This is the life

I got you babe

2011-01-23T18:43:00.000-08:00

Ethan and Olivia have been forced to be best friends since the day Ethan was born. And just recently they have actually learned to really enjoy each others company. They play so good together and are so funny when they're together. And hey if they happen to get married to each other that's ok by me. But I just wanted to show you how cute they were together- and how much I love watching these two play together. It makes my heart melt a little

Christmas Eve 2010

2010-12-26T18:33:00.000-08:00

Traditionally on Christmas Eve we have our big christmas dinner with my sister and her family- then the kids open up one present- which happens to be jammies. My kids haven't figured out that it's always gonna be jammies either. But they were happy anyway. So here we were at lacy's house opening up presents Christmas Eve

doesn't ethan look bored and ready to open presents already? Or just tired of being the only boy around- I'm not sure. It's like he has 4 older sisters

New jammies! Who knew?

New christmas book- it's a charlie brown christmas book. (I have a thing for the peanut characters especially pig pen)

ready for the night

- after we opened jammies we all went to the movies and watched Tangled. It was really funny. And a great way to pass the time. On the way home the kids were looking for santa in the sky. Haylee even said she thought she saw him :)

Christmas 2010

2010-12-26T18:21:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning waiting for the kids to wake up

Haylee was the first one up- and we made her wait a little while before she could go downstairs (which was torture for her & us) because Ethan wasn't awake yet. And we didn't want him to miss everything. But we let Haylee go down and go through her stocking while we waited for Ethan to get up

Ethan finally woke up to look at his stocking

Seeing what santa left them in his bag

Haylee got more little pet shops and Ethan got a scooter like he wanted.

Finally we can open presents!!!

Woody & Buzz boots! Just like he always wanted

This present is sooo big! She didn't know who it was for

Could hardly wait to open it!

Haylee was so excited the big present was for her!

Sheriff woody was dressed up and ready for christmas

We had a great little christmas at home and with lacy's family. It was relaxing ( I even took a nap) and low key. We wish we had more family around to spend it with, but it's also nice to just be home and let the kids play with their new toys all day. And we can go back and forth from lacy's house to eat and play games with each other

getting ready for christmas time

2010-12-21T13:49:00.000-08:00

The kids are really excited for christmas this year. (what? unlike every other year??? ya right) Ok, kids are excited about christmas every year. Haylee has had a hard time making up her mind what she wants though. (is that a good thing or a bad thing?) She finally decided to ask santa for little pet shops and Ethan asked santa for a scooter. Which he has wanted for a while now- and mom and dad have been coaching him to ask for (just in case he really does get one :) It was really funny because he asked santa for a scooter- like we've been telling him to- and then when we got home he goes "where's my scooter?" like I asked santa for it like you guys said, now where is it? I guess we forgot to tell him he has to wait until christmas morning

The kids were really good in line to see santa- even though the line was really long

This is the sunday before christmas- in our christmas clothes.

Looking a little too grown up

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Snow day

2010-12-21T13:40:00.000-08:00

Snow day around here means fun friends day! The kids didn't waste much time getting in the snow after they heard there wasn't any school for the day

Haylee and Brooklyn
Racheal and Ethan decided they wanted to make the worlds largest snowman... only problem with that they couldn't get a second piece of the snowman on the first piece- it was too big and heavy

baby snowmen

Halloween 2010

2010-12-21T13:18:00.000-08:00

Halloween was more than just a day this year- it was the whole weekend. With it being on sunday- Haylee had her school party friday. Then we had our ward trunk or treat saturday night- and then went trick or treating sunday. So it was a fun candy filled weekend.

Here's ethan at the trunk or treat-

Right away Ethan found his honey Hattie - and had to give her a little sugar
Haylee found her BFF brooklyn and they were off and I didn't see them much the rest of the night

My cute kids together

Ethan and his new friend Bryson came with us to the trunk or treat and then we went together for real trick or treating

The kids practicing their trick or treating skills next door at tiki's house

Trick or treating... I don't know if you can see or not- but Ethan the cowboy has Bryson's ninja sword and Bryson the ninja has ethan's cowboy guns. And they both had each other's toys the whole night- and it didn't bother them. It was funny

school carnival

2010-12-21T13:10:00.000-08:00

Haylee had a school carnival this fall- and the kids a lot of different activities that day. But my favorite one by far was watching them do the doughnut eating contest! They were both so funny- and much better than I thought they would be at it! So i thought I would post the pictures for your enjoyment

ethan just gave up after awhile and used his hands- totally cheating, but that's ok

a day on the farmstead

2010-12-21T12:44:00.000-08:00

It's a rarity around here for daddy to have a saturday off, and mommy not have work to do/or shows to be at on that saturday, or just us not having other plans for the day. So when daddy had the day off and haylee had a soccer game in the morning- we had the rest of the day off- and WIDE open to do anything we wanted as a family. So we took the kids to a pumpkin patch and played all day. It was a beautiful day out- and we brought a picnic lunch and just played all day together.

mini haystack maze - it was so little we let the kids go in by themselve and we waited at the end.

They had a corn launcing gun- and the target just so happen to be right in front of cows- so it was more fun to see if you could hit the cows instead. Ethan loved this

We did a giant corn maze- and about half way through we told the kids they could be in charge of choosing which way we went. This kinda freaked ethan out because he kept saying "we're lost...maybe we should call tiki to come get us" (tiki is my sister lacy, and she wasn't even there)

They have this giant jumping pillow to bounce on! Ethan wouldn't have a thing to do with it- but daddy and haylee had a blast!

instead of a sandbox- they have a cornbox for kids to play in. Which was just as fun- and a little less messy - so I liked it

The only thing ethan wanted all day was a "baby" pumpkin... and that's what he got- it made his whole day.

Haylee on the other hand picked out the biggest pumpkin she could carry- which made her whole day too

Giddy- up Cowboy!

2010-12-21T12:39:00.000-08:00

Ethan was obessed with cowboys for a while... it was really fun. So we got him a hat and guns & holster. It was the best day for him.

ride like the wind bullseye!

Stick 'em up!

Now if that isn't the cutest cowboy you've ever seen I don't know who is

First day of school... we're ready to learn and get some knowledge

2010-12-21T12:20:00.000-08:00

Haylee's first day of first grade was a fun day... she was really excited because her kindergarden teacher moved up to first grade with the class- so it really made it an easy transition. She was up bright and early and got ready with no problems

Big first graders have big back pack too- there was a ton of school supplies she had to bring

daddy had the day off so he could take her to school with us

Giving ethan a hug goodbye- he was sure sad to see his sister/best friend/partner in crime be gone all day

in the car on the way to school (she rides the bus on days when other day care kids are here, but I take her when it's just her)

back at school - ready to go

And go she did--- without looking back at all, not wanting her mommy, not caring she was going to be gone all day. She was ready to go and be a grown-up -- goodbye my love, I'll miss you

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GOO GOO!

2010-10-05T10:37:00.000-07:00

July 29th, my baby turned 3!!!!!! Doesn't he look so happy about it?

Is it just me, or is he the cutest boy in the whole wide world??? I think so

Opening presents- he was a big boy and didn't want help this year. You know they are getting too big when they can do things all by themselves. He even put his hat on all by himself- sideways

Cheese smile

He had a toystory birthday party

2010-10-05T10:36:00.002-07:00

We went to the zoo for Ethan birthday- since he was still young enough to be free- Haylee had a free pass to get in, and it was half price admission for adults day. Cheapest zoo day ever! But it was a nice day- not too hot, and Gerrit had it off, so it was just the 4 of us. And the zoo isn't that big so you're done in an hour or two. It's perfect for little kids walking around.

Here's Haylee helping Ethan look into an exhibit. She felt bad he couldn't see the birds, so she lifted him up to see. She's such a good big sister to him.

The giraffe exhibit opened up about a year or so ago- so we haven't seen it much - it was quite educational this time. We all learned that when two giraffe's love each other very much; one puts his legs on the back of the other and they dance (we saw it with our own eyes- and in Haylee's words that's what happened) let me tell you- that cleared everyone out of the area pretty fast.

Haylee showing goo goo the penguins- they were trying to see which one was the fastest.

Haylee feeding the goats. Ethan thought he wanted to feed them until he learned that they would touch him if he did

Haylee showing her monkey impressions

Ethan liked this big snake! He wanted it touch it. Haha- yeah right

You can't go to the boise zoo without going down the giraffe slide. Until recently this was the only giraffe in the whole zoo.

Birthday Dinner

2010-10-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

When haylee turned 3 we took her to red robin for dinner. But we didn't bring our camera's so we don't have proof. But we did take pictures on our phones- and they are cute! So we decided to take Goo there for his birthday. It was a nice little dinner after we were done with the zoo

Here we are waiting for dinner

Daddy and Haylee
My big birthday boy

He did much better than I thought he would do when they came over and sang to him for his birthday. (i guess not everyone freaks out on their 3rd birthday- luckily it doesn't run in the family) Ethan actually liked it, and thought it was great.

He's such a good boy to his momma- sharing with me

Happy birthday buddy!

Summer Lovin'

2010-10-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

This summer I didn't have daycare kids- which was nice...and weird. So we tried to play a lot summer. I also (had to) put together a play group with the ward members... so we went the parks a lot- they did free lunch for kids every day (so nice!!!) free movies in the morning at the movie theather (also so nice!!!) and people don't care if your kids are loud, because it was free movie. We discovered a GREAT park in Meridian- called Settlers park. Since we didn't get water park season tickets this year we needed to find other water to play in- and settlers park was the perfect free place to play.

*pictures aren't in order again*
This is Ethan and his Hattie - that's what he calls her. My Hattie. She was cold, so ethan was trying to help her get warm. Isn't he a gentleman? Or a player, I'm not sure. But either way it was smooth. And she fell for it ;)

Alot of the girls playing together in the sprinklers. It was so nice- they all just played all day and the moms could sit and work on our tan. Now that's a great play group
Ethan wasn't one for water again this summer. So he sat with me alot (until later in the summer, then he finally warmed up to the idea- but by then the summer was over)

Racheal working on her tan, Ethan working on his sandwich. He thought Rach made a good pillow- and would get mad at her when she moved

We're so outdoorsy- we decided to hike

2010-08-01T17:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, I finally am getting around to updating my blog- and it won't let me rearrange pictures now. So nothing is in order- sorry for the confusion.
Anyway- in July we decided to go hiking- don't ask me why, but we all thought it would be a good idea. Or something like that. Ok, it was a good idea, and it wasn't too bad. But we didn't get to go too far in the canyon as the boys would have liked, but we went far enough to make it an adventure. But anytime the 9 of us try to do something or go somewhere together, it is an adventure.
Remember these pictures aren't in order...

This part of the hike was straight down the side of the canyon- so we made an assembly line of big kids, and adults and handed my kids down the line- which was a little scary to watch them go and hope they just stand there at the bottom and wait for us...aaaa

Ethan was held the ENTIRE time going into the canyon- but when we stopped for a break he finally got adventurous and wanted to move around on his own. And I would have let him if we weren't surrounded by water and at the top of tall rocks

This is coming down to the cars- at the end. We came back out another way (as you will see in another picture somewhere farther down) and it was pretty steep down- so colby went up and down probably 4 times to get people and help them down the hill. This is him holding Haylee on the way down
Colby trying to cliff jump... not quite the same as the Indian boys in new moon. The water only went to his ankles

Lacy didn't want to get her feet wet crossing the stream, so colby gave her a piggy back across

Our little family- having such a good time

The girls decided to take the stream back down instead of the trail

there's a tiny little waterfall behind us- you can't see it, but trust me

This is when we were considering which way to get back to the cars- we went back a different way- and it was HOT HOT HOT on the side of this mountain- it made me want to sing "3 sharp tooth buzzards" because I was sure they were going to start flying around us soon

The 3rd and 4th of July

2010-08-01T17:38:00.000-07:00

For the 4th of July- they did a firework show on the 3rd of July (don't ask me why) So we loaded up the kids and lacy loaded up her family and we headed out to Melba- where it's a really good firework show. Even if it is on July 3rd.

