Okay, so it's been a while...

October? Really? That was the last time I updated this thing? Oops. Well, here we are, mid-MARCH and I'm back.

A lot of fun has happened since my last blog-venture. Corlin turned FOUR in November. Love that little red headed dude. Blaine turned eight in December, and made the choice to be baptized on Feb. 6 into the LDS church. He was baptized by his uncle Bryce and confirmed by his uncle Christopher. Maveri is still "almost" potty trained - I would give her about a 90% right now. She's doing good. Quinten's loving Kinder. and loving learning how to read. Matt has gotten a big promotion at work and is climbing that corporate ladder like a mad man. I'm really proud of him. I had a little surgery on my toe in November, bunion removed. It sucks, but it was worth it!

Karate is going well for the family. Matt and I have both earned our Blue Belts. Blaine is testing for his Blue Belt on March 27th and Quinten is not too far behind, maybe next month. We competed in a tournament in February. Matt, Blaine & Quinten all took 1st place in Kumite (sparring) for thier age/rank divisions. Matt also got 2nd in Forms. Me - well, I tried, and that's all I'm going to say about that!! LOL.

Christmas was fun, everyone got spoiled. Matt and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary on Jan. 4th. We left the kids with Nana & Bompa and went down to St. George for a few days. It was a great get-away. We went exploring, spent a day in Vegas, SLEPT IN, and overall just had fun. Can't wait to do it again!

We have a vacation coming up soon! We are taking a road trip to Texas April 1-11th. Everyone is so excited...14 days and counting!

And that is our life in a nut-shell!
Thanks for stopping by!

Almost there....

Bye bye diapers, FOREVER! Almost! This past weekend Maveri has decided that she's really into the potty thing. She's not what I would called "potty trained" YET, but it's a start and I'll take it. She loves to go on the potty, and when she does she says "dat awesome!" It's so cute. She also loves wearing her "princess unnnerwear" (pull-ups), and I often find her running to the bathroom nekkid saying "i go potty, i go POTTY".

Soon, my dear friends, we will be a diaper-less family!

Hip Hip HOORAY!

Quinten the great!

I know this is like WAY late, but I just wanted to wish my little Quinten a HAPPY SIXTH BIRTHDAY (on September 18th)! Hard to believe he's already SIX, and in kindergarden, and just so BIG. What happened to my (big) little baby with the rolls and the curls?

Quinten is such a smart boy. He is learning to read and loving every second of it. He is also loving his Karate lessons, and while he might not always be the fastest person out there, he slows himself down and usually gets it RIGHT. It's amazing to watch his little brain work while he thinks about what move comes next. He has a smile that will melt anyone's heart and is very loving with his siblings and family. We love having him as such a great part of our family.

Quinten got to have more of a birthday weekend instead of just one day. His birthday fell on a Friday so I went into his class and handed out treats, took him balloons, and also helped with their tactile letters for that day. That afternoon we went to Kami's for a haircut, and then we spent a little time at Bryce and Sally's while daddy helped them put in their lawn. Then we went to Quinten's all-time favorite place - Chili's for dinner. After dinner mommy and Quinten wne to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs for a birthday date. Cute show, good time!

Saturday was Quinten's "friend party". We had so much fun with all his friends, both old friends he's known his whole life and new ones he's just met in Kindergarden this year. We had a Karate party and we gave all the kids "Black Belts" (ribbons tied around their waist) and taught them a few of our Karate moves. I think everyone had fun.

Sunday we had the family over for dinner and our "family party." It was fun to have everyone over to eat soup and celebrate this cute little boy!

He got lots of fun presents, but most of all I think he loved having friends and family around and being the center of attention.

Here's a few pics to celebrate the cute little boy with the curly hair whom we all love so much!!

At birth - weighing in at 8 lbs 10 oz!


You simply cannot post pics of Quinten without sharing this one....a classic!












I'll have some pics from his bday party and stuff as soon as I upload them.

I LOVE YOU QUINTEN!!

The Family That Kicks Together....

Sticks together!

