Caudle Family

Easter Sunday 2011!

2011-07-03T19:00:00.000-07:00

I realize that I've skipped posting about our 2010 Christmas...Tyler had bought a video camera for me a few month before and once Christmas was over, I realized that I had video-taped most of our Christmas (which I was very happy to be able to do) but realized that I hadn't taken any PHOTOS. :-( SO moving on...

Although I neglected to blog about it until now, Easter really did hit the Caudle home...and I've included pictures to prove it! This year I actually accomplished my sewing goal of making Easter outfits/accessories for the kids. I made Addy and Shaylee peasant-style dresses (not crazy about the Anne of Green Gable-style sleeves on Shaylee's dress, but she doesn't like cap sleeves right now!?), and I made bow-ties for the boys. I may be partial, but I think they all looked pretty adorable for church that day!

Hope you all had a terrific Easter!

Our Thanksgiving 2010

2011-01-01T21:15:00.000-08:00

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful and delicious! Although I don't have pictures of the spread...I do have pictures from an imprompu little photo shoot we did in our backyard before we had our feast! I am very thankful that Tyler has family here because I miss having big get-togethers on holidays...it just wouldn't seem like a holiday without any family! It was nice that Tyler's parents were able to be with us on that day!

I can't remember what Addy was upset about...but she ended up refusing to let me take any individual pictures of her. Normally you can't keep her OUT of a picture!

Our little shoot wasn't anything fancy (just ourselves, a point and shoot camera, and a tripod), but we had fun and were able to get fun, quick shots and the memories will last a lifetime! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving...I'm so thankful for all the wonderful family and friends that the Lord has blessed me with!

Halloween 2010

2011-01-01T20:27:00.000-08:00

This year for Halloween, Cayden was a Transformer (Megatron), Shaylee was the Corpse Bride, Addy was Pebbles from "The Flinstones", and Zach was Bam-Bam! I made Addy's and Zach's costumes out of fleece and a little felt, and then made 2 bones for their accessories! These pictures are from our church Trunk or Treat, which is always really fun! Halloween fell on a Sunday this year and unfortunately the city chose to keep trick or treating on that day so we chose not to go out on Halloween night, but the kids were able to get plenty of candy through the trunk or treat and their school halloween carnivals! On Halloween night, we watched "Corpse Bride" and ate popcorn!

This is Steff (my husband's brother's wife) and her two kids...she made their costumes, too! I thought the Ariel wig was hilarious/adorable!

Grandma & Grandpa Caudle, and Tyson (my hubby's cousin)

These are the Kauer cousins!

Shaylee's costume creeped me out a bit...I'm not big into scary costumes...but she really wanted to be the Corpse Bride, so I did her make up and made her look creepy. When that girl has made up her mind, it's nearly impossible to change it!

Three Birthdays!

2011-01-01T19:51:00.000-08:00

Three birthday have occured since I last updated this blog!?! Cayden turned 6 this year and is quite the smarty! He is the very top kid in his class...and there we were worried that he wasn't going to be able to sit still and focus (he gets in his own little world, whether it's at home or at a store crowded with people and makes sound affects with his mouth as he swings his imaginary light sabers and thwarts off imaginary enemies)! His teacher is constantly praising him and says that he seems to be the leader of the class. Lately at home, he enjoys making credit cards, gift cards, and money out of paper for his "store" that is in his bedroom. He is also contstantly making books and even puts sentences in his books with his illustrations.

Zach's & Cayden's birthday are only a week apart so we celebrated them together! Zach was able to have his first cupcake and I think I can safely say that he enjoyed it, although he was VERY careful not to make himself too messy (he doesn't like messy)! Zach changes so much from month to month. Lately he enjoys climbing onto the kitchen table to see if there is anything to get into up there! He is always smiling & laughing, and like all our other children, he loves to dance! He dances very carefully though (slowly), and makes sure he puts plenty of squats into his dance moves to build up those adorable chubby thighs!

Shaylee turned "10" this year!! She loves school, especially the socializing part! She just started playing basketball and is really enjoying it. I'm excited to go watch her in her first game soon (volleyball was a little boring - the kids either ALL watched the ball fall, or they ALL called for it and ran into eachother)! She loves doing ANYTHING artsy and craftsy. She often helps Cayden with his book publishing, and has recently opened up her own shop in her room as well! :-)

Back to School!

2010-08-31T18:47:00.001-07:00

So I have a LOT of catching up to do from summer happenings but my computer that has most of my summer pictures is dead and my power cord for it is messed up so I'll have to post about our summer another time! Today I wanted to share just a few pics taking recently, some of which are back-to-school pictures! I sent THREE members of my little family to school on Wednesday! Well, actually I sent my two oldest to school (all-day!), and Tyler started full-time classes at a local college here the same day. He is doing his classes online so that he can still work full-time. I've done some online classes before, but his classes seem way more intense than any I've taken so far!

Shaylee is really enjoying her new class even though neither of her best friends are in there with her. Her teacher is my age and dresses and decorates the class very trendy, so Shaylee is in heaven at school (Shaylee LOVES fashionable people...apparently I'm not included in that group....but her Aunt Nicole is!!). Cayden lucked out and ended up in the same class as his best friend from Preschool and he's adjusted to going to school all day flawlessly!

It's a little sad with just Addy & Zach home now, mainly because they get bored so much easier! Addy and Zach BOTH love to play with and watch the older kids. When they are at school...often Addy will get bored and go lay on her bed and suck her thumb, and Zach gets cranky much earlier in the mornings because he's bored too...so I have to spend much more time than usual keeping them entertained!! They both take naps well, so I do still get "me" time while they nap, which is usually spent sewing (when I don't have a ton of cleaning to do).
I have to admit, Zach is our funniest baby. He is so goofy (which he gets from both of his parents!), WAY too adorable, snuggly, and extremely clever. He is also our first climber! He is 11 months now and was our slowest at learning to walk (he was about 10 1/2 months), but he can now climb onto the couch, and turn around and get back down. He could DANCE before he could even walk...when he hears music he either starts dancing, or starts leading the music with one hand. His giggle can make ANYONE laugh (we get stopped at stores ALL the time by people wanting to comment how adorable he is...and many comment about how beautiful ALL my children are...and there I thought maybe I'm just biased ;-). Zach has his two front bottom teeth, but only one top front tooth and one to the side of it...so Shaylee says he looks like a Cabbage Patch Doll!

Hope everyone is enjoying the transition from Summer to Fall!!!

My Little Helper

2010-05-29T13:19:00.000-07:00

Addy & I made some rolls today.

(Yes that washing machine is in my kitchen and has some awesome wood-looking adhesive tile behind it. If we owned this house...it would be ripped out today.)

Addisyn (my 2-year old) has been changing a lot lately. She is VERY independent...which is pretty annoying when I'm trying to help her. Hmmm...unfortunately stubborness runs through both sides of her family so she was doomed!

She has started being very helpful. This morning she snuck into the bathroom while her daddy was in the shower, and she laid a washcloth on the floor for him to step onto (I threw out our old bathmat and haven't bought a new one yet!)...then as soon as he turned off the water, she grabbed a towel and stood there to hand it to him! She does things that seem so random to us...but she's really just copying what she sees us do. She LOVES to help me cook (all my kids do though) and when it's my "turn" to put a scoop of something into the bosch mixer, she says "Good job!". She loves to ask "What doing?" anytime we are going to the store, or if I go outside for just minute to take the trash out. She loves to get baby wipes and "clean" the coffee table, as well as help me move laundry from the washer to the dryer, and fold washcloths.

On the other hand, she has started to hit her terrible two's!! I don't know if she hasn't been feeling well (she just got over the croop a week ago!) but she has been crying over EVERYTHING. I can see that Addy is going to be a pretty emotional girl, just like her big sister! When I have to count to 3 so that she'll do something...as I say "1" she'll says "k", I'll say "2", she'll say "K" a little louder, then by "3" she'll says "K!" like "hello mom I'm already DOING it, stop counting!" That's how my oldest child acts when I start counting. They REALLY dislike when I count. Reminds me of on Transformers when the dad starts counting for his teenage son to open the door and the mom says something like "oh boy, now he's counting". Haha! She also gets into EVERYTHING now. As soon as I turn my back from her to clean something up, she's into something else. HOLY COW!!! Atleast she was potty trained by the time she turned 2...and rarely has night-time accidents...easy potty-training is a HUGE blessing.

Addy is also very funny with her baby brother. She sees how we all talk baby-talk with Zach, so she talks that way to him, too...it is SOOOO cute! She drives me a little insane lately but she's so stinkin' cute that it's hard to be mad at her.

Anyway, I should be doing some dishes, but I figured I better write down these memories before they fly by and I forget! The kids are out of school for the summer so hopefully I'll have lots of fun things to blog about.

Trip to the Kauer's

2010-05-12T18:37:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I met Tyler's cousins, Christy & Tyson for the first time! We've really enjoyed getting to be good friends with them and can't wait til Christy and the kids are down here permanently (well for 4-5 years...which is considered permanent in this transient military town)! One weekend the kids and I went down to their beautiful home in San Antonio...and we went to the Zoo while we were down there! I remember my parents taking us to the zoo many times so it's a special place for me!

Addy, David, and Cayden

This picture obviously wasn't taken at the Zoo, but I had to throw it in because Zach loved their feeding chair...apparantly it's like the one in Calvin & Hobbs? It's pretty awesome!

"A" is for Addy! Addy LOVES the letter A so she was really excited to get a picture in front of one!

Shaylee & Indlyss...beautiful names for beautiful girls!

So precious...Zach loved holding Indy's hand while I pushed the stroller!

So this is weird animal comes from the GIRAFFE family...I remember it started with a "K"...where do they FIND these animals??!! We also saw something that looked like a Boar...it was a DEER pig!

I asked my kids to get together for just one shot...this is what I got. Shaylee is enthralled in the map, Cayden is undoubtedly mad that he's been pryed away from his new best friend/cousin David for two whole seconds, and Addy and Zach are just doing their own thing. Thanks guys, you are such troopers to humor your mom. ;-)

Here's the only pic I have of Christy, but I'm sure that even from this angle you can see how gorgeous she is!

The trip was a lot of fun and I'm so glad that Christy and Tyson were so willing to house me and all of my hyperactive rugrats! We love you guys!!

~Moms~

2010-05-10T19:25:00.000-07:00

In honor of Mother's Day this past weekend, I wanted to share what I love about my mom, & Tyler's mom!

My mom is the best home decorator I know. Honestly one of the reasons I thought our family had lots of money (it was YEARS later that I found out we really weren't rich!!) when I was little was because of how beautiful our home always was! Those of you who have seen all my mom's holiday decorations know what I mean! She could coordinate so well...as well as sew, crochet, paint, and so much more! She's a superwoman...and was self-taught with these things! My mom is a very giving and helpful person. She has a big heart. She loves family. My mom had challenges I can't even imagine while growing up but she was able to overcome them to make sure her future children would be born into a spiritually strong and safe home. I owe my mom so much for all the things she has taught me. I know girls who weren't lucky enough to have a mom like mine....so they struggle to know how to cook, how to clean, and how to decorate. That's another thing...my mom helped us learn how to keep a house clean, and how to cook. My mom is physically strong...she had 6 C-sections which is uncommon since the body normally can't handle that. She is emotionally strong considering she lost 6...I'm excited to meet my other 6 siblings someday. My mom is very spiritually strong. Losing my dad was something I know she hoped to never have to endure...but she did endure by leaning on the Lord. She also continues to endure "raising" ME so that pretty much sums up her strength! I love you mom and I could go on and on about how much I love you, respect you, and owe you!!!

On to my other mom (Tyler's Mom) Julie! I've known Julie ever since she was my Mia Maids teacher in church and I used to LOVE going to activities at her house (okay so that was PARTLY because she had a cute son I was scoping out)! Julie was fun at girls camp and was good at crafts, and she also enjoyed sewing. Since moving to Texas, Julie has let us live with them more than once. She continues to help us in so many ways. Julie has a big heart (especially when it comes to her kids and their spouses). She loves the Gospe. We would be lost without her here in Texas with us...not kidding! I love you, respect you, and owe you as well!!!

Just call me SCOOTER!

2010-04-12T13:06:00.000-07:00

Here's a fun video I took of Zach today! I can't believe how blessed I am to have such healthy and strong kids. They also each have their own hilarious personalities! Zachary is 7 months old today! He is scooting all over the place, and his first tooth fully surfaced just the other day! Cayden has this idea that we could freeze Zach (he actually came up with this idea when Addy was a baby) so that he'll stay cute and little forever. I can see how that method would make sense to a 5-year old..but I've tried to explain to him that would be a very bad idea! It's funny because Cayden was a very good baby, Addy was an even happier baby, and here comes Zach who is even happier and content! He's been sleeping through the night since he was 4 months old (thanks to the book "Baby Wise"). Whenever he wakes up in the morning, or from naps, I slowly peak over his bed and he starts laughing and kicking his feet like CRAZY. People have said that he's the kind of baby that makes you want more babies, and I agree...so watch his video with caution, he just might melt your heart! :-)

One less stress in my life...soon!

2010-03-09T09:46:00.000-08:00

A long time ago I wrote a post about my frustration with a little girl that'd moved next door...I'm so happy that they are moving away! I know that's not a very Christ-like attitude, but unfortunately I had a run-in with the grandma this morning that left me so mad that I was shaking! I was looking out the window around 11 a.m. after picking up Cayden from Preschool. I noticed the grandma (she's not old...probably in her early 50's) take her trash cans from the curb next to ours (it was trash day that morning)...but she also grabbed one of our lids. I was holding Zachary as I walked outside and said "Ma'am", and as nicely as possible told her that she'd taken one of our trash can lids. She then told me how I'd stolen it from them a long time ago. She then starts saying swear words and preceeds to tell me how my husband was digging through their trash this morning. A smirk spread across my face as I started imagining it...my husband has the biggest phobia EVER when it comes to taking something of someone's that's been left out for the trash...so he wouldn't even THINK about TOUCHING something in a trash can. I told her that but she insisted that her and her daughter watched him this morning, thinking to themselves how we must be desparate and be looking for food. HA! She ended up giving me the lid but as I walked away I couldn't hold my tongue, and said "We were thinking the same thing about you guys" (regarding the comment of being too poor for food). DANG IT, I stooped to her level. I kept walking as she repeated "WHAT??!! WHAT did you say?!!" at me. She then went into dangerous territory. She said how I was a bad parent because I "make" my daughter walk home from school when there are dangerous people out there. Oh yes. She called me a bad parent. It took everything I had to put my trash cans inside our back yard, and not turn around. Her now 6 year old (4 when they moved here) runs around the entire busy street, half dressed with no shoes, and goes in people's back yards and steals things....but my 9 1/2 year old is too young to walk 1/4 of a mile home from school when we already know exactly where the "bad people"that she is referring to live and there are none even close to the street that we have her walk home on...and she only walks home on the nice days...and because the doctor wants to make sure she's getting plenty of exercise (and did I mention she has a nice new bike she can ride to school)!!?? And about them claiming Tyler dug through their trash...did I mention that a few months ago Shaylee was freaked out because she caught the grandma looking through OUR trash cans that were against our house!? I never went over and said anything to the grandma though since I felt sorry for her...and she didn't end up taking anything anyway. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Alright, I'm done. I'm not shaking anymore. It's a beautiful sunny day and the kids and I will definitely have to go for a walk in a little while!

9 year-old Heartbreak

2010-03-04T20:25:00.000-08:00

Today Shaylee was acting more emotional than usual. Finally we got to the root of the problem....she is having trouble with her friends at school. She cried as if the world was coming to an end, as she told me how her best friend Emma hasn't played with her in over a week, because one day Shaylee was playing with another friend at recess "too much". Shaylee is an extremely emotional and dramatic child...but it hurt so much to see her anguishing over this. I held her and wanted to tell her that that in a year she'd forget this all ever happened...but to a 9 year old girl...this was the end of the world. I hope that she can survive all that the future holds for her...and that she will choose to be happy! I love that girl!

Potty-training underway!

2010-03-03T19:43:00.000-08:00

For the last couple of months, Addy (23 months old) has been acting like she's ready to potty train. This last Saturday I decided to buy her some girly panties (SO weird to do laundry and find those tiny things!) & she has been doing great!! She's had a couple little accidents each day (since Saturday), but that's not that many considering she drinks a LOT of water so she needs to use the restroom quite a bit! I am SO proud of her! She loves the attention...especially when she gets to put a sticker on her Elmo Potty Chart that came in a Elmo coloring book she picked out. She even wakes up with a dry diaper in the mornings so I think that she'll do fine with night-training, too! Yay!

Happy Valentine's!

2010-02-26T14:27:00.000-08:00

Finally...my Valentine post! Tyler did this special dinner for me a couple days early because when he has a surprise, he seriously can't handle waiting. Personally I'd prefer for him to wait...but he makes sure he does something else for the actual holiday...so it just means I get more gifts! :-)

First, he presented me with this (I cropped out the top part since it was personal):

After I signed the "form"...he escorted me to the front door where I found this:

Then he gave me a Menu (he had printed online menus for a Chinese Restaurant, a Pizza place, and Steak Express) for me to pick where I wanted him to place our order:

I was then escorted out to our van, where I saw this:

Some of the pictures have a blur spot...I didn't notice it til I'd already taken a few pictures...I'm sure it's from Addy's dirty little fingers!!

After we were seated, Tyler gave me this (I was thinking maybe he'd ask me to marry him again...but when he didn't...I realized that he'd probably have been too afraid of what the answer would be this time, haha!) :

Oh and he picked the ring out himself, which is what I wanted...and he did absolutely perfect. It cost way more than I would have liked him to spend...but he told me not to worry about it so I'll just be grateful!

Tyler had the video screen set up in the van but the movie kept skipping and stuff after the first 5 minutes, so we ended up moving the romantic set-up into the living room (this was a late dinner so the younger kids were all in bed but we let Shaylee stay up long enough to take a couple goofy pics).

This one is kind of funny...it looks to me like we are holding on for dear life.

It was a perfect night, and even though this post was pretty late...I wanted to document it. I also recieved roses and chocolate in the mail the next day...a sweet "I love you " book & card the day after that...I'll stop gushing now. Tyler did great this year. He'll have a hard time ever topping it. All I did was write him a poem (it wasn't half bad!) & give him a Willow Tree statue of "Promise". It reminds me of Tyler and me!

*I forgot to add...the dinner date was a pajama date/sleepover (the perks of being married!) so that is why Tyler is in his awesome Grinch pjs and I'm in my favorite "Minnie Mouse" pj bottoms!!

Here is what we did for Shaylee's class for V-day...I got the templates from Martha Stewart's website. I was too lazy to do the earbuds though. Cayden was okay with just doing super hero cards for his class...thank goodness...because you KNOW I procrastinated making these until like 10 p.m. Thursday night!! I had Tyler cut out the templates while I cut out the colored paper...I gave him a little crap about not cutting very perfectly but luckily he didn't take offense :-)

Family Photo - Bloopers and all!

2010-02-13T11:10:00.000-08:00

So, Tyler's mom bought all of her kids & their families sweaters for Christmas so that we could take a picture to give to her. It only took us almost 2 months but we finally did it! So here they are...our bloopers and all! Anyone with kids should be able to appricate the humor in the multiple shots...IF they've ever tried to take a family picture...especially with their own camera & tripod instead of a pro! I'm too lazy/busy to edit my photos 90% of the time...I'm in the "it's good enough" stage of life :-) I can't wait to post about V-Day in my next post...since it's been more like Valentine's WEEK for me!

Notice Addy's cute belly in the above picture?

Gotta move quicker than that honey!

I think this one is my favorite.

This one turned out pretty good, too.

Since we don't get enough "couple" pics, we figured we better take a couple now, too!

