The Bezzant Bunch

2011-10-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post so I don't forget these things!
"Mom, i want you to talk to this page for me"-Eli wanting me to read a book to him
"I think I found the dream bone"-Brexten looking for the wishbone in the chicken.
"owie"-Mylee's newest word, along with hi, uh-oh, mommy, daddy

This month we have busy celebrating mine and Mylee's birthdays, making Halloween costumes, visiting grandma Betty, grandma's birthday, one last night in the canyon, cub scouts, Insanity (jared), trying to eat healthy (not counting the sugar cookies I made last night), watching Ghostbusters for the first time(me), watching Hocus Pocus for family movie night, a fabulous birthday party for some friends of ours where we rode in a stretch Denali with 14 other people and had yummy food all night, filling a jar with acorns from our yard, Carter's field trip looking for fossils, Christmas shopping, coupon clipping, potty training(almost there!), early morning aerobics (me), primary program, family pictures, making salsa, canning boxes of peaches and pears, havesting the garden, picking lots of raspberries, whew! I'm sure there is so many things I am missing! I will post some pictures soon!

Labor Day

2011-09-12T21:59:00.000-07:00

We went on a last minute trip to Moab for the three day weekend. Here are a few highlights of our trip to Arches National Park. I will post the rest when I get the pages finished! (click on the image to make it larger).

Back to School

2011-08-23T12:05:00.000-07:00

Carter and Brex went back to school today. Yay! (did I just say that out loud?) I'm actually really going to miss them, but I won't miss the fighting and constant mess in the kitchen! We've had a fun summer hanging out at the pool, parks, and playing!
They were super cute getting ready for school today. Actually, Brex thought school started yesterday and was up at 6:45. I was awoken by the sound of our bathroom garbage being taken out. He was all decked out in his school clothes and already doing his jobs. What a good boy! He was a little confused because I told him he would meet his teacher that day (back to school night) and I told them I would wake them up early to practice getting ready on time. So he thought it was the first day of school. Today I did have to wake him up and he sat on the couch for awhile before he was ready to get dressed. He is my late sleeper and this new schedule will take some getting used to. I'm a little nervous about him being gone all day and the whole lunch thing. Hopefully he is having a fun day! I walked the boys to their classrooms and Brexten held my hand the whole time. Carter took off down the hall saying "see ya mom." 4th grade. I have a 4th grader. So sad he is growing up! (well, getting older, not so much of the growing :)
Eli is missing the kids and keeps telling me to go get Carter. Last night at the mall Jared took the two older kids in his car and Eli asked where "his kids" were. He is starting to say the cutest things all the time. He loves to say prayers, buckle himself up in the car (which takes forever) and is always carrying a bag of some sorts around full of random toys. Brexten always had on a costume when he was this age, and Eli is our hoarder! We never know what is in the bag.
He is being so stubborn about potty training. You would think the third boy would be a piece of cake but he is not happy with the underwear thing. Yesterday I refused to put a diaper on him in the morning and handed him a pile of underwear. After a little bit of nakey time, he decided to put some on and did pretty okay. Today he has had 2 accidents but luckily they were at home, not at the school or Costco. he still has yet to go #2 on the pot so wish us luck!
Our little Mylee is almost 11 months old. She is still a petite little girl only weighing about 15 pounds. She does have some cute little rolls on her thighs and we feed her avocados to try and fatten her up. She is a huge eater and will eat anything! Her hair is finally starting to grow and she had her first ponytail last week. Just a little thing on top of her head, but it was still cute. She has worn a headband just about every day of her life and hopefully will keep letting me put one in. So far so good. She is such a good baby and will smile all the time. She still sucks on her middle fingers as her "binky" which is cute for now but not so much in a couple years!
There is a little update on our kiddos!

2011-08-17T19:07:00.001-07:00

2011-08-17T19:02:00.001-07:00

awsomeness

2011-08-04T20:20:00.000-07:00

My kids told me I was an awesome mom today. It made my day. Of course, it was between making them snow cones and a ice cream castle with cinnamon-sugar "sand" on top. I guess I should give them sugar more often.

4th of July

2011-07-17T14:26:00.001-07:00

We spent the 4th of July weekend up at the cabin with the Park family. On Thursday we went to the zoo and Friday we went boating on Utah Lake. The kids had fun on the tubes and we stayed on the water for most of the day. Jared bought some BB guns and lots of fun targets to bring for the boys while the girls went shopping in Park City one afternoon. There was lots of time to relax and enjoy nature, do pedicures, crafts and make jewelry. We ended the weekend at the Park City parade, one of the funnest and craziest parades I've seen. (i think most of the people in the parade were drunk, which made it even more fun!)

Yes, there are dinosaurs at the zoo this year!

Eli andSavana being cute holding hands

cute cousins David, Carter and Noah

Mylee and my sisters Amber and Brynn

Carter and Brex out on the tubes

Me and Amber bought our girls matching outfits in Park city, so we had to take a few pictures. Doesn't Jared look cute with 2 girls. :)

Mallory made us all matching tye dye T shirts to wear to to the parade and then we went to the Train burger for lunch. Yummy!

cute baby girl making silly faces. She is crawling everywhere and can pull herself up on furniture. Won't be long until she's walking

this picture of jared makes me laugh. Doesn't he look happy to have his picture taken?!

Tea Party

2011-07-17T14:19:00.000-07:00

Jared's sister Seren hosted a fabulous tea party last weekend for the Bezzant girls. We went the week before to Color Me Mine and painted a teacup for the party. I picked out a formal from my parents house (they have many to choose from with 6 girly girls) and tried hard to take small breaths so i didn't rip the dress out. it was fun to finally have a little girl to party with!

Way to Go Rockies!

2011-07-16T08:38:00.000-07:00

Carter had his first little league season this year. his team made it all the way the state tournament and they took 4th place. We had quite the week driving back and forth to Provo for a couple games each day, but I sure love watching a good baseball game. Every time i left my house i had to make sure to have water, food, diapers, wipes, chairs, blankets, toys, sunscreen, bug spray, clothes, sunglasses, bat, glove, phone, wallet and camera. Luckily thre was a playground that could entertain Brex and Eli. They played their last game Thursday night and then had a little awards ceremony where they each got a medal. They had such a great coach and he gave them the sweetest speech afterwards and moved us all to tears. We're so proud of you Carter!

2011-06-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

The second week of summer was Strawberry Days in Pleasant Grove. We watched the parade, marched in the childrens parade, went to the rodeo, and went to the concert for free strawberries and cream. Carter and Brex also had soccer camp each day for a couple hours and loved every minute of it.
This week we have doing (deep breath) neighborhood park day, 2 baseball games, pack meeting, library day, primary luncheon, cooking class (we made chocolate chip cookies), Carter taught Brex to ride a bike, and Eli learned to count to ten without skipping #4. Jared got a new red grill for father's day, we cooked baby back ribs, and the kids played on the slip n slide for a few hours. Jared left for San Fransisco and we had a fun trip to the DI and got some fun games, building projects, and house decorations. Mylee is crawling everywhere and pulling herself up in her crib. Eli continues to try my patience, and filled the sink with toothpaste and sprayed all the shoes and clothes in my closet with a bottle of Windex. I am trying to potty train him, which is not going well. We have listened to 7 magic Tree house books in the car while driving around over the past week and it keeps the car so quiet when we go anywhere, which is lovely!
Here are a few highlights of our last week:

3rd grade store

2011-06-22T14:11:00.000-07:00

Carter made otter pop covers out of fleece to sell at his store at the end of the school year. We always cover ours with a sock to keep our fingers from freezing, so we thought making some warm ones out of fleece would be fun. They were a big hit at the store. I went to watch and help him and ended up buying Mylee some cute hair bows and me some yummy brownies.

Summer

2011-06-22T13:58:00.000-07:00

Our summer starting off as usual. A trip to California! We left Friday night at midnight and drove (well, Jared drove) all night. We stopped for breakfast at 7:30ish, watched 1 movie and we were at our condo by 9:30 in the morning. Luckily our room was ready so we could check in and Jared could catch some zzz's. I still am not sure if I liked driving all night. I didn't get much sleep, and I think it took me the whole week to get caught up. Mylee didn't sleep great that week either, and hated her stroller and carseat, but we did have fun. We went to Legoland one day, an aquarium, the beach, and did one day at Disneyland. We only hit the new stuff and our favorites at Disney, and it was definitely hard to only go one day. But I'm sure we'll go again next year!
We swam at out resort, which was so nice with a splash pad, water slide, and fun pool. We rented a few movies, and ended the week at the swap meet. jared gave the kids each $20 and it was like Christmas for them. They bought a bunch of lame cheap things that kept them entertained the whole ride home, so i guess it was worth it.

