Holding "Flopsy"
So far he is the only one with an official name
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Railey's 7th Birthday
Railey celebrated her 7th Birthday on August 4th. We can't believe she is already 7. She had a fun birthday. She loves bugs and animals so we did her a lady bug cake with 2 smaller lady bugs. She really liked the cakes. She got a lot of fun things including a game, a new pair of pajamas, a puzzle, some play make-up. She got a card with money from grandma and grandpa. She was so excited about that because she loves to get mail. She also got a card with $7 from Aunt Jeneal in Washington. She loves animals so much and has been wanting more for a long time, so she ended up getting some bunnies. She was so happy to get them. She went with Rob up north on her birthday to get them. We now have 8 Rabbits. She loves them. She knew if she were to get them that it would be her responsibility to take care of them, along with some help from dad. She has really done a good job caring for them. She spends a lot of time out with them. She packs them around like babies. Hopefully she will continue to like them and like caring for them. They are really cute and fun to see.
Railey Sleeps Outside
A few weeks ago, Railey kept telling us that she wanted to sleep out all by herself. She wanted to sleep on the swing on the deck, so we decided to let her. She got her little sleeping bag and pillow and a few other things and spent the whole day getting ready for her sleep out. I kind of thought by the time night came she would change her mind, especially with it being dark, but I was wrong. When it was time for bed, she went right out. We got her tucked in and left a little light on in the kitchen so she could see if she got up during the night and she went right to sleep. We kept checking on her and finally went to bed. She came in about 3:30 but only because she said she was hot. We told her she could get in her bed, and she did, but then about 10 minutes later she came back in and said she was going back out. So she headed back out and stayed out until morning. I was a little surprised she actually did it. She was pretty proud of herself.
Ready for sleep
Getting her all tucked in
Ready for sleep
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Summer Happenings
We have been having a great summer so far, although I am not very happy about how fast it seems to be going by. It seems like just yesterday when we were waiting for it too quit snowing and warm up so we could finally get outside. The winter was so long and I was more than ready to see the warm weather. I can't believe we are nearing the end of July already. Where does the time go? Before we know it, the kids will be back in school. I guess we just need to try and enjoy the rest. We have kept busy this summer. We had our trip to Lagoon. The kids are still talking about it. My mom came to our house on June 30th and spent a couple of days with us, then she took the kids home with her for a few days. They had a great time(the kids anyway)...you'll have to ask my mom and dad how it was for them. My kids love spending time with Grandma and Grandpa. We had bounce-back tickets from Lagoon for only $9 which we hadn't planned on using but decided to go again with just the 2 of us. It was a lot of fun. We were able to jump from ride to ride pretty fast so we did all we wanted to do in about 4 hours. We did some others errands while we were in Salt Lake, made a Costco run and then we went to Cafe Rio for dinner. We had a fun day. It's amazing to me how fast I can do things when I'm not toting a handful of kids. I spent the other couple of days getting caught up on a lot of things. I spent one entire day outside in the yard and garden. There is always something that needs to be done in the yard. One night we took our bikes up the mountain about 9 miles and then we rode them home. We missed the kids, but enjoyed the peace and quiet. Thanks mom and dad. It was a nice break. We went to Blanding to pick up the kids and spend the 4th of July. I don't think I had spent the 4th in Blanding in over 10 years. It was fun.
Our yard and garden are now what I'm spending a lot of time on. Our garden has done pretty good. We are now starting to get a lot of stuff from it. We have cucumbers coming out our ears. We have picked a lot of Zuchinni. I have started picking tomatoes, and it doesn't look like it will be long before I have a lot that are ready. All of the peppers have grown really nice. I saw a few ears of corn starting to come out from the stalks so that is exciting. We can't wait to have fresh corn on the cob. The kids ask all the time when it will be ready. The onions, green beans, and melons are growing good too. We picked a bunch of green beans and bottled our first batch the other day. I haven't tried them yet. Hopefully they will be good.
