HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

I have been busy the last two days! Making preparations for my kids Valentines, their class Valentines, Scott's Valentines and then my neighbor kids class Valentines. (Robert decided to surprise Kristen for her birthday which was yesterday and took her on a little trip, so we are watching the kids). Even though is seemed crazy busy it was so fun and well worth the work. I love Valentines. Even though Scott and I have never made a big deal out of the holiday (probably because we would forget to make reservation any where, drive around all night and end up at fast food, or we never had money) it is so fun to make it special for the kids!
Our morning started with Berry smoothies, heart shaped pancakes and eggs. Yes, that is a very YUMMY berry smoothy mustache, only Scotty can get them that big! Yes, I got up showered myself got 4 kids fed and ready for school all before 8:30 in the morning. It is a miracle ! If anyone knows me and how I hate to get up in the mornings. I must do real well under pressure, or getting up at 6:45 was the key. Wow, I have not gotten up that early in a long time. I do not look forward to the Jr. High and Highschool days.
Here they all are waiting for their ride to school. Aren't they cute!Haley looked adorable today all decked out in her Valentine ribbons! She loves to get all made up!
Maddy showing me her monkeys socks she got. (sorry the camera is so fuzzy, Scotty got a hold of it after breakfast. You can only imagine what I had to clean off the lense, once I realized!) The following are the treats I have been working hard on. I am really proud of them!~

Chocolate suckers I made for Haley's and Scottys school classes!
Cookies on a stick that I made for my neighbor Jeremy's class. These were made out of a cake box mix and they seriously took 20 minutes to make, roll out, and cook. And they taste really good! Thanks for the recipe Kristen.
Chocolate covered strawberries for my SWEET miamaids! I made these for all 10 of them and the ladies I visit teach. I think I may have eaten as many as I gave away. These are seriously one of my favorite things. I would have started making them years earlier if I would have realized how easy they were. These days I am for good and easy!
The finished product!

Despite what I said above, Scott was so sweet this year and sent me flowers. It was fun to get a knock on the door in the middle of the day and have roses on my porch. The three roses is symbolic of something special between us! Don't you all wish you knew what it was, but I am not telling!! Aren't they lovely!
Scott also sent a rose to Haley at school. She was thrilled when she came home. She said they called her to the office for it. I think it made her feel really special. What a great husband I have!! I love you Scott!

Haley Learns to Ride Her Bike

We love to go on bike rides as a family. In the past we have loaded one child on the back of my bike and Scott hooks up the bike trailer and puts the other two in that. As Haley and Scotty have gotten older we have gone on a couple bike rides with them riding their own bikes with training wheels. Well, if you all can remember how inhibiting training wheels can be. They do not go very fast and get tired quickly, so our rides are short. Scotty has been able to ride his bike for a few months now. He learned very quickly because he does not like to be left behind. When all the neighbor kids are out on their bikes he would ride Flinstone style with his feet until one day he just took off. The minute the garage door goes up he is out the door on his bike before we can even say anything to him. Anyway, Haley is not motivated the same way. She would watch as everyone rode bikes or find something else to do. Today, the weather was so nice that we wanted to play outside all day. So, we told Haley that if she would learn to ride her bike today she could choose any family activity to do. Needless to say it worked. And we are off to Peter Piper Pizza. (if you look closely to the picture below, you will notice there is a slight curve to her front tire thanks to her father, we have had the worst luck with running over our kids bikes, anyway our reasoning for not getting her a new tire is that if she can learn to ride this bike she can ride any bike!)
We would have gone to the Piper's today except Scotty woke up with pink eye in both eyes. It must have come from the park we went to yesterday. That poor kid is always sick with something. Kristen and I decided he is a walking germ. But a dang cute germ. We had a great day riding bikes, playing football in the street with the neighbor kids, trimming our trees and bushes, and mowing our lawn. I think it was almost 70 degress today. These are the days I am grateful to live in Las Vegas!

MADELINE'S Birthday!

