends the Johns. We ate at the crab cooker. We went to Disneyland! We went to the beach. all for the first time for the kids...except JJ who went when he was 10 months, but not to Disneyland. Saw uncle Carl

April: Still in Disneyland. The girls met the princesses at Ariel's Gratto. The kids had to say goodbye to Disneyland and Uncle Carl. The guys went to a baseball game. We drove home from California. :( We colored Easter eggs. We celebrated Easter.We were still stuffing envelopes or doing newspapers, what ever you would like to call it. Elsie says Jesus while pointing to a picture of him. My brother Michael went from Provo to Kaysville on his scooter with a group of boys to raise money for Diabetes research.

May: JJ had a program at school. Emma won for Crazy hair day in her class. JJ shaved his head, and was beaten by a boy who wore a wig...LAME! We went to Brocks birthday party. All of my kids are ridiculously addicted to TV. Ellie had her tooth surgery, which opened up a whole other can of worms with her breathing. We celebrated Mother's Day at our house and had both our Moms over for dinner. Emma and Ellie had their spring recital and danced like angels. There is a lot of soccer happening. It is Ellies first year of soccer. She did a great job. On memorial day we have a kids photo shoot. I am loving my camera Maren comes to visit.

June: Emma loses another tooth. School is out for JJ and Emma. Say goodbye to 3rd and 1st grade. Ryan comes to visit. The kids go to the air show with daddy, David, Smitty, and Ashlee. We get Meads family pictures. I take them and lets just say my first shoot turns out to be a FLOP! Michael graduates from college. JJ is playing baseball. He gets hit pretty hard and gets a major bruise on his arm. From that point on in the season he is afraid of the ball. Poor guy. Maren, Mom and I make Maren a quilt. I vacuum my finger. I have a fun GNO in Park City with some of my favorite friends. The kids are in swim lessons at the Clarks and loving it. Grandma Jan takes JJ and Emma so we have quality Ellie and Elsie time. We celebrate having the best dad ever. We go on our first official hike up Waterfall Canyon. I learn that I can push myself pretty far.

July: My mom took all the kids to the Zoo. My mom had brain surgery. One of the scariest things I have had to deal with. She is recovering nicely and was so strong and brave through it all. We went to the parade in K-Town, and fireworks that night. Ellie is sneaky and getting sneakier. We hung out with friends and then went to the Farmington fireworks that night. My brother Smitty and sis Ashlee move to Erie PA. It was a very hard thing for me. Half of my siblings live out of state now. It makes me sad. Jeron goes on a week long scout trip so I plan all sorts of family fun. Lagoon show, Harry Potter marathon, bike ride, and the pool with Grandma. It was a lot of fun. My birthday party. It was a quiet event. My friends had a brunch for me that morning. On pioneer day we went to the cabin, had a bbq with friends and watched dad set off his "fun" fireworks. Yes he almost killed some people. We went to the Bees game with Grandma Jan and Grandpa Gene. We went swimming at Pineview. We went to the Oquirrh Mountain temple open house. Dad went golfing out of town so I took the kids to the cabin.

August: I am working now. I type for a ENT office. I am not handling being a mom and working. We say goodbye to my Nana. She is an amazing woman and I hope to be half the woman she is when I get big:) It was nice to have my entire family home for the funeral. My brother gets engaged and we didn't even know they were seeing each other...WHAT! We head to Flaming Gorge and go camping with Dads family. The kids go back to school. Hello 4th and 2nd grade.

September: We spent Labor day up Millcreek at the cabin. Ellie starts preschool. We have our 11th anniversary. My sis in law gets a room in PC. It was nice of family to help us out so we could go. We went to Raging waters with Grandma Jan and Grandpa Gene. Elsie is 18 months. I do a photo shoot with her that has to be one of my favorites. I can chicken for the first time ever. We also make freezer Jam. It was easy. I made a cute skirt for Ellie. We head to the cabin with friends for a nice BBQ. JJ helps get boo to sleep while I work. Sometimes that kid is adorable. Dad tends the kids and wraps them up like pig in a blankets.

