The Seeley Family

cha-cha-cha-CHANGES!

2011-05-19T14:08:00.006-06:00

It's been a while, I know!! It's been a busy few months trying to get adjusted to the new house and new life. Things are great, though, and we feel so lucky to be here. The kids are finishing out the school year at the old school so we still have one foot in our old neighborhood and one foot in the new, so the transition is...well...not too bad! My friend Tiff "urged" me to post pictures of the new house. I thought I would humor her and the few of you that still come to my blog and show you my pet projects for these last few months!

The beginnings of our master bedroom. I am thrilled that it is no longer the master bedroom/office/exercise room like it was in the other hose. NO KIDS ALLOWED! I love my new color scheme of white, gray and aqua...so clean and crisp! I still want to: wallpaper the back wall, buy an upholstered headboard, create a reading nook in the corner, hang curtains, and add some art and accessories. Someday!!!

Here is my formal living room...haven't done much in here but figured I'd show you anyway.
I hope to get the walls painted a soft gray in the next couple of week. You in, Dad??

Here is my cute kitchen. I love how bright and open it is. My dad and I painted the walls, and Cade installed knobs and pulls on the cabinets and drawers. Aren't they purty?

This is the dining area. Again, bright and open the way I like it.
This house is not lacking in windows, that's for sure! I had to close all the blinds to get decent photos, but they are usually open from sunrise to sundown. Happiness.

This is my favorite room so far - the upstairs family room. I decided out with the greens and in with the blue, yellow and grays! I am happy with the results. You likey?

And lastly, this is the new office/exercise room/guest room. I repainted the walls and tried to create a soft, neutral color scheme. This will be your room if you come stay with me. Right, Tiff?

Coming soon (...or maybe not so soon...): the kids bedrooms and the downstairs family room! Maybe even the bathrooms! And the yard! (...I planted flowers, you know.)

Miss you!

Moving...

2011-02-21T10:12:00.005-07:00

Today is the day that we will be getting the keys to our newly purchased...yes PURCHASED...home! I have so many strange emotions swirling around inside. Moving is hard - even if it IS only 1.5 miles away. It's still a new address...new friends...new ward...new school...new surroundings. I am familiarity's number one fan, so change is hard for me. Fortunately, I KNOW this is right for our family and that assurance helps me feel more at peace about uprooting my family. We have had 3 wonderful years in this house and we couldn't have asked for better neighbors and friends. I am grateful to no longer have to rent a home and that we are able to live somewhere that is OURS. I am so aware of the Lord's hand in our lives at this time and know he is mindful of our righteous desires. I look forward to this next chapter in our lives and hope to be able to embrace the changes ahead. Wish us luck...

Out with the old...

...and in with the NEW!

Text message from Hannah

2011-02-16T15:03:00.005-07:00

To: Cade Seeley

Iloveyow dad love hannah
yowurthebesd dad
inthewrldtyowmacmehape
ddad

Sent:
Wed Feb16, 11:54am
Delivered:
Wed Feb16, 11:54am

Picture taken September 2010

I'm no photographer...

2011-01-28T13:08:00.003-07:00

...But even my crappy camera can't lie.

These girls are C-U-T-E. Cute!

Remember this hair-cutting catastrophe?

Yes, this is my poor Rachel after Hannah took some scissors to her hair. It was a real low-point in my life (and Hannah's!), I have to say. Well, it has been 16 long months, and it has finally grown out! I was even able to curl (or as Rachel says, "crill") it today, so hence the photo shoot. Hair really does grow back, people.

After I got done "crilling" Rachel's hair, she ran to the mirror and pronounced:
"I"m SOOO BEAUTIFUL!"
(Humble? Not so much.)

2011-01-28T12:54:00.002-07:00

One of the super fun things about having a 5th AND a sixth grader is that we get to do 2 Science Fair projects. Yippee! And because we are such awesome, on-the-ball parents, we would never dream of starting on them the day before they are due. Oh no. We started on them 2 days before they were due! Because we're awesome parents and all.

This is Adam's project about what melts ice the fastest (do you like my clever title? "Ice, Ice, Maybe" instead of "Baby". Get it?)

And here we have Tyler's project about what liquids react with a penny the most. Don't you love the copper color paint? (Yep, my idea, too.)

Don't let that smile fool ya...it was a rough day at the Seeley house...2 days before the Science Fair...but we survived. Maybe.

Note to self: Start earlier next year.

My Girls

2011-01-28T10:52:00.003-07:00

My darling Mia Maids came over on Wednesday for our activity. We made homemade soft pretzels and Orange Juliuses. Mmmm...

Our newest Mia Maid, Savannah!!

Oh, and look at the cute recipe files we made!

We had a great turn-out and we had so much fun together! I love these girls to pieces!

Tiny Dancer

2010-12-22T14:19:00.003-07:00

Last week Rachel had her very first dance recital. It was so much fun to watch her...and funNY! At the beginning, each girl had to stand up and introduce herself. Rachel just sat there waiting for the teacher to physically lift her up. When the teacher whispered for her to say her name, she yelled, "RACH!" (not Rach-el). That girl is definitely a free spirit. And instead of facing the parents during the performance like the other girls, Rachel was facing sideways so she could see herself in the mirror! I kept loudly whispering her name so that she would face forward but she was completely oblivious! The funniest part was when they were throwing pieces of tulle or "snowflakes" into the air gracefully. Rachel had a long piece of it stuck to her leotard for the whole segment of the dance, which was pretty humorous in and of itself. But when she finally realized it was there and pulled it off, she waved both pieces up in the air triumphantly and exclaimed "I HAVE TWO SNOWFLAKES!!!". Miss Courtney or "Miss Corny" as Rachel calls her, definitely has her work cut out for her with this little ballerina! Best of luck to you, Miss Corny!

Here she is doing her "thing". Notice all the other girls are standing in a line watching "Miss Corny".

She goes to dance with two of her best friends from the neighborhood: Rose (right) & Tyli (left). She's almost a year younger than both of them (although every bit as tall), so I like to blame her dancing on immaturity.

I look forward to many dance recitals...and some laughs ahead!

Good Times!

Oh, and don't worry Rachel...we have it all on videotape for posterity!

Hannah's night!

2010-12-12T18:17:00.004-07:00

Hannah is in a little performing group. She has class once a week and has been working on her Christmas show over the last few months. Last night was her recital and she had a small solo part in one her group's songs. She did SO good! Hannah is a natural performer and she sings amazingly well for her age. The best part is that she LOVES it and has no fear of being up in front of people, unlike me who would be TERRIFIED!

Here she is with her cute cousin Carly - they always support each other! We also had Grandma and Grandpa Jenson, Grandma Seeley, Aunt Dorrie & Uncle Rick, and even more cousins: Bekkah, Goldie, Ava, Ashley, Adam & baby Aiden. Thanks for coming guys!

This is Miss Laura,, the owner of Performance Academy and Hannah's teacher. She LOVES Miss Laura (and I think Miss Laura likes her too!) Hannah was thrilled to be able to wear a little bit of makeup...should I be worried??

This is a terrible picture, but the best I could do...I'm no Jodi! I was so nervous her to come in at the right time and on the right note, but she nailed it (of course!)

I can get used to this "girl" thing - I'm pretty sure I had as much fun watching her as she did performing. I'm already looking forward to the Spring show!

Family Photo Shoot

2010-12-11T14:24:00.017-07:00

So, when you are blessed with super-talented friends like I am, you sometimes are are the beneficiary of their incredible gift, like a family photo shoot with Jodi! My friend Jodi is an amazing photographer. She's been playing around with photography for years and she truly has a talent for it (I can picture her face turning red right now!) She took our annual Seeley family pictures several weeks ago. She endured all kinds of drama (the husband/sons "we don't want to be here" sort) in those two hours and yet somehow managed to get a lot of great pictures (she said she took over 600!!)... AND the best part is that she's still friends with me! As much as I KNOW you'd like to see all 600, here are just a few of my favorites (in no particular order)!
Jodi, you somehow managed to make photography look easy and our family look flawless. We BOTH know the truth! Thank you so much!

My big day!

2010-12-10T22:07:00.005-07:00

So yeah...it's my birthday. 36. I'm not a big birthday person, but I had a really good day today thanks to my cute family and kind friends. Cade got up early to make me/us breakfast. He decorated with streamers and everything. He's really good at birthdays! See?
Oh, and he got me an I-pod Shuffle (I ruined my last I-pod running through the sprinklers...I know...dumb)! The kids were super cute and gave me lots of birthday hugs and kisses. The rest of the day flew by with lots of well-wishes from my friends including lunch at the Brick Oven. Yum.

The MVP of the day would have to go to my sister, Suzanne, who devoted her whole day to my b-day. She even wrote a really nice, non-sarcastic post on her much-more-up-to-date blog about yours truly. She came to lunch with me and then shopped with me all afternoon. I think that will definitely have to be a birthday tradition from now until forever. She helped me pick out things to try on and even hung up all the clothes I tried on, which is the worst part of shopping. That and paying...but we sure got some cute new duds! Later Cade and I went to the Mandarin restaurant in Bountiful, along with Suz and Frank and our friends Jodi and Jon. We had a great time, see? (Sorry Cade, Frank, Jon, and Jodi...this was the only picture I had).
I don't much like getting older, but I do like feeling loved and appreciated...so I guess December 10th isn't such a bad day!

2010-11-27T22:42:00.003-07:00

Last Monday for Family Night we decided to hit good ol' Krispy Kreme. They give 1/2 dozen doughnuts for each kid's report card, meaning...lots of free doughnuts for the Seeleys. Boy, were they happy to see us! It was fun and I think Rachel could have watched them make doughnuts all night long. I have to say, I am very grateful for Monday nights and the chance we get to spend a little quality time together as a family. I know as the kids get older it's going to get more difficult to make the time, but I hope we'll always make it a priority.

Some of us weren't really feeling that cooperative for pictures when we got home...
A little better?

Tyler & Adam are nothing if not DETERMINED. Whatevs.

p.s. Krispy Kreme? Well see you at the end of 2nd term!

Moab

2010-11-27T18:13:00.006-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Cade and I took our long awaited trip to Moab, Utah. Cade won the trip on the radio at the beginning of this year, and can you believe it took this long for the stars to align long enough to get the heck out of town? Cade's sister Dorrie took the boys and my mom took the girls and off we went on a Friday morning! We stopped in Provo to have lunch at one of our old college stomping grounds, La Dolce Vita. It was pretty good, but of course, never as good as you remember. Plus, we were the ONLY ones in the restaurant besides the paid employees so that was a bit awkward. Anyways, we made it to Red Cliffs Lodge before dinner. Check out the view from our room...excuse me...SUITE:
It really was that beautiful, maybe even more so! We had a "complimentary" dinner at the lodge (part of Cade's prize). It was de-licious!

Here was the view from the lodge:

Wow, right? We spent the rest of the night relaxing and watching T.V. I decided "Meet the Parents" is as excruciatingly funny on the umpteenth viewing as it is on the first! Anyway, the next morning we had breakfast at the lodge and went horseback riding (yes, also included in our free package!) I haven't been on a horse since I was a teenager at Youth Conference, so I was definitely nervous about getting in the saddle again...literally. Because I am becoming less adventurous every year, I was secretly hoping we would just ride around in circles in the corral. That was not the case. It was a 3-hour ride through some pretty rugged terrain if I do say so myself!

Here we are with our horses: me on "Lucky" and Cade on "Cisco".

Don't we look the part in our hats and bandanas?
Cade got lots of pictures of me since he was behind me.

See? Rugged.

This was my favorite part, riding through the river to get back to the trail!

Despite my reservations, I had a great time and so did Cade! Later that evening we drove into Moab to check out the night life. Turns out there really isn't one, so we settled on dinner at Miguels's and then hit the drugstore for candy and an Us Weekly magazine for me (it's tradition!) Then back to the hotel. The next morning we checked out of the hotel, got some breakfast in town and headed to Arches for a quick lookey-loo at the National Park. It was COLD and I was feeling a little under the weather so we got a couple of photos and then headed for home!

That's Delicate Arch. I felt too yucky to make the 1.5 mile walk up to the arch, so there's the more scenic view for ya!

It was so fun to go out of town with Cade and spend some quality time together...something we don't get much of these days. I'm married to the perfect guy for me and I hope we are still taking fun trips like this in the years to come!

Sometimes you lose...

2010-11-27T18:07:00.002-07:00

This pretty much sums up the BYU/Utah game today.
Better luck next year, Cougars!!

My New Gig

2010-11-07T17:56:00.003-07:00

I got called to be 1st counselor in the Young Women's presidency a few weeks ago. I was very humbled and nervous to be working with teenage girls. I remember being a Mia Maid myself (14 & 15 years old). That was a difficult and important time in my life, and my Young Women leaders played a pivotal role in helping get through those difficult years. I now realize the sacred and important responsibility I have of teaching and helping these girls remember who they are and where they are going. Wow! The fun and easy part of this calling is that these girls are AMAZING! They are cute and fun and supportive of each other and of me and we have fun a laugh a lot. Their testimonies are strong and they are trying to live the gospel every day. I get to work with my next door neighbor Wendy (she's my advisor) and we make a pretty good team if I do say so myself. This calling is a far cry from Primary chorister which is what I was before (and I LOVED it!) but I am trying my best to do what I can for these cute girls. I think about the fact that someday soon my own 2 daughters will be this age and I know I will be depending on their leaders to help them and guide them along. That makes me want to try even harder!

Love 'em!

Awww...sisters!

2010-11-06T11:04:00.003-06:00

As I was looking through my pictures, I was definitely struck by all the ones that looked like these:Rachel & Hannah after making their fairy hat crafts!

The girls having fun together in the water!

At their cousin Sam's wedding open house

Being silly!

Their many, many arts and crafts!

Reading together in bed

I feel so lucky to have 2 cute little girls who genuinely love each other. We thought Hannah was our last baby and that she would only have brothers, so imagine our surprise when we found out not only were we having another baby, but a baby SISTER! They are so close now and I hope they will always will be.

Cute little punkins!

2010-11-02T21:41:00.010-06:00

So Halloween went off without a hitch this year at the Seeley house
(well, other than the rain!)

Our little PUNKINS included:

Rachel the ladybug,

Hannah as Mulan,

Jason the clown,

Adam the hippie,

And a very menacing-looking Miles Austin of the Dallas Cowboys!

And last, but not least...

Thank you, Cade.

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-02T21:03:00.010-06:00

We had a super fun Halloween weekend! It started on Friday night with some friends from the 'hood! It was hosted by the very distinguished and sophisticated looking Keri & Spencer (Spence, all I can say is "wow"). Their house was all decked out for the occasion and the only party I've ever been to where all the lights were off the ENTIRE night. They really were - this is just my camera's flash!
Guests of the party included a couple of Chilean miner's. Nice 'staches!
We had a witch and her vampire lover!
We were entertained by the cool jock and his knocked-up girlfriend!
Now, I'm not sure where these two met or how they ever hooked up, but they can dance a mean cha-cha!
We were wowed by the magnificent "Malificent" and her royal husband, King "What's-His-Name"!
We had to do a double-take when we saw these BYU fans. Then we realized it was Harvey Unga (Thanks, Em!)and his pregnant girlfriend. Touche!
Sully and Boo were able to sneak away from Monsters Incorporated for a little while to get jiggy!
Let's not forget Dwight and Angela from Dunder Mifflin. Angela's a little irked that she was not on the party-planning committee, I think!
Great times were had by all. We had a fabulous mexican buffet, a dance party complete with awesome music and strobe lights, and a couple rounds of Mafia. And I thought my college days were over!

