Life with the Lysagers

He Listen's

2011-06-16T13:55:00.005-06:00

So I realize I have not blogged in over a year and have a lot to catch up on. Hopefully someday soon I will get around to catching back up on the blogging. I just needed to write this memory down for myself before I forgot about it. Logan has been struggling the past little while with having nightmares. Atleast once a week he comes into our room in the middle of the night saying he can't sleep because he is having a bad dream. We have been trying to teach him to say a prayer when he is having a bad dream and ask Heavenly Father to help him sleep without the bad dreams. He always tells us no he doesn't want to do that. So the other morning when he came into my room to wake me up, yes my children are my alarm clock, he told me he had a bad dream last night and he got up and said a prayer and Jesus made him have a good dream instead. It was just one of those moments as a parent where you get excited for your kids to be learning the things we try and teach them. Also a neat experience for him to learn that Heavenly Father does hear us and helps us in times of need. Logan also prayed the other day when he couldn't find something and after he said his prayer he went right to where the lost item was and found it. Being a parent is overwhelming sometimes and I just hope I am teaching my kids the things they need to know to have a successful future.

Crap I've Made

2010-05-02T16:04:00.004-06:00

So over the last crazy month of birthday's and Easter and family visits, I have also done three craft boutiques. Can you say crazy busy, yeah!! I am happy to say that they are finally over and I can breath again. A couple people asked to see some of my stuff, so here is a picture of our booth at one of the boutiques. There were two other girls that I did them with. I wish I could say they did super duper fabulouso but sadly I have a lot of leftovers. So if any of you need a good mother's day gift or just something cute to spice up your house for spring, you know where to come.

Pretty in Pink!!

2010-05-02T14:29:00.014-06:00

So Lauren and I decided that her theme for her this party this year was going to be PINK!! I think I had a little more fun planning it than she did, but we both had a great time.
Here is our table setting.

I bought some old glass cups and such and filled them with all the pink candy I could find. We had pink animal cookies, pink bubble gum, pink taffy, pink whoppers, and pink mint candies.

When I first told Lauren about my idea for a pink party, she didn't like it and said she wanted to have a puppy party. In looking around for cake ideas I found this pink poodle cake and that made Lauren happy and on board with the pink party theme.
I just love the way her cake turned out!!

Now that we had everything set up, it was time for the guests to start arriving.
Here is our guest list:

Such a cute group of girls!!
Here they are playing around waiting for the party to get started.

Our first game we played was bingo, which I now realize I neglected to get any pictures of. After bingo, the girls made their own necklaces.

Lauren picked out a princess game like pin the tail on the donkey, and here are the girls all lined up and ready to go.
Lauryn Marietti won the prize this time.

Look how cute all these girls are in their pink. I just love it!!
I told them to strike a pose, can you tell by the way Lauren is standing? She cracks me up!!

Lauren was so lucky that her BFF Hailey just happened to be in town for a dance competition that weekend and got to surprise her and come to the party. She was so happy to have her there. The night before we went and watched her dance, then she got to come over and play for awhile. They each had some money to spend from different things so I took them to the store and they picked out matching CTR necklaces, which automatically meant they were in a secret club together. They are so cute together.

Hailey had to dance that day at 1:00 so she had to leave before the party was over so we hurried and opened presents. Somewhere online I saw this cute idea to take a picture of the birthday kid with each of their friends along with the gift they brought. I thought that was a great idea, so that is just what I did.

After presents we did cake and ice cream.

I bought these fun cups from the dollar store and put a pink sugar rim around the top and filled them with cherry 7-up. The girls thought they were so cool and even more excited when they found out they could take them home.

The girls played for awhile until everyone was done with their cake and ice cream and then we played the last game quick before all the parents came. I tried the musical present game again, and it went over better with the older crowd.
Here is Gracyn showing off her fun prize she unwrapped.

The party turned out to be a complete success. The weather could not have been nicer and all the girls had a blast. The nice thing about having my kids birthdays so close is that now I don't have to plan another party for another year, thank goodness.
Thank you everyone who helped make it such a special day for Lauren!!

6 going on 16!!

2010-05-02T13:27:00.006-06:00

April 15th Lauren had her 6th birthday. I can't believe she is six already, she is growing up way too fast and is definitely too smart and sassy for her age. I absolutely love her for it though. She is getting to the age where I really don't mind taking her places, in fact sometimes I prefer to have her along. She is such a fun little girl and her daddy and I love her so much.

I bought her a new outfit to wear to school that day and had it all wrapped up and waiting for her when she woke up that morning. She was sad though that she had to wait for dad to get home before she could open up the rest of them.

Before school we went out and got some doughnuts for breakfast and she got to pick out a new toy while we were shopping for some last minute things for her party. After school she had her friend Gracyn over to play for awhile before Tyler got home. Lauren got to choose what she wanted for dinner that night and an activity she wanted to do. She choose to have a picnic at the park with pizza.
After the park we came home and opened presents.

The previous weekend we had gone to D.I. looking for a few things and Lauren found and fell in love with this big horse that you could sit on. She wanted it SOOO bad. I have never seen her bed, plead and cry for something more in her life. She kept saying, I want it more than anything in the world. Had Tyler not been there, I probably would have broke down, but Tyler kept me strong and we decided not to buy it. She cried and threw the BIGGEST fit ever. After we left we went to Del Taco across the street for dinner. While there Tyler and I talked about it and decided we should go back and get it for her birthday. It was only $6.00 and with a little soap and water could be looking good in no time. So we told the kids that Tyler was going to go and get gas in the car while they played a little longer, and he went and bought the horse. Lauren talked about that horse all week. That was all she wanted for her birthday and kept saying maybe we could find another one somewhere for her.
So after opening all her presents, Tyler told her she had one more surprise, she got to make a birthday wish, and here is her wish.

I think she likes it!!

Lauren choose brownies and ice cream for her treat, and here she is blowing out her candles.

She had a fabulously fun filled day.
We love you Lauren!!

Carpenter's in Training

2010-05-02T13:10:00.003-06:00

Lowe's has a fun kids program that I kept hearing about and finally decided to look into and get my kids signed up for it. It has been so much fun, and my kids absolutely love it. On their first visit they got an apron and goggles to wear and bring back to wear each time. The best part about it is that it is totally free. Normally they only do it twice a month, but for whatever reason, they are doing it every Saturday in April and May. So far the kids have made a baseball game, a bird feeder and a little school house. They give them a fun patch to put on their aprons after each project that says they completed that project. I have yet to get any of them put on yet, but I will get around to that eventually.

Thank You Lowe's for creating a program that is fun, easy and Cheap that my kids enjoy!!

If I were a Queen...

2010-05-02T13:00:00.003-06:00

The other day Lauren came home from school with this crown and on it, it said, if I were a queen... She was to fill in the blanks with what she thought, and this is what it said, I wod gif mony to bepll thet didint hav mone. Translation: I would give money to people that didn't have money. I thought it was so cute, both what she would do if she were queen and he sound it out spelling. She is getting better at reading and writing and it is so fun to watch her improve.

My favorite QUEEN!!

Let's Party!!

2010-05-02T11:36:00.006-06:00

The wait was finally over and it was time for the party. Lauren didn't want to be in a house full of boys so she got to go and have a sleep over at a friends house. I dropped Lauren off and got home with the pizza right as the first guest arrived. Ten little boys were on their way over and I started thinking, what have I got myself into.
The table's all set and we are ready to PARTY!!

All the guests have arrived and we start by eating pizza for dinner.

In case you are wondering what 10 little boys sound like in the same room, here is a little preview, or a warning to never do this to yourself. Just kidding really, they were great!

After dinner we went down to the toy room to play some games. The first game on the roster was pin the til on the donkey. Logan was the first one up, but Dreyson was the winner. He got a bulls eye, pinning that tail in just the right spot.

Up next we played musical present. I wrapped up a couple little toys several times and the kids would pass the present around in a circle (side note: have you ever tried getting ten little boys to get in a circle by themselves, yeah not happening). So they would pass the present around the circle and when the music stops whoever was holding it, got to unwrap a layer. If that layer contained a gift, then they got to keep it. Three little boys walked away with some awesome dollar store toys. Seven little boys were very sad they didn't get anything, maybe a wrong game choice with this age, live and learn.

Finally it was pinata time. I was hoping that with all these strong little boys we had there that everyone would get a turn before the pinata got broken open. yeah that was not a problem. After everyone had all the turns they could possibly want, and I had my turn in which the only thing I broke was the handle holding it up, Tyler had to rip the thing open and sprinkle all the candy out. It was funny though because while the pinata held up to all the beatings, the candy inside it however didn't. The kids were showered with broken pieces of tootsie rolls all over the place. Not everything was broken and the boys were more than happy with any candy they could get their hands on.

Logan's turn beating the pinata as hard as he could.

Time for Cake!!

Picture Time!!

Logan wanted to start opening presents as soon as the first one walked in the door. We told him though that we were not going to open presents until the very end. He had a very hard time waiting, as he asked if it was present time after each activity ended. he survived though and present time finally arrived.

Logan was so excited for all the fabulous gifts he received. Thank you to everyone for your fun presents. He was in heaven with all the fun new toys he got to play with.

After everyone left he opened up and put together all his new toys. He pulled out his army of bionicles, four of which he got for his birthday, and was eagerly excited to pose for a picture before the bionicle battle began.

Thanks again to everyone who came and helped us celebrate Logan's birthday.
He had a great day!!
We love you Logan and are so proud of the awesome little boy you are!!

Kangaroo Zoo

2010-05-02T10:42:00.006-06:00

So during our crazy week of birthday fun, I decided to take the kids to Kangaroo Zoo. It was spring break week and the weather was crappy as seen in the snowy picture in the previous post. I had been wanting to try out this place for awhile now so I figured while the weather was bad it would be a good indoor place to take the kids to run around a bit. We invited some friends and were good to go. The kids knew we were going to kangaroo zoo but they didn't exactly know what kind of place it was. On the way there, I had a conversation with Logan about it and asked me if there was real kangaroo's there. I told him there weren't real animals there, that the only animals there were the kids playing. Logan then thought that meant that he had to dress up in an animal costume and he was not excited about that. I quickly corrected him and told him I was just kidding and we were good to go again. Because it was spring break, the place was a little crazy and kinda stinky from all the sweaty kids running around, the kids didn't seem to mind though. They joined right in and had a blast running around with all their friends. I tried to keep up with them at first but they just moved from toy to toy so fast that I couldn't keep track of them and eventually found a table to sit at and chit chat with the other moms. It was funny cause later that day Logan's friend party was scheduled and Parker told his mom, man Logan is having a lucky week. Logan was so excited for his party later in the day that after about a half hour of being there he was ready to go home to his party. He bugged me every ten minutes the whole day about when his party was going to start.

Here are some fun pictures of the morning events!

Lauren, Lauryn, Maddie, Aubrey

Logan, Parker, Spencer

Maile & Cameron

The kids had a great time running around and getting sweaty with the rest of them. Thanks ladies for joining in on our day of fun. We had a blast!!

Family visit, birthday parties, easter oh my!!

2010-04-12T10:24:00.013-06:00

Logan's birthday was on April 3rd, which just happened to also be spring break, conference weekend and Easter weekend all rolled into one, so needless to say it was a bit crazy and a lot fun. Tyler's mom, Sister Heidi, her three kids, and Jackson and Lucus came down on Thursday night to join in on the fun. Tyler and I were able to go on a little date that night and go finish up the birthday shopping for Logan. Friday, Lauren had short day for school, so we waited for her to get out before starting the festivities. We went Friday afternoon to Classic Fun Center and let the kids run around and have fun. Tyler got done with work early enough that day, that he was able to go with us. Holly and McKay even drove down that afternoon to join in on the fun as well.

Logan and Lauren playing around at Classic

Heidi and Finn

Everyone got a turn rock climbing.
Lauren was getting ready for her turn but was sad to find out that the harness was too big for her so she didn't get her turn.

Logan loved playing air hockey and had this huge permagrin the whole time.

All that Lauren wanted to do with her tokens was waste them on one of those stupid arm machine things where you try to grab a prize. So after about 10 tokens we finally told her she was not going to waste any more on that game and she needed to go find something else to do. She was NOT happy about that and started to through a huge fit saying she didn't want to give up and she didn't care if she wasted all her money. I turned her over to Tyler to listen to her fit while I went over and played some air hockey with Logan. The next thing I know Lauren comes running over with her new stuffed animal. Tyler had let her try one more time, he's such a sucker, and sure enough she won herself a stuffed animal. Who ever wins something in one of those things. She told me she won cause she didn't give up.
Meet LUCKY the Lion!!

