Lindsey Lifestyle

Discovery

2011-10-24T18:28:00.000-06:00

Jon's parents came to visit in August. One of the things we did was go to the Discovery Children's Museum in Salt Lake.

It was fun! We played in water,

Climbed Rocks,

Rode big fake horses,

and big fake bugs,

caught bubbles...

and pretended to pull them out our noses (definitely my child!!),

Floated with hot air balloons,

okay it was a green screen,

reported the news,

punched a building (it fell seconds later!),

looked through tubes?,

colored with a spirograph thing,

built towers,

Took naps,

built more towers,

danced on a light-up backgammon board,

narrowly escaped death by over sized dominos,

became life sized fooseball players,

Rode in...

...and flew a lifeflight 'copter!

Whew! It was a fun day! We topped it off with a Ben and Jerry's Ice cream treat. MMMM!!

Talon's Blessing

2011-10-24T14:50:00.001-06:00

Talon was blessed on August 7, 2011. Jon, surrounded by Kurt, Tristan, and a few other close friends, gave Talon a name which he will be known throughout his life and on the records of the church, and a blessing. Jon blessed him with strength and health to grow strong in his faith and in his life. With wisdom to be able to discern right from wrong and courage to act on that . And he blessed him with the knowledge to know that is family and those around him love him very much.

It was a short sweet blessing! I am so thankful that Jon is willing and able to bless our children, and I am thankful for Kurt and Tristan who were also able to share in this special ordinance.

If you would like to know more about our beliefs, check out Mormon.org

2011-10-24T13:04:00.002-06:00

I have ~~five~~ about twenty million reasons why I haven't blogged in a long time, but instead of listing them, I'll just inform you that we are still alive and well, and this is my commitment to catch up, though it may take ~~forever~~ a while.

Precious

2011-07-29T14:13:00.000-06:00

Winter was "helping" me set up, and wanted a picture of "ME!"

First Bath

2011-07-27T17:49:00.000-06:00

Welcome Talon!

2011-07-26T20:45:00.002-06:00

After trying every single trick in the book to self induce labor, I got too impatient and went a head and scheduled an induction 4 days before my due date. I also induced Lex and Winter ( I guess I'm pretty impatient, huh!) so we had the whole process down. The doctor called in the order the week before, and Labor and Delivery would call me between 5 and 5:30 am on the morning of the 18th. My mom spent the night in case they wanted us to come in right away. I woke up at 4:30 to shower and await the call. By 5 :30 I was getting anxious, but had to wait until 8 to call them. My poor kids expected to wake up and us be gone and be able to head to the hospital to meet their new baby brother.

At 8 o'clock I called them to see what was up. They said I was next to be called but there weren't any rooms, so to call back at noon if they hadn't called sooner. I really think the wait was worse than being a kid on Christmas Eve!! But they called at about 9:45 and Jon and I kissed the kids and ran out the door.

After getting checked in and changed, our cute little nurse came in to get me all set up. She checked my arm for a good vein for the iv, said I had good veins, but when she stuck me she hit a valve and spent a good amount of time and lots of pain trying to get around it, but to no avail! I have to say now that it's all over, that pain of her continuously poking the valve, and then the subsequent pain of having my blood pressure taken regularly on that arm, was worse than the contractions! I also have a massive bruise that wraps around my whole wrist even still today, a week later. Anyway, after not being able to use that vein after all, she had to use another one higher up on my hand, weird spot! And after getting the needle in, and taking a few little tubey thingys, the connection thing fell off and a geyser of my blood went spewing all over everything. Yikes! Sorry all you squeemish people! Jon just buried himself in his iPhone while this was happening.

Then we finally started the petocin at noon. I immediately started having contractions, but we upped it every half hour to get them more regular. We assumed this would all go really fast. The nurse and doctor both agreed that rupturing my water would kick it into high gear and we'd have a baby in no time! Awesome! Well the doctor had a complication in a C-section and then a delivery that took a really long time, and since those were more of a priority, we waited. Which I am okay with, Jon and I watched "Lost" on Netflix, it was fun. Contractions started getting harder and more regular, so we went ahead and did the epidural. My anesthesiologist was amazing and so fast!

Then we just waited for the doctor. For hours! But for some weird reason I was not progressing! The week before at my appt. My Dr. had said I was at a 3+, and the nurse was telling me that I was at just about a 3 and I stayed that way, even through the contractions. The nurse was sure breaking my water would help that, but we still had to wait for the Dr. My nurse really wanted me to have the baby before 6 which is when the shift change was, and so she kept on top of knowing where the Dr was.

He finally made it out of the other delivery and came in the room at about 5pm. Our nurse was in another delivery, so we had a stand in nurse check me and I was still only a 3. My doctor had a student following him and asked if I was okay with the student rupturing my water. Of course I was okay, I think it's awesome! At about 5:15 the nurse rechecked me and I was already at a 6, but said she'd wait a full hour to recheck me, even though I knew it wouldn't be that long. At about 5:30 Contractions were every minute and I was feeling pressure. Our nurse returned, mostly to say good-bye since shift change was at 6. But she decided to check me because I was feeling so much pressure. So at 5:45 she said yep there is no more cervix and there is a baby right there! So she went to get the Dr who would also change at 6 (I go to a group of amazing Doctors!) and Jon called mom and the kids to come over.

They all decided to stay on just to have this baby. My Dr asked if it would be okay if the student, who was just too sweet by the way, could deliver the baby if he was there with his hands practically on top of the students. He said I was a perfect subject for a student, with this being #5 and me not ever having ripped and having smooth labors in the past. Of course! How cool is that for this guy! Our baby would be his first delivery! It was funny too because the Dr's wife called him just before the delivery, because he was supposed to be off in minutes.

They got dressed and came over and said okay at the next contraction push. So I started pushing,
"Okay not that hard! The head is out, okay just a little for the rest of baby"
So in one push, at 6:01, our little son was out for us to love and hold!

Dr Drewes commented that after the last delivery, which was one of the hardest he had ever had, that this was the EASIEST he'd ever had! Woo hoo! If only he had been there earlier, we could have had the baby much sooner, but as the Dr.s cleaned up, we were just happy to hold our son, the student was happy to have delivered his first baby, the nurse and doctor were happy because they really didn't have to stay too long after their shift change, and the Dr's wife was happy he'd be home in time for dinner!

Mom, and Kurt and the kids got there just after the doctors were done cleaning up. And Winter was immediately up on the bed with me and the baby. It's as if she knew him and was waiting for him. She knew to be gentle and soft and she couldn't stop giving him kisses. It was very sweet. And everyone else loved to hold him too. But they didn't get very much time before the nurse had to take him to get a bath.

Kids watching Talon get a bath....and eating an Oreo?

Jon said that there was a new nurse in the nursery too, and our baby was her first baby to clean. He said she did an amazing job. While Jon was in the nursery, I was moved to the mother/baby floor and in to my room for the night.

Then came the task of naming our new little boy. We have had Talon as the name for a long time. It was the runner up for Lex. But we had both heard it recently and were worried it was going to be too common. So over the past few weeks my mom and sister would tell us names they had heard that were uncommon, and we found a few others we liked, but in the end, nothing seemed right. He was Talon, even if it is a little less uncommon. We had also planned on using the Lindsey family male child middle name, but in the end decided to use my maiden name.

The kids stayed with us for a while and everyone passed Talon around, loving on their new brother, and he just slept, rarely making a sound. Mom took everyone home around 10, and Jon and I settled in with our 5th bundle of joy. After so many times, Jon has those uncomfortable chair/pull out beds figured out. And he said he slept really well this time. Talon and I also slept well.

The next day, we had expressed that we wanted to leave as soon as possible, but knew they wanted us to stay the full 24 hours, so after a quick visit in the morning. Mom took Evey to dance and the other 3 to Seven Peaks! I missed taking pictures of Talon by himself in the hospital, because I ended up getting some weird side effects from the percocet they gave me. I have never had a tolerance for prescription pain meds. And I know that (now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I turned the big pain med down and stuck with the ibuprofen with Winter, and maybe even both Paris and Lex too) but I went ahead and took a few of the doses of the percocet. So , anyway, I had to sleep off that junk for most of the day. But really my pain level was not high, so the ibuprofen would have done just fine.

We finally got home around 9:30 on Tuesday. The kids had made a cutie welcome home sign for Talon, they like Jon and I were so glad to finally have our beautiful new family member with us to love and watch grow!

Evey wasn't sure how to spell his name yet...oops :)

Family of 6

2011-07-16T18:14:00.000-06:00

A family picture has been on my list for.....ever!! I decided, it was today or never for a picture before our new family member arrives. It was surprisingly harmless and they came out great!! I seriously only took 8 shots and got what I wanted! A- Mazing!! Thank you wonderful family!

A little bit of Baby

2011-07-13T16:01:00.000-06:00

I was some how able to diminish my list of things to do before baby! And look I've even updated the blog now. :) I got some sewing done and thought I should post it incase I go into labor here soon. I still have a boppy cover, a chair cover, a blanket and maybe a carseat cover to make, hopefully in the next few days. 5 sleeps until he is being evicted, if he doesn't come sooner.

I made the sheets and bumper, and assemled the blanket out of leftover shams from the other kids comforter sets, so that baby has matching comforter too! I really wanted to paint the crib black, but decided against it at the last minute.
I still need to put up the wall decoration, but we have to name him before I do that!

I whipped out a few receiving blankets, doodied up some plain burp cloths and made a blanket out of some super rare (in this area) Panthers material. Panthers are Jon's "team", so this is his favorite blanket and matching burp cloth!

Funny Face

2011-07-13T15:25:00.001-06:00

We built the kids beds knowing they were pretty high and taking care to teach them rules about the beds and what not to do. Even Winter senses how high they are and will go up the stairs, but has only gotten on someones bed once or twice and she stays against the walls and calls for someone to help her down.

The other day while I was folding clothes in the next room over, she started crying and I knew she had fallen from somewhere. I flew into the room, pretty fast for my prego self, and found her standing in the middle of the room. No gushing blood or anything, until I saw her little nose had a mark on it. I checked everything else... head and neck, which I knew were okay because she was standing, while Evey grabbed an otter pop (our favorite form of ice for ouchies) As I was trying to put the ice on her nose it started bleeding and was already swelling, so I decided I wanted to take her to the emergency room to get checked out. I happened to have taken Jon to work that day, so I had to swing by and pick him up, and my mom met us at the hospital to take Paris and Lex. Evey choose to come with us.

I told them she had fallen from the top bunk and caught a stair on the way down, assuming the worst. We got into a room right away and while we were waiting for the doctor, the nurse said it was okay to let her fall asleep because she didn't appear to have any head trauma. It was nap time, so being sleepy was adding to her misery. She actually fell asleep pretty quick. The doctor was able to check her out while she was sleeping so she wasn't moving and he decided to run a CT scan on her while she was sleeping. Well we all know how it goes in the emergency room, we waited for a long while. We decided she hadn't actually fallen from the top bunk, she must have fallen from her own bed, which is still higher then normal beds, her wound just wasn't that bad. Anyway, by the time they came to get us to take us to the scan, she had been asleep for an hour, so when we picked her up, she woke up. But she was super good and stayed mostly still, or enough to get a good picture of her head and face. I'm really glad they didn't have to sedate her!!

Then we went back to our room and waited for the results. She was fully awake by this time and was acting completely normal. We were in a pediatric room with an underwater, Finding Nemo theme. She was having fun running around looking at the fish, and crawling on the bed and trying to crawl up on the tray that held the sodas they had brought us, totally back to her spunky self finding something else to fall from! When the doctor came in he laughed at how much of an improvement she had made. He said the scan looked really good, her brain was fine and there were no breaks in her face. He checked her shoulders though, because there looked like a fracture in her shoulders, but after seeing her running around and that her back looked fine, they determined she had just shifted during the scan.