Thanks for the fun everyone! Same time next year??

Should I be concerned?

2010-10-26T17:34:00.004-06:00

This is what Rachel did today during her "naptime". No, she didn't color, if that's what your thinking. Yes, she unwrapped crayons for two hours in her bed. And this isn't the first time. She's been at it for weeks. When she sees a crayon, she just feels the need to peel off its wrapper. And she'll sneak handfuls of crayons to "work on" in her bed. Granted, I have kids who do weird things. Take Adam for example. He writes notes to himself to remind him of stuff he needs to do. Last week it was this:

"Adam, bring school lunch
here's some milk money
use it wisely"

Okay...so that's more cute than weird.

I tell you, the crayon thing is becoming more annoying than weird because guess who's vacuum has more crayon peels than dust bunnies? That's right.

It's time to play catch-up, baby!

2010-10-25T08:58:00.026-06:00

(This is what spring/summer/fall looks like at our house!)

So, yeah, it's been a little while! Today is a dark , dismal day - perfect day to blog I figured. I thought I'd just go down the line about what everyone has been up to over the last...say...10 months or so. Lame, I know, but I'm too lazy to figure out a more creative way to summarize so here goes!
Tyler:
- finished 5th grade, now in 6th
- broke his arm on the front porch steps
- played a total of 2 soccer games this fall due to said injury
- discovered a love of football - Go Cowboys!
- got braces
- turned twelve this weekend and became a deacon yesterday - sniff, sniff!
- growing like a weed (he's already outgrown his new school clothes!)
Adam:
- finished 4th grade, now in 5th
- is getting better about missing assignments...finally!
- played soccer awesomely
- joined the school choir with best friend Parker
- has lots of friends, but Parker is tops
- the goofiest, most lovable child ever!
Jason:
- finished 2nd grade, now in 3rd
- loves school
- turned 8, got baptized
- started cub scouts
- loves football...and any other activity that requires a ball
- played soccer, scored several goals!
- best friend: Mason

Hannah:
- finished preschool, now in p.m. Kindergarten, loves school - "Mrs. Larson is sooooo funny!"
- played soccer this fall, surprised us with her energy and competitiveness
- in a singing/dancing academy - loves it of course!
- is the most social child...ever
- still 100% girl
Rachel:
- started Joyschool with a few friends in the neighborhood
- started dance class this Fall on "Threes-day!"
- potty-trained! No more diapers for the Seeleys (after 12 long years!)
- hair has finally grown out (after 12 long months!)
- is delightful 99% of the time
Stacy:
- participated...and finished half-marathon (Hobble Creek) in August despite some...issues
- went on annual trip to San Diego with Arizona BFFs in September
- got released as Primary chorister and put in Young Women's Presidency (teenagers...YIKES!)
- redecorated rooms for 3 different friends (pictures coming!!)

Cade:
- works hard as always
- took boys to Kane County for Adam's 4th grade project
- took wife to Park City in April to celebrate 15 years of wedded bliss!
- BYU football started, not quite as enthusiastic as last year :( but always a fan
- plays basketball twice a week, proving he's not an "old guy"...yet!
- plays "Fantasy Football" with the 3 boys, whatever the heck that is

Well, I feel much better now! I know you've heard it all before, but I'm REALLY ready to start being consistent with this blog thing. I'll do it, I'll do it. For the children, I suppose. Have a great day!

Bedroom switch-a-roo!

2010-03-01T08:47:00.005-07:00

I've been enjoying myself these last couple weeks playing musical bedrooms. Whenever I start feeling down about my house and how ugly and disorganized it is, I just mix things up until I'm happy again. I call it "poor man's redecorating" which basically just means changing things around! Truthfully, the kids were in need of a switch-a-roo. Having three boys all in one room has been a challenge and I was feeling like Tyler needed his own space. And Rachel, she was due to move out of her crib and into a big girl bed and poor Hannah just needed a friend to share a room with. So here's what we did:

We turned the boys' room:
...into the girls' room!
Then we turned Hannah's room:
...into Adam and Jason's room!
And last, we turned Rachel's room:
...into Tyler's room!
Got that? I have been very pleased with the results, other than I am dying to paint and buy stuff! We're just renting this house so I am reluctant to make any permanent changes like painting, even though it would make me soooo happy. All I can say is, stay tuned...

Hydration

2010-02-25T09:42:00.003-07:00

Apparently, along with moping (not mopping...mope-ing) and complaining, I also don't take pictures in the winter. So I'm trying to think of some posts I could write that don't require "illustrations".

...which brings me to "5th Grade Maturation Program" that Tyler will be attending today. Yep, my firstborn is old enough for that stuff. Crazy. Last night Cade and I tried to prepare him for what they would talk about as delicately as we could. At the end of our little speech, Tyler says, "Yeah, I think we're mostly learning about 'hydration.'" Say what?? It was a lot of years ago, but I don't remember anything about 'hydration' from my 5th grade maturation! I begin to panic. Have I been missing something all these years???! Is it a boy thing? I have no clue what "hydration" has to do with "maturation", unless you are "vegetation". ALL THESE WORDS!!

So I ask, "Do you mean 'maturation'?"

"No, hydration, like being clean" he insists.

"Oh....HYGIENE!"

"Yeah, hygiene" he says.

Whew. Glad we got to the bottom of that one! Relieved that hydration isn't the new buzz-word in regards to puberty. Come to think of it, there are a lot of "-ation" words for an 11 year-old to keep straight. I started a mental list, but let's not go there.

Maturation. What a dumb word. I'm sure glad Cade's accompanying Tyler today. With 3 boys in a row, I get to skip out on a few "maturation" programs before Hannah takes a swing at it. At least I'll know what "-ation" term will take center stage on that day: "menstruation". Goody. That is, unless things are different in 7 years. They could be calling it "hydration" by then. Who really knows? I don't.

Have a great day!

Kay

2010-02-17T09:19:00.003-07:00

Kay is the school lunch lady. She's a great gal and I sure appreciate her little "reminder" e-mails when our balance gets low. This was todays:

Please send lunch money. So i don't have to refuse to feed your kids. Any questions please feel free to call.  Kay

Don't worry, I RAN for my checkbook after reading that.  I can just picture Kay towering over a pile of chicken patties with her arms folded crossly and shaking her head at my poor, pleading, emaciated children. I feel a response is in order, but since I am the MOST non-confrontational person in the world, this is just for fun. 

Dear Kay,

Thanks for scaring me into sending lunch money today.  A kind and friendly e-mail reminder just wouldn't have "sent the message"... I probably would have just disregarded it entirely.   I think I am finally beginning to understand that lunch money is serious business and being 45 cents in the negative is inexcusable.  It won't happen again.  I pray you never have to refuse to feed my children.

Sincerely,

Stacy Seeley

my fav

2010-02-12T08:47:00.003-07:00

Did anyone else get all emotional and goose-bumby during this commercial at the superbowl? I really loved it.

At the other end of the spectrum, Cade and the boys were all over this one. Big surprise.

Good times, good times. Happy Valentines Day Weekend! I'm getting away with my hubby tonight...
WOO-HOO!

When I get back, we have a lot of catching up to do.

Au revoir.

Introducing the Hoodie-Footie!

2010-01-15T10:43:00.006-07:00

My hubby suggested THIS for me. Says he saw it on an infomercial last night and thought of me. Can I just say it's the most genius product I've seen in a long time and really puts my poor Snuggie to shame. The Hoodie-Footie looks AWESOME. I especially like the thumb-holes. I could literally be warm from head to toe ALL THE TIME. Do you think I could get away with wearing it "out", like, in public? Just wonderin' cause I think I totally would if it meant all-encompassing warmth. Thanks for the link, Cade...you know me so well (and Valentine's Day is right around the corner. If you catch my drift. Wink.)

2010-01-13T08:45:00.019-07:00

Oh, where to start! I can't believe it's been 2 months since I last posted. Shame on me! Better late than never, right? And besides, last winter I went over 4 months without posting, so I'm actually making strides. My excuse? Same as last year. It's still Old Man Winter's fault - he makes me too cold to type. Even now I have a fleece blanket I'm huddled under, except for my wrists and fingers for ease in typing. I must also confess to you that I've taken a ridiculously scarce amount of pictures in the last 2 months and most of them are quite awful, artistically speaking. But it's now or never, people. Here is a random handful of things you've missed:

First things first. A great win for BYU against the Utes. Cade and I were a little nervous about the big game (Cade's expression says it all!) but we were victorious! YIPPEE!!!

We had the "privelege" and "pleasure" of getting out the snow gear for another "wonderful" winter season. The kids spent about 45 minutes getting ready to sled and about 20 minutes of actual sledding. What a "thrill".

This is how Rachel felt about being left out of the "fun". If this is your reaction, Rachel, then you really have no idea what you're missing.

December 10th - my birthday (I'm 35 years young!) I bought myself some cute winter clothes, apparently to channel my inner-teenager. I think this will have to become a b-day tradition.

My sister Suzanne gave me a "Snuggie" because she knows what a crybaby I am about the cold and thought it would help. It did.

Okay, on to Christmas! My friend Jodi gave me the idea for frosting and decorating sugar cones to look like Christmas trees. Genius, isn't it? We made them as part of our Christmas Eve festivities this year and set them out for Santa and his reindeer to eat. And they did.

The only other Christmas Eve tradition we had the presence of mind to photograph?
Christmas jammies.

Christmas Day:

And most recently...

Adam tickled us death with his participation in the school Geography Bee. It is a competition for 4th, 5th and 6th graders. Adam's in 4th grade and he got Second Place overall! We were so proud. Don't you love it when you're kids come out of nowhere and surprise you with their awesomeness! Apparently geography is one of Adam's "things". Definitely Cade's DNA at work on that one. Maps make me want to throw up.

Well, that about does it. It's good to be back! Two of my New Years resolutions are 1)take more/better pictures 2)be a better blogger. Keep your fingers crossed.

Hannah the Problem Solver

2009-11-19T14:40:00.004-07:00

Yesterday Rachel was causing me all sorts of grief. First, she scribbled red marker on herself, the walls and the tile. Then she reached for the hand soap in the bathroom and emptied about half the bottle on my coffee table among other places. I yelled out, exasperated "Rachel, you're driving me CRAZY!" Hannah sees the mess, hears my response and soberly offers a solution: "Mom, I think maybe we should just get rid of her." Of course I have to burst out laughing, being the responsible mother that I am. I continued to chuckle while scrubbing marker off every household surface and removing gooey hand-soap from the coffee table. I'm still laughing about it.

And no, we will not be "getting rid" of Rachel. Even though she's super naughty... I still like her.

Snow (sigh)

2009-10-27T10:37:00.007-06:00

Didn't I just do my "summer wrap-up" post? Wasn't it "too hot to run", like, yesterday? Didn't the kids just have their first day of school? I guess not...because today we have SNOW!!!

I know we are fast approaching our third winter back in Utah so I shouldn't be so surprised at how early we have our first real snow, nevertheless I am still not emotionally prepared for this, people! The perpetually cold feet, high gas bills, the wetness, the grayness, the ugliness, the can't-go-anywhere-ness. I hate it all. Is there ANY redeeming qualities about this cold time of year?! Oh wait, I can think of two:

#2I must admit, they are pretty cute in the cold and their snow hats with their tongues hanging out, hoping to catch a flake or two!

...I still prefer summer to winter, swimsuits to snowsuits, sunglasses to snow-hats, and tiny bum-cheeks to cold tongues "hanging out". I'm just sayin'...

2009-10-14T12:19:00.005-06:00

Last Monday for Family Home Evening we invited a few families over for some pre-Halloween festivities. It also doubled as a Disneyland protest party since several of our friends are living it up with Mickey Mouse this week. Can you believe the nerve of some people?

We started out by decorating some yummy pumpkin sugar cookies. See that blur in the middle of the picture? I'm pretty sure it's a ghost...maybe even the Holy Ghost, it being FHE and all.

We sent the kids outside to eat their "creations," ie. loads and loads of sugar which they washed down with even more sugar (soda). What was I thinking? We had some pretty hyper kids by the end of the night...except mine of course, who are always perfectly well behaved (winks).

Next we watched The Great Pumpkin (Charlie Brown), and then played some fun family games to finish off the night, including one the Fulks taught us called "Pinky-Fousty-Flatty-Cutty-Claw" (did I get it right, Jodi?)
The night was a success - the kids had a great time. So did the moms...

...and the dads! (Isn't that so cute that Cade and Tom match? I thought so, too - makes me wish I had coordinated with the girls... maybe next time!)

Special thanks to the Fulks, Kealamakeas and Haycocks for partying like rockstars with us!

p.s. Disneyland-Shmisneyland

Rachel's growing UP (seriously).

2009-10-09T09:04:00.003-06:00

Yes...pre-boycut, I mean haircut!

This girl has been cracking me up lately. She's been talking up a storm, which shouldn't surprise anyone who's ever been around her older sister Hannah (who never stops talking...ever). Some of the cute/funny/adorable things she's said lately:

while eating "yum,yum,yum...delicioso!" (courtesy of Dora the Explorer)
An too-enthusiastic-to-be-genuine-but-nevertheless-it-is "Thanks, mom!" for such mundane things as changing her diaper, taking her out of her crib, putting her shoes on, etc.
It starts out in a panic "MOMMY! MOM! MMOOOMMM!...then morphs into a sweet little sing-song-voice: "I lloovvee you, Mom."
I'll ask her to throw her wrapper away to which she responds: "Sure Mom!" like she's twelve or something. Ridiculous.
To complete strangers while pinching a lock of her hair: "Hannah cut my hair!" I guess it saves me the explanation, so it's all good. It's getting pretty old to Hannah, however: "Can we please stop talking about this now!" Um, no. Not until I'm thoroughly convinced you'll never do it again.

I figured I'd better record these little sound bytes here before I forget. My baby's growing up. Speaking of which, I took Rachel to the pediatrician yesterday, who matter-of-factly told me my baby daughter is mostly likely going to grow up to be at least 6 feet tall. SAY WHAT? I figured my boys would likely tower over me when they got older, but my little Rachel? Crazy. Cra-zy. I can't write anymore, I have a lump in my throat.

(p.s. You may want to watch your back, Hannah...or maybe your long, beautiful hair. Yes, Rachel's growing up...really, really UP!)

True Blue

2009-10-05T16:57:00.004-06:00

Oh yes...we're "on the trail to fame and glory".

I stole this picture off of my sister-in-law Kalisa's blog (shh, don't tell).

