The Cash Crew

Traekon's eight year old pics

2011-05-01T18:19:00.000-07:00

My multi-talented friend, Audrey took these great pictures. I love them!

Stuff I don't want to forget!

2011-05-01T16:01:00.000-07:00

There's been alot happening at the Cash home and it's all stuff I don't want to forget about. So here it goes:

Traekon

Traekon turned 8! Am I really old enough to have a 8 year old? He was baptized on March 26th and had lots of family and friends here to support him. He sang "I'm Eight" which was written by Grandma Norma. He sang so good, and i'm sure there was hardly a dry eye in the whole crowd. His toe popped up so he got to be baptized twice! The spirit was so strong that day. It was such a good day! He got to start scouts and loves it so far.

Traekon also fasted for the first time and did so awesome. He never complained about being hungry and lasted until 3:30. He's already a better faster then me! I am so proud of this kid!!

We headed to the dentist last week and the dentist informed us that Traekon's very large front teeth are blocking the way for his side teeth to come in, so we get to head to the orthodontist this week. Pretty sure he's going to cost me a mini fortune by the time we're finished with this mouth! Here's a picture of his big ol choppers:) Someday they are going to fit in his mouth and be beautiful!

Kenzi

Kenzi started kindergarten this year and loves it. She comes home excited to do homework which we weren't used to with her big brother who would try his best to get out of doing it! It's a nice change. Since Hudson's been born she has become the second mommy. She even loves to change his diapers all by herself! She's a keeper. She learned Traekon's baptism song along with him and loves to sing it at night before bed. Killed two birds with one stone, because now I don't have to teach it to her in two years!

Kenzi is currently in gymnastics and is pretty natural at it. She is currently on the "pre-team" and goes two days a week for a hour and a half each time. I just recently went to a parent meeting and they informed us that when they make "team" they will need to come to gymnastics 3 times a week, for 3 hours each time. What?! That's crazy!! Nothing is recreational around here. We'll see what happens with that. I guess if she loves it enough we'll consider??

Kenzi also went to the dentist and has her first two cavities...ugh! I'm afraid the girl has bad teeth like her mother.

Ashton

Ashton just makes us laugh, period. We can't get enough of this funny little guy! He says the most random, funny things and we love it. He's in preschool and he just eats it up. I wish I could remember some of his randomness, but of course I forget to write it down and then forget whats said altogether! Next time...

Ashton loves Hudson. He can make him laugh pretty good and insists on hugging and kissing him every hour. He's definitely our most lovey dovey kid. He tells me everyday someone new that is his best friend.

Ashton also went to the dentist and did really good, but wouldn't let them x-ray his teeth so hopefully he doesn't have any hidden cavities festering in there!

Hudson

Hudson started smiling at 3 weeks and started giggling at 11 weeks. He is now 12 lbs and and 23 inches long. He loves to smile! He is a momma's boy. He's pretty content as long as he's in my arms. It's been so fun having such a big gap between Ashton and Hudson. The older kids love to hold and help take care of him, sometimes to his dismay! We started letting him sleep in his swing (not swinging) when he was around 3 weeks because he was so congested and we still have him sleeping in it at night. I know, bad! But hey, he sleeps 7 hours straight sometimes so I can't give it up. Don't judge, you'd probably do the same thing for a little sleep!

Hudson got blessed the same day Traekon got baptized. He screamed through the whole thing! Sad to say I payed more attention to the screaming then the blessing! I'm sure it was a great blessing I just couldn't hear it!

Hudson Kupono Cash

2011-02-20T17:09:00.000-08:00

Our family of 5 has now become 6! Hudson Kupono Cash made his appearance January 17, 2011 at 11:50 a.m. He was 6 lbs 10 oz and 19 inches long. He is such a sweet little guy and we all love him to pieces. All my sisters were able to come out and babysit me and my family the week he was born, and then Grams came the next week to take care of us. I'm so grateful for such a loving family who was willing to come and help! You're all awesome!!

March and April

2010-05-10T15:49:00.000-07:00

So as always with any kind of journaling I've completely slacked! For some reason its so hard for me to take the time and just write whats happening in our lives down. I thought this blog would help, but apparently not! So needless to say two months have gone by with a whole lot of stuff that went on and no memories written down so my family can remember it. So here it goes... the last two and a half months:

March

Traekon and Ashton's b-day

Asthon turned 3 and also started to wear underwear(actually that might have happened in February). Yoohoo! As of now we are diaper free for the first time in 7 years and loving it=). Ashton's idea of the perfect outfit is his undies and his rain boots. Wish I had a pic cause it's pretty darn cute. Traekon turned 7 this month. We did a joint party for the boys during spring break with the Brown cousins here to celebrate with. Nothing like pizza, presents, and cake! Thats my kind of party. We had a blast with the Browns here visiting us and did lots of fun things. The fun all went out the window when it snowed the saturday of spring break though! Soccer for Traekon started in March along with gymnastics and ballet for Kenzi. Todd ended up coaching the soccer team but I don't know how he felt about it. We both don't know anything about soccer other then kick the ball in the goal. So whether the boys actually learned something? Who knows!