And I think my kids decided it was take a weird picture day or something

Sarah was the only one of lacy's kids to stay with us to watch the show. The other girls we didn't see until the fireworks were over

Except one time we caught a glimpse of Racheal shaking her groove thing

Ethan was entertaining himself by playing drums on daddy's butt

THEN ON THE REAL 4th OF JULY- we decided to take the kids (all 5 of our kids) to another firework show. We got there SuPeR early and layed out our blankets and relaxed

Ethan throwing the football around with Racheal

Haylee and Alissa - chilling

Sarah was teaching Haylee how to play phase 10- they didn't get very far, but it kept them entertained for a little bit

Daddy and Ethan- playing around

I can't fight with an Eclipse

2010-08-01T17:21:00.000-07:00

For those of you still living under a rock- the 3rd installment of the twilight saga came out in June. We were all very excited about it (once again). So friends and I gathered in the movie theater for about 10 hours. (you really could only do this with your close friends) They were showing all 3 movies that night with the last movie starting at midnight. At least that was the plan. Everything started out fine- they started the first movie right on time but when they were running the credits the movie just stopped and the emergency lights in the theater came on. (at about 8:30) Unbeknownst to us- while we were watching twilight there was a terrible storm outside and it knocked the power out to the theater. (keep in mind there were other people who weren't in the theater yet watching the other movies, they were just waiting for the midnight showing- so they has to get out of line during the storm) So the power was out- and they asked us all to remain in our theaters and just be patient. Well about 2 hours of no power and no A/C the power came back on- YEAH! but we couldn't watch the 2nd movie- because it was on the same reel as Twilight and they couldn't start it half way through. They would have to start twilight all over again and then have new moon play. But they didn't want that (but we did) So we waited and waited and waited 4 hours for the 3rd movie to start- they got a late start because they couldn't let anyone in the theater until the power came on- so it took FOREVER to get 3000 more people in the theater so they could finally start Eclipse.

Which is another great reason to be there with your good friends- in case you have a power outage.

Colby, Lacy, Nick and Melissa. (see it's not just girls that go)
Emily, Georgia, Kathy and Dylan

During the power outage the girls went around the theater to see what kind of trouble they could get in- and they found the 3D glasses- so decided to have some fun

Don't worry, the movie theater did give us all free movie tickets because we didn't get to see new moon- and they gave everyone free re-fills of pops and popcorn while they could (no matter what size you bought)

Meridian Dairy Days Parade

2010-08-01T17:01:00.000-07:00

Every year for the past 4 or 5 years we have claimed a patch of grass across the street from Gerrit's work to watch the Meridian dairy days Parade. Rain or shine we are there with our good friends. It's become a great tradition that we all love and look forward to. The parade is a good one- they hand out LOTS of candy, and since it's a dairy parade (no there's not cows) they hand out chocolate milk, string cheese and ice cream.

Here's Kaylee and Haylee waiting for the parade to start. We always sit at the start of the parade- before everyone runs out of candy

Dylan and Kathy with all the little girls- showing us the free chocolate milk they hand out to everyone.
The kids waving to the parade going by

And then running to hurry and get the candy that they throw out

Mickale and her boys

Every year they also throw out t-shirts (and we have gotten one every year) this year the boys wanted to wear them

Us girls (missing candice) we survived another parade.

Girls Summer Dance Camp

2010-08-01T16:00:00.000-07:00

One of the girls in our ward was doing a week long summer dance camp (an hour a day) for girls. So haylee signed up, since she REALLY loves to dance. If you've been around our house at all you may have seen her shaking her groove thing when no one is watching. So here is a couple videos of what they learned to do in a week. There was two groups of girls- and they each did one song, then did a song together. Their recital was held in the back yard of her teacher's house. And you'll have to forgive my movie making skills- it was windy, they were moving around a lot- and I had ethan climbing on my lap. (and our camera isn't that good- a new better camera is on our christmas wish list)

This first song- I recorded the first part of it but then my batteries died. So I just uploaded the second half- it was the more exciting part (if you could imagine)

Here is both groups dancing to "Party in the USA"

Here is Haylee with her two dance teachers. Our lives will never be the same again. We dance to everything now.

goodbye kindergarten

2010-06-03T10:13:00.000-07:00

We had Haylee's kindergarten graduation today. It was sad, but I think I'm getting better, because I didn't cry. (yeah mom!) She was so cute out there. The cutest one, if I must say so myself. The graduation was short and sweet. They performed a couple songs, and then handed out diplomas. Haylee even got recognized for having good attendance.

here she is walking across the stage to get her diploma. My whole future life flashed before my eyes, and all of a sudden we were at her high school graduation. She's getting too big, too fast. Didn't she just start school?

getting her diploma.

Now she's officially a first grader. And ready to take over the world

Here she was on the first day of school. So cute, and a little nervous

Ethan getting hugs from his first grade sister

Haylee and Brooklyn - below is a picture of one of the first day's of school

Haylee saying goodbye to her teacher- Mrs. Dodge. But just goodbye for the summer. Because she is moving up to 1st grade, and Haylee gets to be in her class again.

Cute little conner- who has been on haylee's soccer team for the last 3 years. He was in the other kindergarten class. But us mom's still made them take a picture together. They were too embarrassed to stand too close to each other. Like they haven't been taking pictures together since they were 3!

weekend to play with cousins

2010-06-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

While we were visiting Jason, Ali and family- they took us to see some horses they know.
Which was probably one of haylee's favorite things to do. She is a pony lover

Haylee and kodie decorated flip flops. Haylee's are the blue ones. (her favorite color)

We went to the Mayan Restaurant with Jason and Ron's families (2 of gerrit's brothers) It is a really cool restaurant where they cliff dive from like 3 or 4 stories into a pool below. It's a really good show, and the kids LOVE it

While we were there Ethan was practicing his knife skills. He's getting really good at eating with a knife

5 crazy cousins

with some of the cliff divers

Anyway who knows chandler will be impressed that he is letting haylee touch him, or sit that close to him

But this picture you can see how chandler really feels. He's a little out numbered

trip to temple square

2010-06-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

While we were in Utah we went to temple square. So here are some pictures of the day. It was a perfect day weather wise, so it was great

there's my cute kids. I love this photo. Probably one of my favorites of all time

Daddy and Haylee

Ethan is my sweet little boy, now I know why people always say how boys love their mommy's.

He was happy to be there

it was hard to get a picture of just haylee. Most of the time her and kodie was attached to each other. Which was so nice, they played really good together

Ethan was such a little ham for aunt ali taking pictures. He loves it when people pull out a camera. He thinks he's pretty cute :)

Kodie was trying to teach ethan about the statue

Chandler walking with ethan. He was probably trying to teach him all about the church history, or probably all about hockey

In the church history museum there is a kid area to play in. So daddy wanted to play

Happy Birthday Haylee

2010-04-30T13:33:00.000-07:00

Haylee turned 6 on March 4th. Where has the time gone? She's almost done with kindergarten, and graduating high school and moving out and getting married and having babies!!! Kids grow up so fast. {sigh}
But anyway, wipe the tears aways, I have a story to tell...
Her birthday turned into a HUGE family party all weekend long. Our nephew was coming back out here with his HS basketball team to play for the state tournament- like they did last year. So we had a lot of other family want to come out and join in the party and help cheer him along. And his first game of the tournament was the night of her birthday. So we took her out the night before (with lacy's family and with grandma and grandpa since they were already here) and let her choose anywhere she wanted. And she chose the dirty bird (red robin). Mainly because they give you free ice cream on your birthday. Hey, she's my daughter and I taught her well. :) They made her stand on her chair, which she LOVED! And they made her hold her spoon up like a princess while they sang to her!

And when it was all done, she got down and shared her ice cream with grandpa- lucky guy
Then the next day (her real birthday) after school we let her open her presents. Since we had a game to get going to...

Ethan was trying to help her

trying on presents- yep, it fits!

She got a new bike helmet for her birthday. She really wanted a new bike too- but she also needed a new helmet. So we just wrapped up the helmet. Then when she wasn't looking, daddy went in the garage and got her new bike out- so while he was in there I was trying to get her to try on her helmet. But she wouldn't go for it

She was excited for her bike- even though she didn't show too much enthusiasm. ( I can relate- I hate opening presents in front of people, because you never know for to react- even when you really do like it)
Then it was off to watch Lakoda play basketballSince Lakoda had to stay with the basketball team in a hotel and he was missing Haylee's party- she felt really bad that he wouldn't get any birthday cake, so we made his whole team cupcakes and she delivered them to the team afterwards.

This was a doll she got for her birthday- she couldn't even believe it because their hair-do was the same that day!

She requested a soccer cake. So mommy turned the decorating duties over to aunt lacy- I think she did a great job. Much better than I would have done

Happy birthday haylee- we love you so much!

Family Fun Time

2010-04-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

All weekend long we were having fun watching lakoda playing basketball. This is his senior year- so it was his last games. So it was nice to be able to see him play. His team took 3rd in state!

We had a big cheering section for Lakoda...some got more into the game than others

it was a family affair- even for my side of the family- Racheal and Alissa wanted to lend their cheering voices too. Could be because Alissa and Lakoda are dating now... don't worry it's perfectly legal. They aren't related. They are just my niece and nephew. (really they are) and really they aren't related.

After his last game we waited for him so we could tell him what a great job he did and how proud we were... some of us were more proud than others it looks like. yes, that's gerrit. And yes, I'm embarrassed a little.

But how cute is this picture? Haylee LOVES lakoda- always has. And she is always proud of him. And she was excited that he was done playing basketball- because that meant he could finally come to our house. His cheering section. (well most of it. we had more family at other games)

When we weren't at LaKoda's basketball games cheering him on, we were at home improving on our dance skills. My sister in law brought up this game for the Wii- called "just dance" (I think that's what it's called) and OMGoodness, it is hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!! You have to get it and have your husband play with you- because it may surprise you what kind of dance moves he's got. It surprised me at least. I think it was the only game anyone played all weekend. get the game- trust me. (video of gerrit playing the game at bottom of post- and you're welcome)

Ethan was joining in on the fun... you'll see on the video what good moves he has- that apparently he gets from gerrit ;)

Haylee challenged lakoda to a dance off- and she won. It was pretty funny to watch

The Winter Festival

2010-03-25T13:39:00.000-07:00

In january I got a phone call from Lacy asking if we wanted to head up to McCall to stay at her bosses "cabin" for the night. So I said of course, being the outdoor lover that I am - haha- gerrit had the weekend off anyway, and there was the winter festival going on up there that we had never been up to see. So it seemed like a good idea to me. See up there in McCall they make snow sculptures and have a parade and a firework show and it's a really big deal and really busy. And there's some good hill for sledding so it sounds like a good excuse to miss church and be gone for the weekend

Here are the kids playing on one of the snow sculptures- it was a giant snow slide. Except so many kids had been on it that there was big divots in it and you couldn't really slide. But Ethan didn't care. He still wanted to slide regardless, and he was really holding up the line. Because he wasn't moving, and Sarah had to push him down the slide

We were enjoying some free hot chocolate while we were walking around town. It was getting dark so we were trying to hurry

Gerrit was pulling the kids around town in a sled- I think Alissa was trying to convince him to pull her around town tooWe were trying to hurry because Ethan was done being in the snow and cold. And he wouldn't keep his gloves on so he wasn't a happy camper

But since Ethan was all done in the sled, Haylee decided to sit back and enjoy the ride

Back at the cabin (which was bigger than our house) we stayed up all night playing games, eating and having fun

It must be almost time for bed, people are starting to get crazy

After a long day of driving and walking around town in the snow the girls settled down together in the loft area of the cabin for the night. Racheal was so nice and let Haylee sleep with her

The next day we were all up early (yeah right) and ready for a fun filled day of family sledding

At the bottom of the sledding hill- I think daddy was too busy trying to master the jumps to join us for the picture

My cute babies Haylee is a lot like her daddy, she will go and do almost anything with him

And Ethan likes to just sit and watch with me- I'm pretty luck that he's content to watch everyone. Could be because we had matching hats (that sarah made for us) so that's why he wanted to stay with me
Most of the day Ethan was playing inside the tube at the bottom of the hill, where it wouldn't go anywhere. And when racheal sat down to play with him he thought it was a great idea to feed her all the snow she could eat

After sledding a couple times Alissa was done and ready for some rest. So she talked Haylee into digging out a bed for her in the snow, so she could text in comfort

Sarah knows how to ride down the hill the best way

You're Crazy WildCat

2010-03-22T12:48:00.000-07:00

In January Haylee did a cheer clinic with Alissa's cheer. After they learned a couple cheers, a dance, and the School fight song- they performed at the basketball game. Which was entertaining!!!

So here's haylee and ethan posing as cheerleaders do. (gerrit's so proud)

Haylee and Brooklyn before the game started- they were discussing the other cheerleaders outfits I'm sure, and probably making fun of the fat girls- like a good cheerleader would.
Here they are with their idol for the night- Alissa, who is a real life cheerleader
Haylee and Lexi before the game. If you notice haylee's hair- it's bumped. She made lacy do her hair like a real cheer leader wears it, She wouldn't let me do it, because I don't have cheerleader girls yet, so I don't know how to do cheerleader hair (so she says)

I took some video of the cheerleading- because I thought it would be good entertainment. And i think I'm right. But I think she has a good future in cheerleading. well at least at this high school

Gerrit's nasty cankle

2010-03-20T16:48:00.000-07:00

So Gerrit started playing in a city basketball league. And the kids and I went to the first couple games- but one night the game was later at night, so we didn't go. So gerrit went to the game by himself, but when he came home kinda early it surprised me. But when I saw him limping- I was even more surprised. Turns out he did something that did something to his ankle. (I don't really remember the whole story) But it looked like this for like a week.

