Our Family Update

I am sorry that I have not written anything on our blog.  I like to put pictures with my posts and I have not had pictures to post.  Our family is doing well.  Tyler is in kindergarten and likes it.  He has trouble going to school when his brother does not have school, but he is getting better about it.  Tyler is a very caring, energetic little boy who loves sports!

Garrett is a busy 4 year old. He goes to preschool two days a week and loves it!  He is too smart for his own good.  Garrett is a busy boy...he loves to push buttons...figuratively and actually pushing buttons.  He is my little "Dennis the Menace" and is a precious boy.

Justin is Justin.  He may be getting older by age, but that is the only part of him that ages.  I always tell people I have 3 boys because sometimes Justin acts younger than Tyler and Garrett.

I am still a busy, working mom.  I will try and update our blog later.  I hope the holiday season is going well for everyone!

Tyler's Pre-K Graduation

In June, Tyler had his pre-K graduation.  Tyler's teacher, Mrs. Fischer, puts together a little program where she speaks and hands out diplomas to the students as a send off for kindergarten.  She had parent helpers tie-dye tee-shirts so that every student had the same uniform on.  The kids all made their own hats.

 This year, the kids all had yellow tee-shirts on and they walked into the sanctuary wearing sun glasses.  The yellow represented the sun.  Mrs. Fischer said all of the kids are so hot and bright just like the sun that they will go far with their education.

 Tyler was really excited about his big graduation day.  Tyler thought it was pretty neat his family was at his graduation.  After the little ceremony, there was refreshments which both boys loved.  My boys think cake and punch is great!  Tyler was able to say good-bye to some of his friends since all of the kids will be going to different schools this year.  It is hard to believe my son is in kindergarten this year.  Time does fly by.

Justin and his dog

Everyone knows the saying, " a dog is man's best friend."  Well, in our household this is true to a point.  In our household, the saying should be "man is a dog's best friend." 

Justin and Miley

Miley is our family dog.  She is a cross between a lab and a walker hound.  She is one and half years old and still has puppy tendencies on some things (she likes to chew on balls and other toys left in the back yard).

Miley and Rocky

Miley also loves Justin.  On the weekends, Miley follows Justin around and does not let him out of her sights.  She is afraid Justin will leave her.  Justin usually takes Miley when he goes and gets his coffee in the mornings when he does not work.  She is very spoiled by this little routine.  If something changes and she does not get her "Justin time" she pouts and is very sulky.  Sometimes Miley can be as bad as the boys.  Even though Miley is a lot spoiled, we love her.  She like to play with my mom's dog, Rocky, and the boys.  Life is never dull around our house with the dogs and the boys.

Our Camper

We got a camper from Kathy and Earl over Easter weekend.  It is a slide-in camper which had been sitting in their field for about 5-6 years.  Justin has been excited about the camper ever since he asked his mom for it.

Justin spent the Saturday of Easter weekend getting the camper out of the field and cleaning it up so we could bring it home.  He threw all of the trash away and vacuumed it out.  He also did an initial wipe down on it.

The camper was not in too bad of shape considering it had not been used for 5-6 years at least.  Justin did kill a bunch of hornets that made it their home while it was in the field.

Kathy came to visit us at the end of April.  While she was here, she reupholstered the whole camper.  The cushions were this tan, white, blue and green stripped stuff.  Kathy and her good friend, Jeanne, picked out some neat maroon and gold western fabric to reupholster the cushions with.

Kathy and Jeanne also picked out some fabric with chickens on it for the curtains but Justin said "NO" to that.  He liked everything else they picked out except that.

Kathy made new curtains to go match the cushions. 

Besides doing all of the sewing, Kathy also helped clean the camper. Justin and I painted everything bright white. Kathy wiped down all of the paneling stuff and cleaned all of the blinds.

Before Kathy came to Montana to see us, she went to Wyoming to spend time with Alana and Pogo.  While she was there, she showed Alana the fabric for the cushions.  Alana had a some left over western fabric from a quilt so she cut it up into squares for another quilt.  Alana and Kathy put together a quilt top for our camper.  While in Montana, Kathy and I tied the quilt and I sewed the edging on after Kathy showed me what to do.

Our camper has turned out very nice.  A huge THANK YOU to Kathy for giving us the camper and for all of the hard work she did on it!  We love you!  Thank you to Alana for the quilt top!  It looks very nice in the camper and it is warm.  Thank you to Jeanne for going with Kathy and helping pick out the fabric.  It looks really nice!

