Tagged, Again!

Thanks Wendy!

1.What is his name? Jay LeRoy, sometimes he gets called Lee-roy.

2.Who eats more? He does. (unless it is brownies)

3.Who said I love you first? He did.

4. Who is taller? He is, unless I am wearing heels

5. Who is smarter? He is.

6.Who is more sensitive? Me
7.Who does the laundry? Except for when we got home from our last trip (he did 5 loads, including folding and putting away, wow! I know, I am a lucky woman) but usually I do it.

8.Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? It doesn't matter at home, hotel, family, cabin, where ever we sleep, he sleeps farthest from the door? Why? maybe so I will save him from the boogie man?

9.Who pays the bills? I do. He doesn't have time or patience.

10. Who cooks more? I do.

11.What meals do you cook together? He will always help if we have company over, if we are BBQing, and sundays he is home.

12. Who is more stubborn? Me for sure

13. Who is first to apologize? Uuh, he is, but I am getting better

14. Who is more clean? He is clean, I might go a day or two without washing my hair, but I am more organized and I love to do the cleaning.

15.Who has more siblings? He does

16. Who wears the pants? Unfortunately I can fit into his pants, therefore we both wear the pants...?

17. What do you like to do together? Everything! Hiking, rollerblading, running, camping, laying out, napping, playing with the kids, going to the temple, games, yard work, projects (if they are both our idea) etc...etc...everything

18. Who eats more sweets? Me for sure, if you asked who eats more crap? Jay....

19. Guilty pleasures? Coke/Mt Dew, Costco, Golf, although I don't know that he feels guilty about it.

20. How did you meet? He picked me up hitch hiking. (Yes it is true! He did think the gal I was with, my BFF Sarah was cuter...?)

21. Who kissed who first? Jay totally did, although I talked about kissing first.

22.Who proposed? Jay did, at Henrys lake while the sun was setting and turned the lake gold and sparkled just like the ring :) aaahhh!

23.His best feature? Physical feature? I guess that is what it means? He is the total package, one delicious hottie!

24.What is his greatest quality? Too many to list, but a few are....His testimony, his ability to support and care for his family. He is an amazing dad who will color and play barbies, pollys and LPS with his girls. He is a fabulous husband who makes me terrifically happy and I fall in love with him more and more every day......(better stop before I get too sappy)

I tag whoever is reading this. (Yes Brigitte, that means you! I don't think you have done this one yet) (And mom, josie and emily I would love to read your answers to this one:)

THE END!

What a crazy time of year! It the end to so much. Recruiting is over! (for now...) It went by pretty fast this year. I get fewer projects done every year. With more kids, more activities, and less time I guess that is to be expected. So now on to summer football camps for Jay.

Alayna finished up preschool with a visit from the Tumble Bus. (This bus just applied for CMT's trick my truck, I hope they pick her bus to trick!) My friend Amy works with the owner and thought it would be a great way to celebrate preschool graduation. I was amazed at all that they fit into this bus. There were rings, trampoline, climbing rope, zip line and then she had all sorts of skill building activities. She was so good with the kids as well; keeping them entertained all while they were in lines taking turns. The kids had an awesome time. Even some of the big kids (Ashtyn) were able to get in on the action.

Ashtyn finished up her soccer season and her cute coach celebrated with a pizza party. This season was so cold. We were wrapped up in blankets most games. I remember my mom telling me how cold my spring soccer games were. I now know how cold they must have been. Thanks mom! Ashtyn was lucky to have so many of her friends on the same team.

School is coming to an end. I can't believe another year is gone. Ashtyn had her year end assembly and recieved the 'principals award for academics & citizenship'. She has been such a good student. She loves to read and amazes me how many books she will read at one time. I look forward to the summer and having her around more.

Even my sweet little Jacob has the sun setting on the blissful state of being stationary. Yup, he is mobile, even though it is a slow army crawl, the days of sitting him down to find him in the same place when I return are OVER. It is the end of gate free stairs & worry free play.

So here here to THE END and on to the beginning of a relaxing, lazy, hot summer. (That is already filled up with reunions, camps, projects and trips to visit friends & family....)

Ashtyn's zoo field trip

we went to the hogle zoo. this is the white alligator. he was so cool !!! he is in the water right now but we I also saw him coming out of the water. the lady said "there are 1o white alligators in the world" the white alligator was one of my favorites.

the white alligator. me and my friend were in one group. we had a lot of fun. her little bother was there to.

my friend, her brother and me. we saw the mommy giraffe and the baby. it was so cute!! and funny. we also saw a black bear, cheetah, tiger, all different kinds of monkeys, zebra, a huge turtle , all different kinds of birds and reptiles.

the mom and baby giraffe. we also saw a peacock right now he has his feather's up. plus we saw a kangaroo to (ha ha)

the peacock with his feather's up. my friend and her brother had to go so I had to go with my other friend. we went to see the white alligator one more time. but before my other friend left we played at the park. then me and my other friend and her other friend got on the bus and went back to school.

my other friend.

me and my other friend siting on the fence. back at school I took one last pic. I had lots of fun and so will you.

have fun!