Logan, Jackson, Lucus, and Will playing skee ball

After classic, we came home and had a yummy dinner that Mammie had stayed home and made for us. Then we had our family birthday party. We celebrated, Logan, Lauren, McKay and Holly's birthday's. We opened presents and then had cupcakes and ice cream. Heidi and I made these cute sunflower cupcakes earlier in the day.

The kids showing off some of their gifts

Saturday morning, which was Logan's actual birthday, started out with a freezing cold easter egg hunt at the city park. Only a few of us braved the cold.

After the easter egg hunt we went out to breakfast at McDonalds and then came home and finished watching the morning session of conference. After that was over, Tyler and I took Lauren, Logan, Jackson and Lucus to go and see How to Train Your Dragon. It was a very cute show and all the kids loved it. When we got home from the movie, Heidi and her family were back over, they had gone overnight to McKay's parents house, and the easter bunny had payed us a visit and left several eggs to be found in the back yard. The kids were all excited to get hunting.

Logan showing off his loot from the hunt.

Lauren going through her haul to see what goodies she found.

Cute Ellie showing off her over flowing bucket of eggs. I think she was the winner!!

After the easter egg hunt, we had another yummy homemade meal by Mammie. Then men then hurried off to priesthood session. Logan had very patiently waited all day to open the rest of his birthday presents. When the men finally returned he dove right into them. Which was then followed by more cupcakes and ice cream.

After cake and ice cream, all of our guests packed up and headed home and we were left to a quite house again. We got the kids to bed so the Easter Bunny could come back and leave their baskets. It was really nice to have Easter fall on conference weekend, because it was nice to wake up and just relax and watch conference and not have to hurry and get ready for church while the kids were fighting because they wanted to play with their easter stuff. We just took it easy. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and sat around the table and talked about why we celebrate Easter.

Between sessions of conference, we went over to the park and brought some of this kids new toys they had gotten. Logan got a new baseball set for his birthday that he was excited to try out. I just love watching him hit a ball. Lauren brought her new kite and side walk chalk.

Lauren spent most of her time on the play ground though and practiced jumping from the swings.

After the park we came home and had a ham and cheesy potato dinner of course. Overall, it was a great weekend and we really enjoyed celebrating with family.

Here are a few random shots from the week following.
After a great weekend with great weather, we woke up Tuesday morning to this.
What the Heck!!

My good friend April came over on Tuesday and we made strawberry jam, yummy!!

Lauren and her friend Gayle and their fabulous make overs!!

Boy Day at the Dino Park

2010-04-11T20:46:00.006-06:00

A few weeks ago, we had another fun boy day at the dino park. Logan loves to feel special like things are just for him. It is so easy for me to amke things all about Lauren but I have a harder time making them all about Lauren. Maybe it's just cause she's a girl and so much like me, I don't know. Logan keeps asking when he is going to be older than Lauren and gets very upset each time I tell him that he will never be older than her. I think he just has a mom that needs to try a little harder. So boy day at the dino park again is a start. We must be cursed at the dino park cause everytime we go it rains. It didn't rain too hard so that was good, not hard enough to stop us anyways.
Logan by the robot dinosaurs

Here are a few cute photos of some of the other cute little boys that came along with us that day.
Gage

Mason

Kelton

Silly boys riding the alligator

The kids love playing at the park more than anything, which makes me wonder why we don't just go to the park.

They had painted a lot of the dinosaurs since we had been there last time so they were all bright and fresh. I knew Lauren would love this pink dinosaur so I made Logan and Mason stand my it for a picture so we could show sissy.

We are so lucky to have such good friends willing to go and play with us. I don't know what I would do without my friends. Thanks guys for a great fun filled day.

We love you Aunt Holly!!

2010-04-11T11:52:00.004-06:00

Recently Tyler's sister Holly invited us up to her new place in Logan for a weekend of fun and games with the family. Tyler's mom and the boys came down as well, and Heidi lives only a few doors down from Holly, so we were all able to be really close to each other. We had a lot of fun with some great food, great music and of course some game playing. The most memorable part of the trip though was how much Lauren took to Aunt Holly. She just loves being around her and wanted to do whatever she was doing. Holly is a really talented musician and took some great time with Lauren, singing and playing the guitar. It was so neat to see Lauren so excited about it. Lauren loves to sing and is lucky to have a fabulous Aunt spend some time with her and teach her new songs. The kids also had a great time building their own creations with a bag full of bendaroo's. And guess who Lauren choose to sit by and have help her. Together they made some pretty cute stuff.

Logan even got in some good snuggle time with Aunt Holly. Heidi and I always joke that we are definitely not the favorite Aunts, as her kids just love being with Aunt Holly too.

Holly's birthday is coming up in a week or so, so we will make this a tribute to her for a Happy Birthday. We love you Holly and are so proud of you and everything you have accomplished lately. We are happy that you are living so much closer now so we can see you more often. Thanks for being such a great Aunt to our kids, the truly love you and enjoy being around you.

Lauren and Holly singing

Dollar Store Beauty!!

2010-04-10T15:40:00.004-06:00

The other day Lauren got to go to the dollar store and pick out a toy, and these are the beauties she came home with.
She was SOOO excited to have long nails, she could hardly wait to get home and get them on. She was a little worried though that I wouldn't know how to put them on her. She said that I might need to call my friend Liz and ask her since she has her nails done. I told her I think I can manage. We got them on and she walked around very carefully for about 10 minutes before she decided she couldn't handle it anymore and started to play normal. Sadly after about 10 minutes they we all done for. Isn't that about average for a dollar store toy though. 10 minutes of fun for a dollar, sounds about right to me.
These pictures crack me up!!

St. Patricks Day!!

2010-04-10T15:32:00.003-06:00

Nothing too exciting. I had bought the kids new green shirts a week or two before and kept them a surprise and decided the night before that I should try and so something fun. So we had shamrock pancakes and I made them pots of gold. Not very original but they were excited and that's all that matters right.

Green is a hard color for me with food, because my kids refuse to eat anything that is green, so we didn't get too crazy for dinner. Used the same fun plates from breakfast and colored our sprite green and added a lime. Tyler and I got the broccoli to add some more green to our plates. Maybe next year I will think of something earlier than the night before and make it a more fun day. Oh, we also had green jello poke cake for dessert but I guess I didn't get a picture of that.

California Trip Days 7,8 & 9 Disneyland Here We Come!!

2010-04-08T21:30:00.015-06:00

Friday morning and finally we get to go to Disneyland. Lauren's face was still a little swollen Friday morning, but her temperature was back to normal and she was feeling fine, thank goodness. We got up early and headed out the door to get in as much fun as possible.

Here are the kids sporting their Mickey Mouse ears that I bought them before the trip at a Disney Clearance store back home.

Waiting for the bus to pick us up.

We're finally here, wahoo!!

Riding the finding Nemo Submarine.

Logan driving on Autotopia. He loved this ride and was so fun to sit by while riding. I just love the pure joy on his face in the video. He is having so much fun, worth every penny!

Lauren and I doing our Charlies Angels pose on Buzz Light Year

Tyler and Logan on Buzz, Logan came back to this ride time and time again. One of his favorites.

We brought rain ponchos with us in case of rain and decided to pull them out for splash mountain. Tyler decided to use his to wrap the backpack in so our camera's didn't get wet. Logan heard that and decided we was going to leave his off like Daddy. Here is the result of that, Logan soaked from head to toe and not happy. The kids both loved the ride though.

Next up was a stop and Mickey and Minnies house's. The line was forever at Mickey's house and the kids were ready to ditch it, but I made us stay and go for it. I'm glad we waited and I think the kids were too. Although Logan didn't want to get to close.

Lauren with Minnie

Lauren and Logan posing outside our hotel with the dolphin fountain. Our hotel was called Dolphin's Cove. We came home for a dinner break and to meet up with the Stubbs.

The Stubbs had decided to go to California Adventure that morning, but we decided we would meet up with them for dinner. We decided to go somewhere a little nicer for dinner this night, and ended up at Claim Jumper.

Our waiter asked us if we were there for a special occasion and Mindy told him it was Tyler's birthday. We were just kidding obviously but the guy didn't catch on and went and ordered Tyler a cupcake. When he brought it back, we were just laughing and went along with it and sang Happy Birthday. Our kids were so confused.
The Birthday Boy!!

After dinner we headed back to Disneyland with the Stubbs. We figured we would catch a few rides and then watch the fireworks together.

Splash Mountain, Logan opted for the poncho this time.

After this ride, the girls went to get a spot for the fireworks and the boys went and rode a couple more rides. The made it back just as the fireworks started. It had started raining by this point so they didn't know if they were going to be doing them or not. I am so glad they did though, cause they were the most amazing fireworks I have ever seen, so cool. Logan however did not like standing in the rain listening to load noises. He was so ready to go. After the firework show all the boys decided to head back to their rooms and Lauren, me, Hailey and Mindy stayed at the park. We were troopers running around in the rain, but we had a great time and stayed til the park closed at Midnight. Unfortunately because of the rain I opted to leave the camera with Tyler. One of Hailey's favorite rides was Big Thunder Mountain so we decided to make that our last ride for the night. Lauren was not sure she wanted to go on it cause it looked scary. By the time it was our turn to board she had definitely decided she was not going to ride it and we ended up just walking through the ride to the exit side and waited for Mindy and Hailey while they rode it. I was a little disappointed to not get to ride it, but i was not about to force her to ride it if she really didn't want to. The Stubbs were leaving the next morning so we said our good byes when we left and parted ways. I am glad we at least got to spend a little time with them at the park.

The next morning it was back up to the park we went.
The carousel was the first ride we hit.

After that we headed to the Tea Cups, which I was not about to ride. I get motion sickness just watching that ride.
Tyler being silly, waiting in anticipation with the kids.

All settled in and ready to ride

Tyler again being silly, pretending he is going to throw up.

After this we decided to split up for a little while and Lauren and I would go and see the princess's and Tyler and Logan would go ride some more rides. Tyler even convinced Logan to ride Space Mountain with him and when they got off, Logan's response was, that was not super awesome. The lines were super long for the princess's and Lauren grew very impatient. She kept saying she didn't care if she got to see them or not. I wouldn't let her leave though cause I knew she would love it when she got there. Sure enough, she was in awe of them and loved the special one on one attention she got from each of them. She was even lucky and got her three favorite princess's.

After the princess's it was off the pixie hollow to see the fairies. It is a good thing that Lauren knew their names because other than Tinker Belle I had no idea who they were. First up was Silver Mist.

Next up was Tinker Belle and her very fairy friend Terrance.

We met back up with the boys after this and I think went back to our room for a dinner break. Afterwards we went back up to the park. We were going to watch the fireworks again but Logan convinced us otherwise. Which ended up being a good idea since the rides are empty during the fireworks. We rode Pirates, the jungle cruise, and Tyler and I took turns riding the Indiana Jones ride since the kids were too little for that ride. Logan was a little less ornery this night so we all stayed til midnight. We even talked Lauren into riding Big Thunder Mountain.
Here is a fun picture of the castle at night.

We were supposed to leave on Sunday and drive all the way home but we decided to stay an extra day. Because of Lauren's sickness we had only used 2 days on our 3 day park hopper and we figured since we were already there we might as well make the most of it. Who knows if we will ever get back there, so we wanted to make the most of it. We decided to go to California Adventure first this morning and do a few of the rides we heard were must dos. Before we hit any rides though we ran into Lightening McQueen and Mater. Logan was excited to finally see someone he liked.

After that he went over and rode Soarin' over California. That was a fun ride, the kids were a little nervous at first, but really enjoyed it. Then we went and started standing in line for the Toy Story ride. It was over and hour wait and we weren't sure if we wanted to wait that long. Then Tyler saw that they were giving out glasses and remembered his cousin say you have to ride the one with the glasses, so we continued to wait, and I am so glad we did. It was probably my favorite ride and had the line not been so dang long, I would have rode it again and again.
A Bug's life 3-D ride was next. It was pretty cool, except the kids got spooked out a little and didn't want to keep the glasses on. My favorite part was the bugs crawling under your bums on their way out.

Logan was so worn out by Sunday that he really wasn't having it any more. Here he is stopping mid step and refusing to continue on unless someone came to get him.