We tried out the camper over Memorial day weekend.  It works great!  The heater really works nice.  So does the stove and sink.  We have decided to get rid of the ice box and put in more shelves in that spot.  We tried the ice box out but it leaked.  We had one leak in the roof, but Justin now thinks he has it fixed.  Tyler loves sleeping on the top bunk and Garrett loves his spot where the table is.  The camper works great for our family.  Thanks again for everyone helping get it into shape!

Tyler's lost tooth

On April 19, Tyler lost his first baby tooth!  He was so excited!  He has been wanting to loose a tooth since January.  I have been telling him that everyone looses teeth at different times.  I told Tyler I was about six when I lost my first tooth.  Tyler was not very impressed with that story.  He does not have a lot of patience about some things.  His tooth started to get loose around March 31.  He kept wiggling it everyday.  On the day Tyler lost his tooth, it was barely in. Justin kept trying to pull it but Tyler told him no.  Tyler eventually let Grandma Joni tie some floss around it and pull his tooth out.  Tyler was so proud.  He showed everyone his tooth.  That night the tooth fairy came and brought him money.  Aunt Alana tried to convince Tyler the tooth fairy should given him ten dollars a tooth.  Justin told Alana that was a little too much since Tyler still has a lot of teeth to loose.  Now Tyler has a second loose tooth.  We will wait and see how long it takes him to loose this tooth.

My Birthday

On April 8, I turned another year older.  Justin likes to remind me I am on the downhill slide to forty.  This year, Justin and the boys made my birthday cake.  The boys had fun helping their dad.  Justin really enjoyed putting the candles on the cake.  As you can see from the picture, they made the cake really bright.  I surprised Justin and blew out off of the candles in one breath.  I did not have any help from the boys.  Tyler and Garrett were disappointed with that, but they were O.K.  Justin made sure I got my birthday spankings.  He then encouraged the boys to give me my birthday spankings.  I Justin's family missess him tons on birthdays since he never forgets about the birthday spankings.  I can hardly wait to see how bright my cake will be next year ( I am joking about that).

Easter 2010

We spent this past Easter in Salt Lake City with Justin's family.  We got into town on Thursday afternoon.  Our first stop was Teresa's house so we could see Grandma Olsen.  We had a nice visit with her.  The boys kept her entertained.  Then we went to Kathy and Earl's house.  Tyler and Garrett were excited to spend time with their cousins.  The kids spent Friday playing with all of their cousins while Justin and his brother put in his stepbrother's air conditioning.

Saturday morning we went to the Easter egg hunt Bluffdale city hosted.  It was cold and windy.  Justin went with Garrett and all of the younger kids.  Tyler and Morgan were in the same age bracket.  Tyler did O.K. gathering eggs.  We moved down from the sign where it told for him to stand because there were sooo many kids his age.  Tyler was only able to find 3 eggs in his age bracket.  I think Morgan did better than that.  Garrett picked up a lot of eggs as long as they were not pink or purple.  Justin would point the pink and purple eggs out to Garrett and he would tell Justin, "those are girl eggs.  I am not picking them up."  I have a real character on my hands.

After the egg hunt, we all went back to Kathy and Earl's house.  Justin worked on getting the slide in camper out of the pasture with the help of BJ, Earl, and Jim.  While he was doing that, the kids played.  Saturday afternoon all of the cousins dyed Easter eggs together, minus Braxton who was at a friend's house.  This was the first time in three years the boys have dyed eggs with their cousins.  I think everyone had fun.  After all of the eggs were dyed, the kids went outside and played.  Justin helped Morgan learn how to ride a two wheel bike.  She was so excited.  Morgan and Tyler were riding all over the yard while the other kids played in the mud and rode their little bikes and scooters. 

Easter morning, we woke up to snow!  The Easter bunny swept all of Kathy's back yard to cover up his footprints so the kids would have to look for their Easter baskets and eggs.  Tyler found his basket in the bushes on the side of the house.  Garrett found his basket behind the climbing wall of the swingset.

After all of the eggs were found, we went inside for pictures.  Also, all of the kids were dying to get into the candy!  Everyone knows kids love candy, especially mine.  The big kid, Justin, kept trying to get Tyler and Garrett to share their candy with him.  Tyler is good about sharing, but Garrett really does not like to share.  Next year the Easter bunny may have to bring Justin his own basket. 

Monday morning, we woke up and drove home to Montana.  We had a nice weekend visiting with everyone.  The kids had fun playing nonstop with their cousins.  We hope everyone else had a nice Easter too.

