Bolingers

head hung in shame

2010-03-23T13:13:00.004-07:00

Its been 2 months since my last post. I am a slacker. Now I'll try to play catch up. I'm gonna sort our family's happings by person.

NICK
Nick's hasn't been working much lately. He's waiting for the ground to defrost in New Mexico, so he's been home with me:) Its been fun. He's finished his entire honeydo list plus a lot more. With traveling around, we've let repairs pile up and he's finally had the time to work on them. He also build me a chicken coop. Our chicks will be big enough for it next week. I'm glad that when I say "Hey Nick I want a chicken coop." he doesn't think I'm crazy, he just builds what I want and wishes me luck. Nick turned 29 this last month.

the coop

DESTINY

After spending 7 months between trashy rentals, motels, and rvs I'm really glad to be home. Its fun seeing new places, but relaxing being home. When we moved from Bagdad, we didn't unpack anything so I spent a lot of time organizing our house. It was some serious spring cleaning. After rearranging the entire house, I had a crazy idea to paint the house. So I did our kitchen, family room, dining room, and living room. I'm done painting for a least a month:) I love to bake and didn't really do any since June so I've baked at any reason available. birthdays, presidents day, az statehood day. I also had birthday this month. The big 26 and yes I know I'm still young. In our family we get to pick out what we want for dinner on your b-day. Every year is the same. Nick wants steaks, Colter wants pizza, and I want Hawaiian haystacks. Nick hates haystacks so it's the only time we have them.

Kitchen... doesn't everyone keep bikes in their kitchen Living room aka home teacher room except we've never had home teacher over

Family room, of course Dora's on

COLTER

Is losing his toddlernes and gaining plain boyness. Loves to follow around daddy with his own tools. Questions everything I tell him. His prayers are great. They're not short, but hard to keep a straight face through. He usually asks his toys to be safe, that we can play mario, he can do his homework (he doesn't have any), thank you that we can bless the food, he and Brooklyn can play trucks, and it keeps going. Sometimes when Brooklyn and Colter are playing, Colter will help Brooklyn pray. Its too cute. He loves his CTR ring and wears it all the time. He's got a great imagination and is always finding something new to do. I can't believe that next year he'll be in school.

He made a pool out of this tub for him and Brooklyn to go swimming in

Pretending to be Brooklyn's baby

mugshot

BROOKLYN
Our monkey. She climbs and gets into everything. She turned 2 in Feb. and does have to many terrible 2 moments. She's such a special part of our family. She loves to be loved. She's always full of hugs and kisses. She looks up to Colter and will do anything he asks her to do. She loves chocolate, music, clothes, baby dolls and Dora. She has to have a doll in bed with her at night. When she's really upset, Dora will cure it.

Brooklyn with her birthday cake

Playing with one of her many babies

helping me bake. Taste testing is the most important job

I don't have anything to wear!

2010-01-24T10:52:00.002-07:00

Brooklyn is the definition of a girl. Dramatic?Yes. Loves Dolls?Yes. Likes shoe shopping?Yes. Never satisfied with what she's wearing?YES! So here's a day with Brooklyn's clothes changing. The pictures start after her pjs in the morning.

Outfit #1 says I'm a Princess.

#2 No shoes, no pants no problem

#3 pink and purple are my colors

10 mins later #4 actually these pants work better

#5 who says you can't wear pjs at 2pm

#6 Her favorite. a swimming suit a size too small

#7 the combo of a dress & shorts are cute and practical

#8 Warm pjs are good for cuddling with Dad

#9 on second thought these pjs have a monkey on them

No wonder laundry is never ending.

Saying farwell to the mullet

2009-12-09T16:59:00.002-07:00

Cutting Colter's hair has always been an easy thing. Get out the clippers and buzz away. It's hard to really mess up boys hair. Maybe that's why I've been putting off cutting Brooklyn's hair and letting her mullet keep getting longer. One bad clip and she'd have a GI Jane cut. So I finally got sick of her hair in her eyes and decided it was time. She did pretty good and it turned out ok. I still don't know what's in style for toddlers. Bangs, no bangs, long, short....

Before the cut

the back, it was long
afterwards, wet and curly

dry and and straight as it gets, man it looks so blond

She looks happy to see, runny nose cuts and all

Yabba-Dabba-Doo!

2009-11-13T21:20:00.002-07:00

We had a great Halloween! It was kinda different where it was cold outside. Brooklyn didn't learn to say "trick 0r treat" but she learned the most valuable lesson, hold your bag up and people give you candy.
With that being said, I'll tell you about my fight with Spiderman. Now I'm not saying I don't like him. I mean anyone who can wear spandex and live a double life gets props from me. And this isn't a physical or mental fight(I would win both), its a creativity fight. A fight for Halloween. Growing up, I remember my mom making my costumes and when I was old enough me thinking of something (I was once Mary Poppins and made a darn good one). This year trick-0r-treating, we probably saw 12,492 Spidermans of course that's just a rough estimate. There was a group of 4 boys in front of us all as you guessed it Spiderman. Unfortunately Halloween has become this holiday of just going to Walmart and buying whats there, not being creative. I've seen many creative costumes, not all homemade. Some were soap, jelly beans, cactus, a dead golf man...there's so many. So here's how I fought the pesky spider this year.