April

April started with Todd turning 31. He's feeling 31. Especially when he goes and plays b-ball! He says he just stands at the 3 point line and waits to get the ball passed to him. April also brought the wind...Yuck! We had a baby shower for Kamron which went super good. I had asked Todd to put grass in before the shower probably 2 months in advance. He came through the week of, but only because his wonderful mother came and helped us get it done. She's amazing! If only I could be more like her (sigh). Anyway I think April might be my one year mark in primary. One year down... It actually went pretty fast. I have awesome counselors who keep me going! April cruised by fast for sure...

May

(Kenzi's in the blue)

May means end of the year field trips. We've already been to Village pizza with Kenzi and bowling with Traekon. This week its the Natural History Museum with Traekon, and the park with Kenzi. Okay that's not a ton, but it feels like it to me! We are having super awesome weather and my flowers are beautiful. Todd says it's because its on an automatic sprinkler timer, meaning that if it was up to me to keep them alive they'd already be dead. Rude! But sadly true=(. Kenzi had her Preschool Graduation Program last night. She was a hula girl for her part in the play. She was of course the cutest hula girl up there! She also got the award "The most adorable" from her teachers. They can't get past how little and adorable she is. I can understand why. She's just a little thing measuring in the 5% for her age. I wonder who she takes after?

Eight Year!

2010-03-01T15:00:00.000-08:00

Can you believe I've spent eight years of my life with this guy?! The best, worst, funniest, saddest, craziest, happiest eight years of my life! We figured out today that we have lived in 9 different residences, 3 different towns, and have three kids to show for it. I love, love, love him! No one can make me so mad I want to spit to laughing my head off within minutes. Here comes the sappy part so you can stop reading but....I love him more today then ever and know that it will continue to grow as we get older and wiser. He completes me. I can't imagine my life without him! Here's to a happy eight!

He came back

2010-02-26T10:28:00.000-08:00

Traekon did come back and the first thing he did was give me a hug and tell me he was sorry for being so mean. He must have stewed about it all day. I also stewed about it all day and know that I could have handled it a lot better. Thank goodness for children who forgive and forget easily! Thats all.

All grown up

2010-02-23T08:10:00.001-08:00

So Traekon is all grown up today and proclaimed that he was running away. Oh and that he hated me. Alas, it is true from the words of my 6 year old " you are the meanest mom". Traekon loves to take his time getting his chores done in the morning so when it came time to brush his hair and teeth he had no time. He was appalled that I made him leave without doing these two very important things because he was g0ing to look "dumb". Yep he's already worried about his image. Oh and so funny... we've been telling the kids how they are following satan when they are grumpy and angry. So he also told me that I was following satan. He was pulling out the punches this morning for sure! How badly I wanted to let him just do these things, but I stuck to my guns and now I'm wondering if he'll actually run away after school or if he'll return? Guess we'll find out at 4:00.

A year gone

2010-02-17T19:49:00.000-08:00

It's been a year today since my mom passed away. The hardest year of my life. I've found ways to stay busy and try not to think about it to much, but today it can't be helped. I miss her smile, her voice, her love... I just miss her! Knowing I willl see her again keeps me going. I want to be just like her. I love you Mom!!

Our last family pictures with mom. She wasn't feeling well, but she was such a trooper.

5k , turkey day

2010-01-10T15:47:00.001-08:00

Lehua had talked me into running the turkey trot (which is a 5k) when we dropped Ashton off on our way to Disneyland. The run was to be Thanksgiving day. First a little background...I'm not a RUNNER! Maybe a sprinter, but I don't even really consider myself that. I only ran track because the track coach talked me into it. For those of you who know the Natividad girls we can't let a challenge pass us by so I said yes knowing in my head that I was going to die. I ran on the treadmill twice while on vacation and then when we got back to az Lehua, Kanani(who i talked into doing it also...sucker!), and myself took to running mon, tues, and wed, morning. Stupid! Thursday morning comes along and Todd decides to run it also, just so he could say he never trained and beat us anyway. Needless to say I made it the 3.2 (or whatever it is) miles. I never stopped to walk which was my goal. Lehua and Kanani and yes even Todd beat me, but hey for someone who doesnt' run I was quite proud of myself! I dry heaved a couple of times when I crossed the finish line, but I DID IT!! Good feeling... The kids even joined in and did the fun run, which was a mile. Good memories!

