Bronson Christmas Party

Our Bronson party was this weekend and I gave Tray our camera and told him he was in charge of taking a picture of everyone there. This is what came from that assignment. Not too bad. I had to take out some chest shots because that just isn't nice to post of people but other than that most of them turned out great.

Children - The Greatest Form of Birth Control EVER!

Over the last couple of months there was some serious discussion about getting pregnant. I really want/wanted a fall baby so I knew I had to conceive before February for this to happen. So a plan was put into place to go to the doctor and get things ready to be a fertile Myrtle again. I was even trying to find a place to get a Rubella shot before things kicked off. (I'm not immune to Rubella for some reason and I've tried to get a shot ever since I had Tray but no one seems to have them.)

I was actually excited to have this baby because it was going to be our last and I was more than happy to have our family complete and be done with the pregnancy thing. So this week was supposed to be the week that I went to the doctor. Then something happened......

my children reminded me that I'm not ready to add another holy terror to the human race.

Last week was hell!!! I committed everything from telling Tray that he had to find a new mom because I didn't want to be his mom anymore, to locking myself in my room (and by locking I mean I sat in front of the door so my kids couldn't come it because we have no locks) and crying for a while, to contemplating running away.

SIDENOTE: What was the most sad about last week was that when I told Tray he had to find a new mom, he was kinda excited about it. He got himself completely dressed and sat on the couch waiting for me to take him to the "New Mom Store". He did finally realize that if he found a new mom that I wouldn't be his mom anymore and then he was upset.

I felt and acted like such a horrible parent I was really surprised that my neighbors didn't call DCFS on me. There was screaming and yelling and kids throwing things tantrums, potty accidents, crying, toy snatching and just all out hell.

So needless to say, if we ever do get the itch to have another child it won't be for some time. Aren't children great forms of birth control!

Christmas Time

This girl I work with had an awesome idea on what to get your kids for Christmas. If you're like me I feel overwhelmed with all the possibilities of what I could get my kids. I had a list a mile long and I just didn't know where to start or where to end. So when I heard this idea I jumped right on it.

Each child gets:
1 outfit
1 toy
1 educational gift
a Santa gift
and a stocking


Can I tell you how long it took me to shop for my kids. An hour and a half and only 2 stores. I was really tempted to get more because I knew Tray wanted so much stuff, but I reminded myself that both kids have birthdays in January so I could get them the other things then. I'm so glad my friend shared this with me and I hope that maybe it will give you an idea and help to relieve some shopping stress so you can enjoy the holidays more.

Thank You!

I just wanted to tell everyone that came to our craft fair "Thank you" for your support. It meant so much to see so many familiar faces there! We had such a great turn out and it's wonderful to have such a great community to support home businesses! So thanks again everyone!

PS.. if you want to order anything that was at the show or you like what you see in the pictures let me know and I can get you the info for ordering something.

Christmas Boutique

'TIS THE SEASON

I'm helping to host a Chirstmas Boutique / craft fair this weekend.
It's called 3 Friends Boutique
It's Saturday from 9- 3:30 (Open House)
At the Pie Dump (North of the Bear River High School)

We'll be selling:

Scentsy

Beanies

Necklaces & Charms

Miche Bags

Hairbows and Headbands

Plus more!!!!

There is also going to be refreshments from Munn's Catering and a drawing to enter to win free gifts!

We've all worked really hard to get ready for this show, so even if you can't make it that day, please let your friends and family know about it. There's something for everyone here!

Hope to see you all this weekend!

Ahhhh..... The Smell of Motherhood

I love it when I clean my house! I find all sorts of treasures hidden in nooks a crannies. Kinlee is really in the phase of hiding things. I'll open my oven and find a blanket. I'm trying to get into the habit of checking the oven before I turn it on.
But my favorite thing to find is sippy cups. I'm always on guard when I twist that lid open to see what's been left in a dresser drawer for who knows how many days. Usually it's water or Kool-aid, but there are those rare and joyous moments when the twist of the lid unveils the lovely wafting scent of old milk!
I've learned my lesson and now I hold my breath with every cup just to save my nostrils from burning which in turn causes my stomach to churn. Over time my smelly buds have built up a tolerance to the pungent odor and now it's something that reminds me that I'm a mom.
Ahhhhh.... the smell of motherhood can be intoxicating (or nauseating).

I don't want to Live....

