The Brown Family

Holiday Happenings

2012-01-01T21:47:00.000-08:00

December 8th - Mikenna and Adiee had their school Christmas Concerts. Noni came to see them sing and spent a few days here with us! The next day, we did those gingerbread houses that I had mentioned earlier with the 2 kiddos I watch every now and then. Don't mind the kitty scratches on Isla's cheek, she won't leave Lucy alone... :) They were in candy heaven as they unwrapped all their leftover halloween candy and decorated their houses! Yes girls, I did see the many pieces that you tried to "sneak".

Our little "elves" hard at work! :)

Tried to make the candy less tempting to eat with royal icing, glitter, and glue. It worked for the most part, except Isla took a big ol' bite of the frosting after I specifically said not to since it was made of raw egg whites and sugar... Ugh!

All finished! What a day!

Back in November, Babbette (the owner/teacher at their dance studio) asked me to make her grand-daughter a bow to match her dress for their Thanksgiving program at preschool. They loved it and so she asked me if I would want to put a basket of bows I've made out on her counter and sell them at her studio!

This is what we threw together and I've already made a couple hundred dollars, selling them super cheap. Thank you Babbette, you are so kind!

December 15 - I went "shopping" downtown with my new friend Sarah, and although it was unsuccessful, all of the 2 shops we visited were closing, it was a lot of fun! We weren't really ready to call it a night, so she came inside to chat for a little while. When we got home, Adiee had thrown up and was asleep, Kasey said that she was VERY worried about not being able to go to school for her class Christmas Party which was also PJ day to reward them of their efforts as a school (K-5th Grade) for bringing in over 1,700 cans of food during their annual food drive. She seemed just fine, so we let her go. I went to Adiee's class party, and Kasey went to Mikenna's! It was awesome that he was able to sneak away from work for a little bit to go so that they both had a parent there - HOW are we going to make it work when Isla's in school?!?! I guess we will just have to wait and see :)

Just a random FYI, this miserable place we call home isn't nearly as awful now that we have met a few family friends! So my days are not as lonely anymore, and are now filled with coffee dates and playdates, family dinners, etc... It's so much more enjoyable here now-a-days!

I made "lumps of coal" for a snack while we watched holiday movies with a few of the girls' friends.

Yummo!

December 18 - We went to Casper to celebrate my grandpa's 70th birthday! My Uncle Victor was able to come down from Salt Lake City and it was so nice to see him! It's been way too long - I just wish the rest of his family could've made it. Miss you guys!! The party was cut short for us though, Kasey had to get back home to be on-call so Mike could go take care of his wife who had an accident a few days before. We also finished up all of our Christmas shopping, YAY!

Days before Christmas, Santa sent each one of our girls an email to let them know if they were nice... or naughty! I should have video taped them watching the videos because Adiee was talking to him through the screen, Isla let him know that she was wearing her bathing suit, and Mikenna was on pins and needles to see if she was going to make the nice list (she had just got busted for throwing her frosted flakes across the table at Adiee - HA!!) Their sighs of relief were just priceless! Thank you portable north pole, those videos were so cute!

Deck The Halls!

2011-12-20T09:42:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to share a few highlights of our Christmas Decor (some old, some new) with all of you. I love the way my house looks (so warm and inviting), smells (like apples and cinnamon), and feels (the extra warm gooey lovin' feeling, because let's face it, we have that going on all year long :-) during this season.

The ornament of our very first Christmas together.

Our stockings, a sign welcoming Santa Claus, a phrase that says it all... "Be Jolly" complete with vibrant foil green lettering! And the cookie and milk plate that we set out every year to thank the big guy for his generosity (Thanks Melanie! That set is adorable and I still love it!). :-)

The girls each made a gingerbread house with friends using graham crackers and all of our Halloween candy. Thankfully my mom was visiting when we did these because I think I bit off more than I could chew with me being the only adult with 5 kids... Can you imagine? Haha ;) Among the little gingerbread village are my ornament candlesticks, they are so colorful and make "our spirits bright"!

I love anything sparkly so I snagged this baby up as soon as I saw it! LOVE it!!

A tradition we've been doing for 5 years. I put 3 ornaments in each little door and they decorate the small tree each day up until Christmas. I'm kind of rethinking the 3 ornaments each day because that is 75 ornaments on that little thing. So starting next year, I may put 1 ornament and 2 small treats (hershey kisses?) in each door and they can take turns opening the little doors. It's something they get to look forward to each night before they snuggle into their beds "for long winter naps".

We bought the nutcracker from when I took Mikenna to the Moscow Ballet's: Great Russian Nutcracker back in 2008. We went with Kasey's mom and Windy and Sophie. The other 2 stayed with Kasey - Adiee was only 2 and had no interest in sitting in a seat for a couple of hours and miss Isla was a newborn. My mom bought me that snowflake dish with the star Santa topper, I L-O-V-E it!! As you can see, we have a few candy theives on our hands. And, the handprint Angel is something that stays up year round.

Our tree of course, which is adorned with quite the assortment of ornaments from Kasey and my childhood and ones representing our years together with our children.

I bought Michael Buble's Christmas album, we listened to it while driving around looking at lights and I realized that's what was missing from all of our drives through town, in years' past - the MUSIC (hello!). His music really puts me in the holiday mood like nobody else. Thank you Mr. Buble! :-) And the holidays just wouldn't be the same without curling up to our favorite family movies that I whip out just once a year - Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, Elf, Christmas Story, The Original Television Christmas Classics collection (Rudolph, Frosty, etc...), and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

It really is a wonderful life.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-20T02:11:00.000-08:00

Our family has yet again found ourselves "stuck" here in Rawlins, but I can leave off the "all by our lonesomes" this year. I don't even really know how it happened but all of a sudden we have met FRIENDS in this little town!! Haha :) While most of them had plans, I hosted Thanksgiving Dinner at our house this year for us and another family. While I absolutely adore just us 5, it was definitely nice having company... It made it feel less like just another family dinner but with way too much food, and more like the holiday that it is.

On the menu: Turkey (DUH!), Green Bean Casserole, Cranberry Sauce, Yams, Pineapple Stuffing, Broccoli Casserole, Stuffing, Gravies, Mashed Potatoes, and Pumpkin Pie! We cooked, cleaned, feasted, and watched "A Christmas Carol" to kick off the Christmas season before Jen and I headed to Casper for Black Friday. Some would call it a waste of a trip because we didn't get much but who wouldn't want to battle full parking lots and stand in line at Kohls for 3 hours for 3 jewelry boxes and 3 hooded towels?? (I know - RIDICULOUS!) It was all in good fun, and the girls did get to see Noni for a bit and go to a movie. We took a nap before heading out to look around some more at all the stores' bare shelves and just decided to go to lunch instead. I had to turn around twice because we forgot something at my mom's house and then realized, while Jen ran into a store really quick, that I had Scott's truck keys. Luckily they were kind enough to come to me this time! I guess patience is a virtue that I truly do have! Haha :-)

Heavy Heart

2011-12-20T01:36:00.000-08:00

11/23/11: Tonight I have an especially heavy heart. My mother-in-law, Linda passed. I didn't think I was in the mood to write tonight, but I'm feeling especially guilty because I was going to come down last weekend to see her but Adiee and I came down with this horrible cold/cough that just wouldn't quit. The last thing I wanted to do was go and spread our sickly germs with everyone and possibly prevent someone else from being able to be by her side. The girls didn't understand because the last time we saw her (2 months ago at Nate & Charlotte's wedding) she was "fine".

Watching everyone's reactions as they said their goodbyes was extremely hard on me. I can't stand to see others in such agony. I just sat quietly trying my hardest not to lose control of myself.

The girls stayed in the church nursery with their young cousins during the funeral service. But after everybody had left, Gerry, Maggie, Brandon, Kristin, and Kasey (and families) took the kids back to her burial site for closure and to hopefully help them understand. Crimson and Mikenna's reaction as we stood there was absolutely heart-wrenching. Mikenna hadn't expressed much sadness up until this point; she cried for hours and was difficult to console. She wrote her a note saying how much she loved her and that she wished she would come back... You get the point. I can't hardly talk about it myself, I don't want to make you read it. Adiee wrote her name (and her family's names) on a piece of paper since that's the extent of her writing to this point. They wanted to take it back to her, so we went back again and Kasey buried it so that Grandma Linda would have them forever. It's still surreal to us but we will all miss her dearly.

This post took a while to publish, it's been sitting unfinished for about a month now and even still it is hard for me to conclude...

Summer & Fall Update, Part 2

2011-11-08T17:36:00.000-08:00

Continued... September 9th - The big girls had a sleepover at their dance studio. It's the first time they have been away from home overnight, besides my mom's house. Isla stayed there for a couple hours while Kasey and I were able to go on a date (a rare commodity these days). They had a blast, and I was told that they were very well behaved. Always a nice thing to hear :)

September 16 - On our way to Kasey's brother Nate's wedding, we got a ROCKIN' camera - a Canon Rebel T2i! We had been talking about investing in one for a while and I had been looking online, comparing features and reviews for one that would fit our family perfectly. I must say I think we did, this was money well spent! I'm so excited to learn how to use it beyond the full-auto mode!! Here's a few pictures that we took with it right out of the box.

Only edit was putting it in a collage with a frame.

Not too shabby for amateur 'photographers', right? Anyways, we took a ton of pictures as we messed with the settings and took a quick crash course on aperature, shutter speed, etc... from Kasey's other brother Kyle.

More messing around with our new toy... :)

Nate and Charlotte got married September 17, 2011. It meant a lot to Kasey that Nate asked him to be his best man! Their wedding was a lot of fun, and we got to visit with many people we don't see often enough. Plus I love any excuse to get dressed up (and Kasey in his tux, wow-oh-wow!! Haha!). Still have no idea how I got so lucky.

Our girls, us, and Kasey's dad and Linda at the wedding.

After the ceremony, we headed to the reception. Kasey gave a toast that had everyone laughing, Nate looked a little nervous about what might come out of his mouth but in the end was happy that nothing too embarrassing was said, haha! :) We all danced the night away, and Adiee even asked one of the "blue princesses" aka bridesmaid wearing a blue dress to dance! It was so sweet!

The girls dancing with their dad. Priceless!!

We stopped by Kasey's other brother Corey's house to say goodbye to everyone and they had a ton of kittens that needed homes. Between that, big-sad-eyed kids, and my own weakness of wanting to "help" anything and everyone - we ended up taking one home even though we have way too many pets to begin with and I knew Kleo (our only cat at the time) would disapprove.

The really pretty one in the middle is the one we took.

She was so little and sweet, she didn't have a name for a while either. It was hard for everyone to come to an agreement. The girls had SO many ideas like Pearl (which I actually did like), Pizza, Ice Cream, Sundae, Bubbles, etc... But we eventually named her Lucy. When we first got home she didn't drink very much, but would eat her soft kitten food, so I bottle fed her for a couple weeks. She has now quadrupled in size since we first got her.

Isla turned 3 on September 30th!! What a doll!

We had a big trip to Build-a-Bear Workshop in Denver planned, but we had to postpone because conflicting schedules at work.

On October 3, the big girls had field trips. Sometimes I think I may be a bit over-protective, I was extremely uncomfortable and a bit hesitant to let Mikenna go on hers because it was a bus trip to the planetarium... IN CASPER, 2 hours away. To be fair, Kasey was just as apprehensive as I was... Yikes! In the end, we let her go but I didn't like it at all. So, Isla and I went to the Fire Station with Adiee and her class to get my mind off of it (didn't really work that way though. Ha!) I was sure glad to pick her up from school that day and see her safe and sound back at home with me.

Checking out the firetruck...

On facebook, I posted that Kasey was playing catch that evening with Mikenna in a pink fairy dress and black high heels with a pink baseball glove and ball...

Here's the proof! Haha!! What a girl!

A few days later, we left for Denver to celebrate Isla's birthday. On the way there, we stopped and had dinner with Polly and Eliana (our old neighbors from when we bought our first house, Eliana is only 3 months older than Mikenna). We had pizza and visited for a little while, they always have a ton of fun when they get together, although it isn't very often anymore with both of us in new towns. When we finally got to the hotel, it was too late to go swimming which was a bummer. Isla was the only one that had any energy at all. We needed the sleep anyway, we had a very full couple days planned! :)

They love hotels! Here they are eating their continental breakfast :)

First up, we went to the Flatiron Crossing mall. While we waited for Brandon, Whitney, and little Harper to get here, we took Isla to get her "ear holes". Haha! She is so stinkin' cute! She has been wanting to get her ears pierced but we have waited until their 3rd birthday for all of them (I couldn't bring myself to do it when they were babies). The big girls got to pick a new pack of earrings, and they kept bringing me things that I didn't approve of so we compromised that they get ones that were age appropriate, then I would let them get 1 pack of the feathers that they originally wanted - for PLAY only.

Isn't that last picture heartbreaking?! She is trying to smile even though it hurt! :( It didn't last long though, she was so happy when it was all said and done.

Next up, Build-a-Bear Workshop!! YAY! :) Let me tell you, that store was complete chaos... and BUSY! The girls were all over the place, 1 is picking out their animal, 1 is already getting clothes and accessories, and 1 is filling their bear. It was so much fun to see them so crazy happy, it was exactly what I was hoping for. I had to eventually put a stop to the madness so I told them to put everything that was in their hands on the counter so I could pay for it while Kasey registered them and got their birth certificates printed.

Finding "The One"! Chaos, I'm telling you!! :)

The girls with their finished product!

It only took 5 hours to get out of there. Maybe I'm being a little sarcastic. Ha!

More shopping, photo strips, and lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen. It was delicious!

Brandon, Whitney, Harper, and our family went to HomeGoods after leaving the mall, then met Kasey's sister Kristy and her family at her house and followed them to Chili's. We stayed the night with them in their beautiful home! It was so good to see everyone again so soon!

She didn't have anymore energy tonight! Haha!

It's Sunday now, but before we go home, we had another exciting day planned. We took the girls to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We bought IMAX tickets to see a 3D film on dinosaurs and Isla tried her hardest to get me kicked out. She was terrified before the movie even started, the opening had 2 dinosaurs playing/fighting then turned to fossils and she just lost it. I gave her to Kasey and he was able to console her. Thank goodness!

Their main display were the animatronic dinosaurs, but they didn't allow photographing or video taping. Isla did NOT like it. Not one little bit. She was very relieved when we headed over to the "Expedition Health" section. They did all kinds of different activities to learn about their bodies. We also stood in line for a good 20 minutes to do the "What will you look like at age 70" activity and then it compares what you will look like if you take care of yourself to what you will look like if you smoke, have too much UV exposure, etc... All I can say is I should start taking care of my skin the way I do theirs... I am always applying and reapplying sunscreen on them. Yikes! :)

We ate lunch at the cafe inside the museum and then headed over to the space expo. They really enjoyed it playing in the sand and water and Mikenna got to ask a question to the "astronaut" on the "moon" while she was doing very important work! :)

Last stop before the gift shop, was the mineral and gemstone exhibit. They loved looking at all the different sparkling stones! Mikenna bought a crystal and a geode to display in her bedroom, Adiee picked out a necklace and a pack of play dinosaur fossils, and Isla bought the same necklace (so they can fight over whos is whos, it's really fun. Ha!) and a pack of dinosaurs. After that, I got my long-awaited first IKEA store experience. I think our trip was a SUCCESS!!

October 14 - The girls were in the town's "Outlaw" parade for their dance studio. I made their bows myself!! :)

And afterwards we went to dinner at a friend's house and then the girls went for their second dance sleepover.

Crazy Girls!!

On October 29, we had some friends over, ordered pizza while the kiddos made their own mini pizzas. After dinner, we all carved pumpkins with the little ones. It's so nice to have met another couple with 2 little girls here in town! Every time I see them, I also get my baby fix ;-) since mine are growing up!

Jack-o-Lanterns!!

Adiee was a monarch butterfly, Isla was a 'bat'erina, and Mikenna was a vampire if you couldn't tell. Kasey is responsible for that monstrosity! Here I am painting a beautiful butterfly, an adorable bat, and I look over at what Kasey is doing to our oldest. She seriously will give me nightmares for the rest of the year. Is it bad that I almost didn't post this picture because it's so scary? I didn't realize we were going for 'frightening' this year, I'm going to miss the cute-sy days if this is what I get to look forward to for the rest of our costume days.

And lastly, our friends came over to test out our Wii to see if it would be a good gift for their almost 4 year old. I got the kids together for a small Thanksgiving craft. Adorable!

We wrote a few 'thankful thoughts' on the turkey's wings. Some were obvious - "My Family", "My Sisters", "My Home", "My Toys", etc... And some were not so obvious, like - "Turtles" (?? Haha!), "Prince Charming", "The Color Pink", etc... Those kids are hilarious. Never a dull moment in my house!

Phew!! So that is what our family has been up to over the last 5 months or so. Now that I'm caught up, I will be back to blogging more frequently as I used to since there is less going on in these long winter days.

Thanks for reading!

Summer & Fall Update, Part 1

2011-11-05T21:28:00.000-07:00

The last post I shared was in June... I'm ashamed I haven't shown my blog the love it deserves in quite some time. I have not forgotten, nor given up, but there are plenty of unfinished posts in the edit mode with incomplete thoughts and things we have done, but I think it would be best to just start fresh. Let's see, in the time that has passed:

I have completely purged my household of no longer wanted/needed items. All those random things that were just taking up space I don't have, creating clutter, and eating away at my sanity are a thing of the past (although, I really feel like I could go through and do it again!).

Mikenna's birthday at Elitches was a blast! We did almost all of the rides, and the favorites would be the extreme rides that you pay extra to go on (Adiee and I went on the 'Catapult'; and Mikenna and Kasey went on the huge swing!), the 'Tilt-a-Whirl' (the girls and I only, Kasey doesn't do spinny rides very well), the bumper cars, and of course the swinging ship. We left early in the morning and headed home when they were closing. The girls were asleep before we had even pulled out of the parking lot and Kasey and I must be getting "old" because we were SO tired after 30 minutes of driving. We pulled over "just to shut our eyes for a minute" and ended up sleeping for a few hours!! Oops! The worst part was the fact that when we woke up, we were still exhausted and still had 3 hours of driving. Ugh!! It was a long night, to say the least.

A few highlights...