Before the Race
right before dry heaving!

After the tukey trot we ate our little hearts out. I wanted to eat a whole pie, because hey i just ran a 5k. We celebrated at the Brown Casa. It was the blairs, dodges, cashes, my dad and robert, and one of Blains brothers families. Great food and great company! After binging me, malia, kanani, and lehua headed to phoenix for black friday. We went to "New Moon" which was 100 times better then Twilight. That was the best part of the trip. Black friday was all we expected. Lines, almost getting trampled, lines, rude people, lines, and more lines. It was only fun because I was with my sisters! Somehow we made it back to Pima with no sleep. Good job Malia for returning us safely. I think there was a lot of loud singing and sugar?! Apparently my sisters are just as bad at taking pictures as I am. We didn't get one picture of us standing in line at 3 in the morning. Who does that?! At the time I remember being grateful for a great eternal family!!

2010-01-10T15:43:00.000-08:00

Disneland, 5k, Thanksgiving

2010-01-10T15:17:00.000-08:00

So remember that trip I mentioned way back in October? We did go unbeknown to the blogging world! It was AWESOME! My great sister Lehua took pity on us and offered to keep Ashton. I think that was the best part:) I love the kid, but he would have had no fun sitting in the stroller the whole week. Traekon and Kenzi absolutely loved it. Kenzi especially. We checked the height requirements before hand and rigged up some special shoes so that she could be tall enough to ride most the rides. Nothing a tall soled pair of boots and socks balled up, shoved in the heel couldn't handle. It gave her the three inches she needed and we were all grateful for that! She didn't want to stop to eat, meet the princesses, go to the bathroom... she just wanted to ride and ride. A girl after her own moms heart. Todd was even pleasant. It helped that there was hardly anyone there. 20 minutes tops was the longest we had to wait. We went to disneyland, cali adventure, sea world, and the beach. We ate great food and spent lots of money. What could be better then that? It was so much fun, and I can't wait for our next family trip!!

Have I ever mentioned...

2009-11-05T14:08:00.000-08:00

That I have the BEST HUSBAND in the WORLD! For my birthday he surprised me with tickets for the whole family to...

The happiest place on earth! I've been begging him to take us, but he is quite the Disneyland scrooge. He hates lines and big crowds so this is a giant step for him:) We leave on the 15th and get to stay a week. YOOHOO! I'm so giddy it's not even funny. I don't know how he's going to top this present!

Lots of 1st

2009-10-18T20:23:00.000-07:00

There's been lots of first's going on here at the Cash home, but I have failed to keep up with blogging about them so here you go... It's going to be long so you might not want to continue unless you have lots of time! The pictures are in random order of occurance, because I can't remember what happened first. The pictures aren't to great because most are from my phone.

First lost tooth pulled out by Great Granpa Cash with a string and a knot!

First smack down by his Auntie Kamron (by accident of course!)

First Stripe in Ju Jistsu

First soccer practice and game

First day of Preschool

First day of 1st grade, and isn't he cool!

First Cash Construction home built in Albuquerque

First break in of our new home...and hopefully the last!

First wall painted in our new home (Kenzi's room)

And last today was our primaries sacrament program. The first I've ever written. Thanks to a loving Heavenly Father who listened to my pleas for help, the program was a hit. The kids did awesome, the music was great, and the spirit was so strong! Now I can breath again:) Until next time....

2009-08-14T14:43:00.000-07:00

wow! Summer really is gone and here I sit wondering where it went! We did lots of fun things this summer. Just to name a few things, Az to visit family, awesome birthday parties, the Butte (our fav lake), back to az to see wicked, the alb zoo, the aquarium, swimming, sprinklers, slip n slide, cousins, primary activities, popsicles, awesome tans:), Utah, Idaho, and hanging out with friends! Yep that pretty much took up the whole summer. Our latest adventure was to Utah and Idaho. In Utah we visited family and Idaho we got to visit the Hall's. We had a blast. So much that I told Todd i wanted to stay! fun times:) Now we're home and ready to start school. I found out today while taking Traekon to meet his teacher that he is way to cool to hold my hand. When did that happen? I'm not sure, but I'm guessing it's a 1st grader thing:( He's growing up way to fast. Life seems to just keep barreling forward without my permission.

