Oh The Shame!

Oh dear me! How horrible to see! Its been over a year since I posted on my blog!!! Its very sad that I have let things go so much. Hmmm... could this be a belated New Year's resolution? Can I get back in the habit of blogging again, rather than just posting pics and quick snippets of life on Facebook? Well.... I think I'll give it a heck of a go! I honestly and truly am trying to get back on top of my life. It seems that sometimes I get bogged down by life and then have regrets about the things that I've let go. I will try (if for nobody's benefit but my own) to do some posts about the past year and get up to date. I've mentally tarred and feathered myself and am now sufficiently chastised. Moving forward now and trying not to look back and regret! Blog - we've got some serious time to make up!

September & October

Ok, OK!!! I got the message loud and clear folks. I suck! :0) I seriously can't believe that its been MONTHS since I updated my blog! Here are a few (or actually a lot) of pics of what we've been up to the past couple of months...

The first week of September we spent with my family in Lake Powell. Nila didn't care one bit about being out in the water (I think she thought it was a little chilly) so we let her hang out in the house boat most of the time. Kamryn had a BLAST on the water craft and fishing with Grandpa.



She was especially proud of this one!

Chantz had NO fear of the water (which scared me half to death) and loved it when he got to be the co-captain.

We got home from our trip and the girls went back to school. Nila is in 2nd grade this year and Kamryn is in preschool. They are both loving school and it gives me some one on one time with Chantz.

In October we took Kalani's dad on a hunting trip up at my uncle's cabin. (SO much fun!) The kids had fun with family and Kami decided that shooting deer, elk, etc is ok because that's what jerky is made out of. (Silly girl!) Nila turned 8 on the 23rd of October. We were going to go have a party with my family, but people got sick so we had our own little party here for her. Kami helped Nila eat a special breakfast...

And helped her open her presents...

We ordered Nila's favorite for dinner... PIZZA!

Chantz decided that pink and purple frosting was ok... (Don't you LOVE my halloween tree in the background!? Love it!)

This year for Halloween Nila was a witch, Kamryn was (once again) Aurora, and Chantz was a vampire. Chantz didn't quite know what to think about the entire ordeal UNTIL he saw there was candy in his bucket. Then he thought it was fab and kept trying to go back out trick-or-treating with all the kids that came to our door. Kamryn loved Halloween and Nila didn't think much of getting dressed up this year and flat out REFUSED to smile for me!







Well, at least there are two months caught up! November & December to come!!

Chantz's Birthday (Belated) & Swimming

What a horrible mother I am! I didn't do a post for my baby's first birthday!! Life gets busy, it's summer.... those excuses don't seem even close to good enough, but sadly they are the truth. Anyway... mini-man Chantz turned 1 year old on June 22. Kamryn INSISTED that he have a Mickey Mouse cake.

And he thought it was pretty much fabulous...


He, very much so, liked all of his presents...


And the swings at the park are pretty cool too...
(Yes, I know it is a little blurry, but look at that smile!)

I FINALLY signed Kamryn up for swimming lessons this year.


After day one she decided she was pretty much never going back (just this small thing called she was petrified of going under water.) Kalani and I decided to buy the kids a small pool so she could "practice." Nila thinks it is too cold for her little body, but Kami and Chantz love it. Kamryn finished out swimming lessons and even jumped off the diving board all by herself by the end of the week. (Good thing too because I was feeling a little abusive tossing her off! Yes, I did, and yes, her teacher told me to and was right there to make sure she was ok.)



Kamryn has decided that swimming is fun and can't wait to go back for more lessons next year.

Nila started 2nd grade last week (yes I will get pics on here of the first day of school) and loved it. The first two days anyway. She's been home since with a bad cold, but is going back today.

The Grandparents Asay...

Throughout the years I may not have been the grandchild that was around the most. In fact I've probably been among the group that has been around the least. That, however, definitely didn't mean I didn't absolutely adore these two wonderful people.

Early Friday morning my sweet Grandma Asay passed away. I've been thinking about her quite a bit since then, and I can't think of her without thinking of Grandpa as well. To me they are a package deal. Its been hard these past seven years to see Grandma or talk to her and not see or talk to Grandpa as well. Since I didn't have a blog when Grandpa died, I thought I'd share some of my feelings about both of them now.