Haircut Time

The boys got their haircut in March.  Tyler really wanted a mo-hawk haircut.  Their hairdresser, Lanny, is a sweetie.  She gave him a faux hawk.  Tyler could style it as a mo-hawk or else he could wear it normal and it would still look good.  Garrett is funny.  He wanted his haircut to be the same as usual.  Lanny was going to put some gel in his hair and give it a little spike and Garrett kept saying, "No, no."  He then would take his hands and flatten his hair down.  I had one boy who wanted a spiky look and the other one wanted his hair flat.  Tyler and Garrett are so funny!  I love them tons!

80's Party

In March, my friend Trish celebrated her 30th birthday by having an 80's themed party.  Justin, Mike, and I went as the Ghostbusters.  Justin and Mike made our costumes.  Justin painted the Ghostbusters decal on our sleeves and put our names on our shirts. 

Justin bought the Ghostbusters movie so he could watch it and make sure our costumes looked authentic.  Justin and Mike were really getting into the costumes.  I just wanted to go have fun!

My friend Trish, was Rainbow Bright.  Some of the other costumes there were Debbie Gibson, Daisy and Luke Duke, Heavy Metal groupies.  Everyone had lots of fun!

Justin borrowed some one's big wig and funky hat.  This is how Justin would look if he had lots of hair!  Justin had a good time at the party! 

St. Patrick's Day

Tyler was really excited for St. Patrick's day this year.  His teacher, Mrs. Fischer, kept telling the kids how they were going to build a trap at school to try and catch the leprechaun, Norm.  Well, Tyler was excited about trying to capture Norm.  He misunderstood his teacher and thought he had to build a trap at home.  Tyler and Grandpa Bill spent hours deciding on how to build the perfect leprechaun trap so he could catch Norm.  Tyler and Grandpa Bill made the trap and Tyler decorated it in green for St. Patrick's day.  Tyler and Grandpa also went to the store to by leprechaun food...Lucky Charms cereal.  Tyler was so excited! 

On St. Patrick's day morning, Tyler had Grandpa Bill take him to school to show his teacher his leprechaun trap. Unfortunately, Tyler was unable to catch Norm at school. Then he took his trap to the babysitters and should her how it worked. Tyler did not catch Norm at the babysitters either. Tyler came home and played and he frequently checked his trap but he was unsuccessful in catching Norm the Leprechaun this year. Tyler was disappointed. Maybe next year, Tyler will be lucky with his leprechaun catching. We will see...

G.G.'s 81st Birthday

On March 8, my Grandma Lois (G.G.) turned 81!  The boys helped me make her birthday cake.  They also helped me frost the cake.  Then they helped her blow out the candles on her cake.  I think G.G. was a little nervous about all the candles on her cake.  It was either that or she was nervous about how Garrett is a little pyro and was liked looking at the cake with all of the candles on it.  The boys love all of their grandmas!  They really like it when they get to help their grandmas do things.

Wrestling with Jeff

Tyler and Garrett love to go with Justin when he goes to see his friend Jeff at his house.  Tyler and Garrett love to attack and wrestle with Jeff.  Jeff is a big kid like Justin and he just encourages the boys.  Usually the boys will take turns and tag team Jeff.  One day while we were visiting, Jeff jokingly tied the boys up.  First he tied up Tyler.  Garrett helped Jeff tie up his brother.  Tyler and Garrett just laughed and laughed.  Afterwards, Garrett helped Tyler get free.  Then the next thing you knew, the boys were attacking Jeff again.  While they were wrestling, Garrett kept asking Jeff to tie him up.  So, Jeff tied him up for a minute.  Tyler and Garrett just laughed and laughed.  I kept telling the boys to settle down, but they were having fun.  Jeff was just laughing at how the boys kept coming back for more.  I have always said, my boys are all boy.  I love them to piece but there are many times, I just sit back and shake my head.

Over view of February

I am sorry that I have not posted anything for a couple of months.  Life continues to be busy with the boys, work, home life, dogs, etc.  Add to that, my camera broke and I don't like to post stuff without pictures. 

During February, we went to Powell, Wyoming to visit Aunt Alana, Uncle Pogo, and Telesse.  Kathy and Earl were there visiting from Utah.  We were there over Valentine's day weekend.  Tyler and Garrett were excited to go see everyone.  They helped Aunt Alana and Telesse gather eggs one day.  Tyler did not like all of the chickens coming close to him, but Garrett had no problems going in there and collecting the eggs. 

The boys liked it when the doorbell rang and their Valentine's gifts were left on the doorstep.  They thought that was neat.  It did not help that they were spoiled as usual.