The kids love to go into the garden when its time to pick the vegetables. The boys drive their big dump trucks out there and they think they need to "haul" the stuff back to the house. It's really cute. Railey loves seeing things grow, and she is constantly out there "checking" the garden for me. Ranger asks me almost daily if those "matoes" are for his "mato juice". He loves tomato juice and is intrigued with the idea of me making it for him.
Last friday night we went to Salt Lake to attend the wedding reception of Rob's cousin Jordan Jacobs. It was a quick drive up and back that evening but it was great to be able to visit with a lot of Rob's family. We don't get to see them very often.
LET THE CANNING BEGIN!!!
Our yard and garden are now what I'm spending a lot of time on. Our garden has done pretty good. We are now starting to get a lot of stuff from it. We have cucumbers coming out our ears. We have picked a lot of Zuchinni. I have started picking tomatoes, and it doesn't look like it will be long before I have a lot that are ready. All of the peppers have grown really nice. I saw a few ears of corn starting to come out from the stalks so that is exciting. We can't wait to have fresh corn on the cob. The kids ask all the time when it will be ready. The onions, green beans, and melons are growing good too. We picked a bunch of green beans and bottled our first batch the other day. I haven't tried them yet. Hopefully they will be good.
The kids love to go into the garden when its time to pick the vegetables. The boys drive their big dump trucks out there and they think they need to "haul" the stuff back to the house. It's really cute. Railey loves seeing things grow, and she is constantly out there "checking" the garden for me. Ranger asks me almost daily if those "matoes" are for his "mato juice". He loves tomato juice and is intrigued with the idea of me making it for him.
Last friday night we went to Salt Lake to attend the wedding reception of Rob's cousin Jordan Jacobs. It was a quick drive up and back that evening but it was great to be able to visit with a lot of Rob's family. We don't get to see them very often.
For family home evening this week we spent time in the garden
The kids with some of the things we picked 
Its always been my dream to have a family picture in front of a corn patch
Its always been my dream to have a family picture in front of a corn patch
(yes, I'm joking)
LET THE CANNING BEGIN!!!
The first bottled green beans of the year
This is what I picked tonight but it was getting dark
This is what I picked tonight but it was getting dark
so I didn't get to a lot of the garden to check everthing.
I'm sure I'll have a lot more tomorrow.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Lagoon
LAGOON 6/24/2009
We went to Lagoon this last week. Rob's sister Valoree and her fiance Jason came up from Nevada for a few days to visit. We all went to Lagoon together. We had a great time. We drove up to Salt Lake early Wednesday morning so we got there just as it opened. We went in for a few hours and when everyone got hot and hungry we headed out to the parking lot for lunch. We had packed a cooler. Then we headed back in for the rest of the day. The kids had tons of fun. They loved all of the kiddie rides and most of the bigger rides. There were a couple they were not fans of. They especially did not like the "Title Wave." They loved all of the rides with water. They thought it was cool that we were getting wet. They were giggling and having fun in the water. They really thought it was funny when mom got absolutely soaked on "Rattle Snake Rapids." And they liked the "Log Ride" and getting splashed. Railey was the perfect size. She was just big enough to ride most of the adult rides as long as one of us was with her but she was still small enough to go on all the kid rides too. She was quite the little dare devil. She loved the roller coasters and the scary rides. She would scream like crazy while on the rides but as soon as they ended she would ask if we could go again. She even went on the one called "Wicked" with me. I was pretty proud of her. She has been talking nonstop about it since we got home. We went and had our pictures done in Pioneer Village. Rob has wanted an old fashion picture like that for a long time. So we now have one in black and white to hang up. He says that it will be our Christmas card. So I guess time will tell. It was a long day, but it went too fast. By the time we got home it was nearly 1 a.m. But all in all we had a great day spending it with family. It was really nice to spend time with Val and Jason, and it was great to get the kids out and do something extra fun with them.
