Just Us

2011-04-03T16:11:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a year since I've blogged so here I try again. 2010 was a little hard for us but we really learned alot about being thankful for each other and for blessings which we have a plethara of (I love that word!) 2011 so far, has been full of sickness, concerts, tryouts, stress, and pranks. Selling a house is more stressful than I ever could imagine! But, cross your fingers, it is hopefully coming to an end so we can move into our new place. Right now it's just a shell, but we are excited to call it home.

2010-03-28T19:35:00.000-07:00

Aww - the moment you've all been waiting for.....Syd's first cello recital! I know she had an orchestra concert, but there were so many kids, you couldn't even see her, let alone hear her. Compare these videos with the first video I posted a few months ago. Hear the difference?

I know it looks like an odd place to have a recital, but it was at an old folks home nearby. This song is called Caterpillar Caterpillar. I will try and post her other videos, but they don't seem to download very well.

2010-03-21T19:21:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, Sydnie was able to participate in AIM (Achievement In Music) through piano. She had to sigth read, perform 2 pieces, and give an oral report in front of judges! She was a little nervous, but did fabulous! Her score was 99 points out of 100. She gave her report on the cello, and even played a song for the judge on it. I was so proud! I took her out to breakfast after since it was at 8am on a Saturday. Of course she had the chocolate chip smiley face pancakes. She is becoming quite the little musiancian! Stay tuned for her cello recital pieces - I will try and get them up later this week.

2010-03-07T09:59:00.001-08:00

Green eggs and well, we didn't have any ham. In honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday this week, we had green eggs for dinner. It was a little weird, but fun! Oh the things I make Syd do with me - it's a good thing she's such a good sport!

2010-02-28T19:20:00.000-08:00

Good idea - letting your kids play in the snow.
Bad idea - letting your kids play in the snow without boots, gloves, snowpants, winter coats, you get the idea.
Syd & TJ started out wanting to make bombs (pretend of course) or at least I thought. They came in asking me for something to start a fire. I decided that would be a bad idea. So they played in the snow instead. They made a jump and took turns sledding. When they came inside they were SOAKED through - seriously dripping from head to toe. Boy did I feel like mother/aunt of the year! We got them dried off and into dry clothes, then I snuggled them down on the couch with lots of blankets and turned on a movie. What was I doing during all this? Taking some pictures of course!

2010-02-21T09:48:00.000-08:00

Last week, Sydnie found this squishy ball she hadn't seen in a while. She was so excited and was playing with it and driving me crazy! We were sitting on the couch watching a movie when all of a sudden........MAJOR EXPLOSION! Bright neon yellow/green went everywhere! It was dripping off Syd's face and covered my couch. I took this picture after Syd had washed some of it off her face. She is covering some of it up. I was very proud of myself because I did not yell - I stayed very calm as we cleaned the mess up. We keep finding neon yellow/green in odd places - like the carpet behind the couch. Syd was sad to say goodbye to her new found squishy ball, but I can't say I was.

2010-02-21T09:40:00.000-08:00

I was so glad V-day was on a weekend! Syd goes to Grandma D's house on Fridays after school. The Friday before V-day she helped her and TJ make Valentines for their mom's. Isn't it beautiful? It tasted really good too! Oh, I forgot to say one thing - as payment for Syd having a good attitude and serviving her Valentine's Tea at school, I took her to see the Lightening Thief. Great movie! Syd loves the book too, I haven't read it yet.

I snuck out early Saturday morning (we don't shop on Sundays) to get my valentine for Syd. Heart shaped donuts! She LOVES donuts! We had a fun morning!

