So far in 2012...

So, it's been almost a year since I've posted anything. I'll just re-cap our summer since that is the only time we do anything! We started our summer with having Jacob, Brian, and Kevin here for a little over a week. All the kids had so much fun together. We timed it so that I would be taking them home for Katrina's wedding. After having a month of car issues (which finally got resolved the morning we left) I was a little nervous driving across that desert with six kids by myself, but we made it! Even better, it only took us about seven hours, and that was with four rest area stops, one lunch stop, and one gas fill up! It was super hot in Phoenix, big surprise, and the kids continued to play well together. The wedding and reception were beautiful and I loved visiting with everyone.

July brought about a birthday. Alexis turned seven this year. One of Mike's co-workers made these crabby patty cupcakes. They looked and tasted really good!

This is the cake I put together for her when family came over. Like I've said before, it's a good thing they taste good because I do not have the decorative touch.

 

In August, Mike had a week of training in Newport Beach, I know, rough. We took the opportunity to head up to the hills and spent a week at Big Meadow. It started off with a lot of excitement. As soon as we got there, one of our friends was trying to disconnect his fifth wheel and got his hand stuck in the crank. He knew if he didn't get loose, it would take his finger off, so he yanked it out! It ripped the finger open all the way to the bone, so they came to borrow a car to go to the hospital. My parents then noticed that they had a flat tire, so I quickly had the kids help me unload our car and sent them on their way. That was enough excitement for one week, so we spent the rest of the time playing lots of dominos and other games. Corinna, Carissa, and Caitlyn came up for a few days but they had to leave early to get the girls registered for high school.

 

After we got home, I got a phone call from Dustin's scout leader. She said if Dustin completed two things, he would have his bear. One was to make an emergency contact list, and the other was to write down ways that he practices his religion. We did those and he received his award. Here he is trying to stab me with the mother's pin. Who thought of that idea? I know let's give young boys this sharp object and have them pin it to their mother's shirt! It's a little scary.

 

We've been in school for about two and a half weeks now. I took first day of school pictures with my cell phone this year and have not down loaded them. I think we got some good teachers this year. My only complaint is that the class sizes are huge and I know the teachers cannot offer the individual attention that kids need sometimes. So far they have all done okay, so hopefully that continues on.

 

And now for the next piece of news. Mike is getting his own Best Buy store! They are opening a Best Buy Mobile in our mall. Mike interviewed for and got the general manager position. He will be starting in a couple of weeks. He will be spending some time in Florida for training. Bummer for him, huh? The store will have its grand opening on Black Friday. We will probably not see Mike from late October until late January. Go ahead, laugh. But it's true. He'll be working or sleeping. Fun times!

 

I know I need to keep up on this better. I've been a slacker. I hope all is well with everybody!







The Massive Summer Update

Summer started with sleep. Lots of sleep, and not getting out of bed early. We had a gigantic family reunion at the end of June. I love spending time with my family. All of the kids were good. We didn't have any major meltdowns or injuries. It was great. While we were there, Mike had an interview (over the phone) with Best Buy and was hired on our last day there. He is super happy with his new job and is loving it.

Here are my parents with all of the grand kids who were at the reunion.

After we got home, I realized that it was Alexis' birthday in a few days! I was too tired to deal with a party, so we bought her some presents, took her out to pick out her cake, frosting, and ice cream flavor, and invited over family. SIX!

The following week, Emily went to her first year of girls camp. No, she is not twelve yet, but our stake (and maybe others?) has decided to take the girls the year that they turn twelve so that they are staying with the other girls in the same class at church. I'm glad that they did this, because she would have been very sad not being with her friends every year.

After she got home, and before Mike started his new job, we decided to take the kids to the beach for a couple of days. They had lots of fun playing in the sand and water, I taught them how to boogie board, and we met up with some cousins and had a BBQ. It was a fun and relaxing time.

Mike started out his new job with a week in the Los Angeles area for training. While he was gone, I took the kids and visited Corinna for a couple of days, and we took all the kids to the beach for a day. They had lots of fun again. We love our cousins!

Immediately after getting home, we had to pack Mike up and take him to the airport for a week in Minnesota for more training! I decided that would be a good time to head up into the hills, so we spent the week at Big Meadow. It was wonderful getting out of the heat and enjoying the peaceful nature.

Once we got home, summer was pretty much over, so the final week was spent preparing to go back to school. The kids are all doing good and liking their teachers.

First day of school! Emily has to catch the bus early, so she gets her own picture.