October: Ellie turns 5. She was so excited to blow out her candles this year. We spent conference weekend with the Johns, and then priesthood session we had our annual Cracrfot Meads girls night out. My cousin Traci asked Ellie to be a Miracle Network helper for the day. Ellie did a bazillion hand prints. I had two GNOs in one week. Wow, I am one lucky lady. Elsie gets a bad thumb infection. Elsie gets the worst diaper rash out of any of my kids. Maren comes for the wedding. She has showers because she is prego. David gets married to Natalie. She has four kids so now my kids have cousins. We head to Lagoon Trail for a kids photo shoot. Ellie gets a big hair cut. She looks adorable. There is a plastic lizard in the lotion and i think it is real. We take the kids to the pumpkin patch. We go to the school carnival. Ellie gets to dress up this year 3 different times. We carve pumpkins. We have an awesome Halloween party. All of the costumes were incredible.

November: My poor babies get shots today. Ellie gets 6 and Elsie got 5. Poor things. I make some fun wall art for the kids rooms. I have another Ellie moment where someone was ignorant about down syndrome. We go play in the leaves at a church. Ellie falls asleep on the floor in the kitchen face down. Ellie pees on Emmas head. Ellie sprays the fish with clorox and kills them. Ellie gets to bring a stuffed pet turtle home from school and loves him to bits and pieces. We go bowling with the monson family and have a blast. We have Thanksgiving this year with my parents, cousin Calee and her family, and my Aunt Mar and Uncle Tod. My Utes lose to byu. Resulting in me flying a y flag next year for all the y games. A list of things I am grateful for.

December: I catch JJ and Elsie reading the toy magazines. We have our ward Christmas party and the kids see Santa. Elsie falls off of a chair and goes through her lip. Elsie eats bread and jam like a pro. We had some Elves come to visit us this Christmas season. We went to the Johns for our annual Christmas party. We went to Temple Square to see the lights. We had a cookie party at Mama and Papas and made gingerbread houses. Emma had her dance recital. Ellie was sad she didn't dance to Emma helped her put on a recital at our home. We went to Sugar House and visited a wonderful Santa. The kids got all dressed up for church in their Christmas outfits. Ellie sang like an Angel during ANgels we have heard on High. Grandpa John took us to Texas Roadhouse for his birthday. We saw Santa. We came home and opened presents. Then JJ broke our toilet. Ellie had swollen eyes and we all got sick with the flu. We had our Elf dinner. I just love my moms Christmas tree. On Christmas Eve Tara and Jeff came up. We opened our Christmas PJs. We had Christmas morning here, then went to Mama and Papas for brunch. On Sunday Grandpa and Grandma came up for dinner and presents. We blew up our gingerbread houses. We went sledding with friends.

It has been an amazingly hard year. I can't remember just what was so hard about it other than my moms brain surgery. But it was hard. I started work and feel like I never get anything done anymore. I wish time would slow down. I will have to say that I learned a lot about Jeron and I this year. I am not going to say what cause I don't want to jinx it but lets just say other than that I think 2009 can leave and I won't miss it much. I will miss Elsie being a baby though. So out with the old and on with the new. We welcome 2010!

Run for COVER!

Lets just say, my husband is just as much a kid as well the kids. This year he thought it would be fun to blow up the gingerbread houses. So out we set to the back yard to blow them to smithereens.

The House

The Kid

The Lady

The Doll

ATTACK!! Tanks came in first. They shot into the gingerbread homes.

Smoke bombs went off

and them BOOM!!!!

It actually was a lot of fun, and the kids had a blast doing it. No pun intended.

Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa came up to celebrate Christmas with us, and have dinner. It was nice to have them come up. The kids loved the presents that they got. JJ got an art set, Emma got an cute outfit and lotion, Ellie got a cute outfit and lotion, and Elsie got a cute dolly. They loved their gifts.

Grandpa was most excited to give his gift to me. I will have to say it was the worst gift I have ever been given. It might just possibly be the worst gift I will ever get. You may think I am ungrateful. Well being the Ute fan that I am, I had the utmost faith in my Utes this year. I knew they were going to beat BYU. That is why I made this bet. I would fly a byu flag for every game next year. Grandpa Gene gave me a byu flag for Christmas. It makes me laugh. I will be flying it every game day, cause I am a woman of my word.