The boys and I made a couple of day road trips to Missoula and Deer Lodge in February.  Other than that, life was normal...school, church, work, going to the babysitters.  We live a fairly boring life with the exception that the boys are very active with very active imaginations.  In February, the boys were carrying around calculators for a few days.  Garrett kept saying he needed his PDA.  We could not go anywhere without the PDA (calculator).

Family Love

As Valentine's Day approached, one heard lots of commercials about love and how much do you love your husband, family, children, and friends.  This Hallmark holiday made me think about how important family is to me and that I may not always let my family and friends know how much they mean to me.  This Valentine's Day, I wanted to acknowledge my special family.

Every night, we have the boys say their nightly prayers (Garrett is better about this than Tyler, but we are working on it). The boys ask God to please "bless my family near and far".  This is what Tyler will say, but Garrett will then name everyone in his family.  Even though we are not always near our family, we think of everyone often.  I have realized as I was working on this entry, I don't take as many pictures of the family we see often.  It seems that I make a point to take pictures of the boys with family who are visiting or when we go places, but I do not have many pictures of the family we see the most (including me and the boys).

I am thankful for all of Justin's and my family members.  Each and every one of our family members are unique and special.  They touch our lives and make differences for us without sometimes realizing they are doing it.  No matter what life may bring, we always have family we know we can count on.

I am thankful for my family and I love everyone.  Tyler and Garrett love their parents, their grandparents, their great-grandparents, their aunts and uncles, their cousins and all of the other family members I did not mention.  We hope all of our family knows how much you mean to us and that we love everyone, even if we are not close together physically.  We hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day!

Ice Fishing

On January 2, 2010, we went ice fishing with our friends Robie and Kurt on Canyon Ferry Lake.  Their nieces were there along with some of their other friends and Kurt's dad.  We invited a friend of mine from work and her two kids to come along too.  Mike also went out with us.  The ice was 15-16 inches thick that day.  We all had lots of fun.

There were six fish caught while we were out on the lake.  Everyone had caught at least one fish except for Kurt's dad.  He caught two fish while we were there.  Garrett loves to help dig the holes in the ice.  He also loves to hold the fishing poles and jig them.  I am always truly amazed that he sits still for that considering Garrett usually does not sit still unless a movie is playing that he likes.  Garrett seems to like fishing more than Tyler.  Tyler likes to be on the move.  Trish's little girl loved to help catch the fish along with Garrett. 

Besides fishing, people were playing hocky, ice skating, four wheeling, and sledding.  Kurt brought out his tiny grill and we grilled hotdogs and drank hot chocolate.  Tyler was playing hockey and he fell on the ice and hit his head.  We had him put on his bike helmet to protect his head.  It seemed like a good idea until he fell and hit his cheek.  After that, Tyler had to wear his four wheeler helmet when he was playing on the ice.  Even though Tyler had a few little mishaps, he had lots of fun!  He enjoyed playing with the other kids and getting out.  We all had fun out playing on the ice.  This was one of the first times when the wind has not been blowing when we have been out on the ice.  It was a beautiful, fun filled day spent with good friends.

4 Wheeler Sledding

On the Sunday after Christmas, we went over to Jeff and Shawna's and let the boys play in the snow. Jeff's house is in a cul-d-sac where there is no traffic. It had just snowed and it was pretty slick out. Jeff invited us to come out and let the boys ride in the sleds behind the four wheeler. Needless to say, the boys were pretty excited. All three of them! Justin and Jeff took turns taking the boys up and down the street. Justin was the first one to dump the boys into the snow. Tyler and Garrett just laughed and got back on the sleds. Tyler and Garrett love to play in the snow. They enjoy it even more when their dad is playing in the snow too.

Rocky Puppy

This year for Christmas, we got my mom a husky puppy. His name is Rocky and he is a cutey! Rocky loves our dog, Miley. Rocky tried to sleep with Miley in her kennel, but after we moved his kennel next to Miley's, he was quite content to sleep in his own kennel. We keep both Rocky and Miley's kennel doors open and they will put themselves to bed. The boys love both Rocky and Miley, though Tyler and Rocky are special buds. Tyler and Rocky will lay beside each other on the floor. Rocky is very mild mannered. Both boys love to give the dogs their puppy treats and their chew bones. I enjoy watching the boys with the dogs. Needless to say, life is never dull around here.

