Vegas with kids???

Well I attempted it!!! Not going to say that it was a TOTAL loss, but it was kind of a wreck. I had asked my parents if they wanted to go to Vegas with me and the girls so that we could go see Jake. (He works down there for two weeks at a time, and we were kind of missing him). I got rooms for $25 a night at the South Point and we headed down. First off Tai was fine, she was the easy one, but Little Janie Bop was OUT OF CONTROL!!!! She would lay down at any given moment and just cry, wanted to go where she wanted and if everyone didn't like that, she screamed (total two year old)! The only thing that made her happy was swimming and riding the escalators (over and over and over and over).

Here are a couple pictures of our happy trip:

We finally got the girls to ride in the stroller together. I guess at some point you just need to break down and buy a double stroller. It was a contstant battle with us and the Shaws, they had a double stroller that EVERYONE wanted to ride in, at the same time!!! But we managed, good thing for taking turns-Thanks Misty for sharing! We took the kids to F.A.O Schwartz (huge toy store) and let them each pick a toy. The three oldest girls all picked the same thing-a Barbie car that came with two Barbies. The girls thought they were so big so carry their own bags around.

Teya of course headed right for the stuffed animals. She had her heart set on a pink "Dumbo" (elephant) until she saw the horses. Then she changed her mind, but as soon as we left, she wanted the elephant! I kept trying to talk her into something Barbie, I know my girls a little to well and knew they were going to fight over the car and barbies, but Jake told me to just let her get what she wanted. Boy was I right! I ended up going back there on the way out of town to get another Barbie car, I was tired to hearing them fight! I am a sucker, I know, but you can only handle so many fights a day!

My mom went to Express and bought some clothes and that entertained Teya for a while,she tried on the shirt and showed it off. We went to eat and my girls were so loud and bouncing all over the place. Misty and Braydan's girls were so well mannered, and just sat there. Sorry again guys for the distraction!

The day we arrived in Vegas, Teya was so tired, so lucky for me, my mom and dad stayed at the hotel to let her have a quick nap until Jake and Braydan finished up work and then they came and met us. With a little alone time, we headed to the M&M Store. Tai was in heaven. It was kind of fun to let Tai pick out her favorite colors of M&M's and also to pick out some for her sister. But be WARNED!!!!! There is not a sign that states exactly how much those M&M's are. UUUMMM!!!$12.99 a pound!!!! What the flip??? Well luckily we only had about a pound and a half!!! it cost me around $17.00. Only in Vegas right? But on the flip side of all this we spent that much money on M&M's just to have them get water logged in the cooler on the way home!!

We went to see the Shark Encounter! It was fun and the kids all loved it! I even gave my parents a night off to go do their own thing since Grandma Snell and Uncle Alan had come down to Vegas too!


Outside the shark encounter there just had to be stuffed animals. Teya jumped at the opportunity to get a bunch of matching aligators together. She even tried to get me to buy all these for her.
Country family in the BIG city!!!
Thanks again Dad and Mom for going with me and helping me with the girls when Jake was at work. Even though it was a little stressful, we still had fun-thanks to you both!!!! I Love you!!!

The girls having fun out of the strollers!

Teya getting to do just what she wanted: up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, well you get the picture!One last picture before we headed back home! We love you Jake and sure miss you when you are gone. We were glad to come see you for a couple days!

In the words of Suz...

I got on my friend Suz's blog this morning and my eyes watered so much from reading her take on what happened this last weekend at our first home BYU game. We have season tickets with some of our best friends Aaron & Suz Shaw and we ALWAYS have a good time, no matter the outcome of the game. So I stole her whole blog, she just put it all in the right words:

Cougar Post-Game Round-Up

So, if you haven't heard, BYU lost on Saturday to Florida State, at home. BYU not only was ranked #7, but had not lost at home since 2005, so needless to say, it was a huge disappointment.

Luckily, we have some great friends who know how to have a good time, no matter what.

We have made it our little "tradition" to have our tailgates AFTER the game because traffic is horrible getting out of Provo. We figure, better to sit and hang out in the parking lot and enjoy some food and fun while the traffice clears out, than sit in the traffic and get home about the same time.

