Scrappin', Cards, & Apron Girls

Check out my blog for Kid's Philosophy

2020-10-20T14:51:00.000-07:00

Here's the link to my other blog. Kid's Philosophy: baby wraps, ring slings, hair accessories, and more... is the new home for our new business (Steph and I, that is). I'm so excited. I just sold this way cute sling this morning. I'll have to get a picture of the other sling I sold - for those of you wondering if there are slings for boys or that you can share with your hubby. I'll be posting pictures of the "joey wrap" tomorrow. Please leave me some feedback on my new blog and let me know what you think of the goodies. I've posted some pictures already, but I'll be adding new stuff everyday this week.

Hope you have a great day!!

Highland Hills Stake Girls Camp

2009-08-09T13:21:00.000-07:00

I got back from Girls Camp a couple weeks ago and I'm just now getting around to blogging about it. We had so much fun this year, and this was my first time I was able to go as a leader. All the other times I was in YW, I was either pregnant or nursing, so camp wasn't an option. Here are a few things we did at camp...

The girls set up a vanity - yes, complete with a table and mirror - to fix their hair and put on make-up everyday at camp. This was definitely new to me. I don't remember any girls putting on make-up when I went to camp 17 years ago.

The leaders...on the last day we took this picture. Yes, hanging out with a bunch of teenagers will cause you to revert back to adolescence. We had a blast doing our own crazy hair...pictures will probably come in another post...and I even let one of the girls put make-up on me.

Big Hair Day

Still Big Hair Day

Camp socks. Melissa found these really cute socks at Target that all had a little purple in them, (that was our ward color), so we all wore them on Wednesday.

In addition to all the fun we had, we did have some more serious and spiritual activities where the girls were able to learn and grow and bond most of all. I'll have to get those pictures from someone else - I seemed to have not taken an pictures of the amazing "Life Line" activity that we did. Those will be posted later though. We had dry weather though, despite the "flash flood" that hit camp on Saturday set-up day, (which ended up being postponed to Monday), and plenty of food, giant marshmallows, dessert, and late nights.

Loose Tooth? Tooth Fairy or Not?

2009-08-03T22:08:00.000-07:00

While I was gone at camp (I'll blog about that tomorrow or Wednesday), Cooper apparently had been working on this loose tooth. Steph (my wonderful sister who was so kind and loving as to watch my kids for 1 week while I was at camp) said that Cooper had been holding a plastic sippy cup with just his teeth. Not really a good choice considering his past with his teeth. By the time I got back from camp Steph said that the bottom tooth was noticeably loose. Saturday at his friend's birthday party, the dad checked out his teeth and definitely said it was just about ready to fall out.

So, Monday night, here we are after dinner...We had noodles soup with chicken, carrots, and sliced cucumber sticks for dinner, then strawberry short cake for dessert, and Cooper decided that he wanted to finish off the last cucumber. He said he took a bite and forgot about his loose tooth, the tooth bent back, he went to grab it to put it back and it came off right into his hand! He was so excited, but thought I'd be mad he lost another tooth. (The first one he lost b/c it had to be pulled due to an unfortunate abscess.) So, he came to show me his tooth and I was so excited for him that he was really surprised. Anyway, I'm going to decorate a little Altoid tin for his "toothfairy" tooth box. For someone who doesn't believe in Santa or the Easter Bunny, I will make an exception. There aren't any religious holidays associated with this "pretend" fairy, so I won't ruin this one for him.

As a soon to be graduated dentist said upon looking at Cooper's teeth..."Cooper's going to be entering some really awkward years." Can't wait.

Morning Wreck - (literally)

2009-05-15T07:26:00.001-07:00

So this morning was the start of my plan for Jake and I to bike for exercise every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Apparently it was also the first warning that maybe I might end up in an ER because of this in the future. Just kidding - I hope not. Anyway, for my local blogging friends who know the area, we had just come down the Aviary overpass towards Goynes Elementary when Jake decided to take a left turn onto Deersprings. He took the corner really fast and I started to get nervous. The genetic factor that makes everyone in China so agile and coordinated on a bicycle has skipped me entirely. Of course, I slowed down a little, turned the corner, saw a metal sign pole, and promptly ran into it. Thank goodness the force of the impact threw me off the bike and I somehow managed to stay on my feet, but I'm pretty sure that I received a pretty good bruise in my pelvic area. All of this occurred within the first 15 minutes of our workout, so after another 45 minutes of riding, I'm definitely having issues with walking. Anyway, there happened to be this old couple that was walking on the opposite side of the street when my wreck occurred, and I feel good knowing that I probably made their day with my morning "blooper." Who needs to watch "America's Funniest Home Videos" when you can take a morning walk around Aliante.

Pump It Up and The Mix Zone Cafe

2009-04-05T21:12:00.001-07:00

It was Najah's 1st birthday and she threw a party at Pump It Up. It was so much fun and the kids had a blast and got a great workout jumping on all the different things and climbing up the slides.

Najah's parents are part owners in a restaurant called The Mix Zone Cafe. It's Thai food and it's REALLY good. You can find it at 2202 WEST CHARLESTON BLVD. #5, LAS VEGAS -

(702) 493-2182

and don't plan on heading there too late - they close around 8pm. They do serve lunch and dinner though and I'm telling you, Jake and I really enjoyed it. We've been missing Thai food for a long time. Their green papaya salad is one of the best I've ever had. Their prices are VERY reasonable. Jake and I ordered 4 dishes for a total of $35 or something like that. The ambiance is awesome and the music is great. Anyway, check it out of you like to try new things or if you just love Thai food.

Here are the party pictures.

Najah with her tiara on.

Her first car. LOL

Katelyn satisfied after getting Steph's hat back on.

Katelyn trying to get Steph's hat on.

Steph laughing while Kate's trying to put her hat on.

Kate didn't want us jumping around in the jump house. She kept telling us "NO!"

And then she'd smile again.

Then we'd get more attitude when we started bouncing around.

And she's start to whine, (well, the party was during her normal nap time - but it was worth it).

Then she took off running around the jump house while I tried to get some pictures of her.

Cooper loved jumping/climbing onto the mushroom then jumping or diving off.

Mackenzie really had a lot of fun.

"King of the Hill"

Mackenzie just couldn't get enough of the slides.

Cooper couldn't either.

Blogging again.

2009-04-05T20:55:00.001-07:00

The Kick N Littles had the first soccer game of the season on April 4th. They played the Chivas from Las Vegas Soccer Academy. I'm pretty sure I don't have to tell you who the winner was. By the way, if there is a parent from Las Vegas Soccer Academy who happens to read this, email me please. I'd love to know how I can get Cooper into the program. ;) Anyway, the kids had a blast - okay, so only a few of the kids had a blast and the rest were freezing their tails off. It had to be at least 20 mph winds. Cooper had to wear his thick red hooded coat under his soccer shirt. Funny, he asked me where his gloves were before we left the house and I laughed at him and said, "you don't need gloves, it's warm outside." Yeah right, I was freezing wearing my jacket and wrapped up in a blanket with Katelyn (who was otherwise occupied with eating her apple and unaware of how cold it was).

I may have put Cooper in the wrong sport. He was getting ready to hike the ball, I think. Maybe I'll try pee wee football next time.

Still didn't get it the second time, but it was cute.

Third time's a charm, right? Really though, he knew he was playing soccer. I have to say though, he looks like he's getting ready to run someone over.

First kick.

The other team. The were sprinting down the field to score in our goal. This occured multiple times. Our team was a little slow to react. I'm just glad they had fun though. Winning is definitely something that's taught to us because they didn't even realize that this little 5 yr old cute Mexican team kicked their butts. Anyway, glad I put Cooper in soccer...now if I can just figure out how to teach him to control the ball.

