My Grandparents

I love my grandparents so much. They are such good people and serve so many, anyone they are aware of. They raised seven kids, all who love to return home for visits. That is something to be proud of, I hope my kids will want to come home when they grow up too. The pictures below are just a few of the good memories and things that I love to see when I visit my grandparents. They love their family and make sure they display that love all through their home.

Memories of Gpa and Gma's

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Christmas 2008

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

So I am busy putting more things on Ebay this morning when Preston comes up to me and asks if he can have the camera. I tell him no and he says, "Mom, I need to take a picture of my clothes." I told him yes since he asked and I thought it would be a good lesson to teach him that if he asks, he may get to use it. He brings it right back and this is what I found. Do you think I do too much Ebay? Notice he got his foot in the picture:)

Preston not so innocent

I saw the handsome picture my wife put on this site of Preston in his suit. I thought I would explain what happened after that photo was taken that day. Terra, Tracen and Kelci were sick that day, so Preston and I went to church alone.

Mind you, he has a button in his tie that when pushed it sings some Christmas song. He happened to struggle in his class, he has decided to be shy all of the sudden and so for the first time, I took him to my Elders quorum and I happened to be teaching the lesson. We were packed for that class. We had tons of visitors etc. Preston was horrible, he kept pushing that button on his tie, he kept laughing and moving around, talking.(funny how he is shy in his class but not with all the adults). Devin was trying to help me out by trying to control him. I found out after class that Preston actually bit Devin's finger, I was so upset. I couldn't hardly threaten Preston like I wanted to because of all the people. At one point I called him up and ripped the button out of his tie. Let's just say that it was the worst lesson I ever taught. I couldn't focus, I was embarrassed. It was horrible. He is generally a great kid, but he is definitely not as innocent anymore. He got punished real good when we got home. I don't think he will do that again.

OMGoodness how they grow!

I came across this picture when I was looking for my favorite saucer picture of Preston. I can't believe how little they all are. It is so fun to see them grow! They sure are cute!

Kelci's Turn

Some of my favorite photos of my children are in this little saucer-I couldn't find my favorite one of Preston. Now it is Kelci's turn. She loves being in it, just because she is standing and not lying down. She is so much fun and can't wait to grow up and play with her brothers. She just started rolling over both ways a lot in the last week-I hate it. She scoots everywhere and is trying to sit up-I want her to wait a bit before she does this. She talks a lot-squeals mostly. She is really a happy baby most of the time and a joy to our family.

How Handsome

How handsome and grown-up does he look now?! I miss my little innocent baby:)

Proud-not mad

I went to put Tracen to bed tonite and saw this written on the door. It says "Preston" if you couldn't tell. I normally would have been mad that he vandalized the door, but he wrote his name so straight and nice. I was so proud I had to take a picture and put it on here to share. He doesn't know that I loved it-Nate noticed and was proud too. I love kids-some days can be hard, but I know I will miss the hard days when my kids are gone and will give anything to have them back.

How Sweet

Preston took this picture of Kelci while she was swinging-thus the reason half her head is gone.






Kelci was laying on the floor by me this morning. I had told Preston to go get clothes to get dressed for school. He came back and started to get dressed and then started playing with Kelci (a four year old attention span leaves a little to be desired). He was so cute that I motioned to Nate to take pictures since the camera was right next to him. At one point he started singing the Tiny Tim song. This was seriously a super sweet moment for me to witness.

Perfect Present

I couldn't help but take this picture this morning. I had decided to get a Leapster for Tracen's birthday and just got it in the mail today. I looked down while I was on the computer and saw Tracen playing with Preston's. He was so cute-he had no idea what to do, but loved pushing the buttons and feeling like one of the big kids. He will be so excited when he opens it on his birthday!

What a surprise!

When we woke up on Monday morning, we had a nice surprise...SNOW! The boys were so excited that they wanted to go right outside, in their pajamas at 7AM. I made them wait a little while, but when my dad left for work-I couldn't keep them in any longer. I did manage to get boots and coats on them before they ran out the door.



Notice Tracen's coat is huge-guess it will be put up for next winter since it reaches his knees.

