Suprise!!!

Hey Mykee... this is for you!!! Love your MOMs and DADs :)
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoox

Birth DAY's

My dad and Mykee share today as their BirthDay.
Reasons I love my Mykee: She is loving, sweet, beautiful, kind, helpful, caring, trustworthy, honest, hard working, respectful and an all around wonderful daughter. I can't believe that 12 years ago she entered our lives. She is an amaing girl with so many talents. I feel very lucky to be her mom. She is always teaching me something... mostly patience :) She loves to babysit and teach younger children. She's a great example to all those around her. She is a friend to younger kids, older kids, kids her age...and even adults. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MYKEE!! I LOVE YOU!! (pictures of her "day" to be posted soon)




Reasons why I love my Dad: He loves to serve and finds happyness through others, he's a great missionary and examply of HOW to be a missionary, he is kind, loving, caring, most giving and a pretty good Rook player :) My dad has always been a hero to me. I love the way he is always so positive. He constantly is looking out for others and finding ways to help/serve them. He is a wonderful husband to my mom and a terrific GrandDad to my children. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!

Lyndee turns 1!

Lyndee turns one today. I can't believe how big she is and that it's been a whole year since she entered our lives. She has blessed me so much. I am SO in love with this little girl!
Lyndee: has 4 teeth, loves taking naps, can stand in the middle of the room alone, is almost walking, loves to be entertained by her older siblings, LOVES her big brother and is always making us smile and laugh!!

*The* Concert

In Aspen, we went to a tiny little basement music venue called Belly Up. Apparently, this place gets lots of great talent! There were pictures of famous people on all the walls. It has a capacity of 450 people, so you can imagine how intimate this concert was. If I had to guess, only Rick, myself and maybe 20 other people there actually knew who Jimmy Eat World was and knew their music. Obviously, I was able to stand at the front of the stage. I was so close, I could have wrapped my arms around Tom or Jim's legs! All night, I kept getting eye contact the band. They started with Big Casino and ended their Encore with The Middle. During Sweetness, I asked (mouthed) Zack if I could have his drum sticks. He said (mouthed) "yes". After the concert, I held out my hands and Tom gave me his pick. Zack walked over and handed me his drumsticks. The girl next to me tried to grab them away, but Zack said they were for me. :)
Rick and I hung around the floor for a little bit. Rick Burch (bass player) came out and I said "hey Rick!" and he said "hold on" and then he walked around and came down on the floor to talk with us!!! He rememered that I was from Phx! I told him that my awesome, dear sweet husband flew me to Aspen JUST to see them! He was shocked that we weren't skiing and talked to us for a few minutes.
Rick (Husband) went to get our coats, and I went to get some water at the bar. I turned toward the stage and saw Tom looking for something/someone. I walked quickly over to where he was and said "Hey Tom"! and he turned and walked over and said, "Aren't you from Phx?" I just laughed and said yes and explained how I got there. I told him we were so glad that the concert started late..because of our travel delays. He seemed pretty happy that fans would travel to see them in concert :) We talked for a few minutes and then said our goodbyes...jus as Rick was walking over.
by this time, I was SO happy! This was the best night ever! We walked up the stairs to get outside. Right outside the door was the tour bus. There were 2 other girls waiting to get an autograph and said the only person they've seen come out of the bar was Zach. We waited a few minutes and then Jim walked out! Yippee!!! Rick said I was funny and stumbled on my words while we were talking to him. It was SO cool! After we said goodnight to Jim, we walked back to our hotel (right around the corner). Rick remembered that he was going to ask Jim, "What makes you the New Jersey Success Story"? Oh well... maybe next time :)
Oh ya...and did I mention that I ended up with 4 picks, a signed CD, an awesome TShirt and Zach's Drumsticks?????

Thanks Rick!!!!!!

Aspen

Rick and I took a very last minute trip to Aspen, CO. We booked flights through US Airways to get directly to Aspen. It cost a little bit more, but we figured the convenience would be worth it. Our flight was delayed an hour and a half. Not a big deal. The pilot tried to land the small plane in Aspen, but there was so much fog we never saw the ground. Before we knew it, we were heading towards the sky again. We ended up getting diverted to Grand Junction, CO. Once we landed there, we went to get off the plane and the airport people didn't even know we were coming. There was some talk about the weather clearing up in Aspen and that we should make another attempt. After a phone call and a few minutes, it was decided that we would have to take a shuttle to Aspen. The ride wasnt' that bad - 2 1/2 hours...BUT we didn't have Rick's bag. Somehow, with the 7 people on the plane with us, his bag didn't make it. Wierd. We were 30 minutes on our way to Aspen when we got the phone call that his bag WAS in Grand Juction, they just didn't take it off the plane. Too bad for them! There was no way we had time to go back. They ended up delivering the bag to our hotel, the St Regis, in Aspen sometime before midnight. Aspen was cold and beautiful. We went to a GREAT concert (post and pictures coming) and stayed in a beautiful hotel. We got to do something I have always wanted to do and go hot tubbing in the snow at midnight! So cold and SO fun! This morning, we woke up and walked around town for a little while until we found a place to have some breakfast. We bought chair tickets to ride to the top of the Aspen Mountain. I have never seen such beauty...until our flight back. We flew over Monument Valley. I am in awe that our Heavenly Father created something so beautiful. Thank you to my Mom, Melissa and Gayla for helping with our kids while we were gone!! We owe you!!!!!

