Kaci turns 3!!

Kaci had a fun day on her birthday.  We went to Chuck-e-Cheese to celebrate the big day!  Ryan, Becca and their family joined us there.  Kaci loved playing the games but mostly enjoyed the rides.  It drives the kids mad because you don't win tickets on the rides but we told them that it was her birthday and she could do what she wanted!!

She loved this game and could play it without tokens which made the other kids happy!
She enjoyed opening presents and scored with a lot of princess stuff!!
Here is her cinderella cake with her cinderella candle.
If you ask Kaci how old she is she says "Cinderella, Belle, Snow White"  We tell she is three and she says no "Cinderella, Belle, Snow White"   For whatever reason, she thinks that we are asking her what she wants. She sang "A Whole New World" during the announcements at church today and was not very happy when we had to tell her that right now in church was not the time to sing.  Is it crazy that today was her last day in nursery?  She is so fun to have around and we love having her in our home!  Happy Birthday Kaci!!

Does this seem weird or is it just me?

Kaci wanted a Cinderella cake and I was being lazy so I ordered one from Albertsons. Now they are really barbie cakes that the lady said that she would make her look like cinderella. She actually did a petty good job but Jason and I chuckled as we pulled the cake out of the box.  She had used frosting to "dress" the barbie instead of clothes.  That's fine except she must of ran out because the barbie was completely bare in the back.  Then, of course, the joke became that no one could lick the frosting off of the doll.  Several of the kids REALLY wanted to lick the frosting off the doll it just seemed too weird!!

Kaylee's Choir Concert

Kaylee had her choir concert a few days ago and as usual she did a great job.  She is in the back middle if you can't find her.  I love her choir teacher.  She picks fun songs and the kids love singing.  The first three songs are all part of the same song  - Jingle Bell Nutcracker --  the song takes Jingle Bells and has the kids sing them to different tunes of the Nutcracker. 

The other song I put on here is the Hot Chocolate song.  Kaylee really liked this one!  Good job Kaylee!  Your concert was a lot of fun to watch!!

The deal of all deals

We received a call from Jason's boss.  When he saw the caller id he wasn't very excited about answering it especially since it was Saturday.  She called to let us know about this Croc Warehouse sale.  Now most of you know that my family is a lover of Crocs.  Several people have Crocs on their Christmas list, so Jason and I decided to head down (about 30 minutes away) to have a look.  I was pretty skeptical and I HATE to dig but as we pulled into the crowded lot and saw people coming out with GARBAGE BAGS full of Crocs that the deals must be pretty good. HOLY COW!  Crocs were $5 or $10 depending on the style.  Sunglasses were $10 and some guy told Jason that they retail for $100.  Jibbitz were 4 for a $1 and they had tons of princesses and HS musical kind.  They even had some BYU jibbitz.  Jason got a pair of Ohio State Flip FLops. Jason dug threw a box for 15 minutes and come up with a pair of Yankees Crocs for Jackson.  I hate digging but I was digging in every box for my kids.  We found TONZ for Kaylee as she is a Womens 7 and they had boxes and boxes of stuff for her.  We even put 3 pair back that we had grabbed for her because we found so many.  I only found one pair of flip flops but the drive was totally worth it.  We got 10 pairs of Crocs, 2 sunglasses and 20 Jibbitz for $100.  The sale was crazy and it was SO crowded but in the end we totally scored.  

P.S.  Ryan -- I even bought you a pair of Avalanche Jibbitz.  Is that worth a Diet Coke while you are here?

For Joy

The kids received a letter from their Aunt Tami telling them that in honor of Joy she would like each of the kids to buy a toy that a 3 year old would love and donate it to someone who needs it.  For our enrichment, we were gathering items for a safe house for women and children from abusive situations.  The kids and I picked our presents and donated it to them.  Kaci had the hardest time because these are all toys that she LOVED!!  "I love it mommy.  I want it.  It is mine because I love it."  We were able to persuade her to let me take them to enrichment but not without a few tears.  The kids enjoyed the project and hopefully some little girl will see the gifts and have something to smile about.  Thanks, Aunt Tami for the great project!!