We went to Lagoon this last week. Rob's sister Valoree and her fiance Jason came up from Nevada for a few days to visit. We all went to Lagoon together. We had a great time. We drove up to Salt Lake early Wednesday morning so we got there just as it opened. We went in for a few hours and when everyone got hot and hungry we headed out to the parking lot for lunch. We had packed a cooler. Then we headed back in for the rest of the day. The kids had tons of fun. They loved all of the kiddie rides and most of the bigger rides. There were a couple they were not fans of. They especially did not like the "Title Wave." They loved all of the rides with water. They thought it was cool that we were getting wet. They were giggling and having fun in the water. They really thought it was funny when mom got absolutely soaked on "Rattle Snake Rapids." And they liked the "Log Ride" and getting splashed. Railey was the perfect size. She was just big enough to ride most of the adult rides as long as one of us was with her but she was still small enough to go on all the kid rides too. She was quite the little dare devil. She loved the roller coasters and the scary rides. She would scream like crazy while on the rides but as soon as they ended she would ask if we could go again. She even went on the one called "Wicked" with me. I was pretty proud of her. She has been talking nonstop about it since we got home. We went and had our pictures done in Pioneer Village. Rob has wanted an old fashion picture like that for a long time. So we now have one in black and white to hang up. He says that it will be our Christmas card. So I guess time will tell. It was a long day, but it went too fast. By the time we got home it was nearly 1 a.m. But all in all we had a great day spending it with family. It was really nice to spend time with Val and Jason, and it was great to get the kids out and do something extra fun with them.
The whole crew at the end of the day
Old Fashion (serious)
Old Fashion (happy)
ROBBY
Monday, June 15, 2009
New Bikes and Time Out
NEW BIKES
The boys got new bikes this last week. We have been going for little rides in the evenings with the kids and the boys have been riding their little trikes. They think it is so much fun. They pedal their little legs as fast as they can go. We decided they needed some bikes with rubber tires instead of the little plastic ones they have on the trikes. There are not too many sidewalks where we live so it was kind of hard for them with the trikes to go on the roads not to mention it was very loud. You could hear us coming from a mile away. So Rob went to Walmart while he was up north and picked some up, along with some helmets. They were so excited to get "big boy" bikes. We didn't tell them that we got them at first. We told them that Dad brought a surprise back for them and we gave them the helmets. So we put their helmets on and they wanted to go for a ride. We had set the bikes up side by side in the driveway so they would see them when they headed outside, but they went straight to the garage to get their trikes so we had to redirect them to the bikes. They went nuts over the new bikes. They have had a lot of fun on them already. They love them. And they actually still like the trikes too.
The boys got new bikes this last week. We have been going for little rides in the evenings with the kids and the boys have been riding their little trikes. They think it is so much fun. They pedal their little legs as fast as they can go. We decided they needed some bikes with rubber tires instead of the little plastic ones they have on the trikes. There are not too many sidewalks where we live so it was kind of hard for them with the trikes to go on the roads not to mention it was very loud. You could hear us coming from a mile away. So Rob went to Walmart while he was up north and picked some up, along with some helmets. They were so excited to get "big boy" bikes. We didn't tell them that we got them at first. We told them that Dad brought a surprise back for them and we gave them the helmets. So we put their helmets on and they wanted to go for a ride. We had set the bikes up side by side in the driveway so they would see them when they headed outside, but they went straight to the garage to get their trikes so we had to redirect them to the bikes. They went nuts over the new bikes. They have had a lot of fun on them already. They love them. And they actually still like the trikes too.
They thought they were just getting a picture taken with their new helmet.
They didn't know about the bikes yet.
Just figuring out how to ride them. They couldn't figure out the brakes for a
while. They kept asking what happened and why they kept stopping. 
