Time to Give It a Try (AGAIN!)

Alright folks, here we go again.  Another attempt at blogging.  It's been quite awhile (a year and a half!), but I find myself thinking daily "I really should blog about this!!".  So, it must be time for me to give it a try again. 

In the last year and a half a LOT has changed.  Nathan took a new job at BYU.  Completely different job than he has had in the past.  He is now an advisor for the multicultural office.  He's loving it. 

With the job change, we needed to move.  A 3 hour daily commute was not fun for any of us.  So, we packed up and moved to Provo!  We are doing great here!  There are things, and so many dear friends and family, that we miss from South Ogden.  But we are in a great area, and have made some great friends!! 

We added child #5 to our tribe.  Carter.  We all love him to pieces.  He just started walking this week!  He is 11 months. 

Tonight is just a quick catch up.  I promise another post in the next couple days . . .

why awesome?

So, in my last post I had mentioned that Elijah keeps asking me how to spell "awesome". Honestly, it is a daily question. I finally realized today why he is determined to know how to spell "awesome" . . . he thinks it is the password to log onto the laptop! I must have told him, one of the million times he's asked me what the password was, that it was "awesome". Too funny!!

Everything else is going good. The other night I was up till 1, and had thought of some great things to blog about. Unfortunately I didn't write them down, so I don't have anything clever and witty to share. Oh well.

Noah has decided hat he LOVES soccer. He plays all the time (when it's not raining, or snowing, or cold). Lucky for him his twin brother likes to play too, so there's always someone to play opposite of. Oh, and Noah was crazy excited for the earthquake drill yesterday. Van's handwriting is still terrible! And by terrible, I mean, even he can't read his own handwriting. He can do it if he slows down, but getting him to slow down is the problem. Love that kid, but he's always thinking of what's next, not what's in front of him. Marlee finally has her own room again. She's in heaven. And she has another fieldtrip this week. Elijah is Elijah. He's just a happy kid. Except for last night when I threw out the last half of his pb & j that had sat out ALL DAY LONG. He cried and cried and cried some more. Than he stopped and went in the kitchen to eat his dinner. At least that's what I had thought. Wrong. He pulled his half eaten pb & j out of the garbage and was just ready to eat it. Luckily I walked in and stopped him before he took a bite. Then he cried and cried, and cried some more. (I'm such a mean mom.)

Here's a couple of pics from Easter. Enjoy.

Miss Marlee

yellow tie = Noah. red tie = Van

there, that's better.

Noah, Elijah, Vance, and Marlee

a fresh start ?

Ok, it's been waaaaayy too long since I've done the blog thingy. It's time to start again. I was going to catch you all up on the last few months, but have decided to just start fresh with today. . . .

We are still trying to sell our house. The market is finally coming to life. There is hope. I hate that Nathan has to drive so far every stinking day, but I really don't want to leave South Ogden.

We fixed our lemon of a car. Fingers crossed (and a couple thousand dollars), it should work good now. When we got it back yesterday, Marlee said how much she likes the car. I told her it was a good thing, since it will probably be her car when she's 16. (Heaven help me it's only 6 years away. it's really not that far!!)

The kids are doing great at school. The boys have done great this year in separate classes. (I'd like to think I have done great with them in separate classes too. LOL) Marlee is doing great too! She's smart, responsible, kind, and helpful. What more could I ask for?! Tama (Elijah) is learning his letters. He asks me everyday how to spell "awesome". I'm not sure why that's such an important word for him, but it is a daily question.

Nathan's loving his new job. Only 2 weeks till the Luau that he's in charge of, it's quite the event!. We're all excited to go and see it though. It should be fantastic. He is really enjoying the advising part of his job. It's been a big change, but one that he really loves!

Yes, I am pregnant. Starting to really show now. Hopefully not just looking "heavier". I am due mid September, but we will be having this little baby a few weeks earlier than that. We'll find out the end of April what "flavor" we are having. I have been looking for my maternity clothes for 2 weeks. Last night I found one small grocery bag that consisted of 1 pair of pants that need mending, a sweater that might fit Marlee, and 2 shirts that are 10 years old. NICE. (sarcasm) Then I remembered that after Elijah, I sold my stuff, thinking that IF I was to get pregnant again I would just get new clothes. Smart idea? Not so sure. ;)

There ya go, a "quick" update. Keep checking back. I promise to write more . . .

It's a Kiwi Christmas!!

Nathan wanted to dress up like Santa Claus. (He remembers his Uncle James doing this once when he was little) . . .

Marlee couldn't stop laughing . . .

Van had fun . . .

Noah couldn't stop giggling . . .

Elijah thought it was great . . .

Merry Kiwi Christmas y'all!!

First Day of School

Here they are . . .

Van, Marlee, Noah, and please ignore the strange face that Tama is trying to make

Timpanogos

For Nathan's birthday this year, I thought it would be fun (adventurous) for us to summit Mount Timpanogos (11,749 feet). We woke up early, excited, and a bit anxious. The weather was going to be perfect. It was the start to a great day!! We started hiking about 6 am. The trail was nice and quite.

Watching the sun rise was beautiful. I think Nathan took over a dozen photos of it. We decided it looked just like a Bob Ross paining.

Now this wasn't our first time attempting to summit this mountain. I tried once in college and only made it to Emerald Lake (10,380 ft) Nathan and I tried once when we lived in Aspen Grove, but we were ill prepared. Not enough water, and terrible blisters made us turn around after only 2 hours of hiking. So, we figured "3rd times the charm" spelled success for us this time around!!

I love these waterfalls!!