We went back over to Disneyland after that and let the kids each pick their favorite ride to go on one more time. But after barely stepping into the park Logan through another major tantrum and we wasted at least a half hour sitting on a bench waiting for him to calm down. Tyler left to get us fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain, as that was Logan's ride of choice. Logan had gotten a hang nail and that is what was causing his grief cause he was insisting he needed a band aid. There was a photographer that worked at the park that kept staring at us and finally came over to me and pointed me to the first aid building if we needed anything. We went there and got a band aid and he continued to cry for awhile before finally calming down enough that we could continue on. Lauren's ride of choice was It's a Small World, so we went and rode that ride for the millionth time. The first time was fun but by the end of the trip, I think I have that song stuck in my head for life.

We then went and used our fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain, which was great cause the line was way long and we were able to go right up to the front, fabulous. After their rides we went to a gift shop and let them each pick out a toy to take home. Lauren picked out a Tinker Belle polly pocket set and Logan picked out a Toy Story set.

We only spent half a day at the park and decided to drive to Vegas that night so we didn't have such a long drive on Monday. That and we had to check out of our hotel so we didn't really have much of a choice. The couple we stayed with on our way down had said to us if we need a place to stay on the way back that we were welcome to do so. I told them we wouldn't need to but thanks, yeah I called her and said just kidding, can we still take you up on your offer. They said yes of course and that is what we did. We were so exhausted that me and the kids slept most of the way to Vegas. We had so much fun, but I don't think I have ever been so exhausted in all my life. I had blisters on the bottoms of both my feet and if you don't believe me, here is a picture to prove it. Yummy!!

I am so glad we had this opportunity to go on this trip as a family. It was so good spending such quality time together. Thank You Tyler for working so hard for us to make it happen. You are the best!!
I now love my family more than ever!!

California Trip Days 5 & 6 Unexpected Illness and The Beach

2010-03-31T01:33:00.008-06:00

Wednesday we had scheduled a rest day and were planning on going to the beach. We slept in forever, which felt so good. The day before when we were at Sea World, Lauren was acting kind of weird, nothing specific, just not herself. I kept asking her if she was feeling OK to which she always responded yes she was fine. Well when she woke up Wednesday morning the left side of her face was kind of swollen. We thought maybe she had an abscessed tooth or something but she said her mouth felt fine. All of her felt fine really, she was running around and acting fine but it was just weird that she was so swollen.

We called Mindy, who is a nurse and asked her what she thought we should do, and she recommended we take her into to a local clinic to get checked out and maybe get an antibiotic since it was obviously an infection of some kind. I went up to the front desk and asked them if they could give me a list of family doctors close by. She did a google map search and came up with four choices. The first one was called Family Medical Clinic. That sounded good to me so I called and checked to see if they took our insurance and to get directions. The lady didn't speak very good English but I didn't think that was too big a deal. After an hour of driving around and three different sets of directions, I realized it was a very big deal when we finally found the place.

Tyler and I just looked at each other and laughed, and then said, do we really want to take our child here. We decided that all we needed was a prescription. We would get in and get out. We walked in and paid our forty dollars cash, which is all the accepted and sat and waited. The finally took us back and the doctor came in to look at Lauren. We told her we were worried about the swelling in her face. She then took out (I am not kidding when I say this) a dollar store flashlight tried to turn it on, but darn it the batteries had died. She then went out and came back with the upscale version, one of those black and yellow camping flashlights that you can get at Walmart. Yeah so Tyler and I were just dying watching her do this. She shinned the flash light down Lauren's throat for 5 seconds and then said, oh yeah she has strep throat. I almost told her that her tonsils are huge already then I caught myself, and decided to just nod my head in agreement as she pulled out her prescription pad. She then took her flashlight and shinned it in Lauren's ears and pretended she could see something with her magic light and said her ears looked a little red too. She offered to fill the prescription for us there at the clinic but we both were quick to say no thanks. She told us she wanted to do a follow up visit in two days and tried to get that scheduled. We said that we would have to call them because we weren't sure what our plans were that day. Really we were both thinking, there is no way in hell we are bringing her back here. She didn't even address the problem that we brought her in for. Oh well, we got the prescription and that's all we needed. So we went to Walmart and got her filled and called it good. Lauren was feeling fine so we decided that we were still going to go for a sunset trip to the beach. I had bought a bunch of sand toys and bubbles for them to play with when we went, so I didn't want them to go to waste.

I have seen before where you can get your child's name in the sand done for you if you lose a child. I decided to so my own version of Taylor's name in the sand. I printed it up and framed it for Tyler's mom. She really liked it.

Fun family photo

Logan chasing the bubbles.

Fun picture of Lauren just enjoying the water on her feet and the breeze blowing.

My attempt of the foot picture. Logan didn't want to participate so this is the best we could come up with. I still think it is fun.

Tyler got some great sunset shots.

After we got back from the beach, the kids really wanted to go down to the pool and go swimming before bed. We had bought the kids goggles at the store earlier that day so they were excited to try them out. I love these pictures of the kids

So Thursday was supposed to be our first day at Disneyland. I gave Lauren a bath the night before and got her hair all done up in rollers so she could have pretty curly princess hair, but when she woke up Thursday morning, this is what we found.

Instead of her face getting better over night, it had gotten a lot worse. Her eye was almost swollen shut and her lips were even swollen. We started to panic a little bit, not sure what to do. I sent Tyler to the store to get some Benedryl in case maybe it was just some kind of allergy. While Tyler was gone I put in a call to her regular doctor back home and waited for them to return my call. Logan didn't like looking at her like that. He said to me, "I don't want to go to Disneyland with sissy looking like that. Everyone is going to laugh at her." I think he was really trying to be sweet and felt bad for her, but really it broke my heart to hear him say that. I felt so bad for her and wished I knew what to do. When Tyler got back we gave her the medicine but all that did was knock her out and give her a good nap. While she was sleeping the nurse called me back and I explained everything to her. She then told me that since she had already had three doses of the antibiotic and was still getting worse then she would take her back to the doctor, a different one of course. We then called our insurance company and had them recommend one to us. We were able to get her in there right away and were relieved to have found a normal doctors office with people who spoke English. The doctor there told us he wasn't totally sure what it was, just some kind of weird skin infection. He gave her a penicillin shot and two different antibiotics that were stronger than the one she already had. She had a slight fever and he told us that main thing to watch was that. He said that if her fever went up at all to take her right to the emergency room as it could be something more serious. That totally freaked me out, but I was able to keep myself under control till we got in the car and I started crying. We headed to Target across the street to fill her prescriptions and buy a thermometer. The doctor also told us no Disneyland for at least 12 hours assuming things started getting better. When we went to Target we let the kids each pick out a new toy to go back to the hotel and play with since we knew we wouldn't be doing anything fun that day. We decided to take a picture of Lauren each hour so we could tell if there was any change. We also took her temperature at the same time and were very relieved that it never went up. By the end of the day, this is how she looked. Much better than the morning.

I hate it as a parent when your kids are sick and there is nothing you can do to help them. It makes me so sad and worried to see them that way. We are just so grateful it didn't end up being something worse than it was. Lauren asked me later that day how come we were being so nice to her. I guess I need to be nicer on a daily basis. It just opens your eyes a little more when they are sick and you can't help but love them even more.
We love you Lauren!!

California Trip Day 4 Sea World

2010-03-29T09:37:00.016-06:00

Tuesday morning we woke up very excited for Sea World. We also woke up to yet another home cooked breakfast made for us by Dan Day. Thank you so much Day family for letting us stay at your Day's Inn. We really appreciated your hospitality. We tried to get an early start so that we could be to Sea World right at 10 when it was opening.

I love this picture of Logan and Ethan. They just look like the best of buds.

Lauren and Hailey all dressed up matchy matchy once again. Luckily both the boys and the girls already happened to have these matching shirts.
BFF

When we first got in the gate, Shamu was there waiting for us.

I have no idea who this otter guy was but it was a good photo op.

The first thing we did was head to the under water observatory. We were able to sit and watch these dolphins swimming around under the water. It was so neat to just watch their bodies move.

We then headed up and over to where the killer whales are kept. The kids were so excited to see Shamu. There was even a baby one swimming around with its mom. They are side by side in this picture, so it is kind of hard to tell.

We walked over this bridge thing that lead you to the stadium where they do the Shamu show. They just happened to be doing some training exercises with the whales to get ready for the show. It was the coolest thing to sit and watch. There was only two other people there watching so it totally felt like we were getting our own private Shamu show. We sat there watching for almost an hour.

We passed another fun dolphin pool and sat and watched them jump for awhile. It was so amazing to me to watch them jump. It would look like they didn't have enough room and were going to run into the rock wall, but when they jumped it almost looked like they were moving backwards. They are such beautiful animals. They are building a new dolphin stadium so they didn't have a dolphin show going on when we were there. I was kind of bummed about that.

Next we hurried over the the Sea Lions Live show. I thought it was really fun, but the kids kind of got bored with it. It was definitely more of an older kid/adult show. The humor was a little over their heads and it went on a little long.
My favorite part of the show...the walrus!

Beautiful Girls!!

Logan is not a big fan of having his picture taken, but this day he was all for it so here are a couple cute shots of him along the way.

After the show it was off to see the sharks. They had all kids of different sharks. The coolest part was the end when you walk through this tunnel and the sharks are swimming all around you. The biggest sharks were in this tank too which added to the excitement.

Getting ready for the Shamu show. We sat in the soak zone, but not very close. A little bit wet was enough for us. These animals are so amazing and beautiful. It is so cool to just see the way their bodies move and see how all their muscles work together. Here are a bunch of pictures from the show. It was crazy to hear that just a week after we were here that one of the trainers at the Florida Sea World was killed by one of the whales.

Next we hurried over to ride the Journey to Atlantis ride. Up first were the girls and the boys waited and watched. Mindy and I are definitely the braver ones in both our relationships. Lauren and Hailey both loved the ride as well.

Tyler and Logan waiting in line for their turn.
I LOVE this picture!!

So I was given strict instructions as to how to take the picture of them when they were coming down the drop off. I had practiced to make sure I had it down good. Well the line was really long and the girls really needed to go to the bathroom so I hurried and ran to take them to the bathroom. We ran back as fast as we could and found that the boys were on the ride already heading up to the drop off. I hurried and grabbed the camera and got it ready, except I forgot one thing in the important list of instructions, of which I don't remember what it was, but because of it my pictures of them coming down, were not very good, and because of that, I got in trouble. Ooops, I guess we will just have to go back there again some day so we can try again.

This picture cracks me up. I bet you can't guess who didn't like the ride.

The last place we got to visit was the arctic exhibit. We saw the polar bears, the beluga whales, and the walruses. The set up for this exhibit was really cool.

On our way out of the park, Tyler took this cool picture of all the flags.

We had an awesome day at Sea World, and I definitely want to go back there some day. Next time though I think we need two days to make sure we get to see everything. We were so tired after the two long days we were excited to drive back to Anaheim and get a good night sleep.

California Trip Day 3 San Diego Zoo

2010-03-27T18:11:00.008-06:00

So before I start, let me just give you a warning that Tyler took over 1400 pictures during this trip, so needless to say there will be picture overload in the next few posts. Monday morning we woke up and headed down to San Diego to go to the zoo. The weather was still unseasonably warm and we were loving it. The kids were excited to get their first glimpse of the ocean on the drive down the coast. The drive didn't take too long which was good considering the amount of time we had been in the car the previous two days. The kids were anxious to get there and were so excited to begin the FUN.

Logan has become obsessed with koala bears this last year as he latched on to one that was handed down in a box of Christmas decorations from my mom. It was one of those department store stuffed animals that they bring out a new one each Christmas to collect. So anyways, Logan had been so excited to get to see the koala bears at the zoo, that that just had to be our first stop. Lucky for us it was one of the first animals we came to. They were so fun to just sit and watch, especially when one would wake up and eat.

Here is a mommy koala bear holding tight to her baby. If you look close you can see the babies legs wrapped around the mom.

One of the next animals we came upon were the camels and if this shot doesn't scream out, come here and give me a nice juicy kiss I don't know what does.

Of course Lauren had to stop and smell the flowers!

A little while later we came upon a family of meerkat's. I over heard someone talking about how they had heard a rumor that one of the meerkat's had just had a baby an hour earlier. Sure enough, after close examination and a good pair of eyes, we spotted them. They were so cute and fun to sit and watch.

This black panther kept coming right over by the window where the kids were sitting. He would look right at them and stare them down. It was kind of spooky. Thank goodness for thick glass.