TIME OUT
I had to post a few pictures that show one of the ways I use the corners in my kitchen. There are 3 corners that are fairly close but far enough away from each other that they work perfectly for naughty little boys. Close enough together that I can keep an eye on all of them at the same time. My camera couldn't really get all of them at the same time, but in the bottom picture you can see the head of the 3rd. They don't usually all end up in the corner at the same time but they have their days when all of them help each other get into trouble. They were actually in trouble when I took these pictures. This particular day was one I do not want to repeat. But I did tell myself I needed some pictures for later on. Someday the boys will look at these and think they are funny. (I hope)
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
A Little Bit of Everything
GARDEN
I finally got my garden planted a couple of weeks ago. I worked like crazy to get this space cleared in hopes of having a garden this year. But I got it done and was able to plant. I planted a lot of corn on the cob, purple onions, yellow onions, carrots, cherry tomatoes, about 75 tomato plants, lots of jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, broccoli, all different kinds of squash, a lot of green beans, cucumbers, some watermelon, and some cantaloupe. I don't know if it will all grow good but so far it seems to be doing well. The corn is up and getting taller everyday. The tomato plants are looking much stronger since they were planted as are the peppers. All of the cucumbers, squash, green beans, onions and carrots are up and growing. The tomato plants are starting to flower and I even have 3 little tiny tomatoes on one plant already. I am so excited. Watching the plants grow and flowers bloom is one of my favorite things. I planted a ton of flowers this year all over the yard. I love to go out and look at them. And the smell is even better. So if everything continues to do well, hopefully I will be very busy in a couple of months. I want to bottle salsa, tomato juice, green beans, and who knows what else. Rob said he thinks it will be cool to open up a bottle of salsa and know that we grew everything it took to make it. We have kind of been on a food storage kick lately. It is a great feeling to know that we now have a year supply for our family. And now we are working to add to it which hopefully this garden will let us do. It was also nice to have the kids see it and get excited to grow it. They helped clear out all the rocks while we were tilling and I let them help me plant a few of the things. Now I just need to teach them to weed it. These pictures are not the greatest but you can kind of get the idea.
My boys having their last cookie with Pockee
OVERDUE VISIT
I finally got my garden planted a couple of weeks ago. I worked like crazy to get this space cleared in hopes of having a garden this year. But I got it done and was able to plant. I planted a lot of corn on the cob, purple onions, yellow onions, carrots, cherry tomatoes, about 75 tomato plants, lots of jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, broccoli, all different kinds of squash, a lot of green beans, cucumbers, some watermelon, and some cantaloupe. I don't know if it will all grow good but so far it seems to be doing well. The corn is up and getting taller everyday. The tomato plants are looking much stronger since they were planted as are the peppers. All of the cucumbers, squash, green beans, onions and carrots are up and growing. The tomato plants are starting to flower and I even have 3 little tiny tomatoes on one plant already. I am so excited. Watching the plants grow and flowers bloom is one of my favorite things. I planted a ton of flowers this year all over the yard. I love to go out and look at them. And the smell is even better. So if everything continues to do well, hopefully I will be very busy in a couple of months. I want to bottle salsa, tomato juice, green beans, and who knows what else. Rob said he thinks it will be cool to open up a bottle of salsa and know that we grew everything it took to make it. We have kind of been on a food storage kick lately. It is a great feeling to know that we now have a year supply for our family. And now we are working to add to it which hopefully this garden will let us do. It was also nice to have the kids see it and get excited to grow it. They helped clear out all the rocks while we were tilling and I let them help me plant a few of the things. Now I just need to teach them to weed it. These pictures are not the greatest but you can kind of get the idea.
GRANDPA PALMER
On May 23, 2009 my grandpa Palmer (my mom's father) passed away at the age of 97. What a wonderful man he was and what a great life he lived. His funeral was on May 28, 2009 in Blanding, Utah. He was such a great example to all of us and he will be missed. But we are also very happy for him. My Grandma passed away in July of 2007. Grandpa had been very lonely for her. They had their 77th wedding anniversay just a couple of weeks before she died. Not very many people get that many years together. What a reunion they must have had. They also lost a son at the age of 8 to polio and never stopped missing him, so how wonderful it must be for them to be with him again. We have many wonderful memories of Grandpa and Grandma that will never be forgotten. They were the best grandparents anyone could ask for.
Grandma and Grandpa with my boys shortly after they were born.
Grandma was so excited and Grandpa couldn't believe what miracles they were.
Grandpa giving hugs and kisses to the kids.
