Colorado Trip

We just got back from our trip to Colorado. Okay, it's almost been a week but I'm still recuperating. Daniel (my youngest brother) just got home from the Philippines. He was on a mission for 2 years for our church. We had a mini family reunion for a few days and we loved it! I just wish it could've been longer. Lexi and Kendri had a great time with all the aunts and uncles and cousins. And who could forget the grandparents! My dad made the girls (meaning Amber's kids and my kids) milkshakes just about every night. He would make them while they were busy playing and then line them up on the kitchen island. Kendri would always take a "break" from playing to go look up at the island for the row of 4 little cups. When she saw them all lined up she knew Pa had brought the ice cream out! Here's a picture of Abby, Kendri, Brooklyn, and Lexi eating their nightly snack....






Brooklyn absolutely loves babies. And since Kyson is bit more durable than her 2 month old brother, he fell (dare I say it) victim to her loves:) Actually she was very soft with him and liked to crawl around to keep him company. As you can see from the picture he looks about the same size as she is but that didn't stop her from holding him! Cousin love.....








And Amber decided that it would be a good weekend to learn how to make a "wedding cake". (No, there is no wedding coming up. But I did pull out my wedding dress while we were there. I did it for the little girls and told them I was a princess. And no, I couldn't zip it all the way up. I tried. Really hard. Let's all take a moment to remember this is 7 years and 3 children later. But my children didn't judge. They thought I was beautiful:). Okay, fine. I know you're dying to see the picture. Here it is, and please withhold the laughter. Notice the girls posing as princesses....





Anyway, back to the cake.....Our friend, Joan, knows how to do Everything - with a capital E. She was teaching us how to make the flowers and how to work with fondant. It took quite a long time but I thought it was delicious. We had a 3-tiered cake with buttercream and fondant on top. I would show you the final product but I think all would agree that it tasted better than it looked. One too many daisies. It was a learning experience. Here we are making the flowers. Breanna, Amber, me, and Joan hard at work. Lexi was also a big helper.



So, these are just a few of the things that we did while in Colorado. We went up to Denver a day early so that Ryan and I could go the temple while my mom watched the kids. (Thanks, mom!) It's been a while so it was so nice to be able to go again! We also got some shopping done while we were there and Ryan finally got a to see a little bit more of my hometown state. (I mean, seeing Lamar is generally enough but Ryan is a little more "high maintenance":) Overall, we had a great time and can't wait til the next trip!

Pumpkin Update

Well, here is the update for the "4th child" in the family. It has been 3 1/2 weeks since the last picture. Notice any difference?? Scroll down and compare the two pictures! I think he's grown quite a bit in the last month. There are still 5 weeks left until Halloween so we're hoping for great things. Maybe a mutant pumpkin or something. I think Ryan was hoping for bigger at this stage. (Not sure why. But I did catch him chanting the "peter peter pumpkin eater" nursery rhyme as he drenched his pumpkin in plant food. You know the "had a wife and couldn't keep her" part. I'm wondering if I should be worried about that...;) Actually I kinda think the growth is slowing down so I'm not sure if it will be much bigger than this or not for the carving party. Stay tuned unil next time.....

Who is that baby??

What? You don't recognize this baby? All I can say is Kyson got his first haircut. And as the scissors cut off his hair a little piece of his mommy was cut off too (sniff). I am still recuperating (and in mourning) from the experience.

I loved his long old-man-comb-over hair. And maybe it is just because I am his mother. But it had to be done. His hair on the back of his head and down the middle was probably 3 inches long. Which means it blew in the wind. Actually "flapped" would be a more accurate description. I still loved it. But I had put it off long enough.

And can I say that this is the shortest his hair has ever been. I mean, he was born with 3 times the amount of hair that he now has. His baby hair never fell out. It just started to grow in blonde so he had blonde roots and dark tips. I called him my punk rocker baby. But now it's gone. And yes, he still has hair people! But the fact is all of his dark hair is gone and in its place is white blonde. This gives him the appearance of being a baldy. Hence the reason that his mommy is still recuperating.

In fact, I specifically took these pictures outside so the camera could even see his hair. My male hairstylist promised me that Kyson's hair would grow back thicker and faster. We'll see. I'm just glad that I didn't let him buzz it with a 1. Yikes!

