November

My blog titles are so blah...but I guess that's what happens when you blog once a month to catch up on the hightlights, oh well...

So Camrie turned 6 months! I can't believe where the time has gone? before we know it she will be 16! She is so dang cute and so fun.  We love her to pieces.  Here are some fun things about her:

~Still sleeps through the night

~Loves to sit in her bumbo chair and play with her toes

~Can roll front to back and back to front, screams when she can't get off her tummy.

~Has started eating rice cereal, so far so good.

~Has the highest pitch scream ever, I think better than Tanner's at her age.

~Rakes in the "you are the cutest & happiest baby ever" comments from others.

~Scored us another free kids meal at Applebees the other night b/c the manager had so much fun playing with her.  We were there b/c Braxton earned a free kid's meal at Kindergarten.  So both he and Tanner ate free.  YES!!
~14 lbs 7 oz  25 .5 inches long

~Ear infection at yesterday's 6 month well baby check, plus 5 shots :( Ear infection was a surprise to us.

~Had first taste of gingerbread thanks to aunt Valerie on Thanksgiving.  I think she's hooked!
~LOVES attention and being held.
~Is so loved by everyone and we love her.

Braxton had two wiggly teeth and we spent a good hour one evening prying one of them out.  He was laying on the couch with his head in my lap and after a few minutes of wiggling it he'd have to get up and see how it was looking in the mirror.  As soon as he'd get up Tanner would climb up and lay in my lap and say "Tanner turn" and open his mouth wide.  I'd look and say they all looked good. When Braxton would come back Tanner would climb off and say "Bratton (Braxton) turn, Tanner okay".  The tooth finally came out and not only did the toothfairy take the tooth but also the baggie Braxton had put it in.  Braxton was quite concerned about why the toothfairy would take the baggie too? and even questioned Heavenly Father about it the next night in his prayers before bed...hope the toothfairy learned her lesson...   He's lost both front teeth and I love to make him say "sister Suzie sittting on a thistle" he says it just like the christmas song.

 Braxton also told me a secret a few weeks ago that a little girl in his Kindergarten class wanted to marry him.  We've had more fun teasing him about the wedding plans.  Mom: "Braxton have you gotten her a ring yet?"  Braxton: "oh yeah, she has a bat ring and I have a witch ring off our halloween cupcakes at school."  Troy mentioned something about marraige and Braxton said that it was "a lot of responsibility, kind of like paying the phone bill."  He informed us that they would get married where Troy and I did and then go to the temple in 16 years.  They are living upstairs with Tanner.  Honeymoon will be in Oceanside at our condo so they can sit and watch the trains go by.  He asked me how I chose my name and I explained that when you get married the girl takes the boy's last name, he informed me that he didn't think this little girl would be happy with that.  He also asked if it was ok to marry someone in your same class.  Too much fun!!  He is so fun to tease!!

Tanner has moved up from the Firefly class to the Bumblebee class, or the 'bumbees' as Tanner puts it,  at the DRMC daycare.  It's bad when parents get attached to their child's teacher, it's been a traumatic move for both us and his Firefly teachers.  Thanks Miss Jessica  and Miss Becky for all you've done for Tanner!!

We had a busy Thanksgiving weekend.  It began with Thanksgiving dinner at my parents house in Beaver.  The holidays are just so much better when I get to go home!! My mom is amazing and makes gingerbread houses for all the grandkids to decorate.  Troy helped Tanner make his very first one and they did a great job.  Since Braxton was with his dad in Cedar, I took his home and he and his older sister Randi who came to stay Friday night had a fun time decorating it together.  Friday evening we went up to Cedar for a family dinner and Troy's nephew from Delta was getting is Eagle scout award.  I picked up Braxton and also Randi came home with us for the night.  Saturday found us back on the road to Cedar for Grandpa Webb's 80th suprise birthday party.  We were surprised that it actually stayed a secret with the entire Webb tribe in town.  Troy made a comment that 80 is so old and he couldn't believe his dad was that old.  I ever so gently reminded him that he is 1/2 way to 80 himself!!! 