Living on the wild side!! What a rush! :)

On the 4th of July weekend, we spent a few days out at the lake house with my family - visiting, kayaking, watching fireworks, etc... Kasey, the girls, and I participated in the annual parade; we smothered the kayak in flags and banners plus the most important decoration - our gorgeous girls dressed in their USA hoodies and toted them around the "neighborhood" along with tons of other people. We won 1st prize and $50 which we split up between the three of them. Everyone got a picture except me (since I was in it too), so I'm still waiting for someone to send me one. Anyone? Ha! :-)

Mid July, we went to Worland to show our support and do the cancer walk-a-thon in honor of Kasey's stepmom, Linda. I met Nate's (then) fiance, a childhood friend of Kasey's, had a barbeque with some slip'n'slide and waterfight action, and a night time bicycle ride in Kasey's hometown just the two of us.

Linda with the grandkids, minus 2 that couldn't make it.

The girls and I went to Casper for school shopping towards the end of July because I learned from last years bare shelves and prepared for Adiee's kindergarten year (and Mikenna's in 2nd grade now)! I made such an effort to make sure that I got just as many exciting pictures of her shopping as I did Mikenna but gave up when I realized that she was just not as enthusiastic and I was basically telling her to "pretend" like she didn't hate it just for a dumb picture... Ugh, after I had a mini meltdown myself, I just decided that it was best to just let it be. I also think she probably would have had a lot more fun if it was one on one like it was for Mikenna, but it just wasn't possible this time since Kasey had to stay behind due to his being on-call. Oh well though, what can one do?

Bet ya can't tell which one was a fake... Ha!

After we fulfilled our school supply lists, we checked out the hot air balloons before going back home to be with daddy. The girls were pretty impressed with them and had front row seats!

A shared blanket can put a stop to the chilly morning air.

The last weekend in July, we went camping with my mom at Louis Lake in South Pass. We went on 4-wheeler rides, played in the sand and dirt, got some more use out of the kayak. Kasey took each of the girls out brookie fishing, quality one on one time with their dad. They cleaned them and fried them up right after catching them, the girls thoroughly enjoyed it!! Oh, and ate some Colorado canteloupe that could have very easily been one of the melons contaminated with listeria... No worries though, we're all fine. Thank goodness! ;-). It happens that I got about 4 shots with my camera before the dreaded "BEEP" **Battery Empty**... And they weren't even that great, but it was still a fun trip nonetheless.

So now we are in the first weekend in August. Kasey and I had been talking about getting a new car so we shopped around for financing and browsed a few online inventories. We found "the one" at Halladay Motors in Cheyenne. A white, fully-loaded, GMC Yukon XL Denali. We left the lot to keep shopping even though we both had found what we wanted. We were on our way to another lot closer to Denver when the salesman called us with an offer we couldn't refuse. I was a little sad trading in my Tahoe, but I'm so excited that this is parked in MY driveway! :)

LOVE it!!!

They do things differently in this town that I'm used to so it's still wierd to me that they go meet their teacher and put away supplies before school even officially begins...

The girls with all their "loot."

Adiee and Ms. Worman, Kindergarten.

Mikenna and Mrs. Bares, 2nd Grade

Back 2 School Carnival

School for Mikenna started on August 22nd, and Adiee it started on August 24th. Yet another "wierd" thing they do here. The idea behind it is that they want to get to know the kindergarteners in smaller groups at first and get them acclamated before they bring all of them together... Hmmm, ok? Plus I think they did evaluations on them individually to see where they are academically. But I dressed them all up for their "First Day of School 2011" picture anyways. Adiee and Isla just got to sport the look 2 times in a row since nobody saw them the first time... ;-)

Aren't they just lovely?!?

Mikenna lost all 4 front teeth this month plus another one on bottom! Look at that gap! She was hilarious when they were first coming out, she said it was hard to say words that begin with "s", or should I say "eths-es"! Haha :) Hopefully she will give the toothfairy time to recover now, but we are glad that all 4 of those teeth can stop moving her entire front half of her mouth... Seriously, it was gross. Ha!

First day of 2nd Grade!

Adiee did not like waiting until Wednesday to start her school, she was so ready when her day rolled around! She was so excited that I couldn't get her to look at me for a single snapshot that morning, so I have a bunch of pictures with the back of her head...

First day of Kindergarten!

Isla with her lunchbox

It's just the baby and me now... I was sad to leave Adiee, but at least I still have one to keep me company.

Lunchtime!

When Isla and I got there, Adiee was in line for a hot lunch even though I had packed her a delicious lunch from home in a super cool frog lunchbag... So she had 2 lunches that day, haha! Oh, Adiee.

Labor Day weekend, we went camping again at Louis Lake with my mom again. What a fun and relaxing way to spend a long weekend, especially after all the chaos that the beginning of a school year can bring on!

Our Amazing Family

Random pictures... My life is full of beautiful people. :)

Look at her go!! Impressive!!!

Kasey put Mikenna on the boat, and to be honest, I thought he was crazy. I didn't think that she was ready to take it out on her own, but I couldn't have been more wrong. She was a natural, she had total control over it and was able to take directions like a pro! This was a creek behind our campsite and it was a perfect place to let her try because it didn't lead anywhere, there were beaver dams on both ends.

Now back to real life again... With school in full swing, now their activities are starting up. Kasey is taking them to swim lessons again, I take Isla to story time at the library, and I enrolled each of my girlies in dance and an extra tumbling class for Isla.

With that, I think I will call it a night. I guess that would make this post, "Summer & Fall Update, Part 1" Haha! :-)

A Month at a Glance

2011-06-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

I've been a bit MIA but for a good reason! I needed to take a break from all that Disney talk to let family who aren't as familiar with blogger to read up without having too much trouble (as those 3 posts took up the entire page). This is what the Brown Family has been up to since I last wrote...

Our family went to Oregon a couple weeks ago to see Tennyson's high school graduation (from one end of the country to the next in a matter of weeks which is okay by me - I love traveling!). We had to miss my cousin Paige's graduation, which was a bummer. So proud of them both!

End-of-the-school-year activities like field days, talent shows, etc... Mikenna's last day was June 7th! Mikenna and Adiee ROCKED the talent show by the way! What seemed like a 2.5 hours of Justin Bieber and Katy Perry's "Firework" on repeat (half the time you couldn't even hear the kids singing along!) Our kiddos walked on stage and they sang, The Little Mermaid's "Part of Your World" at the top of their lungs! Good thing they had the music playing in the background, otherwise they would've sang in circles for who knows how long! I laughed til I cried and got every moment on tape for Kasey to enjoy that afternoon. :)

Last day of 1st Grade... *sniff *sniff :(

We broke in the ocean (a.k.a. lake, ha!) kayak! It was SO much fun, now I can't wait til mine gets here!! Good thing Kasey shares so well! ;-)

The girls had a blast playing at the beach/playground while we messed around on the kayak!

My good lookin' hubby on his newest toy. I realized I had the camera in my pocket when I went out, so feet is all ya get! LOVE his goofy face - he makes me laugh! :)

I've been blog surfing! I discovered the joys of blog hopping a few months ago, there are SO many creative, helpful, inspiring blogs out there!
I've joined Pinterest, an addicting place to hoard those creative, helpful, inspiring posts that you run into! If you are wanting to join, let me know and I will send you an invite so that you don't have to wait for them to send you one. :)
Yesterday we celebrated 7 years of marriage! As always we used facebook to flaunt our happiness to the world - sorry if we made you vomit... Haha! But seriously, couldn't be happier!!

I wanted to put this really cute Disney World one of the two of us, but I'm still waiting for my disc... It should be here within the next couple days (at least it better be)!

We are taking the munchkins to Denver this Saturday to celebrate Miss Mikenna's birthday at Elitch's amusement park, which is today by the way! :-) She is SO excited, that crazy kid cannot wait to do the heart stopping sky coaster swing ride... She's just like her daddy! (ok, I kinda like it too... haha!)

AND lastly, I have been on a mission to simplify and declutter our life!! I can't STOP!! So far in the last week, I have gone through every drawer, bin, box, cupboard, closet, and corner in our master bedroom, master bathroom, laundry room, living room, kitchen, as well as Mikenna and Isla's room. Adiee's is a whole 'nother ballpark - stuffed animals have taken over! No joke!

These 2 pictures are kind of embarrassing, but obviously they aren't kept on the floor. All of these cuddly little jerks are the reason for most of my temporary episodes of insanity and are kept on the top bunk in Adiee's bedroom, but we are getting rid of the bed and ALL of these besides a select few. These pictures are right before we started the sorting process, "after" pictures are unavailable at the moment because we are about to undergo round 2 of sifting through the keep pile to put more into the toss/sell/donate piles. They are doing great at understanding why we should give to those in need, make room for new stuff, and paring down to keep mommy's mental health intact. Ha! And I still have to go through the playroom and girls' bathroom.

I am a list maker and organizer at heart and crave order and cleanliness; with space being a serious issue in this temporary abode and I have been LOSING my mind lately with how much stuff we have accumulated over the past few years! And with Isla getting older, we have an obscene amount of baby toys, clothes, furniture, etc... to get rid of (among many many other things)! Wierd... we have big kids now (sort of, haha!) Going through all of our belongings with a fine tooth comb and getting ready for our upcoming garage sale to shed all this unwanted stuff has left me feeling liberated! My goal is to live more simply - less material and visual clutter and more functional, orderly, and beautiful surroundings in my life :)

Disney World Day 3

2011-05-14T17:44:00.000-07:00

Saturday, May 7th: We went to the Animal Kingdom park on this day. Our breakfast reservations for Donald's Safari breakfast at the Tusker House were at 9:25 am. The morning went extremely smooth and all 5 of us were ready and out waiting for our bus at 8:30!

The bus took us directly to Animal Kingdom because the restaurant was inside the park itself.

Donald met us right before we were seated at our table. The girls were so excited! Breakfast was buffet style with jamba juice (and anything else we wanted to drink along with it.) They even had a special little section where the buffet tables were kid-size!! So cute!

Mickey Mouse came right to our table! How fun is that?!

Then came Daisy! Mikenna took note of her shoes! She thought they were neat and now wants some "fat high heels" too. Ha!

Then came Goofy! He started a kid parade right in the dining room! Gave all of them each a maraca and marched around the room!

Then he stopped by the table. Adiee had to go to the bathroom, she was missing Goofy! :( But I had a little chat with him and he kept giving me the thumbs up/thumbs down for him to come back so she didn't miss him! How sweet! It took about an hour and a half for all the characters to come in and visit with everyone.

When we were done eating, we set out to enjoy our day at the park. Outside the restaurant there was a man who was singing and Isla was hooked! He thought she was pretty cute, shakin' her tush and all! :)

Look who we found!! We were making our way to the Expedition Everest ride when Kasey spotted King Louie and Baloo from the Jungle Book in a little cove! We went up the pathway and we got there right before a whole slew of people started to form a line! Now that is some good luck! They saw us pulling up in the stroller and they came part of the way to meet us. King Louie got on his knuckles and right in Adiee's face! Wow, it was great! And there was also a park photographer up there so he got some great shots like these as well! :)

SO CUTE!! Our day was already 10 times better than the day before!

After we were done visiting with the Jungle Book characters we made it to Expedition Everest. The line was only about a 35 minute wait. So Mikenna and I waited in line, while Kasey had Adiee and Isla. He went and got fast passes for later. The wait went by pretty quick for Mikenna and I, the lines at the big attractions are pretty entertaining with lots to look at. This one had a yeti museum, and a room full of necessities if you were to actually climb the Himalayas. Kasey was in a spot that he could see the people in the coaster so when he saw us on it, he met us in the air-conditioned gift shop at the ride exit. He took both the big girls. Remember how I had to wait 35 minutes just for the line? Well that's the beauty of 'rider swap'. He got to go in the fast pass line. So I only had to wait about 15 for them to be done completely! While he was gone, I took Isla to get her a popsicle, played in the shade where he said he was, and let her play in the dirt. When they got out, he said that he couldn't believe that I was letting Isla play in the dirt. He spent the entire time that I was gone trying to keep them out of it (thinking I would go nuts if he let them get dirty! I don't know where he would get an idea like that?! Haha) They are kids, they are on vacation, and we decided to be 'go with the flow' parents to make the best out of our trip - I think I just proved that I was serious about that! Haha :)

With fast passes on hand, we started on our way to Dinoland U.S.A. and we noticed another character greeting cove. Though we had to wait in line this time, it wasn't too long. Plus Adiee asked specifically if we were going to meet Winnie the Pooh and friends, and Isla got really excited when I said, "I don't know, maybe!" There were more park photographers, so again there are more great shots of the girls here.

Eeyore! He's adorable!

Tigger!! They LOVED Tigger!

We stopped at a little fountain, the girls went crazy over it! It was pretty hot outside, so it was an opportunity for them to cool off. Plus Mikenna needed to wash off that Mickey Mouse ice cream sandwich goatee off her face! LOL

Isla doesn't usually go for things like this when she is in her clothes, but she made an exception with no hesitation! haha! It was that hot! While we were in the Dino-land U.S.A. area, we did the DINOSAUR ride. It was another ride that wasn't ok for Isla to go on, so Kasey took the big girls and we did the rider swap again. It was SO cool, a bit too loud, but it was really fun! Of course when I took the girls, Adiee had to go to the bathroom soooo bad she was almost in tears, but we were at the point of no return... In the seat, buckled, and ready to go! I felt so bad for her.

When we were ready for lunch, we ate at Restaurantosaurus. Cute name! Their kid's meals were served in buckets. Hamburgers/Hot dogs with carrots, grapes, and a juicebox.

Right after lunch, we hurried over to the Finding Nemo musical line since the previous showing was full. Kasey ran to park the stroller while the girls and I got in line. That show was wonderful!! This time it was me that was getting goosebumps! Ha! Mikenna had already filled up the memory on her camera, then she got ahold of my cell phone and took about 100 blurry pictures of the Nemo show herself. lol Isla was getting pretty tired, so she fell asleep. After the show, we promised the girls that we would go back and do the "Triceratop Spin" and I felt so bad because this was actually a ride that Isla could go on, so I tried to wake her up but she wasn't having it! By the time Kasey and the girls got off of the ride, it was time for us to go back to Expedition Everest for our fast passes, and we decided to head over to the "Kali River Rapids" (a 40 minute line) which worked out since Isla was sleeping. That ride got you pretty wet and we still hadn't gotten any of the pictures that I wanted done with the park photographers in front of the "Tree of Life" a 14-story tall, 50-foot wide tree in the heart of Animal Kingdom! But that didn't stop us, we went and got those pictures done anyway. I can't show the pictures they took yet...

With the park closing at 6, we decided that we were spent for the day. Our feet were KILLING us and we wanted to beat the crowd again to the bus stop. On our way out, we couldn't resist the "Discovery Island Trails" which took us all over and under the roots of the "Tree of Life", it was super neat! Isla didn't want to stand next to that commodo dragon (or alligator, whatever...) above for very long! Haha :) He made her nervous!

A rabbit carved into the tree root.

Look at all those various animals carved into the trunk! The girls really enjoyed pointing out all the different ones that they recognized! And this was taken right underneath it!

Our beautiful babies next to a waterfall under the "Tree of Life". We made a loop and then hobbled out of the park. We weren't the first ones this time, but the wait was only like 20 minutes. We didn't even come close to seeing all Animal Kingdom had to offer, not enough hours in the day!

The girls were so WILD when we got to the hotel room and all Kasey and I wanted to do was to take a short little nap! And do you know why they had all that energy?!? Because we let them all ride in the stroller! We had a 40 pound stroller, 20 pounds of cargo, and 100 pounds of kid that we pushed up and down, in and out, ALL over the parks for the last 2 days... Not to mention the fact that they didn't have to wake up until the last second in the mornings. But they did have a point... You can sleep when you get home to boring Rawlins! Haha :) We figured it was useless even trying, so we took them down to the food court for some dinner and then had the option to watch the outdoor movie, or go to the blizzard kiddie pool. They picked pool, total shocker there! They played their little hearts out while Kasey and I rested on the loungers and chatted with other exhausted parents doing the same thing! haha :) We finally talked them into being done at about 11!!

Disney World Day 2

2011-05-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

Friday, May 6th: We didn't expect to be out until after midnight the night before. We set our alarm clock for 6 in the morning because we had breakfast reservations at the Hollywood & Vine restaurant in Hollywood Studios park where we were going to eat with the playhouse Disney characters at 8:05. At least we thought that we had set the alarm clock... When I woke up, it was 7!! There was NO way that we would make it... They say to allow 45 minutes just to get transported anywhere. So while I was frantically trying to get the girls and I ready, Kasey ran down to the front desk to see if we could push it back but ended up having to cancel our reservation. Over-sleeping... What an awesome way to start the day, huh?! So instead of eating with Disney characters, we slowed down a little, enjoyed some scenery outside our room, checked out the pool and ate at our resort food court.

Three beauties climbing all over the dalmation puppy... Shortly after we took this picture, Isla tried to get out of the front stroller seat without me knowing as I was pushing it. It happened so fast, I ran her halfway over with the stroller and that wasn't even the bad part! She smacked her front teeth (imagine that... I swear she is trying to blacken her front teeth on purpose, I think this makes it her 4th time!) loosened it and pushed it back a little farther, bit her lip, and got blood all over the front of my shirt. Wow, and I thought sleeping in was bad! Again - PERFECT start to our first real day in Disney World. After we got her calmed down, we continued on...

Looking at the Fantasia pool...

"Perdy" girls!! I crack myself up! haha :)

My little ladies and I... Love them!

We got each of them a character mug and after we ate our Mickey Mouse waffle breakfast, we got in line to be taken to Hollywood Studios park. I'm so bummed that I can't show my photopass photos yet, because we have family pictures taken in front of the Hollywood Tower of Terror Hotel, and the huge Fantasia hat when you first walk in... But here are some highlights that I can share! The first thing we did when we got there was put in for our fast pass tickets for Hollywood Tower of Terror. Then we walked around taking in the scenery, then found the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" Movie Set Adventure. It was like a huge playground, it was SO neat! I really enjoyed this part.

The girls riding "Anty" (I think that's her name, I can't really remember) We rented the movie right before we came here so they would know what this was all about! They had a blast in here!!

Huge playdoh can! Awesome!!

Isla's big sisters helping her climb a spider web. This was so fun, our whole family went in it the first time, and the girls wanted to do it again so I went with them that time while Kasey watched.

The three of them on a leaf/flower? slide, Isla was being a scaredy cat so Mikenna helped her... Could have something to do with all the dark tunnels, sound effects, etc... But that slide looks pretty harmless. Ha!

Huge tonka truck and a scrabble piece! How cool is this place?! One of my favorites for sure!