2010-02-21T09:31:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm playing catch-up again. February has been a fun and interesting month. Sydnie had her Valentine's Tea (aka Doom's Day Dance) that she has been dreading for the past year. To help the kids learn manners and respect for the 'opposite gender' they have cake and punch - the boys are to get the food for the girls and pull chairs out for them, etc. Then they have a dance - you know, square dance type. In Syd's class, they let the boys invite the girls to go get cake and punch, then they paired them up for the dance. A few days before this, Grandma D and I were talking to Sydnie about it, trying to get her to have a better outlook on the whole thing. Syd said, "I'll be fine as long as he doesn't get on my last nerve!" I tried not to chuckle too much.

Sydnie made a penguin for her Valentine holder - she did a great job! She had to dress up for the dance - thanks to her Aunt K - she has a beautiful new skirt that worked perfect! She said the dance wasn't too bad except when they had to hold hands. Whew! We made it. I'm glad to know I still have a little while before she's boy crazy!

2009-11-29T18:23:00.000-08:00

I forgot to add a few things on Syd's wish list. Pre-paid phone cards are always nice (for her to call her dad), she also likes penguins and snow globes.

Okay, so about these pictures. Chel has the most awesome camera ever! She let me borrow it to take pictures of Syd's orchestra (for a fundraiser calendar) so of course I had to use it for a photo shoot with Syd. Didn't they turn out so cute? Of course it doesn't help that she is so photo-genic (definately doesn't get that from me). I hope you enjoy them!

2009-11-26T18:45:00.001-08:00

Hi - I've had some of you asking for ideas on what to get Sydnie for Christmas, so here is her wish list -
*Movies: Night at the Museum, Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure, Bedknobs & Broomsticks
*Books: Levan Thumps books 3 & 4, Of Mice & Magic, The Lightening Thief
*Fuzzy black slippers
*Littlest Pet Shops: bears with snowballs set, chinchurra, elephant, penguin, around the world
*Webkinz: skunk, dolphin (any underwater creature), platypus
*i-Pod, i-tunes card for music
*Blokus for 4 players

Also, I am getting us a wii for Christmas, so another idea is games for that. Let me know if you have questions or anything. Whew!

2009-11-22T19:33:00.000-08:00

The other day it snowed a tiny bit. All the kids are so eager for snow activities, Syd went out with some neighbor kids and TJ and spread out a little pile of snow and then took turns sledding. It worked pretty good!

2009-11-15T19:14:00.000-08:00

Here is our trick-or-treat gang! Syd was Saphira (if you don't know who that is, she was a blue dragon). Thanks to our artist (Buffalicious), Syd's costume turned out amazing! Look close at the scales on her face and the blue and silver in her hair. We went trick-or-treating with dead pirates, cleopatra, emo, and a fairy princess.

A couple week ago, TJ & Syd were bored. I was trying to get work done, but was not succeeding. I asked them what they wanted to do. All they could come up with was making coffins. We found these huge boxes in a recycle bin and they each decorated them. They used them lots - climbed in, closed the doors, even took a little nap. TJ's got a little hashed by halloween, but they used Syd's to scare the trick-or-treaters who came by.

We didn't want our cats to be left out of the fun! They don't pose very good for the camera, but we got a glimpse. Charly was a witch, and Melly (thanks Mom) was a fat ballerina. And no, it's not just her fur that makes her fat.

2009-11-08T19:19:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to Sydnie! (A little late blogging, but I'm getting there!) Syd wanted a Halloween'ish birthday this year, so we made a graveyard cake and eyeballs on sticks. Buffalicious made some fun characters for the graveyard - a witch, vampire, mummy, tree, and spider (I hope I didn't miss any). We had a 'deadful' party (you know, like dreadful).

2009-11-01T18:54:00.000-08:00

I know I'm still behind, but I'm getting there. We have been fighting illness for weeks! Sydnie gets better for about a week and then gets something else. First a runny nose and cough, then swine flu (although she assured me she hadn't been kissing any pigs), now she woke up this morning sneezing like crazy and has used so many kleenexes! (We started a thankful jar for the month of November, and that's what she put in today - kleenexes!) Now, back to this picture. Sydnie has been anxious to be in orchestra ever since she was in 2nd grade. We found the different string instruments on-line and listened to how they sounded and she picked........the cello! It's been fun to watch her learn a new instrument, but between cello and piano practicing, we are keeping busy! I was informed she needed to name her instrument, so she named it Strings. Perfect, don't you think!
Here is a movie of her playing Mary had a Little Lamb - (sorry about the directions - but just think of it as good exercise for your neck.)

