The Hurst Family

7 Years...

2012-02-08T13:54:00.001-07:00

Wow I can't believe my Erin is 7 years old. I also can't believe how old that makes me feel:) What an absolutely wonderful 7 years it has been though.
Erin- You never cease to amaze me. You are beautiful inside and out. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be your mother. Here are a few things that make you, you at 7 yrs old.
- You LOVE to read. I have trouble getting you to put books down. One of the hardest things about you is I will ask you to clean up and when you pick up a book to put it away the temptation is to great and you read it instead. I really hope you keep this love for books up.
- You have a very active imagination. You are always playing school or house and each time you have different stories and scenarios and it is so interesting to see what you come up with. Now you just need to learn to let others share their imagination when playing too.
- You love playing the piano. I am very impressed at how quickly you are picking up on it and how well you practice. I know I give you a hard time, but it is only because I am so impressed and I see so much potential.
- You are so good about finding the best in people. There is no one you don't like. Even when other kids at school tease or are mean to someone you find the good in that person and are their friend. I admire this trait in you so much.
- You are a little hyper when you are happy or excited. But I am afraid you come by that naturally. It is fun to see you get excited though.
- You are a good hard worker. I rarely have to ask or tell you to do your homework, you just do it. This must be your daddy in you cause it certainly isn't me.
- You are a very good helper to me. You love your sisters so much and you want to help them and do so much for them. I sometimes have to remind you that I am their mom not you:) But you are a very good example to them.

I love you girl and I am so glad that you will be my daughter forever. Thank you for being you!
Love Mom

Kaylee's 2!

2012-02-02T14:25:00.000-07:00

My sweet baby girl is two today and I can hardly believe it. She feels like she has been a part of our family forever but it also seems like she just joined us. What a joy she has added to our family.
Kaylee: I want you to know how much I love you. You certainly keep me on my toes. Here is a list of what you are all about at 2 years old.
- You are so sweet and loving. Anytime anyone is crying or upset you take it upon you to comfort them.
- You love to play chase and you are always looking for a way to start a game of chase.
- You are a wonderful eater. I have never seen a child love food the way you do. And you have the belly to prove it:)
- You are active and always on the go. You love to copy Lily when she practices gymnastics and you love to dance to any music you hear and you love to jump when you are excited (it's the cutest jump you ever did see too!)
- You are usually very quiet but when you get upset or want to be heard you can scream louder than anyone.
- You are very curious and you don't let anything get in your way. You have figured out how to break through child safety locks and because of you I have the # to poison control memorized. Luckily you have been just fine each time.
- Your older sisters adore you. Erin tried to tell me the other day that she loves you more than I do. Ahh if only you both could understand how deep a mothers love can run. But you will someday.
- Your love for books is growing each day. If you ever see anyone sitting on the floor you assume that they are simple to read you a book.
- You are very nurturing. Your favorite toy is a baby doll and you love to feed, bathe, rock, and put your baby to sleep. This is good news to me because it means you can take care of your baby along side me when I am taking care of your baby brother who will soon be with us.
- You love to color. But my favorite thing is you color for a moment and pick your paper up to show me saying, "Pretty?" I always assure you that it is very pretty and so you color for a moment more before asking again.
- You give the absolute best hugs. Nothing makes me feel better than a hug from you.
Kaylee let me just say how grateful I am for you in my life. I love you bunches and bunches. I look forward to watching you and teaching you and learning from you. Happy Birthday sweet girl!!!
Love Mom

(I will add some pictures soon... hopefully)

The parent curse...

2012-01-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

Yes the parent curse of I hope you have a child just like you came true for me. Only I think she is worse, I don't remember being this bad... What am I talking about you ask. Well the other day I found Erin writing a note to a boy is her school class. After reading it I believe I am going to buy a cage for her birthday and lock her in it until she is 23. Here it is.

See what I mean???? What do I do with a child like this???
Just so you know this note "disappeared" before she could give it to anyone...

Speaking of this child look what happened to her this past week.

Silly toothless girl.

Bed Time

2012-01-15T21:58:00.000-07:00

For some reason when we tell the girls that it is time to go up stairs an go to bed they think that this is the only way to get up there.

I wonder what James is going to do when this next one comes????

A fun party with cousins

2012-01-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

Okay so I am late at getting to this but better late than never...right?

So last year after the cousins gift exchange we talked about doing something else instead. So this year I had an idea that I thought would be spectacular and threw it out to all my siblings and they all loved it. So instead of buying presents for cousins we rented out the gym that Lily goes to gymnastic at. It was VERY affordable and so much fun. Each family had to chip in less than $30 for they gym and food which is cheaper than buying presents anyways. We got the gym for 2 hours and everyone had soo much fun. I think some of us "adults" had way more fun than we should have. So here is a bunch of pictures. Sorry they are all blurry but the lighting was not ideal and for some reason people would not hold still for a picture.

The favorite for sure was the foam pit. Even Grandma couldn't resist it.

Don't worry we did other stuff too, like jump.

And play on bars

And some other stuff...

It was so much fun! And rest assured no one was seriously injured. Every one agreed that this was better than presents.

Christmas Dresses

2011-12-18T15:57:00.000-07:00

Okay mom here are the pictures of the girls dresses:)

The Stache

2011-12-14T21:38:00.000-07:00

So we went to the dentist today and at the end the girls got tokens they could put into a machine for prizes (just like what you see in the front of the grocery store.) Well you know... you just don't know what your are going to get sometimes. Well Lily was lucky enough to get a stick on mustache... yes a mustache.

I was about to take pictures of the rest of us sporting the stache, but tragedy befell it. Now rest assured we had hours of fun and laughs with it before tragedy struck. Best prize ever!

October happenings

2011-11-01T14:28:00.000-06:00

I have been bad at posting lately. I have a bunch of photos and things to share so I am just going to power forward (are you ready?)
So one of Kaylee's favorite games is trying to dress herself. This day she found a pair of daddy's socks and decided she wanted them. I mainly took this picture just to show James when he got home later from work that day. But then I showed it to him and Kaylee saw me show it to him, so she decided to go find the sock and put them on again. Silly baby.

With the cooler weather my girls have had a hard time waking up. I finally got them out of bed one day and they came down stairs. A minute later I found them like this.

I had Erin and Lily doing some chores one day (washing walls and fun things like that.) Well Kaylee thought it looked fun and she decided to help them.

Another Kaylee picture (sorry but she is just at that age where she cracks me up.) I made some jello worms for a neighborhood Halloween party. They ended up looking really real and I had some left overs because some people couldn't even try them. Kaylee was very pleased with the left overs.

We got to our local pumpkin patch early this October and it was wonderful, great weather, great pumpkins and the girls had a blast.

And finally Halloween costumes. Erin wanted to be a bat and Lily was changing her mind every day. Than Erin saw a picture of a 'baterina" and wanted to be that. Lily loved the idea and decided she wanted to be that as well. I wasn't in the mood for exact matching costumes so I convinced Lily to be a ghost ballerina instead and then we finished it off with Kaylee being a pumpkin ballerina. They turned out super cute.

I hope you all had a great Halloween. Now that it is November it is time to think of Thanksgiving. If you want to join in our family tradition check out my craft blog for more details.

Some Ultrasound Pics of our Baby Boy

2011-10-21T20:34:00.000-06:00

So at my first ultrasound this baby boy was measuring 2 weeks later (it has happened with all my babies thus far.) The good part about that is I get to go in for a second ultrasound. So today we went at did that. His measurements give him the same due date as the last ultrasound so he is growing good and healthy. This officially puts my due date as Feb 29th. The thought of this excites James very much. Today the lady gave us a disc with pictures which is kinda fun so I am going to share some of them with you.
Here is a typical cute profile shot.

He is most definitely a boy.

I love cute baby feet :)

They did some 3D images. At first these were harder for me than a typical ultrasound but after a moment they were perfectly clear. If you have a hard time I will explain this one a bit to you than you should see it clear and have no problem with the rest. Both his arms are tucked up one covering his ear and the other covering an eye. But you see one eye, his nose and his mouth all cute and snuggled up.

Similar to the first one but we see his little ear in this one.

He put his arms down for this one and tucked his chin in.

I am so excited for a baby boy. Every thing looks great and healthy. I am amazed at all the things they could see and tell. His feet look great (my side of the family tends to have messed up feet), He doesn't have a cleft lipped (James' side). All 4 chambers of the heart are beautiful and healthy. He just looks perfect.

James is AMAZING!

2011-10-10T11:18:00.000-06:00

This past weekend our family took a little vacation up to Layton so James could do something crazy. He ran the Layton Marathon. I am so proud of him!
Here he is in the wee hours of the morning getting ready to go.

Now hours later here he is approaching the finish line. Still running, but definitely tired. He said the last 5 miles he couldn't really think about anything but just keep going.

The girls did make him signs to cheer him on. we are so proud of him!

It really has been an awesome process to see him go through to train. But his motivation and discipline are things to admired for sure. Love you babe!!!

We are having a....

2011-09-19T13:37:00.000-06:00

So I went in for my ultrasound last week to check this little baby out. They are healthy and active (although measuring 2 weeks later than what we thought.) So after receiving the news it was time to share the news.
I was originally going to tell my family on Saturday but those plans did not work out so I went over there on Friday after my appointment. My mom had surgery a few weeks ago and is still recovering so before I went over I went and bought her some flowers. Then in the flowers there was a big balloon that said "Get well Soon." And in the back of the flowers was a tiny balloon that was either pink or blue and said either "Baby Girl" or "Baby Boy"
When my mom received the basket she was thankful and thought the flowers were lovely but she was slightly confused on while we would wait until now to give her get well flowers. But then she spotted the balloon and was thrilled to receive the news.

On Sunday James' family came for dinner and I decided to wait and tell them then. So I made a cake and the frosting between the layers was either pink or blue making the announcement. ( I first saw this idea on pinterest but then I saw another friend do it and I though it looked fun.) I made James' mom close her eyes while I cut into the cake and served her a slice. When she opened her eyes this is what she saw:

Yep we are finally having a boy. We are all excited (it did take a moment to convince Erin to be excited though). James is floating he is so happy. Lily is so cute about it. After seeing the ultrasound and knowing she is getting a brother she keeps running up and kissing my tummy and yelling into it "Hi Baby Boy!"
So we have a whole new set of adventure in front of us and I am excited to embark or them (although I am also a little nervous.)

P.S the recipe for the cake I made is found here.

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-08T15:20:00.000-06:00

This Labor Day weekend was full of fun, food and most importantly family. On Friday and Saturday we went up to Heber Valley Camp and it was wonderful.
We did a ropes course called shark island that was really fun.

We zip-lined or just got to swing for a minute.

The kids played in this huge awesome sandbox.

We canoed on the lake.

Well I really ended up wrestling this little one for an hour because all she wanted to do was swim.

And on Monday we had a super yummy pancake breakfast and did relay race games.

Lily's 1st Day of Pre-School!!!

2011-08-30T15:16:00.001-06:00

Lily started pre-school today. What a wonderful wonderful day. I love that monkey, but after this summer I am exhausted and I am ready for school to start. Here she is all cute and ready to go!

She is getting so big. I am going to miss her but we both love her going to school!

p.s. Thanks for all your ideas for school lunch a few posts back. I compiled a list in a post over at my other blog full of ideas for school lunch. Go check it out if you are interested.

Erins First Day of School

2011-08-23T09:35:00.000-06:00

Wahoo one child in school and next week the other one starts. I have to admit I am very ready for the end of summer and school to begin. Yet at the same time it was no surprise to me that as we walked to school this morning I started to tear up a little bit. I sure do love her and I can't believe she is growing up so fast.

It's Offical: I am a Soccer Mom

2011-08-23T09:32:00.000-06:00

Erin has decided she wants to play soccer, so we have hung up the ballet and tap shoes and bought cleats and shin guards instead. I must admit I was rather worried about Erin starting soccer. I was worried she would give up or get frustrated really easily. But she has been doing rather well (for it being a completely new thing to her.)
She had her first soccer game this past Saturday. She wasn't the best on her team, but she tried and kept going. And that is what really matters.