I think this is the real reason why we moved back to Utah from Arizona! Cade is the proudest BYU football fan that I know. He would have to be dead or dying to miss a game and we have been season ticket holders for the past going-on-three-years that we've been back to this beloved state. I really could take it or leave it now that I've been out of school for the past 12 years. Yes, I've moved on, but I have to say that there is something special about being back in the Lavell Edwards Stadium watching the Cougs play football. It sure brings back a flood of memories of my college days. Of course, back then I was a single gal checking out the "guys" more than the game! The students look so dang young now...I must really be getting old! Cade has started taking one of the kids with him to each of the home games (excluding Rachel), and I go to the other two with him. He's enjoyed spending individual time with each of them and thoroughly brainwashing them. My parents and brother Brad and his wife Kalisa also have season tickets with us so it's a real par-tay. BYU football has definitely become a family tradition and one that I hope to continue for a long, long time!

Group Effort

2009-10-04T18:53:00.004-06:00

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful...
(Do you hate that ad campaign as much as I do?)

Here's how I spent my Conference Weekend.
Apparently if I neglect my personal hygiene long enough, my kids will rally together for the good of the cause. Quite the collaborative effort, eh? I'm just glad Hannah's wielding a comb rather than scissors! Next up...makeup!

St. George

2009-09-29T09:00:00.005-06:00

I'd like to move it, move it

2009-09-23T08:56:00.003-06:00

Do you ever have those days when you are supposed to be doing 8 million things but because you don't even know where to start, you hang out at your computer all morning getting nothing accomplished? Just wonderin'. Not that that's me or anything. Wait, it is me. Well, maybe it will help if I have to be accountable to someone. How 'bout you? Would you mind if I just make a little list of things I need to get done? It might help. It certainly couldn't hurt. Here goes:

clean up breakfast and kitchen
get myself ready for the day
get the girls ready for the day (at least I don't have to fix Rachel's hair anymore, since it's all gone)
go to the craft store
work on Pretty Petal stuff to get ready for the What a Woman Wants Show this weekend (I need to finish making about 200 bows, among other things)
make (cupcake) labels for Laura's baby shower that's tomorrow
make ribbon decorations
make cupcakes
make some phone calls
get Hannah to preschool
get Jason to Primary party
get Tyler to soccer practice
try and go running
try to get on my husband's good side (I've been stressed and ornery)
figure out dinner
blog (oooh, almost done with that one!)

That's it, folks. It really did help to write it down and make myself accountable to someone (sweet, thoughtful YOU). Thanks for humoring me. Let's see how many check-marks we can get by the end of the day. On your mark...get set...GO!!!

Oh my HAIR!

2009-09-21T16:47:00.010-06:00

Have you ever wondered what your kids would look like if they were the opposite sex? I always did. I used to put hair bows on my boys when they were babies just to see what a little Seeley girl would look like before I had any girls. Well, after yesterday, I no longer have to wonder. I know exactly what a male version of Rachel would look like, thanks to her big sis Hannah!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Thanks to my next door neighbor Wendy and her scissors we evened things up a bit and now I don't burst into tears every time I look at Rachel. Good thing I have lots of headbands, beanies, bows and flowers to help girl-ify my very boy-ish looking child!

Bye-bye hair, nice knowing ya!

The culprit after some "words" about the horrific nature of her deeds.Moms, now might be a good time to reiterate to your preschool children about the illicit use of scissors. Do it now before it's too late. Let Rachel be an example...don't let your child become the next victim. Or perpetrator.

St. George

2009-09-15T16:17:00.004-06:00

Every year for the past three years now, my Arizona BFFs and I go on a trip together and pretend that we aren't getting any older and that we don't have a care in the world because for 4 days, we aren't and we really don't, respectively. It's great fun! First it was the Oregon coast, then it was Chicago. This year we chose somewhere "driveable" for economical purposes and somewhere where we could do a little less sight-seeing and a lot more RELAXING. We chose St. George, Utah. The funny thing is, the girls all chipped in to fly me to Phoenix so we could all drive to St. George together since I'm the only one living out-of-state. So basically, I flew across St. George in an airplane just to spend the next 7 hours driving back. My husband is still shaking his head on that one. But if you are a girl, you understand that if you miss all the female bonding going on in the car-ride you might as well just stay home! It's crazy but it's true. Besides, where else can you sing Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You" at the top of your lungs except in a car with your girlfriends?

I don't have any pictures yet because Tiff was the designated "photographer" with her fancy camera and oodles of "know-how". Once she sends them to me...a-hem...I will post them.

We were lucky enough to score free housing at Jill's in-laws house. They were out-of-town so we had the whole place to ourselves including a gorgeous pool in the backyard to relax in...and we did. Besides doing nothing at the pool, we managed to fit in all the things girls do on getaway trips: eating, pedicures, eating, shopping, eating, chick flick, eating, crafting, eating, card games, eating. Did I mention all the fabulous eating?! It's going to take me weeks to shed those extra pounds, but totally worth it! Luckily we laughed almost as much as we ate, till our sides hurt...I'll call that "ab-work." Exercise...CHECK!

We also tried to season our trip with a little spiritual, and a little cultural, too:

We visited the St. George Utah temple and did an endowment session together. It was a beautiful temple and a special experience to have with the girls.

The highlight of the trip had to be this:

It was amazing! This ampitheatre is a unique experience and the production was fantastic. And yes, there were tears shed.

The trip was everything I hoped it would be, and more. I think I speak for all of us when I say I came home a better wife, mother and friend than when I left.

Can't wait for next year!

15 years ago

2009-09-09T11:01:00.007-06:00

Aren't you so proud of my diligence in posting? I think I might actually be turning over a new leaf!

You see those two lovebirds on the 2nd and 3rd from the left? That's Cade and I and that's what falling in love looks like, baby! This was taken almost exactly 15 years ago (1994) at the top of the "Y' at BYU. We went hiking with a bunch of friends from "the Riv". Love was definitely in the air, although I don't think we had officially said "the words" yet. Tee-hee.

15 years and 5 kids later...

We hiked the "Y" again on Monday (Labor Day) as a family and I couldn't help but think about all that has changed in the last 15 years and all the ways we have been blessed.
I can't wait to see what the next 15 have in store...hopefully I'll be back on the "Y" in 2014 with my husband and kids (and maybe a grandkid or 2).
I'm pretty sure it's good luck.

(p.s. I'll be back posting on Monday after I get back from St. George. I'll miss you.)

Photo Shoot

2009-09-08T09:21:00.010-06:00

My friend Jodi offered to take pictures of my girls last Friday with her awesome, new camera...I obliged (that was a no-brainer!) She did an amazing job in my humble, unbiased opinion.
Here are a few of my favs:

It's so great having muti-talented friends.
Thanks, Jodi!

"Eye" see you!

2009-09-06T09:20:00.003-06:00

Someone's been playing with my camera...and they've incriminated themselves with this amateur self-snapshot. Not very smart.
Now I just need to figure out which hooligan that eyeball belongs to.
Any guesses?

A Great Partnership

2009-09-03T08:39:00.003-06:00

I just love watching these two sisters interact with one another and develop their sweet little relationship. That's not to say that Hannah never gets frustrated with Rachel and they never fight, but Hannah loves her baby sister and I'm so glad that they have each other. They need each other.

Hannah needs Rachel:

Rachel is one more person for Hannah to talk to. Hannah talks all day every day, so to have someone follow her around and hang on her every word is priceless (ie. you couldn't pay me to do it!)
Hannah has a soft, nurturing heart and I'm so happy that she has someone to "practice" on. When Rachel is upset or hurt, Hannah is almost in tears herself anguishing over her sister's pain. It's the sweetest thing to watch Hannah "mother" and fuss over someone else the way she does to Rachel. If she didn't have a younger sibling, how would she ever develop this trait?
Hannah KNOWS that Rachel loves, respects and adores her. Everyone wants to know they are loved...and by as many people as possible. Because Hannah knows she is loved by her little sister her self esteem is strong and she is growing more confident in herself every day.
Hannah gets to call the shots...for now, anyway. Hannah wants to make all of the decisions and be in control all of the time. I have to remind her, on occasion, that I'M the mom which she is grudgingly learning to accept. However, when she's playing with Rachel, she gets to make the decisions - what to play, how to play, etc. which satisfies her need to "boss" and Rachel is more than happy to oblige. I know this will change someday and Rachel will not want to go along with everything Hannah says, but for now it is a blessing...for all of us!

Rachel needs Hannah:

Attention, attention, attention. Rachel is the youngest of five children, so I obviously am unable to devote constant attention to any one of them, even her. Thankfully, Hannah (and her brothers) give her plenty. With the boys in school now, Rachel has a constant companion in Hannah!
Rachel is being positively reinforced. It's become apparent to me, over the last few months especially, that Rachel is a total goofball! She is destined to become the family clown and every family has one. Whenever Rachel says or does something silly, the kids (mostly Hannah) roar with laughter until she does it again, and again, and again. She's like a performing monkey and Hannah's training her well!
Rachel likes to be taken care of, and Hannah likes taking care! Win/Win.
Rachel is the lucky recipient of Hannah's expertise... in all things princess, ponies, babies, Barbies, reading, writing, Dora, Diva, drawing, jewelry, fantasy and fairytale. Thanks Hannah.

You two deserve each other!

2009-09-01T16:04:00.002-06:00

So, my Tyler is growing up. Last week he landed his first babysitting gig for someone other than me. He has been asking me for months if he could start babysitting. I thought it would be good for him to earn money doing something he likes doing and learn responsibility so I put a plug in for him to several friends and soon enough my sweet friend Emily popped the question:

"Tyler would you like to babysit?"

Tyler of course answered with an enthusiastic "Yes!" He was over the moon about it and began preparing for B-Day. As we were discussing basic babysitting etiquette, I began to get a little emotional about my little boy being big enough to babysit. "Where did all the time go? How did he get so old? That means now I'm old...WAAAAHHHH!!" You know the drill. I sulked while he was off on his first job and marveled at his oldness.

After an hour he returned triumphantly with a glorious five dollar bill clutched in both hands. He was so proud and I was proud too, and I fought the urge to pick him up and cradle him like a baby for old times sake (that would not have gone over very well). The moment was lost when not one minute after returning home Tyler asked if I could take him to the store so he could buy candy and soda! HOORAY! Spoken like a true non-adult, Tyler. Attaboy!

And YES, I would love to take you to go buy candy and soda!

"Another One Bites the Dust..."

2009-08-30T15:36:00.009-06:00

On Saturday I ran the Legacy Parkway Half-Marathon. My good friend, Crystal, ran it with me (or ahead of me, I should say). It was a hard race for me. It was hot outside and running in a straight line for 13.1 miles was less than thrilling! But we did it and I beat my previous time by 5 minutes coming in at 2:06 so I'm good with that.

(I love it that Rachel is handing me my Gatorade - what a cutie! Cade made arrangements for the boys to get to their soccer games so he could watch me finish my race along with Hannah and Rachel. I get all choked up seeing my family cheering and supporting me at every race. How awesome!)

So, it was a hard race. Thank goodness we have our I-pods to keep us movin', right? For the first couple of miles, things were going good and my music was definitely my friend, playing songs like "Let's Get it Started" (Black-Eyed Peas) and "Move Along" (All-American Rejects). I felt like the lyrics were directed right at me and I pressed on enthusiastically. However, pretty soon...about mile 3...my I-pod turned on me! The messages in the songs began to get a little discouraging, to say the least. I am not kidding, these are the songs I listened to on my race:

Mile 3..........Help! (The Beatles)
Me:"I need somebody...not just anybody...how about a paramedic?"

Mile 4..........I Can't Break Away (Big Pig)
Me:"I really CAN'T break away...my legs won't go any faster!"

Mile 5..........The Hardest Part (Coldplay)
Me:"This is definitely the hardest part...wait, NOW it's the hardest part!"

Mile 6..........Take Me Out (Franz Ferdinand)
Me:"...to the port-o-potty gosh-dang-it, or this whole race for all I care!"

Mile 7..........I Think I'm Paranoid (Garbage)
Me:"I thought I passed you already, Mr. Shortstootight...I think I AM Paranoid!"

Mile 8..........Crazy (Gnarles Barkley)
Me:"...for ever signing up for this stinkin' race!"

Mile 9..........Harder to Breathe (Maroon 5)
Me:"Not!...Enough!...Oxygen!"

Mile 10........Here it Goes Again (OK Go)
Me:"Where's the next port-o-potty!!!!!"

Mile 11.........Hate (Plain White Ts)
Me:"Hate IS a strong word, but I really really really don't like this!"

Mile 12........Under Pressure (Queen)
Me:"If I don't beat my last time, so help me!"

Mile 13.........I Wanna Be Sedated (The Ramones)
Me:"SERIOUSLY!"

My songs were literally "speaking" to me, I tell ya! I think on my next race I'll re-think my playlist. Maybe then I wouldn't have such a bad attitude. Any suggestions?

Turning 2

2009-08-28T15:50:00.006-06:00

The Great Thing About Turning 2:
It's ALL about the cupcake!!

We love you Rachel. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Farewell to Summer

2009-08-25T09:13:00.023-06:00

Well, today's the day I get back to bloggin'! I know you're excited, I am too. Instead of making this post a 4 hour read catching up on the last..um...few...months, I will make a Top Ten list so you only have to read the highlights. We both win, right? Well then, it's settled!

10. The Boys Started School.

Yesterday was a little bitter-sweet to me. We've had a fun summer and I like having all my babies with me under one roof...but let's face it, it was time to part ways! I realize that it appears from this picture that I have not abandoned my "matching" propensity, but it really is just a happy coincidence that all three are color-coordinated. Tyler is starting 5th grade, Adam 4th and Jason 2nd. What good boys!

9. I'm a Runner
It's been one of those things that I've wanted to get back into for the last 10 years or so, but just couldn't quite get up the courage, if that makes any sense. I started training for a 5K last Spring and ran it with my neighborhood friends and I was hooked! I have ran 3 more races since including the Provo half-marathon and hope to continue to run. It makes me happy.

8. Hannah Solidified Her "Diva" Status
Hannah's dance recital was so cute and Hannah has decided the spotlight is a pretty great place to be! She really enjoys singing, and dancing and is so theatrical about everything. She lights up a room with her big personality and I can't imagine our family without her!

7. Tyler and Adam Conquered Another Pinewood Derby!

I'm still intrigued by the whole Pinewood Derby "phenomenon" and cannot figure out for the life of me why on earth it matters so much that my children not lose this annual "Who's Dad Cares the Most" competition. Apparently, Dad cares about Hannah, too.
...why else would he wear this hideous...er...lovely tie Hannah made for him at preschool to church on Father's Day?

6. Cade and I took a Much Needed Vacation.
2 days in San Diego, 2 days in Aneheim. No kids. Need I say more?

5. We Went to our First Air Show
We went with our friends - the Remingtons, Childs and Kealamakias. It was fun, but unfortunately the Thunderbirds performed last...about 90 minutes after my kids ran out of steam and had to go home. Bummer!
Next year, we'll come at the end!

4. We Decided Kaysville is a Pretty Great Place to Spend the 4th of July.
We get to WALK to the parade from our house, and the kids collect obscene amounts of salt water taffy and merchandise (stuffed animals, bead necklaces and neckties...yes, neckties!) Fireworks, too, are just a hop, skip and a jump away from our front door. We may never leave this blessed town simply for the fun-factor on this one day.
...Our cousins agree!

3. Our kids are definitely on "the straight and narrow"! (are YOURS?)

...AND holding to the the iron rod! We toured the Church History Museum this summer and couldn't resist this photo-op. Should I be concerned about Hannah's one-foot-on-one-foot-off stance? Hmmmm..."plant BOTH feet, children!"