2009-10-25T18:42:00.000-07:00

So one of my co-workers said she used to make her kids do a fashion show for her before school. Of course I made Sydnie do that for me this year. She would only let me take one picture, so I strongly urged her to pose. Does she look like a fourth grader?

2009-10-03T12:22:00.000-07:00

This is a quick post for those of you who have been asking Syd for a birthday wishlist. I think this would carry over to Christmas as well. Anyway, I will post some pictures later, but here is her wish list:
*Night at the Museum 1 & 2 (movies)
*sea horse, penguin, & elephant littlest pet shop characters
*books (some books she doesn't have that I think she would like are:)
-Fablehaven (she has 1 & 2)
-Of Mice and Magic by David Farland
-Leven Thumps
-The Lightening Thief
-Warriors by Erin Hunter
-Artemis Fowl
-39 Clues (she has 1,2, & 3)
-The Time Travelers by Linda Buckley-Archer
I know that's a huge list - i will try and keep it updated.
*snow boots
*snow pants
*winter coat
I hope that helps for those of you who were wondering. Let me know if you have questions. Have fun!

2009-09-27T19:17:00.000-07:00

Since we couldn't afford a major trip this summer, we spent a few days in the city. One excursion was hiking Mount Timpanogas. I remembered hiking there as a teenager and didn't remember it being too difficult. Obviously, I'm a little older now and the hike was a difficult, but very satisfying one. We hike about 1200 feet in 1 1/2 miles so it was pretty much straight up with lots of switchbacks. Here is our wholes gang that made it to the top.

Here is Syd & TJ learning how to be junior rangers.

The kids found a rock on the ground and had to pose with it - pretend they got hit over the head. I assure you, no one was actually hurt.

We thought this made Syd look like she had bunny ears and just had to get a picture!

We needed proof so here we are somewhere up the mountain. Isn't nature beautiful!

2009-09-27T18:46:00.000-07:00

Here are those awesome shirts! Aunt Kimmie and her family joined us for the 4th. Here is Sydnie with most of her little cousins. Madi is missing - I think she was running around stealing shoes.

2009-08-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

Well we are gettin there - whew! I'm at least to July. I helped Sydnie & TJ make some fun shirts for the 4th of July (of course I had to make me one too). Here are the before pictures -

And here is the after picture! Don't these cousins look like they are having fun! I will post our 4th of July on a different day - I'm ready for bed!

2009-08-30T20:01:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of 3rd grade that I just have to share with you, is Syd's play. They were in groups of 4 and had to right a play, make any backdrops, props, or costumes, and then perform it in front of the class. Syd's group did a spoof on The Boy Who Cried Wolf. It was called The Cat Who Cried Mouse. I was laughing so hard, I almost fell out of my chair. Her teacher filmed it, so as soon as I get a copy, I will upload it so you can all see. Sydnie played the mindless servant and the narator. Great job Syd!

2009-08-30T19:44:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I still haven't got caught up. We took a little road trip for Memorial Day to visit my Grandma. We had a blast! We visited lots of family in my Grandma's back yard, which is beautiful and fun!

We also visited my Grandpa's grave and saw where my Uncle Tommy is buried and where my Great Uncle Brownie is buried (Dad used to tell us the most amazing stories about him).

We got to visit a zoo - look at these scary looking creatures we found! A rare Sydnie, Rian, TJ, and Gavin! We were so lucky to catch them when they were not sleeping!

We also went to a hand's on museum - you'll have to ask Sydnie what she's doing here. We had a lot of fun!

