Happy Birthday To Me!!

On May 15th, I celebrated my 27th birthday with family and friends. Bailee and Braden gave me my birthday spankings bright and early and kept saying Happy Birthday Mom! all day. It's was nice to have them so excited for my birthday. Cameron and the kids spoiled me as always. Cameron bought me some summer clothes which I desperately needed. All my clothes from last year are too big. Yeah for me. The kids got me some really cool presents from the dollar store. Bailee gave me some scrapbook items, Braden gave me some socks, and Malia gave me some sunglasses. (However not a dollar store item). My parents flew up for my birthday and to help us do some landscaping and help Cameron build a fence. More about that on the next post . On Friday we all went out to eat at Garibaldi's (mexican) and ate some wonderful food. The waitors sung to me and I got a special birthday treat. It was fun having both set of parents there to help me celebrate.

Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater

We took a trip down to Utah for some girl fun while Cameron worked on our fence. We went to a craft show and I purchased some hairbows for Malia, and went birthday shopping at Tai Pan Trading. My mom has a piano and Bailee was interested in learning how to play. So we taught her a few songs to play. The classic Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater and Chopsticks. I was way surprised how quickly she picked it up. Maybe some lessons from Grandma Linda will help her develop her new found talent. Here are a few video clips of Bailee's debut.

It's a Miracle, she is mobile!!

Well it only took her 10 months to figure it out, but Malia is finally now crawling. She is growing up so fast. She has even started pulling herself up on furniture. The kids just love it, though now I have to vacuum everyday. She is really curious and is getting into a lot of things.

Malia Talks!!

On Friday, April 11th was a special day for Malia. She said her first word, Da-Da. Of course, Cameron couldn't be happier. Malia is proud of her accomplishments too, because she says it all day long. She is such a happy baby and now we need to help her master the word Ma-Ma. Braden was our only child to have said Ma-Ma first. Oh well.

Malia also had her first swimming trip , we went to the Twin Falls pool on Saturday. Shane and missy invited us to come with them. Bailee and Braden couldn't wait to show off thier new swimming skills. They have really come along in thier swimming lessons at Golds Gym. Malia loved the water and had fun splashing with daddy. She took a little break to eat some squash but didn't wait long before she headed back in. Cameron is holding Abby (Missy's daughter)and Malia.

Malia is almost ready to crawl and gets on her hands and knees and tries to go forward. I think alot has to do with her weight. I bet its hard to move 21 pounds around. Malia would rather stand and try to walk. I can't believe she will be a year old in June.

We are Still Here!

I know its been awhile since I updated on my little family. Our lives are just too ordinary and not very blog worthy. Easter was fun, my mom flew up for a couple of days and stayed until monday. The kids sure like having her come to visit. Especailly when we pick her up from the airport. Bailee and Braden always ask "When can we go on a airplane?" On Saturday we went to an easter egg hunt at one of the greenhouses here in town, and it was so crowded. Appartently the whole city of Twin Falls was there. We got there about 15 minutes before it started and was at the back of the lines. When the announcer said GO! all the kids tried to get to the eggs and since we were at the back it was hard to get by the parents just standing there watching their own kids. Apparently they had 2,000 eggs and we came home with..... NONE.

Lets just say the kids in the front took them all. A neighbor and her kids shared with us and our kids were happy. I don't think we will be attending that one next year, or go way before it starts to get a good place in line. We also colored eggs and had our very own egg hunt in our yard. The kids thought it was pretty fun. It has been a tradition in my house that on easter morning, the easter bunny hides the eggs we colored the night before and our easter baskets. I thought i would carry the tradition to my own kids. They couldn't find thier baskets, I think they look with thier eyes closed because they would look in the spot where there basket would be and whine about how they couldn't find it. It was funny for us to watch them though.

My mom helped me refinish our kitchen table. it used to be tan colored top and white legs. Now it has a red mahgohanny stain with black legs. It looks really good and we can't wait to do our chairs. The weather wasn't allowing us to finish. Maybe in a couple of days or so. With the table out of commission we had to eat on the floor. Bailee and Braden loved the idea of having picnics everyday. I however, hated to clean the floor everyday.

Malia is 9 months old and is weighing in at 21 pounds. She is working hard on her girly figure instead of crawling. oh well she is starting to pull herself up and is working on getting to all fours.

She is started to sleep better through the night and mommy is very happy about that. She has come to the conclusion that our food is better than her baby food, and wants what we are having. I guess that is a good thing.