2. I have a few friends now.

...and they're pretty great!

1. This is What we Did Most of the Summer

Jodi took the picture and told me it was "blog-worthy" (even though those white legs definitely aren't!) Thanks for inviting us swimming a lot..oh yeah...and teaching my daughter how to swim (no more floaties for Hannah!)

Goodbye Summer. We'll miss you!!

Check THIS out.

2009-03-03T09:15:00.010-07:00

Today is shaping up to be a pretty good day! I am at my computer looking out the window at THIS:

Clear blue skies, majestic white-peaked mountains
(and as an added bonus, 4 of my neighbors backyards!)

It's a beautiful and dare I say warm day (that's relative, of course), and my sister and I might even head over to the mall with our youngsters in celebration. It all depends on how much I can get done in the next couple of hours, thanks to THIS:

Don't get me wrong, I love her to death and she's cute as a bug, but she's at that stage where she's only happy in my arms or under my feet . Here she is at the bottom of the stairs with her crocodile tears because I had to run and get my camera out of my purse for 2 seconds and I chose not to take her with. Girls sure know how to whip up the tears in a hurry, sheesh.

I've successfully sent THESE off to school:

Here are the boys a couple of weeks ago in Wayne County Utah, doing some
field research with their dad for Tyler's upcoming county project at school. They are such good boys and I just love it when they get along, which fortunately is most of the time.

Thank goodness for THIS:

Here's Hannah "helping" me at a Pretty Petal boutique last Saturday in Sandy. Hannah has been such a sweetheart lately. She's becoming so capable and caring, and she's almost always happy and enthusiastic about whatever we're doing. I will miss her companionship when I'm not the center of her universe anymore. Why do they have to grow up? I'm loving this stage!

And on the very rare occasion, thank goodness for THIS...

Last week I discovered Rachel sprawled out on the floor watching television. Her normal attention span for T.V. is about 5 seconds and that's with me holding her, so imagine my surprise!

I probably should be doing THIS...

There's even a sink-ful to replace 'em!

Or THIS...

Why does it never end?

Or even THIS...

Believe it or not I am actually developing a relationship with my
elliptical machine of all things.
The love may even outweigh the hate at this stage (did I just type that?)

Instead I blog.
Because I feel like it.
For once.

Confessions of a Mom-aholic

2009-02-20T12:52:00.004-07:00

On Wednesday night I celebrated the fact that my husband was not out of town for a change, by leaving him with the kids and having a girls' night with my little sis. We first went to California Pizza Kitchen downtown and had a delicious dinner that I had spent all day starving myself for. Then we hit a few stores at the Gateway that I am either not cool enough for (Anthropologie) or apparently not slutty enough for (Wet Seal). Good times! Then it was off to the movies. We saw "Confessions of a Shopoholic" which was pretty good I have to admit. We snapped these photos in the theater before the movie started. These were the best we could do (you should have seen the out-takes...scary). As you can see, we even traded seats to see if that would help our cause (to get the very best picture of the both of us). It really didn't. We pigged out on candy (smuggled in, of course) and for the first time in quite a while I didn't feel like the beleaguered, overwhelmed, distracted mother of five that I am. I have found that when I take a time-out from the daily grind for even a few hours, I feel renewed, invigorated, better. Many thanks to Suz for being there for me. Many thanks to Cade for being a great and supportive husband to me. The best part of the night had to be coming home to a clean house that I didn't have to clean and sleeping kids that I didn't have to put to bed. Not only that, Cade had helped Tyler study for his spelling test and read scriptures with the kids (our new goal that is really really hard to do consistently). Maybe the weight of the world (or at least this household) isn't entirely on my shoulders after all!

I'm Baaaack!

2009-02-17T10:31:00.003-07:00

Not that anyone actually navigates over to my blog anymore after my ridiculous 2+ month hiatus, but for the one or two of you who haven't totally given up on me, I'm back and you don't have to look at my "Happy Holidays" background anymore...I fast-forwarded to "Retro Spring". Nice.

If we must play the blame game, and I do feel we must...I blame Old Man Winter. Yes, Old Man Winter hates me, he's out to get me. It's his fault I stopped blogging...and cooking...and cleaning...and cracking a smile. I hate that guy! He left me alone for the 8 years we lived in Arizona and I almost forgot about him, too. Last year we moved from the in-laws house to our own and so the elation from that transition carried me through until Spring and I was able to give to give Old Man the "cold shoulder" so to speak. This year he's been my constant companion since about mid-November. I've tried to combat him, really I have...with my dear hubby's help. In an effort to keep me constantly warm, my birthday/Christmas presents consisted of:

a space heater - that really warm one from Costco! I cart it around the house with me.
an electric mattress pad - I just preheat the bed every night so I don't have to do "snow-angels" under my covers for 10 minutes.
lot's of hoodies and sweats so my bare skin doesn't ever have to come in contact with Old Man Winter.
really good snow boots so my little piggies will never be chilled on the rare occasion that I venture outdoors.
an electric blanket that I returned to Target because I thought it was overkill. I'm now re-thinking that decision.
Other items that I've put to good use this winter: our fireplace (I don't even look at the gas bill, not that it would stop me!), my hot cocoa machine (thanks Lorena) and last but not least, my jet tub.

Have I forgotten anything?

This morning I woke up and decided today was the day to "get over it" and snub Old Man Winter once and for all by returning to my normal activites. As I walked down the stairs, humming a tune, I glanced outside to discover a blanket of fresh snow and flakes the size of...really big snowflakes! It's now 11:00 a.m. and they're still coming down fast and furious, but I don't care because I'm BLOGGING! Ha! Ha! Take that, Old Man Winter. Even you can't stop me. I may not have taken any pictures since December to blog about and my memory card may be lost (isn't that ironic?), preventing me from taking any pictures anytime soon. My 18 month-old may be permanently latched onto my leg, whining pathetically as I type away. Yes, my computer may be on it's last leg, shutting down for no reason in the middle of my post so soon after conquering a "trojan virus" (sounds ominous), but by gar I will persevere to the end or at least until I've pressed "publish post". I owe it to my devoted reader(s?)

For those who have been wondering what you've missed during Seeley Winter Hiatus '09 the answer is...unfortunately not much! I will catch up soon...baby steps. Now if you don't mind I'm going to show Old Man Winter who's boss by attending to my personal hygiene and maybe even fixing the girls some yummy lunch. I feel stronger already.

Hurry Spring. (Pleeeease)

A Holiday Potpourri

2008-12-07T17:35:00.009-07:00

Has it really been 3 weeks since my last post? Hmmm...so it has!

Well, I guess I'd better hurry and get a post up on my poor blog before I get sucked into all the momentum of Christmas and become crazed and incoherent like I do every year. Here are a few things we've been up to as of late:Cade returned from Ireland - hooray! He was able to see lots of gorgeous scenery like this while he was there. Cool, huh?

(FYI and totally off-subject, my tooth is feeling just fine now thanks to a root canal that took place just hours after publishing my last post. Thanks Dr. Jacobsen, for taking away my extreme physical pain for a small fortune. It was so worth it!)

3 words: Viva La Coldplay! (What an incredible concert). Cade and I both love Coldplay and it was great to sing along to all the songs and rock out like a couple of idiotic teenagers. Aaahhh!

Jason started basketball. He's by far the shortest kid on the whole team, as half of them are a grade older. But of course Jason sees that as a challenge and plays even more competetively. That kid is brutal out there and when he does something awesome, he casually glances over at us with his cute little half-smile, which we are inclined to return two-fold.

Hannah had her first dance recital of all time. She was a train-wreck at both dress rehearsals, hanging on my leg and other such nonsense so I was obviously very concerned she wouldn't be able to make it through the performance with me (and my leg) out in the audience. That's where bribery comes in. I let her pick out a cute little make-up set at Walmart for her to have AFTER her performance. I told her that if she felt compelled to hang on my leg, we would have to return the present. It worked! She was all confidence and smiles up there on the stage...what a little diva! Here she is in her skimpy-little-costume-that-I-had-no-control-over. Enough said. She also had a cute and modest Cindy Lou Who costume she wore for her Grinch song "Where Are You Christmas?" (Like the hairdo?) That was so precious and I was beaming with pride the whole time. She hasn't stopped talking about her recital so I'm hopeful that her jitters are a thing of the past now.

This may not be blog-worthy to you, but I miraculously configured Rachel's hair into little pig tails the other day. I only did it that one day because they were a lot of trouble and came out easily, but someday soon these cute little piggies will be a regular occurrence.

Is it just me or is this girl flippin' cute? She was even saying "cheese" at the time, that's how confident she felt about her adorableness. My little Santa Momma!

I finally got a around to this old thing. I mean, it's the perfect size...if you're a little person, which I am not. I really need a new tree but there's always something I need more than a dang Christmas tree and I never seem to have mutiple hundreds of dollars burning a whole in my pocket...so there it is in all of it's six-foot (that's being generous) glory!

Other Items of Blog-Worthiness, But Alas, No Photo Documentation:

1. Thanksgiving Dinner. It was lovely...thanks for asking.
2. Adam and his new braces...and headgear..and palate expander. (Now you know why a new Christmas tree is out of the question this year!)
3. Making chocolates with my mom. We had some great mother/daughter bonding, and the chocolates taste delicious but they're not very pretty like Grandma Peterson's, so I've made the difficult decision to not give them as neighbor gifts this year and eat them for myself. We may try again and if they don't turn out I'll eat those too, and so on, and so on.

Today: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

2008-11-17T20:33:00.005-07:00

The GOOD:

For once I got the garbage can out to the curb BEFORE the garbage truck came by this morning...and I wasn't running...or barefoot...or bra-less.
Someone returned my garbage can back to it's spot before I did. I think it was Bro. Zobell. Thanks, man.
I paid less than 2 bucks a gallon for gas today for the first time in ages. Hooray!!
The sun was shining and it was warm - not Arizona-in-November-warm, but warm nonetheless.
Cade's having a great time in Ireland - other than the fact that his lovely wife is not there to accompany him, of course. He sent us an e-mail with lots of cool pictures which we poured over for Family Home Evening (Thanks babe, for getting me out of planning a lesson!)
I got a good chuckle out of Adam and Jason's keyboarding "practice" earlier tonight. I felt compelled to copy and paste what they typed: JASON POOPOLAST NIGHT I POOPED IN MY PANTS. Aren't boys the best!
I ate about 15 pumpkin chocolate chip cookies today. Mmmm.

The BAD:

I have this tooth that is seriously KILLING me. It's been bothering me off and one for a while but today the pain is definitely "on". It's been incessant and throbbing all day except for the 2 or so hours of relief that my 3 Tylenol/2 Motrin cocktail provided. I need to have another root canal done on this poor bugger, but I'm trying to wait until January so insurance will cover it. Think I'll make it?
My hair. I hate it. Today especially.
Cade's in Ireland. The ratio of adults to children here is 5:1. I'm the lucky "1".
I'm out of whole milk for Rachel. Sorry squirt...today it's 1% or bust!
Have I mentioned that my tooth hurts?
I ate about 15 pumpkin chocolate chip cookies today. Oh dear....

The UGLY:

Rachel has "blown out" of every diaper I have put her in today. That's a less-gross way of saying "diarrhea." I can dress her up, but I can definitely NOT take her out.
Tyler has "refunded" every meal he's eaten today. That's a less-gross way of saying "barf". At one point this was only classified as "bad". It got "ugly" when I came downstairs and discovered Tyler's puddles-O'-vomit (that's for you in Ireland, Cade) trailing from the family room to the bathroom (he never actually made it INTO the bathroom), one of which I stepped in. Jessica, we could've used your Barf Training Video at Family Home Evening tonight. Maybe Tyler would have made it to the bathroom sooner and I wouldn't have cursed. On the bright side, after using a gallon of Pine-Sol, my kitchen tile is cleaner than it's ever been!
I feel like Tom Hanks on Castaway, tortured by tooth pain so severe he takes matters into his own hands. If I run out of Tylenol/Motrin, so help me...
I ate about 15 pumpkin chocolate chip cookies today. YIKES!!

Tomorrow's Forecast? More good, less bad and hopefully NO more ugly...at least until Cade gets back.

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-04T16:59:00.000-07:00

Tyler - 1 Decade Old!

2008-11-01T10:34:00.010-06:00

My first-born has hit the double-digits - Aaahhhh! The big one-oh...10! We started out the special day with his favorite breakfast of scones. Tyler loves scones . He doesn't love school but he had to go anyway, which was okay because he was spotlighted in his class all week long. I made a poster about him to display in his classroom. It looked like this: I went into his class later that week to tell some things about Tyler. He had asked me to bring our new bunny rabbits to show everyone. I didn't really want to haul the bunnies over to the school along with Hannah and Rachel. I asked him if it was really important for him to show the bunnies or would he rather bring his sisters instead. He thought for a minute then chose...his sisters! What a sweet boy - his love for his sisters never ceases to amaze me. He is a natural caretaker and that's a pretty good quality to have if you ask me. I told his class all about the funny things he did as a baby and all the reasons why Tyler's so awesome. After school, four of Tyler friends came home with him and we all went mini-golfing at Cherry Hill. Here are the birthday guests: Aunt Dorrie, Bekkah, Aunt Marcie and Ava joined us there for the festivities, too. They actually enjoy the whole birthday scene instead of just pretending...CRAZY! We came back to the house for pizza and ice cream and green cupcakes (Tyler's choice). The party wouldn't be complete without a few wacky gifts/photo ops! Looking good, T! Hannah was pretty adorable too, don't you think? The day was a success...mission complete. Happy Birthday Tyler!

Tagged! - Chapters 3-7

2008-10-31T16:31:00.005-06:00

So it's Halloween, and I REALLY want to be able to blog about Halloween and show you how adorable my kids look. I also really want to blog about Tyler's B-day last week (for heaven's sake!) but I can't because I'm too far behind on my "Tagged!" blog. So here's Chapters 3-7 ...CONDENSED!

3. I have a totally irrational fear of being eaten by a shark.
I think I will go ahead and blame my parents for this one - letting me watch "Jaws" at too young of an age. Yup, it's their fault for sure. I remember having nightmares about sharks all through my childhood. They'd start out harmless enough...lets say a family drive out in the country. Well the countryside would somehow turn into the oceanside, and the car would drive off a cliff and into the ocean and everyone would be able to get out but me and I would get eaten by a shark. Every time. Inevitably. I even had nightmares about killer whales being released in public swimming pools unbeknownst to all the poor pool patrons, and of course everyone made it out but me. These nightmares had lasting repurcussions on my daily life. Swimming pools were difficult. Lakes were treacherous. Oceans were out of the question. Oceans still are...hate 'em. There are sharks in there and they want ME. So I guess living in Utah is a pretty safe bet when you are terrified of sharks...phew!