Yesterday was Maddy's birthday. I can hardly believe that she is 2!!! Boy, time flies by so fast. It was kind of a bitter sweet day for us with her birthday and President Hinckley's funeral. As we watched his funeral that morning I thought how I wish Maddy would have been able to know him and love him as the rest of us have. Since we knew his funeral was the morning of her birthday we planned her party for the evening. But throughout the day Haley and Scotty helped me decorate the cake and put it on the table along with all of her presents. But, apparently Maddy was not going to wait until the evening to celebrate her birthday! Scott called for me from the bedroom to go out and look at her. And this is how I found her..... sitting on the table working on opening her 2nd present. Yes, she is only in her diaper and definetly not dolled up to mommy standard for her party. Here is a quick video of me catching her. Note how defensive she gets when her brother comes in to tell her not open her presents. Well, about 10 minutes prior to this I found her up on the table putting more ponies on her cake and digging her fingers in the cake saying "I want cake! I want cake!" Good thing she is my third child and I have finally learned my lesson and do not spend hours (literally hours and sometimes days) on my children's birthday cakes. Otherwise the day would have been ruined! We put My little Ponies on her cake, because she is obsessed with horses and ponies.











We ordered pizza for the party because it is Maddy's second favorite food. There are many days, including mornings that I have been putting her in her seat to eat and she says "I want a hanguber and fries." I think we have eaten at IN N OUT one too many times. We invited our next door neighbors over for the party. When Maddy was a baby they would hold her all the time and people at church thought that she was their baby, because she was so dark! She literally could have passed for their baby with her round head and dark brown eyes. KiKi (Maddy's nickname for Kristen) loves Maddy like her own. She made me promise that I would let her take Maddy if anything ever happened to Scott and I. I guess the other two are up for grabs if anyone wants to be put in our will. Maddy got many great things for her birthday. Her favorites are her two "Ponies" and her bubble machine. One of the ponies she got neighs and walks with a little remote control. When the kids turned it on for her it walked right into her belly and she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She was surprised and scared. So, it took her a while to warm up too it. She kept saying "pony get me dress, pony get my dress!" She has since forgiven the pony and is very possessive of it. Thank you to everyone that called and sent her presents . She truly loved them all. Thanks for making her day special! We LOVE YOU MISSY MOO!
Here is a list of Maddy's Favorites this last year:
1. gu gu's (otherwise known as popsicles)
2. soda pop (no this is not a drink, but a lolly pop)
3. lipgick (if I have lipstick on she has to have lipstick on)
4. hangabur and fries
5. Boopah (Grandpa, whenever we call grandparents, Maddy only wants to talk to Boopah)
6. Daddy (Maddy is my first child to be a true Daddy's girl. Mommy is only good if Daddy is trying to brush her teeth!)
7. gooeys (otherwise known as stickers) she loves to put them all over her body, especially her face, this is something she inherited from her father.
8. PIGGY- Piggy has been Maddy security blanket since her first Christmas. She slept with piggy and drug her through everything. They were inseparable until Belle came along.
9. Shoes- she may be tough but she is a true girl. She loves shoes. There was a few months where she would cry until you put her shoes on, they were on all the time!
Thank you Angela and Jenny for reminding me of some more precious Maddy moments!
If any of you think of something I have not added please make a comment so I can record all her treasured moments of the past year!

Tribute to President Gordon B. Hinckley

I was looking forward to blogging tonight, but since hearing of the passing of President Gordon B. Hinckley can think of nothing else. So I decided to share my love, thoughts and feelings for this wonderful man. I was so saddened when I heard of his passing. Even though I know that the Plan of Salvation is real and that he is now reunited with his dear wife, I can't help but feel the loss for me and my family and the rest of the church. He had such an impact in my life. I looked forward to hearing him speak each conference and enjoyed his enthusiasm for life and for the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was such a dedicated servant of the Lord. I love him, my children love him and he will be sorely missed. Haley has called him prophet Hinckley since she was two years old, and I am sure he will always hold a special place in her heart. She teared up tonight when Scott and I sat on the bed with her and Scotty to tell them the news. Scotty on the other hand proceeded to tell us how Joseph Smith died and how our Savior died. I am not sure he really understood, but could relate in that way. Well, I imagine the the reunion up in heaven was great this evening, maybe even a party! I hope that I have heeded President Hinckley's council and followed his teaching as I know that he is and was a TRUE Prophet of GOD!! We love you President Hinckley!