I wasn't going to go to Big Meadow for Labor Day this year, but Alice and Eddie talked me into it, so we headed up the mountain again for the long weekend. We had a great time with friends that we hardly see, and there were lots of kids to play with.

(I don't know why blogger suddenly decided to post all of my pictures to the side, but there you have it. I took a lot more pictures, but I'm tired of fighting with it to get them posted.)

So far this year...

Early in January, I finally heard enough of Alexis complaining about learning to ride her bike without training wheels and decided it was time. We had a warm, sunny day, so I went out and took the training wheels off and called Alexis outside. She was excited for about a minute, then decided she was scared and wanted to quit. I told her that we were out there, the wheels were off, and we were doing it now! I ran up and down the street with her for about half an hour before she was confident. Now there is no stopping her! Since no one else was home, I had to take the pictures while running next to her, but they didn't turn out too bad.

If you look closely, you can see the "tongue of concentration". When she is concentrating really hard on something, her tongue comes out, or pokes out her cheek. I'm glad she didn't fall and bite it!

Later that month, I got a call from her teacher saying that she was chosen for student of the month! She said that Alexis is very sweet and nice to everyone. She has never cried or acted up in class and tries to help other kids in her class when she can.

Here she is getting her medal from our PTC president. And with some of the other kindergartners. (It was also the 100th day of school, so that is why the little boy next to her is wearing that)

And finally with her teacher Mrs. Ramey. We love her! She is the best kindergarten teacher ever!

In February, Mike and I were able to take a little mini-vacation and flew to Austin, Texas. We had fun visiting the state capitol and the Texas state history museum. We also went to the University of Texas (go Longhorns). We drove to San Antonio to see the Alamo. We got there at 5:35pm, only to discover that the Alamo closes at 5:30pm! Slightly disappointed (especially after we paid the $10 to park, and they did not inform us of this). We were still able to look through all of the openings, we just didn't get to read the signs or take a tour. Oh well. We walked along the riverwalk. It was a very beautiful place. We need something like that In Bakersfield!

March (and so far in April) have been super busy months because baseball and softball season have started. I am running most nights of the week. It gets a little crazy some nights when both Emily and Dustin have games or practice. I am looking forward to Spring Break. We don't have any big plans, but these kids are not going to be happy when they discover that they have to clean! I decided we are doing one major house project a day (such as cleaning windows). I've also decided that at least Emily and Dustin are going to learn how to iron clothes. Every Sunday morning I call for clothes to be ironed. Sometimes I get a shirt or dress, sometimes I don't. Then it comes time to get dressed and I'll be in the middle of curling my hair when a frantic child will show up wanting something ironed. I won't do it at that point. Therefore, they will be learning to iron and be in charge of doing it themselves.

Well, I've ranted enough for today!

Christmas Letter 2010

It's been a busy year! Mike and I have been going back to school. We both got our AA's recently. Mike continues to work full time at T-Mobile. I hold the house together, drive the kids to all of their activities, and sometimes get to take naps! Mike was just called to teach the nine year olds at church, and I have been leading the music in sacrament meeting since March.

Emily just turned 11 and is in the 6th grade, which is at the middle school in our district. She is very social and likes to spend time with her friends. She enjoys playing all sorts of sports, like volleyball, basketball, and softball.

Dustin just had his 8th birthday and was baptized. He is in the 2nd grade this year. He loves to learn and reads books that should be too hard for someone his age. He likes to ride his bike and play baseball. He tried football for the first time this year and decided that he didn't like it.

Alexis is now five. She started kindergarten this year. She loves her teacher and meeting new friends. She is learning to sound out words. She likes to dress up and wear jewelry. She wants to learn to ride her bike without training wheels, but I am still a little wary of her arm. The surgeon said that she could not have any trauma to it for a year.

We have all been good and healthy. We decided to skip the expense of buying and mailing Christmas cards this year, so we are going this way. We hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas and enjoys spending time with family and friends.

Love, Michael, Priscilla, Emily, Dustin, & Alexis

Now for November!

We spent Thanksgiving with Mike's family. The food was good, but it's always good when I don't have to cook it! The kids stayed up at the lake and Mike and I went home and did a little midnight shopping on "black Friday". We were home and in bed before most people left their houses. We drove by several stores on the way home just to laugh at the people who were camping out. Crazy people.

Anyhow... Dustin's birthday was that Saturday, so after I got the kids home, I made the cake and we celebrated after Mike got home from work. This was his eighth birthday, so he got new scriptures with a case, a CTR ring, and a CTR tie.

Looking at the pictures in his new scriptures.

Holding up the new tie.

Blowing out eight candles.

