Super Fun Gift

This past year for Christmas, Grandma Bird and Grandma and Grandpa Sillito all gave us money to buy our own gifts.  Because we already have so much stuff, we decided to let the kids each choose an activity to do with their money.  We had so much fun doing these different things.  I think we'll have to make it a yearly tradition.  I think the best part was that we took the kids individually.  So, we got to spend some awesome one on one time with them.

Tanner chose to go snow boarding.  He and Baylen headed to the hills one day and had a great time.  Tanner had been saving up his lawn mowing money to buy a snow board and found a great deal on one on the classifieds.  Baylen said that Tanner is really starting to get the hang of boarding and Tanner is totally hooked.  He loved it.  Unfortunately, I didn't snap a picture that day.  But, I'll have to get a pic of Tanner and his snow board and add it later.

Hailey went back and forth on what she wanted to use her money for.  At one point she thought that all she wanted to do was go out to eat at Subway.  However, after Tanner went snowboarding and had so much fun, she decided that she wanted to go skiing.  She also LOVED it!  Baylen and Hailey called me a few times when they were on the lifts and I could tell they were in heaven.  Baylen said that by the end of the afternoon, Hailey was going on several of the big runs (and doing great on them)!  One noteworthy story, though:

   Baylen has never been skiing.  He's a total snow boarder.  We went up once last year and my friend kind of taught Hailey how to ski.  But, it had been a year and I'm guessing she forgot a lot of what Amber told her.  When Baylen and Hailey got to the top of the bunny hill this time, they started heading down.  Hailey forgot all about the "pizza" way of skiing and also didn't remember how to stop.  So, Baylen said she just started going "fry style" and kept getting faster and faster.  I guess she was passing everyone on the hill.  Baylen kept yelling for her to stop.  But, she had no idea how.  Baylen said that he was so scared for her.  I'm not exactly sure how she ended up slowing down at the bottom.  But, I'm thinking she had guardian angels watching out for her.  Other than her being a little tearful when Baylen finally got to the bottom, he said that she brushed it off and ended up having a great day!  Here's a picture of them when they got back that afternoon.

 For Ashlyn's "gift" she decided that she wanted to go to Disney on Ice.  I'm actually glad that one of my kids chose that (I LOVE Disney on Ice) and I'm SUPER GLAD that I was the one who got to take her!  We had Baylen drop us off downtown on his way to work.  Then, when it was over, we had the adventure of riding Front Runner home.

The show was amazing!  We had so much fun.  I'm not sure if I enjoyed the show more, or Ashlyn's expressions during the show.  Here we are waiting for it to start.  We had amazing seats!  I think we were on row 12.

 The show was all about the Disney princesses (perfect for my little princess!)  Everything was so well done.  Of course, we're talking about Disney!  Here are Rapunzel and Flynn Rider swinging through the air...

 Mickell chose to go to a play with her money.  Both Baylen and I really wanted to go… so we did!  We ended up seeing Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat.  I was really worried because I had heard from a neighbor that it was awful.  But, we loved it!  We thought the cast was incredible.  It's been years since I've seen that play and I forgot how much I love it and the music.  We've been singing the songs ever since.  Mickell really really liked it, too!  I love that I have a kid who loves the arts!

Random

Here are a few random things that have been happening in our lives...

I always love Sundays because the kids are "forced" to play with each other.  Not really forced, but given the opportunity.  We don't play with friends on Sundays and we limit our TV watching.  So, the kids usually end up playing well together (Usually).  

One Sunday, Tanner and I pulled out our 5 in 1 game thing to learn how to play backgammon.  While we were playing, Hailey and Ashlyn used the other pieces to build a city.  I love how they put the Salt Lake temple right in the middle.  Good thinking!

 Apparently Ashlyn got ahold of my camera one day and I ended up with this.  Totally made my day when I was looking back through my pictures and found it.  Can you say blackmail?!!!
                                     
Ashlyn IS NOT a morning person.  I have to give her credit that she IS getting better.  But, it used to be that she could sleep until 11:00 AM without even stirring.  I know I should wake her up earlier, but quite often I get a lot done during that time.  Besides, we might as well enjoy it while we can.  Next year she'll have to get up early for school.  

One day I had to wake her up at 9:00 to go help with an auction in Hailey's class.  You would have thought it was 4 in the morning.  I got her out of bed and then ran to the laundry room to grab her clothes out of the dryer.  When I came back, she had fallen asleep in our dress up container.

 Because Ashlyn sleeps in so late, she of course has a hard time falling asleep at night.  Her dad, on the other hand, has to get up at five in the morning most days.  So, he goes to bed around 9 or 9:30.  Rather than Baylen tucking Ashlyn in, Ashlyn tucks Baylen in.  I'm not exactly sure what happens during this tuck in ritual, but I do know that Baylen gets to choose a song that Ashlyn sings to him and then she tucks him in.

 Mickell has become quite the helper.  I love having an older girl!  She's always willing to fill in when I feel like I'm falling short.  She's also a great babysitter.  Between Baylen's two jobs, he is gone a lot.  I swear that life just keeps getting busier and busier the older the kids get.  I am constantly in the car this year with all of the sports and activities that we are in.  It's so nice to just leave the kids home with Mickell.  I can't imagine having to gather all of the kids up each time we have to run someone somewhere.   