Now, let me tell you a little bit about Jake....he is a real cowboy. Up until a few months ago, he lived on a ranch, worked on a ranch, and played on a ranch everyday. He herded cows up the mountain with horses every Spring on horseback, and about this time every year (probably in a week or two) he herds the cows back down the mountain to the ranch for the Winter. The heffers have babies, they auction of the good ones, and start all over again.

He still helps at the ranch, but now mostly sells cowboy gear. Seriously, the real stuff...boots, hats, shirts, buckles, saddles, the spiky things you wear on your heels to poke the horses (spurs?! And another piece I can't remember...) and all of that fun stuff! (Remember, I'm a California girl...the closest we got to horses were the Cleisdales at Sea World).

Anyway back to my point, Jake is the REAL deal. And don't worry, he was probably the only guy at the game wearing a cowboy hat and boots with his BYU shirt, and it was awesome. And to boot, (no pun intended) he had a LASSO in the truck.

So, naturally, we played the classic game of Cowboys and Heffers.

Now Aaron is from the country, and it is true that you can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy, so he was pretty excited. Jake showed him how to prep the lasso,

Then Aaron tried to round up Jake (unsuccessfully)

Then Jake showed us how it was done and called his "heffer" over (seriously, called his wife a heffer, which, as you can see, is totally off base, so he can get away with it.) Anyway, I wish I had my camera ready when he caught her, because not only did he get her, he got her around the ankles and she about went face first into the asphalt!! That would have been sad, but forunately, she only suffered a little rope burn around her arm, so we laughed hysterically for a long, long time. Here was after she got back on her feet, but before Jake helped her out

Thanks, guys, for all of the laughs! Jake, glad you didn't get a ticket...and, Tiff, I am so glad even with two kids a piece, we are still desirable to the old men at gas stations working the counter.

And, Cougars, let's rope up the Rams.

Max, please throw to the boys in blue. O'Neil, hold on to the ball. And Jan, do not touch the ball. Do what you do best and pound the Rams and the ball into the ground.

If you can all do those things, you will win the game, and we can all celebrate without Jake trying to tie up his wife in the parking lot.

I thought I better post a picture of the rope burn that I endured all in the name of "fun". I am just glad that I didn't recieve road rash all over, because I seriously thought that was my fate this time as the "heffer"!!!!! Thanks Aaron & Suz for all the laughs and good times, there is never a dull moment when we are together. And thank you mom and dad AKA "Nell" for watching the girls for us so we could go and have a blast!!!

You guys are the best- Thanks for being our friends, even though we are the biggest dorks ever!!!Had to hurry and throw this picture in. Our two guys love to watch the Cougars warm up. And I really think Jake was about the only person there in a cowboy hat!!!

Teya Jane

I am still a little behind on all of my posts from this summer, but I came across this picture from the 4th of July up to camp Shalom, and I just had to hurry and post it because it was one of my fav's from this year. She is definitely my challenge child, but I just love her so much! She is always making me smile and upset in the same moment. I rarely have a photo where she is looking at me and smiling, but I guess if this is what I get when I ask for a picture of her looking at me with sort of a smile, I will take it!!!

"OH MY GOSH"

Yes, ESPN that is what we say in Provo!! I had to laugh at the comentators when they said that! And yes, we are all thinking WOW!!!! I must admit, this was one of those games where I got so flippin' frustrated that I almost changed the channel for a second to calm down, but I DIDN'T!!!! Our Coug's came out on top of a HUGE GAME!!! Anyone with a heart, is feeling a little bummed out for Oklahoma's starting quarterback, that really sucks! But another one of those "I gotta admit" moments, I was a little uncomfortable watching their freshman quarterback with his "Chester the Molester" moustache. Sorry, just not a huge fan of those, they creap me out a bit!!!! But back to COUGARS--Yahoo for you!!!!!!

Camping again

We decided to head back up to the trailer one more time before Jake headed out of town for two weeks to work in Vegas.
Here is our humble little camp spot. We haven't quite got all the fixin's of die hard campers, but it works and it is so fun! This picture that Tai took reminds me of a little old couple sitting on their porch. The grandpa is asleep (Jake just had his eyes closed) and the grandma just watching what is going on:

Tai loves to be in pictures!