Memorial Day Weekend

Most years for memorial day we go to a place called Tropic down south. It sound like a wonderful vacationing oasis. And while we have a lot of fun it does not live up to its name. We go with Jay's brother in law Clint's family and they are the ones who make it what it is. This year they decided to cedar mountain. We were on our way back from vegas and had carefully packed so we would have stuff for camping. I love to camp but this is what we were driving through...



Needless to say I was worried. We had only had a tent and sweatshirts. When we arrived at our site, it was not as bad as what we had to come through. It was fun to play games and visit with family and even take a sunday nap in the tent. We had a long paintball war, baseball game, ladder tournament, smores, games and movies in the trailers. So much fun, even with the chill.
Here are the paintballers

Jay letting Alayna shoot a few. I wish I would have got a pic of her first 3 reactions to pulling the trigger...classic Alayna, no one has as many expressions and this little chick

Nice helmet Clint!

Jace and Alayna got quite friendly. The last morning she was yelling through the camp looking for her favorite 'prince Jace'.

Jace decided to give her a ride on his '4 ler' and she happily wrapped her arms around his waist then squealed and screamed up and down the road into camp.

Alayna loves to help! Making sure we have enough wood for the fire

Jay got bored and decided to chopped down a dead tree, 1/2 way through he decided it was a dumb idea.

All tuckered out!

Viva Las Vegas!

Jay's last week of recruiting, we were able to go with him to Las Vegas. We left late Tuesday night and got in about 1:30am to our Hotel. We were looking forward to this trip for a while. This trip is what a vacation should be. NO running around, just sleeping in (as late as the kids allow), hanging out by the pool, walking aroung seeing what you can, but no pressure to HAVE to see or HAVE to go anywhere! There was one thing I really wanted to do. For the past 8 or so years, my best friend from H.S. has lived in Vegas and we don't get to visit often enough. This year I decided to call before we got there and make sure we could visit. Last time we talked, I had just had Jacob so nine months later she is about to give birth to TWINS! So crazy! We were able to spend a whole afternoon visiting and catching up. Even though we have only seen each other a handful of times since we have been married, like always, we picked up where we left off. No wonder she is one of my BFFs :). The best part was seeing her in the home she has made for her cute family and to see her so happy! I remember at 16 her talking about her desire be married and have a family. In High School I was amazed and admired her sincere desire for this. It makes me so happy to see the joy she has found in what she has always wanted. I loved the feeling I had in her home, the love that she has for her husband and son. I remember how much she did not enjoy having her dad as the Bishop/Stake President and the stigma that came with being his daughter. Now she is the Bishops wife! Even Emily (l.s.) said its no surprise. She always felt Sarah to genuinely care about others and ALWAYS made her feel like she sincerely cared about her. I look forward to continue seeing her little family of boys grow up! Thanks Sarah for letting me take your afternoon, good luck with the babes!

I had Ashtyn take our picture (I should have checked it before I left) but both pics she took are so out of focus. I really wanted one of us a little older and one of her seriously cute belly. I have never seen such a cute pregnant (with twins!) gal. So I found a few old pics of our crazy silly adventures. (And if Ashtyn or Alayna ever do some of the things we did, they will be grounded until they are 33!!!)

Here are some pics from the rest of the trip. It was a little chilly and a lot windy, but way better than the rain and freezing temps in SLC! The girls have fun, but we decided next year will be just Jay and I. Ashtyn is getting old enough that the strip has more than just lots of pretty lights. Jay has always been gone so much that he never wanted to leave the kids, but we are getting better at working with his schedule to give him more time with the kids so now on to finding more time with ME! :)

Twilight

Lucky for me, my friend Tara had an extra ticket to Good Things Utah the day Stephenie Meyer was visiting and talking about her new book the Host. I have always thought it would be fun to go to a GTU taping, but lucked out a got to see S.M. as well. She was so cute and so matter of fact. I was glad I finally finished Twilight before I went, although I didn't dare tell the rest of the gals there for fear I would have been strung up by my toes. There are some serious fans out there.

Tara also gave a ticket to Katie, and we were able to meet up and talk in person (We mostly have met up in the blogging world). It was so fun to visit with her. We decided we needed a picture (for our blogs of course) so we asked Mike McKay to take our picture. His reaction was so classic, "Me? take your picture?" His poor ego....We decided to make him feel better we should get one with the 'famous Mike McKay' as well. One time Jay and I asked one of his players if he would take a picture (meaning of our family) and he went and stood next to Jay and the kids and waited for me to take the picture....So I did and then asked if he would take one with all of us in it. So funny....

