Ward Swim Party!

Tonight was our ward swim party. It was so much fun! We had it at 4 houses right in a row. 2 of the houses had swimming pools, 1 had kids games, and 1 had all the food! Everyone could just come and go as they wish and everyone had a great time! This picture is Anney and Joshua playing in the little swimming pool at the beginning!


Travis playing some water games!

Taylor and Alexis doing a water relay

Megan swimming!

taylor and Paige

Anney had so much fun swimming with all the kids......She loved it! They all catered, played and spoiled her. She had a blast!

Megan getting ready to dive!

Ashley throwing Anney in the air!

Snack Time!

Dillards huge extra 40% off sale!

hey everyone....it's my favorite sale of the year! The dillards take an additional 40% off everything that is already on sale. I picked up some deals today! I went to the Dillards at Chandler Mall and got all of this for 90 bucks! 2 Billabong swimsuits for Travis, 2 shirts for Travis, 2 pair of Roxy flip flops for taylor and megan. 2 hurley shirts for taylor, 1 shirt for megan and 2 shirts for Anney. And.......I actually bought myself another Kathy Purse. These are my favorite purses and this one was normally 110 and I got it for 17.93! Awesome! I think the sale goes through the weekend......So if you are in the market for some clothes, they have some great things, Especially if you have a boy size 8-20...I could of bought travis 20 shirts and 20 swimsuits if I wanted! crazy! Just a tip......the best deals are the items that are already marked 70% off and then you take an additional 40% off that! The sale has already been going for a couple of days, so it might be picked over!

ETA: I went to the superstition springs dillards and they NOTHING for any of kids except ANNEY...if you need baby clothes, they have TONS!

We have a new addition to our family!

Today in nursery Anney learned how thankful she was for fish and that Jesus created fish! SO CUTE! Our cute nursery teachers gave all the kids a goldfish to take home and we got so lucky to come home with 3! We put them in this cute bowl and so far they are all still alive! Don't know how long it will last, but for now she loves them and checks on them every second of the day. Our 3 fishies are named Professor Peanuts, Barney and Mrs. Guppy! Quite the combo huh! Travis is already hoping for babies soon.....don't think that will happen!

It's a WHOLE LOTTA DAY>>>>>>

Today we've done....

A Whole LOTTA...Yardwork (started bright and early!)
A Whole LOTTA...Swimming (with friends)
A Whole LOTTA...Running (randy started off with a 12 mile run!)
A Whole LOTTA...MESS in the kitchen....(feeding 5 extra kids today=MESS!)
A Whole LOTTA...Nursery Stuff............I'm rearranging the nursery starting TOMORROW!
A Whole LOTTA....NAPS!..........(randy and anney are asleep..hopefully anney will sleep a while)
A Whole LOTTA....Laundry! (it's never ending)
A Whole LOTTA...Articles of Faith...(travis and taylor are working on them)
A Whole LOTTA....money being spent!...(gotta make a trip to COSTCO...need I say more?)
AND........

by
The Time the day is over.......

We'll be doing a WHOLE LOTTA cleaning.........this place is a disaster, but we've gotten LOTS done!

Cute Pictures of the Kiddos........

Anney fell in love with this dog and wanted to pet it so bad....thank goodness the lady was so friendly and let her!

This is my favorite!

Such a cutie!

Travis was climbing this tree while we were waiting for Randy on the bike. I think he looks so big and grown up!

Anney

Megan and her buddy Tyson. Tyson's dad did the triathlon with Randy.

While we were watching and cheering him on this past weekend, I took some random photos of the kids.......they are so cute, I had to share them. I'm so grateful for such good kids, there are days that they push my limits and make me insane, but they are good kids and I'm proud of the choices they continue to make. They have great friends and are great examples to their friends.

Okay.....time for a baby name poll/opinion! Most of you know we are having another girl and coming up with names is the hardest thing for us! I've come up with 4 I like and would be happy with any of them (If I could get Randy to agree with one of them, I'd go for it!).....So tell me your opinion on them......If you have other suggestions, I'll take those also!

Kenadee

Marlee

Hallee

Ellie

Tri In The Pines

This past weekend Randy participated in the "Tri In The Pines" which was held in Showlow Arizona. He did so well. He took almost 6 minutes off his time from last year. Good Job Babe!
He did this race as part of his training for his marathon in October and Ironman next May! He is working so hard and doing so well in his training!
This is him getting ready for the swim....he's the second one from the right.

Joking around with the guy in his lane!

Getting ready to start the bike.....12.5 miles!

Coming in from the bike...He looks like he's having so much fun huh?

The Run was 3.5 miles.....randy cramped up really bad the first 1/2 mile and even ended up throwing up, but I think he felt better after that! Poor Guy!

Almost done...keep up the great work, this high altitude takes a toll on you!

The FINISH LINE! I love this picture cause you can see Anney running behind him trying to catch him! Everyone couldn't believe how fast she was! She was so excited to see Randy and was so cute to all the other participants in the triathlon. She would cheer everyone on and would tell them "Good Job and Keep it up!"

Wellness Challenge!

Yesterday I started a wellness challenge with some friends and family. This seems to be the "new" thing going around. When I read the rules and requirements I actually thought this IS something I can do...and it's something I can do being pregnant! Maybe it will help me not gain 50lbs. Here are the rules.....

