We had to copy the High School Musical jib jab after we saw Stacey's post of Parker-TOO FUNNY!

MOVE OVER TROY BOLTON!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Halloween Pre-Game Show

This is the best part about Wyatt's elephant costume-the big elephant booty-I just had to include this!!

The scary glowing lights are the pumpkins we carved at our Halloween Party-I guess I should say that Darin and Bridger carved-I was lucky to be involved elsewhere! They turned out GREAT!

Here is Wyatt (the elephant) and Caitlyn (the flower) TOO CUTE!

I had fun in my digital scrapbooking program making Halloween pages-This is Bridger's costume this year. He loves it because it glows in the dark. We went to Grandma Yeager's last night for the annual Halloween Party. Every square inch was decorated and we got to eat our dinner straight out of the pumpkin. My kids love these Halloween traditions-a special Thank You to Janice, Linsey and Stephanie for all of their hard work!!! It was great!

Fun in the great outdoors!

Here's D and Wyatt-Darin is such a good dad, we are so glad that he is so involved-both of my boys LOVE their dad!

We took the kids up Farmington Canyon to play and see the leaves, I couldn't resist taking a shot of how beautiful it was!

Bridger wanted a "SWEET ACTION SHOT" of him jumping out of the swing-I did my best-he didn't think it was that great-gotta love honest kids!

Here's my Wyatt with his one obsession in life-THE SWING-he constantly walks around the house saying, "SIDE!" (meaning outside) Every time he thinks we are going to take him off the swing we get this face and LOTS of screaming!

A day in the life...