I just snapped a picture of her one day while she was making Sunday breakfast.  It seems like Baylen is rarely home on Sunday mornings.  Between getting my lesson finished up and all the kids ready for church, things tend to be chaos.  She helps gives baths and is great at cooking.  This one morning she made us all coffee cake!

A few conversations to remember…

Baylen was leaving one day to go to his home health job.  He dresses a little nicer when he goes there (polo shirt and slacks rather than scrubs).  One day he decided to wear a nice button down shirt.  Anyways, as he was leaving, Ashlyn turned to me and said, "Where is dad going?"  I told her that he was going to work and she said, "Then why does he look so handsome?"

Both Baylen and Ashlyn love spicy things.  The other day Baylen was letting Ashlyn eat some of his spicy chips and Ashlyn said, "We're both in the spicy club."  

One night at dinner we got on the topic of babies.  Ashlyn asked if it hurt when they cut my stomach open.  I told her that they gave me medicine so that I couldn't feel it while it was happening but that it hurt a little after.  She thought for a minute and then turned to Baylen and said, "Your lucky you are a boy."

One day as I was taking Tanner to swim practice he asked me which of our ancestors was a swimmer.  I told him that I didn't know of any ancestors that were on swim teams.  He said that there had to be someone who was a swimmer because it's "in his blood."  He went on to say that he loves everything about water.  He loves drinking it, he loves being in it, etc.  My favorite part of the conversation was when he said "You know, Mickell loves tumbling.  It's in her blood because you were a gymnast."  It was all I could do to stay on the road when I heard that.  I'm not sure where he got the notion that I was a gymnast considering the fact that summersaults make me dizzy and I've never even been able  to do a cartwheel.  I think I'll just let him keep on believing :)

Here's another conversation that I had with Tanner one day.

Tanner:  "How was your day, mom?"

Me: "It was good."

Tanner: "Did you do anything other than cleaning?"

Me: "No, actually I cleaned the entire day."

Tanner: "You should have us clean more.  You really need to take a break once in awhile."

I tell you, that kid is going to make a great husband some day!!!

Valentines 2013

I decided that I need to start documenting some of our every day activities around home.  It seems like the only time I ever pull my camera out is when there's a special occasion.

If you stop by our house in the evening, you will usually find some sort of "creative mess."  On this occasion we were all making valentine boxes for the kids to take to school later in the week.

While we're on the topic of Valentine's, we had a great day.  Baylen and I were actually able to go out to eat with the couples on my side of the family (except Leslie, Seth,  Jared and Kirsti) to Christopher's Steakhouse.  It was a very nice restaurant with delicious food (especially the rolls!).  It was also fun to hang out and visit with just the adults.  It seems like that never happens.

On Valentine's Day we of course did the traditional heart breakfast and lunch foods.  I was able to help with Ashlyn's class party.  

That night we had our candle light dinner.  


We changed it up a little this year.  I've been trying to serve fish more lately.  So, salmon isn't really a luxury in our home anymore.  I had to think of something new to make the meal super special.  So instead we had london broil.  My kids definitely take after their dad when it comes to red meat.  They love it so much that I wouldn't be surprised to find them licking the rest of the flavor off of their plates. That night we watched the new movie that Baylen and I got for the kids and had lava cake (yummmmmm)

Funny story…. When I got home from the school that day, there were a dozen red roses sitting on the table.  First of all, I was surprised because Baylen doesn't usually buy flowers.   My first thought was "Oh man, those must have been really expensive.  That vase is gorgeous."  It really was so pretty.  I was crossing my fingers that he hadn't spent too much because we are trying to redo our kitchen.  Every time I walked past them, I couldn't help but hope that he hadn't spent as much as the arrangement looked like he spent.  

Then, later that night he informed me (without me saying anything) that he had actually gotten his vase from work.  I knew that meant that it was from a patient that hadn't made it.  He said that the other nurses at work couldn't believe that he would give me that vase.  He said that he knew I would just laugh about it.  He said it was actually a really sad story about the patient who's vase my flowers were now in.  He offered to tell me about it but I respectfully declined.  Honestly, I'm just relieved that he didn't really spend the $60.00 on a flower arrangement that I was stressed all day about him spending.  

Pippy

A few weeks ago we had a cute lady in our ward come and teach the activity day girls some different easy hairstyles that they could do in their own hair.  We've been having lots of fun with a few new things to do.  Unfortunately, this hairstyle did not turn out how it was suppose to.  
                          
Ashlyn and I had a few good laughs.  She totally looked like Pippy Longstocking (although, she has no idea who that is).  Thankfully, we were able to make a good recovery by pulling all her hair back into a ponytail.

Under the Big Top

Broman and Rachel invited us to go to the Jordan World Circus with them.  I hadn't been to a circus since I was super young, but I had heard that this was a small one.  So, I wasn't expecting much.  I can only imagine how awesome the big ones are because this one was amazing.  They had all of us on the edge of our seats the entire time.  Other than watching a crazy tightrope walker who just about killed himself twice, we loved every minute of it.