Is This a Talent?

Apple art you can call it. I also do shapes. Dad is not longer allowed to cut apples because he is not as talented as I.

This is the Place Park

This is the Place Park is my very favorite place to take the kids. There is all their favorite things. A petting zoo, horse rides, train ride, and a cute play area with pretend houses. I guess we need a farm in the country. Then Leah could live out her dream of being a farmer when she grows up. It really feels like you are in a different world. Everything is peaceful, quiet and just beautiful.


After spending 5 minutes petting this horse the lady working near by tells me he has been acting strange and jumpy that day and she wouldn't let her kids be by themselves next to him. Why didn't you tell me that 5 minutes ago I thought.

They had over 100 little baby chicks that the kids got to hold. Ronan obviously not a fan of animals yet didn't like it.

Eva was very brave and held it all by herself. Leah was fine to pet it but got a little nervous when she was holding the chick and jumped back.

The pretend wooden train is so cute I want one in my yard. Ronan stood by this steering wheel the whole time we were at the park.

My cute girls just got done eating cookies. One note to myself and anyone else that goes to visit. Food is a bit pricey but there are lots of good picnic spots.

The ladies working there said the girls were naturals. I told them it was probably because they are obsessed with horses and ride each others backs all the time.

Ronan was not happy with us for putting him on this horses back. He lasted one time around

The "keycock" as Leah calls it in the petting zoo

Karla and Baby Jake Visit

My sister Karla and her baby Jake got to visit from Fairbanks Alaska. Usually we end up at home all the time with the kids. But this trip we ended up having lots of fun. We went to a Real Soccer game. Down to the Park City Outlets where we found the most amazing deals. It was kinda torturous until we got home and realized all the cute stuff we got. My mom watched the kids while Dave, Karla and I went to see Baby Mama. Which I highly recommend it was hilarious. We also all went to This is the Place Park. More pictures to come.

The boys were hilarious together. Ronan taught Jake all sorts of bad tricks like how to stand up in the bathtub.

Leah and Eva love baby Jake. He is the most social baby and laughs at whatever they do. Definitely an easy baby to love.

Ronan just had to sit up next to Jake. Oh and he now loves to sit at the table like a big kid. Only problem is he still makes a mess like a baby and drives me crazy throwing his food of his highchair because he want to be at the table with the girls.

Dave and Rachel Date Night

Dave and I hiked in Bountiful on Friday. The trail we took is across from the temple I have no idea what its name is. I wanted to take a picture of Dave. He says 1 minute as he finds a large tree branch that had just happen to be next to the path.

The river was really high. I was going for a scared face but it looks more like I am planning on eating the waterfall.

Ok now I really wish you all could have been here for this. I had tears streaming down my face watching Davy crossing this crazy bridge. I have done this hike many times but the water is usually not so high. Still me with my girl balance runs across the rotting logs. 10 minutes later Davy makes it over. There was a few times he had to stop and pep himself up to keep going. Really this move right here made the whole crossing a lot harder than it should have been. Just stand up and walk fast right, no instead Davy crawled across the log.

At this point he really did totally lose his balance and catch himself just in time. We probably wont be taking this hike the next time we go out.

5 Thoughts About Eva

She was getting ready for playgroup last week and decided she needed to wear her super girl costume. The other girls all wear princess dresses which she will not put on. The whole girly girl thing skipped my children so far. Eva would much rather play with her horses than a doll. Although I have good news for all of you who were worried about her compassion for babies. She has decided that she likes Ronan. And no longer "hates babies." I did catch her playing with a doll last week. Ronan fell and hit his head today and she ran over to him and gave him a hug and kiss on his noggin.

This shot was one of about 10. Eva put the glasses on and asked that I take a picture. After each one she would ask to see it. She kept trying to come up with different faces but they all consisted of her with her tongue out. My model in the making.

She could do any art project for long long periods of time. We went through a coloring and painting rock phase. Wherever we are she is looking for just the right rock. I had to hide the markers because she was covered and my couch from rock coloring. So now we are just painting rocks which at least has to stay at the table.

Did all of you know that Eva can fall asleep anywhere. I have got about 15 pictures of her falling asleep in the funniest places. I actually think their is a post from a long time ago with various sleeping pictures. I hate for her to take a nap because she is such a deep sleeper that I cant wake her up. I can hang her upside down, tickle, offer treats, none of it works to wake her up. She will keep her eyes closed and body limp. Anyway after a 2-3 hour nap she wont go to bed until 10pm.