Look how happy that kid is.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa. We loved what you got for us. Thanks for coming up to celebrate Christmas with us.

Christmas with the Meads

We headed up to Mama and Papas for our Meads Family Christmas time. This year was very different then most. Maren, Ryan, Smitty, and Ashlee didn't come, and the kids have four cousins now. We missed those that couldn't come so much, but we enjoyed the new ones. When we got there we opened presents. The kids love what they got. JJ and Emma got Roller blades, and Ellie and Elsie got Cabbage Patch Kids. Jeron got scriptures and I got a straightener.

After presents we ate a yummy breakfast prepared by Mama and Papa. We had scrambled eggs, bacon, blue berry muffins, orange juice and the new tradition of orange rolls. Oh how I love the orange rolls. YUMMY! Even when your sick they still taste heavenly. After we just relaxed and enjoyed each others company. The kids had a lot of fun having other kids there.

I think that is what death looks like. I look horrible.

Spencer and Elsie

Sharlie, Papa, and Ellie

Austin, JJ, and Michael

Emma, Mama, and Papa

Thanks for a wonderful time. And thanks for having us come. We would have been so sad to miss it.

Merry Christmas

I don't know how Santa does it, but in one hours time he figured out how to do all this. JJ fell asleep at 2:30am and at 3:30am JJ woke Emma, Ellie, and us. We had to have a LOOOOOOONG talk with him about when it is appropriate to wake others up on Christmas morning. He finally fell back to sleep around 6:00am, which was actually a problem. We needed to get up by 7:00am and now JJ wasn't waking us up. We ended up getting up around 8:00am. I believe when you are sick sleep is the best thing for you. Lets just say we aren't getting better soon.
We read Luke II. Dad brushed his teeth. Then we went to see if Santa came. (Not that peeping tom and Sally didn't know) The kids all lined up to head out to see if Santa came. Check out the face on Elsie. Is that one happy child or what?

JJ was so excited to get his remote control car.

Emma wanted a Baby Alive all year long!

The picture doesn't show it but that is a barbie. Oh wait every present JJ got was a present.

Elsie was so excited about her new car that she couldn't wait for it to get out of the box.

Grandpa John came came almost as soon as the kids walked out of our bedroom so it was fun to have grandpa watch them open all their gifts. He also gave them some gifts as well. In fact he gave the little girls a card table and it has to be their favorite gift.

Sick on Christmas Eve...but Still Together

Due to the crappy way I was feeling pictures are not the best. All the kids look like rag-a-muffins. I still love them though. Christmas Eve is always one of my favorite times. We spend it only with with our little family. We have a nice dinner, open one present that is always Christmas pajamas, watch Luke II with Breath of Heaven playing during it, read Twas the Night Before Christmas, and then the Elf rings a bell to warn the kids Santa is on his way. This year we did all of this just felt a little under the weather in the process.

Emma was hilarious this year. When the Elf rang the bell she was certain it was Jeron or I. She kept running and trying to find the bell that had just rung. She would not believe it was the Elf. Finally after that poor Elf rang the bell like 10 times she finally knew that it was the real bell and not Jeron or I.



After the kids have all gone to bed Jeron and I wrap. When I say Jeron and I, I really mean I wrap and Jeron watches movies. We get all the presents wrapped and drag our tired bodies to bed. Then Santa comes and fills the stockings and places all the presents under the tree and puts the kids gifts from him in little individual piles.

This year JJ woke up every hour on the hour. By the time Jeron and I went to bed JJ had made it almost impossible for Santa to be able to come. It was a good thing he finally went to sleep. We rolled into bed at 2:30pm.