4. I'm a Kindergarten teacher who never went to Kindergarten.
My students always got a kick out of me telling them that. My family moved from Utah to Alberta, Canada when I was 5 years old. It was the summer before I was to start Kindergarten. When we got to Canada, my parents were informed that because the school deadlines were different there, I would be the oldest Kindergartner in my class. My parents were given the option to send me to Kindergarten as planned or bump me up to first grade to be with the children closer to my age. I met both teachers and decided I wanted to be in Kindergarten because she was much prettier than the first grade teacher. However, my parents overruled me and sent me to first grade...I mean "grade 1" (that's how they say it in Canada, eh!) It was never a problem until we moved back to the United States a few years later and I instantly became the youngest in my grade. I kinda hated being the last in my grade to graduate from Primary, drive, date, you name it. I kinda loved starting college at 17, though, so I guess it all evens out. It occurred to me when I got my first teaching job that I was in Kindergarten for the first time...at the ripe old age of 22! I would tell my students that they would have to help teach me the fundamentals of Kindergarten like staying in the lines and cutting with scissors since I had missed that. They would laugh and laugh at silly Mrs. Seeley. 5 year-olds are so good for my ego!

5. I look at my hands when I type and play the piano.
...and I don't think it has anything to do with skipping Kindergarten, OKAY? I took many years of piano lessons as well as years of "keyboarding" in middle school and I still, for the life of me, cannot not look at my hands! I gave up on the piano thing a long time ago, but I type all the time. It's very aggravating. Because I have to always look at my hands, I am not a very fast typist either, which stinks. Somehow I made it through college just fine and I get by now, too, just not as good as the rest of y'all. I am sure it is a learning disability of some sort that has yet to be diagnosed. Until then, I will go on feeling inadequate...it's fine. (Am I completely alone in this? Is there ANYONE else out there who still looks at their hands when they type? Anyone?)

6. I am REALLY good at word games.
Well, maybe just above average, but still. I must speak out about my above average abilities in the word game department because I happen to be married to one of the smartest guys in the world (he could totally BURY you at Trivial Pursuit). This guy knows more about everything and nothing than anyone. He just knows stuff. Frankly, I love that about him. He's like the flesh and blood version of Wikipedia. I'm not kidding. He's going to make us a million dollars on Jeopardy, but that's an entirely different post! Anyway, I discovered early in our marriage that I was better at word games than Cade. What a revelation that was! I could beat him at Scrabble and Boggle like 75% of the time...and I still can. I think it sorta bugs him...or maybe he just pretends it bugs him so I can feel even prouder of my word game prowess. I love words. I love word games. Forget Trivial Pursuit, let's play Scrabble!

7. My most embarassing moment.
What tag would be complete without an embarassing moment thrown in! I was a junior in high school. I lived very close to the school...a stone's throw. The fastest way to get to and from school was by cutting through a vacant lot, hopping a chain link fence and walking across the football field and into the school. That's the way everyone in my neighborhood did it, including me. The only time I walked the long way to/from school was if I was wearing a dress or skirt so as to avoid the chain link fence climbing. Well, one autumn day I was in a hurry to get home after school. I had on a "mini-skirt" (a popular fashion in the early 1990's) that day, but decided I could handle the fence, mini-skirt and all! I had my friend Tara with me who volunteered to "shield" me should I be any less than discreet during my fence-hop. I climbed up the fence until I could swing my legs around and perched myself on the top of the fence. As I jumped off the fence, the bottom of my skirt caught on something. I landed with both feet on the ground - unfortunately my skirt was yanked all the way up, still snagged on the fence! I stood there mortified as my "friend" Tara laughed her head off. I couldn't un-snag myself without Tara hoisting me up. She made her way over the fence and lifted me up and I became free and quickly pulled my skirt down. Unfortunately the damage had been done. As I turned around to face the school and see if anyone had witnessed my horrendous little peep-show, I realized that the entire Alta High football team had witnessed my horrendous little peep-show. They even gave me a round of applause (eat your heart out Marilyn Monroe!) I must have been as red as a tomato - I would have cried but they probably would have just clapped harder so I just turned and ran home (I should have curtsied). Needless to say, I never tried hopping the fence in a skirt after that. I'm scarred for life.

The End.

Tagged! - Chapter 2

2008-10-21T22:18:00.002-06:00

Okay, so this probably won't we an actual "chapter" like my last post (because it's almost bedtime) and yes, I realize I didn't keep my word about posting for seven days straight...sorry. On with the show.

#2 I love almost any recipe with a special ingredient, especially if that special ingredient is sour cream.

I thought my mom was INSANE when I first saw her dump sour cream in her sugar cookie dough. SICK! But when I finally got up the nerve to taste 'em, they were delicious and I knew it was all because of the special ingredient...sour cream! Special indeed. Now I specifically look for recipes with sour cream in it and I'm almost never disappointed. I don't know what it is about sour cream in stuff - I'm no food scientist, but I'm pretty sure there is some chemical reaction that occurs and transforms any recipe from ordinary to exraordinary in a single dollup! From cookies and cakes to soups and casseroles, you really can't go wrong with sour cream. It's the special-est.

Now, sour cream isn't the only special ingredient I love, although it is probably my most favorite. Another is soda pop. I've used it to slow cook meet, I've added it to cobblers and most recently in making my friend Jill's to-die-for apple dumplings that I've made twice in the past 5 days and literally close my eyes and go to heaven for a few minutes while eating. I'll never look at a can of Sprite the same way again. I'm in awe.

Now , I could go on and on but I won't. Have you any special ingredients that I need to know about. Do tell!! In the meantime, here are a couple of "special ingredient" recipes to try...if you DARE!

White Chili
1 lb. diced chicken
1 medium onion, chopped
1Tbs. oil
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. oregano
cayenne pepper (optional)
2 cans white beans, drained
1 can chicken broth
2 cans (4oz.) diced green chilies
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whipping cream
Saute chicken, onion and garlic powder in oil. Add beans, green chilies, chicken broth & seasonings; bring to boil. Reduce heat and
simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in sour cream and whipping cream. Serve with sliced olives, shredded
cheese, and tortilla chips (Hint of Lime Tostitos are my favorite!)

Apple Dumplings

4 granny smith apples peeled, cored and cut into quarters

2 cans pillsbury cresent rolls

2 sticks butter

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 t. vanilla

1/2 - 1 can moutain dew, gingerale or sprite

cinnamon

Roll up each apple quarter in a crescent roll and place side by side in a buttered 13 x 9 pan. Melt butter. BARELY (and this is the secret) BARLEY stir in the sugar and vanilla. Don't let the sugar dissolve. Just stir till combined - but BARELY :) Pour over apples. Then pour your soda around the edges of the pan. Bake for 40 min at 350 until pretty and brown on top. Cool for 15-20 min and enjoy!!!!

Tagged! - Chapter 1

2008-10-15T15:18:00.004-06:00

I've been TAGGED by two different people (Thanks Monica and Suzanne!) so I guess I'll humor the both of you and enlighten the world with this post wherein I will attempt to share 7 interesting/weird facts about myself. Here goes...AHEM...

1. I am Obsessed with Sleep

(Sadly, I can find absolutely no photo documentation of me sleeping. Troubling, really. I'll have to add that to Cade's "to do" list...take pictures of me sleeping for the blog!)

I think I love to sleep more than most people. When I pull those covers back each night and climb into my bed, I'm almost giddy with anticipation and I easily slide into unconsciousness with an immense feeling of joy and satisfaction. Love it. Waking up, however, is the bane of my existence, so no, I am definitely not a morning person. Cade tells me that when I'm pregnant I whimper in my sleep like a puppy. He finally figured out that it was because I had to go to the bathroom (again, like a puppy) but truly DID NOT want to have to wake up and go so he started rolling me out of bed and making me go whenever I'd start up with the whimpering.
Every day when I wake up I feel like I am dead or dying. I convince myself that I am definitely sleep deprived and VOW that I will make time for a nap that day, which really only happens about 5% of the time. I used to nap almost every day when life wasn't so chaotic and I only had a couple of small children - they were on a strict schedule and always napped at the same time. Once they were down, I would frantically tidy the house (I can't sleep if the house isn't tidy...otherwise I feel irresponsible and lazy), take the phone off the hook...and sleep. They say you can't "make up" sleep if you lose a few hours one day, but I beg to differ!! I always make up lost sleep, it drives me crazy if I don't. I need about eight hours of sleep to feel happy and productive throughout the day - if I'm at six or seven you can "rest" assured I will find a way to make up that lost hour or two. Sundays are Hog Heaven for me. I LOVE early morning church because it means I get a longer nap. And the best part is that we as Latter-Day Saints are actually encouraged to sleep on Sundays - it's keeping the Sabbath Day perfectly holy and I'm confident that I am being blessed immeasurably for it.
Thankfully Cade's completely opposite of me. 5 hours of sleep is plenty for him so he's quite accommodating toward my borderline-psychotic need for sleep. I'm usually in bed by 11 p.m. each night and sleep as late as I possibly can and still make breakfast and get the kids ready for school. There's no early morning scripture study or early-bird workouts at the gym for me. Nope...not if it cuts into my "sleepin' time". Tyler actually listed "sleeping" as my favorite hobby during a Mother's Day Newlywed Game-type activity at church. Everyone laughed. "Silly Tyler," they all thought "kids say the darndest things!" Little did they know he was right on the money! It's okay. Other moms quilt, read, scrapbook, and paint. I sleep...and I'll keep on sleeping. It's how I roll.

Okay, so Fun Fact #1 was so long that I've decided to drag my "Tag" out into 7 separate posts. Hopefully I can do one each day for a week...between naps, of course!

CHICAGO, What a Wonderful Town!

2008-09-29T16:54:00.021-06:00

I don't mean to sound braggy, but I have the BEST best friends in the whole wide world. The five of us became friends years ago while living in the same ward/neighborhood in Gilbert, Arizona. We became very close and decided, once we each started moving away, that we would keep our friendship intact no matter what! So our solution was to get together at least once a year, just the girls! The tradition began last year with a trip to the Oregon coast. We had the best time and laughed the ENTIRE trip - what therapy! In deciding where to go this year, we all wrote down a city or place we wanted to visit and put it in a hat. We drew...CHICAGO! None of us had ever been there and I wasn't sure how I felt about going to such a BIG, UNFAMILIAR place but from the minute I got there and reunited with my girls, I knew I would have the best time...and I did!!!

Highlights included:

THE AMAZING VIEWS...

THE FOOD...mmmmm!

(This little breakfast shop is RIGHT under the L-train track,

but the cinnamon rolls were to die for...what noise??)

THE SIGHTS...

We were quite the sight, 5 old ladies riding our "cruisers" around town. I was extremely hesitant about making a fool of myself, but we had SO much fun, it was well worth it!

THE MANY "L" TRAIN RIDES...BEING PRINCESS FOR A DAY...
(some people thought I may have let the crown go to my head,
but I actually wore it with all the humility I could muster...sheesh!)

AND THE ULTIMATE HIGHLIGHT?...

AMAZING!!

The ONLY lowlight...

WAAAHH!!

Blogging Because I "Half" to!

2008-09-15T22:51:00.017-06:00

Today is the official half-way mark for September, so I figured I'd catch you up on about half of the things we've been up to these past few weeks in a pathetic attempt to redeem myself for weeks, and I suppose months of half-hearted blogging:

1. We drove for half a day to reach destination CANADA (specifically Lethbridge, Alberta)!!! We caravan-ed with Suzanne and her kids and my mom. We had sooo much fun visiting all the Peterson relatives and doing all the things we love to do: eat, play and relax (okay, mostly eat!) Here are the Seeley and Lancaster boys at "Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump". Yes, that really is the name of a cliff that is now a popular tourist attraction. Quite an interesting story, actually...

Suzanne, me, Grandma P. and my mom at Fort McCloud

2. The boys started school - I cried for half the day, and did the "Happy Dance" for the other half (we had just returned from Canada the day before, mind you).

Jason - 1st grade, Tyler - 4th grade, Adam - 3rd grade
(Tyler and Adam are clearly only half as excited as Jason is about the first day of school.)

3. Rachel got half the Birthday Party that she deserved, due to my issues with throwing parties. She's only 1 though, so she doesn't know what she's missing...yet!

Fortunately, we compensated for lack of a party with a little extra attention

(as if she needed any more!)

As always, only half of the birthday cake ended up in her mouth.
Of course, we wouldn't have it any other way.

4. Cade decided it was time to free up half of his weekends by teaching the boys to mow the lawn (conveniently at the onset of college football season...hmmmm). Tyler did half...
...and Adam did the other half. Awesome job, guys!!
5. Soccer season started, meaning we get to spend half of our lives running to and from 3 different practices during the week and attending 3 different games at 3 different times and locations with a baby and a 3 year-old in tow! Aaahhhh, the joy!

Jason's team - The Black Widows
Adam's team - Green Eggs & Ham
Tyler's team - The Red Dragons
6. Hannah started dance lessons - the day I've waited half my life for. Hannah could not be any more excited for "ballerina class" and would wear that dang pink leotard all day and night if I had half a mind to let her. Don't worry, I don't.
(Did I just insult myself?)
Sweet little Rachel spends half of the time getting in to things that she shouldn't...
...and the other half getting into things she shouldn't (you do the math!)

Now that I'm half-way asleep (and you probably are, too) I'll give it a rest and go to bed and dream about...Chicago! Did I mention I'm going there in less than 36 hours?

A Rachel Story

2008-08-26T16:05:00.016-06:00

4 kids...that's all I wanted. That was my limit. We had 4 kids in less than 7 years and none of them were multiples. We had been buying diapers for over 7 years straight and I was so ready to be done with that. We had been through 4 difficult pregnancies and I was more than ready to close that chapter of my life. There were no "empty chairs" at our dinner table in my opinion and I felt totally at peace with the decision to be done bearing children. Well, sort of. When people would ask me how I knew I was done and if I had prayed about that decision, I realized that I was deliberately NOT praying about it. Perhaps I knew what His answer would be and I just didn't want to hear it. Anyway I was fine with not praying about it. After all, I knew my own physical and emotional limits better than any one else, right? HAH! One fateful Monday morning in early January 2007 I was vacuuming and I mused that I hadn't had a period in December. Strange, I thought, since my body is like clockwork that way. That little "could I be pregnant?" voice whispered to me and I shoved it aside and continued vacuuming and tried to think bout something/anything else, but that nagging voice kept getting louder and louder until even the vacuuming couldn't drown it out! Ridiculous, not to mention impossible I thought as I turned off the vacuum, but even so I decided to make an emergency run to Walgreens for the pregnancy test just to rule it out. My body is like clockwork, I tell you! I dragged my two little ones with me and blushed at the cash register clerk like I always do when I buy those things! I took it immediately - I didn't have the patience to wait for "morning urine" (does anyone?) It was positive, of course...extremely positive and I sat there aghast trying to think of how on earth this could have happened. We were so careful...how could it be?...what will I do?...how will this work?...I'm not ready...I didn't choose this!!! My own selfish and bitter thoughts drove me to tears as I realize how terrible I sounded. The Lord had just handed me a huge blessing, one I didn't even ask for and I was completely ungrateful at that moment. Shame on me. The tears flowed even harder and I made the phone call to Cade. He was as shocked as I was but calmly reassured me that everything would be okay and things would work out for us. Cade's so good that way, always the voice of reason when I'm in a panic. In my state of panic I kept thinking of how I needed my mom. We had been living in Arizona for 8 years without my mom and had no major plans to move to Utah, but for some reason I kept thinking about how much I needed my mom! As the days went by and the morning sickness/severe depression hit, the feeling that we needed to move to Utah would not subside so I decided to express to Cade these bizarre thoughts, thinking he would roll his eyes and try to change the subject. Instead, he told me that he had been feeling that exact same way and thought he should ask his boss (who just happens to be his brother, Mike) if there were any positions open in Salt Lake. Astonishingly, there was. They were creating the position of Corporate Parts Manager, and thought Cade would be a great fit. He enthusiastically accepted the job offer and our house was up on the market a few weeks later. Our enthusiasm began to wane as we realized the housing market was not nearly as "hot" as it had been in months prior, and began dropping the price little by little in hopes of attracting the perfect buyer. The perfect buyer was nowhere to be found and I was getting more pregnant by the day. We were in a quandary. Do we wait for the house to sell, keep the kids in their school and have the baby here in Arizona while Cade commutes back and forth to Utah? Or do we leave our house vacant and and try and get somewhat settled in Utah before the baby comes? We decided on the latter, packed up our stuff and tearfully said goodbye to our amazing friends and family and headed up north. Because we were trying to sell a house in a really crummy market we played it safe and moved in with Cade's parents...and waited. Waited for our dumb house to sell, waited for a baby that I felt no connection to at all. It sucked. Limbo is a bad bad place. It makes you doubt yourself, it makes you doubt others, it makes you bitter, it's completely frustrating!!! Despite Cade's parents' care and hospitality(they were great), I was dying to be settled in a place of our own. I was a fish out of water and I didn't know how long I could flounder before I hit my breaking point. I felt like I had no control over anything in my life, and I know I resented the little nuisance in my huge belly for turning our lives upside down and landing us in Limbo. And then one day, August 27th to be exact, something happened. Something miraculous and beautiful and perfectly wonderful happened. Rachel Elizabeth was born...