We wandered around some more, and stopped in to watch the "Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!" And it really was! Thoroughly entertaining, the girls watched in amazement the entire time. It made the hour wait (half in line, half in our seats) kind of worth it... kind of! Kasey got goosebumps when they sounded the theme song when it began! Haha :) Downside to having front row seats? Having to wait for EVERYONE else to file out of the too few exits... When we finally got out, we got the girlies an ice cream treat (Mikenna picked a long rainbow twisty popsicle, Adiee picked a Mickey Mouse shaped dilly bar, and Isla picked a Mickey Mouse ice cream sandwich) and Kasey and I shared a frozen banana covered in chocolate and nuts. Then, we got in line for the Studio Backlot Tour. Kasey distinctly remembered this when he went to Disneyland when he was little, so we had to make sure that we hit this. Well, we didn't have to wait in line long, but we just made it to be the very last on the tram and they took us around various movie effects... And the one part that he was most excited for was not that cool when you are in the back of the bus! haha ;) The train went up a "mountain" and it simulated some kind of disaster complete with a rocking bridge effect, exposions, etc... Isla didn't like it much at all, so she probably appreciated the fact that we weren't in the heart of the action, the rest of us felt pretty cheated.

Afterwards, we walked around trying to find "Mama Melrose Ristorante Italiano" where we had lunch reservations at 2:25 pm - and we did NOT want to miss them too! Haha :) Especially because they were our ticket into guaranteed seating for "Fantasmic" with our 'dinner package'. While we were waiting for them to seat us, we were all kind of bummin' the whole day so far seemed kind of blah. We had been in the park for 5 hours and we only did 3 things, and most of it was spent sitting, waiting, and walking... (Including the night before at the luau.) The girls were not that impressed with Disney World so far. And to boot, the times for the "Tower of Terror" fast passes were quickly approaching and we hadn't even ordered yet. It was already almost 5, the park closed at 9, still only did 3 things, and we ended up missing our pass times. What a bummer! But we weren't going to let our first day of our vacation be a flop, we found out that the would accept late passes so instantly, our day got better. We headed all the way across the park so that we could ride it. Thankfully they have this thing called Rider Swap, so that one of us could stay behind with Isla (basically the same thing as a fast pass) without having to wait in the hour long line. Anyway, Kasey took Mikenna while I waited in the gift shop where the ride ended with Adiee and Isla. Mikenna was ecstatic when she got off! She loved it and all of a sudden Disney World was the greatest place on earth! Haha :) So I took Adiee, and Mikenna again! Adiee was kind of scared, and when we were on the ride, she had what looked like a silent scream on her face the whole time! Hilarious! She said she liked it, she just didn't want to go on it again, but she was super brave! Before we left, they wanted to poke around the gift shop a little. Mikenna HAD to have this notebook that was $15, I've got to admit that I tried really hard to talk her out of it, but she wasn't going to budge!! Hey, if that's what she wants, that's what she wants... Adiee didn't see anything in this particular shop so I took her to another while Kasey took Mikenna on the ride one more time. Adiee wanted a keychain with Stitch on it, and Isla decided if Adiee was going to get one, she needed one too.

The "Voyage of the Little Mermaid" was absolutely incredible! We had seats in the very front, next time we will definitely shoot for the middle and a few rows back because we couldn't hardly see some of the smaller stuff over the rock stage. The girls were enthralled with it from start to finish, and LOVED the bubbles they dropped over the audience. Of course they have to put a gift shop upon every attraction exit, so again we had look. They were bound and determined to spend every last dollar they had the very first day even though Kasey and I tried to talk some sense into them. Isla picked out these sleeping beauty jammies, Adiee bought a Tangled figurine set, and Mikenna picked an Ariel purse. We ventured into Pixar Studios but the wait times were ridiculous. "Journey into Narnia: Prince Caspian" was right there and it was only a 20 minute wait so we decided to go ahead and do it. Biggest. Waste. Of. Time. EVER. We waited in line to basically watch an extra long movie trailer, it was disappointing to say the least.

We were pretty sick of sitting down and watching show after show, so we were looking for something to ride and so we got in line for "The Great Movie Ride" This picture was taken while we were in line, SO cute!! It was a gentle ride that took us through each movie era, and of course there were some parts that scared Isla so it was yet another ride she cried a little on... What a wuss!! Haha (That was a joke, she's just a baby! lol) I was able to console her pretty good.

We were headed to the Fantasmic! show, and I needed to get a picture of them in front of this sign. When we were at lunch, our waiter said that they opened seating for this show 90 minutes prior, and that it seated 9,000 people in the stadium and on average turned down 5,000 people at the gate! Well, we did NOT want to wait for an hour and a half to watch this show so we decided that we would go a half hour before (the latest they were going to let people in) since we had guaranteed seats. It worked out perfectly, we got great seats and didn't have to wait for-ever to get them!

The show was pretty neat! Over 50 costumed characters tying into a bunch of classic Disney stories, complete with music, water fountains, pyrotechnics, fireworks, etc...

The one regret I have, was that I really wanted to see Beauty and the Beast, Live! But there just wasn't enough time in the day with all that waiting we did. Next time though! :) And you know how I told you that we had to wait in line at our bus stop for almost 2 hours the night before?? Not this night, we are quick learners haha!! We booked it out of there before the rest of the crowd, got our stroller out of the stroller parking lot (haha) and sprint/ran/power walked all the way from the far right of the park, to the park exit, and then to the transportation area. We were one of the very first in line! I couldn't believe it! We were at the hotel by 10:30pm and we ordered pizza to be delivered to our room but the girls fell asleep before it even got there and Kasey and I weren't even really that hungry. So we ate a slice in bed, set the alarm clock (for real this time), and went to sleep.

Let The Memories Begin!

2011-05-13T14:24:00.000-07:00

That's the motto outside the Magic Kingdom park and I thought it would be a good first title as I "re-live" this past week's excitement. It's hard to believe that our BIG family vacation has already come and gone, but let me tell you what - it. was. FABULOUS! I'm guessing it was so enjoyable because Kasey and I decided that we were going to be as laid back as possible and use this one as a learning experience, taking any mishap with a grain of salt and learning from them for next time. Also, I looked through our pictures that the park photographers took throughout our vacation and they got some fantastic shots, but I can't post them because I do not own the rights yet (I have to go through all of them and make sure any edits, borders, etc... are done before I purchase the cd.) But as soon as I do I will share them!!

Tuesday, May 3rd: We went about our day as normal, Kasey went to work, Mikenna went to school, and the other two little girls and I deep cleaned the house so that I would be able to relax after we got back (fat chance, somehow it got messed up again right before we left! No idea how... lol) I had all the bags packed and organized ready to go by the time Kasey and Mikenna were home. Then we drove to Casper to drop off our zoo with my mom while we were gone, and the girls had eye appointments in the evening. Mikenna has great vision and felt totally jipped that she didn't need reading glasses or anything (we'll ask her again in a few years if she still feels the same, ha!), and I wrote about Adiee's little "condition" a couple weeks ago. She is a little far-sided and needs glasses with pretty minor correction. She picked out these cheap Christmas looking plastic frames at first but changed her mind after some "slight" parental persuasion. Looking back though, maybe paying almost $200 for her FIRST pair of glasses wasn't the smartest thing :) Oh well, she looks pretty cute in them though if I do say so myself!

Wednesday, May 4th: We stayed the night in Casper and all 5 of us got our hair done (including Isla, her first haircut mind you). Here's her before, during, and after pictures... Adorabe!!

And while my highlights were processing, Kasey got a pedicure by a 5 and 6 year old. He's such a good daddy! I don't know many men that would be seen in purple and orange toes (and later a butterfly/peace sign bandaid on the top of his foot! haha :) What a good sport!)

Now that we were all looking snazzy, we drove on to Denver. We got to town about 4ish, stopping at a few of the strip malls on the way in. We picked up some new clothes and shoes for the girls and I, became members at REI, Kasey got a new outback hat (HOT hubby alert! haha) and I got a big floppy crocheted sunhat that's super cute. We went a little crazy shopping before the trip even started! Ha! Then we ate dinner at Olive Garden, and went to our hotel. On the way there we saw a few of those yellow and black spotted buses (the shuttles for where we were parking our car for the week) and it started to sink in that we were actually going.

Just as soon as Kasey had checked us in, we all got in our swimsuits and headed to the pool. We were the only ones there, so we were able to jump, splash, laugh, and play any way we wanted! It was great! We stayed down there for a couple hours, and when we got back to our room Kasey and I tag-teamed bath-time. I gave washed their hair and as soon as each one was done, they would hop out and Kasey would blow-dry their hair.

We WORE them out!! Haha! They passed out as soon as their little heads hit the pillow! I did some last minute packing, making sure that all of our things were where they were supposed to be and re-packing the girls' carry-ons. They tore those apart in the back seat during the trip to Denver and I didn't want any surprises at security.

Thursday, May 5th: I couldn't sleep AT ALL that night I was so excited! I felt like a total kid on Christmas Eve! I may have fallen asleep between 4 and 5 in the morning; other than that not. a. wink. No joke! haha :) We started our day off right with Kasey breaking the ceramic soap dish in the shower... with his head... He went down to talk to hotel management about it and I finished getting the girls ready for our big day. Our goal was to eat breakfast and leave the hotel by 8. And even after all the "events" of the morning we made it!! And yes, I picked this parking area because of the fun shuttle buses! haha :) And when we checked out at the end of our trip, it was only $30! I was expecting a little over $50. Score! ;)

The girls asked us where we were going, and we said we were on our way to a park (they just didn't know what kind of park! hehe! Sneaky, sneaky!) When we got to the airport the girls took one look around and said, "This doesn't look like a very fun park." HA! Kasey and I decided that we should tell them so we lined them up against the wall and told them to close their eyes and hold out their hands for a surprise. I proceeded to put their hats in their hand, of course I had to mix up which one belonged to who, all the while trying to video it with the cell phone too (which I forgot only did 30 second clips! Ugh!)... It was kind of a mess.

But anyway, we told them to open their eyes and told them that we were going to Disney World. Wow, did their reaction surprise us. In a very dull voice, they said, "yaaay, disney world..." WHAT?!? What kid says yay that way?! Haha :-) I think they were just confused, overwhelmed, and didn't know what to exactly expect. After we started talking about it, they got more and more excited... You know, the way we were expecting them to react in the beginning and of course it wasn't captured on tape, haha. We got through everything pretty quickly, we had 2 hours left by the time we reached our gate. The girls watched the airplanes outside the window, and took a walk with Kasey to go get some water bottles, etc... It actually didn't seem to take too long for the time to pass. We left Denver at 10:45 a.m.

The girls were really excited to be on a plane for the first time! The seating on our first plane was an "Air Bus" and had 6 seats across, cut in half by the aisle. So Adiee and Mikenna both got a window seat.

Kasey sat across the aisle with Mikenna, and I sat between Adiee and Isla on the opposite side.

Isla quickly fell asleep and slept right through take off. And I was able to hold her as soon as we were in the air. They thought the plane was pretty neat, they got to look at "Sheldon, the sea turtle" on the wings, the clouds underneath us, and before we got too high, Adiee said, "The ground looks like a puzzle!" So Cute!!

When we were landing about 3 hours later, Mikenna and Isla had a little bit of problems with their ears not popping, so they didn't like that part too much. They cried a little quietly, it's so hard to not be able to do anything for them. We arrived in Florida at 4:19 p.m.

When we all got off, we took a tram to the main terminal where my little sister was waiting to greet us. It was all short-lived though because immediately we had to find the Disney's Magical Express that was going to take us to our resort. So she ended up driving 2 hours to see us for 10 minutes, poor Melanie. They gave us some grief over Isla not having her own ticket for the motorcoach, even though I booked the whole trip through Disney. I just figured they didn't put her on there because she wasn't 3 yet. They put her on some lists and not on others so I had no idea that this was one list she did need to be on... But we got it worked out and had her added for the ride back to the airport.

Another 45 minutes or so, we were standing in the lobby of our resort getting checked in which took about 2 minutes because Kasey and I did the online check in the night before we left home. They gave Kasey a welcome packet and a Key to the World card for each member of our family. While Kasey was doing that, the girls were already busy getting balloons... and LOTS of them! haha :)

We went to check out our hotel room and drop off our carry-ons after we pryed the girls away from the balloon lady. Our room was on the third floor in the 101 Dalmations part of the resort which was neat, there was a GIANT Pongo in front of our building and the staircase was a GIANT fire hydrant. There was a Mickey Mouse head made of towels on our beds.

The Toy Story section of the resort was probably my favorite with the 101 Dalmations coming in on a close second. The girls are in front of Andy's bedroom door and crawling all over RC. Love it! It was really hard to get them to look at the camera because they were so enthralled with their surroundings! Just like the Pongo and Perdy, there was a GIANT Buzz and Woody. Awesome!!

First on our agenda - We had reservations for "The Spirit of Aloha" dinner show at 8 o'clock. We went to the concierge desk and got our confirmation ticket and transportation directions on how to get there. We waited for a bus that would take us to Magic Kingdom, and transferred to the monorail that would take us to the Polynesian Resort, then walking to the luau area. We waited in line forever, then we waited in another waiting area for even longer... The girls got pretty tired of the waiting part, but they were so good!

When we finally got seated, they brought out a plate of appetizers such as fresh pineapple, green salad with mandarin oranges and poppy seed dressing, pineapple-coconut bread. They sang and danced a few songs, then brought out dinner. They had roasted chicken, BBQ pork ribs, polynesian rice, steamed veggies, etc. After they gave everyone time to eat, they did more singing and dancing. They brought out a volcano desert that was shaped like one and was made of a chocolate mousse/cake thing, I don't know with raspberry lava and an orange syrup on the bottom of the plate. Mikenna didn't like it at all, Adiee scarfed it down, and Isla picked at it some.

They even had the kids in the audience come up so they could teach them a little hula dance!

After all was said and done it was like 10:30 pm. In my opinion, the show dragged on a little and it should have continued while people eat. The coolest part was the actual hula dancing and the fire dancer, they were AWESOME!! Right after we left the luau area, we stopped on a beach and all ran barefoot through this powdery sand, watched in the distance Cinderella's castle turn different colors and the last few fireworks go off. We put our shoes back on, and instead of riding the monorail back to Magic Kingdom, we took a water taxi. Then had to get in the bus line to go back to our resort; little did we know we were going to sit there until midnight because the park was closing and there was a huge crowd of people who wanted to go home at the same time. Whew! And this was just the first few hours in Walt Disney World!!

1 Week Countdown

2011-04-28T08:39:00.000-07:00

5 Days until we leave for Casper - the girls will have eyeball appointments and haircuts; 6 Days 'til Denver - (our "fake" vacation) for some swimming, shopping, and whatever else we feel like doing (the girls know that we will be going on a vacation, but they think this is as far as we are going! Little do they know...); And we only have 7 more days until we hop on that plane that will be taking us to Orlando!! I have already talked to Mikenna's teacher so that she knows that she won't be in school for a couple days and to get some stuff together so we can do it before we leave.

Luggage tags, park maps, etc... This is our collection of Disney vacation stuff that they have been sending us over the past couple months. Awesome!

Also, I was getting really nervous about their ear hats and t-shirts coming in too late, but they got here last Saturday so no more worrying about that! Boy would that have put a damper on our surprise! Kasey and I decided to join in on the fun and even got a pair of ears for ourselves! We put their shirts in their Easter Baskets and oh my goodness are they adorable (and clueless, even though we have almost ruined the surprise about 100 times by now).

I'm really excited, can you tell?!? I just want to tell them RIGHT NOW!! I love surprises, and surprising people, but I hate the wait - IT'S SO HARD! Haha :o)

P.S. I have a slightly embarrassing confession... Kasey brought home some black shorts that he picked up when he was passing through Casper to complete their outfits and I felt like I "needed" to see how it looks all together. Sooooooo after I put the outfit on Isla, locked our bedroom door, and I blindfolded the baby (because she is less likely to put two and two together than the other girls) and slapped that Minnie Mouse hat right on her! I may be a little crazy! Haha :-)

Dead Bird

2011-04-22T21:56:00.000-07:00

I posted this on facebook on Monday, but some of you may not have seen it. Last Sunday, I went to wash Mikenna's coat and the contents of her pockets were HORRIFYING! First, I pulled a pair of bunched up mittens out of her pocket and I get sandblasted in the face (not the first time, you would think I would learn, right? Maybe someday! haha)

Second, in the midst of a collection of normal kid stuff like bouncy balls and erasers, I pull out part of a DEAD BIRD!!! ICK! The chain of events following are kind of a blur, but I plunged my hand into her pocket without any reservation and pulled out part of a bird that had been long gone. As I held it in my hand, I yelled, "Kasey! There's a DEAD bird in Mikenna's pocket!!" I felt frozen in disbelief, staring at my palm; Kasey got up from the couch, coming into the playroom to take the carcass out of my hand. He was laughing hysterically at my reaction, and taking the bird out of my hand, he said (when he calmed down and he could breathe again - which was only a second before laughing at me again), "Yep, sure enough. It's just the wings though." He threw the wings in the garbage and started emptying out the rest of her pockets...

Third - Kasey started emptying the last little tidbits out of her pocket because I was a little gun-shy to say the least (can ya blame me?!?) but he pulled out one of those sticky hands (without the hand) that was black/brown from lint, dirt, and whatnot - and at first glance I thought it was a worm because it was "moving" and I just lost it. Screamed, then followed by actual sobs because I was so so so GROSSED out! Over-reacting? Maybe, but I don't care it was so nasty and I was not expecting it. All I wanted was for Mikenna to have a clean coat! After I pulled myself together, and sort of laughed along with Kasey he thought it would be funny to taunt me a little with the sticky hand before it landed in the trash. He said my reaction to the whole ordeal probably would have won an America's Funniest Videos grand prize if only he had caught it on tape... It's a good thing he didn't! Embarrassing! Haha ;)

When Mikenna woke up the next morning, I wanted her to sweat a little after what she put me through the night before. So I said, "Mikenna, I washed your jacket last night." Expecting her to freak out a little considering what she had in her pockets, she just said, "Thanks Mom." 'Thanks Mom', are you kidding me?!? So I said, "I emptied out your pockets so I could wash it." Again, a nonchalant "oh". I finally said, "Mikenna, you had a DEAD BIRD in your pocket! Why did you touch that let alone pick it up and take it home!?!" She looked just as grossed out as I was, and told me she thought it was just a big feather. "Um, no Mikenna, it was the bird's WINGS!" I was actually very relieved to know that she didn't do it on purpose, but I took that opportunity to tell her again that we don't touch dead things, not only is it disgusting, but they can carry diseases, etc... I think I will exercise more caution when emptying pockets for laundry, or better yet, make them all do their own!! I am scarred for life! Ew, Ew, EW! haha :)

Adiee is 5!