Rub a Dub Dub, Three Kids in the Tub

Bailee and Braden were just thrilled to have Malia in the tub with them. Little Malia thought it was fun too. She was laughing and splashing and having a great time. Malia is getting so big, she has outgrown her little bathtub and has moved on to having baths with Bailee and Braden. Malia is seven months old now, and weighing at 18 lbs. She recently has come down with RSV. It makes it so she can't breathe well and has to have breathing treatments around the clock. She also had pink eye and is teething. Lets just say she has had quite the week! She now has three teeth, two on the bottom and one vampire tooth on the top. Her other fang will be coming in shortly. I call her my vampire baby. I will be glad when winter is over in another six weeks, thanks to the groundhog. Winter is just a time for getting sick, and when one person is sick in our family everybody else gets it too.

Hannah Montana Rocks out the Show!!!!!

Bailee just loves Hannah Montana and got her CD this Christmas and also got a microphone to sing along. Dad caught her rocking out....

Bailee's Kindergarten Christmas Program

In December we got to go to Bailee's Christmas program at school. She did such a good job as Dancer the Reindeer, even though she did wander occasionally into her princess land. Braden loved the song "Snow Pants" and Bailee was happy Daddy came over from work to watch and that Grandma Linda came too.

Christmas Comes in January (not really)

Well I am a little behind on my "blogging" so I thought I would hurry and post some pics from Xmas. We loved being able to stay in our new home and have our first "Family Christmas" and then scoot over to Grandma and Grandpa's for some Rock Band (which Cam loved, but was boring to watch for hours and hours) and Guitar Hero. Braden and Bailee had a good time. Bailee was up at 5:30 but we made her lay in our bed until 7:30 until we woke Braden up. Malia had no idea what was going on but just had a good time, blowing out in her new outfit!!

Gingerbread Tradition

So we are going to start a new tradtion in our house during the holidays. We are going to build gingerbread houses. We got our kit at Costco, which was neat because it came with candy, icing and the gingerbread was all made, we just had to put it together. The kids had fun putting the candy on the house that Cam built. However, I think the kids ate more candy than they put on the house. It turned out way cute. The temptation was too much for the kids and they began to nibble on the house shortly after. Our cute little gingerbread house lasted about a week. Oh well, Bailee and Braden had fun and thats what really matters.

Malia Sprouted Teeth

Over Thanksgiving, we noticed that Malia was unusually fussy. So we checked in her mouth and noticed TWO TEETH!! She is 5 1/2 months and can't believe how fast she is growing up. Her favorite thing to do is push her tongue against her new teeth.
Well I have come to the conclusion that Malia is stubborn with a Capital S. I guess she gets it from me. We are trying to give her a bottle, so mommy can have a little break once in awhile.
But she refuses to even try to take it. She will arch her back and just scream. You would think someone was hurting her. On friday Cameron and I have a date. It has been a long time that we have been together without the children. Grandma Linda is going to watch our kids while we have fun Christmas shopping. The problem is she wont take a bottle!! I've tried to pump but I dont have enough milk to make a bottle. We need help, does anyone have any suggestions on how to make it work for all of us.

Happy Trick or Treating.

Our kids had a blast dressing up and going to our ward carnival party. After, we took them trick or treating in our neighborhood. We couldn't believe how much candy they got. Thanks to Grandma Linda we could both go out with our kids while she helped out with candy and Malia.
Apparently our subdivision is the spot to go trick or treating. We will have to remember to buy lots more candy for next year. It was neat to see people come to our door, in Pocatello no one came. This year Bailee was a blushing bride, Braden was Luke Skywalker, and Malia was a butterfly

Award Winning Cornbread

On Saturday, our ward had a Chili Cook-Off, where people can bring their best chili, cornbread, or dessert and they would be judged by the young women and men. Well I thought I would enter my cornbread. Well when we got there their was so many versions of cornbread that I thought I dont have a chance, surely there would be better tasting cornbreads than mine.

But to my surprise, Mine WON!! I was excited. Mine won as the sweetest tasting cornbread according to the young women and men. If any are interested in the recipe here it is. I hope you try it out.

1 C. margarine, melted 1 1/4 C cornmeal
1 1/2 C sugar 2 3/4 C flour
2 C buttermilk 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
4 eggs 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Mix all the ingredients together and pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Cook for 35 minutes at 375.
If you want to make a smaller batch, just cut everything in half.
Enjoy

Happy Birthday Braden!!

We celebrated Braden's 4th birthday on Saturday, the 13th. Even though October 15th is his birthday. He wanted to have a big party with all of his new friends. We had 10 little kids running around and having fun. Our good friends, Shane and Missy, and Fonda came with her kids. Also Grandma and Grandpa Clark came. Grandma and Grandpa Samson gave Braden a big surprise. They flew in from Salt Lake to come to his party. They orginally weren't going to come because of the long drive, but my brother works for Skywest airline as a aircraft mechanic so they can fly free on standby. This was there first time flying to our house and the kids thought it was neat to see them come off the airplane.