2009-08-02T20:13:00.000-07:00

We have had a most enjoyable, but busy, summer. To start off, we got to help watch Aunt Kimmie's kids for a couple of weeks while her and Uncle Bret went job hunting. We had so much fun! These pictures were taken at some parks we took them to. Kim amazes me - I can barely handle 1 kid and she has 3 under the age of 5! What an amazing woman!

2009-07-26T19:52:00.000-07:00

Sydnie was in Pirates of Penzance for a town celebration. She was a little Ruth pirate and got to sing - I hope you enjoy watching her. I got to be in charge of props - whew! There were so many swords to keep track of!

2009-06-21T20:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I guess I am catching up yet again. Here is a quick summary of the rest of 3rd grade. Sydnie got so many reading points at school that she was able to pick a book to have donated to the school. They put her picture in the front cover with an explanation of why. She picked the book Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke - you should read it!

For our city celebration we do every year, each class got to dress up like a different period of time. Syd's class got cowboys & indians (doesn't she make a cute indian?), and TJ's class (yes, that is TJ) got to dress up like hippies - they did this for a parade. They had so much fun!

One of the big things Syd's class worked on this year was writing research papers. After they learned how, they were assigned a country in South America to research, write a paper, and give an oral presentation in class. This is Sydnie with her poster she made all by herself. She did a great job with her presentation!

2009-05-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

I'm finally getting Easter up! We had our annual Easter egg hunt and had lots of fun. (We went to a park after - I will post that later.) We also had fun dyeing eggs - we tried a metallic look this year. Before our egg hunt, the kids drew with chalk on the pavement - Sydnie made bunny ears and below is giving her best bunny face with her creations.

2009-04-12T20:28:00.000-07:00

I hope you enjoy Syd's piano recital. She did a great job! Keep up the good practicing!

2009-04-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

What's for dinner? It looks like fish sticks, peas, ketchup, & moldy oreos? It definately does not taste like it! This was our April Fool's day dinner - I made the fish stick dinner and Sydnie added the moldy oreos. The peas are actually Airheads rolled into balls. The fish sticks are those wafer cookies spread with peanut butter and rolled in cornflakes. And the ketchup is seedless strawberry jam. We'll see if you can figure out how Sydnie made the moldy Oreo's.

2009-03-29T19:19:00.000-07:00

Sydnie and I had a great experience a couple of weeks ago. We went to a temple open house for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Sydnie really wanted to go, so I took a day off work and went down with her G & G. We felt an awesome peace inside, so much so that Sydnie did not want to leave. We stopped at Target on our way home because Sydnie was in major need of a new dress and jeans. Then we went to dinner at a place called Good Wood - the best ribs I've had in a long time. We had a great day - definately worth my day off!

2009-03-08T19:46:00.000-07:00

Okay, so Sydnie finished ALL the Harry Potter books and loved them! She keeps saying she wishes there was an 8th book. Wow! She is at about 260 points at school and is the only one in the 3rd grade to be that high! Great job Sydnie! (Now if I can just get her that excited about doing chores~). Sydnie's Aunt Kimmie and family sent her the cutest hair clips ever - hear are the first ones she wore - aren't they the cutest?

2009-02-22T19:46:00.000-08:00

For some reason, I can't get this image to go the right way - sorry. I have tried several times. Anyway, this was our attempt at our very own heart shaped pizza we made for our Valentine's Day celebration at home. It was delicious!

Sydnie put this Valentine's box together in about 10 minutes. We didn't find out until last minute that she needed one. I think she did great. She had to dress up on the Friday before (along with the whole school). Then she had to be paired up with a boy and he had to get her treats for her and a drink and sit by her and everything. She was very nervous that whole week. But it wasn't so bad.

2009-02-08T19:40:00.000-08:00

Sydnie got some Kinex from her Daddy for Christmas. She has been working on the windmill off and on for about a week. It even has a motor that makes it spin! She finished it up today because she was home sick - that's why the jammies. She is my little inventor/builder!