Lauren with the sleeping lions in the back ground.

I love this shot Tyler got of this giraffe with her baby, so cute.

The kids really liked going on the sky ride. It was fun looking around at all the animals from above. It was funny because on one of our times across Tyler told the kids to say hi to the other people as they passed us going the opposite direction. Lauren was too embarrassed to do it, but Logan would say hi to everyone that passed. It was just funny to see people's reactions when they are not expecting it. Some would say hi back but most just looked at us weird or ignored us. It didn't help that we were laughing the whole time either.

We were supposed to meet up with the Stubbs that morning when we got to the zoo but they were coming over from Vegas that morning and ran into some really bad traffic the whole way. They didn't end up getting there til about 3:00 that afternoon. The one thing that Hailey wanted to see more than anything, was the panda bears, so that is where we met them. The kids were so excited to finally be together.

Cute Adalyn

One of our last stops, and my favorite was the hippo's. It was so cool to watch their big bodies swimming around in the tank. The kids however had more fun climbing around on the fake hippos. They just wanted to play with each other and could have cared less about the animals at this point.

We stayed til closing time, but before we left, the kids got to go and pick out a stuffed animal to take home from the gift shop. Logan of course picked out a koala bear and Lauren picked out a Siberian tiger. Somehow though in all the 1400+ pictures we neglected to get a picture of the kids with their souvenir's, go figure. After we left the zoo we all went to Applebee's for dinner. It was nice to just sit down and relax after a long day of walking around in the hot sun. That night we went and stayed with yet another set of friends parents. My very good friend Jenn, who now lives in Texas, is from San Diego and her parents still live there and have a big empty house that they were so kind to open up for all of us to stay there. After a little bit of chit chat and catching up with her parents, Dan and Shirley, we were ready to hit the sack and get rested up for our next days adventure.

California Trip Days 1 & 2

2010-03-26T20:07:00.008-06:00

I have been wanting to take the kids to Disneyland for quite some time now and I finally convinced Tyler that we could do it. We invited our friends the Stubbs to go with us, since they have kids our kids ages we thought it would be fun for them to get to go with their buddies. Mindy and I worked very hard to get things perfectly ready and organized for the trip. We had everything covered from matching outfits for the kids each day, to special treat bags filled for each day with special matching stickers and goodies depending on where we were going to be that day. The girls had matching Cinderella dresses and the boys had matching pirate costumes. Our lists were made for everything we would need, sleeping accommodations were made for each place we would be staying. The count down chain was getting shorter and shorter and I was so excited I could hardly stand it. Then we got the phone call about Taylor and our gears and thoughts took a major shift. I feel guilty, but will admit that after the shock of it was over, I thought to myself, this can't be happening right now, we are leaving for Disneyland in four days. I knew of course that we would do what we needed to do to be at the funeral and wished that we could have been able to spend some more time with Tyler's family afterwards, but I was also very glad to have some alone time with my family after to just enjoy my kids and love them and appreciate them more. We got home late on Friday night and started packing and woke up early Saturday and finished packing and then hit the road mid morning as we had planned.

All loaded up and ready to hit the road!

We drove to Vegas on Saturday and stayed the night there to break up the trip a little bit so it wasn't so long. We wanted to take the kids to do something fun that night while in Vegas. Tyler and I went to the Rainforest Cafe on our first date and haven't been back to one since, so we thought that would be a fun place to take the kids to eat. It was good to be out of the car after about 6 hours of driving. This is our first family photo op of MANY to come on the trip. We are in front of one of the lions at the MGM Grand.

After what seemed like a forever journey through the maze of stinky casino's we finally found the Rainforest Cafe. We didn't tell the kids where we were going so they were really excited to see how fun this place was. They just kept starting at everything the whole time we were there.

Luckily I was smart and called ahead a few days prior and made reservations so we didn't have to wait in the forever long line when we got there. The kids loved looking at this huge aquarium during the few short minutes we did have to wait.

The animals were all really fun to sit and watch and listen too, but these stools are what I liked the best. i would love to have some of these in my house.

While we were walking through the stinky casino maze we passed this little rainforest gift shop and asked the guy who worked there where to go. He pointed us in the right direction and then handed us a coupon for this YUMMY volcano creation. (a $15.00 dessert totally for free that the four of us together couldn't finish)

After dinner we made our way to our sleeping destination for the evening. A few months ago I reconnected with a good friend from high school that I hadn't talked to in years, thanks to facebook. She had told me that her mom had remarried as was living in Vegas and if we were ever passing through and needed a place to stay, that we were welcome to stay there. So that is just what we did. It was so fun to see Pam again and reconnect with her and meet her new husband. They are such great people with such and amazing story. We were very lucky to have been able to spend some time with them and are so grateful to them for opening up their home to us. Pam's husband Paul even woke up early and cooked us a very yummy breakfast before heading back out on the road. Thanks again guys for a fun night and the great accommodations.

Sunday just happened to be Valentines day, so when we got in the car to head out I had little treats for Tyler and the kids sitting on their seats. I got together with some friends and we all made these fun bottles for our husbands. I love the way they turned out. I love you Tyler!!

When we arrived in Anaheim the thermostat in our car said 86 degrees. I was thinking that was a little warmer than what I was planning on and wasn't really prepared for such hot weather. Luckily it didn't stay that hot for too long and it ended up being perfect weather for most of the time. Really I was just glad to be out of the snow. Finally we arrived at our condo. I was so glad to get out of the car and get unpacked and settled in.

The kids excited to be there in their own room!

I thought this was so funny I just had to take a picture. Aren't these the smallest salt and pepper shakers you have ever seen. I even brought them home as a little souvenir.

The kids were so excited to be there and just loved being outside and able to run around in the nice weather. This picture is right outside our back porch of our room. I love how green everything is.

One of the first things the kids saw when we got there was the swimming pool, so of course that is all they wanted to do and bugged us all night until we were finally able to go and swim. First we went and got some groceries and came back and had dinner. We then went for a nice evening swim and came back and got a good night sleep for tomorrow the real fun would begin.

Taylor's Funeral

2010-03-11T13:24:00.011-07:00

Taylor was laid to rest on Friday February 12th in the Thayne Wyoming cemetery. Tyler was able to go up to Wyoming on Wednesday to be with his family and help support in whatever way was needed. It was really good for him to go alone as he was able to really give all of his attention to his parents and brother. Me and the kids drove up Thursday evening and got there just in time for the viewing that night. I was really nervous to go and look and him and wouldn't go without Tyler by my side. He looked so good and peaceful. The kids were a little apprehensive at first but after a few minutes they were OK to go and see him. After Logan's first few glances at him he had had enough and wouldn't go anywhere near the casket, and didn't like us going near him either. Lauren on the other hand was not really affected by it. At one point she even went and picked some white flowers out of one of the bouquets and put them next to Taylor in the casket. She said she picked them because they matched him, as Taylor was dressed all in white.

The next morning we all got up and ready to head over to the church for another viewing and the funeral services. Some really great ladies in their ward had arranged for a nursery for all the little kids for the whole day while we were at the church. It was really nice to be able to enjoy the services by Tyler's side and not have to worry about keeping the kids quiet. We actually tried it for a little while but as usual they were the loudest kids in the room and I quickly took them back to the nursery. After the service we headed up to the cemetery for the dedication of the grave. Because it is in the middle of the winter and they have to dig down deep in the snow to even get to the ground, they don't actually dig the hole until after everyone leaves the graveside, apparently it is a pretty big muddy mess.

Here are a couple pictures by the graveside, Jeff by the casket, and Mami with all the grandkids.

One really neat thing about being at the funeral was that Lincoln, Tyler's oldest brother was able to make it as well. It has been since our wedding, almost 10 years ago that all the family was together. We got some really great pictures of all of them together. I just love the setting with the snow and mountains in the background. Looking at these pictures makes me happy!!

After the graveside service, we went back to the church for a luncheon that the wonderful ladies of the Thayne ward had prepared. Thank you wonderful ladies for all of your help with not only the funeral but also with all the support you have offered to Howard and Emily. They are lucky to live in such a great place with such a great support system. At the luncheon they had these tables set up with all these fun scrapbook boards made up with memories of Taylor. Also the fun cookie bouquet and all the beautiful flowers sent by everyone. They were beautiful!!

Octavio was also able to make it up to help show his support to Jeff and the rest of the family. Octavio has been a good friend to the whole family and is always fun to have around.

Big brother Lincoln with his little sisters.

Jeff and Reese

We were getting ready to leave and couldn't find Logan. We soon found him hiding in the corner eating two cupcakes. That's Logan for you!!

Immediately following the luncheon we jumped in the car to head home. We were leaving for California the next morning and had yet to start packing. I really wished we could have stayed longer. The kids were so tired. After only 10 minutes I noticed the car was awfully quiet and looked back to find them both conked out.

It was a nice quiet drive and gave Tyler and I a good chance to reflect on the day. We really are blessed to have the knowledge we have. We love Taylor very much and miss him dearly, but know we will be together again someday. I am trying to remember to take advantage of the time I have with my children each day. I love them so much more today than ever before!

Taylor James Amos Lysager

2010-02-24T16:29:00.005-07:00

Our dear sweet nephew Taylor was tragically killed in a sudden accident while playing at a school near his home in Star Valley Wyoming, on Tuesday February 9th, just five days before his sixth birthday. Taylor was an amazing little boy full of life. He was constantly trying to please everyone around him. He was a great friend and had a great laugh and smile. We are truly going to miss him. We are so grateful for the knowledge of the hereafter and know that Taylor is in a better place with our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. During the funeral services, one of Jefferson's friends who spoke talked of where children went who died before the age of accountability. It was said that he was possibly too pure for this life and went straight to the Celestial Kingdom. I truly believe that is where Taylor is, watching over all of us awaiting the day when we will be reunited. Until then it gives us greater motivation to live our lives the best way we can so we can be worthy to return to his presence. We love you so much Taylor and can't wait for that day to come when we will be together again.

This is the program for Taylor's funeral services.

This is Taylor's obituary

Taylor James Amos Lysager would have been six this past Valentines Day and was looking forward to celebrating with his friends, but he passed away on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010,
following an accident while he was playing. Taylor was born Feb. 14, 2004 in Pocatello, Idaho to Jefferson and Jamie Lysager. He was a happy and eager boy who fully participated in life in spite of health challenges. He was a budding golfer and also loved swimming, dinosaurs
and computer games, and he was involved in the local T-ball program. He loved pre-school and his teachers and the staff in the Thayne LUCDA, and he was an excited kindergarten student learning to read. Taylor loved his teachers and all who worked with him there. Taylor was generous, made friends easily, and was loved by all. Funeral services were held at the Thayne LDS First Ward Chapel on Friday, Feb. 12. 2010. He was laid to rest in the Thayne Cemetery. He is survived by his parents, Jefferson and Jamie Lysager; his sisters, Reese Lysager and Justice Hammer; great-grandfather, Bob Justice; grandparents, Richard and Victoria Amos; and Howard and Emily Lysager; and many aunts, uncles, and cousins. We will all remember him and miss him, and we are grateful for his influence in our lives.

Aubrey's Luau!!

2010-02-24T14:23:00.006-07:00

One of my very good friends April, is Hawaiian and as a tradition, they have Luau's for their kids for their first birthday's and when they turn eight and get baptized. This year it was cute Aubrey's turn for her baptism luau. We had the chance to attend her baptism at the beginning of January. It was so neat to be a part of it. I especially love for my kids to see other kids making the decision to be baptized and having these great kids to look up to. A few weeks after the baptism was her Luau. They really go all out. The guest list was well over 200 people of which they feed everyone a full Hawaiian cuisine. It was SO yummy!! They also had a bounce house for the kids to play in, as well as a parachute and hula hoops, and even a popcorn machine. They even hire entertainment to come and dance and sing for us. April and her girls got in a few dance numbers also. It is so fun to watch them dance and they do a great job despite what April will tell you. The kids had a blast running around and playing with all their friends. Thanks again Olson family for inviting us and letting us help Aubrey celebrate. We are really proud of her and the beautiful girl she is. Love Ya!!

Here are a few pictures of the events of the evening.

Happy Birthday to me!!

2010-02-24T13:17:00.009-07:00

So I know my birthday was forever ago, but it was such a great day I needed to jot it down for my memory. I am way behind on my blogging and them memories are fading so I better play a little catch up first. Tyler and the kids made me this yummy cake that I picked out, lemon supreme, Mmmmm! He made it the night before my actual birthday because we were going to be gone on the actual day.