Tray was laying on my bed and bonked heads with Kinlee. This resulted in a cry/scream session. I asked Tray if he was going to live. "I don't want to live" he proclaimed.

I laughed because I though, how funny that he doesn't want to live with the pain of hitting his head with his sister's.

Later I figured out he was really saying he didn't want me to leave.

Lesson Learned

It may not be the best idea to let the messiest eater in the house, have caramel dip and apples next to the computer. My ctrl key is awfully sticky!

(No, it was not me that got caramel on the computer, it was my eater that thinks it's funny to dip your fingers in things instead of the actual food, Kinlee.)

Apology

Dear Tray's Sock,

I'm sorry you lost your innocence.


Sincerely,
Mom

Kinlee

My friend Tanis took some pictures of Kinlee for me since it's been before Kinlee turned 1 that I had her pictures done. I had a hard time picking from all of them because they were all so cute! Here are some of my favorites.

More Timer Pictures

3-2-1 CHEESE!!!!

My children have learned that our camera has a timer on it and they think it is the funnest thing in the world. We have to put the camera on a shelf and take a million pictures until I've had enough and take it away. Here are some cute and funny ones we've done this week.

Yes, we are driving down the freeway in these pictures. Nothing like doing 80 MPH with no hands!!!! Aren't we the poster family of safety. And I really do have my seatbelt on, I'm just wearing under my boob.

I'm a Big Kid Now!!!

I think we finally had a potty-training break-through!!!!
It's been a week of straight toilet use for this kid! I can't tell you how excited I am. I honestly thought this kid would be baptized in a swim diaper! But something finally clicked and we are having great success! In fact, just the other morning even Kinlee peed on the potty. I figured while I was still in the potty-training mode I might as well go with it!

I think there were two things that really helped, the e-book, 3 Day Potty Training, it seriously helped me more than anything. It really emphasizes using positive reinforcement and it's something that I really needed to change in my everyday parenting too.
The second thing that helped was prizes. Tray had a sticker chart and if he peed 10 times he got a toy and if he pooped once he got a toy. I just went to the dollar store and got a bunch of little toys that he liked and I kept them where he could see them.

I am so proud of him and what a big boy he is now!!!!

Finding Me.....

I feel like my world has been turned upside down since May. So much happened in 1 week and it's been crazy ever since.

We sold our house the last part of May and had to be out by June 20th. I was packing for a month straight! Everyday I would fill a million boxes it seemed like. I have a horrible hoarding problem but felt that I did good at throwing a lot of stuff away.

Our new apartments were supposed to by ready on the 20th, but you know how that goes, they weren't. So my parents were nice enough to let us live with them for a week until we could move it.

Kelton came home the week after Mother's day and left just a few weeks ago. Tray and Kinlee loved hanging out with him and he was so fun to be around. Hopefully he got back into the missionary habits quickly.

We took Tray to Lagoon with my dad's work. I forgot to bring my camera, but he was fearless. He wanted to ride all the big rides but was too short of course. We did sneak him on the bat though and he loved it! It was fun hanging out with my family and I think the highlight of the day was riding Rattle Snake Rapids. We were laughing so hard at my mom!!!

We've been going up to Lava to camp with my parents a lot. We took Tray on the river and he was so fearless!!! He just wanted to keep going and going and going.

I feel like I haven't kept up on my blog, 1 because it took 4 weeks for the stupid internet people to find our house, but mostly because I feel so lost at the moment. It's almost like I'm grieving or something because I'm going through all the same emotions. A lot of things factored into us selling our house and at the moment I'm feeling bitter about some of them and

I'm having a hard time feeling gratitude for all the ways we've been blessed through this. I'm trying to get ready to adjust to having neighbors just a wall away. I'm adjusting to being stuck in the house most of the day because we don't have a yard. I know this situation is temporary and will be good for us in the long run, but it's so hard for me to see past what's happening now, to how much better our future will be.

I am thankful for my awesome husband though. We really do have a great marriage and I know without the health of our relationship things could be so different now. He really is my best friend and each day we fall more in love.

I'm also thankful for my parents. They have been so helpful to us. I know they would do anything for our family. It was awesome staying with them and we're up there multiple times during the week just to hang out.

I'm glad our summer has been filled with fun adventures that help me realize it's not about where you live but who you live with. I could live anywhere with my family because our house doesn't change the love we have between eachother.