2009-02-08T19:36:00.000-08:00

Isn't the imagination a wonderful thing! If ever I take something out of the box, I have to leave it in the house for a few days so the cats and Sydnie can get their fill of play. Sydnie created herself a sarcophagus. I know it's a little morbid, but wow. She even made creaking noises as she opened the box while she was inside.

2009-02-01T19:45:00.000-08:00

Sydnie and me want to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!
We had fun taking these pictures in our matching 'Be Mine' T-shirts.

2009-01-25T19:53:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delay again - my camera broke around Thanksgiving and it took me awhile to replace it. I borrowed my sister's camera to take pictures in between, but haven't got all of them from her yet, but I will. Anyway, here is some cute ones from Christmas.

So my pictures are a little backwards, but oh-well, I am running out of battery power. Our cats even enjoyed the holiday - we got them some new toys and they have loved them!

One of the reasons Sydnie wanted to learn piano was because of this song - Fur Elise, so I found a simplified version of it and she is learning it with the help of her piano teacher. Once she has it mastered, I will put a video up of her playing. She is doing to well with piano.

Here is our annual family version of The Nativity. Our baby Jesus was a little squirmy, but we had a lot of fun!

I took this picture up the road from our house - there is a wonderful lamp post that I just had to use in the background. She had fun blowing the snow at me!

Sydnie has been reading the Harry Potter books and loves them! She is now almost done with book 5. At school she earns points for reading and passing a test on the book she's finished and they get rewards for certain amounts of points. Sydnie was the first in her class to get to 100 which means she gets to choose a book to be donated to her school library. They put her picture in it and put the book in their school library. She chose Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke. Ahhh - my little bookworm!

2008-11-09T19:59:00.000-08:00

And finally, we are caught up. Here is Sydnie and TJ on halloween. In case you can't tell, Sydnie is a Ritz cracker - her trick-or-treat bag is a cracker box. I made her dress in orange to be cheese. It took her weeks to decide what to be - what a creative girl! TJ was an Emoo (I don't know how to spell it, but it's a sad, depressed person or something like that anyway).

I got off work early (the kids didn't have school, again) and we took TJ, Gavin, Sydnie, Gramma, Julie, and myself to a corn maze. Then that evening, we had TJ and his mom over for dinner and trick or treating. For dinner we had 'mummy' pizzas and 'eyeball' carrots. The haunted house in the back ground was by Sydnie at school. She did a great job! After dinner and trick-or-treating, we went to TJ's house and watched 'Nightmare before Christmas'. All in all we had a fun day!

2008-11-09T19:54:00.000-08:00

We must have pumpkins in October. Sydnie and I picked out pumpkins to carve. She had her heart set on carving this one because it had a mark on it that looked like a scar. She immediately thought it would make a great frankenstein.

Ewe - digging out the insides! I don't like the way my kitchen smells during this process, but it leaves quickly.

And here is her finished product. What a great creation!

2008-11-09T19:52:00.000-08:00

Whew - we are almost caught up! Nope, this isn't halloween. During red ribbon week (say no to drugs) at school, they got to do different things every day. This day was crazy hair day - do you like what we came up with? It was a little difficult to get out that night, but fun for the day.

2008-11-09T19:46:00.000-08:00

The week after Syd's birthday, she had the opportunity to dance with the local high school drill team at a football game. The night was freezing, but Syd had fun. See if you can pick her out in the photo.

Here is a picture of her and her friend after they performed. As you can see, she was not being very cooperative that night for pictures.

2008-11-09T19:37:00.000-08:00

Sydnie wanted sea creatures for her birthday cake theme. She has had a fascination with the Lochness Sea Monster recently. Since I counldn't find one, I made one with a huge gummy snake I found. I made everyone try it, even though it was disgusting. The cake was yummy though and Sydnie love it! Happy #9 Sydnie! She is growing into a beautiful young lady!

Opening presents.