2009-04-05T20:30:00.000-07:00

Here we are...sweat dried and proud to have finished the 13 mile Red Rock loop. Oh yes, I was having trouble sitting down on the fence and no, I wasn't looking.

Spring Mountain Ranch Easter Egg Hunt

2009-04-01T14:58:00.000-07:00

We just did a quick little Easter Egg Hunt at Spring Mountain Ranch today since it was our playgroup outing. No worries, if you missed out we're doing another one at next Wednesday's playgroup. Anyway, here are some of the pictures. The kids were so cute - and the boys could hardly wait too. They were so fast and did a great job. Kate was a little too quick this year to get good pictures, but I took a lot of pictures of my niece Mackenzie. I need a quicker camera.

Mackenzie picking up her egg.

Lily opening up each egg she picks up. (She was too cute!)

Cooper racing to find more eggs.

Gavin - definitely the fastest one in the bunch, and so generous to share with everyone else.

Katelyn taking forever to get each egg in her bag, and passing up several eggs trying to find the one she wanted.

Trying to get the kids to pose together. Yes, it was a failure.

A Half Marathon.....

2009-03-22T21:06:00.001-07:00

Almost. This post is a little late, and I'm still waiting for some pictures from my friend Carly, but last Monday I finally completed a goal that I've had for a few months. No, I didn't run in a half marathon, but for those of you who know Las Vegas, and the Red Rock loop, I finally ran it!!! More like a medium paced jog, but I did the whole thing and never stopped to walk. I was so worried and anxious that I had a hard time sleeping the night before. Thanks to my two amazing friends (who by the way have done this a few times) and especially to Britney who is even more amazing to me now (since she just ran the Red Rock Half Marathon 2 weeks before), they cheered me on and kept me going the whole way. It was AMAZING!! So, I'll have to post pictures later. I also have to catch up on a couple other posts of Cooper's soccer practices. It's so cute to watch them practice, and he really likes it too. I'm sure it helps that most of his friends are on the team. Gotta go make some cards now.

Seriously neglecting my blog.

2009-01-11T21:15:00.001-08:00

She is sooo like my mother. This was Christmas morning and Katelyn got to open her present from Auntie Karly. Yes, you guess right...fake earrings, bracelet, and high heels. As soon as she opened it up she wanted to put on the high heels and was trying to figure out the earrings. It was pretty hilarious, especially when Jake said "oh, she is soooo your mother."

Cooper got another stuffed puppy from Great Grandma Gaye Fisk!! He was really excited since his puppy "Emma" (apparently all cute puppies are named Emma, after his friend, and all ugly puppies are boys) needed a big sister or mom or something like that. Anyway, he was stoked and these two stuffed dogs really look related...you'll see in another picture below.

Katelyn was taking care of the trash. We had a ton of wrapping paper and tissue paper that need disposing of, so we put her in charge. She was really glad to have a new "job" around the house and was putting EVERYTHING in the garbage. I had to watch her to make sure none of the Christmas presents ended up there.

The puppies. Aren't they all so cute? The black one with the bandana is Katelyn's. I originally got it for Cooper, but he liked his other white with brown spots on it puppy better. The white one with the handles on it was Katelyn's gift from Great Grandma Gaye Fisk and she put her jewelry in it. It really was a perfect little purse for her...I say "was" because she just uses it for a stuffed animal now.

Steph, Tim, and I took Cooper and Katelyn to Springs Preserve to see the light display there. It was really cool and despite the fact that it was cold, they were excited to see a new area of the Preserve Museum that they hadn't seen before. Also, the coolest balloon artist was there...we saw him at a storytime at Potterybarn Kids before...and the guy was really amazed that Katelyn talked so much and especially that she asked for a sword instead of a girly thing. Cooper and Katelyn had grand plans to have sword fights when we got home, but it never happened. They also got to have their faces painted, which was a really fun thing for both of them. Cooper had them put a fish on each cheek, and Katelyn got an Elmo. I think she was asking for an "animal," but it must have sounded like "Elmo." She actually has no clue who or what Elmo is.

This is my summary of the end of December. Yes, I still have to catch up on almost 2 weeks of January. Ugh.

Merry Christmas to all my Blogging friends!!

2008-12-23T23:57:00.000-08:00

Edited to add: I used Adobe Photoshop CS3 for all my digital scrapbooking.

Click on image for larger view. This is my digital scrapbooking page for my Christmas 2008 mini-album and my e-card/blog card to everyone. I hope that everyone has a great Christmas and I hope that we'll all remember the true meaning of Christmas and the Savior's gift to us.

Recipe: digital paper- Summer Driggs freebie, dictionary paper - can't remember, green glitter alpha - Ellie Lash

December 14-23...Behind again

2008-12-23T23:24:00.001-08:00

Okay, first I have to post a funny exchange between Cooper and I...

Me: Cooper, tonight you're going to have a babysitter. I don't want you to cause any trouble for her. I want you to make sure that you eat all your food and don't complain.

Cooper: Okay mommy. I'll make sure I eat all the pasta and you make sure you don't make the pasta taste terrible.

Me: (rolling eyes) Cooper, the pasta will not taste terrible, I promise.

Cooper: Okay, just make sure it tastes good.

Me: thinking...man, i thought i was a pretty good cook, why in the world would he think that the pasta would be terrible, it's just spaghetti for crying out loud...

So, that's my Cooper. You just never know what will come out of that mouth of his, and where in the world he gets it from.

Back to the intended purpose of this post...

December 16th: I cut down Cooper's naptime to 1 1/2 hours. He tends to fall asleep a little more quickly at night. I had printed out some Christmas images onto watercolor paper a couple weeks ago. Cooper and Katelyn LOVE to use my watercolor pencils and color in the images then use the brush to paint it. Here's Cooper with his snowman image. He wanted the hat to be red, and the whole head ended up red. He was going to leave the rest blank, because snowmen are white, but I told him to make it a snowman clown. (I really just wanted him to finish coloring the image instead of wasting all that watercolor paper).

December 17th: It snowed. A lot. Yes, I guilt-tripped Jake into "spending time with Cooper" by having Jake take him to the parking lot so Coop could build a snowman. That kid was the happiest kid I've ever met. He LOVES the snow and he'd been begging me to build a snowman, but I kept telling him to wait until his dad got home. (I had taken the kids on a walk - Cooper biked - on Monday, December 15th, when it was snowing pretty hard. I figured it was Jake's turn to do snow duty.) So, Jake took the kids to Wal-mart, then dropped of Kate, and built this little miniature snowman with Coop. The two little rocks were suppose to be eyes, but I thought they looked like boobs. If you look really close, you can see two little sticks for arms too.

December 20th: Ward Christmas Party - Cooper and Katelyn had so much fun. Kate had a couple of the boys following her around making sure she was okay. I don't know what it is about her, but the 4-5 year old boys treat her like a princess or something, well, more like a porcelain doll. It's kind of amusing to me. Cooper was really excited to tell "Santa" what he wanted. He even told me what he told Santa. So much for telling him Santa's not real. I did have to tell him though that gifts don't come from Santa, they come from mom, dad, grandpa, grandma, aunties and uncles, etc... He understands that, so as long as the credit goes to the right people, I'll let him believe what he wants.

Same party, but Katelyn was FREAKING OUT because of "Santa." What is the deal, seriously, Coop at this age was scared of Santa too. I was even holding her and she was screaming bloody murder. Can you tell I thought it was funny? She kept screaming "no mommy, no!"