Check out Robby's face and what Grandpa is doing. Typical.
Grandpa always played with and teased the kids.
Grandpa always played with and teased the kids.
My boys having their last cookie with Pockee
Grandma and Grandpa's headstone
My Grandparents children L to R Shirley(tobe) Ileene,
Margaret, Lyman, Karma, Kaye(my mom)
OVERDUE VISIT
Over memorial weekend I had the oppurtunity to see an old roommate from school in Cedar City back in 1997. We hadn't seen each other since my wedding more than 9 years ago. We have tried to keep in touch over the years somewhat but hadn't actually seen each other. It was so great to see her. She was coming up to to Hurricane and Cedar for other stuff and drove up early and an extra 2 1/2 hours to my house just so we could spend some time together. We had a really nice visit although it was way too short. We will definately have to do it more often. You're the best Janelle. Thanks for coming to see me.
RAILEY TEETH UPDATE
We have been back to see the dentist again for Railey's teeth. The took some more x-rays and they looked good. He didn't see a fracture like they thought there might be before. He said he thought she had healed nicely and that everything looked normal. He said we just need to watch as the teeth come in and make sure they are not discolored. Hopefully they will be good. Her new teeth have already come in quite a bit. So now we start the jack o lantern teeth phase, and hope for the best. I just know she will end up in braces eventually. I will be shocked if she doesn't. I had them and so did Rob. So for now we will enjoy how cute she looks with missing teeth.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Bike and Bunks
BIKE
Railey is finally riding her bike without training wheels. She used to have a little tiny bike with training wheels and she outgrew it so for her 5th birthday we got her a new bigger bike. She loved it...or at least the looks of it. We couldn't get her to get on it and ride it for anything. So finally a couple of months ago, she decided she would get on it and try. And she got really fast with the training wheels. She was riding up and down the street constantly, but she still wouldn't let us take the training wheels off. Then one day she came in and she was telling me about our little neighbor who is only 4 and rides his bike all by himself. So Rob told Railey she was big enough to ride and if she wanted to ride she had to do it without the training wheels and he went and took them off. He went out and helped her ride for a little while and within no time she was riding all by herself. It was fun to see her be able to do it on her own. After that, all she wanted to do was ride her bike. We told her that she always needed to tell us when she was going to ride and that she needed to have her helmet on. So one evening we were all outside and we were doing some yard work in the back yard while the kids played. Then we hear all this screaming and Railey comes running around the side of the house and she is all bloody. She had just crashed her bike. We didn't even know she was on her bike. I looked in her mouth and it looked like the 2 front teeth (which were already loose) were pretty much just hanging there, along with one tooth on the side. So I thought no big deal..we'll just finish pulling them out. There are just baby teeth. But once we got it to stop bleeding you could see a tear in the gum above the teeth and we couldn't pull them or it would tear it off. So we ended up taking her to a dentist the next morning. They did some x-rays. They said they didn't want the one tooth on the side to come out yet, and they didn't want pull the front 2 until the gum healed some. They also put her on some antibiotics because they thought she already had infection up inside. They couldn't tell but they also thought there may be a fractured on one of the new teeth coming in. So we took her back to the dentist about 4 days later and the gum looked tons better, so he went ahead and took out her 2 front teeth. We have to take her back again next week and they will take x-rays again and see what it looks like. Hopefully everything will be OK and they won't see a fracture or any other damage. I do think however, that she learned her lesson. Wear her helmet. And tell us when she is going to ride. Come to find out, she wasn't wearing her helmet when she crashed, and had she been , she probably wouldn't have even hit her face. But since that day I have not seen her without her helmet. She also thinks its pretty cool to ride her bike up to her bus stop, and then be able to ride it home after school. And she has a lot of fun riding with the kids in the neighborhood. And she does look pretty cute toothless. That tooth fairy lost a lot of money because of that crash.
