Ashtynn taking steps

We have a walker! Ashtynn has been taking a few steps the last couple of days and is getting more and more confident each day. It is pretty fun and as you can see in one of the videos, she likes to applaud herself.

Why is it that taking Sundays as a day of rest creates the messiest house and most horrible Mondays? Am I the only who faces this? This morning was no different, I woke up to an absolute tornado aftermath of a house. A ton of laundry and messy bedrooms, bathrooms, livings rooms, kitchen etc. I was not such a happy camper and was dreading dealing with it. At this point, getting my kids to straighten their rooms and make their beds is like pulling teeth, and I assumed I would fight with them over that while I attempted to clean the rest of the house and get really angry doing it.

However, a little bit of magic happened. I came across a blog post from a link of some other random food blog that saved my day. It was actually a little like this
Ok, not really, but it was much better than I expected. Check out this blog:

I created my list of everything that needed to be done, assigned points as she suggests and then made my prize list. You should have seen them go, it was awesome. They didn't argue, they simply worked, and asked to do more when they were done. I got to put on my make-up and do my hair whilst my children were cleaning and doing it happily. There were no tears, there wasn't any pouting, and we were done with it all in about 1 hour. I was floored. I took pictures for proof, check these out:

Reagan vacuumed the entire upstairs, his room included.

Elise earned the most points, 20 to be exact, Reagan had 14 and Mollie got 5. Reagan was pretty impressed with Elise, it was cute.

Mollie even got in to it, but after her 5 points and knowing she would get a bag of m&m's she was good and sat down to watch a movie, which I was totally fine with. Go figure.

I then had to run to the store where I spent about $8.00 on candy, but I didn't even care, I would have spent $100 for a morning like we had. Just thought I would pass this on, it made my morning wonderful.

Probably won't do this more than once a couple of weeks so it stays exciting, but that is ok. It was WORTH IT!!!!!!

Interesting Day

It has been an interesting day. The last couple of days the kids have just not been feeling on their game. Ashtynn had a low grade fever for about 3 days and some diarrhea issues, then Mollie followed her and was really miserable yesterday. Then this morning we woke up to Reagan sobbing in misery over a horrible headache and body aches; he too has a fever. Then when I was getting Ashtynn dressed, I noticed red bumps all over her hands and feet. Throughout the day they have turned in to blisters that look a lot like burn blisters. She probably has 20-30 of them and we have no idea what they are.

Well, I went to Cassie's baby shower then came home and have just been dealing with sickly children all day. Tomorrow, Tyler is singing in Sacrament Meeting, I am teaching the Relief Society lesson and Tyler is helping out in Sunday School, so we will be leaving Reagan home with anyone else who is sick tomorrow so I can hear Tyler sing, then I will come home and wait for Tyler to tag team me and then off to Relief Society. CRAZY!!!

But I thought on a happier note I would post the gift I made for Cassie. I was really excited about it and thought they turned out super cute, I made a wipes case, diaper carrier and changing pad.

Summer is finally here!

YAY!!!! Summer is here and I am thrilled. I love having my kids home and am so looking forward to the summer activities. Last summer I was mondo pregnant and we didn't do much of anything, so this year we're all over it.

First of all baseball and Tball have started and we have games every Monday-Thursday for the next month for Reagan and Elise. Reagan plays on Monday and Wednesday, (I know what we're doing for FHE every Monday) and Elise plays on Tuesday and Thursday. So far we're down 3 games with a lot more to go.

I used to love watching Tyler play softball and I can honestly say, it is just as much fun watching the kids. I love it! They are so fun and get so excited about the games, and as long as they are having fun, it's all worth it.

Reagan is on the Nationals this year, some really fun boys on his team.

Elise is a pink Puma, (is it wrong of me to be so stinking excited they are the pink team, so awesome!) What a cute bunch of girls, this will be a fun team.

We also plan on spending a lot of time at Bass Lake in the Snake River Canyon, especially when the weather cooperates. It is gorgeous and what a great way to spend the day. Paula took the kids out on the paddle boats yesterday, they loved it.

Elise's legs wouldn't reach the paddles, so it was all up to Paula, what a trooper.

..and the swing set at Grandma's house. So far it has gotten a lot of use and will continue to get more and more. Ashtynn loves the little baby swing. Mollie used to love it too, but she has since moved on to the bigger swings.

Here are a couple fun video, I love the first one, it totally captures some of the funny expressions Ashtynn makes.

Spirit of Twin Falls half-marathon

My parents and I ran in the first annual Spirit of Twin Falls half-marathon. It was awesome. Twin Falls is such a beautiful city and to run along the Canyon rim and get to look at the Perrine Bridge and golf courses in the canyon doesn't get much better. Tyler and the kids showed up to cheer us on at mile 10 and it was such a boost. That was about the point I was ready to see the finish line, so it was a great motivation.
My mom and I ran together, although this picture doesn't really show that. I think she dropped back so I could say hi to the kids. It was awesome to run with her, she was my motivator, no doubt about that.
Tyler and the kids were waiting at the finish line and had roses for me, Elise was more excited about getting to give me the roses than anything else, it was pretty cute.
Notice the medal around my mom's neck, she took first place in the women's 60-69 year old division, can I just say wow. We finished together with a time of 2 hours 26 minutes.

Then there is my dad, he took 2nd in men's division 60-69 and finished in 2 hours 10 minutes. He is such an inspiration, it amazes me. What a blessing to get to run with these 2 heroes in my life.

Here is some video of Mom and I at the finish line.

My girls, my girls, talking 'bout my girls!

Having three girls has brought the absolute "skirt girl" out in me. I love everything girlie and I love that my girls like to be girlie. They are tough, they play hard, they get dirty, they wrestle with their brother and each other, but when it comes time to look the part, they are all girl.

So in in order to keep up, (ok, who am I kidding, there's no keeping up, I created it and I love it) I get to make girlie things. My sister Paula, made a hair bow dress form a couple years ago and I fell in love with it and finally got around to making one for myself. After it was done, I loaded it up with hair bows and realized I have way more than it would hold, so I had to make a second one. So cute, now I just have to figure out where to hang them.

Paula also made a jewelry board that I too decided to copy. Now, I just need to get lots more jewelry to fill it. So, I got my craft on this last week and made a few little "girly" things.

Growing up in a family of girls was and still is one of the greatest blessings in my life. My sisters and my mom are my best friends and I love that I now have 3 daughters who will let me carry on that bond. Elise, Mollie and Ashtynn you girls rock!

(Side note: My 2 boys make me happier than I could ever imagine, so don't think I have forgotten them, I love you Tyler and Reagan, just not going there for this post.)