Dressed for the cold weather

Pebbles and Bam-Bam

Brooklyn loving her fur bag

Colter's cheesy smile

Ok can we get candy now

What to do in Farmington

2009-11-01T15:34:00.003-07:00

I've been slacking on my blog. We've done some pretty cool things here in Farmington and I'm gonna cram them all in one post. So here's what we've done and had fun doing them.
The air show: This is more of Nick's thing, but it was still fun. The best part was a girl went out on the wings of the pane while in the air and did stunts.
Four Corners: Cold and windy. Other than that it was cool to say you're standing in four states at once. And of course there was awesome fry bread.
The Great Pumpkin Patch: This was my favorite! It was a train ride to a pumpkin patch. The train went about 5 miles out of town and came to a farm with a free carnival for the kids where they met some of the Peanuts gang. Brooklyn was fascinated with Lucy and would follow her around. Maybe she thought she was a big baby doll. Colter loved the tractor ride. They played some games, went through a maze and got to pick out a pumpkin to take home with them.
Indian ruins: We went about 1 1/2 hours to some ruins that were built up in the side of the mountains. They were pretty cool. It was a nice day and we liked walking around. We wanted to go to some that were harder to get to, but having Brooklyn scale down 40 feet of ladders didn't sound good. Next time.
Playing in the snow: Last week it snowed about 6 inches. I think its the first time our kids have been in enough snow to play. I layered Brooklyn up so much that if she fell, she couldn't get back up. We're excited to have a winter with snow and get to go sledding and all that stuff that doesn't really exist in southern AZ.
Monster Trucks:We went to see monster trucks. Colter loved it and I think I'm finally regaining my hearing from it:)

Here's some pictures

Why I don't like to shower

2009-10-24T08:48:00.002-07:00

This morning I decided to take a nice long relaxing shower while Nick slept in (he's worked 12 days straight and needed it). Usually my showers are quick so that the damage isn't bad. And now I remember why I do that. My kids didn't interrupt my shower which in the long run is never a good thing. So while I enjoyed my shower Brooklyn squeezed the entire bottle of blue toothpaste onto the carpet, unrolled all the toilet paper, spread dog food everywhere and Colter cut her hair. Good thing she has wild curly hair and its barely noticeable. Back to short showers or no showers at all.

Creative Juices

2009-09-03T07:51:00.003-07:00

I think paint, even washable paint should have a warning "WARNING THIS PRODUCT MAY BE WASHABLE, BUT MAKES A BIG MESS. PLEASE KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN." Then maybe I wouldn't have left it were Colter could use it while I was reading. Looks like most everything my kids get into is because I'm busy trying to read and not watch them. Maybe I should give up reading and start being an attentive mother. Who am I kidding, I'll find another way to escape. When its reading a book or cleaning and watching kids play, reading always wins. At least he cleaned up the mess.

Dancing in the koolaid

2009-08-28T16:56:00.002-07:00

I was having a great afternoon reading without any disturbances. Colter and Brooklyn were happily playing together. That is the first sign of something wrong. So I found them busy dancing, in koolaid. I seriously don't get why it only seems to come in colors that stain everything. Its not like it spill and you wonder where it spilt. Your stuck feet will tell you that. I'm just glad that it was in the kitchen for easier cleanup, from floor to ceiling.

Brooklyn admiring Colters mad dancing skills

She's now a purple nose

Busy dancing

Milestones

2009-08-10T21:05:00.004-07:00

Every parent holds their baby in there arms and thinks about the one milestone they look forward to. For some its the first step, talking, wearing undies, going to school or even graduating and moving out. For Nick it was the first gun. I think the first step Colter walked he started counting down till I would let him buy a gun for Colter. I gave in. Its not like I'm against guns at all, its just...well...he's my baby. It was cute seeing his eyes light up as he got to hold it. He's excited and wants to shoot a bird. He still needs practice and nobody in range.

It was too late to go out and shout when he got it, but he of course wanted to hold it at home.

Nick trying to show him how to look through the scope

How to wear out a four year old

2009-07-31T09:24:00.002-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Nick and I were talking about how we've never seen Colter worn out. There's been time that he's gotten tired but if you bring up something to do he gets all excited and ready to go. We have now finally worn him out. This past weekend, my parents came to visit us in New Mexico. I told Colter the night before they came that we were going to go to some caves in the morning. So of course he was so excited that he woke up at 6am (really early for him). We got ready and headed to Carlsbad, about 40min away. I took my parentals on a driving tour of the town, poor Nick had to work on a Sat. Once Nick got there we headed to the caves. All the boys took the natural entrance down while the girls went for the elevator. We all met up at the bottom and walked around. Colter walked about 2 miles, that's got to be at least 4 with the size of his legs. Brooklyn had learned a new word the day before, rock. So being in a place made of only rocks we heard "Wrook wrook wroook" for a straight hour and a half, who needs a tour guide. It was a lot of fun. To make sure he was good and tired we went swimming afterwards. This is when it hits me, Colter is too daring. He like jumping into the pool and touch the bottom before someone would bring him back up. I'm glad we don't have a pool at home. Here's some pictures at the cave.

Don't they look thrilled

Brooklyn stayed by Grandma cause no one else took interest in her babbling about rocks

And yes here is proof there are big rocks

Family Campout

2009-07-17T10:07:00.002-07:00

Last month, we went camping with my family in Williams. It was so much fun. We went to some of the local touristy places. We went to the Grand Canyon. Nick says its just a big hole, nothing too special. That the only way he'll go again is if we hike down. We went to Sunset Crater and the Indian ruins there. Our favorite thing was going to Oak Creek Canyon. We stopped on the road and hiked down to the creek. It was a nice secluded spot that went to 7 feet deep. Colter had so much fun with all his cousins, he wishes that we were still there.

Home is where the heart is

2009-07-02T19:46:00.004-07:00

Well we've moved. It was hard and sad to say goodbye to Bagdad. It has been home to us for the past 2 years. We knew that the day would come, we just wished it didn't come so soon. We're now in Artesia New Mexico. We're only going to be here for about a month and then on to Ship Rock New Mexico. This is our 15th move since we've been married so I guess I've kinda gotten use to how it goes. It took me a couple of days, but I found a furnish ~~dump~~ house for us to live in. Yes its in the ghetto, but its better than a motel and Nick thinks he wouldn't make it being alone. This has been the hardest move we've made. We really loved Bagdad and wanted to stop traveling, but the Lord thinks He knows best. I've been trying to stay positive and think of the good things about being here, so here's my top ten
1. Being in a small house, we will become closer as a family
2. Since we're in New Mexico instead of Arizona we can have fireworks for the 4th of July
3. There's more than just a Bashas to shop at
4. I get to feel more appreciative of what we have
5. Great Mexican food
6. Being in different house lets me see what I want & don't want in my dream house
7. A full size bed means Nick & I will have to snuggle
8. We get to see and smell new things, like the oil refinery. They call it the "Sweet smell of success" I call it the smell ofrotten eggs.
9. Having no TV means I'll get to entertain the kiddos and Nick & I will get to have conversations
10. Having nothing to do and no friends, I get to try things I've always wanted to do but didn't have the time for.

