The tooth fairy

For the past few days Isaac has been wiggling one of his bottom teeth.  He has been so excited waiting for his tooth to come out. Last night as Steve and I were sitting on the couch I asked him to come over so I could see how wiggly it was.  His tooth was barely attached, I could move his tooth in every direction. I knew it was ready to come out and I didn't want Isaac to have to worry about it falling out at school today. So Steve asked him to go upstairs and get the floss. Steve tied it in a small loop to put around Isaac's tooth.  Before Steve even had the chance to pull it out, it just fell out.  Isaac was so excited he said he was going to his tooth in his baggie in between two pillows for the tooth fairy with an extra pillow on top. He said he didn't want his tooth to break because the tooth fairy builds her house out of the teeth she gets.  Then he said he was going to put his finger flash light on so that when the tooth fairy came in, it would turn on and he would catch her.  He went to bed completely filled with excitement for the tooth fairy to come.

This morning while I was in the shower Isaac came in and threw open the door and said "Today is the best day of my life." I asked him why and he said because the tooth fairy came to visit. He had gotten a dollar in his bag where his tooth was and now his tooth was gone.  He then opened the bag and said "Whoa, I got TWO dollars!!"  It was the cutest thing ever.  Then I asked him if he caught the tooth fairy last night. He said he decided he wanted it to be a surprise and he did not want to see her.  It made me laugh.  It reminded me that it is such a blessing to have these sweet children that I get to take care of.

The last time Isaac lost a tooth (which has been almost a year ago) Steve was in young mens and they had gone for ice cream. Isaac was with Steve, and the Bishop offered to buy Isaac an ice cream cone. He slurpped the ice cream through his hole where his tooth had fallen out and love it. So in lieu of that we will be taking him for ice cream tonight. I absolutely love my sweet kids, they are what makes everything worth while.

Surprise!!!

   My sweet husband has been planning a birthday surprise for me.  I had some suspicions as to what he might be up to, but I really wasn't sure what he had up his sleeve.  Yesterday when I got home from work, Steve informed me I banned from going upstairs at all. My limits were to stay in the kitchen and down.  I happen to have a pretty significant sense of smell, so as I walked in the door I could smell something.  But I didn't want to give the fun away, so I played along. 
   We ate dinner, made Allie some birthday cards from the kids, and then I headed off for Young Women. I got a text from Steve about 9:30 during my board meeting.  In his text he said that the kids had waited up for me and needed to go to bed, but that he needed me to come home asap.  Anyway, I left my meeting and when I got home I heard Isaac say in the hallway "Hurry, shut the door, it will be more fun if the door is closed." I was so excited to see the unveiling of the surprise.  So Steve took me upstairs, he looked at me and said "I hope I am not in trouble" and then opened the door.  Both of the kids with the biggest smiles on their faces said "Surprise!!"  They were sitting on my bed which was now accompanied by a new headboard, two nightstands, a cute black drape curtain wound around an iron rod, and to top it all of a new paint color.  My bedroom was completely transformed by some magical helpers. 
   I was so excited.  I never would have guessed that one.  Steve did a wonderful job and was very tasteful with what he had done.  He gave me some grief because just the other day I was telling him that we are never going to have a nice bed set.  I was teasing him because for our 1st year anniversary (nearly 8 years ago) he had told me I could have a vanity.  To this day, there is no vanity and so I like to tease Steve about it. It's kind of fun.  To his credit, there have been many things he has given to me and done for me that far surpass the vanity that would probably sit idle. Shhhh, don't tell Steve that last part.....
   I was overwhelmed and very blessed to have such a sweet husband and family members who I know contributed to getting the work done. There are a lot of things that Steve enjoys doing and painting is not really at the top of his list. But he knew that it would make me very happy and he was right.  Thanks Steve for being mine. I have always loved the saying "you may not be perfect, but you're perfect for me."  I love the bedroom overhaul and I am excited to add some fun accessories. Thanks to my sweet kids who make things so much worth the while.  The excitement and the looks on their faces when they showed me the room was just priceless. Isaac and Audrey have been telling me all week "Mom, I know what you want for your Birthday" and I would say "What's that?" and they would reply "A happy family."  Apparently I have said that a lot, but it really is true. The older I get the less material things matter.  I am so grateful to have my beautiful family and I hope they all know how much I love them and appreciate them.
Pictures of the bedroom coming soon....

Happy Halloween!!

I know it has been FOREVER since I have blogged, but life just seems to never slow down. This year for Halloween Isaac decided to be a super hero, Iron Man, and Audrey went with the classic princess costume, Snow White.  I also thought it would be fun to dress up this year and go a little outside my comfort  zone.  So my awesome friend Suzanne helped me out and let me borrow a costume.  So I went as a pirate.  Thanks Suzanne!  I really tried to talk Steve into dressing up with me, but he just wouldn't go for it.  Anyway, here are some pics from Halloween.  It was hard to get really great pictures because the kids wouldn't quit running around for me to catch one.

 

We started the fun off by going to our ward carnival.  The kids had a lot of fun and loved their face painting.