She was happy and healthy and from the moment I laid eyes on her, my heart melted. I cried and cried and cried there on the delivery table (just ask my husband and my sister and my mom) as I released 9 months worth of fear, anxiety, stress, pain and resentment. It was replaced with love, pure love, God's love, and I was healed. At that moment I knew that God loved me, that He had a plan for me, and that plan included not 4, but 5 beautiful children. Rachel is indeed a gift, hand-picked for all of us to love and enjoy...and we do! Her little light shines so bright and we all get to benefit from it every day. What a blessing! How grateful I am for a loving Heavenly Father who knows me better that I know myself and knows what I want even better that I know what I want. Thank goodness.

Happy 1st Birthday Rachel Baby!

Oh Where, Oh Where Has Our Summer Gone?

2008-08-18T14:02:00.012-06:00

We've done a little school shopping.

(of course, the one NOT going to school this year got the most "school" clothes...sorry boys.)I did the Breaking Dawn Release Party at Barnes & Noble...

...with a couple of friends/Edward groupies.

I managed to find time to neglect my poor children for a few days to get in a good summer read...and it was so worth it.

I finally let the kids have their much-anticipated snow-cone/cookie stand. They each earned some spending money for our upcoming trip to Canada. Cade had each of them take out tithing on what they earned and fill out a tithing slip. On Sunday they all happily gave their envelopes to the Bishop...except Hannah! As the chapel began to quiet down for sacrament meeting, she very loudly declared "But Mommy, if I give the Bishop my money then I won't have any left for candy at the gas station!!!" It's all about the candy at our house...seriously.

My sister Suz and I continue on our business adventure a.k.a The Pretty Petal. We've done 3 home parties this month as well as Summerfest in Bountiful City. We're having so much fun and dream of actually being profitable...someday!!

Other things we did that I didn't take pictures of:

Family Night at the Bees game
Swimming & more swimming
Family barbecues
Lots of Arizona peeps visiting
More dentist visits than I care to count
The boys' soccer camp - they're so dang cute
Watching the Olympics (and loving every minute of it!)

There, I did it...I'm all caught up on the blog (I promise you that a highly funny/interesting post is on the horizon...really) Well, we're off to Canada now - I'll try not to forget the camera!

The Seeley's Visit

2008-07-31T00:06:00.020-06:00

Dane and Lorena graced us with an 11-Day trip to sunny Utah from even sunnier Arizona! It was their va-cation and our stay-cation (since we spent as much money...minus the small fortune in gas... as they did having fun and eating out!) Some of the highlights of the trip included:

THE DINOSAUR PARK!

LAGOON!(by the way, Hannah & Brookie's cars stayed in that exact spot
for the entire duration of the "ride"!)Hannah kept going on this ultra-lame ride until she could get the all-important elephant-with-the-PINK-collar. Girls.

After roasting in line for 30 minutes...we finally cooled off on Rattlesnake Rapids!

The RIO GRANDE CAFE (mmm...Mexican.)

...and the GATEWAY!

THIS IS THE PLACE HERITAGE PARK

(The kids were very concerned about the goat biting off Rachel's toes -
don't worry, they're still attached!)

I got to visit my great-great-grandfather John Fairbanks' ancestral home!

The kids' got pony rides...

and ice cream, so there was a little something for everyone!

We enjoyed good quality SISTER-IN-LAW TIME...
...GIRL-COUSIN-IN-MATCHING-JAMMIES TIME...

...and MALE-BONDING TIME!

What more could you ask for?
Thanks Dane, Lorena, Andrew, Cassandra, Elena and Brooke for the great times! We miss you already...come again soon!

A Travel "How-To"

2008-07-15T23:01:00.021-06:00

How to Survive a Week-Long Vacation to Spokane with 5 Kids under Age 10 and No Husband within a 700 Mile Radius

1. Take along your wonderful, amazing sister-in-law Dorrie and niece Bekah who will help out a ton with the driving AND the kids (they even brought along numbered goodie bags to be opened at marked intervals during the 10-hour journey).
2. Make sure you are driving a car with a DVD player, and make sure the volume is up very high so you can't hear any whining or tattle-telling. Sunglasses and tiaras are optional.
3. Make sure there are plenty of first-cousins-once-removed close to the same ages as your kids so they can be thoroughly entertained by each other throughout the entire trip (except on the few occasions when they fight as first-cousins-once-removed sometimes do).
4. Try and match your kids' outfits in public places so they are easier to spot (...plus it's just so dang cute!)
5. Try and throw in a birthday for your middle child so that you have the perfect excuse to not have a "friends" party when you get home...and don't call it a "first-cousins-once-removed" party - that sounds kinda lame.
6. Give yourself a pat on the pack for fitting in any amount of one-on-one time with any of your 5 children under the age of 10.
7. Don't be afraid to ask total strangers to take group photographs so that everyone can be in the picture.8. On the hot days, keep the complaining down to a minimum by including lots of WATER in your activities. Olympic-sized swimming pools are definitely helpful...

...as are gigantic splash fountains!

8. Try and be more understanding when your three-year-old prefers this carousel (NOT free):

to this one (free):

and bring extra quarters to humor the little squirt!

9. Surround yourself with the beauty of nature, meditate, and maybe you'll actually be able to hear yourself think!

10. Count heads...a LOT. 1...2...3...4...5...yep, they're all there!11. Enjoy the companionship and long conversations with wonderful women that you count as some of your dearest friends!
12. Pawn your baby off on any of those fine women, because you don't have a husband around to do that to!
13. Only go to a restaurant with 9 children if you're ordering dessert...they'll be too busy shoveling ice cream in their mouths to misbehave and you'll get out of there a lot quicker. Mmmm...ice cream!

Thanks for the great time, Jessica, Ryan & Co. Come see us anytime!

2008-07-13T19:54:00.021-06:00

Top 10 Things to Blog About Over the Past 2 Weeks
(In no Particular Order)

10. Hannah gave herself a haircut.Everyone else's kids give themselves haircuts at one time or another but I thought my kids and I had an understanding...apparently not. I was tidying up in the bathroom last weekend when I discovered a drawer-ful of hair and a pair of Skissors lying menacingly on the counter. I screamed because a giant wad of hair was the last thing I expected to see next to the toothpaste. I knew from the length and color of the hair that it was Hannah's and that she had to have done a bang-up job. I ran into her room where she was pretending to be asleep and, sure enough! She had given herself a rather modern, asymmetrical cut and some short bangs that we have been growing out for over a year. Luckily, we were able to get a pretty cute A-line bob out of it, courtesy of Supercuts. Because of Hannah's distaste for admission of any wrongdoing, she will proudly announce to everyone that she likes her hair much better now. Stinker.

9. My Children's Place order arrived and my boys cried because I made them wear their new sweater vests to church.To add insult to injury I threatened to take away video games for a whole week if they didn't smile for the camera...don't they look genuine? I do so love a smart sweater vest, even if it is 95 degrees outside and my children want to kill me.

8. We had our first and hopefully last bunny fatalityOn that fateful day, Hannah came running into the house exclaiming happily "Mom, Oreo is okay, mom...she's Oooo-Kaaaay!" which, of course, alerted me to the fact that Oreo was probably NOT okay. Tyler read my mind and ran out to the bunny cage where he discovered Oreo's lifeless body. He brought her into the house, sobbing uncontrollably and much drama ensued...tears, accusations, more tears. We are still unclear about Oreo's cause of death and getting the solid truth out of a three year-old is next to impossible as her story changes with each retelling. Adam asked me later on that day if Hannah could still go to heaven for hurting Oreo. I took that golden opportunity to teach my children a little gospel lesson about love and forgiveness...and accidents. We will miss you, Oreo!

7. We discovered Rachel is definitely a water baby.Okay, so this is really a shameless attempt to show off how adorable my baby is in her stars & stripes swimsuit. She does love the water!

6. The boys discovered that sleeping on the trampoline is fun!...However, I'm still a little freaked out and often find myself sleeping on the couch with the windows open, listening for abductors...not so fun.

5. My sister Suzanne and I became "carnies".We debuted our Pretty Petal merchandise at the Centerville 4th of July carnival. We did very well and had a blast! Our website is now up and running, too! (www.theprettypetal.com)

4. We still managed to enjoy some family time together watching fireworks and chillin' out.Cheese! (Apparently Adam has the "Say Cheese Disease"...poor kid!)

3. Cade showed off his mad snow-cone making skills to the delight of all who partook.You have a gift Cade, don't ever forget it!

2. Hannah and her cousin, Carly were inexplicably overcome with affection towards one another.

I snapped the picture upon realizing that they were ACTUALLY hugging and not hurting...maybe there is hope for those two after all!

1. I headed up to Spokane, Washington with the kids to visit Cade's niece, Jessica, and her family. We had so much fun! Details and photo documentation are forthcoming...just as soon as I finish unpacking!

Utah summers...'n stuff

2008-06-22T22:28:00.010-06:00

I'm behind on my blogging!!!! I'm going to try combining several potentially interesting posts into one long, boring one to chronicle our summer goings-on thus far. We are LOVING Utah summers again and almost forgot what it was like to not roast to death for 4+ months out of the year (we still miss our friends and family in Arizona...wah.) Perhaps it is the non-triple-digit weather conditions that inspired Adam and Jason to put on their warm Christmas jammies on this particular occasion. They decided to really mix things up and were beaming with excitement when they came downstairs dressed like this...wierdos! All in all, we are having a great summer and they are spent mostly outside, doing things like this...

...and this...

We also get to go swimming every Tuesday with my friend Heather at her in-law's very awesome pool. The VERY BEST part about summers in Utah is, without a doubt, VISITORS!!! My sister, Lisa, and her family came from Arizona. We picnicked at the park with the entire Jenson clan and had a great time with everyone.
Then came my friend Luanne and her kids...also from Arizona. My friend Shawna, who moved to Utah from Arizona last year came too. We spent the day mostly at home, playing with bunnies, jumping on the trampoline, and eating...a lot. We walked the the park, too, with all ELEVEN children. Luckily in Utah you don't get too many strange looks when herding around that many young'ns. Here's Rachel and her "boyfriend", Kaden. (It's okay, Dawn...she's still betrothed to Rigdon. This is just a fling.)
Yesterday our friends Mark and Jill drove in on their way up to Oregon from, of course, Arizona (duh) and spent the night before heading out this morning to finish their trek. We had dinner with them and the Schnepfs last night. It was so much fun. We are so lucky to have such great friends that will come and stay with us. We tried to spoil them rotten so they'll want to stay here again! Mark and Jill have 5 kids, too - 3 boys and 2 girls and they are all very close in age to ours, so needless to say, they had a blast together! Here are Mark & Jill and their cute clan...
I've also been spending a LOT of my time preparing to start up an online baby boutique called The Pretty Petal with my sister Suzanne, featuring very cute flower headbands like this one...
Isn't it adorable??? (The headband is pretty cute, too!) We'll see how this new business venture goes...we really have no idea what we're doing, but we're having fun. Stay tuned...

2008-06-15T15:17:00.002-06:00

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DADDY!

TYLER loves Daddy because..."he likes taking me places and spends time with me."

ADAM loves Daddy because..."he throws me on the couch." ( I promise it's a game, not child abuse!)

JASON loves Daddy because..."he's good to us and he plays basketball with me."

HANNAH loves Daddy because..."he plays games with me and gives me fruit snacks."

RACHEL loves Daddy because...she can charm him into doing anything she wants!

MOMMY loves Daddy because...she can also charm him into doing anything she wants...AND because he is kind, helpful, understanding, dependable, fun, and pretty much the best guy ever!

WE LOVE YOU!

Bunnytown!

2008-06-09T13:07:00.006-06:00

We love babies! Since we've already met our quota of human babies here at the Seeley residence...we decided to adopt bunny babies! Here are "Lucky" and "Oreo" - so cute! This is a very big step for our family. The only pets we've ever had in our 13 years of marriage have been goldfish...until now. This is due, in part, to the fact that my dear sweet husband pretty much despises all animals, even very cute and cuddly ones. Cats are definitely out, dogs are out, birds are out, everything is out. The only pets Cade had as a child were rabbits, so when our neighbors showed us their new bunny litter, Cade's cold, cold heart began to melt to the point that we bought into our possession not one, but TWO cute, lovable, furry little bunnies. The kids are crazy about the bunnies and so is half the neighborhood, so I'm really glad they live outside.

Cade even spent a week's worth of spare time and a small fortune making the "Mack-Daddy" of all rabbit hutches for Oreo and Lucky to reside, and the kids helped paint it. Cade claims that the bunnies are sisters, but I know he secretly hopes that one of the "shes" is a "he" so we can enjoy even more bunnies, but he would never admit that! So far I haven't witnessed any incestuous shenanigans, but you know I'll keep you posted...literally.

Potty Humor

2008-06-04T16:08:00.004-06:00

Hannah wandered downstairs last night and informed me that she had wet in her underpants "just a little tiny bit" in her dramatic Hannah-style, complete with hand gestures to illustrate such a minute amount. She then reassured me in her most sympathetic voice (complete with head tilt and nod) "It's okay if I go just a little tiny bit [voice higher] in my underwear, right, mom? That's okay...") to which I responded (with markedly less sympathy) "No, Hannah...it's not okay to go in your underwear, not even if it's a little tiny bit. When your body tells you that it's time to use the bathroom, you need to listen and go right away." She stared at me, first inquisitively, then incredulously and exclaimed "Mommy, my bum doesn't know how to talk!!" She couldn't contain a giggle - a brazen acknowledgment of her own mother's ignorance of the human anatomy and its functions (AND because she had just said the word "bum"), then ran off to play. Ya gotta love potty humor...and 3-year-olds. Maybe they are mutually compatible after all!