All photos taken with crappy phone cam!

We were discharged with instructions to give her Tylenol or ibuprofen as needed and come back if she started acting weird, and a cutie little girl with a funny face.

The pictures just somehow don't looks right, she looked much more swollen in person

When we got home and I tried to give her ibuprofen, but she didn't want it and didn't seem to be in any pain what so ever. Though we took it easy the rest of the day. Jon told me that after they had dropped me off at the emergency room door and he waited in the car with the kids for my mom, that they had said a prayer and especially asked that Winter not feel much pain and for her to heal quickly. I am so thankful for the power of prayer! Winter did not seem to be in any pain at all in the following days, though I did get her to take some ibuprofen once. She looked a little funny and I referred to her as my "funny face" but she did not get the full raccoon mask bruising I thought she would get, and here we are a week later and it is almost completely healed, except for a tiny bit of bruising left under her eyes. There have been many thankful prayers since that day!

Softball

2011-07-13T13:11:00.001-06:00

Evey really enjoyed playing softball this year. Even though 5 of the first 6 games were cancelled and rescheduled due to rain flooding the field. It actually worked better for us to have the season shifted later, because at the beginning of the season the games over lapped with dance a lot and so dance was the priority. Evey started the season at the top of the batting order, always getting a base hit.

All following pictures are from the city final game

This year new rules were added, and stealing was allowed. It made for a much funner game, that and the pitchers are refining their skills and can throw more hittable balls now. They go through a draft at the beginning to the season so that the teams are more evenly matched, but there was one team who ended up with 2 or so AMAZING pitchers. Not sure how they pulled that off, except I think they were the coach and assistant coaches daughters! Oh well they were an awesome team and super tough to beat. But Evey's team gave them a run for their money, when they played.

Evey switched between outfield ( her coach says it's because she has a great arm to get the ball in field, but she rarely saw action out there) and 3rd base. But , it was so fun to watch her bat and steal the bases, it was pretty easy stealing 2nd and 3rd and then they would often send them to steal home, so that was always a rush watching the close calls and as my mom wrote on her facebook status after watching one game: " I watched my oldest granddaughter Evey slide into home base and emerge out of a cloud of dirt - SAFE!!! "

Dang it coach!! Move!!

At the end of the season Evey's team had the second best record. Then the city holds a tournament, so through all of that they just couldn't beat that one team, and so they came out 2nd in the league, but, that was good enough to move on to the state tournament!

Receiving her 2nd place ribbon.

We had had a stomach bug run it's course through our house and on the day of the City final Evey had it. She rested the whole day, we thought she would have to miss the game. But because she is amazing she decided to suck it up and go to the game. They even gave her the "game" ball. She did great for wanting to throw up the whole time!

Down and dirty sliding into home!

Everyone else has fun at the games playing at the park, or like this day we sat in the shade and ate lots of snacks and wrastled!

The state tourney was held not too far from our house, which made it really nice. It was double elimination so we knew we'd get to see her play at least twice. The first game was a huge eye opener! We had always heard that Provo was a fairly easy softball league and that other cities were much more gung-ho about it. Well we got a taste of that right off the bat!! This team was all about bending the rules to the breaking point as far as stealing. They went so far as to distract with one steal, to steal another girl, and then were amazing at the "pickle", which threw our girls off because they weren't used to that. Yikes! They also threw our girls off with a bunt one time, something our girls had NEVER seen in city play! And, their pitcher was Mean and super accurate. She could switch up between a standing pitch and this running fast ball that was just plain scary!! The girls were a little intimidated in the first inning, but shook it off and didn't let them get away with it the next few innings, unfortunately the other team had won the toss for home field advantage and so were able to beat us by 2. Our team did make some amazing plays though, and our pitch chased down the runner trying to steal home and tagged her! It was an awesome moment! And a super fun game to watch!

The next game was with a team much more evenly matched, and we were pretty confident we could beat them. Well a team is only as good as their pitcher unfortunately. Our cutie pitcher was hurt twice in the first game, she twisted her ankle in an attempt to get out a base stealer and then was hit by a super hard ball as she was batting. So they ended up giving her a break in the second game, and the second pitcher although just as cute and sweet, wasn't at her best and the coaches waited too long to take her out, and we couldn't catch back up. That paired with a pair of teen aged umps who didn't really care (the field ump was throwing his own ball out in the field, not even paying attention) and made some rather stinky calls as far as balls and strikes. Oh, and the other team would waste incredible amounts of time getting out on to the field, wasting game time, and taking advantage of the stinky umps who did nothing about it. So when time was almost up, we we're down, but as long as we finished the inning they would start another if there was seconds on the clock. At the start of the bottom of that inning the clock said 1:45 and it began to thunder. After having petered out with all of the scoring the other team was able to do, this gave Evey's team and incredible boost of energy, because their team name is Thunder! They are so cute! Anyway, the clock said 1:45 and they needed to get the 3 outs to start another inning and have a chance to catch back up. And they did it!! With like a second left they got the last out, and after a little squabble between the coaches and the ump, the ump finally stood his ground and made a good call and let us start another inning! Unfortunately, they were up by a few too many and after a very noble effort we lost that one too! But it was a ton of fun and a great experience! Evey is looking forward to next season already!

I took pictures at these games, and loaded them on the computer and then erased my memory card. But, something happened and only the thumbnails are in the compute! Argh! So no pictures, sorry!

Independence Day

2011-07-11T18:43:00.000-06:00

Since we had over hauled the bed rooms, we ended up doing a lot of the house, and piling everything in the garage. So it has been a crazy mess for a while, we haven't even been able to get the van in. Ugh!! I hate that! So we spent the day Cleaning out the garage and utilizing our attic space above it! Which is amazing!! Not sure why we didn't use this space before!

So the garage is amazing and more spacious than it has ever been. We still have too much stuff to use it as a 2 car garage though, but oh well.

Then the kids went next door to help with our neighbor's eagle scout project. He constructed wooden cages for a wild bird rescue center. So they are huge cages for eagles and hawks and other big birds of prey. My kids went over to help paint them.

Then we all went over to roast dinner on the fire pit. Yum!

Don't ya love Evey's AMERICAN spirit?!!!!!! We all had a good laugh when she came out in that shirt!

After we had our fill of hot dogs, brats, watermelon, and smores. We all headed over to another neighbors house for a fantastic firework show. These neighbors go all out every year and go to Wyoming for the "BIG" fireworks. Then the whole neighborhood goes over and we have a huge block party, and they try not to kill themselves and everyone else as they set off these beasts! There were a few close calls, one of the huge boxes toppled over and would have shot the fireworks straight into everyone, but it had shot it's last one just before it fell,and me and a few others were hit with some falling mortar, but everyone was fine and had a blast. Unfortunately it started raining and so the night ended a little early. But it was so much good clean fun! Thanks again, Chelsea and Josh for the great party!

Beware: Phone photos!

Independence -Sunday

2011-07-11T17:51:00.000-06:00

The plan had been to give the kids their Saturday showers at Grammy's house Saturday night. But since we had to keep applying bug spray, it was silly to shower and then go to bed smelling of Off! So they didn't shower....Ewww! And since we got home so late anyway and had to carry most everybody in, showers were put off until morning. Sunday morning, when everything is rushed anyway.

I used to love 9 o'clock church (we rotate every year 9, 11, 1) and Jon appreciates it in the fall so he can watch football, but as our family grows, and all these stinkin' girlies!! :) it makes it hard to get out the door on time, even though the chapel is a 5 minute walk...less driving time!!! There have been numerous times I have done hair in sacrament! This Sunday was one of those days. We got everyone showered and out the door, but were late enough to not find a seat, luckily I jumped on the front row once the deacons were done passing the sacrament, and proceeded to do hair.

Both Evey and Paris wanted elaborate braids, so by the time I was done it was time for the closing song. I love July when we sing patriotic songs and the closing hymn was the Star Spangled Banner. I couldn't even get through the first line before I was bawling like a baby!! I love when the piano and organ tag-team and the sound is full and the congregation is standing, and our beautiful conductor sings an unwritten harmony. I love our national anthem, and especially when we get to sing all of the verses.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing as we usually do, until I go to choir practice and then the whole gang shows up for our weekly dinner together.

Apparently it is a challenge to play croquet with a naked monkey on your head!!

Winter loves Tristan and often grabs his finger and drags him to play with her.

Oh yeah and she loves to be as naked as possible, which I let slide while at home!

We ate yummy Ka-bobs and then started a wicked game of Killer bunnies, but had to pause for fire crackers. Our awesome neighbors texted right as we were heading out that they wanted us to join them as they set off some too (I think it's a tradition now, we've done it for at least 3 years now), so we just combined our stuff and had a blast! Our laws on fireworks were loosened this year and so it was legal to get ones that shot up to 100 feet in the air. So Kurt picked up some of those, missed getting pics of them though.

Winter's first sparkler!! She still requires quite a bit of help.

Not sure what they were looking at , but it must have been interesting!

Independence- Saturday

2011-07-11T16:41:00.000-06:00

We started our 4th of July celebrations on Saturday the 2nd, with an early morning balloon fest. We had everyone out the door and at the field by 6:30 am! This is a HUGE accomplishment, I am so not a morning person (especially super prego) and neither are 3 out of 4 of the kids! But, we all did it so that daddy could see the Darth Vader Balloon (wink, wink). This was Vader's first year here, and our first year getting up on time. I'm glad we went this day too, because I heard the balloons were cancelled on the 4th because of icky weather.

Vader brought out a bunch of geeks in costume. I guess if you have it, you only get a few chances a year to wear it, so why not, right?! I'm just glad Jon doesn't feel the need to wear the costume he has!!

After we baked in the sun as it crested the mountains, we went for Krispy Cremes. We thought we'd take the kids inside this time since they had never been in to see the doughnuts being made. They thought it was pretty cool.

Then we went home and did chores really fast and then headed back out to take Evey to volunteer at the freedom fest street fair with Grammy. These next photos are taken with my phone and so are pretty crappy. :)

Paris LOVES snakes!! She was one of the first kids up there to pet that big boy!

Evey and Lex aren't as enthusiastic, but still think snakes cool, and Winter, didn't care too much for it. But Evey got her to touch it once.

The girls got their hair done by Paul Mitchell students. We knew this was going to be there, so I was let off hair duty for the morning, as you can see in all the previous pictures!!! This is one of the things that contributed to getting to the balloons on time! Hair for 3 girlies takes a while sometimes!

And Lex got a sticker. He really wanted me to take a picture of it!

Winter has a firecracker on her face, that you can't really see. She made (okay Grammy made it) her visor at the booth Evey and Grammy worked at.

We spent the rest of the day shopping and running errands. Then went to Grammys house to watch and listen to the Stadium of Fire. We have yet to buy tickets to the show, but when mom lives about a block and a half away from the stadium and we can see the big screen from her front yard, it makes it hard to want to fork out that much money! Maybe we're just cheap! :)

We barely missed the fly over, the kids were heading out the door, so Evey and Paris saw it, but Lex FREAKED out from the sound and came running back in the house yelling for us to close the door . Poor guy. He has a hard time with thunder too, but he's been working on that and getting much better, but the jets were a new kind of loud!!

So we sat out and listened to the show, and David Archuleta and some country guy....I know blasphemy on me for not knowing who he was....Country music generally not listened to in our house. Okay, it was Brad Paisley. Anyway....

I took lots of firework pictures, but decided to only post a few, because once you see a few you've seen the all, am I right? However there were some pretty awesome ones this year that I don't think we'd ever seen before! And they were timed to the music, which we could tell but not hear due to the sound delay. It was still fun and awesome!!

See all the fire on the bottom....that's the stadium! It is literally On Fire!! It would be awesome to see from the inside! This is apparently the biggest stadium firework show in the US!

