my blogging break

I am going to take a break from blogging right now. I think I need a break from it to gather more inspiration. Life is so busy for us right now and I am just so unmotivated to post. TTFN!

my five year old

We had a combined friend party with 11 kids. It was a blast. I loved how the cakes turned out and it was a fun learning experience. My friend did most of the making.

my THREE year old!

Happy birthday! Reese always shares his things. He is always sweet to his baby sister. He is very emotionally driven. He likes to help his sisters when they need to be rescued. He loves to play cheetah with his dad. Reese is very brave. He has a tender heart. I love him!

my ONE YEAR OLD!

MY BABY TURNS ONE TODAY!!! Where has the time gone??

She has been the sweetest little girl. She understands me when i talk to her...mostly when i ask "whats in your mouth" and "no".

She is walking all over the place with no problem. She has yet to talk. She is starting to fight for things that she wants. She loves to eat audrey's polly pockets.

I love her so much.

my black hole

I have a pretty bad library track record. I have lost a book or two and turned countless books in late and thus, piling fine after fine into my account. They have yet to revoke my card. So, I finally got my library account all cleaned out and resolved all my money issues. I paid a ridiculous amount of money for a 'free' service. So, I was determined to keep my record clean. But of course, it didn't last and I lost this book...


I went on an obsessive rampage looking EVERYWHERE in my house. I pulled beds, couches, and drawers apart. I couldn't rest. I thought about where else I could possibly look, when I wasn't looking.
I hate paying double for something that was free.

I guess, I should keep better track of my checked out items.

Do you ever feel like an item in your house has just fallen into some black hole? Or that it has been dissolved in the fabric of time.? Can items become invisible or can they simply implode and turn into dust?
I could not fatham what had happened to this book. I had looked in every nook and cranny.

I almost convinced myself that the book just vanished until one day, I discovered it behind a bookcase in our "office" room...the ONE bookcase I did not obsessivly pull out and look behind until days later.

ahhhhhhhhhh, a huge sigh of relief. my mind can rest.

my halloween 2007

Halloween, was of course, really fun. We went to mom and dad's ward trunk or treat. It was a great activity and it is so much easier to go car to car than house to house. The kids LOVED it and so did I. Michael did not get dressed up this year...maybe next year!

I looked completely hideous...and the make-up really hurt my face! Jon said that I reallly didn't need that much makeup or costume to get into the witch character...perhaps he was right:) Audrey looked adorable so did Sadie. Reese was awesome! He really got into character. I loved that he chose to be a vampire! He was scary!

Fats Domino Imperial 45: BLUE MONDAY

I am obsessed with this song. I LOVE IT!

I wanted move the last post down. I dont want people to think I am a propagandist...

MY MISSIONARY PROBLEM

So, the JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES are officially after me. They tracked our old neighborhood at least once a month....I would be nice and listen to their scripture and take their pamphlet because I always feel bad for OUR missionaries and never want anyone to be rude to them. So, I am not rude to any missionaries that come to my door.

We moved into our new home at the end of June and we have had three visits from the JW's since then. I feel so annoyed every time I answer my door and see the 2 ladies standing there, but I just smile thru my clenched teeth b/c I know that my brothers,sister, and husband have served missions and have knocked on many a door....

I tried the "oh, I am very firm in my religion" bit, but they only asked what religion I was...of course, I replied "LDS".

So just today I got a repeat missionary visit...AGAIN. It was the same 2 ladies that have come to my house before. They REMEMBERED ME. They must have written down my name and everything I said b/c she said, "Oh, I talked to you a couple of weeks ago, Michele, RIGHT?"

I was like uhhhhhhhhhh...no.

she said, "well, last time we talked about raising children...blah blah blah. I am sure that you get helpful information from your church...you are mormon, right?"

i said...uhhhhhhhhhh, yes....

she said..."how are your THREE children?"

i said "fine" with a total look of bewilderment on my face...like...what are you doing?

she said, "well, here is another pamphlet that helps with child rearing with reference to the bible...blah blah blah."

I reiterated to the JW's AGAIN that I am very faithful to my religion and do not intend to leave my church and am not interested in any other religion.

But, THEY WILL NOT BE STOPPED.

After I finished telling her that, she SAID...that they would stop by in a couple of weeks to make sure things were going well.

I said, "Oh that is okay, no need"

THEY HAVE MARKED MY HOUSE. THEY WILL NOT BE DETERRED. I will never be safe again. I am officially on the JW target scope. They have zeroed in on me and are going to try to convert me.

What should I do? I don't want to be rude b/c they know I am LDS. And again, I feel sorry for missionaries...that is a hard job to do...but I feel they won't take no for an answer. But they are so ANNOYING!

HELP ME!

BTW: We do not have a peep hole on our front door, perhaps that is the key. I just need to get one so I can see who is ringing my bell before I open the door.

UGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH

my little pumpkins

We went to the Country Market for FHE and picked some pumpkins. It was so fun, we did a hay ride to the pumpkin patch, they had a few baby animals to pet. Reese was trying to grab the goats little horns or antlers or whatever they are. He was so into the horns....Sadie was a little afraid of the ponies. And of course, Audrey loved everything and couldn't get to each different activity fast enough. They had a hay tower and maze. It is fun to go to these things with little kids and just let them run wild.

my makeup artist part II

I allowed Audrey and Reese to give me a "makeover". I have TONS of makeup that I never use and I picked out a few eye shadows, liners, and lipsticks for us to use. I was surprised they didn't completely cover my face with color. Audrey mostly was into the pink glitter lip gloss...you can't tell, but there is about a pound of gloss on my lips. Reese was into my eyebrows and eye makeup. It was funny to watch them work.

Reese and I decided that boys don't wear makeup, and he didn't want any at first. But once he saw Audrey's red lips, he wanted a taste for himself.

Audrey, of course, wanted the whole nine yards including my play fake eyelashes. (I did not bring out the mascara). It was fun and it was a controlled activity. I prefer doing "makeovers" every once in awhile to them sneaking into my makeup and destroying everything and everyone that lies in thier path...

SCRUBS! TURK DOES THE DANCE!

I want to memorize this dance and perform it at the next "talent show". Turk has the best moves!!!

my sweet cousins

My sweet cousin and family came to k-town for a visit and it was so fun. I love her family and husband. I think that we have such a great extended family. I felt better after talking with her on some "issues" that I was dealing with. It was a great help to me to talk to her, she has such great insight and I appreciate her kindness! She has such cutie kids...we had some races in the backyard....I put this picture up b/c Reese is in the background pouting on the ground b/c he was not winning. Audrey did that a couple of times too. It was a little embarrassing, but such is life.




We had some good talks and stayed up late. It was so fun! I could feel tension in my life melting away....I haven't laughed so hard in quite a while. Only a few people can bring me to tears and Dave and Denae are in that group.

Macey and Reese are about 1 month apart and were so funny to watch interact. They were little buddies and they both just acted like little adults. It was so cute!
Thanks for coming! I love you guys tons!

my makeup artist...

Audrey has been into makeup lately. She LOVED her cousin Lexi's lip gloss and wanted her to give her a makeover. One quiet afternoon, Audrey decided that Reese needed a makeover and got out my mascara....


Reese is a good sport.

my big boy

Reese has needed some serious "hair-apy" . It grows in random places and I have never really been proud of any of the hair cuts I have given him. It is more like..."oooooh, ouch. That will grow out." So Michael took him to Great Clips to get a "professional" hair cut. He did really good, and he was so thrilled to get a lollipop at the end.

my little vampire

Sadie's new fang teeth...This photo was taken in the morning....




This photo was taken at night....

JUST KIDDING:)

my trip to the coast

We stopped first at this sturgeon farm/hatchery on our way to Salem.
I have never seen such large fish. They were 7 feet long sturgeon. It was kinda scary because they were so massive. I have a fear of swimming in lakes for this exact reason. I do not want to be wading and splashing around then all of a sudden, a freakishly huge water beast swims up by me and brushes my leg....but I digress...

This sturgeon farm is nestled in a lovely spot in the columbia gorge. I thought the "egg incubation" building was kinda funny...

We arrived in Salem, rather late, due to a much anticipated trip to the Portland IKEA! Can I get a WHAT, WHAT?! It was a virtual mad house maze...people were everywhere and packed in there. It was so fun to look, but also a little stressful b/c we had all the kids and I really wanted to SHOP!

The hotel was great...the first night was kind of rough. Sadie and Reese basically cried all night.

We were greeted the next morning (Thurs.) to a completely flat tire...Michael had to change it in all his nice clothes. He did it really fast and we took him to his meetings.

Then me and the kids headed to the Children's Discovery Village (http://www.acgilbert.org/). Oh, my goodness...this was SO MUCH FUN! It was such a great place! The kids were able to touch and play with all the exhibits and it is also very educational.

Reese LOVED this "spider web". He tried so hard to climb it and he had a blast!

Friday we headed to the coast...

We ended up finding a camping spot in Nehalem Bay S.P. I would go there again. It was so beautiful. I cant tell you enough how much I love the coastal scene with the mountains, the grassy sand dunes, and all the green trees.

All the kids slept really well in the tent. I think they were all just exhausted at this point.

We got up the next morning and continued up the 101 and stopped at a few lookout points

And finally stopped at Cannon Beach. We are big fans of the movie Goonies, and I have always loved this beach. It was a little colder and windier here, so we didn't get to stay as long as we wanted.

We went to Ikea again on our way back over to the east side and I bought a few more things that I love!

Then the drive home was tense at times. Sadie screamed for a long time on several occasions. We kept having to pull over and calm her down. I think she was just sick of being in her seat + she had a bit of a cold.

It was a great trip and I always am up for a trip to the coast. I love going there. It makes me feel happy!!! It is so breathtakingly beautiful.

Sorry this is so long!