Nasty, huh?

And when the swelling finally went down he went to the doctor and turns out he had a break in there somewhere. (don't you like how much I know about his injury?) He didn't have to get a cast (darn it- that would have been cool to sign) but he wore one of the faker air casts. But he's fine now, and pretty much back to as normal as he can get. And he ended up playing in the last 3 games his team had.

Happy New Year!!!

2010-03-20T16:30:00.000-07:00

Since Gerrit's parents were here for Christmas and staying for the week we decided to invite all his siblings up to our house to spend New Years Eve together. I didn't actually think anyone would come. I mean it's the middle of winter, why would they travel all that way just for a party? (haha, just kidding- glad everyone came) So really we got a couple families to come out- it wasn't everyone, but it was sure fun. Even if people had to sleep in my kitchen. (we have a small house, and we ran out of floor space, so they put their air mattress in the kitchen-hey it worked)

Here's Haylee and Kodie- they play together so good

Jason, Ali, Koda, TJ, Grandpa, Ethan and Kirk. Don't the boys looks so impressed with Ali's muscles? (I think the camera was on "sports" mode, so that's why the pictures are a bit grainy)

TJ and Ethan locked Ali in the pantry. Actually TJ did, and ethan sat down with him not knowing what they were doing.

Haylee with her best friend Koda- she can never get enough of him when he's around.

We played Bunco all night long with everyone- This here is the loser table. These people didn't really move much from here

This is one round of the winner table- let's be honest, I was there a lot too. I just happened to be taking the pictures this time, so I couldn't be in it

Showing us the loser table

Ethan reading and giving loves to Aunt Ali- he loves her and Jason. He was very upset when they left to go home and he couldn't go with them

We bought the new Super Mario Brothers game for the Wii- and apparently it's really fun to play. (it even has the same background music as the old version) But you can play up to 4 people at a time. So the boys took advantage of that, and played all night. I guess Jason never outgrew waving his arms up and down when he was trying to make his mario jump

Christmas time- 2009

2010-03-12T14:44:00.000-08:00

-here's proof that we really did have a christmas, and I still have a camera, and I didn't forget how to blog. See I'm trying to get this thing updated. So bare with me

This Christmas we actually had Gerrit's parent's and his sister come into town, so Lacy told me I was on my own for christmas eve dinner. (which I don't do by myself, mainly because I don't eat turkey, or most of the other food that goes along with a turkey dinner) But since we had guests I thought I should put my big girl panties on and make a turkey. But I'll be honest- it freaked me out. And I didn't like it, but I guess it turned out good. Or so people said- because I didn't eat it. But I got the recipe from my new best friend- "the pioneer woman" and it was really easy to make. So if anyone else is ever scared to make a turkey- I recommend using her recipe, because it's easy to follow, and there's pictures.What's not to love? But enough about me and my first turkey...

Those are gerrit's hands in the turkey butt- not mine. (I didn't want you guys to think I had man hands) But I was going to do it, but luckily I didn't have to. Because he got off work early, just in time to save me from the turkey butt. I don't think I was really ready for that anyway

After our fabulous dinner it was time to open up a present to get ready for bed. It was only like 6:30- but haylee said she was really tired and wanted to open up her presents so she could get to bed....only on christmas eve

Sibling love

Saying goodnight to everyone

Christmas morning- haylee was the first on up! go figure. So we only let her open her stocking until ethan woke up.

As soon as ethan was awake haylee was throwing his stocking at him trying to get him to open it faster, so we could get on to the presents... and santa's bag- that he left at our house with one present for each kid.

It was fun to have more people over this year. We let the kids open all of their first, then the adults dug in

As soon as Ethan saw the new shoes I got for christmas, he put down his toys and came right over to try them on. Luckily for gerrit, they don't fit ethan. So I'll be the only one wearing them. But I do love them! Even if they do hurt my feet. It's totally worth it

Ethan playing with his new toys.
Haylee was so busy playing, that she got mad at me if I tried taking her picture... so there isn't any of her.

Ethan got a tent and tunnel that he played in all morning long, gerrit and I even played in it with him. Gerrit got stuck, so ethan had to help him... after that ethan would pretend he was stuck too. Then he would lay there until someone came to help him get out.

2010-03-11T15:12:00.001-08:00

we are alive- and I know I'm WAY behind on my posts... SORRY! I will try to play catch up very soon. In case anyone was still wondering :)

Cheap Entertainment

2009-12-29T19:14:00.000-08:00

Ready for Christmas???

2009-12-20T16:03:00.001-08:00

In case anyone is wondering, or feeling left out- we have decided not to do christmas cards this year. And honestly, it has been GREAT! I really recommend it! Saves money, time and it's a lot less stressful. And most of the people that I would send christmas cards to either read this blog or are friends with us on facebook. So really almost everyone gets regular updates and pictures of our family. (with the exception of Grandma's) So I feel like if I sent out an update of our year and some pictures it would be old news that everyone has already seen. And I'm doing my part to save a couple trees- so I feel good about that

And here are a few of the latest pictures this christmas season. This was before church, with their new clothes.

Ethan wouldn't put down the bubble wrap- I don't even know why we had bubble wrap out???

Ethan still has this scab on his forehead- he's had it for over a month- and he won't stop picking at it. We don't know what to do about it. But despite the scab, he still looked handsome in his church clothes

Merry Christmas!!!

Santa Claus is coming to town

2009-12-05T13:41:00.000-08:00

Haylee talked gerrit into putting up the tree last weekend- so she helped him set it up. Or at least she was pretending to help- which is more than I do sometimes :)

Decorating the tree- all by herself- and her controlling mother hasn't rearranged it yet... yeah for the mother!

I had haylee practice her smiles for me (I know...what an anal mom) but we practice because she only has this one cheesy smile lately

Ethan says "cheese" and gives me a good smile- until he see Santa

Ethan was not really liking Santa

If I don't send out Christmas cards this year- you'll know why

Santa asked her what she wanted for Christmas

Ethan was telling her to come on- we're all done. Let's go

She really was trying hard to think of anything that she wanted for christmas. She wasn't going to leave until she thought of something. This was her ONE chance

Saying goodbye to santa- I think she was trying to stay on the good list.

Ethan loved this little reindeer- he stood there and waved at it, saying goodbye to it. That is until I got out my camera to take a picture of him doing that.

For the last couple weeks I've asked Haylee what she wants for Christmas- and she hasn't thought of anything. Except last night she said she would like a ginger bread man. Really?? A gingerbread man? What's that about? So I said- ok, is there anything else you would like, something not weird??? And she said, "maybe I'll ask for a new momma." (be careful kid- you may get your wish)

7 hours in the movie theater

2009-11-20T16:50:00.000-08:00

So in case you didn't hear- this little movie called twilight came out with the second installment...NEW MOON and I'm a little bit CRAZY for it- but so are 30 of my closest friends - so when tickets went on sale 2 months ago we literally bought 30 of them for the 12:01 am showing because we all had to be together. Heaven forbid we not sit together to watch a movie- and then when we found out that they were showing the first twilight in a couple theaters before New Moon started we HAD to get in on that (even though we all own a copy of the movie already) But we figured instead of staying in line until midnight this would get us in and have seats WAY before everyone else.... and it did.... and that's good- because we ended up with about 40 of us there... So we got in at 7:00 and then twilight started at 9:00 - and New Moon started at midnight!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (so we didn't get home until 3:00) And I wish I could say we were nice and quiet and calm through out both movies.... but we weren't...some of us more than others (Racheal Kirkpatrick) Oh and I made shirts for everyone- well I did the vinyl for all of them... and they all came over and painted them... and then I even took shirts with me to the theater and sold them there to people while we waited :) isn't that funny??? I made more money at the movie then I spent- haha

So here are me and Kathy- I am wearing my La Push Cliff Diving Team shirt, and Kathy has on a shirt that says Jacob is a sexy beast

Rival sweatshirts- Team Edward (except when Jacob is shirtless) and Team Jacob I like 'em hot and furry
(haha I love it)

Kathy talked Dylan into going with her- aren't they cute??? He even wanted a shirt too- so I made him one that said "team I don't want to be here" it was a hit among the men!

Cassi, Kynlee,Makenna and Breanna (girls from our ward- who were my girls) they came to party for cassi's bachelorette party! That's my kind of party

Alissa with some of her friends - Alissa's shirt said "Edward prefers brunettes"
Sarah was so proud of her shirt - Wolf Girl, I run with the pack

And sarah, abby and ashley decided that the best seats in the theater were in the VERY top row!

Lacy, Adete, and Sheryle... adete was a twilight virgin until last night. So that was special being able to share that experience with her... it's something she'll never forget

in the way back is Dakota and Shaylee (who made shirts about each other-ha) then kelly, and georgia- It's so great to have friends who totally understand your craziness for fictional characters

Racheal and her friend Austin

More of the girls we brought

and lastly- Daryan being classy... as usual :)

For those of you who don't understand this post AT ALL--- then I can't help you... because YOU HAVE TO SEE THE MOVIES!!! I think New moon was even better than twilight- at least the acting was a little better. It was a great movie- and we're already talking about when we can go back...and if tonight's movies we're sold out we would probably be going (with more t-shirts to sell)

Halloween 2009

2009-11-15T18:21:00.000-08:00

Holy crap- I haven't posted anything in a really long time-- so there are a lot of posts now to keep you busy and for you to get your "fill" of this Dickson bunch

Halloween kinda snuck up on me this year- like everything has been lately... could be because I've been so busy lately... hence the no posts for 2 months... and I'm really unprepared for Christmas right now- which is really freaking me out... but let's not talk about that right now... for Halloween Haylee could not decide what she wanted- so we just took her to Walmart and let her pick out something... I was like "here are some cute princess costumes" and haylee was like "I can't decided between Batgirl or Wonder Woman" - I really don't know where this kid comes from... who doesn't want to be a princess? I'll just have to be one myself. And I see a pattern with her- last year it was lava girl- this year batgirl... I might as well buy a supergirl this year and be ready for next year... And Ethan was difficult too- his costume from last year still fit him. So I was thinking that was great! We don't have to buy him one... but Oh no! When he saw haylee's batgirl costume, he was really digging it... and really wanted to wear it (which I might have put it on him when Gerrit wasn't looking) and then after that he REFUSED to put on his Dalmatian costume from last year... so I just gave in, like the sucker that I am, and went to walmart with him, and let him try to help pick out a costume. Which worked, because he happily wore it around. And everyone was happy- and I get to eat all their candy- so it's really a win- win all around

Buzz Light year- batgirl- a butterfly- and a witch

Ethan loved his bucket- because he knew what that meant he was getting! CANDY!

Him and Olivia found the candy before we started and decided to dig right in

and they didn't stop eating candy until they were asleep

Truck or treating

Ethan and Sarah trick or treating- sarah came with us this year, since her sisters are too old, so her parents got out of it this year (and they wanted to chaperone the party going on at their house)

Eating more candy

"will someone help me open up this candy?"