Here is the pic of all the "Twilight moms". (Tara, Katie and I are not official members, yet :) I guess there is a site just for moms who love this series. Katie was even asked to put her pics on there. The biggest surprise to me was how down to earth and willing to visit the girls of GTU are. They acted like we have always been friends and we were just catching up. They were so cute! Thanks for ticket Tara! I had so much fun! Katie, we will have to meet up again, soon!

Mothers Day

I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family! The past few months I have struggled to find a balance in motherhood. Trying to check everything off that long list that belongs to a mother all while staying sane. I especially have felt frustrated, maybe guilty for not adding to GDP or our own bank account. But after thinking, praying, talking it out with my mom and friends, and a little Dr Laura, I know this is what I am supposed to be doing. I love being the one who gets up with the kids in the morning and puts them down at night. I love that I am the one who makes their meals (minus the cafe rio, mc d & wendy's) I am so happy that I am the one who gets to help Ashtyn work through all the social drama of a 2nd grader. I love that I get to help Alayna use her words, and learn not to talk (or act) like a Tarradactyl. My faith grows when I am worried about Jacob and don't know why he has been coughing for 2 months, until my friend goes to a training class and because she is in tune, and answers my prayers with a A.R. diagnosis. I love my husband who even though I called him a ball and chain, still runs with me and genuinely loves me and wants to see me reach the goals I have set for myself. I am so grateful for a mother who is teaching me (and my family) so much. And although I don't have the degree I want. I don't have a career. I don't have a salary. Today (Thanks to Ashtyn, Alayna, Jacob, Jay & Mom) I feel smart, productive and rich.

Yoga, Yakitori and the week is gone...

Like every other recruiting season, I have grand plans of mountainous projects and things to get done. And like every other season, I don't get as far down the list as I would like. This week was my LAST week to teach preschool. The theme for the week was the letter Y. At the beginning of the year I bought a sesame street abc cd and my favorite song was the Y song. I tried to put it on my play list and project play list does not have it in their library (I haven't figured out how to add one with out P.P.L.) Anyway, the song is Prarie Dawn and Grover talking about the letter Y and Grover is confused and thinks his ears are on backwards and that no one likes him ( I laugh every time I hear it) So I was excited to do Y things. When I asked the kids to tell me words that started with Y (I had pictures of yo-yo, yarn, yolk, yak, yelling etc...) The kids would think and think looking at the pictures scratching their heads and finally say "YUG!" I would say,"...Uhh, yes, yug starts with a Y" and move on to the next kid who would go through the same process, look at the pictures, think so intently and finally shout "Y-y-yug!" At least 4 of the 8 kids tried to pass off Yug as a Y word. My sweet friend Jill, who I really think should have a blog of her own, gave me the great idea of Yummy or Yucky. The kids had to mark yummy or yucky of the following Y foods; yams (with brown sugar and butter) mostly considered yucky, except by Sarah, who happily ate everyone else's. Yogurt (mostly yummy), egg Yolk (not many liked the yolks, just the white of the boiled egg) Yellow cheese shaped in a Y, Yakitori (which by the web encyclopedia is grilled chicken on a skewer) They all loved to eat and say Yakitori. Yorkshire pudding (I didn't make it with the beef drippings, so it was more like a pop over, but the recipe called it Yorkshire pudding) not very many kids liked it. I bet if I had called it a german pancake and served it with maple syrup they would have all loved it, but german pancakes don't start with a Y! We played the Yank game (tug o war) a huge hit. We Yelled and played in the Yard, we sewed Yarn around a Y and played find the Y. But the very best activity was Yoga. If I ever become a full time preschool teacher, I will do yoga every day with the kids. I have never taken a yoga class, and don't know much more than the warrior and downward dog poses but I do have a dollar yoga dvd. I wish I had the kids on video, all of them trying to do the poses with the instructor breathing in and out. Every one of them said they were sooo tired and at the end of the video they had a relaxation/meditation exercises. I could not hold in the laughter. It was so funny to watch their heads bobbing, eyes fluttering all while sitting in a cross leg position holding their fingers in circles. I know if the DVD had 5 more minutes of this they would have all been asleep. SO FUNNY!



After thursday's preschool, I came down stairs to find Alayna dressed in a hat, scarf and winter coat. ??What is this?? As you can see in the picture below Alayna does not appreciate my photography. She had just finished telling me "Mom! I am told" (She still can not say her c's....or g's or r's or....)