December 22nd: Cooper got this Holiday Cake Kit at his primary meet and greet activity on the 20th. His whole little bag from his future teacher was packed with awesome stuff. Anyway, he really wanted me to make this cake with him, so I thought it was a good day to do it. We were at my sister's place watching her dog, so that's why the kitchen may not look familiar to those who've been to our place. Yes, Cooper is wearing a pink bib. I didn't realize I had switched them until I looked at this picture. Cooper was mixing the cake mix and Kate was watching with envy. They both got to decorate their cakes and they definitely turned out colorful. The frosting was pretty much just powdered sugar. After the finished decorating it, I let them each eat their own cake. They only ate a little bit of it, but at least they had fun getting it decorated.

December 23rd: Jake took me to see the "O" show at the Bellagio. I've seen it once before, back when my sister got married, but we pretty much sat in the very last row at the very top. Tonight, we got to sit in section 103 row H and were pretty much front and center. It was amazing (except for the fact that we were 1 hour late, so we missed half the show...beware of the Bellagio, their parking lot was completely full and their parking attendant kept letting cars go in) and I've never had seats that good for anything. I was really impressed and awed by the talent of those performers. I don't have pictures - shoulda taken one of Jake and I in front of the theatre, but didn't think of it. They don't let you take pictures inside, so I only have words to record this day. This was also the first day that Cooper and Katelyn have been babysat by someone other than family. (Well, my friend Kim watched Cooper a couple of times when he was really little, but Jake and I consider her pretty much family).

Sooooo, tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I'll have pictures for tomorrow and for the 25th!! Stay tuned.

Christmas Days 6-13: Catching up....

2008-12-16T15:43:00.000-08:00

...again. I always seem to be catching up when I finally sit down to post. Anyway, here is a little update on our Christmas happenings.

December 6th - Family pictures at the Bellagio Botanical Garden. They had just finished the display when we went on Saturday. Jake was there too - but I rarely have a good picture of the kids and I, so I thought I'd post this one. I also got to catch up a little with my friend Matt and his family. I knew them a long time ago from my ward in Cincinnati, OH. It was nice to catch up. His parents have not changed - they're still as sweet and amazing as ever.

December 7th - We took a little walk/bike ride/skate trip around the neighborhood before church. It's kind of our Sunday thing since we have 1pm church. Jake and I are working on teaching Cooper how to balance and kick on the long board, but this particular day I wanted to see if he could ride his "big boy" bike. He can - but we decided the other bike was a better size for now.

December 8th - Katelyn and Cooper wanted to spend some quality time with mommy building something with their legos. We built the police station, (you can see the model we copied on the back wall), and then the kids played with the building for a while before Katelyn decided to destroy it. That's usually how our lego sessions end.

December 9th - Another lego session. I was honored with the job of building the train tracks. Coop and Kate had a blast making themselves into human tunnels for the train. I learned that the engine goes forwards and backwards. These kids are so lucky - I NEVER had toys like this when I was little. My sister and I spent most of our childhood dancing on furniture.

December 10th: Cooper and Katelyn had playgroup and the activity was watching a Christmas movie (The Grinch Who Stole Christmas) and drinking hot chocolate.
December 11th: After naps, we had some friends come over and play for a little bit. They took out the train tracks again and had a little fun with that. My children definitely need to invite more kds over for playgroups - they're not the best at sharing their toys, but they're experts at sharing other people's toys when they visit with friends. They spent the rest of the evening with my sister while Jake and I went to an office Christmas party.
December 12th: Cooper and Kate spent the morning with their good friends (thank you soo much Rhonda), then came back for naps, then spent most of the evening being cooped up in the condo while Steph and I cut, ironed, and sewed the rest of our stuff for the craft show the next day. Thank goodness we were able to take the kids to play with their friends again for a little while. They were really getting tired of mommy NOT playing with them.

December 13th - It was Cooper's friend's birthday, so he got to go to a birthday party. Lucky for him he went to another party after that one was over. There was a neighborhood party and the kids got to pet some animals, ride the train around the park, jump and climb on some air filled thing, and eat lots of food and popcorn.

More to come tomorrow. I've still got 4 more days to catch up on. Hope the rest of you are enjoying your holiday season. Oh, and if anyone catches typos on my blog, please let me know. I have a pet peave about typos.

Christmas Day 5

2008-12-07T09:28:00.000-08:00

It was my sister Steph's birthday on Monday and my friend Brit's birthday on Wednesday. A bunch of us got together on Friday and had a little celebration pot-luck for them. The kids were actually playing nicely for a while and happened to all congregate around the piano when I took this picture. Each of us left with some yummy salsa that Rhonda made. It was VERY yummy. Now I need to buy some chips to eat it with. The holidays have always been about food, friends and family. Does we need anything else?

Christmas Activity Day 4

2008-12-07T09:01:00.000-08:00

Cooper found these popsicle sticks that I bought a couple years ago. He really wanted to build a house with a fence and a backyard and decorate it with candy. I think what he had in mind was making a gingerbread house...similar to this unfinished one that we made at the end of November.
Katelyn's was made from some leftover broken pieces of graham crackers. The popsicle house and backyard didn't get very far. He finished the bottom of the house and one side before he got bored and decided to actually take a nap. Go figure. Anyway, ended up going to a friend's house after naps and the project still remains unfinished.

Christmas Day 2 and 3

2008-12-07T08:44:00.000-08:00

I just HAD to take this picture of Kate and Kenzie on Tuesday. Steph and I had them wear matching outfits, all the way down to their matching legwarmers. I'm not sure how many of you wore legwarmers as kids, but I grew up in the 80's, so I definitely wore them. They're back in style now, but I'm just too old to pull it off. If Kate's hair was longer and thicker, I would've put her hair in a side ponytail.

Day 2:
Cooper and Katelyn wanted to make Christmas cards. Specifically, they wanted to water paint Santa. I ended up printing out a picture of Santa and a picture of a reindeer to fit on a card front. Then I used a pencil to scribble on the back so that I could transfer it to a piece of water color paper. After transferring the kids used my water color pencils to color it in, then used a brush with water to spread the color on the picture. They had so much fun doing this - and of course I forgot to take pictures.

Day 3:
We went to the Lied Children's Museum. It was our Wednesday playgroup outing. Again, no pictures. Cooper and Katelyn really enjoying playing at the pretend grocery store. It was the first area that we saw when we went in and all the kids had a blast touching all the things that they're never allowed to touch in a real store. They also had a bubble station and water area that they played in. Upstairs there was a wind display where you entered this cylinder shaped room and the wind gets up to about 78 mph. Kate loved it - the other kids were a little scared. I was happy to find that Kate's "Kisses Clippie" didn't slip off her hair at all. When it was time to leave, Cooper kept trying to block my way, saying "I don't want to go, we haven't stayed long enough, don't make me leave!" It was frustrating, but at least it made me feel like the $7 I paid to get us in was worth it.