Todd is still busy as ever with work and finishing up our house which seems to never end. I'm busy with children and the latest...trying to figure out a primary program. Today I got to participate in a hula workshop. It reminded me how much I love to hula dance and has motivated me to try to find a halua so I can continue to learn. Traekon is gearing up to start school, soccer, and ju jitsu. He's excited to start school. Kenzi is getting ready for preschool and hopefully gymnastics (if I can get my act together). I've been saying that i'm putting her in gymnastics for like a year now. After watching "So you think you can dance" (best show ever) I'm having a hard time deciding between dance or gymnastic. Maybe I should ask her opinion?! Ashton is as crazy as ever. We found out this summer that he is our little fish. He'll jump in the water without any hesitation and fight his way to the top. It's hilarious, but scary at the same time. He can hold his breath better then me. He doesn't want any help from us and tells us to move so he can do it himself. He's my crazy Cash!

Life is good!

Cash Bash!

2009-07-08T12:12:00.000-07:00

This is a little late, but we had a Cash Bash a couple of weekends ago. We always have lots of fun, and April is always so good at taking great pics. Thanks April! Anyway here's a few shots that April got of us having fun.

Me and Ali almost beat dad cash and uncle lynn, the supposed best horseshoers around! They better watch out next year:)

Cash Girls! Aren't we cute?!

All my SIL's(well almost anyway!) and MIL

My total Cash boy!

I know that there's probably some shots of my hubby and other two offspring, but I'll have to bug April for them so that's all you get for now:)

Wicked!

2009-07-04T22:02:00.001-07:00

Love it! Love it! Love it!!! I get goosebumps just thinking about it! Me, Lehua, Kanani, Malia, and our hubbies went this last weekend to Phoenix to watch this absolutely wonderful broadway show. Aaron fell asleep half way through and thought it was over at the intermission, Blain was wishing he was at his son's baseball game, Todd thought it was too long, Eric was liking it.... that was the boys opinions. As for the girls, LOVED IT! We even had understudies for both lead parts (Glenda and Elfaba) and it was still good. I will never watch the Wizard of Oz the same again. I would love to go back and watch it with the main actors to see if it is any different. But oh, it was fabulous! I totally recommend it (just leave your hubbies at home though!)

PARTY of the CENTURY

2009-06-17T18:20:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had the PARTY of the CENTURY! It was by far the funnest party we have ever had and probably will never get topped! Michelle and Max Wade were kind enough to donate a horse party for Paradise Hills Preschool to auction off at there silent auction. I wasn't able to make it to the auction, but told my husband to "win that party". He took it to heart and aren't we all grateful! The Wade's along with several volunteers worked so hard to make it a fun party for the kids and they totally succeeded. They are such QUALITY people and I'm so grateful for there kindness. Some of the activities included painting a horse, riding the horses, playing with lizards, horseshoes, panning for gold, coloring wooden horses, playing on a tower of hay bales, and camping out with tent and all. We cooked hot dogs and had a "boot" pinata. Each of the kids got a hat, a handkerchief, and a sheriff badge. They all looked super cute in there get up! There was not a better way to celebrate for a little girl who LOVES all things to do with horses.

Priceless!!!

The lizards were a big hit

Cowboy Max and Keri helping Kenzi and Kylee paint Cochise

waiting for a turn to hit the pinata

Grams getting down and dirty with the lizards!

All the cowboys and cowgirls

Special thanks to:
The Wade family for all there hard work and all of there awesomeness!
Trish for scheduling the party!
The volunteers who gave up there saturday to help out!
Todd for winning the party!
The weather for cooperating!
The cousins, aunties, uncles, and grandparents for traveling to celebrate with us!
And lastly Kenzi for coming to our family and bringing joy!

2009-06-06T14:18:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd stick with tradition and blog Kenzi's birthday late. We won't say how much later, but hey at least I'm blogging! We are having a horse party next weekend so we didn't do to much on her actual birthday, but none the less it was fun! She had a field trip to village pizza for school that day. They got to make there very own pizza. I tagged along and took some yummy goodies to give to her class. Her class sang to her and she got a special birthday hat. After that we headed to target. I decided we were going on a shopping spree for her birthday. I let her pick out what she wanted (with limits!). She picked out some new dresses, a swimsuit, a slip n slide, a new crazy sprinkler, sunglasses, a bug vaccum (super fun!) and gardening gloves to help me in the flower garden. It was so much fun to just spend some quality time with Kenzi. She picked out things that I wouldn't have thought of, so it was nice to have her pick everything! I didn't even have to wrap them. It was great! I am so grateful for my sweet Kenzi. She is such a good little helper and is always thinking of others. Her preschool teachers told me that she is a poster child and is such a joy in class. She is super independant which can be a little rough to handle sometimes, but it will come in handy as she gets older. Thank goodness she is the way she is cause she's going to have to fight off the boys. If you haven't noticed by her pictures she is in my opinion the prettiest little girl around! I love you Kenzi!!! Happy 4th Birthday

Cash Update

2009-05-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

It's been crazy around the Cash home! Here's a few things that we have been up to...