The new house

Now you don't need the tour, that's the whole house minus the bathroom

Who need a red cape when your omnipotent and omniscient

2009-06-03T21:12:00.004-07:00

Tonight when we put Colter in bed we were talking about and looking at pictures of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. We told him how they were put in a fire, but God saved them. Colter asked "Is God a superhero?"

I'm not Super-fly, I'm Colorfied

2009-05-21T11:22:00.002-07:00

While I was showering, Colter colored himself with pen. When I got out he said he was colorfied. We had a friend over last night that has some tattoos. While I was scrubbing his skin off, Colter said "But Mark colored all over himself." Are things getting so ruff on the playground that he needed tatts? Maybe I'm just not hip and cool.

Habits are hard to break

2009-05-13T11:35:00.005-07:00

CAUTION: DO NOT GO ANY FURTHER IF EASILY GROSSED OUT, YES I'M TALKING TO YOU NICK.

Brooklyn has a new habit which is making me develop a screaming habit. She sticks her hands down her nasty poopy diapers. I know your totally jealous of my life. I have tried everything I can think of shy of hand cuffing her hands behind her back. It doesn't matter what she's wearing. She's learned how to take off her clothes. I really wouldn't mind it if after she took them off she put them in the hamper and put on clean clothes...Anyways back to the poop. Without fail this is the scene I see at least once a day. I go to see what Brooklyn's doing. She'll be sitting in a room by herself with her hand down her diaper and pulling poop out. So I know your thinking nasty but I'll take it a step further and show you the pictures to prove it.

I just can't do this everyday. And hope that it doesn't happen while other people are watching her for me. I've thought of 2 solutions to the problem.

1. Get a suit of armour in her size.

2. Potty train her

I'm leaning towards the suit of armour

sugar spice and everything nice

2009-04-27T15:50:00.004-07:00

I haven't updated in awhile. I seem to always be busy, but not with anything blog worthy. I'm sure a post with pictures of mile markers wouldn't be interesting. So I decided to post some pictures of our cute girly Brooklyn. The past couple of months she's become a funny girl. She loves to carry her baby around, put on necklaces, and carry purses. She also is starting to become a daddy's girl and gets jealous if Colter sits with him. (Daddy's the nice guy, his no is "go ask Mommy.") She also loves music, she'll dance and sing and of course play the piano, currently she is mastering her own minuette. She likes to be the center of attention. So here's some pictures of her being her.

There's no safe place for a purse to hide.

I hope it wasn't a call to Guatamala.

She may be girly, but she knows how to get dirty.

She always wants to do what Colter does.

Gooood Morning, talk about bedhead.

You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance.

2009-04-06T16:38:00.002-07:00

I seem to be having one of those days where I'm considering selling Colter to the Zoo but think they would return him. I do feel like I'm a zoo today. Yes bananas thrown at me, weird lingo I don't understand, screaming, and even being spit at. Colter is so just like me and now I understand why my parents stopped having kids after me. After a zillion time outs, some spankins, and his toys put where he can't find them, I've decided to post some pictures of him and think of the reasons I DO love him.
He is very independent. He knows what he wants and doesn't stop til he gets it. He loves his sister. Example last week Brooklyn wanted his fruit snacks and instead of putting them where she couldn't get them he gave them all to her. He's self entertaining, on long car trips he doesn't complain just stays busy playing and looking out the window. He says and does funny things. Sometime he calls me names, which I love. He'll say "Mommy you're a honey bucket" or "Your a orange pumpkin." Or he'll give wonderful compliments like "Mommy dinner was scrumptious." He loves being outside, I think he asks me every day if were going camping tonight. He is a daddy boy. He wants to be doing anything and everything daddy is from golfing to fixing faucets. He can't go to sleep at night until he get one kiss and hug from Daddy then Brooklyn and Mommy. No more and no less. I always try to bargain with him to get more, but he's firm that I only get one kiss. I'll open my arms wide and say "I love you this much" and his response is to raise both his hands as far as he can above his head and say "I love you this much." Okay now I'm feeling much better. My house still might be a zoo, but I least now maybe I'll enjoy my monkey. Here's some pictures that show the true Colter.

Wearing my lipstick.

A flower he mad in Sunbeams. He insisted that HE glue on all the petals.

Wrestling with Brooklyn in her bed.

I found him watching tv like this.

My hard working boys

2009-03-23T07:42:00.003-07:00

This weekend Nick build me some grow boxes for a garden. Of course Colter wanted to do everything Daddy was doing. Last year we got Colter some kid size tools and wheelbarrow. He's uses them a lot. So here's so pictures of my 2 boys moving soil into the grow boxes.

Happy Birthday Nick

2009-03-15T20:15:00.004-07:00

Thursday was Nick's birthday. I wanted to just tell him how much I love him. You are a great husband and an awesome dad. Colter's response to me telling him no is "When daddy gets home." You always like to see your kids happy. Here's some pictures to remind you what a great year its been:)

They call them HOT coals for a reason

2009-02-25T17:34:00.003-07:00

On Friday Nick volunteered me to make dutch oven food for some guys he works with. He said this with the catch that he would help...but that's a different story. So I was in the back yard stirring and checking various delicious dishes. Colter kept getting close so he could see. I would very calmly yell GET BACK ITS HOT! Despite repeating this numerous times, he did get to close. No, not a trip to the ER close but enough to burn a hole in his shoe. I've never seen it happen and its still funny. So here's so proof that the coals are hot. Hopefully next time he'll remember to stay back, they were his favorite shoes.

