Happy 12th Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary Ryan, I love you! I celebrated by going to the temple where we were married. Ryan is celebrating alone, at home. :o( We'll do something next week, I promise!

Beautiful Colorado

My brother, Robert, took RJ and Braden on a day trip to our family's cabin in Colorado. They LOVED it! This turtle rock is on the way to Rangely, CO where my mother grew up. It has been there my entire life, but this is the first time it has been painted, and we think it looks stupid now. We liked it better when the rocks "resembled" a turtle naturally. A mother is always thrilled to find a picture of her 10-year-old son wielding an ax... I love this picture, both of RJ's feet are off the ground. He was very excited to be a helper and unlock the gate, you can't really tell, but it is pouring rain. This picture makes me cry. This is where my mom grew up, we used to visit my grandpa here all the time. So many wonderful memories, but now the house is gone. It breaks my heart that we had to tear it down, hopefully someday we will be able to build again. The only thing left standing is this clubhouse that my grandpa built for us. We used to play there all the time, and now it is so run down, but the boys thought it was so cool. We also used to hang out in the street with our friends all the time. Rangely doesn't have a lot to do except hang out. :o) But the traffic is minimal, so the middle of the street was always a perfect destination! And now it's time to come home... back to Grandma's house.

The 2nd Litter

My mom has 8 kids, but there is a 12-year space between the two groups of 4, and we've always been called the 2nd litter. We're very rarely all together, so this picture was important, even though we are all wearing yesterday's hair, it's midnight, and we just spent HOURS cleaning and reorganizing mom's kitchen!

This is the Place!

We're finally here! We arrived at my mom's house in Utah on Friday, after 11 hrs and 45 min. of driving. We made it in good time and only stopped for gas once! The kids were amazingly well behaved in the car with very few annoying moments. On Saturday we celebrated Pioneer Day with a big community breakfast in Vernal. Braden filled himself up on Orange Juice and sausage and had to take a little rest... Sienna My nephew, Kaydan Conner loved playing on the playground, and Sienna helped him out a lot. My cute niece, Pyper, loved playing in the grass. Trying to get some of the kids together and smiling at the same time, didn't work out so well. Kaydan, RJ, and Braden showing off some cub scout pride. We had a great birthday party later for my niece, Kensley, with lots of balloons and yummy lemon cupcakes. We spent the rest of the day arguing over new toys. RJ has been begging to go running with me, so in the evening, we went on a one-mile jog. In case you're thinking about doing this, I want you to know that jogging in a farm town is unpleasant. When you're gasping for air that smells like cow pastures, it's really gross. Today, Conner woke up unable to walk on his foot. I don't know what's wrong with him, he limps around and cries that it hurts, and maybe it's a little swollen, I can't really tell. But he wants to be carried everywhere and my back is breaking! What do you think? Is that a swollen foot?

The Mop Bucket

Ever since I can remember, Ryan and I have argued about mops! Ryan is constantly complaining about the current mop, it is always crap. Well, I got a little sick of his mop complaints so I told him to go buy his own stupid mop. And he did. This is what he came home with.... the mop/bucket ensemble... If you ever had to work at Burger King for a year while you were in high school, then you understand my horror.

Saturday is a Special Day!

We started our day at Denny's! I only took one picture, Sienna and her cute cousin, Luke... After Denny's we went to the movies and saw "Despicable Me." After the movies, I took the kids to pick up some tiny trees that hopefully some day will get big and beautiful in our backyard. After being outside in a garden for a little while, we were hot! So we went swimming at Grandpa's house!

Big Girls Don't Cry

After about a year of asking to get her ears pierced, Sienna got a gift card to do just that for one of her Christmas presents. She was very excited at first, but then got nervous and informed us that she thought waiting until she was 7 would be a good idea! Well, she turned 7 last month, and has decided she is ready! Here she is, on her way to Claire's... They have a stuffed bear to hold while you get your ears pierced, Sienna thought it was soooo cute... I was given strict instructions NOT to take pictures while the actual piercing took place. So here she is, learning how to clean her newly pierced ears... So pretty... Afterwards, we had ice cream. I told her she could only have ice cream if she didn't cry! She got mad at me and said that wasn't fair, but it all turned out well, because she didn't cry.

Yummy Chocolate Deliciousness

Sienna received a cookbook for kids as one of her birthday presents. She's been begging ever since to make this dessert: Chocolatey Lava Cakes. Tonight, we went for it! Next time, I will cook them 2 minutes less, for more delicious gooeyness, but they were still VERY good!

Chocolatey LAVA Cakes

Ingredients:

• 1-1/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

• 1/2 cup butter

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 3 Tablespoons flour

• 4 eggs

• 1 Tablespoon baking cocoa

• M&M's

1. PLACE chocolate and butter in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 seconds at a time until melted. Stir until smooth. Stir in vanilla.MIX sugar, salt and flour in a small bowl. Stir into chocolate mixture.
2. BEAT with an electric mixer on medium. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat on high for 4 minutes. Chill until cold.
3. GREASE top and 8 cups of a muffin tin lightly with butter. Sprinkle with cocoa and shake off any extra cocoa. (We used all 12 muffin tins, because we had extra batter.)
4. POUR batter by 1/4 cupfuls into muffin cups.
5. BAKE at 375 degrees for 10 to 11 minutes, until cakes are set on outside and gooey inside. (don't overbake them!) Carefully turn out onto dessert plates and serve warm. We added a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a sprinkling of M& M's.

Last Day at the Beach

The sun came out today! It was a perfectly sunny, warm day and we enjoyed every minute of it. I woke up feeling better, and had a big bowl of ice cream for breakfast! Braden has literally spent HOURS making origami dragons all week... Conner wore himself out on the beach today. For the first time, he wandered around in the sand! We ended the day with a delicious dinner at The Palms, sans kids. It's been a great week and I'm sorry to go in the morning.

Day 6 at the Beach

Today I caught the bug Braden had, and I had a stomach ache all day, bleh! Here is Conner & Ryan fighting over a box of chocolate-covered raisins... We went to the Farmer's Market today and got the most delicious white peaches and some spicy cheddar cheese. I will enjoy them tomorrow... Walking home from the Farmer's Market, Braden & Sienna wouldn't stop arguing. So Ryan made them hold hands for the entire walk as punishment... It is still very cold here! But we managed a quick family photo...

Day 5 at the Beach

This is how Braden spent his entire day, he was puking all morning... Me, Sienna, and RJ spent our day on the beach. The sun FINALLY came out about 4pm! It's been so cold! But I still managed a sunburn. Sand angel... We ended our night with karaoke at Giovanni's pizza... Hanging out in our apartment...