Ephraim Roots

My siblings and our families had an awesome trip to Ephraim, Utah with Grandma and Grandpa Jones. Grandma wanted to show us where she grew up and where she and Grandpa met and fell in love. Grandpa was playing baseball at Snow College, and Grandma worked at a drugstore in town. She wanted to meet him, so she purposely spilled a milkshake on him. He was mad, but the rest is history! They are so wonderful, I enjoyed this "history trip" so much. We visited all of her family who are buried there, her mom and dad, grandparents, aunts, uncles etc. It was interesting. I wish I would have taken a picture of her old house. We also got to go to the Manti Pageant which is awesome! If you ever get the chance to see it... DO. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

The Manti Temple The Manti Pageant. It was so awesome!
Andrew and Averie cruising the cemetary.

Our family War Heroes

This is where Grandma's Grandma and Grandpa are buried. They have a beautiful view of the Manti Temple.

Tagged by Ginger!

20 Years ago...
1. I was 11
2. I was living in Lava Hot Springs
3. I spent most of my time on my bike and playing with dolls
4. I looked like I was 16 and was insecure because I had big boobs!

10 Years ago...
1. I had been married for a year and was working at UCCU
2. We went camping all of the time. It was so much easier without kids.
3. Paul was always studying
4. We were building our first house in Lehi. (I loved that little house!)


5 Years ago...
1. I had my 2nd little girl, my Ellie Boo
2. We were living in Springville
3.We had just accepted a job in Washington and I was sick about leaving family. Little did I know that it was about to be the best decision we ever made!
4. Just loving being a mom. I'm so boring I can't remember what else was going on then!

3 Years ago...
1. Ellie was almost 2 and Maycie was 4
2. We were loving Washington and all of our amazing friends there
3. We were fixing our fixer upper
4. We spent the 4th with the Leavitts in Tacoma. Not the best 4th, remember guys? Ohmagosh, it was one catastrophe after the other!
5. I dyed my hair brown and it looked awful!!!!!



1 Year ago...
1. We put our house up for sale because we were moving to Idaho
2. Averie was crawling around, she was so cute and chubby
3. I got a little chubby myself, moving is so stressful!!!!!
4. A year ago in August we pulled up to the little house my sister found for us to rent, and I started to sob. I was thinking "what have we done?"

Yesterday I...
1. I spent the whole day throwing up
2. Tried to take care of my kids while wanting to die!
3. Cleaned up puke from Ellie slightly missing the toilet by about 10 yards.
4. Tried to comfort Maycie who was also tossing cookies all day.
5. Cried because I felt sorry for myself that I can't call in sick.
6. On the bright side... I lost 3 pounds! (usually my days aren't this fun, really)

Today I...
1. Took care of Paul, who unfortunately got the crud last night (and got to call in sick:)
2. Took Averie with me to run errands. We had a fun date together.
3. Actually took a nap while Averie did, because I'm not quite feeling 100%, more like 95%.
4. Did some more throw up laundry
5. Hope we never get the crud in our house ever again!!! I'm so done with puke!
6. Just realized I should have waited a few days to fill this out so it wasn't all about puke!

Tomorrow I...
1. Will take Ellie to Tumble Time
2. Will take Maycie to Soccer practice
3. Will get a few things done for the 4th
4. Will probably spend too much time on the computer

In the next year I...
1. Hope to have our house built
2. Hope to lose 30 pounds. Ya right, that's been my hope for the last 7 years!
3. Hope to potty train Averie
4. Hope I can find time for things that really matter in life. ( this was actually Ginger's answer, but I like it!)


I tag Jewelia, Elise, Kristy, & Jaime

Happy Birthday Maycie!

I can't believe I have a seven year old! She is getting so big, and responsible. It is not uncommon for her to get her little sisters out of bed in the morning and make them breakfast before I'm even coherent. She is so thoughtful and loving and still extremely... how do you put it nicely, um.....talkative. She's definitely not verbally challenged. We love our Maycie to bits! I could not ask for a better daughter. I'm so extremely proud of her. She's truly everything I wish I could be! Love you Sweetheart! (She loves to read our blog).
For her birthday she wanted to choose anywhere she wanted for lunch, get a manicure, get her ears pierced, and then go shopping. I have to say this was all entirely her idea. She's a woman after my own heart! We had so much fun. Her Great-Grandma Faye, Grandma Chris, Aunt Nicci, Aunt Wendy, and I spoiled this kid rotten , (especially Grandma Chris!) She chose to eat at Wingers where she ordered macaroni and cheese. When i asked her why in the world she would go out to eat and order that, she simply held up the menu and pointed. It read, "a meal fit for a princess." She knew I would understand, and I did. Then, we all went and got a manicure. After that, we headed to the mall for some ear piercing and shopping! My mom, (Grandma Chris) went coo coo bonkers and bought her everything she wanted at Claire's Boutique. She would say, "Maycie, do you like this?" Maycie would reply "yes" and in the basket it went. It was fun to have a special day with just her. I also have to mention that she absolutely had to make and decorate her own cake. She wanted triple chocolate fudge with chocolate chips, chocolate frosting, and chocolate sprinkles. Like I said before, a woman after my own heart!