Be My Valentine

2009-02-16T19:28:00.002-07:00

On Saturday, Nick and I went on an actual date. No sippy cups, diapers, or whining. Yes completely kidless. We did things we haven't done in a long time. Movie and nice sit down dinner. We had a lot of fun. I of course worried a little about our kids. It was the first time we have ever left them with a teenage babysitter. They did good. A Colter gave me comforting words as we left. He said "I wont miss you." And he didn't. We watched Mall Cop. I thought if was really funny. I like the actor(Kevin James) because he's funny without a lot of cussing. We ate at Red Lobster. It was a long wait, but worth it. We came home to calm kids ready to go to bed. Maybe we'll start dating more often. Now I'll need to know what the going rate for babysitting is...the babysitter's mom said I paid to much. So I need some advice on how much to pay. We paid her $4/hour. I looked on some babysitting calculator(yes, there really is one) and it says to pay $6/hour.

Happy Birthday Brooklyn

2009-02-10T12:28:00.002-07:00

Brooklyn turned one on Sunday. I can't believe how fast the past year has gone by. She has been such a cheerful addition to our family. Sunday was also our ward potluck. Since we weren't going to been home until late sat night/early sun morning, we got a birthday cake from Costco (they're really good) and took it to the potluck. There was some left over so on Monday night(we spent Sunday resting up) we did cake again but this time with a candle and present opening. Of course Colter was much more excited than Brooklyn.

Brooklyn and her cake, it was hard to keep her fingers out of it.
Yumm!!!

Colter blowing out the candle. Nick had to hold her back because she wanted to touch the candle.

Opening presents. She didn't get many toys, it was just Christmas. She got new plates, cups, clothes, and a car seat.

Colter looks more surprised than Brooklyn.

Monster of a shower

2009-02-04T15:01:00.004-07:00

Last week I hosted a baby shower for Jennie Davenport. I love hosting baby showers. Since it was her second baby, I wanted to do something fun and different. The theme was welcoming another monster in the the Davenport family. I'm pretty bias and thought it was great! I'm pretty bummed now because I loved having something creative to focus my free time on. I guess now I'll have to clean my house and hope that someone else will get pregnant

The goodie table before everyone came.

For decorations I made monster pillows

Monster cupcakes, they turned out better than I thought they would

Another view

The hummingbird is nice

2009-02-01T13:24:00.006-07:00

The other day I was taking a shower when Colter came into the bathroom and told me that is hummingbird is nice. I thought he was talking about something on tv. So I agreed with him and kept showering. When I was done getting dressed I went into the living room and found the "hummingbird". I felt like I was in Walmart. Maybe its because there's not a Walmart here for the sparrows to go to so he decided to hang out in ours. I tried to shew it out the back door and eventually it made its way out the door. Then about 5 minutes later it came back in. I finally got the brilliant idea "close the door and they won't come". I will note that the only reason why I keep it opened is so our dogs can go outside. Now I think we'll look into a doggy door for them.

On the positive note, it didn't poop on anything!

Chinese New Year

2009-01-26T11:44:00.003-07:00

Today is Chinese New Year. Its the year of the ox. I thought I would blog a little about it. It fall anywhere between the end of January to the beginning of February. It begins on the first day of the first lunar moon. The story behind of how the years got named after the animals varies, so I'll share the one I know. There were 12 animals that wanted the new year named after them. They kept arguing so the king decided to have a race. The first one to cross the river would have the year named after it. The ox was strong and in the lead, but the rat climbed on his back and at the edge of the river jumped off the ox's head and won. So that year was named after the rat, and the next year was named after the ox, and so on.
It's said that your personality matches the animal that you were named in so here's their traits and years...

RAT(that's me!)1948,1960,1972,1984,1996,2008-Forthright, disciplined, systematic, meticulous, charismatic, hardworking, industrious, charming, eloquent, sociable, shrewd.
OX1949,1961,1973,1985,1997,2009-Dependable, calm, methodical, patient, hardworking, ambitious, conventional, steady, modest, logical, resolute, tenacious.
TIGER1950,1962,1974,1986,1998-Unpredictable, rebellious, colorful, powerful, passionate, daring, impulsive, vigorous, stimulating, sincere, affectionate, humanitarian, generous.
RABBIT1951,1963,1975,1987,1999-Gracious, kind, sensitive, soft-spoken, amiable, elegant, reserved, cautious, artistic, thorough, tender, self-assured, astute, compassionate, flexible.
DRAGON1952,1964,1976,1988,2000-Magnanimous, stately, vigorous, strong, self-assured, proud, noble, direct, dignified, zealous, fiery, passionate, decisive, pioneering, ambitious, generous, loyal.
SNAKE1953,1965,1977,1989,2001-Deep thinker, wise, mystic, graceful, soft-spoken, sensual, creative, prudent, shrewd, ambitious, elegant, cautious, responsible, calm, strong, constant, purposeful.
HORSE1954,1966,1978,1990,2002-Cheerful, popular, quick-witted, changeable, earthy, perceptive, talkative, agile mentally and physically, magnetic, intelligent, astute, flexible, open-minded.
RAM1955,1967,1979,1991,2003-Righteous, sincere, sympathetic, mild-mannered, shy, artistic, creative, gentle, compassionate, understanding, mothering, determined, peaceful, generous, seeks security.
MONKEY1956,1968,1980,1992,2004-Inventor, motivator, improviser, quick-witted, inquisitive, flexible, innovative, problem solver, self-assured, sociable, polite, dignified, competitive, objective, factual, intellectual.
ROOSTER1957,1969,1981,1993,2005-Acute, neat, meticulous, organized, self-assured, decisive, conservative, critical, perfectionist, alert, zealous, practical, scientific, responsible.
DOG1958,1970,1982,1994,2006-Honest, intelligent, straightforward, loyal, sense of justice and fair play, attractive, amicable, unpretentious, sociable, open-minded, idealistic, moralistic, practical, affectionate.
PIG1959,1971,1983,1995,2007-Honest, simple, gallant, sturdy, sociable, peace-loving, patient, loyal, hard-working, trusting, sincere, calm, understanding, thoughtful, scrupulous, passionate, intelligent.

