Great Big Cookie Family

All I want for Christmas

2009-12-22T00:30:00.006-07:00

Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas is my husband back. Now don't get me wrong he has not gone anywhere physically, he is still around. He still sits at my dinner table every night, he still walks next to me when we walk down the street, he still sits across from me on our date night, and sits next to me in the movies. But for a year now he has been very distracted, when I am asking him questions he gives me very delayed answers, he many times does not hear me when I am talking to him, when we are driving in the car he has a hard time keeping his eyes on the road, when we are on vacation he does not pay attention to the wonderful sights that we are seeing, when we are watching television in the evening he is not watching, when we are the childrens performances he has a hard sitting still. When we are out to dinner, I am usually having a one sided conversation. So Santa, I have a plan to get my husband back, on Christmas Eve when you come to visit my house to leave presents for my wonderful children I will leave my husbands Iphone inconspicuously under the christmas tree where you can casually tuck it away inside your coat and take it back to the North Pole. There will be no trace of where he can find it and he will never know that you have taken it. I believe that this will break him out of his Iphone zombie state and my husband will return. Thanks for all your help this year.

Merry Christmas,

Angie

PS~ I am sure there is an app for this!

I Love Fall

2009-11-08T11:44:00.006-07:00

Fall is my favorite season. Even though we don't have pretty fall trees, I still love the smell outside when it starts to cool off in the desert.

We had a great Halloween!!!

Macey was a gumball machine

Gage was a fireman

Kelsey is a sassy witch

and Porter was a terrifying werewolf!!!
Connor had a church fireside that night and was not able to go trick-or-treating, we were really proud of his choice.

Our Fun Summer

2009-08-19T12:41:00.007-07:00

We had a very busy fun summer, I am sad to see it end. I have truly enjoyed not having any school schedule to have to follow and enjoying all the summer getaways we were able to go on. We started off our summer in Pine AZ. you have to go early in the summer because it gets so hot. We went with my sisters and my parents, it was so much fun, with cooking outside, eating smores, kids playing in the tree house, walking down to the candy store, and cousins getting to play together for three full days!!!

For our anniversary I surprised Tyson with a 4 day trip to Chicago. I had him convinced that we were going over night to Sedona. So on Thursday he came home from the gym and I had everything all packed and ready to go. He was really and truly confused because his calendar was full of appointments for that day. I had to explain that they were all pretend, and that I had set everything up!! We had a great time. We happened to be there during the "Taste of Chicago" which we thought was extremely overrated. It is where a lot of restaurants set up booths down by the lake and you can buy tickets and taste their menus to see if you like their food. We ended up spending 24 dollars and walked away from there hungry. Friday night our good friends Kenneth and Shelley Lawlor met us at our hotel. This was another BIG surprise for Tyson. They live in Missouri so we don't get to see them very often so I thought it would be so fun to spend a few days with them. They knocked on our hotel room door and I let them in, Kenneth walked in and said "hey dude, whats up?" and Tyson just stared at Kenneth, it just didn't register for such a long time what was going on.
The highlights of our trip were : the water tower, visited the american girl store, ate chicago pizza, and Garretts Gourmet Popcorn (yum!), ate Ghiradelli hot fudge sundaes, visited the Science and Industry Museum, our room had a view of the Chicago River (so cool), rode the Elevated train, ate at Potbellies subs~ twice (this was my favorite thing we ate the whole time)!!! and visited Navy Pier.
We were sad to leave the Lawlors as they are going to be living in Missouri for a few more years. We hope to see them soon.

In July Connor turned TWELVE!!!!!! He is a priesthood holder and everything!!!!! (I am blue). We celebrated his morning with pancakes, strawberries and whip cream. I took him and a friend to lunch at Pei Wei, where we met my sister Colette who shares the same birthday as he does. He is a wonderful kid, here are twelve fun things he did this year:
1. Played his last year of soccer (so he says).
2. He traveled to Rocky Point and loves to bargain with the mexican people selling things on the beach.
3. For Christmas he got a cell phone (his parents are CRAZY)
4. He watched, shouted, hollared and was disappointed when the cardinals lost the Super Bowl. (he still feels they were cheated out of winning.)
5. Traveled to Florida for our family vacation
6. Played flag football and his team came in second at the tournament
7. Has been talking about playing tackle football for the whole year (yikes!)
8. got to pet an alligator
9. started babysitting for his siblings (yea!)
10. ran in his first race
11. ran in a race with his Grandma and his Mom
12. Got a RC car, and loves racing it with his dad and his uncles

We spent the 4th of July in Greer with the Cook's. Greer is beautiful and so relaxing. We took a really long walk to the candy store and Gage and Ava just couldn't make it, they both fell asleep just before we got there. We drove into town for the parade, but had to drive home before the fireworks so we could be back for church in the morning.

We celebrated my birthday with going to dinner with the Fosters. I always appreciate these two food guys letting me choose where I want to eat one day a year~thanks guys!! I had to put this picture on because this is what Tyson and Lance talked about the whole time at dinner. Now, don't get me wrong its all good, it had been a long time since I had seen Marcee so it gave me a chance to catch up with her.

Last minute stuff before summer started

2009-08-13T18:29:00.006-07:00

We attempted to try to potty train Gage, but so far it has been unsucessful. But he is so cute on the potty!

Macey Graduated from Preschool, thanks Miss Judy, we love you!

The girls had their dance recital at the end of May aren't they beautiful? Kelsey danced to Grease and Macey danced to Thriller by Michael Jackson.

Ahhh ITALY

2009-06-20T17:06:00.018-07:00

Tyson and I spent 9 days in Europe the second week of May!!! We had the very best time! We flew over to Barcelona Spain and spent two days touring the city. I loved it and it turned out to be one of my favorite stops that we had. There is a street called the La Rambla which has street performers, outside cafes, and yummy gelato shops along it, it was so pretty. We also loved the Guell park, it was designed by a man named Gaudi, he was an architect in Spain that had a strong influence on the city. My other favorite building was the La Famaglia which is a church that Gaudi started back in the 1800's and is still not finished they are guessing that it will be finished around 2028~crazy!

We then boarded our cruise boat and headed to Malta. This country was awesome, it was more mid-evilish. Lots of history, beautiful churches, and we had the yummiest food I have every tasted in my life at one of the sidewalk cafes. The gardens were gorgeous and the views were breathtaking.

Our Next stop was Napels, Italy. We were surprised to find that on our walk to the train station Naples was very dirty. We took the 45min train ride to a city called Pompeii. Back in 79AD this city was covered in ash from the eruption of the volcano that they had built their city next too. In the 1700's archeologists found the city still covered in ash. They were able to uncover so many buildings, it was really cool.
This is Tyson and Lou reinacting the duels that would have been seen in the amphatheatre of Pompeii.

After Pompeii we got back on the train and went down to Sorrento, this was a charming Italian city, so quaint and fun. We had lunch here at a yummy pizza place. We then took a ferry boat ride to the island of Capri. We only had around a half an hour here but it was really fun. We found some really fun necklaces for the girls and I found the best gelato of the our whole trip~it was watermelon~yum! We then got back on the ferry and took it back to Napels where we got back on the cruise ship and were so tired from our fun day of sightseeing.