Kaylee's TaVaci Concert

 Kaylee has been doing this little singing and dancing group called Tavaci for a couple of months now and she loves it!  Her first concert was Saturday and she did great.  She has had so much fun but is looking forward to next semester when they are learning songs from Annie, Hairspray and High School Musical.

Here are Kaylee and her friends Rachel, Savannah and Rachel.
There are three videos I put on here for the grandparents.  If you are only going to watch one, watch the third one as it is Kaylee's solo!  Great job Kaylee.  Can't wait until the next concert.

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Tough Choices

We got a call last night from a Competitive Basketball team coach.  The coach had seen Jackson at Rec League tryouts and called to invite him to be on his Gold Crown team.  Jackson has really wanted to play Gold Crown ball but never tried out or really looked into it because most of the games are on Sunday.  I told the coach that Jackson would be so excited that he was asked but that we would have to say no.  As I told Jackson about the phone call, he was excited that the coach had asked him but said the games are on Sunday so I can't.  I told him that I knew what his answer would have been and I already told the coach that.  I was proud that Jackson had already made the choice not to play on Sunday.  It is one of the things that makes living outside of Utah hard.  He has been having to make that choice since third grade.  Most baseball tournaments end on Sunday and he has had to miss many games because of his choice. Thankfully, we have had understanding coaches who are okay with that.  He has always played rec basketball because the games are always on Saturday.  While he was a little bummed, I reminded him that he is playing rec ball, playing for the junior high basketball team, starting life guard classes and that baseball practices were starting up this week.  Plus, he is going to school and doing piano.  (He's not busy at all!)  The good thing is that because the coach asked, he knows that he is good enough to be wanted at the competitive level.  Hopefully that boost of confidence will translate into a good basketball season!!

THE TURKEY BOWL

We headed down to Cedar City for Thanksgiving after some time up in Draper. What Thanksgiving would be complete without a Turkey Bowl. Jason went and purchased some flags so that there would be NO fights at this competitive game.  The teams were divided up -- COLORADO vs UTAH (except Grandpa got put on Colorados team because they had an extra man!)  The game played out pretty evenly until the end.  

Can you tell that this family is very competitive?  Just look at the intensity on their faces.
It was pouring rain but that didn't stop them.  They kept going and going and going . . .
Here they are at halftime.  
Now, grandpa claimed he was neutral but he did throw an interception that turned into a touchdown for Utah so his neutrality comes into question but fun was had by all!  

The elves!

The kids loved the witches at Gardner Village during October so we decided to try the elves. Although they are cute and fun, they are not as fun as the witches. The kids still had fun running from elf to elf and, of course thanks to Aunt Tami, (even though I still had to pay) a trip to the candy store.  Kaci wasn't as scared of the elves as she was the witches but she still wouldn't take any pictures or get anywhere near those elves! 

Here are Chase, Kaylee and "Babers" a.k.a. Layla!  (Kaci calls her babers cuz her mom calls her babers.) 
Chase loves the Hershey Kiss elf.  YUM!!
Kaci crashed on her way there and I couldn't resist taking a picture.
We had a fun time with the elves although if I were to do it again I would do it at night when all of the Christmas lights are lit up!!

GRANDPA is the BIG 6-0!!!

We started out our vacation by watching a big game but we won't mention anything about the game especially since someone forgot to tell Hall that he wears blue!  

On Sunday, we celebrated grandpas 60th birthday.  Grandma and Tami fixed grandpas favorite Sunday meal -- Roast beef, burnt carrots and dark gravy.  YUM!!  Then we had cake and opened presents!  Here are the kids singing happy birthday!

As a kid I remember 60 being so old but now I think how young he looks!!
Here are the grandkids with Grandpa!  
Layla was touching grandpas present and playing with the ribbon and Kaci kept telling her NO! "No Layla.  That's Grandpas present!"
We had a fun time celebrating with Grandpa and we were glad that we could be there for his birthday!  Hope you had a fun one dad!!  We love you!! 

The LONG drive home!!