"No? Ok, I'll do it myself"

they sat there very quietly opening up candy and sharing it with each other- until we discovered them, and after I took enough pictures, i took the candy away

bed time

2009-11-15T18:16:00.000-08:00

Bed time around here gets pretty crazy sometimes- Ethan REALLY wants to sleep with Haylee in her bed. And one night I decided to let him try. But as you can tell by these pictures it didn't work out so well

Kinda fuzzy- but you can tell they aren't sleeping

those are some crazy kids we have- but at least they love each other (most of the time)

Ethan was very upset when we put him in his bed- but if he was actually sleep than we would let them sleep in the same bed, while they still want to

Just a girl- with her boy

2009-11-15T17:58:00.000-08:00

Haylee has had a big little crush on this boy Dalton for about 2 years- he was her best friend (she says) and she loved him... I kept telling him he might have to wait 15 years so he can marry Haylee... But a couple month ago he left on his mission- and still when haylee thinks about it, it makes her teary eyed. But she knows when he comes home she will be 7- and a really big girl... so she can hardly wait

This her and him at his farewell- and that girl in the background wearing the yellow- was his girlfriend (and has been for 2 years) so she's had to share him with Haylee... I don't think she liked it very much... but you can't fight true love

Haylee also discovered her love for High School Football (or football players) because of Dalton- he played last year and we were at every game cheering him on... this is when it was freezing out!!! We even made a sweatshirt with Dalton's number on the back #24

Here they are last new years eve- she followed him around all night at the party... and he was so good, he didn't seem to mind too much... now his gf might have

He even played games with her all the time... like I said, he is a good guy... and she would be lucky if he waited 15 years for her - LOL

One of the only things that got her through the fact that Dalton was leaving for two years, was her new soccer number this season --- #24!!! You should have seen her face! She was so excited, and it was just random that she got that jersey- so Dalton told her she would be the best player now, and she defiantly has lived up to it

We will miss Dalton- but we know his is doing the right thing- serving his mission. And I am grateful for him and the wonderful example he is to our family... we can't wait to see him again

Give Away on Treasured Thoughts

2009-09-16T15:45:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone- I'm doing a contest on my Treasured Thoughts blog- come up with a cute saying or phrase I can put with this witch on a board- in vinyl... I will pick the winning saying- and make the finished product for the winner for FREE. So leave a comment here, or on my treasured thoughts blog- or on the treasured thoughts facebook page. Enter as many different times as you like-

Good luck

a little bit of canning

2009-09-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

So for some reason on Saturday morning (labor day weekend) Colby decided he wanted to go to the church orchard and pick peaches (they are free this time of year) So him, Lacy, Racheal and her friend went and picked a car load of peaches. (no all of them shown here) So when you get about 100 pounds of peaches- you have to find something to do with them- and fast. We put everyone to work right away, so we could can them, make jam and freeze them in bags ready for cobblers and pies.
So haylee would wash all the peaches and help peel the skins off
Ethan would help eat any that we didn't feel the need to can
Sarah got all the lids ready to go in the dishwasher
Racheal got a kick out of Lacy's apron- because it was one the I made back in 7th grade- and I gave it to lacy for her bridal shower- LOL - and Lacy loved it so much she only uses it on very special occasions... like canning

This is the peach jam we were making- and that's Gerrit's arm in there helping. We had EVERYONE working that weekend
Some of the peaches we canned

So we canned a bunch Saturday, and had plans to finish it all Sunday. And while we were sitting in RS at church they had announced that someone had brought a BUNCH of plums that they needed to get rid of- so lacy and I thought it would be a good idea to take some and take them home and make plum jam... we thought for sure the boys would be so mad at us for bring home more work- but they actually thought it was a great idea (I think we were all a little looney that weekend from peach overload)

So in the midst of all our peaches we also make plum jam

And it was sure pretty- and it tastes sooooooooooo yummy. It makes me want to make my own home made bread to put it on... but one thing at a time

So this is our peach jam, our plum jam, and our canned peaches (but not all of it)

And then when we were so sick and tired of looking at peaches we decided to move on to some thing else- Gerrit's friend had given him a bunch of veggies to make salsa with, and since the boys and girls don't like the same kinds of salsa (us girls prefer not to have our mouths on fire) So we decided to do a salsa throw down- bobby flay style. (well almost) And Racheal was our judge

Lacy and I preparing our secret salsa recipe (my eyes were watering because she was cutting onions)

Our finished product- it was delish if I must say so myself - I think I will put the recipe at the bottom of this post in case anyone wants to try it

Gerrit getting his ready

Racheal taste testing all of them-
Now to be honest she originally did declare the boys the winners of this throw down- until about 2 minutes later when her mouth was so freakin hot that she couldn't stand it- and she over turned her decision and made us the winners. But whatever- ours was actually the only salsa to be eaten that night, and we made more the next day and it was eaten in one day

And since we had so much fun making all that salsa, and my friend had me come over to teach me how to make stewed tomatoes in the pressure cooker for spaghetti sauce,and the sauce was so good we had to get more tomatoes to try that... and more peaches because for some reason we were addicted to sliceing peaches and we wanted more in our freezers to last us all year, and they were free. So we went out and picked about another 100 pounds of peaches and then some... well you'll see- like I said earlier we were all a little looney all weekend and couldn't stop picking fruits and veggies- they were all free!!!

Our stake started two community gardens here, where they just have acres and acres of produce, and it's all ready to be picked, and it's just going to waste- so we went out and picked until we couldn't load up any more in our cars- we got about 10 of the biggest zucchinis we've ever seen- we we have shredded those and put them in the freezer for breads and zucchini patties (so good)

We got more tomatoes and then some cucumbers- so we made about 36 jars of the stewed tomatoes for sauce, then lacy did about a dozen or so jars of regular stewed tomatoes for chili and stuff. Then we decided to experiment with the cucumbers and we made a bunch of pickles... hopefully those are good. We've never made them before so we're just hoping. But all this was free! (and after I took this picture we loaded her table up like this a couple more times- so this was nothing)

And then one day I was so sick of eating peaches and tomatoes I just had to make something else- so I made this fruit pizza. YUM! So good

Here's the recipe:
I used a large jelly roll pan

2 pkg of refrid. sugar cookie dough (about 16 oz each)

1 pkg of cream cheese- softened

1 cup powd sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1- 8oz cool whip

Fruit (I used strawberries and kiwi)

Roll your two packages of cookie dough out on your greased jelly roll pan
Bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes- or until nicely golden brown. Let cool

Combine cream cheese, powd sugar and vanilla. Fold in cool whip. Spread over cooled cookie dough. Slice fruit over top and enjoy... like I said so yummy. AND SO EASY!!!! Just thinking about it again makes my mouth water

Salsa Recipe
8 tomatoes (chopped and seeded)

1 medium onion

1 jalapeno or green pepper (we did green pepper because we don't like the heat)

1/2 cup cilantro

3 cloves of garlic ( I think we added more, because we like garlic, and even some more garlic salt after)

1 lime juiced or 1 TBSP lime juice

2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. cumin

1 TBSP vinegar

1&1/2 tsp salt

1/2 can of corn kernels

Chop all veggies and add spices. Mix and enjoy

It's really good- much better then most homemade salsas we've tried

Not ready for this one

2009-08-31T15:41:00.000-07:00

So my babies, Brooklyn and Haylee, started kindergarten last week. Of course they are in the same class, and of course they are wearing matching shirts :) (this picture isn't from the first day, the following pictures are- but I had to share all my pictures, and I was sick on the first day, so the pictures aren't that exciting) One day Gerrit took Haylee school shopping, you read that right, GERRIT took Haylee school shopping, and I allowed it. He's a good shopper... and while they were out he found these shirts, and he just HAD to get them for the girls- because they say "I'm with my BFF" and point to each other. How cute is that? And this was an exciting day for them, because they finally wore their shirts- funny thing is, Haylee asked "what if we're standing on other sides of each other, then it won't be pointing to brooklyn" so gerrit told her to take her shirt off and switch so the arrows are pointing the right way... but mommy said, just switch sides, it will be ok, Please don't strip in school

So here they are ready for another week of school

This is Haylee on the first day of school, (tears in my eyes) pretty soon I'll be posting her high school graduation pictures.... oh man, I can't take this!

She's all ready to go, because she's 5!

Showing us her backpack, of course it's ponies! She got it for Christmas and she's been saving it ever since... did you notice the vinyl flower she put on it? That's my girl!

Brooklyn and Haylee with their BFF shirts

This is Haylee when I dropped her off at school- no I didn't know her eyes were closed, otherwise I would have made her take another one, but this is the best I got- hey I had bronchitis, i'm just glad I was up and able to take her to school

Here she is walking to her teacher- parents aren't allowed to follow them to the classroom and take pictures... not to happy about that one, but what can you do?
This is where the tears were welling up in my eyes, she's so big, she doesn't need me, she's ready to go

And she didn't look back either! She just walked off to the playground like she had done it a hundred times before!

As I sit in my car crying

Festival of the Arts

2009-08-12T15:03:00.000-07:00

OK- FIRST OFF I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT I JUST POSTED A LOT AND A LOT AND A LOT OF NEW POSTS- SO I DON'T BLAME YOU IF YOU HAVE TO TAKE A LOOK AND COME BACK LATER TO FINISH THEM ALL, BUT AT LEAST I AM NOW CAUGHT UP ON ALL MY BLOGGING.

I had my biggest craft show of the year this past weekend, which is mainly why I've been so busy and haven't been able to get anything else done... so here are some pictures of my booth - I have a huge booth- it's 20x20 and I stuff it full of all my things... come see me next year- or in Novemeber at the Chocolate Affair show at the Nampa Civic Center

The outside of the booth- I always get lots of compliments on my tents- people love them, they are great for rain or shine... this weekend it was a lot of rain while we were setting up- so I was extra glad we had them

Here are some new things I was working on before the show

this comes with 12 changeable magnets that you change each month- it's really cute and was a big seller- would be a cute super saturday idea

Do you have a t-shirt for the movie in November? You don't want to go without one- trust me.. I have 2 now

Ethan had a birthday shout HOORAY!

2009-08-12T14:36:00.000-07:00

Ethan turned 2 on July 29! He is a wild monkey... to say the least. But we sure love him- He really is a great, happy, funny baby. Who is just oh so cute, I can hardly stand it!

I let him help me make his birthday cake- and since we were having an Elmo themed party (since Elmo is his favorite- we had a red velvet cake to stay with the red theme)

I told him to say "cheese" and this is what I get

We had lots of fun party games- like pin the nose on Elmo (ok so maybe that was the only party game, except for what Haylee made up)Well at least it was supposed to be pin the "nose" on elmo- I don't think the kids really got where that was

Big birthday boy wanting to open presents himself

It was a Bob the Builder movie- (he also really loves his uncle Colby- who we call Bob, so it was the perfect movie, because he's always asking for Bob all day long)
This is one big present- what could it be?

Still pointing- but he was excited about it- because he saw a ball on the front

playing with his new toys

Pretty soon he'll be slamming it! Doesn't Racheal look impressed in the back ground?

A little birthday kisses (he thought he deserved them since it was his birthday)

Who is mommy's little 2 year old monster? But how can you stay mad with a face like that?

Olivia, Brooklyn, Haylee, Ethan and Lexi (don't you feel bad for him being the only boy? I don't look how cute the girls are)

the birthday boy with his other set of parents- (Bob and Tiki)

Loving the fact that there is Elmo on his cake!

mmmm- he makes a good cake!

High School Reunion

2009-08-12T14:26:00.001-07:00

It was my 10 year High School Reunion last month- which was the whole reason we went back to Washington. Of course I didn't take very many pictures- but here is what I did take

Here is David, Annie and us at the formal dinner. Annie is one of my oldest and dearest friends- we have known each other since the beginning of time and even lived next door to each other while we were growing up. So I was really glad she came all the way back from London so I could see her and her hubby David. Hopefully the next time I see them it will be in London... ahhh wishful thinking

Thursday night was a more low key gathering of just the grads- which was a LOT of fun... there was so many people that I haven't stayed in better touch with that I got to see...
This is BJ and Al- both were good friends of mine in high school

Carrie, Candace and Me-

Me, Megan and Carrie - megan is 9 months prego and carrie has a puppy...

Shauna, me and Jenn (and Jenn's husband in the back ground- who apparently is kinda shy)

I'm really bummed that I didn't get more pictures- or that I didn't get to see more people, but it was still a lot of fun to see the ones I did and catch up with everyone

Playing in the water

2009-08-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

In washington we went to LOTS of different lakes and beaches- so here's most of the pictures all together

We went to some friends house on Lake Stevens and had a BBQ and just hung out (Thanks John and Kelly) I love Lake Stevens- it's so pretty

Daddy and Haylee jumped in the water and swam back to the shore- it was cold, but she loved it!

Haylee and her friend Samia playing in the water.

All the little kiddo's - Samia, Haylee, Ethan and Mason crawling away

**KAYAK POINT

Daddy was trying to teach Haylee how to skip rocks- since there's so many rocks on the beach

having a picnic with Grandma, Grandpa and Kelcie

This is Lake Goodwin- we went there one day just for a little bit- Haylee liked it better than Kayak because it was sandy and not rocky. She's not a washington beach lover

And of course Ethan didn't get in... go figure

Why we love Washington

2009-08-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

We love Washington for LOTS of different reasons- but I wanted to share with you just a few

First off- it's so pretty there- if you've never been, you should.
There were many nights we were driving back to Gerrit's parents house and saw some deer on the side of the road- and we even saw some little tiny wild bunnies... so cute!