Then we waited at least an hour for the traffic to die down before we ventured home.

Redo Part 2

2011-07-11T10:48:00.002-06:00

After many months and not so constant work, the kids room is finally....mostly done! But with baby on the way so soon, got enough done to appease myself and call it good for a while.

I took these before shots at the end of February, before we started the HUGE project of organizing and eliminating.

Our house was disastrous for a while as we switched everyone around and figured out where things would go and Jon built shelves in closets to organize better.

Then he continued by building beds and cubby stairs.

He had lots of help!!

The kids have been sleeping in their new beds since March, and have loved every minute!!

Then I had to finish by painting walls, beds, table and chairs, stairs, and dressers, sewing bolster pillows, comforter embellishments, and curtains and then giving the room a personality. It was tough finding something that fit for both boys and girls. I finally decided on industrial/ music. I'm still in the process of getting more music in there, and still haven't finished a few things, but I am satisfied for now.

We have had this table and chairs since Evey was born.
This is their first re-painting!! Shocking for a piece of furniture in my house!!!

So after months in the making, here is the almost final product.

Play Ball!

2011-06-29T16:43:00.000-06:00

The kids have all had a ton of fun playing ball this summer! Lex is in T-ball, much better that stupid start smart!!! But, he would still rather have a pitcher. The "T" is for wussies!!! I, as stated previously, am a bum, and again, waited until the last games to bring out the camera. And of course the last game was played on a makeshift field instead of their regular diamond with awesome red dirt and lines and everything! Ugh! It's just what I get for being a procrastinator!

Lex had had a nasty stomach bug the day and night before his last game. We were all sad he would miss his game....but Lex had other plans. His game was a little bit later in the after noon, and he sucked it up and wanted to play. We went ahead and took him. I know we may be bad parents for this, but Lex LIVES for sports and counts down the "sleeps" until his next game, whatever it may be. So this being the last until fall soccer, we let him play. He did well, but I could tell he wasn't on his best game, poor guy.

The city makes it so there is a gradual learning process in each progressive league. They learn basics like throwing and catching in start smart. Then in Tball they go to a game set up, and have them run bases, but there are no outs and every kids is out on the field. This bums me a little because the kids need to learn that getting "out" is part of the game and not to get hurt feelings over it. More on that later. But, Lex's coach was awesome and really taught them some fundamentals: how to stand with one foot on base and reach for the ball, where the play is and other stuff like that. Lex was a great First baseman and Pitcher. He can catch most any ball thrown to him and throws really well too. Can wait to see him progress!!

I'm pretty sure they got this kid out, but since there are no outs he gets to run the bases still. Dumb, if you ask me! But if you ask other, less competitive parents....

This is where I can tell Lex isn't feeling well...his form isn't as rigid as normal.

But a good hit still!

The last batter is the "grand slam hitter" in that he hits and gets to run the bases no matter who gets "out" Lex was that hitter this time and as you can see, the coaches get the kids to get the ball to the catcher so that as each kid on base runs home they can tag them out....but there's not outs...DUMB!!

Let's give a cheer. There's no winner, but hey we had fun!

What a cute little athlete!

Paris was in coach pitch this year, the step up from tball. The only thing different is, obviously, the coach is pitching the ball to them. There are still not outs, even though if you have a good coach -we did- if you are gotten out, they make you go back to the dug out. It doesn't count against the team though, and most teams just left the out girl on base.

Paris was a great hitter! She usually hit the first ball thrown to her! Love the face!!

She would throw off her helmet as she was running to first. Which made me laugh, and no one ever corrected her on it. Apparently it's not a rule to have a helmet on as you run the bases. Paris is a little diva. She has a pink glove and a pink helmet and uses the pink bat. AND, hates to be the "grand slam hitter"!! She is very particular and likes to have everything go just the way she wants it to, so being tagged out at home does not work for her. This is why I hate these stupid no outs rules and the last hitter thing. It isn't teaching our kids good sportsmanship. We try to tell Paris it is okay to go last and be tagged out, that is part of the game and every kids has to do it sometime, and sometimes she'd cry because she'd have to be last, and she wanted to be first or third or whatever number she hadn't been yet. Her coach is her friends dad and he and his wife adore Paris and don't mind catering to her. We are annoyed to no end with Paris' attitude sometimes and get on her about crying and pouting. One time Jon yelled out "There's no crying baseball!" Not mean or anything, and he was actually quoting a movie, but I'm not sure the other parents picked up on this and he got some weird looks. I laughed!! We have another year of this division of coach pitch, and so we will be helping Paris to become a better team member. The next league up is much better! There are many more regular softball rules! But, for now, it was fun to watch Paris, and all her cutie little girly things she did as she played. And she really did enjoy playing!

Evey's regular season is over. I missed taking pictures!! I have some on my phone if it comes to that, but lucky for me they play a city wide tournament. She missed the first 2 games of the double elimination tournament, but the team won one and lost one, so they played again yesterday (6/28) and won putting them in the number two seat for the state tournament and in the finals for the city tournament. So, I will have another opportunity or two to get pictures of her. Phew! So, until then...

Missing

2011-06-29T13:29:00.000-06:00

Lex has had a few teeth that are loose. He hasn't wiggled them too much until recently. He has let me give them a few hard tugs and they have gradually gotten looser. So the other day he wanted me to yank again. He's so cute because he willingly lets me grab it and pull and he doesn't make a sound. So I pulled it twice and he still wanted me to give it another pull, so I did. It came out in my hand, but I didn't let him know ( like with Paris) and he walked away and started talking and laughing with Paris, as Jon and I exchanged glances so that he knew I had it. Then I said to Lex,
"Hey, come here let me pull it one more time"
he was a little hesitant,
"that last one hurt a little bit, but okay"
so he came back over, and I said,
"know why it hurt? 'cause I got it!"
He was shocked and then really excited. He has been waiting a long time for the tooth fairly to pay HIM a visit. And he wasn't disappointed when he woke up the next morning. Now he is waiting for the other bottom tooth to get a little bit more wiggly!!

Updated photo wall

2011-06-29T12:58:00.000-06:00

I'm such a bum. I have been meaning to update all the pictures on my picture walls since Winter was born. I finally got around to it this week. Sad because she's almost a year and a half now! Anyway, I set out to take "good" pictures of everyone over the last little while, because I have their portraits blown up big on the entertainment center. Evey is so dramatic and mature! Paris is glamorous. Lex is super easy, and Winter is the biggest pain in the butt!!! But they are all so cute! Here is just a few of my favorites of each kid.

We took a few different ones to put in Evey's room too. Here are those first.

These are my fav of Evey.

We cut about 7 inches of hair off the bottom of Paris hair. She was a little sad, but after seeing the before and after pictures, she thought it looked so much better and loved dressing up for pictures.

And these are my favs of Miss Princess

Lex lost his first tooth, which I'll post about later. Here are my favs of him

I took pictures of Winter during each other kids little photo shoot and one with my mom. She just doesn't like to smile for the camera, or really even look in to it! Argh!

So in my last attempt, These are my favorites

This is the attitude I get when I ask her to look at me!!

She loves this one too. She is learning to call herself "me" so she points at everyones pictures,
There's Ebey, and Par and Leh and MEEEE!

And here is the ones I chose. And a picture of my favorite photo wall, just because I love it!

Fun with Photos

2011-06-24T17:07:00.000-06:00

For the last couple of weeks, we the children of the Lindsey household, have been collecting pics on a app called Photo Booth. I have put these pics in a slide and will now present it to you.

I hope you liked our slide!!!!!!!

Redo Part 1

2011-06-20T16:12:00.000-06:00

It has taken me FOR-EV-ER to finish the kids rooms. We started in March with the construction, and it was done pretty fast, but it has taken me so long to paint everything that needs to be painted. I'm still not totally done with the other room. But I am telling myself it has to be done before I start making anything baby. So it gives me a deadline....
Anyway, what used to be Lex's room -and never really got "finished" when we moved in- turned in to Evey's room and soon she will share with her littlest brother. So really this room still isn't complete either.

My dad is the original mastermind behind this bed design. He built one for my brother once so he could fit all of his guitars and trap set in his small room. Jon is the mastermind behind the cubby stairs. And I contributed with the desk design. And Jon is the lone (plus 4 little helpers) carpenter for this whole room overhaul. He has built things before, but has never really taken on this kind of project by himself. He took much care and pride in building everything so that it looks fabulous and is sturdy. I am super proud of him!! And the kids absolutely love their new beds and rooms.
(pics of the other room to come in near future...really really!)

Melted

2011-06-20T14:38:00.001-06:00

I did this with a class I taught at a preschool before Evey was born and have been wanting to do it with my kids for, seriously, YEARS!! And our crayon stash is large enough to prove it!!

So I had everyone peel crayons and break them and put them into molds.

Then we baked them. We made the flower ones for Winter so she can hold them better.

In our church bag we have had some nasty old crayons and nice markers. Well the markers are what everyone wants to use, and lately Winter has been a monster and colors on herself and everyone else. After coloring during sacrament the kids go to class multi-colored. So we decided we needed to ditch the markers and revamp our crayons. So with our newly made shaped crayons, I made each kid their own crayon pouch to go in the church bag. Evey's is a bit more custom with slots for colored pencils and crayons, and Paris and Lex have more room for more regular crayons, but this is Winter's, she has more spots for the big flower crayons we made her!

Dance Shows 2011

2011-06-20T13:53:00.001-06:00

After a week of dress rehearsals for both the
Jazz show and the Ballet, the girls did a
fabulous job at the performances on Friday and
Saturday nights. We weren't allowed to record
during the actual performances, so I had to
make sure I was at the rehearsals at the right
times to film them. Unfortunately, because they
are rehearsals, you can hear babies crying and
the directors telling them to smile and a
choreographer's hand come in the the picture, she
was right in the way and I was trying to film
around her. Anyway, The girls are just getting
so much better and they are so fun to watch!

Paris went through a period of not loving ballet for
a while. She has been telling me her feet hurt. I got
her new ballet shoes, but it didn't help much. I'm
thinking we may need to see a podiatrist, she
walks a little funny and complains about her
feel every now and then. Anyway, but as soon as
she knew what her classes part was in the ballet and
what their costumes were going to look like, she got
really excited and loved ballet again. Her costumes
were a huge mess, and long story, short, the beautiful
midnight blue ones ordered for them were given to a
different class on accident and then problems upon
problems later, her class received the leftovers of many
other classes. I know this because I was a seamstress
this year and was given these random tutus the day
before rehearsal to sew and make semi pretty and matching.
They ended up not looking too bad on stage mostly
because the wings made them all match. Paris' costume
was one of the prettier ones and thankfully her favorite color,
so she was happy!

Again, this is a rehearsal, so the lighting wasn't right and
they didn't have up the really pretty woodland set.

I got to see Evey dance her ballet, but not sure why I didn't get it on
film, but just know she was beautiful!! She can't wait for September,
when she is 11 1/2 and they will evaluate her for pointe shoes. She is
confident they will let her, it's all up to her own little body. We have
to take her to the dr to make sure she is at 90% of her adult height,
and that the bones in her foot are formed enough to put them through
the torture of pointe! She's not going to be a tall girl, so hopefully she
has a little growth spurt this summer, so she'll be ready!

Paris loved her Jazz/tap class!! When it came time for choreographing
the number they would do her teacher held a vote in the class on
weather they would do a tap or a jazz dance. She said it was tied, but
one girl was missing that day, so her vote would be the deciding vote.
So obviously that girl chose tap. Paris had voted jazz, but was still
happy, especially because she really likes the song. It makes me laugh
though because in both of her dances, Paris knew the steps, but
because the teacher stands off stage and does the dance for those that
may forget, she looks over there, and misses steps sometimes. She did
it perfectly at the show and didn't even glance at the teacher! We will
get a DVD from the show later down the road.

