We have Fire!

We've had our house for over 2 years and this is our very first real fire in our very own fireplace! And don't think that we went out and chopped or even bought our own wood. Oh no. We have these very great people in our ward that said, Hey, my company has these old pallets that they just put in a shredder. Do you want me to bring them to you instead?? Uuhhh, sure! Are we the epitome of lazy?!?!?!?!? It's a good thing that we have such great people around us!

And here is our sweet Claira in her new dress. She's sleeping until about 3:30am, and then up again at 6:30am. It's a schedule I can handle. Now if only I went to bed when she did I might actually get some restful sleep!

This is Camry's outfit of choice lately. She's being Sleeping Beauty with her shawl. We've been calling her crazy basket lady because she just goes around the house...usually looking something like this with lots of necklaces and bracelets with her baskets and she just fills them up with as she's walking around. She'll usually have at least one basket on one arm and a purse on the other. She is crazy basket lady.

Publish Me Mine

My friend, Ashley, has started her own digital scrapbooking company called Publish Me Mine. They are offering the cutest calendars right now that are so dang cute. If you're thinking of doing a calendar this year for a Christmas gift, you should seriously check these out. Just go to www.publishmemine.blogspot.com

Apparently, I was wrong. Sad.

Good Omen

I believe that the stars are all aligned for a Cougar victory today. Pacen has accomplished a very important milestone in his life. He cannot write his name (although it has turned from PAH to PACN in the past few days) but he can write BYU. And he's very happy about it. He does it all the time, although sometimes he does write UYB.

We've been wearing our cougar gear since yesterday...our neighbor Bret is in Las Vegas where he has been the past two victories over Utah...Camry was able to give Cosmo a kiss at the BYU basketball game last night...I've told my family to put good thoughts out in the Universe for the cougs...Claira has blue eyes...okay, now I'm stretching.

Let's all cheer on the cougars today! We're gonna need it!

Today

My conversation with Pacen today. I was bringing up a load of laundry from downstairs. Camry asks if she can help me, so obviously Pacen has to come running in to see if he can help, too. I've almost grabbed most of it, Camry has a few pieces, and then there were two pieces left for Pacen. He's all bent out of shape because there isn't a lot for him to carry, so I throw a pair of Than's pants on him so he has more to carry.


Pacen (in a very whiny voice): Mom, I don't have a lot.
Me: Yes, Pacen, you do have a lot.
Pacen: But I don't have a bunch.
Me: Yes, Pacen, you do have a bunch. You have three.
Pacen: But I don't like three. I like five.

Then I see him coming up the stairs without any of the clothes. I say, "Pacen are you going to help me or not?" Then he thinks about it. "Ummmm, not," he says.

The kid has yet to gain any reasonable logic.

I took this picture today and all I told them was to get on the floor by Claira so I could take their picture, and then Pacen put his hand on Claira, and then Cam must have felt that Pacen needed a little help holding his head up, too. And I love camry's 'blue steel' look.

Pacen got to go play basketball at the church with Ty, and so Camry and I got some time playing outside. The weather has been so nice lately. Nice for November. It's weird when the sun goes down before 5 o'clock. We should be raking our leaves before it rains again, but have we started....no.

everyone's asleep...

This is one of those you should be asleep because all of your kids are asleep but you just can't force yourself to get off of the computer moments. Ever have one of those times??? I sure hope I'm not the only one. Than is out of town and we've had a pretty good day despite him being gone. I was worried about my body but I've been very pleasantly surprised at how well I feel today. Yeah! My elbow and arm only started hurting after my hour of pointless (no, not pointless...i had a purpose!) surfing the web and being in the same position except for my fingers clicking my mouse.

Here are pictures of the kids at 2 months. I was just going to do the girls, but then I remembered this picture of Pacen that I thought was so cute. I still had my original point & shoot digital camera and those pictures just leave something to be desired, but Pacen is still so cute in all his chubbiness.

I'm really grateful for all of my photos of my kids. I have SO many, but I seriously could just look at them for hours and hours. I'm really blessed that I love being a mom so much even though today Pacen was driving me crazy. He's developed this, "But but but but but mom...." and tries to tell me why what I said isn't right. ARGH! Just take a nap! I feel so cliche when I'm like, No more buts!