Dear Baby:

2011-08-17T08:59:00.000-06:00

I love being a mother. It is certainly full of rewards and challenges and I wouldn't change my job for anything in the world. There are certainly times that are more reward and times that are more challenge, and lucky for you we start off together with a challenging time:) You see to begin with my sense of smell has gone haywire. Sure the normal stinky things really get to me. Things like your sisters diaper, daddy's breath (all you moms know what I am talking about) and an old container in the back of the fridge.
But things that I use to love to smell now make me sick. The smell of wood, garlic and butter cooking, my favorite scentsy scent (lavender and lilacs) and while dads breath might stink mouth wash stinks worse. Much worse.
Also the lovely pregnancy hormones cause my body wash to stink on me and if that not enough I can't find a deodorant that works. So I stink all the time despite showering and putting on deodorant.
Luckily I haven't been quiet as sick as I was with your sisters but the nausea is constant. I certainly look forward to the day that I am not thinking about what I can eat without feeling sicker.
Not to mention that at 14 weeks I am wearing maternity clothes. Yikes.
So while I may complain from time to time about being pregnant and while I might question my sanity occasionally for being willing to go through this trial, have no fear because I wouldn't trade this trial for anything in the world.
You see at the end of this trial called pregnancy comes one of the biggest rewards of all time. At the end I get to hold a piece of heaven, I get to smell a piece of heaven, I get to kiss and piece of heaven and I get to have a piece of heaven love me unconditionally back. And the best part is, this piece of heaven grows. Yes baby you are that piece of heaven and just like your sisters I love you more than I ever thought possible.
Love,
Mommy

What I caught the girls doing...

2011-08-10T21:46:00.000-06:00

As the end of summer approaches we are all get antsy. The girls have been a bit naughtier and my patience has been a bit thin. And then today I caught the girls doing this...

I sure love my girls. (Kaylee was laying with them until she saw me grab the camera.) I am so grateful for the girls they are most certainly the biggest blessing in my life.

Sack Lunch Ideas

2011-08-06T16:07:00.000-06:00

The beginning of the school year is quickly approaching. I can't believe that Erin will be in first grade and stay there for a full day. I am excited, nervous and sad all for this upcoming milestone. One thing I am most nervous for is lunch. School lunch does not particularly impress me and while they have some healthier options I also know kids rarely choose those options. So I have decided to make a lunch for her to take. This is where I get nervous. What can I put in a lunch box besides a sandwich because how many sandwiches can one kid eat before they refuse to eat any more?
So I have done a little research and come up with a few ideas. But I would also love to hear from you.
Here is what I have:
A wrap: just like a sandwich but in a tortilla instead. One wrap my girls already love is spread cream cheese on a tortilla, cover it with spinach (sometimes I add sprouts and julienned carrots too) and add a few slices on lunch meat. They love it and when I use low fat cream cheese I don't fell bad about it.
Dip day: Put hummus or peanut butter in a small container. Add a variety of veggies and crackers to dip into the hummus/pb.
Pasta salad: You could put it in a pita to make it utensil free too.
Make your own lunchable: get a good healthy cracker and use a mini cookie cutter to cut out some pieces of meat and cheese for kids to build their own.
Question: Do thermoses actually work at keeping things like soup warm and will my kids actually eat soup at school?
For a side dish I saw an idea where you can take you own home made or healthy yogurt and use a food saver to contain it in a tube shape. Then you can make your own go-gurts that aren't packed with junk.

So anyways that is what I have come up with. Any other tips/ideas you have would be most welcomed.

Kaylee's new shirt.

2011-07-11T13:06:00.000-06:00

I made Kaylee this cute little shirt 2 weeks ago and then we went and visited Grandma's. What do you think of it?

Both Grandma's were at first confused until I pointed out that I just barley made it.

Surprise!

7-6-02

2011-07-08T19:37:00.000-06:00

This past week James and I celebrated our 9th anniversary. I can't believe it's been 9 yrs, that makes me feel old. But it has been a wonderful 9 years and I am sooooo glad I married James.
We have a tradition that on our anniversary we pick out 1 gift together. This year we bought ourselves a blendtec blender. I LOVE it. It was a great gift for both of us. (It has a tracker of how many cycles you have used on it. It is less than a month old and it is already up to 150 cycles.)
It's kinda funny, I am the one who flakes out a little more about anniversary and birthdays, so I had considered it done. But James being a wonderful husband did surprise me with these.

I feel so loved. Since we have been married 9 years I am going to make a list of 9 things I love/admire about James.
1- I love your corny jokes. I don't know why but I do.
2- I admire your dedication. I wish I had half the dedication you do and I know our whole family is blessed by it.
3- I love what a wonderful father you are.
4- I love how patient with me you are.
5- I love that you have a strong testimony and I am so grateful you do.
6- I love how smart you are and I admire your hard work in getting your Masters degree.
7- I love that you are helpful around the house.
8- I love that you wrap your arms around me when we sleep.
9- I just LOVE YOU!!!

Thanks for being a wonderful hubby and a wonderful dad too!

My Dearest Lily:

2011-06-25T14:36:00.000-06:00

Last week you turned 4 years old. I can't believe that you are growing up so fast. You have been such a joy and you have been an adventure:) in the past 4 years I have seen more love and joy from one person than I have ever seen before. You are so full of life. Just about everybody notices that their is a special light in your eyes. I am so grateful for my opportunity to be your mother. I am certain I am learning more form you than you are from me, but I will continue to try and keep up. Here is your top 10 list of who/what you are today.
1- You are a wonderful little gymnast. Talent runs through you so naturally (although I am not sure where it comes from), you just need to focus, but that will come.
2- You are still the best snuggler in the family.
3- You ask almost every day if you get to go to gymnastics or school and you can't wait for summer to be done so you can embark on these journeys again.
4- You are still struggling with speech, but you are getting better. I am sorry it took me so long to notice you needed it, but you are so expressive in other ways I didn't notice that you were behind in speech.
5- I have a question for you. How can I get you to go to bed?!?!?! You have a hard time calming down for bedtime because there is just so much you want to do and see, but trust me you need your sleep (or at least I need you to sleep)
6- You want to be a princess when you grow up. You already are a princess if you ask me.
7- Some have wondered if you can be as beautiful as your older sister. You seem to have taken this as a personal challenge and you have become you very own very beautiful little girl.
8- You have a massive sweet tooth :) I think you come by it honestly enough unfortunately. But even though all you really want is sweets you are still a remarkably good eater for a 4 year old.
9- The wheels in your head are always turning, sometimes this delights me and sometimes it frightens me. Either way you are smart.
10- I LOVE YOU!!!!!!
Thank you so much for being my Little Lily. And I can't wait to see what adventures you hold in store for our family.

(Sorry I have no pics with this letter, this computer doesn't seem to like me right now)

Kaylee being patient

2011-06-09T12:28:00.000-06:00

So this morning as we were about to say the blessing on breakfast Erin had to run up and go potty and we had to wait for her. Kaylee was very ready to eat breakfast and she knows the routine so she wanted like this the whole time.

Cute patient baby!

May's Activities

2011-06-01T15:21:00.000-06:00

Warning: I may turn into a braggy parent a few times during this post:)
Wow May was such a busy month full of so many good things. Here are a dew highlights.
First Erin's Kindergarten "graduation." She really has grown and learned so much in the past year. I am blown away at how well she is reading.

She had a speaking part where she was supposed to say "M is for minding and showing our respect." She had her part memorized before she brought it home two weeks before. So what she ended up saying was "M is for minding and showing our R-E-S-P-E-C-T find out what it means to me." Silly girl.

This was her Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Murray. What a good time Erin had this year.

Next Lily's end of year pre-school program.
Lily is in speech therapy with preschool, so her classroom is half special needs and half non special needs. It was fun to see what a truly tender heart she has.

This was her teacher Ms. Trish. She is an excellent pre-school teacher and I can't wait to see what another year of pre-school brings. (Lily only cares about the cookie)

Now Erin's dance recital. Erin has been doing tap/ballet for 3 years now and she had really enjoyed it and done fairly well. But she has not loved it so this is for now her last dance recital. Next year she wants to do soccer instead.

And lastly Lily's gymnastics recital. Now I can say Lily LOVES gymnastics. She lives for it. And I do believe she is very very good.
Here she is on the balance beam. All of the other kids kept falling off and needing help. Lily breezed over it with no problem.

Here Lily is doing a flip under the bar. A teacher is suppose to help her but was off helping someone else on the balance beam. Lily had no patience to wait for the teacher so as you can see she did it herself.

Here she is with her trophy. She is so proud of her trophy.

And here Lily is with her two main teachers. It was a super fun year with gymnastic and I can't wait to see how Lily grows in the sport.

So there you go a few highlights of our crazy month.

Our Normal Crazy Life

2011-05-13T17:21:00.000-06:00

Here at the Hurst household we are up to our normal chaos. Things like forgetting to pop the lid when reheating last nights dinner and making the bowl go into a funky shape.

Giving babies messy food and changing their cloths multiple times a day. At least it was a healthy green smoothie.

And adding something else to our calendar every time we turn around. (Please tell me I am not the only one whose May calendar looks like this)

I am ready for the summer....

Erin's Hair

2011-05-01T13:50:00.001-06:00

So Erin has always had beautiful hair. And she loves her hair. Than after the movie Tangled came out and someone in the theater called her Rapunzel she only loved her hair more. But for me her hair was becoming unmanageable. So I tried to convince her to donate her hair to locks of love. But she would hear nothing of cutting her hair. So I dropped the subject. A little while later after Erin had thought about it and we talked about it some more she decided she did want to donate her hair to help another little girl or boy.
So here is a before picture from Easter morning (sorry it's kinda crummy it's just one I found to show the length)

See super long. Now here is her pony tail.

I know it's hard to see but that is nearly 12 inches.
Here it is all packaged and ready to mail.

And now for the moment you've been waiting for (because I know the suspense is killing you:)

Isn't is cute! I love it and most importantly Erin LOVES it! Perfect for the upcoming summer (that I am beginning to wonder if it's ever coming.)

Easter Hunts...

2011-04-25T11:56:00.000-06:00

On Friday we started are Easter celebrations by hosting a hunt for our family at our home. Unfortunately I was to busy hosting to get pics of all the cute kids running around finding eggs, playing in the sand box (which was mostly the older boys) and tossing balls throughout the yard. But is was a fun celebration. Normally I would then do the Easter Bunny to our home on sat, but I was to tired Friday night to 'hop' around. So Sunday morning the girls searched for their Easter baskets around the house.
I had to entice Kalyee to go to her basket by putting a bottle of milk in it. She got the bottle and was done.

Lily needed some assistance to reach hers.

And Erin had to go digging through a corner full of blankets to get hers.

After church and naps we went out and found the eggs the Easter bunny left.
Erin was very meticulous in her searching.

Lily literally ran the whole time from egg to egg.

Kaylee picked up 2 (one for each hand) and was happy to sit there and shake them.

Then Kaylee got one of them to open.

Erin was very happy with her find.

And Lily made out like a bandit.

It was a fun Easter for the girls. And I am very grateful for the thoughts of life and beauty that come with Easter. I am grateful for my Savior who knows me personally and has made it possible for me to live with my beautiful family for eternity. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter as well.

My Craft Blog Giveaway

2011-04-21T20:53:00.000-06:00

As you probably know I have a little craft blog called Busy Lizzy's, that I love and have a lot of fun with. I really try to keep my craft blog separate, but I am turning to you who I love the most to help me reach a goal. I am getting close to 100 followers and the thought is super exciting to me. When I reach 100 follower I am giving away something super cute. I have only done sneak peaks but like I said, since I love you most I am going to show you what it is. (Doesn't the chair make a beautiful model?)

So if you want a chance to win this go follow my blog and help me reach my goal. Thanks a million.

You can also start entering to win right now by referring people to follow my blog as well. You can find details on that here.

Learning from the Scriptures and Prophets

2011-04-18T22:00:00.000-06:00

So I am generally a very easy going person. I usually try to look at things from others points of views and I try to assume the best out of a person. But I am human. You see awhile ago my feelings were hurt and I was offended. And I was justified in my offense. But I did not respond the way I ought to have in my emotions, thoughts or even actions. Even if 99% of the world agrees that I was justified in my offense, I should not have been offended.

"When we believe or say we have been offended, we usually mean we feel insulted, mistreated, snubbed, or disrespected. And certainly clumsy, embarrassing, unprincipled, and mean-spirited things do occur in our interactions with other people that would allow us to take offense. However, it ultimately is impossible for another person to offend you or to offend me. Indeed, believing that another person offended us is fundamentally false. To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else." -Elder Bednar "And Nothing Shall Offend Them"

So not only did my initial offense hurt me I was hurt because this put me in a downward spiral. More things and smaller things started to offend me. And I was not happy. The funny thing is I don't even remember what it was that offended me, I just remember it happening and it is still hurting me today.