Homemade Ornaments Christmas Day 1 (a little early)

2008-11-30T22:12:00.000-08:00

Here are a few simple supplies that you can use to create some homemade ornaments for you and your kids to decorate:

Glitter Glue ($1.99 at Michael's)
Chipboard (or you can use the cardboard from cereal boxes)
Cuttlebug portable die cut machine (or a punch)
Tag Shaped Dies (or metal rimmed tags from an office supply store)

Cooper has a miniature Christmas tree from our friend Angie in Elko, NV. She was Jake's co-worker at the Chiropractic office in Elko. One day she was talking to Jake about Christmas and he was telling her how we didn't have a Christmas tree and didn't intend on getting one for a long time. We both figured that as long as we spent Christmas somewhere else, we didn't need one for our house. I'm not a huge decorator...(have you seen my condo?), and I have no clue how to decorate a Christmas tree. That was always my mom's job. She could always make it look amazing. I was planning on buying some banner paper and drawing a huge one for Coop, then letting him draw ornaments on it. Afterall, we already told Cooper that Santa wasn't real anyways. When Angie heard that, she told Jake that we were horrible parents. The very next day she brought in the mini Christmas tree for Cooper. "Thanks Angie!!" So, I decided that since Jake and I don't have any Christmas traditions to call our own - except ruining Christmas for our kids - I was going to start our first official "Decorate Ornaments for the Mini-Tree Day." Seriously, this is one of my best ideas ever and the kids had a blast...even my sister wanted to get in on the fun since it looked so cool. I'll post an after picture of the tree, but I want to strongly encourage you moms to do this with your kids. It's soo fun...and if you need some of these cardboard cut-outs, I'll be willing to help you out with making some. Just bring your cereal boxes to me. This is definitely going on my future Advent Calendar of Christmas Activities. I'm finally getting into the spirit.

Coop, Kate, Kenz, and Steph - taking a minute to pose for my picture

Kate using markers for hers. She finally caught on to the fact that everyone else was using the glitter pens and I gave in and let her have a go at it.

Coop decorating his ornaments. He was so cute - he wanted them to all look "beautiful" for his tree. I'm curious to see what he does next year.

Steph displaying a few of the ornaments that she and I decorated. Yes, I was really into this activity too.

When we first met...

2008-11-21T03:07:00.000-08:00

my husband looked like this...but he was wearing a black beanie hat and his beard was much bushier. I know that some of the words I'm using are not real, but let's just forget that I'm an English major. This is a blog - and I'm not a professional writer. Doesn't he look like he's from Alaska? I definitely think so. I remember him telling me that he was in Chiropractic school and that he surfed. Would you have taken him seriously? I didn't then, but after a few months he shaved that stuff off his face and I figured that maybe, just maybe, he was serious about life. No really, it was hard for me to take someone seriously who had this much facial hair. I never dated guys with facial hair. Anyway, I just thought about this stage in his life and wanted to post a little about Jake. Oh, and I forgot to mention that shortly after this picture he went on a surfing trip to Costa Rica and got robbed. Yes, everything except his passport and a few other very important items. Everything else was taken. He came back to school and shaved his beard and after a couple months of debate, asked me out for Feb. 21st...exactly a week after Valentine's Day. Needless to say, we don't celebrate Valentine's Day, afterall, he spent that Valentine's eating at a restaurant alone while wondering why he was surrounded by so many sappy couples at dinner. Hmmm, are all single guys like that?

New Drapes!!!

2008-11-19T21:43:00.000-08:00

In my quest to find a style that's me, and to finally decorate my condo, I took my sister to JoAnn's to help me pick out some fabric for my drapes. I was so tired of the old school vertical blinds, (which of course the kids are always playing with), and definitely tired of the neutral blah that has become my home. In my other post I started the addition of color with the crate covers. This is my second addition of color - but I have a little dilemma which is in need of your opinions... (and by your, I mean everyone who stumbles upon this silly blog). I'm not sure that these crate covers match the drapes that I've made. It's actually not a huge deal, but I'm just not sure if I should remake the crate covers with another fabric that coordinates better with the drapes, or if I should keep it as is. I'm looking for completely honest opinions, because I'm not one to take offense to negative feedback...and I'm really trying to make my house fun and funky but still coordinating to some degree. Oh, and i did put another cream colored drape (I think it's thai silk fabric or duponi) behind this panel after I took pictures. So, check out the pictures below and let me know what you think.

Decorating Cookies...or Frosting Eating Contest???

2008-11-19T21:09:00.000-08:00

The kids have been really busy lately. We've been having one more formal playgroup and one informal playgroup lately, so the kids have had a lot of time hanging out with each other. Last week we did Cookie Decorating and they had so much fun that I promised them we'd do it again. Well, we did. On Monday a bunch of us got together and I made 6 dozen cookies (with a new and amazing recipe from allrecipes.com here. They were really good and I added an extra 1/2 C sugar and 1 tsp almond extract to the recipe. We had TONS of frosting and sprinkles from the amazing moms that were there and the kids had a blast. Before we even started one of the kids was trying to "drink" the sprinkles, and my Kate was sticking her finger into every bit of frosting she could reach. It was kind of gross, but kids are kids. All the knives were not only used to spread frosting, but were licked and dropped and all sorts of stuff I really don't want to remember, but it was fun anyway. Here are some of the pictures of the kids who were there. We also invited some other kids who were at the park to come and decorate a few cookies of their own.

Lucas getting into the food fun.

Li'l Ed (with some help from mom) cleaning up the frosting on his forearm

My niece, Kenzie, enjoying her own cookie. (She was sooo cute.)

Kate was really into the candy corn. She dropped 3 half-frosted cookies before she finally got to eat one.

Macey was really cute. She made sure to decorate a cookie for her mom.

I wanted to gag when I saw Cooper's cookie. It looks like a mound of yellow playdoh mustard and red playdoh ketchup. Sick. At least he enjoyed it though.

Kids busy decorating their cookies.

More kids decorating their cookies.

Kate and Evan enjoying their cookies.

Tagged!

2008-11-16T20:49:00.000-08:00

*Two names I go by: Angie and Relicious (Jake made that up for the times that I do absolutely absurd things)
*Two things I am wearing right now: Glasses and PJs
*Two things I want in my life right now: To finish decorating my condo and a gift certificate to Papertrey Ink
*Two things I did last night: Went to the temple and checked my blogs
*Two things I ate today: Homemade fried rice and homemade pizza
*Two of my favorite drinks: Water and Sam's Choice Cranberry Black Cherry
*My favorite thing to do with my right hand: Maneuver the mouse??
*Two favorite positions of the sun: Sunrise and Noon
*Two favorite things to do in the fall/autumn: Hike and Camp
*My favorite article of clothing: My Li'l Maggie Lucky jeans
*My first disappointment: hmmm, not answering that one
*Movie line that is always stuck in your head no matter what you do to get it out: "Niner"

I tag Diane, Christy, and Julie!

Teamwork

2008-11-15T13:15:00.000-08:00

My Cooper. For whatever reason, Cooper has this thing about sleeping with something. Usually it's his little stuffed dog, but today it had to be the flag. It's not really a big deal to me, but Jake found him lying like this, (he was taking a nap on our bed) and had to take a picture. Anyway, thought I'd share this picture.

The real reason for this post is because my cousin sent Katelyn a belated birthday present. Playdoh. What kid does NOT like Playdoh? When I put the gifts on the table, she actually started ripping the paper. I guess I assumed that she wasn't really into gifts and wouldn't really "get it." Well, she proved me wrong. As soon as Cooper saw Kate pull out the first few containers of Playdoh, he went for the scissors to help her open all 28 containers. (I, of course, stopped him after he opened the first 6 containers...no need to have all that dough out all at once.) They had a blast though since one of the packages came with all the playdoh shaping toys. After the huge mess, they reluctantly cleaned up and put everything away. Although it is a lot of fun for the kids, this stuff is really messy and gets EVERYWHERE. Anyway, this is going to be a new weekly activity/Sunday morning activity for them.

Some me time...

2008-11-15T13:12:00.000-08:00

Thursday night some friends and I went to a late showing of Get Smart. Who in the world can pass up $2 movie night at a brand new casino and a movie starring Steve Carrell? Definitely NOT me. It was a blast and since Jake and the kids went to an earlier showing of Kung Fu Panda (on the IMAX), we all got to have a little fun for the evening.