Dustin was baptised the next Saturday, (which was actually the first weekend in December, but it's still going here). We were happy to have some family and friends come to celebrate with us. We had a nice lunch at our home afterwards. It was nice and relaxing to sit and visit. The dog even behaved herself! I forgot to get the picture of the boys in their whites, but oh well! I took a picture of them after. Oh, I forgot, we also bought Dustin his first suit!

The boys were in their suits, I choose a black and white dress, I came out of my room and Emily was wearing a black and white dress, and Alexis was sporting bright yellows and pinks, so I changed her into a black and white dress also and decided to get some family pictures while we were all dressed up.
Unfortunatly, someone is making a face in every single one of them, except for this one. Alexis' hair is all messed up, but nothing I can do about it now. Everyone wanted out of their dressy clothes by this point, so they weren't cooperating very well.

That's what's been going on around here! The kids are eager for Christmas to get here (and vacation). Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Halloween

I know. That's all that needs to be said. The school had the annual, crazy, unorganized, Halloween parade again. The kids love it, so can't complain too much. Emily did not dress up for school. I don't know if it's because the middle school will not allow it, or if it's just because that's not cool!

Dustin wanted to be a mad scientist. His idea of that was to wear a lab coat and to have toxic green hair. So we made it happen.
Alexis got her pick of Emily's old costumes. She choose the "snow princess" one. This is the costume that Emily wore the year Alexis was born, so at about the same age.
Emily wanted to be a pirate, so we borrowed everything and she was happy. It was a beg, borrow, and steal kind of Halloween around here. Mike is dressed as a guy in a jersey. Saturday was super busy, a day full of parties.


We had to celebrate Emily's (and Eddie's) birthday, then rush over to rollerama for a skating, costume party. (Her orthodontist rented the place for all of his clients) I think I had more fun than the kids, they kept falling. As soon as that was done, we went straight to the church for our annual "trunk-or-treat". It was a busy day. Luckily Mike got the day off and was able to spend it with us.
Emily = 11.
Eddie = Emily + 30!

Alexis' baby teeth

Sunday, we were sitting in church waiting for sacrament meeting to start when I heard "Eeeewwwww! Gross!" from the pew behind me. I turned around and said "What?" I was then informed that Alexis was pushing her bottom front two teeth completely flat with her tongue. As we were getting dressed she had said that her teeth were loose, but I just brushed her off thinking she's too young to lose teeth. When we got home one of them was hanging there and she refused to eat, so Mike pushed it out.

There it is. Notice the other bottom tooth moved over into the empty space.

So, the other tooth hung on until Friday, when it was so loose that she wouldn't eat again. So, once again, Mike pushed it out.

Here she is all cute and toothless.

Braces

During the summer, I decided it was time to get Emily braces because she was entering middle school and I know how brutal those kids can be. Her teeth were/are terrible and I don't want her getting made fun of for them. She spent most of the summer in spacers and then moving her molars back. She finally got the braces put on last week and chose pink and green rubberbands. The ladies said that is a very popular choice right now (as I bit my tongue).

Award Day

Dustin got the first student of the month award this year (again). His teacher said it's because he always does his work queitly and on time. He is very helpful to her and his other classmates. He is very well behaved (at school). Above is our PTC president giving him the award.

Here he is modeling it and his brand new school shirt.

And this is him with his teacher.

First day of school 2010

Emily started in the sixth grade at our local middle school. She has to catch the bus at 7:30 every morning, so her picture was alone because the other two were no where near ready. I walked her to the bus stop the first day and quickly realized that it's not cool for mom to walk you to the bus stop.
Dustin was pretending to be mad about going to school. I knew he was really excited. He started second grade this year. Alexis could hardly wait to start kindergarten. She'd been asking me to go since her birthday. She didn't understand why she was five and not going to school.
My pictures are washed out because I was in a hurry and forgot to check the settings. I need to remember to do that.
So far they seem to be doing well at school. I haven't heard many complaints. Except from Emily. She keeps complaining that she is getting in trouble for talking in class. Really?

Alexis turns five

Five! My baby is five! I'm sad. Everybody keeps asking me what I am going to do when she goes to school and I just want to cry and yell I don't know! So, just don't ask me. It kind of ruins my whole day.

Her birthday landed on a Saturday this year. Mom and Pop have been serving at the temple every year so far on her birthday, so we decided to have a party. We rented a giant, inflatable water slide and invited a bunch of kids over. I had Carissa and Caitlyn here while Corinna was on vacation, and Jerry, Laurie, and their kids all showed up too! She had about nine kids from church show up, so it wasn't too big. (There are 30 kids her age). I made three cakes, and they all got eaten up! The main cake was this one. I am not taking credit for the decorating. I baked it, but about half an hour before the party started, none of the cakes were frosted, Mike had disappeared, and I was feeling desperate. I called my neighbor Jaime. I honestly don't know how I would ever survive without her. I just wanted it frosted, she went above that and it was beautiful! Thank you Jaime! Just remember, I owe you!