I remember the last time I read through the Book or Mormon reading the story of Pahoran and admiring him and resolving at that point to do better. Well I just reached the story of Pahoran again and I don't think I have done much better since then. You can read this story in Alma 60 and Alma 61. Here is basically what happens. Moroni has written to Parhoran asking for more soldiers to help defeat the Laminites and Pahoran does not send more soldiers. This is because Pahoran has been overthrown in the government and does not have the power but Moroni does not know this. So Moroni writes again to Pahoran and tell him the he is being idle and not following the commandments of God. Moroni tells him that he is sitting on his throne in a "state of thoughtless stupor" and that it is his fault that many have fallen and died. Then he goes on to tell him that if he does not repent he will come against him. I would think that if any ever had the right to be offended it was Pahoran. But Pahoran was not offended, no he found joy in Moroni's words. He rejoiced in the greatness of Moronis heart. And further more he found answer to his concerns and I am sure his prayers in Moroni's rebukings.

Wow if we could all take Pahoran's response what a different world we would live it. So here I am again resolving to do better and not be offended. A friend of mine shared this quote on her blog the other day and it feels very appropriate here. "Charity is assuming the best."

In assuming the best we are not allowing ourselves to be offended, we are doing our best to see each other as God sees us.

April Fools Dinner

2011-04-02T10:56:00.000-06:00

I have never really "celebrated" April Fools day. I find the line between mean and funny too thin and I just haven't dared it with my children. But then I saw this idea of making dinner silly and I thought that, that was a perfect way for our young family to celebrate so this is what we did.
I made up these "menu's" for everybody. But instead of food there were pictures to circle. We circled 3 items for our appetizer, 4 items for dinner and 2 items for dessert. And I had a master list of what each character stood for.

Snow White= fork
Mickey Mouse= spoon
Tinkerbell= knife
Goofy= bread
Sleeping Beauty= juice (I made the kool-aid that is clear and looked like water)
Rapunzel= pasta
Tigger= chicken
Mini Mouse= water
Bambi= napkin
Lady= dessert (a box of chocolates)
Ariel= carrots
Cinderella= broccoli

I gave everyone their menus (I let them help with mine so I couldn't cheat) and we ate.
Appetizers looked like this

Dad: bread, pasta and a napkin
Erin: spoon, pasta and carrots
Lily: juice, carrots and broccoli
Mom: spoon, water and pasta

Dad was a trooper using his bread to eat his pasta. Lily dug right in using her hands.

Main course:
Dad: fork, juice, chicken and broccoli (he was happy to get water but then surprised when he tasted it hehe)
Erin: knife, bread, water and broccoli
Lily: pasta, chicken, water and napkin
Mom: spoon, napkin, dessert and carrots
Not to bad.

Dessert:
Dad: water and a knife
Erin: fork and a napkin
Lily: spoon and a fork
Mom: knife and bread
Some people were not very happy about their dessert.

We all got a good giggle though. At the end I let every one have dessert.

It was a fun dinner and I think we will have to make it a tradition.

Allergic

2011-03-24T16:15:00.000-06:00

I have counted my many blessing that in our little family no one has had allergies (besides seasonal). I hear so
many people who have to change cooking habits etc because of allergies. Well This morning I woke up to my baby looking like this. And as any mother would be, I was nervous.

As you can see from her face she is miserable. She has been on antibiotics for just about a week (amoxocillan) and I guess her body doesn't like this medicine. The Dr. says she is allergic to penicillin. Not the best news in the world. But I guess it's not the worst either. At least I don't have to change my cooking habits for this allergy. (knocking on wood) But for now I have a sad baby who can't go 5 minutes w/o love from momma.

Some randomness is the Hurst household

2011-03-10T10:29:00.000-07:00

Kaylee is already starting to play dress up. Isn't she cute:)

During Erin's birthday week she was the student of the week in her class and got to make a poster. She picked all the pictures etc. I put glue on them and she put them where she wanted them. I think she did a pretty good job.

This is for you mom. Here is the poster I made for our upcoming RS birthday party.

Erin's birthday party

2011-03-02T14:36:00.000-07:00

So I am a slacker. Whats new? Anyways here are a bunch of pics from Erin's birthday party. We started off by decorating fairy wands. I just bought some dowels and glittery foam and sticker and ribbon and bright shiny pip cleaners and let the girls go to town. They loved it. Then we played pin the wings on the fairy. Unfortunately I didn't get pic's of these two things because I am crazy and was trying to run a birthday party. Thankfully my mom caught on to my craziness and grabbed the camera and started taking pictures after that.
Next we opened a present from TinkerBell to all the girls and it looked like this. The poem says: "Here's a gift from tink to you..Make sure the things you do...Then pass it on to a friend thats new."

So basically one of the girls unwrapped the present only to find more wrapping paper and another note from tinkerbell. (those fairy's are tricky) They would have to do different tasks before they could go on like clap their hands and say I believe in fairy;s, or fly like a fairy or sing twinkle twinkle little star. the girls loved the game. (It had a little nail polish in it for each girl to put in her goody bag.)

Then we did birthday cake. Decorating the cake was a fiasco, but in the end it turned out fairly cute.

Then it was present time with a good old bump on the head.

Anyways Erin had tons of fun as did all the little girls. I only wish I would have ended 1/2 and hour earlier.

Baby Laundry

2011-02-18T13:04:00.000-07:00

Dear Baby:
We need to talk. First let me say I love you bunches and I think you are adorable. I love dressing you up and I love how cute clothes can bring out your personality. But I am afraid your laundry is out of control. Let me clarify, it isn't getting worse, I am just getting tired of it.

Now that cute grin of yours isn't going to deter me. I just finished folding a load of your laundry and it took me an hour. Yes one whole hour. Now granted during that hour I had to rescue from my bathroom and the old sticky blue hair gel you found meaning a change of your outfit. Also during that hour you emptied the drawers that hold all your bibs and rags and place mats and during that hour you noticed I was trying to fold laundry and you did your best to knock piles of laundry off the couch as fast as you could so I would have to fold them again.

What are you laughing at? I am serious.

You still don't think it's that bad huh? Well just for you I made a list. Here is what one load of laundry for you today contained:
10 socks that don't match up
6 pairs of socks (yes we need to have a discussion on what ever it is you do with your socks as well.)
2 pair of nylons
1 pair of mittens
1 hat
1 jacket
2 towels
1 changing table cover
1 blanket
10 rags
7 bibs
7 shirts
9 pants
2 skirts
11 white onesies
1 dress with bloomers
5 footed pj's
3 pj sets
also randomly your sister swimming suit and a pair of her shorts. Where those came from I do not know.

You still think it's funny huh? Well we will see what you think if I stop doing your laundry.

You don't believe my threat?

Well fine neither do I but I am counting the days until you and your sisters can do your own laundry.
Love,
Mom

Erin's 6!

2011-02-10T12:59:00.000-07:00

I am a few days late with this post but my little Erin just turned 6. I can't believe she is this old (I can't believe I am that old...) We are having a super fun friend birthday party on Saturday and she is super duper excited.

Erin here is what is going on in your life.
1- You are in kindergarten and excelling. You are a super reader, you love math and you have a great attitude about school. You amaze me everyday with how smart you are.
2- You still say the funniest things and I love it. The other day we were playing "I Spy" and I saw two people walking a dog. So I said "I spy something with 4 legs." You said. "The people." I said "No, a person only has 2 legs, what is there between the two people?" To which you answered, "4 legs!" I couldn't argue that.
3- You are a great big sister. You love to help out and you love to teach your sisters everything you know. Although this sometimes turns into you bossing them:)
4- You have lost 2 teeth already and it thrills you.
5- You love being girly. Dress ups and dolls make your world go round.
6- You have the most active imagination. The stories you come up with are remarkable. If I had to pick what you were going to be when you grew up, today, I would say you are going to be a writer. You love to tell stories and you love words and their meanings and you make up plenty of your own too.
7- You love your hair! I was trying to convince you that next time we get it cut we should cut off enough to donate it to locks of love and you will have nothing to do with that. You want Rapunzel hair.
8- Like most kids your age you could live on pizza. You love it. But you are a very good eater overall. The only things I can't get you to eat is tomatoes and spicy food.
9- Although this might sound vain, I believe you are breathtaking beautiful. But most of that comes from the light that shines in your eyes.
10- You love to bear your testimony. You have such a strong one and it just bursts out of you. I pray you never lose that.
11- I love you so much. Thank you for being my daughter,

Happy Birthday monkey child!!!

Happy Birthday Kaylee!

2011-02-02T12:58:00.000-07:00

Today my little baby girl is 1! I kinda don't want to believe it. She is growing up too fast. She has been an absolutely delightful baby. One could not wish for anything better. Her smiles and giggles light up a room and any one near her. She squeals with delight at almost every little thing. She is my biggest mama's girl yet, but is still really easy going about other people. I truly can't imagine life with out her.
Kaylee here is what you are all about on your first birthday:
1- You have no teeth. Yep your sisters were both late teethers but you have them beat. When will you get a tooth? I don't know?
2- You are not walking just yet but you sure are close. But I am defiantly not encouraging you to much to walk :)
3- Your favorite foods are: black beans, bananas, pancakes and yogurt. Although you really love just about anything you can stick in your mouth.
4- You LOVE to take a bath. You splash around in there like its no ones business. I think I might have a heart attack watching you play in the bath. And if the bathroom door is left open you will crawl into the bath tub by yourself.
5- You are saying Mama, Dada and Baba (bottle). But as I mentioned earlier you mostly just squeal with delight.
6- You love to play chase. Especially while I am changing your diaper.
7- You love to give kisses, that or you are trying to eat my face :)
8- You are an explorer. I can't keep track of where you go. I frequently find you playing on your sisters bed (you climb up by yourself), in the bath tub, downstairs by the basement door or getting into the cupboard under my bathroom sink.
9- You love to make the "motor boat" sound with your lips.
10- Most importantly YOU ARE LOVED BY EVERYONE!

She really is the most delightful baby. We celebrated her birthday this past Sunday with family and she loved it.
Here she is ready to eat.

Her cupcake

She wants to eat it, we want her to blow out the candle...s

Now she's eating it...

And she loves it!

Present time.

Well lets just say that opening presents was chaos :)

But we all had a great time and Kaylee sure loved everything!

And the winner is....

2011-01-31T09:47:00.000-07:00

So I had 9 total comments (thanks for the love btw, I don't know why but we all need it sometimes:) So I went over to random.org and did a random # generator with 1-9 and the winning # was #7 and the person who left the 7th comment was...Janae!!! So Janae if you want to e-mail me your address I will send you something. And since you didn't really pick something you are welcome to pick something or be surprised :)

Thanks everyone.

I kinda feel like a loser...

2011-01-29T08:55:00.000-07:00

So if you read my 100th post you will know that I am giving away a fun prize of your choosing. And I know there are more of you out there than just 5 people that read my blog. I am willing to ship a prize if it needs to be shipped so don't be concerned about that. I like each and everyone of you enough to give you something :) So please if you have not entered to win, do so. I kinda dislike feeling like a loser :) So head on over to my 100th post!
Thanks!

Erin and Lily are in this months Friend Magazine!!!

2011-01-25T10:04:00.000-07:00

So if you get the friend magazine you have to check out this months issue. On page 24 there is a little article about keeping family's together that are far away for job/military. Anyways on this page you will find pictures of Erin and Lily and James, my brother Joe's 4 kids and my sisters husband and little girl. It kinda exciting I must admit. If you don't get the magazine you can always check it out online at lds.org. Or you can just look below :) So fun.

ps. if you haven't read my last post (my 100th post) you might want to check it out ;)

My 100th post!

2011-01-24T15:24:00.000-07:00

First off: I normally don't blog about things like this but I am so excited for this I just had too. James has just been called to be the Ward Mission Leader. So basically he will be meeting with the full time missionaries weekly and be working with people in our ward boundaries who are interested in the church. I know that this is going to require a lot of time but I can see so many blessings that are going to come from this that I am excited. I really think this is going to be a great thing for our family.

On a different note, guess what? This is my 100th post! Wow. This has really been a journey for me and I love looking back through post. I love my bloggy friends and all the things I have learned from your blogs as well. I know it's kinda silly but I want to celebrate my 100th post. And the only way I can think of to do that is to give something away. I am just not sure what to giveaway. So I will show you a few different things I am willing to giveaway and you comment which you would rather win. Than I will randomly pick a winner and you get what you wanted.
So #1 is:
Pampered Chef Lemon Sprinkle and a Pampered Chef Seasons Best cookbook.

Option #2: 3-5 Custom handmade hair bows. (Small bows =5, large bows = 3, medium or a mix =4)
Here are some example of different bows I can do.

Option 3: This cute wooden Dr. Suess Block.

Option #4: You can pick something you know I can make as long as my price for it doesn't exceed $5 :) Ideas could be a homemade goody or appliqued onseies/kids t-shirts. Just be nice to me :)

So there you go. A giveaway that should make just about everyone happy. I will randomly draw a winner one week from today (Monday Jan 31st).