Tyler had to work that day, so I made my own plans with some of my favorite people that I don't get to see very often. Lauren had the day off from school, so that made it nice. We woke up and packed an over night bag and headed off to IKEA to meet up with Deanne and Jesica. They were both my neighbors when we lived in Orem and I have stayed in touch with them over the years. We had lunch there and did a little shopping. It is always so great to spend time with them. I miss them and wish we lived closer so we could get together more often. Thanks ladies for a great day. After that I went and met up with Tyler who was working in Orem for the day and dropped the kids off with him. I then went and got my best present for the day, a massage from my favorite massage therapist and friend Sharon Muir. She offered me a free one for my birthday and I just couldn't turn it down. It had been forever since I had seen her though, so I was more excited to just catch up and visit with her. Thanks again Sharon for the great gift, you are an amazing woman and I am lucky to call you my friend. If any of you are looking for a great massage in Utah County here is a link to her site Everybody Wellcome. Even if you don't live in Utah County, she is worth the drive. After my massage I met back up with Tyler and the kids and we went to dinner at one of my favorite places to eat in Utah County, Los Hermanos. it was super yummy and lots of fun. They even sang to me and gave me free fried ice cream, yum!

The weather was supposed to be kind of yucky that night and the next morning, so we had decided to just stay down there for the night, since Tyler was working there again the next day so it didn't really make sense to drive all the way home that late and drive back the next morning. So after dinner we went and spent the night with my Aunt Laurel and Uncle Richard in Alpine. I lived with them for awhile before Tyler and I got married, so it was nice to be back there to spend some time with them. Thanks guys for putting us up for the night. The next morning Tyler was off early to work and me and the kids packed up and headed home in time to get Lauren ready and off to school. I had a fabulous day and was so lucky to have so many wonderful people around me to help make it a great birthday. Thank you everyone who helped me celebrate, I love you all!!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!!

2010-01-20T14:05:00.004-07:00

As stated in a post a few days ago ice cream is a favorite treat in our house. Well we have a new favorite ice cream shop in town. A few month's ago Farr's Fresh opened up its doors near our house and it is YUMMY!! If you don't know what it is, they have a soft serve ice cream bar with about 15 different flavors of custard, ice cream and frozen yogurt. You load all the ice cream you want in a bowl and then go over to the topping bar where they have probably 40 different toppings to choose from. You name it they have it. They change out the flavors of ice cream all the time so you can always come up with new creations.

When Tyler had the day off on Monday, that is the place we decided to go. We went through with the kids first and helped them pick out the creations first and then got them seated while Tyler and I went back and got ours ready. In the time it took for Tyler and I to get our ice cream both of our kids had dropped theirs on the floor at two different times in two different places. We are lucky we didn't get banned from the place. The lady who was working was very nice though and let us fix what got ruined about them. The kids each gave it two thumbs up!!

Tyler playing around with the camera again. Mini photo shoot in the ice cream shop. I love this picture though so it was worth it.

So if you haven't checked out Farr's Fresh yet, I highly recommend it. There are always coupons around for them too so don't go without one.

Tumbling

2010-01-18T22:25:00.003-07:00

This year we decided to get Lauren back onto tumbling. She took it a couple years ago and really liked it. I may like it more than she does though because I just love seeing her learn new things every week. Recently she got this new pink leotard day and now wears it around all the time. The skirt is not so much for tumbling but most of the other girls in her class have one and she wouldn't let me leave the store with out getting her one. She just kept saying, thank you, thank you, thank you, I love it!! She also asked me all week how many more days til tumbling so she could wear her new outfit. Tyler had today off so he came with us to tumbling. He is much better at taking pictures than I am so we actually got some decent shots of her, that and the new camera really helps too. I hope that Lauren stays interested in gymnastics as she gets older, I really think she has good potential. She has been bugging me to take dance classes too though, so we will see where we end up.

Lauren has recently mastered the standing back bend and doesn't need the wall anymore. It is stuff like this that gets me so excited for her. I just love watching her excel at things.

Here are a few videos of some of the fun things she is learning.
Way to go Lauren!!

Ladies Night Out!!

2010-01-17T19:57:00.004-07:00

On Saturday night a bunch of my girls friends took me out for an early birthday celebration. We headed up to Salt Lake and went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. After a two hour wait we finally got seated. Thank goodness the restaurant is connected to the mall so we could get some shopping in while we waited. For those of you who haven't been there before, don't let the wait scare you off, it is worth the wait, I promise. One of my favorite things to do is to sit around with good friends and just talk. So needless to say with a group of 9 ladies we got a lot of talking in, along with some good laughing. Although laughing really hard on such a full stomach is not such a good idea. I'm lucky to have kept my dinner down. I got this yummy pasta dish and was so full when I was done, but you can't go to the Cheesecake Factory without getting cheesecake, so I ordered the turtle cheesecake and it was so yummy. Everyone passed theirs around so we could each try all the different kinds. Oh how I love cheesecake!!

After dinner we had planned on going to a movie, but since dinner took so long five of you lovely ladies bailed out on us. April, Liz, Jessica and I headed to theatre to see The Lovely Bones. I have to say though, that the five who left, didn't miss out. The movie was just really weird and random and not at all what I was expecting. That all right though, I just enjoy being out with good company so I wasn't too bummed that the movie was dumb. I am so grateful to have such wonderful friends. Thanks so much for a great night out ladies. I love you all!!

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-17T16:45:00.010-07:00

This year for New Years Eve we weren't totally sure what we were going to do. We had invited Heidi and McKay to come down and sleep over. Tyler's mom and sister Holly were going to come down too. They all ended up getting sick thanks to me passing it around on Christmas eve, so that didn't end up happening. We were then invited to go down to Tyler's cousin Sandi's for the night, but then the forecast changed and it was supposed to be super snowy and we didn't want to drive that far in the snow without four wheel drive. We ended up talking Rick and Sandi and their boys into coming to our house since they have a truck. The weather ended up not being as bad as they said and we would have been fine. Thanks again Sandi and Rick for being willing to come up here. We all had a really great time!!

We all played lots of games. At one point the kids couldn't agree on what to play so they each had their own games set up. They finally realized it was more fun to play together and took turns playing everyones game of choice.

Of course there was some Wii played as well.

Rick and Sandi at the adults game table. I love playing games and can never get enough of them. These guys are some of my favorite people for game playing.

I had gotten the kids a few things to play with for the evening to keep them entertained. Once it got dark they broke out their glow sticks and had a dance party with them on. I think Tyler had more fun than anyone though. We just got a new camera and he had fun playing around with it in the dark getting cool shots of the glow sticks.

There were a few random fireworks being set off in the area and whenever the kids heard them they would hurry and run to the window in hopes of getting a glimpse of one.

It is a tradition in Tyler's family that at midnight you go outside and bang pots and pans. I always feel so silly doing, but I love it at the same time.

After the banging of pots we came inside for the toast. I found these cheap cups at the dollar store to make it a little more festive. Lauren of course loved drinking out of them. Logan on the other hand was not a fan of our sparking cider.

New Years day was just spent being lazy and relaxing. We made a good breakfast and hung out for awhile before Rick and Sandi had to leave. We always have so much fun hanging out with them. After they left, we discovered they had left us a gift card for Cold Stone. If you know Tyler very well then you know of his love for ice cream, so of course we had to go and use it right away.

So many to choose from, how will I ever pick!?!

Logan went with brownie batter with peanut butter cups.
Mmmm chocolate!!

I can't remember what flavor combo Lauren had. I think she picked a couple different kinds of ice cream. Lauren shares her dad's love of ice cream and happily volunteered to try everyone's and finish off anyones who didn't finish on their own.

A great ending to another great Holiday Season!!

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

2010-01-15T15:01:00.006-07:00

Last Saturday was kind of a lazy day with not much going on. I got this fun idea from a friend to watch Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and then have spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. So that is just what we did. It was kind of nice to just be home and be lazy.

Order Up!!

Christmas '09

2010-01-10T15:40:00.008-07:00

I think I have already mentioned this but this year for Christmas it was our first year to stay home with just our little family. It was really nice to just be together without any other distractions. Tyler and I heard Logan open up his door on Christmas morning and we just watched him from our bed slowly walk down the hall and just stop and stare. He then came running into our bedroom shouting, presents, presents, santa came. He was SOOO excited, he couldn't stop dancing around. Tyler and I got up and got dressed and we let Logan go down stairs and wake up Lauren. We could hear him down yelling at her, "presents, present, wake up sissy, wake up. Santa came, come see, come see." Then on the way up the stairs he said to her, lets hold hands and they walked up the stairs together where he brought her into the living room where he continued to once again dance around in pure delight and excitement. it was so fun for Tyler and I to just sit back and watch the joy on his face. Lauren on the other hand is NOT a morning person and didn't show the kind of excitement I would have liked to have seen, but she got into it eventually.

Santa found his way to our house.
The night is finally quite and Santa had gone to bed.

Logan opening up some of his many presents. Just look at the happiness on that face!!

Lauren got down the routine. She would open a present, hold it up in position and smile for the camera then put it in her pile and wait for her next turn to open her next present.

Lauren posing by her pile of presents

Logan's version of a pose by his presents

Lauren and Logan each got to go shopping and buy a present for each other. Here they are posing together with the gifts they picked out for each other. Which of course they had both told each other what they had bought way before hand, but they were excited to finally open them.

The kids had a special little pile of presents lined up over by the stairs this year along with a new countdown chain. After all the other presents were opened they were allowed to open these ones. Lauren's were in princess paper and Logan's were in Mickey Mouse paper. Each present contained a different Disney themed item. After opening them all up I asked the kids what they thought all of this stuff was for and what it had in common. After several attempts and wrong guesses Lauren finally figured out that it meant they were going to Disneyland. I was a little disappointed by their reaction but I just don't think they realized how big of a deal it is. Since then we have been showing them pictures online of all the places we are going to go and they are so excited now. They tell everyone about it. I think I am still the most excited to go. We are going in February and our good friends the Stubbs are going with us. I can't wait!!

The kids with all their Disney loot. I took a lot of it away and are going to give it back to them on our trip so I don't have to buy all the expensive junk when we get there.

I have never added a video before, so if this works, then this is the kids coming up the stairs together on Christmas morning. You can see for yourself their excitement.

Over-all it was a great Christmas for the Lysager family this year. I look forward to doing it all again next year and continuing on with our new traditions we made this year as well and adding more to it Thanks to all of our friends and family for all the wonderful, cards, gifts and goodies. We love you all!!

Heaven makes me happy!!

2010-01-06T18:48:00.004-07:00

This past week at church the kids got new teachers in primary. Lauren's new teacher told me in her class she asked them when they were the happiest in their life. All of the kids raised their hands and said things like when I did this or went to this place. Lauren raised her hand and said, "I think I was probably the most happy when I was living up in heaven." So cute, I think those kids know more than they let on.

Lauren 11 months old

Christmas Eve

2010-01-01T15:34:00.007-07:00

This year for Christmas Eve we went up to Heidi and Mckay's in Logan for the day. Most of Tyler's family was able to be there, so it was really a great time. We had a yummy dinner planned as well The Nativity and opening presents. I wasn't feeling so good in the morning and only got sicker as the day went on. I think my body was just over worked and tired and ready for a break. Therefore Tyler got to be the photographer for the evening. When we first got there we just relaxed and hung around for awhile. The boys ran out to finish up there Christmas shopping true to fashion. While they were gone, Heidi, Mami, and myself played some speed scrabble, which is a favorite of ours. Once the boys got home we started to get dinner ready and ate just as Holly arrived. We were really happy she was able to join in on the fun with us. She is really a fun one to be around. After dinner Heidi had planned for the kids to do The Nativity story. Uncle McKay narrated for us while the kids acted their parts. They really had a great time doing it, and were so cute.

Logan starring as Joseph

Joseph and his wife Mary who is great with child.

The proud parents adoring their new born babe!

I am like a star shining brightly, shining for the whole world to see.
Lauren making her debut as angel/star.

After The Nativity, uncle McKay read the kids a really cute book. Don't ask me what it was called, by this point I was really not feeling well.

Next was the activity the kids had been waiting for ALL day...PrEsEnTs!!! First up was Paka and you can tell by his expressions, that he was just as excited as the children.

Paka showing off his new cozy sweat pants we bought him.

Mami opening her gift from us, which was new kitchen towels, hot pads, etc...