This is Evey's company (JDC) dance. I have loved her teacher and
the choreography she does, it is very beautiful and Evey loves her too.
Evey is hoping to move up to the next level company, CDC, at auditions
in August. CDC does more dances per show and Evey is so ready for
that! But you have to be 11, so this is just her year as far as advancing in
dance!

I hadn't seen any of the girls dances until the rehearsal. I just drop them
off and pick them up. Evey's teacher had told me a while ago that she
had a special part for Evey in her Jazz piece. This is the same teacher
as JDC, Emily, and Evey said that Emily had told her she choereographed
this piece with Evey in mind as the featured dancer. So when I saw this,
I was crying like a baby. I would say it is from pregnancy hormones,
but I'm not sure I can shrug this off on that this time! I was just so proud.
She dances really well and had such a pretty smile! I think all of the other
video taping mommies there at rehearsal thought I was crazy, bawling my
eyes out. Hey but it wasn't bad enough that you can hear me on the video,
so that's good!! Wink!
Evey also got recognition from "the star" dancer at the show on Friday.
We had left our makeup bag and hair straightener at the Covey center
and when we found the bag on Friday, the straightener was gone, so I
couldn't curl Evey's hair, so we had to go in the big girls dressing room
to use one of theirs. When Angel (this is the most featured dancer in the
whole studio!) saw Evey she said "oh, I love you!!" I think it was a great
boost of Evey's confidence, but she is just so wonderful and humble,
she didn't let it go to her head....I guess it went to mine!!

Bird Friends

2011-06-02T21:24:00.001-06:00

Hello people of the internet world! This is Evey Lindsey reporting to you, yes you, from the Lindsey blog spot.
Lately, we have been taking pics of The birds that have visited or live in our back yard,So we thought we would share them and some random facts with you!

Red-Winged Blackbird:Male
These are very common in our yard.

American Goldfinch:Female in Fall and winter

Eurasian Collared Dove: Male and female look alike
These are year round birds at our house.

Yellow-Headed Blackbird:Male
Super common and ANNOYING!!!!!!! They come in huge flocks and scare away all other birds. : (

Brown-Headed Cowbird:Male

House Finch:Male
This bird is lighter in the spring and summer(Red breast)

House Sparrow: Female
Super cute and fuzzy!

House Sparrow: Male
What's funny about this "sparrow", Its not related at all to sparrows! Its what we call a weaverbird or weaverfinch!

Black-Headed Grosbeak: Male
One of the prettiest birds we have ever seen!

American Goldfinch:Male in spring and summer
Their song is a long warbling sound lasting 30 seconds or more.

Yellow-headed blackbird:Female
They usually stay by their nests.

Brown-headed Cowbird: Female

Lazuli Bunting: Male
This is the latest edition to our bird flock. This is also my personal favorite.

Birds not captured on pics: Evening Grosbeak and Morning Dove.

Soccer!!

2011-05-19T18:58:00.000-06:00

I waited until the last game of each kid to take pictures.
It's been a crazy season, lots of rescheduled games for weather.
I'm glad I waited though, They all played fantastic games!

Paris has decided she likes playing again. I'm pretty sure it's
because her friend's dad was their coach and her bestest friend
was also on the team. At this level it starts to get harder to score,
because the kids start getting it, and the numbers of kids starts to
dwindle, it starts to become the kids that actually enjoy and want
to play.She really did good at most of the games.
Her favorite positions are defense and goalie, but she plays
offense rather well too and has some super speed when she
turns it on!
She was really close to scoring a couple of times in this game,
and had an awesome breakaway!

Evey has just gotten better and better every season. As I said
before it gets harder as they get into the older leagues, Evey
is now in the highest league provided by the city. I guess it
just goes to school teams after this and there are a few club
soccer teams in the valley. Evey loves to play offense and
is generally put as a forward. She is also one of the smallest
in the whole league and it is so funny to see her show down
with a huge girls that dwarfs her. She has no fear though and
is awesome at being aggressive and charging. She has been
so close so many times to scoring a goal, but either the goalie
gets it, or it just misses. Her last game was a double header,
and the team has never looked better! They worked so well
together to move the ball, and coach was on top of giving them
rests so that even in the second game they weren't overly tired!
Well Evey got her goal in the first game, and I amazingly got a
picture of it!! We were so happy we sent all of the family texts.
Then not 10 minutes later in the next game, against a different
team, she got another!! And I got a picture! Amazing!
She was so happy and we were so proud!

Goal # 1

Goal #2

And there was much rejoicing!

Evey missed team pictures, even though
we were at the field watching Lex,
we didn't hear my alarm...oops!
So this will have to do this season.

Lex is absolutely amazing! The kid is a natural at sports!
He absolutely understands everything that is happening in the
game and will help his team mates to know what to do, or help
the coach to know who the ball went out on or whatever, he is
just totally focused on the game and it is so fun to watch. His
league is the beginning league, where there are a million kids and
only a handful that really know what to do. Most of them don't follow
the ball or cry if it touches them. There are 8 on a team and only 4 on
the field at a time and no goalie (see why it's easier at this younger level)
and the games are only 24 minutes long, so each kid would get to play
for 6 minutes then rest for 6. Lex had a teammate that was awesome
too and they would dominate! They would break away from the pack
and run it down to score every time. The coach ended up trying to not
play them at the same time because the score would end up being like
15-0! But, we don't keep score in this league!! Lex's average goals were
about 3. But sometimes would score as many as 6. We started telling
Lex to help some of his other team mates, so he would pass them the
ball or throw it to them. He was so good about it even when though he
would usually end up having chasing it back down to get it to the goal.
He is so fun to watch! Next up (no break, we are already playing) T-ball (Lex),
Coach Pitch (Paris) and softball (Evey)

Winter can't wait to play! She is such a good cheerleader. She shouts
"go,go,go, (insert sibling)!!" I think she'll be great too, she loves to dribble
the balls around on the sidelines and even understands that she can't cross
the white line.

Waiting...

2011-05-19T17:16:00.000-06:00

I usually have a list of things we need to get or do,
or we go to the park on dance days, but I actually
didn't have anything but the bank on the agenda,
and it was pouring, so we laid down one of the
seats put down some blankets (in the van for soccer
games) and popped in a movie while we waited for
Evey to come out of dance. They thought that was
a ton of fun. I remember being able to make beds
on the floor of cars on road trips when I was a kid,
but now days that's a big no no, so this was something
they hadn't really ever done before. It makes me excited
for the summer when we can go to the drive-in, which
we haven't done for a few years. Fun fun!

Mommy's Day

2011-05-19T16:58:00.000-06:00

My family is so amazing! They absolutely SPOILED
me for Mother's Day. I woke up to scrumptious
Strawberry crepes, Piano music and a couple movies.
One was Krull,

which is not Jon's favorite...
but he even let me watch it! :)
Twice, because when Kurt and
Tristan came over later, they
wanted to see it too. I didn't have
to lift a finger for any meals,
fighting children, or clean-up
....ahhh, so nice! Jon was also
really super bad, and ordered me
a studio lighting kit that came the
next day.
I love my family so much!!

I didn't get to try my lights out until the day
after they came. They are awesome....
however my subject of choice, Miss Winter,
was not the best subject for a test run.
She wanted to run every where and get under
the backdrop and not look at me.....stinker!!
Lex came over and was so sweet to shoot just a
couple. He was even the master mind behind
the last pic of both of them! Evey wants to do
a photo shoot, but we haven't found the time
to set up again, so stay tuned for that.

Nest

2011-05-19T14:37:00.001-06:00

We heard little birdie noises right outside the front door,
and lookie what we found in the tree seriously a foot and
a half from the door!!
We are a little sad we didn't notice before when they were little eggys,
so we could picture document their lives. But oh well!
We think there were about 6 in there, and they grew sooo
fast! Less that a week after this picture, they were out of the nest and
on their own.

HOPE OF AMERICA

2011-05-19T14:21:00.000-06:00

This is Evey's second year performing in this awesome show!
Last year I had just had Winter and decided I wouldn't chaperon,
but I got to this year and it was so fun!!

Hope of America is just a part in the huge effort that is
America's Freedom Festival here in Utah, that ends
with the Stadium of Fire. It was so awesome to be a part
in something so patriotic. I was telling Jon that, at the
rehearsal I would just cry through most of the songs,
mostly in the ones about our service men and women

and the military and they always have incredible videos
playing on the huge screens in the arena. Trying not to cry
as I write this!! I did okay in the actual performance though!!
Other songs were about MLK I Have a Dream, Declaration
of Independence, Bill of Rights , Constitution, VOTE, and
Utah. It is just awesome how it's such a learning experience
for the kids too. They know all these lyrics and so can recite
portions of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence
and Bill of Rights. It's amazing too, how much knowledge is
retained learning things through song!

Off on a little tangent My kids love to watch School House Rocks.

Old and silly I know, but they really do learn stuff, like, even Lex
knows some multiplication facts, or they know what adverbs are
silly stuff like that, but that comes in handy in school. The kids
can also tell you all of the States in alphabetical order, because of
a song Jon taught them. Anyway, hurray for learning through music!!

So back to Hope of America, since I was in the flag with Evey,

Jon had the other 3 on his onsies. Apparently they were awesome,
except on the last song, Winter got mad so that is why it is cut off,
but only seconds. The video is just 3 songs including the Star
Spangled Banner. We performed in in sign language, but I failed
to mention that to Jon and so he didn't zoom at all. But oh well it is
just so amazing anyway. If you are in the Utah county area, I would
suggest going next year. It's free and just too fun. They have a little
pre show and a few acts in between songs and the cutie Old lady line
dancers!!

Okay another tangent these ladies are sooo cute! Jean's Golden Girls
are all between the ages of 50 and 94 and they dance so amazing!!
There are about 50-75 women in this group and they boast in their
introduction that between them all they have something like 500
children, 1500 grand children and at least 200 great grand children!!
The founder of the group, Jean, is 94 and is as limber as any dancer
I've ever seen. She always does a little solo where she does amazing
high kicks and splits. It's so fun to watch! She has even been on
The Tonight Show. Okay here's a video of them, this isn't at the
Hope of America, obviously, but this is the routine they did.
The kids were really into it singing along with the music...
You have to watch this!!

If you watch some of the other videos that it shows after this video,

there are a few others of Jean's golden Girls,

but if you click on the "92 year old dancer!"

one it also shows more Hope of America,

and the WAVE that the whole arena does.

I forgot to have Jon tape that one, it's pretty fun!

Okay really this time, here's a few songs from Hope of America!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

2011-05-05T10:57:00.000-06:00

Evey is amazing! She is so busy with all of
her activities and still manages to be one of
the top students in her class. It's funny to see
her on days when she doesn't have something
going on. She'll help her brother and sisters do
a science project or clean and organize something,
or reads one of the many collections of her books.
Oh I'm supposed to add, jumps on the tramp with
siblings and plays angry birds, to her list of
down time activities.

Just for our records and for her to look back
when she is older, here is a week in Evey's
life just recently, April 25-30.

Monday:
7:30-8:00-Orchestra
8:20-3:00- school (somedays she is taken out of
normal school and bussed to the School of Accelerated
Learning for science or other days for Math Olympiad)
3:15-4:15- choir
4:30-5:30- Softball clinic
5:30-6:45- Ballet

Tuesday:
7:30-8:00- Orchestra
8:20-3:00- School
3:15-4:00- Homework
4:15-6:15- JDC & Jazz
(4:30-Softball clinic, skipped)

Wednesday:
7:30-8:00- Orchestra
8:20-3:00- School
3:15-4:15- Choir
4:15-5:00- Soccer Practice

Thursday:
7:30-8:00- Orchestra
8:20-3:00-School
4:30-5:30-Soccer Game
7:00- Spring Orchestra/ Choir Concert

Friday:
8:20-1:10- School

Saturday:
8:00-10:00-Soccer Double Header (rescheduled for snow)

Most Fridays she adds in hanging out with friends and
twice a month she adds in Church Activity Days.
She was recently put in charge of a class talent show
and is having so much fun organizing it. She can't wait to
be in student council.
I am surprised they don't have it yet at school.