Floaters

Last night we were at my mom's house having a farewell party for Kelton with our family. We were all watching tv and just hanging out. My kids were off playing somewhere and I wasn't too worried about them.

Next thing I know Kylie is bringing in Kinlee who is soaking wet with Tray following behind her. She had found them playing in my mom's bathroom putting their Nutty Bars in the toilet. They were covered in toilet water.

So later I asked Tray, "When you were putting your treat in the toilet, were you dipping it in the water and eating it?"

"Yep mom, it was yummy."

So in the future if you ever refuse a kiss from either of my children, I'll completely understand.

It's Only Been 5 Years?

Happy Anniversary Honey!

Love you tons and tons!

Drama the Queen

Kinlee turned 15 months last week. She has grown so much and into a big drama queen! If you tell her no she will yell at you in her own language and throw herself on the floor crying! We just laugh at her because it's so funny. She climbs onto anything and everything. She's always dancing on the kitchen table.

She loves being outside playing on the slides. She also likes to dig in mom's flower pots. She's such a sweetie and we love her to pieces!

This face just cracks me up! And he wouldn't take a picture without holding his "Mack Truck"

This is one of the best pictures I have of the two of them together. They don't like to share the camera time.

And a cute picture of the family!

So Sorry To Leave You In the Dark

I guess I better give some background to the previous post. I forget that not everyone has Facebook or even reads my status updates to really catch on to what I'm talking about. So here goes my 1st chapter of my 48 Hour Mystery Episode.
(I can tell it's going to be a long post, so go pop you some popcorn to enjoy during this epic tale. I know I'll be eating some while writing it. And maybe a bowl of ice cream too.)

The Neighbor-
I have a neighbor that is a shut in. He leaves his house maybe once a week, if that, to go to town and buy cat food and cigarettes. This man is known around the neighborhood as "Catman" or as I call him, "Crazy Catman". This is because he has probably close to 50 cats if not more. (I'm not even exaggerating the amount one bit.)
His front porch was blocked off so no human could get onto it, only cats could. There are bowls and bowls and bowls laid out on it and he just dumps cat food out of his window into these bowls. As you can imagine his porch has quite the stench to it. It literally burns your nose when you get halfway up the driveway. I use the mouth breathing technique and under no circumstances will take in air through my nose.
"Catman" lives to feed his cats. When we had that huge snowstorm on Christmas this year he was snowed in. So he called some of us neighbors to go get him cat food because he couldn't leave. I've actually seen him leave in a blizzard to go get cat food before. (Well I assume he's getting cat food.)


Easter weekend I had noticed that some of his cats kept coming to my backdoor looking for food. It wasn't uncommon for me to see a few cats once in a while out there and sometimes I throw leftovers out to them. By Monday morning there were at least 15 cats on my deck. This situation struck me as odd.

We had a house showing that day, so I was busy trying to get the house clean, but at lunch I sent Travis a text saying, what if the neighbor is dead and that's why all his cats are at our house. Travis thought that could be a possibility but didn't think too much of it.
When he got home from work, I voiced my concern on Facebook. I got a few responses saying to go check on him. I decided that I would prank call him when we got back after the showing.
Travis didn't think my prank call would work. He said that Catman wouldn't answer the phone in the first place, even if he was ok. I called anyways. I let it ring 8 times before I hung up.
I was getting concerned. I went outside and my other neighbor happened to be out there. I went and asked him when the last time he remembers seeing our neighbor leave. He thought it had been a little over a week. So I told him my concern and that I was scared to go knock on the door. He laughed and said, "what are you scared of him?" NO! I was scared to find a dead body!

We walked up to his house and knocked and knocked and waited for 5 or 10 minutes. We tried to peek in the windows but couldn't see anything. I went back home and called dispatch.
I must have sounded like a crazy person to the lady on the phone. "Hi, I think my neighbor is dead." "Why do you think that?" "Because his cats are at my house looking for food."
I honestly said that.
I did explain why that would be significant to his being dead, and I said how I called him and went and knocked on his door too.
She said they would send an officer out to check on him.

Travis and I watched the drama unfold from our bedroom window. When you live on a quiet road like ours that has no main traffic on it, this is about as exciting as it gets, an actual police car drove past our house! How could we not watch?
TWO cops came to the scene. We watched as the circled the house 5 or 6 times looking in the windows and finally going over to the neighbors house to chat with him for a minute. I think they finally came to the conclusion to break into the house. In through the window one of them went and he quickly opened the door for the other.
They both emerged from the house a few minutes later. Travis went outside to get the 411. The police determined that our neighbor was dead and had been dead for a few days!
I was sad that this man had to die alone. I was glad that I had followed my feelings though before he became too decomposed.

