Genchi gang

Test

2011-12-13T23:19:00.001-08:00

Seeing if this app works on my tablet

Ashley’s 1!!!!

2011-12-10T09:16:00.001-08:00

this past sunday, we had some family over to celebrate ashley’s birthday. she turned 1 on november 30. On sunday morning, luke helped me make some cupcakes.

ashley got her own cupcake.

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she liked it. after she had hers, she would walk around waiting for someone to set theirs down, and she would steal it.

then luke helped her open presents.

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2 weeks

2011-11-23T16:01:00.001-08:00

2 weeks ago our vacuum died. we have had this vacuum since we got married, 61/2 years ago. we LOVE it. it’s a bissell lift off bagless vacuum. AWESOME vacuum..

WHAT HAPPENED: the cord,plug thing that attaches the canister to the base melted. nice-huh?

we tried to just see if they sold the replacement parts so jeff could fix it. but, from what i could see, they only sold half of what we needed.

anyway, i called bissell to see if there was anything i could do. and GUESS WHAT???? they told me to cut the cord, send it to them with the prepaid shipping label they emailed me, and when they got that they would send me another vacuum. WHAT???? REALLY??? a NEW vacuum?? ( well, re-manned) but still. for FREE!!!!!

in the meantime, my friend and neighbor, heidi, let me borrow their spare vacuum.

it was also a bissell. kinda like a stick vacuum.

i appreciated the loan, thanks heidi. because i didn’t know what i was going to do without a vacuum for 2 weeks.

well, yesterday i got my new vacuum. it’s a bissell muticyclonic pet vacuum (also a lift off and bagless). SWEET!!!!

one of the things i missed about my vacuum(besides the lift off canister) was how long the cord was. seriously, i could vacuum my ENTIRE apartment without unplugging it. well, i am so excited that this new vacuum has the long cord as well.

halloween fun

2011-10-17T14:33:00.001-07:00

on friday, tanner came over and we did a few halloween crafts. we made candy necklaces.

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we put stickers on a pumpkin and ghost.

and then when jeff got home from work, we put together a halleween graveyard.

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and made ghost cookies

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a few days later, i made some witch cookies

i used this neat thing mom got me to help me frost things. it works pretty well. it also comes with about 8 differnt tips.

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special weekend for lucy

2011-10-09T19:06:00.001-07:00

WE LOVE YOU, LUCY!!

hugs

2011-09-30T22:36:00.001-07:00

so today, luke picked out a movie to watch while the girls were napping. he picked out the video that my brother, matt, made of pictures of my dad.

Luke was telling me that he misses grandpa ray. to which i replied that he has never met him. he said “YES, I DID” “i met him when he was buried” he then went up and gave grandpa ray a hug.

such a SWEET boy!!

sea life aquarium

2011-09-01T21:52:00.001-07:00

on July 29, some people from jeff’s work got together and went to the sea life aquarium at arizona mills. it was lots of fun,

we got to touch starfish

luke was excited that he got to see some creatures from spongebob

they have a 360 tunnel to walk through it’s pretty cool

we got to watch them feed stingrays

other random pics from the trip

Jeff’s work group

ok, i’m a little behind… 4th of july

2011-08-31T15:49:00.001-07:00

last fourth of july, we saw that there was an event going on at the peoria sports complex. we thought that five dollars for jeff, and 5 dollars for me (kids 12 and under free) didn’t sound too bad.

they had bounce houses, music, water slides, and OH YEAH, food. the Fireworks show had music to go with it.

the one IMPORTANT thing that we seemed to have not taken into account was that it was summer in phoenix. so, sitting outside was not really fun.

so, THIS YEAR, we got SMART. we bought a shade tent from costco in preparation for this event.

the kids had a BLAST on all the water slides (and in the canopy)

school

2011-08-24T12:03:00.001-07:00

luke started preschool on monday, august 22. he was SO excited to go back.

the week before school started, his teachers were scheduling in home visits. our turn was on wednesday morning. luke loved having his teachers come to his house. his new teacher this year is MRS. MELISSA. she just moved her a month ago from florida.

then on friday, they had an open house for both am and pm classes. the kids had a lot of fun in the classroom.

(the first picture has mrs. lisa and the second picture has mrs. sandy- they are assistants)

luke with his cubby

__________________________

FIRST DAY

walking to the bus….

waiting…

here it comes…

luke and noah

bye bus, bye luke and noah… have fun at school

___________________________

waiting for the bus to bring luke home…..

hi luke

luke said when he got home “I am so excited for the second day of school.”

he has so much fun at school. but as soon as he gets off the bus, he gives sara a great big hug. he misses sara when he’s gone.

donuts

2011-06-29T22:48:00.001-07:00

june 3rd was national donut day. krispy kreme was giving everyone a free donut of their choice.

after eating our donuts, we walked next door to yogurt time. YUMMY!

