RASH!!!

Last night, well this morning, at 4:30 we gave Elie a bath because she had thrown up and she needed cleaned up. I tried to get her to go back to sleep with me but she only did off and on. Later on this morning around nine or so she came to me and I sat her on my lap and noticed tons of scratches on her neck, so I put some lotion on her and cut her nails. Then I decided to just get her dressed. I took off her shirt and she had a rash and hives under her arms. I was starting to panic a little, then I took off her pants and there was more behind her knees on her torso and the top of her legs. It was all bright red and bumpy. I immediatly took her to Urgent Care without getting out of my pajamas and without brushing my teeth or my hair. They don't know what caused it but they gave her benadryl and some steroids. They also took some blood and some pictures. She is doing much better now. But I was very concerned. I hope it doesn't come back but we don't know what caused it in the first place. When we got home I snapped a couple of pictures. The first two you can see the red rash. The last one is what she did to her neck because she was so itchy.

Emily's Clogging Performance

This is Emily's performance at the Ward Christmas Party. I think she did great. She definitely worked hard in order to be ready. This is also on Youtube if you want to share it further. It is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rC6S7EA7vc

Our Family

I didn't send pictures with our Christmas newsletter but I put our blog address on the bottom of each one so anyone who would like could see our pictures that way. Merry Christmas everyone!

Our "MANIAC"!

Yesterday Keaton was playing outside in the cold, snow and ice. Somehow he slipped on the ice and hit his face on the sidewalk where there actually wasn't any snow. Then he was riding on the four wheeler with me and he just fell off. I looked over and he was on the ground rolling away. Later I called him a maniac and he didn't think that was nice but that all happened within a half an hour. He is wild and crazy but so fun!

Tutu's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neMFZibleCA

We had our ward Christmas party on Saturday. Above is a link to the youtube site where you can view the number put on by the elder's quorum, that Tom was in charge of. We all thought it was pretty hilarious hope you enjoy it too.

Letters and Sounds

Keaton just finished learning all the sounds that go with the letters of the alphabet. I'm so impressed with him, he remembers them and he hasn't had his fifth birthday yet. Eliana likes to do it with him and I think it's adorable.

Pay It Forward -complete

In February I participated in a pay it forward where you were to make a hand made gift for three people who made comments on your blog for that post (within a year). Well they are finally done. Gayle, Adrienne, Holly and Natali. I did 4 because some wanted a gift but didn't want to participate in passing it on. If you haven't received yours you will soon. I just need an address from Adrienne. Send it to me by e-mail and I'll drop yours off to your house. But I won't visit because we've had sickness on and off at our house. They aren't much and I'm not very good but I did make them all by myself. I was going to post a picture but it's not working right now. If you're too curious I'll let you know what they are, they are furry scarves. Enjoy! I hope.

10 years!!

Today, October 1st, 2009 , is our 10th wedding anniversary. Has it really been ten years? I love you so much Tom. Thank you for choosing me and sharing your life with me.

The enormous bouquet of flowers that I received from my great husband. They are beautiful, just look at the size of that vase so everything would fit.

4-Wheelin

A little while ago we got four wheelers. We have been taking them out every chance we get. On this trip we went with another family from our ward. They go a lot and are showing us some good places to go. The mountain is called Little Elk. We rode the four wheelers up and then we hiked down and back up the mountain. It was quite the work out but we had a really good time. I wasn't all for the four wheelers when we got them, but now I'm so glad we got them they are such fun for the whole family. I had taken my "cool" shirt off because I was so hot after carrying Elie up the mountain, Elie doesn't have a "cool" shirt because she's too little and Shaustia's is around her waist I think.

Girls

Here are our beautiful girls in their new Sunday dresses.

Elie riding the scooter in her butterfly Halloween costume with her "tenny" shoes on. She's so adorable!

Soccer

Austin is playing soccer again. He took a couple of camps over the summer and has improved tons. He is so fun to watch, it makes me very proud to see him do so well and take the pushes and falls with bravery. He has had six games and made eight goals, at least one each game. Tom is his coach. We only have two more games and I'll be sad to have it be over. In the picture our team had just scored a goal, Austin is number 2 with his hands in the air.

School

Shaustia and Austin started school August 24th.

Elie loves to wave to them and blow them kisses as they go off to school. Here she's wearing Austin's sweatshirt because she so loves him and wants to do what he does.

Bear Lake

In mid August we took a trip to Bear Lake with Tom's brother Jon's family. It didn't start out as a very nice day but we stayed and it got nicer. The kids and the grown ups had a fun time.

