Yea! We're Saved From the Bathroom Flood!

So, here's Troy, trying to figure out how to install a new drain in the bathroom sink. Our house is so sad with all its broken things and problems. Most of the time we just cover things, hang pictures over holes, tape or staple things back together.....like for instance;

Dishwasher has had the handle broken off for half a year now....we just shove it in to open it, then it falls out once again.

Holes in carpet different places, we cover with rugs, nailed a runner to the stairs.

Holes in bathroom wall next to towel rack, we just installed hooks next to it to cover it up.

Ripped off paint on walls, we hang a picture.

Broken drawers in boys room, we nail weird anchor thingys to bottoms,

Front door knobs are broken, don't open, we switch with the back door.

Bottom of front door rubber thing is broken, I just superglue it back together every couple of months....

And yes, here we were with the bathroom sink that has been leaking, well, I should say not just leaking, but whenever you turn it on it pours water out of the handle all over the place causing a flood. So for the last several months we have just wrapped a towel around the handle and top of sink to prevent the lake, but I couldn't take it anymore yesterday. I took it apart and tried to yank out the cartridge, but it was past the point of fixing, and it was really really gross.

So, we went to Lowe's and spent a bunch of money to get a new faucet. Nothing fancy, but then Troy had to put it in.

Not too hard until the drain part which wasn't going to fit our drain.....no worries though. With a little help from our friend Larry, we were a success! We now have a nice running faucet without a lake! Hooray!!!

The Kids Love Christmas--Parents Still Sick

Christmas came and although Troy and I were still sick, I think it went over pretty well.
We could hear Jewelia running down the stairs shouting "SANTA CLAUS KNEW JUST WHAT WE WANTED!!! SANTA CLAUS GAVE US JUST WHAT WE WANTED!!!"

Micah was happy with some Lego Bionicles and a new bigger bike.

Caleb bounced all his energy out on his new mini trampoline. It even counts the jumps and yes, he can jump to the thousands.

Jewelia spent hours with her new kitchen,

And Macey loved her baby and ride on horsie.

All went very well. The kids loved all the visits and presents from family and friends. I think they were a little bit spoiled this year, but they were all so cute and excited about everything.

Notice there are no pictures of Troy and I. Troy and I were sick right through Christmas and didn't start feeling better until late Friday (me) and Saturday afternoon (Troy).

All is well though. Through all Troy's sickness, he still managed a couple hours of work in before Christmas break and we are proud to say Troy was made a new team leader at work and he got a raise!! Good job dear! We love you!

All We Want For Christmas is to not be SICK!

Oh, please help us. We are all doomed to our slow death for Christmas. Troy is very very sick with a terrible sinus infection, Uncle Nathan has who knows what probably pneumonia, I have strep, sinus infection and water behind the ears, Micah and Caleb both have colds, Jewelia and Macey both have colds and coughs. Oh, we're all dying. What a terrible Christmas this will be if we don't get better!

Troy's got some medicine from the doctor yesterday, and I got some today, but oh how I don't want to have to send everyone in our family to the doctor before the new year. There goes our deductible!

Sorry to be depressing. I'm just expressing our sad sick life right now. Hopefully drugs will begin to kick in and everyone will be feeling better soon.

Random Picture tagged by Sally

My friend Sally tagged me for a random picture, so here it is:


Ahhhh! The dinosaur is going to eat me!!!!!

This was Summer 2007 when we went to the Dinosaur park. I remember I was pregnant with Macey, but hiding it as always so trying to suck in my tummy for the pictures.

Caleb Performs in the Nutcracker!

Tonight we went to Caleb's school performance of the Nutcracker. He had two parts, first he was cast as playing the "Overture". This was before the opening act, Caleb played 4 Nutcracker songs on the piano. He did very well. We were very proud.

Then he was cast as one of the Chinese Dancers. He was very cute!

We were saddened that no other family could attend, (it's OK Summer, we know you were sick) but Caleb was very happy to do his own personal performance to Grandma Mary, Great Grandma Cates, and Great Grandma Hemingway over the phone as they applauded and wished him luck.

Here he is playing the overture:

And here is cute Caleb the Chinese Dancer awaiting his part in the play:

Jewelia Sing A Solo?

The kids have been asked to be a part of the ward's sacrament meeting choir presentation. They were asked to sing a 3 verse song which is a primary song, but it is pretty complex. The boys can just read the words from the music, but since Jewelia can't read yet, we figured she wouldn't be in it, and instead we invited Micah/Caleb's future girlfriend 2 doors down to sing.

It turns out that Jewelia actually learned the song and knows the first verse very well, so now we are going to see if she can sing the 1st verse alone and then the rest of the kids sing the rest of the song. It is just so cute, and I think it would be great for "the girl who never talks" to shock the ward by a little solo. So, here she is singing the first verse to "Tell Me The Stories of Jesus"

What do you think? Should she do it alone and then have the other kids join in for the rest, or should we just leave it how it was planned before? I guess it's up to the choir director in the end. It's just so cute though!!

Update---It has been approved! Jewelia will sing the first and the other kids are going to join in for the other 2 verses! It will be so cute this Sunday!

