Wind caves.

Ashton and Michelle like to go hiking so they had decided that they were going to try the wind caves before it got cold. Kaylee has started joining them and this year Tara and I were going to do applesauce so Michelle said that McKayla and Nicole could join them. They all had a lot of fun and Michelle said the kids all did really good. I am so grateful for Michelle and her adventurous attitude. Thanks Aunt Shell.

Halloween 2009

This is the group we had this year in Ogden.

Kaylee and Kylee

This is bryan Boer. He was dressed as a hippie and looked hilarious.

Kenzie pooped out about halfway through the mall.

Here's the cousin group at the mall. They all looked too cute.

It seems like Halloween doesn't just last a night anymore for us it lasts the whole day. We started this year at noon. Ashton was sick so he stayed home with Marty but the girls and I met the cousins at the mall and trick or treated there. I bugged Michelle to go with us so we would have an extra adult to help out. We then ran out to Grandma Friedli's and Grandma D's house. I dropped Michelle off and headed down to Ogden were we went to two trunk or treats, an indoor hot chocolate warm up and house to house treating for a mile in between. My kids had so much candy and it was so much fun to hang with all of my girls from the neighborhood. Kenzie was supposed to be Winnie the pooh but she decided that she wanted to wear her skeleton pj's instead. She is such a funny girl and kept up so well now that she knows the end product was candy.

Cabin Pics

A few weeks ago Marty and I took the kids up to the cabin. My friend kelly and her family were able to come with us for a night. Here are some pics from our weekend.

It's Finally Done!!!

I am happy to say that Ashton's room is finally done. I know that he has been in the living room down stairs for 6 months now but I am happy to say that he is now in his newly repainted and refloored room. He was a little upset about us covering the tile with laminate wood but he has adjusted well. It looks so much better in his room and I am now not feeling so gulity about him being in a dark cave downstairs. Thanks to my sister in law Tara for all her help and her husband for being without her while she was helping me all those days!!! Here's some pics even though they don't do the room justice

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Our scary night

On Wednesday Kenzie woke up from her nap feeling a little hot. I took her temp which only ended up being 99.3 so I just chalked it up to teething. She was acting fine, playing, she even ate three bowls of mac n cheese. I have young women's on Wednesday nights so she was staying with Kaylee and Ashton until Marty got home. I must have had a feeling that something wasn't right because I called from the church (which is down the street) to check on everyone. I talked to Kaylee and she said all was fine and I knew Marty was due home anytime so I turned my attention back to my church girls and continued cleaning the church. About 7:15 the bishop came and got me for the phone. It was Michelle who told me to get home that kenzie was having a seizure. I really don't know how I managed to drive home, pick her up and give her to Michelle and then drive carefully to the hospital. I should have been a wreck but I know that God was with us and was helping me to stay calm. Kenzie was unresponsive until we got out of the car at the hospital and at this time she just started crying but couldn't move for about another 45 minutes. It was terrible to see her so lifeless. Turns out she has the swine flu and her fever spiked to 103 fast and it caused her to have a fibril seizure. Scary! She is doing well but boy did she scare us. We are so grateful to Kaylee- who knew to call next door when something wasn't right, and Michelle- who knew what to do when someone is having a seizure. They saved her life. Thanks to everyone who prayed for us and called to make sure we were all taken care of.

Bathroom gummy worms

About two weeks ago I noticed that Kenzie was constantly wanting her diaper to be changed. I decided it was time to potty train. So off I go to the store and I bought her some cute little Dora underwear and decided because she loved gummy worms I would get those for her to help with the process. So I came home and showed her the stuff and off we went to sit on the potty and change into her Dora pants. She sat on her potty for about three minutes, got up, pulled up the underwear and said worm please. I explained to her that she didn't get a worm unless she peed in the potty. She wasn't "getting it" so I had Kaylee sit on the toilet, pee and she got a worm. She still didn't "get it" so I sat down, peed, and got a worm. After a little while and a big fit she finally " got it." So off she goes to play- in her underwear. Well she lasted about 5 minutes and peed through them on the back porch. We decided to try later.

Later...

Kenzie and Kaylee are in the bathtub. Kaylee gets out and goes to the bathroom and Kenzie gets all excited and claps and says "kay kay worm!" So I think wow she gets it. So after Kaylee gets her worm I ask Kenzie if she wants to try and go potty and she tells me no. So I tell her she can get a worm and she tells me "I no like mom" and that is the end of that! So now I have a big bag of gummy worms that sit in the window sill for all of our friends and family to ask " why do you have gummy worms in the bathroom?" Ugh kids!

Kenzie's 2nd 2nd Birthday!!

Kenzie had her other birthday party on Monday when we got home. My sister in law Tara made her an adorable Elmo cake and we had dinner and opened presents. She got some cute outfits, some shoes (which she swore didn't fit!), two puppy dogs, a Dora bed and a monkey riding toy. She loved all of her presents and we are so glad everyone could make it.

Kenzie's 1st 2nd birthday!!