Anything she wanted!

Ouch! Beauty is pain! But so worth it.

Manicures!
Lunch at Wingers.

Sorry about the picture, Wendy!

Music and Lyrics

Why is it so dang funny when someone sings the wrong words to songs? Today I was laughing to tears because Maycie was singing, "Listen" from the Dream Girls soundtrack. (It's on my play list if you want to hear it), anyway the lyrics say, "I'm all alone at a crossroads." Maycie's version says, "I'm all alone as a cockroach!" I'm sure it was much funnier hearing her belt it out as serious as can be. It made my day!

What the Hail?

Hmmm, I thought we left Washington. Maycie's first soccer game got rained out. Bummer! It was actually hailing after this picture. Yep, I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be JUNE!!!

Here's the Scoop!

We moved yet again! Why do we do this to ourselves? I don't know! We moved to a town home (temporarily of course) because it's only a few minutes from where we are building. It will probably take at least a year since Paul is doing a lot of the work himself. So, we will get to move yet again next year! Yeah! Next time should be for A LOT longer (hopefully).


The water in the bathroom wasn't hooked up right, (did I mention this town home is brand new?) Averie got to take a bath in the kitchen sink until it was fixed. Pretty cool!

Hooray for Warm Weather and Power Wheels!

Averie gets a head start for the big race around the house!

Ellie and Bo Bear

He's seven years old!
And the race is on!
Car-pooling.
My sweet girls enjoying the warm weather.

My Funny Girl

I'd need a helmet too if I was making messes of this magnitude in just a matter of minutes!

CHEEEEESE!


Naked flying baby!

















What a great spot to drink my juice!
What a great spot for my sandwich!

New Do!

I had to straighten her hair to make it even. It's so hard to cut when it's that curly! It looks pretty cute straight though, I think we'll keep it that way a while. The only thing I hate about it is that she looks so much older! My little Ells Bells is growing up!

THE PROCEDURE

BEFORE.

A little nervous for the procedure!

AFTER. Couldn't wait to tell Grandma and Grandpa!

Pulling Teeth!

I know I need to stop with the videos, but Maycie was so brave I had to post it for all to see.

Shoe Fetish

We're starting a shoe savings account now for when she's a teenager. This kid is obsessed with shoes! I swear I get her dressed and comb her hair! She's not really neglected although she appears to be.

Life With Girls

The girls thought they had found all of there eggs when I took this video of Ellie. I just had to share, because the way she talks is so dramatic. She talks like this ALL of the time! Just the beginning of the video is what I wanted to share, but I didn't know how to edit the video to make it shorter, so it's a little long. (sorry)

System for Maximum Eggs according to an 18 month old.

A Hunting We Will Go!

That is one smart Easter Bunny! He knew that we were at Grandma Linda's house in Utah!

when children humiliate you

Yesterday in Sacrament Meeting, Ellie turned Paul's face bright red. I'm so glad she was sitting on his lap and not mine. The lady on the bench right in front of us was turned around smiling at someone coming in. Ellie pointed at her and said, "Hey Dad! She didn't brush her teeth!" The lady just turned back around and didn't say anything, so either did Paul. What are you suppose to do in a situation like that? Ellie got a talkin to in the car on the way home. But, it's bound to happen!
It was almost as uncomfortable as when Maycie was almost three in a Subway restaurant. There were three female employees working on the sandwich line. One of them was a "Pat". I could tell she was female, but only because of her...I don't want to say enormous rack, so we'll go with womanly figure. Maycie notices her and can't tell what gender she is, so she starts going down the line, pointing at each one saying "girl...girl... (and then she gets to "Pat" ) and scratches her head and says, hummm? Boy?" The girl said, "no honey, I'm a girl. I just have really short hair." Maycie looks at her confused and says, "no, you're a boy!" I could have died. I was whispering to her the whole uncomfortable time, shut up shut up shut up shut up. What do you do? AWWWKWARD!!!!!! Ya gotta love 'em! They're brutally honest.

Funny Ell Stories

The other day we were in the car and Maycie had to go, and I mean she had to go bad. She literally could not make it to a bathroom even if we would have been near one. So, I let her relieve herself in one of Ave's diapers. Ellie of course sees an opportunity to push Maycie's buttons and says, "Ya, I have to go too, but I'm just gonna wait until I get home because...I'm potty trained!" Oh boy did that tick Maycie off! "ELLIEEEEE! I AM POTTY TRAINED!!!!!" Paul and I had a hearty chuckle.

My kids love Arby's. They love the Arby's Melts in particular. One day as Paul was ordering at the drive-thru, Ellie yells to him "daddy I want a Barbie Melt Down!" I don't know why, but that still makes me laugh so I had to share!

She is trying out new words lately. Almost everything she says starts with "well actually." The other day she walked up to me and said "well this is awkward! My drawer won't open!" I was like wow, that is awkward! She's so funny. She keeps me laughing all of the time. She's in a very loving and obedient stage right now. If I tell her "no" she immediately says "O-Kay Mom." It's wonderful. I wonder how long it will last, but for now I'm lovin it!

I betcha can't guess who helped Maycie build this igloo!!!!