The next day was Rome. This was my favorite of all our stops. We started with St. Peter's square, and Peter's Basillica. The Basillica was amazing, the architecture and the carvings were incredible. We then headed to the Vatican, it was not what I expected it was more of an art maze than a church to me. We walked through more halls than I can count, we saw amazing art, sculptures, tapestries, furniture and learned so more about Michaelangelo than I would have ever imagined. We finally wandered our way through the maze and made it to the Sistine Chapel, which was really cool. After the vatican we jumped on the subway and made our way to the Spanish steps, we walked through the streets and found the Trevi Fountain, jumped back on the subway and came out to the breathtaking Colessum. This by far was mine and Tyson favorite thing that we saw. It was enormously huge and just awesome (in the literall sense), it only took eight years to build, from 72-80AD. Which is really incredible because its enormous. Tyson listened to the walking tour that they offer and there were some interesting facts, there were more than 100,000 animals killed in the colessum in 5 years. They brought in a whale and filled the Colessum with water. From the colessum we could see the Forum which was amazing. We then got back on the subway and took it to the train station where we boarded a train and took our 1hr and 20min ride in the hot, stinky trains of Italy. (the best expression I heard was from Kristen Seare when she said, I will be glad when we won't be surrounded by the smell of smoke and B-O!)

The next day was Florence, awwwe Florence. This started out being such a nice day, the weather was great we got sprinkled on a little and it was overcast and not hot, which always makes everything prettier I think. We saw the David which was sculpted by Michaelangelo, it was incredible, the detail was phenominal!!! We then went to the Duomo which is a famous church and it was huge and beautiful. After a VERY long lunch (2and1/2 hrs), we shopped for awhile then headed back to the train station, we stopped at Pissa on our way back to the cruise ship. Pissa was my second favorite city even though we only had 35min there. We rushed to the leaning tower of Pissa and took lots of pictures and marveled at the structure, then met up with the rest of our group who had gotten lost and had taken the scenic route to the tower and then we ran back to the train. We had a lot of tender mercies that took place that helped us make our train, such as the train was late and so forth (a good but long story, so maybe another time). But, we all safely made it back to the train and continued our journey back to the cruise ship.

After our big adventure in Pissa where we almost missed our train (which would have meant that we would have missed our boat) and created stress and exhaustian Tyson decided that he had had enough of that kind of excitement and needed a low key day. So we hung back from our big group and explored Nice, France with the Daniels. We took the bus into Nice and then rented scooters and toured old town Nice, we shopped in the fun market places and ate a yummy lunch. This was a short day so we then headed back to our boat and enjoyed a leasuirely afternoon on baord the ship.

We flew home the next morning and arrived home 16hrs later completely exhausted. I have never had jet lag before and let me tell you it is brutal!!!! But, this trip was soooo worth it!!!!

Fun In The Florida Sun

2009-06-15T15:19:00.016-07:00

For the last few years Tyson has earned a trip with the company that he works for, we usually spend it as our time to get away alone but this year we decided it would be fun to bring the older kids. So in April we headed to Florida with Grandpa and Grandma Cook. We had such a wonderful time. We took a red eye flight to Miami and the kids did GREAT! They all slept except for Porter and Tyson. When we arrived at our hotel we were blown away with how nice it was. We lucked out and our awesome travel agent pulled some strings and got us a one bedroom two bath suite with a beautiful view. So the kids were able to sleep in the large living room area and we slept in the bedroom. I actually got SLEEP! As soon as we got there we headed out to the beach. I am a beach bum! There are few places I love more than the beach, I can lay in a chair and watch my kids play in the water all day and never get bored BUT, my husband is not that patient. So, we stayed out at the beach about an hour or so and then headed back to the pool area where there was a fun slide. Tyson went down the slide and hit his elbow so hard it cracked it open and I sware I could see bone. It was disgusting, he was a stinker and would not go to the hospital to get it stitched up so we went to Walgreens and bought some first aide stuff and glued it shut. (I don't recommend this to anyone, its been two months now and it is still bugging him, silly boy!)

Luckily that was the only big incident that we had all week. We played at the beach, swam in the pools, ate lots of food, had yummy ice cream, and hung out together. One night Metlife hired Chicago to come and sing for us! It was AWESOME!!! we had such a great time, they were probably my favorite group growing up so that was really fun, we took the kids and made them dance, they had a good time. One afternoon we took the older three on a catamaran and they got to go snorkeling. Our captian was awesome he let each of our older three kids drive the boat on the way back. Macey went with Grandma and Grandpa Cook on a duck bus ride, then at the end went in the ocean. Macey had a good time, Grandma and Grandpa said it wasn't the most fun they have had. The last day we were there we went on an air boat ride and saw alligators. This was my favorite thing we did. After the airboat ride they had an alligator show and the guy let Tyson come in with the alligators and he got to sit on its back. It was really fun! We were really excited to come home and see our little Gage, he had a great time with all the family and friends that helped watch him while we were gone. Thank you to all of you.

Three months already?

2009-05-21T11:18:00.009-07:00

Well I did it again, it has been another 3 months since I have blogged. Sigh! It happens when life is busy and your house is full of busy kids. Here is a catch up AGAIN!
In March we continued our Cook Family fun nights, but during spring break we had Cook Family Fun Day! Just FYI Kelsey is the furthest to the left on the lower picture, on her right is her best friend Hailey. Yes many people think they are twins. (is this bringing any memories back Jaime Bjorklund?) We called it space day, I took the kids and Hailey and Tyson Moore, Bridon and Danner Bowen, to the space museum in Phoenix. It wasn't as exciting as I anticipated but thanks to our tour guide who gave us a lesson on electricity and magnets it turned out to be worth the hour drive. We then came home and made space ships out of big boxes in the back yard and they got to watch a movie outside while they ate their "rockets in a blanket". It turned out to be a pretty fun day!

Macey shares her birthday with her Grandpa Freestone which makes her pretty special! We celebrated their birthdays together in Grandpa's backyard in the nice cool breeze that we have in April! Macey turned a whole handful, she is 5!

We had a lovely Easter weekend, we played at the park with the Cook side of the family. Gage was thrilled with all the candy filled eggs that he found, he was less than thrilled that a strange little baby girl kept walking by and taking his eggs. He would just stare at her, he never said anything to her, but later he told me "baby take my easter bunny eggs, I share" then he heaved a big sigh. Easter morning was less pleasant, there was lots of crabby words shared, time outs given, doors slammed, feet stomping up the stairs and double duties dished out. Had all of this happened before the kids found their Easter baskets, I know for a fact the Easter Bunny would have made a special trip back to pick up all the baskets and take them to some other happy children, I have learned first hand it's not a bright idea to give children sugar that early in the morning. (check out Connor's face!)

On May 2 Porter and Macey had their music recital. They are in a three year progam called Let's Play Music, which I love. At the end of three years they are able to write their own performance peice. Porter did a great job, this was his year for writing his own song and it was great.

