Growing up way too fast!!

So it is official, my little munchkins are not so little anymore. Yesterday when Steve and the kids got home Isaac told Steve that he had a loose tooth. Steve figured it was probably just starting to wiggle a little. Much to his surprise (and mine) he wiggled Isaac's tooth and it was just hanging by a thread. As silly as it sounds when Steve called to tell me that Isaac's tooth was about ready to come out, I said "don't pull it yet." Steve wondered why and I told him, "I don't want to miss his first tooth falling out." Crazy as it sounds, for some reason that seemed like a huge mile-marker. If he is losing his baby teeth, that means he really is growing up.

He was pretty excited to lose his first tooth. After this happened last night, Steve had young men and I had a church meeting to go to, so Steve came home to take the kids with him to rake leaves for a service project. After they were finished, they were rewarded with ice cream cones and the bishop gave Isaac his first dollar for his tooth falling out. Isaac absolutely adores Bishop Downs and he was very proud of his dollar.

Later, before bed, Isaac was sure to put his tooth in a small Ziploc bag and place it under his pillow in hopes of the tooth fairy coming. When he woke up this morning, he found under his pillow a new Spiderman toothbrush, with matching Spidermatch mouthwash (it turns your mouth blue to make sure he brushes well), and of course a dollar. He was so excited. He came in and after he showed me what the tooth fairy had brought him, he said "Mom, the real trick is how the tooth fairy put it under my pillow." I told him "The tooth fairy must have a magic wand." He agreed, then said "I think she came and saw that my room was Spiderman and that I like Spiderman, so that is why she gave me a Spiderman toothbrush." I couldn't help but smile. I realized that these are the great joys of being a parent, being able to see that spark in your childs eyes and all the joy and excitement they find.

I think Audrey was not so sure about Isaac's tooth falling out, but being the cute little princess she is, when I took a picture of Isaac with his tooth gone, she wanted a picture too. So here are a couple pictures from last night. FYI...Isaac's eyes are a bit watery because he has had a cold.

It's a busy life!!

As I am sitting at work today about to bust at the seams, I figured I would do something productive with my down time. Things have pretty much been crazy as ever lately and it is all due to a large combination of things. I have been having a daily guilt trip on the fact that I am a working mom. It has the hardest 3 weeks of my entire life. You know the saying "you don't know what you have until it's gone," well that pretty well sums it up. Steve's mom has been an absolute lifesaver in helping out watching the kids while Steve and I are at work. A few weeks ago she had back surgery to replace a disk in her back. Needless to say, the recovery has not been quick. Shortly after that, Steve's sister was admitted to the U of U hospital due to complications with her pregnancy. We are praying for her and her sweet baby boy as she is on bed rest at the hospital. We hope that they both come out of this as good as can be expected. The details of that would take a while to explain, so I won't elaborate on that. To top it off, this week is finals for Steve at school and I leave Thursday to go Atlanta, Georgia for work. The effort to find people to help watch the kids has been exhausting and they are always somewhere different. If you saw my schedule at work showing where they go, for how long, and who takes Isaac to school and back, you would laugh. I would like to tell all those people who have helped and those who are still helping me and my family out a huge THANK YOU!!!!! I could not do this without you and I am so grateful to have such great people in my life. At this time that I have felt that the world is just crushing down on me, so many people have given me uplifting words and thoughts. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

School's In

So I have decided that life is not going to slow down any time soon. Isaac officially started Kindergarten today. It is hard to believe that in the blink of an eye he is growing up and soon will be baptized, then all the milestones to follow after that. He was so excited to go to school today, he loves his new teacher, Mrs. Strawn. She is great with the kids, and the best part for Isaac I think was recess. He was so excited that at recess he got to go out and play with his friends. He has many kids he already knows in his class. A few kids from the ward and he also has his cousin Brinlee. Then he has his other cousin Kylie who is not in the same class. But they are all AM so at recess they get to play. He looks forward to P.E., computer and trips to the library. Along with Isaac starting school, Steve kicked off another term at college. I am worried this one will be a long one, as he has ALL of his courses on campus Monday through Thursday, then he will need other nights to get homework done. So I am hoping that he can keep his spirits up this term and hang in there. Unfortunately, that means that we will have to sacrifice much family time over the next 12 weeks. But we will all try and make the best of it. Good luck babe, we love you!!