My little photographers

One of the favorite past times for Lexi and Kendri is taking pictures. Anytime they see the camera lying around they have this incessant need to pick it up and take pictures. Of anything. I have found the strangest things on my camera that I never even knew they had taken. Luckily our camera is old and Ryan and I are not too concerned about it so we don't necessarily worry when they are doing a "photo shoot". They also enjoy posing for the camera. Take a look at their latest work.
Here is Kendri posing for Lexi.
(Cute right? Keep going...)


A little serious, but not too bad.


And then we get to the real creativity.


What can I say? We have a serious model in our midst.

Siblings

Everyone keeps telling me that Kyson looks like Ryan but I am hear to disagree. I took this picture of Lexi and Kyson and I think they totally look alike. And Lexi is a my mini-me. Which means Kyson has to look like me, right? Let's take a poll.... And on a totally unrelated subject, here are the girls before church. Don't ask me how I had time to not only curl their hair but also to take a picture because I don't really know. Since Ryan has started his new calling as ward clerk, I am on my own on Sunday mornings. I guess maybe when you allow 3 hours to get ready you're bound to have a few minutes to take some snap shots. Sometimes. There may have been some mild traffic infractions involved. But we made it on time. Anyway, I had to document it since who knows when it will happen again?

Ryan's New Baby....ohhh, isn't it cute?

Does anyone want to know what this is a picture of? Come on.....you know what that looks like. I'll give you a hint.....think orange and spooky. Yep, a pumpkin.

Not just any pumpkin mind you. This "little" guy is a mere 3 weeks old. THREE WEEKS old. I don't know if you can really get a feel for the size....maybe you can see my hand at the edge of the picture. Not grotesquely huge by any means....yet. Now for those of you who aren't in the pumpkin raising field, let me tell you a little something. There are still, oh, 8 weeks left till Halloween. That means there are 8 weeks left to water and care for and GROW. We have a massive pumpkin. Our last "massive" pumpkin was this size at the end of October. Meaning it was full grown and orange and not going to get any bigger and it was still the biggest in the neighborhood.

But alas, this is no surprise to us. My husband is crazy. He planted this seed knowing full well that what he was planting was not your typical pumpkin. The seed came from some giant contest winning pumpkin. The average size for the pumpkins coming from these seeds is only 500 pounds. (Did I mention my husband is crazy?? Just making sure because I've also caught him feeding his "baby" plant food on a consistent basis just to make sure it grows enormous)

So, now we have a giant pumpkin growing. Where do you ask? Maybe in the back yard where we can care for it in the privacy of our own home. Oh, no. Smack dab in the front of my house. Because what would we do if our pumpkin really did grow to 500 pounds? How would we ever move a gigantic pumpkin to the front of the house for Halloween? Well, I can tell you I sure wasn't going to be picking up that sucker. So Ryan decided the only option was to disregard our Home Owner's Association and plant it in prime view (meaning right where the whole world can watch the freakish plant grow.) So far no complaints from the neighbors. I'm guessing maybe around the 200 pound mark we may start hearing from some. I can't very well hide it. I'm not really sure what it weighs right now but I do know that it isn't unusual for these things to grow 6 pounds a day. Yep, folks you read that right. 6 whoppin' pounds a day. And I thought puppies grew fast.

In my house....

1. I just got my baby to sleep after 40 minutes of pacing his bedroom floor. (My big toe has been numb ever since...maybe I was bouncing too much??? There's got to be an easier way)

2. I can hear the party going on at my neighbors' house. Which will mean that I will still hear them at 2:00 am.....again.

3. I'm wondering how long my bottom lip will be numb since I started talking before my liquid canker sore medicine fully dried. oops.(The canker sore is on my top lip:))

4. I'm making a mental note to call the juror's office on Monday to see if I can get out of jury duty. (Nursing totally has it's benefits!)

5. I really need to find some cute fabric to re-cover my couch pillows. The stuffing is hanging out and pulling on it has become a favorite past time of my 3 year old.

6. I could really use some ice cream right about now. Good thing I stocked up last week when it was on sale! "Very Cherry" has been my personal favorite for the last couple of years. YUM!

7. I'm hoping my new book is an "attention grabber"...it's been awhile since I've had one of those. Any recommendations?

8. I'm thinking Lexi looked really cute for soccer pictures today...but the team banner was a total BUST! (I can't really say too much about it because I did not volunteer any ideas or offer to help......hmmm.)

9. I can still smell the enchilada's we had for dinner tonight. Mmmmm. I really planned ahead and made enough to freeze for another night down the road. Whooohooo!

And last but not least...

10. I'm dreaming of bed!