Look at all those "innocent" faces! :-)

"Superstar"

Addy has discovered the "pick my nose & show what I found to mom" stage.

Some January & February pictures

2010-02-06T15:25:00.000-08:00

Wow it's been too long since I posted on here! Here are some pictures taken over the last few weeks.

During the kids' naptime today, I hemmed some Corduroy pants for Shaylee, and appliqued a flower on some polka-dot corduroy, then appliqued that to a $3 shirt from Target, then straight-stitched around the flower, THEN zig-zag stitched around the polka-dot corduroy. Since I already had the two fabrics in my "stash" & got the pants for free...$3 was my total for this outfit! I TRY (doesn't always happen) to do a project each day during naptime...but half our house is packed up to move so it's been frustrating lately. Hopefully we'll be moving in the near future so that I can get my sewing stuff organized!!

On Friday nights the kids take turns picking a movie & watching it in their room. Sometimes they build a fort on their bunkbed to sleep in, and sometimes they snuggle on the floor!

We've all been sick around here...& this picture of Addy & Cayden fully expresses how they feel!

I can't get enough of this little guy. He seriously melts my heart!!

Do these guys look like they are up to no-good? Ya, I think so, too!

Just look at that face! Don't you just want to chew on those cheeks? His skin is SOOO soft!

Christmas 2009

2009-12-25T19:26:00.000-08:00

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas...we did! Thank you to all our family & friends that helped make it special!

Here we are in our Christmas pj's!

A quick picture before church last Sunday...it was COLD (Texas cold...not Idaho/Washington/Utah cold)

I LOVE Zach in these pj's! Thanks Aunt Stephanie (Garry)!

Our Tree

My beautiful candy canes...bread dough filled with raspberry filling...just wish I'd added the yeast & water so that they would have actually risen. That's what I get for trying to bake with an incredible head-cold (I discovered my yeast with water in it's bowl by the sink AFTER I got all done shaping the bread)!

Our gingerbread houses (Cayden's on the left, Tyler's, mine, and Addy's in the middle, and Shaylee's is on the right)

The kids trying out their new wagon!

Cayden loves his new Indiana Jones Wii game!

Santa brought Shaylee this beautiful art set with drawers and a built-in easel! The first thing she painted with it was the Earth.

My new track suit & running shoes - this pic was taken around 7 a.m. with no make-up so be kind...) Normally Tyler & I try not to spend much money at all on eachother but this year we gave eachother a bigger budget...I can't believe how perfect Tyler did (I got him a watch and made him a Notre Dame blanket that I promised to make like 2 years ago!?) !

Tyler opening his watch

Tyler's blanket that I made - I made it out of jersey fabric...the main part is a rib knit which is SO stretchy so it was a PAIN to sew a double layer...but I think it turned out good and Tyler loves it!

PJ's from Grandma/Grandpa Sanderson & Nicole

One of Shaylee's gifts from the Grandparents & Nicole, too!

She loved her "baby" doll...unfortunately the other pic of her holding it turned out too blurry to post

One of Addy's Santa gifts...unfortunately she can't reach the pedals, but she still likes it!

Things that have made me smile so far today:

2009-12-16T11:01:00.000-08:00

*I love you's from Tyler on:
the Event Reminder Alarm of my cell phone
the bathroom mirror
the white-board in the kitchen
the screensaver of our computer
the passenger side van window
the rear van window
& a heart on the passenger side mirror

*Shaylee trying her best to be patient while helping Cayden get some cereal for breakfast

*Cayden's graham cracker "gingerbread house" that he made in school today

*Addisyn giving Zachary big, snot-running-down-the-nose kisses

*Zachary's laugh

Craft Projects & Recent Pics

2009-12-14T18:35:00.000-08:00

Since Zachary was born, I try to avoid going to the store that often, even though shopping (or in my case usually just window shopping!) is something I love! It just gets a little crazy juggling the the baby & toddler...especially in the smaller carts that they have at my favorite stores...Hobby Lobby, Michael's, and Hancock Fabrics! Anyway...I also gave up naps about a month ago because I REALLY needed time for a creative outlet (even more than I needed sleep!?)...which right now is mainly sewing. Here are some recent pics I've taken, and projects I've completed! It feels good to start accomplishing projects that I've bookmarked on the internet! I'm the QUEEN of bookmarking projects...I have a "to make" list that would take me about 10 life times to finish!! I never used to take photos of projects I've made but I'm thinking of starting another blog just for my crafts...so that I can put links to the tutorials I used. Not only then can people have easy access to the projects they like on my blog, but I can have easy access to the tutorials so that I can make the same projects again in the future if I wish!!

Babylegs...I'd never heard of them til recently, and I found a free tutorial to make them out of knee socks...much cheaper!!!

I bought some fleece to make a blanket for someone's new baby...the birdies on the fabric were SO cute that I HAD to make Addy some pj's out of the extra!

Addy fell asleep standing on this sterilite container...what a funny girl! Oh and luckily she only sucks her thumb when she sleeps!

Shaylee is a great helper!

Here's a table runner I made for my mom from another free tutorial (using freezer paper as a stencil...her table is longer than mine so it looks like a funny length here on my table! (I purposely made it so it wouldn't hang over the edges of her table)

Here are some corduroy pants I made the same way as her fleece birdy pj's (I used some of her other pants as a pattern...you don't even have to cut them)! The material was half off & it only took 1/2 yard so they only cost $1.50 to make...pretty economical I'd say!

Some people call these baby tents...it's basically a recieving blanket with ties on it! I used cotton on the outside & brown fleece on the inside...& I couldn't help adding cute jumbo ric rac on the outside! I cut my fabric to be 38 inches square. This keeps baby Zach nice & warm...now he doesn't wake up as much when we have to run to multiple stores in the cold air!

Here's me and my new accessory. No not the baby...the scarf (although he's even cuter than the scarf)! I used a free tutorial..it's just 4 inch squares sewn together...it's jersey knit (t-shirt fabric)! It's so soft & not TOO warm so it's perfect for people who feel like they are choking when they wear turtlenecks or scarves!!

This is the back of Addy's new Paper Doll Dress!

Don't you lOVE the pockets?? I bought this pattern from lilblueboo for only $6...you can find a link to her blog on the right side of my blog. She's also wearing the babylegs I made her since it's starting to get cold outside!

My mom sent the kids these beautiful church outfits! How did I end up with such cute kids??

Last but not least...here's the Zach Attack! I just love his little smiles, & when I kiss him he turns his head & tries to eat my face! As tiring as it is to have babies...I'm so sad that they grow up so fast!

Birthdays, a Blessing, and recent pics!

2009-11-17T14:21:00.000-08:00

A lot has happened since I last wrote a post! Cayden's 5th birthday was in September, a week after Zachary was born. Since I wasn't really up for doing a party at that point...he was given the option to get $20 instead of a party (my mom gave us that option, too when we were younger)...and luckily he chose the money! Of course he spent it on little superhero figures...he can't seem to get enough of those! Cayden can make the most incredible drawings! He mainly draws superheros, but the other day I found a picture he'd drawn of Santa going down a chimney! He can write his name (and spell it out loud from memory) by himself now. He has a best friend at school and lately they get in trouble for talking too much...my son??!! A couple of his friends already have girlfriends (they are in PRE-K) so I always ask Cayden if he has one...he always says "NO!" I love you Cayden!

Zachary was blessed on November 1st! My mom sent the absolute cutest tuxedo blessing outfit and it fit just right for the special day! It's such a blessing to see my husband bless our babies!

Shaylee also recently had a birthday...she turned 9 earlier this month! I can't believe that I have already been Shaylee's mom for 6 years! Shaylee is an interesting mix of a tom boy and girly girl. Blue is her favorite color...she doesn't care that much for pink or purple. She likes to wear skirts, but plays dirty and rough while outside. She is a hard girl to figure out. She is already very self-conscious. I hope that someday I'll be able to make her understand that no matter what she wears, she is a very beautiful girl (she doesn't listen to me). We've been through ups and downs together and I just hope that as she continues to get older, that we'll grow even closer and that she'll learn to believe me! I love you Shaylee!

Addy eating a cupcake

Addy, Zachary, and Shaylee

Playing outside

I think they love the Fall!

Addy riding her "new" toy...it's new to her atleast!

Shaylee, Emma, and Willow...for her B-day she had her two best friends over for a long play-date!

You've gotta love that smile!! I love how after I feed him, he just smiles up at me and studies my face for a long time.

Yes that blanket is as soft as it looks!

Right after Sacrament Meeting the day of Zach's blessing

Group shot of those who were there...oh and Brother Huff (family friend) snuck in there (on the far left), too!

Cayden & his Spider cake...he thought it was pretty awesome :-)

Trunk or Treat at the church

Video of Zachary at 6 1/2 weeks old

2009-10-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

Finally, more pictures!

2009-10-19T16:50:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos! It's crazy having babies 18 months apart and it's much harder for me to find the time to post on here! I'll try to be better!

Clark Kent, a Ladybug,(costume not finished) and Miley Cyrus

Happy Birthday Mom!

2009-10-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

Today is my mom's birthday...she's 40!! Well, she might be a little older, but she still LOOKS 40 to me! :-) I can't believe how the years have flown by, and now my mom is a proud grandma (many times over) and I am a mom!

Mom, I just want to thank you for all that you have done for me throughout my life. As I raise my kids...I finally understand what you went through to raise ME! I don't remember you ever being impatient with me...although I do remember getting a few spankins(that were well deserved)! BUT...it gives me hope that my kids won't remember me being so impatient with them! Our home was always so beautifully decorated and clean because of you. Because of your example, I want my home to be a clean, atleast halfway organized, comfortable home for my family and the Spirit to dwell. You've always been so creative and talented with crafts as well. I could go on and on about all of your good qualities...but basically I just want you to know how much I love and admire you.

*HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!*

A video of Zachary

2009-09-22T13:27:00.000-07:00

Zachary updates & a dress for Addy

2009-09-16T11:20:00.000-07:00

I should be taking a nap, since the other kids are...but I wanted to hurry and post some more photos real quick! The first two nights that Zach was home were tough...he's been extremely gassy, and also wanted to eat every hour but wouldn't stay awake long enough to eat much! Last night he actually slept really well...he only woke up once to be fed! I've been so sleep deprived that I've been feeling pretty sick, like an exhausted sick. Luckily the sleep I got last night has given me more energy today though so at the moment I'm feeling pretty good!
I've recently become addicted to sewing!?! I have had a sewing machine for years and years that my mom bought for me (she bought each of us girls one to learn on) and hadn't used it much, and recently it went "kaput". It wouldn't do a straight stitch...the tension was messed up and no matter what I did (and what other people who knew more about sewing machines did) would fix the problem. Anyway, I recently got my hands on a new machine and I am in love! It has made sewing so smooth & easy...even for a COMPLETE beginner like me!! I found the cutest tutorial to make these little dresses out of handkerchiefs...I'll include the link down by the pic of Addy wearing the dress I made! Enjoy the pics!

Here's Zach showing off the blanket I crocheted just for him...I got the yarn on clearance at Michael's for $1 per skein...so it only cost me $5 to make...jackpot (plus after washing it, it was SO soft!!) !!

The pic above and the one below are off Addy and Zach after falling asleep before our normal nap time because they'd kept me up all night the night before (Addy wakes up & cries whenever the Zach does at night even though they aren't in the same bedroom!!) !

I appliqued this onesie! Here's a tutorial & pattern for it: http://treyandlucy.blogspot.com/2009/04/tieguitar-pattern-is-here.html

I also made the tie onesie in one of the other pics. Unfortunately I didn't have my new sewing machine yet when I made them...and at first I didn't like how uneven my hand-stitching was turning out...but I like it a lot by the time I was done! Today I was thinking that I so need to make a superman onesie with a little cape on the back...Cayden would just LOVE to see his baby brother as a superhero!!

Tami sent a package for Zach that included these glasses (as well as a couple other things for the kids, and a couple of BEAUTIFUL blankets she'd made...oh and my mom sent the cutest baby outfits, diaper bag, baby blankets, and a TUXEDO BLESSING OUTFIT...oh my goodness I am so spoiled!!!)...but anyway Addy LOVES the glasses!!

Daddy holding the "babies"

Addy hasn't gotten sick of playing "mom" yet! She loves his little "doze" (toes)...& in this pic she's giving him binky options!

So these last two pics are off a dress I made for Addy...from Halloween dishclothes found at Target in their $1 area (but they are $2.50). No I wasn't creative enough to think of this myself...here is the link to where I copied the idea:

http://treyandlucy.blogspot.com/2009/09/10-minute-dish-towel-dress.html

From there you can find her link to her "bandana dress"! Hobby Lobby has lots of bandanas for only $1 (I also found some on clearance for 59 cents)...so for less than $2 each, you can make all kinds of fast, cute, easy little dresses!! I have some black with white polka dot ones I'm going to use for a cute church dress. I'll be sure to make Addy wear a white shirt under it though so she'll be a little more modest! Tyler thinks this dress is really cute, but he said "You know, people might take her outfit two ways...either that you are very creative & crafty, or that you are very poor so you make clothes out of dishcloths!" Well...I wouldn't have made this dress out of any old dishclothes...I want her to look cute...not tacky...but these dishcloths are definitely not tacky & you can't even tell what the dress is made of anyway! I thought that for sure the ribbons on her shoulders would bug her, but she only touched them carefully once, and never touched them again!

Presenting to the world: Zachary Paul Caudle

2009-09-13T10:05:00.000-07:00

After 2 straight nights of having contractions, we went to the hospital on Saturday morning...9 days before my due date. While giving birth to him, he came out with his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck (not tightly) so the doctor acted quickly to make sure I stopped pushing so that she could fix the problem. Zachary Paul Caudle was born on 9/12/09, at 11:58 a.m. weighing in at 7 lbs 2 oz, and 19 1/2 inches long. He has the cutest cheeks and thin, dark hair. He hardly stays awake long enough to eat much...but he seems to be a healthy boy! Unfortunately since it is football season, I was subjected to watching football for hours on end in the hospital by my husband (we only have very basic cable at home so he was happy to have so many sports channels to watch this weekend!)!! It actually wasn't that bad though...since most of my attention was on holding & feeding the baby anyway! Everything went smoothly and I am feeling great...and even the hubby managed to pull through, hehe. Right now we're just waiting for Zach's discharge papers and we'll be on our way home. Luckily the other kids are EXTREMELY excited for us to bring Zach home...Shaylee keeps calling me asking if we're on our way home yet! Addy got SO excited when she saw me holding a real baby...her eyes got HUGE and she squeeled "BABY!" and crawled up next to me and just kept giggling at the baby. Maybe Addy will adjust better than I thought...or maybe she needs a few days at home with him & then will eventually get tired of him taking up residence in my arms! Life is good and we've been so blessed to have another healthy baby and delivery! Get ready to be spoiled with lots of cute baby pics in the weeks to come!!

Shortly after delivery (Zach was being examined)...I look drugged!

It's so crazy to think that this is Shaylee's 3rd time betting to hold a baby sibling!

Grandma Caudle with the "babies"

I have FOUR children??!! Good thing we have a VAN!

Babies look so tiny when Tyler holds them!

These last two pics were taken today after I got all cleaned up!

Middle-of-the-night Contraction Ramblings

2009-09-11T00:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, these contractions are REALLY starting to get old! With my other two babies, my water would break before I ever had any kind of contractions...so then there was no question that it was time to head to the hospital. This time things are definitely different. Yesterday (Thursday) I had good contractions all morning, 10 minutes apart...then by afternoon they stopped. I had random ones during the afternoon (as I walked around some craft stores with Cayden & Addy because I was too "stir-crazy" to stay at home), and more in the evening that were 10 minutes apart. Now it's 2:20 a.m. and I've been having good, painful contractions all night but have been to tired to time them...until now...so I'm going to sit up and time them. With my other two babies, my water broke around this time in the morning. I was hoping I wouldn't have to go to the hospital until after I take the kids to school this morning, but I guess we'll see. We are all so anxious for this baby to come! The kids were actually dissapointed when I picked them up from school instead of Grandpa Caudle, because it meant I hadn't had the baby yet!
Man, these contractions aren't coming very evenly, but they sure are painful! Well that's enough complaining from me...I better get off my blog before I start rambling anymore than I already have! I will let you all know when this little guy arrives. Until then...I guess I'll go stalk some more craft blogs and bookmark more crafts than I have time to do (I told my sister Heidi the other day that I have SOOO many fun crafts bookmarked on my computer that they could keep me busy for like 3 lifetimes!?) Goodnight!

More pictures from the Utah trip!

2009-09-09T02:26:00.000-07:00

Well it's 4:15 a.m. & I can CANNOT fall back asleep...so you get to see more pictures of my trip to Utah! I took a LOT of pics, so I picked some cute ones, and some that are more like "blooper" ones to keep you entertained!

My brother Dave & his wife took this pic, they are great at taking photos, as well as editing!

My niece Haley (Dave & Sara's oldest) with Heidi's two little girls!

Heidi & I in front of the temple after Mom's wedding

Heidi's, Tami's, and my family went black-lite mini golfing...unfotunately this pic turned out a bit fuzzy

It's a good thing Heidi brought a loaf of bread...it kept these three kiddos happy for a little while!! The two babies on the left (Heidi's and mine) are only days apart, and then the one on the right (Tami's) is 2 months older. It's funny how they are all built completely different, but they all have the cutest blonde hair (my poor baby being the "baldest")!?!

Addy was so not working with me, and Cayden kept putting his arms in the air...we did get a decent pic, but this one kind of summed up how...what's the word..."entertaining?"...it can be to have a 17 month old AND be pregnant, haha!

I had to try to take this shot quickly...Addy was having too much fun pulling flowers...

Cayden & Ashlyn (Stacy's oldest child)...to0 cute!

Here are my kids just hanging out with Joseph Smith

Pictures of kids under the Christus really help put life into perspective for me. Anytime I get frustrated with the kids, I can pull up this picture and remember how important each of them is to our Heavenly Father & Jesus...and that I need to do my best in raising them!!

My sister Tami, her youngest child McCall, and her crazy (but definitely fun) hubby Travis!!

Heidi's son, Drew, LOVED picking up Addy...unfotunately SHE wasn't too keen being picked up by anyone but Momma!

Shaylee was a total "mom" on this trip...she read to the kids before bedtime...helped them get dressed and helped with their hair in the mornings... it was fun to see her with that much patience!

Travis took some pics of us, trying to get the top of the temple in the shot...I had to include this pic with his legs in the shot because it cracks me up. The angle of the shot is SO not flattering when you're 7 1/2 months pregnant, but it was also cute how Cayden was holding my belly!

Cayden, Addy, and Megan (Tami's daughter that is Cayden's age)

Now it's 5:40 a.m. and I have to be up in about an hour to get Shaylee & Cayden ready for school (school starts at 7:40 a.m. here!!)...maybe I should atleast TRY to get a little shut-eye!

My Mom's Wedding

2009-09-06T18:44:00.000-07:00

I'm FINALLY posting about my mom's wedding! As most of you should already know, my dad died a few years ago, unexpectedly. Earlier this year, Richard Kimball Sanderson came into my mom's life unexpectedly! From the beginning of their relationship, things just fell into place and felt right. On August 8th, my mom and Kim were married for time in the Bountiful, Utah temple. It was such a neat experience to get to be there and witness this. Kim seems to have a lot of the wonderful characteristics that I've always loved about my dad. I know that he will take good care of my mom, as well as my little sister Nicole. I look forward to many family functions in the future where I can become better friends with Kim. I miss my dad, every minute of my life...but the great thing is that Kim isn't "replacing" my dad...he is someone we are adding to the family...and I can't imagine a better person to add. Thank you Kim for finding my mom and making her happy. Thank you mom for listening to the Spirit in all your decisions. Life is short and we were all meant to be happy!!!