Eva is the most loving and affectionate kids. She is always ready for a cuddle or hug. I just adore her and have a hard time getting mad at her. Everything is done in this very impish sneaky way. If she is sneaking something she will tip toe around and flash a huge smile at me. Then if she spills something she cleans it up herself and says sorry mommy right away. I am such a lucky mommy or so I try to tell my self and she stands next to me saying, "I am not sleepy mommy lets me and you stay up (and a little kiss on my arm).

My 5 for Ronan

Ronan oh our boy we love him so much. Dave is very protective of him and let me know that if anything ever happens to him that I will be in big trouble.

1. It is hard to keep him safe because he is a complete nut. He can climb the ladder to the top bunk and go back down it. A few days ago he was in the backyard with the girls and climbed up the ladder to the trampoline.

2. After having 2 girls in a row it is nice to have a boys boy. He loves balls and that was one of his first words. He also says throw and he drops them down the stairs. When we get the soccer ball out he kicks it around and usually manages to trip himself over the top of it.

3. Ronan has always been quick to a dramatic cry. When he was a tiny baby he would cry so hard after 2 minutes of being in his crib that he would be drenched with tears. He is happy almost all the time now. But he does get his feelings hurt easy if he hears someone yell he bursts into tears.

4. Food, food, food. He can eat and eat and eat. If we have anything he has to have whatever it is. Or if I just gave him what I am having and he sees me eating mine he still wants mine.

5. His latest pastime is sitting on the chairs and the kids little table. He looks so big sitting there and thinks he is grow up. He has a preference of chairs and is usually found in the red one.

The New Trax Train

The new trax train just went into operation last week. For a few days it was free to ride. I thought it would be a great idea to take the kids by myself. Ride to the gateway and ride back. On the way there I thought it was great. Then we ended up at the gateway for way too long. Departure time was 12:00. We ran into free ice cream day at Gateway. Shopped 2 stores and then walked back to the station. By the time we got home it 5:00. So that was probably the first and the last time that I take the kids on the train. 1st problem it takes so much longer. 2nd problem Ronan cried the whole way home because he wanted to get out and walk. 3rd problem my girls got so hyper on the way home and boy do I feel bad for the guys by us. Anyway so take it from me. Don't ride very far if you are going to give it a try with your kids. Also pack treats, games, whatever it takes to keep your kids quiet. Overall though for commuters I think it will be great. Big comfortable seats and it is a smooth ride. It takes a lot longer than driving unless it is during rush hour. So I have come to a conclusion trax is for the commuter not for the mom taking her kids on a field trip.

How much fun should a girl have?

Skiing at Snowbird with my friend Shannon

Waiting for a class at BYU Womens Conference. Emily, Liza, Hailey, Crystal, Shannon, Me

Rachel and Kim

So most of my posts are kid oriented. But lets talk about what has been going on with me lately. As a mom most people feel like they dont get out enough time to do their own thing. Lately I have been on the other side of that. Maybe I have been having too much fun I keep thinking. But it is so great. What can a girl do. If asked to choose between play and work 99.999% of the time I choose fun. So when given that invite to do something exciting guess what I choose. Here is a list of the things I that have been going on with me the last few months that havent made the blog. While I am at it let me give some thanks to my mom and husbnad who babysat for me.



1. Park city with my friends Marci and Mandy. We stayed in Midway and shopped. It was some great retail therapy good thing I could only stay Friday because their was such good sales at the outlets. Sorry I have no pictures to prove but I do have the clothes.


2. Skiing at Snowbird - Dave had some free passes that I just had to use up. So how could I not take advantage of that. It snowed so heavy all day that you could only see 5 feet in front of your face. A little scary for two girls who hadnt been skiing in a few years. We had no idea which lift to ride on so we jumped in the biggest tram up the mountain. After I few minutes we realize that everyone is wearing helmets and the tram is going highter and highter up to the very top of the mountain. When we get to the top we notice that all the runs are black diamonds except for one. We will be ok we thought just follow the obvious signs as the ski patrol told us. Within 10 seconds we are totally lost and remember cant see 5 feet in front of our faces. We see the only other human on a really steep hill. Where are we we ask. Oh a black diamond named Regulator Johnson. The powder came in handy because it made it easier to go down. The friendly skiier took pity on us and had him follow him down. The rest of the day we stayed on the lower half of the mountain. It was excilirating to do something out of the norm.