Last Day of School

2008-06-03T14:04:00.004-06:00

Here are the boys on their last day of school! They celebrated after school with an ice cream party at the church...yum. We are looking forward to a long 'n lazy summer!

Tyler was recognized at a school assembly and received a "Cerificate of Outstanding Performance" for scoring in the top ten percent nationwide on the Iowa Tests in the areas of Reading, Math and Social Studies. Congratulations Tyler!!!

Jason has had a great year in Kindergarten with Mrs. Larsen. He's a great student and has been reading everything he can get his hands on these past few months. I love what a self-motivated learner he is! He can hardly wait for first grade!

Potpourri

2008-05-29T10:33:00.010-06:00

Since I have been so long in posting, I thought I'd give you some of the highlights of last week. Friday was Jason's Kindergarten program at school. He had a speaking part and everything (..."there's something here that's not quite right!...") which Jason and Hannah have hammered into my memory forever. Grandma Jenson came to watch as well as Grandma and Grandpa Seeley. It was adorable and Jason did a great job. He has loved Kindergarten and will miss his teacher, Mrs. Larsen!
On Friday night, Cade came back from his week of business trips to North & South Carolina and Iowa to a beleaguered wife and 5 excited children! He jumped right in and we got the house and yard in shape just in time for our friends the Cummings and the Taylors to come over for a reunion barbecue on Saturday. They are our long-time friends from BYU. We were all in the same singles ward so there was plenty to laugh about and catch up on! I forgot to take pictures of the incredible fun we had, so you'll have to just take my word for it!

In preparation for our reunion BBQ, Cade retrieved the trampoline from Cade's parents house that belongs to Cade's sister Dorrie, and set it up in our backyard for the kids. Now, we've had some mixed emotions about owning a trampoline due to last year's memorable experience while living with Grandma and Grandpa Seeley:
Yep, Jason broke his leg due to a trampoline mishap at the exact moment I was pushing a baby out of my "tummy" at the hospital. The trampoline did not have a pad or a net and, according to Jason, when he tried to get off the tramp, he got caught in the springs, flipping him forward where he "hanged-ed upside down" until Grandpa could retrieve him. Poor, sweet Jason! Not many kids start their first day of Kindergarten in a full leg cast and a wheelchair. On the up-side, it propelled him to superstar status at school with the sympathy he evoked from ALL grade levels, mostly girls (who can resist those dimples...really!)

So now there's at least a pad on the trampoline for safety's sake, although it didn't do me much good on Tuesday night when I decided to show off my mad front flip skills to the delight of my children. Unfortunately, I was a bit overzealous and sprung myself right off the trampoline, crashing rather ungracefully to the ground! Thankfully, my dignity and pride were the only casualties of the day, although Hannah insists "the wind blowed you off, Mommy!" which sounds a little less lame (...that would have to be quite the wind-storm!) Fortunately, I have NO photo documentation of the "event". Here are the kids having fun:
Last, bot not least, we've been busy car-making, in frantic preparation for the infamous "Pinewood Derby" wherein the self-esteem of all boys from the ages of 8-11 is put to the test...I mean, race! Of course we bought into the hype of the Pinewood Derby...what loving parent wouldn't?? We learned our lesson the hard way at last year's Pinewood Derby wherein we bought the kit, assembled the car, painted it, and off we went...to the slaughter! Tyler's car did...not good. It was obvious the hours and hours of hard work and dedication that were invested in about 90% of the cars (thankfully, there were a couple of other dummies there besides us!) and so despite Tyler's award for "fastest looking car" (ha!) it fell short and we (mostly Cade) went home with our tails between our legs, vowing to do better next year. So this year, with the fragile self-esteem of both Tyler and Adam on the line, we (mostly Cade) worked very hard on the cars, carefully researching and implementing race-winning strategies into a couple-a blocks-a wood! He made sure the boys "helped" in two-minute increments about every 5 hours or so, which Cade carefully documented for all of posterity which I won't bore you with. Maybe I can do a slide-show on my next post so you can feel like you were there!

Tyler won the "Sleekest Car" award and took 3rd place overall!
He left the church on Tuesday night with his self-esteem fully intact.

Adam received the "Blue Coolest" award (???) and although he didn't place in the top 4, his car did quite well. Fortunately he had just enough self-esteem in reserve to emerge virtually unscathed from the Pinewood Derby!

Here are the racers with their top mechanic!

Good job, boys. Until next year!!

David vs. David...Stacy's weighing in!

2008-05-20T23:08:00.003-06:00

GOOOOO DAVID!!!
(...Archuleta, that is)

I've been a Cook fan (...David Cook, that is) for quite a while, but I think I just switched teams tonight after "Archie's" amazing performances tonight on American Idol. He simply out-performed his competition and therefore deserves to win...of course that's just my humble opinion. I swear, next Tuesday I'm going to cry myself to sleep due to AI withdrawals (and a couple of other silly "programs" I enjoy that are going bye-bye till the fall). Oh wait...I still have a few minutes left to vote...gotta go!

Comic Relief (Courtesy of Rachel)

2008-05-19T14:09:00.009-06:00

So, Cade's out of town which usually means I have two options: 1. I can be freakishly productive (cleaning, organizing...you know the drill) OR 2. I can be mind-numbingly lazy, stay in my P.J.s all day and blog to my little heart's content. You'll never guess which one I picked after careful consideration. Yep! Maybe tomorrow I'll make a better choice (after suffering the inevitable consequences of option #2!) We'll see! One of my ambitiously lazy goals for today is to capture the essence of Rachel's new ridiculous expression on camera for your viewing pleasure. It's the silliest face and I laugh every time she does it, which only encourages her, which makes me laugh even more (it's a twisted cycle!) She squints her little eyes, scrunches up her little nose, bares all eight teeth and breathes quickly and noisily through her nose (imagine a dog "panting" through it's nose...it's kinda like that!) I've probably taken about 50 pictures of her today, trying to get the perfect shot (thank goodness for digital cameras). Anyway, that's what I've been up to today, pretty much. So without further ado, her are the closest "essences" of Rachel's new expression I could get (and they still don't do it justice!)

Breakfast:

Lunch:Here's her "normal" expression, so you don't confuse the two:

Picnic at the Playground Day

2008-05-19T10:52:00.003-06:00

Friday was Picnic at the Playground Day at the kid's school. I brought them their favorite...McDonalds (bleh), and we enjoyed spending lunchtime together. 2 more weeks of school left and the kids are pretty excited about it. I have mixed emotions (as always) about seeing my kids grow up! I'm so proud of them and all of their accomplishments, but on days like this a part of me wishes I could just push "pause" and enjoy them longer the way they are right now!

Better when we're together!

2008-05-19T09:52:00.007-06:00

Suzanne and I took the day off from our troubles and countless responsibilities and spent it together having fun and goofing off (we're very good at that). Our little kids are the same ages and love being together. First we went to Costa Vida - Cade met us there for lunch, so that was nice! Suzanne and I then took the kids to the cutest little shop called Hip & Humble - full of fun, over-priced home accessories and an adorable little play-room for the kids! Then we walked over to Parson's Bakery for some yummy dessert (I had a German Chocolate cookie...jealous?) Then it was off to the park. What a fun day!

Here are the kids humoring their camera-happy mom/auntie.

Carly and Hannah are very affectionate when they both feel like it! They're either hugging or gouging each other's eyes out...there's no "happy medium" for them! This was a good day.

Cute girls!!

It was just a tad bit chilly that day for my taste (Arizona has made me very wimpy about the cold), so this is how Suz and I spent the afternoon at the park...in the car with baby Rachel, watching the kids play!! We're pathetic, I know, but everyone was happy so that's all that matters, right?Here's to many warm and carefree summer days ahead of us!

Go Figure!

2008-05-16T08:05:00.003-06:00

So, I haven't been sleeping well at night lately. I'm up several times during the night. Now, you may be thinking that it is because of this'n:

You're wrong.

The problem, unfortunately...is this'n:
Question? How do you keep a 3 year-old in her bed at night? Keep in mind that I can't lock her in her room, because she will scream a lot and insist she has to go potty (if you don't believe me, last night's proof is double-bagged in the garbage can!) Seriously, I've tried everything (I say "I've" tried everything, because Cade sleeps through all of our little encounters during the night.) I've tried "good cop", lovingly explaining that "we" need to stay in "our" beds until it's light outside. I've tried "bad cop", complete with raised voice and empty threats, to no avail! In Hannah's undeserved defense, she's barely coherent when she wanders into our room the 5 or 6 times each night. All she wants is for me to tuck her back into her bed, which seemed pretty harmless to me several months ago when this all started. Now it's just a bad habit and rather annoying, especially when my 9 month old has no problem sleeping 10-11 hours at night without a peep. Tyler was the only other child of mine that did anything like this, but he just got out of bed a lot at bedtime, not throughout the entire night. Anyway, I'm out of ideas, so if you have any suggestions, bring 'em on!

*FYI: The bruise on Hannah's cheek was self-inflicted at the grocery store last week...I promise even "bad cop" wouldn't do that!

My Mom

2008-05-12T14:11:00.001-06:00

Top 10 reasons why my mom was BORN to be a grandma
(& why she's still the best mom ever!)

10. She calls regularly to ask if she can tend her grandkids (& I don't think I've ever turned her down!)
9. She actually PLAYS with them (toys, puzzles, games or whatever) and I think she actually ENJOYS it!
8. She always compliments my children on their cuteness, smartness, funniness, etc. and attributes all of it to me and my superior mothering!
7. When she babysits she plays "restaurant" with them to their complete and utter delight! She's ever the happy hostess, waitress, and bussgirl.
6. She has mad skills when it comes to diaper changing & she never shies away from the worst case "scenarios".
5. She never seems flustered, annoyed, or fed up with their constant requests for marshmallows, drinks, crackers, hard-boiled eggs (which she always has on-hand), oranges, ice cream and of course, CANDY.
4. She feels nothing but pride and honor at being labeled "the CANDY Grandma" by her adoring grandchildren and still pretends that her candy stash is very well "hidden" on the middle shelf of her closet (where it's been "hidden" for as long as I can remember!)
3. She doesn't seem to mind any of the other alias's given to her: "The Ninja Turtle Grandma", "The Nachos Grandma", and most recently the "Wii Grandma" to name just a few.
2. She's been practicing and has now fully mastered her "grandma driving", always staying 10-20 miles below the speed limit "just to be safe!"
1. She has somehow managed to make her family her number 1 priority...ALWAYS!
She is one of the most selfless, compassionate, kind-hearted, giving people I know. She has set that example for me and continues to set that example for my children to learn from...Thank You!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom. You are a living legacy of
love and service to our family. We love you!

Twilight...the MOVIE!

2008-05-07T11:00:00.003-06:00

Here's a link to the Twilight movie trailer...only 7 months and 5 days to go!

Food, Folks & Fun

2008-05-06T22:16:00.009-06:00

I had the BEST weekend ever! My wonderful amazing sister in-law Lorena (Cade's brother's wife) flew up from Arizona on Thursday morning. It was so fun seeing her and catching up on everything. I miss living close to Lorena and being her BFF (thanks a lot for replacing me CINDY!) We talked and ate and ate and talked (my two favorite things!) If that wasn't awesome enough...

I reunited with two of my very best non-family friends, Shawna and Tiffany, to attend Women's Conference and party all weekend (in a righteous way, of course!) We laughed so much that my abs still hurt (no need for crunches here!) We have been friends for over eight years, and although geographically we have spread out a lot from our humble beginnings in Gilbert, AZ, we've never been closer!!

It was definitely a weekend full of the ladies in my life, because on top of reuniting with my gals, my sweet Hannah celebrated her 3rd birthday. I just love her happy exuberant little spirit...it's so addictive. That little girl has more personality in her pinky finger than I have in my whole hand!

I must note that, being the birthday hater, I mean "forgetter" that I am, I planned my whole fun-filled weekend with my friends in total ignorance of my daughter's birthday ( I have a lot of birthdays to remember, okay?) So I left my dear husband with the challenge of making Hannah's birthday perfect and special...without me. He didn't disappoint! He took all 5 kids to the zoo and out to lunch - what a man! He didn't even make me feel guilty about it, either, which is the real kicker. I am married to the most loving, least selfish guy I know and for that I'll be forever grateful and completely unworthy! Okay, I'll stop being cheesy now. Here's a zoo pic with my niece Jessica's kids...did I not mention that Jessica's family was in Utah visiting from Spokane last weekend as well? Well, they were, and I really wish they lived here because her kids are practically the same ages as mine and they have the best time together!

It's now Tuesday and we're back to our regular, crazy lives---I suppose all good things must come to an end, right?

13 Years!

2008-04-30T09:59:00.002-06:00

Yesterday Cade and I celebrated our 13 year Anniversary. We spent the afternoon and evening in Salt Lake City, kid-less and carefree (thanks to Auntie Dorrie and Grandma Seeley!) and we had so much fun. We started at the Rio Grande Cafe in downtown where we had a delicious lunch (I'm sorry Arizonans, but their salsa surpasses Rosa's by a mile!) Next, we walked over to the Gateway and did a little window shopping. The weather was great and it felt so nice to be out walking around. We then took Trax over to Temple Square where we sat in front of the Salt Lake Temple remembering our Wedding Day and talking to a few of the million Temple Square missionaries (mostly "old duffers" as Cade lovingly refers to them as). After that we Trax-ed our way back to the Gateway where we took in a movie that wasn't rated "G" for the first time in a long time (don't worry, it wasn't "R" either!) called 21 (with Kevin Spacey and Kate Bosworth - very good). Finally, we headed back to Temple Square and ate dinner at The Garden Restaurant on the tenth floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, including fried dill pickles as an appetizer (yum-yum). Once we were back home, we were greeted by 5 happy little reminders of what we've "accomplished" in the past 13 years...PLENTY! Happy Anniversary!

Beginning of the End...of the[Not So] Terrible Twos

2008-04-25T12:04:00.007-06:00

I'm so grateful that my two year-old, despite her best efforts to convince me that she's actually a tween, still has moments of weakness when her true age shines through! Cases in point:

The above picture (not many tweens I know would be as perfectly comfortable walking around with a face covered in spaghetti sauce.)
Singing loudly in the car "I looked out the window and what did I see...Popcorn popping in the acre-pot tree." (I didn't know they came in pots)
Again, singing loudly in the car (with full purpose of heart and verbratto, I might add) "The bus on the wheels go round and round..."
I asked her if she wanted to go to Wendy's to get some chicken nuggets, she replied "No, I want some from Old MacDonald's."
(I was going to mention a little something about the temper tantrums, but I have a sinking suspicion they're not just a "two year-old thing", so I won't.)
The adorable speech impediment she's developing (sorry Lisa Haws, but it is cute) wherein she substitutes the "ar" sound as in "car" for a long "i" sound. For example "Mom," she says "can I watch Dancing With the Sties with you?" (Love it.)

Hannah will be 3 next week...wah.