A new do...

2008-11-08T13:33:00.000-08:00

Britney Shepherd is a friend of mine who works at Regis Salon @ Fashion Show Mall.

3200 S. Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89109

I LOVE my haircut! Britney does such a great job, and she's so cute too. Anyway, like I said before, if you're ever in Vegas down by the strip, you really should stop in the salon and get your hair done. It'll be worth it. If you live in Vegas, you should try her. She's really good.

Monkey Business...as my dad called it

2008-11-08T13:15:00.000-08:00

This is my dad. He and my mom live in Tianjin, China. They're on a trip right now to Dalian and found this farm boy who has been training these monkeys for quite a while now. Oh, all you animal lovers, don't worry, these monkeys don't get beaten or physically abused. The boy who owns these monkeys is very smart. He wanted to make sure that his monkeys were not afraid of people and that they wouldn't attack people. When they misbehave, he just kills a chicken in front of them and they behave again. Hmmm, well, I guess animal lovers may not like that last part, but the chicken doesn't get wasted. They're sure to eat it, head, feet, wings, and all. Even the gizzards. So anyway, this is just a really cool picture and it reminded me of the panda picture. Oh wait, you guys have never seen that one. I'll post it below. Isn't this the cutest picture you've ever seen? This is a real panda, in China. I'm not kidding. My dad actually had his arm wrapped around the panda's shoulder. I'm sure if you're not careful, it can hurt you, but this one seemed to be pretty chill. I don't even remember when this was taken, but it was quite a few years ago. I do wish that I could've been there. That panda just looks so relaxed and cute, of course.

Can you guess where we were camping last night??

2008-11-07T21:35:00.000-08:00

The REI Grand Opening in Summerlin (Las Vegas) NV!! Last night my friend Carly and I camped out in front of the store because the first 200 customers got a Nalgene bottle with a gift card inside. How cool is that?? So, here are some pictures from last night. Truth be told, Carly was the true die hard behind this whole event. I was mostly coming along for the fun of it - and of course for the nalgene bottle. You just can't beat the adventure, and a night with no kids?? Who would give that up.

The pictures from last night were taken by a security guard. He was really nice. He was inside the store most of the time, but he watched us from the lobby and made sure we were safe all night. I had one of the best night's sleep that I've had in a long time.

The last two pictures on the right are this morning's pictures. I woke up around 6:15 am and this was my view. Around 7 am, one of the supervisor's for this grand opening event pulled up on his bullet bike and took this picture of us. Yes, we were the only two people until around 7:30 am when two more people joined us. I guess you could say we were either die hards, or nut cases, or both. Oh, and my awesome friend Britney cut my hair yesterday too!! I'll show the pictures in another post. I just couldn't stand having my hair get so long and it was really quite blah...so she spiced it up for me and did an AWESOME JOB!!

IF YOU LIVE IN VEGAS, YOU HAVE TO HAVE BRITNEY CUT YOUR HAIR!! Here's her info...

Britney Shepherd
Regis Salon: Fashion Show Mall
3200 S. Las Vegas Blvd
702-733-1400

Oh, and even if you're just visiting Vegas, you should really stop by Fashion Show for a new do or a trim. She's awesome at styling and updos.

Halloween was really busy...

2008-11-01T13:34:00.000-07:00

This is how our Halloween Day began... Cooper changed into his Kung Fu outfit, and I helped Katelyn get dressed as a BYU cheerleader. I probably should have dressed her in a riding outfit since she insisted on wearing my old riding hat. Kate also insisted on wearing the empty toilet paper roll on her arm as a cuff. I'm glad that she is content with cardboard because I have no intentions of buying her any jewelry anytime in the near future. The two of them rode around the condo on the red car while I tried to get everything ready for our long day. Cooper kept asking "Mommy, when is it going to be Halloween?" and I kept answering "Cooper, it's Halloween all day today...it's just that we don't trick-or-treat until night time."

We had an outing to Mandalay Bay's' Shark Reef. I don't have any pictures, but I'll post some when I get a copy from my friend. The kids had a blast, even though it was way past their naptime. Coop and Kate were really lucky though. Their friend's father is a pilot. He flies private jets for an incredibly wealthy businessman, so we were able to get a private tour. It was pretty awesome. Coop had a blast, and Katelyn was so amazed at all the buttons. She just wanted to push everything.

The kids conked out in the car on the way home. Kate was REALLY tired. Steph and I ran some errands and rushed home to make good ol' Cincinnati chili for the ward Halloween party. We met up with a friend, Ashley, and she brought her absolutely adorable pumpkin baby!! The kids had a blast and had WAY too much candy. They came home and I let them sit at the table and sort their goodies, then eat for about a half hour, then made them finally go to bed.

(Cadence, Cooper, Katelyn, & Mackenzie)

I hope the rest of you had a good halloween too!

A gymnast in the making...

2008-10-28T09:22:00.000-07:00

Yes, this is my Kate. Her new thing at the park is to hang on these rings and swing her legs into a pike position. It's really amazing sometimes when I see her do these things, but I think that I always think she's younger than she is since Cooper is getting so big. Anyway, she had a blast practicing her moves on the rings and hopefully I can teach her to bring her feet up to touch the rings. That would be awesome. Friday night I'll post pictures of Cooper's gymnastics class. I think Kate's going to need some dance lessons or something soon. She's really sharp and after all the time she spends copying Cooper, I think she's ready to follow a dance teacher.

2008-10-26T18:11:00.000-07:00

Did you see that?? Is your mouth watering yet?? Saturday at 4:30pm we had "Appreciation Dinner." It's another name for "Thanksgiving Feast," when it's not actually Thanksgiving day. Steph, Tim, Jake and I decided that we're going to do this every 3 months from now on. It's our new tradition. You're probably thinking that we're crazy, but we're not...we just love food. I didn't get the candied sweet potatoes or the apple pie in the picture, but those were soooo good too. I decided that I'm going to make a little recipe book thing for all our Thanksgiving side dishes. Here's the one for our roasted lemon herb chicken. We wanted turkey, but we couldn't find one (and we checked 2 different grocery stores) so we ended up having a chicken, which turned out really good. We also made homemade cornbread, which was also great. Here are the links for 2 of the recipes...

Grandmother's Buttermilk Cornbread

Roasted Lemon Herb Chicken

Okay, so I FINALLY cut Cooper's amazing hair!! I'm so sad to see it go, but I think I have the same mentality for my kid's hair that I have for my own..."it'll always grow back." Steph and I figured that since pool season was over Cooper could have his short hair back. No need to look like a surfer anymore. We'll grow it back out next spring. Here are before and after pictures...doesn't he look like a totally different kid? I actually cut it even shorter, which I'll take a picture of tomorrow, and after I finished his hair today I asked Jake (again for the nth time) if I could cut his hair. He finally let me!! I'll have to get a picture of Cooper and Jake's haircut together.

I'm seriously so excited though about the haircuts b/c it'll totally save at least $15-$30 a month (and I can cut Jake's hair a little more often than waiting for the haircut coupons in the mail). Jake said I could even get a pair of nice hair shears and a razor to thin out their hair when I cut it. I'll have to learn how to do that. So, I have a new hobby...cutting the boys' hair!

Have you ever felt like...