We called our old neighbors to see if they knew if Richard, the neighbor, had any family. They knew he had a son, but didn't know his name or anything about him. Travis and I went out to tell the cops what little information we did know about him. They had us fill out a report while they were waiting for the detective to come to the house.
I would say it was around a half hour or so later I was watching out the window and saw the ambulance coming up the road with it's lights on, followed by 4 vehicles. Travis and I went outside to watch because we may be a little morbid like that. We thought it was weird that the ambulance was coming and not just the "white van".
We watched as the ambulance turned the wrong way and went down the hill instead of up where they police car was parked. We laughed and made the comment of how we were glad no one had a real emergency.
Once the ambulance backed up the driveway ANOTHER ambulance came and lots more EMTs came too. We were so confused! Our current Bishop and former Bishop also came.
From our front step (peeking around the corner) we watch as the brought out our neighbor. He wasn't even covered up! WEIRD!
After everyone left our Bishops came over and said "you guys did a great thing tonight." I was still confused and said something like, yeah too bad he had to be alone. "You might have saved a life," my bishop told me.
I swear you could have fit a tank in my mouth my jaw was so far on the ground. "HE'S ALIVE?!?!?!?! WHAT?!?!?! NO ONE HAS EVEN BEEN WORKING ON HIM?!?!?!?!?!?!?! HE'S ALIVE?"
Doesn't that just make you feel all warm and tingly inside. The cops couldn't even tell he was alive. They must have been sitting out in their trucks for 20 minutes before the detective got there.

So needless to say it was a crazy crazy crazy night. Richard was life flighted down to Salt Lake where he eventually died early in the morning. I was left with the guilt of what if I would have gone over there sooner. You know that fun game. Every scenario played out in my mind of things I could have done or should have done. I honestly feel now, after much prayer and discussion with Travis, that I did all I could do. Richard wouldn't let me be a better neighbor. I still have a hard time with it all sometimes but I'm much better now than I was that week.


Stay tuned for Chapter 2 - The Hunt for Next of Kin

Do I Need to Call Reno 911?

I am so frustrated right now! With the events that happened last week and the way that our local law enforcement agency is handling things it makes me so mad! I feel like the cops on Reno 911 could do a better job than the real people here! Us as neighbors have found out more information doing our own investigating than the County Investigator has. I have not seen one person up here since the day that I called the dispatcher.

I know this case isn't the most important thing that is going on, but here is this man that the mortuary won't keep anymore, who has a will that may have valuable information in it, like maybe a pre-paid burial plot, that the police have better ways of finding out than us as citizens do. And the investigator is going to be "off the case" today.

Whenever we call to try to get information we get the runaround and told we need a search warrant but no one else, with authority, is doing anything about it.

As a human being I cannot let this man get cremated and sit on a shelf in a mortuary for years until they do whatever they do with unclaimed remains. I feel like I need to do something but I don't know what else I can do.

How can I as a citizen, do a job of an investigator when I don't have the power to get through all the red tape? And I shouldn't have to feel like I need to do any investigating. I should have the peace of mind that things will be taken care of. But I know they won't be.

Magic School Bus

Tray got to ride on a bus today. He has been so excited to do this for 2 weeks now. Thanks Kylie for taking us on a tour.

Testing

Good Gravy! This thing is being stupid. If you have me on Reader and my last post showed up a million times, sorry. I still can't get it to work.

~It's Out There~

We took the plunge and put our house on the market today. I feel like I'm having more emotions than when I'm pregnant. It's so exciting, weird, crazy, stressful, fun, just everything rolled all into one.

NiCE GenEs!

I've been thinking a lot lately about things I want to accomplish in my home life.
~Cleaning the kitchen every night
~Staying on top of the laundry situation
~Making meals everyday
~Cleaning up the toys daily
~Dusting more often
~Cleaning the bathroom more often than when we have company over

While thinking about all the things I wanted to have accomplished I realized that I am not my mother's child. She was so great to do all these things everyday. Our house was always so clean. Every night we all had a chore to do and when we all went to bed my mom was still up finishing the cleaning for the day. You could literally eat off her floors they were so clean.
I'm much the opposite, I don't care if my house is a mess when I go to sleep. I usually don't clean it when I wake up either. I just did not inherit my mother's cleaning genes I think. I know how to clean, I just don't have to desire to do so and I wish I did.