I have so many fun memories of Grandma and Grandpa when I was tiny. I loved riding horses together and remember them singing while we rode. They ALWAYS had granola bars or some treat or another around. (I blame Grandma to this day for getting me hooked on frozen twinkies! Let em' thaw for just a minute and they are just nummy.) I also remember barbeques at their house and playing croquet in the yard. I loved to wander the empty lots around their house and help Grandpa in the garden. (Although I do remember getting into some serious trouble when I wandered off down the road with Danny.) Grandma always would let me play with her Russian nesting dolls and her FABULOUS assortment of perfume bottles. She never cared if I got into her jewelry and sometimes would tell me to go and get her jewelry box so I could try it all on.

After my parents died my siblings and I started spending a week or two every summer with Grandpa and Grandma. I, being the homebody that I am, was always a little hesitant to be away for so long. They were wonderful at putting me at ease and before long I was having so much fun I didn't want the vacation to end. For some reason fireworks and corn fritters stand out in my mind at this time too.

Every year we'd go up the Asay reunion in Wyoming. Grandpa and Grandma were caretakers at the ranch (that's the best word I can think of for it at the moment), and there were times that we arrived a few days before the reunion started. I loved helping them. My favorite thing to help Grandma do was the laundry. She used an old fashioned washing mashine that had a roller on it to "wring" out the cloths. I was just facinated with it. My favorite memories of Grandpa in the mountains are the drives we used to take, riding around with him in the tractor, and fishing. (Of course he sang during all of them.) One year after coming home to Roosevelt I missed them so much that Grandma Chapman called and asked if I could come and spend more time with them. I spent about a week with them all by myself and loved every second. I helped them caulk cabins, clean, whatever needed done.

As I turned into the dreaded teenager my relationship with them changed and matured. We had some very deep discussions and a few arguments, but we always worked it out. I always knew that they were there for me, and there were many times that my friends and I came out and stayed with them. Grandpa, of course, still had a small version of his garden and Grandma always had yummy treats she'd made. Grandma never minded taking me to the mall and I really enjoyed my time I spent with her visiting her sister in the nursing home. I remember being terrified to take their car one day because I had never driven in the huge city of Orem (ha!) but they didn't hesitate for a second to let me drive and ended up sending me on a few errands for them. Amazing that they trusted this small town girl with their car.

Years passed and I got married. They came to visit Kalani and I at the home we built and we would take them out to lunch or dinner. Wingers was always where Grandpa wanted to go and we were more than happy to accomodate him. There would be days that I would get home from work and there would be a box of fruit and veggies that Grandpa had picked from his garden sitting on my door step. Grandma would send blackberry jam home with me with instructions to always bring back the bottle so I could swap it out for a full one.

My little Nila was born and they were at the hospital all the time. I felt so bad because I knew that they worried so much about that tiny little baby. They were such a comfort to me during that hard time. Nila's NICU stay started out with them coming to visit me and it ended, 5 months later, with me going to see Grandpa in the hospital. I am still so thankful for those visits with him as, after Nila came home, I couldn't take her out of the house. The week that Grandpa died after his struggle with cancer was the week that Nila finally came off oxygen and we were cleared to take her out and about. This made it possible for me to attend my Grandpa's funeral. I always felt like he helped her out with that.

Over the past few years I didn't make it up to see Grandma as often as I'd like to. It seemed like whenever I'd stop by she wasn't there, but I did catch her on occasion. She spent quite a bit of time out of town staying with her children. Every once in a while though, sometimes quite late at night, I'd get a phone call from her. We'd have such great conversations and her laugh could always put a smile on my face. We'd talk about the same things once or twice because she couldn't remember talking about them before, but that was fine with me. I always wondered if she'd react the same way to what I was telling her and she usually did.

I'm so very glad that I got to see Grandma in the hospital before she died and tell her that I loved her one last time. The last few times I talked to her she told me over and over how much she missed Grandpa and how she was ready to be with him. All I could think of when I heard she'd passed was the reunion they must be having. I'm so proud to have had them as grandparents. They loved me so much and I hope they know that the feeling was entirely mutual!

Kamryn told me tonight, when she looked at a picture of Grandpa and Grandma with their children and spouses, "Mommy, I saw her today." She was pointing right at Grandma and proceeded to tell me that she'd seen her at church (Ron and Vicky's homecoming) and at that place with the blue box (which happened to be Grandma's graveside service.) She told me that Grandma had "got sick and died" but was now happy and up in heaven. What do you say to that, but to tell her that she is exactly right?