Extended Family Pictures in the Freezing Cold

A couple weeks ago we all went to Murray Park to take family pictures with Troy's whole family. It was very cold and we were all freezing, but we managed some OK pictures. We took some with everyone, and then some individual family and couple shots.

This next shot was before Caleb tripped and smashed his face on a rock:

This is just of Troy's parents and his brothers and sisters. He is the oldest of 6 kids.

It was tough trying to get all the kids to look and smile at the camera at the same time.

Here is the bridge shot:

You wouldn't believe it, but these are just a few shots from over 320 pictures that we had to look through! We were all frozen by the time it was done!
Just wait until we do the family pictures with my mom's family this summer! Of course it won't be freezing then!

Dance Recitals and Piano Performances

We now start the busy Christmas performance season! This week Micah started with one of his Christmas dance recitals on Friday night, and Caleb performed on the grand piano at Maceys.

Here are some pictures we took. We will post some videos later after Micah's other dance recital and some more of Caleb's perfomances.

Micah the Snowman:

Micah with his other snowmen and reindeer (he was a reindeer in his 2nd dance), or should I say snow "women"?



Caleb in his first appearance this season on the Macey's grand piano:

He did quite well on his opening night--he raked in $25 in tip money!

We are so proud of both of our boys! They did so well! Micah has another dance recital next week, and Caleb will be playing through December at Maceys, and at his school's performance of the Nutcracker.

Jewelia can't wait until she gets to perform on stage next year. And who is to know what Macey will be in to?

7 Random Things

OK, Rachel, I suppose I'll do your tag now.

1-When I was around 16, I was dating a boy that lived across the street. He would come over at night and I would sneak out so we could go toilet papering. One particular night (or should I say early morning) we decorated our Sunday school teacher's lawn spelling out BOB across his front lawn. It was really late (or early), but we went back home to get some sleep. The next morning I was awoken to my mom pounding on my door saying the neighbor's house was on fire. It turns out it was my boyfriend's house and they couldn't get him out of the house because he was so tired from the night of toilet papering that he was still asleep. In the end he got out, but it's sad to think our toilet papering might have been the death of him.

2-Hmmm......I have a lot of toilet paper stories.......when I was 17 or 18, I was going to go toilet papering with one of my friends and somehow we either talked my mom into going, or she wanted to see what we did or something, so we all set out---me, my mom, and my guy friend. As me and my friend threw toilet paper rolls up and over branches, my mom, who was unlearned in the art of toilet papering, was looping her rolls of TP like nice Christmas tree ribbon or beads all around the pine trees like it was one big Christmas tree decoration.

3-Once I helped steal a toilet (well, I suppose it wasn't stealing because it was just left outside of an old restaurant) and put it on someone's front porch full of tootsie rolls for their birthday with some sort of funny saying I can't remember. (And this was not my idea.)

4-Oh, here's a nice one for Mark---Once when I was 15 I really liked this boy that lived across the street and I thought he liked me. He would leave me little candy bars with a note taped on my window at night, so in the morning I would get a surprise. Mostly they were just little fun notes and yummy candy bars, but one morning I awoke to a candy with a nicer note. The note said all kinds of mushy stuff about how he really liked me and hoped I liked him and on and on. I was so happy and excited he liked me that I wrote this really long letter about how it must have took a lot of courage to write this and I liked him too and blah blah blah...and I put it in his locker at school. I remember him reading it and writing me back something weird like "what took a lot of courage?" and stuff. It comes to turn out that he didn't write me that note, but it was his younger brother and my younger brother playing a trick on me! I thought I would die and I didn't think I could ever go to school or talk to that boy again.

5-Once I was dating a boy and I was at his house and in his room upstairs listening to music or something (nothing bad), but then his mom came home and he tells me that he was supposed to be grounded and I better hurry and jump out the window! This was the 2nd level and I thought he was crazy, but he was serious, so as his mom was knocking on his door, he was opening the window and shoving me out. Luckily I landed OK on the grass just as his mom came to open the front door and I pretended like I had just arrived.

6-When I was younger my little sister was like 2 or 3 and she was scared of this plastic dinosaur toy-- tyrannasaurus rex. I thought it was pretty funny, so I would tie it to a string and hang it off the top of our canopy bed so it would swing just inches from her face and she would scream and scream.

7-I believe I have played the April Fool's joke of being pregnant every single year I have been married to Troy, oh wait, the 1st year was "I want a divorce", but every year after for the last 8 years I have played the pregnant joke and Troy has fallen for it EVERY single time!

OK, so I guess my random things are actually 7 things to show how naughty I am! Sorry, I guess these things stick out in my mind! Maybe I'll have to post something nicer next time.

Welcome December!

Well, it is finally here! December! Christmas Time! We had a long week with Thanksgiving, working, birthdays, Black Friday shopping, and extended family pictures. We spent some very cold hours at the park with a photographer taking family pictures of all of Troy's family, kids, wives, husbands, and grandkids. Hopefully they will turn out.