I've tried in the past few days or so to make sure that I've had sufficient individual time with each of the kids and I feel like my days have gone better since I did that. Today I got to read stories with Camry when Pacen was at preschool and Claira was asleep. I got to play with the nativity with Pacen and he even asked, "Why don't you go put Claira down and play this with me?" I do have to say that Pacen wanted to be the 'bad guy' in the nativity that tells Mary and Joseph that there isn't any room to stay. He said, "This guy is bad because he's red." (That's the Ute's--PLEASE let BYU win on Saturday!) And Claira and I got some good 'talking' time throughout the day. I'm surprised at how much time I do have with her. I have a great neighbor that lets my kids go and play over there all the time...they love it, and I love the time it gives me with Claira. I just love it when I take time to play with them instead of talking on the phone or being on the computer or cleaning...notice how cleaning is last on my list.

One great thing that happened today was when we were reading books Pacen could name all of his letters exept for E, M, N, & X. He's getting there and is so proud of himself.

I should really sleep but now I fear that the minute that I lay down that Claira is going to wake up. Serves me right, I guess. :)

Than's Grandpa's Aunt's 100th Birthday...

On Saturday we drove down to St. George (and back!) for Aunt Barbara's 100th birthday. This woman is amazing....she can still drive! And she remembers every one's names. I've only met her twice and she could remember me. She was born in 1908 and moved via covered wagon to Mesquite. COVERED WAGON! That is crazy. She is special to us because she helped pay for some of Than's mission which he will forever be grateful.

We also got to visit with Than's grandparents which we don't get to do that often. My kids were very excited to see GG and GG pa.

What was also neat was that Levi Ward Hancock's grave is right there in Washington, Utah. He is Than's great-great-great grandfather and was one of the first members of the church back in Ohio and moved wherever the church moved and remained faithful. Jim stood where Walt should have been. They look like each other enough, right???

Overall, a very fun, quick trip. The kids were fabulous travelers, as always, and we were grateful to be able to be there to celebrate such a wonderful event.

obsession

I'm slightly obsessed with taking pictures of Claira. Really all of my kids, but she can't tell me no yet. I just can't help myself. But how cute is that?!?!?!?!?!? Photoshop and I are becoming better friends.

And look how strong she's getting. What a big 2 month old.

Baby Steps...

Camry has been terrified of the potty. Terrified like screaming and crying and kicking when we even ask her to sit on it. She's convinced herself that it is scary and she will have nothing to do with it. She's totally big enough to be potty trained, so every now and then I'll ask her if she wants to go sit on the potty and usually she starts saying how scary it is and then I drop the subject. But yesterday she was a little more willing so I brought out our little potty chair and let her choose which one she'd rather sit on and she chose that....there was a little bribery involved with a marshmallow. She loves them. I have no idea why. But then she chose, and she still threw a fit and screamed for her diaper and her marshmallow but I told her she didn't get one unless she sat on the potty chair. She just had to sit. In her clothes even. I didn't care. Pacen was cute and just kept showing her how to do it and telling her how it wasn't scary and how she was a big girl and could do it. What a supportive brother.

So I drop the subject and go downstairs for a few minutes, and then I hear Pacen and Camry running downstairs screaming my name. I hear Pacen say, "Mom, Camry has to show you something! It's really cool!" So I run upstairs (obviously making a really big deal out of it) and Camry says that she sat on the potty chair! So I made her do it again and she was so happy! It was pretty funny being so ecstatic over just sitting on a potty in your clothes. But that is major improvement people! So, she got her marshmallow and was so happy. The cutest part was Pacen saying, "I told you you could do it, Cam!"

Then Camry kept sitting on it and asking for another marshmallow, but I told her now she has to do it without her clothes on for her next treat. Baby steps.

And of course Pacen had to have his picture taken, too.

This picture just made me laugh. I love these kids.

Mozy!