Valentines Weekend

2009-03-15T08:42:00.005-07:00

Over Valentines weekend we were invited up to the Breinholt's cabin up in Show Low to play in the snow. We had the best time, I went snow skiing for the very first time EVER!!!! I was awesome I never fell once I totally picked it right up and was so good. UMMM, ya right. The first 100 yds off the ski lift I ran into what looked like an out house, I rolled in complete summer saults down a hill, I ran into to Tyson a few times, but it was really fun. Tyson and the Breinholt's were VERY patient especially when it took me about 30 min to get down a green hill. It was alot of fun! The next day the Bowens joined us and we went snow mobiling, this was tons of fun!!!! I didn't feel quite so out of control as I did on skis! Thanks Breinholts for such a wonderful weekend away!

Cook Family Fun

2009-03-15T08:41:00.003-07:00

We have been starting our Cook Family Fun nights again and anyone who is home on Friday night gets to join us. The kids have loved having something fun to look forward to on Friday nights (but sadly enough it has not lessened the fighting in our home, which was one of my hopes...sigh). I guess I was asking too much!

We have had a cook out in the back yard, where the kids have roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire pit.

We have had a scavenger hunt through the neighborhood that led us back to our house where we dug up REAL buried treasure!!!

We have made cars out of boxes and had a drive in movie in our back yard with concessions stands candy and everything.

Our latest one was yesterday when we had two of our cousins over to play for the day and we made ice cream in a bag. (this was sooo easy and the kids loved it!!)

Hello All ~ We Are Back!!

2009-03-14T15:24:00.004-07:00

Whew! It has been a long time, 3 months to be exact. I could go on about all the details about why we have not updated but I am afraid it is really boring. (the short of the long of it is our computer with all of our pictures was having problems and I am not very computer savvy to fix it.) so now here is our 3 month catch all......

January: New Years day the Cook girls and Grandma Steverson got together to go shopping at the new San Tan Mall, and had dinner at BRIO!!! yum

on the Saturday before school resumed for Christmas Break we took the kids ice skating and they loved it!!!! (even Gage)

Gages number 2 birthday!! He woke up a little grumpy but, as the day wore on and he realized that he got presents and all of his favorite foods and his Grandpa he was a lot happier!

February: Was all about Porter. His birthday was Feb 15, it was on a Sunday so on Monday Tyson took him and a couple of friends to the movies. It is so easy to please Porter!!!

Two days after Porter's birthday was the blue and Gold Banquet. It was a 50's theme and was very darling. Porter has already earned his Bobcat and was so excited to get it that night.

He was baptized on Feb. 21, it was a wonderful special day to watch another one of my kids make a wonderful choice to follow Heavenly Fathers Plan.

The same day as the baptism Kelsey and Tyson had a Daddy Daughter date for Achievement days activity. Tyson came to the door and knocked and asked for Kelsey and then opened her door for her. She was totally embarrassed, I thought it was sweet.
Porter had a Patriotic Program at his school where all the second graders sang songs about our country, it is a really cool program.
Our last big scouting event in a months time was the Pinewood derby! Like I said last I love this event. Porter and Tyson worked on their car together and named it Gold Rush. Porter did great he got fastest car in the wolf pack. Tyson was pretty proud!
Now you can always count on a few fanatic dads to stay after the race and race against each other, and ya Tyson is one of them!!!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night....or maybe not

2008-12-27T15:27:00.005-07:00

We had the flu for the few days before Christmas, it went through all 7 of us!!! I got it Christmas Eve night. I wasn't sick at all during Christmas Eve until about 7:00 that night. So as you may have guessed I had a very restless night. I was up so long in the night that I even got to see Santa drop off the presents to our kids. whew, what a long night. But, with lots of prayers I was feeling much better by 7:45 when my older kids woke up, Gage was already up, he missed me too much to sleep in too long. All of our kids had a great Christmas, my parents were out of town visiting my sister in Iowa and my brother in Michigan so we didn't have any obligations till 2:30. It was a great relaxing Christmas!
Every present Gage got that morning was some kind of cars, race cars, matchbox cars, cars from the Disney movie etc. And every time he opened a present he would get so excited to see more cars. This was about the fifth present he opened and each one before that was cars.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a better nights sleep!!

Tis the Season

2008-12-27T14:55:00.011-07:00

We had a wonderful and fast Christmas season. We started out the month of December by celebrating Tyson's 35th birthday. WOW! I can't believe my man is middle age. Don't tell him though he still thinks he is spiderman. Kelsey had a Christmas program at school and had a speaking part "He was dressed in all fur, from his head to his foot, and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes soot. A bundle of toys he had flung over his back and he looked like a peddler just opening his pack". One night for family Home Evening we went Christmas Caroling with the Bowens. Everyone loved it except for Gage, I guess our singing did not meet his standards.
On the Thursday before school got out I was able to go on a field trip to the fire station with Porter and his class. It is my favorite field trip of all time. We walked to the fire station, I just think it is great when we can walk anywhere.
Every year we let the kids decorate their own gingerbread house. We get it set up for them and then we let them have at it. This year the house lasted about 2 hours, then the roof fell off because it was so heavy with all the candy!
We had our traditional Christmas Eve breakfast of Creme Brule' french toast, eggs and bacon. Yum. Then we took the kids to see Santa!!! Notice how Connor is trying to listen intently as Macey tells Santa what she wants.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-13T13:39:00.006-07:00

We started our Thanksgiving morning out with a friendly race. Connor and I did the two mile race at the 39th annual Turkey Trot. My Mom ran with us, this was her first race ever. Way to go mom! I was so proud of both of them, Connor trained with me for a few weeks before the race and he did great! It was a great way to start out the morning, Kelsey and Porter both want to do it next year. We had Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year with Tyson' s Family. Everyone was able to come except for Kari and Bree who we missed and it is just not the same with out them. This is such a fun holiday, eating until you are sick, hanging out with good family, looking through the Christmas ads (which were lame!) , watching Christmas movies and finishing the night off with more pie. What a glorious day! I hope everyone is having a great Holiday, it is going way too fast.
Kelsey and Ava.
Koby and Porter
Annalise, Macey, and Connor.

Halloween

2008-11-29T08:31:00.009-07:00

Yes, I realize that Halloween was almost a month ago, but I love this day. I love that all the neighbors get out and it brings a community together. Plus we had perfect weather that night, one of the few times you LOVE living in AZ. We had a great day, with a preschool Halloween party, an elementary school parade, pizza with Grandma and Grandpa Freestone (thanks Grandma for helping wrap Porter). He was a pretty great mummy!
Macey was a beautiful butterfly!
Kelsey was a rockin 50's girl!
Gage was a handsome vampire!
and Connor was many things that night, started as napoleon dynamite and ended as Steve Erkle with the voice and everything.
I made Tyson dress up in 70's isn't he hot? This is our sweet friend Wendy, she was one of the dancing queens! (we had to make use of our costumes!)
oooohh yaaaa!

Cruisin in the Caribbean Baby!