If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball

2009-01-20T13:49:00.003-07:00

Last night was the Bagdad dodgeball playoffs. Yes, that's really exciting for us Bagdadians. It was a fundraiser for the boys baseball team...which happened to win. Nick's team(big spenders) didn't get too far, but it was still fun. Colter like being close to where he could throw the balls back in. He got hit once and didn't seem to notice. It was fun and who knows, maybe they'll start a Bagdad Dodgeball League.

Mommy's Helpers

2009-01-01T09:16:00.002-07:00

I think the saying too many cooks in the kitchen can also go with cleaners. Lately I've had to do dishes while Brooklyn is asleep because she does this every time. And when I went to get the camera, Colter had to get in on the action.

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

2008-12-29T18:24:00.003-07:00

We had a very Good Christmas. Colter of course remembered Christmas from last year, so he was excited for Santa to come. We stayed at home here in Bagdad. It's nice not having to pack presents around to others homes, but will did miss our families. I was surprised that Brooklyn got the hang of opening presents. Colter wanted each toy open and assembled before opening the next one. Colter got mostly cars and a couple of books thrown in there. As tradition in my family both kids got new toothbrushes. I think Santa is worried about what all the holiday candy does to teeth. Brooklyn got a babydoll with a stroller. Colter was excited about that. He likes to rock the baby, which he named Shoe shoe. He makes sure she gets her bottle. Nick's not sure he likes the idea of Colter playing with dolls, but I think it's sweet. Nick got a Cabela's Big Game wii game, right now thats all he wants to do. I got a wii fit. I'm inproving my warm indoors skiing skills. We had Christmas dinner with some friends from our ward. It was fun. We played a game A-Z with everyone. (Thanks Chance and Tawna, its a blast.) We ended the day reading The Night Before Christmas. Its been Colter's favorite book lately. We've read it every night for the past 3 weeks. As we kissed Colter good night he asked us if Santa's going to come again that night. We too are surprised at how fast it came and went.

First step to recovery is admitting it

2008-12-21T20:51:00.006-07:00

Many of you might not know that we are addicted. My dad came to visit us and it was to hard to hide our addiction from him. He soon found out and became addicted to. So we're coming out to tell everyone. Yes, that's right we are wii addicted. While we were at families houses over Thanksgiving, we became sucked into the fun. The next day Nick and I bought one for ourselves. It's our Christmas present. We're both really bad with waiting for Christmas and ended up opening it before it was even December. So this is how we've been spending our free time. Even Colter loves to play it. Our favorite by far is Guitar Hero.

My dad rocking out on the Guitar.

Colter boxing. He's actually really good and usually gets a KO by the 2nd round.

My dad and Nick playing darts. I think this is better than real darts because you don't end up with holes in the wall.

Giving Thanks for Thanksgiving

2008-12-04T09:07:00.003-07:00

We had a wonderful thanksgiving. I'm glad that there's a time of the year to think about how you are blessed. I'm very blessed, but I am most thankful for my family and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This year we decided to venture to the land were everything is bigger(even the speeding tickets), yes that's right, Texas. We started our trip on Friday the 21st. First we went to my parents house in Tucson. It's only about 4 hours away. They were crazy, I mean kind enough to watch our dogs for the week. Saturday morning we woke up and hit the road to Nick's cousin's house in Comanche,TX. Its by Abeline. It was our longest day of traveling, 12 hours. Both our kids did great in the car though. While at Annette's we had Thanksgiving dinner early on Sunday. It was at Nick's aunt and uncle's house with all of their kids. It was the first time I've ever had fried turkey, it was good. Nick went deer hunting with his cousin Kenny. Kenny got a deer. We also went to Glenrose to a drive through zoo. Here's some pictures.

Brooklyn watching the Zebras.
Michelle(Nick's Cousin) with her son Grant. Colter had fun with him.

Colter and Grant feeding the Giraffe out of the SUVs sunroof.

The next leg of our journey was another 4 hour car ride to my uncle Mark's house in Houston. It's so pretty there. I'm glad it was winter time(we could have worn short). We got there Wednesday morning. That night Ting(my aunt) made Chinese food, really good Chinese food. Thursday we had Thanksgiving dinner. It was really good. It was the first stuffing that I've ever liked. Mark and Ting's two daughters Shandi and Waisha were there along with my cousin Tahila and her husband Jeff and their daughter lilly. Mark and Ting also have a friends son, Micheal, staying with them. He's from Taiwan, and really cool. Shandi's coworker Bola from Nigeria came too.

Picture of Shandi, Micheal, and Ting working on the food.

On Friday Nick and I joined the crowd and went shopping while Mark watched our kids. After that we went to the Houston Zoo. It rained on us a little, but was fun.

Colter and Nick in a Gopher hole.
Ting took us to China town for some authentic Chinese food. I didn't know the name of anything we ate, but it was great. We also got some fruit smoothies with tapioca ball in it, good is all I can say. We played card games(typical for my family) and had a lot of fun. We left Saturday morning and went to San Antonio, 3 hours away.We walked around the Alamo and then went for a horse carriage ride. He told us all about the buildings we say, its was way interesting.

Us in the carriage.

We got back in the car and drove to El Paso. Another 8 hours in the car. We spent the night and left early Sunday morning to make it to Drake's blessing in Benson, AZ. Drake is my sister Summer's new addition. Hes such a mellow baby. Colter loved being with his cousins. Here's a picture of them sitting as best as 8 kids will.