These first 4 pictures were taken by "Dilly Dally Art". I love how happy my mom looks in this first picture!!

Here are Kim's and our families combined! 11 kids total now...I'll let you count the grandchildren, haha!

Here we all are at the temple...Tyler wasn't able to come down with me...but see how perfectly he could be photoshopped in, in both this pic and the other family pic? :-)

I can't believe I made that trip alive! I drove down to Utah, 7 1/2 months pregnant, with my 16 month old, 4 year old, and 8 year old! It actually wasn't that bad...except for the night of my mom's dinner...it was a beautiful catered dinner...Addy was being a HUGE pain and I ended up having contractions the rest of the night (the dinner was delicious though!). We stayed at Heidi's and she was so kind to keep us for a whole week and feed us! It was so fun to see all my other sisters and brother and their families, too. They all tried to help with Addy and such whenever they could which was very much appreciated!! Mom & Kim's new house is so big and beautiful...it was fun to help mom get things organized and make it into a home. My daughter Shaylee has such a big heart...she cried all the way to Utah because she missed her Daddy & other grandparents, then cried all the way back to Texas because she missed Grandma Sanderson and all of her cousins! After a wonderful trip, it was nice to eventually be back at home. My feet got SOOOO swollen on that trip! I'm happy that so much of my family is only a 2-day drive away now instead of a 3-day drive...although I'm also sad that it will be more of a rare occasion that I go back to Moses Lake...now that my mom and Kim are living in Draper, Utah. Life goes on though...and I'm sure I'll come up with some kind of excuse to drive the extra day to visit Moses again...especially since I do still have relatives there!

I was having issues getting more pics on here & getting them moved down to the bottom of the post, so I'm going to make another post of the pics I took on our trip!

Like we have anything to steal!?

2009-08-26T06:16:00.000-07:00

Last night Tyler & I went to bed around 10:30 p.m. By that I mean, HE fell asleep instantly and my pregnant-self rolled around for an hour (I'm up every hour at nights nowadays...only 3 weeks to go!) Anyway, at 11:30 p.m., our dog Lucky started barking like CRAZY and ran to our side door where our carport is...running back & forth (this dog has one mean bark). As Tyler was trying to wake up, I thought I heard the side door rattle. Tyler finally jumped out of bed, & by the time I got myself out of bed, he told me not to move. His eyes were so big...I knew he must have seen something/someone. While he'd been peeking out the front window, a guy probably not to much younger than us, with no shirt on and lots of tattoos, walked right out of our carport, across the street, and laid in the grass all casual of a neighbor's house, like he owned the place! Tyler called the cops and we left our lights off so we could watch the kid. The cops came and started questioning him and pulling out his i.d. for him. The guy turned out to be drunk, and had a baggy of cocaine on him. Tyler & I finally ventured out to check our carport...where we found one of the sliding doors to the van wide open! We usually don't bother locking our van but we learned our lesson! I don't think the guy even had time to look around in the van before Lucky scared him off...but I do think he was hanging out across the street to see if we'd been woken up or not, and planned to saunter back over to the van after a few minutes. The cops told us that it sounds like the kid might have a white van too and was confused....RIGHT. We had the cops look around in our van a little to make sure he didn't drop any drugs in our van! They hauled the kid off...and let's just say my husband has a much greater appreciation for our dog!! Tyler had never heard our dog bark like that...but I have...last year when Tyler was gone overnight, he barked like that at 2 a.m., and as I looked out the window I saw a man quickly getting off our grass & moving to across the street. Since then I feel very safe in my house with Lucky nearby!! Tyler was extremely "frazzled" this morning and needed to talk it out a lot. I've actually been very calm the whole time!? Every now and then I wish we had a smaller dog...because he is an indoor dog & this is a small house, but it's things like this that make me realize how nice it is to have him part of our family!

My next posts will be about my Mom's wedding that was earlier this month, and school starting! Sorry I'm so behind!

When it rains, it pours...atleast in West Texas!

2009-08-01T19:39:00.000-07:00

For the last few days, we have been having some crazy storms...that are so loud that it's been hard for anyone to sleep around here! Tonight Tyler decided he wanted to drag me down the street to play in the water. I wasn't too excited as he handed me the umbrella, but it turned out to be more than fun watching him wade out to his knees in the water...and even try to lay down in it! I had to hold his flip flops for him because the current was trying to sweep them away. At one point a garbage can floated down to us, and then it continued to pass a few more streets! Whenever it rains hard here, the end of our street ends up completed flooded. The ground here is so hard, and our lack of drainage systems cause some crazy flooding around here! The water level gets so high, that you can literally grab an innertube and go floating down the street (unfortunately we didn't have one)!! Anyway, Tyler said that was the most fun he'd had all summer, and would have woken up the kids to come out if they hadn't already been asleep for

awhile!

Updates & a few pictures!

2009-06-22T11:21:00.000-07:00

UPDATES:

*Shaylee is 8 1/2 and has finished 2nd grade! She also currently has the chicken pox even though I'm 90% sure she was vaccinated! She hasn't had a fever or felt sick...but she definitely has the spots all over the front of her to prove it!! She LOVES to do crafts. Recently I showed her how she can draw pictures with a pencil on Watercolor paper, and then paint the picture with Watercolors...& use extra water to fade. She has made some beautiful pictures of flowers and the neighbors' houses!

*Cayden is 4 3/4 and has finished Joy School & is excited to start Preschool this year! I've been working with both Shaylee & Cayden on these books that have their own level of math, writing, reading, etc. and they BEG to do more and more pages...I have to actually LIMIT them so that they are able to really absorb what they are learning before learning new things! Right now, Cayden LOVES Super Mario Brothers and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

*Addisyn is 15 months old, and getting more funny by the day! She is a VERY happy child. When she thinks her dad is home from work...she yells "DADDA!" at the top of her high shrilly voice & runs to the baby gate to wait for him! She actually loves nap time...but isn't as excited about BEDTIME anymore! She LOVES our lab "Lucky" and LOVES playing with Shaylee & Cayden. When they are playing in the bedroom together, she is entertained FOREVER! She's started to say cheese (her favorite food) by saying "SHEES" and gets that funny toothy smile on her face as she says it! If I ask her to get me her cup, bowl, etc that she is using for her snacks or drink that day...she is VERY quick to go search for it & bring it to me for a refill! I'm amazed at home much they understand at such a young age!

*My pregnancy is going VERY well! I'm 6 months along & luckily haven't gained as much weight as I did with Addy so far! I think I gain less weight with the boys than I did with Addy because I don't crave as much junk food! We're excited to have our 3rd ultrasound in 8 more days! Tyler is still working hard at his job. The other day he was given an engraved plaque and pen for his years with the company. I appreciate all of his hard work that allows me to be home with our kids each day!

Addy always looks so innocent while pulling out all the videos & DVDs!

Cayden - The Joy School graduate

Giving Lucky some lovin'

This is a face you only see when she is REALLY frustrated...she was trying to get something out of the closet and it was stuck!

Food & Water Storage

2009-05-02T10:42:00.000-07:00

I know I owe "ya'll" a lot of pictures considering it's been a month since my last post...my Internet Explorer Browser refuses to work now on my desktop...and Netscape Navigator is driving me INSANE!! But I promise pictures atleast by sometime next week!?

It's sad when it takes a scary situation such as a Pandemic to make you realize you better listen to the Prophet...but it's still better late than never!? The last few days I've been doing a lot of research into proper food and water storage...and finding unused spaces in my very small home (that has no garage) for that food and water! I've actually been getting really excited about it!
Today I ran across some YouTube videos that were extremely helpful in showing food packing. He also made some videos showing what your food storage will look like in 10-15 years if you don't use more updated ways of storing your food!! I need to start rotating the wheat I have that my dad sealed...so these videos were so helpful!!

Here is the link to the YouTube videos by P.A.W. Productions...watch them...they helped me feel much less overwhelmed about the process, and the guy isn't really boring to listen to!!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/delta69alpha

Good luck with your food & water storage!! Even if this flu going around isn't the reason we'll end up needing our food storage...we know that time will come...whether it's because of a tornado, earthquake, or just merely because we have no family income & need to live off of our food supply for awhile!

Birthdays...Oh, and WE'RE HAVING TWINS!?

2009-04-01T07:12:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, on March 5th 2009, Tyler Caudle turned 28 years old. His kids bought him an Elmo that blows kisses, and a Medal to wear at work that states that he's Over the Hill (we do that to him like every year!). The kids and I also bought him a nice tie because somehow his keep ending up in the laundry, and they usually accidentally get washed?!

Addisyn Mae Caudle celebrated her 1st Birthday on March 16th, 2009. She was very dainty while eating her cake. Her favorite present seemed to be her Tigger that she got from her Grandma & Grandpa Caudle. She loves to give it hugs and kisses.

I don't usually buy (or make) wheat rolls, but one day I decided to buy them. To my surprise, everyone loved them... and apparently Addy couldn't get enough of them!?

Yesterday I was craving something with pumpkin in it, so I made pumpkin bars with icing. I think they were a big hit as today's late morning snack!

As I cooked these pumpkin bars, and the house filled with a delicious pumpkin smell, I started to miss Thanksgiving & Christmas so badly it ached. I think I had that reaction because I miss being near my family, and those are the times that it's a little harder to live so far away. I have a goal this year to make a blanket for each one of my kids, & my husband, for Christmas. I told Tyler last night that maybe if I cook something holiday-smelling every few weeks, it will remind me to keep busy on all those blankets so I get them done in time!! Tyler's & Shaylee's blankets are already started...& Addy's & the new baby's will be the fastest to do since they can be small!! I'm still deciding on how to do Cayden's.

Also, thank you to everyone for your comments on my dilemma with the neighbor girl...I have taken all advice into consideration :-) Luckily we haven't really had any other problems with her!

OH, AND APRIL FOOL'S!!

NO WE ARE NOT HAVING TWINS!

(I would have said TRIPLETS but Twins is a little more believable ;-)

Some People's Children!

2009-03-16T10:59:00.000-07:00

We've been having trouble with a 5 year-old girl next door. She comes into our carport and backyard, towing an older girl along with her. They steal things. They move things. The little girl even peaks in our windows throughout the day (doesn't even knock, just watches...scares the crap out of me). One night at 8:30 p.m., our kids were in bed and it was dark outside...Tyler had a friend over and they were opening baseball cards the friend had ordered out at the kitchen table. All of a sudden the little girl knocks on our side door and yells "GOODNIGHT", then laughs and runs away (our side light wasn't even on so we wouldn't have known it was her if we didn't know her voice!). Months back, Tyler had a few fireworks sitting in the carport (ya, great place for them) and this little girl steals them and lights them off in her front yard (don't ask me how she was lighting them...we didn't have matches or anything outside). I've never been SO frustrated with a child before!!!!!!!!!!!! I keep telling her where she needs to stay away from so she's not playing in our carport, but then she badmouths me to her older friend when she thinks I can't hear her, and keeps sneaking back into the carport when she thinks I can't see her. This probably seems silly to you but it's just so annoying...I can't stand it when kids are bratty to adults. She also knocks on the side door to see if Shaylee can play, Shaylee usually doesn't want to, then the girl grills her with "why not's" for ten minutes, then the girl leaves and comes back 5 minutes later to ask if she wants to play now. It can go on for hours.
Anyway, today we all went in the backyard to take some family pictures, and our landlord's grandson came over to find out what was going on. We explained the problems, & then when the little girl's mom came over, he decided he better not get TOO involved yet (his grandparents own the neighbor's house too)! She tried to "nicely" scold me for telling her daughter twice that I'd call the cops if she couldn't stay off our land (Actually the girl kept asking what I was going to do if she didn't stay off our land, so I finally told her ONE TIME, that first I'd talk to her mom, then if it continued, that I would have to talk to the cops about trespassing...which sounds ridiculous but if she wasn't stealing things then this wouldn't be as bad of an issue) The woman says she works at home and she just recently took her daughter out of daycare. She works from home but doesn't have time to watch her all day so she lets her run around with two older kids that keep going into people's backyards, too!? She kept pointing out that her daughter is only five, yet my son is 4 and I always make sure he is respectful of people and their land and things.
Sorry this is a long venting post. I guess I have to accept that I can't change other people and their children, but I can make sure that MY kids are respectful of others. Ugh, I hate contention. Maybe I'll have to make some cookies to take over or something to help clear the air. Sometimes I really wish I didn't have such a guilty conscience.

My first Doctor's Appt for the Baby!

2009-03-02T15:27:00.001-08:00

Yesterday at 10:30 a.m. I had my first Doctor's appt for my pregnancy. It's always exciting to go in when you know you'll get to hear the heartbeat for the first time...it doesn't really feel real to me until then! Anyway, when I got there they asked if I knew I'd missed my Sonogram at 8:30. WHAT?? It's not routine to have one at 11 weeks here so I was a little confused, but still happy that I'd get to see the baby so early! Tyler wasn't able to be there and he was REALLY kicking himself when I told him he didn't just miss out on HEARING the heartbeat, I got to SEE it! Oh so yes they squeezed me in for one anyway, and I was able to get a picture. That's the earliest I've ever had a sonogram and I was shocked to see how it was a perfectly formed baby! There was no question where it's head was, where the tummy was, etc., and I saw it's tiny heart fluttering! My appointment went well and then I had the lab work. It all ended up taking about 2 1/2 hours (because they had to squeeze in my sonogram)...so I had to race back to my in-laws apartment to save my father-in-law from my babies! Cayden did fine as usual, but Addy was not happy I left! Apparantly she cried most of the time and was unconsolable, but finally fell asleep shortly before I got there! I so need to get her used to spending time with people other than me!

The Chain of Love

2009-02-24T16:11:00.000-08:00

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make for you!

2. What I create will be just for you.

3. It'll be done this year.

4. You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a song. It may be a self portrait or maybe even some creation I haven't yet dreamed up. I may draw. I may bake you something and mail it to you. It may not be big or impressive. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure! But lets be honest here. This is me and I will likely do something amazing. =) So come on, sign up!

5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to post this same blog on their blog and leave a comment telling me they did will win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Let's keep the chain of love going around!!

2 kids, 1 baby, and a Pregnancy!

2009-02-20T09:42:00.000-08:00

I've waited longer than I thought possible, but I think it's safe to announce now that we are going to have a baby! Yes it seems like I just had one...wait a minute...I did!?! I am 9 weeks pregnant (we found out at 2 weeks when I woke up extremely sick one morning...then didn't have morning sickness again til now....I take it as the Lord giving me an extra early heads up!). Our baby is due around September 25th. Shaylee will be almost 9, Cayden will be 5, and little Addy Mae will already be 18 months. As you can see, we don't have experience in raising 2 babies anywhere close in age (just wasn't part of the Lord's plan for us in the past) so life may get even more interesting! We are very excited, especially Shaylee and Cayden! They hope it's a boy...but they say they will still be happy with a girl.

Over the last few weeks I've been wondering why I can't seem to fully catch up on housework. I've been sick for a long time but for awhile I was feeling better (other than my ribs still hurting) but last night I started losing my voice and I think I'm getting another sinus infection. The morning sickness is also exciting, mixed in with the ribs issue! I'm tired ALL the time...but even then I still couldn't understand why I'm so behind. THEN I realized what I've been doing each day...or what ADDY has been doing all day!! As I put the DVDs on the shelf, and walk away to clean something else, Addy pulls them right back out for me. As I head over to throw some stuff in the trash, she's right behind me to pull it back out. It's actually a hysterical mental picture. She's very devoted to not letting the house get too clean! Our trash can now has a pretty permanent place up on the table, and there's always a chair in front of the sink to block the cupboards below that house chemicals. She could easily MOVE the chair...but luckily hasn't even tried! Luckily there are also doors everywhere and we do have a baby gate so the dog can still jump over it to get to his food and water...

I've learned lately that for the next year or three, my house is going to be a little messier than it used to, while having two young children (but you know I'll still be cleaning every minute trying to CONVINCE myself that it'll eventually be clean!)

Life is good. I love my husband and my kids so much. I'm grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who watches over us and blesses us with the things we need, as we work hard to do the things he's asked of us!

Sorry for the "nekked" picture...I made sure nothing was showing...I just couldn't help myself! One morning after her bath she ran off and found the moraccas (spelling?) and started waving them around as she ran. She keeps us entertained ALL day!

Memories & Comfort Food!

2009-02-19T18:00:00.000-08:00

Recently my mother-in-law gave me a used Bread Maker that she didn't need. I've wanted a Bread Maker for awhile, it's just one of those things though that you forget about...so tonight I made bread with it and made Tyler & I ham sandwiches with it when he got home from work. They were SOOOO good! Instantly I was taken back to when my family used to go on skiing trips. Sometimes my mom would make homemade bread and make sandwiches out of it to eat in the ski lodge. After skiing for a few hours, it was the PERFECT comfort food to get you revved up to head back out to the slopes...along with hot chocolate from the cafeteria!! Ah memories!

The other day I also used the machine to make pizza dough. I found a really good recipe here: http://www.recipezaar.com/My-Best-Ever-Breadmaker-Pizza-Dough-50101 it was so yummy and THICK! Tyler bought me a Food Processor for Valentine's (along with roses and a bear) that I've also really been wanting, and I found the best Pizza sauce recipe I've EVER had here: http://www.recipezaar.com/Homemade-Pizza-Sauce-22280 They don't say anything about using a food processor in the recipe, but I didn't want my sauce really chunky (from the tomatoes and onions) so I put it in my food processor to make it smooth (after cooking it for the 30 minutes).

Addy Mae

2009-02-09T16:09:00.000-08:00

Addy's Favorite Things to Do:

*Dig in my purse when it's hanging on the doorknob
*Dig in the trash
*Eat dog food, and turn the dog's food & water dishes upside down
*EAT (she's never been a huge fan of baby food...she likes food that is more textured and chunky)
*Give Lucky (our dog) kisses and cuddle on the ground with him...and share her snacks with him!
*Play the Piano...luckily she likes to play pretty softly!
*Imitate...if you laugh at her, she has a very fake laugh that she does back at you. She also mimicks our actions. She also says "Mama" when she is sad or hurt, or when I tell her to say it. She says Dadda when she gets excited.
*Pull DVD's off the tower, pull books off the shelves, throw toys everywhere, and get into kitchen cupboards
*Making funny noises with her lips while she walk around the house...deciding which room she's going to make into a disaster next!!

Things That Make Her Laugh:

*EVERYTHING!! She laughs when I dance, laugh, sing, make funny faces, etc. She is SO entertained by everyone in her family, and occasionally is entertained by the little old ladies that LOVE to come over to her and see her smile when we go to the store...ANY store!

She:

* Can walk very well now
*Has 6 teeth (4 on top, 2 on bottom...Cayden was just getting his 1st tooth around now!)
*Can sip through a straw...she enjoyed a little of my slushie the other night!! (Cayden was a year old before he learned that)
*LOVES walks...which is good because while Shaylee is in school and he's in Joy school, we'll be going on LONG walks!

Addy will be turning "1" next month, on March 16th. I probably should have waited to post this then but I figured it's already been a long time since I posted pics of her and told what she's been up to!! Watching her grow is so different than it was with Cayden! Cayden was a very happy baby just like Addy, but walked sooner...at 9 months instead of 10 months...but other than that Addy has been developing very quickly! Enjoy the pictures!

**Something I forgot to add before...when I say "Come here" she laughs and quickly walks to me. When I say "what's in your mouth?" and put my hand up to her mouth, she opens her mouth and tries to spit whatever it is into my hand. She's always been extremely observant... seems she's managed to pick up good manners and obedience from that!? She cracks me up!

Looking Innocent...this outfit and the striped shirt below were from her Aunt Stephanie!

