Day before Thanksgiving

Scott and his family drove here for Thanksgiving on Saturday. We all hung out together the day before Thanksgiving so that we could get family pictures taken. We just went to the church to get that done. We haven't gone through them all yet, but here is one that I thought turned out pretty good for the amount of people in it.

McKenzie the Announcer!

During the day, I usually watch family feud while Matt is at work. The other day, We were all hanging out together and out of the blue, McKenzie said, "Here's your host, Jooohnnnn O'Huuuuurleyyyyy!" Matt and I thought it was so funny, we were laughing so hard! I love the little things that kids say and do.

Zoey's Blessing date

For all of our friends and family that would like to attend Zoey's blessing, it will be held on Sunday, November 23rd at 1 PM. You can contact me for directions if you'd like to attend.

Owen's new do

So today I cut Owen's hair. I always cut Matt and Owen's hair to save money, but this is the first time I actually like how it turned out. It has only taken me 6 years to perfect my hair cutting skills, but we've saved a lot of money! Oh and Please ignore the fact that Owen is flipping the camera off...

Zoey

I was just messing around and I took a few pictures of Zoey. This is the only one that turned out.

There may be some nudity...

So McKenzie was taking pictures the other day and today when I went to upload them onto the computer, there was Owen with no briefs on! I screamed and laughed at the same time. I knew that McKenzie was taking pictures, but I was doing other things so I didn't realize that he was missing his underwear! I usually don't get Owen completely dressed, because he waits until the last second to go potty. If he wears pants, he may not make it. The only thing is, he doesn't like to put them back on. I usually have to tell him several times and make sure that he does it. Otherwise he runs around naked.

Here are some of her pictures. I deleted the nudity pics. Matt and I decided before we had kids, that we wouldn't take pics of the kids naked, even if they're babies.


Here is Owen in Zoey's baby swing. He knows he's not supposed to be in there...
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This is the disappearing act.


Here's Owen!



Where did he go?


Here he is!
One thing that I like about McKenzie's pictures is that they tell a story about what is going on.

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In this picture, Owen is getting into the cabinets. I think McKenzie likes to take these pictures to get Owen in trouble...

Thank you RCWilley!

On November 11th, there was a knock at the door. I was in my room with Zoey and the kids were playing in the living room. When I went out to the living room, Owen was naked and staring out the windows naked. (He doesn't like to put his briefs back on after he uses the restroom. I have to ask him several times.) Also, I hadn't showered and I was still in my Pajamas. Plus the house was a disaster!

I opened the door and there was a lady there with a thing of flowers. I've never had someone deliver flowers to me before, so I was thinking that she knows us from church or something, so I was trying to figure out who she was. (don't worry, Matt has bought me flowers, he just doesn't use the delivery service. He delivers them.) She said, "Congratulations! on your new baby!" I said, "Thank you" but I was still trying to figure out who she was and trying to keep the door as closed as I could because of the mess. She probably thought that I was rude or something. After she left, I realized that she was just the flower delivery lady. When I looked at the card it was from RCWilley. It really made my day!

out with the old...

Now that we have been married for 6 years, our electronics and appliances are starting to crap out on us.

First, was our dryer. Luckily we got it used and for free when we were newly married. It still works, we just have to go through 2 dry cycles before the clothes dry. This started happening a few months ago.

2 weeks ago, the kids wanted to watch a VHS movie, but when I put the movie in the VCR, it was just the black and white "snow." We tried a few different movies thinking that it was just the movie, but none of them worked.

Last night, Matt and I made cookies and were getting ready to watch the 4th Indiana Jones Movie and the DVD player would just freeze before it got the menu screen. I clean the DVD, removed the dust out of the DVD player, but it would not work. We were still able to watch the movie on our laptop.

We've also have noticed that our griddle will get hot, but if it's on too long, it takes longer for pancakes to cook.

I know that these things don't last forever, but they are all breaking at the same time!! Good thing Matt works at an appliance and electronics store, so we will be able to replace them soon.

Random, but a good way to get to know us better!

Since I don't usually post a lot of pictures on my blog, I thought that it would be fun to add random pictures with a little story or description about each one.


Most of you know that my sister Angela was in a rollover accident in September. I didn't post any pictures of her after the accident because of the severity of the accident, she did not look good. So anyway, this is a picture of Angela's car. It's a 1995 Pontiac Grand Am. She had to be cut out of the car, so now it's a convertible. Angela is doing really well now. She had a couple more surgeries. Her skull is back in her head and the pins and needles that were in her hand are gone. She is planning on going back to work soon and then going back to school.


Here is Angela now. As beautiful as ever. I love you Angela!