Lauren got the Barbie Christmas Carol doll. She was so excited, it's just what she wanted.
Thanks Mami and Paka!!

Logan got an awesome new Bionicle, which he absolutely loves.
Thanks Mami and Paka!!

Logan also got a new Transformer, thanks uncle Jeff!!

Lauren got another barbie this one from uncle Jeff, Thanks Jeffy!!

Chocolate anyone?

All nine of the grandkids together. They have so much fun playing with each other. We love times like this when we can all be together. Thanks again Heidi and McKay for hosting such a wonderful day!! We all had a great time. Sorry I ended up getting everyone sick, I didn't mean to really, I promise!!

When we got home that evening the kids still had their Christmas jammies to unwrap. Logan had fallen asleep in the car and was super grumpy when he woke up when we got home. He was not happy with his jammies. It ended up being a good thing he didn't like them, because they were mismarked and ended up being two sizes too small for him, so sorry bud, no Christmas jammies for you this year.

Lauren opening her jammies. She got a nightgown this year for her jammies. Lauren really likes night gowns a lot more than pants. Atleast she was happy with them.

After a super duper fun filled day, it was time for bed. Santa was on his way and rumor had it he was not feeling very good this year and really just wanted to be in bed sleeping the night away. The kids finally fell asleep around 11:00pm and Santa finally arrived sometime around 1:00am.

Christmas Lights

2010-01-01T15:01:00.006-07:00

A couple days before Christmas we finally got out to see the Christmas lights. We went down to Ogden to see the Christmas Village. They have a whole big block set up with tons of different little Christmas houses that different businesses in the area decorate. Tyler was bummed that you didn't actually get to go inside them. They are just mini ones and you look through the windows to see inside. The kids really had a fun time even though it was FREEZING COLD. Lauren started noticing everyone had hot chocolate and started begging us to buy her some, but us being the mean, cheap parents we are made them wait til we got home to get some. We had a fun time but I still think I prefer the lights you get to stay in your car and look at. We went to the one's at Layton Park as well, but I hear there is a really cool drive through one up North a little ways that maybe we will check out next year.

Good Times!!

Happy Happy Happy!!!

2009-12-27T22:56:00.004-07:00

So Christmas is now over and I have a lot of blogging to catch up on, but I just needed to jot a memory down for myself today. Tyler and I were talking this morning and saying just how happy we were and how nice it has been being together with just our little family. The best part about it though was when Lauren came up to me this afternoon and said, "Mom I am so happy, I am the happiest I have ever been." I then became even happier than I was before. I am so glad that Lauren can feel the happiness that Tyler and I have been feeling the past week. I love my family so much and there is nothing better than seeing them happy.

Treehouse Museum

2009-12-22T19:48:00.004-07:00

Yesterday for the kids countdown bag, they got to go to the treehouse museum. They have been wanting to go back there forever so I figured that would be a good surprise for them. There was quite a large group of us that went, with five moms and thirteen kids. The kids absolutely love it there but after about two hours I have had enough. There is so much to see and do that I end up chasing them around the whole time to try and keep up with them. They really could spend all day there if I let them. We happened to go during toddler time and they had their annual Christmas party going on, so it was a good day to go. They had story time with this really fun elf and they even had a special visit from Santa. After the story time they each were given their own coloring book.

After story time they had cookies for all the kids upstairs in the art room, another bonus.

They have so many fun areas for the kids to dress up. Lauren was pretty excited to be the mail lady.

Logan the astronaut.

They had all kinds of new exhibits since we were last there. This one was my favorite. The kids actually got to milk this cow. They thought it was so cool.

Lauren really wants to be a cowgirl when she grows up so she was SOOO excited to see this new area. Logan really liked it too.

Another great day with great friends!!

All Wrapped Up!!

2009-12-21T15:15:00.008-07:00

I have been hiding all of our Christmas presents over at Tyler's office this year, because the kids are getting too good at finding my hiding spots in the house. I was thinking it would be nice to wrap them over there too, but it is kind of a dark scary place to be alone at in the dark, so I decided to turn it into a little ladies night out wrapping party. Everyone brought over all their loot along with all the wrapping paper and bows you could ever need. All that teamed up with goodies galore, hot chocolate, and Christmas music and we were set. I never knew wrapping presents could be so much fun. I am the type that normally waits til Christmas eve to get it all done, but I think I like this way much better now. It feels good knowing that I am all ready when the big day comes.

Thursday Lauren had her Polar Express party at school and I got to go and help in the classroom. Logan was lucky and got to come and help me as well. They started the party with refreshments of hot cocoa and cupcakes.

After they had their refreshments they went to Conductor Hatch to pick up their passports. Mrs. Hatch was so cute all dressed up. The kids really got a good chuckle from the conductor.

After all the passports were handed out the kids went and climbed on board the train. They took a trip around the world and visited Mexico, China, Holland,and back to the U.S. At each stop they learned something about the different Christmas traditions from that country. Logan and I made it half way through the party when Logan decided to have a complete and utter meltdown. One little thing didn't go his way and there was no turning back. I had to drag him out of the school kicking and screaming. The principal even came out of the office to see what all the commotion was about. I think in the future I will leave Logan elsewhere when I go help at the parties. He is just not quite ready for it yet.

Saturday night we had our annual family Christmas party for my dad's side of the family. We alsways have a great potluck dinner followed by a special visit from Santa. My aunt Jean hires a Santa to come every year and even provides a toy for each of the kids for a gift from Santa. It really is a lot of fun.

Here is my cute Grandma and Grandpa Perschon.

Lauren was picked to be one of Santas helpers to sing Jingle Bells

Lauren on Santa's lap. This is Lauren's first year sitting on Santa's without crying.

Logan on Santa's lap. He was a little more shy and wanted daddy to go with him, but eventually made his way up there by himself.

Lauren got this cute music box from Santa.

Logan got this awesome set of Lego's from Santa

I can't believe how fast this month has flown by. I guess time really does fly when you are having fun. Only four more days to go, lets see how much more fun we can have between now and then.

Happy Anniversary!!

2009-12-16T21:19:00.008-07:00

Today Tyler and I celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary. I am such a lucky gal to have married my best friend. Tyler is such an amazing husband and father, and I truly don't know what I would do without him. He works so hard for us and always puts our needs before his. He is truly one of the most unselfish people I have ever known. I have been thinking a lot lately about our past 10 years (including dating). and came up with a few fun pictures of the early days. Each picture brings back so many fun memories Tyler and I have shared together. I look forward to years and years of good times to come.

Engagement picture

Alpine Loop

Sundance

Cascade Springs

Snoqualamie Falls
(One of the first pictures of the two of us)

Outback Steakhouse
(Our first New Years, dating)

First Jazz Game

December 16th 2000
Salt Lake Temple
What a glorious day!!

Today we decided to go back to the place where it all started. We arranged for sitters for the kids and went to Salt Lake for the day. We started out by going to the temple and doing some sealings. It was so nice to be in the temple with Tyler today. We haven't been back to that temple since our wedding day, so it brought back some great memories. After the temple we went and got an early dinner at The Macaroni Grill, one of Tyler's favorites. It was nice to go early and have a quiet meal. There was hardly anyone else there and we had our own little corner to ourselves. After dinner we went and did a little bit of Christmas shopping while our food settled and then went out for ice cream.

There was no one around to take our picture outside of the temple so this is the best shot we could get of us today.

Thank you so very much Tyler for a wonderful day and even more for 9 fabulous years. I love you more today than ever and can't wait to spend eternity with you.
xxoxxoxxoxx

Fun Gifts!!

2009-12-14T16:02:00.004-07:00

So this morning I was doing a little blog surfing and came across these cute rudolphs. I have a few friends that are avid Coke drinkers so I couldn't resist making them. They turned out so cute.

Another great neighbor gift idea that I was given today was this adorable snowman toilet paper roll. Attached to it was this cute poem:

Money is scarce and times are hard,

So I am giving you this instead of a card.

Something to use, something to share.

So bottoms up, just cause we care!

Thanks Kaycee!!

Kissletoe!!

2009-12-13T21:49:00.007-07:00

Have I mentioned that I love this time of year. We have been having so much fun together as a family this month. I need to try harder all year to make our home this fun. It is a lot of work though, so that is probably why I can only do it one month out of the year. We had another great weekend full of count down surprises planned for the kids. Friday night was our second annual sleepover movie night in the living room. We did this two years ago and the kids really liked it so I decided to do it again this year. We bring all of our mattresses out in the living room and have a big sleepover. This year we watched all three Santa Claus movies. At one point in the movie Santa makes some mistletoe appear magically and Lauren says to us, "Oh look there is some kissletoe." She really thought that is what it is called. Tyler and I got a pretty good laugh out of that one. Lauren was embaressed but we thought it was pretty cute and now have a new name for mistletoe. We had a lot of fun and will continue to do this every year now.

These are just a few of the random things the kids got over the last week in their advent bags.

On Saturday Lauren and I got to go and have a girls day out. Lauren's friend Libbi invited her and I to go with them to see The Princess and The Frog. The movie was different and not what I expected, but very cute. Thanks again Patillo girls for a fun day.

The rest of the weekend was spent in the kitchen baking. We made fudge, rudolph cookies, white chocolate covered marshmallow snowmen, chocolate covered pretzels, three different kinds of cookies and caramel.

These are the cute rudolphs and snowmen the kids are giving out to their friends.

400 pieces of caramel cut and wrapped, my hands still hurt.

All wrapped up and ready to be given out. I bet you can't guess what we are doing for family night tomorrow!!

12 more days til Christmas, means lots more fun to come!!

Christmas Fun!!

2009-12-11T15:26:00.007-07:00

So this year I really wanted to be done with my Christmas shopping by the beginning of December so I could really enjoy the holiday season. I am happy to say that except for a few small things I am done and it really feels good to be able to relax and enjoy the month more. I wanted to come up with some fun activities to do with the kids this month to make it really enjoyable for them as well. I looked around at several different advent calendars to make and came up with this one. They are count down bags that have different, treats or activities and such in them. I think they turned out great, and the kids absolutely love them. They are so excited every morning to see what their surprise for the day is going to be. Thanks again Liz for your help with the project.

For day one our activity was to set up and decorate the Christmas tree. What better way is there to get you in the Christmas spirit than to decorate a tree. The kids were really excited and did a great job.

Another fun activity we did the first week was go to the festival of trees. Lauren saw a commercial for it on TV and really wanted to go. We met our good friends Jacqueline, Anna, and baby Juliet there and had a really great time. It was so neat to see all the decorated trees and decorations. I could have spent all day there reading all the stories of all the people who's names the trees were donated for.

This was the tree I was most excited to see. This is Gracie's tree. Gracie is a little girl who past away this last year. I followed her blog for a year watching as she waited for a new heart. When her day finally came to recieve her heart things just didn't work out for her. Reading about her and her family made me shed many tears but it made me so grateful for my children and their health. Gracie's tree was beautiful and a favorite of mine and Lauren's.

The next day for our surprise, it was our niece Ellie's birthday so we surprised the kids and drove up to Logan to spend the day with her for her birthday. Heidi had made her this really cute barbie cake but I forgot to take a picture before it got cut into so this is what was left of it.

The kids also got to make gingerbread houses again, which of course is always a big hit.

Heidi and I had also planned to make suckers that day. Sadly out of four attempts, only one of them turned out. I was planning on coming home and trying again, but I decided to call it a failure for this year and move on. Maybe next year we will try again.

Ellie got some new books for her birthday and here is Lauren and Ellie sitting on the chair together reading them. Aren't they so cute!!

For another fun surprise, we had a pajama party with some friends. Awhile ago me and my friend Liz went to Costco together and ended up buying our kids the same pajamas. I told her daugher Gayle that it would be fun to have a matching pajama party sometime. So here it is, matching pajamas, christmas movies, and lots of goodies. Even Liz and I both had on polka dots jammies. Our husbands were both gone that night, so no matching jammies for the daddy's darn it!

We are really enjoying this holiday season and are looking forward to many other fun and surprising activities.

Thanksgiving week in Montana

2009-12-06T14:05:00.006-07:00

This year for Thanksgiving it was our turn to spend it with my family in Montana. We decided to make it really worth the drive and go for an entire week. Tyler is able to take off more time in the winter so we have to do it when we can. Lauren had to miss two days of school, but it wasn't that big of a deal. Our kids really enjoy being at Grandmas and Grandpa's, especially when all their cousins are there. My older brother Brandon and his family were able to make it too, so we were all together. It made for a very crowded house since Collin and Aimee have moved in with my parents too. My parents ended up going and sleeping at a friends house every night so that each family had their own bedroom. Thanks mom and dad for always opening your house to us and making us comfortable. This year there wasn't any snow there, which made the trip so much nicer. Making that drive in snow is NOT fun.