Last time I saw them, they were just a trickle! As we were walking we kept saying over and over how we couldn't believe how much water there was!! There were so many places that we had to cross streams. I just didn't remember that from the last time I hiked. (But it had been over a decade ago)

We started passing some areas that had seen multiple avalanches over the years. There were lots of gnarly trees like this . . .

And then we started crossing a snow field.

Yes! It were very slippery.

And then we crossed another. And then another.

And then we started thinking . . . well, Utah has had record snow fall this year. I knew we would eventually have to cross some snow. I just thought it would be at the top, like 10,000 feet. I suppose we should have looked at this site before we left. oops. Ice picks, and crampons required?! It's the middle of July!

So, at about 9,500 feet, we admitted we had been defeated yet again.

Mount Timpanogos 3, Ormsbys 0!

But we did have lots of fun, and that's really what it's all about.

Love ya Nathan!! Happy Birthday.

What to do when it's hot . . .

You can sell Otter Pops during South Ogden Days . . .

Business was slow this year. Not sure why.

But they did make $21. Good job kiddos!

Otter Pops not your favorite?
You can go over to the mud volleyball pit, and roll around in it.

Guaranteed you'll cool off pretty quick

and have a BLAST!!

Easter Weekend

Our Easter weekend was great!! We had lots of fun,

and we ate waaaayyyy toooooo much candy . . .

Poor Vance (and Noah too, but we didn't photograph him). They really ate too much. In a "sick" way, (pun intended) Nathan is proud that his boys finish off Easter the same way he did as a kid.

We started the weekend at Washington Terrace City's egg hunt. I thought about maybe going to South Ogden's hunt instead, since it's just around the corner from us, but it seemed wrong. We've spent all week helping Nathan fill eggs for the Terrace. Besides, the kids are convinced that it's their Dad's hunt. The egg hunt went well. Close to 1,000 people there. The kids got a ton of candy. I didn't take any pictures this time. I just enjoyed it.

The afternoon and evening was spent at Grandma's and Grandpa's. The real highlight of the day for the kids was that they got to see Samson, their new cousin, for the first time! They talk non-stop about him. Can ya blame them? He's pretty cute!!

We did 2 eggs hunts at Grandma and Grandpa's. One was for their Easter baskets and chocolate eggs. Lots of candy, they were in heaven. Marlee was very competitive this year.

We had to tell her to hold back a bit, or I think she would have found/taken EVERYTHING.

The other hunt was outside for the "real" eggs. Again, lots of fun. Elijah was so careful to put his eggs in his basket without cracking them. Unfortunately he tripped in the gutter, and all his eggs spilled out and were seriously smashed.

We attempted to get a cute photo of us, but it didn't seem to go very well.

There, this one is much better!!

Sunday morning we gave the kids their chocolate bunnies.

Van kept saying all day long, "This is the best Easter EVER!!"

Noah was pretty happy too.

And then we made them wait till after church for our egg hunt.

(I wanted them in their Easter clothes)

Noah and Vance

Marlee's "glowing" a bit in this picture. It's just proof that the sun really was shining.

Vance, Elijah (who was tired, grumpy, and had just fallen off a rock), and Noah

Elijah, Marlee, Noah, Vance

It was fun, and the weather cooperated all weekend. Yeah!

Snow Can Be Fun!!?!

Would You?

Happy Valentines Day.
Vance is in the short sleeves, and Noah's in the stripes.

95!!

My beautiful Grandmother recently turned 95. What an amazing woman!!

She had 10 children, and now has 200+ posterity from those original 10. And she can keep all of us straight!

4 Generations of women = AWESOME!!

Love you Grandma!!

Spring 2010

Some old footage from last spring 2010. We miss you warm sun, come back soon.

You want WHAT for lunch?

On the way home from school this afternoon, I asked the boys what they wanted for lunch.
Noah: "I want a hot dog, and Van wants phytoplankton."
Me: "What? He wants what?"
Noah: "P.H.Y.T.O.P.L.A.N.K.T.O.N (said very very slowly). Van loves to eat it."
Van: "No I don't Noah, I want a tuna fish sandwich"
Noah: "I know Van, phytoplankton are eaten by the middle fish, and the tuna eat the middle fish. You eat the tuna that has the phytoplankton inside it!"
Van: "Oh yeah."
Me: "Where did you learn this? Did you learn it at school today?"
Van: "No, we learned about snowman's."
Noah: "I learned it on The Magic School Bus."



Thank you Magic School Bus for educating my children.

Birthday Week

Last week was a week of birthday parties. Sunday Marlee and I celebrated our birthday's together at my parents house.

It's always fun when we have a party together for our birthday

Tuesday we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. It was impromptu, and superfun to have my parents and my in-laws there too. That night the WORST, most UNFLATTERING picture EVER, was taken of me that night. You can use your imagination, but it involved me sitting on a horse saddle. I was a good sport, but that picture must be burned!!!! However, I will put this picture of Vance up instead. He decided not to make me a birthday card, but a birthday hat for his zhu zhu pet instead.


Marlee had a birthday party on Wednesday with her girlfriends. Here's the equation for her fantastic party :
9 giggly girls + jumbo soft pretzels + Taylor Swift music +

kit kat/m&m cake +

bracelet making = 2.5 hours of total bliss for 8 year old girls

Thursday Marlee got her ears pierced. I don't have a picture of this, but she was very brave. They pierced both ears at the same time, thank goodness, I don't know if she would have gone through with the second one. She has been diligent at keeping them clean. She feels very grown up about it all.

And then there was Saturday. Saturday she was baptized. I can almost talk about it now without crying.

It was a beautiful day and evening.