Look how pretty that was- we were just driving down the road and this is what we saw - it never gets old to me

And second- the malls! The malls are great for shopping, but also most of the have great toys to play on... so you gotta love that! It's much easier to shop with kids when you can bribe them with toys

Playing at Uncle Rusty's

2009-08-12T13:53:00.000-07:00

While we were in Washington we went over to my uncles house and played for a bit- and since two of Lacy's girls were in WA also (we brought them to their grandma's house) we picked them up and brought them with so they could see Rusty and Brady

Uncle Rusty always has the coolest new toys to play with - big kid toys that is... so everyone was having a good time playing on his new little scooters - my kids LOVED them. They both thought it was the best thing every

Racheal after she was done racing Gerrit around the block

Uncle Brady took Haylee around

Ethan, Racheal, Brady, Haylee, and Sarah

Cindy and Rusty with Racheal, Ethan, Sarah and Haylee

Bon Fires and Best Friends

2009-07-21T14:24:00.000-07:00

Also keeping with the reunion theme for the week, we met up with some of Gerrit's old High School friends. We went over to Greg and Kelsey Garka's house for a BBQ and a little marshmallow roasting- Gerrit went to school with both greg and kelsey- (he actually dated kelsey for a brief moment in time- but that's a moo point) And his friend Chi (who also went to HS with them) was there with his daughter and kinda wife- but not his wife, but practically is. So I'm not sure what they are. But they're together, and they have a cute little girl Haylee's age- so they had fun playing together too. (side note- Greg and Chi were Gerrit's groomsmen in our wedding, for those of you going way back with us)

Here is Ethan and Mason, Greg and Kelsey's little baby. He just turned 1- and he is sooo cute! What a good little baby. Also a little side note for those of you still with us from last year- this is the baby that had to have open heart surgery when he was born. He's doing really good now, and he's such a good baby!

Ethan wasn't so sure about Mason being that close to all his toys

Don't you love getting old friends together and seeing your kids play with their kids??

Haylee and Samia (I'm not sure if that's how you spell her name) but she is Chi's little girl. And if you think Haylee is tall for her age- you should see Samia- she just turned 5, and she's a good couple inches taller than haylee- she's like 5 going on 45. She's a wise little thing
Here's Kelsey and Mason enjoying the fire
The boys- Gerrit with Ethan, Greg with Mason, and Chi. (looks like he needs to have a boy)

Chi, Talisa (chi's lady), Samia (their daughter) Haylee, me and Ethan

Meeting up with old friends

2009-07-21T14:01:00.001-07:00

We spent all last week in Washington. It was time for my 10 year High School reunion. So we decided to keep with the reunion theme all week- and see lots of old friends. See, I didn't go to High School with the kids I went to church with, (for those who didn't know that... I live in Lake Stevens but stayed at Snohomish HS)- but I made some really good friends in my Lake Stevens ward- who I have stayed in touch with, or have gotten back in touch with thanks to facebook. So we decided to have our own little lake stevens reunion. And since Brady, my brother, and I were so close in HS we had a lot of the same friends so he met up with us also for dinner. It was fun to be together with everyone. With the exception of Alisa, everyone else married someone I've known for a long time, so it was fun and easy to talk with everyone.

Here is Sundee and Brennon Gomm. Brennon was in my ward in Lake Stevens, but Sundee (Barber) and I were friends before I even met brennon and she went to school with me for years until she moved to CA in high school- but then she moved back after high school and we stayed friends, but then her and Brennon got married- so it's fun to see both of them- always have liked them both
This is Leann and Jacob Goodwin. Now Jacob was in my ward in lake stevens also- but he married leann, who I had also known for years when I was living in Everett. So Leann and I went to girls camps and Youth conferences together. So it was fun to catch up with them because we know a lot of the same people. What a small world isn't it?

And my good friend Alisa and her bf Matt. Alisa was one of my best friends in high school. She is one of the only girls in my lake stevens ward that I hung out with. And her and I have always stayed in touch. So we see her whenever we're back in WA. But her b/f Matt, I had never met before, nor did we know any of the same people. But I'm sure he's great.

Gerrit and me (he's looking at me like, seriously? we need to take another pic?)

And then yes this is my little brother Brady. Most people don't recognize him. He's changed a bit. If you knew him before you would probably walk right past him now, and not even know it was him. You can't tell, but it really long hair is pulled back in a pony tail. ---- you can't even tell that we're related, huh? I guess that's why we could hang out in high school.

Yeah Me!

2009-07-10T08:52:00.000-07:00

I got some pretty exciting news today! Today I found out that one of my ideas is being featured on TipJunkie.

I love this website, and I've been following it for awhile now. And a couple months ago I submitted my idea to make your own shirts. As many of you know I was making oodles of Twilight t-shirts earlier this year (and still making them- because we'll all need new ones for the next movie, right?) And on my treasured thoughts blog I had shown you step by step how to make your own t-shirts using my vinyl as a stencil. I'm sure you've all checked it out already, right? Well you can now, I won't notice.

But this is a big honor to be featured on tipjunkie I would just like to thank the little people who helped me along the way. And I would like to thank the academy for this prestigious award. I would like to thank Twilight for being so wonderful. Without you I would never had made these shirts, or had the honor and privilege of sharing my awesomeness with the tip junkie world. Thank you Stephanie Meyer, I owe it all to you.

*side note, yes they spelled my name wrong- (let down) but my shirt is still on there, my website is still linked to my shirt. And you can all go look at it now if you want. In case you don't believe me.

Happy Independace Day

2009-07-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

There's nothing more American to me than spending the 4th of July at a waterpark with your family. Now I'm not really sure where the first waterpark was invented- but let's pretend it's American, shall we?

Even though we've been to the water park many times already this year- Ethan still isn't ready to get in all the way. He just walks back and forth about ankle deep in the kiddy area- but atleast he likes it

Here he is saying "come on momma" I'm not sure where he thought he was going, he was already up to his ankles
But Haylee and daddy have no problem getting wet

Yes, we brought all 3 kids of ours to the water park. Actually Lacy made a deal with us, if we brought Sarah she would make the whole BBQ for us that night. Now that's American- deals and trades

sibling love

Having a good time together

What's more American than sitting at the water park eating sponge bob ice cream?

Maybe eating the BEST thing ever invented by an American! Dippin Dots! These little wonderful invention is why I am proud to be an American

It really is my favorite thing in the whole wide world
Sorry kids

Fireworks with Friends

2009-07-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

After we spent all day at the water, had a BBQ at Lacy's, we had to do the next American tradition and go to the firework show. We decided to go to Melba this year. We actually had never gone to this show- and I actually had never ever been to Melba! So we met up with Kathy and her family (shocking, I know) and luckily they had set up blankets early so we just took over their spot and sat and watched the fireworks together

Tiki had lots of glow necklaces that she brought and was handing out to all the kids with us.
Kathy and Olivia showing us the latest in glow necklace fashionMe and my firecracker

I'm not really sure why, but Haylee is ALWAYS in the middle of every picture we take of these three. Maybe it's just to balance it out- but that's kinda funny

We had so many necklaces that Haylee and Brooklyn wanted to see if they could make a necklace big enough to fit around both of them- they could

And then we added more necklaces to that, and had a hoola hoop contest. Nothing more American than hoola hooping- look at Kathy go.

Ethan was leaning in to Olivia to give her a 4th of July kiss. I'm pretty sure she saw fireworks because of his kiss

Here we are watching the fireworks- Ethan loves them- he does really good.

But he just couldn't decide where the best seat was- so he moved around a lot- sitting with me, then daddy, then bobby. But at least he was happy. And with his glow necklace on, he was easy keep track of.

Brooklyn, on the other hand, wasn't a big fan of the noise

It's a really good show- lots of people are there, and they play good music to go along with it. It's worth going to if anyone was wondering. Next year we just need to make our White Trash Bingo cards to give us something to do

God and Country Rally

2009-07-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

It's become a tradition with us and our friends the Holzwarths to watch the firework show every year from the God and Country Rally. Now we're not really sure what the God and Country Rally is- or why they have it, or who even puts it on. But we do know that the Holzwarths back yard is in the perfect spot to watch the fireworks. For whatever reason we have them.

We also do a BBQ and just sit and play waiting for the fireworks to start. We've been doing this together since Haylee was 1.

Here's Philip- working on some good burgers for us

Haylee was challenging everyone to a friendly little soccer game- which she won every time. They really had no idea that you really have to play hard against her- and she'll wear you out every time

Daddy playing with the kids

When it got dark enough we started a fire and roast shmarshmallows (that's what Haylee calls them)

Daddy helping Ethan roast a marshmallow

Lesson learned

2009-07-05T11:58:00.001-07:00

This is what happens when you ask your husband to take your son to get his hair cut.

Nice huh?

15 Candles....

2009-07-05T11:49:00.001-07:00

Alright, I know Alissa isn't our kid- but I was the one with the camera- and so I thought I would share pictures. She turned 15 last month- and starts drivers ed TOMORROW!!! How scary is that? Man, I feel old, and she's not even mine. So here are a few pics from her big day!

Want to know what a 15 yr old looks like when she FINALLY gets a cell phone??? This is it-

Alissa was so busy playing with her phone she didn't really care about anything else, even the cake- and Haylee could it take it any longer- so she decided to just do it herself!

Ethan didn't know what was going on- but he was having a good time- and by the look on Gerrit's face, he was too

Family Vacation

2009-06-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

Remember that time I said I was going on vacation and would probably be cured of my blogging blues? Well not so much. Don't get me wrong I had a FANTASTIC time on vacation- California was good to us, Gerrit would pick up and move to San Diego in a heart beat, and I'm sure Haylee would be right with him. Ethan on the other hand isn't so sure about this thing called sand- and I've been living in Idaho too long, because San Diego was just too busy for my liking. But really I don't know why I haven't posted any of our pictures. I did on face book, and most of you guys reading this are my friends on facebook and are probably wondering to yourself why are you looking at these pictures again? But anyhow I will post my pictures for my own enjoyment, and so we don't forget what a great time we had, and for those of you not on facebook (gasp at the very thought) here is our family 'fun'cation as Haylee was calling it all week (and it's a really long post- sorry)

The real elephants weren't at the zoo this week, because they were re-doing their exhibit, good for the elephants, bad for us, we missed them by a couple days. So this was the only one we saw

Did you know you should be very quiet around panda bears? That's what they kept telling us anyway

Look we found some monkeys! No- it's just our friend Richard- he is living down there in San Diego and met up with us a couple times, so we may see more pictures of him.

Gerrit was really in awe of the peacock- just walking around the zoo checking things out, no cage or anything. We tried talking Richard into pulling on of his big feathers, but he wouldn't go for it

They had a fun bug exhibit there, and one of the keepers brought this stick bug type thing out for the kids to touch, Haylee wouldn't have anything to do with it

The second day we were at the zoo we decided to take the tour bus, and we got the top front of the bus! The best seats in the house! And the tour was really the way to go- since the zoo is so big, it would have taken us all day to see what we did. * do you like haylee's glasses? She bought them at Sea World, and no they are not goggles- they are really glasses.

on the tour bus we saw the giraffes, and there was some cute baby ones too! Awe, how cute!

The polar bears were fun to watch- he (or she, I don't really know) was swimming right in front of the glass for a long time, just playing with a ball. It was quite entertaining

We spent a good portion of the first day at the zoo looking for the tigers, you know it's a big zoo when you ask for directions and they tell you to get in the elevator and go down 3 stories!!! But eventually we found them, and Haylee loved it! This is the only animal she really wanted to see, since her soccer team this year was called the tigers. So it was so important that we found them

The "skyfari" was one of our favorite modes of transportation at the zoo! It was free (with the pass we bought) to ride back and forth- so we did, a lot! Which was nice, because it was a looooong trek up to the polar bears, and without this skyfari, I don't know if I would have made it back down...It takes you from one end of the zoo to the other, so you get a whole Ariel view of the zoo! It was so fun!

the animals at the zoo are crazy, you really have to watch out for them! Oh wait, maybe it's just Gerrit whose crazy... gotta love him though! Haylee still cracks up every time she sees this picture!

**SEA WORLD**
Haylee won't touch a stick bug, but she'll get on any ride she's big enough for. And since someone had to stay back with Ethan- daddy and Haylee went on the ride. And yeah they got soaking wet! But she loved it!

I've never seen so many penguins in my whole life!

Anyone care to venture a guess why there are horses at seaworld? But they aren't just any horses, these are the Budweiser horses. Which baffles me even more. But Haylee thought that was pretty cool and it didn't seem to bother her that horses were at seaworld. maybe it's just me...

Did you know flamingos are pink because they eat shrimp?

Awe, the real reason anyone goes to seaworld! The whales! They are so beautiful, and so amazing to watch! This one kept swimming around the pool in front of the glass- and haylee would run to one end of the viewing glass and try to race the whale around to see who would win... she almost had him one time

Star fish- you can hold them, but don't take them out of the water. It amazed me how many people, adults really, who didn't seem to understand this rule

This is a bat ray- like a sting ray, but not stinging. There were hundreds in the pool just swimming around, and you could put your hand in and touch them... they kinda felt like large wet gummy worms. But they were thick... and you could feed them, for a small fee of course-

The "Believe" show! At first we were all sitting together at the back of the splash zone, it was close, but you won't really get wet. But Haylee thought it might be fun to sit really close and get wet... so her and daddy went down close. While Ethan and I stayed dry were I could get pictures
The show was amazing! To say the least. You really could sit and watch them all day

Look at that! How cool is that?
Haylee did want to get wet, and they did, but only after they bought ponchos

We had dinner with Shamu! Which was sooo much fun, this is how close you get to sit to the water- and our table was right where the whales came out of the water! What an experience! And don't worry, it was all you can eat- so it's kinda worth it. And no, they don't serve any sea food

During dinner they have the whales perform a little mini show for us

Yep, this is right next to us!