leaving a legacy

2011-06-20T09:55:00.001-07:00

we have been talking about Grandpa Ray quite a bit these past two weeks. i know i have mentioned him before to luke, but i think he kinda understood a little bit more this time. one day, Grandma Nevada was in the car with us when we passed by the cemetery. Grandma waved and said hi to grandpa. which then led to some questions and explaining to luke. i told him that i had a book of pictures of Grandpa Ray i would show him. so the next day we did. i explained to luke who was in the pictures. after we looked at the scrapbook, he sat down next to sara with the book and told her all about it. he did the same thing when jeff got home from work. about a week later. luke stayed at grandma’s house. well, he found her book, and told her all about it,

i showed luke where we keep the book, and that he can look at it anytime he wants. he has pulled it out several times since.

we also watched the dvd i have. i usually tear up when i watch it. Luke asked what was wrong, and i told him that Grandpa Ray is my dad an i miss him. he gave me a hug and said “mom, it will be ok. you can go see him with me”. so yesterday, we went to the cemetery.

WE LOVE YOU, GRANDPA RAY!!!!

saras TWO!!!!

2011-05-16T08:23:00.001-07:00

sweet little sara turned TWO on saturday

to start the day, we made sara’s birthday cake

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then ggrandma nevada took us to target to pick some things out for sara

later that night, we had a little family party for sara. cake, ice cream and OF COURSE, PRESENTS

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sara LOVES shoes. so i got her some princess dress up shoes

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The outfit grandma nevada got her was so cute. she wore it to church.

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blowing out candles

sara talks so much now. she is such a ham. we enjoy every minute with her. she is a good sister to both luke and ashley. she likes to help and i love that. she is such a sweet litttle girl.

WE LOVE YOU, SARA

hair

2011-05-13T11:03:00.001-07:00

i got a haircut last week

graduation

2011-05-01T16:05:00.001-07:00

yesterday, jeff graduated with his bachelors of science and business management. the cermony was held at the university of phoenix stadium.

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easter

2011-04-25T08:46:00.001-07:00

we dyed eggs on sat. night.

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EASTER MORNING!!

the easter bunny left footprints (when you asked luke whar was gonna happen on easter—he said we get footprints—the bunny left foootprints last year)

luke woke up at 8. he didn’t wait to open his basket.

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luke also got to help ashley open hers

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trying to show ashley the footprints

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sars woke up around 9;30

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later, they went on an egg hunt with their aunt mel (she invited them to her family party)

fingers crossed

2011-04-21T13:25:00.001-07:00

jeff has a job interview today with USAA. Usaa is a very good company to work for. the job he is being interviewed for is as an intern in the finance department.

yesterday, we went out and found him a nice suit. (his suit is about 10 years old and a little worn) i think he looks really good, don’t you?

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GOOD LUCK, HONEY!

massage

2011-04-19T08:36:00.001-07:00

luke giving ashley a massage

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bday party

2011-04-13T09:43:00.001-07:00

last night was luke’s 4th birthday party. it was at rio vista park again (that’s where it was last year)

we first let the kids play for a while. while they were playing, Jeff went to pick up sardella’s pizza.

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(not the best pictures- i know)

after pizza, the kids all had a turn at the pinata

kylie

connor

kade

elijah

caleb

sara luke

olivia

ben

autumn

then presents and cupcakes

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it was a FUN night!!

here is a picture of ashley for fun.

ashley with my friend, heidi

pump it up

2011-03-24T09:01:00.001-07:00

last night, luke had a birthday party to go to for his friend, caleb. the party was at pump it up. since we’d never been before, we all went.(sara plays for free right now)

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the whole gang

time for presents, pizza, cake, & ice cream

it took some convincing to get caleb to come

luke tried to talk him into it… nope it took help from several friends… he finally came

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luke & sara tried out the king’s chair

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everyone had a BLAST! everyone was also sooo tired by the time it was ready to leave.

i just had to…

2011-02-13T21:37:00.001-08:00

as soon as i saw these dresses, i wanted them for my girls. these dresses have a strong resemblance to something that means a lot to me.

blessing day

2011-02-06T16:05:00.001-08:00

Ashley was blessed by jeff today.

grandma nevada, matt, lauren, andi, holly, & sierra came. as well as nana, papa, grandpa greg, grandma kay, grandma lorraine, sam, & mel.

the blessing was awesome.

afterward, everyone, minus greg & kay, came over for grilled cheese sandwiches and cupcakes (made by luke). and just to visit.

NEW ADDITION

2011-02-04T22:41:00.001-08:00

we bought a minivan on wednesday. a used minivan that we paid CASH for. it is a 2003 ford windstar LX. it was sad to hand over that lump sum of money, but it is oh so nice to have space in a car again.

we still have our other car, for the time being, until we figure out what to do with it. we’ve talked about selling it. we’re not sure yet.