Or at least that is what Sensei Burke says! He's our new Karate insturctor. And by "our" I mean, Blaine, Quinten, Matt and I are all taking Karate! I was hesitant at first, but it is SO MUCH FUN! And our Sensei and Dojo are AWESOME! It's located just off Highway 89 right by Pitcher Sports and the new Best Western. It's called Utah Karate Institute - North. www.karateshin-toshi.com

Blaine and Quinten started at the end of June, and after a month of watching and liking Matt and I started end of July. We have all earned our firts "promotion" to what is called a "yellow stripe" - which basically means we're half-way to our yellow belts. Matt and Blaine could be earning their yellow belts as early as this week....Quinten and I are soon to follow (poor Q's been out for a week or so because of his tonsils, and he misses it).

I will try to get pictures of everyone in our Gi's, and hopefully soon with our new yellow belts!

Bye Bye Tonsils & Adnoids!

On Tuesday I took Quinten to the ENT. I did this b/c the kid has horrible allergies that are not affected at all by the meds that he's been on continuously for a while now. And, also because when Corlin got his adnoids out in February they were so big they had been pushing his tubes out....and that could be hereditary. Quinten showed a lot of the classic symptoms of large adnoids.

So, at the apt. he said his tonsils were rated one a 2 one a 3 on a scale of 4. Not overly huge, but big. But given all his symptoms etc. we decided to go ahead and remove them before school starts.

We had the surgery done at Mt. Ogden Surgical Center. Quinten was so brave, but he did have a little bit of a breakdown before they took him back. Poor kid was so scared and just curled up in my lap crying. it really was heartbreaking.

The surgery went well, and they said his adnoids were huge too - so I'm glad we did it now instead of waiting. Recovery so far is going pretty good - he likes being able to eat as many popsicles as he wants! As long as we keep up on the pain meds he does okay.

In other news - cause lately we can't have one medical "issue" without reporting another one. 2:45am thursday morning Maveri woke up screaming. I figured it was just a bad dream so I went to console her and found her gasping for breath - very shallow, quick, strained breaths. And she was ON FIRE. I gave her motrin and took her to Wee Care (24 hr pediatric clinic). Turns out she has Croup (and a fever of 102.8 a half-hour AFTER motrin), of all things. I was a relieved it was croup and not pnemonia tho. They gave her a steroid shot and sent us on our way. Poor girl sounds HORRIBLE. She is just wheezey, and icky and bleh. She does okay during the day, but has a really hard time at night. it's been a long couple of nights with her since then. The weird thing is when we put her to bed thursday night she was fine - no fever, no cough, no snotty nose - breathing fine...just great. So this was something that just came on super quickly.

So, we've spent the last couple days couped up and recouping. Trying to keep one sick kid away from one recovering kid. Makes things interesting, anyway.

29....and holding!

So, for the next 364 days I can honestly say I am 29 years old, and mean it! Yup, I had a birthday yesterday. Nothing shout from the roof-tops about, I'm getting old. It's life, it happens - and I'm not one to whine and complain about it.

I just think it's funny. Cause 29 is the age that people always say they are. So, I wonder how many times this year I will tell someone my age and they'll think to themselves "really?? or is she just saying that"

Nope - really really, I mean it!

Making new memories with old friends!

I had so much fun last night! My old "homie" from college, Cherice, (we weren't roomies, cause we didn't share a room - we were homiez cause we shared a town-house!) was in town so we got together to do a little swimming at my mom's house with the kids. My four and her one! LOL. We were talking and decided to call anyone from high school whose phone number I had in my cell phone and see if they could do a girls-night dinner tonight.

We had seven of us there and it was SO MUCH FUN! We ate at Boston's in Layton and just sat and chatted for three hours about kids, guys (both now and then), relationships, labor, work etc. It was great to reconnect with these people - most of whom I do have their number but I don't use it nearly often enough!

So thanks to Cherice, Shara, Jenn, Joan, Amanda, and Amy for letting me get out of the house, away from kids, and have an awesome time reminiscing! Let's do it again soon!