We are so excited for the NFR this week!! We LOVE it and will spend the next 10 nights on the couch because we always fall asleep watching it.  Hopefully we can score some tickets again this year, we have been a few times thanks to our great connections that have super awesome seats.

Since I'm at work I will add pictures when I get home.  Ok, let's be realistic, the pictures may not ever make it on here but I will try....

October...

October has been and gone, and way to fast might I add.  It seemed like we had something going all the time and were so busy, yet I can only think of a few blog-worthy events, hence the once a month blogging (if even that!).  I'll try and keep this post to the 'Reader's Digest condensed version' and just touch on the highlights.
*We ended September and started Oct with being in charge of our ward campout held at Snow Canyon State Park.  We fried up scones for desert and did breakfast the next morning.  It all turned out quite good and everybody had a lot of fun. I did feel bad for those whose tents got went when the sprinklers came on in the night...  Troy and the boys camped while Camrie and I went back and forth.

All bundled up at camp

*October 22 was Braxton's 6th birthday.  I can't believe how fast time has gone by and how BIG he is.  Seriously, when he stands in line at Kindergarten he is a whole head taller and probably the most husky kid in his class.  Honestly he is just plain SOLID, and will make a great linebacker some day.  I'm guessing one hit and his opponent will be laid out flat.
We had a fun bowling party, inviting his cousins and a couple friends from his primary class.  Then back home for presents, cake and ice cream.  Later on Nick and Paige joined us for dinner at Olive Garden, Braxton's favorite place to eat because he loves the little ' it's our turn to be seated' buzzers.  Despite my best efforts to convince him otherwise, he was pretty set on the idea of a Thomas the Train cake.  Now mind you, the Wilton train pan is unavailabe to purchase and I was not about to pay $30.00 for one off Ebay, so I looked up my fav birthday cake website and there was a blog with a complete tutorial and pix of how to make what was a cute (and very involved)  Thomas cake.  The face was made out of fondant which I have never ventured into using before now, and credit Troy and his slick carving skills for doing most of the shaping of Thomas while I watched in awe and horror as he said 'ok now you do this side....' All in all it turned out well and Braxton was so excited to watch it progress and see it all come together.  He came in the kitchen several times to tell me this was the greatest cake ever and it ' sure is a lot of work mom.'  I got it done an hour before the party and barely enough time to clean things up and head to the bowling alley.  A big thanks to Troy for staying home from work for the morning and manning the kids so I could get it done without a zillion interuptions.  We surprised Braxton with new bunkbeds for his birthday.  We put him to bed in the other bedroom and he woke up in the bottom bunk of the bed.  He came in around 5 am all concerned about why he was in a bunkbed, I rolled over and said we'd talk about it later and to go back to bed.  We've been a bit hesitant about bunkbeds because Braxton would fall out of his full-sized bed on a weekly basis and always kidded him saying  Tanner would have to sleep ontop so Braxton wouldn't have so far to fall.  So far after 2 weeks, Braxton on the top twin bunk has had no falls, and Tanner on the botton full-sized bunk has had about 5 and a scraped up chin from one of his falls (still not sure what he hit?)  Bunkbeds also frees up 2 convertable cribs.  We gave Braxton's to a family who needed it and moved Tanner's in the xtra bedroom for Camrie. Big sigh...my kids are growing up...:(

Thomas is finished:)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU...

New bunkbeds.  What's up w the gansta dudes?

*I was in charge of our annual mother/daughter weekend this year, that we usually try to schedule in the summer, but since having a baby in May, I really kinda forgot about it and had it the last full weekend of Oct. We rotate who is in charge and the weekend requires an overnight stay and no husbands or kids allowed.  My mom started this in 1995.  This year we went to Thriller, none of us had ever been, but we'll all go back next year.  I've never laughed so hard! It was awesome and makes me miss all my years of dance. We stayed up to our Worldmark condo (in the Penthouse!!) and loved the jaccuzii on the deck. We went bowling (a story of it's own, my mom does it with such style and grace!) shopping, ate lots of yummy treats and had a great time.  Our weekends in the past have taken us to the Shakespearn festival a few times, a murder mystery cruise on the Great Salt Lake, shows in Vegas, weekends at the cabin, the Zoo, and lots of other fun places.  It never matters what we have planned, we always have a blast.  Our husbands are great to keep the kids while we play and not have to be the mom's for a day or two!!