I thought I would start by telling you about the end of our vacation.  After a very fun 10 days spent with family, we got in the car and headed home.  We had been watching the news and travel conditions but the weather people -- who are way over paid in my opinion  (I want the job that you can be wrong 50% of the time and still get paid $200,000+) -- insisted that the storm would be done by Sunday morning so we woke up early Sunday and headed on our way. We flew through Utah and hit Vail in 7 hours including a lunch and gas stop.  No weather issues.  Sunny. Great roads.  Then, we hit Vail.  There was only a couple of inches on the ground and the roads were clear but idiot people drive to slow or to quickly and cause problems.  10-15 cars in front of us there is a wreck so both lanes are shut down while they clear it up.  We sat in PARK for about 45 minutes.  When we FINALLY got through, we followed the other cars --who were driving way too slow -- down to Silverthorne where they had everyone exit.  I-70 had been shut down.  There was maybe six inches of snow on the ground,  the roads were plowed, not too slick and they were shut down.  Growing up in Idaho, if they shut down the road for these conditions we would never go anywhere!  It was almost dinnertime so we tried to find a place to eat.  The first place, the wait was 2 1/2 hours.  LOVELY!!  Then, we found Chipolte and went in there.  It was only about 1/2 full so we were able to get some dinner and a table.  We would have been fine staying there except some GRUMPY guy at the table next to us kept blaming Jason and anyone else who lives in Colorado for the freeway being shut and him missing his flight. (Like the rest of us are happy about this.  Buck up mister and just deal!)  We found out that they had opened a shelter and headed there.  We were sent to a school gym.  Jason had brought in the kids pillows, blankets, gameboys, ipods etc.  Anything to pass the time.  

Kaci actually was really good and sat and read books!
Chase was getting bored but loved playing the game boys.

Here is everyone along the wall waiting for any news.  (Thank goodness for internet access phones.)
Here is Kaci playing around on the gameboy!
Jackson was trying to go to sleep.  It was pretty loud so I don't think he had any luck!

We watched some lady attempt to do yoga.  She had her mat and was doing all of her moves.  I really wanted to take her picture so you could see how funny she looked but her friend was sitting next to me and I didn't want to have to explain why I was taking a picture of her friend. After we left, Jason said I should have had one of the kids stand in front of her.  Too late!  After about an our hour, they opened the road back up and it was a mass exodus to the freeway.  At that point it was 8:30 and we had been in the car for 12 hours!!  We chugged along at 5 MPH to the Eisenhour tunnel where we were able to speed up to about 20MPH.  As we exited the tunnel, there was a TON of snow.  45 inches in 48 hours.  The roads were still pretty good but we did have to go slow for about 5 miles.  Then there was only about 6 inches of snow and then about 10 minutes later NONE!!  The roads were clear and we could go 50-60 the rest of the way home.  It was crazy how 2 miles could have so much snow and then hardly any!  Anyways, our 8 1/2 hour trip turned into 15 hours!  The kids did great and being the AWESOME mom I am I even let them sleep in and be late for school on Monday.  I rock, don't I!  

Girls Day Out!

With the boys at the BYU game, the girls gat to PARTY!!  OK not really but we did get to entertain all of the girls who got left behind.  We decided to go swimming.  Kaci was raring to go!!

Here are Kaylee, Layla, Jane and Kaci.  They all had a blast. Even the little ones loved being in the water.
Marian and Kaylee enjoyed the slides and swimming the the pool.  Everyone loved the hot tub.
While we were home, a lot of Dr. Mario was played.  Mark and Val tried REALLY hard to beat me.  Val finally did but I was on level 20 and Val was on level 5.  I guess that counts as a win right!  (Sidenote -- I am not competitive at all.)
We are glad that everyone came and we hope that they will come back.  We loved having a full house!!

BYU vs AFA

What a fun game to watch.  Another beautiful day in Colorado, although a little chilly.  I think everyone was a little worried after the first half but BYU looked great during the second half and pulled out the win.  Now we just hope they show up next week.  GO COUGS!!

Grandpa Gardner, Uncle Mark and Uncle Ryan all came for the game!  Uncle Mark must have been in charge of the concessions because my boys are drinking Mountain Dew.  YUCK!
Here are the cougs getting ready to do there thing!  What a fun time everyone had!!