Riding a horse at the Syracuse corral

Earlier this week John and Suzi invited us to go down to an old rodeo corral in Syracuse to ride a horse. Audrey was super excited about it. She could hardly wait to ride the horse. Isaac on the other hand, was a little hesitant. He is a lot like his mom in the way that he is a little skeptical of things and experiencing the adventurous things in life. I admit I am a bit of a scaredy cat when it comes to things that are out of my hands. Anyway, the family had a lot of fun. The saddle on the horse was a saddle that Grandma Spencer had won in 1966 while barrel racing. So after each of the kids had a turn Grandma could hardly wait to get on that horse. It was a lot of fun to see everyone having so much fun. And if you are all still wondering, NO I did not get on the horse. Pretty sad that my two little ones have more guts than I do, lol. But I had just as much fun watching them have fun. I never believed my mom when she would tell me that when I was younger, but now I understand the joy that she felt watching me and my siblings grow up doing the activities we enjoyed. I love you munchkins!!

Fun at Tara's work party

A couple of weeks ago, we had a work party at my boss's house. It was a lot of fun. They had rented a bouncehouse for the kids and had a monkey golf tournament for the adults. The kids had a blast and made lots of friends. The monkey golf was fun, and somehow, Steve and I won. I give all the credit to Steve, however the winning point was my first and ONLY point. YES!!! Steve and I won a gift card to Corbin's. So we will enjoy every minute of the winnings.

The Ogden Treehouse

Last week Steve took Audrey to the Daddy/Daughter Campout so me, Isaac, and Grandma went to the Ogden Treehouse. I have heard from many of my friends that it was a very fun place to go. So we thought we would try it out. Needless to say, Isaac had a lot of fun. There were so many things to do. At first he was a little overwhelmed and not sure where to start. But quickly he started going from place to place having fun.

It's been a while

Sorry to everyone who has been asking about the blog. Something was seriously wrong with it (as you could tell, if you tried looking at our blog). I am not sure what happened to it, but anytime you tried to view the blog all but pictures were blacked out.

Anyway, I thought I would post an update on the family. We are all doing really well. Steve was hired permanently by North American on Monday, August 3rd. I was way excited, I have been waiting for this for a long time. :) He is almost finished with his second term of school. He is doing awesome and we are so proud of him for going back to school. He is looking forward to the Fall of 2010 when he will get his Associates in Accounting and then will move on to earn his Bachelors. He is busy as ever and tries to balance work, school, and family. It is a challenge, but knowing the reward keeps us all moving. I am still working in Kaysville, some days are better than others. Nevertheless, I am grateful to have a job right now to help things along while Steve is going to school. Isaac starts Kindergarten in just two short weeks. He is so excited. He has a few friends from the ward who will be in his class and also his cousin Brinlee. We have yet to go shopping for school clothes, but I am sure we will get there. Audrey still has a mind of her own. She is going through a stage where she doesn't think she has to use the potty all the time. It is so frustrating. We keep promising her that if she can fill her sticker chart (which has 30 days on it) that she can have a big girl bed. She was doing awesome until Steve and I went away for the weekend a few weeks ago and then I guess she thought she didn't have to anymore. Anyway, long story short she is doing pretty good as long as you tell her to go. Isn't it funny the things you talk about when you are a mom, lol.

So there you have it, an update on what is going on with the family. I will really try better to keep more current on the blog now that i have re-created it. Love you all and I love reading your blogs!!

Isaac's 5th Birthday

Last Saturday Isaac turned the big "5." He was so excited and couldn't wait until his birthday. In fact for the last couple of weeks before his birthday I would ask him everyday where he wanted to have his party. It changed pretty much every day but what we finally decided on was Chuck E Cheese. It was a pretty crazy few hours, but it was a lot of fun for the kids.