We are so proud of her and all of her accomplishments!
She manages to be very happy most of the time,
and is always a huge help around the house!
I hear every now and then that she is bored,
but I never hear that she is tired. She seems
to have endless energy. What will High School be like???

She loves to take pictures so I let her use my old Rebel the other day.
She has an amazing eye! I told her she could do her own post on the
blog to show her work. I think she did some sort of collage or series
or something. But I love these few too much to wait!

I love this one so much I want to frame it!!

S'more?

2011-05-05T10:12:00.000-06:00

We love the fire pit. So for dinner on Sunday,
we roasted wieners and bratz....mmmm!
And then s'mores after. So much fun!

Tonka

2011-05-05T10:07:00.000-06:00

This used to be Lex's favorite thing to do in New York.
Drive his monster Tonka truck around on the wood floor.
He was about Winter's age when he did this. Well now,
Winter has discovered it and loves to push it around too.
They all take turns pushing each other.
Winter can even push Evey.

This is how Winter usually looks!
Some sort of food all over her face, messy hair and
if she can help it, down to her skivvies!
She even has some blue nail polish spots this day :)

Stalking 101

2011-05-03T15:37:00.000-06:00

A little background on this video...
The group had originally agreed on a comedy about
a stalker who's interest was dating a serial killer.
The director, who cast the movie, ended up changing
it so that it wasn't a comedy anymore and turned into
a suspense.

Jon knew this while filming and most everyone else in
the group was annoyed, but they went with it to complete
the project.
The director's version went like this:
Guy stalks girl,
girls falls in park and guy goes to help but is beat to it by Guy 2,
guy figures out guy 2 is a serial killer,
guy saves girl from said killer,
girl figures out guy has been stalking her,
guy gets girl....

Jon was also shocked at the acting ability of the
"actors" the director cast. In a bad way.

Each member of the group was given all of the video
files and was to make their own edit of the movie.

Jon said everyone in the group stuck to the directors
story even though they hated it.

Jon however didn't. He decided to make a mockery of the
whole thing...

Easter

2011-05-03T08:36:00.012-06:00

We had to decorate eggs on Thursday after soccer games,
it was the only time for us to do it all together.
Evey had even agreed to babysit for a neighbor,
but I had to cancel for her, so we could make pretty eggs.
Sorry Tara!!!

Jon made 4 1/2 dozen eggs!!

Winter just wanted to put the eggs in the dye.

Lovin' the team work!

She ended up liking coloring paper when
I wouldn't let her stick any more eggs in the dye

Friday I actually got my bootie in gear and
made the girls dresses. While I was sewing
the kids decided to do a science experiment,
which ended in them making ice cream in
plastic baggies. They had a ton of fun dancing
to shake the ice cream.

Saturday We had soccer games in the morning then
Jon and I ran some errands together. It's so nice
having a built in babysitter. Although I feel her pain,
I was one too!!

There was a neighborhood egg hunt planned and
we were supposed to drop of a dozen eggs for
each of our kids to hunt. So I got the eggs over there.
But when the time for the hunt and pot luck rolled
around it was raining. We were running a little late
and when we got there the kids were almost done
hunting. They were hurrying because it was raining.
I don't blame them!!! But when they saw us they
each threw out enough eggs for my kids to hunt and
some parents hid some to make it fun. Such sweet
kids and neighbors we have! No one stayed for the
pot luck, it was no fun in the rain! Oh well, I think
the kids had fun anyway!

Sunday we had to be at church extra early 8:15 (actually 8:30, but I had to give a little leeway!!) so I could practice with the choir and the kids were singing prelude, so that meant waking up super early to hunt baskets. The Easter Bunny left everyone a personalized hunt as always.

Everyone finding their first clue.

Winter was not happy to be up so early...

Until she realized what she was supposed to do.
She had a deflated balloon, and had to search the house
for the inflated matching one,
pop it and inside was another deflated balloon of another color,
The last balloon held a clue to where her basket was.

Lex Had a map of the house with a bunch
of numbers on it, And a math equation.
He had to solve the equation and
find the corresponding number on the map
for the next problem.

The last number had his basket.

Paris was given a rhyme and the missing word was where the next clue was.

What the heck!! Evey's clue was a long strip of paper
with a little drawing of an object and a bunch of letters.
She had a hard time figuring out what she was supposed to do.
She finally realized she needed to find whatever the object was.
Then it took her a bit longer to figure out she had
to wrap the paper around the object for the next clue.

Her clues weren't totally obvious either. Well to me at least, she seemed to find them pretty quick!
For example, WAKE was the clue to an alarm clock, so she found her next clue there.

Each basket had a little letter so once
everyone's letter was found,
they had to make a word with the 6 letters to reveal a final surprise.

As per Easter Bunny tradition, he brought some fun outdoor games and toys.

Since it was a huge rush to get to church early,
we didn't have time for pictures,
and then after no one wanted to cooperate, As ALWAYS!!!
But they were kind enough to pose for a few
and I discovered that my new camera does not have a self timer,
for a family shot,sad, but I guess I'll live :)

The Easter bunny usually leaves an egg hunt for the kids,
but he knew we needed to get to church,
so he left a monstrous bowl full of eggs
and a note that we were to have a hunt outside after church.
Which turned out well, we waited until our guests got
here and included them in the fun.

One of the outdoor toys was a helicopter shooter thing ??
I don't know, anyway, its little propeller things shot
really high and we had to send Evey on the roof to get it.

We try really hard to make sure the kids know what
Easter is really about, and what is most important.
And they all know, they really do, but it bothers me
especially this Easter because we woke up to do the
basket hunt early so we could get to church early.

I heard a couple of friends say this year, that the bunny
visits their houses on Saturday morning, so that all of
Sunday can be focused on Jesus and the Atonement.
I really , really love this idea and think I will have the
kids sit down with me and write a letter to the Bunny
next year telling him we would like to do our basket
hunt on Saturday too. I think he won't mind too much :)

I am so bad at expressing my feelings and bearing my
testimony anyway, but am even worse on a medium like this,
online! I have written a few paragraphs only to erase them.
But I want you all to know how truly grateful I am for our
Savior and His Atonement.

I am so moved by music. I am the ward choir director and
picked two songs that held so much meaning for me and I
can't tell you how grateful I am for everyone who sang on
Sunday! The choir was so big and beautiful and so full of
the spirit! I even heard comments that we sounded like the
Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Such a complement!
Here is a link to one of the songs we sang,
however it is not the choir arrangement we sang,
but the words are what I want to share.
Gethsemane

And I couldn't find a link to just the music of this song so here's a video.
Also not a choir arrangement.

And while I'm at sharing videos here is an Easter message.

He is Risen!

You Got it!

2011-04-29T19:40:00.000-06:00

Monster Concert

2011-04-29T16:47:00.003-06:00

Evey had a District Orchestra concert in March.
It was a crazy ordeal. Mostly because I wasn't
informed of the details until the day before and so Jon wasn't
able to arrange getting the night off to help me.

You see,
Evey had dance from 4:15 to 6:15, Paris had a soccer
game at 5:30 and Evey was supposed to be at the
concert at 5:45. Yikes! Most of Paris' games have been
during Evey's dance, so we drop her off ,in Springville
(only a 15 minute drive on the freeway, but I like to complain)
then drive back to Provo for Paris' game then go back
to Springville to get Evey. Why didn't Evey just skip
dance this day you ask. Well, This class on Tuesday
is JDC, the company in which she has a contract with
and is required to be at. But the class after is just a jazz
class so she did miss that.

So, here's how it went...
We drove to Springville and Evey went to JDC while
we grabbed fast food dinner. Then Evey skipped her
second class and we took Paris to her game, dropped
her off with her friends and then headed across town
to get Evey to Timpview High School for the concert.
Normally getting across the city isn't that big of a deal,
even with the massive amount of construction that is
going on right now. But, on this particular day when I
needed to get across town and back quickly, they had
shut down a major artery, so we had to take an extra
long round about way, and for some reason there were
A MILLION people out. Okay it was rush hour!
Anyway, I got Evey to the school, ran in with her and
the 2 other kids to save a seat, and then got back on the
van to get Paris from her game. It took me the whole
hour of her game to get across town and back, so I
missed seeing her play and her sweet friends mom had
to wait a few minutes after the game for me. Then it
was back across town to the concert. But by this time
the home bound rushers were mostly off the road, so
we made it before 7, happened to find a decent parking
spot (there were 12 elementary schools, 2 middle
schools and 2 high schools orchestras worth of parents
and cars)and went in to our pre saved seat
(oh so glad I did that!!) and sat down right as the lights
went down. Whew!! So after all of that here is all of the
elementary's orchestras together.

After their songs they got off stage and the middle
schools went up and played a few and then switched
again with the high schools who were amazing!!
They played an awesome arrangement of the
Pirates of the Caribbean. I recorded it for Jon
and Evey but won't post it here.

* Why don't I make it easier on myself and car pool??!!
Paris' friend at soccer, even has an older sister who is in
orchestra with Evey, and believe me I did try to make
an arrangement, but they had 2 parents and one other
kid in something else, and so it didn't work this time.
But I tried, I tried! And, I have to give my lovlies Paris
and Lex and Winter some credit because they are always
so good and let me record the concerts with little
interruption!! Love my babies!!

Spring Break

2011-04-20T19:11:00.001-06:00

Spring break started out with a snow storm and 3
cancelled soccer games. By Sunday the snow had
melted and we thought "what better way to start
spring break right than with the first fire pit of the season."

Gotta love s'mores, or S'mreeses, or this time Jon tried S'mort Kat!

Monday I took the kids and my mom out to Idaho
to see my Grandma. Jon stayed home to finish up
some projects as the semester comes to a close, Hurray!!

Grandmommy lives near Twin Falls, which is where the Perrine Bridge is.
It's a pretty awesome bridge. I actually just read about for the first time today
whilst writing this. It's a quick read on Wiki-wiki if you'd like to read it.
If you don't I'll just tell you real quick, it is the only place in the US it is
legal to base jump year round without a permit, and Evil Knievel attempted
to jump the width of the gorge in the 70's. Anyway, we have seen jumpers
before, just while passing, but a few were about to jump as we were out
site seeing so we stuck around to watch.

Evey makes me laugh!! Really they all do, but in these pics, it's mostly Evey.

They all have no fear of heights which is good.
They had no problem sitting on the edge
of the retaining wall to see better.

While we waited for the Jumpers to get all set,
Winter threw some rocks and made us chase her up and down the walking path.

There were a total of 6 jumpers, all at varying levels of crazy.
The first guy waited the longest to open his chute,
one guy flipped a few times
(he's on the video, but it's really hard to see the flips),
and then a few of them must have been newbies
because they pulled their chutes before their feet even left the bridge.
That's what this guy did.

Then we went back to Grandmommy's and played outside for a while...

...and helped pick up some leaves and branches from the yard.
The kids were awesome helpers. They just kept going until it was done,
no complaining. I however sat on my bum and took pictures of them hard at work.

Evey changed the light bulbs in her lamp post.

Look I fixed Winter's hair!! This is her trying to roll down the hill with everyone else.

Then Evey ran into her so she resuscitated her. CLEAR!

Attempting a chain roll.

Grandmommy's beautiful daffodils.

Such an awesome big sister!

Except maybe when she pulls your arms off!

I just had to prove to myself I still had toes! Yep, there they are. 25 weeks

We drove home on Wednesday.
Unloaded the van, I took a little snooze,
then we loaded back up to go to a Real Salt Lake Soccer Game.