I'm curious as to what genes you did or did not inherit from your parents that you may have wish you did, or didn't.

When I grow up....

Kinlee turned 1 this past week! It's so fun to look at how much she has grown in just a year. She has already done so much too. She only eats table food because she thinks she is such a big girl. She follows her brother around constantly to share in the trouble. She learned to walk when she was 10 months old. She throws fits. She loves to laugh at herself. She is in love with books and singing. She finds it amusing to throw things in the bathtub, while there is water in it. She dances. She loves to race her brother. She gives great kisses. She is a Daddy's girl.

She went to the Dr. today and she weighs 24 lbs and is 30 inches long.

We love you so much Ninny!

Brestoration......

For the men that might read my blog...(I think Eric may be the only one) so sorry about the topic, but I need to get it off my "chest"!

Awhile ago, some ladies I was chatting with brought up the subject of plastic surgery. (Well I'm sure I was the one to bring it up because it's always on my mind.) But the question arose of being thankful for our bodies. (Or something close to that.) We should honor the bodies God blessed us with.

Having kids takes a toll on your body. When you finally start getting your pre-baby body back, you may notice a few things that are out of place, or distorted. For me, it's my chest.

When I am done having children I really want to get my chest "re-inflated". I look at the above statement like this, the body I have now, is not the body I was sent to earth with. When my girls are closer to my belly button, than to my neck, I know that's not how a woman's body is supposed to look.

Now I will let you in on the secret that I have thought of other surgeries also. Mostly ones involving cutting out my stretchmarks, and fixing my stretched out stomach muscles, but I doubt that one will ever happen. I'll just stick to exercise for that, but I would never consider a face lift, or lip injections, or butt implants, or other things I've seen on Dr. 90210. So I don't feel that I'm too vain, or too degrading toward the female body.

Let me know what your thoughts are on body enhancements. I'd love to know I'm not the only one that thinks about these things.

I may still be in my pj's when you get home.....

But I promised I've actually done something today.

I'm finding that the life of a SAHM isn't the most glamorous job in the world. Meaning, I don't really get into dressing up to go to Kent's.

Most days Travis comes home from work to find me just the way he left me, in my pajamas. Same with the kids too. It's my way of cutting back on laundry. If we aren't leaving the house, what's the point in getting an outfit dirty.

So just to justify myself for not attending to my personal appearance I would like to share with you the accomplishments I did today,

a- woke up before 9 am
b- had a cake in the oven at 9 am
3- made pancakes for breakfast
4- had a very important business call
k- took my cake to a funeral, the kids were still in pjs at the time
e- surfed the net (blog stalked) while my kid took a 3 hour nap
9-walked on the treadmill
r- played Mario Kart with Tray -TWICE
17-did 2 loads of laundry and even thought about putting the clean clothes away
w-came out of my dark state of mind and genuinely laughed today
v- watched Kinlee take a bath and try to swim
6- taught Kinlee how to do hip-hip-hooray
68- acted out a scene from Spongebob with Tray's Spongebob fruit snacks
y-went to work (I did change out of my pjs for that)
r-spent some quality time with my honey watching tv.

Hopefully tomorrow will prove just as productive. Maybe I'll even take a shower.

*Sidenote* I'm getting tired of my blogging slump. I'm trying to use my creative writing gift again, so done are the few and far between posts of only the fun family outings or events, you will get a taste of Kami's Crazies. Just 100% pure Kami being crazy here. With a few sprinklings of the cuties!

Happy Birthday Buddy!

I can't believe my baby is 3!!!!
Here is a collection of just some of my favorite pictures of him through the years. I had to really narrow it down so they would all be a decent size. My favorite by far is the one of the face. How can you not laugh at the face he is pulling!! I love you buddy!

December 2008

My 26th Birthday Party. Don't you love the apron the my wonderful friend Jaime made for me!

Random December Pictures. Kinlee likes to eat with the bowl on her face, Tray's new way of using binoculars as a fashion accesory, Chirstmas with Travis's mom, the amount of snow we got Christmas day.

Christmas morning. Kinlee enjoyed climbing on the boxes more than anything.

Bronson Christmas Party.