The birthday boy with none other than Chuck E Cheese. It was pretty cute, Isaac was excited to see him, but then he turned to me and said "Mom, I know it is just a person dressed up like a mouse." He is so smart!!
My sister Kaytlyn and my nephew Hunter. They had quite a blast playing all the video games. and as you can see below, they made out with quite the loot.

Isaac, Kylie, Audrey and Allie on the big screen water skiing. It was so cute to watch them, they had some pretty good moves.

After nearly 3 hours at Chuck E Cheese we were ready to celebrate with cake and presents. Then we went to Grandpa and Grandma Price's house to do a Spiderman pinata. The kids had a lot of fun each taking a swing at it, the kids would just giggle when Steve and John would move the pinata up and down.

Isaac and his cousins: Preston, Ryland, Dalton, Sadie, Kylie, Brinlee, Allie and Audrey(sister)

Hunter helping Isaac swing the bat while being blindfolded.

Brinlee and Audrey. Such cute girls!!

Kylie and Brinlee. BFF's.

As part of a birthday surprise we decided to do a bedroom makeover. So Steve took Isaac out for the morning while I was busy at work at home re-doing his bedroom in Spiderman. When they came home I asked Isaac to go up to his bedroom. He looked at me strangely wondering why I was asking him, but when he opened his door he soon found out. He looked at me and said "Just what I always wanted, a Spiderman room." He was so excited, it was great to see such joy on his face. All in all I think he had an awesome birthday. Happy Birthday son, we love you!!!

A day with the family at the HAFB Air Show

Today we went to the air show at Hill Air force Base.  It was a lot of fun, tons of walking, but still it was great.  Having lived here all my life you would have thought I have been to an air show before, but I never have been.  We saw all sorts of military planes, trucks and helicopters. Then we watched different airplanes perform the air show, it was so much fun to see them.  The performances were absolutely amazing.  After the show was over we were amongst hundreds (I think even thousands) of people waiting for the UTA shuttle buses.  When traffic was at an absolute standstill we decided to walk off of the base.   We walked at least 3 or 4 miles and still beat the shuttle buses out.  Then we had Kaye come meet us at Ligori's for dinner and then headed back to the trax station to pick up the car.  Every one of us are exhausted, but it was a great day!!!

Steve with the kids in front of a helicopter.

Tara, Don (Grandpa), Isaac and Audrey in front of one of many planes.
Isaac inside of a huge combat rescue plane.  He is standing in front of a bunch of parachute packs.  They are a lot heavier than I had ever imagined. 
Audrey buckled and ready to go. She loved the seats that were lined down the side of the airplane.

From the mouth of babes

My friend Amber did a post on her blog of quotes from her little girl Libby. I thought it was such a cute idea, that I thought I would do the same. So here it goes:

The other day I was doing Audrey's hair and since she has naturally curly hair I always put mousse in her hair and then hairspray it. Well Audrey is going through this stage where she does not like her curls. So while we were standing in front of the mirror doing her hair she said "Mommy I don't want curl's" and I said "Well Audrey, Heavenly Father gave you pretty curls and you can't get rid of them." She replied "But mommy, I don't want curls." So I said "Audrey maybe you can ask Heavenly Father why he gave you curls." Then Isaac chimed in and said "Yeah Audrey, maybe when you are resurrected you can ask Him." After I got over my initial shock from how quickly Isaac thought about that, I could not get over how funny it was that he even thought about that. I guess sometimes when you don't think they are listening, they really are.

An update on Molly

  Last night we went to Jensen Park with John and Suzi. It was so much fun, we took the dogs to get some exercise and play together. Yup, all three dogs: Molly, Lucas, and Sophie.  It was so much fun.  After we walked around the park for a little while we stopped at one of the ponds and let the dogs fetch a floating toy that John had.  First Lucas went, then Sophie, and then Molly. We weren't sure how Molly would do because we have only had her a few days, but we thought we would see if she would go into the water.  So after she watched Lucas and Sophie retrieve the toy, then it was her turn.  Steve put the toy a few feet out and Molly went for it. Only she was very dainty about it, just like a lady. LOL.  Then the more she felt comfortable Steve threw it out farther.  By the end of the night Molly was going out there to get it pretty good.  The kids had fun watching the dogs swim in the pond.  It was a lot of fun and just a good wholesome family activity. I think that having Molly around is going to make me more active, because she sure has a lot of energy.  