2008-11-15T15:46:00.014-07:00

In October we went on an Eastern Caribbean cruise with all the adults in Tyson's family. We had a BLAST! It was so much fun to be with everyone. We have never done an adult trip with his family and it was long overdue.
Our first stop was Princess Cays, owned by the cruise line. It was very pretty but, very expensive and not much to do. So we got to spend the day laying on the beach talking, it was paradise!

We enjoyed St. Thomas the most, we rented motor scooters and toured the island all on our own. We saw Megan's Bay which is supposed to be one of the top beaches in the world. (we found out later that it had been closed until the day before we went because of a sewage spill, ummm, yep I guess we swam in poo!) It was still pretty, and I have chosen not to think about it and only remember the good times.
On our back to the ship we found an ice cream shop that made milk shakes. They used home made ice cream with fresh cream they got from their dairy. I am not a real big ice cream fan but, it was delicious!!!
In St. Marteen we rented jet skis and played on those for a while. We shopped in all of our ports but we were not impressed with the shopping. Our best prize we found on the trip was the monkey head that you can put your drink in.
The boat was great, our rooms were the best floor plan I have ever seen for a cruise ship (I know I am weird but, I appreciate good floor plans!). We enjoyed sleeping in, resting and relaxing, playing games, and spending time together.
On our second formal night my sister-in-law and I ended up wearing the same dress! (ya, we planned it!)
One night my father-in-law started asking each of us what we would do for money. He asked Ryan if he would lick the banister from top to bottom then back up to the top for $100. Ryan agreed and did it!!!! So, disgusting but really hilarious, kind of made you gag and laugh at the same time. (good times!)
Ryan used the money to buy us all virgin daiquiris, yum.
We had a wonderful time in paradise!

Sweet Baby Bree

2008-11-03T18:58:00.006-07:00

My darling sweet, precious, beautiful niece was diagnosed with cancer last week. She is so happy and smiley that you would never know that she had a tumor growing inside her that was cancerous. They gave her, her first dose of chemo last week, please keep her in your prayers. Her parents are amazing and are staying positive and brave through all of this, but please pray for them as well. We have faith that Heavenly Father will bless her, we have seen answers to prayers even this early. We know that Heavenly Father has a plan for baby Bree, we are praying that it is the same as our plan.

Rocky Point for Fall Break

2008-11-02T20:49:00.016-07:00

We headed back to Rocky Point for fall break with the Buhrley's and the Seare's. I love going there it is so relaxing, and you really can't beat the 4 hour drive to the beach. We opted to not stay in the rental house that we did last time and we rented condos right on the beach. I loved it!!! We got condos that were on the ground floor so we could walk out the back door and go right down to the beach. The weather was a little crazy the weekend we were there, the waves were big and the undertow was really strong. We had to keep a really good eye on the kids. Of course the best beach day was Sunday.....we stared out at the beach with longing in our eyes, wishing we could play in the water. We went to a Spanish branch for church and it was pretty interesting. Yep, we couldn't understand anything but, still could appreciate the sacrament. It was really cool to see how the organization of the church is the same everywhere. We ventured into the city a little more this time and it was crowded and crazy especially with five kids (we did not get out of our car!). The highlight was riding the banana boat and the jet ski, Kelsey kept yelling out "Rapido!!" There is no fear in that child! The evenings were great, hanging out as adults, playing games and enjoying all the "me monster" stories. We love the ice cream bars and are always sad when we have to leave and they are not so easy to get. Tyson literally bought his last one from a little Mexican man 100 yards in front of the border before we crossed back into the U.S. It was a great final treat!

I Love NYC

2008-11-02T16:20:00.010-07:00

In September Tyson and I went to New York City with my parents and my sister Colette and her husband Cooper. We had a wonderful time, New York is always a new adventure each time we go. We had some craziness with the apartment that we rented, needless to say do not rent apartments in NYC, stay in a hotel!!!!! (I believe that we found the entrance to H-E double hockey sticks).
But, besides that adventure, the rest of our trip was great!!! My parents and Ty and I took the big red bus tour on the first day. We were able to see Harlem which is above Central Park. We saw the Washington arch, the old Metlife Building, the Flatiron building, the Chrysler Building (which are my two faves!). We literally took the bus from one tip of the island to the other. We got off in the financial district and took the subway to Chinatown where we did a little shopping (sigh). We hit our favorite bakery in Little Italy and ended the day with our favorite restaurant (AHH New York!)
On Friday we walked the Brooklyn Bridge, I highly recommend this if you have not done it. It was really fun. It was raining the day we decided to walk and we got to use umbrellas which is something we never get to use here. We ate at a really famous pizza place called Grimaldi's (yum). Then took the subway back into the city. We found the suit store that my dad had bought his suits from a few years ago (kind of cool). Tyson bought two new suits, two shirts and three ties for $160, what a bargain. That night we saw Marry Poppins on Broadway. I think I like this play as much as Wicked (which is my all time fave). The set was amazing, and the special effects were so cool. To let you know how good this play was, Tyson AND my Dad both stayed awake through it!!! (now that is saying something)
On Saturday my sister Colette and her husband Cooper ran an eight mile race. It started in Central Park and ran along the Hudson river to the finish line in Battery park. This race was so cool, every few miles they had obstacles that they had to go through, 52 flights of stairs, 5 ft marine hurdles, sliding across two taxis nose to nose etc. Anyway it was a lot of fun to watch. Tyson, my mom and I were hoping to do this race but it filled up way to fast and we weren't able to register, (maybe next year!)
We flew home that night to our loving children who missed us so much. I heart NYC~

The Infamous Birthday Party!

2008-09-28T16:38:00.008-07:00

Kelsey is 9!!! Wow, wow, wow! Her birthday is today but we had her friends party on Friday the 19th. She decided that she wanted a "sock hop", with poodle skirts and everything.
I was crazy enough to volunteer to make poodle skirts for all the girls that came. They turned out GREAT, so it was well worth it.
They had a dance contest, and just danced on their own.
Played 50's games, beat a pinata, watched two movies and ate a lot of junk! The girls went to sleep at midnight and slept until 7:00, I considered myself very lucky!
Today on her birthday, she chose to have cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and then we opened presents. She got, the "Camp Rock" soundtrack, a Hannah Montana hat,
an alarm clock (which she was soooo excited about), a t-shirt and a motor scooter that she has wanted desperately for almost a year! She is one happy girl today.

Talent Show

2008-09-23T11:22:00.007-07:00

Our ward put on a talent show a few weekends ago and it went really well. It was a great turn out! The Bishopric did a synchronized swimming skit that was hilarious! Connor and his friend Josh Buhrley did the dance from Napoleon Dynamite, and pulled it off rather well, the costumes were great too!

Kelsey and four of her friends learned the song "This is Me" from Camp Rock and sang it together, it was so super cute. The Bishopric wives danced to "Dancing Queen", we had such a great time practicing for this, I loved spending time with Wendy and Judith. We laughed and laughed we need to get back together and dance some more..... maybe not!

