Sneak Peek

Shiloh's sister Phylicia is extremely talented with a camera. We had a little photo shoot of the kids today . This is just a sneak peek of the pictures we took with our camera we will post the real one as soon as she has them ready for us.






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I am so glad she has this talent she is willing to share with us. I would never be able to afford the quality shots she take of our kids and our family and thank you to OrLynne too who came to help keep the kids happy and smiling.

F.Y.I. I made the girls skirts. Because naturally what do you do when you can't find what you want for a price you are willing to pay? You make it yourself.

Celebration #3

My mom "Grandma Belly Pie" has a tradition with the grand kids when they turn 4 and every birthday after that until they are 12 she takes her grand kids shopping and lets them pick out there own presents. This is a tradition that as you can imagine is loved by her grand kids, she has 18 of them, and Lizzy #11, is the newest one to reach the age of shopping. She is very flexible
with the rules. If the grand kids want to go with just Grandma, then they go alone, if they want mom to come mom can com, If they want a brother, sister or cousin to come then they do that, it is all about what the birthday kid wants. So it was Lizzy turn and she new what she wanted. Last November she got to go birthday shopping with her best cousin Lia so she want to do what Lia
did and she wanted Lia to come with. They went to "Build a Bear!" Oh, the fun!! She picked out a yellow sparkly bear. It has two hearts in it, on from Lizzy and one from Lia. It is dressed in pink with glass slippers. Her name is Abigail. The shopping was a definite success and ShiAnne is planning to do it next year.

Date Night

On Friday My sweet husband called me to say he had a babysitter and we were going on a date. Yea!!!! I of course just like everyone love date night. Shiloh's brother Micah and his wife Amber took the kids and we headed off on our date. It started with dinner at Apple Bees and after we ate until we could eat no more we went to Indiana Jones 4. This movie has had mixed reviews from our family and friends but it was Indiana Jones we had to see it. So in my opinion.... it was really funny and who can resist that feeling that wells up inside of you when you here the Indiana Jones music? It just make me smile. I don't remember the other Indiana Jones movies being this funny but I have not seen them in a long time. It is one of those movies that you just sit down, relax, put the brain in neutral and enjoy the ride. The perfect movie to enjoy in the middle of a stressful week (which we had been having). It was a little science fictionee (ya that's a word) for Indiana Jones and you could see some of the plot line coming from a mile away but I really enjoyed the spoof on Indiana Jones being old and I laughed a lot. After the movie we ended our date with a trip to Walmart. Ya, I know, now your officially jealous but hey I needed some stuff, we were already in the Walmart parking lot, and I had no kids with me, how could I resist? All in all it was a really fun night, lucky me.

Only six more months 'til Christmas. Time to start shopping!

Walking

I think it is official we have a walker. Gideon is now walking far more then he crawls. You can tell that he prefers to walk and he can stand up in the middle of the room. Most of the time when he crawls now he does the bear crawl (you know were he is on his hands and feet instead of his hands and knees) it is like he doesn't want to give into full fledged crawling again. He is at such a fun, goofy age right now. We just love him to pieces!

More Partying

As if celebrating your birthday once isn't enough Lizzy will be celebrating her birthday four times this year. The Friend party, at Grandma and Grandpa Belly Pie's house with the at side of the family, at Grandma and Grandpa Nyle's with that side of the family and she gets to go shopping with Grandma Belly Pie. I know, they are spoiled. So here is some pics of celebration #2.

I still can't believe my baby girl is four.

Lizzy's Birthday Party

Lillie, Lizzy, Lia and ShiAnne


We did Lizzy's birthday party today. It was by far the easiest birthday party I have done yet. After watching Lizzy at ShiAnne's party I decided that maybe all the little games at the house was not the way to go for her birthday party, so I talked to her about this other idea and she
went with it. We invited her two best friends. Her cousin Lia and our next door neighbor Lillie (that is right it was Lizzy, Lia and Lillie). My sister Jocelyn also decided to come along for the party after bringing Lia to the party, it is to far to make it worth it to go home and come back again, she ended up being a ton of help and I was very glad she came. So in total the group was Lizzy, Lia, Lillie, ShiAnne, Gideon, Me, Jocelyn and her one year old boy Kade. We went to McDonald's, the one with the toys, for lunch. This is a great treat because I don't like McDonald's and we very seldom go there. We ate lunch, played on the toys for awhile, then came back to our house for cake ice cream and presents. Then we actually let them all play with the new toys which they always want to do and don't always get to do.


The cake and the eating of it.

I love Gideon's two handed hold on his piece of cake.



Present time, present time, open the present see what's inside.

