Family Pics

Don't you love taking pictures with kids. First of all, outfits...what a hassle, then you have to bath and make sure everyone is clean. Then you find a place and hope the lighting is right. Then you have the awesome photographer try to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time. Hopeless really and yet we torture ourselves every year for these classic memories. And each year I am so grateful for photoshop. This is 100 pictures later and still not everyone is looking at the camera. Oh, and another thing, no matter how much you bribe, someone is always mad. Can you guess who?? This is one of the only smiles.

Annie's Hat

Things are never boring at our house and we don't buy toys because the simpliest things bring such joy, and hours of entertainment. You can save a lot of money that way. Don't you love the socks!!

Matt turns 31

So my hubby is 31 now. (And yes that is all we take pictures of these days is birthdays.) Matt was hilarious!! On the Sunday before his birthday he agreed to have a family dinner with my family because we don't get together as much as we do with his family. He cooked the chicken...yumm...the cheesy potatoes.....hmmmm... and we had a yummy cake from Costco because lets not kid anyone, I can't decorate like that. Everyone else brought stuff to go with the dinner and it was great. Then Matt led us all in a round of "Happy Birthday to me". And of course the candles were out in one blow. He was so lucky to get all new tires for the suburban as a present because the day before he, like usual, decided to drive 50 mph on a dirt road coming back from a ward boys' overnighter. He, of course, got a flat and then the spare also had a slow leak. The new tires have a bigger tred and he likes them. Absolutely no stress on my part. Happy Birthday Honey!!

Time Out for Women

This is the Schaugaard girls at the "Time Out for Women" in Logan. We always have so much fun together and have done so many girls-only things throughout the years. I love this family!!! This is the first time we have gone to one of these and it was fabulous. Thanks to Steph for planning a great over-nighter. We drove together, ate dinner, went to the concert part that night. Then it was off to the hotel room where I picked to sleep in the room with the "snorer" and the other pregnant sister who would be in the bathroom all night, just like me. That way we could switch off and I wouldn't wake anyone. The funny part was we went right to bed and slept great, the other room stayed up talking. I was so impressed that they could just keep moving. I needed my sleep.....The next day was full of great speakers and wonderful music like Kenneth Cope. My favorite parts were getting autographs from all of the performers and speakers on my cool Time Out for Women bag and of course the non-interrupted talking in the car and between everything else. Sometimes it is great to just get away from family and life and rejuvenate yourself and turn your focus again on what is most important. And I will never look at a sink full of dishes the same way again. :)

You go girl!!

Sage's 7th birthday!! She invited her two best friends over for dinner, cake, and then we went to the movies. We saw KungFu Panda which the kids loved. Sage and her friends did not stop giggling the entire night. It was great at the movies. Good thing it was at the $1 movies on main street in American Fork and there are always so many kids that no one cares if they are loud, which is great for us. Sage got her ears pierced, girly jewelry and make-up, and lots of Barbie stuff.

ANNIE!!

I can't forget about my sweet Annie. She is such a great girl.....not baby anymore. She is showing off her tricks. Annie has the best glare and grumpy face I have ever seen. But only for a second, then you are hooked and give in. Mostly she just wants to be loved. She will go to the most random people. Like at nursery, she won't go to any of her teachers, but loves to go to one of the guy teachers in another class. It is so cute!!! Her favorite without comparison is Mindy from across the street. Annie can say her name and runs to her ever chance she gets. Mindy will be moving soon and me and Annie both will be loosing our best friend. The one that is always there for you and the one you can talk about everything and nothing. Annie loves to watch SuperWhy and The Letter Factory. She is starting to sing, which is so much fun in the car. Annie loves my big belly and loves to lay her head on top of Jersey and get kicked over and over. They will be such "friends".

Creed goes to Preschool

Creed started preschool this fall. He is going to Learning Dynamics by our house, otherwise known as "the apple school". He is such a smart boy and knows all his letters, sounds, colors, and we are working on shapes and reading with him. He impressed his teacher during his assessment. But don't be fooled, anyone who knows him knows that his smarts don't stop there. He has managed to "beat" every form of child lock known to man, flooded our house three times, and snuck Annie out of the house to pick strawberries and blackberries in our yard during nap time. He can run the DVD player, loves to play on PBSkids.org and can pull that up by himself. He can put on his own 5-point harness safety belt and can now undo it, too, which is just fabulous while we are driving around the city. The only thing now is his resistance to potty-training. I have googled ever trick in the book but if anyone has any brilliant ideas, leave them in the comment section. I would really like to not have to change three in diapers.