2008-10-24T22:42:00.000-07:00

you just couldn't remember anything? I feel like that lately. If I don't write it down right away it will probably be forgotten. Anyways, here are some pictures of the kids at Gilcrease Orchards last week. It was our special outing for the weekly playgroup we have. I promised I would take them, even though I heard that it was already pretty picked over. The kids had a blast. Cooper and Hailey especially had fun when Cooper found an eggplant. We didn't take the eggplant home, nor did I take a picture (unfortunately...it was soo cute and small). They were so excited to take home a pumpkin and I let them decorate it with markers as soon as we got back.

She was so excited that she had her very own pumpkin.

Cooper, Katelyn, and Mackenzie with their pumpkins.

Hailey, Cooper, and Katelyn on the hunt for the perfect pumpkin.

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

2008-10-22T22:36:00.000-07:00

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

This is one of the most amazing gowns I've ever seen...you've got to check this out. I found this blog from Tani's favorite links (or something like that). Check it out though!! If you have a little girl you'll just have to have this dress.

Family Home Evening Activity!

2008-10-21T13:27:00.000-07:00

So this is what I've been up to in addition to "kidsphilosophy." Here's the link for the tutorial on making these adorable crate covers. I actually had to make my own pattern for these since they're the mini crates, but I also did one of the regular size crates. I'll take a picture of those when I finish them. I'm making a bunch of different patterns on each one. We'll see how it turns out. I just love how each of these little crates bring a splash of color into the room. I wish I had more time to finish the other ones, but I think it'll be another month before I can get those done. Jake was so cool to take the kids on Thursday morning so that I could finish these babies up. It's really nice that he supports all my creative hobbies, since every year I end up picking a new creative hobby to explore.

Last night we went to the Bellagio to see their new conservatory with Steph, Tim and Mackenzie. It was so cool. They had Ents (which reminded me of the "Lord of the Rings" series), huge pumpkins (fake of course, but they were still cool), and tons of these little habenero chili pepper (or maybe they were thai chilis) plants that were red, yellow, and orange. I didn't realize that they were peppers until I stopped to look at them. Of course Jake noticed right away and he made sure to point out to the kids to refrain from picking and eating these plants. The kids had a blast at seeing all the moving trees and venus fly traps. Cooper was particularly enchanted by the venus fly traps. He'd never seen them before. Everytime we turned around he was staring at them and walking toward them as if he was in a trance. It's a good thing there were 4 of us adults around to keep an eye on him.

Go figure - we finally get a picture of the kids all doing the same thing. It's too bad they weren't all looking at me.

Steph and I were at the park yesterday too...Kenzie can't get enough of the slides. She finally wanted to do a little exploring though and I realized the kids were all on the fake rock wall. Of course I was smart enough to bring my camera (for once) and we got a cute picture of the kids together.

Maya Road is on the TOP of my list...

2008-10-20T22:32:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that Maya Road has the best customer service ever!! I had a clear stamp set and two of the stamps were connected. When I tried to take them apart, they both tore a little. I was so bummed, so I emailed them and in less than 12 hours they emailed me back and said they were sending a replacement as soon as I emailed pictures to them. How cool is that? And then not even a week later I have the replacements, plus an extra singleton stamp they included! I LOVE Maya Road!! They have awesome scrapbooking and stamping products. By the way...Basic Grey is amazing too. I had a problem with one of their stamps and they had me mail mine back and replaced the whole set! Customer service is huge to me...so props to them!! If you scrap or stamp, buy Basic Grey and Maya Road. They stand by their product.

All I have from Katelyn's Birthday...

2008-10-19T21:30:00.000-07:00

Are two pictures. No, we didn't really do gifts (just a couple), and I made a yellow ice cream cake with cookies & cream ice cream and chocolate ganache frosting, but I forgot to take pictures of the cake before we cut it - she she had a piece of cake with 1 candle in it. It's okay though, she still doesn't know how to blow out candles anyway. Am I lame?? Don't answer that - I already know what you guys think... Anyway, here are the two pictures.
Okay, so maybe she does look a little disappointed in the picture, but she was really happy, I promise.

As I was looking in the folder for this picture, I found another one that I have to post, b ecause it's pretty funny. My Kate has a friend named Katelyn (her mom is my visiting teacher - and she's really the best visiting teacher), but they're about 10 months apart. I'm sure you'll be able to tell in this photo that Kate's friend is a little taller. Guess who's older?? My Kate. She's really quite pygmy-ish, but don't let her fool you. She can hold her own. Kate always gets excited when she sees Katelyn, but it's a little confusing because they never can tell who's talking to who. I guess that happens when you have friends with the same name.

This is what else the kids have been up too - since September. I'm still a month behind. They LOVE to pretend cook, Katelyn loves to take Kenzie on rides (well, not always, but sometimes when she thinks it's cute or when Steph and I put them both on the car together), and this was one of the last pool days that the kids had before I decided Cooper needed a new hangout.

I'll have to do one more post for September - as it was Cooper's 1st day of pre-school and he's been having a blast ever since. I'll post a couple of his firsts, since he just had his 1st day of gymnastics class. The Silver Mesa Recreation Center has some great classes, and the best part about it is that it's affordable and the building is REALLY clean.

Fishing and the Priest Lake Cabin

2008-10-15T23:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, I don't know many 4 1/2 yr olds who love fishing more than this guy here. Seriously, he was so excited about this trip that he kept talking about it for weeks before and weeks after. Honestly, he still talks about it. Oh, and that giant to the right of the picture...that's Uncle Landan, (also known as Cooper and Katelyn's personal body guard.) So, Cooper, Katelyn, and I all went to Spokane around September 5th. Yes, it was a long time ago - I'm lame when it comes to posting. We went there because we just sold a house we were renting to massage therapists, and I had to sign the closing documents and get my stuff out of there before the official closing. Thank goodness that Landan was there to help me move stuff...well it was more like he moved the stuff and I was busy sorting through stuff. I'm going to hijack my own post to just mention that if anyone has a brother-in-law as good as mine, you must be lucky, and it's a good thing that I have the only 2 grandchildren in Jake's family 'cause that's the only reason why I'm Landan's favorite. Okay - back to the post. My in-laws decided to take this opportunity with the grandkids to go up to the cabin and take Cooper fishing. The pole you see in the picture was a Christmas gift from Jake's dad 2 years ago and he used it for the first time on this trip. Oh, I guess this was a moose that they saw when they were up at the cabin. Pretty cool, huh. Cooper loves stuff like this. Well, I actually let Cooper go up to the cabin with Jake's dad, Landan, and Nathan. This was a big thing for me, especially since I knew there were guns up there. Jake's mom, Katelyn, and I met up with them on Saturday (which is when I caught the "Twilight" fever.) The kids had so much fun with their uncles...and Uncle Nathan even took each of them on a private canoe ride.

Cooper and Katelyn posing for Grandpa. Cooper practicing his "roping skills."

Grandpa was teaching the kids how to rope on our last day there. They were practicing out in front of the cabin. I'm pretty sure they were having a blast, but I made Cooper leave the rope at the Grandpa's house. I definitely didn't want any rope accidents when I got home. By the way, you don't see any pictures of Jake's mom and I because we were hiding in the cabin, engrossed in the "Twilight" series.

TAGGED!! 7 Facts About Me...

2008-10-09T22:54:00.000-07:00

Here's how to play:
1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I'm 30 years old and still scared of the dark. No really, I am. When I was little, my parents use to think it was funny to run up the stairs ahead of my sister and I and turn all the lights off and jump out and scare us as we were running up the stairs to our room. The first thing I do when I'm in someone's house or move into a new place I look for the light switches. If I'm by myself I'll test them all to see which lights they go to so I can move from room to room with at least 1 light on.