Elie still has sand in her swimming suit.
Keaton's grin shows how he feels.

Elie bringing up the tail end of Keaton, Austin, Shaustia, and Jace.

The sand castle the Dad's built.

Eliana talking to her Dad on the phone!!

New things!

Elie's Ponytail Is New!!

It's barely there but I'll take what I can get.

Our quilt for our bed. We don't like comforters they're too.. I don't know, puffy and hot. So we have quilts on our bed. With the kids climbing and wrestling and jumping on our bed all the time I finally spent the money and got a nice one, I keep having to get new ones because I would buy cheap ones that can't handle the wear and tear.

Our close to Home Getaway

Last week we took a little vacation. We went to Fairmont, Montana and to the cabin in Island Park. In Montana we stayed at the Fairmont Hot Springs resort. So we could swim all we (the kids) wanted to, it wasn't very warm while we were there so it was good that they are hot springs so we were able to swim in the warm water while it was cold out (I didn't get any pictures at the pool). We took a little trip over to the Lewis and Clark Caverns. I remember a little bit about it from when I went there when I was a kid. It was a lot of walking with Elie on the front of me in a snugli but fun and the kids liked. On the drive back to the hotel we decided to make an adventure for ourselves and climbed up and over and down and up again to a huge cave that we saw from the road on our way. We definitely got our exercise that day. After Montana we came home for a day, Tom went to work and we got the lawn mowed and laundry done. Then we took the four-wheelers up to the Cabin. The Shuldberg's went with us and we had a blast. I haven't ridden that much at one time and by the time it was time to go home I think we were all ready to be done for a while.

At the end of the caverns at Lewis and Clark Caverns
The hike to the cavern entrance they said it was about 3/4 of a mile uphill.

Some of the many awesome formations inside the caverns.

The cave we climbed to.

From the inside of the cave if you look closely you can see three of the kids at the entrance.

This is where Elie and I stayed while the rest of the family went on to the cave. We went a big part of the way but decided it was too dangerous and hard to take Elie the whole way.

After a long day of hiking and swimming.

This is Sparky's Garage in Dillon Montana. We ate there on the way and on the way back. Their barbecue is delicious.

This is how I looked after our long four wheeler ride. I had no idea and Tom and the kids kept laughing at me so I went to look for myself in the mirror. It was pretty funny looking so I had Tom take a picture of me with dust caked on my face.

Summer & some pictures from the past 4 months

Eliana and Grandpa Buttars

Elie's so tiny that she puts her legs through the handle to keep herself on the teeter-totter.

Keaton was so exhausted that he fell asleep this way. At least he was in the shade.

Shaustia's dance recital was clear back in May.

Their piano teacher Holly, Austin, and Shaustia at their piano recital back in May also.

All summer we've been going and going. Even if it's not in the van the kids are going back and forth up and down the street to play with friends. They have been going to bed late and sometimes just fall asleep because they've played so hard and haven't slept much. We're going to actually try and take a little vacation next week but Tom has a lot going on at work so I hope it goes well. Elie is so little not 20 pounds yet but she is a very smart little girl. She loves to cuddle and be held and she just makes us smile and laugh. Keaton goes constantly, he always wants something to eat and never wants to rest. Austin hates doing his chores, he's finally growing a little I think, and he desperately wants to lose a tooth since he's going into second grade and was the only one in his first grade that hadn't. Shaustia just turned 9, she can be very helpful and sweet. She is trying out volleyball at a camp and wants to have plastic surgery on her knee that looks horrid from her bike accident last year. We still have a little of summer left, it's going so fast. We have swimming lessons, another soccer camp, and a trip to Utah still to come.

It's Been Awhile

So much has been going on and I haven't posted about any of it. Austin and Tom had birthdays. School got out. We've been running around going to soccer, baseball, softball, the library, and other appointments. I've been trying to keep up on the yard better this year so it doesn't get out of hand. So far it's going well with the cooler weather we've had I haven't minded being outside. It's heating up fast now though. June is always busy with ball and passes so quickly. We're planning and looking forward to our 4th of July celebrations next week. It's Tom's favorite holiday. He's been very very busy lately. I've been wondering if he lives here or not he's gone so much and even when he's here he's doing more work on other projects he has. We'd like to go on vacation somewhere sometime this summer. But we don't know when or where. Everyone is growing and mostly happy and getting tan. Our kids get so dark in the summer. Shaustia is going to go to volleyball camp and have a birthday pretty soon. Austin is at soccer camp and thinks that's cool. Keaton looks like an Indian boy and wants to go go go and eat eat eat all the time. Eliana is finally getting a little hair and it's very light. She's saying some new things and loves to look at books. We are doing chores everyday and I hear lots of moanings but I think it has been good for the children and is going pretty well. Over all we're doing pretty good and for the most part we're happy and healthy.