Mom

Caroline

Stephanie & Caroline renact the Jason scene

Valerie bowling

*Halloween brought carnivals, parties, and WAY too much candy before the actual event even arrived!!! Last Wednesday night was the carnival at the DRMC child development center where Tanner and Camrie go, and their 1 yr. anniversary of being open.  Thursday, was Braxton's party at Kindergarten that Troy and I were in charge of, and Xray also had a great Halloween lunch party that same day,  Thursday night, was the carnival at Country Kids daycare where Braxton has gone since he was 2 and still goes after Kindergarten.  Friday after school, Braxton's class at Country Kids was invited to Trick or Treat at Snow Canyon high school...more treats... and finally by the time Saturday arrived and we went to the Trunk or Treat, Braxton just wanted to sit and eat his hotdog.  I mean what mom has to literally pull her children out of the back of the truck to go get FREE candy??? and LOTS of it??  REALLY!!!  I think everyone was trick AND treated out.  Needless to say, I went back to work and an under-the-weather Troy took 3 onery kids home. 

                                                  Face painting at DRMC daycare carnival

Fishing pond w/  T's teacher Miss Jessica

The cutest pea-pod you've ever seen!

*Work is work...lately the ER never seems to be less than completely full which keeps us busy.  I can say I had one one of the dumbest questions asked of me yesterday. Patient's family member: "So can I ask you if this whole H1N1 thing has really affected this hospital yet & are they taking it that serious??" Me trying to be really nice AND with a smile..: "oh yeah we've been really busy this past month."  My inside voice saying:" Are you kidding me idiot? how long did you have to wait to be seen and did you not notice almost every person in the waiting rm and in the ER is wearing a mask, INCLUDING the person you are sitting here with???" for the love of all stupidity!!  Honestly where do these people come from??!!  Moving on to the kids....

*Does anybody know of  a boot camp that accepts 2 years old?? If so let us know ASAP, Tanner is a prime candidate! Rarely does Troy get upset nor really frustrated with the kids, that's my job! But lately Tanner can push all the right buttons and he does it frequently.  I try so hard to get after him but when he flashes me 'the look', you know the one where he tucks his chin down and looks up towards his eyebrows at you? that gets me everytime.  I try to be tough, grit my teeth, and be the mean mom, but end up laughing at him in stead,  the other night while cooking dinner, he pour his container of dry Cheerios on the floor, grabs his little rolling pin and started smashing them.  He is relentless at driving Braxton crazy.  There are many times where I do feel bad for Braxton b/c Tanner is constantly all over him, in his face, pinching, and in all just being a 2 year old little brother who wants to do everything B is doing..

Tanner can be so fun & a great helper....

and then turns into a devil child!!

*Camrie is my sweet 5 month princess who's smile melts my heart.  She is rolling over, giggling, pulling hair, and an up-the-back-pooping extrordinare.  I finally cut the cord, and we moved her into her crib and own room.  The boys were both out of the bassinet by 3 months, mostly b/c I was more afraid of bothering them.  Since she sleeps all night and doesn't make a move, I have'nt been in much of a rush to move her.

Look at all the wiggle room I have!!

LOVE this girl!