BUNKS
We got the boys bunkbeds this last week. I wasn't sure how safe it would be to have them while they were so little but because there is just not enough space in their bedroom to put 3 twin size beds, we really didn't have any other option. They had still been sleeping in their crib/toddler beds. We got a new bed a while back so we put our queen size in Railey's room and gave her twin to Robby. So we just need 2 more beds. The little boys have been asking when they were going to get big boy beds like Robby. They were very excited to get their beds. It was so cute. They kept telling me they didn't need their baby beds anymore because they were big boys now. It worked out great because we were able to give the cribs to a family in our ward with twins, and then another family with a baby. I took the boys and went to Payson on Saturday to do some shopping. We got them some bedding sets with cars that matched and they thought that was pretty cool. They actually couldn't wait to get in bed and sleep in their new beds and blankets.
They love climbing up and down the ladder. Ryder especially loves it because yellow is his absolute favorite color.
Railey is finally riding her bike without training wheels. She used to have a little tiny bike with training wheels and she outgrew it so for her 5th birthday we got her a new bigger bike. She loved it...or at least the looks of it. We couldn't get her to get on it and ride it for anything. So finally a couple of months ago, she decided she would get on it and try. And she got really fast with the training wheels. She was riding up and down the street constantly, but she still wouldn't let us take the training wheels off. Then one day she came in and she was telling me about our little neighbor who is only 4 and rides his bike all by himself. So Rob told Railey she was big enough to ride and if she wanted to ride she had to do it without the training wheels and he went and took them off. He went out and helped her ride for a little while and within no time she was riding all by herself. It was fun to see her be able to do it on her own. After that, all she wanted to do was ride her bike. We told her that she always needed to tell us when she was going to ride and that she needed to have her helmet on. So one evening we were all outside and we were doing some yard work in the back yard while the kids played. Then we hear all this screaming and Railey comes running around the side of the house and she is all bloody. She had just crashed her bike. We didn't even know she was on her bike. I looked in her mouth and it looked like the 2 front teeth (which were already loose) were pretty much just hanging there, along with one tooth on the side. So I thought no big deal..we'll just finish pulling them out. There are just baby teeth. But once we got it to stop bleeding you could see a tear in the gum above the teeth and we couldn't pull them or it would tear it off. So we ended up taking her to a dentist the next morning. They did some x-rays. They said they didn't want the one tooth on the side to come out yet, and they didn't want pull the front 2 until the gum healed some. They also put her on some antibiotics because they thought she already had infection up inside. They couldn't tell but they also thought there may be a fractured on one of the new teeth coming in. So we took her back to the dentist about 4 days later and the gum looked tons better, so he went ahead and took out her 2 front teeth. We have to take her back again next week and they will take x-rays again and see what it looks like. Hopefully everything will be OK and they won't see a fracture or any other damage. I do think however, that she learned her lesson. Wear her helmet. And tell us when she is going to ride. Come to find out, she wasn't wearing her helmet when she crashed, and had she been , she probably wouldn't have even hit her face. But since that day I have not seen her without her helmet. She also thinks its pretty cool to ride her bike up to her bus stop, and then be able to ride it home after school. And she has a lot of fun riding with the kids in the neighborhood. And she does look pretty cute toothless. That tooth fairy lost a lot of money because of that crash.
BUNKS
We got the boys bunkbeds this last week. I wasn't sure how safe it would be to have them while they were so little but because there is just not enough space in their bedroom to put 3 twin size beds, we really didn't have any other option. They had still been sleeping in their crib/toddler beds. We got a new bed a while back so we put our queen size in Railey's room and gave her twin to Robby. So we just need 2 more beds. The little boys have been asking when they were going to get big boy beds like Robby. They were very excited to get their beds. It was so cute. They kept telling me they didn't need their baby beds anymore because they were big boys now. It worked out great because we were able to give the cribs to a family in our ward with twins, and then another family with a baby. I took the boys and went to Payson on Saturday to do some shopping. We got them some bedding sets with cars that matched and they thought that was pretty cool. They actually couldn't wait to get in bed and sleep in their new beds and blankets.
They love climbing up and down the ladder. Ryder especially loves it because yellow is his absolute favorite color.
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