Preston is explaining to Tracen right this moment that he can't eat the snow-"huh mom." Notice that in the first photo he has snow on his face from eating it though. They always know the rules when it comes to telling their siblings what to do, but conveniently forget when they do it. I don't really care, unless it is yellow snow, but don't tell them that. Like dad says, "they'll only do it once."

He realized I was taking pictures of him-so he decided to pose for me-he is so sweet!

Kelci's Earrings

So I could not wait to pierce Kelci's ears. I thought I would wait until she was like five or so, until I saw Kali's ears. They were way too cute! I decided to do her ears before I got Christmas pictures taken. SO Friday was the big day. Tiffany and I went together and Tiffany actually picked and paid for them and even held Kelci while they were doing it. This was Tiff's Christmas gift to Kelci-one that will last forever. Since Tiffany and Kelci have the same birthstone, that is what she chose-very sweet. They look adorable! I am so glad I did them; now she looks like a girl without a bow on.

O Christmas Tree

Tanner, Preston, Brekyn and Tracen with Santa at the Concho Holiday Bizzar

Preston being goofy!



Tracen was so excited about the lights, the tree, and of course his Santa hat. I love that kid!


The boys loved decorating our tree this year-Nate bought a real one this year. It smells so wonderful and looks even better. All the ornaments are bunched together at a 3 and 4 year old's level, but it still looks great!

"You told me I could"

We were given a huge sheetcake the other day with green and orange frosting. Preston wanted a piece so badly. I told him he could have some after school. A long time after school I see him coming out of the bathroom. He tells me he just washed his hands-he was proud of himself. Then I wonder why he needed to wash his hands. Then I smell cake!

I went into the kitchen and found the cake-just like it is in the picture. I said, "Preston, what are you doing?!"' He says to me, "you told me I could have a piece after school." This was his piece! It was like a sixth of the cake! Before you ask-he did not get to eat the whole thing. We all shared it; Preston, me, Tracen and the dog.

P.S. I am still cleaning up green and orange frosting from various places in my home. Life is going to be boring after my kids leave home:)

Growing up Princess

Kelci will be five months in one week. Time has really flown by. She is so sweet and loved by many. She is a really good baby; only cries when she is hungry or messy. She sleeps through the night every night now. Thank you princess. She is rolling everywhere-she rolled all the way across the living room the other day. She is trying to hard to grow up. She tries to sit up and grab things. I just wish she would stay little for a long time. I really love this stage. She is my pride and joy. I love to dress her up and get all girly with her. She is amazing and I thank my Heavenly Father for loaning her to me.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

About time-again

Thanksgiving was fun and relaxing. The night before I had taken Hayden, Tanner and Brekyn home so Tiff and Justin could get things ready for company. We had lots of fun videotaping the kids playing football. Then we watched family videos of all of them, including the football. They loved seeing themselves on TV. I need to do that more often. The next morning Brekyn and I made cinnamon rolls, eggs and sausage.

We had a really nice Thanksgiving dinner that my dad made-Tiff and Justin did the turkey-but he made pies, rolls and homemade yams for Justin and his parents. We visited for a while and then were all in bed by ten thirty-just after making our list for the shopping early the next day.

Tiff and I got up at 3:30AM to go shopping and were hard at it for about nine hours. Our legs were sore for days afterward. We spent about six hours between Lowe's and Home Depot-can you believe it! We bought everything, including the kitchen sink-literally (thanks for the joke Tiff). We really did buy a sink for Tiff's kitchen.

It was a great holiday! I can't wait to see what Christmas brings. Children make the holidays so much more fun-family makes it even better!

Make a Smilebox photobook

What a Relief!

With life stressful most of the time, I have really learned to appreciate the little things. Monday morning I called to pay my electric bill and it had been paid and had $118 credit. Later that day my aunt called and said they needed Nate to sub a couple days this week. To top it off, I went to check my mail and found out my house payment went down $40 something a month. I could not believe all the good things happening.

Yesterday, I got a call from Preston's school. They said they finally had an opening for him and he could start right then. HE was so excited-I was too! I did not know what to do with the time I had while the two little ones were sleeping. I did homework-can you believe it. I am almost done with all my classes-one final and a few little things left. Can't wait to be done!