Jon had looked at the weather and the rain was supposed to hold off until around 10. And he figured it wouldn't be super cold, so we all just wore jackets. We did stop and grab some emergency ponchos just incase, and then headed up to Salt Lake.
As soon as we stepped out of the van (we had paid 10 bucks to park somewhat close) we knew we were going to be cold, but we thought, it wasn't anything we couldn't handle. But, when we got in to the stadium, the wind was blowing like crazy and it was COLD.
At the beginning of the game everyone on the south end of the field threw out a roll of toilet paper... but with the wind it just blew right back on to them.

Other people threw tp too so we had some land on us. I guess we know to bring a roll next time!

Daddy snuggled his girlies!

Lex was really into the game! Such a sports-a-holic!

We were enjoying it for a little while, then it started to rain. Real Salt Lake was playing the Colorado Rapids, so it was hard for me to choose who to root for. But, I generally went with Real just because soccer fans are C-R_A-Z-Y!! Plus Real is #3 in the MLS, pretty good! The Rapids are in the top 5 too though, anyway, it was score less at half time when the rain really began to pick up and the girls were miserable! I think Lex would have wanted to stay even if a tornado hit! So, we left and walked through the freezing rain to the van and got some gas station hot chocolate. We'll have to try that outing again another time.

Thursday we just chilled at home and played outside
and watched movies. Evey was at a birthday party all day.

*UPDATE*I missed loading this one.
This is the gift Evey took her friend.
We decided to do something a little different.
It is a tshirt and headbands and
a couple packs of Starbursts.

Then she watched everyone for me while I went to a cooking class.
Then she went to a different friends house for a sleep over.

Friday was a beautiful day!! We spent ALL day outside!
We were going to go to a local "family fun center"
that we have unlimited season passes to.
But Evey and her friend went first and said the lines
were outrageous, and since I didn't have Jon to help
with little impatient children, we opted out of that one
and instead spent the day at the park. Which was
crowded too, but that I can handle on me onesies.

Winter is getting so good at climbing the stairs and
going down slides by herself, even with a million other
pushy big kids. She really holds her own! I just wait at
the bottom of the slide! Love it!

Saturday we went and saw Hop.

It was really cute.
A definite kids movie, not much for any older crowds,
which is why I'm sure it didn't get good ratings. But it
was fun and I love James Marsden, and Russell Brand,
and Huge Laurie...and Hank Azaria!
So I really liked it. And Jon appreciated the computer
graphics, so we had a good time. Then we came home
and Grammy took the kids to the park again.

Sunday was a normal, have the fam over for dinner,
and then we started the weekly routine. I think it was
an eventful enough spring break. At least I think when
asked the kids wouldn't say they were bored, and that
was the goal!

Picture-a-thon

2011-04-09T22:32:00.000-06:00

We woke up on Sunday morning to a whole lot-a white!
It was a lot ice so all the flowers and trees were sagging.
I shook off as many flowers as possible trying to save them,
and Jon shook off some of the trees that had already blossomed.

We all know I'm crazy, but I'll prove it to you....
Put your face really close to the screen,
I mean really close...come on smoosh
your nose on the middle of the picture.
Okay now close your left eye...winter.
Now switch, close your right open your left...spring!
Camera one....camera two.
Winter...Spring...Winter...Spring!
Yeah apparently I have too much time on my hands!!

Who forgot to cover the grill!!!!!!!
Oh yeah, it was me when I was BBQing in the 80 degree weather the evening before!

I remember hearing the wind the night before,
but I had no idea what was happening outside.
A whole lot-a blowing snow and ice that's what.
See how the fence is completely white, that generally doesn't happen.
But freshly fallen snow sure is pretty!

Lambert was perfectly content to just observe the snow from the window,
I think the birds were content with that too.

Pretty doves! One of a few families that frequent our yard.

He's so cute!! Love that kid!

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a JUMBO jawbreaker?
I don't know ask Evey, It took her a few hours to get to this point.

She's pretty cute too!!

So independent!

This is one Winter that sticks around all year and no one complains!!

The snow eventually melted...but we have since had more.

These are our new visitors! Yikes, who's in charge of the yard!
I'm kidding! He'll get to it soon...(er)....or later

Did I mention I love these kids!

We have started spring soccer season,
schedules are working much better than last season.
We have however had one game called early
because of freezing rain and lightning. And this morning, picture day,
all 3 of their games were canceled.
So far we have had to get ice cream after both of Lex's
games, because he scored goals.
Evey is determined to get a goal this year,
and was sooo close at the game was called early,
she just needed a few more minutes!
Paris is much more excited to play this year
because she is finally on her friends team
and her friends dad is their coach,
so she is having a lot of fun so far.
Her favorite positions are defense and goalie

Spa Treatment

2011-04-08T23:17:00.000-06:00

Evey chose to have a Spa/Makeover party this year.
Not really sure how it happened, but we were
throwing it together 3 days before. She chose to
only invite a few of her closest friends. It ended up
working rather well! The dollar store was my best
friend in those few days before and it ended up
having most of what I needed. I thought it would
be awesome for each girl to get her own bath robe.
But this would have required more time for sewing,
or a me willing to fork out over 20 bucks each, ha, I think not!

I wanted everyone to have their own mirror,
and I was worried that would end up being a big expense,
I really wasn't willing to spent more than a dollar
or 2 each so I was really happy the
dollar store had some, and they were pretty cute too!
We also got monogrammed kleenex for each girl
half of at Hobby Lobby. Love that place!!

We kept with the monogrammed stuff and made personalized water bottles.

Pretty cake right! Well...Jon helped me in the
kitchen with all of the goodies,
so we made this , as per Evey's request,
Red Velvet Cake. But after it was done baking
we set it on the oven to cool, forgetting that
we were using the oven still, so it was hot.
Well after a while and when we went to ice
it with super scrumptious icing,
the cake was all dried out and crumbly.
So Sad!! I went ahead and iced it even
though Jon ran out and picked up a store bought Red Velvet cake.

We did a fresh finger food dinner for the girls. Lot's of fruit
and see those deviled eggs back there,
we almost didn't make those after all,
which would have been a huge mistake,
The girls DEVOURED them.
Evey also contributed to the cooking and
made zucchini bread all on her own...super delish!

Fruit salsa and cinnamon/sugar chips....mmmm nom nom!

Allowing her facial mask to dry and beautify!

I guess she got a little hungry.

Girl Party Rule # 1: Must be goofy at all times!

At some point during the night the girls were talking about someone's
family tradition of smashing the birthday person's face in a cake.
It just so happened we had an extra cake,
so they gave Evey's face a nice cake mask.
She, like, had to totally redo her, like, make up after that!!
Funny thing though the girls ended up eating a lot of the
smashed cake because it tasted better than the store bought.
Awww, made me feel good.

A lot of steps are left out of the pictures,
Jon had the other kids watching movies in their room,
and so I was helping them with all of the different things on my own.
I told my sisters how much I wished they would have been here to help,
it would have been so fun!
Anyway, this is soaking feet before pedicures while creating bath salts.

OO lala!
I really love 11 year old birthday parties!
The girls can do most everything on their own,
and move at their own rate, and a 5 hour birthday party flies by,
they had to rush their manicures. But they had a great time being girly!

This is Evey's real birthday with all the family. Trying to decide which wish to wish for is hard !

Cake #2 We asked Evey what kind of cake she wanted for her family party,
and she said ice cream cake. So we decided to retry the Red Velvet,
but make it ice cream. So while looking for a ice cream to complement the red velvet,
we stopped by the Ben and Jerry's section to check out their new flavors.
One happened to be Red Velvet Cake. Perfect!
Turned out a little messy, but it was Go-ood!

March Madness

2011-04-06T20:59:00.001-06:00

No not basketball!! Although BYU was in the
sweet 16 so it was big, big news around here for a while.
No I mean Lindsey Madness in March. The month
wasn't very picture friendly. Or at least the pictures
of the fruits of this month won't be posted just yet.
We spent a lot of free time working on the building
and redecorating/organizing of kids rooms.

*Jon has been excited to use my camera for the short
movie he has to film in a class. He is the camera man
because, I don't trust any of the other kids with our
investment. Anyway, they decided to also use our
house for some of the filming. From what I've seen
the camera and the camera man are doing a great job.
Apparently the director isn't as organized as the group
would like, so filming isn't quite done yet then they
have to edit. I will post the video when I can.

*Paris had a cute little program called A Day in the
Life of a First Grader. She was super excited for this
program and didn't want us to hear (even though she
would always sing them) any of the songs. She was
also excited because the program was on St. Patty's
day and she was excited to wear green. She did so
good singing her little heart out. I of course messed
up and didn't charge the video camera battery, and
then with what little I had I recorded the floor and
had the cam on pause when I thought I was filming.
You'd think I didn't have a brain!!
Anyway, it was really cute.

Jon likes to cook green eggs and ham for breakfast
and corned beef and cabbage for dinner on St Patty's day.
Kurt's birthday is the day before St P day, but he was with
friends so we had the family over on the 17th to celebrate.
Always a good time!

*Winter is such a character. Her vocabulary is growing
everyday. We left sign language in the dust a few months
ago, and she is now able to use words to communicate.
She is also able to get up on anything her little heart desires,
mostly the table.

Although we love that she is so curious

and strong willed, we have to make sure

we keep the table and counter top cleared.

We can't hide the chairs and stools and her

high chair and she pushes them to where

ever it is she wants to get up. I figure if

there was a way to hide the chairs, she

would figure out how to get on the table

anyway. The other day I went into Evey's

room and she was 3 feet off the ground

climbing a bookshelf. She loves to make

the monkey noise and pound her chest,

and she loves bananas or "nana" as she

calls them, so I figure I was right,

she's a monkey!!

She also loves to show her belly button

and says "Belly Buh" when you ask her

where it is. She was in the process of

showing me her belly buh in the picture

above, but got distracted by something.

This is what happens when we leave

groceries and an open box of Girls Scout

Cookies on the table.

Evey took these pictures.

I don't think I posted how big she was at her year appt.
2 months ago now...she was 18lbs 14 oz and 29 1/2 inches.
I figure she hasn't gained too much weight since then with
all of her running around and wiggling, but I can tell she
has grown taller, some of her 12 month pant legs and shirt
sleeves are getting a little short. We also had a few firsts
recently. She was hating sleeping in her crib a few months
back, so just before her birthday we converted the crib into
a toddler bed, this helped she loved that she could get in and
out on her own. And that first night actually got really mad
when we gave her a little push to help her climb in. She had
to get back down and do it all by herself. At the last second
Lex put his hand under her foot to give her a little leverage.
No Way! She had to get down again and do it ALL by herself.
This is Paris all over again!! We even called Paris self for a
while because Everything had to be done "self." Anyway,
back to Winter. We have since moved her into a big girl bed.
After daddy finished building it, we went out and bought a
mattress and as soon as we put it on the bed, she got so happy
and jumped on to it. That night, she was so excited to go get
in HER bed. She crawled right in and went right to sleep.
It was amazing, because usually I hold her to go to sleep.
I love that she absolutely knew that she was getting
something new and special.

These pictures are in the middle of redecoration,
so that's why the walls are two tone.

I have been showing Winter the potty for a while now.
She thinks it's fun to sit on, and I think she is getting
that that is where we go potty, but she'll tell me she has
a dirty diaper and then run to the bathroom for me to
change her. But recently I put her on the potty just
before her bath and she went, yay. Then after the bath
she went some more, ...THEN a few days later just
before bath she went AGAIN. Love it! Now I just
have to get my butt in gear and take her every few
minutes until she gets it. I'm super excited, but not
ready just yet, although I am running low on diapers
and wipies right now...hmmm.
I have pictures of her on the potty, but it's just before
bath and so she's a little nude, and I'm just not going
to put those on the internet. But she's dang cute!
Her hair is growing so fast right now, and it is staying
red, yay! So I got it into her first ponytail.
She's so stinkin' cutie!