Braden loved his party and loved playing Duck Duck Goose, Red Light, Green Light, and Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Thank goodness it was good weather or we would have 10 kids running around playing games. We had a big football birthday cake and our house was decorated with a sports theme. Braden had such a great time opening his presents, he had lots of lego sets and mom and dad gave him a leapfrog leapster with the Cars game. Its hard to believe our boy is 4 years old

Malia Laughs!!

Well Malia has started to laugh when tickled, it is actually pretty cute (I have 3 kids, I can say cute). Mary is pretty happy since I could get our other kids to laugh pretty easily and she couldn't. This child is definitely Mary's since she can get her to laugh and I can't. The funniest thing was saturday after the afternoon session of conference, Mary went to get her hair trimmed and I was rocking Malia. Bailee walked up to her growling and she went nuts, laughing. She laughed for about 20 min, it had us all laughing too. Malia is now almost 4 months old and is growing like a weed.

We Just Love Construction!!

It must be the season for construction, because we have new houses being built behind and across the street from us. Of course there is still the hospital being built too. Instead of looking at the bare fields we look at huge cranes, backhoes, and hear lots and lots of pounding. I guess it's good to have more neighbors. Hopefully it wont take them very long, it could get old seeing gross men working. Now if they were cute it would be a different story. HAHAHA!

Well I just planted some tulip bulbs in my flower bed and we will see if I have a green thumb or not, when they come up in the spring. Its been fun working in the yard even though I have no idea what I am doing. I guess we all have to start somewhere.

Cameron and I have new callings in the ward. Cameron is the Cubmaster and teaches the 11 and 12 year old primary class. I think Cam will do a wonderful job and will have fun with the boys. I was called to be an assistant Den Leader for the Bears. I had to laugh when they told me I would be in cub scouts, because I was the den leader for the bears in Pocatello. At least I will know what I am doing, and can bring in some ideas from before. It will be fun to work with Cameron in scouting. Wish us luck.

Halloween in September?!?!?!?!

It's Halloween at our house!! Well not really but the kids are celebrating a little early. Grandma Judy came up for a few days to visit and to give the kids their halloween goodies. Daddy and Mommy got some candy and some halloween decorations for the house. Bailee and Braden got some candy and halloween balls. Grandma also gave them a CD that has some kid halloween songs. They love the songs and want to hear them all day. While Grandma was here, we went to the dollar store and we found some Halloween costumes for the kids to play in. Bailee wanted the witch costume and Braden found a Ninja. They were so excited to get home and try them on. For only paying 1.00 they were pretty cute.

Grandma brought up Malia her Halloween costume. Aunt Megan and Grandma Judy found this cute butterfly costume at Shopko and had to buy it. We think she looks adorable, and is ready to go trick or treating. We just hope the excitment of Halloween will still be there in a month.

Picture Day

Well yesterday was picture day at Bailee's school. And of course she had a nice shiner under her eye, thanks to Braden running her over on his bike. If you know Braden at all he doesn't always watch where he is going. Mom tried to hide with makeup but it was a huge scap, and makeup doesn't like to stick to scaps. Oh well It reminds me how when I was little we (as in my brother and me) would experiment with the scissors and play barber shop. I always got a cute new haircut, with half of my bangs cut almost to the scalp. My mother would just cry because it would be around picture day. So to say the least some of my pictures didn't turn out too cute. Im sure Bailee's pictures will be just adorable.

Yesterday I was bored and painted Malia's tiny toenails. I think I got more on her skin than on her nails. She looks cute with painted nails. Thanks Cami for showing me how cute baby girls look with painted toes. However, we will have to wait to paint her fingernails, for she always has her hands in her mouth. I was going to post a picture but for some reason Im having difficulties with the picture software. Will post when i figure it out.

Bailee's First Day of School

Even though Bailee has been to school for a week. I wanted to let everyone know that Bailee is loving Kindergarten, and told me she is excited to learn how to read. She goes in the afternoon at 11:55 to 2:55, which gives me three hours to do my errands and play with Braden. He likes it when I teach him "school". Braden already knows how to write his name.

Bailee also likes her teacher, Mrs. Dickensen. On the first day of school, she already made a new friend Cierra. I'm glad that Bailee is starting to be more outgoing. Well here are a few pictures of her first day.

About Me

Jobs That I've Had:
Certified Nursing Assistant
Administrative Assistant for Chartwells
Mother

Places I've Called Home:
Sandy, Utah
Grace Idaho
Twin Falls Idaho
Pocatello Idaho
Back to Twin

Movies that I never get sick of:
Fools Rush In
Harry Potter
The Karate Kid (I used to have a crush on Daniel Son)

Favorite TV shows:
Greys Anatomy
the Home and Garden channel
30 Minute Meals

Favorite Vacation Spots:
Hawaii
Texas
Just being away with family

Last thing I ate:
Leftover meatloaf

Eye Color:
Brown

Summer or Winter:
Summer, however, Fall is a close second

scary or Happy endings:
Happy