On the weekend of the 5th my sister blessed and baptized her baby boy so we decided to have cake and ice cream for Kenzie's birthday in Pinedale. It was fun to be able to have my dad and step mom, grandma, and aunt and uncle there. They aren't always able to attend birthdays and such because they live so far away. Kenzie got some cute Dora Dolls and a big stuffed animal, clothes, a purse with all her necessities (phone, makeup and sunglasses) and she also got a bag of gummy worms (I'll post that story later). It was fun and I was glad to have so many family members there.

Changes ll

The city has also been doing some work down the street. They are making 1st East go all the way through so they have put a bridge and all kinds of stuff in. Here are some transformations we have seen...

That was our beautiful tree.

And they took the house on the corner down to make a park!!

Changes

As many of you know the house that we bought is an older home that belonged to Marty's grandparents. So when we moved here I made Marty promise me that we would do some remodeling to make it our own. We have done some painting in the bedrooms and put a shower upstairs but my most excited remodeling came when we pulled up our carpet in the living room and Marty so graciously put down hard wood. There was already hardwood in the living room but Marty wanted something different so we got Moabi ( I don't have a clue how to spell it). Here are the before and afters. I also got wood blinds to replace those beloved curtains.

Summer days.

Ashton and Hunter at the Brigham pool watching Kenzie. What good big brothers.

Ashton in his birdie towel. I bet he picked up lots of chicks in that get up.

Ashton and kenzie poolside.

This is as close as Kenzie would get to the water in Pinedale.

At my sisters in Pinedale. Who would've thought there would be beaches in Wyoming!

The girls with AJ. They loved playing with him.

Isn't she so cute!

Family camping trip that finally made us break down and by a trailer.

My sleeping beauties. This is how we all felt after our summer days ended! hope you all had a great few months.

School days- UGH!

I have no pic of my kids first day of school because they think they are too old for that. Ashton started middle school this year and when he got home he informed us that he got lost and ended up in the wrong class, he was running and his pants fell down, and that the school ran out of lunch. Now I can understand the wrong class thing, but his pants falling down- he does own a belt and the school running out of lunch- that's a whole set of problems. So I laughed and told him things would get better. Well the week went on and by Friday I was convinced that he should be home schooled. This week hasn't been much better. He is now getting picked on by a kid on the bus and is afraid if he hits him or something he will get kicked off the bus and then where will he be! He hasn't had a decent lunch yet because they have consistently run out of food. Yesterday he had his wallet stolen with his "emergency money" in it, and he also deals with a teacher that thinks these kids should be right on top of middle school by now! Ugh. is all I can say about the whole experience right now.

Then there's Kaylee who had called in sick by the third day. She says she loves school but somehow manages to get a stomach ache EVERY morning. We went three months with no stomach aches and so far have deal with at least 4. She ended up going to school by 10:30 when she realized that I was serious about her laying in bed staring at the ceiling all day. I guess somethings are better than boredom.

So here comes another year and so far it hasn't been great. I miss the kids. I don't like middle school and didn't want summer to end. Please wish us luck!!!!

Saturday July 10

Marty's cousin Heidi and her husband Chris adopted a beautiful baby girl named Elena so They had her welcome party down in salt lake at Liberty park. I love liberty park. It is huge and they have so much to do. the kids played and there is a water area that the kids love to run through. When Heidi lived not far from t5hat park Marty went and did her wood floors and while the finish would be drying we would take Ashton and Kaylee to the park. They always loved it when they were little so I was excited for them to be able to go back. I knew Kenzie wouldn't get in the water but she had fun just walking around and seeing the kids.

While we were at the party, Rob got a phone call telling him that a canal broke and there was water in their neighborhood and around the island. When we got back into town we headed to Tara's to make sure that their and Andy and Tiffs houses were OK and we saw mud everywhere. We also learned that the canal broke and made the land slide on the hill on Canyon Road. It collapsed a house and unfortunately there was a mom and her two kids in there. After a couple of days crew were able to recover their bodies and they were able to be given a proper burial. Our hearts went out to the families of the victims and we are still keeping them in our prayers. The island was a mess but I think that most of the damage was minimal and can be prepared. Ashton and Kaylee felt really bad and wanted to be able to do something. We knew that the first aid was housing people at the church down the street and so I suggested we make some brownies and take them to the families that were displaced from their homes. Linda also donated some cookies and after church that next day Michelle and I with Ashton and Kaylee in tow headed to drop off the goods. Its amazing how fast your eyes well up with tears when you see your kids doing something good for someone else. I hope that this is something they will always be able to see that they can always make someones day a little brighter. I hope all the families affected by the landslide recover.

Later on that night we went to the demolition derby. Tara and her kids and alot of her family were there. Kenzie loved watching the cars crash and we had a lot of fun. I hadn't been to a demolition derby forever and we always enjoy ourselves. Kaylee even got Mckayla out in the field to dance. They were so cute. It was a busy day but it was fun to be able to spend the day with my family.

Kaylee is the one with the pink shorts and yellow shirt and Mckayla is the one with the brown shirt and tan shorts.