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it does have a bench seat in the middle, which i am not crazy about. but, jeff says that he can remove the bench and put in bucket seats. now we just need to find some (at a junkyard- most likely)

tonight, we went to the glendale chocolate affaire. (me, luke,sara,ashley,grandma nevada,,chad,& tanner) yes, we filled our new van. we put it to good use already.

we had fun.

the kids rode some rides.

then we rode a bus to ceretta’s candy co. where we got to sample some YUMMY chocolates.the middle picture is the candy luke bought there.the last picture is a huge football that says “go packers” & “go spurs” (i know it is blurry- because it was wrapped in plastic)

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cupcakes

2011-01-28T12:42:00.001-08:00

last saturday the kids helped make a chocolate cake and white cupcakes for nana’ birthday.

chocolate…

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vanilla…

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BUT, everybody knows the BEST part is licking the spatula afterwards.

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later, after everything cooled, we made chocolate frosting and frosted the cake and cupcakes.

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sara was more interested in eating the frosting from the spatula… and ANYWHERE else it fell.

off to school…

2011-01-13T07:03:00.001-08:00

yeaterday was luke’s FIRST day of preschool. the bus pick him up at 7:13 (YIKES), to start school at 7:45. luke was sooo excited.


this boys name is noah. he lives in our apartment complex.

the bus drops him off at 11:07. I had a dr. appointment, so daddy and sara waited for luke. the bus was a few minutes late.

waiting for the bus…

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here it comes…

luke reported that he had fun at school. he did miss sara and ashley.

when i asked if he made any new friends, he said yes. i asked if he remembered any of their names, and he said yes, kylee. (of course it is a GIRL he remembers)

this morning, he excitedly asked if he got to ride the bus all by himself again.

gingerbread

2011-01-03T20:38:00.001-08:00

the friday night before christmas week, we made a gingerbread house. we have never done one before, but we figured the kids would enjoy it.

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we got it pretty much all done and decorated, and the roof started sliding off. so,we just let the kids eat some of it.

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on sunday afternoon, grandma nevada came over to help luke decorate a HUGE gingerbread man. grandma got this for luke at trader joe’s.

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jesus wants ME for a sun-BEAM

2011-01-02T14:55:00.001-08:00

luke is now a SUNBEAM. his first week of primary. WOW!

he made a crown

he even got a graduation certificate.

luke & sara

preschool

2010-12-13T17:38:00.001-08:00

last thursday, luke had a preschool evaluation. i think it is called the eccel program or something like that. anyway, it’s a community preschool that you can either pay for or if your child has a developmental delay, you can qualify to have the government pay for it.

well, at the evaluation, there was a speech, occupational, and physical therapists, and a school psychologist. LUKE QUALIFIES!

we will have an IEP meeting on jan. 3 to discuss everything. about ten days later, luke can start school. he even gets to ride the school bus.

SANTA

2010-12-10T11:34:00.001-08:00

santa came to grandma nevada’s school the other day. so, we got dressed up and went to see him.

luke did very well this year. (the past three years, he has cried on santa’s lap) when asked what he wanted for christmas, he said a spongebob suitcase.

Sara would not go near him. (she was fine sitting on my lap next to santa) she finally warmed up a little, but would only wave to him from a distance.

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Introducing…

2010-12-08T20:22:00.001-08:00

Ashley Lynne Genchi

born Tuesday, November 30, 2010

8:43 p.m.

6 lbs 15 oz.

20 inches long

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We are not sure where the hair came from!

results…

2010-11-18T14:50:00.001-08:00

the the doctor called yesterday with the test results. he told me before that he wouldn’t have the EMG results yet, just MRI. but, guess what? he had both.

the EMG showed that his nerves are just fine.

the MRI showed that luke has a smaller cerebellum. the doctor thinks that is why his speech is delayed.

he wants to see luke in jan/feb for a follow up. (and of course would like to do more tests)

tests

2010-11-16T18:00:00.001-08:00

luke had an MRI and an EMG (electro myography) done today. yes, they put him to sleep. because of the anesthesia, he could not eat anything after 6 am or drink anything after 1o am. we had to be at the hospital by 11 am to check in.

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his MRI was scheduled at noon, and his EMG was scheduled at 1. well, he didn’t get taken back til 12:45. we got taken back to the recovery room around 2:30.

jeff and i were given these when we checked in and luke got a bracelet.

when luke was shown the mask that he would wear to put him to sleep, he was given a bear with his own mask.

jeff got to go back with luke while they put him out. but, because i am pregnant, this is where i had to say goodbye.

in recovery…

luke was a good sport today. he woke up from the anesthesia really well.

spongebob and the skunk

2010-10-28T21:32:00.001-07:00

tonight, fry’s had a halloween trick or treat. we actually had lots of fun.

they had little pumpkins for the kids to decorate with stickers and/or markers, pumpkin puppets, cookie decorating, tattoos, costume contests, and, OF COURSE, candy.

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(sarar wasn’t fond of her tail)

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last week, luke and sara were invited to a baby/toddler halloween party. a little boy in our new ward was having it.

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cuddles from brother

2010-10-21T14:56:00.001-07:00

sara fell on a toy car a little while ago, and cut her lip.

anyway, i wiped the blood from her mouth and was cuddling her. luke came up and asked if he could hold sara and settle her down.