Going for the Trash Can

Permanent Marker...she's very good at taking lids off difficult things but luckily she just couldn't loosen this one! (I knew she had it because she was right next to me the whole time...I don't know if that makes it better though, lol)

"Playing Piano"

Addy liked playing Rockband!

I'm not sure what Cayden was doing but Addy watched patiently!

She was playing with Daddy's tie...then came back a minute later with it on! I was impressed to find out she'd done it herself, although then I knew that wasn't a safe toy!! She was so proud of herself and thought it was hillarious though!!

Our first big purchase together!

2009-01-31T10:18:00.001-08:00

Okay, no more complaining. No one likes a whiner...not to mention after reading Cassidy's comment that she's broken several ribs at once before, I feel very fortunate that I'm normally such a healthy, accident-free person!

So on that note...this morning Tyler wanted to get up early and go look at vans, since we got our tax return (and being sick and hurt wasn't going to stop me from picking out my own van...since this was going to be my transportation more than Tyler's) . For us the best option was to buy a van for cash because like a lot of people right now, we don't want to make payments!! We'd been searching online for atleast a month...but all of a sudden when we finally have the money, we were having a hard time finding the good (and USED) vans. We ended up going to a dealership where Tyler knows a guy there, although unfortunately it was his day off. BUT, we were able to find a wonderful 2003 Chevy Venture, with 100,000 miles, that was in our cash price-range!! It's so clean inside, and Tyler took it to his work on the test drive, to check for leaks and have his work buddies help him make sure everything sounded and looked good in the van. All in all I am SO happy that we have a nice van that we feel good about, and that still has plenty of life in it, and even looks good. It's a relief to not owe anything on it, and have the piece of mind that we have a bigger vehicle to fit our growing family's needs!!

You'd think we bought a 2009 Cadillac Escalade or something, by the way I have to keep looking out the window to our carport to make sure that buying it wasn't just a dream!

I don't mean to complain... but make it stop!

2009-01-30T10:09:00.000-08:00

Last night, the kids and I drove to pick up Tyler from work. On the way home I started to cough (that tends to happen with bronchitis) and all of a sudden I heard a "POP" sound from my upper left side where my ribs are. Then I started getting an intense stabbing pain everytime I moved, coughed, even breathed. We were going to stop at Michael's Craft Store so that I could run in by myself real quick and use my 40% off coupon on a big skein of yarn...and Tyler said we better go straight home. I told him no chance, and I managed to suck up the pain long enough to run through the store and get my yarn (I already knew exactly what I needed to grab). When we got home I called the E.R. We were just there a few days ago for Tyler's head so I wasn't surprised when the guy said that there is a 2+ hour wait right now. I talked to a triage nurse about my problem and she said she'd be happy to take a look if I came in tonight...but then I asked her what they could do if the rib was even broken. Basically they send you home with pain meds and tell you to rest a lot. I decided there was no point in going in. I've gotten used to breathing as shallow as possible because before this incident my ribs were already extremely sore...so that helps lessen the pain...and I've figured out that if I curl into a ball, or lean way over when coughing and hold my ribs, I can bear the pain...as long as I make my cough shallow.
Good news on the other hand...yesterday I was able to smell soap, and today I ate bean & ham soap and was able to taste it!! The antibiotics are clearing up the sinus infection!! Thank goodness...because I was going through taste withdrawals big time! Yesterday I was craving Olive Garden, and then as I drove by IHop I was craving the taste of pancakes...anything that has FLAVOR! One nice thing about losing my taste though...was that 2 days ago I was able to sit down with a big bowl of TOMATO SOAP and toast, and I could feel the warm creaminess of the soup run down my throat, it was just as I'd always imagined it could taste like! A little explanation on that...I HATE tomato soap. I watch people eat it on the tv commercials and it looks so incredibly delicious...but when I've actually tried it, it has always tasted bitter and nasty to me. It's the only dish I've ever eaten that I just cannot stand! But for that one day...when I was still pretty much tasteless...I was able to enjoy it. Good times!
Addy's stomach seems better...no more having to change her whole outfit 10 times a day thank goodness! Cayden's ear infections haven't been bothering him and I'm sure they are clearing up quickly with his antibiotics. Luckily Tyler has been a huge help over the last several weeks. Since there's not much else he can do for me, he's very willing to help get the house in order and take turns cooking meals! Thank you Tyler!

Accidents and more Relief!

2009-01-27T14:01:00.001-08:00

Since I just wrote about my health, I'll include the rest of my family's interesting experiences! First off, right after I wrote my last post, Cayden came up to me crying because his throat and heart hurt. His Pediatrician was able to squeeze him right in. He has a throat virus but he couldn't hear anything wrong with his chest that would make his "heart hurt". He also found Cayden has ear infections...which Cayden never complained about his ears or head. He's now on an antibiotic along with me! Addy has had a very upset tummy to where I have had to change her about 5 times so far just today! Her 6th tooth has broken through, but the doc says he never links those two things despite what others say...he says she seems to have a stomach virus...no medicine for her. She is VERY cranky and has been sleeping very little the last couple of nights...I need to pick up some bananas today and some starchy foods for her tummy! Shaylee and Tyler are the only ones who aren't sick, but Tyler had some exciting things happen the other day...

Last Thursday, Tyler was at work and dropped a 10+ lb grate on his head...leaving him with a headache the rest of the day (he works in a lube center, down in the "pit"). Well then the very next day (around 4:30 p.m.), I get a call from Tyler that says "Hey, I hurt myself. I cut my head open and I'll call you as soon as I know which hospital they are taking me too". My mother-in-law was able to watch the kids (luckily her shift at work hadn't changed to evenings yet!!) and I found Tyler at the Shannon E.R. (we have two hospitals here). He had dried blood ALL over his face, his clothes, even in his ears. 4 hours later his forehead was sewn up with 4 stitches...the cut was only about 1 1/2 inches wide but that thing didn't want to stop bleeding, otherwise, he probably could have just been "glued" up instead of getting stitches. I told him he REALLY needed to take a day off...but he was back at work the next day...and luckily hasn't had any accidents since then (other than the usual cuts and burns he gets on his hands everyday from working).

I'm excited to go to Walmart tonight to get mine and Cayden's antibiotics (well, not excited about going outside...it's 26 degrees here). My ribs feel like someone is crushing them...and the wheezing and crackling in my chest is incredibly annoying and gross. I'm just happy knowing that after the long weeks of sickness in this house...it should soon be over...for awhile atleast!!

Relief?!

2009-01-27T11:52:00.000-08:00

I have had the worst cough and cold for 5 weeks now! A week and a half ago I finally went to a walk-in clinic (even though I can't stand them) and waited the 2 1/2 hours to be seen because I couldn't function much more...since I spend most of my nights awake and coughing and not being able to breathe from my cold. The doc told me he couldn't hear anything in my lungs, even though I was coughing stuff up. He just told me to take Robitussin DM. THANKS DOC, my little sister already told me to take that! The DM did absolutely nothing for me, unfotunately. Finally today I went to a different walk-in clinic that my husband likes better. After 3 hours I finally got in. I was diagnosed with Asthmatic Bronchitis as well as a Sinus Infection. Now as soon as I get my prescription in to the Pharmacy, I'll finally start getting relief. I'm SO HAPPY!! One of the WORST things is that I haven't been able to SMELL ANYTHING for 2 weeks. I can't smell poopy diapers...cookies burning in the oven...NOTHING. Some might consider that a good thing...but what if I got something on me and I wouldn't know because I couldn't smell it?? Also, I can't taste anything unless it's really salty. I've still been eating regular food, but I've found that's pointless since it doesn't taste good...so I think I'll be eating a lot more soup. I had Campbell's chicken noodle today for lunch though and it wasn't pleasant (normally I love it)....I LOVE food and now eating has become more of a CHORE. I hope this antibiotic works quickly! Although I guess if I was dieting, this would be the way to do it! It's a lot easier to eat healthy when the food tastes just the same as the junk food, haha!

Oh and something funny...whenever Tyler & I pull cash from an ATM, we jokingly say to eachother "I won, I WON!!" ...well we do that now when we are waiting somewhere for a long time...so while I was at the Doctor's, I text messaged him and told him how tired I was of waiting...but that I was next so when they say my name I so want to scream "I won, I WON!"...he dared me but his dare came after I already got called in to a room. I have to say though that was the closest I've ever come to actually doing it...because I was sick and a little delirious from waiting so long so I wouldn't have cared that much what people thought!!

Goals for 2009

2009-01-08T08:52:00.001-08:00

It's unlike me to post so many times in such a short time, but the last couple of days I've been thinking about what I want to accomplish this year. A year really does go by quickly so I've been trying to make my list as "accomplishable" as possible so that I don't get frustrated. I would like to get more physically in shape...and that is important, but I'm going to try not to focus on the "lose a little weight" type of goal!

1. BEEF UP OUR FOOD STORAGE!! - We have a very tiny pantry closet. It is also the only closet (beside bedroom closets) to put stuff in so only half of it is able to be used for food storage. We need to either buy some kind of cupboard or storage thing to put in our carport to put non-food items in so that there is more room in the "pantry" for food...or buy some kind of thing for in our dining room to put more food storage in.

2. a)LEARN TO PLAY MORE HYMNS ON THE PIANO! (not simplified hymns!) Today I opened my hymn book and started slowly plunking through "The Morning Breaks" on page 1. I figured that was a good place to start! It's going to be quite a process, but I am determined. Especially since yesterday my husband mentioned he's going to start again trying to learn to play the Simplified Hymns. After taking YEARS of lessons, I refuse to let my quick-learning husband pass me up! I need to buy all the Technic books to help me retrain my fingers to move quickly!!

b)TEACH SHAYLEE PIANO - This was quite challenging the last time I tried. I try to teach her to sit up straight and curve her fingers the right way which she absolutely hates, and then she hates repeating things so she isn't crazy about practicing the same things over and over til it's perfect! I'm determined to atleast teach her the first year or two though. Then after that maybe she'd listen to a real teacher more than me!!

3. a) SPEND MORE TIME CRAFTING, RATHER THAN FINDING MORE AND MORE PROJECTS!!! - This is hard to do...there are just so many free, fun, cute ideas out there so I love surfing the internet and bookmarking all the cute projects. The problem is, I have enough projects bookmarked right now to last me atleast two lifetimes, and I don't know how much crafting we'll get to do in the next life!! :-) So...I'm going to try to stick first to the projects I've already started or bought supplies for, and to ones that are for special occasions like holidays, birthdays... (such as the count-down calendars pieces I cut out 2 years ago but still haven't sewn them together because sewing machines intimidate me), and most importantly, projects that beautify our home!

b) TEACH SHAYLEE MORE CHALLENGING CRAFTS! - She gets frustrated easily...but I know that if I could help her concentrate on a craft that takes a little concentration, it might help her with her ability to sit still and focus. She loves choices, so I need to make a list of things she can choose to make, and give her the supplies and teach her how it's done. Like me, she needs things that don't take TOO long to make though because then she loses interest.

Well those are my top 3 goals. My other goals include keeping my house really organized, budgeting better, finding ways to enjoy the hot Texas outdoors more, and many more...but my top 3 are things I absolutely will focus on and remind myself of every day!

Simple Pleasures!

2009-01-07T17:41:00.001-08:00

Today was a pretty dang good day I'd have to say. First off, I had a little money on my Paypal account from selling a hat yesterday so I decided to go to Ross to see if I could find Shaylee another church dress since she's running very low! Well I couldn't find a modest dress, and couldn't even find a cute long sleeved shirt for her. BUT, I ended up picking up a 16 piece set of glasses that we desparately needed, for only $10.99. From the original blue glasses we'd bought to match our plates & bowls...we were down to 3 small glasses and 2 tall ones. (I usually accidentally broke them...when I do the dishes sometimes they fling across the sink, what can I say?!) After I got home I started doing the dishes, and realized that our last two tall glasses are gone now, too!! They vanished...I've looked everywhere! It's a good thing I finally bought new ones!! I'm guessing Tyler broke them while I was in Washington, although he says he honestly has no clue where they are! :-) As my sister Stacy would say... "RIIIIIIght", haha! Since posts are always more interesting w/ pictures, here are my shiny new glasses :-) The short ones remind me of the kind that are usually in motels/hotels!

Then, I also responded to a classified ad that was selling a table and 4 chairs for $50 and it included a picture. I could already tell it was 10 times nicer than mine...and I jumped at the chance to get rid of my stained, fabric covered seats and marker-marked old wood table for that price. Tyler didn't get off work til later so a couple of Tyler's friends came with me to get it. It's now in our dining room and I can't keep my eyes off it!! It's by far the nicest thing in our dining/kitchen area now! It's still not my "dream" table because I'm sure in a year or two I'll get tired of cleaning between the little grooves of the tile, not to mention we'll need a bigger table eventually...but for now it's absolutely PERFECT and I'm SO happy! I was able to get rid of my old table set on freecycle.org easily a couple hours before picking up the new one which was perfect. That old table set was our only real piece of ghetto furniture and now it's gone!! YAY!!!! Our old table was a little smaller so my metal wire basket looks pretty small and sad now sitting there!

Oh and for kicks, here is the gingerbread house made from the kit my mom sent home with us from Thanksgiving!! I almost forgot to take a picture of it before throwing it out, until I saw my mom had posted pics of the ones Heidi's family made! (Shaylee decorated the back of the house and the right side of the roof, and I helped Cayden with the front and left side) Thanks mom!

The Holiday Craziness is OVER, so here are overdue pictures!!

2009-01-05T15:31:00.000-08:00

Tyler and I always have a hard time sleeping on Christmas Eve, but this year was worse, so we woke the kids up at 6 a.m.! We just can't help it, we love seeing our kids' reactions when they come out Christmas morning! It was a good Christmas. It was so peaceful and we were just happy to be together. SINCE then however, there has been very little peace!! Cayden is absolutely addicted to the Wii. At first he was okay playing it by himself, but now he always wants someone playing with him, which gets tricky if it's during a school day and Tyler is at work. I end up playing one game with him, then getting ready for the day, then play one game, then do a job, play a game...etc. He's very animated when he plays, so atleast he's getting exercise, but the whining about losing has got to stop!! I love boxing with the game that came with the Wii, and Mario Kart! Someday we'll buy more controllers and wheels so we can all play at the same time...that could get interesting!! I made Tyler sell our PS2 and it's games that we bought a couple years ago, before Santa was allowed to bring us a Wii!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! Although it's sad to take down the Christmas decorations, it made me happy to think that I have a new year to get busy in preparing for next Christmas!! I have a lot of projects I want to do this year and hopefully I can just do better this year than last year!

This one was taken today while the kids played the Wii they got from Santa. (Santa bought it over 3 months before Christmas and kept it in a closet just for us, in case they were hard to get ahold of around Christmas time!! Santa and Mrs. Clause MAY have gotten it out a few times...late at night when there were no witnesses.. to play it in the meantime before Christmas...just to make sure it was in working order of course!)

Tyler showing off his new Notre Dame sweatshirt he got in a family exchange.

Sadly I'd never thought to ask Santa for yarn until I read online about some people's stockings being filled with knitting needles, yarn, pattern books, etc! Man...nowadays yarn is so much more exciting (for me to get) than little knick knacks that end up lost or trashed the next day...some people are so creative!!!

Cayden got to play "Joseph" in the Nativity Play for Joy School! He was very embarrassed when he had to hold Hannah's hand as they "walked" to Bethlehem!

Addy had Bronchiolitis (and an ear infection that usually comes along with that sickness) so she had to use a nebulizer for breathing treatments for a few days. She was pretty good about it considering she is very active, and had to sit still for about 9 minutes at a time, several times a day!!

The kids with "Santa Caudle" (Tyler's Dad) at their Ward Christmas Party. We missed our own ward party because the kids were too sick!!

Shaylee's Baptism

2008-12-23T09:52:00.000-08:00

Shaylee was baptized on November 15th, at 3 p.m. at the San Angelo, Texas

Sunset Drive Chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

This post is really late, but Shaylee I want you to know how proud Daddy and I are to be your parents, and how proud we are that you want to always Choose the Right. Always follow the Spirit and you will never go astray. You are a very important part of the church, as well as in our family, and I hope that we will be together forever. You have such a good heart and are always willing to help. Thank you and I love you! Love, Mom

Warren (holding Addy) & Julie (Tyler's Parents), Tyler, me, Stacey (Tyler's sister), Cayden, and Shaylee (and Shaylee looks like she's holding ATTITUDE!!) Oh and Grandma Caudle made the white dress for her, as well as a purple dress for her to wear after the baptism!

Our little family!

Our cute kids! Addy DID have socks on but she never keeps them on for long!

Tyler was ecstatic to get to baptize our oldest child, but it did make him a little sad that he's getting so old, and our kids are too!!!

~Our Thanksgiving~

2008-12-05T07:07:00.000-08:00

Me and Ashlyn (Stacy's toddler) rocking

Well the kids and I had the BEST time visiting with my big family during Thanksgiving!!! Well, it started off bad...our car broke down after only driving 2 and 1/2 hours...but after we got a rental the next day, it was smooth sailing! I was so excited to see my two baby nieces that I'd never met, as well as seeing how tall all the rest of the kids have become!! We ate TONS of good food, went ice skating, did a little hairbow making and crocheting, but mainly got lots of good talking time in!! We even saw a little snow for a few minutes!! Mom bought all the grandkids an early Christmas present...Shaylee played with her singing Hannah Montana barbie the whole way home (much to my annoyance, haha!), Cayden loves his fire truck, and Addy has been having lots of fun with her singing toy!! My mom spend some one on one time with Shaylee which was so great. Shaylee also spent a few nights at her Aunt Jennifer's! Cayden was addicted to the Mario Kart game on the Wii and loved rough-housing with the other boys, although they are all quite a bit older than Cayden so he got hurt (mainly in the mouth, poor kid) a lot but had lots of fun. Nicole's birthday was on Thanksgiving and I think she got quite a few things that she loved...probably mainly the Twilight items Mom bought!!! I'm still deciding if I want to jump into the Twilight craze...I'll probably go to the movie soon and then decide if I want to read the books. I'm really bad sometimes...I'm usually crocheting so I don't read much even though I used to LOVE reading. I think I need to get books on Cd or something that I can listen to while I crochet! But at the same time, that's just not the same thing as curling up with a good book and blocking everything else out!!

My dad managed and organized the building of my grandpa's building out on Highway 17, the C&V Auto. Now my mom has picked up where he left off, and is doing the building that is going up right next to it!! I think my dad was amazing for daring to give up farming and learn all about building, the permits, etc. Now I think it's incredible that my mom was willing to help grandpa by learning everything in such a short amount of time and continue with the work. I think I have pretty amazing and talented parents.

Mom combined all of our photos from the trip onto a CD for each of us, and since there are SOOOO many great pictures, I had to narrow it down to some of my absolute favorites!! More pictures to come soon but right now my internet is having issues!!

Cayden opening his firetruck from Grandma McConkie

My sister-in-law Sara holding Addy...the dress Addy is wearing was from my mom, and it has poodles on it, SOOOO cute!!

Shaylee bought Grandma a present, it was a precious moment!

Pregnant Stacy holding my little Addy!