Sorry for the forever long post...Next up, Evey's birthday.

Immune

2011-04-04T16:32:00.000-06:00

I'm not one to offer my opinion without being asked.....
Bwahhh-haha... sorry I can't say that with a straight face!
If you know me, you know that's a total lie!!
But, I usually don't say anything in public forums. I generally
keep my yapper shut, and sit back and listen to what everyone
else is saying, and my inner monologue runs wild. Well, I'm not
sure if it's the pregnancy hormones, or if I have some
Austin Powers-post-cryogenic-freezing-syndrome,
but I am feeling the need to "rant" to the world...

So, I'll take this moment to brag a little and
maybe give a little of my insight and experience
to others that may read this blog.

One of the things that has been posted, on facebook

and other blogs that I read, so frequently lately is

how sick everyone, their kids and the kitchen sink have been.

Wait, I think that's not quite right...

except the kitchen sink...

oh well, you know what I mean.

Our family has seen NONE of
the illness that has been running rampant this year.
I don't think the amount of sickness is any greater
this year, but with the popularity (okay I'll admit, addiction!)
of facebook, sometimes I just feel surrounded by it.
It makes me wonder why it has passed our family.

If you're not a frequent visitor at our house,
I'll share a little secret....I am the worst housekeeper
....EVER!!

Okay, maybe not ever, but really I've had a hard
time keeping up with our little Winter monster, let
alone deep clean baseboards, door handles, walls,
and sometimes floors (with a crazy shedding dog,
a freakishly floofy cat and 4 kids, it can't get
neglected for too long) Who am I kidding, I've never
been good at those things! Anyway, the point that I'm
making is that germs are running rampant right along
with the kids and animals.

It's my theory and my mom's before me, that the germs
only make us and our immune systems stronger.

Sterilizing the house (I mean like, burn-your-nose-hairs-
out bleaching) and taking every available medication
at the first sniffle, only weakens our immune system,

making it that much harder to fight off anything
even with medication. And, once one starts down the
medicine path, it just gets that much harder to get off of it.

So,
here's the bragging part...

...our family is rarely sick and
we don't have allergies. We don't go to the Dr except for
routine check ups and immunizations. And, except for an
occasional dose of Tylenol or Triaminic my kids have
never had to take any sort of prescription medication.
Oop, I lied, Evey took an antibiotic once when she was
like 1 year old for thrush. They have never had ear
infections, strep, or pink eye.
(let me find some wood!!! knock, knock, knock)

Paris has perfect attendance this year and Evey only
missed days for dance performances. Okay, I'm done
bragging.

I'm not an overly protective parent, I don't
freak if a neighbor kid comes over and sneezes on one
of the kids or, if one of the kids does get a bug, I don't
separate them. If it's gonna go through the house, it's
GONNA go through the house, I'll suck it up and deal
with it, it's part of having kids, right? And, I know
once it's gone, it's gone for awhile.

I know that my no-so-clean, no meds theory isn't for
everyone. There are other factors that play a part in
illness. And each household is different. I just want
to say to those of you who may have a pretty healthy
family and are wondering why you can't kick the
illness, just relax a little, let the body you were blessed
with do it's thing and keep you healthy.

I thank Heavenly Father daily for the health of our
family and am blessed to have been given such healthy kids.
I pray that the little boy waiting to join our family
carries the same strong, healthy genes
(he sure has a healthy kick already!)

Civil War Project

2011-03-14T13:07:00.000-06:00

I'm not totally sure how Lewis and Clark relate
to the Civil War except that they make way for
the Huge westward movement before it, what's
it called, Manifest Destiny and Clark's son
fought in it. But, it was on the list of subjects
Evey could pick for her Civil War project at school.

She was supposed to think of a creative way to
share with her class the info she researched. Some
projects could have been a diarrhea I mean diorama,
or poster, but we decided to go a different route
I'm not sure if we have made it clear that we
go all out for stuff, but we kinda go all out for
stuff. And, we love it, it's a lot of time spent
with each kid and as a family. Anyway, I suggested
we do another "reporter/ news update" video,
(see Orangutan video HERE....while looking
through blog archives, I found a TON of cute
pictures from way back when Lex was a baby on
the old, before they made me get a new blog
address, site...HERE ) And Jon suggested she play
all the parts and we put her on a split screen.

Evey did all the research, then I helped her write
the script. Then we picked out costumes
(hilarious!! fun time!) and then set up the camera
and got to work.

Parents were invited into watch the kids give their
presentations, so we got to see the great response
her teacher and class gave her. The first question
they asked her, after watching it, was if they could
watch it again. Funny kids. And they did and her
teacher went and got other teachers and then asked
if she could keep a copy. So it was a successful project.

A quick note here, I didn't coach Evey at all!! I helped
her figure out a few different accents to use, but she
created each character all on her own!!

Spoiled!

2011-03-14T10:10:00.003-06:00

We decided to get Jon a new laptop for his birthday.
This would help dramatically in his field of study.
So a few days before his birthday he went to apple.com
and picked out his computer, added a few upgrades and
went through the motions of making the purchase.
After entering out bank card number he received a message
that the payment hadn't gone through...WHAT! So he tried
using my card, his expiration date was nearing, still the
payment didn't go through, so we called the bank.

Apparently we have a daily maximum purchase amount
that helps in case someone gets a hold of a card.
Oh, yeah, I knew that! It's a great thing, on the off chance
something like that happens, however for an excited guy
wanting to buy his computer, it's not so great. He had to
go into the branch to up his daily limit. There they told him
it would take 24-48 hrs to take effect. More waiting! He
ended up trying the next day even though I told him, the
banks always take the maximum amount of time!

So the next day when the 48 hrs were up he planned on
making the purchase. He happened to hear in class that
morning, that Apple was planning to release a new
MacBook Pro within the next month that had 40% faster
processors. However Apple keeps things pretty well
under wraps (probably so that when their new stuff comes
out they can watch Microsoft and other companies scramble
to try to compete, it must be a fun show in the computer world!)
so he wasn't sure what and when this rumored new
computer was going to grace the world with it's presence.

Anyway, it took a bit, but a couple weeks later he heard
that for Steve Jobs' birthday they would release the new
MacBooks. Happy birthday Steve, here's another BILLION
dollars! So, We gave Mr. Jobs a nice chunk of moolah for
his birthday and in return Jon got a pretty nice, late, birthday present.
Thank you spending limit for not allowing Jon to purchase the older computer.

I am now supposed to tell you how nice in terms of geek specs...
MacBook Pro 17-inch
2.3GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7 (updated from 2.2GHz )
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB (updated from 4GB)
750GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 RPM
Don't ask me what all that jargon means, super fast computer,
blah, blah... and I'm sure most of you won't know either,
but for my cutie hubby's sake and the sake of
those who know and are wondering, There I posted it.

He ordered it within the minute it became available. It was
pretty funny watching him watch the site as they updated it.
Then came the waiting for it to be shipped. It wasn't the normal
"within 24 hrs" because he got the upgrades. So it was then
funny to watch him track his package from China, freak when
it went from Ill to Tenn, then get so excited when it was finally
on the truck for delivery. So as I said in a previous post, He got
his birthday present on March 2 at 3pm, a month after his birthday.
But, he was still as gitty as a school girl when it showed up.

It's Time...

2011-03-04T13:11:00.000-07:00

...to update this darn blog!!

Now that we've run the gauntlet of birthdays ,
holidays, parties, anniversary (excuse me, "sorta"-versary),
Dance shows, out of town company,
AND have come out ALIVE,
I might be able to tackle an update.

I am going to retro the dates of each post so this post
is always first, and so I can put everything in
chronological order, even if I don't post it that way.

So here's a quick run through of the Happenings of February,
so that I can make sure I get it all and you can look back to
see if you've missed anything,
AND because I may not devote an entire post to the
event (for lack of pictures).

FEBRUARY
1- Jon turns 31

visit from DC

- Evey dances in Point and Counterpoint

6 - Superbowl Party Lindsey Style

9 - I turn 25....I mean 30.

11 - Sick? Who's sick? NO ONE!! YAAY!!
We miss all sicknesses spreading like crazy!

13 - My cousin from TX visits.

14 - We don't celebrate Valentine's Day!

19 - Paris turns 7!!!! Lots of little girls for Flower Party

21 - Presidents Day- or the start of "moving day" in the Lindsey house
We make time for a visit to SLC for Build-a-bear and Ben & Jerry!

25 - Prim? -we take headshots for Evey to audition for
The Hunger Games movie

25 - It's still Winter!- despite popular belief that it's spring
   (come on Utah, didn't you learn in school that spring
   doesn't start until the end of March. Let us enjoy Winter!!)
   We get enough snow to play in, but have to hurry, it's melting fast!

27 - OCARS!!! We host our own Red Carpet Party

28 - We start celebrating 11 years of marriage at noon
(to last through March 1 at noon)

Updating will take at least a few days though, so keep checking back.

Paris was right!!

2011-03-01T16:07:00.002-07:00

Paris has been telling me from the beginning
"I KNOW it's a boy! I can FEEL it!"
So at the 20 week ultrasound today,
sure enough, she was right.
(for the record though, I knew too!!)
Jon decided he would go with girl,
I think mostly just so that he could say
he was right if it was, and so that I would be wrong.
Na-ner!!
Anyway, we are all excited for another boy!

He almost didn't show us.
He kept the cord right between his legs and
had his ankles crossed. We had to poke him for a while.
Luckily the sonographer feels she knows us personally,
since she's scanned 4 of our kids now, and was patient
enough to wait for him to cooperate. We got a pretty
good picture of his boy parts but I think the face shots are cuter!

Waving to the world!

I

am feeling pretty good this time and
have only lost 7 pounds so far. This is how
I knew it was a boy. The boys have been nicer
to their momma than the girls!

His name will remain secret until he is born,
(we may leak to family)
but we will carry the family middle name.
So, _______________ Alexander Lindsey,
we can't wait to meet you!!

11

2011-02-28T16:54:00.003-07:00

Alright this is the last planned post for February.
But, I posted so much today a few of the posts
got pushed to the next page, so when you get to
the bottom hit "Older Posts" to see Paris' Birthday.

Jon skipped classes to be with me on our "sorta"versary.
He's the one that insists I call it that! Weirdo! I don't mind
calling it anniversary. Anyway, We didn't do much during
the day. We just chilled with Lex and Winter.

But for our date,I had originally wanted to go on an over
nighter to Park City or at least SLC, but my mom was in
Colorado, so we had to figure out different sitter arrangement.
Luckily I have an awesome brother and friend that happily
volunteered. We ended up just going to dinner and a movie,
our favorite thing to do anyway!

We went to Tucanos again. I've kinda been craving red meat!!
And saw I Am Number 4. It was good. From the writers of
Smallville, so if you like Smallville you will probably like this,
it has the same sort of "feel."

Jon has been so good to me and I know I said something on
his birthday, but I just want everyone to know, if you don't
already, just how wonderful he is. He is so fun to be with,
we have had a pretty fun 11 years of marriage. Nothing has
been bad as long as we're together. We keep each other in
check and know we are two parts of one whole, one can't
function without the other. It's a great partnership. And don't
even get me started on what a great dad he is. Words can't
express the love I have for him in that role! Ooo, if Dr. Fawcett
(marriage enhancement professor) could hear me now! Anyway,
enough mush, and yes I would like some crackers with my cheese!!

For the other half of the anniversary, see the Ultrasound pictures above.

I made this slideshow last year and I love it. So for my sake, I'm
posting it again. I'll have to update it next year with another kid.
Enjoy, I sure will!

And the Oscar goes to...