While we were there I really wanted to see the San Diego temple. It is probably one of the most stunning, most beautiful temples around. So I wanted to walk around and show the kids, well mainly Haylee cuz Ethan's only one; how pretty and special the temple is. And really encourage her to get married at this temple! Because I would love to come back for that reason. And I know the kids probably won't remember going, but at least they will be able to look back at the pictures and see that they were there.

Those 4 tiny dots in the front of this picture are us- the nice old man taking this picture had to really back up to get the WHOLE temple in.

One day he'll be walking her into the temple and she'll be getting married to her own wonderful man, like mine. (tears)

Mission Beach

Look at those two- burr! They are crazy! But that could be why they have each other

Haylee is my beach baby! She loves loves loves it! She would have been happy on the beach all day

We weren't in Hawaii honey-what's with the hang loose sign?

Ohhh- don't you love it?

This is really all I came to California to do... if only the sun was out a little bit more

how you tell how cold the water was (or probably was I don't think I touched it at all)

Daddy was trying to get Ethan to like the water- it wasn't really working

But maybe Ethan didn't like the water because of this... who really knows for sure- it's hard to say at this age
Family picture at mission beach

And Ethan's done on the beach! I don't know where this kid came from - doesn't he realize I am on vacation and on a beach! There's no crying at the beach!

Haylee in front of some ponds at the hotel- if you look closely behind her you can see our balcony above her head. It was a really pretty hotel.

Haylee and daddy playing in the pool- this was taken from the balcony in our room. Ethan wasn't a fan of the pool water either

Haylee had saved her money for a long time waiting for this trip. So when we were at SeaWorld she bought herself a few toys. Like this SeaWorld Trainer Barbie, and a pony. We're at seaworld and she buys a horse, not a seahorse, a pony horse. Go figure

The kids had a great time together playing. We made sure we got a big room to give them room to run, and so they wouldn't be driving us crazy all week.

One night we went for a walk along the water- there was a playground down the road from our hotel, so Haylee really wanted to go play there. It was so pretty to watch the sun setting

We really had the best time! It was so nice to just be together as a family (and richard sometimes) We highly recommend this trip to anyone who is thinking of going! It really is worth it! We would go back.

2009-05-08T10:15:00.000-07:00

I think I need to make a doctors appointment for myself- it's been a whole month since I've posted anything on my blog. I don't even have a good excuse- other than I just haven't done it. I think there might be something seriously wrong with me. Besides the obvious. I'll call my doctor later today and see if he can get me in. And I'll let you know of the outcome. It doesn't look good.

But since I do have a whole month of pictures to show you, I think I'll just give you the abridged version of our month. (at least I'll try to, I'm kinda long winded) To make this a little less painful for all of you.
So this is what we've been doing all month:

Haylee started her second season of spring soccer. And man did she ever have a great start! She made 6 goals at her first game! (Her previous record was 4 goals in a single game)

And we stay busy all Saturday with Racheal & Sarah's soccer games- and our friend Lexi is playing, so we try to get to all her games when we can. (Saturday's are busy around here)

We enjoyed a nice quiet Easter at home with Lacy's family. Gerrit's parents were in town the night before, but had to leave to get home.

Ethan REALLY liked Easter- he had a great time with all the candy... he kept bringing me more, and with those eyes who could say no?

Then we threw a baby shower for a lady in our ward having twins! A boy and a girl- so this is a part of what I made her. I just made a regular board with my vinyl... and then.......

I painted the inside of the vinyl - it seems so easy and like a no brainer really- but it took me almost 4 years to do it for the first time

And then one day I made these firecrackers.... they are SOOOOO cute! If I must say so myself. I'm trying to get stuff going for the summer

And Ethan has been loving his baths lately. (he says "A Bath" whenever he walks into our bathroom) and him and Olivia were having a great time together with all the bubbles
They love each other- I hope they get married- wouldn't this be a cute picture on their wedding announcement?

And we had our Mother Daughter dinner at the church this week that I was in charge of- so Haylee had fun being a grown-up and going with me to the church.
And we helped our friend move- and I'm helping plan a bridal shower, and I had our fantastic friday at church.
This month has really worn everyone out! But don't worry we leave for vacation on Sunday- and I'm sure that will cure me of my blogging blues. So get ready for lots of pictures then!

Don't you like how haylee falls asleep with the Wii remote still on her?

And poor little Olivia one day- during lunch I gave her a snack and next time I looked at her she was out like this sitting in the chair!

And we found out that we've been spelling Haylee's name wrong her whole life. According to the government. Legally her name is spelled Hailey. We found out because I requested her birth certificate for kindergarten (which we also signed her up for this last month) And they have it spelled wrong. Or we have been spelling it wrong, or something. But we have to get it changed. But i did ask her if she wanted to spell her name Hailey- because then we wouldn't have to change anything. But she didnt like that idea. So we will change her name to Haylee. I know I spelled her name Haylee when I filled it out when she was born- and they didn't even bother to check it when they filled it out. But I'm a terrible mother for not having a birth certificate 5 years later.

So I'm going to go feed these 8 kids i have today some lunch- and then get most of them down for a nap, and count down the hours until I'm done working for a week! Yeah for vacations!

Bummer

2009-04-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

ok- so my computer is funky right now, and I can't check my emails. So if anyone is trying to email me, I'm sorry, but I can't check them. I know it's so frustrating! I don't know what to do with myself, not being able to check my emails. But hopefully it will be fixed soon, and I can be whole again.

Who wants something?

2009-04-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

One of my friends did this on her blog, and I was one of the 5 to get in on it- so now it's time for me to repost it on my blog. I'm excited to see what she makes me and I hope people want something that i would make!

Here is the deal: The first five people to comment on this post will get something made by me.This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. ( but I will try hard to make something you will like)

2- What I make will be just for you.

3- It'll be done this year.

4- You have no clue what it's going to be. (but it's made by me, so vinyl is a good possibility, but not guaranteed)

5- I reserve the right to do whatever I want!

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your own blog and offer the same deal to 5 of your own lucky blog readers.

So, the first 5 people to leave a comment telling me they are in, win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it.

Let the games begin

New Recipes

2009-03-31T13:06:00.000-07:00

So a couple weeks ago someone emailed me this website http://www.kevinandamanda.com/ because this lady has TONS of great fonts to download onto your computer. And let's face it, I'm a sucker for fonts. It's what I do. (so if you have great fonts send them to me) so as I was searching all her wonderful fonts I clicked on the part of her website that said recipes. What? This lady has great fonts and great recipes? It couldn't be! But it is. It's almost too good to be true. I think I have found a new best friend. (no offense to my other best friends reading this, but she has a lot to offer, and let's face it, I'm just not that loyal anyway) So I was reading her recipes (which is my other weakness besides fonts, because Gerrit and I are two of the PICKIEST eaters on the planet, it's really hard to cook for the two of us) And if you're like me, you hate recipes that call for ingredients that you just don't have, or don't know where to even find at the grocery store, or have never even heard of. Let alone do I even want to buy a whole thing of (some random spice or something) that I only need a teaspoon of, and then have it sit in my pantry for the next year until I throw it away? No, I don't! But don't worry, these are all normal things she makes. Nothing is scary or too weird. And she even has some yummy looking desserts on there.
I'm making her Classic Chicken Parmigiana tonight. (doesn't it look yummy?) I'm using her pictures because I know mine won't be that pretty.

So if you are need of some new recipes (Michelle Colt) go look these up, and she even has a nice printable version of all of them. I'm telling you, she's my new best friend and doesn't even know it.
So here's what I've made so far

This one is called "Becky Higgins' Garlic Chicken Farfalle" I thought it was a lot like "Johnny Carinos" Bowtie festival. Which I love anyway, so it was good.

Here's the recipe- but I added my two sense to it, from what I thought after I made it.

GARLIC CHICKEN FARFALLE

16 oz. Farfalle pasta
1 c. heavy whipping cream
3-4 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
2 to 3 cloves garlic, crushed OR garlic salt (I do a spoonful of crushed garlic)
1 Tbsp. pepper* (Ashlee's note - this is a lot of pepper for me, I didn't use that much)
1/2 c. butter
1 lb. bacon, crumpled** (Ashlee's note- I think I only used 1/2 pound, and it was plenty! And we even really like bacon)
1/2 c. shredded Parmesan cheese
1 (12 oz) Lawry’s mesquite marinade with lime juice (Ashlee's note- I never would have tried this marinade had it not called for it in the recipe, but it was SOOOO good and smelled so yummy cooking all day. I think I might buy some more for BBQ's this summer)
*Seems like a lot of pepper, but it has a wonderful flavor when everything mixes together. If you're apprehensive, do less pepper. You can always add more.
[ directions ]Crock pot chicken and bottle of marinade on low for 6 hours. Pull marinated chicken out of the juices, allow to cool a little bit, and shred (I pull it apart). Set this aside. About a half-hour before serving, boil the pasta. In a small saucepan, melt butter, add garlic, whipping cream, pepper, Parmesan cheese, and crumpled bacon. Whisk together on low heat for 3-4 minutes. In a large bowl, pour over cooked, drained pasta, add chicken and stir through. Sprinkle a little bit more shredded Parmesan cheese on top.
Ok, so here is what else I thought. On the website she suggested only cooking 8 ounces of the pasta, (if you don't have so many people to cook for) which I did. And I'm so glad I did. It was a lot. (remember I only cook for about 3 people) And even then with only doing 8 ounces of pasta I still doubled the sauce ingredients. I like to taste the sauce. So next time I would probably even make it a triple batch or more of the sauce. I like things goopy. ( I like to have sauce on my plate to dip my french bread in- yeah I'm one of those kinds of people) And it would probably even be better for left overs the next day, it wouldn't be as dry. But that's just my opinion. But yes I would make this again.

This one is called Mighty Meaty Nachos

32 oz) Velveeta cheese
1 can Rotel tomatoes and green chilies
1 lb sausage, browned and drained
1 lb hamburger, browned and drained
1 small jar of salsa
1 can cream of mushroom soup
small, fajita sized flour tortillas (about 6″ in diameter)
3-4 cups vegetable oil
kosher salt
Spray crock pot with Pam and melt Velveeta cheese on high for 2 hrs. Then add rotel, meat, salsa and soup and mix together. Serve with chips ( or make your own)
Keep warm while making chips. Heat about 1″ of oil in a skillet over medium to medium high heat for about 5 mins. Cut tortillas into 1/4ths to make chips. Heat chips in oil for about 1 min on each side until golden. Remove chips to bowl lined to paper towels and sprinkle with a healthy pinch of salt. Serve chips and dips together to make Mighty Meaty Nachos!
Ok here are more of my opinions- I liked this one. Haylee LOVED it! One of her favorite things in the entire world is nachos, so she ate it for left overs for days! And it made a TON! Like sooo much I invited our friends over to eat it with us and we still had lots of left overs. But it was good (but you have to like Velveeta cheese, otherwise it probably wouldn't be so good to you) I was a little hesitant about the cream of mushroom soup (Gerrit HATES mushrooms) so I knew if Gerrit saw me put it in, he wouldn't even try it. So I didn't show him the can when I bought it, nor did I tell him it had it in it. And he still ate it without any complaints. So even if you HATE mushrooms, you can still do it. Because you will never know it's in there. It's just for the creamyness of it all. And a small jar of salsa? I didn't know what that meant- so I added a 16 oz. jar. And I will admit it, I didn't make my own chips. I'm not that kind of mom. I didn't feel like it, we had enough of the store bought chips and no one complained. (Even though Kathy was willing to make the chips if we had to) So if you are having a big party, this is perfect, or if you cut the recipe in half maybe, it might be better. Unless you want to eat it for days. Which we did. And we still liked it after 3 days. And yes I would make it again

More Twilight

2009-03-23T10:30:00.000-07:00

Well we went to the release party at Borders for Twilight Friday night. There was a lot of people there. And they played some games. But mostly we just sat around making fun of people. Because that's what we do best. (I mean let's be honest here) The games were kind of lame- and the people were weird (who worked there) but I guess what did we expect? But we were there and wanted the movie so we would put up with it. Well around 11:45 they had people start lining up to get the movie. People with purple wrist bands had pre-ordered the movie (we did not) so they lined up first. then the first however many people that were there that day got pink wristband (we did not have one of those either) The first pink wrist band lady told me she got there at 4 in the morning. I said "wow you have no life" right to her face, no- I don't make friends very well. So after the wrist band people lined up we realized we were super far behind. And we didn't want to wait that long in line. So we left and went to Walmart- we got to Walmart about 12:10 and walked right up and got our copies of the movie- because the rest of the people already got their copies. So we figured we would probably still be standing in line at borders- and next time we're just going to Walmart. And it's much closer to my house than Borders was. And we came right home and watched the movie... So here are some pictures from our night

Here is the other shirt I made for Racheal- people kept telling us they liked our shirts. I said thanks- I made them!