The sun is pouring in through the windows and warming the whole house, but I think she has just been confused by the weather this week. 80 degrees Tues, monsoonal rains Wed, sunny and hot thursday, rain again friday. Seriously this bipolar weather has got to stop, Alayna can't decide between shorts or coats and a hat?...Luckily she warmed up after she made herself a piece of toast. There is never a dull moment with this little girl!

My list of projects is still long, with few check marks, Jay gets home tonight and we will make a quick trip to Idaho and he will leave again sunday night. I did get the window well ladders installed and the deck screwed off, the grill cleaned, final inspection passed, traded in his car and even went out to eat with Amy. Everything on Jay's honey-do list is done. Although I didn't post much, I did enjoy being able to sit down and catch up on a few blogs. Maybe next week I will check a few more projects off my list.

Ashtyn's Dance Recital

Ashtyn is in her 3rd year at MCE and has been very lucky to have such a great teacher and to be in the same class and her friends Rachel and Rylie. I am lucky to have a carpool! I have said this before, but MCE does a great job with their program. Jay was able to make it to the show AND see her dance. He was very impressed with how much Ashtyn and her friends have improved over the last year. I was impressed with how he noticed the improvement. Ashtyn practiced so hard on making sure everything was 'sharp' just like miss Becky had instructed. She has her dad's perfection in her and it shows. I was so excited to video and be able to post this so grandma and grandpa could see her performance but the video got a little messed up. I started and it was out of focus so I had to restart the video to get it to focus (I don't know why..) So, the first video is the beginning, about 58 seconds out of focus and the second is the rest of the dance in a little better focus.


We put Ashtyns hair in sponge curlers because I knew our day would be busy and hoped it would still be curly by the evening. Well, even after rehearsals, primary party, birthday party, and all the playing with her cousins who came for a visit, she was still VERY curly and very cute. She told me as we were walking in to look for her on stage, she would be the one with the really big hair. (Hey what can I say, I grew up in the 80's :) I got to be one of the backstage mothers to keep the girls busy and under control during the program while they were not dancing. The other mother helping was a genius and brought stuff to make bracelets. The girls were so cute! They loved making the bracelets then necklaces and anklets, I even learned how to make then and plan to do them at girls camp this year. What a smart mom!

So I took one pic of the girls but then they all wanted a funny one as well. It is fun to watch these girls grow up and see each of their personalities come out.

3 years ago after Ashtyns first recital, we went to IHOP. If I remember right, Jay was gone recruiting and I hadn't fed the girls before, so by the time the recital had ended (8:30pm) we were starving. Being Ashtyns special day, she got to choose her fav. place....IHOP. So the 'tradition' started, now even if I am on the ball and feed my kids dinner before 8:30, we still go to IHOP afterwards.

Here's the cute fam after the show. Being the backstage mom, Jay had to come with the kids by himself. I got Alayna dressed in a cute cherry red and white button up shirt, jeans with matching bow looking so cute, but she walked into the auditorium with her sisters green dress on, blue socks and sketchers? The only remaining part to the original outfit was the red and white polka dot bow, barely hanging on to her hair. She had picked it all out and changed herself after I left and knowing that makes the whole look work.....better than when I outfitted her up. What a nut!

Back to Single Mom

Jay left for Oakland and the start of a 3 week recruiting month. His first year recruiting he was out the entire month coming home only 3 or 4 days of the 30. Progressively since then he has become much more efficient and has shaved much of that time off to this year only being gone 3 weeks home on the weekends AND we get meet up with him at the end in Vegas for the last 2-3 days recruiting there. We'll hang out by the hotel pool all day while he goes recruiting then when the schools let out and he can't visit anyone else, we get to spend the evenings with him. He is a great dad and a lot of help when he is around, but when he is gone, we have become pretty good at being independent. Between 7 &8 pm is when I miss him most. Some days my patience is gone and getting the kids to bed can't happen fast enough. On the other hand, I don't know why, but I get sooooo much more done when he is gone. I have long lists of projects for recruiting season, because I know I can get so much done. I think Jay has figured this one out and now leaves me with a list of honey do's. But what's one more list of things I can 'check' off. I would never wish to be a single mother, but during these couple of weeks I don't miss the 5 o clock shuffle (ya know, straighten the house, get dinner on, spray a little perfume) We get to have cereal, ramen & the cheesiest M&C for dinner. We catch up on dancing with the stars and I get to have unlimited blog time...(sort of). So hopefully I can post a few extra meaningful entries and enjoy little girl talk over cinnamon toast crunch and check off a few projects. But still dream of the day when he doesn't have to leave and we don't have to say good-bye. When I don't have to get a babysitter to go for a run. When we don't have FHE with the phone on speaker so he can join in. When the honey dos become the 'let's do'. When I don't have to stay up so late because I dread going to an empty bed.