3. Lots of Real Salt Lake soccer games. I am fully taking advantage of the free tickets to the Real games. Each game we take different friends and have free dinner and enjoy really good games. The team is playing really well this year. Even thought they don't always win the games are really intense and so fun.

4. Softball season has started. I am playing on a coed team with some of the people from last year and a bunch of new players that are all really good. The big difference between this year and last is that we are in the rec league instead of competitive. Last year we won 2 games all against the same team. This year we hope to do much better. We have won 1 game and lost the other. It is just fun to get out and play a sport that I love.

5. This last weekend I went to BYU Womens Conference with a group of girls from my ward. Thursday and Friday we went to classes. Then stayed in hotel in Provo Thursday night. I really enjoyed some spiritual rejuvenation and girl talk. Since I have 3 kids and teach sunbeams I haven't had much on the enlightening side of things lately. We had the funnest group of girls some of which I didn't know well before we went.

Leah at 4 and 9 months

1- Look at this picture. Oh what a funny girl she is. The things she says are just downright hilarious. She is confident and definitely can hold her own. Her primary teacher was worried because the naughty boy next to her kept poking her. Leah just turned to him and poked him back. Then folded her arms and looked straight ahead.

2 - She is obsessed with playing with friends. Playing whenever possible with various neighbors. Thankfully they all live within a few doors and run back and forth to each others houses. This one is of her pretending to be married to her friend Connor. Don't worry Logan she still wants to marry you in the temple. Actually her and Eva got in a fight today because Eva thought she should marry Logan.

3- She is so affectionate and loving. To everyone including her family and friends. She takes care of Ronan and is best friends with Eva. I am the recipient of many random declarations of love throughout the day. "Mom you are the best mom ever." This has become a problem with wanting kiss her boyfriends. She told my neighbor Kim, " my mom wont let me kiss boys, but I cant help it I just love them so much."

4 - Leah has a real imagination. You can turn to Leah and say "tell us a story" and she immediately goes into "Once upon a time...." These stories of hers' get really detailed and it's funny to see her mix fact and fiction. She was telling me the other day about Tir-Na-Nog the land of eternal youth in Ireland. She knows that there is a white horse by that name that runs around Ireland picking kids up and taking them to a place where they never get old. She loves to tell Knock-Knock jokes and can charm you into agreeing with her on most things. When she constructs an argument for something she is quite convincing and has a point that is hard to ignore.

Garreth, by Davy

It's 2:09 in the morning as I write this. I couldn't sleep. My mind was being recalled to happier days when my older brother and I shared so many memories, so many adventures and so many ways of styling his mullet. In response to your comments about my emotional and heartfelt declaration to Rachel, I wish to explore my own feelings to you, Garreth my brother. These photos will lead me as I reminisce on your many qualities. Here you are at St.Mungos hospital. Yes, that same hospital from the Harry Potter books. It was a glorious day. The nurses let you go outside for your 10 minutes of sunlight. Do you remember Garreth? It had been so long since they had last let you out. They were still struggling with your last "episode" when you tore of your clothes, ran excitedly around the other "sick"kids and spit on everything that was the color blue. They had just replaced your old glasses with these new, state-of-the-art ones your wearing. They were worried that you would use these new one's as a magnifying weapon like you had against the young Murphy girl in bed 7 of ward 19. She never really did recover from the burns.
Ah yes, your headshot for your modeling portfolio. I remember taking this for you. Your hair, always your best feature you know, was not cooperating that day. It may have been that your precious blue brush had been snapped in half and tossed in the dumpster outside of A&W. Oh, that's right, you went in after it and still used it...I digress. I know how much it hurt you when "Phillips all Man" modeling agency never got back to you.
Here you are after killing Fergal O' Hagan in that knife fight outside of Killarney. He had it coming.
Here you are after final being accepted by "Phillips all Man."It was your big break. This photo, which graced the pages of "Big Bikes, Big Men" from their fall 2006 edition, is what really got you to where you are today. Just look at you cheek position and color! Your smile, tight and strong only serves to compliment your soft, Ray Liotta like eyes.
And finally, your winning routine on the rings when you participated in the 2007 Special Olympics in Sweden. The capstone of an illustrious career and example. I love you Garreth.