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luke is such a GREAT big brother.

icee

2010-10-17T20:39:00.001-07:00

lately, icees have been sounding and taste really good to me. i guess you could say it has been a pregnancy craving now.

anyway, jeff stopped to get me one on his way home from work the other day. sara stole it from me.

the cup is as big as she is.

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getting in the halloween spirit

2010-10-07T15:03:00.001-07:00

on monday, Grandma Nevada invited us over to decorate halloween treats.

we made “skeloton” gingerbread boys. and pumpkins.

“spider web” mini cinnamon rolls

and chex mix.

i think we all had fun.

thanks for making the cookies, grandma!!

a new genchi

2010-10-05T23:38:00.001-07:00

last friday, oct. 1,jeff’s middle brother, sam, got married. sam & mel have been together for 8 years . FINALLY!!

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30

2010-09-30T15:00:00.001-07:00

yesterday,i turned 30.

we started the day with luke’s swim lesson @ 9. after swim, we went out to breakfast @ denny’s where i got free breakfast.

then, we went and got MY haircut.

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after all that, we just went to hang out at jeff’s nana’s house for a couple hours.

Later thet afternoon, jeff’s nana & papa watched the kids for us while we went out for a couple hours.

Jeff took me out to a movie. but, beforehand, we went to grab a bite to eat at the Pita Pit. we shared a chicken ceaser pita. YUMMY!!

the movie we saw was WALL STREET.

pretty good movie.

tucson

2010-09-21T21:10:00.001-07:00

i never posted about our trip to tucson. we went up to tucson for a few days before we had to move. we came back the day we were supposed to get our keys.

my mom had a teacher conference in tucson july 17-21. Well, usually her & her friend, julie, share a room. but since julie was going to have her husband come up for a day or two, they booked two rooms. so, mom invited us to come hang out for the weekend.

we drove up friday night and came back tuesday morning.

mom did have classes most of the time we were there, which was a bummer. but it was nice to just hang out in the hotel and go swimming and just relax a bit.

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the MOST WONDERFUL part of our hotel room was the GIGAANTIC bathtub.

it rained the day after we got there. anyway, the lightning struck a cactus in the hotel parking lot and broke it into a couple pieces. so, they blocked off the area and had to cut it down the next day .

here is a picture of where the cactus used to be. in the center of those rocks.

the morning that we left, i had to stop here to get a drink.

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luke had so much fun being at a hotel. he did not want to leave. he asked when we got back home, if we could go back to the hotel. this is him when we got in the car to go home.

blue bag

2010-09-14T10:48:00.001-07:00

last tuesday night, tanner spent the night at our house so we could take him to school on wednesday. wednesday morning, i got tanner up at 7 to shower and get ready, jeff made us some delicious breakfast sandwiches. i made tanner a sack lunch with his name on it. our plan was to drop tanner off at school on our way to luke’s swim lesson.

well, come time to go, luke saw that tanner had a blue bag. he wanted one, too. so, i put some snacks in a bag for luke and gave it to him. that wasn’t enough, he wanted his name on it, too.

SUCH A COPYCAT!!

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pizza face

2010-09-12T18:15:00.001-07:00

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one of sara’s favorite foods is pizza. she eats it very well. aside from the sauce all over her face.

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library favorites

2010-08-31T23:11:00.001-07:00

we live a couple minutes away from the library. we have already been there a handful of times. but, we have yet to get a library card.

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15 months

2010-08-17T20:48:00.001-07:00

sara had her 15 month appointment yesterday.

she is a tiny thing. weighing in at only 17.6 pounds ( 1%) and the 8thpercentile for height.

stitches

2010-08-04T22:47:00.001-07:00

a week and a half ago, luke fell and hit his eyebrow on a box and split it open. we took him to mendy’s place (a pediatric e.r.). an hour and a half and four stitches later, we were on our way home.

to numb your wound now, they have a really cold liquid (i forget what it is called) that they put on a cotton ball and secure to the area for at least 20 minutes.

* sorry, i forgot to take before and after shots of his eyebrow.

** am i the only mom that has a hard time watching something happen to their child knowing you can’t do anything about it or take their pain away?

let me explain… the lower half of the eyebrow (cut/ whatever you want to say) did not get numb enough. luke tried to be brave during the first stitch. he only flinched a little. but, having had tons of stitches myself, i knew that he had feeling. from the second stitch on, he was SCREAMING. can you blame the poor guy?

the doctor was originally going to give him 5 stitches. but, we all thought 4 would suffice. not to mention, i’m not sure that luke, jeff, or i could handle another one.

don’t tell jeff i told you, but when they were all done, i saw jeff wipe tears from his eyes.

luke got a teddy bear afterward.

swim

2010-07-01T13:03:00.001-07:00

a few weeks ago, i entered luke to win a months worth of swim lesssons. unfortunately, he didn’t win-:(. but, as a consolation prize, he got a free swim lesson. it was yesterday at aqua tots.

ready to go…

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we watched from behind glass windows. here is Sara watching.