We spent the night there and then headed back to home. Our kids are sure glad to be out of their car seats, they did great. We had a lot of fun and Nick thinks it should be our new Thanksgiving tradition. We want to give a big thanks to those who housed us, fed us, entertained us, and watched our pups.

Midnight Twilight

2008-11-21T08:33:00.005-07:00

Last night...or this morning, I went to see Twilight. It was the first midnight showing I've been too. It was great!!!!! There's no other way to say it, well maybe excellent, awesome, fabulous, wonderful, etc. We (Christa, Becky, Sarah, & Sarah) got to the theater extra early to get good seats. We were lucky because we didn't have to wait outside in a line. We spent most of the waiting time, about 2 1/2 hours, sitting in our seats. I have to say that from seeing the trailers I was disapointed in the choice of Edward. He wasn't the way I imagined Edward. I can now see why he was chosen, he was sensational!!! He did soooo good as Edward. I think my favorite was Jasper. He really looked like he was painfully holding his breath. As with any movie made from a book, the book was better. I do have 2 disapointments that it wasn't 2 hours longer and that the second isn't out. So go out and see the movie and if your reading this and haven't read the book, read the book-well all of them and then go see the movie!

Yearbook Yourself

2008-11-01T22:50:00.004-07:00

Okay so I was bored. Nick is still gone and I had a million things to do like dishes, laundry, organize. Instead I did this, hope you get a laugh and try it yourself.

1996

1990

1972

1966 This is my favorite, maybe this hair style will come back...

1952

Halloween

2008-11-01T14:49:00.002-07:00

We have had a busy Halloween week. Translation-long post.
On Saturday the 25th we went to the Community Carnival. Colter was excited to get to wear his costume. He was Peter Pan and Brooklyn was Tinkerbell. Colter played some games. His favorite was the scat cat. The person would hand you 4 various shoes and you throw them trying to knock cats of a fence. There was also a haunted house. Nick took Colter through and surprisingly Colter didn't cry or have nightmares that night.
Sunday-Ahh, relax.
On Monday we went to the circus. Yes, that's right a circus here in Bagdad Arizona. It was alright. Definitely not a Ringling Brothers...what would you expect from a circus in Bagdad. Our kids loved it. Colter has been trying to juggle all week. Brooklyn learned how to clap. We left half way through because it was 8 and had an hour and a half left. We probably miss some cool stuff, I mean Hannah Montana was singing when we left:) I just didn't think she was 3 and a half feet tall. The ad said there was going to be animals from Madagascar, and I was thinking of all the cool, rare animals that live on the island of Madagascar. Well it was a person in a lion costume from the movie Madagascar. The jugglers were good, except for the 8 or 9 times he would drop it. Nick now wants our kids to see a real circus.
On Tuesday Colter, Brooklyn and I went to Christa's house. Christa and I made spider cupcakes while the kids played. Also on Tuesday 2 more of Brooklyn's teeth came out. I didn't even know she was teething(women are tougher with pain even from infancy is my philosophy).
On Wednesday we went to the ward carnival/trunker treat. There were quite a few games. One had gold fish as a prize. Last year our fish survived for less than a day. I'm glad that Colter didn't get any this year. Our YW/RS had a touch and feel room called fear factory. It was pretty cool. There was a brain(cauliflower), hearts(canned whole tomatoes), guts(noodles with jello), eyes(peeled grapes), scabs(the grape skins), fingernails(sunflower seed shells), and maggots(overcooked rice with oil). There was also a haunted gingerbread village that the ym made, and jars of specimens. I should have taken picture, but I forgot. There best part was Rebeca had her head stuck through a candy bowl and would scare everyone when they went to get candy on the way out.
On Thursday Nick had to go to a stake primary training meeting in Prescott. Colter and I carved pumpkins while he was gone. Of course Brooklyn was right there to taste everything. She actually like gnawing on the pumpkin flesh.
Then finally on Friday it was Halloween! There was a home football game, so most people went trick or treating early, that was nice. Nick went to Phoenix to paintball with some pals(I see where his priorities are). We went with the Brimhalls and Colter was excited to go with Logan and Canyon. They were a cactus and a little Mexican man. It was so cute. We also went to Tara and Drew Johnson's for a Halloween party. They go ALL out for Halloween. I'm glad my kids don't get easily scared because they had lots of creepy things in their house. My favorite was the lamp flickered.
Now we(at least me) are ready for a weekend of nothingness.

6 Quirks

2008-10-28T08:55:00.002-07:00

Ok, since I've been tagged with this twice, I should probably do it. It was hard to think of my own quirks. And unlike John, Nick wouldn't help me, I think he did want to get in trouble. He said sweet things like "I don't think about your quirks, they are part of you and I love you."

1. I hate tomatoes. I cant stand cutting the and feeling them and cant stand them on sandwiches, salads, stews, etc. But I love chunky salsa with chunks of tomatoes.

2. I have to have the bed made before getting in. There's even been times when I go to bed after Nick's asleep and I take of the sheet and blanket and remake the bed with him in it.

3. I don't like touching feet or anyone touching mine. I would never give or receive a pedicure. I won't even let Nick touch my feet.

4. I am very forgetful. I'll write lists of thing to do or buy. I'll forget where the list is or forget to bring it to the store.

5. I have a hard time finishing a project before starting a new one. Right now I have 2 craft projects going and am looking for a new one.

6. I can't say specific. Well...I can now-I've practiced. I have to think about how to say it before I say it slowly. I won't use it in casual conversation because it doesn't always come out sounding right.

I tag Jennie Davenport, Christa Johnson, Crystal Kestler, Alyssa Mangum, and Cim Alder.

Why 3 year olds shouldn't babysit

2008-10-23T08:21:00.003-07:00

Nick asks me why I don't like making phone calls (besides visiting) while the kids are "playing". I usually wait until Brooklyn's asleep and Colter's resting to make any. If not they're both screaming where I cant talk and the person I'm talking to says "Would you prefer to call me back at a more convenient time" (yes that's happened) or they destroy the house. Today I needed to call to get the internet up and running again. When I got of the phone this is what I found. At least I got the call made and no one got hurt, just a sugar high.