A Chocolate FHE

Thanks to my Mom and Dad...we had the BEST FHE this Monday night! They came to our home with BAGS of candy to decorate Chocolate Houses!! The Resch's and the Smith's were able to join us... here are a few pictures...

Dylin says...

I'm sitting on my cumfy chair in my quiet room. Dylin is sitting on the other cumfy chair. She asks me, "Mommy, why is Troy really, really cute? I wish I could be on TV with Troy."
Humm.... I guess Mykee has a stronger influence on the little girls than I thought!!

Bryton

I found this picture of Bryton the other day...I sure love this boy!!

Family Pictures

This is our first attempt to get a picture for our Christmas cards... We will probably try again :)

The Things They Say ***

We all woke up late this morning...even Lyndee. I love rainy days...but not enough to move to Seattle!
Rylee and I went into Lyndee's room to get her out of bed. When I reached in to grab her, she said something.
Rylee said, "Mom!! It sounded like she said "arriba - arribay"!!"
I laughed and said, "Yes, it does sound like that's what she said."
Rylee, very concerned, said, "Oh no, Mom! What if she's a Spanish speaking baby? What if she doesn't speak English?"

A perfect start to a perfect day!

Before 8 Band-Aids

A normal day. A normal night. But what *is* normal when you have 5 kids? Bryton worked on his skateboard before going to Scouts, Mykee is babysitting for Hillary, Rylee decided tonight that she wanted to use her "own" shower - therefore, took a shower in the guest bathroom, Lyndee had a bath after two helpings of hash browns and corn... and then there's Dylin. Dylin decided that if Rylee can have her own shower, it was time for her to make the switch from bath to shower. She used my shower. I left the room for maybe 30 seconds to grab a towel for Lyndee...came back... Dylin is out of the shower crying because she's bleeding. She shaved her legs. Now she has *8* band-aids on her left leg.
Dylin.

A Day With Dylin

My sweet, loving, crazy, sometimes (ok - more that sometimes) out of control, little Dylin gave me the BIGGEST scare today. It's a mother's WORST nightmare...and I'm sure I will have them for weeks.
I was outside talking with Gayla (next door neighbor) asking her when she wanted to borrow my miter saw (love that thing...and now that I got it out, I am wondering what project I can do with it...). I hear Dylin yelling (she's always yelling, we are working on her "church voice")...she's yelling "HI Katie! Hi Rylee!! Hi Madi!!!" The yelling is coming from the 2nd floor of the house. It's specifically coming from Rylee's bedroom window that has a complete drop to the rocks and curbing below...there isn't any type of roof that is under her window. (I've often wondered what we would do if there was a fire and someone had to actually JUMP out of the window.) Somehow, Dylin crawled through the blinds, opened the window all the way, tugged on the screen enough to bend it, break it and make it fall down... down on the rocks. I look up and she is literally STANDING ON THE EDGE...yelling "HI" to the kids in the back yard!!!! I yell at her (which was stupid, because she could have easily been scared by the yelling and lost her balance) and told her to get in the window RIGHT NOW!!!! ARGH!!!! My heart was pounding, my entire body was shaking...but somehow I managed to RUN as fast as I could into the house and up the stairs to rescue her. That DYLIN met me at the top of the stairs, with her finger in her mouth, looking really sad and said, "Sorry momma."
That Dylin. Heights do not scare her. She has no fear. The only fear she has is going into the bathroom alone.
I love her. But she's still in the "corner".

The BIG Performance

Last night was Mykee's 3rd "Mykee's Group" performace. She had 13 kids here dancing and singing to HSM2 songs. She has been working with these kids since September. They come once a week and pay her $2 each time. She buys the "costumes" and helps pay for the food for the performance with the money she collects. She is grateful to the parents for bringing their kids to her group. It's a learning process for both her and myself. I think the more she does this, the better she will become. I know the kids look up to her and enjoy coming...and I hope that she didn't hurt too many feelings in the process. She claims she wants to be a famous singer some day ---I hope that whatever she does, she will include "students". She loves to teach and "show". (if that makes sense)
We were talking about trying to do a Christmas Show - but I think that it's getting too late. It will hopefully be too cold to do a performance outside in December. I know Mykee is anxious to start the next session...so watch for notices. It will most likely start in January. She will do the pre-school age group on Tuesdays and the Kindergarten and Up group on Thursdays. I will encourage her to have the younger group do some songs/dances seperate from the older group.
Thanks again to everyone who came out on a family night! I always think block parties are fabulous!!! This is just my GREAT excuse to have them!!!!!

