Mya's Baptism

It was really important for us to baptize Mya before we left for Austin. My doctor in Vegas and my new Doctor in Austin really didn't want me to wait and stay in Vegas another week just for this, but this was really important to Mya, and to me, and I wanted to give her this last opportunity to do something special with her family, friends, and loved ones. We made all the arrangements for her to be baptized, and the Bishop was nice enough to arrange for her to be baptized on her birthday!

Mya completely took over the preparations and let me know how the program was going to go. She had everything planned...who was doing what and when. She even made arrangements for someone to play the piano. I couldn't believe how much older she seemed already. Truth be told, I was more than happy to let her take over (I was so overwhelmed with the move and trying to keep the baby in) that it was one less thing I had to do. This was her thing and I didn't want to step in her way.

This was a moment for me... My first little girl was getting baptized! I was extremely emotional the entire day. However, even my crazy emotions couldn't mess up this perfect day. The baptism was perfect, and Mya did a great job. Thank you so much to all that participated in the program, and also to all those that attended Mya's special day. You all contributed to the wonderful Spirit that was present.

Thank you also to all of our special friends that helped make the day run smoothly:

Julie - Thank you for housing my family and I while we were homeless. Thank you for allowing so many people into your house to celebrate Mya's special day. Thank you for all the wonderful things you did for me and our family during our final days in Vegas. Thank you thank you thank you. I love you!

Roz - I can always count on you, no matter what. You are my sister, and I love you!!

Thank you Heavenly Father for bringing me one of my best friends! She is a wonderful daughter and a friend to all that know her. She is sweet and sensitive, and she LOVES to have fun. Oh, I love her so!

Celine's Kindergarten Graduation

Accepted to UT

Jeff got a phone call from the Asst. Director of Admissions at the University of Texas at Austin on Friday letting him know that they were accepting him into the 2011 graduating class (2 year program). She said that applications had been very strong this year, and they have been extremely picky with their applicants. She said that they were sorry for getting back to us so late in the process but that they really wanted Jeff to attend their program. Jeff immediately responded with "I'm sorry, but we already decided that if we didn't hear from you by the middle of May that we would not go anywhere this year and apply again next year. My wife is pregnant and due in August, so it would be very difficult for us to pick up and move now" (he got this call on Friday, June 26). She said that she understood, but that she would like us to take the weekend and discuss it (which was very nice of them).

My first reaction was absolutely not! I cannot pull off a move on such short notice! However, we had a lot of amazing things happen to us over the course of the weekend, and we finally knew that Texas was where we were supposed to be. We accepted on Tuesday, June 30. Texas, here we come!!

Happy Birthday Celine

Happy Birthday to my darling Celine!

Celine's favorite book is Fancy Nancy. She really wanted to have a Fancy Nancy themed birthday, so I did my best to make it as fancy as I could. Celine was in heaven! :)

Each girl got a homemade skirt, a flower corsage, and a purse with goodies inside.

I used the fake watches from the dollar store and turned it into a beautiful corsage.

Yummy!

The fanciest tea party ever!

For the activity we decorated crowns with jewels.

My little helpers.

Come Follow Me

We were going over the FHE lesson tonight, and we were talking about following Christ and the different ways to follow Him. We asked the girls this question: "If Jesus Christ came to you and said 'Come follow Me,' would they go?"

Mya said "Yes I would go."

And then our sweet little Celine said "No, because then you wouldn't know where I was."

She was worried that we wouldn't be able to find her. So cute! We started to explain a bit more and she said.. "Oh yea, Jesus will let you know somehow... It's Jesus!"

A child's mind

I really wish I could remember what it was like to be a kid again, or just to be able to think like a kid or to somewhat understand their thought process! Why is it that no matter how many times you tell a child not to do something they do it anyway? Whether it is their curiosity that drives them or just their desire to see your reaction (or maybe sometimes them not even thinking at all), the things kids do just amaze me. For example....

Why in the world would Liv wipe her poopy bum on her beautiful white towel that has her name embroidered on it?

Or why does Celine use a whole role of toilet paper every time she goes to the bathroom?

Or what about the time they wanted to surprise me and mop the floor... They dumped a bunch of water onto the tile and followed it up by pouring Dawn dish soap all over the floor. It became one big soapy mess! Have they ever seen me mop that way??? NO!!!

Or when I asked Liv to clean up the bathroom, and she thought it would be faster to just throw everything in the toilet.... Oh yea, and then she went to the bathroom on top of all of it! Really? Hello??

and the list goes on..

I find myself repeating.... "Hmmm, that probably wasn't a good idea" or "That wasn't a very good choice" or "I think you should learn from this so it doesn't happen again." All I get is "Sorry Mom."

Boy they are lucky I love them soooo much!