Carter's birthday

2011-06-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

I took Carter and some friends to see the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie for his birthday party. We played the dice game with some candy before we left so the kids could have their movie treats. It was a pretty cute show. The highlight of the party was when we left the movie, Carter had some milk duds stuck to his bum of his pants. If you have seen the movie you will understand why it was so funny! We gave each kid a notebook and a mechanical pencil to take home. He got a basketball stand to practice with and it's fun to see Jared out playing with all the boys. He saved all his birthday money to take to Legoland in June and is up to over $60! For his family party we got together at a park and played wack-o ball, which is baseball but with a tennis raquet and tennis ball. It was so fun to play with everyone. The younger kids lost interest pretty quick and played on the playground, but the adults and older kids had fun. I'm sure we were all a little sore the next day, especially the old grandpas playing outfield!
I forgot to take pictures of his birthday (great mom, I know), so here are some pictures of his pinewood derby a couple months ago. He also earned his Wolf badge that night. He is crazy about scouts and him and Jared had fun making his car

Brextens birthday

2011-06-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

for Brex's #6, we had a pirate party. The kids painted treasure boxes I found at Robert's, which turned out to be the favorite ting and kept them occupied for a good 25 minutes. I had put a treasure box full of loot on the table and when we went downstairs to play a game, someone stole the treasure and we went on a fun treasure hunt to get it back. Brexten got a motorcycle bike and some soccor goalies for presents, and we went to Pirate Island for dinner with the family. It was karaoke night, so the Bezzant girls sang "Mr Postman." We sang it a few months ago for Jared's grandparents wedding anniversary party. Sadly, we were without Emily, who made the song such a success last time!

Mylee 4 months

2011-03-27T18:19:00.001-07:00

2011-03-27T18:07:00.000-07:00

We have busy these last few months. Too busy to take pictures of what we've been doing. So here is a rundown:
Carter: earned his wolf badge, made a cool shark car for his pinewood derby, got his own room, helped me make and paint him a twin bed, starts baseball practice this week.

Brexten: moved downstairs to the top bunk, had a pirate birthday party for #6, loves teasing making Eli and making him scream, and is soon to pass Carter up in shoe size and clothing size!

Eli: potty training. Still is a little grossed out by #2 but we're working on it. Moved to a big boy bed downstairs with Brexten. Still has way too much energy for me!

Mylee: started rice cereal this week, full of smiles, great sleeper and eater.

Us: Jared is still traveling a few times a month, we went with him to Las Vegas a couple weeks ago and enjoyed the 80 degree weather. We finished the basement, shuffled the kids and bought a fun media center for our TV. I think we will spend most of our time downstairs now! I always have a million projects going on (in the garage or in my head) and spend most weekends making Jared build, paint or put together stuff.

2011-01-25T21:28:00.001-08:00

2011-01-25T20:51:00.000-08:00

Mylee 3 months

2011-01-12T20:23:00.001-08:00

goodbye 2010

2011-01-07T13:41:00.000-08:00

Whew! Secretly I'm glad December is behind us! What a crazy month of too much spending, too much eating, and too much partying. Now we are feeling broke, fat and tired, anybody else feel the same way? Jared had 3 business trips in December which meant lots of grilled cheese sandwiches for me and the kids and getting almost caught up on scrapbooking (now if we could stop taking pictures for awhile!). He called me from Miami Beach when it was freezing outside. Rude! I had the evil strep throat during one of his 4 day trips and had to call in reinforcements for help (thanks mom!)
We had a fun Christmas with lots of legos, action figures, race cars,a new desk for Carter, and plenty of pink for Mylee. We had our annual Christmas brunch with the Park family and then relaxed at home. We spent the next week sledding, playing and put 5 gallons of primer on our basement walls. We had a fun New years party with the Bezzants and celebrated at 10:00 pm with New York City. Jared and I had our annual Lord of the Rings movie-thon that we do every Christmas break and we tried to watch our favorite Christmas movies with the kids for our family movie night.

Mylee's Blessing Day

2010-11-29T19:49:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics of our cute little princess on her blessing day. Jared gave a beautiful blessing and she was wide awake for the whole thing. I couldn't find a dress I liked, so I sewed my own and thought it turned out super cute! She was a little angel all day and even slept 8 hours last night without waking up. I think her big day wore her out!

Mylee

2010-11-04T16:17:00.000-07:00

We had our sweet baby girl on October 8th. My water broke in the middle of the night and I went to the doctor at 10 in the morning thinking for sure he would tell me I had only peed my pants. I wasn't leaking anything and I wasn't contracting so for sure it wasn't it! But it was the real thing! They sent my right over to the hospital (with Brex and Eli) and got me hooked up to monitor the baby. My mother-in-law came and got the kids, and Jared went home to finish packing my bag and then came to the hospital. It was a long day! My longest labor, she wouldn't drop and I stayed at a 6 all day. She was so high and we kept trying to push her down! At 8:30 at night she finally dropped, and was born a few minutes later. She definitely belongs to us, she looks a lot like Eli and has cute dark hair that will curl into a little mohawk. She was our biggest baby at 7 lbs. 10 oz. and was 19 1/2 in. long. She is a great little nurser and sleeps great during the day (not so much at night). Here's some pictures from the hospital and some I took last week.

summer photos

2010-09-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

I realize summer is over (you wouldn't know it from the 80 degree weather outside!) but since i didn't post anything this summer, here is a few pages from the annual Disneyland trek we make every year in June. I think we may wait a few years and be out of the baby stage before we go back. We realized we are outnumbered and it made keeping sane and happy hard this year! Also, a cute page of Eli and his body parts. I got this page idea from a friend and pretty much copied her exactly. Hope you don't mind Heather!

8 months prego

2010-09-20T12:29:00.000-07:00

I had my good friend Julie take some photos of my ever growing belly and they turned out super cute! I felt pretty weird posing by myself (brought back some senior picture memories) but she did such a great job. Who knew I could look so beautiful at 8 months pregnant(I'm sure photoshop had something to do with it)! Thanks Julie! Here is her website: jtaggartphoto.com

hello!

2010-09-16T13:09:00.001-07:00

So I have been trying to catch up on my digital scrapbooking so I haven't blogged in a while. Let's face it, I don't have time to blog and scrap the same thing. Then I got this idea to just blog my pages, and here we are. So here is the first day of school, hiking, and the first 2 days of our New York trip we took last month. I'm trying to do more journaling on my pages which is easier if I do then right away! My goal is to do one current page and one older one each day and hopefully they'll meet somewhere in the middle. We just need to stop taking pictures for a while! I'm loving my time when Brex is at school and Eli is napping, I should be cleaning or making dinner, instead I scrapbook (or read or nap :) click on the scrapbook page to make it larger so you can actually read all about it! (that was for mom)
In baby news, today I am a month away from our due date! I'm sure hoping not to make it that far, my ribs are killing me and I feel like a zombie all the time because my hips hurt so bad at night I can't sleep. I have been busy making hair things and crib bedding and will have to post about that later.

2010-07-06T12:18:00.000-07:00

Jared is so ahead of me at posting our pics on facebook! I better give my friends an update on what is going on at our house! Carter got baptized this last weekend with his cousin Kezli. He looked so handsome in his suit and I'm so proud of him! Jared and I spent the week before (mainly the day before) ripping out trees and hauling compost to prepare the yard for the BBQ afterwards. It turned out to be a perfect day!

Brexten's Preschool Graduation

2010-05-28T07:49:00.000-07:00

Brexten's class did a cute program with lots of cute songs. They all told what they wanted to be when they grew up. Brexten said he wanted to be a person who cleans the road. Huh? We read a book about street cleaners that morning so he must have gotten the idea from there!

It's a Girl!

2010-05-28T07:41:00.000-07:00

I had my ultrasound yesterday and I am so excited it's a girl! It was so fun to tell everyone and my cute neighbors even decorated my fence in pink! Pink. So weird! I can't wait to go shopping! In other news, Brexten has his first loose tooth and he thinks it is NO FUN! They get so excited to loose a tooth they don't realize it's also kindof painful! Here is a cute picture of our little baby girl!

Mother's Day

2010-05-12T20:51:00.001-07:00

Fine, I'll blog already. This is me. Pregnant.