This post is for anyone who sits exhausted at the end of the day staring at the one or two things you wanted to get to today, but didn't, wondering what you accomplished and will you get to those things tomorrow, or better yet, ever? I tracked what I did yesterday and here it goes.- 7:30-got up wishing I had found the energy to crawl out a half an hour earlier to exercise-got Wyatt out of his crib, sat him in his chair made him a breakfast of apples, raisins and raspberry yogurt. Since he is claiming independence these days, I was not allowed to feed him the yogurt, I gave him the spoon and the food, walked away and hoped for the best. Went to my room, carried my laundry to the wash room, put in a load of laundry, ran back to my room and made my bed, hung up my clothes from last night and wiped off my bathroom counters. Walked past Bridger's room and saw he was awake. He asked for some biscuits for breakfast, so I went back to the kitchen, doing my best to ignore the yogurt flung from one end of the kitchen to the other and the raisins and apples thrown on the floor. Made the biscuits from scratch popped them in the oven and began to clean the Wyatt mess up. When I had finally managed to wipe every last yogurt covered parcel clean, I took Wyatt to his room and got him dressed. I then made his crib, straightened his room and picked up the stray odds and ends that had found themselves into his room the day before. (Stray odds and ends like the car keys, the can opener, the measuring cups and his toothbrush-isn't it great when they can reach into the drawers!) Put all of these objects away and went back to the kitchen to tidy up the biscuit mess. Finished just in time to pull the biscuits from the oven, make two ham and cheese biscuits for Bridger, pour him some chocolate milk, and then sat down to check the web deals for the day. After Bridger finished his biscuits, there were crumbs scattered throughout the kitchen, I went to the laundry room, retrieved the broom and dustpan, sent Bridger to his room to clean up, and set to work sweeping the floor. I then spent the next 10 minutes explaining why we like things to be clean to Bridger who was not liking the idea of cleaning his room (funny but it seems like this is a recurring event every morning in our home!) I think the little lecture ended a bit dark-because I added in something to the effect of, "Well do you want the bubonic plague at our home?" This comment seemed to light the fire under my wavering sons feet as he ran to his room to clean out of fright that his skin would fall from his bones-tomorrow I'll work harder on the inspire bit instead of the scaring to motivate! Feeling exhausted from the 10 minute battle with him, I took Wyatt downstairs and played ball with him while we waited for Bridger to finish his room. About 20 minutes later after shouting for him to come down 4 or 5 times, (in the meantime all of my "happy balls"-you know the ones that you wake up with in the morning- are being replaced almost as quickly as the bailout dollars are growing-with impatient balls-not a good thing!) Bridger comes down. We say a prayer, read the scriptures, recite the family rules (there are only two, which have been broken several times thus far) and get into a discussion about Daniel and Shadrack, Meshak, and Abendigo-I'm sure I didn't spell the names right, but you know who they are- (THIS MAKES THE CRAZY MORNING ALL WORTH IT!!!) Then he amazes me by reading 64 pages-we then work on his reading worksheets which he aces! He picks geography now-he can find Utah, California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Iowa, Illinois, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, New York, Uruguay, Paraguay, Japan, Italy, Egypt and Australia on the map. (Seriously this is a big deal, because I just recently learned their places with him-he loves geography!) Then he names the continents and picks where he thinks he'll go on his mission-most days he either picks Australia (because he LOVED Steve Irwin) or Georgia (because that is where his dad went.) He wants to do math next, I write his problems down on the board and he goes at them. When he is done, he hasn't missed one. He takes a 10 minute break to play ball with Wyatt next-said his brain needed a break after working so hard at his math problems. When he comes back-he wants to be read to-the book we are reading now is Huckleberry Finn. We have read so many books this year. We read all the Judy Bloom Fudge books, the entire set of Great Brain Books (all 8), Maniac Magee and Tom Sawyer. He loved for me to read to him. After we are finished it's time for lunch. We head upstairs where lunch requests are put in, Wyatt eats PB&J, carrots and pretzels. Bridger eats a ham sandwich, pretzels and carrots as well. I decide that we are running low on bread and haul out the Bosch. I then make 36 sandwich rolls and a pan of Cinnamon twists for my neighbors who love them. After shaping the rolls, I clean all the PB&J from every surface that I can find it (knowing that despite my diligence, I will inevitably miss some and find it a few weeks later!) put Wyatt down for a nap and bake my bread. I then send Bridger over to the neighbors bearing gifts and clean up the kitchen again. After the bread is done and the lunch mess managed, I check my e-mails. Then it is time for History. We read the story of William the Conqueror, Harold the unfortunate and the most famous battle in British history-the Battle of Hastings! History is stranger than fiction! Uphill battles are the hardest! We make a Viking ship and then I spend the next 10 minutes trying to de-viking my son, who now believes he is a re-incarnated William the conqueror! He settles down and we talk about some explorers and wonder what really happened to the colonists that Sir Walter Raleigh brought to America-the ones he was supposed to return for a year later-the ones he came for 3 years later that had disappeared leaving only a tree with CRO carved in it. Bridger comes up with some pretty far out explanations of what he thinks may have happened to them. We'll just say that he may have a future in science fiction-I try to manage a straight face while he is explaining his ideas. Wyatt wakes up from his nap at this time, after I get him out of his crib I remember my laundry, run and change it to the dryer-put a pork roast into the roaster for dinner and start a new load of laundry. We then start with science-animal science which we spend a great deal of time on. We end at 3PM, Bridger then takes Wyatt outside to play. I start on the rest of dinner, hang up the clothes from the dryer, retrieve Bridger's laundry basket and start on his laundry. Wyatt is brought into the house after the kids get home from school and Bridger leaves to play at a friends house. Wyatt spend the next half hour in his highchair watching signing time so that I can finish dinner. Darin gets homes from work and we eat dinner. After dinner I get a shower-oh I forgot to mention that if I don't get up before the kids do, shower time is completely impossible before Darin gets home. We then clean the kitchen yet again and Wyatt gets a bath. He then gets changed into jammies and read to, teeth brushed and it's off to bed with him a bit early-usually he goes to bed at 7-but he seems tired and so 6:45 it is. We relax for about an hour on the couch-Darin puts in a netflix movie while I read about photography. Bridger comes home and watches the tail end of the movie about Jews-The Chosen-if any of you are familiar with the book-it goes into cultures of the different factions of Jewish people. We then get Bridger ready for bed, read him a book and relax on the couch again as we watch Frontline. We then spend the next hour and a half debating about what we should do about oil and the environment. I then remember about a light bulb that neeeds to be fixed and we go replace it, which leads to another, longer conversation about the environment, in which Darin says that he would ask every American to replace their existing bulbs with compact florescents (which we use)-he thinks that would reduce the energy drain by about 15%-then we head upstairs, get ready for bed, pray and then I remember I wanted to clean out the bathroom drawers and scrub the entry way tile, I also wanted to go and vote early, oh well there is always tomorrow!