The unexpected moment

Today was the day that I had to take Liv in to get her updated on her shots. I don't know what it is, but I alway get so wigged out when I have to get the girls their shots. I just think they are way too young to be putting this stuff in their body, but I know they have to have it at some point. I was a bit nervous to take Liv in thinking that the doctor was going to think I was this bad Mom for waiting to get all her immunizations, but it had to be done. I had been hearing about this Doctor Carry for a while and I was excited to check her out. Everything was going great and I was immediately impressed with the office, the staff, and Dr. Carry! As we were visiting with her Liv was being totally shy and wouldn't say a thing. Dr. Carry brought her chair close to Liv, bent down and said.. "Hey sweetie can you tell me your name?" She was wanting to get Livia to talk. I said to Liv "come on tell the Doctor your name." As we were sitting there in silence waiting for Livia to say her name... it happened. All of the sudden Liv let out the biggest, smelliest fart ever!! Dr. Carry and I laughed so hard we couldn't even speak for about 1-2 minutes. All I could say through the crying laughter was.... "I did not name her that!!!" Well the visit went great and before Dr. Carry left the room she turned around and said... "I will never forget you Livia!"

More of Celine's beauty tips!

We were driving in the car and out of nowhere Celine say's "Mom, Clarissa in my class only wears her hair 2 ways everyday, and Brynn only wears her hair down with curls and a bow in it. I really think they should try something new... like Clarissa should wear a side ponytail."

She stopped talking and I was speechless.... I could see her little mind still thinking about how she thought they should wear their hair.. Celine is always talking about make-up, hair and fashion. When I am 50 I will be very stylish because I will have Celine watching my every move!

Thanks Celine!

Celine said to me today.. "Mom I saw on TV that their is this stuff called Proactive and it will get rid of all of your zits on your face. It only costs $32. I think it will make your face smooth mom."

I couldn't help but LAUGH! My 5 year old daughter was trying to give me facial tips on how to take care of my skin. Leave it up to Celine.

Paige the penguin

Mya was assigned the African Penguin for her class project. I asked her if she wanted to make a pinata... of course she was all over that. I figured it would be simple (it ended up being very complicated). She worked on it for a week and just when she was getting ready to attach the head it rolled off the table and fell on the floor and cracked the whole pinata. Tears streamed down her face.... she was so sad! I stayed up and paper mache'd the body and did my best to fix the broken pinata. I found out that the best way for Mya to apply the newspaper was to use a silicone basting brush. Just put the newspaper on the plate and paint on the flour mixture. It worked really well and she was able to apply the newspaper without getting it all over, and it looked clean and smooth..

The bad thing about this pinata was it was all trial and error. It didn't help that we had to fix it. Yippy we got the head on and it worked!!
It was getting late and she still had to apply the beak. It was taking forever and Mya was getting tired of holding the dryer, so of course I stayed up and tried to get it to dry.
The girls feel asleep during the drying of the beak. Once it was dry I had to wake Mya up to finish her penguin. I have to say that I really didn't want to wake her up, I just wanted to finish it for her so she could sleep, but I new that probably wouldn't be a good idea (She would have been so MAD at me!!!). Good thing she got her report done early or we could have pulled a all nighter! In the end this ended up being a great project and lots of fun! Not to mention she was so proud of her penguin and her accomplishment!

Everyone meet Paige the penguin!

Boy or Girl?

I usually just go with Jeff to the ultrasound, but the girls really wanted to go and be apart of everything, so we decided that it would be a good idea to bring them. They were so excited and couldn't wait for today. I woke up this morning to a tug on my arm. There was Celine standing next to my bed completely dressed and all ready to go. After I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes I sat up and realized that both Mya and Livia were with her, also all ready to go! This made this special occasion even more fun! After a shower and a quick breakfast we were off to the appointment. During the ultrasound all I heard was oooohhhs, aaaahhhhs, and giggles... "Is that a hand?"... "Is that the foot?"....."That's the cutest baby ever!" (I wondered if they even knew what they were looking at, but they sure were happy). The ultrasound tech asked if we wanted to know the baby's gender, and the girls gave Jeff and I puppy dog eyes "Please Mom Please." I became completely weak (I'm a softy). While she was checking the umbilical cord I got a good look at the baby's bottom and couldn't help but say "I KNOW WHAT IT IS"... The tech looked at me and said "Really? Well, what is it??" I immediately said "It's a Girl!!" Mya, Celine and Liv all started screaming.. "IT'S A GIRL, IT'S A GIRL, IT'S A GIRL!!" I can't even tell you how fun it was to have them experience that and be with us for that moment. Priceless! Jeff is a big sap when it comes to babies so he is pretty excited too! I do feel bad that he is going to have to deal with 5 girls in the house. He just laughs and says he needs his own bathroom. What a good sport...Hee hee! The only thing he is worried about right now is the shopping...girls stuff is so fun to buy!! I got home from the appointment and was already looking at stuff online. He just rolled his eyes. This is going to be so much fun!!!

What is in our future?