Lucky

2008-11-05T15:42:00.000-08:00

After sitting down and getting ready to write this post, I realized I don't have a lot of good pictures of our beautiful, er, HANDSOME dog Lucky. I have a cute video of him and Addy but the file is big and won't download so I'll have to figure that out. We've had some dogs and a cat in our past...mainly pets we were taking off people's hands to do them a favor. Our last dog Missy I found in a Moses Lake pet store and had to take it back to San Angelo, TX with me. Shortly after I was pregnant with Addy so I ended up not having time to get him his much needed training, so we found him a new home. ANYWAY, Tyler and I decided no more pets until we buy a house (instead of rent)...and we wanted to possibly find an adult dog that was already trained...a big dog since we like them the best. So...a few weeks ago I came home from the store, checked my email, and there was an email from freecycle.org. Someone was trying to find a new home for an adult yellow lab. It said he was neutered, house-trained, and very good with kids...how could I resist? I called the person just so I could come LOOK at the dog and try to make a rational decision this time instead of just falling in love with it. On my way home with our new dog, I called Tyler and asked him how much he loves me. He knew something was up. He was skeptical about the dog. Lucky is absolutely the sweetest WHITE Lab. He is 2 years old so he's still a big puppy at times, but even my baby likes being licked by him. Just now he easily scooped up my 5 lb weight in his mouth (for exercising although it rarely gets used...until I used it this morning!) and carried it off! Sometimes he tries to chew toys up but is good about stopping when told. Tyler and I are already in love with that dog and feel "Lucky" to have found him!! He's had atleast 2 previous owners and the first ones purposely had him fighting some violent rottweilers..the second owners gave him his name because he was "Lucky" to be alive. Call me pathetic, but I'm really going to miss him while he stays at one of my friend's houses while we're in Washington!!

Well there you go...more than you ever wanted to know about someone's pet!!!

Addy getting lick attacked!!

Lucky wearing Shaylee's Hannah Montana Halloween wig

The New President

2008-11-05T05:02:00.000-08:00

This took place this morning:

Me: CAYDEN, Obama won. I can't believe he won.

Cayden: OH, I LOVE that guy!

Me: NO! We wanted MCCAIN to win! Obama scares me!

Cayden: Ya, he scares me too.

Me: I just can't believe Obama won. What are we going to do??

Cayden: Well, someday when I grow up I can be the Hulk and SMASH the city and SMASH Obama!!

Tyler walked into the room next.

Cayden: Do you know who won Daddy? The evil Obama!!

Hmmm! Interesting answer...I think my 4 year old has been watching a few too many superhero cartoons. Tyler and I definitely believe that the outcome of this election is a sign of the times. The part that was the most disturbing was seeing clips on the news of how African Americans/Blacks, all they cared about was getting an African American/Black man in as President. The fact that Obama won't say the Pledge of Allegiance or wear a tiny flag lapel pin on his jacket....which means he doesn't respect our flag therefore doesn't respect our country...doesn't matter to them in the least, and it obviously doesn't matter to the young kids who got out and voted...who are being raised to be extremely liberal...wanting an extreme change in government which is not exactly what this country needs. The truth is...the world is getting scary...and it's going to keep getting scary and no President can really stop it at this point...but Obama will be able to help it get scary much quicker. I think it's sad but I guess it was expected that this election would turn more into a racial contest than actually about this country's issues and what it needs.

I am going to try not to get too negative because I don't want to become one of those people that always talks bad about our President, but I can tell you that mine and Tyler's family will be beefing up our food supply along with all the other supplies we could need in an emergency. We are also going to be working on getting much more Spiritually ready...because the 2nd Coming is not too far off now.

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My next post really will be about our new dog Lucky!!

Thanksgiving in Moses!!!

2008-11-04T11:31:00.000-08:00

YAY I'M SOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!! So just in the last couple of days things have fallen into place for me and the kids to drive to Moses Lake for Thanksgiving!! I can't even express how excited I am! Earlier I started dancing around the room like a maniac (moves I haven't busted out for quite awhile!) and singing at the top of my lungs the old 80s song "I'm so EXCITED, that I just can't HIDE it, I"m about to lose control and I think I like it!". Well my 4 year old son was trying to watch a Spiderman documentary so he was smiling but kept laughing while telling me to stop because he thought I was being weird and he was trying to watch the tv. Addy on the other hand thought I was HILLARIOUS and laughed the whole time. I KNEW there was a reason I love babies so much...they think I'm funny!! All my siblings and their families will be there at my mom's too so it's going to be the biggest house party that neighborhood has ever seen!!!! YAY for HUGE families and the Holidays!!! It's been like 15 months since I last visited my family so I'm STOKED! I know "stoked" is probably way outdated but that's only word to describe it!!!
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In other news, we got a dog named "Lucky" a few weeks ago...I'll be writing about him in my next post!

Update on Cayden

2008-10-22T12:05:00.000-07:00

Cayden had his surgery/extraction/child TORTURE at 8 a.m. this morning. Someone came to take him back to the room and I'd told him I'd be with him the whole time, but they didn't want me to come back since it'd be done quickly...and I'm guessing because kids act a little more brave when their parent isn't there to baby them. But I was upset and almost cried as I had to peel his hand off my arm and let him go. I tried to crochet while waiting but my hands were pretty shaky. Cayden and Addy haven't been sleeping well so I haven't been sleeping well...and with all of the recent events...I was just exhausted and worried. Well anyway, in a matter of minutes I was able to go back and see him. He looked scared and his eyes were bloodshot. I couldn't believe how incredibly long teeth really are until I saw his! One of them had already started to darken, proving it was dead and going to come out eventually, one way or another! The front of his gums were pretty chopped up from the accident, so they also put 2 dissolving stitches up there so that it won't cause problems when his adult teeth come in! (They didn't put any stitches in where the teeth were pulled though) The two teeth on either side of those front teeth also got affected by the accident, and may eventually fall out, but they aren't affecting his ability to bit down so were are leaving them put. For a couple hours he couldn't see anything very well, but now after resting, and then taking a nap, he seems to be doing really good. Right now he's eating one of his favorite treats...yogurt. He keeps saying that he can feel his adult teeth growing!! I was supposed to teach Joy School again tomorrow but luckily I was able to switch with another mom, so he'll be able to stay home and rest tomorrow, too. I'm just glad that he may be able to be all done with the doctors and dentists for awhile and start to heal up!!

Cayden's Trampoline Accident

2008-10-21T16:06:00.001-07:00

Wednesday evening I was watching out the back window of the house as Shaylee and Cayden were jumping on the trampoline. They are always out jumping...when it's not too hot outside! The blue pad that goes around the springs of the trampoline was a joke and shredded up from the wind long ago...so we let our kids jump on the trampoline without a pad, OR a net around the whole thing! I know, go ahead and let out that *GASP!*. Anyway, I saw Cayden kind of fly through the air like he normally does, but this time he landed face first onto the springs area. I was looking away when it happened, but turned around just to see Shaylee helping him up. I yelled for Tyler casually because I wasn't sure if something was wrong, but then Shaylee screamed as Cayden turned to face us, and I saw the blood pooring down all over his face. I screamed loudly for Tyler and I basically started running around the room in circles. I think I went into shock before Cayden! Tyler bolted outside and brought Cayden in. We put him on the table...it looked like someone had taken scissors and cut from his lip...up. His teeth looked weird...but it was hard to see with all the blood. I've never thrown a diaper bag so quickly in my life...and within about 3 seconds I'd woken Addy from her nap and had got her buckled up and ready to go. We flew out the door and I drove...shaking and speeding like a wild woman... while Tyler held our son and tried to calm me down (Cayden was in complete shock at that point). I cried while Tyler and two nurses held my son down as the doctor gave 2 shots in the gums, and 5 stitches. For days his upper lip looked more like a duck bill, and he couldn't hardly open his mouth so I had him drinking water through a dropper (which he LOVED because he would squirt our new dog and Addy with it!) and I had him eating Addy's soft, disolving snacks. The E.R. didn't say anything about his teeth so we thought they were fine. After a couple days he had an appointment with his Pediatrician where he had his 4-year old birthday shots as well as a flu shot, and the doc examined his mouth and sounded really concerned, because 3 of his front teeth are all messed up!! (He was also a little concerned that Cayden was 4 lbs lighter than last year on his birthday...he's drinking 2% milk now to help put some more padding on that body!!) I was glad to see that someone was as concerned as me about his teeth!! Today he saw an Oral Surgeon who took x-rays...and with the opinion of a dentist that is a friend of his...he decided that the two front teeth must go. One of the teeth he is actually biting down on...and the other one is rubbing...so to compensate, Cayden has been trying to OVERbite with the bottom teeth! At first I just imagined all of his pictures over the next few years without front teeth. Vain and selfish I know. Now I'm more concerned about his speeth though, since he hasn't mastered being able to say words correctly that have two constanants (you know, "fr" "tr"...etc). I know it'll be okay...I guess it's just the incredible guilt I'm feeling, from thinking that if Tyler and I were okay jumping on a trampoline with no pad on it, that my kids would be fine, too. NOW we want to eventually buy one of those expensive ones where the springs are actually UNDER the trampoline, and a net goes all the way around, so there is no way to hurt yourself on it. With our luck though they'd be jumping on that and his mouth would hit Shaylee's head and the exact same kind of accident would happen. Wow I wish I could put my kids in a safety BUBBLE!!! Luckily this is our first big accident so we are very fortunate. Poor Shaylee cried so hard the whole night because she said it was her fault because she was purposely jumping too high. I love my children...even when they drive me nuts, they have such tender hearts.

Well at 8 a.m. tomorrow (Wednesday) I will be taking Cayden in to be "put to sleep!" with an IV, and then have his two front teeth removed. What a week for my poor son.

This pic was taken today...stitches all gone!! Considering the doc at the E.R. had a lazy eye, I think he did an INCREDIBLE job making sure his lip was lined up correctly while stitching it up!!

This pic was taken a day after the accident...along with the pic that's at the top of this post.

Schau, Der kommt Jens, mit dem Moped!!!

2008-10-10T06:58:00.000-07:00

Anyone who took German from Frau Way in High School should be able to appreciate and understand the title of this post! She used to make us stand up, look out the window, point, and yell this! (It means "Look, here comes Jens, on a moped!")

Anyway, so Tyler has a friend from work who has this little scooter. One day everybody in the Lube Center was laughing at Tyler as he squeezed onto it, with his knees almost up to the handles...and rode around the parking lot. Well Tyler actually REMEMBERED that I'd mentioned how we really need to come up with some fun dates, so....he asked his friend if we could borrow it for a few hours. His friend and his wife thought Tyler was for sure joking...so he didn't end up bringing it to work so we had to go get it...the whole time he kept saying how crazy we are and that I must be a really cool wife (which I didn't argue with of course)! This little scooter gets up to about 45 mph on FLAT land...and since it falls under the "golf cart laws" we were able to drive it on 35 mph roads without having to have a special license or anything. So...we drove on over to Chilis and at dinner...where the waitress ended up getting "googly-eyed" at a bunch of guys at another table so she charged us for an extra drink that she never brought us...I had Tyler leave her a note that said "You never brought the drink you charged us for, it came out of your tip!" Hey, we still gave her an almost $3 tip! :-) Anyway, then we went to the mall for awhile, and then picked up some diapers at Target which I got to hang onto while riding on the back of the scooter! Needless to say, EVERYONE who saw us on it was dying laughing...including us!!! The sad part is Tyler and I got "dangerous" adrenaline rush just from riding around on that little thing!! We would have been uncontrollable speed demons if we were on a REAL motorcycle!! I've been on a lot of fun dates...but being on that little scooter with my best friend/husband, laughing so hard our faces were aching (atleast mine was!!)...was the best yet!

Yes I have a WAY cheezy smile when I'm having fun (luckily my hubby loves it!), and yes I have a white shirt on under that pink one...it's hard to see in that pic!

Learn to Crochet

2008-10-08T13:30:00.000-07:00

This is kind of random but I ran across a website that seems to have a pretty good tutorial for learning to crochet (of course this is coming from someone who already knows how...but I think it's good because lots of people commented they loved how she taught!) She shows a few simple concepts...which then can be used to make Amirugumi Animals, People, etc (crocheted in "rounds). Anyway, if you are wanting to learn to crochet here's the link. Maybe someday I'll post my own tutorial, but for now hopefully this will help some of you that I know would like to know how to crochet! So, grab a hook (an H, I, J, or K work well when you are beginning....the bigger the better so you can see the individual stitches well) and some regular yarn (called "Worsted Weight"...should be somewhere on the label...never use a furry, or really skinny yarn to start with, that'll make learning SOOOO much harder), and give it a try! For about $2 for yarn, and less than $2 for a crochet hook...all from Walmart...you might be making the best investment of your life! Well...it will atleast give you hours and hours of fun!

http://www.hookandneedles.com/2008/03/22/amigurumi-tutorial-1/

The Innocence and Simplicity of Children

2008-10-04T16:38:00.000-07:00

Cayden: Mommya, Mommya
Me: Yes Cayden?
Cayden: You knows, we are a family
Me: We are?
Cayden: Yes we are
Me: Ya, kind of a messed up family sometimes, but we are a family
Cayden: Ya, and you's an Angel
Me: an Angel?!
Cayden: Yes, you's an Angel, Sissy and Addy are just Sissy's, and me and Daddy are mans!

What do you say to that? I almost needed to pull the car over for a minute because my eyes started to water so badly!

This was a conversation Cayden had with me in the car on the way to pick Shaylee up from school. He then explained how he learned all this at church from his teacher...about that Mommy's are angels. He told me all of this on Thursday. When I had asked him on Sunday what he had learned, he didn't remember. Isn't it funny how little kids remember things just at the right (OR really wrong) time? I definitely believe that our children are SO much closer to the Lord than most of us on a daily basis, and that it's not coincidence that they happen to say something that you really need to hear at that very moment.

Finding Hope in the Sky

2008-09-23T20:59:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had a REALLY bad day? I'm not talking about accidentally burning your husband's dinner and the kids driving you crazy...I mean something life-altering crappy...getting possbily life-altering crappy news. Well a couple weeks ago I had one of those days. I was completely stressed out over it but tried not to show that to my husband. Our whole family went over to his parents house to visit and such. Tyler had a meeting after that so he left from there in one of our cars, and I drove home with the kids in the other. On the way home, I felt out-of-it, just exhausted with worry...when I looked up into the sky and saw the sun streaming through the soft, blue clouds, leaving gorgeous streaks of sunlight. I've seen this many times, and it always makes me imagine what it will be like when Christ returns to the Earth for the final time. This time though, the streaks of sunlight through the clouds covered an entire half of the sky. It was amazing. It made me smile the rest of the drive home, and to me, it was a way of the Lord showing me how much he really does care, and how present he actually is in my life. I'd never doubted him, but this little sign gave me the extra comfort I needed at that moment.

Sick Season AGAIN?

2008-09-16T10:29:00.000-07:00

Well my little family has been sick on and off over the last 3 weeks!! Mainly colds, coughs, and body aches. BUT, I think everyone is doing better...even Addy has been doing better. Over the weekend I couldn't even put her down, and although normally I can lay her in her crib and she goes right to sleep, I had to rock her all day long. Truthfully it's nice at this stage when she stops squirming long enough for me to really cuddle with her, though. Here are some pictures of her when she fell asleep in her jumper the other day! She's NEVER done this, she normally whines when she's done jumping! I was doing the dishes a few feet away and I realized she wasn't banging her rattle anymore. This is what I found! She's a major thumbsucker when she's tired so of course it's in her mouth. It was too sweet though. She slept for 20 minutes like that (I didn't have the heart to move her...she looked so peaceful) and then she looked at me, grinned, and started jumping again!! What a character!! Unfortunately today I took her to the doc and we figured out why she was so cranky over the weekend...she had an icky throat. So...now she's on antibiotics. It always makes you feel like a SUPER mom when you don't catch those things...but I was giving her infant Tylenol occasionally because I knew she wasn't feeling well so atleast I unknowingly helped ease the throat pain!!

The Circus!

2008-09-08T16:30:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I was able to leave Addy with Grandma Caudle, so that Shaylee, Cayden, and I could go to the Circus!!! Tyler was sad to miss it since he's never been to one before...and I only remember going once when I was little...so this was a fun treat! Although once I saw the adult price I probably would have choked on my gum if I'd had any!! Luckily I had free kids passes...but $16.50 for one adult is a little hard to swallow...that could have bought me enough yarn to crochet a blanket!! Haha! Then of course they try to steal the rest of your money with all the things they are selling!! Luckily I fed the kids before we went...so after I bought them Cotton Candy, I told them if we didn't buy anything else, we could get Happy Meals afterwards from McDonalds.

It was a fun circus! Well the first half anyway...after the first hour the kids were ready to go. Shaylee was upset about not getting to ride the ponies or elephant (which I would have loved to let them do but I didn't bring enough cash since my ticket was so spendy...she also had a head-cold though so she just wasn't handling all the excitement very well) and Cayden was running around wild and wanted to go home. BUT...we got to see black bears push strollers around, poodles do the "train" and do balancing tricks, THREE motorcycles rolling around in a really-not-so-big metal cage (shown in one of the photos), girls climbing up ropes and swinging gracely from them (shown in one of the photos), girls climbing up long ribbons and doing all kinds of tricks, a young female contortionist, and then in one of the pics you can barely see a man hanging by his mouth way up high...and the girl carely hooked her feet to his (no ropes, contraptions...NOTHING, just wrapped her feet around his a little) and hung there. CRAZY!!!

Even though I have a pretty decent camera, there was just no way of getting a good photo with all the movement...and we weren't allowed to video tape...but oh well. It would have been fun to stay for the next half of the show, but atleast we had fun while we were there, and hopefully next time we go Tyler can come and the kids will last a little longer!!

The Only Way to Take Sorrow out of Death, is to Take Love out of Life!

2008-08-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

The title of this post was something that was put on a display during a church lesson a few weeks ago. I wrote it down as soon as I got out of class (my husband had my pen) so that I could share it. I've never felt like there is anything wrong with never stopping grieving over my dad's death, but if my family members haven't heard this quote I thought it might make them feel good, too.

Tonight while I was helping Shaylee with her homework, I decided to put the video Heidi made of pictures of Dad with incredibly inspirational music in the background. Our home is always incredibly peaceful when that DVD is playing. Cayden was paying the most attention. Once I looked over at him just in time to see his arms reaching out from where he was sitting, and then wrapping them around eachother back to his chest. My heart about burst. I asked him if he was giving someone a hug. He got really embarassed but finally said "yes"...he didn't think anyone was watching! Then I asked if he was giving Grandpa McConkie a hug and he said "yes".

I can't watch that DVD without crying. I know my dad is in a wonderful place doing important things right now, and over time I talk about him a little less to other people, but my heart will never stop aching to see him again, and I'll never stop wishing he was here to give me one of his big bear hugs, and giving me one of his smiles that always said that no matter how bad life seemed, there was a way to fix it, and that life is wonderful. I'll also never stop hearing him singing in his deep, comforting voice when the hymns are played at church. I remember one of his old, rough brown wool sports jackets rubbing against my arm when I'd sit by him at church. He liked to rub his 5 o'clock shadow facial hair on our face like it was sandpaper!! He always had packs of Breath Savers in his church jacket pockets...I remember they always made me thirsty! If he was the one waking us up in the morning, he'd do it by singing the BYU Fight Song...although he could only ever remember the first couple of lines...so now I do that to my kids... but they only get to hear the first couple of lines too since I don't know the rest!! He LOVED BYU Sports. We went to several basketball games, and I remember going to a football game once with my dad, brother, and Cassidy Baker. David, Cassidy and I painted our faces blue and white. We had seats in the opposing team section which was awkward, but I don't remember that stopping us from cheering as loud as we could. The other team got quite a laugh making fun of our team Spirit when BYU lost the game! I remember my dad cheering so loud in the music room while watching his games that we thought something was wrong!! When he couldn't get a game on tv, he'd go listen to it faithtfully out in his truck in the driveway by himself!! He was a fast skiier. He NEVER fell...until one time I saw him tumble down the hill aways and did the splits in the air!!! I was probably about 10 at the time and I remember thinking "There is no way he's okay after that!?!" I believe his knee had problems after that...and my mom had a bad back that required several surgeries, so eventually they weren't able to ski with us anymore. When we had a problem or had done something wrong...my dad would calmly take us in his office and show us articles that General Authorities had written that applied to the problem...and then have us figure out what we needed to do to make things right. I never saw or heard of him losing his temper or saying a bad word (which was rare for farmers...even LDS ones!!). Getting Diabetes was hard for him....because before he was diagnosed with that, I remember riding out to the farm with him on many occasions and we'd always buy "DOTS" candies...or see how big of an ice cream cone we could make at the CONOCO gas station!! Sometimes he'd buy us Jelly filled doughnuts...Mmmm! In the last couple of years I've heard several very funny stories of my dad getting caught by family friends...eating something he shouldn't have at restaurants, etc. He'd say things like "Don't tell Sharon!!". I laugh everytime I think of him saying that, because all my mom would have done was got frustrated and said "PAUL!!" Well anyway, it wasn't the diabetes that took him...nor any other physical explanation...just that the Lord needed him.