Parenthood

2011-01-14T14:25:00.000-07:00

I saw this on facebook the other day and I got a really good hearty laugh. I thought that I would share it with you so you could get a nice laugh too.
So here is an 11 step program for those thinking of becoming parents. (I think lessons 2, 4, 7 and 11 are my fav)

Lesson 1

1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the paper.
5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2

Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their...
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.
Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3

A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...
1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)

Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4

Can you stand the mess children make? T o find out...
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 5

Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.

Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6

Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment.
Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 7

Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 8

1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.

You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 9

Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 10

Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 11

Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

I love being a mom and wouldn't change it for the world. It's true when they say our greatest blessing come out of our greatest trials!

I Resolve...

2011-01-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

So I have been meaning to type this for awhile just for me to remember. But for these past few months I have felt very frustrated with life. I have come to realize this is my own fault because I think I have had a "selfish" streak. Meaning I feel like I have been focused on myself way to much. So my resolve this year is to think more of others. To serve others more and to love others more.

I know this is the right resolution for me because after having made it I have had so many answers to my prayers. Some being simple such as going to church and singing the hymn the put to words exactly how I felt.

Lord, I Would Follow Thee

1. Savior, may I learn to love thee,
Walk the path that thou hast shown,
Pause to help and lift another,
Finding strength beyond my own.
Savior, may I learn to love thee—

[Chorus]
Lord, I would follow thee.

2. Who am I to judge another
When I walk imperfectly?
In the quiet heart is hidden
Sorrow that the eye can’t see.
Who am I to judge another?

3. I would be my brother’s keeper;
I would learn the healer’s art.
To the wounded and the weary
I would show a gentle heart.
I would be my brother’s keeper—

4. Savior, may I love my brother
As I know thou lovest me,
Find in thee my strength, my beacon,
For thy servant I would be.
Savior, may I love my brother—

Another answer was I was praying for opportunities to serve, but I wasn't seeing any opportunities. The reason I wasn't seeing them was because I wasn't looking in the right place. As I read my scriptures it came to me very clearly that the people I most needed to focus on serving was my family. It seems like being a wife and mother that all I do is serve my family but in my "selfish" state I was doing it with the wrong heart. So I am going to change my heart to better serve my family.

I look forward to a year where I can grow and learn.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-07T15:31:00.000-07:00

Wow what a whirlwind life is. Anyways here are a few Christmas Photos from this past year.
This first one is at Erin Kindergarten program. I only have this one because I trying to video record it, take pictures and take care of a baby, plus I was all the way in the back and couldn't see her half the time. Lesson learned. Anyway she got to be a bell ringer. Only 10 of 100+ kids got to ring the bells so she was super excited. She sang her songs wonderfully and it was super cute.

On Christmas Eve just after we finished dinner while we were watching a movie we heard some bells. And lo and behold Santa was at our door making sure the girls were getting ready for him. (This is my dad and he goes and visits all the grand kids. I think it is his favorite part of Christmas.)

Christmas morning...

Erin and Lily decided they wanted Santa to have No Bake Cookies. Neither James or I complained so the cookies were defiantly eaten.

It was a wonderful Christmas. Of course (as always) I forgot my camera for the rest of the day. but it is sufficient to say; We spent wonderful time with family, ate super yummy food and we were spoiled rotten.

Christmas Greetings

2010-12-21T13:14:00.000-07:00

We did our Christmas Cards a little different this year. For those of you not on our mailing list (if you want to be let me know). Here is what we did. This is the picture we sent.

And here is the poem we sent with it.

I Spy the Hurst Family

I spy a little frog book

And a family picture that was took.

I spy a gymnast girl

And a tutu to twirl.

I spy a book for energy that’s renewable

And a picture of a preschool girl.

I spy a dress that caused some commotion

And some captain bars for promotion.

I spy a baby shoe

And a toy to chew.

Kaylee was born this year on Feb 2^nd. She is growing way to fast and loves to explore.

Lily started preschool and speech therapy this year. She is still in gymnastics and loves it.

Erin started kindergarten and is a reading machine. She still enjoys going to ballet/tap.

Liz is busy being a mom and has been severely bitten by the crafting/sewing bug this year.

James has been busy with school, work and military. He enjoyed some time in Morocco this year and was promoted to a captain.

We have had a wonderful blessed year. If you want to stay updated you can check out our family blog at jameslizhurst.blogspot.com.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

I have to share this picture too, cause I spied something super cute!

ps. everything in the picture explains our family or our year so if you have any questions let me know :)

A Year of Funnies

2010-12-09T12:40:00.000-07:00

I have gone through all my face book status' of this year and many of them are funny things my children have said this year. So to make these funny memories more permanent I am going to share them here. I might share some that are just plain good memories too.

Erin:
-I got a new dessert cookbook. Erin wanted to know all the recipes. When I cam across one that had coffee in it Erin exclaimed "Coffee is bad for you. It will make you smoke."
-Erin was playing pretend like she was a mad queen and yells out "I am so mad! Exclamation!
-Erin decided she wanted to make her own PB&J. She worked really hard on it. 3 bites into it she said -"Mom, I am not an expert lunch maker like you are."
-Erin asked for a pet chameleon. I asked her why she wanted one and she replied she wanted to watch it change colors. I then asked her if she wanted to clean it poop and feed it live crickets. She thought about it for a moment then replied "Mom you can help!"
-Erin's quote of the day. "Butterflies are my favorite type of flies."
-Erin just informed me she wishes her name was, Pink Rose Flower Hurst.
-Darn you Uncles. Erin is going around telling Lily to pull her finger.
-Erin had a bad dream last night. She dreamt she got a cookie dough shake from Grannies and dropped it.
-I gave a talk about Relief Society in church today. Now Erin is going around playing Relief Society. At least someone listened :)
Lily:
-I discovered Lily's biggest fear. Flies. I am not talking about running from them, I am talking about paralyzed with fear crying and screaming at the top of her lungs. I feel bad but I can't help but laugh.
-Today Lily dumped a bowl of wheat flour all over her and Erin's bed. Yesterday it was cups of water. I guess I should be glad that they weren't on the same day.
-At the risk of sounding like a braggy parent, Lily was the best child in her gymnastics class today. She is so physically talented.
-Day after Halloween: Lily has a dum dum in each hand and loving life.
-Lily's talking on the phone to daddy, "BOO! BOO! BOO! Scare you daddy haha."
-Lily wants bubble gum pizza for dinner. Yum
Kaylee:
-Part of motherhood is changing a babies diaper then changing it again 2 minutes later because she's had a blow out.
-There is a little shelf with colored flowers above Kaylee's changing table. Every time I change her diaper she stares at it and smiles. I love her smiles.
-I will take Kaylee giggling at my singing as a compliment.
-Kaylee's happy sound, "dadadada". Kaylee's sad sound, Mmamamamamam" I think this is unfair :)
James:
-Why I love having girls. My strong military husband just said, " I think this time I will pick Aurora... Oh no I picked the wrong magic princess."
Liz:
-I feel so blessed to have 3 wonderful little girls. I just don't know how I got so lucky.
-Snuggling with Kaylee, smelling baby breath and kissing baby cheeks. Can life get any better?
-Today's tip: always keep a few get well cards on display. that way when company comes over they will think you have been sick and unable to clean.

I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!!!

I am human

2010-12-06T13:32:00.001-07:00

Just deleted my ranting and ravings and I feel much better. But I will leave the ending b/c that is worth remembering (for me at least.)

I guess the moral is that true thought and love from people is what we need (sing with me "what the world needs now, is love sweet love...") And whilst I can't change the people around me I can change myself. I know I have not always been the best friend I should have been to people and I know I haven't given my family all the time and thought they truly deserve from me. So I am going to try harder to be a little better :) I am also going to read this talk by President Monson a few more times cause I think I still have a lot to learn from it.

Halloween

2010-10-30T20:11:00.000-06:00

I just though I would share our Halloween costumes quickly with you. Erin and Lily were the cutest witches you had ever seen.

Erin then used her magical witch powers to turn daddy into a frog.

And Kaylee was their pet, a black kitty. She spent her evening in true kitty fashion, napping.

I was a witch as well, but I like to spend my time behind the camera.

The Dirty Dash

2010-09-28T22:59:00.000-06:00

This Saturday James participated in a race. This race was unlike any race I've seen. It was the Dirty Dash. Basically he ran 10k through mud and tunnels, and over walls and hay bales. And at the end he was dirty. One of the other fun things about it as well is he ran it with my brother so they got enjoy the mud together.

You would never guess what his bib number was.

I told him that no matter what he could tell people he was #1

Since he was going to play in the mud he decided to look the part.

What a nice clean pig.

Well they're off. Up a nice muddy hill to begin with.

A little later they were jumpin over this wall.

Towards the end they got to go down this fun slide.

Here is James and my brother making a mad dash for the end. Okay maybe not so much mad as it was tired.

I can no longer really tell who is who but I think James is climbing out of the mud on the left.

He lost the pig snout but he looks like he's been rolling in the mud.

Yes please shower off before getting in the car.

Ahh that looks much better.

Well maybe....

Anyways it looked like a totally fun race. They are doing a 5k in the spring and I think I am going to join that one.

Trapped

2010-09-27T23:07:00.000-06:00

The other day was my super big laundry day. I normally try to do laundry twice a week but I hadn't done it for a week and a half. So some of my laundry baskets got left down stairs in the chaos and then they got tipped over. After that a baby thought they looked interesting and crawled over to them. Then she was trapped.

"Hello momma, I think I am stuck."

"How do I get out of here?"

"Oh wait I think I found it. See you later."

Lily's in Preschool

2010-09-27T23:00:00.000-06:00

So Lily recently started preschool. She feels way to little to me for this, but I guess it's part of life. She is going to an excellent preschool and the best part is she gets to go for free. Unfortunately that's also the worst part. Lily easily qualifies for speech therapy through the school system. So along with preschool she goes to speech. I sure hope starting her this young helps. Here she is ready to go on her first day.

Here she is outside her classroom door. She was so excited to go in I couldn't get her to look at me.

Along with preschool and speech she also gets to ride the bus. She was even more excited to ride the bus than she was for preschool..

Fun at the State Fair

2010-09-20T18:09:00.000-06:00

I love the fair. Something about it excites me like I am a little girl again. So naturally I have to take my kids to the fair right? And on Saturday Sept. 11th we got in for free with the military. So my parents and my sister and her family all packed up and went. I loved it (and hated it too). Saturday was just super busy and we got their later than we wanted to. But there were some really good fun parts so I am choosing to remember those not the stressful chaotic parts. So here are some fun things we did.
They had this awesome exhibit for kids that was super fun and cute. The girls put on little aprons and gathered a basket.

Then they fed a cow and milked him.

They picked apples from trees.

Then planted and harvested from a garden.

They rode tractors.

And so much more like sheering a sheep and gathering eggs. At the end they turned in all the things they reaped from their farm and got a "dollar" which they then went to the "store" and bought a treat.
If you ask Erin and Lily what their highlight was they will tell you it was the Ferris wheel. Erin saw one at a little fair early this year and has been begging ever since to go on one. I told her she could choose one ride at the fair to go on and that is what she chose. Erin had the choice of who she wanted to ride with and she chose my dad. So Lily and I rode together. I tell you Lily didn't stop giggling the whole time. She LOVED it.

After this I stopped taking pictures but we saw all the animals and walked through some other displays. We signed the girls up to do mutton bustin at the rodeo but they didn't get picked from the lottery. Maybe next year. At the end of the night we found another really cool display that was hands on science stuff for kids and adults to play with. The girls loved it and had fun there as well. Through the chaos we never got a chance to buy a fair treat but I am sure that in the long run that is better for us :)
I can't wait till next year.

Re-evaluation and a BIG FAVOR

2010-09-08T12:02:00.000-06:00

So as I have though about my blog this past week I had to think back to when I started my blog. I really wasn't going to blog but then I read an ensign article that talked about sharing our testimonies with the world through blogging. I felt an impression that I should do so. At that time I prayed to Heavenly Father to please protect my family through this adventure. Over time my blog has turned into a journal, but I still bear my testimony so... I have decided to keep my blog public, and continue to strive to keep my side of the bargain and continue to pray for protection for my family. So I am sorry about the going private scare. Thanks for your support and love.

Now for a really big favor. I have entered Kaylee into a cute baby photo contest and I want to win. To do so I need the help of everyone I can get. So go and vote for her. Here is the link. To find Kaylee through the 1500 babies entered here's what you can do. In the search box you can enter my e-mail address (lizzy_clarinet(at)hotmail(dot)com) or you can search her name. Here is the picture you are looking for.