My Little People

Summer is finally here and it seems to have struck with fury! Can it possibly be true that mere weeks ago I was freezing my patootie off at the NICU reunion (even with triple layers?!) Today multiple thermometers outside said 95 degrees at my house! Could I have temperatures in between freezing and scorching? I think some people call it spring! During our cold days I had to find some things to keep Kamryn and Chantz busy. Don't ask me how, but I swear they have a radar that makes them grumpy when they know we should be experiencing springlike weather outside and they can't go out because Mother Nature is stuck in March. Nila has just wrapped up her 1st grade year in school and is a bit ticked with me because she doesn't understand why she isn't going "bu-bye" first thing in the morning. (Help! My children don't realize that they can sleep in and we've been up between 6:30-7:30 since school has been out! Here are a few of things my kids have been up to the last few weeks... Kamryn made an "airplane" for Chantz and herself to watch "in flight movies" in... Chantz has discovered the bliss of eating Twinkies. This particular variety was a "Shrek Twinkie" compelte with disturbing looking green frosting inside. Nila had her end of school program that included a slideshow/video of all the kids activities throughout the year. Of course, I bawled! She kept shooting me shifty eyes wondering if I was there to take her home and being none too happy about it! Thank goodness the last day of school was beautiful so we could actually get a picture of Nila with her wonderful bus driver and aid, Diane and Jan. She's going to miss them! Kamryn and I, on quite a few of those rainy days we've had, started making hair barettes. We made so many that I've started selling them, so this makes her twice as happy! Finally, just a little video of Chantz. I forgot how fast babies learn to do new things! In the last two weeks Chantz has learned to go down the stairs (actually down - not falling), and has started just standing up in the middle of the room. I'm just waiting for him to take off running and it makes me a little sad to realize that he is almost one! Tonight we decided that we'd let Chantz try a spoonful of fruit dip. His eyes got huge and he would NOT release his spoon. We finally got it away to get him a refill and I took this little video clip (just because him pouting was totally cracking me up.) He went to his bath with the spoon and wouldn't let go until it was time for bed. I think he was hoping that more fruit dip would materialize upon it. Cute little bugger!

Ducks?!

We're suckers. That's about the nicest way I can put it...

A couple of years ago Kalani bought Nila and Kamryn each a mallard duckling around Easter time. I thought that they were fabulous pets (since they grew up and flew away.) Last year there were no ducklings to be found so we, stupidly, bought the girls some chicks. Let me just say this. Chickens are disgusting. They stink and make BIG messes. They don't do cute little things like dive in the water in the bath tub or pool in the back yard, or waddle around in a little line behind Kamryn as she tromps through the lawn. I was always more afraid they'd try to peck an eyeball out! Then there was the problem of what to DO with the dang things when they grew up. Thankfully we have a wonderful neighbor that, upon finding out I wanted the bloody birds to disappear, took care of them when we were out of town. I just requested no chicken taquitos please! (He's from Mexico and makes the most fabulous food and brings it over a couple times a year.)

Now, back to why we are suckers. So.. this year Kami, of course, remembered that tis the season for baby birds. I thought she'd forget about it until she went on a shopping trip with Daddy to CalRanch and THERE in all their glory were TONS of chicks. There wasn't a duck in the bunch. NO WAY!! Kalani got online and found a guy up in Salt Lake that had lots of ducklings, groovy. We ended up driving up to get them that day and Kami INSISTED on having them next to her in their cage on the way home. She ALSO insisted that we have three kids now, so, you guessed it, three ducklings.


Nila wants ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with them, which explains the lack of Nila in any pictures. That IS her, however, making that horrible clicking noise in the background of the video. Kamryn thinks that they are calling to her every time she hears them chirp. (Yes - hears them chirp! Since it is so freaking cold outside suddenly the little darlings are in their cage in my downstairs bathtub with a heat lamp on them!) Chantz loves them and keeps trying to lift the cage out of the tub and open it.


Good luck little man. The positive? Here in a month or two when their feathers come in they'll fly away. :)

Daddy, I want holes in my head and I know its gonna hurt.

