Tuesday, October 13, 2009

The Awkward Years


Can you guess which ones are the fake teeth?

Today I

Beat my 4 mile personal best! 35:34. I know that most of you are scoffing at my diluted sense of triumph, but it was good for me. Six weeks until the 10k Turkey Trot! Anyone want to run it with me?

Saturday, October 10, 2009

MHS Homecoming Game

We went to our Highschool Homecoming game last night. It was fun...and funny. I don't know why, but it made me laugh thinking about how awesome we thought we were in highschool, and to see the current highschool kids thinking they were awesome. But it was fun to see some old friends, and that's what I loved most about highschool.
Me and my Man at our alma mater

Dean and Peggy
(My dad was doing "Mesa Rabbits, We are number one!" Funny)

They had fireworks, and everything!

My juicy nephew Tyler who made out with me at half time.
We all stood, joined arms, and sang "Carry On" at the end.
It was so inspirational!

Autumn


The first morning it was slightly cool outside, H & J wanted to whip out the Santa blanket and watch "Polar Express". But by 9:30 am it had warmed up enough outside that plain tap water was hot enough for their hot chocolate. Welcome to AZ, Autumn!




The Halloween Festivities BEGIN!

The first weekend in October we bust out the
decorations and make cookies to welcome in Halloween!







One Sunday Morning

This was right before we left to church on the day of the Primary Program. The girls were feeling pretty excited about doing their parts, so they wanted me to take their pictures.

This one just makes me laugh.


Hailey


JoLynn


My 3 Princesses


Me n' Shae
(photo courtesy of JoLynn)

Rock Band

We borrowed Blake's Rock Band for a week and had loads of fun!
Then we broke it and gave it back. Sorry Blake!
I love JoLynn playing Rock Band in her Princess dress.
At any given time on any given day, JoLynn will be in her dress ups.
Hailey acutally got pretty good on the drums.
She mastered "Eye of the Tiger".
She was singing it at the top of her lungs at the mall the other day.
"And he's watching us all with the EEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEE - - - - - - - of the Ti-guh-uh!"

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Buttons

Hailey has been begging me to let her wear this certain pair of pants to school. I haven't let her because it's 5000 degrees outside, and even hotter than that on the bus ride home. I keep telling her when it cools off she can wear them, but this morning she came out of her room with them on and before I could even say anything she said,

"Mom, I know you don't want me to wear these pants, but I have three good reasons why I should wear them."

woah... this was obviously very well thought out and prepared

"Number one: The guys who cut the grass and trees always wear long pants in the summer to protect their skin from the sun.

"Number two: It is always freezing in the cafeteria.

"Number three: I look kind of awesome."

Ha! This girl cracks me up! I think she's figured out the "if I make
mom laugh, I get what I want" button. uh-oh.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Please come back another day!

On Tuesday we woke up to gray skies, thunder, and RAIN! It was lovely! Definitely my weather of choice. Actually, what really woke me up was this chatter box:
So we went out in our p.j.'s and enjoyed the treat.





Though not as interesting,
the indoors are much more enjoyable when you're small.

Our 4th of July!

We BBQed and swam at the Merrell's, then drove out to A.J. and found a nice spot on the side of the road. We celebrate in style. It actually was a pretty good view!
Happy B-day USA!
Shae loved watching the fireworks!


Cindy really liked them too



JoLynn, Claire, Hailey, and Anne watching the show from the back of the van.

We HEART potatoes!



And they heart us

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

On Sunday, Joel presented me with a jar full of strips of paper. He said, "We started working on a Mother's Day present for you, and never finished it. Here you go."

Better late than never, I always say!

The strips of paper have memories about me written on them from Joel and the girls. How cute is that!? Here, in no particular order, are some of my favorites:


JoLynn: You know how Mom has birthdays? I like it when Mom has birthdays.
Joel asked "why?"
JoLynn: Because I really like Mom. I like to watch her blow out candles.


Hailey says that she remembers that when you punish her for making a bad choice, you do it because you love her.

Joel: I remember when Hailey was born. My breath was taken away. I found new admiration for you and the care you gave her in the weeks, months and years to come. At that moment, I saw a person who had an innate ability to nurture. I could feel the love you had for our new baby.


Hailey: Once we were at the pool and me and JoLynn were on Mom's back and I saw a HUGE spider! I told Mommy that if she saw a spider she should get it. She said that's not a spider. I said, Well what is it? and she said 'I don't know'. That's the end.


JoLynn: I remember going to the park with Mommy and having a picnic. Shae had a bowl of corn and peaches. I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich & peaches. Mommy wore a blue shirt with blue jeans. Hailey was at school and Dad was at work.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Fun with Photo Booth

We have this program on our computer that is loads of fun...that is if you are as easily amused as we are. The Merrells came over Friday night to celebrate my Dad and Megan's birthdays, and this is what we did for most of the night. Hope your weekend was as much fun as ours!

JoLynn and Claire

JoLynn and Hailey

Mom's finger spider on JoLynn's head

Hailey

Claire being camera shy

Cabbage Patch Kid Claire (my mom was lauging so hard!)

Hailey's glamour shots

Hailey's punch to the face

JoLynn

JoLynn

Blake's finger mustache

Blake's big muscles

Umm....Blake, I'm worried about you...

Dad

My Sister Cindy

isn't she pretty!?

Me

Joel's new nose job