Lizzy's Good Day

I know it is a little thing but today was a very good day with Lizzy. Lizzy is a very sweet little girl but she also has a lot of attitude. She is easily my hardest child and far to often has to go to time out for sassing, complaining, or disobeying. Lizzy did not have a single break down today!!! Not even a warning about time out what a relief. We talked about how great of a day it was as we walked home just the two of us from pack meeting tonight. She liked the way today went too so hopefully we can have some more days like this. It may have had to do with the fact that I did have a lot of extra one on one time with Lizzy today, a luxury not always afforded but I going to try harder for this with each one of the kids, especially after today.

A Nice Morning

I'm not proud of it but my house is always a complete disaster area by Monday morning. This morning was no different. On Sunday we had dinner at Shiloh's parents house like we do every other Sunday but now that schools out the girls decided to convince Grandma Nyle (That's what they call her) it was time to sleep over again and of course it worked. So when we finally got around to going home it was just Shiloh, Gideon and me. On Monday morning I thought we were going to have a meeting at the bank (a whole different story I hope to tell you soon) but I didn't know what time it would be at so instead of hanging out in my pj I got dressed right away and got Gideon dressed. Then started to clean up the pig sty while I waited for Shiloh's call on the time of the meeting. We ended up needing to wait a day for the meeting but that is beside the point of this story. At 9:30 Gideon was being so grumpy and I couldn't think what he wanted he usually goes back down for a nap at about 11:00am but being tired of being grumped at I decided to lay him in his bed for a while and lucky for me he fell asleep. So here it was 9:45 and I had no kids around so I went to work and by noon I had ... are you ready for this .... ran two loads of laundry through the washer (one wasn't in the dryer yet), folded the two loads of laundry that were already washed and put them away, done the dishes including the ones that wouldn't go in the dish washer, wiped off the counter, wiped down the high chair,swept the floor, cleaned up the living room that had toys all over it, organized the kid movies that Lizzy like to destroy almost everyday, cleaned off the top of the entertainment center, unpacked Shiloh's bag from scout camp, (and he says its me that has the bad habit of not unpacking after a trip, he is just a guilty), cleaned up the office floor and made my bed, all by noon when I decided I was really hungry and it was time to eat lunch. It is amazing what you can get done when you don't have kids around and it is amazing what stays clean. I totally love my kids but it sure was NICE to have a morning with out them and recover from the weekend so quickly. Thanks Grandma Nyle!

Husband tag

What is his name? Shiloh

How long have you been married? 8 years

How long did you date? 8 months

Who said I love you first? I did, on accident. I was so going to wait for him to say it first, but I said it first and he said it back and it all worked out.

Who is taller? He is

Who can sing better? Neither one of us can hold a tune very well but I know all the words to songs and he still struggles with I am a Child of God. So I would say I sing better.

Who is smarter? We are both smart in our own way. I wouldn't say that either one of us is smarter then the other.

Who does the laundry? I do. Sometimes I can get his help in putting it away though.

Who pays the bills? We do it together. I do the actual writing out of the bills but he does all the stuff at the bank. It is vary much a joint effort.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Shiloh does. Both our parents sleep the opposite way so when we got married we decided we wanted to be different from them.

Who mows the lawn? We both do. I have been doing it a little more then Shiloh because he has been working so many hours and I like the work out but last time I mowed it really did a number on my allergie ridden eyes so he might have to do it for a while.

Who cooks dinner? I do but if Shiloh is home he helps I call him my sui chief

Who drives? Shiloh drives if he is awake but if he is sleepy I drive. It is really all up to how he feels. I don't care if I drive or not.

Who is more stubborn? I am. Shiloh is soooo easy going.

Who kissed who first? Shiloh kissed me first but I did everything I could to get him to kiss me.

Who asked who out first? I asked him out first. It was a spur of the moment thing. I like his smile what can I say.

Who proposed? He proposed to me.

Who has more siblings? Shiloh does. He is the oldest of 7, I am the youngest of 5.

Who wears the pants? I think I am the more dominant personality but I make sure he gets to were the pants and I think or I know he likes that.

What do you love most about your man? So many things. I like that he is always nice to everyone and always talks good about people even behind there backs. I like that he is such a hard worker and He is always happy and almost never complains. I always call him the eternal optimise. I could go on but I think I will stop here.