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she enjoyed watching luke swim and was mad that she was not in the water too.

luke had so much fun. the first thing he told me when he was done was that he went under water. he said that his favorite part was the pool.

we signed him up for 2 months worth of lessons. he will have them once a week. every monday @ 9 am.

fart

2010-06-24T23:11:00.001-07:00

a conversation i had with luke today:

luke came into the tv room and asked if i could wash his underwear. i said yes, but what happened that you need it washed?

me: did you pee in it?

luke, no, i farted in it. (shows me his underwear)

me: oh you got a little poop stain on it, no problem.

luke: (insitent) no, i didn’t get poop on my underwear, i got FART on it.

FUN!!

2010-06-19T22:45:00.001-07:00

we had just been home home tonight for about 2o min. when grandma nevada called us to say that chick fil-a was having a big thing going on tonight. she said that if you brought in 5 cans of food, you would get a free spicy chicken sandwhich or a kids meal.

there were going to be fire trucks and an ambulance there from 6-8.

Aqua tots was there advertising swim lessons. and you could shoot baskets for free food.

oh, and, of course, the cow was there.

we headed on up there, and had a blast. luke’s favorite was the water ring toss.

what a cow says…

2010-06-14T22:48:00.001-07:00

Luke had spent all weekend at grandma nevada’s house. After my dr. appt this morning, we went to pick him up from grandma’s school. (she had met julie there to do some cleaning)

anyway, later, grandma, luke, and barb(another teacher)walked up to the office. the library is adjacent to the office. and in the library is a cow that some student painted. luke called “barb, come see cow!” they all went into the library to see the cow. grandma told luke to tell barb what a cow says.

luke replied “cow says,

eat more chicken.”

yippee

2010-06-10T20:10:00.001-07:00

on monday, luke decided that he wanted to wear underwear. for 4 days now, he has had one accident 9he was with grandma). his diapers have been dry every morning, too.

one

2010-05-14T23:03:00.001-07:00

Sara is one today!!

sara is a BIG daddy’s girl

some words that she says: daddy, uh-oh, ni-ni (night- night), hi, du (points to duck)

she eats ANYTHING

EVERYTHING goes in her mouth

she is a human vacuum

she LOVES her brother

we went out to eat tonight at applebee’s.

sara got her own birthday sundae

(grandma lorraine was feeding her)

what can i say-

she LOVED it

YEAH!!!

2010-05-11T18:32:00.001-07:00

well, we can’t go any longer. we have something to tell you. Are you ready for it…

WE WILL HAVE A

FIFTH

FAMILY
MEMBER

JOIN US

IN NOVEMBER

YEAH!!!

prom

2010-04-17T22:01:00.001-07:00

tonight was centennial high school’s prom. ‘(grandma nevada’s school) luke got to go be with her for a while to get pictures taken.

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3

2010-04-08T00:24:00.001-07:00

that’s how old my baby turned today. wow, time flies.

we had puff oven pancakes for breakfast. YUMMY!!

then we were off to let luke build a car.

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lunch at chick fil-a. (where kids eat free on wednesday)

birthday party at the park with 7 friends. a pinata. fun, fun, fun.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my sweet boy!!

easter

2010-04-06T00:32:00.001-07:00

we decorated eggs on saturday night.

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**the “big” picture is him waiting for the color to set in the eggs.

sunday was a busy day…

the EASTER BUNNY left some candy on the couch. AND silly bunny, he left his footprints behind.

jeff had to work on sunday, but got off at noon. so, the easter bunny hid the baskets until jeff got home.

after easter baskets at our house, we went over to grandma nevada’s house for lunch. matt and his family came, too.

holly took some CUTE pictures of luke & sara

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mom also made some brownies. well, luke thought the whole plate was for him what can i say..luke and grandma share a love for chocolate.

then, we went to nana’s house for an easter egg hunt & dinner.

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who knew?

2010-04-01T21:46:00.001-07:00

that tuna fish could entertain your child.

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pajama night

2010-03-26T21:59:00.001-07:00

tonight was pajama night at chick fil a. the rules were if you wore your pj’s to chick fil a between 5& 8, you could get a FREE combo meal. kids, too.

Mom called me around 3;45 to tell me about it. so,she came down to get us. we have a chick fil a right down the street.
jeff met us there after work.

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the chick fil a cow was there, AND in his pajamas.

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this cow was AWESOME!! he would walk around and play with kids, sit at random tables with poeple , give high fives. he even stole a girl’s happy meal (she got it back) he sat at the table with luke, sara, and grandma, and was playing a game with luke ( you know the game where someone is too slow at giving you five) luke wouldn’t go see the cow by himself, but he wouldn’t take his eyes off of him.

they also had pillowcases that the kids could decorate. there was a stencil to use.

we were there for 2 hours.

we ended the night with yogurtland.