Jeff came to me a couple of years ago and wanted to go back to school and get his MBA (Masters in Business). He never acted on it, but he felt that at some point that was what he wanted to do (and more importantly what he was supposed to do). Jeff comes from a family that is really big on graduate education. His Dad got his PhD, his brothers are both doctors, and his sister is a veterinarian. I think it is in their blood to get the urge to go back to school. Jeff was in pre-med at BYU, but had a crazy sports injury and spent 1-2 weeks in intensive care, and there he found out he hated hospitals and the moment he got out he changed his major. It's a good thing because he is very active and social so being in a hospital would have been torture.

So let me tell you... I was a little unsure how I felt when he said he was serious about applying now. Really? Now? Almost 4 kids later?? That's kinda a lot to soak in. I want to slow life down, not add to it. I guess it's better to do it now then come to me in 2 more years and want to do it. Everything seemed to be last minute, but he pulled it off and got it all done. I'm just glad he got it all in on-time. He applied to.....

BYU- Accepted

Duke- Accepted to the Cross Continent MBA (International Program)

Texas University- He has interviewed and is waiting to hear back.

UCLA- Was a NO go

Harvard- Is probably a NO go as well, but waiting to hear

And now it's the waiting game. We are not sure what our plans are just yet. Who knows? If Jeff doesn't get in where we feel like we are supposed to be, we could end up staying here in Las Vegas and reapplying for next year. Jeff does has an exciting job that he really likes. It is really fun and it is the perfect job for him, so I think it would be hard to leave it anyway. Regardless of our path, I love him and will support him in whatever we do. I feel comfortable that we will be where we are supposed to be!

Going Private

I threatened awhile back to go private.  This time I am actually going to try and make good on that statement.  Could you all please send me your email addresses so that I can add you to my "Private Blog".  Thanks!

Catching up is a pain in the butt!

Blogging is just one more thing that I have to put on my to-do list. It took me awhile, but now I am caught up.  We'll see how long it takes for me to get behind again!  I was talked into blogging awhile back.  "Oh, it's so good to keep in touch with family and friends, and you can turn it into a scrapbook." Has anyone ever done that (turned their blog into a scrapbook??).  I'm just wondering if the book is even worth it?  Anyway, here are some old and new posts....Enjoy!!

Pregnant!

Yep Yep Yep..... I'm Pregnant! 

I am 20 weeks and this has been the longest 5 months ever! I am so excited to say that I am back to life and feeling great (as for now). I'm still feeling a bit nervous just thinking about having 4 kids running around. I was just feeling like I was on top of my game.... I had it down.... and then this sweet little blessing came into our lives. We haven't decided if we are going to find out the gender or not. We had an ultrasound 3 weeks ago, but we didn't want to know, and now I have another ultrasound on Tuesday and I hope I don't become weak. I just think it might be fun to try something different and have it be a surprise. Everyone always asks if this pregnancy is different from the others so that maybe the gender will be different, but I don't believe in all that. I already have 3 girls and the pregnancies were all soooo different! We all took a poll at FHE to see what we think the baby is... Mya said "For sure it's a girl Mom. That's just what you make." That made me laugh! Celine wants a boy so bad that we might have to get her therapy if it's not. Liv says she wants a boy and a girl. I have to remind her each time that I'm not having twins (thank goodness). So now she says "We only have one baby, but I want a boy and a girl." I guess she will be happy ether way. Smart girl! Jeff and I have absolutely no idea what it is. I got all my girl stuff out yesterday and started looking through it to see what I will need if it is a girl, and to weed out the old clothes. If it's not a girl I will for sure be  cleaning out my stuff. I guess we'll see what happens Tuesday... will I be strong and not find out?? 

Interview with Duke

Jeff interviewed with Duke, and I wanted to go along for the ride. It is definitely different from Vegas... trees everywhere! North Carolina is a beautiful place to live, but I think it would take some getting used to living in Durham. 

Ok, I cannot believe that people actually camp out for weeks to get tickets for the game. I don't get it?? Why not save yourself the trouble and watch it at home all cozy on the couch.  This seems ridiculous! Die hards!! 

Jeff's 30th Birthday

For Jeff's 30th birthday I planned a big surprise party with some of our friends. Jeff had no clue. It was great!

Getting ready...

Old high school tennis picture...priceless!

Jeff with our great friends the Stotts

The boys

I never thought a Bishop could lie as well as Bishop Nelson did when he kept Jeff occupied on a Friday night with church business while I got everything situated. I knew the only way to get Jeff out of the house in a hurry was to get him a service assignment from the Bishop. Thanks Bishop!!

The Toscana chicas! Thanks ladies for your help!!

I'm thinking I need a bigger house.

Jeff had a million trophies that were taking up way too much room in our storage, so I took the nameplates off of all of them and framed them for his b-day present. This wasn't all of them...just the most prestigious. Way to go honey!

Dayne is definitely a ladies man. All my girls love him!