With my four inch heeled boots I was four inches taller than Tyson, because much to his dismay we are exactly the same height. I guess the boots have to stay in the box now, bummer.

Campin in Prescott

2008-09-13T17:06:00.009-07:00

We went camping with the Bowen's in Prescott last weekend and had a really great time. We drove up in the morning and had our camp set up by 3:00 in the afternoon, which is amazing for us! All the kids had time to explore in the woods for a few hours before we started making dinner. Tyson and Tom took off to see if they could explore the area in the car just before dinner. Lindsey and I think they did this on purpose. But not to worry Lindsey is a well educated fire starter, (and is for hire when your husband takes off on you when you are camping)!! The kids loved playing capture the flag in the dark, they played a couple of games some were adults against the kids, I think this was their favorite one! Kelsey was really into the game and wanted to keep playing over and over! The next morning we drove a few minutes away and we got to watch people launch with their Para gliders. It was amazing to watch them take off and see how long they would stay up in the air. We then drove 45 min on a very windy road to find a river for the kids to play in. Luckily it was well worth the drive, the kids had a blast. We had to drive back quickly and clean up our camp super quick so we could make it to our nephew Koby's baptism in Prescott. It is so exciting to watch eight year olds make the decision to be baptized, congratulations Koby!

The Wedding

2008-09-07T17:30:00.005-07:00

WELCOME TIFFANY!!

Tyson's youngest brother got married on Wed Aug 27. We are so excited to have Tiffany in our family, she is wonderful, beautiful, fun, patient (which is a must when marring into a crazy family like ours!),creative, and musical. My kids fell in love with her when we met her last fall. They started to secretly call her Aunt Tiffany even back then. They are thrilled it is now official that she is their aunt. Tiffany was a beautiful bride, and Scott was very handsome. If you ask my kids whose wedding it was though they say it was Aunt Tiffany's, sorry Scott you have been trumped by your gorgeous WIFE! Congratulations guys, we are so glad that you have been sealed in the temple, what a precious blessing we have been given by our Heavenly Father.
family pictures are always a must when everyone is dressed nice and their hair is done all at the same time!!!!!!

I told you Macey was excited to have Aunt Tiffany in our family!!!!

Alaska

2008-08-28T20:29:00.011-07:00

Tyson went to Alaska a few weeks ago with his dad and brothers. They were able to be there for 5 whole days two of those they spent fishing, what a boys dream come true. The travel to get there was extremely long, they flew to Las Vegas and from there they took a 6 and a half hour flight to Anchorage and then drove for 3 hours to Homer. WHOOOO! Tyson said it was miserable but at the same time so worth it, according to him it is the prettiest country he has seen. The first day they went exploring, they drove through really pretty parts of Homer and also went hiking. On their drive Tyson and the guys came across a moose. Ty got as close as he could before the moose looked like he had irritated him and was starting to determine if was going to charge Ty or not, Tyson used good judgment and got out of there. (good job honey!) The second day they went salmon fishing they caught two salmon each, look how big they are.
The next day they went halibut fishing (bless there little hearts,.... I loooovvee halibut!) These fish are enormous!!! The last day they finally got to sleep in a little bit then they took their scenic 3 hour drive back to the airport and their looong flight home. Glad you boys had fun! This is the veiw from the house they stayed in, gorgeous!

First Day Of School

2008-08-13T18:52:00.004-07:00

The first day of school is always so very exciting!! New shoes, new clothes, new lunch box and new back packs, which are filled with markers, pencils, paper and folders (that miraculously disappear half way through the year!!!!). The first day is always the most exciting day, despite the look on Porter's face he was not upset about having to go to school he just didn't want his picture taken!
Kelsey is in 3rd grade, she is so excited to learn multiplication and write in cursive!!!
Porter is in 2nd grade he most excited to see the hamster that he has missed during the summer and get back to his AR reading.

Connor is in 6th grade, JR. HIGH!!!!!! (ah man!) He is most excited about GIRLS! (sigh!)

Macey is in preschool, she is most excited about EVERYTHING!!!! (she is such a joy!)

The worms

2008-08-05T12:41:00.007-07:00

While we were in Greer the kids collected worms and these are the videos of Porter and Kelsey eating them. As most of you would think, this was not Tyson's idea it was all their own.

Summer Vacation is Over!

2008-08-04T12:04:00.011-07:00

Wow, this summer sure has gone fast which is always good and bad. When your kids are fighting and arguing over the TV remote everyday you know that summer has been long enough. We had a fantastic summer and we have been so busy that we have not had time to blog. So here is an update on all the "cookie" fun.
On July 11, my friend Wendy Buhrley and I took our older kids to the Jonas Brothers Concert. I was a little leery because it was an outside concert and I thought it was going to be devastatingly hot, well it was.... But we had a fantastic time. Kelsey has asked me every week which one of the Jonas Bros. is my favorite. I can never remember what I have said to her the week before because I am not thinking that we are going to have the same conversation over and over ( I should know by now!), but she always remember which should be my favorite from week to week.

The next week my sisters and my Mom and I went to LA for a girls trip. We drove over Thursday morning and went to see Wicked that night.
We ate at Pink's hot dog stand (which is supposed to be one of the most famous hot dog stands!) We decided it wasn't really worth eating the food, but the adventure was fun!!!

On Friday we shopped in the fashion district all day!!! And then we decided we all wanted to go back the next morning!! We had a blast. We sadly drove home Saturday evening with full shopping bags and heavy hearts. My sweet sister Natalie has been here all summer with her family and this was the last thing we got to do before she left. We all knew when it was over she had to leave........we sure miss them (especially Macey!)

The next week after that we went to Greer for a whole week!!! Just Tyson and I and our kids! It was a great relaxing week, it is so beautiful there and the weather was great! We even had enough people to play a small game of softball. WOW that is a lot of kids!

On Monday we had Mexican day, we wore Mexican hats, ate Mexican food and played Mexican games, even a pinata!
On Wednesday we had hiking day and the kids got to swim in the river (this was Macey's favorite thing we did all week!) Then that night we had pizza night and they each got to make their own pizza's, yum!

Thursday was blue day, we all dressed in blue shirts, ate blue pancakes and blue-i-licious cupcakes and drank blue milkshakes that night. We visited the butterfuly museum that is in Greer and oddly enough it has nothing to do with butterflies. My kids were a little disappointed.

Friday was "hobo day" we went spelunking in a mud cave (or shall I say Tyson took the 4 older kids and Gage and I got to go on a short hike, with his cars!). We then made hobo dinners and took them to a camp site and cooked them over the fire and had s'mores for dessert! YUM!

We came home on Saturday to the heat and to reality of school starting too soon. What a great summer!

Memories

2008-07-10T18:53:00.005-07:00

I got this from a friend's blog. I thought this would be fun. I hope you will play along.

Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Happy 4th of July

2008-07-06T15:34:00.014-07:00

We spent the Fourth of July in the beautiful mountains of Greer Arizona. Tyson's parents have a cabin and a few times a year we meet up there for a couple of days. It is always such a fun place to go and especially now that all of our kids are getting older and they play outside nonstop. We went up on Thursday night and came home Saturday night, it was a really quick trip for us, but it was well worth spending time with family. We went into town for the Fourth of July Parade in Springerville and Porter told me that was the first parade he has ever been to (so sad). My favorite part were the Apache helicopters that flew over head, and on one of the helicopters you could see one of the soldiers leaning out waving. It was such a sense of pride that ran through me for our country.

We also went on Memorial Day weekend and for those of you that remember it was a very cold weekend. We drove almost the whole way up in a snow storm. The snow started just outside of Globe and it continued until we reached the cabin three hours later. It was falling so thickly that we couldn't see 100 yards in front of us. It was beautiful the flakes were huge and I could see the detail as they were falling on our windshield. We ended up having a foot and a half snow at the cabin. That is seriously crazy, that area doesn't get that much very often in the winter time, let alone the very end of May beginning of June. We had such a great time, the kids loved playing in the snow, they needed boots, hats, and gloves the whole shabang. We took the kids sledding, and had snow ball fights. It was so beautiful. The snow only lasted about three days but we were sure excited to experience the miracle of the weather.

Happy 11th Birthday Connor!

2008-07-06T15:06:00.004-07:00

Connor turned 11 last Wednesday! Wow what a fast eleven years, and don't get me started on how fast the next eleven is going to go, not to mention the next 8 before he goes on a mission....sigh. On the Saturday before his birthday we took Connor and a few of his friends to a "clean" comedy club~Jesterz. These boys laughed and laughed, it was really fun. On his actual birthday he received a new camera, to enhance his picture taking abilities. We are so glad Connor is in our family there are so many great things about him here are just a few.....
1. Connor tries so hard to make righteous choices. (there has already been opportunities for him to practice his free agency at school and he has always made right decisions).
2. He is a hard worker and wants to help others.
3. He is a natural at playing the piano.
4. He is great at soccer and football.
5. He tries really hard to be a good big brother.
6. He has a strong testimony of the love of our Savior, the Priesthood, and the Gospel.
7. He loves Scouts.
8. and even though it is hard sometimes he always obeys his parents.
We love you Connor thanks for being so great!

Happy 12th Anniversary

2008-06-28T10:40:00.008-07:00

OK, I have heard it all when looking at our wedding pictures. No we did not get married in the eighties, yes we look really young, I know we look really different now (aka- old). Yes, that is my real hair, Yes, my dress was in style when I wore it. I know, I know I can see Tyson's hair too and yes it was still red when we got married.
But, none the less it was a glorious day. I don't remember a whole lot, because wedding days are kind of a blur and you are in your own little world, and it was 12 years ago (seriously). But, I do remember kneeling across the alter and marrying the most wonderful man, my very best friend for time and all eternity. I am so grateful for such a wonderful gift from our Heavenly Father that our marriage and family will not end after this life.
We have had a very busy twelve years, here are some high lights,
1. married in 6/96
2. had Connor 7/97 (yep, we are fast!)
3. Tyson started with Metlife (current job) 7/97
4. Tyson graduated ASU 8/99
5. Kelsey born 9/99
6. bought first house 2/00
7.Angie graduated ASU 8/00
8.Porter born 2/01
9. Kelsey fell out of window with 2 skull fractures and survived (major miracle in our family). 7/01
10 Connor starts kindergarten 8/02
11. bought second and current house 8/03
12. Had Macey 4/04
13. Kelsey starts kindergarten 8/05
14. Porter starts kindergarten 8/06
15. Had Gage 1/07
and holding.........................

Sawyer - Lost

2008-06-21T21:08:00.005-07:00

So I was going through old pictures tonight because Tyson is out of town and is soon to be coming home! (yea). I found this one and thought it was worthy of posting. Two years ago Tyson and I went to Hawaii and we spent three days on Oahu. We decided we wanted to see if we could find where Lost was filmed. We talked to our concierge at our hotel and luckily she was a HUGE fan and knew exactly where it was being filmed. She gave us a map to the beach and circled where we needed to go. We pulled up and got out of our car and looked around and saw nothing what so ever that looked like Lost, (there were buildings and stuff). We asked these two men that were standing next to a white van if they knew where Lost was filmed . They pointed to a roped off square and told us that was Sun's garden and that they were guards for the show. They told us if we walked along the beach that we could see where they filmed the beach scenes. Later they came to find us and told us that they were still there filming and if we hurried we could probably watch from a distance. So we walked for awhile and we could see them off in the distance filming a scene, we sat down about a 100 yards away and watched. Shortly after we sat down someone started walking towards us, we thought for sure they were going to tell us to go away. But, he came over and told us that we were in the shot and we didn't look like we had been stranded on an Island. They then invited us to come and watch the scene be filmed. We jumped at the chance and watched for about 30 minutes while they finished the scene. After they were done we had a chance to meet Josh Hollaway that plays Sawyer, we saw Jinn and Bernard also. It was an awesome day.

Dance Recital

2008-06-20T13:23:00.004-07:00

Sorry about the long delay from our last post. I had lost my camera and was in a panic for two weeks, I checked in the toy box of the play room, in the laundry room, in all of my purses, in the kitchen and to no avail. I finally found it today (after many prayers) and it was in my swim bag in a pocket that I rarely used. Crisis averted, YEA!!
I am so glad we found the camera because these priceless pictures had not been downloaded yet. The girls had their dance recital the end of May and they both did wonderful. Macey's was a tap routine to Harry Connick Jr.'s ,"A wink and a Smile." Kelsey's was a hip hop routine ( I don't know the song it was to.) but they both did wonderful, we were very proud! The whole performance was 3 and 45min long. So Macey got pretty tuckered out by intermission, she had fallen asleep across Tyson's legs with her foo-foo buns up in the air, so cute.

Bermuda

2008-05-25T17:48:00.009-07:00

Bermuda is beautiful!!!! Tyson and I spent a week in Bermuda at the end of April. We left AZ at 10:30 on a Friday night and arrived in Bermuda at 12:50 on Saturday afternoon. It was a surprisingly long travel time. It is a long but narrow island, and the roads wind around and around, I was feeling pretty car sick by the time we arrived at our hotel. But, once we were there, it was pure paradise! The hotel had its own private beach and it was the prettiest beach I have ever been too, with the prettiest water I have ever seen. We strolled along shops in downtown Hamilton, ate at yummy overpriced restaurants, slept in, lounged on the beach, Tyson went scuba diving, met up with old friends that we only see once a year, went kayaking, relaxed at the spa, ate and ate and ate. We were ready to come home, we were stress free, relaxed, rested and FULL!

We had an unbelievably long layover (8 hrs) in NYC, so we decided to go into the city for a few hours. We hit our most favorite spots, Chinatown, Juniors, Patsy's, and Grand Central Station. We came home with our tummies full of New York Pizza, Juniors cake to eat on the plane, a few purses, some tiffany necklaces, and a new pair jeans. woohoo!!