2011-04-19T13:42:00.000-07:00

...and has been for almost a month! I really need to get my butt in blogging gear! So much seems to be happening and it isn't being recorded! Shame on me! :-)

Doesn't she make a gorgeous "Tangled"?? :)

It definitely doesn't feel like it has been 5 years since we brought our beautiful Adiee home from the hospital... Time is flying by and I'm a little sad about it, but she is so much fun (they all are)! And she is sure excited to start kindergarten, my heart just sank a little typing that. She is so funny - she thought that she was going to start school the day after her birthday, as opposed to waiting until fall. She was taking a bath with her sisters when Kasey got home from work and he came into the bathroom with a bouquet of colorful daisies and a tinkerbell balloon. Made. Her. Night. Not much can get that kid out of the bathtub except for cold water but she hopped out faster than he could tell her happy birthday and she didn't even want a towel! Haha :) What a cutie! Noni came to town that weekend to help us celebrate her birthday, and what a great one it was!

Look at all those presents! What a spoiled little girl!! :-)

She loved being the center of attention while we sang to her, but who doesn't?? :)

Blowing Off Steam

2011-03-29T11:46:00.000-07:00

I hate that I haven't been blogging as much as usual lately... And I hate that "I'm busy" is my excuse - who isn't? Anyway, I have a lot going on right now! I feel kind of stressed out lately and it sucks! Kasey and I are still trying to accept that we live here in Rawlins (ridiculous, I know but it has been a long winter), I also just got my bill for my surgery last November and YUCK! It looks like we owe almost $7,000. I'm missing our old insurance right about now. Funny how one piece of mail can pretty much ruin your day... It's funny because when I opened it I was really upset about it and Kasey said "... it's a small price to pay to still have you here with me..." What a sweet man! :-) On top of all that, a couple of weeks ago I noticed Adiee's eyes would occasionally cross a little but I wasn't sure if she was just being silly or if she really couldn't help it, so I have been freaking out about that... Preschooling takes up a lot of my time; and I have been taking some time for myself and my creative outlet - hair bows and flower clips for my girls.

We took a quick little unexpected trip to Casper last weekend to go to the 4-H carnival, my grandpa's surprise "heart attack party", browsed Hobby Lobby, I also went to the health fair and got a blood chemistry panel along with some other screenings, and wanted to get the girls into the eye doctor. Unfortunately Dr. Hodgson's office couldn't squeeze us in for a full appointment, but Doug took Adiee and me back to give me some peace of mind (how nice! I got to know him real well when I worked for the vision center). It looks like she might be favoring her right eye and have slight esophoria (where her eye turns inward, but it's not all the time nor is it very often) she may need glasses, and we will go through the works when we come back. I made the appointment for the night before we leave to Denver right before our Disney World trip because I know we will be in town but I hope to be able to move that up just depending on Kasey's on-call schedule or perhaps I will go alone again, but I don't like doing that. Ugh!! So much going on I could scream!

I could really use a vacation, May can't come soon enough! 36 Days!!

Unexpected Hiatus

2011-03-03T07:07:00.000-08:00

Wow, I haven't not posted for this long ever since I started blogging almost 2 years ago. But, I'm back and I haven't quit my blog or anything; I just have been focusing on Adiee's preschooling more than ever these last couple months. She is making such progress and I have started to look for a couple classmates for her, it was a big decision for me to open my home up to the public but I am confident I made the right decision - Adiee now has that socializing aspect she was missing out on. She is so funny, she was talking to my mom the other day and she told her, "Mommy ordered me some friends!" We order online a lot since moving here so it seems we are always are getting packages so that's where she got that! Hilarious - I ordered her some friends... Poor girl! Haha :)

Just a few highlights...

Our daily calendar activity...

Added bonus: Isla is learning a whole lot too!

Coin sorting activity for President's Day...

Anyway, other things we have been up to in the months January and February hasn't been much but here it goes...

Kasey and I were dreading tax time since we have gone through so many changes over the past year. We made an appointment with an accountant to have them done because it was so intimidating all the forms we had to file, but I ended up doing them myself as I usually do (I decided I would give it a try and if it proved to be to much then I would just back out of it and keep our appointment). Call me crazy, but I really enjoy doing them; and I also saved us a minimum of $200-$300 so win/win! :) I took an accounting class in college and not only was I really good at it, but I loved it! Anywho, we were expecting the worst but were pleasantly surprised when we didn't owe anything.

The girls spent 2 nights in Casper with my mom the weekend before Valentines Day. It was really nice to spend a little time just being a couple. We ate dinner at a little restaurant called The Aspen House and Kasey bought me a necklace that I said I wanted a little while back. Not to mention the sweetest messages he writes me on Facebook. So it was pretty great! He is so good to me!

Mikenna has been doing fantastic in school, her teacher recently sent a note home covered with "O"s for outstanding in all aspects of the classroom. We are so proud of her. Adiee is going to be FIVE at the end of the month! She is so excited; me, not so much. Kasey and I are planning to revamp her bedroom. I have been ordering and gathering all sorts of goodies for her :) And Isla is now fully potty trained which is absolutely WONDERFUL!! I still have a hard time believing that I am completely done with diapers!

And finally... Drumroll please because this is a big one!!

Oh yeah, baby! We are thrilled to be able to take our sweet girls on such a vacation. They don't even know yet! Plane tickets are bought, Disney Resort is paid for, and we have reservations at all kinds of hot spots like character dining, dinner shows, and guaranteed seats for Fantasmic! a show with over 50 costumed characters, music, water effects, pyrotechnics, etc... Sure to be a BLAST!! I was bummed that the Cinderella's Royal Table was already all booked up, but I don't even think we will notice! Also, I ordered them each one of these babies with their names embroidered on the back.

We are planning on giving them to them sometime at the airport (right before boarding the plane, perhaps?) I don't know, we are SUPER excited though. We will be spending the night in Denver the day before we leave and we will go out to eat, swim, etc... Then we will be parking the Tahoe at DIA and will be riding a yellow with black polka dot shuttle to the airport. We will be in Orlando at 4:19 pm, will be riding the Disney Magical Express to the resort and that night we will be attending a luau type dinner and show with category 2 seats! We will be spending 5 nights there, and will be leaving the 6th day at noon, and will be back to Denver at 6:30! These next 2 months can't go quick enough!! :)

Could This Be It???

2010-12-31T20:35:00.000-08:00

I am SOOO proud to announce that ISLA has peed in the big girl potty right before bed tonight!! FINALLY!! :) I guess she got tired of fighting me on the matter and just did it! So now, I am wondering... Could this really be it?! Or is she just teasing me? I made quite the fuss over her, so I sure hope it sticks! She is my last baby, and I'm in no rush for her to get older, but I can't imagine that I will miss diapers at all (at least for a while, I do LOVE the baby stage) and especially the expense, we have been buying diapers for 1 or 2 kids at a time for 6 1/2 years now! It's hard to imagine a world that doesn't revolve around changing a yucky butt 10 times a day! Haha :) Not that I'm complaining, being a mom is what I was born to be and that's just one of the not so glamorous aspects! Well anyway, here's to a what's starting out to be a wonderful new year!

Good Grief...

2010-12-29T18:41:00.001-08:00

Well looks like this year is going out with a bang... Missed my husband's family reunion and tonight Isla split her head open and Adiee lost tooth #2!!

Since Kasey couldn't get away from work, I was going to go without him, but everyone's plans changed last minute. I don't really feel comfortable driving all by myself across 2 snowy mountain passes in of all places, Jackson Hole which has had record-breaking amounts of snow recently to get to the lodge in Idaho, so the girls and I were going to ride down with Kasey's brother. It would have been really nice to see everyone not to mention the girls would have had a blast, but it just wouldn't have been the same without him. Plus I would have REALLY missed him! I know, ridiculous right?! Haha :)

And tonight, Isla found and picked up a guinea pig poop and I yelled "Gross! Put that down!" (So I could pick it up and throw it away). So she dropped it, and said "YUCK!" with such gusto that she swung herself around, losing her balance and smacked the back of her head on the coffee table... Split her head right open! Ouch!

About an hour after the whole Isla thing happened, Adiee came into the living room and told Kasey to pull her tooth. Her second one, and in the same month as the first! Geez! At least he was here to see and do it this time - especially since it wasn't as wiggly this time. I don't know if I would have been able to do it! Haha :-) Tomorrow morning she will be delighted to put the new piggy bank she got for Christmas to good use!

Please excuse her horribly chapped lips... The dry, cold weather has taken it's toll, and her awful habit of licking them definitely does not help the matter!

Home for the Holidays

2010-12-27T21:51:00.000-08:00

My brother and sister flew into Casper to spend the holiday at home, so Kasey and I did our part (as much as we could)... We went on Friday, the 17th and stayed through the 26th. Kasey had to work in between so he drove to Rawlins and spent a couple nights there and drove back - what a trooper! That drive is boring!! So for the first time in 2 years my mom had all of her kids under one roof.

Third times a charm... Isla wanted nothing to do with Santa the first time she layed eyes on him this year. Then my mom had them overnight and took them to see him at the mall; she got her on his lap but only with bribery - a juicebox! Then this time was in their holiday dresses and she didn't put up much of a fuss and I think she actually kinda liked him this time... Ok, their wish lists change pretty much on a daily basis, this visit Mikenna asked for a Barbie airplane (Ummm, first time I heard about this one? and on Christmas Eve?) Adiee asked for Toothless (a dragon from one of her favorite movies, "How To Train A Dragon") and that has been a constant. And sweet little Isla asked for a coloring book - how cute is that?!Christmas Eve - we went to the mall to visit Santa, pick up the last few gifts, lunch, and playing in the play place... Proved to be a little much for Miss Adiee!
Christmas Night... Looks like our kiddos were pretty darn good this year! Santa was good to them this year! Stuffed their stockings to the brim and brought Mikenna a FurReal GoGo remote control dog; Adiee the Toothless that she had been asking for since she saw the movie; And for Isla, a baby care center.Christmas morning in their matching PJs... The five of us slept in the same room and they tried to get up at 3:30 AM! Nice try girlies! So they tried again at 7:30 - mucho better!

Toothless was a HIT! He is motion activated - 'spits fireballs', can flap his wings, makes a squealing sound when she makes him nosedive, and when she makes him fly upward he makes a wing flapping noise... She thinks he is pretty neat!
Isla is such a sweet little mommy!! She loves the bathtub part and had already tried to sit on the kitchen counter part and snapped it off... No worries though, daddy fixed it!

Mikenna loved her puppy, but was posing for a different camera in this shot. I took this picture because Isla's arms were crossed, she was just coming out of a mini-tantrum over nothing. Too funny!

Opening gifts is always a great time, but we took an intermission and had quiche and orange juice for breakfast. Delicious!
After we finished opening presents we got dressed and headed over to Kasey's brother's house. This is a picture of our beautiful princesses with their cousin Daphne. Aren't they gorgeous!?!

Adiee was all about the snacks! :)
She was and Graysen were jammin'! Her face is SO cute and it's funny that he looks so serious because he was just as into it!
Oh yeah, BABY!! Haha!
Merry Christmas Love O' My Life!After a few hours at Kyle and Windy's house, we went to my grandparent's house. They snacked a little bit and quickly fell asleep after laying down with Adiee to watch a movie. Meanwhile...
The rest of us had a Just Dance 2 Wii Party! :) What a GREAT time! Mikenna absolutely loved it! She was okay for a while without a remote, but once she got the hang of it, you would have to pry it from her little fingers! Haha
Mikenna and my brother played... So fun!
Even my grandpa and cousin Michael got up to do it!!
Action shot - look at that hair! Oh and look who's awake! :) Anywho, we went to see "Gulliver's Travels" the day after Christmas with Kyle and his family and afterwards packed up the Tahoe (what a PAIN! - 2 adults, 3 kids, 2 good-sized dogs, a guinea pig cage, and TOO many gifts including that big baby care center! How we did it, don't ask me!! We all, with the exception of the driver - Kasey (how did he get so lucky?), couldn't hardly move for 2 hours! We got home and had everything unpacked by 8 o'clock. PHEW! What a week!!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours! We hope you all are having a wonderful Holiday season!

Happy Birthday Kasey

2010-12-12T18:48:00.001-08:00

Happy 28th to my one and only!!
Your family loves you so much!

Toothless

2010-12-08T19:39:00.000-08:00

Miss Adiee lost her first tooth! She is TOO young if you ask me - only 4 1/2 years old!! It was a bummer because Kasey left for Billings the day before it happened and tooth-pulling is usually his department!

She was playing in her room while I was picking up the living room when she came out and said, "Mom, I need you to pull my tooth out." I looked at her tooth and it was hanging on by just a thread and I knew that I had to do it... I grabbed the video camera, and I had a heck of a time trying to get ahold of her tooth and hold the camera at the same time, but I got it and on tape.

She was super excited about putting her tooth under the pillow. The toothfairy came and left her a whopping 10 dollars for her first tooth which she later spent some of it on a little Tinkerbell toy. She loved picking out her toy and counting her own money for the cashier. She's got a second loose tooth on the bottom from pushing on that first one with her tongue.

Let Us Give Thanks

2010-11-25T07:22:00.002-08:00

This Thanksgiving the Brown Family was on their own. Kasey was on-call this weekend still so we were stuck here in Rawlins. We made the best of it though! :) I cooked my family a delicious feast, we played games, and watched Disney's "A Christmas Carol". Kind of a creepy movie! We went to the theater last year for it, and I remember it scared the pants off of Adiee (who was 3), and I didn't get to watch it, I walked up and down the hallway with a crabby Isla (who was 1 at the time). Kasey got called out right when we were getting ready to eat for 2-3 hours... But we made it work :-)

The girls and I prepared everything homemade: mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole (YUM! my favorite!), turkey stuffing, yams, pineapple stuffing, gravy (meat and non-meat for me), and 2 pumpkin pies! Thanksgiving morning, the three helped Kasey with the turkey! Everything turned out PERFECT! The kiddos cleaned their plate, they loved all the different foods!!

I am truly thankful for everyone and everything in my life...

30 things that I have to be thankful for - one for every day in November: (#1) I am so grateful to my wonderful husband, (#2) who not only works super hard so that I can be a stay-at-home mom, but also (#3) makes love and romance a big part of our marriage - so lucky *sigh*, I absolutely LOVE being your wife Kasey! We are so blessed to have (#4, #5, #6) our three sweet little girls Mikenna, Adiee, and Isla. And that (#7) we all have our health... I am thankful for (#8, #9) my mom, and mother and father-in-laws for all that they have done for us, I don't know what we would do without you. (#10, #11) My brother and sister for always being there for me, (#12) for each and every brother and sister-in-law; I love being a part of such a large family - I wish we got to see more of you more often! And (#13) for all of our extended family on both sides, EVERYONE included! I am thankful for (#14) my 12 year old cat Kleo even though I'm not really a cat person, and I suppose I should mention (#15) my two dogs, Pete and Sara, even though they tick me off pretty much everyday, Ha! I am so very fortunate to (#16) have a warm and cozy place to call home, with (#17) four bedrooms, a total sanity saver when the girls are bickering! (#18) Our comfy king-size bed... (#19) My tahoe! ;-) Is that vain? I do LOVE that car though, haha! I am thankful for (#20, #21, #22) hugs, kisses, and laughter. Speaking of laughter, I am thankful for (#23) the crazy lady in the Black Friday Target commercials, I get a kick out of them! (#24) Photography and (#25) blogging, for capturing moments, both big and small, that not only I will never forget, but my family will never forget as well. I am thankful for (#26) board games and the many entertaining times past, present, and future! :o) (#27) I love the Christmas season and all of my decorations, pulling them out year after year makes me feel so giddy! I am thankful for (#28) music and the emotions that certain tunes can tap into. And (#29) Dreams and Goals - I have so many hopes for the future! Lastly, I am extremely thankful that (#30) Kasey and I have everything that we NEED - love, eachother, our children, a roof over our heads, and food on our table. Counting your blessings is a little harder than one might think!

Capitol Christmas Tree

2010-11-25T07:21:00.001-08:00

This year the Capitol's Christmas tree, a 67-foot Engelmann spruce, came from the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming. It will be toured through Wyoming before making it's way to Washington DC. We got to see it Friday, November 12. It was pretty chilly outside, but that didn't stop very many people from coming out to see it - us included. :)

The downtown businesses were giving out these patriotic glow necklaces, the girls thought they were pretty cool!

We stood in line to go see the tree through a little plexi-glass window with that portion of it lit up with Christmas lights. They passed around markers for people to sign their names, there wasn't much room at eye level so Mikenna and Adiee wrote their names while Kasey held them up. Kasey writing "Brown Family 2010" Adiee was nervous about being held up while signing so her name came out a little funny - the 'd' looked a little like a 'g' because of where she put the line on the circle and one 'e' was backwards, while the last 'e' was left unfinished because I said "Great job, Adiee" so Kasey thought that meant that she was done :)Our Family :)

Gallbladders, Who Needs 'Em?

2010-11-13T14:50:00.000-08:00

So, I had a pretty rotten week! I started feeling sick Sunday night, went to the emergency room on Wednesday night, was admitted with gallbladder disease with a side of jaundice, had surgery Thursday, and was able to go home Friday night... Ugh! I have always been really healthy, so this was quite a shock!

Shortly after the girls went to bed on Halloween night, Kasey and I were watching TV before we went to bed and I fell asleep on the couch. He woke me up so that we could go to bed, I got up and all of a sudden I had sharp stomach pains. I felt like I was going to throw up and minutes later my back started to hurt horribly! Kasey tried to help me by popping my back, but it didn't help - not one bit! I tried really hard to fall back asleep, but after tossing and turning for quite a while, I got out of bed so I didn't keep Kasey up since he had to work in the morning. I wanted to throw-up so bad, even though I absolutely hate it, just so that I could feel better! A couple hours later, it finally happened and I didn't feel ANY different! I had no idea what to do. So after brushing my teeth, I got a heating pad and my pillow and layed down restlessly on the couch. It was awful.

Monday morning, Kasey got up to go to work and saw that I was still awake and in tears. I got up to get Mikenna ready for school, but he had called Mike and told him he was going to stay home to take care of me (awww... :-) he is so sweet) I told him I could handle it, but he insisted. So I took a hot bath while he got her ready, packed her lunch, and took her to school; the only thing I had to do is do her hair (and that's because I insisted! haha) Kasey was really worried because the pain hadn't let up ALL day, I have to admit that I was a little scared myself but I toughed through it and got a little bit of sleep that night.