The girls and daddy throwing rocks in the creek. Daddy accidentally threw Tai's "favorite" rock in the water, so he had to go help find it.

Goofing off:

Every rock that Tai found was "so pretty" and she was going to take it home to show her friends. She ended up bringing home like 10 rocks!

Teya just loves to explore and throw rocks. Tai would bring one to me to save and Teya would grab it and before you knew it, she was throwing it in the water!!!

Cousins

We all got together to celebrate Kempton's 5th birthday party and of course since all the kids were together I wanted to get a picture. We are very seldom ALL together, so these photos are rare! And once again, photographing kids is never an easy thing trying to get them all to look at you for one split secont. But look how cute the Quarnberg grandkids are!

Passing Level 2

This was FINALLY Tai's first year of swimming lessons. She never went to Level 1-she could pass that one at about 18 months old, but anyway, she was finally old enough to be in swim lessons. She did so good. She is only four. I was so proud of her. She kind of had a hard time waiting her turn and holding still while Kasta was helping the other kids, but she showed she is and has always been a fish!!!!!
Getting ready to duck their heads underwater:

Doing a handstand:

Swimming through the hoop:

Diving for her last day treat:
Swimming all the way to the side and touching it:

And finally, passing level 2!!!!!

Next Dynamite Cheerleader

Another fact about me is I coach 4 competitve cheerleading squads in Richfield with some of my good good friends Mindy and Kellie. I have to take my girls with me because Jake is at work and it is hard to hire a babysitter for that long. Teya has been know to streak at the gym on MANY occasions, but this day she actually left her panties on. While the other coaches and I were helping a stunt group I looked over and little Teya was the top of the pyramid. She was loving it! Thanks Dynamite X-Treme (or dynamite scream as Tai calls you) for helping me with my girls and loving them, because they LOVE YOU!!!!!

New style of jewelry

The newest rage at our house is making stuff out of stuff. That sounds so dumb, but it is true. The other day I bought some more pipe cleaner and beads and told Tai to have at it (the last time we used fruit loops). She loves to make things, so if anyone has any ideas of stuff for kids to make, please pass along the knowledge. But anyway, here are the jewelry that Tai and I made for eachother and for Teya:
Me showing off my crown, necklace, ring, and bracelet: I must say, I did pretty good on her crown and no I didn't dress her this day, the matching was all on her own: :)

Tai made this for Teya to wear:

Camping

One thing about me that most people don't know, is I LOVE to camp. I grew up not really ever going because my parent's idea of camping was either going to Grandpa & Grandma's cabin in Island Park or road triping in Grandma Pulhams camper. And if we did that, it was very rare, and that was when we lived in Idaho (and we moved when I was 11 1/2). The first time I ever remember sleeping in a tent and having campfire was my first girls camp. Mom, correct me if I am wrong, but I don't remember camping before that.
Back to nowdays, Jake and Braydan hauled the trailers (I know it isn't really camping, but sort of, but at least there was fire) up to the mountain in the dark, got the trailers set and level and then both families went up the next night! We just have so much fun together!

Here are the daddy's and their girlies:Misty and I:
Misty and baby Alivia. The next morning Alivia was out toddling around (under the men's care) and there was no fire going, but she fell into the fire pit and the coals from the night before burned her. I felt so bad. She instantly blistered on her chin, and then her hand blistered later. Misty ended up taking her to the pediatrician a couple days later to peel the skin off and scrub the big burn on the palm of her hand. :(

Jake led us all on a ride up to the beaver pond. Then on a hike over the lava rock slide to see the beavers home. The kids thought they were pretty big hiking over the rocks.

Jake and Braydan chillin:

Tai of course getting dirty and muddy:

Jake was so funny. He was seriously like our tour guide. He would get the girls together and say "Come look at this", then he would tell them something interesting about nature. In this particular picture, he was showing them a log that one of the beavers had chopped down and what it looks like.

Teya of course, loved the water.

The girls found a log that had fallen over and they thought it was great fun to climb up it.

Then when Teya got to the top of the fallen log, she wanted to jump off: again and again and again.