ABC Tag
A- Attached or single: Attached
B- Best Friend: Shiloh and Melissa
C- Cake or Pie: Cake, defiantly cake
D- Day: Saturday, Shiloh is home and because we work, or he works so hard during the week, I just try and play catchup, we try to make the week ends fun.
E- Essential item: chap stick, sunglasses, treats and MILK!
F- Favorite color: Red but I also really like brown
G- Gummi bears or worms: worms
H- Home town: Sandy, Utah
I- Indulgences: Mostly food especially desserts.
J- January or July: July, I hate to be cold and I love to be warm!
K- Kids: 3, two girls and a boy, except for the high pitched screaming coming from the boy right now, they are awesome!
L- Life is incomplete without: My Family, church and a good project to work on!
M- Marriage date: June 2, 2000
N- Number of siblings: 4
O- Oranges or apples: Oranges, Apples sometimes give me a upset stomach.
P- Phobias or fears: That I'm always going to be poor. I also have a strong diversion to rodents. Oh yea, that darn pulpit at church, I can make comments and teach a lesson but that pulpit terrifies me or maybe intimidates me is a better word.
Q- Quote: Every Christmas as a kid my dad would start getting really excited and start saying "I think you are going to be pleasantly surprised this year." We tease him about it now but I might just have to start saying it to my kids.
R- Reason to smile: love of my life, silly kids and the warm sunshine.
S- Season: Summer, like I said I hate to be cold. I really like the longer days, except for Gideon thinking he needs to wake up at 6:30 a.m. now, whats a mom to do. Oh and I have a special place in my heart for the 4th of July and this country. Even with all its problems I wouldn't live any were else.
T- Tag: Melissa or anyone who is looking for something to blog about.
U- Unknown fact about me: Sometimes when I'm cooking, especially when I am chopping with my great big cutco knife, I pretend that I am Rachel Ray and I have my own cooking show.
V- Very favorite store: You would think with the amount of money I have spend in that place it would be Wal-mart but it is definitely not Wal-mart. I like to grocery shop at Macey's but I,m a little bias because I use to work there. I also really like Tia Pan and ShiAnne just reminded me about the shops in Disneyland.
W- Worst habit: I think complaining and despairing but my husband says not unpacking from trips of hanging garbage sacks on door handles and leaving them there. (Like he has any room to talk.)
X-rays or ultrasounds: ultrasound, I have several of both but I have never had a good x-ray, I had to have ultra sounds on my knee when I was in physical therapy after I had knee sugary so those ultra sounds weren't that fun either but the baby ultra sound were so fun they far out way the others.
Y- Your favorite food: Tacos and milk
Z- Zodiac sign: Aries, I think, I guess I don't really care because I can't remember it for the world.

Temple

Ahhhhh, peace. We went to the temple tonight. It felt really good.

"Sometimes our minds are so beset with problems, and there are so many things clamoring for our attention at once that we can just not think clearly and see clearly. At the temple the dust of distraction seams to settle out, the fog and haze seam to lift, and we can "see" things we were not able to see before and find ways through our troubles that we had not previously known.
The lord will bless us as we attend to the sacred ordinance work of the temple. Blessings there will not be limited to our temple service. We will be blessed in all of our affairs."
-President Boyd K. Packer

Slip 'n' Slide

I still don't know if I believe them but the kids decided it was warm enough to do some slip 'n' sliding today. Here is some cute pics I took of the fun. (This is Ahnika's last day with us. She has to go home tomorrow morning and I have to start entertaining the kids again.)


Our fearless slip 'n' sliders!




Lizzy



ShiAnne



Ahnika, look at that intense face. This is serious stuff.



Gideon, coming out to see what is so fun about this slip 'n' slid stuff?



WOW! that was an awesome run.



I like everything but the water in my face.



Ahhhh, sun bathing on the driveway to get warm. Don't you remember doing this when you were a kid?

Thought for the Week

"Believe in yourself. Believe in your capacity to do great and good things. Believe that no mountain is so high that you can not climb it. Believe that no storm is so great that you can not weather it. You are not destined to be a scrub. You are a child of God, of infinite capacity.
Believe that you can do it-whatever it is that you set your heart on. Opportunities will unfold and open before you. The skies will clear when they have been dark with portent."
-Gordon B. Hinckley

Going Ons

Lizzy was invited to a birthday party this weekend. It was a princess party and they all dressed up as princesses. Here is our Beautiful Cinderella!!



My sister and her husband went out of town for a few days and one of their girls got to come and stay with us for a couple nights. I love this, it actually makes my job easier. They go down stairs and play for hours at a time in fact tonight they cleaned up the basement as they played. Our basement is unfinished except for the one room ShiAnne and Lizzy share but seeing as how I am married to a carpet guy we have a puzzle of carpet pieces on the floor and that is where we keep all the toys. We love Ahnika!!!




Cookie Cravings!!! Shiloh decided he needed some chocolate chip cookies tonight so he went to work at it. Notice the goatee in the picture he has been trying to grow a goatee for about a week now but despite all the hair on his head and eyebrow his beard is quite sparse, it doesn't lead to the best goatee. He just kind of looked scruffy. On Sunday he decided it didn't look that good. Tonight he shaved it off.