And wearing the bow - what a cutie!

2008-11-09T19:21:00.000-08:00

To celebrate our birthdays, Syd wanted to go to Lagoon. The had it decorated fun for halloween. I made Syd pose for several pictures and go through a few haunted houses. You can't see very well, but inside this old hurse was a scary looking werewolf thing - ooooh, so scary!

This was a fun miniature circus - Syd, TJ and Koree posed fun behind the glass.

Sydnie loved the merry-go-round!

Sydnie wanted me to take this picture of her holding the flower. I thought it was a fun one.

2008-11-09T19:16:00.000-08:00

We have had a very busy last couple of weeks. We didn't celebrate Syd's birthday until the weekend after. She didn't have school on her birthday, so was able to spend the day with Gramma and some cousins. When I get pictures from her Gramma of what they did, I will post them. We had a little celebration our selves that evening - I bought her favorite cookies, put a candle in it, and sang to her. We had fun! and of course she thought it was a little silly.

2008-10-26T19:27:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, we had a small snow storm. We were inside decorating halloween cookies when it started looking like a blizzard outside. Sydnie lost interest in the cookies and went outside to catch some snow. It's still in our fridge - I should probably get rid of it now.

Then she decided to go sledding. Since we do not have a real sled, she tried our garbage can lid...

When that didn't work, she tried just sledding without anything - right on her stomache. As you can see, there wasn't that much snow so it didn't work very well. She had fun and that's all that matters.
Then she picked the last of our carrots - we are slowly getting better at our container gardening. Hopefully next year we'll have an extraordinary one!

2008-10-05T14:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some quick pictures we took at our 3rd grade 'photo shoot'. I kind of think the pictures they take at school are a little boring, so I always like to take my own. Plus, we have so much fun looking for the perfect spot and the perfect pose. I hope you enjoy these. I will get more pics and wordage up later. We are both alive and well plus we finally have internet at home so I'm hoping to update at least once a week now.

2007-12-14T15:34:00.000-08:00

Now for the Birthday Bash! Sydnie had wanted a magician for her 8th birthday party for 3 years now, so I knew I had to get one. Since a professional was sooooo much money, we hired The Great Kassiopia (Sydnie's cousin). She did an awesome job!

We played pin the wand on the magician...

Took turns batting a 'Magic 8 Ball' Pinata...

Opened presents...

And ate these wonderful rabbit coming out of a hat cupcakes. Yummy!

Then-Grandpa surprised us all with balloon animals! Whew, what a day!

2007-11-19T14:22:00.000-08:00

Okay, we'll start at the beginning. First, Sydnie chose to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as was able to do so right on her birthday. Her Grandpa was able to baptize her. We had lots of family and close friends there to support her on this special day! Sydnie sang a song all by herself - what a sweet little grown-up she is!

Grandpa & Sydnie - Mom & Sydnie - Sydnie blowing candles out on her cake while talking to her Dad (what a great multi-tasker). Aunt Buffy made cute little people out of suckers and foam to represent the great day.

2007-11-19T14:15:00.000-08:00

Once again, I am behind. It will sure be easier to stay up to date when I have internet at home. Anyway, last month was so crazy with baptism, birthdays, and halloween, but I finally have pictures to share with everyone. I hope you enjoy them! Before I get to October though, I have to share these cute ones from Hogle Zoo. We went with our good friends and neighbors and had a blast!
Wow! Real water comes out it's nose!
This does not smell very good. Can I take my nose out yet?
Oh, what a nice pose!
Hmmmm....almost there, eh?

2007-09-28T14:33:00.000-07:00

Our annual Salt Lake trip started out at the Dinosaur Park in Ogden. The kids had fun, but when we went to the gift shop, the kids found a bean bag and got comfy and watched ..........Jurassic Park! Next stop -

Cherry Hill! We camped at Cherry Hill for 2 nights and had a blast! I will add swimming pictures later - they are still on my waterproof camera. We played in Hamster's Haven, Sydnie finally learned to ride her bike with no training wheels, and we played miniature golf. I tried helping Sydnie with her bike, but I must have been a little annoying because she said to me, "Mom, I don't really want your help anymore, I can just do it myself". And she did it!