Triathlon at Lake Mead

2008-05-07T14:51:00.006-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Tyson and I raced in a triathlon in Las Vegas. It was at Lake Mead just 30 min. outside of Las Vegas. We had a such a great time, it was the first triathlon either one of us had ever done and I loved it!!! The swimming portion was in Lake Mead and it was a 1/2 mile swim, a 13 mile bike ride and a 3.1 mile run. These are the only two pictures that I have, my friend took a bunch on her camera as we were doing the race but, I don't have them. And believe me, you will want to see them because we are soooo cute in our wetsuits, goggles and blue caps (we will try to post them later). It was quite an experience. There were three races that day, a sprint (which is the one we did) and olympic and a half iron man. They didn't split you up into heats so all the racers for each race started at the same time. The fun thing was, was that Tyson and I raced together. (now before you all get excited.... he beat me.... come on did you really think I could beat him....well thanx!) We actually ended up swimming right next to each other in the swim, which was really fun, but once the boys were on the bikes they smoked me. I finished the race in 1 hour and 53 minutes. I was totally happy with that time and so thrilled that it is over, so I no longer have to deal the nerves inside my tummy. YEA US!

While we were out of town our older three kids stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Cook. Grandma and Grandpa made sure they had a great time! Grandpa and Uncle Scott took the boys on their fathers and sons outing. The boys had so much fun, Grandpa took them out to the desert and was teaching them how to "tease the rattle snakes" fun activity huh? They all got cactus in their hands, it doesn't sound like a fun game to me. But, my boys loved it! Kelsey had her very own one on one time with Grandma. She got to take a bubble bath in Grandma's great big tub while she watched Princess Diaries 2 on tv. She loves being the center of attention and Grandma Cook is great to make sure Kelsey gets all the attention she needs. They had such a great time at Grandma's that I don't think they missed us even for a minute. Thank you for taking our kids and thanks to Colette for watching Macey and Gage!

Old Friends

2008-04-13T15:59:00.003-07:00

We used to live on "Beaver Cleaver" street. It was a culd-e-sac with about 13 houses on it and about 11 of those houses were families with young kids. When we lived there 41/2 years ago there were 30 kids under the age of 9. It was a great street, in the evenings the women would sit out front and talk while the kids played for hours. We all started moving off of the street in 2003 and now there are just a few families left. But, we still have close relationships with the girls from that neighborhood and every year for the last 5 years we have gotten together for a girls lunch at one of our houses. This year Erica Gledhill hosted, most of the girls were able to make it, but we missed those that could not attend. It was great chatting with these women and picking up where we had left off a year ago at our last luncheon.
This year we got together for a family dinner later that night at the park. This is the first year that we have done this and it was a blast! It was so fun seeing how much all of the kids have grown, and the men bonded again over a game of football. Thanks to all of those who planned this, we had a great time, thanks for all of the memories.

Happy Birthday Muzzie Lou!!!!

2008-04-11T16:24:00.005-07:00

Macey turned 4 on April 2, she shares her birthday with my Dad, lucky girl!!! She counted down the days until her birthday, but it was in a 4 year old count. It went "my birthday is not tomorrow, not the next day, not the next day......... you get the picture, this went on for weeks!! She woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed, early in the morning, all ready to open her presents. She had a wonderful birthday, she especially loved her bike, yippee, a big girl bike. We celebrated her party a few days later so you know how those days went (not the next day, not the next day...........). She has decided that she does not like cake with frosting. So, after I had made a cake for her and Grandpa on Sunday, I gave her a choice to have cake and ice cream at her party or popsicles, she chose popsicles!

Rocky Point

2008-03-28T16:32:00.007-07:00

We took our kids away for spring break to Rocky Point. What a wonderful place to retreat to. It is only 4 hours away and has beautiful beaches where the water is actually warm. The kids played non stop in the water, looking for shells, making sand people, burying each other (Tyson paid each kid a dollar for helping to bury Zac and Porter according to his specifications, when the kids got their dollar they each gave it to two Mexican children that were nearby~so sweet!). We rented a house in Cholla Bay and it was beautiful. We were fortunate enough to share it with the Buhrley family in our ward (you all remember the bikini cake, yep same guy!). We have kids the same ages and it was a delight to share the weekend with them. The house was so spacious that we never felt crowded even with 13 people staying there. We loved spending most of our time on Sandy Beach, what a relaxing way to spend spring break. My highlights were watching Tyson struggle with his beach chair all day (his chair had a mind of its own, every time he would move it would "klink"up and he would be almost bent over forward or it would undo all together and he would fall completely flat~so funny!), watching the kids play in the water and sand, having Gage very well entertained by giving him a bucket and a shovel, (he would play in the sand until he would see a beach chair evacuated and then he would move like mad to get in it. One time Tyson was gone for a good 45 min out of his chair and Gage sat in it the whole time. Pretty good for a 14 month old!), the best part though is all the Mexican vendors that walk up and down the beach selling things, we benefited from the mango man, the ice cream man, two jewelry men, the burrito lady, the dress men, the sling shot guys, and the ukulele kid~ohhh and how could I forget the hair braiding ladies! What a fabulous trip, Thanks Buhrley's for being our tour guides we had a GREAT time!!!

Spring Is Here

2008-03-28T15:37:00.006-07:00

I realize that the evidence of spring is not that grand here as opposed to where most of you live, but it is still wonderful. I love the wonderful smell of the flowers when you walk out the door. I love taking my kids for walks (right now as opposed to the summer when it is so blasted HOT!!!!) I love when I get up in the morning and the sun is already starting to rise. I love watching my trees start to produce leaves and flowers after a long winter. I love picking citrus in my parents backyard. I love getting together for outdoor bbq's with family that we don't see often enough. I absolutely love that my children will play for hours in the backyard (sigh!).

Happy Birthday Bishop

2008-03-07T16:19:00.007-07:00

On Saturday was our Bishop's birthday. We thought we would help him celebrate by making him an "appropriate" birthday cake. We made him his very own bikini cake. We convinced all of their kids that it was a martian cake, their 3 year old daughter asked her mom is she could have a martian cake for her birthday too. He had a good laugh about it!

Kelsey (8) brought home a creative writing story that she worked on at school. It is so her personality that I have typed it up for the blog with all of her spelling and everything!

Once upon a time there was a beautiful gril who lived in a small house in the woods. She didn't have that much friends because all the grils were jelles. Well one day she took a walk in the woods. She sang as she walked. All of a sudden she saw a prince she couldn't belive her eyes, she didn't know what to say, but the prince did. He said kiss me, then the beautiful gril said, get real. Then the prince said, you got sweet talk please kiss me only one kiss its only you. Then the prince pukerd up the beautiful gril smacked the prince and ran off to her home and never wanted to see the pince agin.

PINEWOOD DERBY

2008-03-01T11:29:00.012-07:00

WHOOO HOOO! Pinewood derby is one of the funnest events in scouts! It could be that I don't have to do that much with it, it is all Connor and Tyson, YEA! It is so much fun seeing all the different cars that are put together. I love seeing how excited and proud these cub scouts are about their "fast cars!" It is always a little nerve racking when your child is competing in something, but you don't expect the little sisters to be worried too. Kelsey was almost hyperventilating every time it was Connor's turn to race. Thanks for all your support Kelsey!