After I posted this picture I realized you can hardly see his goatee. Good thing I pointed it out to you it would have been a shame to miss.

Mmmmmmm, Potato Salad!

Tonight for dinner we had potato salad. I love potato salad. It would be on my top ten list of favorite foods. I think Gideon might agree with me on this one. He enjoyed his potato salad a little to much tonight.

Eight is Great

"Indeed, the trick is to enjoy the journey, traveling hand in hand, in sunshine and storm, as companions who love each other." -Gordon B. Hinckley, Standing for Something

We celebrated our eighth anniversary this week. Every year it feels the same, it has gone by in the blink of an eye yet it feels like we have been together forever. This years anniversary was extra fun. My sister took our kids for the night and most the next day and we were able to go stay the night at Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake. We went out to dinner at the Red Lobster on Monday night. We got specialty drinks and everything, after all we were celebrating. Tuesday morning we slept in, watched a movie and then Shiloh took me golfing. I have only bee golfing once before it was my freshman year of college on a first date, it wasn't so fun. So Shiloh thought it was time to take me golfing again. This time Shiloh was an excellent, patient teacher and while I'm not a natural we did have lots of fun. The best part was actually being able to have a real conversation with Shiloh, that he was awake for and no kids interrupted. I'm proud to say we didn't even talk about the kids that much. It was good for the soul to get away relax and really enjoy each others company for more then just a couple hours at a time. Did I mention it has been a great eight years and I love my husband, I feel so lucky to have him.

Gideon is 1!

I have been trying all week to find the time to do a little blog about Gideon for his birthday but I have had a busy week, so here it is. We love having Gideon in our family, while I adore my girls it is fun to experience a boy he is already different. He doesn't like the same toys they like. He could care less about dolls and my little ponies he wants boy toys, phones and mostly balls!! Even if I try and give him a doll to side track him while I change his diaper it doesn't work he just throws it to the side. I didn't want to drag this on so here is Gideon at one in a nut shell.
weight: 23.2 lbs.
height: 29.7 in.
light brown hair
brown eyes
Likes: balls, playing catch (he can actually trow the ball), phones, his family, food all types and going outside
words: hi, hello, and sometimes ball
Gideon crawls all over the place he will take about 3-5 steps and then decides it is easier and faster to crawl. He is learning how to turn around to go down the stairs and fold his arms.
He is a cute little boy and and we are so glad Heavenly Father sent him to be with us. We are the lucky ones.

Then and Now

Fairytale

The wall above our door reads, "LIFE itself is a most wonderful FAIRYTALE."
-Hans Christian Anderson

This weekend has been such a fun time to celebrate those fairytales with friends. I started with a baby shower for my friend Debbie. She was due on June 22 but I guess baby Luke decided he wanted to really come to the shower too, so he decided to show up about a month early. He spent a couple hours right after he was born in the NICU but then he pinked right up and started breathing on his own so he was soon released form the NICU. He was able to go home with his mom. So we celebrated the birth of Debbie's first born with him there.


New mom Debbie holding her baby Luke.


Baby Luke

That night we were able to go celebrate at a wedding reception for one of my Young Women. The first time this happens you feel old but this is at least my third young woman to get married. When you become the young women's president at 23 this is bound to happen while you are still a hot young chick like me J/K. I still love going to wedding receptions. When ever I go to a wedding reception I think back to mine and Shiloh's wedding. I love looking back and remembering making those sacred covenants with Shiloh and all the love and excitement that I felt that day. I love looking at it from this side and knowing that it only gets better. I also love to watch the bride and groom glowing as they set out on the new chapter of their fairytale. This particular wedding just hit a little closer to home to me simply because although I love all my young women. I have always felt a closeness to Tammy (that the young woman's name). She reminded me of what I was like at her age. There wedding is two days before our 8th anniversary, so we got married at the same time of year and there reception like ours, was outside. So sitting there under the trees on a warm summer evening took me back to our wedding day, always a found memory.

Then today we took a little time to celebrate a special day in our fairytale. Gideon is 1. Happy Birthday little boy!!!



Gideon's favorite thing is balls, you could say he is his fathers son.





Mmmmmmm, Birthday Cake!!


Mesy, yet delicious!

I was talking to my sister-in-law about blogging today and she was asking me my blog address. She had been looking for us under a title relating to our names. So, I thought I would explain my reasoning behind my header, 'Cookie Crumbs'. Our family loves cookies in fact we eat way to many of them but this is the way I see it, cookies are pretty darn good, so is my life, I get to enjoy the cookies, or my life and what you get to read on the blog is just my left over crumbs. The three of course is for my kids.