Since I have the most awesome family and friends in the world I am certain that if we pull together we can win. But just in case I will bribe you a little too. Part of the prize in a gift basket full of goodies valued to $500. If I win it I will share the goodies with you. Meaning I will do a giveaway on my blog. So please go and vote for her. Your support will be greatly appreciated!
ps. I just saw a baby with 115 votes while Kaylee only has 8. So we got to move it move it, come on and move it move it.

Going Private

2010-08-31T22:20:00.000-06:00

Okay so if you blog you have probably seen this new stats thing. I think its pretty cool, but after playing around with it for a minute I think I might want to go private. So... you know the drill leave me your e-mail address so I can add you. You can e-mail it to me at lizzy_clarinet(at)hotmail(dot)com if you feel more comfortable doing it that way.
Is anyone else having a similar experience to me? Am I overreacting?
You have one week (sept 7thish)

School

2010-08-31T19:35:00.000-06:00

It happened. My little girl grew up and went to kindergarten. I kinda feel like it's the beginning of the end. She is so smart and so ready but she will always be my baby. Rest assured she did not feel any anguish over today. And to be honest I don't think I felt the most anguish, that roll was taken by her little sister who thinks that she is 5 as well and going to kindergarten. I had hard time coaxing Lily out of the classroom, she felt like she belonged there.

Lily will be starting preschool here soon and I am not sure how I feel about that either. Lily qualifies for free preschool through the school district along with speech therapy. She will be doing preschool 2 days a week and I am fine with that, what I am having a super hard time with is that they will send a bus to pick her up. She is way to little to ride the bus isn't she. My heart can barelyy handle the thought. Have any of you sent your kids on the bus? What did you do and how did you handle it, would I be crazy to drive her when this service is offered?

Family Pictures

2010-08-21T14:19:00.001-06:00

We had family photos taken earlier this month and I am soooo happy with them. Here a a select few to share with you.

I must admit I have beautiful children.

Some End Of Summer Fun

2010-08-16T11:29:00.001-06:00

Can you believe that school is starting soon. It seriously feels like summer just started. Well this weekend was our last weekend of summer fun as a family so we lived it up. We did a fun and messy art project.

We went to some splash pads in SL and played.

We went to a fun new pizza place called Incredible Pizza that the girls had a blast at.

James and I also went on a double date with my brother and his wife. We also had some friends and the missionaries over for dinner Sunday night, in which I made this cake.

Visit my craft blog for the recipe.
All in all we had a super fun weekend and we are all exhausted now. Now I just need to do some back to school shopping and sewing. I hope you all enjoy your last few days of summer and soak it up!!!

Catch Up. Again.

2010-08-08T20:50:00.001-06:00

Sorry I am bad at staying caught up here. So here is a quick catch up. First a few pics from swim lessons.

As usual the girls loved swim lessons.

Next James did something wonderful for me.

Ahhh to sleep under a ceiling fan in our bedroom. It feels like a dream.

And a little bit of miss Kaylee. She just hit the 6 month mark and is so cute! She LOVES to play with blankets, clothes, etc. Here she is playing.

See I told you she was cute.

9:30 this morning

2010-07-13T11:04:00.000-06:00

ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz

Snore (she rolls over and will only sleep on her tummy now)

Yawn. I got one up.

I must have missed the sleep in day memo.

Just in case you haven't heard...

2010-07-07T22:26:00.000-06:00

I did a post a little while ago about my desire to get my busylizzy blog up and going again. Well I have done it but I have done it with a twist and I am loving it. Each week I review a craft tutorial. Here are some of the recent projects I have done.

They are cute and fun aren't they. Every once in awhile I throw in my own tutorial as well. Like this Tu-Tu made with a ribbon waist band.

Anyways I just thought I would share this with you because I am loving it. So go and check it out. I also do some fun giveaways and I also post all the crafty giveaways I know about on my side bar. My button is there on the top right of this blog, and that will take you there.

Racing Day

2010-06-30T10:50:00.000-06:00

This past Saturday we packed up and headed to SL for a family fun race.Taylorsville Days was happening and with part of it they had a 5k. My parents, James' parents and Mike and Amy family were there as well. It was super fun. The girls were super excited!

My mom, James' mom and I walked together with the little girlies walking with us. My niece Ivy walked with us as well. So here's Grandma with Ivy and Lily

And Grandma Hurst with Lily.

Erin had the funniest little run and I tried with all my might to get a pic of it. But every time the camera shot something was in the way rather it be a person, mailbox, parked car etc. This is the best one I got. For some reason I didn't have time to snap tons of photos.

Erin walked an approximate total of 1.5 miles. Lily walked about 2. I am proud of them and look forward to doing more. It was fun.

Lily's Party

2010-06-21T14:22:00.000-06:00

This past weekend we had a birthday party for Lily. A friend from my ward also has a daughter whose birthday was the day after Lily's so we joined forces and threw a birthday party together. I think it turned out really well.

We had a company called Wild Things bring some animals out that kids to to pet and learn about. Lily chose 2 animals to come, the other b-day girls chose two and then we picked one more. Lily chose a sugar glider and a parrot, Emily chose a frog and a snake and then we also chose a gecko. The kids loved petting the animals and learning about them. They got to wear the snake as a bracelet and take pictures of the gecko on their heads or shoulders. Lily and Emily got to feed the sugar glider mill worms. We watched the parrot dance and the tree frog showed off its awesome sticky feet. It was so cute and fun.

We also bought a bunch of little plastic animals and hid them, we then sent the kids on a safari to find the animals. That was great because it doubled as a game and a party favor.

We of course had cake and ice cream and opened presents. It turned out so fun and cute. It was also nice and simple.

We had a blast and so did all the kids. I am tempted to have Wild things do every birthday party for the next little while until we get to meet all their animals.
Also Erin has decided that she wants a pet snake. I think she would want to wear it as a bracelet every where we go. But she sure loved all the pets.
Lily loved them all as well. I am really impressed with how much both of my girls loved it and how well they did with the animals.

3 Years Ago

2010-06-14T22:46:00.000-06:00

3 years ago someone wonderful came into my life. Although 3 years ago was the first time I saw her, I knew she was a permanent part of my life.

She was/is loved by her whole family.

She had a mohawk that I tried and tried and tried to get to lay down. When it finally did I think I cried.

She has a contagious smile and eyes that speak volumes.

She has been a major blessing to me that past 3 years.

I love you monkey. You are so special.
You have always been a monkey. When I was pregnant with you your sister said that there was a monkey in my tummy, she knew better than I did.
I don't believe you have ever stopped moving.
When your tired or need comfort you twirl your hair or my hair and I love it.
Your favorite color is yellow, when your sister is around she convinces you it is pink.
You are a climber.
You are the best snuggler in the world.
Our bishop once said about you that your spirit is just to big for your body. It's the best way I have heard to explain your personality.
I love you so much and I am grateful for my opportunity to be your mother.

Kaylee

2010-06-05T23:05:00.001-06:00

My sweet Kaylee is 4 months old. I can't believe how time is flying. She is without a doubt my biggest baby yet. At her 4 month check up she weighed 12lbs 13oz. This puts her in the 50th percentile. I know there are many of you who say this is small but considering Erin was in the 25th and Lily was in the 10th, Kaylee is huge to me.

She is so sweet and smiley! I just love this rollie pollie.

Since she is 4 months it's about time to start some rice cereal. Here is how it went:

Mom what are you doing, you sure are silly.

What was that? I don't think I liked it so I am going to wipe it away.

Wipe, wipe, wipe.

No I will not let you put that in my mouth again.

Goodness, can't you take a hint mom!

Oh well, I guess I'll try again later.

Erin's Preschool Graduation

2010-05-21T14:27:00.001-06:00

I can't believe my little girl is done with preschool. I can't believe that she is going to kindergarten in just a few short months. I love my stink bug and I am wondering who gave her permission to grow up? Well here are a few hightlights. First I must mention that she literaly bounced out of bed this morning and was hyper with excitement.

They sang songs and danced and were just so cute.

Erin got so excited that a few times she would bounce out of her seat.

All the kids shared what they had learned that year. They had learned great things like their ABC's and 123's. Erin learned "how to eat snack properly."

Oh I just love this girl and can't believe how big she is. She cracks me up on a constant basis. She is so ready for kindergarten. She can read simple books, if we ask her how to spell simple words she sounds them out and can spell them, she loves to count and is adding on her fingers. She loves doing work books and anything that expands her mind.
Well I must go and cry over the fact that my girl is so big.

Just Thinking

2010-05-15T16:32:00.002-06:00

I've been thinking about my old bow blog a lot recently. Why it didn't work? Is there anything else I can do? etc. Well I came up with some ideas. To check them out visit my bow blog. Click on the flower and it will take you there.

I've Been Bitten

2010-05-11T21:05:00.005-06:00

Bitten by what you ask. Well I have been bitten by a crafting/creating bug. I have always enjoyed creating something but for some reason these past few months I have really been into it. I am loving learning and creating. I have so many projects I am working on, but here are a few I have finished.
First Erin was invited to birthday party the other weekend and with a mixture of my creating bug, my total frustration with toys and my desire to save some money I decided to make a little skirt for the present. I also made a cute matching hair flower. The total project cost like $4. This was way easy to make. If you want to make one the tutorial for it is here. If I were to make this for Erin since she is so tall I would add another tier.

I also made my MIL a Mothers Day gift. I have to apologize I don't have the finished product photo, (I might have finished making them while driving to visit on Sunday night.) But I took plain white dish towel and added a quilted border. I then had the girls draw pictures, I drew the pictures onto the towels and then embroidered them. They turned out way cute, unfortunately you only get to see the quilted edge.

Well I better leave this post now. I have over 10 yards of felt sitting on my couch waiting for me to create something insane and hopefully awesome. I will hopefully be done by Lily's birthday and I will share it's awesomeness with you then.

Old Jeans- New Skirt

2010-04-30T13:06:00.004-06:00

Erin had a favorite pair of jeans. She loved them and would wear them whenever possible. I admit I loved them too. But being a favorite jean sad things began to happen. A little hole in one knee. A little hole in another knee. Then trouble really started happening. You see Erin has this obsession with strings, she CANNOT leave them alone.
I have a theory that it is because her first blanket in her crib was a brand new rag quilt, (if your not familiar with a brand new rag quilt you need to know that it will produce little string for months.) And she got so use to little strings as a baby she now loves them as a child. She always has and I am afraid she always will. this obsession has cost us countless sock and tights that might have been saved.
Anyways her jeans little holes began producing little strings and she cant stop playing with and pulling at. Before we knew it the holes weren't so little any more and me being a really mean mom said that Erin couldn't wear them in public any longer.
Don't worry though, I made them into something Erin can love again. My MIL kept saying I needed to turn them into shorts, but I am afraid that since I have had so many shorts that were once jeans that I couldn't bear the thought. They just never looked right. So I decided on a skirt.
(Erin has entered this phase where she either over or under smiles, she cannot naturally smile on command)

Anyways I thought it turned out pretty cute. Erin really likes it too, but she is still a little sad about them not being comfy jeans any more.

My new favortie 3 recipes

2010-04-26T09:51:00.006-06:00

As you all know I love food. And I love finding and making new recipes. So I am going to share with you what I think I might live off this summer.

Main Dish: A fabulous garlic honey homemade bbq sauced smothering any meat I can find. I got the recipe from allrecipes.com but I have altered it to fit my needs. You can find my altered version here.Side dish : A potato that seriously makes my world go round (I have made it at least once a week since I discovered it.) You can thank The Pioneer Woman for this recipe. Go here to get the recipe. On a side note I always use dry rosemary and it is divine. I would use fresh but my plant isn't big enough to cut up just yet.Dessert: Strawberry Trifle. It has just enough lemon in it to make you go dizzy with delight. ( I apologize for the picture, I didn't take one and it is a Pampered Chef recipe and this is the only pic of it I could find.) I don't have a link for you to follow so the recipe is below.

Strawberry Cream Trifle

1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

1 pkg (10.75 oz) frozen pound cake, thawed

1 qt. fresh strawberries

1 container (16 oz) frozen sliced strawberries in syrup, thawed

1 lemon

3 containers (8 oz each) blended strawberry yogurt

1 pkg (3.4 oz) cheesecake instant pudding and pie filling

1 container (8 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided

Powdered sugar

Coarsely chop almonds. Cut pound cake into 1-in. cubes set aside. Set aside one strawberry for garnish. Hull remaining strawberries and cut into quarters. Combine fresh and frozen strawberries; mix well.

Juice lemon to measure 2 tbsp juice. Whisk lemon juice, yogurt and pudding mix until smooth; immediately fold in 1 cup of the whipped topping.

To assemble trifle, place one-third of the pound cake cubes into bottom of Trifle Bowl. Top pound cake with one-third of the strawberry mixture. Top with half of the yogurt mixture, spreading evenly. Sprinkle with one-third of the almonds. Repeat layers one time. Top with remaining pound cake cubes and remaining strawberry mixture.