New Addition

2008-10-20T15:21:00.002-07:00

This is our new addition to the family, Bandit. He's Zorro's puppy. Colter just wants to hold and play with him all the time. He only weighs 2.5 pounds. And still smells like a puppy. The best thing is that he came to us from the Garcias almost house broke. He started to whine and so I took him outside and he went. We're really happy to have another puppy, and I think Zorro will like the canine company.

Caged Animal

2008-10-20T15:04:00.003-07:00

This weekend Nick and Colter went to Pima while Brooklyn and I stayed home. The boys had fun quality time together. This is what I do when the boys are gone, find wild animals:) Brooklyn got herself stuck under the laundry basket. She was of course mad and screamed at the top of her lungs. We also went scrapbooking. It was fun. I am glad to have the boys back now. The house seems so much quieter without Colter's constant chattering. With scrapbooking, I was looking at lots of pictures from when he was a baby, and I noticed how much he's grown since then. The past 3 years have just flown by, I cant believe that next year he's going to be in preschool.

How is it that one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

2008-10-13T09:10:00.004-07:00

This weekend we went camping with my parents and my grandparents. Nick went quail hunting. It was a little colder that I liked. When it was warm enough, we went on a ride to go frog hunting, of course we only caught them on the camera. Zorro hates water, but when it came to trying to catch frogs, he willingly went into the river. I grew up in a family with a morbid sense of entertainment. We went graveyard searching. Yes thats right we like looking for graves, at least we don't bring shovels with us. We then went exploring an old mine. It was crazy thinking that they carved and laid all of the stones by hand.
Like all our camping trips, we had some great dutch oven food. Nick usually does the cleaning, which involves starting a fire, and he paid attention in Boy Scouts I bet he could start a roaring fire blindfolded. He was busy trying to find birds, so I did the cleaning. It takes me forever to get a fire started. Good thing we have a surplus of matches. I'm better at making smoke, not a fire.
I was being a sensitive mom and worried what Colter would think of seeing dead birds. He had no problem, he kept wanting to hold and play with them. He would say "This bird doesnt fly, daddy shoot it so its dead." He was even carrying around a headless bird telling my mom and I that it was a broken dead bird.
This was probably our last camping trip for the year, its getting too cold in the arizonian sense.

On the road again

2008-10-01T14:12:00.004-07:00

Yes, we're at the point of saying "what is Brooklyn in now" This has been her favorite place to go. Now I know why trees indoors aren't good. Its almost fallen over on her a few times. She likes the taste of the leaves and of course the dirt. It looks like we're going to have another climber.

This weekend we were going to stay home, but of course we didn't. Nick had to work in Morenci on Saturday and Monday. So we spent the weekend and part of the week there...well in Pima. Colter had a lot of fun. I think the earliest he went to bed the whole time was 9:30. And of course he was always up by 7. Both him and Brooklyn slept the whole car trip, so now I'm the only one exausted from the trip. I'm a slacker and didn't take any pictures, but I'll tell you the highlights. Colter and Riley played. Zorro played with Mia, Steven and Cim's great dane-very funny. Colter and Riley played. Brooklyn got stuck in a shelf. We stayed up late playing cards with some friends (ok...we're getting old it was only til 9:30). Colter and Riley played. Well you get the picture. As we were leaving Pima yesterday Colter was asking if we could go back to Rileys house.

It was a fun weekend but I'm sad that I missed our RS service auction and conference. I am ready to stay home and not have to pack for any more trips...Oh and being waited on hand and foot, but I'm realistic and probably neither one will happen. I think we have the first weekend in 2010 set aside for us to stay home. And maybe when I'm in a nursing home I'll get waited on, but by then I won't remember the next day.

hodgepodge

2008-09-17T16:23:00.004-07:00

Redneck swimming

Brooklyn kept getting stuck in her bed
The solution to the problem
Colter wanted Nick to lay down in his bed, Nick was the one who fell asleep.
The family's jungle gym
Yes, Brooklyn had found the dog food.

Yes I know the pictures don't really go together but they were all sharable. Not too much has been happening. We've gone through pink eye, no a/c, ear infections, colds, teething, stomachaches, and everything in between. Brooklyn FINALLY has 2 teeth. It only took months of slobbering and gnawing on everything. We were going to stay home this last weekend, we can't even remember when the last time we've stayed home. But we went to Phoenix to see some friends and to go to the temple with my mom, brother and his wife, Tawna. Its hard to pass up a temple trip when someone offers to babysit. We hope to stay home the weekend of the 27th...we'll see. Zorro's now a daddy. Daisy (Zorro Gal) had 3 puppies on labor day. Two males and one female. They brought them over. They were only about 3 inches long. When they're old enough, we're going to get one of the males. Not much else has been happening in our lives.

Riley's Mountain

2008-09-04T19:29:00.004-07:00

Colter, Riley, & Seth
Kashlee & AidenSteven, Jody, Shar, & Brooklyn

This past weekend we went camping...again. We went to our friends family cabin on Mt. Graham. It rained almost the whole time. Of course it stopped on Monday right before we left. We still had fun even though it was wet and cold. Colter calls it Riley's mountain because the only time he can remember going there is to see Riley. It doesn't matter the weather or any other conditions, Colter always has fun. The first night we were there, we saw a rat inside the cabin. Chauncy got out a bb gun to get it. After waiting awhile, the rat was in a place he could shoot it. Once after the bb ricochet of the rat, Nick picked up the bb and hand it back to Chauncy to shoot him again. When it was declared dead, Chauncy brought it in to show all the girls. He was holding it by the tail with pliers. It started twitching and its tail broke off. The joke for the rest of the weekend was about the rat. that the rats daddy was going to find someone during the night, and that they should have had it mounted and left in the cabin as a reminder. One other crazy thing that happened was one night all the dogs were going CRAZY. They would not stop barking. Nobody understood why they were going berserk. Then when we got home we saw that there were bear prints on the trunk of our car.