  Also this weekend Steve built a dog run for Molly on the side of the house. Courtesy of my dad, he had some extra materials from his vinyl fence that he put up at his house.  So Molly has a nice size dog run on the side of the house and all we had to spend was about $45 for the gate hardware.  That definately beats a couple hundred bucks for a chainlink dog run from Petsmart. So now I won't feel so bad when she is by herself all day while Steve and I are at work.  We do have one more thing to do in her dog run before I will let her stay in there.  And that is to build some sort of barrier around the central air unit.  I do not want Molly to chew at the wires or damage the A/C unit.  That would be really, really bad.  So today she is in her kennel while we are at work.  But Molly is kennel trained which is awesome, so she is great to stay in there.  

  So there you have it, a big long post about what we did with Molly over the weekend.  Isaac really likes her because Molly will follow him around the yard.  And as for Audrey, I think Molly is growing on her.  She has always had a fear of large dogs, so it is taking time to ease her into Molly, but the other day Molly was giving her kisses and Audrey just giggled (after she got over the initial fear).  Also the only casualties we have had with Molly chewing things was a sippy cup and part of Isaac's T-ball bat.  So that is not bad.  We will see what this week holds......

Isaac's graduation

Before graduation I asked Isaac to go out front so I could take some pictures of him on his graduation day. Of course Audrey wanted to join him.  I thought this picture was really cute.  Especially considering how hard it is to get a picture of my kids without a cheese face or squinting their eyes.  This one they both have their eyes open and on me, yes!! 

Isaac with mom and dad in Miss Amber's backyard. We went outside for creamies after the graduation program.  
Last but not least, Isaac with his fabulous teacher Miss Amber.  

I am about a week late in posting this, but Isaac officially graduated from Preschool!!!  He is such a smart boy, it amazes me all the things he has learned.  He is ready and anxious to start Kindergarten in the fall.  He had to memorize a part for his program and he whizzed right through it.  Thanks to Miss Amber for all your hard work, you have been a great teacher to Isaac for the past two years.  And also a HUGE thanks to Grandma Spencer, we couldn't do it without you. We love you! 

A new member of the family!

Our first family picture in over a year, just a quick one though, nothing professional. Isaac, Steve, Molly, Tara, and Audrey. 

After much thought and consideration I told Steve that he could get a dog.  He has really been wanting one.  He went the other night and looked at her and just loved her. So I told him that he could get her as long as she was an outside dog. Anyway, this is Molly, the newest member of our family.  We went and got her last night (May 27) and I immediately just fell in love with her.  She is so sweet and I just love her to death. I never thought I would feel that way about a dog. Anyway, she is a pure bred black lab and is 1 1/2 years old.  She is well mannered and very playful.  We absolutely love her!!! Audrey still needs to get use to her, but Audrey has always been cautious around dogs.  

Last night for family night we went to the new Sparetime in Syracuse.  Audrey's first time bowling and the kids had so much fun. It is sad to say that Audrey out scored me, but hey she had bumpers. 

Isaac singing the States song

Isaac was so excited that he was on the blog, that he asked if he could do it again.  So this time I got the whole thing.  It is so fun to watch, he said he wanted actions with the song.

Another picture at Suzi's house. Of course I think that is about the only time we ever have our whole family in the picture. Thanks Suzi!!  

Isaac absolutely loves to have his picture taken.  They are both getting so big! 

Audrey blowing bubbles on Easter Sunday at Grandma Spencer's.  She had to get in a stance to get a strong blow. Funny!! I promise that is bubbles on her clothes!LOL. 

This was at John & Suzi's house.  Audrey can never take a picture without doing a cheese face. In this case, you can't even see her eyes. But, her shirt says it all. 

I have finally joined the world of bloggers!!

I am so excited to create this cute blog for me and my family.  To all my friends and family who currently have a blog, I absolutely love to look at them and see what everyone has been up to.  So here I go, I will try my hardest to keep up on our blog and to keep everyone in the loop.