Tuesday, I felt a little better so I thought I was getting better - maybe the stomach flu or something. I still had a constant dull pain in my stomach and back. I got more sleep that night than the last two and when I woke up Wednesday morning I thought I was definitely getting better because I felt pretty normal but still had a few twinges of that pain here and there. It was noon and I was skyping with my sister and I had to cut it short because all of a sudden the pain was back full-force and I was absolutely miserable. I was hurting so bad, and I put up with it until about 9 before I finally gave into the torturous pain and Kasey's "begging" to go to the doctor before I drove myself to the emergency room. It literally felt like I was in labor again...

I felt a little silly walking in because the pain seemed to subside a little again, but I decided to just go anyway. They took blood and started an IV because I was pretty dehydrated - getting the IV in was quite the ordeal, they poked and wiggled the needle around in both hands and finally got one in on the third try in the middle of my left forearm (not a very fun procedure to begin with, 3 times?! Ouch!) I layed there in the ER for 3 hours before the doctor came in and said that he wanted to ADMIT me! He said that he was worried about my labs because it looked like I had gallbladder disease caused by gallstones that were blocking the common bile duct and it was poisoning my liver and they were going to have to take it out. I didn't have an infection which was pretty much the only thing going for me, and the doctor was surprised because the risk of it happening increases substantially 6 hours after the onset of symptoms and I was going on 3 days. I was halfway expecting (or maybe hoping...) them to tell me to go home and quit being a baby, but SURGERY?!

Here I am - scared... exhausted... in a new hospital... in a new town... all by myself... and I was going to have surgery in the morning... with a surgeon I had never met... 4 incisions... organ removal... in a tiny little town... and so on... Have I made my point? I was TERRIFIED! I called Kasey, my mom, and texted Kasey's mom (she told me to text her as soon as I knew anything). I couldn't sleep hardly at all, and neither could Kasey; we talked on the phone until about 3:30 in the morning. After that, my brother called and talked to him for about an hour. I fell asleep due to pure exhaustion and was awoke by another needle. Anyway, Thursday Kasey and the girls came to see me and my mom cancelled all of her appointments to drive down to help us out with the kiddos which was so nice. I had an ultrasound, 10 hours worth of phone conversations, turned yellow from jaundice, and had my 2 1/2-hour surgery at about 3 in the afternoon. I briefly saw the girlies afterwards and my mom took them home while Kasey stayed in the hospital with me, but I was pretty out of it until about 9 or so. More bloodwork, painkillers, bandage removal, and finally I was able to go home at about 7 in the evening on Friday.

What a week, huh? My AST and ALT (liver enzymes) levels at 6:30 in the morning on Thursday were 700 when normal is 30-40!! There were some more elevated numbers, but that one was the one that really stood out. I learned that I had 2 gallstones the size of marbles and about a half a dozen smaller ones that I have probably had for quite some time but they just decided to act up, my gallbladder was inflamed so they had to make a larger incision to get it out, I have a blood vessel that is in a unique place (that they weren't expecting to be there, and made surgery a little tricky... Yikes.) and I saw a picture of it, and my liver enzyme levels were at 400 when they said I could go home. Still very high, but going down. Follow-up appointment in 2 weeks. Ugh!

Halloween Festivities 2010

2010-11-01T20:18:00.000-07:00

October 28, That morning, I brought our pumpkins inside so they would warm up for carving later. After school, a couple of neighbor kids came over to play with our girls. I wouldn't normally let older (the girl is 7 and the boy is 9) kids play with mine, but these little kids really tug at my heartstrings and I only allow it at my house and when I am right there so I can see and hear everything that goes on. Their mother really irks me because of many reasons. This summer I noticed her because she was driving recklessly and had a little boy (probably 2 years old) in the front seat, not in a seatbelt, and when she was stopped I heard the baby whine and she was yelling "shut up" at him!! They have another brother who is 4 - same age as Adiee and he can't put a sentence together or even say very many words that are understandable. The older ones are always coming over to play and she has never even come to say hello or cares who Kasey and I are; I mean, for all she knows we could be horrible people, but it doesn't seem to bother her at all. Really!? Anyway, when it came time to send them home, they realized that we were going to carve our pumpkins and the boy asked if they could stay but we had dinner to eat and homework to do before we even started (not to mention we only had enough pumpkins for our girls). He wanted to stay because they didn't have pumpkins at home because his "Mom didn't want to spend the money on pumpkins for us" and because "the economy has really messed us up" The latter sounds a little rehearsed does it not? It did when he said it. I felt awful after they left. I couldn't even eat dinner, I was all teary-eyed and sad so I left, went to the grocery store and bought 4 pumpkins, a carving kit, and a pack of tealights. Afterwards, we all had a great time cutting up our pumpkins!!
The girls drawing the faces on...

The girls pulling the pumpkin's guts out... :)

It's kind of a dark picture, but this is our little pumpkin family. Kasey's was a little monster, mine is the witch face, Isla's looks like a 3-eyed alien or something, and the girls did great drawing and cutting out their faces...

I cleaned up the pumpkin mess, and stayed up super late so I could annonymously leave the pumpkins on the neighbors doorstep. I've come to the conclusion that I would never make it as a burglar! I was so panicky about getting caught! Haha ;)

October 30, My mom came to visit us Friday and stayed until Sunday afternoon. So since we don't leave our girls with anyone we don't know and trust, date nights are few and far between anymore... So we took advantage of her being in town, even though the whole night went wrong :) We had reservations for the haunted prison tour at 11:30 that night so we decided we would go to a couple of movies before hand. After dinner, we went to the theater to see Jackass 3D, but that wasn't what was playing. We ended up going to Paranormal Activity 2 since that was what was playing when we got there. We went back home to tuck the kids into bed, then took off to see Jackass. We sat down and then realized we had gone into the wrong theater, we were going to watch Secretariat. Well, the movie hadn't started yet which was good except that it was running late and we didn't have time to watch the very end because we were going to be late for the prison tour. When we got to the car, Kasey had locked the keys in the car (I never want to hear anything ever again!! I am the locking keys in the car-est person I have ever met but it wasn't my fault this time!! haha) So we called my mom to find the phone number of the locksmith we knew of, but he didn't answer. Kasey had to run all the way home (just down the street) so we could use my mom's car so we could still get to the prison tour and we would worry about getting ahold of the locksmith afterwards. We made it just in time to wait in a long line, only to find out that they didn't take debit card tonight!! So we had to hurry to the bank to get cash so that they wouldn't leave us behind. Turns out that the prison tour was a total joke, $22 to have someone throw water in Kasey's ear and listen to a bunch of high schoolers scream and grab you. Think of the potential, they could have easily scared the pants off of you which was what I was hoping for :) Anyway, we went home to get ahold of a different locksmith and when we did, we went to the movie parking lot to wait... and wait... Finally 45 minutes and 50 dollars later, we were able to go home and go to SLEEP!!! What a night! ;)

Mikenna, Adiee and Isla in costume... Adiee was Tinkerbell, Mikenna was a princess, and Isla was once again a ladybug. She got her fairy costume dirty, so we switched last minute... Gotta be flexible if you don't want to go insane I guess! ;) haha!

We went to the community's halloween carnival at the rec center, but it was pretty lame. There was only about 2 games, a crowded bouncy house, and the haunted house for kids was scarier than the haunted prison tour. We stayed for maybe 20 minutes or so. Before heading home, we went door to door to trick-or-treat which was chilly but a lot of fun. All-in-all the girls had a fantastic time!

Mikenna and her candy "stash"
Adiee and her "stash"
Isla and her "stash" Doesn't she look happy? haha

At about 6:30, we got home from trick-or-treating so while the girls counted and drooled over all their candy, I made them hot cocoa and topped it off with whipped cream (as if they didn't have enough sugar staring them in the face!! haha) to warm their little bodies up. We all watched Hocus Pocus while we waited for any trick-or-treaters, but it seems we got home just in time because the rain started coming down. We only had about 2 trick-or-treaters. Happy Halloween ALL!

Our Little "Rock" Stars

2010-11-01T20:17:00.000-07:00

October 30 was a beautiful day and my mom had come down for the weekend so we decided to show off the girls' skills :-)

There are these awesome cliffs close-by probably 25 - 30 feet or so. Kasey set up the top rope system and then repelled down the rock wall. He is so cute, he gets so excited over this stuff :)

Mikenna was up first...
She did great! She reached the top caribiner - Whoo hoo!

Then she repelled down the rock face so Adiee could take her turn.

Next up, ADIEE!!

She reached the top too!! I was so proud of her. She has a slight height phobia but she pushed through it and climbed ALL the way up!

She seemed to like the ride down a lot! Super fun and hardly any work for her... :)

Isla loved watching her sisters climb, throwing small stones, eating chips, and giving me a heart attack. She just fractured her clavicle 3 weeks ago and she seemed bound and determined to break it again, or something else! EEK! Thank goodness my mom was there. I wouldn't have gotten many pictures since I would be chasing this little booger around uneven terrain. haha :)

Such a pretty girl!
We got done climbing just in the nick of time... The wind was picking up, and Isla was making it known that it was cutting into her naptime! haha :)

Great time spent outdoors as a family...

I Broke My Baby :(

2010-10-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

(This x-ray was taken on Wednesday, 10/13/10.) Well, I didn't break my baby, but I feel terrible that this happened. On Monday, 10/11/10, Isla had an accident. She and Adiee were playing in Adiee's bedroom. Well I keep all of the girls' stuffed animals on the unused top bunk of Adiee's bed to keep them from taking over our entire house, I keep the ladder put away so that it's less accessible; but Adiee had climbed up there anyways in front of Isla and she decided to do it too... Bad Idea!! She only fell about a foot - less than a fall from the couch, bed, etc... It was just the way she fell. When it happened, I ran to her and could tell that she had gotten pretty hurt. It was about 11 a.m. and she wanted to take her nap, but I kept her up for a little bit to make sure she didn't have a concussion, tried to feed her lunch but she wasn't in the mood. I gave her some motrin and laid her down. I woke her up when it was time to leave to go pick up Mikenna from school and she was sobbing. I called Kasey and told him to hurry home so I could take her to Urgent Care. (Yes, Rawlins has an Urgent Care :) haha)

I asked her to move her arms and hands around to see if something may be broken, and she kept her left arm down with minimal movement at all. I was a walk-in, so we were at the doctors office for 2 1/2 hours. She is such a tough little thing. She was so scared of all the new people, big scary machines, etc... It was so sad, because not only was she hurting but I couldn't seem to comfort her enough. He gave her a sucker and a small toy from a treasure chest and even that didn't calm her nerves too much.

She was terrified of the x-ray machine. I told her it was just a camera like mommy's only way bigger. She kept repeating, 'big, hooge, camera?" :) But it didn't matter, she hated it. Well, they only got her arm in the x-ray picture even though I stressed that the problem didn't seem to be her arm, but her shoulder. He observed the x-ray and there were no breaks. "Just give her tylenol and motrin for the pain and we will do a follow-up on Thursday."
Well, I took her today instead of tomorrow. She was still in a great deal of pain and so I decided to take her in early. Then while Kasey was getting her dressed (it was like 4 in the afternoon, but she was still in her comfy jammies since I didn't plan on going anywhere til now) He noticed that her arm was extremely swollen. I tried to get a picture to show how puffy it was, but this doesn't really do it justice. It only confirmed that I was going to take her in NOW!

I took off her shirt to make sure that the doctor could see the difference between shoulders, tell him that she still is in quite a bit of pain, still keeps her arm in an imaginary sling position, doesn't like to be picked up, hates being buckled in the carseat because it really hurts, and is extremely cautious when she plays. (She takes after me, and is kinda klutzy at certain times of the day - but not at all lately!!)

I asked for another x-ray but of her shoulder this time. He had an x-ray/ultrasound tech do it this time. We had to do it 3 times (because of me... I had no idea that my fingers and wedding ring was blocking right where they wanted to see.) I was trying to hold her still and they had her laying on a mat that had a sharp corner and I was cushioning her head. On the upside, I asked if I could take home one of the outtakes, so I could have it for her baby book/scrapbook/or whatever.

And sure enough, Momma does know best. I knew that she was hurt, I knew that it was her shoulder... She has a fractured clavicle, and I feel awful. She picked the sling with the little teddy bears on it, she doesn't have to wear it but it will help her relax her muscles that were constantly tense when she was holding it up herself. We go back in 3-4 weeks and he said that it should be completely healed; it was fractured but still aligned thank goodness!! I guess I now have a tarnished record... 6 years, 3 kids and not one call to poison control, not one trip to the ER for an injury, and my kiddos are hardly EVER sick! :( We love you little missy! Feel better soon! :-)

10.10.10

2010-10-10T19:22:00.000-07:00

Exactly 7 years ago today, Kasey asked me to be his wife.

(This pic was taken on Labor Day 2010 right before we went to the zoo.)

Grow old with me,
the best is yet to be...

Student of the Month

2010-10-07T20:05:00.001-07:00

I got a letter in the mail saying that Mikenna had been awarded 'Student of the Month' and that they were going to make an announcement during their lunch time. The girls and I packed our lunches and went to Mikenna's school to eat with her. During this announcement, I learned that it really is something to be proud of... Not every student will be "Student of the Month" - only the kids that are kind, hard-workers, get their homework done, punctual, well-behaved, etc... Their teachers are the ones who pick them, Thank you for recognizing our wonderful Mikenna, Miss Reed!! :)
Definitely another one of our "Proud Parent Moments"!! Way to go Mikenna!! Keep up the great work! We are so lucky to be your mom and dad!!

Now Entering Terrible Twos!

2010-10-04T20:16:00.001-07:00

Isla is now TWO! Our baby isn't much of a baby anymore! We went to Casper for the weekend to celebrate with my mom and Kasey's parents, Pam and Ralph, cousin Sophie, as well as Aunt Melanie via Skype! She demanded that we put her new dress-up outfit on her the second she opened it!!

Kasey and Isla putting the candles in the cake... She's wearing the new PJs that Grandma Pam and Grandpa Ralph bought the girls!
Isla and her momma... Just a quick snapshot :-)

More Updates :-)

2010-09-27T19:20:00.001-07:00

I am almost caught up! Between yesterday and today I have gotten a lot done!

Summer 2010
Adiee's First (Real) Haircut
First Day of First Grade
Some More August
Worlando
Labor Day Weekend
Adiee's "Classroom"
Swim Lessons

I have put so many pictures on here, you will have to go all the way to the bottom and press older post to see some of the new stuff!

Swim Lessons

2010-09-27T10:35:00.000-07:00

Kasey started teaching the girls swim lessons M/W/F about 2 weeks ago. He was a lifeguard and taught swim lessons in high school, so he definitely knows what he's doing and they are already making progress! Plus it is great Daddy/Daughter time :) In order for them to go, they need to have their rooms clean, homework done, and dinner eaten... So it helps me out too :)

Adiee's "Classroom"

2010-09-27T09:02:00.000-07:00

I decorated the girls' playroom to look more like a classroom for Adiee since I'm her "preschool teacher" this year.

I have spent hours and hours researching tips and activities, putting together lesson plans. I've ordered workbooks and CD-ROMs from school zone publishings website. I want this to be as close to her previous preschool years as I can make it :)

Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-26T22:42:00.000-07:00

Mike, the other guy that works at the station with Kasey, unexpectedly took the on-call for the weekend! So we went to Denver for a couple days! An impromptu trip that would have our summer end on a good note... It started fun with the short day trip to South Dakota, the middle wasn't too much fun, but ended with a 2-day trip to Denver. We had a blast! Beware, there's lotsa pictures in this one!!

We got up really early Saturday morning and ate breakfast at home, then hit the road. We pulled into town just as stores and attractions were opening. Our first stop was the REI - Denver Flagship store... A must on our itinerary every time we come here :) They have this awesome rock outside for the kiddos to climb.

Our next stop, the Downtown Aquarium. Another family favorite. The last time we were here, miss Isla was in my belly! :) It's been too long between visits!

Mom and Dad with the girlies...

The tiger came down to say hello ;)

I thought this picture was hilarious! It was pitch black and the flash had captured this: haha! :) Silly girl

LOOK! ;-)

Yikes!! The girls thought this was great! All of them besides Isla that is! Haha :) Not a chance!The last part of the aquarium, Mikenna and Adiee got to touch the sting rays; another thing that Isla wasn't interested in! Haha :) She liked to watch, but there was no way she was putting her hand in there with those strange swimmers!

Adiee really wanted to see the mermaids, we got to see them when they were outside the tank, but the show wasn't going to start for another 2 hours and we had stuff to do! She was glad she at least got to see them :) Then we had lunch at PF Changs... YUM!

Apparently she was very thirsty!

Mikenna with her chopsticks!

Adiee was determined to get it... And she did! We wanted a light lunch because we had dinner plans. So we ordered 2 appetizers and an entree. It was the perfect amount of food and it was delicious. We got the lettuce wraps, salt and pepper calamari, and the mongolian beef.

We then checked into our hotel and relaxed for a while. We were going to go to a movie but opted for a short snooze. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency, the girls loved the express clock elevator and since we stayed on the 7th floor, it made it even more fun to ride the elevator!

They LOVE hotels!

Outside Casa Bonita... It was a little disappointing, our eating area was pretty neat, it was like a cave, but it seems that everything went on while we were sitting in our nook. We went through the haunted house, (we did this 2 years ago when we were here last time and did the haunted house over and over as requested by these two) but this time, it scared Mikenna to death!

The girls liked the gorilla, except Isla obviously! :) We caught the tail end of the show, and when he didn't jump into the waterfall we ended up leaving a little disappointed. The ones who count had a great time though, so it was still well worth it.

After dinner, we came back to the hotel to go SWIMMING! We stayed down there for a couple hours... Boy were they wiped out!

View of downtown Denver from our hotel room.

It's zoo time!! :) We headed to the Denver Zoo for the day. Mikenna was in charge of the camera and took about 200 pictures of random animals; Kasey and I would grab it for a couple quick snapshots that you see here :) The weather was about 75 degrees, it was perfect!

Kasey, the girls and the elephants :)

The girls and I inside the Lorikeet Adventure.

They all got turns feeding the lorikeets nectar...

Something Adiee missed out on last time, she was so tired she fell asleep in the stroller. But not this time!

Finally a little bravery from the little one! Haha :) Isla thought the birds were neat!

Isla is such a character!
Walking with daddy, watching the ducks, geese, and peacocks...

Isla was gettin' sleepy.