The hardest part was trying to coordinate colors, and trying to keep our kids from bashing their faces in any more than they already were. (Macey had a scaped up nose and bruised cheek. Caleb had a bruised head and scraped nose.) Of course that didn't last long because Jewelia slid down the hill on her butt, and Caleb did a face splat into a rock less than 15 minutes into the shoot. Oh, well, more realistic I guess.

I took some random pictures while we were in between shots.





When we got home, I insisted that we take some more family pictures for our Christmas cards. Yeah, let's just torment the family the ENTIRE day!! Anyway, we got some cute pics of the kids below, and we actually got a couple good pictures of the whole family where EVERYONE was smiling! I think I do pretty well considering we always just use the timer on the camera and don't have a real person taking our picture. The picture at the top is our 2nd favorite, but we are sending out a better one with our Christmas cards. You'll have to wait and see.



Oh, and don't worry, Rachel, I might get to your 7 random things if I can think of anything good.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Today we dressed up for the Thanksgiving Feast at Caleb's class.
The 1st and 2nd graders were Pilgrims and we were the visiting Native Americans.

From left to right, here are Sitting Rabbit, Dancing Squirrel, and Little Pink Feather:

Caleb played some pilgrim games like leg wrestling. Here is a picture of him being clobbered by a little pilgrim girl:

We all enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast shared by Pilgrims and Indians.

We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and get ready for CHRISTMAS!!!

Micah, My Arm Rest

(Ok, Rachel, your video request is at the bottom of this post.)

I feel bad, there really haven't been a lot of posts about Micah. I guess the girls get the most since they are home with me during the day, and it seems like Caleb has had a bunch with birthday stuff and pictures, but I wanted to make sure Micah got some face time.

These are some pictures of Micah dressed in one of his dance costumes. I tried to make his hair stylin'. He is very handsome.

Micah is a good kid. I call him Arm Rest because he is just the right height for me to rest my arm on his shoulder when we walk. I've told him eventually he will have to call me Arm Rest when he gets bigger than me.

Micah is in 3rd grade right now and doing well. He just got the top reader award for the month. He loves those books!

He is dancing up a storm! He has 3 dance concerts coming up in December. We love our little dancer!

He is also quite the singer. He will be singing a solo in the Primary Program next month and he'll be singing in a trio in the Christmas Sacrament Program. We are excited for all the events coming up.

Oh, and by request of Rachel, here is a video of Micah practicing for his solo:

Parent Watch Week

This week is very busy. We have Parent Watch Week for all the dance classes. It is Parent Watch Week for both Micah and Jewelia's dance classes, but since Jewelia's class doesn't have a
recital, I thought I'd show you some of her performances.

This first one is her "Open Shut Dance":

Then here is part of her ballet dance:

And here is to show that she's a good little dancer. See how she stays on rhythm and follows directions?

Macey's Birthday Party

We finally celebrated Macey's birthday on Saturday. She was very excited about the cake the whole day!

See the pretty cake I made? It was a tough one--most of it got stuck to the pan, and it didn't cut well, but I managed.









She had lots of friends and family come over to visit, and she loved getting presents.













I love her little "ooh" face that she would make when she saw her presents. Her brothers and sister were a big help at opening them for her.










She wasn't so sure about the fire part.









And maybe not so sure of her cake at first.













Caleb sure liked it. His face got all red from the gel, and at one point he slipped off the table bench and got back up, Troy freaked out because he thought the gel was blood.

In the end she sure did like that cake! Thanks for everyone who came and sent presents! All the toys and books were great, and the clothes were really cute!

Happy 1st Birthday Macey!

Happy Birthday Macey! Today our little Macey is 1 year old! Here are her 1 year old pictures.

She was an extremely busy body at the picture place. She wouldn't sit still or stop moving, so we were pretty lucky to get any shots that weren't blurry in motion.

This last picture has a discoloration on the left by the chair because she was rocking the chair back and forth and I had my arm holding the chair. The photographer spent like 20 minutes trying to erase my arm and blend the colors in the picture, but in the end it still looked all weird and smudged. Not too bad though. We took a more cropped picture of it.

We're not going to do cake and icecream and presents until Saturday though. I'll post more pictures later from her party.

Funny Things Kids Say

Mostly I don't let any of the younger kids chew gum because they will swallow it, and I've always told them that if they swallow it that it will stay in their stomach forever and they'll die or something like that.

But anyway, Jewelia comes up to me the other day with wide eyes and says,

"Mommy! Micah ate his gum and he didn't even DIE!!!"

I thought this was pretty funny. OK, maybe I shouldn't tell the kids they'll die if they do something like that, but it worked for not swallowing gum for a while.

Caleb the Babe Magnet

So, we finally got Caleb's 6 year old pictures taken. We had to wait a month because the haircut place cut his hair way too short and I wasn't going to have a buzz cut for pictures. But anyway....here are the shots from Caleb's photo session:

What a cutie he is! I know Micah has always picked up the girls, but I can see we've got another heart breaker on our hands!

We always get just 2, too bad because these are all so cute, but we went with the 1st one and then the one sitting with the hat on.

Oh, my cute Caleb! He may be the most mischieviest kid, but he really is a sweet boy. He can't let a day go by without giving me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.