To garnish, spread remaining whipped topping over top of trifle. Sprinkle remaining almonds over whipped topping. Create strawberry fan with reserved strawberry; place into center of trifle.

I hope you enjoy the recipes as much as I do. Believe me they are all worth it!

Kaylee's Blessing

2010-04-21T20:18:00.003-06:00

Last week was Kaylee's blessing. It was beautiful. The only thing I regret is being a crazy person and not getting a few more pictures afterward.
I feel so blessed to have such a beautiful family and to be married to a righteous priesthood bearer. I feel blessed for the family they came and supported us. My grandparents came out from Provo, I am so glad they could make it.
James gave her a beautiful blessing and the spirit was so strong. During testimonies Erin had to get up and bear her testimony. She is so sweet and she is a great big sister. She expressed how much she loves Kaylee and how sweet she is. She also mentioned that her cousin Ivy was her favorite cousin. Erin has a wonderful little testimony. Lily wants to bear her testimony as well she just has a hard time verbally expressing herself.
One of the fun things about this blessing is that I smocked all of the girls dresses and sewed Erin's and Lily's. My mom sewed Kaylee's dress and they all turned out so beautiful.

I feel so blessed to have my family. I feel blessed to know how much our Father in Heaven loves us. I am so grateful for all that I.

The Good The Bad andThe Cute and a little Ugly

2010-03-27T20:29:00.009-06:00

We have had a crazy few weeks. I really could do multiple post but my brain doesn't work that way so its alllll going in this one.
First some good. We bought a piano!!! I love it. We bought it from a guy who refurbishes pianos so it's like new but at a used price. Everything about it is beautiful. The feel of it, the sound of it and we got lucky because it looks beautiful as well. Erin is ecstatic over it. So we went to the local music store and bought some piano books and I have started teaching her how to play. We have done 2 lessons thus far and she is soaking it all in. She loves to sit and practice and she loves to just play whatever and sing. Lily loves to do that too.

See I told you it was beautiful!

Now some more good and hopefully cute. Erin, Lily and I celebrated St Patties day by getting hair cuts. (Thats a celebration right?) Anyways for the first time in my life I have a long hair cut. I am still not sure what I think of it, but I think I like it. This was also Lily's first hair cut. she was excited and loved it. Erin was way over due on a hair cut (well we all were thats how I got long hair) and we cut like 5 inches off.

Yes this is after we cut 5 inches off.
Okay now for some bad ugly and end with good. Bad: My beautiful children broke two of my windows.

Ugly: water gathered in between the broken panes and began to grow a science experiment.
Not necessarily ugly, but not pretty either: The way our old windows looked outside.Good: New beautiful windows. They also have some really great features, like they can open on both sides, the screen moves, I can take them out easily to clean them but they are more secure from outside and harder to break into. Also they are guaranteed so if my beautiful children break them again we don't have to buy new ones.

Cute and then bad: I was working on smocking the girls Easter dresses and looked up to see daddy and the three girls. So cute.But lets take a close look at Lily. Oh no it is 7 o-clock and Lily is asleep. This is highly unusual. Plus she got a fever. Darn it Lily has strep.

Plus when we had Lily checked we had this little one looked over too. She had a runny nose and a cough. Well this poor babe has RSV. Darn it. Best part is she now has a 60% chance of getting asthma. Oh I sure am going to pray for her.

Ugly: I woke up one Saturday morning recently covered in a rash head to toe and itching like crazy! I immediately went to the doctor. Apparently I have some food allergy. To what? We have no clue. Thankfully it hasn't happened since and I pray that it wont. My mom and my darling husband were both hoping I was allergic to the somoas I had eaten the day before so they could finish them off, but I am very happy to say it was not my precious samoa cookies.

Good: The good thing about dad doing school on-line is he can take the baby with him to school.

Cute: Yes my children sure are cute

Two Birds With 1 Stone

2010-03-12T14:28:00.004-07:00

For those of you who are around us frequently know that Lily doesn't talk much. It really isn't a big surprise because who can get a word in edgewise with Erin around? We did speech therapy for a good part of last year and she was progressing nicely. So we decided to stop and since then her progress has slowed. I wasn't planning on putting Lily in 3 yr old preschool, but I am thinking it might help with her speech. So as I was feeding Kaylee at 2:30am the other morning I was thinking about Lily and speech. Trying to think of other ways to help her. I have some flash cards but truth be told we both hate them so it doesn't happen much. So what is something that she would enjoy that would encourage her speech? I remembered working in a preschool for a short time and one of the things they did to help get the kids excited about learning letters of the alphabet was to have a letter of the day and hide copies of it all over and when the kids found them it was super exciting and no matter what you were doing at that moment they were also learning letters. I thought I could transfer this idea and do a word of the day with Lily.
Well to make a long story short (I know it's a little late for that) the idea kept growing in my mind and now is a typed formal lesson plan that will benefit both the girls.
Here is a peak of what it looks like:
1- Focus on words from one book. The first book I am using is Charlie Cooks Favorite Book.
First word of focus from this book is: BOOK (brilliant I know)We will also focus on: walk, chair, dragon, frog, nest, green, crown, fish, cake, head, and boy. (Lily can say some of these words, but this will help encourage the activity)
2- Hide pictures of books with the word book printed on the bottom of the picture, all over the house.
3- When one of the girls finds a pic we stop what we are doing and Lily repeats the word while Erin reads the word. So we have 30 sec lessons spread throughout the day.
4- Read the focus book each night and whenever we run across the focus word Erin will read it and Lily will repeat it.
5- Once a day have a 5ish min focus on the word. Erin will read it then read other word similar (ie. took, look, nook) Lily will repeat it and words similar in meaning (ie. read, pages, words).
So in this one activity I will engage both girls, help Erin with reading and Lily with her speech. I have a total of 12 focus words from this first book and I am printing off all my material at once which will lighten the load of the small amount of work that it is. I hope this goes as well as I think it will. I will update you at the end of this book how it went.
While we are at it do you have any fun ideas to help your children in either of these areas? I would love to hear them.

Pampered Chef Baby Sale

2010-02-23T14:35:00.004-07:00

I just thought I would let you all know that in celebration of having a baby this month I am doing a Baby Sale. What this means is that anything in the catalog that is small or mini is 10% off. For example the small batter bowl or the deluxe mini muffin pan. You can check out the catalog online at www.pamperedchef.biz/lizhurst.
Also all the unglazed stoneware is 20% off.If you want to order you can online at the above mentioned website. It will not show your 10% discount I will adjust that then call and let you know what your total is. You can also call me to place an order. Sat the 27th is the last day to order.

The Past 2 Weeks

2010-02-17T17:05:00.006-07:00

Warning this is a long post: I have bolded different parts of the post that really could be post's by themselves.
What a wonderful busy two weeks it has been. As you saw in my last post our 3rd sweet baby girl was born on Feb 2nd. With each child it amazes me at how they feel like they have been a part of my life forever not just 2 weeks. I can't imagine life without knowing her sweet little spirit. We decided on the second day of her life to name her Kaylee Rebecca. We originally were planning on naming her Ella Kaylee but that just wasn't her.
The story behind the name: Ella is my grandmothers middle name and I really wanted to use a family name. We figured we ought to use a name from James' side of the family as well. This was a tad more difficult because 1- James doesn't know his extended family quiet as well and while going through names in his family line there just wasn't anything that I loved. James' mom's middle name is Lee so we thought about naming her Ella Lee but it just didn't flow well to me. So we decided to combine his moms name Karen Lee and make Kaylee. But about 2 weeks before she was born I had a dream that she was born and we couldn't decide on her name. As soon as I thought of naming her Kaylee she became full of life and personality. Even after this dream though I didn't want to give up on naming her Ella because I love the name so. But she was born and she wasn't Ella she was Kaylee, but I had to come up with a middle name I liked before I was okay with it. I thought of Rebecca which is a family name on my side. So she is Kaylee Rebecca. One fun thing about using the middle name Rebecca is her cousin 6 months her senior has the middle name Rebecca as well.

The story of her birth: As I reflect back I feel very blessed to live in this day and age and have the knowledge and technology. There was a large amount of meconium in the ammniotic fluid and if a baby breaths it, it can block airways and permanently damage the lungs. So when she born the NICU was there to ensure she did not breath any in. They worked on her for about 10min sucking and pounding out meconium. Luckily non of it got into her lungs and she has been fine since.

This labor in some ways was my most difficult only because I went in with expectations and the day did not go as I planned. But my recovery has been the best. This is the first time I was well enough to go into the nursery and watch James bathe her. I loved it! One of the hardest parts about this hospital stay is that Erin and Lily were not allowed to come and see her. They could see her through the nursery window but that was it. Lily would stand there and hold out her arms saying please, please; she wanted so badly to hold her new baby sister. So as you can imagine Erin and Lily were so happy to get her home and hold her.

This picture of the 3 girls just might be one of my favorite pictures ever!

Kaylee's 2 week check up: She is growing very well. She now weighs 8lbs 3oz. That is just 3 oz shy of gaining 1 whole pound over her birth weight. She definitely knows how to eat. She is my biggest baby for sure. Erin was in the 25th percentile, Lily in the 5th and Kaylee is the 70th.

Lily adjusting: I was a little worried about Lily being jealous. She has thankfully been doing better than I expected. I just have to make sure to set time aside for her. She is a very physical child and needs to be shown that she is loved through being held and tickled etc. She has had a few incidents to get attention though. Such as rubbing nearly a whole bottle of hand soap all over her body and kitchen set and any other toys that were near.
Judging by these pictures I think she is a little jealous over the amount of pictures that have been taken of Kaylee and not her.
Erins 5!!! As if having a baby wasn't enough Erin also had her 5th birthday. This birthday was a little unusual because of a baby being born. Before Kaylee was born we took Her to chuck-e-cheese with a friend and a cousin. I forgot the camera, but she sure had a lot of fun.
On her birthday when she came home from school she saw a beautiful bike waiting for her. She was way excited and had to get on it right away.
That evening Grandma and Grandpa Hurst came for a little bit to give her some presents. I whipped up a big cookie quick for a "make do" cake. (I wasn't very impressed with the cookie but it worked
This past week we went to my parents for family dinner and celebrated her b-day again. Erin really wanted a Cinderella dress for her birthday so I bought material and handed it over to my mom. I wanted to make it I just knew I didn't have time with a new baby. I am so happy I handed it over to my mom now, she did a spectacular job.
Since Erin wanted a princess party I made her a Cinderella cake. I am very pleased with how it turned out.
It was my nieces second birthday as well and she loves lady bugs so I made her a little lady bug cake that turned out pretty cute as well.
I think Erin had a darn good spread out birthday and is very spoiled. But its okay to be spoiled on your birthday. Here is just one more quick picture I had to take of Erin a few weeks ago. I had to laugh because I was not aware that I had cousin it as a daughter.

Valentines Day:
It was also Valentines day a few days ago. We didn't do anything big but we had a nice day at home. We had some treats and ate some yummy food. And just told each other how much we loved each other and thankful we are to be family.

Kaylee Rebecca Hurst

2010-02-03T19:54:00.001-07:00

Our sweet little girl was born on Tues. Feb 2nd. She was born at 3:47 pm weighed in at 7lbs and 6 oz and is 19.5" long. She sure is a sweet little thing and we sure have been blessed to have our 3rd perfect little miracle. If you would like to view some of the pics taken at the hospital go here.

I've made some mistakes.

2010-01-26T11:53:00.003-07:00

As I was struggling to get out of bed the other morning I thought to myself why is this so hard? Here is the conclusion I have come up with.
MISTAKE 1: Shortly after Erin was born James and I decided it was time to upgrade our mattress from the handy-me down full I had in high school to a comfy queen. We decided it would be worth it to spend a bit more and get a nice mattress.
MISTAKE 2: Getting a new mattress meant getting a new bedspread, right? Well I fell in love with a duvet cover which meant getting a down comforter as well. Sleeping with a down comforter means sleeping within a cloud (if a cloud actually had enough mass to hold you that is.)
MISTAKE 3: When we moved into our home all the windows had those shade you pull down over the windows to make it nice and dark. I have removed them from all the windows but our bedroom window which means there is no mister sunshine to greet me in the morning.
MISTAKE 4: James and I stayed at a nice hotel one night about a year ago and their pillows were so fabulous I had to look at the tag. For our anniversary a few months later we decided to buy these pillows as our present to each other. These pillows are heaven and are not recommended by me because you will never want to leave its side.

Conclusion: If you like sleep, if your body is achy due to pregnancy and you have a hard time getting out of bed as it is, DO NOT make your bed that comfy. Now if you will excuse me I think I am going to take a nap.