Here is my Handsome Husband. I love you Matt!


McKenzie LOVES to have her toenails painted. I have found many pictures on our camera, taken by McKenzie, of her toes.


This is a picture of McKenzie ringing in the new year 2005-2006. It was really late and she was super tired! Matt and I love this picture. It's just so funny!


This is me and McKenzie when I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with Owen.


Here's Matt and I New Year's 2005-2006. We were hanging out at our friends Aaron and Nancy's House. We had a really good time. We miss you Aaron and Nancy!


I was so sick the day before Owen was born. We went to the hospital and found that I my white blood cells were either too low or too high, I don't remember. Because of that, the Dr decided to induce me, because usually the baby has breathing issues when this happens. Owen had to stay in the NICU for 8 days. When we finally got to take him home, he had to be on oxygen. We went to the DR every couple of days to check is saturation levels. Finally, a month after he was born, we were able to get rid of the oxygen!!


Here's Owen on his blessing day. He is a very handsome little guy! Everyone thought that he looked like a little old man.


Here's Matt and McKenzie. She loves her Daddy! I used to put her hair in pony tails, because she had a mullet when she was little. I didn't want to cut her hair, because she wouldn't have much if I did.


McKenzie on her first bike. We told her that as soon as she was potty trained, she could get a bike. So here she is testing it out. She fell down a few times, but overall, she loved riding it.


It was such a nice day out that we all were outside watching McKenzie on her new bike. Here's a picture of Matt.


McKenzie put her helmet on Owen one day. I thought that it was really cute. She is very good to her younger siblings.


This is our first family picture with Owen. We usually don't get a family picture right after we have a baby, because We want to wait until they can hold their head up on their own. We will probably get another one with Zoey in about 6 months.


Here is our most current picture.

Happy 6 year Anniversary to us!

Matt and I have made it through another year. We had some tough times with him losing his job, having to move again and making less than his previous job. Luckily, there has been many more blessings than trials. Like Matt finding a new job, finding a cheaper place to live without changing wards and Zoey joining the family. We have been blessed so much this year.

I am so grateful for Matt. He is a wonderful husband and father. I don't know what I would do without him. I love you Matt and Happy Anniversary!

Smoke Detector Test

So yesterday, Matt was being a wonderful husband and made breakfast for everyone so I could sleep in. Well, as he was making syrup it boiled over and made a big mess. It was too hot to clean it up right away, so he was waiting for the burner to cool down. As he waited, he forgot about it and started making dinner later that day. While the water was boiling, a fire started where the syrup had spilled. Matt dumped some salt on it and covered the fire with a lid. When the fire didn't go out, he said, "Um there's a fire." I went in the kitchen and told him to put baking soda on it. He said, "Are you sure it's not salt that you put on the fire?" Well, as soon as he dumped baking soda on the fire, it went right out.

Of course the smoke detectors went off and it scared McKenzie and Owen. They were taking a bath, so they both came running out of the tub, naked, to see what was going on. We had the back and front doors open to get air flowing to stop the smoke detectors. I rushed them back into their room to get them dressed. What an adventure!

Complaining Post

Okay, so today me and all the kids were taking a nap when the doorbell rings. As I get up, there's a knock on the door and 2 more bell rings. I then know exactly who it is and run to the door before this person wakes anyone else up. I know that they are unaware that we are all sleeping, but what really irritates me is the fact that they WILL NOT stop ringing the bell and knocking the heck out of the door, until I answer it. (I know because I have tried.) They will even go as far as trying to open the door. (the door is always locked because of this) They are really sweet kids who just want to help out, but I get so annoyed with them. I do not think that I am a perfect parent by any means, but I made sure to teach my kids know to only ring the bell one time and they are 2 and 4. The kids that come over are much older than that. Sorry to complain, but I just had to get that off my chest.

November 4th

Yesterday, Matt and I went to vote. Matt had to be at work by 1 pm, so we had to get it done before then. As we were getting the kids ready to leave, they asked us where we were going. We told them that we had to go vote and Owen thought that we were saying, "boat." He loves boats, so he was getting excited. We had to keep explaining to him that we were voting and what voting was. It was really cute. I was glad that the lines weren't long and that it didn't take very long to vote, because I am not sure how long my kids would behave. We had them in the double stroller and I took Zoey in her car seat. McKenzie and Owen kept picking on each other the entire time.

Once we got home, we had lunch and then I had the kids clean up. They cleaned the toy room and helped me with the laundry. They were really good today and Matt and I were thinking that it was because they needed something to do.