Me and kathy waiting at borders

Here is my shirt I made me- it says " I like my men COLD DEAD & Sparkly"
(I'm secretly a James fan- in real life)
This is the shirt I made Kathy- it makes me laugh (especially if you know Kathy)

Racheal is a BIG fan of Jacob's. I used to be. I was when I was reading the books. I wanted them together in the end. Until the movie came out and do you know who plays Jacob? Shark-boy! Remember Haylee's obsession with the movie Shark-boy and Lava Girl? Yeah it's the same kid who plays shark boy. But he's all grown up, and if he wasn't shark boy, I would still be a fan. But I just can't do it. I had to switch to the Vampires

She had a birthday shout Horray!

2009-03-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

Our little Haylee turned 5 a couple weeks ago. ( I know I'm really slow doing the post) But I think he had a fun birthday. We had decided last year that we were only going to do friends birthday parties every other year. Being on their even year birthdays. That way both kids are opposite years. But since i do daycare I decided that we would just do all the birthday festivities during the day while everyone was there- that way she would never know I didn't plan a party- and mommy got paid for it. And Gerrit had the day off so after all the kids were gone we could just go right out to dinner. We told her she could pick anything she wanted for dinner. But she out smarted us. As most 5 year olds do... you would think that she would pick McDonald's, but she didn't- which I am grateful for. So she picked Red Robin (at least until the day before her birthday) then she remembered that you can eat dinner at Boondocks (a family fun center, full of toys and games and it's basically a child's dream land) so that's what she picked for dinner. She wanted to go to boondocks and have pizza. See she's smart, she knew we would stay and play. But that's ok, we weren't complaining. It wore the kids out and got out all their sugar they had consumed through the day.
So here are some highlights of her big day
All her friends (I mean daycare kids) that were there to play with her that day.

Ethan got her 5 balloons for her birthday.

Opening presents.

This pony that she got is really big. But she carries it around like it's a tiny little one. It really goes everywhere with her. It's pretty funny to watch her lug it around all day

See the pony is the same size as our dog. Prince wasn't so sure what to think of it at first. Because it was right at eye level with him, but it didn't move. So he was a bit confused Haylee had an odd request for her birthday this year. A couple weeks before her birthday she came down stairs and says to me "mom you know that stuff that has lots bubbles that you stand on and pop with your feet" I said "yeah, bubble wrap?" She says "yeah, that's what I want for my birthday" I was like GREAT! I will get that for you. That sounds like the easiest present in the entire world. So we did, and she LOVED it. I even splurged and bought her the big roll. And it was entertainment for all. I highly recommend it

Two of her besties- Lexi and Brooklyn. Even when we don't have parties, they are at all our parties!

We also let haylee pick out her own cake and frosting at the store for Mommy to make. So when it was all cooled and frosted, I got out every bottle of sprinkles I could find in the cupboard and let the girls go to town with it. They had so much fun... it was probably the highlight (well next to the bubble wrap) and I got rid of all those almost empty bottles of sprinkles

5 big candles

Here we are at Boondocks- we brought her friend Brooklyn so she could have someone to play with on all the toys since Ethan can't keep up with her

Her and Brooklyn played air hockey- oh my goodness what I riot they were. They thought it was so funny. I'm not sure why. But it was good times

And Ethan had a good time hanging out with his good friend Spider man. He loved this ride, he would get on and touch spider man and try to talk to him. It was funny. This was his favorite

So that was Haylee's birthday. And if you ask her how old she is... she'll say 5 1/2

Lakoda takes State!

2009-03-21T18:38:00.000-07:00

Gerrit's nephew Lakoda came over here a couple weeks ago with his High School (from Shelley Idaho) Basketball team for the state tournament. It was so fun to be able to go to his games while they were here. Haylee just loved it (we did too, but Haylee especially loved it, because Lakoda holds a special place in her heart) Since they kept winning while they were here we got to go to all 3 games. The last game was held in the Idaho Center (which is where all the concerts and big events are held) so that it felt like a real NBA game or something watching them. For the games I made all of us matching t-shirts to support and cheer on Lakoda. And since Koda was here playing Chris (gerrit's sister) and her family came over, as well as Koda's girlfriend Kaitlyn and they all stayed at our house. Haylee was in heaven... her and kaitlyn became good friends

Here's Ethan climbing all around the bleachers during the game. He actually did really well. He just walked around flirting with people, come over and eat something and then he would stop and clap when ever we did. It was pretty funny.

Haylee (cheesy weird smile) waiting for the game to start. You can't tell, but she was excited to be there.

That's a little bit better smile

Getting ready for the game (this is the final game- he's a starter)

And that's him making the shot

These pictures the newspaper here took- so I copied them to our computer :)

you can't see his face- but he's #4 there- and I thought it was funny how scared this guy looked - I mean Koda's a big guy. He's like 6'5"

And when the game was over this is another one the newspaper took. I think it just says it all... it was a good game. The first half they were down but somehow they came from behind and pulled it out to win. It was so cool

Lakoda and his girlfriend Kaitlyn

The State trophy

And Haylee had to take a picture with Koda because she was so proud of him, and so happy that he FINALLY got to come to our house (since he had been staying at a hotel with the team) she seriously loves him so much.

And little kids were coming up to koda asking for his autograph and having him sign their basketballs. It was like he was famous. And i bet he felt that way too- he deserved it though, they played a good game

Twilight Release party

2009-03-20T10:53:00.001-07:00

So as many of you already know- Twilight the movie is coming out TONIGHT at midnight! YEAH. We're a little excited around here. And we're thinking about going to a release party at Borders Book Store. So we had to make t-shirts. And i made some t-shirts for the Girls Camp Fundraiser dinner that is also tonight. They are doing an auction (normally I was in charge of this night, but since i got released from YW, I'm not!!! But I still made something to help them out) So we made Twilight shirts because the girls in our ward are just as crazy as we are. So I wanted to show you the shirts and how we did it.

First I made a stencil out of vinyl, of course. I just made a box around the letters i wanted to use, then I pulled out the opposite of what I normally do. And made it a stencil (pretty cool huh? That's also how we etch our pans- sort of) Then we put the stencil on the shirt where you want it. This shirt is for Racheal- she made up this saying...

Then I just used my normal craft paints. (since it's permanent and won't come out of clothes. As many of you know who have gotten it on your good jeans like me) And then I painted it. But i didn't just paint like normal, I kind of pounced my brush like you would if you were using a stencil brush (does anyone know what I mean? that way the you have a less chance of the paint getting under the stencil. So you pounce)
This one I did in two stages, because some of the colors were overlapping each other

Here it is finished. It's for Alissa.

And here are some that I made for the Auction... you can't tell but after the paint was try I went back with sparkle glaze and painted over the letters (with the stencil still on)

the other one for the auction

And this one is another one for Racheal. If you know her, it fits her. And we sparkled this one too.

So that's how we make shirts around here. *we found a lot of sayings for these shirts at cafepress.com and then we made them our self. Also a side note in case anyone wants to do this- the paint is permanent, but may bleed a bit the first time they are washed, just depending on the color paint you use. So use caution when you wash for the first time. But the last shirts we made for Lakoda's basketball we didn't have any problems with. Oh and white shirts are the easiest to paint on. Grey wasn't bad either. But the red (and when I've done black) I've had to do like 4 coats to cover it. White shirts just use one coat of paint. So I like that

What we're doing for the Fantastic Friday (aka - Super saturday)

2009-03-19T13:59:00.001-07:00

So after weeks of being indecisive I finally had to make a decision as to what we were going to do for this fantastic Friday I wanted so badly. And then it also occurred to me (like on Friday) that I had to get all the sign-ups ready for Sunday!!! So Sunday morning was crazy around here, with me getting everything painted and cut out. So it's a good thing we don't start church until 2:00. So anyway here is what we are going to do for the Fantastic Friday... Yes it's a lot of vinyl things- but what can you do? And they wanted to theme for that night to be "Great Gift Ideas you can do on a budget" So it's things that will work for Wedding Presents, birthday presents... things like that. So we're also offering free gift tags to make- and then I'm trying to talk one of my friends into teaching a mini class on creative gift wrapping ideas...and we're also etching our glass pans again (we did this last year, and more people wanted them) What do you think?

So this is the teacher gift plaque. It's really cute- on a 8x8 board

And then these Temple Plaques on a 10x10 - these would be good for weddings, or just any kind of presents - I'm offering the Salt Lake Temple or the Boise (but I do have more if anyone out there wants another one) And then people can pick what saying they want on them - like "families are forever" or "Dickson Family" (but your last name of course) or even i thought just "We Believe" would be really nice on there with the temple

This is the Boise temple one (but all of them are going to be gone in those colors from above)

And then I did these frames that you change out every month for decor. And then there's also a HOME paper and a Happy Birthday paper. So there's always something to put in the frame. It's all done on cute scrapbook paper ( I'm also going to make more of these on metal- because I like the looks of metal, but for this night I did paper to keep the cost down) So you get 14 in all to change out every month. So this is obviously the March one

Then you can see the Happy birthday, HOME, Snowman (January) Be My Valentine (Feb) Easter (April) BLOOM (May) Lemonade (June- but I also made a Gone Fishing one for June that my sister wants, I had a hard time thinking of something for June) and then the July one says Stars and stripes forever. but it's hard to see in the pic

HOT HOT HOT (August) ABC (Sept) Happy Halloween (Oct) Be Thankful (Nov) and Merry Days Silent Nights for (Dec)

But then I also made one for them that you just change out for the 4 seasons instead of the 14 seasons. To keep the cost down if people didn't want all 14. And I love this fall one! I think it's way cute, I may be making it on boards later.
So these were the other 3 seasons for that frame
And then the one thing that is not vinyl that we are doing is those "I Spy" bags for kids. My kids have loved these since we made them. I really didn't want to do it because I hate to sew, and I think it's hard to do sewing things at the church because you can never get enough machines there and there's people like me who hate to sew so there's always one person who gets stuck doing it all. But my friend said she would be that person who would help sew if people wanted. So we're doing them. We had a I spy party at her house one night trying to figure out the best way to get these done, and we finally did it. And the YW has a bunch of beads and charms left over from camp last year that they don't want us to use anymore. So the YW is going to donate that for people to put inside their bags. So it's really a pretty cheap project and one that keeps everyone entertained. Haylee loves it, she was with me when we made them- so I let her pick what we wanted in hers, there is soooo much stuff in there.

So that's what we're doing. Should be fun... and I'll do it again in the Fall. (even bigger!)

HELP

2009-02-26T12:24:00.000-08:00

OK you brilliant little minds out there- I need some help and input. I want to do a super saturday in the spring for our ward (I'm in charge of enrichment's now, it's not like I'm just doing one for no reason. Altough I would do something like that) So I need help coming up with ideas, or suggestions on stuff that would be a good idea. What kind of things have you done for your super Saturdays? What did you like? What did you see another ward do? What would you like to do? What kind of decor do you need more of? What do you hate? What have you seen on other websites? And what is that website? I WILL TAKE ANYTHING! So bring it on. Even if you are a blog stalker and I don't know you- please feel free to tell me your ideas. I welcome them. (and actually I want to do it on a friday night instead of saturday, since there's all those spring sports and stuff on saturdays) so we won't really have oodles of time, but I think enough if maybe we do it from like 4-10. (and all this is if I can get permission to do one- haha)
I have a few ideas- but most of my ideas are vinyl. And I don't want people to think that's the only reason why I'm doing this is to sell vinyls. So if you guys could help me with non- vinyl things. That would be great. But of course vinyl ideas are always welcome!
Thanks- and HURRY!

New Family Pictures

2009-02-19T11:58:00.000-08:00

So we got out new family pictures done awhile ago, and I just LOVE THEM! I am so happy with the way they turned out. And I have waiting to post anything until I could get a pictures of them. So now you can see the pic on our title. The photographer Jordan, from Wild Vine Photography, was great to work with, as well as his whole staff. They always have always been good to us. We've been going there since Haylee was a baby. Jordan has always been so patient and easy to work with. He made it fun for our kids to do pictures. He took us somewhere close to our house to the shoot, and he even did re-takes for us. Which is above and beyond if you ask me. We've never had a "bad" photo shoot with him. We've always had good experiences and always had lots of GREAT pictures to choose from. I highly recommend him if you live in the Boise area. It's Wild Vine Photography - www.wildvinephotography.com Tell them Ashlee Dickson sent you! :) He also does "baby panels" which is pictures of your baby at 3 month, 6 months, 9 months and 1 year. And then they frame all 4 pictures for you. We did this with both our kids, and I am so glad we did! He always got the best pictures out of them, it really shows off their personalities. A mom couldn't ask for more than that.