On our way home, we saw a huge plume of smoke which we later found out that it was the rampant wildfire in Boulder. This picture isn't the greatest - it was taken with my cell phone in a moving car... So, not the best quality, but the sun looked cool through the smoke! What a weekend - and we thought that we were going to spend our three day weekend bored at home! Thank You Mike! Haha :)

Worlando

2010-09-26T21:34:00.000-07:00

August 27-29:

We drove to Worland for the weekend to see Kasey's family. Our niece Nicole was getting married on Saturday. It was great seeing (almost) everyone again.Congratulations Mike and Nicole Cochrane! I hope you guys enjoy being married as much as we do! Welcome to the family Mike. :-)
Isla was a busy little bee during the reception! She was all over the place and was Grandma Pam's biggest fan that night (which made it easy on me ;) Just kidding) It was a little nuts trying to keep track of that little booger and who had her last, etc...

Kasey dancing with the bride. He also won a dance with one of the twins during the Auction Dance... :)

Mikenna kept coming to find us for more dollars during their "dollar dance" so that she could dance with Nicole's "Prince" Haha :) She is so boy crazy!

We spent some time just lounging around at Kasey's dad's house before the 3 1/2 hour drive home.

Kasey and Krista

Mommy and Adiee

I think this picture is kinda funny - I can't tell if she's enjoying it! Haha :)

Almost the same story here!
That's funny! All three of them are little spacey popsicle eaters! :-) On the drive home, we stopped in Riverton for dinner at a buffet-style restaurant (nothing special) but Mikenna and Adiee were raving about it! They said it was their favorite restaurant of all time! (Maybe because they got to pick their own food, but we've done the whole buffet thing before...) Kids are funny!

Blog Updated :)

2010-09-26T14:13:00.001-07:00

Well, not completely! :) I have spent too much time in front of my computer uploading tons of photos, and writing little captions and stories I think I'm going to call it good for today!

Summer 2010
Adiee's First (Real) Haircut
First Day of First Grade

And I've got more coming :) But I'm going to go outside and enjoy this beautiful day with my family!

Some More August

2010-09-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

August 20-22:

The weekend before school started, the girls spent the weekend in Casper with my mom. This is the first time we have ever been apart for this long. We met at Muddy Gap and it was a teary goodbye. They have stayed the night before but we would drop them off that night for dinner, while we went to dinner and a movie, then we would be there to pick them up the next morning. It was really wierd knowing that I wasn't going to see them in the morning; but on the other hand it was nice to be just a husband and wife for a day or two. :) It was funny because we needed something at the grocery store and Kasey asked, "Do you want me to go, or do you want to go?" Haha! It didn't even sink in that we were alone right away! :) We spent our weekend going around town exploring the stores and shops, going to dinner, and I went to Kasey's station while he did his on call stuff. It was a nice break, but we were so ready to see the kiddos.

They had so much fun (as always) with their Noni! They went to a family barbeque and rode a horse that was staying with my Aunt and her family. My mom texted me a lot during their stay with what they were doing and how much fun they were having. I also got to talk to them on the phone - a rare treat for me... I'm always with them, everyone else talks to them on the phone! :)

August 23:

Kasey built the girls a sandbox the day after they came home and they absolutely LOVE it! Not only has it been a hit since with our girls, but the whole neighborhood! I don't know if that's a good thing though, some of the kids that want to come over are quite a bit older than our kiddos and I worry about the things that they may teach mine. I know some of it is unavoidable, but I do the best I can :-)

Look at our beautiful little girls! They are such a joy to have around! :) I LOVE MY FAMILY!!

I'm BAAAAACK!!!! ;)

2010-09-23T11:22:00.000-07:00

I have been having issues with my internet connection and finally had a guy come out today, and thank goodness it's fixed! :) So be looking forward to some major back-blogging!! I can't believe it has been this long, I have SO much to write about!

Miss Isla will be TWO YEARS OLD in 1 week!!! Time can slow down anytime now!! haha :)

School? Or Free Daycare?

2010-08-27T12:40:00.000-07:00

I am seriously peeved at the moment. Mikenna has been in school for 3 days now and has not had one homework assignment or any papers coming home what-so-ever. I will be making an appointment with the school/teacher and find out just what the heck they have been doing and what they want the kids to accomplish this year. I'm not this crazy, fly-off-the-handle parent either or think that my daughter is a genius and should be put in college; I just feel that they should at least be getting started already!

Mikenna comes home, I ask her what she did for the day, "Um, I played with playdoh, and went on a bus to see ponies." Okay, did you learn anything? "Ummm, I did shapes..." Did you read? "My teacher read us a story, she has the same book we have..." Did you do numbers? "We wrote some numbers on a dry erase board..." I understand that we are only 3 days in, and some things may have slipped her mind. But Mikenna can read, write, do addition and subtraction using numbers up to 20 so far, among MANY other things. Playdoh and shapes in my oppinion are things learned in preschool and reviewed in kindergarten... They get it, let's move on...

I also feel that there is a lack of communication, the bus thing kind of irks me the wrong way, I don't mind if she goes on field trips but I would at least to know that they have our daughter out on a bus and what the purpose of the trip is - even if it's for fun, I'm all for fun, I just want to know about it.

I hope that things were just slow this week, being the first week of school. But before we waste too much time, I think I may need to speak with the teacher about what exactly is on the agenda for first grade. Wow, I was hoping I would feel better after venting, but not so much!! GRRRR!! :(

First Day of First Grade

2010-08-25T11:12:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that my sweet Mikenna is already in first grade! We went to her open house to meet her teacher and her new classmates; but we were the only ones there and we stayed for quite a while! Mikenna's backpack was so full that she had to lean over to keep from falling over! :)

This is Miss Reed, her first grade teacher at Mountain View Elementary (they are planning on merging the three elementary schools in January 2011 so it will be Rawlins Elementary soon.)
I was so nervous for her: a new school, new teachers, new kids, new everything! I stayed in the doorway for a little bit to make sure that she was comfortable before I left her. She was much more shy with the teacher yesterday than with the kids today, so I'm relieved! :) She was talking with Mary, Kaden, and Gavin.

We all missed her so much while she was away!!

She wanted a to cut her hair shorter, so she has a very subtle a-line do now that is just adorable!

Before

We LOVE spending time at Noni's salon! :)

There wasn't much for supplies this year, but that's what her list called for... We went to Casper to get her supplies, clothes for all 3 of them, and to see Noni of course! ;) When we got to the stores there, they were picked clean - both Target and Walmart didn't have a pack of pencils in sight. I never wait this long, and now I realize why! :)

Adiee's First (Real) Haircut

2010-08-25T08:16:00.000-07:00

I say "real" haircut, because miss Mikenna cut her hair when she was only 18 months... It was a very tragic day for me! Haha :) It hasn't been funny up until this moment, because she has spent the last 2 1/2 years trying to grow it back! She is in desperate need of a haircut because of all the different lengths. It took some talking her into, because she want's Rapunzel hair and she told Kasey, "When mom waters my hair, it goes all the way down here" (trying to reach her mid-back) It's the cutest thing! But we need to even it up!

Before:

See all those different lengths in her hair!

During:
She was so excited!!

Look at her!! She is LOVING getting her hair washed!
After:
Isn't she GORGEOUS!?!?!

Adiee's Actual First Haircut:

I had just got a ponytail in her hair for the first time and Mikenna had chopped it off before I had a chance to take a snapshot. I was sure this wasn't going to happen to me, I was always so careful about where I kept our scissors... I had just gotten done trimming Mikenna's bangs the day before and I didn't wait for her to leave the bathroom completely before I put the scissors away (in the medicine cabinet, behind everything, on the top shelf, on the opposite side of the toilet) So that means, that she had climbed onto the toilet, got onto the counter, walked over to the other side, opened the cabinet without falling off and retrieved those stinkin' scissors. The day it happened, I went upstairs to see what those little boogers were doing and it was sort of late in the afternoon so the lighting was dim in the hallway. I passed Mikenna coming out of my room and she was on her way down the stairs - "Hi, Mikenna"; "Hi mommy". I saw my bathroom light was the only one on so I went to see if Adiee was in there. Sure enough, she was sitting on the floor. I went to pick her up and noticed all these tiny slivers of hair on her clothes, so I brushed them off and then saw her ponytail was GONE!!! So, I screamed "Mikenna!!! Get up here now!!!" I was so incredibly mad at her! When she came into the bathroom, I took one look at her and just started bawling! Not only had she cut off Adiee's barely there hair, she had also cut off her own bangs and ponytails!! It was a sad day for me to say the least, I called a couple girlfriends who had girls so I could fall apart and they would understand... Kasey and my mom were the last on the list because I knew they were just going to laugh - and they did!! Well, needless to say, Mikenna didn't touch another pair of scissors until she was in preschool! And after it was all said and done, I was very thankful that there were no missing ears or fingers - no blood whatsoever. So it definitely could have been worse, that's for sure!! :)

Adiee and Isla were goofing off with clippies while Mikenna was getting her hair cut :)

Queen of Randomness

2010-08-23T09:19:00.000-07:00

My sweet Adiee wakes up this morning and crawls into bed with me and says in one sentence only pausing to breathe, "You are the beautifullest mom... You are such a nice mom... I like your hair...(she's got to be fibbing, I'd just woke up myself) I love my pretty mom, you need some dangly sparkly blue earrings with horseshoes on them then you would look even prettiest...(now that's specific!! I wonder where I could find some, they sound gorgeous! haha)" I laugh and say, "Why thank you Adiee", then she says, "I don't like your dragon breath!" (Ohhh, there's a truth! Yes, you caught me, I haven't brushed my teeth yet Adiee) Haha!! She is so funny! Great start to my Monday! :-)

Summer 2010

2010-08-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

So my forecast for 2010 hasn't turned out anything like I thought it would at the beginning of the year... Starting with having to cancel our Oregon Coast trip because of a great job opportunity - it was a total bummer, but sometimes you have to do the grown-up thing, right? But it wasn't for nothing, Kasey landed the job that he had been after since he first started the electrical apprenticeship! And our summer has been pretty LAME to say the least! Half of it was spent apart, and the other half was spent moving, and having to stay in Rawlins because of on-call weekends...

Swimming Beauties...

Isla may just be a jump-aholic :) She loves the trampoline!

We went for a family hike earlier this summer. I have quite a few pictures but these are a couple of my favorites:

Miss Adiee had her hair pulled back in a nice ponytail and a crown (the jeweled headband she insisted on having...) After climbing mountains and a few re-adjustments this is what her hair looked like - a MESS!! But still beautiful to say the least! :)Pretty little Mikenna!
Isla loved throwing rocks into the creek, she was very particular about which ones she was going to throw! :) Funny little thing!
Just a couple of our pictures from the camping trip from the post "Go Ahead and LAUGH!!" The one camping trip we went on this summer - which is unheard of in this family! :)
Kasey and his brothers had been planning a camping trip for a few days in the Big Horn Mountains but they changed their plans so that they could include us since he had to stay in Rawlins for his on-call weekends, but a lot of good that did... He couldn't even stay out there with everybody because there is no cell phone reception! So we all spent a lot of time going to town to hang out with him, so again a camping trip that didn't count (not to mention it was freezing and windy) :/ But it was sweet of all of them and their families for trying to accomodate us :)
It may have been cold and windy, but that didn't stop the kiddos from having a good time :) They picked me a bouquet of wild flowers, we saw a family of big horn sheep when we went to check out the dams, had a picnic at the park in Sinclair so Kasey could come during his lunchbreak, and went to the prison museum.

Fourth of July weekend, Kasey was stuck in Rawlins by himself and I spent it with my family at my grandparents place at the lake. I was going to drive to Rawlins to be with Kasey, but he wanted the girls to see the fireworks. Turns out we wouldn't have missed anything because the city of Rawlins put on a decent show, but hind sight is 20/20... We were on the phone during the display so he could hear Isla's reaction to the bursts of fire in the sky since she was just a sleeping baby during this time last year. During this weekend, I got french braids in Adiee's hair for the first time and she LOVED it! She is always begging me to braid her hair because I do Mikenna's all the time but her hair wasn't hardly long enough - note all the stray hairs around her face, but who cares... It made her happy and that's what counts :)
There was so much excitement that weekend, Isla passed out on the couch because she wasn't about to close her eyes on purpose and miss anything!! haha :) She looks so sweet!

I was looking through some of our pictures to use for this post and I found this funny one, it was moving day and the girls were having a blast sitting in Kasey's kayak.

That's it for now... :)

Operation Relocation

2010-07-31T21:45:00.001-07:00

Moving day has come and gone, and our relocation is officially complete. It doesn't quite feel that way yet because of how much unpacking and organizing I still have to do. We have so many things, I'm a bit sick of looking at it all! I thought I would take a break from it all to blog about everything so here ya go! :) There are things I like about the new house - the size is nice, and there are some things I definitely don't - like that our air conditioner keeps tripping the breaker, so the heat is miserable; there is a fenced yard but it is pretty pitiful, no trees, scattered patches of grass, no privacy... But beggars can't be choosers - we are just glad to be together again! But really, I do feel very lucky to have found a decent place to live when we did. After looking for months and only finding apartments and houses that were too small and/or gross, it was beginning to look hopeless.

As for adjusting to my new surroundings, I haven't left the house much because I have had so much to do here, but so far it drives me nuts that I am forced to shop at City Market (pretty much the only grocery store in town) they are a bit more expensive, the layout doesn't make any sense, and it's been congested every time I have gone so I have decided that I'm going to do my shopping when Kasey is home so I don't have to take the girls. Also, last weekend we went downtown for some ice cream and we were going to go to Sanfords for some lunch, only to find that they had closed it down. It was the only main stream sit down restaurant here... And, we don't really like the greasy spoon or restaurant/bar types, and there are quite a few of those. But maybe we will have to give a few of them a try before I discount all of them. What are ya gonna do? Make lemonade that's what! Haha :) I will just have to use this as an opportunity to fine tune my already awesome cooking skills! ;0)

School starts August 25th and I am still looking for a preschool for Adiee. I may just work with her myself, while Isla is napping and Mikenna is at school. But that isn't ideal because I don't want her to miss out on the field trips and I feel that socializing on her last year of preschool before kindergarten is pretty important. If that's what I end up doing I will have to see about putting her in a few activities through the rec center if they offer them to solve the socializing aspect of this dilema. It will definitely be a transition... I already miss my mom and everyone else, and the amenities and conveniences of a town of at least Casper's size.

A few of our Moving Day pictures...

Kasey has always really liked Chris... What do you think, should I be suspicious? haha :)
The girls making good use of the noodles... :)

It was a little much for miss Isla... She pulled that pillow and blanket across the lawn and napped for quite a while :) Isn't she the sweetest??

Goodbye tire swing...

At the new house...As if we didn't have enough to do, Isla dumped the remaining potting soil while eating dinner. Thanks Isla. Kasey was home so he helped me. I cleaned up the peeved baby while he cleaned up the table, chair, and floor. Halfway through, he said that he thought he got the harder job but in all fairness he was the one who wanted to switch and that's why I accepted so quickly! Haha!! ;)

Finally!!

2010-07-15T00:39:00.000-07:00

I have some GREAT news!! :) I don't have to be a single mom and Kasey doesn't have to be a bachelor anymore (when you have a wife as awesome as me, being a bachelor isn't any fun! ;) haha!) I'm so excited to be married again!! Haha! Kasey has found a place that doesn't belong in the 'Heck No!' category in houses... I haven't seen the inside and I'm not too thrilled with the poor excuse of a yard, but like I said before - I DON'T CARE!! It's 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and in good condition, so it sounds fine to me!! Kasey is on-call again this weekend...go figure! But I'm going to go down this weekend and see him and the new house... I'm feeling good and optimistic, more like myself again!! Finally!! :)

Oh, and packing is exhausting when you're doing it solo! :)

Miss Isla

2010-07-14T23:33:00.001-07:00

I haven't updated on Isla alone in quite some time, and now it's kind of hard because it's not a matter of what she can do, it's what she can't do that is the question!! :) She is now 22 months. She walks, runs, jumps, dances (complete with booty shakes and twirls! haha!!) and talks ALL the time! I can't even give a list of words because it would be too extensive! Isla gets her point across all the time, she can even tattle on her big sisters, let me know when she wants to eat, drink, or nap, and get my undivided attention (mama, mama, MAMA, and then proceeds to tap me (she will even turn my head to look at her!) until I respond and really listen! Cute, but sometimes annoying! haha) The list goes on... And it's been this way for quite some time! She has such a spitfire personality! :-) She is a total daddy's girl, he gets ALL the kisses he wants, I have to work my tush off to get just one! But when he is gone, I get his loves - probably the only perk to him being gone. I do believe that she will be fairly easy to potty-train, she doesn't like dirty diapers at all! Or dirty anything for that matter. When we move, we plan to take her crib side off and replace it with the toddler rails so that she can get in and out of bed. She is such a loveable little girl and she is getting soooo BIG!

Until next time... ;)

I NEED TO MOVE!

2010-07-08T16:27:00.001-07:00

I can't wait to move so that Kasey and I can be together again! I miss him so much, it seems he isn't ever able to come home because he is on-call constantly. I know he misses us too, he hasn't been able to be a part of things he always is... Recitals, Mikenna's party, 4th of July (I bawled my eyes out, I just felt so bad that he was all alone), and the camping trip with his brothers (they changed the location so he could come when he wasn't working, but there was no cell phone reception so he couldn't! Grr!) Everything is just hard right now and the phone calls and e-mails aren't cutting it... The girls and I are so lonely for him it's not even funny. One morning when I was letting the dogs into the backyard, Isla (21 months) heard a lawn mower and she pushed the door open and yelled, "DADDY!" It was so cute, but a little sad. Another morning, right after a weekend that he was home, I was cooking pancakes and Adiee said, "I will go wake daddy up!" while running to our room. And Mikenna is always asking, "When is dad coming home?" :( Not fun!

Hopefully soon something will come up, everything we have seen has been too small or too dumpy - I'm not even that picky anymore. I can always scrub it clean, or even something to get us down there initially. Also, I'm stressing about Mikenna being in school limbo. Fort Caspar Academy is no longer holding her place and we can't register her at her new school until we actually live there - school starts August 25th, still a ways away but that kind of thing always seems to creep up on ya. I also need to check out preschools, I really don't like having such limited choices. Adiee's teacher gave me the names of the two she knows of, and one of their names are 'Project Reach', now that is definitely not my first choice purely because of the name! It sounds to me like an organization for neglected kiddos or something. :(

I don't know... Maybe I'm just being too judgemental... I'm stressed, StReSsEd, STRESSED!! :-/

Party Time!