Yes, I know it's a lovely picture of myself, but the other one was worse and the baby bump has to be shown. If only we knew if it was blue or pink inside. We should know in two weeks. Excited and nervous!

Anyhow, to Mother's Day. I had a fabulous lunch at The Cheesecake Factory on Saturday with my mother, sisters, grandma, aunt and cousins. They all ordered salads. I ordered the Burrito Grande. Mmmm...I woke up Sunday to breakfast in bed. Jared even cracked open the cookbook and tried making German Pancakes, which were so yummy! I always beg for his breakfasts on the weekends because he goes all out, and this was no exception! The boys gave me their gifts from school and Carter wrote the cutest poem ever! I hope he doesn't get too embarrassed if I post it:

A nice poem of my mother

My mother is as sweet as treats
I love your beets
You're as sweet as honey
and as nice as a bunny
I love you as much as pop
and you like to mop
I love your food
and you have a great mood
I love the trips you take me to
and I love Winnie the Pooh
Love, Carter

What a cutie pie! Thanks for such a great day boys!

you are right where you should be

2010-05-12T20:35:00.000-07:00

I saw this saying the other day and decided it's my favorite. I just need to remind myself of it often. Very often, especially with Eli around. Seriously, going to the bathroom by myself and leaving him unattended for a few minutes is pretty risky. Like today, when he dumped the pepper on my ihome and ipod. Or when he made a beautiful abstract picture on my hallway carpet with toilet bowl cleaner (yes, it is bleached). He also has dumped a bottle of shampoo on the carpet, the can of salt on the couch, syrup on himself, markers on the couch, and lots of other things I can't remember. Most time I think I'm a bad mother for not paying attention enough, but my mother tells me I deserve it. Apparently I was the same way.

But then I see this picture and am reminded of what a cute boy I have. He snuggles with just about anybody and jabbers in the cutest way. If Jared is lying in bed, Eli will bring him book after book to read. He pumps him arms up and down to dance to music (even in sacrament meeting). I love him to pieces!

2010-03-31T10:18:00.000-07:00

We went to Logan for the weekend to attend my sister-in-laws 1980's birthday party. They rented out the local college dance club and we had a blast. We definitely felt old though, our muscles were sore in the morning and I couldn't jump around quite like I used to (bladder couldn't handle it if you know what I mean. I didn't have my camera, but my sister took some and you can see them here

We had fun until the car ride home when Eli started throwing up and not stopping. Luckily, Amber had given us a box of my newborn blankets to bring home so they came in handy to catch throw up. He threw up all night, Brexten started the next day, and me and Carter started last night. Can you really have the stomach flu and morning sickness? Yes, and it's horrible! I told Jared today was his day, but so far he is good. We'll see what happens!

Hello Again

2010-03-22T21:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I think it's time for my quarterly post! Really, it's not that I am so busy I have nothing to post, it's that we do nothing so there is nothing to post. But, SINCE I AM PREGNANT, there is something to post about. Yes, you read that right. Baby #4 is on it's way. To come in October to be exact. Hopefully September, because I just love early babies. And have I mentioned that I love being pregnant. 9 months of barfing, insomnia and other things that I should not mention publicly. I started feeling sick for too many days in a row, then I craved saltines with cheese and pickles (my pregnancy craving. I might have to pause because as I wrote that my mouth started to water). So I knew a prego test was in order, and surprise there is a baby in there. The kids are thrilled, and Jared has been so helpful. He picks up the house every night while I bend over the white throne in the bathroom. We are not getting our hopes up for a 'you know what' (the G word is forbidden around here) and should find out the gender in May. I am excited, it was fun to be pregnant and be so surprised, but I keep asking myself how I did this 3 other times before. I am having such a hard time and I know the ending is forever away. I am so tired because I never sleep, and so sick of always being sick....Please send sympathy, I need it :)

Freezer Cooking Day

2010-02-05T12:41:00.000-08:00

I just finished my first freezer cooking day and it was...a lot of work. But hopefully, it will be worth it. I chose today because Friday I don't do laundry, Carter was home to play with the kids, and because our dishwasher is broken, I thought it would keep me from having to wash a ton of dinner dishes later on. Here is what I made in 4 hours:
2 batches spaghetti sauce
lasagna
taco meat
rice krispy chicken
chicken pot pie
french onion pie
hawaiian haystack sauce
sloppy jo filling (a little iffy on this. Way runny and I haven't made it in like 5 years. I bought cheap buns and chips this week and thought we could have a "picnic").
3 batches Cheesy Vegetable Soup (the most yummy, most fattening soup ever!)

Is that all? Doesn't seem like much, but will feed us this next month. I'm going to make french bread tonight for dinner and make a couple extra and see if they freeze well. Hot bread out of the oven is just so yummy, so we'll see if it turns out. Jared was a little skeptical, he loves my cooking and is afraid freezing will alter the taste.
A few highlights of the morning:
*I turned on the tunes super loud and the kids danced for awhile to Thriller music. I had to get my video camera out because Eli was dancing so cute. He spreads his legs apart and boogies down! So funny!
*We had to pause for a bath from a blowout diaper. He later brought me a piece of poop that apparently escaped the diaper. Super gross!
*I dropped a can of tomato sauce and it splattered on our play food. Had to wash those dished too.
*While I was turned away, my ziploc bag holding a batch of soup fell over and soup was running down my cupboard making a puddle on the floor. The soup is also not freezing, which makes me a little nervous. Does melted velveeta cheese not freeze? Maybe we will be having company over for soup tonight:)

Anyhow, I finished much early than anticipated, which is great! I chose easy recipes that I know we love and will supplement these in on crazy nights.

Happy New Year!

2010-02-04T12:36:00.000-08:00

Has it really been since November that I blogged last? What happened? Oh, I know, I got the couponing bug! Thanks to my good friend Julie, I have joined the ranks of many other moms trying to stretch the family grocery budget by searching for good deals! It is very time consuming but well worth the rewards. I joke to Jared that it's my job that takes 1 hour a day and pays a ton. I started in December (bad month to start) and did okay, but January I did awesome. I lessened my budget for the month, filled my new freezer (thanks mom!) and our food storage room actually is storing food! So fun! My couponing couldn't have come at a better time. With loans being slow for Jared, the month of February has little money for groceries. I am planning a freezer cooking day in the next few days and will be making food for 12 meals. All with stuff I already have. So rewarding! Our dishwasher broke yesterday (which has reminded me off all the hand washing with Celeste growing up) and we'll see how cooking all those meals without it goes!

We had a fun Christmas as usual and got spoiled rotten. Legos filled the house Christmas day, along with a new kitchen for Eli (in hopes he will stop destroying mine)and we finally upgraded our 90's TV for a flat screen. My favorite thing Jared gave me was a rice cooker, which I love, love, love. I think he secretly got it for himself because he loves sticky rice, but mmmm...it's good!
Eli is still into everything, and I am so worn out at the end of the day! Santa gave him 5 toothbrushes, which he promptly put in the toilet! Gross! Keep the bathroom door shut! He is a climber, on the table, on the counter, on the nightstand. He climbs onto Carter's bunkbed, but he can also climb the ladder back down, so that is not so scary anymore. He can reach the doorknobs, but not open them yet. I'm sure that will come. I showed him how to throw his diaper in the garbage once, now everything goes in the garbage. His favorite thing to play with is the dishwasher tablets, and he will carry one around all day. I figure it's okay as long as he doesn't put it in his mouth (I gave up on the battle). He says "hot" in a whisper and Ma and dada. Luckily, he goes to bed at 6 and wakes up at 8 so we have a little peace time. He is the cutest dang kid ever but, whew, what a busy kid!
Carter is just like a mini me. He wrote a report on rocks the other day just because he wanted to, and drew a design of his bedroom, complete with a lego shelf and a laptop. He is a great brother with a sweet heart!
Brexten is our social bug! He loves to play with friends. He has a great imagination, playing house, fort, or superheroes. He loves to sleep in, read stories and make lego creations. He LOVES stuffed puppies and has about 12 of them. They all have names and get slept with every night.
We are excited for this new year. We are focusing on our budget (thanks to Dave Ramsey) and hopefully will finish our basement this year. I've started doing our family devotionals again with the kids, and am excited to prepare Carter for baptism this year.(scary, I know!) Even though our life is mostly crazy, I see the Lord's hand in my life and am thankful for a healthy and happy family. Here are a few pictures from Christmas and a funny video all moms will get a kick out of. Sorry mom, but it reminded me of you back in the 80's!

link to video: http://www.hulu.com/watch/10333/saturday-night-live-mom-jeans

Sew Fun!