Teach a man to fish...

2008-08-26T17:45:00.003-07:00

Brooklyn's idea of fishing (its a toy fish in her mouth)

Colter spent about 90% of the time in the water. Maybe he thought he would have better luck catching them by hand.

Good thing Nick was there, who else would bait my hook?

This weekend we went fishing in Williams with my dad, his parents, and my cousin Arliene and her husband Tom. We went up Friday afternoon and left after dark on Saturday. Both our kids were so excited about camping that they woke up before 5am and wouldn't go back to sleep. Camping with my Granny is great! She fixed lots of great food. And nothing beats eating the fish you just caught. My Dad cooked the fish and his motto is "The fish you eat tonight was sleeping in the lake last night." Like all our camping trips, it ended too soon and we wish we were still there on the lake right now.

Sweet as Candy

2008-08-26T17:33:00.003-07:00

Brooklyn has found out now that she is mobile, she can find really cool things. She was behind a chair saying "mum-mum" and this is what I found. Good thing it was before her bath and not after. Brooklyn is as sweet as candy. She loves to give hugs and kisses, especially to Colter.

Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum

2008-08-18T16:59:00.003-07:00

Once I became a mom, I realized that quietness is invaluable. Of course it doesn't happen often(only when they both take a nap). Today Colter decided to make beautiful music with his "drums". Brooklyn army-crawled her way over as fast as she could(which by all the rug burns she gets doesn't seem to be a good mode of transportation). Brooklyn couldn't figure out how to be as loud as Colter, but was just as content watching Colter. Brooklyn wants to do everything her big brother does. He can make her laugh so hard. It might have been noisy, but I'm glad they have fun being kids.

johncrow always tink im picney pretty

2008-08-07T17:10:00.005-07:00

Okay, I couldn't help showing these pictures. Colter came out of a junk box with this hat on. He cracks me up. Oh and "johncrow always tink im picney pretty" is Jamaican slang for parents always think their children are beautiful. His hair reminds me of Jamaican.

Mum Mum

2008-08-06T09:25:00.002-07:00

I just thought these pictures were cute. Colter loves to feed Brooklyn, and well Brooklyn loves to eat. She would rather have what Colter is having, but baby food will do. She's started saying mum mum when were eating because she wants some. So far she's liked everything but green beans, I dont blame her.

A Camping We Will Go

2008-08-05T19:37:00.009-07:00

Brooklyn wanted down in the dirt, but would settle for just being outside
Colter and Sam trying to stay clean

Colter kept adding thing to the fire
Colter and Helen roasting marshmallows
This last weekend we went camping with Dave and Jennie Davenport with their 18 month old, Sam and Brand and Tiff Steward with their two girls Helen, 10 and Cass 12. We camped up by Mormon Lake near Flagstaff. It was a lot of fun. Colter of course loved it. He was mad when we were going back to our house, he wanted to stay in the trailer. Nick, Dave, Brand, and Tiff went paintballing(there wasn't enough guns for everyone). Nick is still finding welts from it. We also went to Slide Rock by Sedona. I was a little unsure about going. It looked packed and the line was long-once we could even get in line. But it was well worth the wait. The water was freezing cold but both Colter and Brooklyn didn't care. They love being in the water. Nick took Colter down some of the slower slides(I guess that what they're called). He was mad that we wouldn't take him down the faster ones. Brooklyn just loved to splash around. Brooklyns favorite thing was ants. We put her on a blanket while eating and she kept trying to eat the ants. Colter also loved the fire. When I was getting charcoal ready for dinner, Colter wouldn't leave it alone. When the fire was started he wanted to roast marshmallows, but it was too hot so he sat far from it and his marshmallow didnt even get warm. It was a great weekend and we are ready to go back.

Say Cheese...Chuck E Cheese

2008-07-20T12:25:00.003-07:00

Colter blowing out his candles. His cousins Maya and Logan are next to him.
Colter cousin Brenen. He's only 1 month older than Brooklyn, and just as cute.
Brooklyn thought the night was too exausting. Good thing Grandma was there.
Maya REALLY wanted to "help" Colter open presents. Shes funny.

Colter went to Chuck E Cheese's with his cousins for his birthday. It was so much fun! Colter just ran around from one game to the next. We were lucky to have my parents there. They watched Brooklyn while Nick and I ran around playing games. Colter didn't want to stop for anything. Not even presents. After finally convicing him that he had to come open presents, he went straight back to more games. We were there for about two hours, it went by so fast. When it was finally time to go, Colter took off running. We lost him(sounds familiar). It took us and my sister and her husband about 5-10minutes to find him. There was a tunnel to crawl in that goes over everything. He was in that. All in all it was a blast!

Daddy's Little Helper

2008-07-19T11:34:00.003-07:00

Nick can't be outside doing anything without Colter right there helping. We had to get Colter his own wheelbarrow and tools. The full size was to hard for him to handle. A few people complained about getting hit in the head with the shovel handle. Colter was helping Nick move dirt around. The only thing he doesn't like about helping is mommy saying it's time to come in.

Let the Good Times Roll

2008-07-19T11:23:00.003-07:00

Brooklyn has figured out that she can get anywhere now that she's rolling. It's now time to keep things picked up. She found some paper and decided to taste test it. I wonder what food group that's in.

I'm ready for my close-up!

2008-07-19T10:22:00.000-07:00

I'm BEAUtiful

Colter got into my make-up. I didn't even know he was in it until he came to me and said "Mommy, look. I'm beautiful!" It took everything I had not to bust up laughing. I was glad that he only got in on his face. Of course it was last through any form of washing mascara, so it stayed on for a couple of days. I did tell him when he was crying about not getting his way that at least his mascara wasn't running.