*Braxton is loving kindergarten.  Im so amazed at  the love and patience the teachers have with the kindergartners'. .
*Just thought I'd add...Troy has strepp, and got an antibiotic today.  This tops everything...I plugged my breast pump in today at work like I alway do, in the same outlet as the ultrasound machine,  and heard a big 'pop' and smelled an electrical burning smell. "FABULOUS"   I unplugged everything and tried to reboot my ultrasound machine and it came up just fine, except with the wrong probes that we don't use and crazy images swirling on the screen.  I spent time on the phone with technical support trying fix it and needless to say, G.E is  sending a tech out tomarrow to see which front power supply  needs to taken out and replaced, so it will be down for at least another day or 2. So my patients all went to the new hospital and so did I.  Darn I didn't even get to go home!! I was mostly  glad that my pump was ok. (Is that totally selfish of me?) I do feel bad, just like the time as an x-ray student in Cedar, when I opened the door to the dark room to go out, turned back around and said 'hmmm, so that's what the inside of the film bin looks like.' and in that same instant realized that I had opened the door with the film bin wide open, and had just exposed the entire film bin which had just been restocked, wasting an obscene amount of money :( 
*Well, this will have to do for now as I keep dozing off while typing.. thank goodness for spell check! so thanks for stopping by and goodnight!

Summer Recap

Yes, we are alive! What can I say other than my lack of blogging is due to nothing more than pure laziness!! Although, after a few failed attempts at trying to blog, I have concluded that I must've somehow offended the blogging Gods & are now being punished. Why you ask? 1) Good intentions of posting were replaced by falling asleep on the couch 2) Camera is in the car and too tired to go get it. 3)Can't log onto Blogger 4)Spent 40 mins typing out a post, couldn't get it to post, AND it didn't save arrgggg... 5) Tried again today & the bar at the top of the page to sign im wasn't there. I'm just glad that everyone else has kept up with theirs so I have something to read while I'm up at night :)

So here I am again with another feeble attempt. Camera is out of car, pix are downloaded, I'm obviously logged in, and not asleep on the couch. This is a good start. On with the highlights of the past 2 months:

We started our backyard project the first of July with a 46' long & at least 15'tall retaining wall made of the precast cement blocks, which look like huge legos stacked together by a remote control crane. Now instead of rolling down the hill which was our back yard, my kids can now just fall straight down off the wall! We hauled in 2 tons of fill dirt, and bless their heart, Troy and Nick backfilled it all by hand. I did make a pretty good dent in one of the dirt piles myself I must add. Last week we poured a little extension onto our patio which will be nice to have a bit more room to bbq & enjoy the yard. A big shout out to Travis Robinson for forming and helping to finish the cement. He is AWESOME! Guess that will teach him to ask if there is anything we need next time he comes home teaching (he helped us with tile last year). The next step is stinky mulch & sod. We've gotten a few bids on vinyl fencing (OUCH!) that will have to be next spring's project.

1st block laid

                                                       view of finished wall amid bushes from below

The 24th of July was fun to have all my family together in Beaver. We did the parade, park, bbq, horse races, fireworks, & lots of good visiting. My sister brought her 'trike' for us to try out. Have you ever tried one of these? It's hard to do (ok, so I'm just REALLY out of shape!)

Caroline on the trike

August began with our annual Smith family campout up on Beaver mtn. We had it at Tushar Lake campground, where my parents have been the hosts every summer almost 20 years since it opened. We all enjoyed canoeing, shooting, fishing, playing games, & eating lots! Nick & Paige came since they are basically family,& my sister's nanny & husband also came which added to the fun. Since this weekend fell in between Troy & Tanner's b.day's we celebrated them up there. I made a camping cake which turned out quite cute if I do say so. G.pa Webb & G.ma Kaye also came up from Cedar to have lunch and party with us. Aside from a few incidents and 'time outs' the kids all played and got along well. Camrie did great and slept thru both nights.

Braxton started a.m. Kindergarten at Sunset Elementary. His teacher is Ms. Callahan. He is doing well and likes it. Country Kids daycare takes him to school & picks him up, then we pick him up from the daycare after work which is such a sweet deal. I've enjoyed walking him to school on my days off.