Christmas 2009

Christmas morning was lots of fun, yet very tiring for some. The boys were extremely excited! I was exhausted! I worked twelve hours Christmas Eve night, so I was ready for bed when everyone else was ready to open presents.Santa was overly generous to Tyler and Garrett. Both boys received what they asked for. Tyler wanted two Nerf guns and Garrett wanted Toy Story figures. Santa also brought the boys matching toy truck and trailer set. Tyler and Garrett's stockings were also very full of candy, a toothbrush, coloring books, crayons, and a little toy motorcycle. Like I said, Santa was overly generous. Our big gift this year was a Wii for everyone. Tyler and Garrett had lots of fun opening all the packages that went with the Wii. Uncle Mike gave Justin the Super Mario Brothers game which Tyler loves to play. The boys were also very excited to play Mario Cart since they love to drive the cars. The boys also love to play the bowling game. Tyler is a good little player at all of the games. I am adult enough to say, my son can kick my butt on some of the games.

The boys also enjoyed all of their other gifts including a couple of toys and some clothes. Tyler and Garrett also had fun helping their dad and Uncle Mike open their presents. The boys enjoy unwrapping gifts as much as they love to wear or play with their gifts. I love to watch their faces and see the awe in their expressions as they watched what everyone else received.

The boys did get their dad a couple of T-shirts like their own. Tyler gave Justin a transformer T-shirt and Garrett gave him a Superman T-shirt. We were extremely blessed by every one's thoughtfulness and generosity this year.

Our Christmas morning was special since it was spent with family. We missed spending time with all of our family out of town but they were in our thoughts. I spent the the rest of Christmas morning and afternoon sleeping while Justin and the boys played. I was lucky put on call Christmas night so I was able to have some cuddle time with the boys and play a little Wii bowling. We hope everyone else had a nice Christmas too.

Tyler Singing at Church

This is Tyler singing on Christmas Eve at church. I think he is adorable. I am biased since he is my son!

Tyler Singing on Christmas Eve

I am going to apolegize in advance. I am trying to publish a video for the first time and I am not having much success. If this does not take, I will remove it. I thought Tyler was so cute singing, I wanted to share it with everyone. I hope this works.

Christmas Eve

Justin worked part of the day on Christmas Eve and I ran a couple of last minute errands, but I mostly spent the day relaxing with the boys. This was my year to work Christmas. We ate dinner together as a family, then we went to the family worship service at church. The school age children participated in the worship service. Some of the older kids had reading parts while the younger kids sang two songs. Tyler was very cute when he sang. Tyler loves to sing. Sometimes he can be kind-of loud, but that it OK. I sometimes think Tyler does not realize how loud he truly is due to all the problems he has had with ear infections, tubes twice, and having a normal, but abnormal hearing screen. Unfortunately, I had to leave church early to go to work. After the worship service was over, Justin brought the boys home. They are allowed to open one Christmas present on Christmas Eve. The boys got new pj's for Christmas which they wore to bed. I guess Justin had a difficult time putting the boys to bed. They finally went to bed after Justin told them Santa would not come unless they were asleep. Tyler and Garrett were typical, anxious children on Christmas Eve.

Remembering Shevlin

Unfortunately, we received some sad news the Saturday before Christmas. Justin's younger cousin passed away due to health problems. Justin and I went to Wyoming on December 22 and 23 for his cousin's viewing and funeral. Shevlin was in his early twenties. He accomplished many goals in his short life while impacting many people in a positive way without realizing he was doing it. One of Shevlin's biggest achievements was going on his mission. He was sent to the Billings, Montana mission because of his health. The Billings mission included the whole state of Montana and that is a lot of area. While Shevlin was in Helena, he came to the house to see Justin. The first time he came over, Justin was not home. My dad told Justin when he came home that the missionaries were here to see him. Justin just thought, whatever. About a week later, my dad answered the door again. He came up the stairs and told Justin the missionaries were here and they were asking for him again. Justin thought this was strange. He went down the stairs and was pleasantly surprised to see Shevlin and his companion. I know that visit meant a lot to Justin. The boys enjoyed showing off for company. Shevlin and his companion were in luck that day because my grandma made pies for dessert that day and they had a piece of Justin's favorite pie, sour cream blueberry.

This photo was taken when we went to celebrate Shevlin's return home after being on his mission. Shevlin's testimony in church showed how much his mission meant to him and how important his faith was to him. I know he impacted many during his short life. He will be missed by many including lots of family members. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

Tyler's School Program

Tyler's school Christmas program was Friday, December 18, 2009. He was so cute. His teacher told the class they needed to wear their Sunday best and that the boys needed to be handsome. As you can see, I think Tyler was very handsome. Everyone in his class had a speaking part and then they sang a song. Tyler's speaking part was, "He will be the Savior." The song he sang goes like this, "For unto us a child is born; Unto us a son is given. And He shall be called: Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."

Tyler and the rest of his class were really cute and they all did a great job.