The kids love exploring the rock piles at Grandma and Grandpa's

Lauren really wants to be a cowgirl in Montana when she grows up, so she gets in good practice while we visit. She made sure and brought her very own cowgirl hat this time just in case she got to ride the horses.

When my parents bought their house it came with a horse named Tia. My parents bred Tia a couple years ago and now have beautiful Gracie who will be 3 in the spring. My dad has been training her recently and this was the first time all the kids got to ride her. Lauren and Logan were SO excited to get to finally ride Gracie.

Logan had permagrin the whole time he was riding her. All of the kids loved it, but there was something more in Logan's smile, he was just SO happy.

Thanksgiving day began of course with lots of cooking. We had done a lot of prep work the day before, so it wasn't super crazy and we were actually able to just take it kind of slow and not be rushing all morning. Everything turned out wonderful. Here is part of our buffet line in the kitchen.

I forgot to get a picture of everyone eating but I did get some of a few of us finishing up the feast, as Lauren calls it.

Cute Kaiser, all smiles all the time, enjoying the feast!!

After dinner we even managed to get some of the men to help with the dishes. Tyler is always such a great help though and doesn't need to be asked. The other men in my family however...

After dinner you would think the kids would be a little tired and not so wired, but that was not the case. When you have nine little kids running around I don't think there is such a thing as down time. Here the kids are right after dinner still as active as can be.

I did manage to calm them down slightly to get a group picture of all of them together. This was not an easy task and after me yelling at this one or that one to look this way or that, this is the best that I could come up with.

Later on in the evening Nikki planned this cute thing for the kids where she taught them about the first Thanksgiving. They even got to make their very own indian head dresses or pilgrim hats, all thanks to Grandpa who cut up an old tire to use as the head bands. Thanks Nikki for the fun lesson.

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without Black Friday shopping.

Aimee, Nikki, and myself all got up at 3:30am and were in town by 4:30 ready to find the bargains. Seven hours later we made it home with a trunk FULL of great stuff. We had a great time but my legs were sure sore by the time we got home. I think we hit every store we could have, as well as breakfast at McDonalds. I am happy to say that I am pretty much done with my shopping.

Saturday morning the guys all got to go fishing. They couldn't get the boat started, darn it, so they just fished from the shoreline. I think they all had a pretty good time still. While the men were away we built ginger bread houses with all the kids. They had a great time, although I think more candy was eaten then was put on the houses. Making gingerbread houses is a tradition in our family. I remember making them each year and plan to keep doing them with my kids. It is a really fun activity to do with them and it is fun to see the creative things they come up with to make.

Each year when we get together, the ladies always plan a craft project to do. Usually it is some kind of wood craft, but this year I planned for us to make some jewelry. There are these necklaces I have been wanting to learn how to make recently so I decided this would be a good time to do it. They were a little tricky at first but once we really figured out what we were doing they got much easier to make. They all turned out really great and everyone really liked them.

There is usally always a puzzle out somewhere for everyone to work on as well. Another tradition during the holidays. Good thing our kids like puzzles because we have a box of ten new ones and about ten days over Christmas with nothing planned to do. I think we might get a couple of them done this year.

Lauren and Ella snuggling with Uncle Collin.

And of course what would a trip to Montana be with out a trip to the carousel. It is definately a must do activity with our kids. We have so many pictures from this place it is not even funny. They have this arm thing that hangs out with these rings coming out of it and as you pass it, you grab a ring to try and throw in this clown mouth when you go by it. They put a gold coin in it every once in awhile and if you get that one, you keep it and you get a free ride. Well Tyler got lucky and grabbed the gold ring on the kids first ride so of course we had to stay and take another ride. So they get back in line and take another ride and wouldn't ya know it, Tyler got the gold ring yet again. So the kids got super lucky this time and got to go on three rides.

Fish seat outside the carousel

The kids had such a fun week with all their cousins. They were super sad to leave. Logan said on the way home, "I want to go back to Grandpa's for all the days." We are so blessed to both have such great families. And grateful to have the gospel in our lives to know that we can be together forever.

New Moon!!

2009-12-06T13:34:00.005-07:00

So the month of November has come and gone and I am way behind on my updates so far behind that even Tyler told me I need to update the blog. The beginning of the month was kind of slow with not much exciting going on. Logan got pretty sick for about a week and we stuck around the house. The real excitement started when New Moon came out in theatres. Me and some of my good friends planned a great girls night to go and see it together. We started out the night by going to April's parents house and watching Twilight to get us pumped up for the movie. We brought pizza for dinner, along with many other fun goodies.

The Gals

Liz, Jenny, Me, April, and Debbi

These are the awesome cupcakes that April and I made the day before. I think they turned out super fun, and everyone really liked them.

Liz brought us all a little goodie bag with a treat for the movie and some Twilight Woods lotion from bath and body works. April also got us all some blood to drink (Jones, strawberry soda), and some New Moon sweet tarts and chocolates.

Here we are waiting for the movie to start. Luckily the theatre we went to has assigned seats so we didn't have to get to the theatre hours before and stand in line.

We all really liked the movie and it was definately better than the first one.

Thanks for a great night out ladies, I really had a great time!!

Halloween!!

2009-11-08T16:38:00.006-07:00

So I think I was just so glad that Halloween was over that I have neglected to do this post. I am ready to move on to the next holiday now so I better get this done before it gets forgotten for good. On Friday night our ward had their trunk or treat over at the church. The kids always look forward to this event as it is a preview of what's to come. The weather was great this year which is always a bonus. We have had rain or snow the last couple of years so it seemed extra warm this year.

The kids all ready to go to the trunk or treat!!

Logan insisted he needed to pose like this for some reason.

Lauren and some of her buddies from church. What cute little girls!

When we got home there was a really pretty sunset. I love living so close to these beautiful mountains.

Halloween was on a Saturday this year, which I really liked. It was nice to have Tyler home all day to do fun things with. Instead of him going off to work and then rushing to eat when he gets home and hurrying out the door to trick or treat. It was nice to be able to take the day slow and enjoy it. After eating our yummy breakfast of pumpkin pancakes, Tyler decided to carve pumpkins with the kids. First was Logan's turn and he wanted his to look like a vampire. Next was Lauren and she chose a cat. Here are the results of Tyler's awesome carving skills.

Finally came time for the real trick or treating. All dressed up and ready to go!!

They are pro's at this and didn't need mom or dad's help, until their bags got too heavy and mom had to carry them the whole time.

Showing off their loot!!

We had a great time as usual. The kids are already talking about what they want to

dress up as for Halloween next year.

Halloween Cuisine!!

2009-11-01T21:14:00.006-07:00

This past Halloween week was full of lots of fun goodies and meals. Lauren's cookie party started off the treats but it didn't stop there.

For lunch on Friday we had mummy hot dogs.

After lunch on Friday we made these yummy pumpkin swirl muffins.

For breakfast on Halloween morning we had hot steaming pumpkin pancakes. The light coming in from the window hit the steam just right and it looked so cool.

For a snack later that day we made eyeballs on a stick!!

The kids thought they were pretty cool!!

And for dinner on Halloween night to fill us up before trick or treating, we had homemade chili, in pumpkin bread bowls.

It was a very yummy week, we also had beef stroganoff, roast, homemade pizza, and clam chowder. Is it the fall or what? Bring on the holidays, I am ready for you!!

Lauren's Halloween Fun!!

2009-10-30T13:52:00.003-06:00

On Wednesday afternoon Lauren invited three of her friends from school over to have a halloween cookie party. I baked up a ton of pumpkin sugar cookies and had them all ready for the girls to decorate when they got here after school. I had each of the girls bring a cookie topping. We had three different colors of frosting, candy corns, chocolate chips, M&M's, and sprinkles, yummy!! The girls had been talking about this all week and were so excited to just be together. They had a lot of fun and did a great job decorating their cookies. After they were done decorating they played barbies and did a lot of giggling. I am so glad Lauren is making such good friends in school.

Hannah, Gracyn, Libbi, and Lauren

Then on Thursday Lauren had her halloween party at school. She was so excited to get all dressed up. I bought this green face paint and Lauren has been dying to put it on her face. So finally we got her face all painted up and ready to go. I happened to look through Lauren's backpack and found a paper talking about the party and it mentioned that facepaint was not allowed. I told Lauren that she was probably OK with hers since we already had it on her and it was more of a see through tint on her face so nothing too dramatic, but Lauren said, no mom Mrs. Hatch will get mad at me if I wear face paint, so I will have to take it off. I was very proud of her for making the right choice even though her mom was trying to tell her differently. She was right and I should have followed the rules better, even though I know she would not have gotten trouble. Thanks for the lesson Lauren. Here she is all dolled up and ready to go.

I got to go and help in her classroom for the party and it was a lot of fun. They started out by singing this fun halloween song Witches Brew that they have been learning all month. It was cute. They then went around to each table and did the different activites. I was in charge of helping them make their candy necklaces. I really enjoy my time spent in her classroom. I think everyone really had a great time.

First Snow!!

2009-10-27T16:49:00.003-06:00

So this morning we woke up to our first bit of snow. I decided to get out the kids snow clothes from last year to see what still fits them and what I need to go and buy. After trying everything on, the kids insisted they go and play in it. I figurged since they were already dressed, what the heck. They didn't last out there for very long, but they had a good time. I think it will take a few snow storms to get used to this cold weather change. I remembered why I am not a big fan of playing in the snow though, I hate all the wet clothes they come in with.

First snow angels of the season!!

This is only the beginning. I am sure there will be many more snowy days to come.

Pumpkins, pumpkins and more pumpkins

2009-10-24T12:10:00.000-06:00

The Halloween season is among us and with that comes all kinds of pumpkin opportunities. Over the past couple weeks we have had three fun encounters. The first encounter happened at my grandparents. They have several acres of land that they lease out for someone to farm cause they are getting to old to do it themselves. One of the many things they grow is pumpkins. My grandparents are allowed to let any of their family go and pick whatever they want that is growing, so for the past couple of years we have gone to pick our own pumpkins. The kids have a blast picking out their own pumpkins and seeing who can find the biggest one. Before we left Tyler said to me make sure you have the camera. So I grab the camera bag and even grab some extra batteries. As soon as we got there I went to pull out the camera only to fine that the camera is not in the bag. Dang it, I hate when that happens. I had the kids all cute in their halloween shirts and ready for their photo op. Oh well, these pictures are from later with the results of our pumpkin picking. I just love a portch full of pumpkins.

Our next pumpkin encounter was at Black Island Farms. We went with my friend Jenny and her kids, thanks again for the invite. The kids had a great time. There was so much for them to do there. First we started out with a tractor trailor ride into the pumpkin patch, where the kids got to pick out their own pumpkins.

Next we went into a big play area for the kids where they had these fun slides built out of hay bales for the kids to slide down. They could have gone up and down these things all day.

After awhile on the slides, they did pig races. It was kind of fun watching those little piggies running around there. The kids got a kick out of that.

On to more fun stuff in the corn pit and the big pumpkin bounce house.

And lastly was the little train ride that took them all around and weaved in and out of the corn. As I said before, the kids could have stayed there for hours but unfortunately Lauren had to get to school. We will definately have to plan to do this again next year, it was a blast!!

And our third and final pumpkin encounter was the Syracuse pumpkin walk. I have heard about this in years past, but never gone before. I am glad I was reminded of it early enough this year to get it in. They have hundreds of pumpkin carved and donated to display. They line them all up around this park and light them up at night for people to walk through and look at. It was fun seeing just how creative you can get when carving them. This too will have to become a tradition each year, especially because it is free which is always good.

One more week til Halloween and with atleast three Halloween activites on the calendar for the week I am sure we will have many more pumpkin encounters. From now til the end of the year is super crazy, but super fun. I love this time of year!!

Crazy hair day!!

2009-10-24T12:00:00.000-06:00

This week at Lauren's school it was red ribbon week, which means say no to drugs. So each day this week they had different things they were supposed to wear, like red day and jersey day. Well Friday was crazy hair day. Lauren was really excited for it and decided she wanted to have braids all over her head. We added a hairbow to each braid to make it look a little crazier. It was fun picking her up from school that day to see all the fun crazy hairdo's.