Each item is worth 1 point, with a possible 10 points per day
1 48 oz. of water
2 30 minutes of exercise (not necessarily consecutive)
3 2 servings of veggies, 2 servings of fruit
4 No soda, beer, wine, unhealthy snacks (ex: potato chips), or bad fast food (anything fried)
5 No sweets. (Desserts, pastries, sugary snacks & cereals) * ONE item with a Sugar-Free alternative is OK (as long as it doesn't conflict with #4 above)
6 No eating after dinner/9pm
7 15 min. of scripture reading (or spiritual text if you don't do scripture)
8 One journal entry (any length)
9 Express sincere appreciation, love or praise to a family member or close friend
10 Personal Goal

Let me explain the personal goal. Each week, you will come up with your own point/goal for the week. So, for the first week, my goal might be to read to my kids for 15 minutes every day, provide service, fix dinner each night that week. Or it could be going to bed before 9:30 every night…etc, etc.

Note: You have one free point, PER CATEGORY, PER WEEK. One free point for exercise, one free point for soda/fast food/unhealthy snacks, one free point for sweets, etc. You do not have 10 free points to use however you choose -they are NOT interchangeable and if you choose not to use a free point in a category, it is gone at weeks end. You could also just choose to have one "free" day where all points are free (which is less confusing), but we are allowing for flexibility and success!

The goal obviously is to get 10 points each day, every day. On your “free” day, you can automatically count 10 points. If you choose to have a free day on Saturday, then Sunday you eat dessert, then you would only get 9 points for Sunday. You can choose to have one free point every day if you choose to do it that way too. So if you go out for dinner on Wednesday and feel like having a soda, then you can use your free soda point.

Exceptions:-You are excused from the sweet rule on YOUR BIRTHDAY.-You are allowed three sick days where you are excused (only) from exercising and eating veg/fruit/water [if you can’t eat/drink] This is ONLY to be used if you are indeed sick.


Yesterday I did so GOOD....I was perfect. I ate a whole wheat bagel and cream cheese for breakfast, tuna sandwich loaded with spinach and 2 whole tomatoes on the side and for dinner we had spaghetti and a huge salad! It was awesome.....I ate fruit as my snacks and I wasn't even hungry. I walked a total of 6 miles yesterday and it felt so good. So far today I have had a bowl of grape nuts cereal and a Ham sandwich at subway LOADED with veggies and I got their sliced apples also! AWESOME! I'm hoping I can stick with this challenge so I will have more balance in my life and feel better. You all might see lots of posts on my blog in the next few weeks, I plan to use my blog and a small journal on my computer as my two forms of journal writing.

So here is to a healthy next 12 weeks....Please don't bring me cookies, cinnamon rolls or ice cream!

Anney's Lunchbox

Every night when the older kids pack their lunchboxes for school, Anney has to pack her lunch also. This Barney bag came with 3 Barney DVD's in it and for some reason Anney is determined it is her lunch box! She is so dang cute with it! Today as she was eating lunch, I heard her say.....

"I got my juice box"

"I got my granola bar"

"I got my CHEETOS" (these are her favorite chips ever)

"I got my sandwich"

I just had to grab a picture of it cause I thought it was so dang cute!

~It's the MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR~

All you mom's want to sing with me? Can I just say how much I love The First Day of School? There just isn't any other day like it. I love the excitement to wake up, everyone is always so happy and cooperates so well, and I love seeing all the kids in their new school clothes. This year was no different at our house, Travis and Taylor were old pros at going to school and the early morning routine and Megan who is brand new to all of this did really well. I was a little worried since she hasn't woken up before 9 a.m. all summer long, but she hopped right out of bed and did great! Everyone had a great day and can't wait for tomorrow.....As far as the mom goes, I came home cleaned up a little (house stayed spotless all day) showered and then went to lunch with a couple of friends! It was a great day for all and I'm so glad to be back in a routine!

If you are wondering what the heck I fed my kids for breakfast, one of my good friends emailed me a recipe for "pop-up" pancakes last night. They are just like German pancakes just in a muffin tin. Everyone loved them and they were so quick to make!

Pop-Up Pancakes
Ingredients:

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

6 eggs

1/4 cup melted butter

dash salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth. Pour into extremely well greased muffin tins (makes 24). Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown - "pop" them out of the tins, and top as desired.

back to school trims.......

These three cute girls were REALLY starting to look like ragamuffins! Nobody wants their hair done in the summer and some don't even want to brush it at all! Anney has NEVER had a haircut and I was SO sick of seeing it always in her eyes. As soon as I do her hair, she pulls everything out and it was so frustrating.


Megan's before shot

Megan's after shot!

taylor's finished product I LOVE her hair short, it looks so cute on her.

Anney's before MESS! This is how she looks most of the time at home...at least when we go somewhere I'm able to do something cute with it, but as soon we get home, she rips everything out and prefers this look!

Becky TRYING to get Anney to hold still so it's cut straight. We cut her some bangs hoping that would help her hair stay out of her face.....We shall see...

She loved it and looks so cute! She's growing up so fast! Thanks Becky for doing such a good job!