2009-11-13T20:19:00.000-08:00

Jared is gone for the week on business so I decided to get a head start on sewing Christmas presents! I have had the sewing bug lately and found the cutest websites with sewing projects. Jared laughed at me the other day and joked that I am having a hard time keeping up with their daily projects! If you know me, that is so true! I love to try new ideas and love to start and finish a project! I'm a little nervous about posting Christmas presents because I love a surprise, but they are so adorable I can't help myself! I made this cute cape for 4 year old Avery for Christmas. It's so cute on, but my model (Brexten) didn't want a pic in a girlie outfit! I seriously think all little girls should have one, and I'm tempted to make one for every little girlie I know. Maybe every mommy as well. Come on, you know you want one!

I made this matching dress for 1 year old Lucy for Christmas. Eli was my model and seriously looked so adorable, but I think we have had enough pictures of baby Ellie. I'm crossing my fingers that it will fit little Lucy next month so her and her sister can be matchy! I spent about $5 on each of these projects and the cape required no sewing and took about 10 minutes. Gotta love that!

I made this purple bag for me. Haven't decided what to tote in it, but it sure is fun to look at, even if it is empty for the moment! I love Wal-Mart's cheapo fabric section and bought fabirc for $2.00/yd. to do a few of these purses. It was my first time making a flower thingy and I hope it looks a little better next time around.

Yes, I know I should get a social life!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-04T12:57:00.000-08:00

These pictures didn't turn out the greatest because it was dark outside and everyone was onery! We spent Halloween day in Logan and forgot our camera so we tried to recreate costumes for pics the next night.

I was Dorothy and Eli was my my Toto. Carter was Little Bear from Indian in the Cupboard, and Brexten is a power ranger.

Makin Mud

2009-11-02T19:34:00.001-08:00

Apparently, summer is not over at our house!

crafts

2009-10-29T11:41:00.000-07:00

I have the crafting bug. Maybe it was making Halloween costumes that got me going. I'll have to show some cute pix of them later! Anyhow, I have spent my last few weeks doing "projects," and still have a list of fun things I want to do. My mom gave me an unfinished shelf for my living room, so I decided I would try to get that room looking cute since I haven't done anything to it since we moved in! I went to Four Chairs (awesome chic furniture store) and learned how to paint my shelf ultra cute, and now want to paint every piece of furniture in my house! I want to make some cute pillows for my couches to update them a little, but have only made one so far.
I thought I would show the cute clipboards I made for my kids papers. Jared gets tired of the pile of papers on the counter and I found this cute idea from my sis, Emily. They cost about $1.50 each and currently hold spelling lists, reading calendars, monthly memorizing, and primary program parts. Super cute and cheap.

Don't I Have the Cutest kids Ever?!

2009-10-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

I had her take extra ones of Eli because I never took him for his birthday. He didn't like the skunk so much...hopefully he will wear it for Halloween!

Temple Square

2009-09-14T16:27:00.000-07:00

We went up to Temple Square on Labor Day with our cute little family. We usually go up in the winter to look at the lights, but it was nice to walk around casually without crowds. We loved looking at flowers, touring Brigham Young's house, and eating yummy rolls at the Lion House for a snack. My favorite moment was taking a picture of all by boys under the statue of Joseph receiving the priesthood. It was nice to have such a fun, relaxing morning together. It seems they have incorporated The Proclamation to the Family in most of their new things in the Visitors Center and the spirit that brings is amazing. If you haven't been for awhile, take your family before October and they rip out all the flowers. It's a nice reminder as to why we have children, which I so needed last week!

What's new at our house

2009-09-02T13:19:00.001-07:00

We went camping last weekend at Current Creek Reservoir. Gorgeous weather and campsite, although nights with Eli in a tent were very unpleasant! I didn't take too many pictures because I was chasing Eli the whole time, but Carter and Brex had a blast playing with cousins and playing at the lake. Hopefully by next summer I will forget all the laundry, dirty car, and no sleep associated with camping and go again!

The kids are loving school and I am loving early bedtimes and morning schedules. I wasn't going to do preschool for Brexten, but he was so sad when Carter went, so I signed him up and he is having a ball. He tells me goodbye before we're even out of the driveway:) I am trying to do all the spring cleaning I never got done in the spring and have some painting projects lined up. I still feel so busy, how did I keep up when they were home all day in the summer? I am still doing ancient world history with them each week, which I am learning so much, and we still do our earth science, which Carter is fascinated with.

Carter lost his other front tooth at school the other day. He is so cute with both front teeth missing, I'll post a picture soon.

We finally caught the mouse in the house! He finally took the bait on a mouse trap and was caught while we were camping. I am a little worried there is another one still at large, we'll have to listen and see!

Busy Boy

2009-09-02T13:12:00.000-07:00

This is basically what Eli does all day, every day. I have never had such a busy baby before! Room to room, destroying everything in his path. Every cupboard and drawer was emptied yesterday at some point, and I have no idea where half of my kitchen utensils are. Why do I bother to clean my house? The worst it looks is about 7:00, when dinner hasn't been cleaned up, prep is still everywhere, and I haven't cleaned up Eli's mess from when I let him do whatever so I could make dinner. Of course, that is when Jared gets home from work and wonders what I've been doing all day! He actually hasn't said that, but I'm sure he's thinking it sometimes!

Rodents and other unwanted pets... I mean pests!

2009-08-23T18:47:00.000-07:00

As I sit here blogging, I can hear our mouse scratching in the middle of the wall next to me. He ran across the room the other day and I tried to catch him with the garbage can. No success. We have 8 traps set. He's very smart. And fat. Most likely from our food storage. He goes from he unfinished part to inside the walls. While spraying my fence Friday, a snake slithered out and hid under the shed. Third one this summer. The other two were successfully returned to the canal by our house. I think this one shall have a much less happy fate. Yesterday, while mowing the lawn, another mouse was cited. People, this isn't a zoo! Mama ain't happy. The kids think it's awesome.

first day of school

2009-08-23T18:40:00.001-07:00

Brexten started preschool and is so excited to go back to Mrs. Misti's. He loved going last year in the afternoon...we'll see how getting 2 kids out the door in the morning goes!

Riding to 2nd grade in style. Carter thinks he's the coolest kid around riding the scooter. Jared...not so much! But it sure is nice on the gas budget!

Carter

2009-08-18T13:19:00.000-07:00

We've had a fun summer having Carter around all the time. I did a summer school in the morning, where we practiced reading (which he hated), learned cursive (which he loved!), learned all about earth science, and started The Story of the World, which started with ancient world history with super fun projects (mummified chicken, anyone?)I am sad to see him be gone all day and his brothers will sure miss having him around. Hopefully I will still continue science and history because they were fun for all of us and I am learning a ton! His 7 year old brain is always going, going, going and hard for me to keep up with! He talks nonstop with ideas or projects or KNex or art. Here is a sampling of my last weeks events/conversations with my cutest ever 7 year old

* "Mom, what does it mean to 'Cry unto the Lord?' because it always says that in the scriptures"

* He was so excited to vacuum the house the other day during tidy time, and afterward, he decided to wash the vacuum with Windex and a rag. He was so proud of a sparkling vacuum. He is so like his mother!

* He told me he was not going to let his money go below $10 so he would have some "emergency money". Just in case our house burned down, he could replace all his favorite stuffed animals.

* We do the book fairy at out house. I'll wrap new books from the "book fairy", or set up library books while they're asleep all over the couches to look at in the morning. Sometimes just set up "lonely books" to read together. It has been really fun, and I thought he knew it was me the whole time. Apparently not, because he asked if I was the book fairy and I said yes. He got mad at me and said I should have lied to him because it's much more fun to think it was really a fairy. So now I don't feel so bad about the OTHER PEOPLE (you know who I'm talking about). He has since forgiven me and we decided he could still pretend it was a fairy. Maybe I'll just buy some wings and a wand or something to wear when in disguise...

I've always wanted lips like Angelina Jolie

2009-08-07T08:44:00.001-07:00

Last night I got wacked in the face with my child's head. I ran into the bathroom, sure I had broken teeth and nose. But the blood was coming from my lip, witch had hit my teeth and split open. Lovely! I headed to the Instacare, where I got varying decisions on whether to do stitched or not. The decision was made to let it heal on its own, and I headed home with a huge, bloody, swollen lip. It does look and feel better today, although my front tooth is still very sore!