Super Cute

2010-01-21T14:10:00.003-07:00

So I decided to take on an insane learning and craft adventure. I want this little baby girl to have a smocked blessing dress. So that means I needed to learn to smock. I asked around if anyone knew and my cousin sent me a link to lady who posted a tutorial on her blog. So I followed it and came up with this.I was presently surprised with how it turned out. So I got the stuff to start the baby dress. This week ended up being a perfect week to sit and do it because I have been sick. (Being sick and 8 1/2 months pregnant you can't do much besides sit around.) While the dress is not made the smocking is done and I think I love it. The flowers were the hardest part for me so forgive them please.
I will post pics of the whole dress when it's done. I am also thinking of making Erin and Lily smocked Easter dresses. Am I crazy?!?!

Happiness

2010-01-12T12:47:00.003-07:00

I like to think that in general I am a happy person. I must admit that for the past 7ish months I haven't been myself. Well the past few weeks I have been bombarded with "hints" from my Heavenly Father that I need to be happier. It started with a nursery lesson "I can be happy". It shares a story about a little girl who notices people aren't happy so her mom tells her to start smiling and people. The little girl quickly found out that sharing a smile can help others feel happy. What a simple lesson that seems so easily forgot. A smile is such an important thing. It even helps you feel better when you are feeling down.

My calling got changed from nursery teacher to nursery music leader (This made me happy). But as I was going through the children's song book and prayerfully thinking about children's song and what ones to focus on and teach the kids one of the ones that stood out to me the most was Smiles (If you chance to meet a frown do not let it stay, quickly turn it upside down and smile that frown away).

I must admit these little lesson didn't get the message though my head so it came again. High Council Sunday, and a wonderful talk about finding happiness and sharing happiness. And again the simple lesson of even when you are feeling down smile and it will make you feel better. just acting happy can help you be happy. He shared a poem that I can't remember exactly but it went something like this. "There are people who grumble when the sky is blue except for one tiny dark cloud and there are people who are joyous when the sky is dark but with one ray of light shining through. Who are you?" I really hope I can find that ray of light and hold onto it. That ray of light is the gospel and the Plan of Happiness.

Closing song in Sacrament meeting. Today While the Sun Shines. I have never paid to much attention to this song. I knew it, but I didn't know it. Well it hit me like a ton of bricks singing it Sunday. This is the way to hold onto that ray of light. Here are a few of the lines that really stuck out to me "Today while the sun shines work with a will.""Today all your duties with patience fulfill." "Call life a good gift; call the world fair." 'Today seek the treasures better than gold" "Today seek the gems that shine in the heart." "Today seek for goodness, virtue and truth, As crown of your life and the grace of your youth." 'Prepare for tomorrow by working today."

The final lesson has come through my personal scripture study. I have been reading about Ammon (I love this guy). I have on more than one occasion wished I could be as happy as him. He is so full of joy. When the men came to scatter the flocks all of the other kings servants were sorrowful and afraid, while Ammon rejoiced in the opportunity to turn to the Lord for help. When Ammon saw Alma after his mission he was so overcome with joy that he fell to the ground. After his life has been threatened numerous times and he has seen him, his brethren and those who have been converted go through much hardship, he rejoices in the many blessings the Lord have given unto them. He is defiantly a the glass is half full kind of guy. Each night as I read about him I then pray I can be more like him. I marvel at his joy, the joy that can only come through his knowledge of the Lord and His goodness.

In conclusion I would like to share with you some of Richard G. Scotts thoughts on happiness from his talk "Full Conversion brings happiness."
"Your happiness now and forever is conditioned on your degree of conversion and the transformation that it brings to your life."
"True conversion yields the fruit of enduring happiness that can be enjoyed even when the world is in turmoil and most are anything but happy."

Cooking with the Girls

2010-01-08T20:12:00.006-07:00

If you read my last post you will already know that for Christmas the girls got some children's cookbooks and we all got matching aprons. I thought this was a perfect present for them for many reasons 1- I believe when children participate in cooking they eat better. 2- I see so many people who don't know how to cook any more, and I don't want my children to fall into that category (my dad just had to teach a 10 yr old how to make ramean noodles and I think that's a little sad). 3- Cooking dinner seems to be when my children want the most attention from me so this way I can give them the attention but still accomplish dinner. There are other reason as well, but these are some of the main ones.
We have made a few recipes since Christmas and the girls have loved it. Even James has pulled out their cookbooks and cooked with them. So the other night I decided to do the first dinner with them. So I went to their Better Homes and Gardens Junior Cookbook and picked something out. This is a fun cookbook that Erin loves (mostly because it's just like mommy's). The chosen recipe was "Totally Awesome Tortellini Alfredo" You just gotta love the name.

The girls patiently watched me do some prep work like cut the broccoli etc.

They then got to work. Erin was an awesome stirrer. This was hard for me because stoves are hot. I have taught her that and I reminded her again and told her how important it was that she didn't touch the stove etc. Than I had to hush up the paranoid parent in me and let her go.

Lily even took a turn at stirring while Erin ground some fresh pepper into the pot.

Lily topped it generously with Parmesan cheese

Lily was also in charge of setting the table. She loves to set the table and this is her job at nearly every meal. Of course she doesn't do it "properly" just yet, but she does a good job.

They were pretty pleased with themselves when all was said and done. Erin ate her whole dinner without complaint and Lily ate most of hers (I do believe I accidentally put to much on her plate so it was really my fault). The experience went over quit well if I do say so myself. Not to toot my own horn, but I think I nailed this Christmas present and the whole family agrees.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-02T12:59:00.006-07:00

What a wonderful Christmas we have had. I do love the holidays and spending time with family. I can't help think back to last Christmas when my father was diagnosed with cancer and what a hard yet special Christmas that was. This year it makes me grateful for all we have and reminds me of the miracles that we have seen this year. Family means so much to me and I am grateful for them. I think my dad really wanted to make some good memories this Christmas to make up for last year so he dressed up and on Christmas eve the girls had a special visitor come by.
He sure was cute. Lily wasn't sure what to think of this. But Erin sure did. Erin was so excited she literally didn't stop bouncing. Santa showed up when Erin was cleaning up her room (because we all know Santa wont leave you presents if you room is messy right). So Erin had to show Santa that she was cleaning her room, and then she had to tell Santa about uncle Seth painting her room pink for her and show Santa her teddy bear Pinky that she sleeps with.

Erin didn't stop there she also told Santa that Mommy and Daddy's room wasn't clean. She invited Santa to her birthday party in Feb. She showed Santa her favorite toys and told Santa all about Rudolf (when Santa left she wanted to go outside with him to see Rudolf I told her reindeer were invisible during the day).

Erin didn't stop talking. Lily was never sure what to think, she wasn't afraid of him but she didn't really warm up to him either. At least Erin had Santa, Mommy and Daddy all in hysterical laughter by the end of the visit.

Of course Santa did visit us again later that night.

For how excited Erin was the night before her first Christmas reaction was funny. She crawled into bed with us about 6:30 and we told her good morning and Merry Christmas. I then asked her if she thought Santa had come last night. She grunted back at me. James asked if she wanted to run down stairs and peek, She replied she just wanted to go back to sleep. I then told her it was Christmas morning and I was sure Santa had come, didn't she want to go see. She replied, It's not morning, it's still dark outside. Oh that made me laugh. We finally convinced her to get up and then there was no stopping her for the rest of the day.

I am not sure what Santa was thinking but her gave Erin Sea Monkeys in her stocking ( I think he got it mixed up and they were really supposed to be in daddy's stocking.)

Lily got a big bouncy ball that was glittery in her stocking and I think she would have been happy and content with that the rest of the day.

Last year we started a new Christmas tradition. Christ was given 3 gifts at his birth so why do we need any more? So our girls get three presents and a stocking. 2 of the presents and the stocking are from Santa and one present from mom and dad.

Both girls got scooters from Santa. Lily is a toddler one and packaged a bit differently so it just had a big bow on it and not wrapped. Erin thought for sure it was hers, but when she realized it was Lily's she was sad and asked Lily if she would share. All along we were trying to convince Erin to open her present, but she just couldn't get over it. She finally opened her scooter though and forgot all about Lil's.

Erin also received a cup cake maker from Santa and Lily got a baby doll set.

From mom and dad the girls got some children's cook books and I made matching aprons for us all.

After this the day got to crazy and I didn't take any more pictures. But we first went to my parents for the traditional Christmas breakfast which is utterly delightful. We eat yummy food (omelets and all sorts of sweet breads and fruit). We play games and open some presents. It is good fun. Later we went to James' parents where we opened presents ate a yummy dinner and played games.

By the end of the day we were all stuffed and spoiled and had no complaints. I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas as well.

Oh and Happy New Year!

A quick funny

2009-12-27T16:56:00.003-07:00

I know I should be blogging about Christmas and I will when I have a moment to download pics, but I just wanted to share a quick Erin funny.

As I was putting on my make up this morning Erin was with me chatting away. As I was putting on concealer she asked me" Mommy whats that?"

"It is concealer Erin"

"Why are you putting it on?"

"I am trying to hide the red blotches on my face" (This pregnancy is doing something weird to my skin)

She watches me for a moment more as I rub it in "Keep trying mommy, don't give up."

Books

2009-12-14T15:16:00.006-07:00

I have a bit of an addiction. It is called reading. This might not sound like a bad addiction but believe me any addiction can be bad. You see when I read a book the world around me can fall apart. My children are fed and only sometimes dressed when I am reading a book.

With that being said I have made modifications to my love of reading so I can be a better mother. Before I begin a book the house must be clean, I must have homemade freezer meals in the freezer to feed my family and there must be absolutely nothing important happening in the next few days (depending on the length of the book.) Thankfully most the books I read only take a day or two.

Anyways the reason I am writing this is because my mother asked me to do a post with some book reviews because she can never remember the books I have recently suggested to her. So I am going to post some of my favorites (at least most recent favorites) right now.

First my favorite book at the moment is The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale. This is an excellent book filled with so much good and adventure it makes me want to burst. It is about a girl who lives in a small mining town. It is prophesied that the next princess (the girl who will marry the prince) will come from this town. So all the girls are pulled out of the life they know and must attend a Princess Academy to learn how to behave like a princess. Between a very mean head mistress and bandits who take all the girls for hostage, Miri (the main girl) must figure out how to save them all. Okay the book is much better than what I just made it sound like. I really even think boys would enjoy it if they could get over the title. It has a subtle hint of fantasy in it which makes it thoroughly magical. Other books I would suggest by Shannon Hale include The Goose Girl (it is a series), Book of a Thousand Days, and a non young adult book called Austinland.

Next on my fav list at the moment is a series called Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. These are not young adult books may I first say. but they are excellent. They are in the fantasy genre but would fit beautifully with adventure. These books are filled with magnificent twists and turns. I say magnificent because the more you think about the twists and turns the more you like them and the more meaningful they become, unlike other books (Dan Brown cough cough) where when you think about twists and turns the less sense they make and kinda ruin the book for you. I am not even going to give you a synopsis of these books because I can't even come close to giving them justice. just take my word for it, they are well worth it. Other books by Brandon Sanderson are Elantris, and Warbreaker.

Next I am going to talk about an author who has never let me down. Each time I read one of her books I am thoroughly impressed. There have been some movies made from some of her books and to that I say boo! The movies are very unimpressive. The author is Kate DiCamillo. My favorite book of hers just might be The Tale of Desperaux (remember the movie is blah the book is Rah!) As I would suggest any book written by her some of my other favorites are The Tiger Rising, and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. She also wrote Because of Winn Dixie which is a very fun and good read as well.

Okay I have probably rambled on enough for one post. But there are many more I would love to share with you (if anyone cares). I am also always looking for another great book to read so let me know what some of your favorites are.

Next to review: Artemis Fowl, Stargirl, and Fablehaven.

Nov Catch Up

2009-12-06T15:13:00.008-07:00

Okay So I have been a bit of a slacker and a ton has happened in the last few weeks so here is 5 blog posts in 1. Are you ready for the blog marathon? Warning: if you are hungry I would suggest waiting until after you have eaten something yummy.

First: the other day I was looking at my girls and I was once again blown away at how beautiful their eyes are. I am sorry the pics are a little fuzzy, but I just had to capture the moment so I can remember their shinning eyes forever.