Hey all you computer users out there! This is just a plug for my newest friend, Mozy. Jana's husband, Ben, works for Mozy and got me set up and I feel like a new girl. All it is is an online backup company for your computer. I'm really bad about backing up all of my files...especially my photos...bad, I know...especially for someone who takes as many photos as I do. But now I don't have to worry and feel guilty about it. Goodbye discs and external hard drives! Mozy does it all for me and I don't have to worry about my computer crashing and losing all of my memories. If it ever does crash, I can get EVERYTHING back from mozy ASAP. Nothing lost.

All of this wonderfulness (yes, it's a word) for only $4.95 a month. And Ben gave me a discount code for you all if you want to save 15%. I think it's totally worth it for a my peace of mind.

Just hit this link and it'll take you there! Mozy.com

And when it asks you to put in a discount code put in fam1 for a one year subscription for 15 % off, or put in fam2 for a 2 year subscription for 15 % off. We can all thank Ben for saving us some money.

Here is what it says on the Mozy website.

Why all the fuss about backup?
Chances are you have a lot of important stuff on your computer like financial documents, email, digital photos, music and more. Unfortunately, computers are vulnerable to hard drive crashes, virus attacks, theft and natural disasters, which can erase everything in an instant.

Current statistics show that one in every ten hard drives fail each year. The cost of recovering a failed hard drive can exceed $7,500, and success is never guaranteed.

Insurance for your data.
Mozy is a simple and safe way to back up all the important stuff on your computer. A copy of your data is stored in a secure, remote location for safekeeping, so that in the event of disaster your data is still retrievable.

I hope that this helps anyone who wants to keep all of their data safe and secure!

Update time....

I haven't posted for a few days so I thought I'd put some pictures up of all the kids. We're all doing great. I've just not had anytime to get on here and post. LAME. My body has been acting up the past week. I've started working out again, and the weather has changed, and every time after I have a baby I've had flare ups and with that come random body parts hurting on different days. Last night it was my wrists and it was lame. Today it's better, but not completely gone. Than reassured me that it has happened every time and not to worry. I was getting a little frustrated but I'm feeling good today.

Here is the Pacen boy. He loves to make these weird faces whenever I take pictures of him.

Here is the Camry girl. She's obsessed with her princess dresses and baskets. She's a little mix of Cinderella, Belle, and Aurora. We're trying to make her see that Jasmine is immodest but it's not quite sinking in to a 2 year old.

And here is the Claira Baby. We just had her 2 month check-up and she's 11 lbs. 6 oz. 65th percentile, and 24 inches--the 95th percentile. She's my tall and skinny baby. Cam weighed 2 pounds more than she does at this point. And she has this obsession with sucking on her bottom lip and making baby spit bubbles. I wonder if she'll be one of those babies that are just wet all the time from their drool.

Last night we had our Enrichment meeting. The theme was Gratitude for the Savior. You know how you plan something, and then just hope that it works out...well this one worked out better that I ever thought it would. For our dinner, we provided ham...a Mormon enrichment staple...and then people brought in all of the sides. We asked them to make a family traditional dish that they love and the food was dang good. For our program we focused on showing gratitude for the Savior through temple work, Christ-centered traditions, and serving others. We had people share their Christmas traditions that helped them focus on the Savior through the holiday season and they were so great. I'll have to post about them another day. There are so many things that people do to make the holidays more meaningful. Then we ended the night talking about how service is the greatest way to show our gratitude for the Savior and had an 'angel tree' where they picked an angel off the tree and it had a sister's name on the bottom and you are to do some act of service for them sometime before Christmas. I'm excited because the two people that I got are people that I don't know at all.


Those are the angels...who would have thought that you could make an angel out of a Hershey's kiss, a pom pom, a ring, and i forget what that other part was. And luckily I wasn't in charge of making those! We have a great committee. And that pillow was from a sister in our ward that was just "bored" and had all this material "lying around" and made 70--yes I said 70--pillows to give as a gift to the sisters that showed up. We really do have a great ward. It ended up being a great night and it really did accomplish the goals that we had.

What's in a Name?

In all my pondering, I found that our family is special. Not every family is lucky enough to have an....

...Uncle Ben

...Uncle Sam

...Auntie Em


The kids are just as special. We have a...

Daisy...

...a Claira Belle

Olive could go both ways...

And I almost forgot about Candy....



And last but not least....Camry


I'm not exactly sure what it says about our family, but I sure do love 'em!