Connor has a really good friend that has been coming to scouts with him for a few months, so Tyson had the opportunity to help make 2 cars this year. I think Ryan really enjoyed being part of the Pinewood derby, this was his very first one. Ryan's car took the award for fastest car in his pack. Connor's car ended up beating Ryan's after the races had ended, when all the dads went back in to race the cars against each other to see which of their sons was the fastest! In the set up of the rotation some of the cars never got to race against each other. So, the dads were curious to see which ones were faster. Connor smoked them all! It was hilarious to see these dads racing the cars just to see how fast they were. I am pretty sure men never truly grow up, "once a scout always a scout!!!"
Way to go Connor and Ryan we are so proud of you!

11 Reasons I love My Kids

2008-02-24T16:24:00.007-07:00

1. I love that they each use three cups and there designated water bottle every day just so I can have a full dishwasher every night!
2. I love that they don't know how to throw anything away, they must think the silver canister in the corner of our kitchen is to hold treasures.
3. I love in church when they run their hands up my dress to reveal to the ward what I have on underneath. (We all know that it is very exciting!)
4. I love how genuinely surprised they are every day that they have to do their work, homework, make their bed and practice their piano.....again!
5. I love when they have built the greatest blanket fort and can't believe that they have to clean up the mess and not me!
6. I love that they think I am magic when I can hear them running around upstairs after I put them to bed.
7. I love that Porter asks me for cold cereal for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack!
8. I love that Kelsey is consistent in saying her prayers every night.
9. I love that Connor loves family home evening and knows all the answers and asks great questions.
10. I love that Macey did really, really well in sunbeams today!!!!! (I am her teacher)
11. I love when Gage lifts his little pointer finger and wags it in the air and says NO, NO, NO!

What a busy weekend!!

2008-02-19T17:52:00.014-07:00

We had a great but busy weekend! Porter kicked off the weekend by turning the BIG 7!!!! Wow what a big kid. He got moon sand and a magic set, he was so gracious about only getting two gifts that it made giving him his big present even more fun. He got his very own pet turtle! It is actually a Russian Tortoise, and after thinking about it for two days he named her snapper. He celebrated his birthday with a few neighborhood friends! They came over Saturday and played games, ate pizza, broke a pinata and had a wrestling tournament, (that Tyson instigated after I gave strict instructions not too, but I left to get pizza and "when the cats away the mice do play")! The boys had a great time!

Friday night Kelsey had a school performance in honor of Presidents Day. What a wonderful program, they sang many national songs and each child had a speaking part. The very last song was "I Am Proud To Be An American." I teared up watching hundreds of 2nd graders singing with enthusiasm that they were proud to be Americans! What a great honor to live in this land, that my children have the opportunity to go to school, that we can worship freely, and that we have the freedom to vote. How grateful I am to the founders of this Country. Kelsey's goal for her performance was to make Grandma Freestone cry, she succeeded!

Tyson was in a stake play this weekend as well. Last year our Stake Presidency asked the members of our stake to submit stories of their pioneer ancestors. This year a stake play was put together sharing those stories that were submitted. It was done very well, with a full choir and orchestra. Tyson was asked to participate in the play and he graciously accepted. They rehearsed for several months and their efforts paid off. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of his play. (it was a hour and half and I attended with four children and it was work to keep Macey focused.)

I added this picture because I think it is gorgeous and it was taken by Connor my ten year old son! He has been taking pictures since this summer and for the most part they are all awesome! He took my camera outside one morning and told me about the beautiful sunrise that he saw and later I found this picture on my camera!

Valentine Cookies

2008-02-11T10:05:00.002-07:00

We had our traditional Valentine cookie decorating party! When I was a kid my Grandma would make a million sugar cookies and on the Saturday before Valentines day, she had all 30 or so of her grandkids come over and decorate sugar cookies. There were every kind of candy you could think of to decorate your cookie with. A kids dream come true!!! We had so many cookies that they would sometimes last a week after going to Grandma's!!! My mom has continued the tradition with my own kids and they love it as much I did when I was little. Thanks to both Grandma's for keeping such a fun tradition!

2008-02-11T09:48:00.002-07:00

Friday night we had the Blue and Gold Cub Scout Banquet with Connor! This is his last one, next year he will be an eleven year old scout. I can't believe he is getting so old!!! The Banquet was done very well, they brought in a magician to perform for the scouts which of course they all loved! Connor earned several of his sportsmanship pins, for running, biking, and hiking that he has done in Weebelos with Brother Rudd and Brother West (who are awesome!!!) At the end of the program they had an area set up so that you could get a picture with your scout. There were three moms, including me who could not find our scout. I think it is a requirement for the cub scouts to be running the halls at any free moment that they have. I thought it was really funny so I grabbed my other two girlfriends and we got our picture while the dads tracked down the boys. It was a great night with Connor!

Deceptively Delicious

2008-02-01T16:23:00.002-07:00

I LOVE this cookbook!! It is the best idea I have ever heard of!! You puree all kinds of vegetables and hide them inside your recipes so that your kids will eat them. My kids have always been pretty good about eating vegetables. But, now I can get them to eat BEETS, BUTTERNUT SQUASH, ASPARAGUS, SWEET POTATOES and of course all the normal stuff too like carrots, green beans, yellow squash, zucchini. But here is the real kicker, I put the vegetables in their breakfast, snack, dinner and sometimes dessert!!!! This picture is of my kids eating cupcakes with beets in them. They thought I was the greatest mom for making cupcakes for their snack one day after school. It was a great day, even later Connor said with a moan, "Mom those cupcakes were sooo good!" Everyone should try this! Macey and Gage were coming down with a cold when I started doing this and with in three days their cold was gone. It is soo much fun.

Wild and Crazy Girls Trip To LA

2008-01-30T13:29:00.001-07:00

My mother in law and sister in laws and I went to LA for the weekend, and we had a blast! We laughed all the way to California, got lost on the crazy freeways for three days, saw Wicked, ate yummy food, stayed with our wonderful and gracious host Aunt Jenny, shopped in the fashion district, went to a girls movie and grew closer together as girls!!! We had so much fun, being with just the girls. We were able to spend time with Tyson's cousins that we haven't seen in a long time, and I so enjoyed getting to know them better. We are looking forward to them coming out to see us sometime soon we hope!

Gage's First Birthday

2008-01-30T13:12:00.003-07:00

SOOO! Gage's first birthday started out pretty great. We spent most of the day at the zoo. He loved having so much to look at, all the animals, the funny people and his funny Grandma Freestone. He loved it when people would sing Happy Birthday to him, he'd do a little jig! After the zoo we played in Grandma Freestone's backyard which I think he enjoyed more than the zoo. When we got home we were getting ready to have birthday dinner and he fell out of his high chair. It was sooo sad. His black eye got progressively worse over a three day period, to where he could no longer open it. We celebrated his birthday a week later when he could see again. Happy first Birthday Gage Alan Cook!