My SMART child

Sunday morning the kids decided to pull all of my blankets out of the chest and use it as a jack in the box. They had so much fun shutting each other inside. The miracle is that it did not end in contention! They were having a great time. Church is not until 1pm (please feel sorry for me since I have to bear it alone, and it is almost dark by the time we get home) so they had plenty of hours of fun.
Well this blog is about my SWEET and new found SMARTY Pants! Madeline witnessed a very bad Scotty day! Without going into much detail she heard him call me stupid while carrying him to his room for a LONG time out. Well, this happened several times throughout that day. Scotty recovered and has been doing well for a couple of weeks now. But this particular day made quite an impression on Madeline. Every time she gets upset now or seems bored with what we are doing she calls someone Stupid. Apparently she thinks she is smarter than the rest of us. I think she thinks it is a game. When I try to correct her she gets this grin on her face that makes it so hard for me to not roll on the ground laughing. And if you have heard her voice, she can make it really low and gruff when she says these choice words. I think she says it about 50 times a day. It can get really embarrassing, especially when we are out in public. And believe me I know every time she says it because Scotty will come running to me and say"mommy Maddy just said the s word". Yes.... stupid is the "S" word in our family. I can honestly say Scotty has not used that word since his sister adopted it, which is good. I guess we just go from one problem to the next. Any suggestions on how to get my not yet two year old to clean up her language would be much appreciated!
Can you believe that such vulgar language comes out of this adorable girls mouth?
One side note to family. Maddy has replaced her precious piggy with Belle! Sorry Angela! (Belle is Scott's parents pug, this stuffed animal looks just like her and when we returned home from visiting them in Texas, Maddy found it and named it immediately, they have been pals ever since)

Haley 's First Loose Tooth

Haley finally got a loose tooth right before Christmas. This is a huge deal since she was the ONLY one in her Kindergarten class that didn't lose a tooth. Now she is well into her 1st grade year and finally gets a loose tooth. The whole month before Christmas she was singing, "all I want for Christmas is to lose my two front teeth". Well she finally did it. Yesterday when her dad got home from work, they both agreed that her tooth was loose enough to pull out. (Scott has claimed all rights and privileges to pulling out his children's teeth. I think it is pay back for the pain his father put him through as a child pulling out his own teeth.) She sat on his lap and he yanked out her tooth. But from the sound of the scream you would have thought Haley was being tortured. I think it was the taste or sight of the blood that made this instant trauma. Haley ran to the bathroom spitting up blood and yelling at her father. The worst part was that the tooth was not completely out. After about ten minutes of coaxing Scott was finally able to pull the tooth all the way out. And Haley held a wet rag on her mouth for another hour. You will see in the pictures how the drama played out.








Haley realizes that her tooth is still attached






Scott is able to finally convince her that it will not hurt to pull it all the way out.





Scott claims victory! He is holding her tooth and Haley is still in shock. I have to say she looks so different with a big gap in her teeth. Also, many of you have not seen her since she got her bangs cut. That also makes her look WAY different. Here is another story full of drama! She had begged me for weeks to let her cut bangs. So, one day I had a weak moment and gave it. Well, I should have taken her to get them cut, but I did it instead. I cut Scotty's hair...why not! So, we did it...when she saw herself she started to cry and told me to put them back on. Well, of course we couldn't do that so I convinced her that we would pin them back every day until they grew out. I told her that Marianne Bunnell does that sometimes and she is beautiful, so she was ok with it. Well, later that day or the next we went to the Butlers house and sweet Breanna played with her bangs and told her how cute they looked and that she was jealous because she didn't have them. Now Haley loves them! Thank goodness for good friends and family, because no matter how hard I try what I say just isn't good enough!

Nevada Caucus

This morning we got up bright and early to attend our Republican Caucus. For some reason Republicans must like to get up early because our caucus started at 9am, therefore we had to be there latest by 8:45 AM. Scott had to work late and the kids and I did not want to be home alone so we crashed our next door neighbors the Butlers. Needless to say we did not get home and in bed until well after midnight, so we were not so thrilled to get up so early on a Saturday morning. But being the devout Republican that I am I forced my husband and the Butlers to wake up and do our duty to our country. Scott was the least enthused as he realized that there may be lines and for sure would be a lot of people. He gets, well.....should we say ANGRY when he is forced to be with a crowd standing in line. But it went well. We were done in an hour and Scott was rewarded with breakfast at Einsteins Bagel.




A quick note about the Butlers: Robert and Kristen Butler are our next door neighbors and best friends here in Las Vegas. We seriously do not know what we would do with out them. We rely on them so much. They have four beautiful children Ashley (14 and one of my miamaids), Breanna (12), Zach (10 and Scotty's idol), and Jeremy (7). We are so grateful for their friendship and yes they are LDS which is an added bonus! Kristen is the one who to my mothers delight has taught me how to make bread, helped me get into canning and fine tune my sewing skills. She is an amazing person with many hidden talents! I love you Kristen!