Autumn Dance

Autumn has been taking dance classes! This is at her performance last spring. She was in a ballet/jazz class. She won an award for being the best student in the class...always trying her hardest, listening to the teacher, having a positive attitude, and working with others in the class. We were the proud parents in the crowd. We didn't know until they called her name. Only a few people received one. This fall she is taking ballet/tap and hip hop. She is loving it.

Memories!!

1. Add a comment on this post, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Sage Tumbling

Sage has been taking tumbling now for a year and a half. She started in just a preschool class and has grown and developed so much, especially in the last few months. At first it was just really good cartwheels and then back bends and arch ups. Back walk-overs followed and front walk-overs took a little while to get. These pictures are right after she got her back handsprings for the first time in early summer. After she learned how to do one, she skyrocketed and can do 11 in a row on the grass in our front yard. She is working on aerials and she recently moved up 3 classes. She loves to tumble and can't walk in a straight line anymore without doing some sort of trick.

Jack and Creed's Birthday

Since Jack and Creed have birthdays one day apart, they had a combined party this year. We are hoping that we won't be doing this every year, but at least they are both boys and have similar friends. We had a Cars theme and played games, ate cake, and had a pinata. It is not very smart to give any kind of long stick to Jack....he gets a little feisty!! Jack and Creed were given so many toys and loved having their friends in the neighborhood and their favorite girl cousins there to share their special day with them.

My Girls!

These are my girls at the end of the school year. My girls are so great with Annie and play with her so well. I am reading which is what I did in all my spare time this summer. I LOVE Stephenie Meyer and devoured her series Twilight multiple times. I am reading The Host in this picture. Matt has been such a supportive husband and even read the books so I would have someone to talk to about them. He says they are good, but reading them from a girl's point of view is a little too much for him. He made sure I could go to the Barnes and Noble party for the Breaking Dawn book and is of course seeing the movie with me in November, (after I go at midnight with the other obsessed moms in the neighborhood).

Special Day for Autumn

My Autumn is eight!! She chose to be baptized on May 3rd. She had a tremendous amount of support from our families at her baptism, the largest group of the day. We are so grateful for the love, support, and influence our family has been for Autumn. It has been an incredible experience for me to watch Autumn change with the gift of the Holy Ghost. She feels the spirit so easily now and cries easily at church and at other special experiences our family has had this year. She also prays with the spirit and during family prayers while everyone else is laughing, Autumn can bring the spirit back in a room with just a few words. We are so lucky to have her in our family, especially as the oldest. She truly understands the concept of being an example for her siblings.

Classic!!

What a great little girl Annie is. She sees something and goes after it. Creed was taking a bath and Annie decided that she needed one too. Luckily for you Creed likes to soak the bar of soap extra good when he baths so the water is cloudy :)

Something Fun to do

This spring we went to Discovery Gateway downtown. It turns out that it cost quite a bit for a one time trip, but not much more for a 6-month membership. So we got the membership. We have been back a number of times and always have a great time. Each time we go, we spend time doing something different. These pictures are from the first time. The kids loved the play house with kitchen and play area, the medical helicopter on the Terrace, and of course the Elmo-all about the my body exhibit. The Elmo part was the best in my opinion, but it was a traveling exhibit and isn't always there. Other trip we acted out the Three Little Pigs; spent a lot of time in the science area experimenting with wind and tubes; played in the market area buying "food" and picking "food" from the garden; and they loved the colored balls and tubes in the first area. It is pretty stress free for a days worth of fun....just have to keep counting heads and have an extra eye on Creed because he likes to leave the area despite how many times we talked about not leaving a room without mommy.

Early Spring 2008

Some really nice person actually bought something from the ice cream truck that frequents the neighborhood. Autumn had just gotten home from picking out her new scriptures, so it was soon after her birthday in March. Autumn and Sage are sharing, or trying too. The very cute toe head blonde is Regan from across the street. He is like one of the family. He is Jack's best friend and he also has the coolest parents. When Jack is in trouble, Regan has no problem playing with Creed. This is on our front lawn....clearly before the sprinklers are running. Who buys ice cream in March???