2. I'm a "jack-of-all-trades," master of none. I've always been able to do a lot of things and be good at them, but I've never been the best at anything. Unfortunately I think I've got the genetic Chinese ability to copy but not be an original creator.

3. I've got a tiny scar on my forehead from a .44 magnum pistol. Some friends of mine at BYU took me shooting in Payson, UT. We didn't wear any ear muffs and I did fine with the rifles. Apparently, a .22 rifle is way different than a .44 pistol. The pistol was on a towel laid on the hood of an old Ford Tempo, and when I pulled the trigger the noise was so loud it scared me and the pistol kicked right as I let go of it, so my forehead took a huge kick and I dropped the gun on the ground.

4. I have a lot of big ideas that never go very far. Every once in a while I have some crazy idea that I think can be a business, but then I think of all the work that it's going to take and on top of that being a mom, and I get overwhelmed and give up. I know, lame. If you look at the older posts on my blog there are pictures of aprons. I had a little short-lived apron business where I picked these fabrics and design, had them made (when I was in China I had a great seamstress) and then sold them. I think I sold about 28 or so, and these are the ones I still have left. I also make hairbows, baby wrap carriers, and slings...but none have made it to big business. So here I am, the daughter of 2 entrepreneurs and always dreaming of new ideas.

5. I planned on going to law school after I graduated at BYU. Yes, it was my idea to become a lawyer and specialize in family law - hoping to help those women who were wronged in custody battles or to help couples with adoptions. I even took the LSAT, but I knew I'd have to re-take it to get into to the top schools, (I set my sights on UC Berkley). I married Jake though and the LSAT was so unappealing to me that I procrastinated until I had Cooper. Now I'd like to study graphic design when my kids are all in school.

6. When I was pregnant with Cooper, I ate 5 lbs of fuji apples from Buska Farms every week. The farmer's market across the street from us in San Leandro, CA had this stand that had AWESOME fujis. They were so sweet and crispy and just perfectly sized for a snack. On the weekends that I was out of town, I'd have my friend Stephanie May pick some up for me. When I became pregnant with Katelyn, I ordered a box of apples from Buska Farms and he even remembered who I was.

7. When I was 3 months pregnant with Cooper, I went on a week-long white-water rafting trip and swam the "eye of the needle" rapid due to intense family peer pressure. I couldn't say no to my brother-in-law, husband, sister-in-law, and Jake's cousins. I thought I was going to die - I'm not a big water lover outside of the pool, but I made it through the 2 huge rapids and as I attempted to swim towards shore I had to call for someone to pull me in. Thank goodness I had the "golden child..." (Cooper was the first grandson on both sides.)

I tag ....
1. Kim
2. Julie
3. Kim
4. Amy
5. Tamara
6. Stephanie
7. Christy

If you were already tagged before and I missed it, then forget it. For anyone else who would like to do it, it's fun! Please share!

Jackson Hole, Yellowstone Bear World, Yellowstone

2008-09-02T22:26:00.000-07:00

Has anyone been to these three places? Well, it's just beautiful up there. I definitely think that everyone should try it. I'm just going to add some pictures really quick - I've got a ton of stuff to do and I need to put pictures of Jake and Tim's triathalon. We're so proud of those two guys - they really did a great job...mostly because we were proud of them for finishing. It's not super easy and you definitely have to be set in following through. There were 2 people who came out of the race right at the beginning of the swim, not even 20 yards out into the 500 m swim. Enough about that though. The first pictures is at Jenny Lake - a little past Jackson Hole. This is Inspiration Point - no, I was not really inspired up there, but it was beautiful. I was freaking out when we hiked up there because there were some really sharp/steep drop offs and I HATE heights. Yes, I know, I stunt, rock climb, etc... but I'm still afraid of heights. It makes me nauseaus.
Family picture - the guys were working hard back in Vegas while we toured the wonders of God's creations. This is a waterfall - don't remember the name, (there were a lot of them all over the place) but it was beautiful and we had to go on a scenic walk to get there. I kept worrying that Cooper was going to slide down the hill and fall into the water - that wouldn't have been good. Apparently he's smarter than I think he is.

Yes, we fed the chipmunks. If you're against that, don't judge me - the kids had a blast and the chipmunks were hungry. Anyway, it was fun and they were cute. I was worried that someone was going to step on them. I'll have to post the Yellowstone and Yellowstone Bear World later. Something is not working quite right with the blogger upload image thing.

Sea World and Newport Beach

2008-09-02T21:50:00.000-07:00

Here we are now, a little more than a month later. Lots of stuff has happened - one of them being that my mom and dad came to visit us from China, which is always a treat because they usually stay for a few weeks or a month. This time they not only stayed but we took a road trip that was so much fun...I'll show pictures in a little bit. It's been so crazy, and on top of that my cousin got married, and Jake and Tim completed a triathalon, (they're first). So here are some pictures along with a summary for each...
1. This is how you turn any single child stroller into a double stroller. Cooper has also figured out how to turn it into a triple stroller...he sits on the food tray. This is what happens after a long day at Sea World. Thank goodness my kids are resourceful - Katelyn was lovin' her little basket seat. Yes, that would be Shamu on the right, and we were in the 8th row. No, we didn't get soaked, unfortunately for us we were SOOOO HOT!! But at least I got some good pictures. Does it get any better than this?? I love when my 2 kids love each other, but I guess nothing is ever 100%.

Mom, my sister, and I also went to Newport beach with the kids. Man, did they have a blast, and it was Kenzie's first time in the sand. Katelyn and Cooper were dying to get into the water, but we didn't have our swimsuits, so the kids had to settle for knee deep waves.

We all got down and dirty in the sand building a lake with a bridge. Katelyn kept wanting to spill the water all over the bridge. I think that the best part of the whole trip was just that I actually got to really spend some quality time with Cooper and Katelyn and we weren't interrupted with all the craziness of life.

Note to self & warning to others...

2008-07-28T23:38:00.000-07:00

When using Elmer's Glue Spray Adhesive, wear gloves at all times. If you don't wear tight fitting gloves, then beware. You'll need plenty of vegetable oil on hand to remove it off your nails, fingers, palms, etc...

Catching up on life...