Christmas Eve with Jeff and Tara

This year on Christmas Eve Eve all the kids woke up feeling sick. By the time Christmas Eve hit we were all sick and I knew that a doctor appointment was needed. We went and found out that we have the Flu and croup. YIKES!! Really Christmas Eve:( We called grandparents with the bad news to let them decide whether we came on Christmas this year. Grandpa Gene and Grandma Jan decided that they couldn't chance it. We were pretty bummed, but understood. Jeff and Tara were so sweet. They heard the news and had to get the kids their gifts. It was really nice of them to come up.

The lighting in the room was horrible so I got some crappy pics. I promised Tara I wouldn't post the pictures that JJ took of her. So this is it. Thanks for the gifts. We all love what we got. It means a lot that you took time out to come to our germ infested house to make sure the kids had a good Christmas.

One of My Favorite Things

Every year when my mom puts up her tree and I see it for the first time, that is when I really feel the true spirit of the season. She came up with this idea a few years back. She said now that the most of the kids are out of her home, that she didn't need to focus on the whimsical side of Christmas, but on the real part of Christmas. The whole reason for this time of year. She searched the scriptures and other books to find the names of Christ. She ended up making a little pillow for each name. It really is a sight to behold. As you read each of these names you can't help but feel the spirit in the room.

Each one is made by my mom so right there it makes each one priceless.

This has turned into one of my favorite scriptures. It is the perfect reminder of how we should be. When we are truly doing what we should all of these things come naturally.

She has also started to collect nativities. I think she is somewhere around 40ish. It is fun to show them to the kids. Elsie had to kiss every baby Jesus that she could reach. I think this is one tradition that when my children grow up I will start as well. My kids already say their favorite part of Christmas is the birth of Christ. It really warms my heart. Maybe I should start sooner.

An Elf Dinner

The kids have felt so crappy the last couple of days that I wanted to do something to help lift their spirits. We had just watched the movie "Elf" so I thought what a great idea to have an "Elf" dinner.

We all know the 4 basic food groups for Elves is
1. Candy
2. Candy Canes
3. Candy Corns
4. Syrup, Elves love syrup.

So JJ and I found all the sugary things we could find and set the table with them. I have never seen Ellie so excited.


JJ and Emma both gave it a go. Syrup and sprinkles. Elsie and Ellie just watched. Ellie did have chocolate chips on the side. It was a lot of fun to watch. Jeron and I opted out on the sugar. It kind of makes my stomach lurch. IT was a lot of fun though.





JJ and Emma both said it tasted good. I don't know how.

oUr cRaZy niGht

We had just sent our guests home
and noticed Ellie's eyes were swelling up tight.
We decided to watch her
cause that just doesn't seem right

We weren't watching close enough
cause next thing we knew a mess we had
She had an oops an peed and pooed her pants
This always makes mom really quite sad.

We rushed and cleaned up the mess
Off to the bath our little Belle must go.
She was just placed in the warm water when
from the bathroom I hear JJ scream "Oh NO!"

What could the problem be now?
I turn of the tap and started to run.
JJ yelling "hurry the water is overflowing!"
I screamed back at him "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"

I turn of the water as fast as I can.
Nothing helped, water just kept flowing.
It was coming out fast with no thought of stopping
The water on the floor was growing and growing.

Then I noticed where it came from
There was a nice big crack in the tank
This wasn't an overflow to deal with
It was a broken toilet, my heart it sank:(

We dumped all the crayons to use the bucket
got all the towels and dried the floor
Then back to my child in the bath
where I sat and thought I can't take much more.

We got the kids down, and I went to get my work
until I noticed my computer mouse would not move.
I called my Mom, and my brother and neither one could help
off to bed I went cause my mood no one could improve

Drifting off into sleep I finally went
and then I heard little Boo crying
We got her up and a fever she had
what was all of this night implying?

I went to get her some medication
and opened my cupboards to find none.
So off to the store I sent Jeron
I told him to hurry don't walk...RUN!

We finally got things settled down
Jeron and I went to sleep fast
With worry of what tomorrow might bring
we were hoping that this thing was the last

When morning came Ellie walked in the room.
My heart sank when I saw she looked like a who
Her eyes were swollen shut an her mouth as well.
So bring it, bring it I say. Cause what ever it is I can handle it too!

I take that back cause now I have the FLU!