Timp Cave

2009-08-05T20:13:00.001-07:00

We hiked Timp Cave as a family for the 24th of July a few weeks ago. The kids did great on the hike up and Eli didn't seem to mind the backpack. Once we got to the cave, however, Carter and Brex took one step inside, freaked out, and turned back around. They hadn't been in a cave before and thought it was too scary! We coaxed them back in and had a great time on the tour, despite Eli crying through the whole tour. Luckily, the other family on the tour with us was a family with 9 children, yes I said 9 children, so I think it's safe to say they were used to crying children. After the tour, Jared booked it back down the mountain with Eli wailing on his back, and the kids and I took a lazy, trail mix eating, bug exploring hike back down.

Carter and Brex spent the next hour filling out an activity book to become junior rangers and earn a badge. It was so cute to watch them take the oath with their hands in the air, and be presented their badges from an old friends mom, Sheila Hunt. They have worn them just about every day since.(When they're not stuck onto their shirts in the wash):) Definitely worth becoming junior rangers if you go! Thanks Brynn for taking some cute pics for us!

Happy Birthday Eli

2009-08-02T21:46:00.000-07:00

I guess you can't keep them babies forever, but I was sad my baby turned 1! He is the funnest little guy. Very busy, very happy, and a great sleeper. He took his first step July 3rd and then took off the week before his birthday. He started saying ma-ma this week and it is the cutest thing ever. We had a bash Sunday night with the fam in our backyard and had lots of fun! Here are a few pictures of his big day

Watching the World Go Round

2009-07-14T15:45:00.000-07:00

One of the advantages of a front loader! We went to DI today and the boys bought little stuffed animal puppies. I told them they had to be washed before they could play with them and they seriously watched them for almost the whole wash cycle!
I took a bunch of stuff to DI and wanted to see if they had a baby cradle for when Brex plays house with his friends. The baby always has to sleep on the floor! I didn't find a cradle, but me and the boys searched through the games, books and toys and found some fun treasures that I have to share. I feel like my friend Julie when she gets a good deal on groceries and posts a picture of them! (Ha, ha, Julie) I bought:
four 24 piece Sesame Street puzzles with ALL their pieces
flash cards for addition, subtraction, time, money, numbers, colors and shapes
Books I am so excited I found:
Charlotte's Web
James and the Giant Peach
Where the Red Fern Grows
The Indian in the Cupboard
The Borrowers
The first three book in the Chronicles of Narnia Series
2 Junie B Jones books
The Foot Book
The Nose Book
A 1960 The Ugly Duckling with huge pretty pictures
A 1970 Mother Goose Nursery Rhyme book
and 2 cute little stuffed animal puppies.
Okay, so I get excited about dumb things, but we had a good time and hardly spent any money!

Summer Days

2009-07-11T22:23:00.000-07:00

We love playing outside in our shady backyard. Eli discovered dirt the other day and we let him make a mess and eat all he wanted to!

Carter lost his front tooth last week and looks so different without it!

Brexten loves his dog, Copper. (I still have a love-hate relationship with him)

We've had a fun summer doing our morning school, working in the garden, and hanging out together!

Good Parenting?

2009-07-09T16:53:00.001-07:00

I just taught my kids how to slide down the stairs in a sleeping bag, I'm sure it will only end in tears, but is very entertaining in the meantime!

Vacation Photos!

2009-06-11T13:05:00.000-07:00

I feel I am somewhat recovered from vacation enough to post my favorite pictures of California. Vacation was so fun! 2 days at the zoo, 3 days at Disney and a hot day at the beach. We loved hanging out with the Bezzant family for late night game nights, watching the dolphins and surfers in the ocean, and visiting Mickey Mouse!

We have all been sleeping in until 8:00 this week, which has been fabulousfor vacation recovery! Eli even decided to start sleeping through the night this week, so we say good night to him about 6:30 at night and say good morning at 8:00. That you Eli!

Here is a slide show of our photos. Sorry for the length, and the cheesy music!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

2009-05-29T19:43:00.000-07:00

I thought I would try my photography skills out in our front yard this week. The plan was to do close ups of the boys, and then a together pic. I found cute summer outfits and had good intentions of having them all dressed to match, hair combed and looking cute for a photo shoot this week, but...

I got Brexten's done. That's all. Then I buzzed their heads today and forgot about doing pictures first. Oh, well. Maybe in a few weeks.

Which one's your favorite? I can't decide.

And yes I should be packing, not blogging. Disneyland tomorrow. Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!

Live Long and Prosper

2009-05-22T22:12:00.000-07:00

Listen Over and Over Again

2009-05-20T13:56:00.000-07:00

Favorite Song, Favorite Artist

www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9W4a1m4XAQ

Thanks Seren

2009-05-20T10:31:00.001-07:00

May seems to be flying by so fast. Here are a few pics of the kids playing outside in the nice weather. I love this picture of Eli, it totally shows his personality. And his one big tooth he has!

I bought the kids goggles at Costco and they think they're the coolest to play in the tub with!

I went in to check on Eli during his nap and he was in the funniest position, sound asleep. He is almost walking, puts everything in his mouth, and hasn't learned what "no" means. Not a good combination!

Talent Show

2009-05-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

If you walked by our house last night you would have heard us all belting out the song Hallelujah. Carter wants to sing it for the school talent show, so we had our first practice last night. It was a step down from his original plan of doing bike tricks onstage with Ernesto. His friend Rielly is apparently jumping his bike through a ring of fire.
We may have to do a little improvising on the inappropriate words, but we'll see how it goes. He's way pumped and I can't help be excited for him and his enthusiasm. I gave him the idea of singing a song and he heard the choir sing this one the other day and was inspired I guess...

Just Hang'n

2009-04-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

We've had a fun couple of weeks just hang'n out with each other. I told the kids Spring Break was a no TV/Wii week and we had lots of fun. We went swimming with Savana, did projects and checked out about 40 books from the library and had a "book read" afternoon. Why when you give an activity an actual name, it is so much funner? This is what is happening with my 3 little monsters:

Eli continues to crawl everywhere and put everything in his mouth. It's nice that my floors are now always swept, mopped and vacuumed, but kind of a pain in the but to do all the time! He is pulling up on things, and I'm thinking he will be my earliest walker. He decided this week people food is way cooler to eat than baby food, but doesn't quit know how to chew it and gets really frustrated. He's decided 5:30 is a good time to wake up in the morning, despite my 7:00 rule. The other kids know the rule about not coming out of your room until 7:00, but apparently he didn't get the memo. He just talks and plays for awhile, but I'm such a light sleeper that it wakes me up too. Then the dang birds won't shut up and it's no more sleep for mama. Maybe I'll quit feeding them...the birds that is.

Brexten is my little buddy during the day and I am trying to do some morning activities with him. He calls it the home school game ( yes, call me crazy, but I'm thinking about it...) Yesterday we played outside in our swimsuits and I got my first sunburn of the year! At one point, he went inside and got his winter coat on because he said it was too hot. In the winter he didn't like the coat because the fabric on the inside was too cold, but I guess he thought it would feel nice when he was too hot! So funny! We are also teaching him about lying (since he is always doing it) and he can recite the definition of a lie when needed: When I do something, but say I did something else. (An easy 4 year old definition).

Carter continues to amaze me with his creativity. He's into Indian Jones right now because we got the Wii game for our B of M reading reward a few weeks ago. We checked out the movie the other day and he was amazed that the movie was so much like the game! It's been forever since I saw the movie and I forgot about all the face melting, killing moments, but the kids thought it was awesome and no bad dreams emerged. I bought Carter a cheap notebook the other day and told him Indiana kept a notebook to write down information in, and so he decided that's what he would do. He now stays up late with his reading lamp writing things in it. Its so cute, so far he has: how to play 4 square, how to tell time, what respect means (I made him write this one!) and what he does at school. He carries it around with him in case he needs it! His class at school also published a book and he was chosen to draw the cover and write the title. Apparently his class took a vote on who has the best handwriting and he won. Definitely a boost to his confidence!
Baseball season is in the air at our house and that's all the boys do when dad gets home from work. It's nice to see dad out playing with the kids! Carter already has a blister from swinging the bat, and is thinking about going pro! :)
Jared and I are on week 3 of weight watchers and have so far lost 13 pounds together. Round of applause, please! I like to think of 13 pounds of ground beef and it makes me smile to think it's not on our buts! Meal planning continues to be hard because I have to count points and serve meals for both of us, but we'll see how it goes. I did just eat a handful of chocolate chips, oops! Hopefully I can have this extra weight off by June vacation and look oh so hot on the beach! ;)
I am loving working in the yard and have big plans for it. My peas are coming up and look yummy so far! I, of course, have lots of projects to keep Jared busy all spring (as usual) and am so glad we bought a house with such a beautiful landscaped yard!