I could just see Sydnie's Dad cringing at the way she held her golf club, but I thought it would give them something to work on together.

2007-09-19T12:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm behind again, so her are a few of our summer highlights. We actually had a fun summer. Sydnie tried softball and learned good form. She did pretty good for never having touched a baseball bat before.

For the 4th of July we went to a parade in Lewiston, then had lunch at Big J's where the kids got these awesome hats. Oh, also Aunt Buffy decorated their faces for the big day. That night we got together for fireworks in Grandma's street. Sydnie and TJ liked taking turns dancing in front of the strobe lights.

This was a fun day at the park with Sydnie's cousins Gavin & Rian. We played in the water and tried to climb a big tree. Sydnie made me laugh because she just kept going around and around the tree to find a good place to start climbing.

This was just a random shopping cart at the park, so we just had to snatch a picture. Well, I will add some more 'highlights' later.

2007-06-14T14:56:00.000-07:00

It was our annual trip to Malad for Memorial Day - the kids were great helpers in cleaning off the graves. They even got a little carried away and cleaned off several others we were not even related to! Then they had a sword fight on the purple dinosaur.

Here's a picture of Grandma D with her grandkids that came with us. Then here's silly Sydnie - just showing off her hat she got from her Dad

2007-06-01T12:55:00.000-07:00

Sydnie did so great playing soccer this year! She moved so fast I was never able to get a good picture of her playing, so I made her stand still for a minute so I could get one of her after a game. She did not get her coordination from me! We'll be trying softball this year as well. I'll put pictures up after her first game.

2007-06-01T12:49:00.000-07:00

By day she's a sweet, perfect little angel; but by night, she's a wicked witch casting spells and laughing over her evil triumphs. Sydnie was able to participate in our city's version of Hansel & Gretel. She was fantastic! As soon as I have video, I will put it up so you can enjoy her evil laugh!

2007-04-27T10:22:00.000-07:00

It's our annual Easter Egg Hunt! Sydnie ran so fast, I had to force her to stop a minute so I could snatch a picture. This is the first time in a long time we didn't have to were coats and drink hot chocolate after. It was a beautiful day!

Yippee! It's a bubble maker and a ring in one!

The kids found an old huge black tube and took turns rolling each other in it. They had a blast!

2007-04-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

If there is anybody out there who has not seen sweet little Sydnie's 'evil' side, here is a glimpse. Yes, those are panties on her head.

She assured me she only used "washable" markers. Needless to say, she had a very pink nose the next few days for school.

2007-04-27T10:12:00.000-07:00

Ahhh - some fun winter photos. This was one of the only days it snowed. I'm so glad Sydnie is imaginative! Even though we don't have a sled, that didn't stop her from coming up with another option. Stomachs work great!

2007-03-21T15:01:00.000-07:00

We had a fun visit with Grandpa Roger and Gramma Wendi a couple weeks ago. We went to dinner and then the next day, they were able to watch Sydnie swim and then we went and saw Happy Feet. This picture was actually taken just outside the movie theater, but you can't tell, can you?

Happy St. Patick's Day! The Leprachauns made us green eggs and pancakes for breakfast, with a cinnomon shamrock and green milk on the side. Then later, we took some pots of gold over to gramma & grandpa as a welcome home gift.

Sydnie's cousin just turned 1! This is some pictures from his birthday party. The first picture is Sydnie just having fun with the boys. The party was mostly at the park so we took a picture of the cousins on the slide. What a beautiful day it was!