2010-07-08T16:15:00.000-07:00

Planning Mikenna's Birthday is always hard because it's summer, and everyone gets super busy or leaves town - we always are! Well it's that time again this year and time was slipping away yet again, and we are right in the middle of relocating, 4th of July, camping with Kasey's brothers, and Kasey has been working a ton... So we had to just pick a date and hope that some of her friends would be able to make it; that day was July 2nd - the Friday before the 4th... Not a very smart idea but the plan was for Kasey to be able to make it, and it not be too long after her actual birthDAY. I was really wanting to throw the party myself, but time was just running out and we went to a going away party for her friend Brooklynn and she had a blast; Mikenna also leaned over to me when we were there and said, "This is where I want to have my party so I can sit in that princess chair!" Haha :)

We sent out about 20 invites in hopes that we could get a few kiddos to come! :(

Sending the invitations...

Out of all the friends we invited, there were 6 at the party (including Mikenna and Adiee) Disappointing, but it was expected. And to boot, Kasey ended up being on-call so he couldn't come home at all that weekend! :( So I dropped Isla off at Noni's house, that's an expensive store to put a baby down in...haha!

They painted their own tiles which I have to go pick them up and deliver them along with Thank You notes.

After they were done painting, it was time to open presents! She got all sorts of goodies! The buckets were the kids' "treat bags", I didn't know exactly how many were coming so I made extra... and then went home with extra... Yipee! haha :-/

She picked out a Hanna Montana cake and she LOVED being sung to...again!

All in all, she had a great party! Thank you to everyone that came to make Mikenna's 6th birthday extra special! :)

Look! No Training Wheels!

2010-06-27T22:59:00.001-07:00

Kasey was home this weekend and took Mikenna's training wheels off her Barbie bike. She tried and mastered the art of balancing on your bicycle in about 5 minutes... She was definitely ready. They went on a bike ride together and she kept up with him the whole time - zipping down the hill, up the hill, in circles... She's a natural! :)

No More Thumb!!

2010-06-22T20:54:00.000-07:00

Adiee's thumb sucking has come to an end... We have FINALLY won a 2 year battle and the good news, her thumbs are starting to look normal again!! :-)

We started trying to wean her off of her thumb when she was 2 and for a while she would just suck her thumb when she was in bed and when she was sleepy. We tried everything and what worked for her? We got some knit gloves to put on her hands at night and nap time. We called them her 'princess gloves'. We caught her a couple times with a thumb pulled out of a glove, so Kasey put some string through the hem of the glove and we would tie them in a bow with a double knot so that she couldn't take them off. It took a couple months to be sure that she had broke her bad habit... and she did!! :)

Go Ahead and LAUGH!!

2010-06-21T12:18:00.001-07:00

Well Father's Day was interesting this year that's for sure! Kasey had to work all weekend long; wanting to spend time with him, the kids and I packed up to go camping - we left later on Saturday so that we would get there when he was getting off work. We set up camp at Seminoe State Park, it was fairly busy so we put Isla in the car to play in a safe confined space while we were putting up the tents. When we were done I went to get her and realized that it wasn't as kid-proof as I thought because she found a blue pen and had scribbled all over the driver's side leather seat. Yeah, that was a great idea... worst part is that it will not come out. So, at this time Kasey and I are a little peeved and I was getting things ready for dinner and realized I had forgot firewood; the firewood!! Are you kidding me, how does that even happen?? It wouldn't have been that big of deal if we were camping in the mountains but we weren't, so Kasey had to go find something to burn so we could cook dinner. It took about a half an hour to find some scraps of wood - and they burned out about 10:30 p.m. so we went to bed.

Okay, now it's Sunday and Kasey had to get up for work and left at 6:20 a.m. Of course, the girls hear his truck start up so my day started at 6:20 A.M. as well. I'm all for getting up early when camping, but not that early! haha :) It was really cold and windy in the morning and got really hot around lunch time. The girls played in the lake so they were just fine. There wasn't any sand, just gravel and mud but we made it work. :) After their nap, we played in the water yet again... I was sitting in my chair watching the girls and a stray dog came and stirred up mine (who were both tied up), his owner came to get the stranger dog and Sara - who is protective of our family - showed agression to the guy and his dog... Scared me to death!

Anyway, when I decided to go camping to see Kasey over this weekend, I fully expected to spend some time by myself while waiting for him. I figured it would be like 4 hours or so, maybe even from 6 to noon. But I spent 11 hours of misery by myself, looking at all the cars driving by hoping it was Kasey. Even something as simple as going to the bathroom had turned into a field trip - 3 kids and 2 dogs that you can't leave by themselves... Irritating! So it's like 5:30 p.m. and Kasey bought firewood when he was in town, but he forgot to get cash back for the camp fee for the second night! We had to pack up camp, drive to another location, re-set up camp, built a firepit, and started dinner at about 7:30.

So now we are sitting around the fire enjoying our dinner amongst the millions of mosquitoes, when Pete goes in for the kill on a tiny piece of hot dog that one of the girls dropped and jams his head in the in the small folding chair. When he realized that he couldn't get it out, he panicked and whipped it right out from under Mikenna, swung it around and hit her in the shoulder and cheek (and we are close to the fire, by the way), she wasn't hurt or anything thank goodness. Kasey had to grab him and took a couple hits himself, while I had to sit on him while Kasey cut his head out of this chair with a hack saw. As you can imagine, it wasn't easy going to bed after all this excitement, but we had to get to sleep early because we had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. to break down camp because Kasey had to work and I was heading back home. We said our goodbyes at 7, how depressing... :(

It's funny now, but wasn't so much then! Haha :) I think it's safe to say that this was the worst camping trip both of us have ever had. Even though the kids and I only saw him for probably 10 hours combined, it was well worth it because he won't be home for another week. But you know, this will be a memory that we will look back on and say "remember when...." and then laugh for hours. Oh, wait we already do! ;-)

Happy Daddy Day to all the men who take great care of their families, because any guy can be a father but it takes a special man to be a daddy! :) Kasey - you are the best dad, husband, and man I have ever known. Our girls wouldn't be the same without you, I wouldn't be the same without you. We love you tons!

Mikenna is 6!

2010-06-16T07:14:00.001-07:00

Mikenna is growing like a weed... Just look at her, she has transformed into a "big" kid!! Her attitude has also made a flying leap in that direction too! Still a sweetheart but definitely with a twist of spunk.

On her actual birthday, Kasey was out of town working and was really sad to be missing his first born's birthday and Mikenna was understanding but bummed. I couldn't just let something as small as a 2 hour drive come between them so we decided to surprise him. He called that morning and Mikenna played along perfectly, telling him all about making cakes in the easy bake oven, the cupcakes, and how she wished he could be here, etc...

My goal was to leave at about noon, which never happens... At the last stoplight, I had to slow down quickly and my purse fell off the passenger seat and right on top of the cupcakes that we had decorated... Talk about irritation! And to boot were already an hour behind schedule... We still got there on time and when we did, we played at a park across from Kasey's station and waited for him to get off work. I called him because we had been waiting for about an hour and I asked him what he was doing. He said that he was working late and waiting for his supervisor to get there so he could do his operator qualifications, then asked me what I was doing. I told him we were at a park and I asked him how late he would be, he didn't know. I said, "That stinks because we are right across the street." He was so excited!! :) We went and looked at his office and then waited for him to get off.

We all went to dinner at Sanford's, then drove out to the sand dunes and played in the sand until the mosquitos came out and started munching on us all. Last stop was a park where we lit candles and sang happy birthday before we headed home.

We will be having her actual birthday party with friends at a later date...

Happy Anniversary

2010-06-14T10:32:00.001-07:00

Six years... Wow, 6 years ago today is one of my happiest memories. Back when I started my blog last year I wrote about this momentous occasion as one of my first posts and the event leading up to it... our engagement.

Since our anniversary landed on a Monday, it was back to work for Kasey. So I got to see him for a few minutes at 5 in the morning before his drive today. Kasey sure put his heart out there on Facebook today, I just had to share what he had to say because it made me cry. Every woman deserves a man that treats them the way that Kasey does me. He is such an amazing husband and daddy.

"6 years ago today I married the woman of my dreams! 6 years ago today, I married the woman that would help me learn what life is really about, how much fun life can be, and how much I can really love someone through and through. 6 years ago today I married Krista Ann Oakland and it was the one of the best days of my life!"

Then went on to say...

"I love you Krista Brown and not a day goes by that I don't think about how lucky I am to have such a loving wife like you, you are my rock, my everything and I am so thankful that I have you by my side for the rest of my life there isn't any one else that I could ever love like I love you!! Happy anniversary Krista, 6 years down and a lifetime to look forward to!!"

Okay, definitely feeling the love here... :)

Thank you Kasey for the love and the life you have given me. You are incredible.

Poodles in Paris

2010-06-02T20:47:00.001-07:00

She did great and looked beautiful! They did the major parts of their dance, but I think the lights and the dark, people filled audience was kind of intimidating for all of them; it was different than rehearsal because the lights were on and there weren't as many people... But I screamed at the top of my lungs and I cheered my lovely little Adiee on!! Great job Baby, We love you!! :)

Memorial Day

2010-06-01T08:46:00.000-07:00

We went on a mini vacation for Memorial Day: A day trip to Rapid City. Our first stop was Mount Rushmore... When we saw it from the road the girls were super excited to get out and walk around! They loved it! :-)
I dressed the girls the same on purpose obviously but when we were driving back home that night, I noticed that we were ALL in stripes! Funny :)

Next stop was The Cosmos... Now that was FUN!!!
It was such a neat place! You could feel the pull when you entered the mystery house, everyone was standing at a slant... The girls thought it was a blast!!

Here, Mikenna and Adiee are standing across from each other, and they had a level there to show that that the two platforms were straight. In this first photo, of course Mikenna is taller than Adiee...
But when they switch, Adiee now is the same height as Mikenna even though the platforms are level!! How cool is that?!? They sure thought it was!

In this picture, Kasey is in the mystery house re-enacting a scene from the matrix... Sorry Keanu, you've got nothing on Kasey!! ;-) Isla's face is funny too - she was saying "whoa", obviously very impressed with daddy's skills!! Haha :)

After we were done with our Cosmos tour, we drove on... We stopped in Keystone to get some lunch, a beautiful little town where you can spend 40 dollars on grilled cheese sandwiches. Haha :)

After lunch we went to Storybook Island, we were there for quite a while! We had so many pictures it was hard to choose just a few!

Cinderella's set... Note Adiee looking deep into prince charming's eyes! Haha :) So precious!

Now it's Mikenna who's giving Aladdin some love... Haha :) Those girls!

Isla forgave Tigger and gave him a hug even though he BIT her... This was the funniest thing! She put her hand/arm in his mouth and started screaming "Ow, Ow, OOOOWWW!!!" and would run away crying! She did it probably 4 or 5 times and I got a little video clip of her doing it! HILARIOUS! :) Everyone around got a kick out of that!

Sweet Adiee riding a "real" unicorn...

Mikenna loved this tree!

Kasey and Krista as Raggity Ann and Andy. Mikenna took the picture right as Kasey was grabbing for Isla... Look at that face! Haha :) I love you!!

The girls rode the Storybook Line, I thought Isla was going to possibly freak out once they started moving but she didn't! She absolutely loved it and didn't want to get out! This picture was taken when they were finishing up their ride.
Mikenna was reading the words on the wall, Adiee was being adorable and sitting in the Cat in the Hat's lap, and Isla's face is something else! I love my kids! :)

Last stop - Chuck E Cheese!! Something they have been waiting for all day!

Mikenna after she and dad won the race! Which was quite obviously a win! Haha
Adiee riding the carousel... She is such a happy little girl!
Isla was a hungry baby! Smiling with food in her mouth... I thought I had taught her better than that! Haha, just kidding :)

Last Day of Kindergarten

2010-05-28T12:37:00.001-07:00

The last time I will drop her off for kindergarten... Sad :( And the last time we will be at Fort Caspar Academy since we are moving to a new town this summer.

Mikenna is officially not a kindergartener anymore!! She also had so much stuff in her desk that she had to have another bag for all of her papers! :) Wow... now she's a first grader!!

Today has another special meaning for me... Saying no to a door-to-door salesman!! I know that most of you will think this is pathetic, but I am awful, I usually give in because I can't say no and especially after they do their sales pitch and their dumb demonstration I feel bad saying no. BUT NOT TODAY!!! haha :) He asked me to write on my shirt with the sharpie he had. Ummm, No... Are you kidding, I don't want to do that. So after he did his thing - cleaned sharpie off his rag, and scrubbed my sidewalk (? don't ask me, it was supposed to compare to my oven?), I said no thank you, and he said that he would just leave this bottle of super duper cleaner with me and I wouldn't even have to pay for it for 20 days! 20 days can you believe it?!? hahaha! I just said no thank you again and that I just wasn't interested. I felt bad right after, but then when he scoffed with a well that's fine, I make $16 an hour just to walk around in this sunshine...yada yada yada... I felt a feeling of such empowerment!! :) I think I love saying no!! haha ;) Good day!

Our New Car

2010-05-28T08:48:00.001-07:00

We bought a new car last night!
It's a beautiful Chevrolet Z71 Tahoe and I LOVE it!!

Last Days as a Kindergartener

2010-05-28T08:47:00.001-07:00

Hero Days...
Mikenna was to pick a person from history for a social studies project. She had to dress up like them and memorize four facts about them. I gave her a few people to choose from and she picked Neil Armstrong because she "likes space". I was having a heck of a time trying to find items to make a space suit and the plan I did have turned out to just look dumb. So I was scrambling to figure out what I was going to do, I ended up making a rocket ship with a box and she wrote on the side "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." and "Apollo 11". On the top she also wrote, "To the moon or bust!" While I drew NASA logos and flags on it. It turned out to be super cute, we got so many compliments on it! Apparently I do my best work when the pressure's on! haha :) At school, they mixed up the kids from different grades and classes to put on a presentation of the person they were portraying.

Last Blast Picnic...

Adiee, Isla and I packed up the picnic basket and headed to Mikenna's school for their last blast picnic. We ate lunch, played on the playground, did a bean bag toss, donuts on a string, got ice cream, and watched Mrs. Geise get dunked in the water over and over and over again! What a great sport, she just kept getting on that thing - it looked exhausting! All three girls fell asleep before we had left the parking lot... They had a great time!

Daddy's HOME!!!

2010-05-26T15:16:00.000-07:00

Kasey has been gone for 2 weeks in Salt Lake City doing all kinds of paperwork, safety training, and testing for his new job with ConocoPhillips. On the first day he drove to Rawlins to pick up his work truck, the next day he went to Rock Springs to attend a safety meeting, the company also paid for new fire-rated clothing and dropped 2 grand on that alone! And then he drove to Salt Lake where he got his work laptop, cell phone, etc.. and did all of his hiring paperwork and started the training process where he had to do hours and hours of testing.

I am so happy for him, because this job is what he has been after since he started his schooling and training, and for him to finally have achieved his goal is just amazing!! He is the newest Instrumentation and Electrician Technician (that's a lot of ician's!! haha) For short, his job title is I&E Technician. We aren't really looking forward to moving to Rawlins, but it will be a great way to gain experience, job stability and we will be able to transfer in a few years so for the time being we are going to look at it with our glasses half full - it's a new adventure...

I can't tell you how much I missed him! And I guess I didn't really know how much I missed him until he rolled up in front of the house!! I had the front door open and when I saw him pull up I yelled "Girls! Daddy's HOME!!" I picked up Isla and busted out the front door and when I saw him get out of his truck I just started bawling!!! I couldn't control myself!! Haha :-) We have never been apart for this long before!!

This is Kasey and his new work truck...pretty nice!! :) And he came bearing gifts... He brought Mikenna and Adiee this really pretty handmade glass heart for each of them - they really love little trinkets like this and are constantly toting them around. For Isla, he got this rubber bouncy horse that their tumbling studio has - something that they can all share. That thing is crazy, it can support up to like 400 pounds, so it is durable and that's always a plus with our crazy kiddos!! haha :) And for me, he went to Williams Sonoma and he got be this really pretty pink apron with the logo on it and some potato and veggie gloves - he is such a wonderful husband, I have been wanting an apron for a while and the gloves are pretty cool too! He knows what I like!! ;)

I'm really sad though, because he has to leave again on Monday to Billings, MT. But it isn't for as long so it's okay, plus he is going to meet up with an old friend and go to dinner while he's there. I'm excited for the girls' school and after school activities to wrap up so we can go on some of these trips with him!! :)

Adiee's Last Preschool Program

2010-05-21T06:45:00.000-07:00

Adiee's last preschool program, at least for this year. I think she was looking for us in this picture... Since Kasey was out of town, I had to take all 3 kiddos and try to take pictures and video all by myself. Thankfully Noni came with us, so she sat with Mikenna and Isla while I tried to take pictures and video of miss Adiee. This was a fairly irritating night... I couldn't see Adiee at all, so video was not the greatest, I mostly have some guys bald head on the screen and I had to give that up because Isla for some reason was acting up. She cried the ENTIRE time, I had to leave the room to get her under control. What makes me mad is that Isla never cries like that... So not only did I not get to see her sing, I couldn't even hear her. Total bummer...

R.I.P. Chloiee

2010-05-20T11:59:00.001-07:00

Chloiee Madison Black

1999 - 5/18/2010

Chloiee was an AKC registered parti cocker spaniel. She was a great dog for the time that we had her and she will be missed dearly. She was in pain for a while before she was put down so I know that she is at peace now. We love you Chloiee!

Recital Pictures

2010-05-08T21:33:00.001-07:00

There are a lot of pictures in this one... I tried so hard to pick my favorites, but they are ALL my favorites!!! I have never had such an easy time taking pictures! I didn't need to coach them at all and EVERY single one of them turned out fantastic!! :) Made for one ecstatic momma that's for sure! haha!

What pretty little ladies!! I promise I tried to limit myself... haha :)
I just can't stop... haha ;-)
They are GORGEOUS!!

Her 50's ponytail... Super cute! She looks so grown up...too grown up!
Adiee's hair has grown quite a bit! Look at her curls!
So sweet!! :-)
Perfect little angels!

FCA Track Day

2010-05-07T12:30:00.000-07:00

We bought Mikenna a new outfit for her very FIRST (real) track day! She tried it on the night before and tested it out just to make sure that it would make her faster for her big day! haha :) Turns out, it totally does!

She was so excited while she was waiting for all the races and activities to begin!

The 100 meter dash!

GO MIKENNA!!!

Stretching...

Crunches...
and push-ups...

Kasey and I were there rooting her on the whole day, but we all left about an hour early because the clouds rolled in and it was sooo cold!! So we went and picked miss Adiee up from school and went out to lunch! :) Mikenna got a white ribbon and a yellow! Way to go baby!!