 

Then we joined John & Suzi at their neighborhood Trunk or Treat.  John & Steve were in charge of passing out the candy.  

 

Just about the time the Trunk or Treat started it began raining.  But the kids didn't care.  The major flaw with Halloween is the time of year in Utah.  It really stinks when we have to cover the kids costumes with jackets or coats.

 

Audrey holding out on the rain.  

 

After the Trunk or Treat we went back home, dried out the costumes and then we hit the neighborhood for Trick or Treating. 

 

Isaac enjoying Trick or Treating.

 

The kids going door to door. They were having tons of fun.

 

And this is how each of them made out (not including what their wonderful Grandma's gave them).

 

It was a great night!

Family photos

Home can be a heaven on earth....

About a month ago, we had family pictures taken with the Spencer side of the family.  Saturday we were able to get the CD of the pictures.  I was so excited about how they turned out, they were taken in a field up by Highway 89 and it was the perfect day for pictures.  As painful as it may be to try and keep kids clean and presentable before pictures, it was all worth it.   I am so blessed to have such a sweet family.  I look around and see people who are less fortunate than us and thank Heavenly Father for all that we have.

I loved these pictures of the kids.  Completely kandid.  We are so blessed.

The Kangaroo Zoo

For Audrey's birthday I took the day off work and we went to the Kangaroo Zoo as a family.  It was so fun and the best part was we had some cousins, Grandma Spencer, and aunt Tami join us.  Steve's sister, Tami, and her family are in the process of moving from Hawaii to Texas.  During the transition period she and her two sweet kids, Kalia and Grady, are staying here in Utah until their belongings are shipped over from Hawaii.  So Audrey was way excited that they were able to be a part of her birthday.

I had never been to the Kangaroo Zoo, but we decided to give it a try for Audrey's birthday activity and it turned out great.  It is a place in North Salt Lake where the kids can just play on bouncers and the inflatable toys, and they also have galactic miniature golf.  It was a huge hit.

Audrey, Isaac, Kalia, Kylie and Allie.

The three musketeers.

Isaac doesn't look very surprised to be eaten by a hippo, lol.

Say cheese... I love this picture.

The kids thought it was great to pull the teeth down and pretend to be eaten by the shark. 

Steve's sister was nice enough to take this photo of us. 

We don't have many pictures together, thanks Tami!!

Happy Birthday Audrey!!! 

Just kickin' back. 

Whoever thought this up was genius, inflatable T-ball. 

Audrey said this was a "nice crab."

What a cute boy!!!

Happy birthday baby girl!!

I know I am a couple days late on posting, but better late than never, right.  On Monday, our beautiful baby girl turned 4 years old.  Happy birthday Audrey, we love you so much!

Sunday we celebrated with the family at the house, Audrey chose a Barbie and the three musketeers cake.  She was so excited.

This was Audrey waiting to dive into her cake, every time I told her not to touch it, she would get so upset.  You can see from the picture above, there was already one finger had touched the cake.  I love this picture, it tells a story all on its own.....

 Steve and I decided it was time for Audrey to graduate the toddler bed and move into something bigger.  So we went to RC Willey (of course) and bought her a full size bed.  We used the headboard and footboard from the crib the kids had when they were younger and gave her a cute new bed for her birthday.
Below are are couple pics of the new bed.

The kids thought it would be fun to go to "sleep" in the new bed.  They are silly kids. 

This is a better picture of the bed, however Audrey's eyes are half closed. 

Isaac enjoying Audrey's new bed. 

I had such a hard time finding the bedding for Audrey, but after endless searching I found this bedding at JC Penney.  I did have to order it online, and I was a little skeptical, but everything turned out fantastic.

How time flies....

So it is official, today is mine & Steve's 8 year anniversary!!! It is crazy to think that 8 years ago today, our cute little family began. I want Steve to know how much I love him. He is absolutely amazing and he never fails to tell me how much he loves me. Chances are he will never read this posting because he has so many other things going on in life. However, I still want to express my love and gratitude for him. He is absolutely amazing and he is perfect for me. Thanks babe, for being mine. :)

I am also extremely blessed to have two of the sweetest, most wonderful children in the world. Valentines Day was fun this year because the kids had so much fun getting Valentines and giving them to both Steve and I. In turn it was fun for Steve and I to give the kids a little Valentines gift. Saturday night Steve took me out for a Valentines dinner. We agreed not to get each other gifts, because our Anniversary is close to Valentines and we are going on a little getaway to St. George this coming weekend. Anyway, before we went to dinner we first went and saw our sweet little nephew, Ammon. He is such a beautiful baby and boy is he a fighter. He finally came home last week after over 9 weeks at Primary Childrens. He has been there since he was born, he was born with a heart disease, HLHS, Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. It was absolutely amazing to be able to hold such a sweet little spirit. I hope he knows how much he is loved. After that we went to get the kids Valentines things which was fun. We tried to take the focus off candy alone and got them a couple other things. Then we went to dinner at Corbin's. Steve had made reservations, but did not tell me where we were going. I love surprises, it was so much fun.