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shadow

2010-03-23T22:54:00.001-07:00

luke LOVES tanner. he follows him EVERYWHERE & does WHATEVER he does.

if luke will not listen to me or grandma, tanner says “ i’ll take this one.” he takes him away to talk to him & luke comes back and does whatever tanner told him to do. tanner is a great help when around.

tanner says that luke probably thinks that he is his brother.

grandma & her two boys

2010-03-22T21:06:00.001-07:00

grandma nevada’s spring break started on the 11th of march. that day, her principal actually paid for her & julie (another teacher from her school) to fly to LA for the day to go to the fashion and design institute.

mom picked julie up and drove to our house where jeff then took them to the airport at 6 am before having to be to work by 7. they were coming back that night. julie’s husband picked them up.

seeing as how it was so late when she got to our house, she was just going to spend the night.

well,we also got a call friday afternoon saying that we could have tanner for the weekend. so, he spent the night too. grandma was so excited to be able to cuddle with her two boys.

this is what luke’s room looked like friday night. for that matter, it’s also how grandma’s bed looked for the next3 nights.

poor girl

2010-03-20T15:30:00.001-07:00

we were at grandma nevada;s house in wednesday. jeff was installing windows 7 for her.

anyway, sara was on mom’s bed with her. (she is a fast mover) she crawled towards the edge, and grandma couldn’t get to her fast enough. she fell right off. she got a rugburn.

the pictures were taken the next day. on wednesday, her forehead was all red, too.

WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!

2010-03-19T17:19:00.001-07:00

WE ARE NOW CREDIT CARD FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!

park

2010-03-18T12:13:00.001-07:00

sara’s first time at the park. we went last monday. she loved the swings.

then we all had fun rolling down the hill.

aren’t you jealous?

2010-03-11T21:39:00.001-08:00

this is where i spent a little bit of time on wednesday morning.

to get a new one of these

my old one expires this month. this one is good until march 2015.

i KNOW you’re jealous!!

chocalate

2010-03-10T23:25:00.001-08:00

the other night, we promised luke some ice cream. while we were at fry’s, we looked to see what they had on sale. he picked this…

isn't it cute? it’d just his size.

it even came with a spoon attached to the lid.

happy face

2010-03-09T22:16:00.001-08:00

i found some stickers while cleaning my room tonight. i gave them to luke. maybe it was a mistake.

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walking down the aisle

2010-03-08T10:17:00.001-08:00

it was hard to get the whole walk because of all the turns and the bushes were in the way. but, you get the idea.

sorry, it’s a little shaky

the BIG day

2010-03-06T22:41:00.001-08:00

we have been telling luke all week about what he is supposed to do for his uncle mike’s wedding. he has been so excited.

luke didn’t carry the rings, he just carried an empty box. he did not put the box down, either. but, we told him what he would do and who to walk with. he did EXACTLY as he was told. he was just TOO CUTE.

that’s a good flower you have, dad.

he LOVES his tuxedo. he is even going to wear it to church tomorrow.

another gone

2010-03-01T22:57:00.001-08:00

we payed off our second credit card this year. what a relief. YAY!!!

looking spiffy!!

2010-02-20T23:28:00.001-08:00

both of jeff’s brothers are getting married this year. one on march 6, the other october 1.

mike and cat (the one’s getting married march 6) want luke to be the ring bearer.

so i thought that i would go check out burlington coat factory for a suit. we found a suit, but it didn’t even come with a shirt and tie. (other one’s did, but they weren’t his size) so, we were going to leave. on our way out, we walked by the formal wear. we found a tux. for the same price as the suit pants and jacket, you could get a tux completed with a cummerbund and bowtie. i thought it was too cute to pass up. Luke wore the jacket through the store.

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then i thought, shoot, now we have to buy him dress shoes because he can’t wear tennis shoes with a tux. it just wouldn’t look right. we found some at kohls. i like them because they are velcro so luke can put them on himself.

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i think he likes them. he has put them on everyday since we bought them.

one down… 2 to go

2010-02-20T11:29:00.001-08:00

our goal this year.. to pay off two ( hopefully three) credit cards with our tax return.

Well, yesterday we were on our way. we paid off one of the credit cards. YEAH!!!!!

we will be able to at least pay off one more soon. we are trying to figure out how to pay off the third and LAST card as well.

NEVER get any more credit cards. they are EVIL!

strawberries

2010-02-18T23:17:00.001-08:00

we went over to uncle matt’s house to dip strawberries for valentine’s day. we had fun decorating them and taking plates to the neighbors.

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luke got to meet larry and buster. he only got to hold buster because larry bites.

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daddy’s little helper

2010-02-17T21:19:00.001-08:00

today jeff went over to install a new kitchen sink faucet for nana. every time luke sees daddy fix anything, he has to “help”

he is a “mr fix it” just like daddy.