Ms. Callahan

Tanner is just, well he's 2! Need I say more? He truly is our 'Tanner the tornado', why bother cleaning on my day off? He really is the funniest little guy ever. I could sit & watch him run back & forth all day, & laugh while he jabbers the cutest things. He loves to say "Ah, man" when things don't go his way, & had a great time playing peek-a-boo with his hand under my skirt in church a few weeks ago

Miss Becky                                        Bowling w/ dad

 

                                                                                                

 Camrie & Miss Ashley

The unfortunate day arrived on August 10th, that I had to return to work. You'd think by the 3rd time it wouldn't be that big of a deal? Not this time! I couldn't do it and took an extra week off without any PTO left and suffered greatly when the paycheck came and was only $125.00! But it was worth it! We love the DRMC Child Development Center!! Camrie's teachers in her 'Roly Poly' class literally pryed her out of my arms reassuring me that she (and myself) would be just fine. All the teachers there are great and love her Tanner so much. I did go down to visit them the other day while we didn't have any afternoon patients. Camrie was asleep...no big deal. Tanner was fine til he realized that I wasn't there to take him home. He cried the hugest tears & was so mad at me, he woudn't have anything to do with me when I tried to love him & say bye. Lesson learned: endure the long boring afternoons with my co-workers, forget the kids!

Troy's bad elbow has resurfaced a few times since the first bout of bursitis in May & was getting worse (thanks to shoveling 2 tons of dirt) so a month ago he had surgery to remove the damaged bursa. He wore a splint for 2 weeks that covered all but 4 inches of his right arm. He got along ok, but was entertaining to watch him do things left-handed. Ever tried putting deodarant under your left armpit with your left hand???

getting the drain taken out of his elbow

Camrie is now 3 1/2 months and is so much fun. She truly is the light of our lives, & her brother's little princess. Her smile is infectious & almost a bit mischievious at times and her giggles make us giggle right back. She's getting a little chubb but nowhere near as chubby as Tanner at her age. His Kankles were spilling over his socks at 2.5 months:) She has also discovered her hands, & has began to lose her cute hair that I could spike up for her bows.

We've had a fun, busy summer and can't wait for fall and cooler temps. Fall is my favorite season, for so many reasons, one of which includes FOOTBALL!! yes, once again we are bleeding red loud & proud at our house (go utes!. Hopefully we can make it up to a game this year.

I think i've covered most of our happenings for the last month or so. Sorry to be so detailed & long winded, but those who know me, know that's just the way I am. Hopefully I have repented & appeased the blogging gods & this post will go through!! Bed time. So where is the icon to download my picures, it's gone!! I beter start repenting more... pix to follow, maybe another day!

My little fish!

Braxton has just finished his first 2 week session of swimming lessons at the SHAC. He loved it and looked forward to going every day. He would ask at least 10 times before bed, if we were so proud of how well he did at the skills his class learned & practiced that day. He will go to another session after he comes back from staying with this dad for 2 weeks.

Happy 4th of July

We celebrated the 4th in Beaver with my family. The day begins around 6 a.m. with about 30 mins (although it seems to go on, and on...)of dinamite blasts that can be heard all over town. This is Beaver's way of saying good morning & happy 4th of July. I'm sure that any newcomers, would think we were under attack for sure! I've gotten pretty good at hearing a few booms, closing the bedroom window & going back to sleep. This also happens on the 24th of July. This year we decorated Braxton's bike so he could ride it in the children's parade which he thought was so fun. We hung out at the park for a bit and watched while Braxton & Tanner both won footraces for their age groups. Afterwards, we headed back to g.ma Smith's for lunch and time to relax. Later that evening we headed down to Greenville for a BBQ with more family. Greenville probably has more cows than residents, but they sure can put on an awesome patriotic program and some incredible fireworks. I am so proud to be and American, I can't imagine life any other way! We truly are blessed to have the freedoms that we do, and such brave soldiers fighting in our behalf.

Tanner in all his coolness :)


Dad & Camrie watching the parade & getting burps out


Braxton riding in the parade


Braxton and his ride


Me & my kids with my G.ma Fern Williams- the best cookie maker ever!!



Troy also made a small jump across the street from g.ma's house for Braxton to ride his bike over. Braxton thinks he's pretty hot stuff now he can go over a jump (even if it's only 6 inches high)

The contruction


Braxton approaching the jump


Tanner catches air on his trike


Random pix- taken on our way home. I love this area of dirt next to the freeway by Harrisburg