Today was Kalani's Friday off (he has every other one off.) Chantz had his 9 month well baby check, although he turned 10 months old yesterday.. oops. Then Kalani, Kamryn, Chantz and I (Nila was in school) went to the mall to see How to Train Your Dragon. When we walked out of the theater Kami looked up and saw Claire's. She, out of the blue, yelled "I want earrings!" Now we had told her that she could have them when she was potty trained, just about a year ago, BUT her mean old dad talked her out of it. He talked her out of it by telling her that they were going to poke holes in her ears and it would hurt really bad. He then said that when she said she wanted them he'd let her do it, but she had to acknowledge that she understood what she'd be doing to herself. So... after the "I want earrings" comment, she spilled out the above mentioned sentence (see title of post.) Followed by "I'll be super grave", meaning brave. We asked her multiple times if she was sure and she said yes. Off we went to Claire's. Kamryn picked out some lovely pink rhinestone flower studs and readily hopped up into that ever so tall torture chair. She knew she would have to hold very still and this was a bit concerning to me, since there was only one girl working... CRAP, we're not going to be able to do both ears at the same time! Ear number one.. tears start welling up and there is a huge deep breath before some quiet crying starts. Gun in place, head held perfectly still while a high pitched screech emits from her little body. Sooo sad! But wait! I get a lollipop? I get a sticker? I get a mirror to look at the fabulous bling I've just permanently (for the next 6 weeks) stuck through my ears! Hmm... I'm ok! Just don't touch my ears! Ice cream on the way home? I think I can work this for all its worth. Hair gets tangled around new earrings a few hours later... let me show you what makes the pain go away... leads mom to the pantry and points to the candy jar. Little stinker!

Where to begin... again!

Once again I've let my blog slide. I hate it when I get behind because then I don't know where to even start catching up! So... here's the sweet, sort of condensed version of what's been going on in our lives...

March was a bit of a crazy month for us! We went out to my grandparents the first weekend in March to celebrate both of their birthdays. That same weekend my Great Grandma Stevenson was hospitalized. On March 5th I helped out with the Chocolate Extravaganza. This is a fund raiser that benefits the pediatric & newborn intensive care units at UVRMC. On my way home from this event I received a phone call saying that my sweet Great Grandmother had passed away.

Here is a picture of Nila, myself (hugely pregnant), Stephanie, Makayla and Kamryn at Grandma Stevenson's 88th birthday party last March. She missed her 89th birthday by just under 2 weeks. I sure am going to miss this amazing lady. She was one of the busiest, fiestiest people I think I'll ever know. Love you Grandma Rue!

So... for the second weekend in a row we headed out to Gma & Gpa's house. This time for a funeral. It was so nice, but it was not fun having to explain to my 4 year old what had happened to her Great, Great Grandma. The kids and I ended up staying for the whole week to help Gma Nae out around her house and keep her and Grandpa company. While we were there Chantz (who had been just starting to pull himself up to furniture) learned how to go up the stairs and was pulling himself along everything! (Watch out world here he comes!)

I "celebrated" my 33rd birthday that same week. My sweet family got me a cake and dinner and everything. It was as fun as it could be, considering it was the day after the funeral. Gma and I decided that we are due for fun birthday's next year for sure!!

When we came back home we just did typical March stuff... Work on the yard, start spring cleaning around the house.. nothing too exciting. The kids have really enjoyed our warmer days and Chantz thinks that the swing set is FABULOUS!

Along came April and Easter! So back out to Grandma & Grandpa's we went! We had so much fun playing outside and having our Easter egg hunt INSIDE (since we woke up to a few inches of snow!) Kamryn loves it out there because she has wide open spaces to explore and a Grandma that let's her help with EVERYTHING! Nila was out of school the entire week after Easter for spring break so the kids and I decided to stay the week again.

Kamryn and Uncle Jonny building some jumps for daddy's man toys - aka his remote control cars.

I couldn't find Kamryn one morning, so I went upstairs and discovered her helping Grandma make a cake. So fun to be at Grandma's!

I think Nila's favorite thing was coloring eggs. Kalani found these special cups that had a hole for the egg to go in to, so we didn't have to worry about her spilling or tipping over the color. However... we quickly learned that she was a little overzealous in her egg coloring and if we didn't have that sucker in place the second we handed her the egg, SMASH, egg.. meet table.