Anyway, here are some pics from Valentines morning. The kids absolutely loved it!

We got each of the kids a little Valentines puppy. Isaac is pretty funny, he hasn't let his leave his sight since he got it.

Isaac posing for the camera, he loves his picture taken.

Audrey with her little puppy and Cinderella polly (she blends into her pajamas).

The kids wanted a pic of them with the flowers that daddy gave me.

The beautiful and thoughtful flowers that Steve gave to me.  I told him he was a stinker because he wasn't suppose to get me anything. But he said that the lofthouse cookies the kids gave him meant just as much to him as flowers meant to me.  

Poor Audrey....

For those of you who haven't heard already, Audrey has developed another allergy. I have determined that her skin must be as delicate as her tender little heart. Last Saturday I spent the day at home preparing for our wards Great to be eight program and taking care of some of the things on my "to do" list. One of those to do items was laundry, which is a never ending process. I had just bought a new bottle of laundry detergent the day before because I knew I was low on detergent and wouldn't have enough to do all the laundry. Anyway, I bought the same brand I have always bought, but this had Downy fabric softener in the detergent as well. Apparently Audrey is allergic. Saturday night we put her in a clean pair of pajamas which had been washed with the detergent and she woke up Sunday morning looking like a leopard. She had hives all over. They were all the way up and down her arms, legs, stomachm back, everywhere!!! Since I knew she was allergic to mosquitoes, at first I thought maybe it was an insect bite and she was allergic to whatever it was had bitten her. So we gave her benadryl and the hives went away completely within about an hour. But there was no bite visible. Then later she broke out again when we put pajamas on her again, this time almost instantly. (The dress she had worn to church was not washed in the new detergent.)

Wednesday night we were having dinner and Audrey said "Mommy, I'm itchy." So I looked and sure enough, more hives. So I gave her the benadryl and about 30 seconds later she said "Mommy, they are still there." It was pretty cute. I can see how benadryl can work wonders, but let's face it, it is not magic.

Now that we know she has this allergy, I have bought a baby detergent for delicate skin to wash her clothes in. The hives are not near as bad, but she still continues to get them. The nurse at the pediatricians office said that even after switching detergents the hives could continue for 4-6 weeks. This morning when she woke up again, she had hives on her face, legs, and arms. Poor thing.... hopefully these hives don't stay for the full 4-6 weeks.

Better late than never.....

Hello everyone, yes it has been over 2 months since my last posting. Sorry about that. Things just haven't seemed to slow down at all. But, things have gotten better, so I guess that is all that counts. For those of you who don't already know, Steve is working back at RC Willey. The work load at Redman was little to nothing, which as you can imagine his paychecks would match that. So after a while of looking, he came across an ad that RC Willey was hiring. He called down and spoke to management and a few days later he was re-hired. So he has been working there for a couple weeks now. It also happens to be the end of the term for Steve, so he has had loads of homework and finals to do. I am so grateful to have such a great husband who gives 100% effort to make life better for our family. He is absolutely wonderful and I don't know what I would do without him.

Isaac is doing awesome in kindergarten, in fact now that Isaac is learning how to read, he tries to read everything. Yesterday Steve and the kids came and picked me up to go out to lunch together. We went to Taco Time and as I was looking over the menu, the kids meals seemed a little pricey to me. So I asked Isaac "What do you want?" He said "I want a kids meal with a hard taco." Due to the fact that a kids meal was nearly $5.00 I said "Honey, I don't know if they have kids meals," thinking I could just play it off. Then Isaac said "Yes they do mom, see up there under the purple sign it says Kids Meals." Well, I was stuck and therefore we got the kids meal. Anyway, he is doing really well and is always anxious what the next school day will bring. Whether it is computer day, library day, P.E. or his favorite is free friday when they get to pick what centers they get to do.

Audrey is looking up to her big brother and is ready for pre-school. I haven't signed her up yet, but I probably ought to get cracking on that, I know they fill up quickly. At night she likes to "read" stories to me and she always asks when she can get a backpack like Isaac and go to school like Isaac. She is growing up so quickly, they both are. I can't believe that my baby girl will be 4 years old in just a couple of months. Where has the time gone?

I am still working full time, it is a huge challenge and makes things crazy for our little family, but it has to be done. I just have to keep reminding myself that it is a blessing that I am able to help provide for my family, because we certainly would be in a different place if I weren't working. The hardest part is when Audrey cries in the morning when she doesn't want me to leave and the days when Isaac asks if I would please take him to school. I am sure that if I were not a working mom, I would probably take those things for granted. But those are the things that I treasure. I am very grateful for my wonderful sister in law, Suzi, and my mother in law, Kaye that are so wonderful to help take care of my kids while I am working. I don't know what I would do without such a wonderful family!

I will try and post some new pics soon, we did get family pictures taken back in November, but I wasn't super happy with them. All in all, we are doing pretty well, and I want to say thank you to all those who have helped make things a little easier for us.