2011-02-28T15:04:00.000-07:00

I know I've said it a lot. But , I'll say it again,
We are BIG movie people! Last year we decided
we wanted to see as many of the nominated movies
as possible. Well it's also the year they changed it
from 5 Best Picture nominees to 10. And from the
time the nominees are announced to when the Oscars
airs, is only about a month. Yikes! I think we did pretty
good last year. And we did even better this year. We
saw all of the Best Picture nominees and that gave us
most of the acting, directing, cinematography, and
special effects awards. It was awesome to be informed
on the movies!

We were sad though because, in the animated category
the number of nominees is based on the number of
animated movies accepted for nomination in that year.
So there were 15 movies accepted which meant 3 movies
could be nominated. Had one more been accepted they
could have nominated another 2 movies and we were
sure one would have been Tangled. It was such a great
movie! Don't get me wrong Toy Story 3 and How to
Train Your Dragon were so worthy (we didn't see The
Illusionist) and the other 15 movies included some of
our favorite movies, Despicable Me and Megamind,
but we really felt Tangled was snubbed!

Anyway, we had to throw a Red Carpet Party! We had
our normal friends and fam and then had another couple
and their cutie daughter. We were sad that a few new
friends couldn't join us after all. Next time, next time :)
We originally thought it would be fun to do a black tie
affair. But with everyone having been at church and in
dress clothes anyway and then thinking about how it
would be nice to relax while watching the Oscars, and
not have to be uncomfortable in nice clothes, we scrapped
that idea. Then we thought it would be fun to have
everyone wear black, like t-shirt, and then we'd hand out
black ties, but that one got scrapped too.
So we just left the clothing.

We served a somewhat fancy meal and had everyone
fill out a ballot and the total running time of the show
for a tie breaker. We also played bingo through out,
with prizes. It was awesome! Some of the squares were:
winner puts on glasses, presenter flubbs line, Anne
Hathaway sings, Christian Bale spotted with Jesus-like hair
....and tons more. So Funny! I think everyone won at least
once. Although it took Jon and I an almost blackout to
finally get a bingo!

We really enjoyed the show. Anne Hathaway and James Franco
we're pretty good. I as always love the opening sequence the
most. But I couldn't find a video of it. I think ABC removed it.
BOO!

Jon and I were happy with the Best Picture winner, King's Speech
was amazing! If you haven't seen it you should! If it's the "R" rating
that's stopping you....don't even get me started on the rating system!!
It's "R" because he drops the "F" Bomb a few too many times. But,
in England they went ahead and lowered the rating because he uses
it in a "therapeutic setting" No Violence, no naughty scenes!
As for acting, we were SO happy Christian Bale won for supporting
actor, he was AMAZING in the Fighter! I was torn between Colin
Firth and James Franco for best actor. Franco was awesome in that
he was able to command the screen all on his own for an entire movie,
and Frith was just awesome.

If I was torn for actors I was even more so for best actress. They were

all great, but just not Academy Award Winning in my mind! But,

what do I know. I went with Natalie Portman because she seemed the

obvious choice. Jon went with her, because he's always been a fan.

But too bad for the True Grit and Winter's Bone girls, that would have

been awesome to win an Oscar so young!

I was actually happy Inception took home so many awards over the

front runner Social Network. I enjoyed Inception so much more and

so voted for it. And was pleasantly surprised to win those few categories,

except for score. Boo Social Network, although Kurt went with it because

he is a Trent Reznor fan. And how cool is that, the lead singer of Nine Inch

Nails wins an Oscar. Eat it Music world!

Anyway, enough Oscar talk.
Tristan won the Lindsey Oscars, by one right answer over me, and only
because he guessed both documentary films right! Boo!! He took home
his very own "Oscar" statue! It was great fun,
already looking forward to next year!

Melt

2011-02-25T13:27:00.001-07:00

We got a pretty good snow, but by the time the kids got
home from school, it was half melted. It was almost
completely melted by the time they were done. So instead
of playing in the snow, they played in the melt. Everyone
was soaked from the melt when they came in,
15 minutes later!

DENIED!

Retaliation is sweet.

Master Snowman builder!

Apparently we need to clean out the gutter!
And EWWW! That water has gone from the
roof through the clogged gutter and she's sticking her tongue in it!!
Ehh, builds character!

First signs of spring!

Up and Coming

2011-02-25T12:46:00.006-07:00

While helping Kurt with his head shots and reading
about how the casting directors were going to accept
unknown "new" talent for the movie, and reading the
description of the characters, we realized that Evey
was almost a perfect match to their description of Prim.

If you haven't read the Huger Games books, they are a
really great read! Evey read them first and was mad
because it took me forever to read them so she could talk
to me about them. Anyway, Prim, is the main character's
little sister. Here is the description the casting directors wrote:

[Primrose Everdeen]
Female, 12 years of age. Light hair and blue eyes. Katniss'
younger sister. Primrose's face is as fresh as a raindrop, as
lovely as the primrose for which she is named. Thoughtful,
sweet, and somewhat delicate in spite of all she has been
through at a young age.

We sent her headshot, resume and cover letter and are waiting
to see if she gets called in.We aren't getting our hopes up, I'm
sure there are thousands of girls who are just as beautiful and
have the same sort of resume as Evey.

We did have to think about how it would work if she
was called though. They are filming this summer in Georgia,
and we have a baby due.....
So, we may have to call on Grammy's or uncles to travel with her.
It's a fun dream!

A day off

2011-02-21T11:53:00.014-07:00

Jon doesn't work on Mondays because he has
an evening class, so because there was no
school on President's Day we got to spend
a whole day doing whatever we wanted. Even
though Evey was still supposed to have Ballet,
we had her skip so we could just relax all day.
It was so nice!! A much needed break from STUFF.
Of course we filled it with other stuff! We
spent the morning getting supplies and building
lots of extra shelving in the washroom and kids
closets. Then we started the moving and
redecoration of the kids rooms.

As it was all the girls were in one room and
Lex had his own room (see this is why we need a
new house!! Now we have to fit one more too!)
Lex loves to fall asleep in the girls room anyway,
so we decided to have him share with Paris and Winter,
they all love to play together. And Evey will get
her own room until baby boy is born. Then after his
"in mommy and daddy's room time" he will go in the
room with her. But, hopefully by that time we will
be close to Jon finishing school and we can move to
wherever a job may take us.

"Before" pictures are taken, and because this is a major
project and is still in the making (we are building 4
new beds), "after" pictures will come later. We are
hoping to have Evey's room complete by her birthday.
Then we can tackle the other kids room. Which we are in
need of another twin mattress for, if anyone knows of
someone who has an extra one in fairly good condition
we can buy.

After we were satisfied with the building project for
the day, we decided to take a trip to Salt Lake to go
to the Gateway mall. Jon says her remembered the
Build-a-Bear being bigger, and we told the other 3
they could make one, since it was so much fun for Paris.
But, it had to be on a different day (not Paris' birthday)
and they couldn't get as "tricked out" bears. So Evey
and Lex made friends and Winter picked out a pre-made
smaller friend. And Paris bought a pair of jammies for
Sprinkle.

Only option for pics was with my phone.
And, even though it's an iPhone, it doesn't compare
and I hate taking pictures with it!
But I have sucked it up, this time.

Then since we were there, and we LOVE Ben and Jerry's so much,
we ate a quick dinner and got some scrumptious ice cream! By
then it was late and a school night, so we called it a day.

The Party Continues...

2011-02-19T11:55:00.000-07:00

One of the things Paris asked for was a build-a-bear,
so we got her a gift card. After her party we went
out to spend the card. She had in mind everything
she was going to get.

She picked a cute little bunny with brown hair and
brown eyes just like her.

Then she decided to give her a heart "beep"as Lex says.

Then she went through the whole process of stuffing the bunny...

...making a wish on its heart...

...giving it a bath...

...picking out an outfit and shoes. She chose a
Rapunzel Dress and red shoes...

...Dressing the bunny...

...and giving her a name. She chose Sprinkle,
because it was sprinkling rain outside for her birthday.

Then the ladies at Build-a-Bear had her ring
a gi-mungus bell, and everyone in the store
wished Paris a Happy 7th Birthday.

Gasp!! 60% off at Zales!!
(I just found it amusing that the
sign was so distracting in the shot)
I just like my cute family!!

Then we asked Paris where she would like to go for her
birthday dinner. She said Taco Bell....
Barf! (at least for a special birthday dinner) So we went
for mexican at Los Hermanos (even though we can make
it better at home! That's right Utah you heard me, I cook
mexican food better that your beloved Los Hermanos!!
Even the fried ice cream. Although it was good!)

The chairs were a perfect fit for Paris and her special friends.

Winter was mad...

...Until she got her picture taken.
She likes to look at the happy baby
on the back of the camera.

Lucky number 7

2011-02-19T11:32:00.002-07:00

They grow so fast! 7 years ago at exactly 7 am
Paris Jasmine joined our family as a beautiful,
chubby cheeked baby with a head FULL of black hair.

And here we are 7 years later and she's blossomed
into a beautiful, smart, funny little girl.
We love our little Paris!

We woke early to have pancakes, as requested,
and presents and then get ready for her party.

She decided on a flower party this year. I told her only 12 girls
could come. She had a hard time deciding, so we invited only
girls from her school class and from her church class, except her
best friend which is in neither. I had a lot of different ideas for a
flower party, but we had to keep it indoors. So we did the best
with what we had.

I was going to go for a wedding cake look with white icing and
real flowers, but decided that cupcakes went better with the little
finger food brunch they had.

My mom came over to help me with most of the prep
the night before so it was pretty simple set up in the morning.

When they arrived and were waiting for everyone else,
they colored a big flower picture.

Then they each got to make their own flower hair pretty.

Then they painted a little flower pot that
we later planted a flower in.

While some of the faster painters waited for the others
they tossed "seeds" in to the center of the flowers.

Then they had their little lunch of flower shaped sandwiches,
veggies, and flavored soda grown right in their cups.

Then came the cupcakes... and presents after.

We ended up running out of time and so had to rush
everyone through getting their treat bag, which was
scooping their choice of candy from the candy flower.

It turned out pretty good. Paris and the girls had a
lot of fun and that's what counts, right?!

Happy Hearts

2011-02-14T10:37:00.001-07:00

I say it every year, We don't celebrate Valentine's day.
And, every year it's a lie!
Jon and I say our birthdays and our anniversary are
good enough, why do we need a Halmark holiday?
But then we say, well the kids can be our Valentines,
they like to celebrate and they have fun parties at school.
So I'll get them some chocolates and a little stuffed animal
or something, and Jon will get a dozen roses to split.

It works out perfect ( not sure how 12 is going to divide in
to 5 next year, yikes) And he ALWAYS ends up getting
me some flowers too. Did I say that I love that guy, yet?
Well I do. He also bought me a movie, and unbeknownst
to him I bought him a Star Wars Omnibus...don't ask!
So I guess we do celebrate, I should stop saying we don't.

Every year Jon has to work on Valentines night and so I
usually do fondue with the kids, but he had to work a million
hours around Valentines and actually got the night off.
So he got to join us for fondue this time. It was fun.
The kids aren't big on fondue for dinner, so we grilled some
steaks and had their favorite asparagus. A new addition this
year was our virgin strawberry daiquiris (basically just strawberries,

lime juice, Sprite, and ice) with the glasses rim dipped in red sugar,
they liked that too. Then we got as much junk food as possible to
dip in to chocolate.

It was a blast.

It's been a while

2011-02-13T11:13:00.000-07:00

My cousin, Liana, who I have not seen in years
(I have 20 cousins and they are spread across the country,
so I don't get to visit with them as much as when we were kids)
made a trip out here, from Texas, to take advantage of the
awesome powder on the mountains.

We got to see how much her daughter has grown.
Into a beautiful young lady athelete and meet her hubby
and talk movies with him. It was just a short visit. But it was
nice to see them and I think Kurt learned a lot from Scott!
And the kids loved Kalani!