Coloring eggs is EXHAUSTING!

Chantz was happy to be there! Between Easter and the eggs, s'mores by the fire pit, and being picked up about any time he wanted, I think we could have stayed forever!

I forgot to mention that amidst all the craziness of March and April, Kalani was travelling quite a bit too. (California for a week, Arizona for a week, and Zion's National Park for a few days.) Now we're all home and life seems a little boring for the moment. I'm sure that the second I say that everything will change! Time to get the yard all cleaned up, prepare for our garden and get our trailer ready for camping.

Watch What You Say!

Last night we had chicken tacos and nachos for dinner. Kamryn was in and out of the kitchen snatching tortilla chips throughout the process, which was fine. Then I heard her talking to Chantz. I knew she had food and didn't want her to try to feed him a chip! I yelled down into the living room not to feed Chantz anything. "Well, maybe just a little piece", was the response I heard back. So, not thinking at all and wanting to scare her into never randomly putting food into her baby brother's mouth (and being a little frustrated that we've had this conversation five other times that day) I replied, "We don't feed the baby big people food because he can choke and die." I thought, "that oughtta stop her." SHE immediately burst into tears and hugged Chantz sobbing, "I'm sure gonna miss you baby!" Apparantly she'd ALREADY been feeding him pieces of tortilla chip! Lesson #1 (for her) DON'T feed the baby! Lesson #2 (for me) think through the threats that come out of your mouth, no matter how frustrated you are! ZOIKS!

Disneyland!

About 6 months ago Kalani and I started tossing around the idea of Disneyland. We didn't know how Nila would react and wondered if we were insane to even debate taking a baby. We KNEW Kamryn would be thrilled. We decided to just bite the bullet and go for it. We let family know that we would be going and let everyone know that whoever wanted to go would be welcome. February 3rd, after MUCH planning, a group of 16 of us crazies flew off to California. (Grandpa, Grandma, Steph & her 2 kiddos, Alan & Amy and their 2 kids, Jonathan, Darius, and my little family.) I think we took up almost half the flight on our way down!

Amy, Chantz and I at Long Beach airport getting on our private shuttle.

Day one started off at Goofy's Kitchen...


Nila kept giving the characters shifty eyes & didn't quite know if she trusted them..


Kamryn on the other hand...




Goofy even came over and wrote on the table cloth that he wanted her to be his dancing partner. Music came on, he grabbed her and they were off twisting and dipping. It was hilarious.

Then we were off to Disneyland and California Adventure for 3 days. Day two was not the best for my little family, as Nila was sick with a stomach bug the whole day & spent it in the hotel with her dad. I wasn't necessarily much better off as I had Kami and Chantz out in POURING rain!








Day three, however, was awesome! Nila and Chantz did great on the rides during our entire trip. We had been very worried about how they would react. It was also very cool to be able to go to the front of the line with Nila. Chantz didn't quite know how to react on Pirates of the Carribean. Little arms and legs were flying when we went down the little drops. Kamryn shocked the heck out of me! She was INSISTING on going on Splash Mountain. For you that aren't familiar, it is a log ride with a HUGE drop at the end. I've gone on it twice and that was pleanty for me. We finally gave in & Kalani took her on the ride.(That would be her in the back in her bright green rain coat.)

We kept waiting and waiting for them to come off. We got a call on Gma's cell & they let us know that Kamryn was going on it again and was NOT taking no for an answer. Who knew I had a thrill seeker! (I need to scan a pic & post it - her face is hilarious!) She loved that & the Thunder Mountain roller coaster the most. Crazy kid! We also got to meet a few of the princesses on day three. Much to Kamryn's dismay we didn't ever see Aurora. Next time!



I could go on & on about all the fun experiences we had. Nila being totally catered to. Chantz not having fits even though he spent 10+ hours in a stroller and being packed around.
Me with tears pouring down my face when I saw that Kamryn was experiencing her ultimate! One of the best happened when I wasn't even there. Jonathan took Kamryn into the park on day 3 while Kalani & I were making sure Nila was feeling ok back at the hotel. He took her to meet some characters and got her to a show in front of the castle. Kamryn was picked out of the crowd to participate. So sweet! Thank you uncle Jon!



When we had to leave I think that all of us were sad to go and wanted to stay longer. I had so much fun with my family and can't wait to go back!