She likes to roll it.

Keaton - no more training wheels!!

It took Keaton all of about 10 minutes to learn to ride his bike without training wheels. He is amazing, I let him go and when he crashed I told him he rode by himself and he gave me two thumbs up and said "YES!" He's working on starting and stopping. I don't think it is going to take him very long to get it all figured out.

Easter

Our trip to Utah

In The Life of Elie

Playing with my Ipod in Czar's kennel, silly crazy girl!

Playing at the mall. Keaton really tries to be helpful, it just doesn't seem to work out as being helpful sometimes.

This little monkey scares us to death with the things she tries to climb on. Check out her trick on Saturday, she is so proud of herself.

Shaustia had a four wheeler when she was a baby so I wanted to get one for Elie. She still has to get it all figured out but she likes it and tries tricks on it just like her big sister did. She can walk if she chooses to, she just usually doesn't choose to. I finally caught her doing it on video.

Elie and Keaton playing in their "fort" underneath the barstools.

Insights from Keaton

Most of the time Keaton says things like: That's a bunch of crap dad! Holy crap thats a lot! Hey Daddy foo foo? Holy macaroni! And such.

Then he has days like yesterday where he says things that just make you think. We were eating lunch and when we have lunch I usually sit on a barstool by him and let him have his talking time with Mom. He was telling me something about preschool I think, then he stopped for a minute. The next thing he said was "Heaven is a really sunny day." "Heaven is," I asked. "Yeah, up in the sky where Heavenly Father is," was Keaton's reply.
Later at dinner the kids were talking about their dreams. Austin told Keaton that he didn't remember his dreams last night. So Keaton said "Jesus didn't give you dreams last night?"
He's growing up and I can see that he is learning things and believing them too. I'm so grateful to be a Mom and witness the miracle of children and be a part of their love and joy.

Sleeping Baby and Priorities

It's been a long process and a lot of headaches and stress, but Elie is finally starting to sleep. She got to the point where she wasn't sleeping at all during the day. Which of course led to a grouchy baby and a grounchy mama. Yesterday she took a two hour nap in the afternoon and slept all night. Today so far she took a short morning nap for half an hour and we'll give it another try for a longer one this afternoon. So now exercising is going to be my priority when she takes her nap. I have a goal of 4 days a week. I have a ticker at the bottom of our blog to make me accountable. I removed that ticker, too time consuming to keep up on.

Suggestions Anyone???

I need any suggestions that anyone has to help me lose some weight. I weigh the same thing now that I did one year ago when I had a new baby. I don't feel like myself. Everything I put on seems too tight. But I can't get motivated to work harder at getting this baby weight off. I'll get so sick of it and do really well for a day or two then go back to what is simple, fast and easy. I need something simple, fast and easy that helps me be healthier!

Wow, I'm Popular

I'm so popular that only two people even want my gift, that's sad. Tom has been gone this week and three of our kids have been sick. I just really hope that Elie and I don't get anything, but the way Elie was acting today I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't feel very good either. I really don't like it when Tom is gone I'm so glad he's coming home.

Pay It Forward

I usually don't do this kind of thing, but I really loved the idea. (Thanks Holly!)
Pay It Forward Exchange is based on the concept of the movie "Pay it forward". I will send a hand made gift to the first three people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join the PIF exchange. All the gifts will be made and posted out 'sometime within the next year'. How exciting to not know when your surprise package will arrive! What you need to do in return, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. This Exchange is only open to those with active websites or blogs. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS PROMISE TO POST THIS SAME 'PAY IT FORWARD' MESSAGE ONTO YOUR BLOG, WHICH MUST BE ACTIVE IN ORDER TO PLAY. YOU WILL PAY IT FORWARD TO THREE PEOPLE WHO COMMENT ON YOUR BLOG. I'd love for you to join me! Will you? Other comments are welcome, but only the first three will be my Pay It Forward recipients. Come and join me who doesn't love a gift or giving gifts???

Toes

Here is the outcome of our Saturday morning nail polish party.

Bows and Shakes

Elie keeps adding more teeth to her mouth and is standing up on her own. I suspect she'll just start taking steps any day now.

This was my first attempt at trying to put a bow in Elie's hair. She still doesn't have much hair but she has the tuft at the back so I gave it a try.




Elie enjoys sharing shakes (or smoothies) with her Daddy.