I'm writing these memories on my blog mainly for journaling purposes since I'm a fast typer so it's easy for me to record things on here. I'm not doing this to keep letting people know what an incredible man he was...although if hearing his stories inspires you, then I'm glad I typed them out for you to read!!! Every now and then I'll include more stories as I remember them. I just have so many little memories that I want to make sure my kids will be able to read or hear about!!

So far...the perfect day!

2008-08-25T06:32:00.000-07:00

This morning started off with me waking up at 6 a.m. (that's about an hour and a half early for my usual morning!!) I was the first one up and I got ready for the day. Meanwhile, I heard Shaylee and Cayden wake up...then Tyler woke up to get ready for work. Addy woke up as I was getting everyone's cereal (I had planned on making pancakes but I think it'll take awhile for all of us to get used to eating a big breakfast so early in the morning...none of us were very hungry!!) After breakfast we had "prayer bones" (what my family called it when we got on our knees for a family prayer around the table) The kids said goodbye to daddy, and the other 4 of us started walking to Shaylee's school, which is a few blocks away, for her first day of 2nd grade! I felt really old when I met her teacher. I'm pretty sure she's younger than me. This year Shaylee was nervous...but didn't seem so concerned when it was time for me to go. She already knows a few of the kids in her class, and she's always extremely well-liked by everyone she meets, so I know she'll have a great day. The other three of us walked back home. I asked Cayden what he wanted to do...he said "Turn off the lights, get the blanket, and watch Goonies!!" So...that's what we are doing, only since it's morning and such a beautiful day outside, we kept the lights on and opened up the blinds. Have you ever watched a movie with your parents that you told them was really good...but then while watching it you realize how many inappropriate things are actually in it that you hadn't really noticed before?? Well that's how it is when you have kids...you realize every single bad word, etc. I loved Goonies when I was younger. Now I realize that I can't let me kids watch it without me because I have to skip like the whole first 5 minutes or so of the movie!! I have always been very naive, so I'm sure when I was younger, I had no clue what one of the scenes in this movie was about...even though it was pretty obvious! Well anyway, the point of my post is, it may only be 9 a.m

.... but so far it's been a very peaceful day!!

College, and Hairbows!

2008-08-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

*Tyler finally got all set up with school. Tomorrow he and I are going to drive down to Midland to get Tyler's tuition voucher so we can pick up his books at the college. He has registered for classes at Midland College but will be doing all the classes he can online. I missed the deadline to start taking online classes from BYU-I to finish up my Associates Degree there in the fall, but I'm getting everything lined up to start again in January. Science classes with labs are one thing you can't take online so Tyler and I may end up trying to take a science w/lab here at a local college (we have ASU and Howard College here). It's exciting to start getting "edumacated" again :-)

*Also...I know I should probably make a separate blog to share the crafts I've been working on but I don't know if I want to have to remember another blog name and do the upkeep for two blogs. Lately I've been crocheting some cute little newsboy caps for girls, and I've also become a little addicted to making bow and headbands!!!

*If you like the items I make, feel free to check out what I have on ebay. Here's a link that should take you to my items. My names is: togglesandtrinkets

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZtogglesandtrinkets

I usually don't have much on there at a time but right now I have several. I'd also be happy to do some custom orders so let me know if you're interested. The next couple of days I'm going to work on Korker bows and will try to get them on ebay soon. Bows don't seem to sell TOO well on Ebay unless the seller combines shipping (which I do) so I'm thinking about checking out our local boutiques and see if there's a market for these. (Although the thought of keeping up an inventory when I have 3 children makes me a little nervous so IF I do that...I'll definitely EASE into it!!) I don't know...as my family knows, I always tend to have Big Plans that don't always tend to be followed through!!

3 year-olds are so funny!

2008-08-12T18:10:00.000-07:00

Tonight since Tyler wouldn't be home til a little later because of a church meeting, I let the kids put on a movie in their room to fall asleep to. I go in and check on them, and this is a conversation my son and I had...

Cayden: "Mommy, wait!"
Me: "What's the matter Cayden?"
Cayden: "I have a pwoblem"
Me: "What's the problem?"
Cayden: "I'm, I'm fwustrated" (frustrated)
Me (holding back a laugh): "Why are you frustrated?"
Cayden: " It's just me. I'm fwustrated with ME. My ears go PHEW, PHEW, PHEW, PHEW, PHEW"

He told me this earlier too about the noise he hears in his ears...so although the conversation was really funny watching him concentrate as he thought of what was wrong...on the other hand it worries me that he says he hears this noise in his ears a lot. Tyler doesn't think there is anything they can do at his age to tell if he hears something for sure, but luckily he has his 4 year appointment coming up next month so I can ask the Doc then.

Where Does the Time Go?

2008-08-09T12:57:00.000-07:00

Nothing too exciting has been going on here lately. Well I take that back. The other day Tyler invited a friend from work, to go to church with our family! He plays basketball with Tyler & the missionaries once a week and he's only 18. He seems to really look up to Tyler and is always asking him for advice, etc. Throughout that day he kept telling Tyler that he really is going to go with us to Church. Well during that day, Tyler kept praying in his head that Elders Quorum wouldn't be boring so that Sterling (Tyler's friend) would enjoy the lesson. So guess what happened? That night, Brother Baxter calls to ask Tyler if he can give the lesson on Sunday for Elders Quorum!!!! We got a good laugh about that. The lesson is about Death though, so I don't envy Tyler, but I know he will do a great job. I told Tyler that he's going to end up being lifted up to Heaven for his missionary work and I'll be stuck here on earth. Luckily he said he wouldn't go without me and the kids :-) That probably sounds a little funny?! Eh, anyway, then Tyler's friend told him yesterday he might be doing something else now. I told Tyler though he's still going to get all those blessings for mustering up that courage in the first place!!

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Well Shaylee got sealants put on her teeth a few days ago...and she's super excited about school to be starting on the 25th, especially since she just got a pretty purple Hannah Montana backpack! Cayden is really into having me print superhero coloring pages for him lately. He colors them (he's gotten so good at coloring lately!) and then has me cut them out for him. They don't last as long as superhero figures but they sure are cheaper!! Addy cracks me up. Everytime I look at her she gets a big grin. She's such a little chunk, too!! She's been practicing slowly barrel rolling across the room, and she's also been tucking her knees under her body and then pushing them out. The other night I caught her in the same position Shaylee always slept in as a toddler... on her tummy, but knees under her body so her rear-end was sticking way up in the air!! I laughed so hard when I saw that because it reminded me of when Shaylee was younger. How time flies. My babies grow up too quickly. It already makes me sad to think that someday there will be no more babies...well until I have grandbabies, but that can't happen for MANY more years.

So Pretty...Grandma Caudle says she looks more and more like a McConkie! Boy I see a lot of Shaylee in her sometimes though!!

Cayden is showing off his super cool Swimsuit from Grandpa Caudle. I think the floaties make him look like a Ninja Turtle, haha! He's fearless in this swimsuit...he jumps straight into the deep end without even thinking! Dangerous though how much courage he has!

Lost in a sea of Care Bears!

Shaylee & Daddy being tough! I got these for Tyler on Father's Day so we can duke it out!

Addy and her friend from church - Savannah (Yes her mom thought of the name from the movie "Savannah Smiles"!!! Love that movie!) Her mommy's name is just as cute - Pollyanna!!

I am not just a Mommy, I'm a Woman!

2008-08-03T15:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a conversation I had with my son yesterday in the car.

Cayden: Mommy, MOMMY!
Me: Yes Cayden?
Cayden: Mommy's are Womans!
Me: They ARE??? (Sarcastically, trying to hold back a seriously laugh)
Cayden: Yep, so YOU are a Woman! You's a Mommy AND a Woman!

I have to say that I'm impressed that my 3-year old (almost 4) understands that even mommy's are real women, or just the fact that we are individuals! Well, maybe I'm reading too much into that, but I like to think he has that deep of an understanding! :-)

Live Each Day to The Fullest

2008-08-01T11:06:00.001-07:00

I just ache today. An old friend from high school and his wife, lost their two-week old baby yesterday to a heart defect. Since having kids, my biggest fear has been to lose one. My family has been very fortunate/blessed to not have had to accept death often, atleast until my dad passed away. It's so hard to see sweet Spirits leave this earth when they are still young. My dad wasn't really young, but he was far from old and although it's hard for anyone to let a parent go, I had an extremely hard time. But, I could never blame God...he's the reason why we get to experience life at all, the good times and the occasional bad times. As much as I hate to feel hurt, especially from a death, I hate to watch my friends hurt even more. I wish I could take away their pain and make it all better. Luckily, that is what Christ is for. He has felt every hurt, ache, pain, etc. that we experience. He can understand everything, and can help give us comfort.

Just from pictures I could feel Kimball's sweet little Spirit. He has touched my heart and my life. In remembrance of him and all the other people/children who pass away after a short time on earth, I will try harder to make each day a wonderful day, and enjoy each of my children and my husband. I'll try to take more pictures of my babies, and spend less time on the computer. I'll try to reach out more not just to the people I know, but especially to the people I don't. I'll try to be a better person so that I can be with my family forever when it is time.

No sleep...but I have healthy teeth!!

2008-07-30T07:48:00.000-07:00

For the last few weeks, not only do I have my baby waking up 1 or two times during the night (which I'm perfectly okay with since that's how it is with a baby!!) but also Cayden has been waking up 2-3 times each night!!! To top it off, Shaylee woke up last night. Here is how my night went:

11 p.m. - Tyler and I go to bed
1 a.m. - Cayden wakes up
4 a.m. - Addy is talking and laughing in her crib. A feeding puts her back to sleep!!
5 a.m. - Cayden AND Shaylee wake up. Cayden wants to know if he can play in the living room with his toys. I say no so they get drinks of water and go back to bed
7 a.m. - Tyler gives me a kiss goodbye before he heads to work
7:30 a.m. - The kids wake up

I used to be dead to the world when I slept, but since I have a baby right now...I wake up to the tiniest noises. Our bedroom door stays open at night since it can get hot in there otherwise...but our door is about 4-5 feet away from Cayden's...and the second he starts opening his door in the middle of the night, I'm awake. AHHHHHH!! I feel like it's been forever (atleast 3 weeks!!) since I got much nighttime sleep at all!! It would be helpful if it wasn't so dang hard for me to fall back asleep everytime I get woken up, but it takes about a good half hour each time!!! Luckily Shaylee is a huge help with Addy and usually comes and steals her in the morning, puts her in her bouncy seat, and let's her hang out with her while she and Cayden play!! Sometimes it gives me a whole extra hour of peace to sleep so that I can function that day!! By the time I get up, Shaylee is usually tired of playing Addy's mommy...but it'll probably be a long time before she really understands how helpful she is!!!

OHHHH, and about the teeth...Tyler and I finally have dental insurance through his work and we're able to go to the dentist yesterday for the first time in years. THANK YOU MOM FOR GETTING MY TEETH SEALED WHEN I WAS YOUNGER!!! The Dentist said that my mouth looked great because luckily the sealants hadn't worn off. No cavities for me!! I do still have my crossbite (big suprise) and need to have my wisdom teeth pulled. I was really nervous about a problem with my teeth though and thought for sure I'd have to have a root canal...but it turns out I just have sensitive teeth from all the whitening products I've used! I have to alternate my whitening toothpaste with the regular kind. I can handle that!!!! Now Tyler on the other hand....5 cavities. He knew he had some. He also needs a bridge to put in a gap in his back teeth since he had a bad tooth a couple years ago that we didn't have the money to fix so he just had them pull it out. Anyway, all in all it was a very successful trip, and Tyler's insurance is great so atleast getting his cavities fixed isn't going to cost an arm and a leg!! (just an arm, haha!)

Addy Jumping

2008-07-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

Okay so the video is sideways. I tried to save it right-side up. I've had a heck of a time getting videos to load on here at all so feel lucky I got this one up!! I'm still trying to get it to load one of Addy rolling over. She is now doing about 4 rolls in a row across the room...maybe someday I'll get that on tape, too! It's fun to see her in her jumper now because she just barely figured out how to actuall JUMP in it, so she'll stay in it for a good 20 minutes!!

Hannah Montana

2008-07-28T16:22:00.000-07:00

Several month back I was so happy that we didn't have Disney Channel, because it meant that I was able to avoid the whole Hannah Montana madness!! A few months back my husband decided that the handful of (dirt cheap) local channels just wasn't cutting it for his Sports needs, so we had to upgrade. I have absolutely nothing against the Disney channel, I really like it most of the time, but now my daughter has gotten sucked into the craze. So....about 3 weeks before the big 3D Hannah Montana concert, we went to Walmart to see if they had any of the free 3D glasses you needed for it. They told us they'd had TONS that morning but they went quickly. So...I went on Ebay and found a set of 10 Sharkboy/Lavagirl 3D glasses and ordered them so that we'd be all set (there I also found why all the Walmarts were out of the glasses...people had hoarded them and were selling them on Ebay...why would I buy them from them when they were supposed to be free but they decided to be dishonest and take more than they needed to try to make a profit??!!!). Anyway, Tyler even missed a big fun shindig that was happening out at the local card shop, just so that we could all watch the concert as a family. It wasn't too bad, although I was dissapointed she didn't sing that "7 Things I like about You" and Tyler was dissapointed that she didn't sing the duet with her dad. I have to say that the song about missing her Grandfather was a tearjerker, though. I love that my husband is a bigger ball-baby than me as we get older...it makes me look like less silly!! Of course I didn't know that song had made him cry til it was time to take off the 3D glasses! Oh and something weird...after I took of the glasses, I was seeing things in color for like the next 20 minutes!! (The red and blue from the glasses...only I saw the colors in each OPPOSITE eye!! If that made any sense!?) So far Miley Cyrus seems to be okay. Let's hope she keeps sticking to decent morals...that would be a change from all these other young popstars and actresses!!

New Callings

2008-07-24T15:21:00.000-07:00

After being in the Primary (at church) for 4 years straight...I finally get to go to Relief Society, and Sunday School with my husband!!! I served as the Secretary, the 2nd Counselor, the Sunbeams teacher, AND the 5-year old class during those 4 years, and I did enjoy it. I will miss my 5-year olds, but I LOVE finally getting to go to sunday school with the hubby and meeting more of the women in the ward with this new calling. Well here it is ...Compassionate Service Leader. Ya, laugh it up. Not that it's not an important calling, because it's actually an incredibly important calling, its just not one most people would really want since it involves calling people up and asking them to serve by taking a meal to a family, etc. Luckily I've already sent around sign-ups for people willing to bring meals in the future...so I've got a starting point. With a young baby it's nice to not have to worry about preparing a lesson or anything for Sunday and I can just focus on my family.
I don't think I posted that Tyler got his first calling awhile back. He is the Elders Quorum Secretary! It's helping him get to know the other men there and he really enjoys helping plan some of the activities. He has already put together a basketball missionary project! Tyler already takes a few of his friends from work to play basketball with the missionaries & other members on Thursday nights...so he got the idea to have a big Saturday basketball tournament. There has to be some members & nonmembers on each team so they can all get to know eachother. Then after all the fun and games they'll have a meal provided and have some little tables set up with some lds info on them in case they want to take something home. I think it'll turn out really great!!

Summer Rut

2008-07-21T13:53:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else seem to find themselves doing the same thing day in and day out during the summer? I guess this applies mainly to people who have kids in school during the school year...but maybe not? For some reason, the summer days last SOOO long...I guess because my oldest daughter gets bored easily. She NEEDS school and it'll be nice when it starts up again. For some reason, the less kids I have at home, the more energy and drive I have to tackle big projects like organizing closets, condensing things in the house, etc. That's mainly because I have less children to distract me...but I don't think that's the only reason? I don't know. I just feel like I've fallen into this summer rut where every day is pretty much the same. I guess I just need to get my lazy body out and take the kids to some new places. Sadly we still haven't been to the local Nature Center, or the public pool (we go to Grandma & Grandpa Caudle's to swim). It's also been a long time since we went to Mr. Gatti's (basically a Chuck E Cheese), and we still need to check out the Zoo in a town about an hour away. Cayden has never been to the Zoo!!! I guess the main problem is that it gets so hot AND humid here, that if you really want to go anywhere...especially with a baby...you have to head out by about 8 a.m. so that you have atleast a couple hours before it gets yucky. I've gotten a lot more used to the weather here over the years...but I guess at the moment I'm just really wishing it was Fall already.

It's ALL About the Competition!!

2008-07-16T15:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's not big news that us McConkies have a bit of competitiveness in our blood, but last night I realized I have a little more than I thought...atleast when it comes to competing with my husband!! Tyler had mentioned yesterday that the All star game would be starting after he got home from work. I'm not sure exactly why...but watching sports on tv isn't that exciting for me. I'd rather either be AT the game, or playing the game myself! I mean, I LOVE opening and collecting baseball cards. I have a great Mariners collection. My favorite card being a dual Griffey/Griffey signature card of Ken Griffey Jr and his dad! I also have some jersey patch cards. But I decided I'd really like to get into it more with Tyler because he really likes it when I'm next to him during a game, even if I'm just crocheting. I told him that since he knows a lot more about each team...if he'd let me pick which team I was going to root for, and if he would root for the opposing team, that maybe it'd help me pay more attention. We could also pick a reward for the winner. The prize was a neck & shoulder massage. Well I picked the American League. In my opinion most of the game was pretty slow. The score was 0-0 til like the 5th inning!?! Anyway, I actually got so into it that I made Tyler stay up for a few of the extra innings...but by about midnight we needed to go to bed because we both had to be up pretty early (him earlier than me!). Well lo and behold, the American League won, so guess who gets a massage tonight?? Woot Woot!! Anyway...through that one little game and a teensy bit of competition, I learned more about myself, and found yet another way to be a fun wife/best friend. What are best friends for anyway, right?! :-)

The Ugly Bug Ball

2008-07-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

"Once a lonely caterpillar sat and cried

To a sympathetic beetle by his side

I've got nobody to hug

I'm such an ug-i-ly bug

Then a spider and a dragonfly replied

If you're serious and want to win a bride

Come along with us, to the glorious annual ugly bug ball

Come on let's crawl (gotta crawl gotta crawl)

To the ugly bug ball (to the ball to the ball)

And a happy time we'll have there, one and all and the ugly bug ball"

I know that atleast my family members remember the movie "Summer Magic" with Hayley Mills in it. This song is from that movie and I love it!! I really need to try to get ahold of that old movie! Anyway...Tyler found this really funky looking caterpillar in our carport the other day. Doesn't it look like it's wrapped in leaves?? Texas has some crazy/psycho/cool looking bugs! I haven't had time to try to find out what the name of this caterpillar is but if you find out, let me know!!