2007-03-06T14:39:00.000-08:00

Yahoo! I am finally updating our blog!!! Sorry I'm so slow. I promise it's not because of a boring life. We have just been busy. Here is just a few things we've been doing. Last weekend we went to the fun park. I went stir crazy with all the people and the noise, but the kids had a blast! We played until Sydnie got kicked in the nose and TJ got kicked in the back - then I decided we had played long enough.

Look ma - no teeth! Sydnie came to me and sang, "All I want for Valentine's Day is my 2 front teeth..." She lost one, then the next day she had a dentist appointment and lost the other one. (I'm sure it didn't help that I quietly told the dentist if the other one should per chance have an accident, it was okay with me.)

This is what Sydnie wanted to do to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day - we are just a little slow.

Here is a better picture of Sydnie with her missing top teeth. She's enjoyed having an extra hole in her mouth.

2006-12-06T14:48:00.000-08:00

Syd's Tavaci group had their first performance over the weekend. There was even a special guest who came to watch.

Well, we have a tree story. Last year, a friend of mine was getting rid of her big 8 foot fake christmas tree and asked if I wanted it. Of course I said yes. Anyway, she said she would bring it sometime before next Christmas. I didn't know if she was still going to bring it because I know for me I forget after 5 minutes, so I bought us a little 4 foot tree from the dollar store. Well, guess what showed up at my parents house? Yep, the big tall tree. We love it, and our cats are enjoying it too.

Sometimes, we get a little silly at our house. Here's some of the evidence.

2006-11-30T12:50:00.000-08:00

These are the only pictures I took at Thanksgiving. Sydnie had a little tea party going while we got dinner ready. Every time we walked by, she had some water ready for us - what a great little hostess! I had to share a picture of my chocolate chip pumpkin cheesecake - I was very proud of it! Sydnie helped me make the chocolate leaves for the top. We had a blast!

What do we do when Thanksgiving is over? Decorate for Christmas, of course!

2006-11-14T13:29:00.000-08:00

I just thought this was a fun picture of Sydnie being her silly self.

Sydnie decided to 'invent' something, so she got this box and had me cut a hole in it. Then, she attached a long piece of toilet paper inside so she could just pull out a little at a time to write on. Great idea! However, the cats really liked the box as a hideout and the toilet paper, well, that was just a plus.

One morning, as I was fixing lunches, I happened to look out the window. Such a beautiful sunrise! And just out our back door. I grabbed my camera and took some shots. I love where we live!

2006-11-03T12:31:00.000-08:00

Since Sydnie doesn't like to carve pumpkins, she paints them. This pumpkin was grown from her grandma's garden.

Here is the gang ready to go trick or treating. What a wild bunch! One of our stops was giving out hotdogs - dinner on the go!

Doesn't she make a cute pumpkin? We didn't have green hair paint, so instead I tried to make her hair look like leafs. If you use your imagination, you can see it.

2006-11-02T13:46:00.000-08:00

We decided to have a halloween party this year instead of a birthday party. Sydnie did most of the planning, I just made sure it happened. Here are some pictures:

Scary stories with grandpa!

Some of the kids had a hard time bobbing for apples because of missing too many teeth!

Eating donuts off a string is hard when you can't use your hands!

Bingo was a riot! The kids especially loved the edible markers.

All in all, we had tons of fun, but when it was all over, Mom collapased in the chair. Whew, what a day!

2006-10-27T15:52:00.000-07:00

Guess what? Sydnie lost another tooth - she was showing me how she could twist her tooth around and then it popped right out. Her top front teeth are loose now, so it won't be long before she is toothless Annie!

2006-10-16T15:28:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was a beautiful fall day, so Sydnie and I decided to take a drive up Smithfield Canyon and take some pictures. Here are some of my favorites. On our way back down, we played at Mack Park. We had a blast!

2006-10-05T15:46:00.000-07:00

So I have finally started a blog. Now everyone can see what is going on in our life without having to wait for me to call or e-mail. I will do my best to update once a week or so. Sydnie is enjoying school, but by the end of the week is so exhausted and ready for a weekend.