The kids all had a great time playing outside. We had no drama or crying so I am calling it a success! Here is the birthday girl with her presents.
And blowing out the candles!
I love the kool-aid mustache!

Legoland and Disneyland

This year we participated in Disney's "give a day, get a day" program. We were also able to get "buy an adult, get a kid free" tickets to Legoland, so we took a few days in May and went to both. We drove down to Los Angeles on Saturday morning. I spent the afternoon apartment shopping with Alena, while Mike and the kids went to a mall and walked around. We drove to our hotel that evening and walked around downtown Disney. We got to see the fireworks and we ate at the RainForest Cafe. I got a migraine and spent way too much on a bottle of pills, but it was worth it!

Sunday morning we woke up and drove to Carlsbad. We ate breakfast at a Denny's and went in to the park. It was kind of fun, but definitely not worth paying full price. Emily was a little bored. Dustin liked it. Alexis was scared of all the rides, but we dragged her on them anyway.

Emily ran into the curb and got stuck here. She's raising her hand to get the attention of an attendant.


Dustin cruising along.

Alexis on the little kids track.

See how much fun she was having? I think we made her get on this one. YeeHaw!

Alexis really liked it. It was nice and calm.

Dustin thought it was a little goofy too.

That night we drove back to our hotel only to discover that THE HOTTUB WAS NOT WORKING! I really needed a nice relaxing soak too. The kids swam in the freezing water anyway. That night we went to downtown Disney again and watched the fireworks again.

Monday was Disney day. We got up early and packed up the car then got to Disneyland just in time to... Wait in line! We had to redeem our tickets at a booth. It wasn't so bad. We got into the park about half an hour after they opened. I didn't take very many pictures because I was too busy having fun. This was my first ever trip (since being married) without a stroller. Kind of strange, but much easier to manuver. Emily got picked to do Jedi Training. She fought Darth Maul. I'm telling you, the people who work there must be dying in those costumes with all that makeup on. It was only the first weekend of May and it was pretty warm out.

In the teacups, waiting to go.

Dustin and Emily. They were not with us so that they could go fast.

I think we waited in line almost an hour for this two second picture.

Emily fighting Darth Maul.

The highlight of my day was running into one of my best friends from high school. Her parents moved her away between our junior and senior year. We wrote and talked to each other, but then she all of a sudden dissappeared! So I hadn't heard from her for about 12 years. It was so awesome! We met at about 7pm, and the park closed at 8pm, but we were in there until about 8:30, so we stayed together and talked as fast as we could! The kids crashed before we got onto the freeway, so it was a nice, quiet ride home.

And FYI, this is what happens to a Reeses when it gets lost in the bottom of a backpack for two days while walking around in the heat. Yummy!

Seattle

I went on my annual girl trip to Seattle this year. My friend got us $37 plane tickets (plus taxes and fees, but still super cheap!) It was kind of a last minute thing, but we had a great time. It was actually January that we went, but I took my super cheesy kodak easy share camera which I hardly ever use, and I just now downloaded the photos.

We poked around the city, we drove to Mount Rainier and saw lots of snow and waterfalls, we took a ferry across the bay and walked around, we went to the very first Starbucks, visited Pike Place Market, and I paid $17 to scare the crud out of myself. That's right. I went to the top of the Space Needle.

We were only there for an extended weekend, but we packed it full of activities. It is such a beautiful place. Everything is green and lush. (That's because it rains ALL THE TIME!) Here are a very few pictures because most of them did not come out very good! Enjoy!

Downtown Seattle from on top of the Space Needle. Mt. Rainier is in the background to the right.

The entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park. It started snowing on us not far up the road. It got heavy and scary real fast, so we turned around. It was so overcast that we couldn't see anything anyway.

I liked how this tree was growing out of the rocks. That is one tree split into many trunks. You can't tell, but they are all connected together at the bottom.

I loved how green everything was. Even in the winter when the trees are hibernating, they are covered with a green moss. This picture just doesn't do the beauty of it justice.

A lot of the trees also had ivy growing up them. I really like nature photos, can you tell?

The infamous Space Needle, from below. I was getting sick just looking up it. I don't know how Alena got me in the elevator. Oh, I forgot to mention, you are at the top in less than a minute. Ack!