Recent Pictures

2008-07-10T12:48:00.001-07:00

Remember that dress I had crocheted and put in an earlier post? Well Addisyn FINALLY fits in it. The neck was still big but the rest of it seemed to fit her well. She was looking pretty fancy this last Sunday for church. Funny how babies seem to be the best dressed people in families huh?! But who can help it...they are just too much fun to dress up. Babies bring out the little girl in all of us and sometimes we just want to really dress up our doll!! Oh, unfortunately the bonnet is still way to big...she has a medium to small head. Her outfit probably would have been a bit "much" anyway with it.

Also, lately Addy has been acting like she's teething. We can't find any definite teeth coming in, but she's felt warm for a few days now, she's been cranky, falling asleep a lot easier at random times from exhaustion, is drooling like CRAZY, and is chewing on things. She has discovered her thumbs! My husband and I are very much anti thumb-sucking so we try to give her teethers. Luckily though she doesn't seem to be sucking on it, closer to chomping! I guess that's not a good thing either, but I'm sure it'll be short lived. Occasionally I can't help but look at her with her thumb in her mouth and think it's cute! Of course then I remember the deformed thumbs I've seen on people that were thumb-suckers when they were young...and remember stories of people having to always have braces when they are older...and I zap back into reality and pull her thumb out of her mouth!!

Addy looks like she's checking out those pretzels.

And YAYYYY, the other jumper arrived!!! Weeks ago I bought one on ebay that didn't have the tray, and it was definitely not right for Addy. She is tall but her chin barely went over the top of that thing. If you buy a jumper, definitely invest in the kind with the tray. They are pricey (this was cheaper since it was a gently used one from Ebay) but hey, they store easily for your next baby!!! Of course only buy one if you have a convenient door FRAME (with TRIM) to hang it from!!

The 4th & 8th of July

2008-07-09T11:40:00.000-07:00

*Wow, over the last 3 weeks I've thought of lots of different things I could write blogs about...but since I was so frustrated with messing up my layout...I avoided my blog. Well now I'm back and I managed to spend some time fixing it...so hopefully you'll see new posts more often!!!

4TH OF JULY

First I better touch on the 4th of July. It was a lot of fun! Tyler's mom came over and we fired up the BBQ, busted out the bags of chips, oh and I made a pretty fruit salad like my mom had made in the past! I had also bought a fondue set so we did a chocolate fondue. (I bought the set for $15 at a Thrift store when it's normally like $60...it's a very pretty stainless steel set and it looked like only the forks in the set had been used...but what I wanted was an ELECTRIC fondue set but I didn't even think about it when I bought it...I didn't realize they even made a kind where you use a candle instead of plugging it in...my parents had electric ones!!) Shaylee was kind of scared of the fireworks, but Cayden was having a blast having daddy light them, then he'd throw them onto the street! Addisyn was pretty indifferent, especially after I put tissue in her ears so that it wouldn't be too noisy. Unfortunately...there was ONE casualty this 4th of July. I was backing up my car so that we could light fireworks in the driveway...when the car had some resistance...and I heard a quiet but weird noise. Tyler had told me earlier but I'd forgotten....the stroller was behind the car!!! What...you thought I wouldn't have made sure all my of children were in FRONT of the car before I drove? Trust me...I'm always very aware of where my kids are...but hello...why was the stroller behind my car??? Eh, luckily we have another one...this one already had problems from years of use from Cayden. I bent the front wheel pole so unfortunately it'll have to go to the trash instead of going to a garage sale or something! Earlier that day at the grocery store, the kids begged for giant lollipops. My first thought was "what a huge waste of money...I remember when my parents bought us some of those and we barely ate them..." Then I had to stop. It was one of those "aha" moments that my parents probably would have been proud of me for...because I then realized why my parents had probably bought us huge lollipops and giant jawbreaker candies. I know they bought the giant jawbreakers on the way to Utah so that we'd be quiet the whole ride while making our tongues raw from licking those giant things...but it was also about the memories. I remember how we had races to eat them....but after a whole 10 hour car drive to Utah...we were lucky to have survived licking the outer shell away!!! So...I let my kids get the lollipops. Hopefully they will have good memories from it, just as I did. So really...the lollipops weren't a waste of money afterall. All in all, the 4th was a fun day.

The casualty

My fruit salad that was inspired/copied from my mom!

Self explanatory!!

It looks like Cayden got his lollipop stuck to his hair, haha!

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8TH OF JULY

Now, yesterday would have been my dad's 60th birthday. Yesterday I thought about how we use to tease him and my mom about how by the time their youngest daughter Nicole is in high school, and as she got to be treated to dinner at a nice restaurant for getting good grades...that mom and dad would be able to get the senior discount!! That still makes me laugh. I can't help but get sad, though, when I think about all the things he and my mom were looking forward to doing together as they got older. The other day I finally got some pictures put in a cute country frame I'd bought like a year ago. I put a picture of my dad in his combine, a pic of him on the LDS trek from years ago...and also a picture of Nicole when she was little, sitting in the Pioneer cart my dad had built for the trek. My dining room is country so it looks great there...and is also near our computer desk so I always glance at it now while on the computer (hey, it's a BIG dining room). I've said it before, but I'm so just glad for the Gospel and the knowledge that we have that my family will see Dad again. I'm not afraid to admit that sometimes I talk out loud to my dad...and I smile as I think of him thinking "Michelle, don't worry about me...I'm in a better place than all of you guys right now...I'll see you soon enough!!"

My dad...born on July 8th.

I found this pic of my dad...I'd never noticed how Nicole looks JUST like him in this pic!!!

And this post would not be complete without a picture of my Mom & Dad together. She is who she is because of him, and he is who he is because of her. They brought out the best in eachother. And together, they've helped bring out the best in all of us kids! I love you!!!

Family Fun Day

2008-06-14T14:22:00.001-07:00

Today was "Family Fun Day" at the YMCA....so this morning we packed up waters and snacks and headed over. The kids got grab bags that had Shannon Hospital water bottles, necklaces to hook water bottles to, a bracelet, and other little random stuff. They got to do lots of outdoor activities, and after that, they got to go spin a big wheel which would tell them what prize they won. Shaylee won a yoga mat but wasn't too excited about it...so she was able to pick a Baton instead, and Cayden won a Ninja Turtles kite. He didn't really know who the Ninja Turtles were until about a year ago when his cousins Conner & Colton gave him a bunch of their toys, including 3 of the Turtles. The lady who gave him the kite didn't know what they were called...so Cayden explained who they were to her. It was very cute!

This guy wanted Cayden to practice before the race since he was the youngest kid there and was afraid he wouldn't know how to do it. Cayden TOOK OFF in that sack and we were all calling after him and he would turn around and look at us, and then KEEP GOING!!! He was INCREDIBLY fast (faster than all the older kids there!) and he did NOT want to stop. Everybody thought he was SOOO cute. Shaylee ended up winning the race since Cayden never turned around...but if he HAD...HE would have won!!! This kid is more athletic than we thought!!!

Here is a pic of Shaylee winning the race. As you can see...she didn't have much competition...they were all way behind her!

Bear Hugs. Cayden asked if he could go back and hug the Bear and the Drop of Blood (yes, a Drop of blood mascot) again because they were so soft!!

This guy was teaching Cayden how to get low before throwing the football. He was REALLY funny so Cayden couldn't stop laughing! The guy (through his own laughter) kept telling Cayden to stop laughing...EVERYONE around was laughing!

The Perfect Throw

I think Cayden had to go to the bathroom in this one! Shaylee was jump roping and boy was she fast!

Water Sports...those guys got SOAKED! Addy and I kept a safe distance!!

Talks!!!

2008-06-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

Today Tyler and gave talks in church. The topic was "Finding Strength through Spiritual Experiences". At first we thought that may be a difficult topic...I have no idea why...because our talks came together fairly easily. We were able to share SO many of our own experiences in our talks that we both really had a lot of fun and felt the Spirit very strongly. It was Tyler's very first adult talk! Almost every single member of the ward shook our hand and told us they enjoyed our talks. There were many tears and lots of laughs. Then throughout the rest of church, our talks were mentioned in the other classes we went to. We're not trying to "toot our own horn"...but it just felt wonderful to have been given the inspiration we needed to put things in our talk that affected so many members in our ward. It's always great to share experiences and realize how many other people can relate to you. It was a wonderful Sunday all around. It was especially nice that Tyler's parents were able to watch the kids for us during Sacrament so we were able to "relax" up in the hot seats!!

I also was able to finish a dress I've been crocheting...so Addy was able to wear it to church today, along with some booties I'd made for her awhile back but didn't really fit until now. I wish I'd had a slip for her to wear under the dress. I didn't realize slips are so hard to find for babies!! Eh, oh well. She looked cute anyway!!!

The Front

The Back

The Dress is actually red...the first two pictures make it look very pink!!

The dress is also a bit scrunched because of how she's sitting, so it looks very short. Since it was JUST the right size on her...I think next time I'll make it a touch bigger and a few inches longer...she grows so fast!!

This is EXACTLY why I shouldn't go trying to change my template!!!

2008-06-07T14:26:00.001-07:00

My blog is a little frustrating for me right now so I've kind of been avoiding it over the last week!!! When I switched templates...I lost the links to everyone's blogs!! I can still go fishing all over for them....but if you want to make my life a little easier, write a comment on my page so I'll have your blog address!!! Thank you!!! Here are several fun pics I've taken over the last week!

Addy looks a LOT like I did when I was a baby...in this pic atleast! (AND based on the baby pics I have of myself!!)

She held onto that phone for a long time!

Swimming at Grandma & Grandpa Caudle's apartment pool!!! Sorry no picture of me in a bathing suit!!! Although I just got a really cute new one so you never know, you might get lucky! (Hm, hope that didn't sound bad, haha)

Before church....she is ALWAYS smiling. Sometimes I want to take a nap and she just laughs like "ya right mom, you get NO sleep!!"

So I bought her this Johnny Jump-up on Ebay...but she's still a little young for it so her chin just hits over the top...I think I want to get her the kind with a tray...luckily I paid very little for this one!!!
This was so funny...she grabbed onto the end of that bottle and held it for like 10 minutes...we all thought it was pretty cute. I had to explain to the kids that she can't start holding her own bottle all the time yet :-)

2008-05-31T18:30:00.001-07:00

***MY BLOG IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION SO PLEASE BE PATIENT!!!***

2008-05-30T16:22:00.001-07:00

My mind is running a little blank right now...but I promised some people I'd post some pics by tonight so I'll also try to think of things to write about too!! Well today was the last day of school. It was a very emotional day for Shaylee as she said goodbye to all her friends. There's also a very SLIGHT possiblity we might get into a bigger rental house in the next couple of day so she was really emotional about having to move to a new school next year, as well as have to change wards again. They only have 2 wards here, and we've been in each ward twice!! Yes we have moved around a lot in this city/town! Cayden finished Joy School last week. Right this minute, Shaylee and Cayden are playing with the baby monitor, making scary/weird noises through it!! Addisyn is in her bouncy seat next to me...but doesn't look like she's going to stay happily occupied for too much longer!! She is still very bald...poor baby girl! She is also a pretty big, heavy girl! She is in the 93 percentile for her size!! I have been making Addy another dress, well actually I'm working on two right now. One is made out of a thicker thread and it is red, and the other dress has a crocheted top (which I've already made), and I have to sew the skirt part, then connect the two pieces. I saw that the Gap sells these type of dresses, and then I ran across a pattern for it on the internet...so cute. I'll post pics when I'm done with them. Well here are some recent pics of our family!! The first three pics would have been a little easier to take if I had a tripod...I'll invest in one eventually!

Here are the sisters just hanging out!

Addisyn LOVES to laugh and smile for you if you give her your attention!

Our Joy School Group (all of us moms took turns teaching)...this is "Graduation"! You can go to http://www.valuesparenting.com/ if you are interested in trying out their curriculum! Yes I know I look like a proud cheezy doofus...I was making that face because everyone was trying to take pics and Cayden kept dropping his hat...on purpose!!

Since Addy's not growing enough of her own hair fast enough...we decided to help her out!! (Shaylee got this at the dollar store and wore it to school one day in her ponytail!)

My little Superhero

Addy must have a lot on her mind by the way she's staring off into space

EBATES

2008-05-16T15:08:00.000-07:00

Hello my family & friends!! So...a few years ago I signed up on Ebates.com and never really used it because I kind of forgot about it. Well I do the occasional online shopping so I started going through my ebates account. Ebates.com has pretty much every store that you normally would shop at online. Just find the link to the store, click on it, and a percentage of your total purchase will automatically be recorded on your Ebates account. Quarterly you will get a check...or it can be automatically sent to your paypal account if you have one for that amount (there is a minimum amount though, it's like $10 I think, before they can send the check out)! Anyway, yesterday I got my "Big Fat Check" (that's what they call it) for $13.79 sent to my paypal account! Ya it's a small amount...but it's nice to get a little money back right? That's as good as using a coupon! (And yes you can go through ebates and still use any coupon codes you have for the stores)

The point of me bringing this up...is that now through June 30th you will get $10 just for signing up on your account (I only got $5 back when I signed up). You also get $10 for every person you refer. If you refer 2 people though, you get $20 on your account PLUS a $10 Target Gift Card!! Now I only get the referal bonus after you actually make a PURCHASE...but if any of you do online shopping, this is nice to use and it will benefit you AND me :-)

Go to this link for the bonus $10. By the way, Ebates doesn't cost you anything and you don't get spam from it or anything...it's just a website/program made to save you money!

http://www.ebates.com/referral/0508bonusosu.htm?referrerid=OPbD%2Fxp%2BlvGUfW3wXJviYA%3D%3D

And PLEASE put me as the person who referred you!!
MICHELLE CAUDLE
BINGOBLUE@HOTMAIL.COM

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In other news...I've been teaching Shaylee to play the piano since I finally got a piano...AND the Alfred books I wanted to teach her out of. Well while teaching Shaylee, it's inspired Tyler to teach himself!! He's like Shaylee, SLIGHTLY impatient & A BIT stubborn...so he asks me for occasional help, but he's actually doing a really good job on his own!!! He's been teaching himself how to play "Called to Serve" in the Simplified Hymn book. Just a minute ago while practicing, he made the comment "I don't have a 7th finger!! This is CRAP!" HAHAHAHA...he keeps making funny comments like that to himself. Just now he said "Someday I'm going to BLAST through this song...no-handed even...I'll play it with my NOSE!!" Too funny. I love my husband. There's not a day that goes by that he doesn't make me laugh...HARD!!!

Addisyn had to have 3 shots in the leg today...and also an oral vaccine...so she has been extremely fussy (her cry really sounds like she is in pain...I just gave her baby tylenol a little while ago) this evening so I better end this post. Have a great night!

Addy's Blessing

2008-05-09T20:31:00.001-07:00

I COMPLETELY forgot that I didn't tell ANYONE that Addisyn was blessed last Sunday (May 4), until I pulled up the pictures!?! I haven't taken any really good shots of her in the blessing dress (the one I wore when I was blessed!) in the beautiful blanket my mom made for her...I better do that soon because she BARELY fit into the blessing dress!!! She was beautiful in it though...and everyone at church made sure I knew it! I was so happy my mom saved my dress and that Addisyn fit in it! I also need to seal it in a bag in hopes that it will be in good condition for her to use for her baby someday if she wants. This was Tyler's first time getting to bless one of his babies, so he was very nervous but he did a great job. His dad was in the circle, along with our home teacher, the bishopric, and a couple other men in the ward. I have to say that the best thing about blessing your baby on fast Sunday, is that then you can share your testimony, which is what I did. Several people mentioned in their testimonies how extra wonderful and Spiritual it is on Sundays when a baby is blessed. I felt that myself, but I guess I didn't really realize how wonderful it was to other people to get to witness my baby being blessed. I was very happy to share that day with our ward family!! Tyler's mom was there also, along with his sister Stacey. It's hard being SOOOO far away from the rest of our family...especially because Tyler's family and my family produce the CUTEST nieces and nephews and we don't get to be a part of their lives nearly enough. :-( Here are some of the photos we took to remember Addy's big day:

All I can say about this picture is What a BEAUTIFUL Sight!!!

The kids helping out with Addy before church

The kids with their Grandma Caudle. Don't ask what Shaylee is wearing...I had to break it to her that the outfit didn't match & that she needed to change! (This was AFTER church)

Tyler, Addy, and her Grandpa Caudle. Unfortunately we forgot to get pics at the church before they left, but atleast we got some at the house before I got Addy out of her dress.

Was this the biggest mistake I ever made!!

2008-05-07T16:03:00.001-07:00

The kids love playing the piano...a little too much...and they fight over it. Isn't it funny how a child doesn't want something until the other kid has it? Then it's fight to the death. I obviously need to stock up on Advil now because I'm getting a headache. It doesn't help that we have a small house right now so you can't ESCAPE!! AHHH!! Shaylee is already practicing what I've taught her (we worked on sitting up straight, how to hold your hands (like there is a ball in them) and fingering to play cords, oh and what names of the keys are. Anyway, I'm still glad I got the piano...but sheesh!! :-)

A Spa Treatment and a Piano

2008-05-07T13:23:00.000-07:00

So last year for Mother's Day, Tyler bought me a gift card for a 50 minute, full body massage at a fancy Spa here. I had never been to a spa before, and truthfully the thought of going to one really intimidated me....so it didn't get used til yesterday...a whole year later (I HAD to use it this week or it was going to expire). The gift card was transferrable, so I opted for the 50 minute facial instead, that was to include the facial, and a neck, shoulder, and arm massage. I will come out of the closet and say that I am a Homophobe. What does that have to do with anything?? Well that's why I transferred the services to a facial, rather than do the full body massage. That may sound funny to some people, but that's just the way it is. Maybe someday I won't be so paranoid and will try out the body massage!

Anyway, so yesterday my heart was racing as I left my kids with their Grandma Caudle, and headed over to the spa. When I walked in, it was pretty much what I expected...it smelled of many different "soothing" smells and was filled with upscale women in their 40's and 50's who wore just a little too much makeup. One woman stared at my flip flops while I walked in. "Dang it, why couldn't I have worn my nicer sandals??" I was thinking as she stared. (My husband thought the same thing about himself one evening when we went to the Olive Garden for dinner and he thought someone was staring at his flip flops...wow we sound like paranoid people, haha!) After the lady at the counter got my name, she took me downstairs to wait. This large hallway-type of area was painted with a dark chocolate brown, and the doors and entryways were a dark silver color. There was some weird music playing that was supposed to be more relaxing, but really it just made me more nervous. Honestly at that moment I wouldn't have minded leaving. I felt like I was in a fancy haunted house and that any minute someone was going to fly at me with a knife. I know this all sounds SOOOO crazy, it does to me too while I write it!! Finally I met the woman who was going to be doing my facial. She left while I put on my little button on towel and layed on this bed that had LOTS of padding and had beautiful dark, silky blankets that I was to get under. She came in and told me what she would be doing since it was my very first facial. I closed my eyes and tried to relax. All the different creams, gels, and masks that she would put on my face and then wipe off, smelled SO good. She mentioned she'd do some extractions since my skin isn't great, but I had no idea what that meant. I had my eyes closed when all of a sudden it felt like she was shoving a giant needle deep into my skin!! She did it in several spots where I had some small blemishes. It took everything I had not to cry!! (TMI I know, too bad) Also the music...still on the creepy side. After massaging my arms with a gel (and my neck and shoulders) she wrapped them in what felt like a gauze material (I had a hardening mask on at this point, with round things over my eyes (no I don't think they were cucumbers) and then a hot washcloth on top of those so I couldn't see exactly what material it was!) and then she put my wrapped arms in some long rubber-type of gloves that were heated. Before she left the room, she turned the bed on...it vibrated up and down my back for about 20 more minutes. By the time she came in and my 50 minutes had flown by, I was glad I had gone in that day. Even though it took me the whole 50 minutes to really feel comfortable there, I would definitely go again! My face felt so clean that I didn't want to put on makeup. The experience really made me wish I was rich and could afford that treatment monthly!!!