Having fun..
 
Singing...
 
Dancing...
 
Monique shared her birthday with performace day...everyone sang Happy Birthday to her
 

Hannah, Tori and Madison perform "Fabulous"

 

This is the view from across the street...

 

Noah takes a cue...

 

The Show begins!

 

Mykalin

This is the first DVD in the "Baby Mormon" series. This is the project that Mykee worked on last month. The DVD that she sang on is called "The Creation"...she brought tears of happieness and utter astonishment when we sat down as a family and listed to her. The DVD has just been released and is available at Desert Book...I even found it online. Totally cool that my daughter has the confidence to do this... and loves doing it!!!
On a side note... I took Mykee to the Hannah Montana concert last Friday night!!! During the concert, Mykee leaned over to me and said, "See mom... that's exactly what I want to be!" I'm not sure that I want my daughter living that lifestyle...but the idea of watching her sing and dance in front of 13,000+ fans...is a pretty cool thought!!!!!
**She starts voice lessons on Wednesday**

Sunday TV

Since we have gone to 8:am church and back to a 3 hour block, I am trying to implement a NO TV rule on Sunday. Today has been tricky seeing how all five kids have been sick and we didn't go to church. The kids have done a pretty good job, though - and have found other fun things to do.
When Rick got home from his meetings today, he had a surprise for us. He was able to get a copy of the DVD that Mykee was asked to sing on. We broke the rule after dinner and watched it. The DVD is the story of the Creation, Baby Style. You can hear Mykee sing 5 or 6 times. I am so proud of her, she did a GREAT job! We can't wait for it to be published and sold @ Deseret Book Store!! Friends and Family... you know what you're getting for Christmas!!!
The coolest part was seeing her name "Mykalin" in the credits. I always knew that "Mykalin Nicole" was a great STAGE NAME!!!

Goals and Lists

Goal setting has always been a strange thing to me. If you want to get something done, you do it. You put it on your list and you just do it. I like to make lists of things I need/want to get done for the day. When I don’t make a list, nothing gets done. This week, I have totally let the laundry get out of control. In a family of *7*, this can easily happen. All you have to do is miss a couple of days…or better yet, just not fold anything that comes out clean. Just let everything sit in the basket….for days. For five days, to be exact. So last night as I was walking around the house, collecting dirty clothes left in the kitchen, the TV room, on the stairs and in the bathrooms, I looked for a basket to put them in. There were no baskets. All the baskets in the house were full of CLEAN laundry… and what really gets me is that there was still so many DIRTY clothes left!!! We have too much clothing in our home… is my realization. So - on my list - starting Monday (because Monday is always better for me to start things) I will be sorting through clothes and hopefully will be able to create some nice “give away” piles!!
Other things on my List for Monday:
Sort through ALL clothing
Go to the gym - run 3 miles (Turkey Trot!!)
Start planning the Spring Fling (put my thoughts on paper)
Find someone in our ward to “serve” at least 1x this week
Start my “Christmas List”
GO BACK ON WEIGHT WATCHERS!!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Tonight was our ward Trunk or Treat party. There were lots of great costumes - kids and adults dressed up! I always love to see the clever things that adults come up with. As you can see...I wasn't that clever. BUT, I was disguised pretty good! Some of my closest friends in the neighborhood looked at me as though I was a stranger :)
Lyndee as a Little Chick

Dylin as a Butterfly Ballerina















Rylee as a Pretty Witch



Mykalin as a Pirate Chic


Scary Clown

Dylin is 4!!

Thanks to all of Dylin's cousins and friends that came to her party! We sure had a great time!!

*2* Things...

Today was "crazy sock" day at school. Rylee found some crazy tights. I picked her up early from school so she could have some play time w/ Gramma Rigby. As the door to her classroom was closing, you could hear lots of kids yelling, "Bye Rylee!". The door shut and Rylee says, "I know mom, it's like I have a hundred friends."



I took Mykalin out of school early today. She was asked to do some recording of Primary Songs for a video (or something). The studio was in North Scottsdale and a friend in our ward, Angie Huston, took her. Mykalin said it was an amazing experience and she felt totally in her element. They paid her to do her favorite thing...sing. She would have paid them for the experience!!!!