2008-07-27T10:14:00.000-07:00

So here we are, 2 1/2 months later and I haven't blogged once, but life has been busy, so I feel justified. First of all, just to clarify... I only have 2 kids, Cooper (4 1/2 yrs) and Katelyn (22 months). If you seem some pictures of a 10 yr old Chinese girl, she's been living with us since January and she's now back with her parents. Long story. She may or may not be back in the fall, so this might be the only post with her picture in it. I also haven't been clear enough in these past few posts about the other baby girl. In fact, several of my friends who I haven't seen in a while have emailed me saying "I didn't know you had 3," and of course I was thinking "3? but I only have 2..." until I realized that they're referring to pictures on my blog of my kids and my niece.
She's my niece, Mackenzie...my sister's daughter.
She's 8 months old and 2 inches shorter than Katelyn, and she and Katelyn have been sharing clothes now for a few months. Yes, my daughter is a pygmy. She's still in-between 12-18 month old clothes. I'll have to post a picture sometime this week of the two girls standing next to each other. It's pretty funny. Kate and Kenzie are also the same weight. So, my sister and I have decided that the girls will just share clothes and they'll only need half as many.
Okay, onto what we've been up to lately... In 2 1/2 months Cooper has become quite the swimmer and longboarder. He had an AWESOME wreck on his longboard, or actually it was my longboard. He and Jake went cruising down the trail in Aliante (the master plan community we live in) and as they headed into the tunnel Coop got scared and steered into the tunnel wall to stop. Needless to say, he came out with some roadrash on his face. Yes, he was wearing a helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads. Usually he just
steers into the grass and stops, but apparently he didn't make it to the end of the tunnel or this would've been prevented. Oh well, live and learn. This isn't the best picture, but his face looked pretty cool once it scabbed up. Coop has also been practicing his swimming minus the floaties almost everyday. It's nice that our condo has a pool and my sister who's just a few mintues away has a pool too. We just switch back and forth between the two so we don't get bored. Coop's been working on his front flips (from the high side of my sister's pool) and running front flips. We keep trying to teach him how to dive, but it either ends up in a belly flop or a front flip. I think next year we'll do swimming and diving lessons. The pool is about 6 1/2 feet deep and yesterday Cooper jumped in and touched the bottom of the deep end. Talk about satisfaction, he kept telling Jake he couldn't do it and Jake kept telling him to just try, so he did! He was so happy he kept practicing it over and over again. Last week, Jake took the kids to go swimming and we found out some bad news...the condo pool has had some "vandalism" and they've closed it for 2 weeks until they can get an onsite security guard. Bummer, huh. So we've been heading to my sister's pool instead. She has a saltwater pool, so it's more bouyant than the chlorine pools and I can actually swim with Katelyn on my back. Kate is definitely NOT in for the long haul when we swim. She's usually in for about 45 minutes and she's ready to get out. Lately she's been assuming the lifeguard position...this is what she does when she's done swimming, except she's usually wrapped up in a towel. We've been working on having her go underwater and sending her between my sister and I. I finally got her to float by herself, but she's not a huge fan of it. Hopefully we can get her to do some swimming by herself before summer ends. Swimming lessons will probably be in a couple years for her. My friend Carly has been giving me AWESOME tips on how to teach your kids to swim at home, and it's totally worked so far with both the kids.
Onto our other adventure(s)...last night we went to a putting course at Angel Park. It's a really cute place, with sand traps and water traps or whatever you call it in golfing lingo. I'm not a golfer, but it was fun last night. The kids had a blast and guess what?? Yeah, no one had a camera. For some reason, my sister and I can't seem to remember to bring the camera when we go out. At least we had one a few weeks ago when we went to Spring Mountain Ranch. A friend of mine, Kim, invited me to go there with some other moms and their kids when I first moved to Vegas. Bad news for us, they were in the process of moving out shortly after. Her son and Cooper got along pretty well and I'm sure they would've been great friends if he didn't have to move away. Oh well, maybe by some stroke of luck they'll move back. So we went there with my sister Stephanie, her husband Tim, and their daughter Mackenzie. It was a blast! We brought a little picnic with us and the kids just had fun running around learning to throw a football.
I've gotta get going though. Time for church!! I've made it a goal to NOT be late - especially since I need to sit in the side pews to keep my kids cornered from running off!

Just a little note from a crazed mom...

2008-05-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Sorry about not emailing the link the first time. Seriously, I feel like every day that passes my brain loses more and more cells. Do any of you ever feel like that? I'll try to take more pictures and post them later this week.

Updated Pictures of My Dawgs...

2008-05-13T20:58:00.000-07:00

Or Coop Dawg and the girls that is. Here's a bunch of pictures for you guys who are jonesin' for a little cutie pie or three...

Cooper's been swimming A LOT these days. He's started practicing going underwater, jumping in with both feet, swimming backwards, sideways, and forwards, and using his new snorkel and mask. He's hoping for some flippers, but we're waiting for his kicking technique to improve first.

Kenzie has been kickin' it at the pool, and hanging out in her phat new ride (otherwise known as the lily pad floatie). I have to admit, she looks pretty comfortable...I should get one of the adult ones at Costco. Kenzie is also sporting a new summer suit, complete with hat and butt ruffles. Isn't this cute?? (Target - kid's section)And than here's my Kate, gettin' all dolled up and stuff. No, she's not going to prom - too young for that, just going out on the town. Actually, I think we were just going to Steph & Tim's house for a little movie night and BBQ. We've been doing that a lot lately. Steph and I actually sewed a huge movie screen out of muslin and tarp. It's pretty cool and we were able to watch some fun movies with the kids.

I'm not sure if you guys are aware of this, but Asians have this thing about the sun - they're afraid of it. Katelyn's resorted to hiding from it...I'm not sure why. Just kidding, actually she just has this thing about putting things on her head - she loves calling those things hats - even if they're not.

Here are my three angels - when they're not "pretending" to be devils...LOL, but they love to hug and hold each other - and my two can't get enough of smothering poor Kenzie. Good thing she is really mellow or I think there would be more screaming and less laughing. Seriously, Kenzie takes it like a sport; she even laughs and smiles now when the kids are all over her.

Last one for the evening...the kids were in the shower with "Papa Bear" and of course, it wouldn't be true daddy time unless they came out sporting MOHAWKS!! Doesn't my daughter look intimidating? I was pretty impressed.

Out on a Limb Mother's Day Card...

2008-04-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

This is my first card posted on this blog...who knows if anyone will see it, but I made it for a card swap for this Thursday and I used PTI's Out on a Limb set. I wanted to use one of my "inspiration" blogger's layouts, but I had a hard time picking one, so I just started with my image and an idea. I guess you can still get inspired even if it's not a real layout to start with. I used navy even though it's not your usual mother's day card color, but I thought I'd try some other colors...and navy is one of my favorites (although you probably won't see it much in any of my other so-called creations). Hope this one isn't too plain. If you think it needs a little spark...share your thoughts, just be kind, I'm not a professional - just a hobbyist.

Supplies:
Paper: navy confetti (unknown source), other blue DCWV
Ink: basic brown, purely pomegranate, whisper white craft
Accessories: corner rounder punch, 1/16" hole punch, sakura clear stardust pen

Family Pictures...

2008-03-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, so long story short, we're in Vegas and here are some pictures from Elko, Vegas, and Spokane. The kids are having a blast - where ever they are...but mostly they're just so darn cute!! For those who didn't want me to clog up their in-box with an email that had 14 pictures, this post is for you.

1. Cooper playing in the snow in Elko... 2. Cooper and Katelyn with Grandma...
3. Cooper's secret tunnel...

4. Katelyn entering the secret tunnel...
5. Red Rock Family Picture...The Coughlins and the Fisks

6. Cooper shaving...(relax, the cover is on the blade, but the shaving cream is real)

7. Cooper's first rock band...

8. Jake and the kids at the Bellagio flower garden...

9. It's hard to be a kid...
10. Are you ready to aerobicize???

11. Start with raising both arms in the air and bend to the right... 12. Next raise your right arm in the air, as high as you can...
13. Sit on the floor and lets stretch our legs... 14. Then take a break to have a little power snack...

15. And when we're done with that - get dressed and go out for an Easter egg hunt...

Aprons for Sale!!!

2007-12-12T18:36:00.000-08:00

What's the best way to add a little spark to your kitchen? Put on one of these fun and feminine aprons from Apron Girls!

Here are some Apron Girls items for sale. Check out the pictures, and if you're interested in buying them contact us at angelafisk@gmail.com or karlyfisk@gmail.com. The first 3 aprons are adult one size fits all (but closer to a M or L).

The 2 pictures above are aprons for girls ages 3-7 years old. The adorable little girl's apron above with the rose pink satin pocket matches the adult apron below for a mom & me pair. Another great gift for a little girl's birthday or Christmas for your wife and daughter.

These last 3 are also adult one size fits all (best fit to M and L). So, give us an email if you're interested in buying. Need a gift for a birthday, bridal shower, wedding, or holiday...these make GREAT gifts...especially with Christmas coming up.