All the cleaning we did must have made McKenzie tired. She fell asleep about 7:30 pm, so I put her in bed. Owen and I made some bread sticks and played for a little bit. Then when Matt got home we made peanut butter cookies. He was so cute dumping the ingredients into the bowl. When he had to dump the brown sugar, he couldn't get the sugar out of the measuring cup. He was banging it with his hands, he was just so cute.

One of Owen's favorite movies is the Incredibles. Well, his favorite line is towards the end of the movie when Frozone is looking for his super suit. Owen and Matt were quoting that scene over and over. It's so funny because out of the blue Owen will say, "Honey! Where's my super suit!" We had a really good time with him.

Jealousy?

On Monday, November 3rd, took Matt to work, because we were out of milk and needed diapers. We got home and I fixed the kids some breakfast. I was really tired, so I fell asleep. When I woke up, I hear McKenzie waking down the hall saying something about spilling water. I tell her to go back in the kitchen with the water. She goes in the kitchen and I hear water spilling in the kitchen, so I get up and I see the living room and kitchen absolutely destroyed!

The living room was soaked! McKenzie recently learned to pour milk and juice into cups. Well, I don't think she even tried to pour milk into cups, just on to the carpet. The WHOLE GALLON was GONE! Luckily, the juice wasn't opened, or else that probably would have gotten dumped on the carpet too.

The kitchen was covered in water. McKenzie had filled a pretty large bowl full of water and I guess it was too heavy, or they thought that it would be fun to dump water everywhere.

So I had McKenzie and Owen clean up the spilled water in the kitchen and the toys in the living room. Once all the toys were in the toy room, I locked the door. I sent McKenzie and Owen to their room for naps. Neither one has had a nap in a long time. Then I made sure that they stayed in their room on their bed until it was time to get Matt. McKenzie and Matt read together every night from the Harry Potter books. She was so upset that she didn't get that Dad/daughter time tonight. Matt and I were so upset!

Our fridge has a child proof lock on it. Our kids figured out how to unlock it within 1-2 days. They also learned how to open door with the child proof locks within 2 days. Our kids are just too smart for their own good.

Both McKenzie and Owen are very good about helping with the new baby, but there are times when they do things that they normally wouldn't do. We are trying to do things with the kids to show them that we love them, but they also have to know that they cannot behave inappropriately to get attention. I just hope that this passes soon.

Halloween

This year for Halloween, I was looking for really cheap costumes for McKenzie and Owen. I am not crafty in anyway, so I won't even try to make any costumes. Since I wasn't sure when Zoey would be arriving and if she did come in time for Halloween, she would be too little to care and I didn't want to worry about her.

For Owen, I found a used Thomas the Train costume on ebay. I would show him pictures of all the costumes and he got excited whenever he saw the Thomas ones. I wait until I found a good deal and placed my bid with seconds to spare and I won the Thomas costume for $3.25! I was so excited! When the costume arrived, Owen was taking a nap. I showed McKenzie and she got really excited for Owen and couldn't wait for her costume. When Owen woke up, he saw the costume and lit up. When I tried to put it on him, he freaked out! He didn't want to wear it at all! Good thing it was only $3.25! So he ended up being Dash from the Incredibles again. Good thing it still fit from last year.

For McKenzie, I looked and looked for cheap costumes. She wanted to be Tinkerbell, Ariel, or so sort of princess. The USED girl costumes were over $20, and I didn't want to spend that much. Last year we splurged and spent $30 for a cheerleader costume, but that was just too much for this year. When I couldn't find anything, I convinced McKenzie to be Elastagirl from the Incredibles and I thought that I could MAKE Owen wear the Thomas costume.

1 week before Halloween, our neighbor called and said that she had some toys that she was donating, but if we'd like to go through them, we could. Well, it turns out that she had LOTS of dress up things that were McKenzie's size, so McKenzie went through the outfits and decided to be a ballerina. I was excited that everything worked out and I was really grateful that the neighbors thought of us. The kids really enjoy their "new" toys.

So on Halloween, our ward had a trunk or treat. First we had a soup dinner. Whatever I ate was delicious! There was a pumpkin seed spitting contest, which Matt did and a best carved pumpkin contest. Even though our pumpkin didn't win, I was glad that we spent the time together as a family to carve the pumpkin.

When it was time for the actual trunk or treat, Zoey and I stayed at the car to hand out candy and Matt took the kids around to get candy. There was TONS of kids! I wasn't expecting that many, so we ran out of candy pretty quickly.

Once the candy was gone and the kids were done going around to each car, we left and went to my parent's house. On the way there, we saw my sister, Jaime, trick or treating, so Matt took McKenzie and Owen around with my sisters. I took Zoey and visited with my Mom and grandparents. It was a lot of fun! We forgot to take the camera, so there are no pictures! I will have to take some later...