Happy Birthday Tyler!!!

2009-10-23T09:03:00.000-06:00

Today is Tyler's 34th birthday and we just wanted to wish him a very happy birthday and remind him of some of the goodtimes over the last 34 years.

Happy Happy Birthday Daddy Dear, happy days will come to you all year. If I had a wish then it would be, a Happy Happy Birthday to you from me.

Lauren says, "Happy Birthday Daddy, you are turning 34 today in the fall!! I love you daddy, happy birthday today!! I hope you like the birthday presents we bought you."

Logan says, "I love you, and I like your transformers. Happy Birthday, you get your new transformer show today, I hope you like your presents."

Mommy says, "Happy Birthday T, I love you so very much and hope that you have a wonderful day. You are the BEST!!

HaPpY bIrThDaY!!

Primary Program

2009-10-22T11:29:00.000-06:00

This past sunday, our primary had their sacrament program. I have always loved the primary program, especially the good laughs you get at the cute kids that either put their mouths on the microphone or scream into the mic or forget their lines and say other funny things instead. Now as a parent I love it even more. Lauren had a rather long part she had to say this year compared to a lot of the other kids, but she had it memorized after me telling it to her one time. We practiced several times before the big day and talked about speaking slowly and loud enough. When it was her turn to go up, I got a little nervous for her, but she stepped up to the microphone and said her part SO good. Tyler and I were both grinning from ear to ear and had to laugh to keep us from crying. I was so proud of her. Logan on the other hand didn't enjoy the program as much. I thought it would hold his attention better than the normal sacrament, but he kept asking when he got to go to his nursery. At one point he even said rather loudly, "Agh this is BORING, BORING, BORING, when is this going to be over." We got a lot of chuckles from those other families sitting near us. I told Logan he was going to get to go up there next year when he was in primary, to which he responded, "NO, I don't want to ever go up there." That should be an interesting battle next year. I am so very grateful for those in primary who teach my children. They do a great job and we really appreciate all they do. Thanks!!

Goodbye Friends

2009-10-21T11:02:00.001-06:00

The day has finally come to say good bye to my collection of box tops, and I have to say I am a little sad. Wierd I know, but I have been collecting these babies for over three years now knowing that someday Lauren would be able to take a big bag of them to school. Well today is that day!! I took them all out and piled them up in little piles of ten to count them as I have done so many times over the years. I even went into my food storage this morning and cut off all the ones sitting on the shelves. 394 was the number we came up with, not bad, BUT the wierd person inside of me wanted it to be an even 400. So I think I might go and buy 6 boxes of fruit snacks or something on the way to school today. Crazy, yes but I will feel better about it, 400 just sounds so much better than 394 don't you think. Lauren's class will be well on their way to their ice cream and pizza parties. Tomorrow is a new day and I have another kid that will be starting school in 2 years to start collecting for.

So long my friends, you will be missed!!

Scraps of Simplicity Fall Boutique

2009-10-19T15:00:00.000-06:00

This past weekend I participated in the Scraps of Simplicity fall boutique. I have been cutting wood and painting for the past couple of weeks to get ready for it. I even had my mom come down to help me for a few days, which was very helpful and lots of fun. I love crafting with my mom. So the boutique went pretty good but it could have gone better cause I came home with more than I would have liked too. Below are pictures of all the stuff I made. I still have some of everything, so if you see anything you like, it is still for sale. :) Just let me know!!

A day at the park

2009-10-19T14:27:00.001-06:00

Our weather has been so nice this past week that we decided to take advantage of it and plan a fun day at the park with friends. We started out our outing with a trip to the bakery at Bowmans grocery store. We have a friend who is one of the bakers there and they have the yummiest baked goods. The kids each picked out their donuts and we were off to the park. Here are some pictures of some of the kids showing off their yummy treats. Mmmm they were good.

Logan and Spencer riding on the big red swing. Logan can't get enough of Spencer these days. They became buddies in nursery at church and just recently started playing outside of nursery. Logan now asks everyday if he can play with Spencer.

Lauren showing off her monkey skills. That girl can seriously climb anything. To this day we still don't have a dresser in her room for fear of her climbing it and it tipping over on her.

Lauren has also made a new good friend recently. Libbi is in her class at school and they just love to play together. Her older sister Cali really likes to play with Lauren also, so it's usually the three of them running around together. It is fun for me to see my kids making new friends. I remember the days when you could just walk up to a kid and say hi my name is ... do you want to be my friend. Only if it was that easy as an adult. Atleast we have our kids to relive those days through.

We had a super fun day out in the perfect weather. I hope it stays this nice for a little longer so we can get in a few more of these fun outdoor days before it gets too cold. Thanks Lindsay and Brenda for a fun afternoon!!

Logan's Day at the dinosaur park

2009-10-19T13:31:00.000-06:00

So ever since Lauren started school I have been telling myself I need to plan some special stuff to do with just Logan, so finally a month later I got something planned. I invited a bunch of the boys in the neighborhood for a special boys day at the dino park. When I told Logan about it, he was so excited. He said to me, only my friends and not sissy's friends, I said yep and he screamed from excitement. He counted down the days til he got to go. At our house the counting down of days is done by sleeps. So the kids will say only 2 more sleeps til such and such, I'm not sure where that method came from, I think it is something Lauren came up with, but it works great. So the big day arrived and as we were driving there, it started to rain. It wasn't too bad though and only sprinkled a little bit. It actually made it good cause there was hardly anyone there, it felt like we had the place to ourselves.

This picture is Jed, Aiden, Logan and Parker in front of the robot dinosaurs. It's dark in the room so it is hard to tell but the have a T-rex trying to fight with a mommy triceratops and her babies. The kids are usually scared of these ones at first but the usually warm up to them pretty quickly when they realize they are not real and aren't going to get them.

This is our gaggle of boys we had with us this day. Left to right we have Dreyson, Aiden, Griffin, Spencer, Logan, Jed, Jace, and Parker. We also had three cute baby girls with us too.

During the month of October they decorate the park with tons of Halloween stuff. A few years ago we came here during October also and they had dead bloody bodies hanging out of every dinosaurs mouth. The kids were all terrified and we didn't make it that far. This year I was happy to see that is was a lot more kid friendly and not quite so scary and gory. This is Logan sitting on the steps full of pumpkins.

Cute Logan, If only I could get him to actually look at the camera. This was the closest I could get.

The boys entering the park area. They have a big fun playground for the kids to play on, which is ually where we spend most of our time.

Logan riding a dinosaur at the playground.

These last pictures are some of the decor they have around the park right now. It added a little excitment to our trip that day to see who got scared of what.

Lauren was kind of sad at first that she didn't get to go but she got over it and was excited for Logan to get to go with his friends. In her prayers the night before she even prayed that Logan would have fun with all his friends at the dinosaur park. Well thanks for your prayers Lauren because we all had a great time. It is really fun for me to see Logan interact with all his friends. He is such a boy and gets so excited about this kind of stuff and absolutly loves to play with all his friends. Thanks everyone for coming and making it a great day.

Bikini Bread

2009-10-15T09:47:00.000-06:00

So the other day I had some zuchini around that needed to get used up so I decided to make some bread. The next morning when Logan woke up he was really excited for breakfast and asked if he could have some bikini bread to eat. I kind of chuckled and thought that I had heard him wrong so I said to him, what do you want to eat? and he said again, I want some bikini bread. I said you mean zuchini bread and he said yeah some bikini bread. I got a pretty good laugh out of that. I think that zuchini bread will forever be called bikini bread around our house now. Here is Logan eating his wonderful bikini bread.

Conference Weekend

2009-10-06T16:55:00.000-06:00

This weekend was conference and we decided we didn't want to sit around our house so we called up Tyler's cousin Sandi to see if we could come down and visit for the weekend. We had good intentions of getting up early Saturday morning and getting a good start down there, but we were slow to get a move on and didn't get there til noon. Lauren was really excited to go and see Hayden again. When I told her she said, is that the Hayden who is my bestest friend who I play really good with. And they really do play really well together. Friday was Hayden birthday so we bought him a bubble gum machine for his present and he loved it. I don't think there was a moment the whole weekend when the kids didn't have their mouth full of gum.

Sandi made Hayden the coolest birthday cake. Instead of an actual cake,she made him a haunted gingerbread house. It even had lights in it that you could turn off and on. Good job Sandi, very creative. All the kids just stared at it all day until they were finally given permission to break into it. They took it with us over to Sandi's parents house Saturday night so that they could see it and some of Hayden's other cousins could join in on the fun. While we were at Sandi's parents house, Uncle Bill and Aunt Carol's, all the men went to priesthood session together while the wives and kids played at home. They have a tradition of all getting together and doing pizza and pie. Everyone brings their own homemade pizza and Aunt Carol makes her yummy apple pie and any other goodies people bring to share with everyone. It was a lot of fun.

When we first got there it was between sessions of conference and we decided to drive up the canyon a little bit and take some family pictures. Who knew it was so hard to get four people to look at the camera at one, let alone smile. We had a really good time up in the canyon though and did end up with a few decent pictures out of the 200 hundred or so we took.

Sandi, Rick, Hayden and Josh

Best Buds Lauren and Hayden

Lauren, Hayden and Logan walking back to the car.

Beautiful Lauren

The only pictures I could get of Lauren and Logan together.

It has been years since Tyler and I had a good picture taken of the two of us, probably since our wedding actually. I am not fond of being in pictures but I think this one actually turned out pretty good.

And these are the best of the many we took of our little family, not perfect, but they will definately work. Thanks Rick for the use of your great camera. Definately better than the option we came with.

After Priesthood session, we went back to Rick and Sandi's and put the kids to bed and then we stayed up late playing games and talking. It was a great night. Sunday morning we woke up to the smell of bacon and had a yummy breakfast and watched the morning session of conference. We hung out for a little longer when it was over and got packed back up and left just in time for the afternoon session of conference so we could listen to it in the car.

Thanks again Rick and Sandi for a great weekend. We all really had a great time and look forward to our next get together.

Fun day at the ZOO

2009-10-02T21:55:00.000-06:00

Yesterday and today Lauren was out of school for her fall break so we planned a super fun filled day with some great friends at the zoo. The day before we had a big rain storm come through so we weren't sure how the weather was going to be. We decided as long as it wasn't raining we were going to go even if it was freezing, the high for the day was supposed to be 50. It turned out to be a perfect day, the sun was shining and all that was needed was a light jacket. There was quite the crowd when we got there but the kids didn't mind at all. Over the past few weeks there have been quite a few babies born. There was a baby giraffe, a baby snow leopard, three baby tiger cubs, and a baby elephant. With us at the zoo were 6 moms, 1 dad, and 16 kids so with that being said this is the one and only picture of Lauren and Logan that I got of just the two of them. They were too busy running around with all their friends to stop for a photo op.

This is the best we could do for a group shot of all this kids together and we were still missing several of them.

The giraffes were right up by the fence chewing on this tree so we got some great up close shots of them. The kids thought it was neat how close they were. I joked with Lauren that she should stick out her hand and see if it would lick her with its long tongue.

This is the cute baby giraffe. We saw her when she was just a week old the last time we went to the zoo two months ago. I was surprised at how small she still is, but excited cause they are just too cute when they are little.

A few of the kids

Da Bear

Now this was my favorite part of the entire day, the baby elephant. She is the cutest thing I have ever seen. There was quite the line up just to get up to see her. I seriously could have watched her all day. Elephants are pregnant for almost two years so we have been waiting for this moment for a long time. In the first picture she is nursing on her mom. I think I need to go back and see her again before she gets too big. I just LOVE her!!!

This is a fun little boat they have that the kids climbed into. A few minutes before this one of the kids got lost. That is the worst feeling not knowing where your kids are. Luckily her mom found her pretty quickly and we were able to keep moving and have fun.

This was the last stop for us of the day, the train. I was hoping to get out of the zoo without having to pay for a train ride but Logan got a double bloody nose on the play ground by some big kids playing too rough and he looked up and me with his sad eyes and asked if we could please just go on the train. How could I turn that down?

Lauren has made a great new friend named Libby in her kindergarten class and we invited them to come along with us. This is Libby on the right and her big sister Callie on the left. Their mom and brother were also there with us. We had a great time getting to know all of them a lot better and look forward to doing many more fun things with them.

Look at those happy faces!!!

It is so fun for me as a mom to see my kids enjoying themselves and making friends. We had a fabulous day and look forward to going back again soon. Thanks again to all my great friends who were there to share in on the fun with us.