So that was my first spa experience. Now about the piano...

I'm a member of freecycle.org. On that website you can get emails of what people in your town are trying to give away for free, and you can also post things you would like to give away. I've given away many clothes, old books and picture frames, etc on that website. There is rarely anything that someone is offering that I'm dying to have, but the other day someone listed "an old oak piano that just needs tuning". HOLY COW!! I emailed the person back and by the next day I was at the woman's house with my hubby, someone's big truck, and 3 other guys to lift it!! (One of the guys was Tyler's boss, and the other two were his coworkers...all of which were on the clock except Tyler since it was his day off!!) It is a cute, shorter paino, and EXTREMELY heavy. Even with 4 guys they could barely lift it (it is oak afterall!!) and one of the guys was hurting a little afterwards, I felt so bad but hopefully Tyler will find out if he's okay today!! It is now sitting in my large dining room area. It has one missing wheel, the wood is chipped and scratched in places, and some of the keys are a little chipped on the ends. There is also one key that sticks, and another that the sound carries even after you let go of the key. It is also missing a knob on the cover...and the cover is incredibly hard to shut so it's better just to leave it open and let the kitty play on it at night!!?! (Actually she only played it a few times last night before I fell asleep) Despite the imperfections of the piano....IT WAS FREE and the sound the piano gives off is so deep and loud! I've been walking on air since before we even went and picked it up! I'm so excited to be able to practice again...even though I never liked to when I was younger! I'm glad that my mom made us girls take piano lessons though. I'm excited (and Shaylee's even more excited) to teach Shaylee to play the piano now. She's the age I was when I started...7. Right now I'm trying to bid on some Alfred piano books on Ebay which are the kind I was taught from.

Tyler is happy because I'm happy (about the piano) and I'M happy that I'm happy, so yes life is still good, haha!

Life is Good

2008-04-26T14:48:00.000-07:00

This was taken last night on "Orange Julius Night" which we do every Friday. Shaylee was spending the night at Grandma & Grandpa Caudle's. Cayden was there too but it's really hard for him to miss out on Orange Julius and the shows we watch while we drink them, so we went back and picked him up!

Addy is wearing a beatiful hairbow Grandpa McConkie sent.

Her Grandma McConkie sent this GORGEOUS dress (Thank you Aunt Stacy for helping pick out the color!!), and last night she was in a very cute mood so I thought it'd be a good time to try to take a picture of her wearing it...well after a few minutes she was done with her good mood so this is the only halfway decent shot I got. I'll try again tomorrow!! She's also wearing some booties I crocheted...the angle I took the picture at makes her feet look huge though!!

When Addy Mae started getting cranky, I asked Tyler if he'd get under my backdrop and kind of bounce her right before I took the picture!! He was very accomadating, but unfortunately wasn't in the photo mood so he hid his face in the sheet! Thanks hubby for being helpful anyway!

Chunky Monkey!

2008-04-17T14:20:00.000-07:00

Tyler and I have noticed that Addy's cheeks are getting a little chub, as well as her arms...but I didn't expect what I heard at her doctor appointment today!! For being 4 and a half weeks old, she is now a whopping 10 lbs! In the last two weeks she gained 2 lbs, and also grew 2 INCHES!!WOW! So throughout the day I call her my "Chunky Monkey". I hope she doesn't get a complex, haha! Today my father-in-law took the older kids for a few hours...so I was able to get a MUCH needed nap with Addy. I've been going to bed late...and trying to clean my house while she's sleeping, instead of taking a nap with her, so I've been so exhausted I've had a good headache every day lately!!! But now I'm all rested :-)

Last week our family had pictures taken! We had them done in the old fashioned outfits and I think the photographer did a wonderful job, but I guess we'll find out in a couple weeks when we see the pictures!

Two days ago I "won" a new Saturday's Warrior DVD on Ebay! For those of you that don't know what movie that is (*GASP*), it is an OLD, CHEESY but hillarious musical/movie about an LDS family. Even after YEARS of not seeing it, I still remember most of the words to every song on it! I'm going crazy waiting for it! I LOVED watching it with my family when I was younger and can't wait for my husband and kids to see it for the first time!

Well nothing else too terribly exciting has been happening down here in our little "corner" of the world, so I guess I better do some quick straightening up of the house while Addisyn still looks content! Never mind, she's not content anymore! I'm really regretting buying a bouncy chair for her...she sits in it for about 1 minute and is cranky. I should have bought her a swing chair...Cayden had one of those and he loved it. Eh, live and learn. Have a great evening!

Doing well!!

2008-04-16T16:48:00.000-07:00

Things have been going well! Addisyn is starting to get more and more personality! She has started smiling sometimes when she's awake now, and makes some funny laughing sounds!! Late evenings aren't usually very fun...for about 4 hours every evening she is terribly gassy and fussy. She does pretty well at night though, usually only waking up twice to be fed and changed. Everything else in life is going pretty good too...we're hoping to get Shaylee started up with tennis in a few weeks through a program. She also recently got her ears pierced. Her daddy had been trying to talk her into it for about a year now but she was too scared. One day, without Tyler even asking her, she decided she wanted them pierced. Cayden is really enjoying Joy School. He is much more outgoing now...and makes his teachers call him "Spiderman", "Batman", or "Superman", depending on who he wants to be that day. One day I was scolding him and he said "Mommy I'm not CAYDEN, I'm SPIDERMAN". To that I said "When you are in trouble, your name is CAYDEN!!". It was funny. Well here are more pictures!

Addy is in her pretty pink princess robe that one of Tyler's coworkers gave us!

That robe is just too cute!

Sleepy baby.

Cranky baby. She's probably thinking "Enough pictures mom!!" The blanket she is laying on is a gorgeous blessing blanket her Grandma McConkie hand embroidered even though she has arthritis in her hands and also had carpal tunnel surgery in the recent past, thank you Mom, you're awesome!!!

This is the position Tyler puts her in to help her get out the gassiness (is that a word?? haha)

Shaylee lost another tooth recently so she is showing it off!

Addy is wearing an adorable dress/outfit Grandma McConkie sent us back when CAYDEN was born!! (He was "supposed" to be a girl!)

The headband she is wearing is one I quickly crocheted before church and wove a ribbon through it and tied a bow...she couldn't go to church without a matching hair-thing to wear with the dress could she?!!

PICTURES

2008-04-07T15:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures (Thanks to my little sis Stacy for pushing me to post more!!!) ...sorry I haven't had much time to actually WRITE things in my blog, but Addy keeps me busy. She has been sleeping a lot less lately, and wants held whether she's awake or asleep...and I'm not crazy about typing with one hand!

She's actively participating in the Easter egg hunt!!!

More Recent Pictures

2008-04-07T13:39:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of me on April 3rd, my birthday (the big 2-6!!) , holding Addy. Cayden and Shaylee also helped me blow out my candles...you can't see Shaylee in this pic though.

Tyler is holding Addy before her first week of church. We have church in the afternoon so we don't get Sunday naps anymore :-( I love this picture.

Addy is snuggling Daddy in the morning. As long as she is face to face with one of us in the middle of the night, she sleeps very well!!!

Addy still doesn't fully enjoy her vibrating bouncy chair...hopefully she does eventually.

Cayden and Shaylee are really good helpers with their little sister.

More Photos of Addisyn

2008-03-19T16:11:00.000-07:00

Here are more photos of our baby girl. I have to tell you that the black sheet I use as the background in some of the photos (it was like $3.88 at Walmart for a queen-size I think) is one of the best investments I ever made! Who needs a professional photographer?! I have to give some of the credit to my 12 megapixel camera though :-)
Addisyn is a big eater (just like the rest of her family!!) and isn't happy sleeping by herself for very long...she always wants to be snuggled in someone's arms whether it is day or night!

I LOVE pictures of newborns with their eyes wide open!

Awww, so precious.

I think she looks a lot like Cayden when he was a baby in this picture.

This is one of the very few outfits at the moment that fits her somewhat...

Her back arm is showing off her contortionist abilities!

This was SOOO funny...when Shaylee was holding Addy last night, her feet popped up and her toes spread out and she kept them like that for several minutes...we were all laughing so hard! Occasionally her Grandma McConkie has toe spasms (sorry for making that public mom!) and I wonder if Addy has inherited that from her, haha!!

Another cute picture of the ones I love most!

Please Welcome to the Family: Addisyn Mae Caudle!!

2008-03-18T15:19:00.001-07:00

I can't believe she's finally here!! She was 2 weeks early, but arrived safe and sound at 6 lbs 11 oz, and 19 1/2 inches long!!!
So here's the whole story:
Around midnight on Saturday night, my water broke as we were getting ready for bed. Those of you who've had your water break, you know that sometimes it's a lot, sometimes it's a slow process. This time for me, it was a slow process, so we decided to still try to get a few hours of sleep. By 4 a.m. and losing more of my water, I decided to start getting ready to go to the hospital. I was so excited (and nervous) that I couldn't sleep anyway. By 6 a.m. we were able to get Tyler's dad over to watch the kids, and we got to the hospital. For a few hours I still wasn't having very big or consistent contractions so they induced me. After a few more hours, I slowly started dialating, and then all of a sudden, I was ready!! After I got my epidural, I was a very happy camper, just like I was with my son....but the nurses all thought I was so funny because I was so happy and giggling the whole time (even without them giving me any of those drugs that make you loopy!!). I get on a natural high when I know my baby is coming, what can I say, I was excited!! Well the doctor hadn't arrived yet and every time I giggled the baby was trying to grace us with her patience, so the nurses told me I really needed to try not to laugh til the doctor got there!! Once the doc arrived, the baby started coming out with one giggle, and with one push she was out!!! WOW!!
Now with Cayden, after 4 hours of pushing they still had to use forcepts. This was a COMPLETELY different (BETTER) experience and I'm still amazed at how it all happened!!
I don't know if that was too much information for any of you...I figure it's mainly my girlfriends that read my blog (probably not so much their husbands) and family so they've all heard and gone through these things too so I figure it's not T.M.I. but hey, if it is, oh well, such is life!
Well after 24 hours I was able to go home with our precious little girl! Wow, that's so much better than a 3-day hospital stay like last time!! I really needed to get home to my other kids. Shaylee is great, but Cayden was pretty confused, even though he'd known I was going to have a baby.
I will write more another time, but I wanted to get the good news posted and put up a few pictures that I have at the moment, enjoy!!!!

My beautiful family...man we bring some cute kids into the world!!!

Me...looking extremely fashionable and attractive, haha

Shaylee holding her new little sister... while she thinks "FINALLY...a SISTER!!!" Her friend Sara is watching closely!
Tyler is talking to his little Addy Mae

Grandpa Caudle holding the newest grandbaby
In this last picture, I caught Cayden just a second too late...he had just given his baby sister a kiss. He's not really mad and rolling his eyes like it looks in this picture!!!

My first crocheted baby outfit!

2008-03-13T21:18:00.000-07:00

Here is my first completed crocheted baby outfit!!! I've made simple baby booties before (as well as hats, blankets, etc) but I hadn't really ever crocheted with thread, and I'd never made a bonnet or a dress before! It took me about 3 weeks to do the whole outfit but wow was it worth it. It's amazing the rush you can get from learning something new and then seeing the finished project!! Since I've been having to rest a lot the last few weeks, crocheting definitely has helped pass the time. There is another blessing outfit that I want to make next. There are craft shows here at the fairgrounds every few months so I think I'm going to try hard to get together a bunch of items to sell at a booth. The one nice thing about crocheting with thread is that it is very cheap!! It only cost about $5 in thread to make this whole outfit! The only downfall of thread is that it takes SO much time and precision!
Well anyway, I was so happy that I finished it and I'm excited to start the next dress and see how it turns out!

No News

2008-03-10T14:47:00.000-07:00

Today I had another Dr. appointment. Everything was the same as my visit on Saturday, only I'd somehow managed to shed 5 pounds. (Probably because I was staying off my feet since Thursday so my body wasn't swelling up and retaining the water as much?!) SOOOO...I just have another appointment next Monday, which will be my 38 week appointment. It's so hard to be patient! Not to mention this baby feels like it's kicks get stronger by the SECOND and that she's getting heavier by the second, too!!! Oh the joy of the last few weeks of pregnancy!! It will all be worth it soon though.

Is the Baby coming soon??

2008-03-08T07:07:00.000-08:00

On Thursday at 10 a.m. I went in for a Doctor appointment. My blood pressure was just a little bit high, I'd gained 10 lbs AGAIN over the last two weeks, I was dialated to a "2", and they found protein in my urine sample (lovely, I know you all wanted to know that). Anyway, the Doc came in and told me my body is retaining water (which I already kind of knew since lately my fingers, toes, ankles, and shins have been swelling...which never happened with my first pregnancy) and reassured me that the weight would come off during the couple days after delivery which was encouraging since I have been getting REALLY depressed everytime they weigh me...even though visually my hubby and I can't really figure out exactly where all the weight is going. So anyway...I got sent downstairs to the good old Labor & Delivery with another woman who had the same symptoms. They wanted to do some tests and monitor our blood pressures....basically monitoring for Toxemia (which is something my little sister had with her pregnancy, hers was pretty serious!). I figured I'd be there for maybe two hours. My husband arranged to have our son picked up from Joy School by my mother-in-law, and asked her to pick up Shaylee after school. I insisted I'd be done long before then because silly me assumed I'd be there for a max of maybe 2 hours! Well by about 3 p.m. I was released. The tests were coming out okay and my blood pressure was okay too. I was still put on bedrest (I call it "light" bedrest since they said I can still get up to make my family meals and get up when I need too...just to listen to my body) . Before I was able to leave the Doc came in and said "No baby today, you're still a little too healthy". I was so sick of being in that hospital bed that I was kind of glad they weren't going to take it that day, although my hubby was more than willing to let me deliver that day!!! I have to go in twice a week now, starting with a Monday appointment...and I'm hoping on that day she'll give me some options on when this baby can come. On Monday I'll have 3 weeks left until my due date which isn't too bad. The baby was also measuring a week big at one point so she might be a little further along than my due date shows.
So anyway, here's to hoping that IF the baby comes this next week, that it'll be a healthy, bouncy baby girl!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYLER!

2008-03-05T13:54:00.000-08:00

Well today is Tyler's 27th b-day! Here are some fun pics from his past for all to enjoy...sorry Tyler, haha!!

Tyler's 1st Birthday

I think he was like 14 in this picture

Tyler was preparing to make me breakfast! (This was over 2 years ago as you can see our diapered son crawling in the background!)

I couldn't help myself, it's too hillarious.

Shaylee and Daddy taking it easy!

Cayden is always happy when daddy is home!

And last but not least...a probably completely inappropriate picture that includes a hairy belly shot that no one wants to see, but hey, it's my blog, and this picture makes me laugh!! (Tyler was wearing MY shirt...this was taken about 4 years ago when we were engaged. We thought about using it as our engagement pic but decided to forgo announcements. HAHA, j/k.)

******Happy Birthday Sweetheart!!******

Melchezidek Priesthood

2008-03-01T15:29:00.000-08:00

**Well I don't have any pictures to put up for this post, sorry!! I just felt like writing about something neat that happened in our family last week. Well a couple weeks ago Tyler was interviewed to recieve the Melchezidek Priesthood. At our Stake Conference last week I was able to raise my hand when they asked for a sustaining vote. After Conference, we got to go to the High Priest room where Tyler was able to recieve that priesthood from his Dad, and many other men that he admires and respects. The feeling of being in that room during that was so amazing. Then to make it even better, he got the opportunity to turn right around and help give it to a young man that we know well, who is leaving for his mission soon! It was a very happy day. For the last several weeks though Tyler has been reading more than he has in his LIFE...because he has been doing lots of research on the lds websites for info about blessings and the formats for them, etc. The other day he told me that he's not ready for the baby to be born yet...well of course that worried me. I thought that he felt he wasn't ready for the responsibility of having 3 children, and frankly it's a LITTLE late to say "I'm not ready"...but I finally got to the root of the worry...he is completely stressed out about blessing the baby after she's born!!! He is actually really excited for the baby to be born (at this point I'm the nervous one because with 4 weeks til my due date...I can't help but think about the delivery part!!) but I couldn't help but laugh at him because he's just so stressed about doing a good job!! It's funny how some people who recieve the priesthood when they are younger sometimes use and abuse it. Tyler has worked really hard the last few years to turn his life around from where it was...and appreciates the Gospel so much now. It's incredible to see the light in his eyes and feel his Spirit.
Also a few days ago, we decided Cayden really needed a blessing (he and I have both had incredibly bad colds and coughs...his being the croop, that just don't want to go away) so we went to Tyler's dad's place and Tyler was able to give his first sickness blessing. During it, the Spirit was SOOOO strong. Tyler doesn't remember much of what he said in the blessing...which really isn't that abnormal for the person giving it. It was just an amazing experience!! Life is so amazing.

Cayden's New Glasses!!

2008-02-22T10:55:00.001-08:00

HAHAHA...just kidding. The other day we went to the dollar store and he decided to get one of the grab bags that has multiple "prizes" in it. So this was one of his prizes....soooooo funny!! And in this picture his face is very dirty because he's had a cold and it seems impossible to keep his face clean...and he is wearing his tie dye shirt which is one of his favorite pair of pajamas!!!
So almost 2 weeks ago I had one of those "bad mom" experiences. I discovered a bumpy, funny-looking rash on Cayden's thigh and it was really itching him. I put some lotion on it for him. Then the next day it looked a little worse and I put a little more lotion on it, and he also said his "tongue" hurt...which then we clarified that he meant his throat. The next day I called his doctor and got him in that day for an appointment. First the "rash" was diagnosed as Shingles (ya I had no idea that younger people got that...I think of old people getting Shingles!!) and then kind of as an afterthought, I brought up that his throat was hurting him a couple days previous....so they did a Strep test and of course it came out POSITIVE for Strep. My poor child!! I try not to be the mom that runs their children into the doctor for every little thing, but this experience made me realize that you really can't ever be TOO careful because you just never know!! If I hadn't taken him in, the Shingles would have continued to spread and hurt him...and if I had continued touching it, it would have been very bad for my pregnancy and the baby!! Well he got put on antibiotics and some other kind of medicine, for about a week. Now he just has a cold and possibly Croup!! (which are both something that a doctor can't help with)...yet he is such a happy kid that he doesn't seem to let that slow down his daily routines!! I tell ya, my two kids are so different from eachother, it's going to be REALLY interesting to see what this 3rd one is like...but I am SOOO ready to find out!!!

Tagged Again...This time for 10 photos

2008-02-13T13:58:00.000-08:00

Alright, I got tagged to post 10 of my favorite photos. Since I have WAAAAYYYY more than 10 favorites, it was really hard to pick just 10, but here you go!!

This photo is awesome. I don't remember who in my family took it...but they just happened to catch my mom looking at them, as well as my dad outside bbq'ing!! I have SOOO many cute pictures of my parents but this one is too funny, it makes me laugh. It also reminds me of how simple and sweet life really should be...and that we should enjoy every minute of it!!

This picture makes me laugh just because Cayden snuck right in,
but he fits!!!

We had the camera on the wrong setting so this picture turned
out very fuzzy but I still like it :-)

I love this Mickey Mouse outfit!!

I only have a couple pictures of Cayden with his
Grandpa McConkie, so this one is very special.

Shaylee and Cayden have always been best buddies...
hopefully it always stays that way!!

*Well I hope you've enjoyed having a flashback with me!! I LOVE to look at old pictures, and my kids do too, so it was fun to share some with you.

**I don't know who's been tagged by this yet....but I'll tag Laura, Alisha, oh and whoever else wants to do it because it's a lot of fun!!! :-)