So that is life right now. Hope you enjoyed the details.:)

Life

2009-04-17T19:00:00.000-07:00

So our car broke down yesterday. Luckily it was the same day we got our tax return so now the money has someplace to go. Like we didn't already have plans for it. As is life...

Cursive

2009-04-17T18:50:00.001-07:00

So Carter has been really interested in learning to write cursive. I told him he couldn't do it until I showed him the right way because I didn't want him to learn by himself and do it wrong. So today I showed him all the lowercase letters and he traced over mine. Then he wanted the uppercase letters. Yeah, um, I didn't know a few. Like Q, I don't think I've ever written a cursive Q before, and D took me a few times. And is Z just like the lowercase only bigger? I was a little stumped! Needless to say, I told Carter to hold of on the uppercase letters for now. He told me just to Google it. Smart boy, he knows where the knowledge is! So here is my challenge for everyone. You know what it is, write them down and see if you remember how to do perfect cursive!

Easter

2009-04-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Easter weekend in Logan this year with Nate and Emily and their kids. We had yummy food and a fun easter egg hunt at the park. I haven't laughed so hard for a long time playing colored easter eggs. (Emily thought Myka made this game up years ago, but I remember playing it as a child. Anyone else?) It made me realize I need to play more with my kids because we had lots of fun! We played in our pool at the hotel and went to Logan's baby animal days. The kids love their Logan cousins and were so sad to say goodbye.

Brex's helmet fell in his eyes but he was to scared to let go of the horse to fix it. So cute!

Carter loving the duckies!

Eli loved the baby bunnies. We wondered how many baby animals survived the weekend. And yes, Jared is wearing the Moby wrap. He loves to carry Eli around in it. What a great dad!

waiting for pony rides!

Eli has another ear infection and his medicine gives him such bad diarrhea. Poor thing went through about 13 outfits during the weekend. But he is always up for smiles!

Not Happy

2009-04-03T11:57:00.001-07:00

So last month my hard drive on my cell phone broke. We don't have a home phone, so it was a little frustrating. I couldn't call T Mobile (duh!) so me and the 3 monkeys went to the T Mobile store in hopes that they would be scared off by us and give me a free phone! "Sorry, your phone is past warranty, you'll have to buy a new phone," he kindly told me. I grudgingly I spent $100 on a new phone to get me by until July, when we can renew and get the phone I really wanted. I could have bought a used one, but let's face it, they aren't as pretty or shiny, and on some days this was my only connection to the outside world.

So today on the way into Wal-Mart, my new phone slipped out of my purse onto the ground and the face cracked. After doing some warranty research and calling T Mobile I found out I will have to yet again buy a new phone. The guy told me it would have been covered if I had spent $5.99 at a the time of purchase on phone insurance. "Are you joking?" I asked. My phone is only 4 weeks old, barely a newborn, sill somewhat shiny, and now it's broken forever? "We can give you $20 off our best phone," he offered. "What a deal!" I tell him and hang up. Grrrr! I love to flush money down the toilet!

On the Move

2009-03-31T14:18:00.000-07:00

Eli is now officially crawling, and he cut his first tooth. Go Baby E! I'll have to post a video later. (When I figure out how!)

Movie Night

2009-03-31T13:59:00.000-07:00

We rented Enchanted from the library last Friday (yes, we are cheap) and had a family movie night! We all snuggled on our couch with pillows and blankets and yummy caramel popcorn. I remember having these when I was little, eating air popped popcorn on a paper towel in front of me and laying on the family room floor. Usually it was Saturday night and mom was doing our hair in curlers and braids for church the next day. They are still just as fun!

Mix 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup butter, and 3 T. corn syrup. Cook and stir until soft ball stage and mix with 1 bag microwave popcorn. Thanks Em for the yummy recipe!

This picture is for Julie. Practicing my aperture skills with my camera!

Lost & Found

2009-03-26T13:59:00.000-07:00

So, I just found the cute baby shower decorations I spent forever yesterday trying to find for my party last night. Also in the random box was the Halloween costume I tried to find for Eli in October, and the white dress shirt for Brex I knew I had but couldn't find and finally bought him a new one. I wish to be more organized. Sigh... in other good news, Eli has his first double ear infection, we are hoping he won't carry on the family tradition of having ear tubes like his 2 brothers!

We Know How to Party!

2009-03-26T09:29:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We've had a crazy couple of weeks full of fun parties! A Modbe party, baby shower, 3 birthday parties, and Brynn's wedding has made us all cranky and tired, and more sugar than anybody should ever have!
Brexten turned 4 last week and we decided to try a friend party. We invited his sunbeam class and went to McDonald's to play and have ice cream. We were the only ones in the playplace which made it fun for the moms to visit and the kids to trash the place! Despite Brexten's fever and pneumonia-like cough, he had a fun day!

We celebrated with the family on Saturday and put a huge blow up trampoline in our front yard. No broken bones, so I consider it a success!

We had our yearly celebration of Grandma Harris' birthday. Every year we go to dinner (No boys or kids allowed) and each year it gets more and more OTT!(over the top) I'm sure the other people dining at Brick Oven thought we had a little something extra in our root beer! This year, we did a farm theme to celebrate their new baby lamb. Each family made up a verse to "Grandma Jean had a farm," (ours was a little inappropriate for posting, but perfect for public display!). Grandma even rented a sexy Bo Peep costume for the occasion and looked so cute! It's always a fun time to party with the Harris family!

Baby Eli

2009-03-07T20:57:00.000-08:00

There are so many other things I should be doing right now, but instead I am blogging! Here are Eli's new pictures, he is such a great smiler, I think it was the easiest photo shoot ever. She should only charge half price when they are as easy as this!

I really need to take pictures of my other cute boys and post them because Eli sure gets lots of attention on my blog!

Service with a Smile!

2009-02-27T09:38:00.000-08:00

My life is full of embarrassing moments, usually caused by descriptive observations from the boys:
"Mom, why is that guy so big huge fat?" pointing to Jared's co-worker
"Why is that dad wearing makeup," and points right to the guy in drag in front of us at the checkout line.
Or the ever famous, "Look, Jesus is in the hot tub with us," to some guy on vacation with long hair, also full of tattoos and drinking a beer. Nice

Yesterdays moment was entirely my fault. We went to Grease Monkey to get an oil change in the Explorer and because they do a free vacuum and my car was a mess, I decided to take full advantage. Me and the kids put all the toy cars, wrappers, garbage, clothes, backpacks, books, water bottles, legos, & unidentified sticky objects that were on the floor onto the seats so they could vacuum. Proud of myself for thinking to do that, we headed into the waiting area to get our free popcorn and drinks. Silly me, I should have done a double check, because I forgot the wadded up pantyhose that I had taken off the day before on the way home from the Draper temple house. They must have been under the front seat. But don't you worry, the guy helped me out and picked them up and placed them on the dashboard. How sweet of him!

MuchLoved Recipes

2009-02-25T15:22:00.000-08:00

While making a batch of brownies at 6:30 last night that had to be at the church by 7:00 for pack meeting, I spilled some batter on my recipe card. I hurried and wiped it away, mad that it was now messy. Later, I realized my mistake.

Growing up, these brownies were a staple at our house. I could follow the recipe by the time I could read it, and it was a quick and delicious snack that was made about once a week! I also knew exactly how to find the recipe card among the hundreds of recipes in the box. I could flip through the recipe box and never miss it. It was the only one that was discolored, brown, and stained with brownie batter, cocoa, and butter. A few years ago, when most of us had moved out, my mom rewrote the recipe on a fresh card and refiled it. Like an era was ending! Last night I restarted the tradition, and I hope it will continue!

Signs of Spring

2009-02-24T10:15:00.000-08:00

We are getting a little impatient at our house that spring has not arrived! Today we have had a few fun happenings to help announce the new season.

The snow drifts have melted in our front yard to reveal a now-rusted, was-new-last-year scooter of Carter's that had gone missing, and also a old garbage can that the kids were using as a sled before I gave in and gave them an early Christmas present (new sleds)

Carter asked if he couold make his birthday guest list (his birthday is May 28th)

I just spotted a fly on my window.