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this is what sara did while i was taking pictures

excited

2010-02-04T22:32:00.001-08:00

since we have not seen or heard from home teachers in the 1 1/2 years we have been in this ward, we were excited when they FINALLY called last week. they called and set up an appointment with jeff. tonight at 6:30 was the appointment.

we had other errands to run tonight after they left.

no sign from them. we waited til 7:15. no show or even a phone call.

we couldn’t wait around all night, so we left at 7:15. What would you have done?

2010-02-03T21:58:00.001-08:00

my queen size bed has been sitting over at pepper and amy’s house in their spare bedroom. since they are having a baby in a week or so, they need that room.

my mom has had the SAME bed for 30+years. so tonight we went over and out the queen in my mom’s room and took hers. on monday jeff will go take it to the dump. (it is in the garage for now)

i never realized, until now, how bad mom’s bed really was. it had springs poking through the mattress. and the boxspring was split in half. she has been complaining that her bed just isn’t comfortable any more.

2010-02-02T21:40:00.001-08:00

a few months ago, my brother, matt, talked to jeff about starting a business with him. with a lot of things, nothing ever got going.

well, last week matt called jeff and said that he ordered a kit to get started. it came in on monday. matt dropped the manuels and the dvds off tonight while jeff was at school.

so, we’ll see how long this thing takes to get going.

matt would like to buy cars from auctions and fix them up a little bit (that’s where jeff comes in handy) and then sell them.

center of attention

2010-02-01T22:45:00.001-08:00

today, i took the kids to the play place at arrowhead mall.

sara attracted quite the crowd. it was so cute… everytime someone would come up to sara, luke would go over and sit right next to her.

noooooooooooo…

2010-01-30T21:34:00.001-08:00

sara started pulling herself around yesterday. she is just that much closer to walking.

which means… i now have 2 mobile children. aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

copycat

2010-01-29T22:52:00.001-08:00

thinking of what to post tonight. i was going through my pictures on my computer, and i thought these were pretty funny

luke is very into doing what everybody does, ESPECIALLY his dad.

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he LOVES to ( real or pretend) talk on the phone. every time my phone rings, he says “ i talk.”

do they have a costco anonymous?

2010-01-28T22:10:00.001-08:00

i think i might have a problem…

i have been to costco 5 times in the last week. .

what do you think??????

2010-01-27T23:23:00.001-08:00

last night, i was putting a box away in luke’s closet, and i fell. i landed wrong on my foot. it. hurt. REALLY bad. after a while, the pain went away and i actually got up and i was fine.

a little over an hour later luke threw up. i put him in the bath and took his temperature. 100.3. he is fine today.

meanwhile, sara had woken up and was crying in her bed.

so, i had a screaming baby and a 2 yr old who just wants to cuddle. WHAT DO I DO??

of course i cuddled with my son.

things would have been much easier if jeff weren’t at school.

i want my dad

2010-01-26T21:52:00.001-08:00

luke says this phrase a lot lately. that’s all he wanted today, but jeff had to finish some homework before school.

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a LOT of times, i WANT MY dad too.

2010-01-25T22:55:00.001-08:00

man, thinking of what to post when you didn’t do much all day is hard. also, not having a camera IS hard. i have a couple posts in mind, however, i need to take pictures for them.

it’s late, i’m tired. and we have company over right now. so, for now, i will say goodnight.

naked

2010-01-24T22:18:00.001-08:00

i have felt somewhat naked the past couple days. when i needed to charge my camera battery the day before we left vegas, i couldn’t find the charger. i swear i put it in my camera bag before we left, but i can’t seem to find it anywhere. so, for now, i’m CAMERA-LESS. i HATE this.

not happy

2010-01-23T22:40:00.001-08:00

we are NOT happy campers right now. sara has had a little fever for a couple nights now along with a runny nose. we took her to the dr this morning, and GUESS WHAT…

DOUBLE ear infection. AND she has a tooth on the bottom.

cranky sara=very little sleep for ALL of us

the rest of our trip

2010-01-22T20:35:00.001-08:00

MGM GRAND

we went to see the lion habitat at mgm. we got to walk right under the lion. pretty cool.

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK

it was raining the whole time we were there. we had to get a HOT caramel apple cider to warm us up.

other random pictures from our trip…

**there’s a lot, sorry**

this water fountain in the mall had ice sculptures in the middle of it.

we left for home on wednesday. before we left, aaron went to go hang out with his cousin for a few hours. so, jeff, the kids & i went to the mall and walked around for a bit. luke pointed to where he wanted to go.

just like yogurtland…

when we met back up, we grabbed lunch and headed home. but first, we had aaron take a family picture of us.

m&m store

2010-01-21T23:35:00.001-08:00

well, we were kinda beat monday night after driving to vegas, so we did not do very much.

tuesday morning we went out for breakfast at a brasilian restaurant. matt & brett came to meet us for a few minutes.

after breakfast,we went back to the hotel for a little bit. then we went and walked around the strip for a couple hours.

the m&m store was awesome. it was 4 stories.

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there were all the colors of m&m’s you could imagine.

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there was a little factory tour to walk through and at the end we watched a 3-d m&m movie.