Best Birthday Yet!!

2010-05-02T08:16:00.001-07:00

My Birthday has been a great one! Kasey tried to surprise me with a cake that he had ordered but Mikenna was the one who let that one out! Hey, it's only fair!! haha :) He got me a couple movies, "It's Complicated" and "Avatar" as well as a little gadget that I wanted, it peels the middle out of strawberries. It's kind of a joke, we were at the mall looking at kitchen gadgets and I said I wanted it for my birthday - and he wasn't sure if he could manage the 6 dollars...and so on. We are a couple of dorks! haha :) Kasey also surprised me with a bouquet of flowers, aren't they pretty!?! He is such a sweetheart!

We went to my moms house for a little while and had the cake that Kasey bought. She got me a beautiful bracelet with the babies' names on it!! I can't wait to get it! The girls stayed the night at Noni's while we went to dinner and 2 movies... Then we went to breakfast with just the two of us the next morning.

And on another note: Miss Adiee drew a picture of our whole family for the first time!!! Isn't it great!?! I think she did a fabulous job! I love how my eyelashes are so pronounced! This is definitely a keeper!! :)

Great Birthday!!

Two Week Notice

2010-04-27T10:28:00.001-07:00

Or more like 6-week notice! haha :) I am pretty excited to go back to doing what I love and what I do best which is taking care of my family and home! I missed it so much!! Kasey is ready to go back to work and "provide" for his family. It has been a humbling experience for the both of us though. It gave us a new perspective and appreciation for each other and though we have always been grateful for and to one another, we now know what it's like to walk a mile in each others shoes. I now know what it's like to be on my aching feet all day, and be away from the family for hours at a time and occasionally miss a field trip or whatever... Kasey now knows what it's like to take the kids to school, tumbling, dance, run errands, pay bills, make dinner, clean house, etc... When I'm at work, I interact with adults and get dressed up with somewhere to go; Kasey gets to spend more time with the girls than ever before. Both can be hard and yet rewarding on many different levels.

Kasey had his drug test and physical for his new job today and had to travel to Riverton to do so. I took the day off from work and stayed home with the girls. I must say that I have really missed being just a mommy. Kasey left early this morning and when I got up I cleaned the house from top to bottom, baked a cake, played in the backyard with the kiddos, oh - and updated my blog ;) All the things I used to do all the time. I know that it's only been 2 months since I started working, but it feels like it's been waaay longer! Perhaps it's because I went from being a stay at home mom to working a full 40-hour week, every week - and the fact that Kasey makes more than I do sitting at home... hahaha :)

Kasey's Big Interview

2010-04-13T18:12:00.001-07:00

Today, Kasey had his final interview with ConocoPhillips. He applied for the Instrumentation Technician job they had open back in February. We cancelled our spring break vacation to the Oregon coast because we didn't know what kind of time-line we were looking at; and after not hearing back from them, and our vacation wasn't happening anymore, I thought that I should look for a part-time job to supplement our income while the job market was still very slow here. I started the first of March and then a couple weeks later, he got a call from the company! It was really exciting!

Kasey just figured he needed some more experience and that's why we didn't hear from them. He had a phone interview and Kasey felt that it went really well and that his chances were good, they kept using phrases like, "when you get the job..." After the phone interview, they said it would be a few weeks to a month before he might hear back from them, and if/when he did, it would be between 2 guys - and from there they would do an in-person interview as well as a tour of the plant where he would be working. Well, it didn't take a month, it was only a week before they had contacted him again and had set up the final interview for today!! This picture is us driving up to the plant... Not much to see but a shiny bright future, brought to us by the hardworking man in our lives! Boy, do we LOOOVE our Kasey/Daddy!! :) This place will hopefully be temporary, but you do what you gotta do in order to get your foot in the door!! And anywhere can be home when you are together as a family.

Kasey going into his interview...

The girls and I played on this old train car and at a nearby park while we waited for Kasey's interview to get done. It was pretty cold, so we sat in the car, ate lunch and watched a movie.

This is MY stud husband!! His face totally says, "Oh yeah!! I nailed that interview!!" haha :) Seriously though, he is one accomplished, good-looking man!! Proud wife here, can ya tell?!? Someone from HR will be in contact with him soon to negotiate pay, benefits, and such... And if all goes well, you are looking at the newest Instrumentation Technician for ConocoPhillips!! Way to go babe!!

When we got home, the kiddos and I made homemade cookies before bed. Wow, today was a FABULOUS day!

What a Beautiful SUNday!

2010-04-11T17:18:00.000-07:00

This morning, I let our dogs out and the weather was gorgeous!! I made sweet rice for the family and then all five of us headed outside and did yard work for like 3 hours... Well, Kasey and I did yardwork, the girls played on the trampoline and with the moonsand! haha :) Isla did occasionally help us, one leaf at-a-time... She also stuck her face in the dog water and was DRINKING it!! (It was clean - new bucket and water, otherwise I wouldn't have thought it was so funny!) It was super cute!

After we were finished raking the mountains of leaves and cleaning up the outside toys I packed up the picnic basket that Kasey got me last year (I was so excited! I wanted an old-fashioned picnic basket soooo bad! haha! The things you want when you grow up! lol) Then we went to the park. It was a blast! It was kind of short-lived because the wind started to pick up...but it was fun while it lasted!!

Since it was a little bit chilly we decided to pop some popcorn and watch "Monsters VS Aliens" together until bedtime.

It was a fun-filled day, but it still came to an end at 7:30 - it's a school night :)

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T15:22:00.001-07:00

Easter has crept up on all of us I think... It doesn't seem like it should be April yet! I had Good Friday off from work and all 5 of us went to the movie "How to Train Your Dragon", Isla sat in her own seat with a booster and dominated that bag of popcorn! She wouldn't share at all, and when she did she would give it out piece by piece!! Haha!! That didn't go over well with the other two, but we made it through it! Then went to the mall to see the Easter Bunny - but his carrot break was just too long so we decided to leave without seeing him - bummer!! Then we let the girls stay the night with Noni and Melanie. So Kasey and I had the whole evening to ourselves... We went shopping, to dinner and a movie.

We have been very busy today; visiting with family, dyeing eggs, and digging into their baskets that the Easter Bunny hid for them this morning. When the girls woke up this morning, they came into our bed (like always...) And Kasey got the girls all excited, saying that the bunny wouldn't stop hopping and bouncing around and kept waking him up this morning! Mikenna got so into it, she agreed and said that she peeked and she actually saw him!! Haha! :) Isla found her basket under a table, Adiee's on top of the lamp in the living room and that bunny put Mikenna's on top of the cupboards in the kitchen!! :)

Apparently, it IS too much to ask for everyone to be smiling and looking at me at the same time!! Haha :) I gave up and this is the best picture of all three girls...

The girls getting ready to dye easter eggs...

I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter as well!!

Adiee's 4th Birthday

2010-03-31T07:25:00.001-07:00

We had a small family birthday party for Adiee this year. Kasey and I stayed up late and decorated the living room and dining room with balloons and streamers for her to wake up to. She was very excited to say the least this morning!! :-) The girls played outside and jumped on the trampoline while I cooked one of Adiee's favorite dinners - homemade ravioli. Yum! For cake, since I had to work all day was strawberry shortcake, another family fave. I made the strawberry sauce and it was delicious!! :-)

We love you baby!

She's getting so BIG!!

She might have been a bit spoiled... ;-)

(This isn't all of it either...haha)

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY

MISS ADIEE GRACE!!

March 30, 2010

Kasey picked up some "Bendaroos", something that she always tries to sneak from Grandma Pam's house - we need to search her before we leave, and we usually find those wax strings crumpled up into little balls and in her pocket! HAHA :-) But now she has her own! she's so funny! And he wrapped all of her gifts today and even made the curly bows - he is such a great daddy!!

"Look Adiee..."

2010-03-27T21:29:00.000-07:00

"Look Adiee, the stars fell out of the sky!"

We were driving on outer-drive and Mikenna was looking at the city lights and said this to Adiee. She is growing up so quickly... These sweet and innocent little quotes are becoming fewer and farther between. Just thought I would share, it was too cute!

Adiee Doesn't Wanna Grow-up

2010-03-22T20:59:00.000-07:00

Adiee has been really stressed out about growing up lately... It's funny, sweet, and random... Which actually is Adiee in a nutshell. :-) It's kind of sad though too, because she is VERY worried about having to move out and get a job! I told her that she is welcome to live with us FOREVER and EVER!! And we will see if she changes her tune when she gets a bit older! HAHA!! :) This kid is so darn hilarious!!

On another note, this soon-to-be birthday girl has one thing on her wish list... A pair of sticky eyeballs. That's right. She opened a novelty catalog and that's all she has been able to talk about for a month! Did I mention how random she can be?!? HAHA!! They come in a pack of like 50 for 10 bucks and I think Kasey and I are going to have to get them for her... Now what the heck are we going to do with the other 49? Hahaha!

Sweet baby. Oh, how I love her!

Pigs and Horses

2010-03-14T19:12:00.000-07:00

We went to a friend's house to see baby pigs and horses. It was pretty chilly and very stinky!! haha :) The girls wouldn't unplug their noses for anything when we were inside with the little pigs; the smell wasn't so bad when we were outside, instead the cold made it a little miserable... Cold and stinky, but still fun!

Then we went to see the horses. The girls LOVED feeding them carrots and sugar cubes! Even Isla got comfortable enough to walk up to them herself!!

What a Day

2010-03-10T19:56:00.001-08:00

Today was just one of those days... Those days you know you woke up on the wrong side of the bed... Actually, now that I think of it maybe it was! haha :) I slept on Kasey's side of the bed for the alarm clock now that I'm a working woman and the girls are on spring break :) Anyways, I woke up feeling a little blah. It was really cold this morning, then went to work to realize that I basically worked for free for a short amount of time last week (maybe they will add it on this week, maybe not - oh well). Not too much later after I clocked in, I went to take another test and I missed 4 questions! FOUR! After a streak of not missing any on the first three tests. It wouldn't be that big of a deal because I did pass - but what I got wrong were the things I do everyday like how to sign in - hello!!

And if that wasn't bad enough... A really young couple with an 8-month old baby came in. The mother was wearing pajama pants (pajama pants in a public place - something that most people know irks me pretty bad), a pair of crooked glasses that had one lens completely missing while the other was so smudged I don't know how they were doing her any good, and she had the worst case of bed head I think I have ever seen, there was no way she even attempted to run a comb through it this morning! The little baby girl had boogers all over her face, and was given soda in a bottle...SODA in a BOTTLE at 8 MONTHS old!! Kids that age don't even ask for that crap yet! What in the heck were/are these people thinking?!?! Especially the fact that their own teeth were almost rotten out of their own head! It broke my heart to see such a sad sight. The dad was the one getting an exam and new glasses that day. I was sitting at the dispensing table and had just got done measuring his PDs and was about to key the order into the computer which was less than a foot away, I went to move my rolling stool in front of it when I heard this sweet baby shreak!! They weren't watching her, she was right underneath me and I had rolled right over her little hand. I felt so horrible, it took every ounce of self-control I had in me to not just bawl. I appologized to no end and I was so upset about it. When I got up, I rubbed her little hand and said I was so sorry, and couldn't help but notice that her bottle - the one that had pop in it earlier had water in it, but the bottle was absolutely filthy. Babies that age drink formula, not pop, tea, or dirty water. I helped 2 more customers and thankfully the store cleared out when my co-worker asked me how I was. I just started sobbing. Ever since I've had my girls I have been extra-sensitive to the way all kids are cared for, and the fact that I hurt the poor baby just makes me feel even worse. I realize that this whole thing has been really judgemental and I feel kind of bad about saying any of it because I don't know their situation. But really, how hard is it to keep your youngsters safe, healthy, and clean? Being young isn't an excuse. I was young too.

The day pretty much just carried on the same way, rude phone calls, irritated customers, etc... I am sure glad that it's over! Thank goodness I don't have many days like this!! :-)

The purpose of this downer post was just for me to vent and to say that as much as I wish I could, I can't save everyone. I can only be the very best mother I can to my own children. Sometimes ignorance really can be bliss. And I am thankful for absolutely everything I have in my life. Especially the love and health of myself, my loving husband, and my gorgeous children. I am truly a very, very blessed person.

SnowWoman

2010-03-07T14:51:00.000-08:00

We don't build snowmen at our house,

we build snow-women! The snow is melting fast so this is what we came up with :-)

Miss Adiee's Winter Program

2010-03-04T18:57:00.000-08:00

Adiee's preschool held their annual winter program and chili dinner fundraiser. I sat in the audience with Mikenna and Isla (who was being a total booger, she didn't want to sit still and be quiet, imagine that!! haha) and Kasey video taped the whole thing - and it's a good thing he did! We have about 30 minutes of hilarious footage of her and a couple of her pals! She was standing next to one of her 'best' friends Sienna and she stole Adiee's snowflake sticker off of her face, so instead of singing they were pre-occupied with that... There was a bunch more funny stuff like: tickling, telling secrets, and more nose-picking than singing ;-) Adiee played the part of a snowman during a melting snowmen number. Afterwards, we had chili. It was such a fun and entertaining evening!! :-) We sure have some wonderful kids!

Dr. Seuss' Birthday

2010-03-02T21:35:00.000-08:00

Both of my big girls have an unexplainable obsession with birthdays - perhaps it is the cake, maybe the presents... They also use them as the ultimate threat against one another - for example: "You aren't being nice to me, I'm not going to invite you to my birthday party!!" I hear this daily, so as you can imagine it can get pretty irritating day in and day out having one of them come crying to me telling me that the other isn't going to let them come to their party... Give it a little more time and I bet little Isla will join in on the fun (or should I say torture)!

Anyway, the reason for this post is because Kasey told Adiee that it was Dr. Seuss' birthday today. And she is TICKED that she wasn't invited to his birthday party!! HAHA!! :) Funny girl!

Dr. Suess was the pen name of Theodor Seuss Geisel, who was born on March 2, 1904 and died September 24, 1991. The author of some of our most favorite stories we read to them at bedtime.

Mister Mom

2010-03-01T17:34:00.000-08:00

Lately, the economy has been taking a toll on us. Work has been non-existent for 3 months and counting with no end in sight for now. So, we thought I would get a little job for now and let Kasey do the stay-at-home daddy thing for a while until things pick back up. It was a blast being able to be together so much, but we also don't want to dig a hole that we will have to climb out of later.

I was at Wal-mart last week getting more rubber bands for the girls' hair (we go through them pretty quickly because we have 3 of them... haha :-) ) and while I was in the check-out I saw a "Now Hiring" sign outside the old business I worked at before and while I was pregnant with Mikenna. So, I decided to go on in and see what they would say. I wasn't sure if Debbie (my old manager) was going to hug or slap me! haha!! She wasn't too happy when I told her that I wouldn't be back after I had miss Mikenna, but it turns out she was really excited to have me back. It's a pretty good job and I enjoy doing it (for the most part). It is definitely very wierd working there again, that's for sure!

This role-reversal has been kind of fun, Kasey gets to see how it is running errands, preparing some of the meals, driving the kids to and from their school, dance, and tumbling classes, etc... Turns out, there is quite a bit to do when you are the only one doing it! ;-) While I have been able to see what it's like to get dressed up, interact with adults, and not hear any whining, tattling, or crying - but with that, means no laughing, smiles, or kisses. I miss Kasey and the girls to pieces while I'm gone (and it was only my first day) which has been really hard but I know they are in the best hands possible ;-) They have never been in a daycare, and I would like to keep it that way - it's just not for us!! :)

Once Kasey gets the call from Modern, things will go back to the way they used to be, but for now we are enjoying stepping into each others shoes... :)

Krazy Kids!!

2010-02-28T10:25:00.000-08:00

Just a silly picture post... :)

February 21 we had fun taking goofy pictures:

They are so fun!!

Isla's Mishap

2010-02-28T07:05:00.000-08:00

Last night around 6-6:30, Isla was being really moody and clumsy. She was walking around the spring horse and tripped, her face falling right into the bar. She started crying pretty hard, Kasey went to pick her up and her mouth was bleeding. He opened her lips and she had knocked her left front tooth behind her other one, has a fat lip and a bruise on the left side of her nose. She is notorious for being really whiny and clumsy when she gets tired and she chipped her tooth on a halloween decoration like 6 months ago. And it was her left side that time as well. I don't think there's anything they can do for her tooth right now, but I've added "call the dentist" to my to-do list for Monday - just to see what they say. With her fat lip, she kind of resembles a who (from Dr. Seuss) From the pictures it doesn't look too horrible so I hope that it really isn't and it's just me that's freaking out about nothing... :( Poor kiddo!

Preschool Pajama Day

2010-02-06T22:44:00.001-08:00

It was Pajama Day at Adiee's preschool. This is right up her alley because pjs are her clothing of choice... Right when we get home from school (at noon that is) she always asks if she can change into her jammies, she would rather not get dressed in the morning, if Isla is in her pajamas - she says, "How come Isla's in her jammas and I'm not?" in a semi-whiney tone. It used to be cute, now not so much! haha :) At least she asks now! Before she would just do it and I would have to go somewhere (say to pick up Mikenna, or run an errand) and she wouldn't be dressed, it used to make me so mad - especially if we were crunched for time! :) But now she asks and it's all good! Anyway, she had a BLAST at school that day!

First Ponytail

2010-02-04T08:18:00.000-08:00

Isla's first ponytail. She is so cute, you could tell that she felt pretty! :)

She wasn't just walking around, she was struttin' her stuff! Haha!

First Blog Book

2010-02-03T14:54:00.001-08:00

I started working on my blog book today... I imported my blog to the program and worked on it for about 10 hours (with breaks of course!) eliminating 34 pages of wasted space and added 8 pages of pictures, descriptions and stories... Initially there were 124 pages for 6 months worth of blog entries and now there are 98 pages and am adding onto the first 6 months that are blogless :)

I had a hard time falling asleep and couldn't wait to get up and start again! It's so easy to get lost in those memories again! This is so much fun, time-consuming and very tedious, but lots of fun!! :)

I am moving along quite quickly, I took out another 15 pages and added on 9. I worked on it all day, with a few 'breaks' - if you call cooking and cleaning a break... haha :) And with that, I'm going to call it a night! :-)

Day 3 - didn't get as much done because I was busy running errands but I got rid of 4 pages and added 4 fully done ones... So I am trekking along :)

Day 4 - Erased 7 more pages, haven't added any just editing the ones that are already there today... :) I am at 85 pages and still have quite a bit to do still!