FINALLY!!!!

Sorry -- kind of blurry but you get to see that it is FINALLY under $2!!  YEAH!! 

In my next life I am going to be a...

PLUMBER!!!!!

Jason is usually pretty good about fixing stuff around the house.  What he can't do by himself, he will usually call his dad or ask a neighbor.  He thought that our leaky toilet would just need a flapper replaced but as he started on the project he realized that it was a little more complex.  We had a cracked tube.  Our neighbor came over and looked at it and basically said  "You better call a plumber!"  So, Joe the plumber (and yes his name was Joe and he introduced himself by saying that his name is really Joe and he didn't need to hear any Joe the plumber jokes) and his worker bee came over to fix the toilet.  I had them check our other toilets to see if they had the same problem (before they told me the cost).  2 of the toilets had the same cracked tube and the 3rd one was weak but not cracked yet so, of course, they wanted to fix all 3 for (sit down for this one) $300 bucks a toilet. What!  $300 bucks, you have got to be kidding me. He nicely said that because we were having more than one toilet done that the 2nd and 3rd toilet he would do for $275 each. Oh how kind you are Joe. Knowing Jason, I knew that there was no way he was going to have the 3rd toilet fixed because technically the tube hadn't cracked yet so I gave them permission to go ahead on the 2. So Joe sits down at the table to do his paper work while his worker dude fixes the toilets. You and your friend come to fix the toilet and he does all the work and my guess is Joe makes more money than him.  I want that job.  So, 1 hour and 30 minutes later and $600 bucks poorer the work is done. The toilets work. No more running water. Just think if Joe would have worked on the 2nd toilet while his buddy worked on the 1st toilet they could have done it in 45 minutes. $600 for 45 minutes of work.  I want that job!!

CHASE IS 7!!

Chase has been so excited for his birthday.  He has been counting down the days and it finally arrived.  He chose to go to Red Robin for his birthday dinner.  We went on Tuesday because it was our schools fundraiser night and I made him choose because we were not about to eat at Red Robin Tuesday and Friday.  The bird came and sang and brought ice cream.  Tonight he chose breakfast burritos and chocolate cake for dinner.  He was bummed to have to go to school on his birthday.  I told him that next year he could stay home on his birthday.  This worked wonders until Kaylee informed him that his birthday will be on a Saturday next year.  I did go and eat lunch with him and brought a requested Happy Meal with me for his lunch.  

 

I still can't believe that he is seven.  What a sweet boy he is.  He is our funny boy who has quite the sense of humor.  It is fun to watch him grow up and see what a good athlete he is becoming. He had a fun day but is looking forward to tomorrow when we take 11 of his friends to see Madagascar 2.  That should be fun ...  

CUPCAKES!!

I waited until Chase got home from school to make the cupcakes for his party tomorrow. Of course, that meant I had a couple of little helpers who loved liking the batter.

I had already made the cake for tonight but notice the finger pokes as Kaci decided to taste it early.  
Here are the cupcakes that we made.  We'll have them frosted and ready for the birthday party tomorrow!!

Jackson's Choir Concert

Jackson decided to do choir for one of his electives this year.  Last night was the first of three concerts.  This is just a snippet of a song.  We were in the back and I just had my little camera. He is the boy on the second row.  

Uh-Oh -- it could be a LONG night!!

Between daylight savings times and early release Wednesday, Kaci didn't get a nap.  I shrugged it off and thought that I would just put her to bed early.  She was watching Tinkerbell and I wasn't paying attention and found her asleep on the couch.  (She actually fell asleep sitting up which is when I should have snapped the picture but I felt sorry for her and laid her down.)  

Must be quite the dream that she is having!!

Luckily, she still went to bed okay but I heard her singing in her crib around 9:45!  

BYU vs. CSU

It was a beautiful fall day here in Colorado and Jason, Chase and Jackson were lucky enough to spend it watching the Cougars take on the Rams.  BYU forgot to show up again but at least they pulled out a win -- barely!!  

You can tell that Jason took the picture because he didn't wait for the random kid in the background to leave before he snapped the shot.  Oh well,  Chase was still excited to have a picture taken with the cougar!!