6 Quirky Things...

I was tagged by Scott and Linsey...

Link the person(s) who tagged you.2. Mention the rules on your blog.3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.4. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them.Here we go........

1. All of the blinds in my house have to be closed the "right" way. I am a little OCD on the matter. I can't sit if they are closed the other way, it is like me being in a room with 20 kids running their nails down a chalkboard.

2. I talk to myself in the mirror, out loud, in the mornings. I'm not certain why, nor certain when this started, perhaps it is like me getting an adult conversation. I've noticed that Bridger does this also. He probably picked this up from me.

3. I have extremely VIVID dreams, I can feel pain, smell things and even taste things, they are so vivid. I have a hard time in the morning when I wake up, it takes me a minute to remember where I am, and that it was only a dream.

4. I obsess about my kids being safe. I don't know how many times we have gone through Safety Kids in my home. We continually play through scenarios about what to do if...I don't let Bridger go into a men's public restroom unless his dad is with him, I make him go into the women's. This is pretty embarrassing for him, but it makes me feel a lot better about his safety. I just feel like it empowers him when situations arise. Take for example when he ran off and got lost in Costco, because we have run through Safety Kids so many times he knew to "Look for a grandma or mother with children" (right now all the Janine Brady kids are singing the rest of the song!) so it's working!

5. Every night before I go to bed, I check on my kids to make sure they are tucked in tight, to see their peaceful faces and to kiss them goodnight. I love it when they are snoring. Both of my kids and husband snore, however it is only cute when my kids snore-go figure-sorry D.

6. I LOVE PBS! I am a self-admitted PBS nerd. I have always loved documentaries and the Discovery and History Channel. Because we are too cheap to pay for cable (which is another quirky thing about me-I always find the deals!) I settle for PBS. One of our favorite shows is America's Test Kitchen. If you have never seen this-you should tune in-they are awesome. They take a recipe, make it 500 different ways, find the science behind cooking, and then give you the best techniques/recipe-we should own stock in the company by now, because I think we have every one of their cookbooks-seriously they are AWESOME!

I need more people to tag-but since I am fairly new to the blogging scene, whoever visits, feel free to post this on your own blog-Tag to you!

The Last Soccer Game until Spring!

Today was Bridger's last soccer game until Spring. This is our first sport experience and I have to say it's been a great one. Darin is the assistant coach and Bridger's friend Matthew's dad is the coach. They have worked really hard and are playing great. It has been fun to cheer from the sidelines and watch the kids work so hard. WAY TO GO TRANSFORMERS!!!!!

I had to include a picture of Wyatt, he was content to eat Cheetos from the sidelines the entire game! His dad always brings them home from work for him, it has gotten so bad that Wyatt greats Darin at the door and says, "Tips, Tips, Tips" (can't quite make the "ch" sound yet!)

Here's Bridger kicking the ball clear down the field, he scored the last goal of the game!

Here are Bridger's soccer buddies, Matthew (the one aiming for peace) and Gardner-let's go Transformers!

YES on Proposition 8!

I just want to give a shout out to California urging them to pass Proposition #8. I am committed to defending and upholding the family in our society. I have recently viewed several e-mails on this topic and wish to alert to some of the alarming things that can follow if proposition 8 does not pass. In Massachusetts they are teaching "diversity" and sending children home with illustrated children's books that promote homosexuality. They have even denied parents the right to have their children "opt-out" of the curriculum. If they can mandate such teaching in federal schools, how long will it be before the ACLU will be trying to mandate such teaching elsewhere, possibly even churches. Will they prosecute us for not teaching this as a "hate crime?" How much our society will change, who knows, but are we really willing to risk what is at stake? Love everyone as children of God, but please, please, please pass proposition 8 and protect the unit God has set up to bring children to this earth.