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desert paradise

2010-01-20T22:34:00.001-08:00

that is the name of the timeshare we stayed at in vegas. it was a two bedroom and 2 bathroom. it looked more like an apartment. there was a kitchen and even a laundry room.



	apparently, i forgot to take a pic of the laundry room.

the couch also pulled out into a bed.

and there were flatscreen tv’s in the bedrooms and the living room

the hotel also gave us some postcards, a bank, and a little deck of cards.

THANKS AGAIN, MATT.

2010-01-19T13:15:00.001-08:00

if i don’t get around to posting tonight, this counts for today. we are having a great time in vegas. we went out to breakfast at pampas. matt & brett came for a few minutes before matt had to head home and brett had to go speak.

not sure exactly what we will get done today, but i DO know that luke will MAKE SURE we take him to the mlnnmmm (m&m) store.

will post pics later. tonight if i can. i only have internet until 9 tonight, so if we don’t get back before then, pics will come in the next day or two.

vegas

2010-01-18T22:17:00.001-08:00

today, jeff, me, luke, sars, & aaron drove up to vegas for a couple days. matt was kind enough to let us use a timeshare. we are all pretty tired from the drive and all =, so i will update tomorrow.

also,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY!! hope you had a GREAT day.

not ready

2010-01-17T22:10:00.001-08:00

i was in the kitchen the other day making lunch. luke called me over saying “mom, look sara.” sara had pulled herself up on her toy basket.

she is only 8 months SLOW DOWN! i am not ready to have two kids running around.

luke was trying to imitate her..

2+2

2010-01-16T21:25:00.001-08:00

yesterday, i got a text message froom chad asking if i could babysit mason and alexis this weekend because both he and hilary were working.

turned out alexis went to spend the weekend with her grandma. so i only had mason, and tanner came too.

so, i had Four kids today. tanner and mason came at 6 and left at 3. mason is 15 months. sara is 8 months. a handful. mason is a real easygoing baby.

Luke was excited to see tanner this morning.

tanner brought his football with him, so the boys played football for a while.

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they played with magnetics

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had a pillow fight

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mason woke up, so out came the football again

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mason and luke had cheerios

when sara woke up, we went and had a picnic at the park..

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of course there was more football.

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on the walk home, luke did EVERYTHING tanner did

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baking

2010-01-15T21:24:00.001-08:00

luke helped me make enchiladas for dinner tonight. he did a great job. after dinner, we decided to make some brownies.

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he wanted to lick he bowl. who doesn’t like that?

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they were delicious!!

frustrated

2010-01-14T20:50:00.001-08:00

nothing blogworthy really happened today. and i am just to lazy to get up and take pictures for a post i have in mind. so…

i feel like somedays all i do is tell luke NO or send him to his room. most of the time, it is the same stuff he does over and over. YES, it (almost ALWAYS) involves tormenting his little sister. things from taking away toys to hitting her to picking her up and carrying her. it gets to the point where i am afraid to set her down for fear that luke will hurt her.

I know that he doesn’t do all of it intentionally, but i HATE that he doesn’t listen. i send him to TIME-OUT and talk to him, but then he does the SAME thing 5 minutes later. ANY other suggestions?

I really do LOVE the moments (though few and far between) that my kids make each other laugh.

quad ridin

2010-01-13T21:02:00.001-08:00

today, jeff did a spark plug job for my moms neighbor, sid’s, truck.

so, while he did that, luke took his quad over to ride in grandma’s street.

and played on sids rocks.

yogurtland

2010-01-12T22:52:00.001-08:00

I found out that we have a self-serve yogurt place within walking distance of my house. NOT GOOD. i LOVE that place.

yogurt is $.30 an ounce. including any of these yummy toppings.

you can get as much or as little as you want. there is so much to choose from.

all you do is get what you want,and weigh it.

i got a little DUTCH chocolate, POMEGRANATE & RASPBERRY tart , & LEMON-LIME tart .

jeff got STRAWBERRY & VERY BERRY tart

luke got BOYSENBERRY with SPRINKLES

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sooooooo good. highly recommended.

a day with aaron

2010-01-11T21:28:00.001-08:00

this morning started with a dr appointment for luke. just a follow up from his ear infection. then, from there we went to aaron’s house(jeff’s friend) so jeff could help him with some car work.

later, we came back to our house for some pizza and a movie. aaron entertains both my kids at the same time. sara is apparently fascinated with shoes.

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after we ate, we walked around cabela’s for a while. then went to sonic on the way home. jeff and luke got root beer floats, aaron & i got limemade chillers.VERY GOOD. a must try.

now we are back at our house watching die hard. (it’s pg13)

hilights

2010-01-10T22:03:00.001-08:00

my mom put some hi-lights in my hair after church. I forgot how long it takes. i think it took 2 hours.

we used the shower cap kind. luke thought it was pretty funny to watch. although he kept telling grandma “be careful to my mom.”

i didn’t have my camera. DANG IT! (but who would’ve taken pictures anyway?)

the finished look:

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