Best of 2008 (in no particular order)--Family Vacation

Annie was not a fan of Mickey Mouse. She cried bloody murder and sweet Mickey ended up sitting on the ground just to get her in a picture looking at the camera, but I liked this one better because he tried so hard. I was changing Creed so we missed it. FYI: 10 days of apple juice, apple sauce, and sliced apples that come in toddler kiddy meals takes it's toll on a kids digestive system. By the end of the day, either Creed or Annie was naked...and we did pack a change of clothes. Something to remember for next time.

Disney Fun!!

We love the Characters!! We waited in every line, including the Disney Princesses which took almost an hour, but worth it. We did have some fun memories of characters picking us out. This is at the beginning of the day, I think on our early admission day. We played with Goofy, Chip and Dale, and Pluto for 20+ minutes that morning. I know, we could have ran to a ride, but it's hard to run anywhere with 5 kids and a stroller. So why not take advantage of what the kids want to do anyway. I had to keep telling myself that this vacation was for them, not me :)

I love being married to Matt, he can't handle spinning or motion sickness rides at all; which means that I get to go over and over again. We loved riding the teacups. Matt got to watch, take pictures, hang out with whatever kid was in the stroller, and try not to get sick while we went around and around. We could not get enough of the new Buzz Lightyear ride. Also Sage and Jack turned out to be real animals when it comes to rides...no fear. Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad were favorites and the rides near by like Winnie the Pooh. Matt and I would split up and used the baby swap passes quit a bit.

We finally made it!! After a long drive, 3 days of zoos, and characters at Universal Studios, and a weekend of relaxing......we arrived at Disneyland. Lets not kid anyone, clearly this was the highlight of the trip. That's why we saved it for last. The weather the entire time we were gone was 60's-to low 70's. Pretty cold for California, but it wasn't so bad wearing a sweater every once in awhile. It made waiting in line bearable and at least we weren't sweating. We missed out on all of the water rides because we didn't want to deal with wet and cold kids. Hurray!! The fun begins.

After a few days of non-stop fun we took the weekend off for some swimming, laundry, and attending church. We stayed at our San Diego timeshare for 2 nights and then went to Anaheim for the next week. We love having a timeshare because of the pool, 3 bedrooms, and a full kitchen. It saves on food. We ate at some fabulous restaurants though, like Bubba Gumps so Jack could have his shrimp that he loves so much. Also Outback, IHOP, Olive Garden, and we even had pizza one day. Breakfast was always cereal.

Creed had to wear a monkey backpack (leash) in order to make sure we didn't loose him. It only happened twice that he wandered away.....pretty good for 10 days. Curious George at Universal Studios was a big fan of the backpack and gave Creed some extra love. The kids favorite thing to do was to find all of the characters. We have a lot of pictures. Some favorites that day were the Shrek 4D, although a little scary for some, and the Backlot tour. We almost missed it because someone had to use the restroom. That happened often right as we were going to get on a ride. I personally liked the rides...Jurassic Park and The Mummy. Autumn was the only one who could ride and she wouldn't go, but they got to eat fruit snacks while they waited for me!!

This is Jack feeding the dolphins fish at Sea World. The kids all liked seeing the shows, especially the dolphin show because a "mom" falls in the water. Even though it was part of the show, they were so nervous for her until they found out that she was a trainer. They also liked touching the sea urchins and sea stars, (starfish?). It was colder the day we went so we sat back far enough that Shamu didn't drench us.

At the end of January, we took the coolest family vacation to Southern California. We went for 10 days and had the best time ever. This is all of us in front of the entrance to the San Diego Zoo. This was the first thing we did. Our favorites were the polar bears, the bird cages......they were creepy like on Jurassic Park....and we got lost in them. Also the big cats are always a favorite. There was a lot of walking that day and Matt remembered all of the hills. It was nice having a stroller for the kids to take turns in.

This feels really cheesy...

Well, I am on-call tonight for work and thought starting a blog would be the best use of some free time. I am not sure how this works, but I will learn as I go.