Just another night for us

2009-02-13T11:20:00.001-08:00

We've had some interesting conversations and dinners around here. I know why they tell us to eat dinner with your families- because it's so important. It's unbelieveable the stuff Haylee comes up with or the topic of converstations she starts... let's just say she knows how babies come out of mommy's tummys. And all the details about it, and my labor stories. And she wants to share this knowledge with other people. It's a good things she's cute

Ethan however is just a riot! He makes this face whenever someone looks at him- and it's just hilarious! He keeps us laughing all day

And here is some video of him playing around. The first is dinner time, he was done eating so he thought he would entertain us. It was just too cute not to capture on video. I wanted to remember it forever.. and the next one is of him and Gerrit playing together... caution the second one may make you dizzy

More new projects

2009-02-04T13:30:00.000-08:00

So my sisters and I went on a HUGE internet search for images of the temples that we could use in vinyl. Well we were finally successful! (still looking for a image of Angel Moroni though, if anyones has one on clip art)Which is very exciting for us. So I made some new ideas to use with them, and thought I would share (in case you don't ever check out my other blog)

I have other temples as well.

And I made this for Haylee's room. It's a 11x14 frame, matted for a 8x10. Then I let haylee pick the paper she wanted in the background.

And I made this one for Ethan's room. I love the little guy. (not to brag or anything, but I think this is WAY cute)

And wouldn't this make a cute wedding present?

And then a couple things I've done in Haylee's room. It's coming together, slowly, but it's coming. I had 4 of these frames, that were in her room before. So I made little flowers and flip flops in the colors of her room, in vinyl, of course. And then her and I went to town putting them on. I even let her help, which is a big deal to me, I'm a really mean mom that way. I want it to look good, and perfect, so i don't usually let her do things. Isn't that terrible? But they turned out really cute, and they really add something to her walls.

Then I also made these big surf boards for her wall. Then we decorated them in flowers also. Really cute, if you ask me... :)

So that's what I've been doing, what have you been doing?

What we've been doing

2009-01-26T13:00:00.000-08:00

Haylee has a new love affair with the Wii- she plays all the time. Here she is actually playing her Mii and my Mii at the same time. (so she's playing 2 people at the same time) I don't think I won though. But it's funny to watch her, and she usually will beat us at whatever we are playing.

I made a new project for myself. This is the little wall next to my computer desk that holds all my orders and what nots for me. And it has gotten really small lately. So I wanted something newer. And with vinyl.

The craft store here had a big 24x36 frame that was really ugly. So I spray painted it black. And then had 12x12 pieces of metal, cork and white board. That I put in it. The flower paper is on 12x12 metal- so i can still use it. And then I have a calender that I made out of vinyl. And ta-da! I have a new grand central station for me to use for all my orders and work stuff. I've very excited

New Valentines day stuff I've been working on.

I've gotten lots of new fonts lately. So i've been having fun trying all them out

And we got our new family pictures up. (finally) And I've still trying to get them to me so I can post them on my blog for all to see better. Anywho- we did black frames, and I had a brown name board. And that just won't do. So I HAD to make a new vinyl for our pictures. And I actually decided to do it straight on the wall this time. Something different. But I really like it. It's also one of my new fonts.

And Haylee got herself dressed this day. She was up stairs for a long time. And I couldn't figure out why. But this is what she came up with. And since it is the middle of January she of course had gloves on.

Ethan's been playing peek a boo a lot with us. And he's soooo cute doing it- we had to get pictures.

Kinda fuzzy, but still cute.

So that's what we've been doing lately. We still don't have anything up on haylee's walls in her room. But we're getting closer. I have all this stuff- i just need to figure out where to put it. She actually had us rearrange her room back to how it was before we painted. So that really threw me off. I was thinking in my head of how to decorate with her room one way, and now I have to start over in my head. Which is why it's taking so long. Also I am refinishing an armoire that we bought back in September. That has been sitting in our garage waiting for me to do. And we finally put primer on it! Wahoo. It's going to go back in my craft corner of the family room. I will post a picture of that one day and show you how bad it is. you can hardly walk there's so much stuff.

You know you are a child of the 80's if...

2009-01-18T20:37:00.000-08:00

Ok- so I was born in the 80's - but most of these still apply. And are dang funny. So enjoy and see how many you truely understand
1. Your first date took you to the roller rink and you held hands for "Couples Only" skate. 2. You wore a banana clip at some point in your youth.3. You carried a big colored comb in your back pocket.4. You know what "Push Up" ice cream is.5. You know the profound meaning of "Wax on. Wax off".6. You know who Tina Youthers is.7. You wanted to be a Goonie.8. You know who Max Headroom is.9. You ever wore fluorescent or neon clothing.10. You could breakdance or wish you could.11. You wanted to dress like the Hulk or She-Ra at Halloween.12. You believed the "By the power of Greyskull," you had the power.13. Partying "like it was 1999" seemed sooo far away.14. You thought that Transformers were more than meets the eye.15. You wanted to be on Star Search.16. You remember Michael Jackson when he was still black.17. Your first Walkman weighed about as much as a brick.18. You owned a doll with "Xavier Roberts" signed on its butt, or knew someone who did.19. You knew what Willis was "talkin' 'bout".20. You HAD to have your MTV.21. You hold a special place in your heart for "Back to the Future."22. You know where to go if you "wanna go where everybody knows your name."23. You thought Molly Ringwald was REALLY cool.24. You actually thought "Dirty Dancing" was a REALLY good movie.25. You have heard of the "Garbage Pail Kids" and possibly owned and traded them with friends.26. You got a Little Professor calculator for Christmas.27. You knew "The Artist", when he was humbly called "Prince".28. You stared a SLAM book or wrote in one.29. You remember when ATARI was a state of the art video game.30. You own any cassettes or records.31. You were led to believe that in the year 2000 we'd all be living on the moon.32. You remember and/or owned any of the CareBear glass collections from Pizza Hut.33. Poltergeist freaked you out.34. You carried your lunch to school in a Gremlins or an ET lunchbox.35. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the ONLY female Smurf.36. You wore biker shorts underneath a short skirt and felt stylish, or know someone who did.37. You ever had a Swatch Watch, and a Swatch Guard for it.38. You had a crush on one of the Corey's (Haim or Feldman).39. You had to stay after class to scrub your desk because your silver Outliner pen leaked through.40. You remember when Saturday Night Live was funny.41. You were in Cub Scouts or Girl Scouts but now you have no idea what all the badges you got were for.42. You know what a "Whammee" is.43. You had a crush on Jon Bon Jovi, or know someone who did.44. You thought eating Reeses Pieces would attract your own alien.45. Your name is Jennifer or Jason.46. You have ever called 867-5309.47. You had a poster of Rob Lowe, Kirk Cameron, Michael J. Fox or Don Johnson on your wall.48. You held the top score on PacMan.49. You had MALL Hair.50. You owned a T-shirt that said, "I shot J. R. " or know someone who did.51. If you ever said "I pity the fool".52. Your dream car was either: the A-team van, KITT or The General Lee.53. You knew who Max's boss Jonathan Hart was.54. You were sad when the "Where's the Beef" lady died.55. You remember when Ricky Martin was a member of Menudo.56. You wore a feather roach clip in your hair from the local carnival because you didn’t know what it really was.57. You remember when cellular phones weighed 15 lbs. and had to be carried over your shoulder.58. You had to come in the house when the street lights came on.59. You still know the Big Mac song. "Two all beef patties, special sauce…" 60. You own a real Rubik’s Cube61. You think there should be a Kids Incorporated original cast reunion.62. You used to own a Snoopy Sno Cone Machine.63. You have a tendency to turn the collar up on your Polo shirts.64. You know what the "P" in Alex P. Keaton stands for. 65. You remember exactly where you were when you heard the space shuttle had exploded.66. You know all of the words to at least one of the Schoolhouse Rock songs.67. You could go through a case of Aqua Net hairspray in a week.68. Your first computer was a Commodore 64 or an Atari 800.69. You thought being a latch key kid was completely normal.70. You were disappointed when an episode of 3-2-1 Contact didn’t include a Bloodhound Gang segment.71. There were days that the homework just had to wait until the ABC Afterschool Special was over.72. You know what movie the phrase, "Number 5 is alive!" is from.73. You remember when Molly Ringwald was on Facts of Life.74. You tried a can of clear Pepsi but hated it like everyone else did. 75. You wore the little bootie socks with the colored balls on the back.76. You wrote your boyfriends name on the side of your canvas Keds.77. You just had to have a Trapper Keeper to stay organized at school.78. You remember when McDonald’s served their burgers in styrofoam boxes.79. You remember when you could buy half cans of soda (great for field trip days!).80. You like the guy who played Freddy Kruger better as Willie on "V".81. You hid out behind the gym during recess to read "Are you there God, it’s me Margaret?" with your friends.82. Four-square was THE playground game.83. You were afraid of the Sleestacks on Land of The Lost.84. You know who Derek Wildstar, Mark Venture, Captain Avatar, Nova and Desslock are. 85. You chewed Dr. Pepper bubble gum.86. You remember Dirk Benedict as Starbuck long before he played Face.87. You know who played Uncle Ned, Elyse’s brother, on Family Ties. 88. You skipped school on the day Luke and Laura got married on General Hospital.89. You never thought they’d be able to top the special effects in TRON.90. You freaked out a little when you realized you fall into the "26-50" category of most surveys.91. You played with Lego’s when they were just blocks of various sizes, not any of the special little parts.92. You made Star Wars shrinky dinks in your oven.93. You know who Spuds McKenzie, The Noid, and Joe Isuzu are.94. The TV movie "The Day After" still scares the heck out of you.95. Pierce Brosnon will always be Remington Steele, not James Bond.96. You owned at least one Choose Your Own Adventure book. 97. You watched Mary Lou Retton win the gold.98. The Dark Crystal is still one of your favorite movies.99. In many of your childhood photos you are wearing something plaid.100. You still love to play Pong!
The following entries came from an e-mail I received from a friend entitled "Girl of the 70's". A lot of these apply as well so I thought I would add them to the list.
1. You owned a bicyle with a banana seat and a basket.2. Your roller skates had metal wheels.3. You begged Santa for the electronic game Simon.4. You had homemade ribbon barrettes in every imaginable color.5. You wore the Little House on the Prairie inspired high neck, ruffled, plaid shirt in at least one school picture.6. You can sing at least one song from "Annie" by heart.7. You would tape songs off the radio by holding your portable tape player up to the speaker.8. You wore friendship pins on your tennis shoes.9. You had the shoelaces with the rainbow or heart designs. 10. You wanted to be a Solid Gold dancer

Haylee's Room

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

Well after 10 long nights of these kind of arrangements... when Ethan wakes up and sees her sleeping there, he tries to get her up by throwing bottles at her, throwing his blankets on her, and talking to her...so needless to say we've had some early mornings lately. But now......

We finally got Haylee's room done and practically put back together.
Here is some pictures of the rest of the process...

Haylee was involved every step of the way. She made sure she painted EVERYTHING with us. It was kinda fun for us, but REALLY fun for her.

Ethan also wanted to be part of the action. So we let him before there was paint on it. :)
Doesn't he just look like he's so natural standing there. He's so funny

(side note- he went to nursery today for the first time... :( sad for mommy. But he did REALLY well. So hopefully he will still like it next week)

We painted to first coat to the last set of stripes last night.(like around 8:00) And Gerrit asked me how long we had to wait to paint the next coat. I said not tonight- unless you want to stay up until like 2. Which apparently he did. So when I woke up this morning he showed me how he finished it last night.

So then after church I did the touch up work and hung her curtains (which Haylee says she doesn't like, she doesn't like the color.) They are grass skirt curtains. And I want to get some leis up there too with them.

Haylee took this picture. The white strip is where we are going to put the chair rail. So that's why the paint is kinda jaggety. But the stripes are perfect... thanks to the caulk

Brooklyn came over to play... and she was just as excited for Haylee's new room as Haylee was.

I cut my hair. I don't know if you can tell or not

Haylee took this one as well- but you can see all the paint we used

Now her room is back together- and we rearranged it a bit- so she feels like a whole new room

And Prince was happy to have her bed back.

So YEAH Haylee has her room back AND it's PINK! We're so excited- and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. Now I just have to figure out what I want on the walls. When I asked her she said football stuff... we'll see. I'm thinking more like flowers and flip flops