I am booking flights for the annual summer Disney vacation. Yeah!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-17T11:25:00.000-08:00

Since we had just celebrated our Anniversary on a fun date night, we decided to take the kids up to the Children's Museum at the Gateway on Valentine's Day. They had lots of fun things to do and the kids loved it. We spent all day up there and then stopped at China Isle for a romantic dinner with the kids! Ha Ha!
This is Brexten playing in the pretend kitchen. He loves to cook with me and loved that everything up there was his size!

Carter found out they were making handmade valentines and we spent forever cutting, gluing and coloring a valentine for grandma.

Our favorite thing was the helicopter that was outside. It made noises like you were actually flying and the kids loved sitting in the cockpit.

Jared is such a cute dad. He acted out a play with Brex and carried Eli around in the Moby wrap!

Last night for family night we talked about love and I made up the "I love you game" on the spot. Everyone ran around for 10 seconds then hurried and sat in a circle and had to tell the 2 people next to them something they loved about them. We did it a couple times and tried not to laugh at the cute and creative reasons Carter and Brex told us.

Hello!

2009-02-13T17:01:00.001-08:00

Holy cow, can you believe that we are all healthy now! We had a long bout with influenza and sinus infections, but we are finally doing better. My house, I hate to say, is still recovering! Thanks to everyone for meals and phone calls, it was sooo nice. Eli was the only one who didn't get sick, he had a runny nose for a day or two and is fine. We are so lucky, surely he would've ended up in the hospital with what we all had, and we all know we love paying for those things! Oh, wait...did I say we were all healthy, because last night our dog started to get real sick and looks like he is about to die today. Just lays there, fever, won't eat or drink, cries if you touch him. I'll just quote Brexten for how I feel about this:
"what the?."

Should've got a Flu shot!

2009-01-29T13:52:00.000-08:00

I'm thinking know that I should have used my time machine we keep in the garage a few months ago when I was offered flu shots for the family. If only I could have seen the happening of this week: Fevers, chills, sore throats, coughs, snotty noses, and goopy eyes. I like my sister in law Emily;s response lately. "Sorry, we are not doing anything until March!" Eli is the only healthy one at the moment, but it is only 3:00 in the afternoon!

Baby E

2009-01-28T08:44:00.000-08:00

Who says the third child never gets their picture taken?
This is Eli at 6 months playing on my bed. I love that he has a few rolls, rare at our house unless your over age 20...
He loves playing with his toes and just started blowing raspberries, which is hilarious, unless your the one feeding him rice cereal when he does it.

2009-01-27T10:46:00.000-08:00

11:00 Climb into bed
12:00 Brex wakes up crying that his mouth hurts. Won't open it up so we can look. After tickling his back, finally goes back to sleep.
1:00 Brex wakes up saying his ear hurts. After giving him the last dose of children's ibuprofen in the house, he freaks out and throws it all up. Warm up rice bag in microwave to soothe his ear.
2:00 Eli wakes up to eat
3:00 Carter wakes up crying his throat hurts. Yep, he has a fever. Try to scrape any more medicine out of the bottle and give it to him.
4:00 Carter still can't sleep. Make a bed on our floor for him.
5:00 Eli wakes up. Insert binky and back to bed.
6:30 Eli waked up again. Insert binky and back to bed.
7:30 Brex is up for the day. Ear and mouth feel fine. Turn on cartoons and I'm back to bed.
8:00 Carter is up and still sick. Good, we don't have to hurry and get ready for school. Jared gets up with the kids and I go back to bed.
8:30 Eli is up and hungry. Feed Eli in bed still half asleep. Hello morning!
Don't we love motherhood?

Busted!

2009-01-20T13:52:00.000-08:00

We had a great lesson last night on the word of wisdom as we watched a drug bust happen in front of our house. A car was pulled over and searched, arrests were made, and we had great entertainment from the window for about an hour. The kids were so curious about what was happening, so we took the opportunity to turn it into a great object lesson on drugs.
P.S. We live in a very kid friendly family neighborhood. In case you were wondering...

Highlights from Our Week

2009-01-17T20:38:00.000-08:00

best moment: I went to a class on how to spiritually organize our family and am so excited to get started. I have been working on things all week to start on Monday with the kids at FHE. If all goes well, I will have perfect kids, a clean house, and a ticket to the celestial kingdom! We'll see how it goes!

worst mom moment: I forgot to pick up Carter from school on Monday. Again. This early out day kills me! Luckily, Jared has cousins close by and he can walk with them to their house and call me!

inspirational moment: I haven't vacuumed the car all winter and finally did it this week. I ended up finding a bag of hash browns that I had bought the day before at the store that had fallen under the seat. Thankfully, I was inspired to vacuum to save myself from the stink later. It's the small and simple things, right?

cute kids moment: Back to the hash browns. While vacuuming, I handed the bag to Brex and told him to put it on the counter. Instead, he threw it at Carter, missed, and I ended up with soggy, stinky hash browns all over my stairs. I gave him a bag and made him clean them all up. He ended up stuffing them in the corner of each stair so when I looked down from the top of the stairs it looked like he had cleaned them all up. What a creative child I have!

sad moment: Eli had croup this week and was so sick! We spent a scary night trading off in the steam of the shower with him. He was having a hard time breathing, but is doing much better after a blessing from dad and a steroid shot. Poor guy!

fun moment: Today I went wedding dress shopping with my sister Brynn. She will be such a beautiful bride, I'm so excited for her and Sam.

finally moment: Jared cut and put up the molding from October's kitchen tiling project. Finally!!

down she went

2009-01-08T12:35:00.000-08:00

So I tend to be kind of a klutz. Yes, I did dance in high school and college, but off the dance floor, I seem to have a hard time being graceful, and therefore led to yesterdays events. Carrying a sleeping Brexten, and trying to take off my muddy boots at the same time, I tripped and fell on our tile floor. I was going front first and didn't want to have Brex brace my fall, so I threw down my knees, but my jeans slipped and we all landed in a painful heap on the floor. There are actual blue marks on my tile floor-new jeans-and I have huge bruises on my knees. But thankfully my only audience was Carter! His comment was "wow, I've never seen anything like that in my whole life!"

Way to go, Grace!

2009-01-06T09:28:00.001-08:00

Make a Smilebox photobook

Our Holiday Weeks

2009-01-06T09:08:00.000-08:00

We had a crazy but fun few holiday weeks. Carter got a long vacation from school because he was so sick the last week so I kept him home. He had a bad case of croup, with 3 trips to the doctor for steroids and breathing treatments, but finally this week has his voice back! Santa each gave us 1 gift: Jared got a snow shovel, which he wasn't too happy about! I got some fun fuzzy boots, Eli got a sock monkey (so cute), Carter got a bike ramp and Brexten got new snowpants and a coat. We gave the boys a Wii and some games to play. Every year we say were having a simple and small Christmas, but once again we were all spoiled! We went to my moms for the traditional Christmas breakfast, with Christmas cakes, eggs, sausage and bacon. Mmmm...

Jared and Carter spent a good 4 hours putting together Star Wars legos and we played Wii games and enjoyed family. What a fun day, but I'm a little glad the craziness is over. The quiet books finally got finished December 23rd and turned out way cute. I'll have to show pictures later! Here are a few highlights from Christmas morning.

OOPS!

2008-12-18T14:28:00.000-08:00

This is our view from our dining room window, overlooking our rich neighbors pool. Unfortunately in the summer we will have to watch while they swim in it. Fortunately in the winter we get to watch them drive their truck into it. Oops!

2008-12-18T12:04:00.000-08:00

The lines were long, the patience was short, Santa was a little worn out, but we had to do it! Carter asked for a bike ramp (he's finally getting the hints from Mom) and Brexy asked "for a toy for Baby Eli and something cool for me." We can do that!

Words to live by

2008-12-18T12:02:00.000-08:00

"Sometimes the best things happen when you stop pursuing perfection and embrace uncertainty."

lia sophia

2008-12-08T20:23:00.000-08:00

So I have selling jewelry for about 18 months now and am enjoying it. I haven't done a ton lately because of moving and baby, but I'm offering some holiday specials and thought I would post them. I don't think I have emails for everyone who looks at my blog! This is what I emailed out:

As Christmas is drawing near, I'm offering a few specials for ordering jewelry. Everybody loves jewelry as a gift, and lia sophia has so many beautiful pieces out this season to choose from. Browse the 2008 FALL/WINTER catalog HERE, and let me know if you see anything you like. All orders need be placed before this Saturday, so please forward this on to friends and family who you know love this jewelry (or your husband with your selections!)

Here are the specials:
Buy any 2 at regular price (these can be your LEAST expensive items)
Then get any 4 half-off. Your most expensive items are always your half-off items.
Mix and match with bracelets, necklaces, and earrings.