Lions and Tigers and Bears ... Oh, My! - by Cade

2008-04-23T23:06:00.009-06:00

I was just reading my sister-in-law, Lorena's, blog post about LIONS from April 22 and it inspired me. I immediately remembered this lovely place pictured below and just had to do a post of my own.

I had tried to find these pictures on my computer a few months ago, but was unsuccessful. With new-found determination I was successful in locating them exactly where they should be - in the My Pictures folder from May 2007. These four pictures are from a trailer "house" (I hesitate to even use the word house to describe this place) in an unincorporated county island part of Mesa, Arizona.

I first noticed this "house" when my sister, Marcie, was down for a visit in early 2007. We had just been to the QuikTrip on the corner Val Vista and Broadway in Mesa. (Man, I LOVE QuikTrip, or QT as it also called. I could do an entire post on the benefits of QT that would be 5,000 words long. I should get paid for all of the customers I've sent to QT with my heart-felt testimonials.) Anyway, we drove home the "long way", as Stacy would call it, and boy were we glad. On Broadway Road, east of Ellsworth Road (I think), we drove by this place. I immediately stopped the car and flipped a U-turn and we feasted our eyes on this lovely piece of real estate. I didn't have my camera, but Marcie did and she had me take a few pictures for her. I swore then and there that I would return to this amazing place with my own camera and take some pictures for myself. When I found out that we would be moving back to Utah, I made a pilgrimage to this lovely property on a sunny Saturday morning to get these photos. Here they are - and I promise that these pictures don't do the place justice.

I think that the sign covered up with a piece of carpet in the last photo says "Yard Sale". I guess the carpet over the sign means "closed". I wonder if all the stuff in the yard is for sale of if they bring the really good stuff out of a shed or something. One thought that keeps coming to mind is how lovely this place must smell on a hot, sunny July afternoon after a monsoon rainstorm. As you can see, there are a lot of stuffed animals on the property. I can only imagine how many pictures have been taken of this place. I know that my niece, Sydnie, had a few pictures taken of herself in front of this "estate" when she was on her mission in the Mesa area. So, Lorena, I would imagine that your neighbors' lions don't look so bad in comparison. I would encourage anyone in the Mesa area to stop by and see for themselves.

J-dog's Blog

2008-04-21T22:03:00.003-06:00

I must do a quick post about my sweet 5 year-old Jason. Isn't he adorable? He's my 3rd child...my third boy and I relate to him very well. You see , I am a 3rd child too, only I'm a third daughter. I had a happy, wonderful childhood with my two older sisters, and eventually a younger sister and three younger brothers. I didn't realize, however, that I was unloved, unnoticed and all but forgotten until I began looking through the family photo albums. The first album was completely dedicated to my oldest sister, Julie. There were seemingly thousands of photos of Julie eating, Julie sleeping, Julie smiling, Julie crying, Julie crawling, and my personal favorite...Julie doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! The second album was more of the same, only now Julie's a little older. Still, every moment of her existence is well documented! 3rd album...more Julie...only wait...is that a SIBLING I see in the background? It is - it's Lisa! Now we see a few pictures of Julie AND Lisa towards the end of album 3...on to album 4! Here's where I start getting excited because Lisa and I are only 13 months apart so I should be making my photographic debut very soon! I flip anxiously through album 4 - Julie, Julie, Lisa, Lisa, Julie & Lisa, Lisa & Julie, more Julie...AHA...there I am!! Wait, that's my aunt's wedding and I'm the white speck on my mom's lap among the 3 dozen other prominently displayed people in the photo, and I'm not even brand new! What the heck? Where were the labor & delivery pictures? How 'bout my homecoming from the hospital? A close-up of my hand? First bath? Anything? Nope...nothing. I vowed then and there that my 3rd child would not be forgotten. My 3rd child would get all the love and attention of my first two, and maybe a little more! I would go out of my way to ensure that my 3rd child received equal photo opportunities and albums of photographs dedicated to their every move! But alas, I have failed miserably despite my best intentions! I did exactly what I said I wouldn't do. I took a ridiculously exorbitant amount of pictures of Tyler as a baby and also spent a ridiculously exorbitant amount of money on "professional" photos. Adam came a long, and my picture-taking waned a bit. By the time Jason came along, I had simply run out of stamina, plain and simple. I DID take pictures, don't get me wrong, but I'm certain that there are at least a 5:1 ratio of Tyler baby pictures to Jason's. He doesn't know what I've done yet...he's only in Kindergarten. But the day WILL come when he discovers he's been cheated, photographically speaking! And so, I dedicate this post to Jason, my sweet, kind, wonderful, forgiving 3rd child. I suppose it's not to late to compensate for past failures, right? If I blog about him now it's gotta count for something, right? RIGHT??? You may expect continued posts honoring my poor 3rd child, just don't expect many baby pictures!

She Loves Me Ya,Ya..........yah.

2008-04-16T09:19:00.010-06:00

Just so you all know, there are consequences for abandoning your infant for 3 days...other than engorgement. Let's just say that the "Trust vs. Mistrust" developmental theory...TRUE...and my baby is sorely mistrusting me these days due to my little selfish escapade to St. George! Rachel is very squeamish about going to anyone but me now, and she cries if I try to put her down - even her walker and high chair are not adequate replacements for my arms. To really put me in my place, Rachel has also sworn off baby food and rice cereal altogether...yes, she's boycotting solids. When I hold her now, which is all day, she has to face me so she can gaze into my eyes and lay her head on me, in alternating succession. Cute, huh? It was for the first day. I thought to myself, "She loves me SOO much...I might as well enjoy it...it won't last forever." It gave me warm fuzzies as I thought about the cheesy "...babies don't keep..." poem old people love to quote, and I held her even tighter...aaahhh! Well, we're now on day 10 of "Lovefest/08", and the fuzzies aren't as warm and they're starting to hurt! Fortunately she's a tiny little gal (15 pounds), which makes lugging her around not as difficult as my friend Dawn's baby Rigdon, would be...
Rigdon and Rachel are two weeks apart, if you can believe it! I'm guessing HE hasn't boycotted a meal...ever! At least if I had to hold Rigdon all day, my upper arms would not be flabby. Eat, Rachel, eat!

On the plus side, I have gotten better at blogging one-handed (I definitely read more than I write!), and so I cling to the only available hobby for a woman with one arm and a love-struck baby. Holding her all day wouldn't be a bad life really, if I didn't have about a half-dozen other family members who also need me. Question: Is modern science any closer to cloning humans these days, cause I could sure use another me or two around here - to do the cooking and cleaning of course, so I can hold Rachel. Babies don't keep, you know...

"Baptism Boy"

2008-04-13T16:48:00.017-06:00

Saturday was Adam's baptism. It was such a beautiful day in every way. I am so proud of Adam - he is a great kid and has been looking forward to the day when he could follow in his brother Tyler's footsteps and become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! Here's Adam and Cade in their "whites" (So Adam's whites are a little short & he's wearing flip-flops...what's it to ya!)

I am so blessed to have a husband worthy to hold the priesthood and bless and baptize our children. He is a great example to them and I know they look up to him. Here is Adam actually "looking up" to Cade...cute. (Fortunately, there were no flood jumpsuits left in Cade's size so he had to wear pants and shirt...shucks!)

Adam's eyes are ridiculously sensitive to sunlight, hence the funny faces. I feel so blessed to be Adam's mom. He is bright and energetic and he makes me smile! His enthusiasm for life makes other's want to be around him too. He is a kind and loving son and brother and adds a special spirit to our family.

Cade and I are grateful for all of our children (even Rachel) who isn't shown in this picture). They bring us mostly joy and happiness. They make us want to try harder and live better. Heavenly Father has truly blessed our family!

After the baptism, we had our amazing extended family over for dinner in Adam's honor. There were kids running all around, but no Adam. We spotted him sitting outside all by himself (which is odd, because Adam is NEVER alone, the social butterfly that he is). When the other siblings and cousins finally trickled outside, Adam exclaimed "Who wants to sit by the Baptism Boy?!" Membership must have its privileges.

All's Well!

2008-04-09T16:38:00.004-06:00

We survived!! As my sister Suz and I were driving south to St. George on Friday, questions like "What the heck am I doing driving AWAY from my baby when she's very possibly starving to death!" were running rampant through my brain. So to appease my overactive mind, I proceeded to call home every half-hour or so to make sure Rachel wasn't starving (or choking or bleeding). After about the tenth call home in a four hour span, Cade politely (well, sort of) asked me to please stop calling, so I did (at least for a few hours!) Once we were at Steph's gorgeous house in St. George (thanks Steph), I finally began to relax, especially after using my breast pump! Then it was "Go Time!" The Colbie Caillat concert was SOO fun, and the secluded, picturesque Tuacahn Ampitheater was awesome - I'm so glad I went! Here we are at the Gun Barrel restaurant in St. George before the concert (me, Steph, Suz)...YUMMY!

Here we are at the concert. Suz and I LOVED Tim Fagan,
the opening (one-man) band for Colbie Caillat:

Besides "rocking out", we managed to fit in a bunch of shopping, lounging and of course, eating, which quite frankly, is my idea of a good time. By Sunday I was missing my guys and gals and was ready to get back to them. On the home front, Rachel had put up a valiant fight against formula..and lost! She was a regular "bottle baby" by the time I got back, thanks to Cade. So the big question...is she weaned? The answer...no. I nursed her as soon as I got home and every four hours since. I'm weak, what can I say? I wasn't buying into all that "She's your last baby..." hype before my trip, but maybe it's all true! Let's face it, it's hard to let go (or be let go of, in my case).

Off she goes!!

2008-04-03T23:30:00.005-06:00

Okay, so I'm just a little stressed out right now. It's the eve of what should be a super-duper fun weekend--I'm going on a roadtrip with my sister, Suzanne to St. George to see Colbie Caillat in concert...so fun! My amazingly sweet husband is even taking off work to play Mr. Mom to ALL 5 kids - yes, you heard right. Even THIS one...
Therein lies my problem. You see, I've never been away from Rachel longer than 3 or 4 hours...ever...so this is big. Oh yeah, and she's never had a bottle before, either...ever...so this is really big. I committed to this super-duper fun road-trip months ago when I thought weaning my daughter would be a cinch, but apparently she's very attached (no pun intended) and I'm abandoning this poor child and forcing her to wean cold turkey, which doesn't sound fun for either one of us. Besides being in pain physically and tormenting myself emotionally for leaving my infant daughter, I'm going to miss my little constant companion - I love her. I'll miss Cade and the other kids, too, don't get me wrong. But this is unchartered territory with this'n. It's one of those things where I'll look back and laugh at how ridiculous and sentimental and worried I was for no reason, but for right now I'm sad...really sad...but not sad enough to cancel my plans, of course. Wish me luck. I just need a "Got Milk?" t-shirt and I'll be set! Speaking of which, Cade informed me that having "let-down" at the concert would probably be a bad thing, so now I'm certain I will--thanks, Cade!! I'll let you know how it all turns out, and you'll be dying to know, I'm sure.
(Cade's going to be very disturbed by this post, I have to say).

You say it's your birthday....

2008-03-29T07:28:00.004-06:00

Happy Birthday to the best sister a girl could ever ask for! (in case you're confused about who's who, she's the blonder, bluer-eyed, thinner, dimpled one in the picture)

Sorry, Suz, I'm really gonna embarrass you on this one!! Ahem!! Little Suzanne was born approximately 31 years ago. She was the chubbiest baby you've ever seen...I'm talkin' Michelin Man rolls, here! She was the smiliest little thing ever, too! She shed the rolls after a year or so, but fortunately the smile on her face has never left. She's one of the few naturally happy, optimistic, fun, kind-hearted, easy-going people I've ever met. And if God wasn't generous enough, He also made her beautiful, funny, musically talented, fashionable, and very organized to name just a few. Yep, she can do it all, but you might not ever know that about her because she's so unassuming and humble which makes her even more wonderful! Yes, she's been blessed all right, but I have been more so for having her as a sister and being on the receiving end of her talents and wonderful-ness every day! Love ya, Suz...Happy Happy Birthday!!

Birthdays Frighten Me (...and now I know why)

2008-03-28T22:51:00.010-06:00

Today is Adam's 8th Birthday-Hooray Adam. Congratulations on being a new number - wow. Okay, so birthdays cause me a lot of anxiety and I don't know why! To me it is just a lot of fuss for no good reason and lately I find myself doing the least possible amount of birthday "stuff" that I can get away with and still be considered a good mom/wife/friend. March is a particularly stressful month for me because many people that I love were born in March - dumb luck that! I don't know what the big deal with birthdays is, but I've been playing along for many years...in fact, I played along today, too, as I threw my boy the birthday party he always dreamed of (fortunately, he did not dream all that big - whew!) However, I dreaded it all week. I've lost sleep over it. Now it's over and I am breathing a huge sigh of relief. I decided to document the event for posterity because I'm 99.9% sure I never want to do that again!

The party started at six o'clock and went until ten o'clock. We called it a "late-over" party since we don't do sleepovers. Adam's 7 wild and crazy friends showed up right on time and the evening began with pizza and plenty of soda which marked the first of several courses of sugar...what was I thinking!!
After pizza, I gave each kid a can of silly string and sent them outside to do as much damage as they could, and they didn't disappoint! Meanwhile, I scrambled to clean up dinner and get the table ready for birthday cake festivities.
After the kids came in we played a few fun games, one involving a lot of dollar store presents and a pair of dice (thanks Angie!) and the other involving a pair of dice and a bunch of candy bars (thanks Suz). The kids had a lot of fun, but they were SO HYPER (you thought the phrase "bouncing off the walls" was a figure of speech? Believe me, it's not!) Maybe giving them more candy had something to do with their heightened rowdiness...hmm.
Next, on to the ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. Adam actually wanted an Oreo Pizza from Dominos, but apparently they don't sell them anymore so this was our much more delicious "Plan B".
Then it was back outside with everyone so I could clean up the cake mess and prepare for present opening and more games (at this point I'm wondering why on earth I am hosting a four hour birthday party, especially with my fear of birthdays...I have issues!)
Finally, the part I had been waiting for all night...movie time!! I put on Bee Movie and sent the kids downstairs and stocked them with plenty of popcorn and lemonade (sugar-free, ha-ha kids!) They enjoyed watching the movie while trading Pokemon cards, experiencing occasional bouts of rambunctious behavior, but all-in-all it was good-times. Dare I call it a "success?" Well, when I asked my nephew Logan, one of the party-goers, if it was the best party ever, he said "I don't know yet, because I have another birthday party to go to tomorrow." So, I guess the jury is still out on that one! Happy Birthday, Adam! I need sleep now...

Whodunnit?

2008-03-27T12:31:00.010-06:00

Contrary to the photo, Jason was in an unusually sour mood this morning and was doing a lot of sulking and complaining in the car. As we got home, Jason got out of the car and stormed into the house. I thought I was out of earshot when I sarcastically commented/asked, "Who peed in your Cheerios?" and immediately regretted it as I caught a glimpse of Hannah. Her eyes were as big as saucers, and was obviously absorbing the implications of this very bizarre question. After what seemed like an eternity (but was actually only about 1.2 seconds) she stated with all the conviction she could muster "Mom, I think Rachel did."

Here's the alleged suspect:

Yeah...she looks guilty!