HERE COMES THE SUN....

YEAH-while we enjoyed the snow, we weren't ready to say goodbye to the swing set just yet. Wyatt LOVES to swing, if we could spend all day outside on the swing he would be in HEAVEN. Caitlyn (my niece) comes to play on Thursdays and I wondered how she would like swinging. At first she wouldn't even go near the swing, she just stumbled all over the rocks and kept watching Wyatt laugh and laugh. Finally, she came over and sat in the swing with me, then I put her in all by herself and she wouldn't let go or let me get her out. We were out there for an hour, when I brought the kids in they both SCREAMED, that is until they started to eat lunch. Hopefully we will have some more opportunities to play outside before it gets too cold. I also am including some video I shot of Wyatt swinging and Bridger crossing the monkey bars and doing flips on the tramp. Hope you enjoy!

LET IT SNOW!

OK-so three posts in one day-not bad! I forgot to give a nod to Jenica and Matt. We spent Friday with them and all I can say is Jen is the only one I would ever let put paper in my eyes! And Matt-thanks for entertaining the kids for us. They love you! So later in the day we went outside and played in the snow. It was so much fun, I couldn't resist snapping some pictures and adding them!

READY OR NOT....

HERE IT COMES! Winter descended upon us late Saturday night-I'm not certain when-all I know is when I went to bed there was no snow, and when I opened the blinds in the morning-there it was. Our trees were bent clear over, because they haven't lost their leaves yet-it was very pretty and if I had woken earlier I would have snapped some pictures of them. The pictures posted here were taken after church. Bridger couldn't wait to come home and dig in. Miraculously his snow clothes from last year fit, and he is having a ball. There is something so magical about kids and snow!

Nature Walk

For FHE we took the kids down to the bird refuge for a nature walk. It was beautiful! We had a great time running on the boardwalk and counting the geese flying over our heads (meanwhile praying they didn't drop us any presents!) It was great to see all of the cat tails and fall colors. I kept stopping to take pictures and my sweet Bridger wanted to wait behind with me, he took the great picture of the mountains. I think he is a natural!!

The Cookie Seller

We have been learning and studying about people all over the world that don't have enough to eat, Bridger decided that he wanted to help. He decided that he could make and sell cookies for one dollar and donate all the money to them. He had two of his friends come and help him make cookies, they made chocolate chip cookies and snicker doodles. After they were done, we carefully wrapped them in cellophane and he took them door to door. He made $11.00, we doubled his money and he gave it to Humanitarian Aid. Considering that it only takes $5.00 to feed a child for a month, he just fed 4 kids for 30 days. We are so proud of him and what he is doing. He spent several hours cooking (he even did the clean up) and walking door to door. When people weren't interested, some of his friends left, but he continued on. Everyone can make a difference!

I am currently taking a photography class, that I am loving. I have been having lots of fun learning about photography. I posted the pictures that I took experimenting with exposure levels for our first assignment. They are of my cute nieces (Makelle and Loryn) and of Bridger. I attended a class once that encouraged everyone to learn a new skill every month. I have tried to follow that council, and have found unexpected joy learning new skills.

I realize this is a late post, but better late than never. We LOVE, LOVE, LOVED watching the olympics this year. It is amazing the things that people overcome and the limits they push themselves to as they train for these events. I remeber that I went to bed late every day that they were on and especially loved watching Michael Phelps win all of his events. We wanted to bring some of that inspiration to our family and so we talked to Bridger about the physical things he would like to accomplish. One of the things that he wanted to do was learn to cross the monkey bars. He practiced every day and his hands were torn and blistered, but he perservered and we had a medal ceremony for him, complete with music, medal and cash award. Way to go buddy, remeber to reach for the stars because you will hit what you aim for!!!