I'm also offering a BONUS item with every $100 order. A BONUS item is any piece in the catalog priced under $100 is only $15. Anything over $100 is only $20. This is a great way to get that necklace you've had your eye on without having to host a party.

You can email your order or call me at 691-8419. All jewelry has a lifetime replacement guarantee and is exchangeable or returnable.

Baby Elly

2008-12-08T12:03:00.000-08:00

Here is a sampling of some hair bows I made for my nieces. Brex wouldn't be my model, and Eli had no choice, so here it is. I even sacrificed my pantyhose for the photo shoot (they were clean!)

2008-12-06T21:21:00.000-08:00

Peppermint stick ice cream. First scoop of the season. In a steaming cup of hot cocoa. Mmmm... Now it really is Christmas to me!

A Simplified Christmas

2008-12-06T21:05:00.000-08:00

So last year at this time I was battling morning sickness (oh the woes of being pregnant) and took it easy during December. Or in other words, no projects. For me that is huge. I am known for having 10 different things I'm making, building, sewing, scrapping, or putting together. And of course I finish them all!

I think I'm making up for it this year. We had 2 new baby girls that I just had to make blankets for and little Audrey turned one and really needed a tutu made by me. Then I discovered how to make hair bows and had to make them for my niece for Christmas. I also this past year designed and sold some way cute aprons so I have a list of people to make those for as gifts. Oh yeah, and I found quiet books for the kids that when the saleslady smiled and said "assembly required," what she really meant was "this is what you will be doing every night until Christmas." And then there is the Christmas gifts to put together for the whole primary...the list could go on and on. So if my kids look a little underfed, my house looks a little undercleaned, and I look a little underslept, blame my bright idea to simplify Christmas this year and make a few gifts myself!

Much Appreciation

2008-11-13T16:22:00.000-08:00

So I left Jared alone for the night with 3 kids while I went to Enrichment on Tuesday. I've left him a few times to run to the store, but never to feed Eli, do homework and put kids to bed by himself. So off I went to make aprons and emergency stoves in hopes to meet a few new people in our neighborhood. When I got home no one was in bed but at least I had a nice break! Jared told me later that night "Those 3 sure keep you busy!" My response was "Yeah, and you didn't even have to cook, clean, or do laundry!" But I did feel appreciated that he felt that way. Thanks honey!

2008-11-11T21:40:00.000-08:00

Eli was being so cute after his bath so I got out the camera for a nakey photo shoot. We sure love our new camera (it takes the picture right when you press the button!)

2008-11-11T21:31:00.000-08:00

this weeks adventures

2008-11-11T21:09:00.000-08:00

Me: What did you do at preschool today?
Brexten: We learned about aliens
Me: You mean Indians?
Brexten: Oh yeah, Indians
I love you Brex!

Carter had his primary program on Sunday and did such a great job saying his part "I learned and accepted Heavenly Father's plan. I have a divine destiny." We have had a FHE lesson and a few discussions on "the plan" and about how he chose to come to this earth and be tried and tested. Jared explained so sweetly to the boys about the premortal life, our life on earth, and what our divine destiny is if we make the right choices. Such a simple explanation about our purpose here on earth. We are so proud of you Carter.

2008-11-07T11:48:00.000-08:00

Last night I was in bed asleep by 8:35. Need I say more...

2008-11-03T10:04:00.001-08:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

My 3 Ninjas

2008-11-03T09:01:00.000-08:00

We had a fun Halloween at our house! The boys were ninjas, I was a tiger and Jared was a party pooper. The weather was so nice to carve pumpkins this year, Jared set up a table with music and hot cocoa outside and we carved away! We trick or treated around my mom's neighborhood, made monster pizzas,and visited family.

Still Alive

2008-11-01T06:11:00.000-07:00

Could it be that the Bezzant family is finally blogging again? I have waited patiently in our new house for 5 weeks so my husband could have the "fastest internet in the country." I waited while he spent hours installing things so we could have the "fastest internet in the country." And now that we have the "fastest internet in the country," I can finally become connected to the world again! I have missed reading up on my cute circle of friends and their families...

It's early Saturday morning and I can't sleep. We have been going crazy for the last few weeks tiling, painting, hanging up molding, celebrating birthdays, Halloween parties, the best trip ever to the zoo, seeing new baby Aza, and trying to keep our sanity. Our house has been disaster central as we try to get everything done by tomorrow. Tomorrow is Eli's blessing and we're so excited to share the day with our family. I'm overwhelmed by the number of people that will be attending in our immediate family for this special event, and humbled by the love that will be there for him! It's so fun to have so much family close by, I just hope our house will hold everyone. Time is going by so fast, I can't believe he is 3 months already. Why is it the older you get, the faster life goes by? I wish I could stop time and catch up with everything I want to do.

Baby's crying, the sun is coming up. More later...

motorcycle fever

2008-09-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

Much to Jared's delight, Carter has finally fallen in love with motorcycling. 2 years ago, Jared came home with a Yamaha TTI 50 for Carter and has been patiently (and not so patiently) teaching him to ride it every so often. Well, a few weeks ago it finally happened. He can start, ride and stop all on his own. So on Saturday we went to the track at Grandma Dena's that has been built over the years and I sat nail-biting while my little boy tried to ride the track. Jared got quite a workout running beside him, going up and down the hills! It was pretty cute to see Carter on his motorcycle, followed by Jared, then Brexten running, and Copper at the end. Last night he made a chart to keep track of the days this week: school day, school day, school day, school day, school day, motorcycle day, church day. It has begun!

life goes on...

2008-09-03T12:48:00.000-07:00

2 kids asleep, one in school. Time to finally blog! Time goes by so fast, I can't believe Eli is already a month old. He weighs about 7 pounds now, and is the cutest kid ever! He's returning smiles this week, and continues to be the attention getter at home. Brexten started a 2 day a week preschool and loves it. I worried about my sweet little momma's boy not wanting to go without me, but at the open house he said "bye, mom" and walked in. He didn't realize I was supposed to go with him that day!

Our biggest news is that we found a house to buy! It's in Pleasant Grove and we should move in at the end of the month. The yard is gorgeous, with trees, a fenced in garden, and lots of beautiful landscaping. It even has a place for the dog so we don't have to get rid of Copper after all. (Drat!) We went and bought a new washer and dryer this last weekend, and I'm giddy about finally having a brand new front loader. I'll have to post pictures when they get delivered. I think I spend half my days doing laundry sometimes, so it will be nice to have something pretty and shiny to look at! Jared's extended family is from PG, so he feels like he's going back to his roots, but it may take me a few years to cheer for the Vikings. What side will I sit on during the football games?
(I can't figure out how to put all my pictures on my parent's computer, so they will have to come later!)

first grade

2008-08-21T18:31:00.000-07:00

First grade started this week for Carter and he has already had some funny moments. Here a few giggles from today-We were in a rush to get out the door today and Carter informed me he packed his own lunch...he actually did pretty good. He packed a pear, yogurt, a spoon, and a large Tupperware full of marshmallows. Such a good helper.

Today was bug day at school, so Carter brought a spider because that's what we could find. Well, after school he forgot it in the classroom so we went back to get it. "Oh yeah, I caught a worm at recess to feed the spider. I need to get that too." He walked over to his desk, got out his pencil box, and there among the pencils and erasers was a live worm. He picked it up and we were on our way!

Pretty Pictures

2008-08-14T13:37:00.000-07:00

Here are Eli's newborn pictures done by Allison at pretty pictures. He had his 2 week checkup and weighed in at 5 pounds 15 oz. So tiny!

this week...

2008-08-11T13:24:00.001-07:00

Things have been so crazy around here, I am finally now sitting down to blog. So the happenings this week: Carter lost his first tooth, which was not nearly as fun as he thought it would be. It hurt for about a week, and finally he just pulled it out with his fingers. Ouch! He saved it for a few days and then decided to put it under his pillow. He took a bag with him to bed to catch the tooth fairy in, but no luck!
We also went first grade clothes shopping, and now he is so excited to start school. Only a week to go, hopefully the excitement will continue!
Eli continues to be the attention getter at the house. Since we live with mom and dad there are plenty of people to hold a sleeping baby, just not a hungry, crying, or poopy baby, that job goes to mom. He is still wearing preemie clothes, next he can wear his newborn clothes, and then maybe his 0-3 month clothes. He's so tiny, I love it! Tomorrow is his 2 week appointment, I'm excited to see how much weight he's gained, but he also has to get the snip-snip. Poor guy!