Next: have I mentioned Lily has started gymnastics. I might would say she is a natural. She loves it and does very well. I had started her in a mom and tot class but no one else ever showed up so they moved her to the preschool class. Her body isn't quite ready to do everything the 3 and 4 yr olds are doing but I am amazed at how well she is keeping up. (My father expects to see Lily in the Olympics someday)Here is one of those cute random moments that I love. Erin has a plush flower and decided to sleep with it one night. When I peeked at her before going to bed myself I laughed and thought Erin is growing a garden in her bed.One of the biggest events of this Nov. (if not the biggest) was James' 30th birthday. I know I can't believe I am married to such an old man :). Anyways I decided it ought to be a bit more special than the average b-day so here's what we did. First James received 30 presents for his 30th birthday. (Granted a package of socks was separated to make 3 presents and a box of popcorn was separated to make 8 presents etc. it was still pretty exciting.)Present #30 was pretty cool though. It was a childhood dream come true, a train to wrap around the Christmas tree.I also made James his favorite dinner. Navajo Tacos. And instead of a birthday cake I made sugar cookies then decorated them to look like his favorite game "Settlers of Catan". If ever you are in the mood to play the game give James a call he would love it!The day before Thanksgiving we had some old friends visit from out of town. So we gathered a bunch of us together and had a game night. It was so much fun and full of great laughs. I took a few pics of the games but I am not happy with any of those pics so you will have to settle for some of the snacks we had. First James loves cheese, so he put together this way yummy cheese board.And I love chocolate so I made these Chocolate Almond Cheesecake bites. Just the thought of them makes me drool (I am serious, I have never drooled over a food until I met these little guys, mmmmmmmm)And last but most certainly not least, THANKSGIVING!!! Okay I am pregnant so my life is revolved around food at the moment (if you haven't already noticed). So I am afraid you are only getting pics of food for this portions of the post. This was my first year hosting and cooking Thanksgiving dinner. James' parents and brother came so it was a small but good group. I am very pleased with the way it turned out. So step by step here is what I made:

Cranberry slush drink (a tradition at my families thanksgiving dinner) It is super easy and yummy, just freeze a cranberry juice, slice it up and add sprite. YummyI made this little appetizer (another Baird tradition) to snack on. A spinach artichoke cheese dip. Again it was yummy.This is my favorite way to eat Broccoli. I swear I ate it at my Grandma Bairds once and that's is where I discovered it, but no one else I talk to seems to remember it there, so who knows. Anyway I just steam broccoli add some ranch dressing, peanuts and raisins. I love it.This is my mothers famous dish and a Thanksgiving staple to me. Sweet Potatoe Pie. While it has enough butter, brown sugar and cream in it to be a dessert, we eat is a side dish.And here is my favorite food. Mashed potatoes, just the thought of them makes me melt. Here is what I add to my mashed potatoes to make them so delicious: butter, buttermilk, ranch mix, chicken bullion, garlic, salt(not to much the bullion adds near enough) and pepper. I also add some regular milk if it needs a little more moisture.Here is the first turkey I have ever made. It was so tender that it fell apart as we moved it from pan to platter. It was super easy. I just stuck a whole onion in the cavity for flavor, basted it with olive oil and put it in a roasting bag. Easy and delicious.Now for pie. Yes glorious pie. James' fav and one of my favs is Coconut Cream Pie so it naturally made its way onto the menu. And yes is was as good as it looks.I also made this Carmel Pecan Pumpkin pie. Oh I was excited to try this, but then I was a little put out. I think the nutmeg I used was to old and gave it a bit funky of a flavor. Of coarse after I found this recipe that adds cheese cake to the mix and sounds even yummier, so next time I try this I am using that recipe.When all was said and done this is what the table looked like. Well I need to go eat something now. I am hungry again.
Hope you all had as great of a Nov. as we did. I am now getting super excited for Christmas!

Kids say the darndest things...

2009-11-20T21:05:00.002-07:00

I think 4 year olds are just about the funniest people on earth. Erin has me laughing all the time. I really need to be better about writing these down, but today she had me laughing so hard I had to share it. James was asking her about school at breakfast so this is how their dialog went.

James: So what poem are you learning in preschool this week Erin?
Erin: Its about a turkey with big feathers that runs away just before Thanksgiving.
James: Oh can you tell me how it goes?
Erin: On it's feet.

It still cracks me up. It's like Erin was setting James up for the perfect joke, but she was completely honest. I just love how 4 yr olds view the world.

Halloween

2009-11-05T20:54:00.004-07:00

I know I am a bit late but here are some Halloween pictures finally. After trying all week to carve pumpkins we finally did it Friday night (better late then never right?) We gave the girls markers to draw their faces on then James and I carved their faces. We had to do some interpretive carving.

James and I used patterns to carve our pumpkins. I did a witch looking into a crystal ball and James did a mummy. He was so proud of his mummy and I admit I liked it better than mine, but his favorite moment was when we had trick-or-treaters admiring the mummy than ask what the other one was.Now for the important stuff; costumes. Erin decided she wanted to be Little Red Riding Hood and on the same pattern she picked was a really cute Little Bo Peep pattern, so I made that for Lily. I think they turned out super cute (although I am not sure it was worth the stress)

I hope you all had a great Halloween. We still have a bowl full of candy so if you get a sugar hunkering come on over (please I think I gained 5 lbs this week)

Quick prep for Nov.

2009-10-30T09:10:00.002-06:00

Last year I blogged about this at the end of Nov. This year I will do it before Nov starts so all who want can join. Each day we do something different to remind us of our blessings and give thanks . With this we donate a small amount of money to a jar. For example if you are thankful for electricity give 2 cents for every light bulb in your house.
At the end of the month it is a good chunk of change and we use that to help bless someone else's life. This year James' family is going to provide Christmas for another family instead of doing a gift exchange so it will assuredly go to help out in that cause. Here is a link to the blog last year so you can review it and see if it is something you and your family would like to do. I know it made Thanksgiving mean a lot more to me last year.

Ever had one of these days?

2009-10-28T10:21:00.004-06:00

So I just got around to cleaning up the Sunday paper (I know terrible). But I browsed the comics and saw this. I laughed and nearly cried at how true it feels some days.
(Dad is asking how her day was if you can't read that. Also I love the baby trapped in the playpin, poor kid. You should be able to click on the picture and it will focus better for you so you can truely enjoy oll the funny little things in it.)

I Need Help

2009-10-25T20:46:00.002-06:00

I feel like I am a good mom most of the time. I feel like I generally have exceptionally well behaved children, but we have one big problem: BED TIME!
Let me start at the beginning. Erin has for the most part been a wonderful sleeper, but when Lily started climbing out of her crib at 18 months the whole bed time thing began to get difficult. I tried a few different things for a few months and nothing really worked. So I have been putting Erin to bed in our bed and Lily in their room, then just moving Erin when we are ready for bed and it has worked semi well, but Erin has started playing in my night stand and jewelry box etc. She has broken or lost a few to many things for me to be okay with the situation any more. Both girls are also taking longer and longer to go to sleep and there have been many of nights recently when I would love to go to bed but can't because they are still awake.
So a week and a half ago (after major bed time melt down for me) I decided things needed to change. I called my mom and sister and got their advice and decided to go with this idea:
1- I put them down in the same room
2- I sit in there until they fall asleep
3- No talking is allowed by me or eye contact, I simply put them back in their beds.
(I already have a very consistent bed time routine including prayers, scriptures, song etc)

I feel part of this not working is because I am not sure about what to do about little things, like knocking on the wood, rolling back and forth non-stop etc. I have tried holding them in place for a minute after they have this type of disruptive behavior but they could care less (Lily thinks it is a game).

In the week and a half the only progress we have made is they no longer scream potty off the top of their lungs for 45 min and this process takes 1 1/2 hrs as opposed to 2 hrs. I am afraid I am losing my patience and cannot continue like this.

Children have been going to bed in the same room forever and falling asleep so why can't we figure this routine out at my house?

Any suggestions PLEASE!

A Great October Weekend

2009-10-20T12:00:00.005-06:00

What a fun weekend we had. We did all sorts of fun Halloween things and fall activities.

On Friday the girls and I and a group of moms and kids from the ward went to the Benson Grist Mill for their pumpkin walk. They have lots of fun little things for kids to do. The girls decorated cookies and fished in the fish pond and trick or treated at the vendors. We had fun with the neighbors and finished off with a fun little hay ride.

I was impressed with Erins cookie. They had run out of all decorations besides the licorice and she kept asking for something to make the eyes and nose on her cookies. After me telling her there wasn't anything she figured out a solution.

That night for dinner I needed to practice a recipe I am doing at a pampered chef party so we had a Yummy Mummy for dinner. It was yummy and I think it turned out pretty cute as well.

Saturday we went to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins. It sure was fun to walk and see all the pumpkins. They had a big corn field in the middle that Lily loved to run through. (Erin was to afraid because James kept telling her there were monsters in there.)

We also got the wood on our garden beds re-weather proofed to make it through the winter and picked our 1 pumpkin from the garden.

I sure love this time of year and all the fun activities there are to do.

Fall=Baking

2009-10-11T20:55:00.004-06:00

Something about fall time makes me want to bake. Maybe its all the fresh fruits and veggies just yearning to turn into magnificent creations, maybe its that the house is cool enough to have the oven on, or maybe it is something just engraved upon the womens genetic pattern. But whatever it is, it has me entangled in its fun right now.

First off I am in love with soup. We are eating quite a bit right now (no one is complaining though). Thus far I have made chicken noddle soup with homemade egg noddles, cream of veggie soup and minestrone soup. I think on the menu for this week I have chicken tortilla soup. Mmmm my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Cream of Veggie Soup.

I am also doing some canning. I am still learning and don't want to jump in head on yet so I only did peaches and grape juice this year. I did peaches last year so this year my new adventure was the grape juice. I got 14 quarts of grape juice and we are flying through it. It is yummy.

Grape Juice (Sorry couldn't get a good pic)

Of course this is also the time of year for sweets. I have made apple crisps, hot fudge, and really cute cup cakes to "Boo" neighbors with. I really want pumpkin choc. chip bread, but James isn't a fan of pumpkin so I am afraid I would eat it all myself. But ohhh it sounds yummy.

Spider and web cup cakes

I am still waiting for my spaghetti squash to ripen (I am really starting to worry it wont), so I can eat it all up. It has been fun having a garden this year, everything is yummier from your backyard.

My tummy is excited to see what else I am in the mood for baking. What have been some of your fall favorites? My tummy also loves new ideas.

Imagine...

2009-10-09T22:01:00.002-06:00

Imagination could be Erin's middle name lately. Her mind is going so fast and coming up with funny new things all the time. She comes home from preschool and tells me about the tiger that attacked. She draws pictures of our family and puts tails on us because we are doing the "Chicken Dance". The things she comes up with amazes me everyday.
She does have one ongoing imaginary world though. In this world she is the mom. She is married to a boy named Enri (she kept writing the letters to her name out of order so I finally told her that she was writing Enri not Erin, she informed me that Enri was her husband.) They have 9 kids together (some days it is 4 boys and 5 girls and other days it is 5 boys and 4 girls). She has told me all of there names. I will attempt to give you some of them: Asheila, Deedaa, Nii, and Leeni. She has a baby doll named Cassie but she isn't her baby she just baby sits Cassie. Erins children have many of the same rules as she does but they have a few other rules as well like they can put as much sugar onto any cereal they want.
I guess I ought to be flattered that she wants so badly to be a mom and much of what she does as a "mom" mimics me. Sometimes unfortunately it shows me some of my faults as a mother (maybe that is fortunate though, so I can work on them.) I do love this girl and I can't wait to hear what she comes up with tomorrow.

School

2009-09-30T09:57:00.004-06:00

Erin started preschool at the end of Aug and has been loving it.

I am afraid Lily misses her terribly though while she is at school. So today Lily came up with a brilliant idea. I was up stairs and heard Lily come up and say "school". I turned around and this is what I saw.
She is to dang cute.

Boy or Girl

2009-09-16T21:05:00.002-06:00

Just a quick update. We had our ultrasound on friday. The baby is wonderfully healthy and well. I was amazed at how far ultrasound technology has come just since Lily's. Best part was I didn't have to have a full bladder (all you moms understand). Best they looked and the lips and nose and could tell that there was no cleft lip/pallet etc. I thought that was amazing. Well I will stop rambling and tell you what you really want to know. It is a GIRL. Yep girl #3. I guess we just know how to make perfect beautiful girls.

Disappearing Act

2009-07-26T16:08:00.002-06:00

I know it seems I have disappeared. It sure feels like I have. As many of you know I am pregnant. My due date is Feb 9th. (the day after Erin turns 5!) We are excited and a little afraid of having 3 children. Erin has said she wants a girl baby, when we told her that we kinda wanted a boy baby she decided that we would have both a girl and a boy baby (Thankfully only one heart beat was found) but this morning Erin informed us that she likes boys now and would like a boy baby. I guess we just have to wait and see. Anyways I thought I would let you know. I will update again when I don't feel like an alien invasion is happening within my body.