Todd: He's busy working as always! He's working real hard (okay Kory's working real hard) to get our house done by the beginning of June. He started working out at the gym (only after 3 months of talking about it!). He's been busy figuring out 11 year old scouts and preparing for fathers and sons. Traekon has been talking about fathers and sons this whole week. On the weekends Todd can be found riding his dirt bike with friends. He's decided that he needs a 450 and wants to sell his 250. I say he's crazy and that he should just stay alive!!:)

Kuli: I survived mothers day, but just barely. I have two wonderful mothers...my own and my mother in law. They are two women who I look up to and love dearly! I know this is late but I'm so grateful for them both. I've become the newest member of the Albuquerque taxi services. I mostly drive for Traekon and he doesn't tip well at all:) We just listed our house so I'm trying to keep up with the house work in case someone wants to come look at this beautiful home that I know someone wants to purchase! I've been trying to change things up a little and use all new recipes which requires me to be searching down every aisle of the grocery store to find one ingredient that i've never heard of in my life (very frustrating!). Some recipes have been a hit...and some, well lets just say I have frozen pizza waiting just in case! I finally feel like I've got down the whole primary president thing, but who knows? not me!!! I haven't been to the gym in a week because of sickness and I'm desperately waiting to be able to go back.

Traekon: In the last month Traekon has finished soccer, started golf, finished golf, and started ju jitsu. He's been to the zoo, nature center, and bowling with his class. I happen to be one of the only mothers with a background check so I've also been priveleged to go on these fieldtrips with 20 high spirited kindergarteners! He is starting to get the hang of reading and loves to read me books at night. He learned how to skip the monkey bars at school and came home with a blister the size of his palm that had torn open while mastering the skip! He can't wait for school to be out so he can "live with his cousins during the summer" (his words). He's already complaining aobut 1st grade. UGH!! He gave his first fhe lesson and did a good job! He's excited to go to fathers and sons and has been talking about it since he knew it was coming.

Kenzi: She just performed in her preschool play this last Tuesday and ended up throwing up in the middle of it. She was so sad that she had to leave:( She puts on her swimsuit everyday and plays with the hose until dark! Her favorite past time lately is to find snails in my flowers and step on them. It's pretty gross, but they gotta die cause they kill our flowers! She wants so badly to join her brother in ju jitsu but is to young. She still cant stand buttons and lives in dresses. She is going to have a horse party for her birthday and cant wait. She loves all things to do with horses!

Ashton: He's as busy as ever. Somehow he fell and busted his upper lip on the table (i wasn't there to witness so I'm not sure exactly what happened). Todd thought he needed stitches so took him to urgent care only to sit for 2 1/2 hours and then get up and leave before the doctor even saw him. It's healing okay but he'll probably have a scar. He loves "pockers" also known as popcicles and asks for them ALL day long! He's into Dora all of a sudden and won't except any other cartoon. He is saying so much and learning so much from his older brother and sister. He learned how to climb down from the top bunk and how to unlock his door, so again we are back to square one with the sleeping. He hates all nutritional food and wants only junk food. He is a lover of sippy cups of milk!

That's about it for now. maybe I'll post pictures later, but don't count on it:) Life is to busy to sit around for them to upload!!

AHH HAA!

2009-04-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

When I saw this scout background I couldn't resist...this is pretty much what runs through my head all day. SCOUTS!! Any other primary presidents out there who can't seem to fill holes in there scouting programs? By the end of this calling I want to know the ins and outs of scouts! It's my goal. I will know SCOUTS dang it!!!

Crazy Fun!

2009-04-28T14:08:00.000-07:00

So I think I'm probably the last sister to blog about this, but me and my awesome sista's went on a Crazy fun trip to Utah. How much crazy, fun can you have in Utah (your asking in your head?) Well when we sisters get together it's always that way! I flew out of Albuquerque on Wednesday afternoon and flew to Phoenix to meet Kanani, Lehua, and Malia for our joining flight to Salt Lake. Of course the first thing we did when I got there was head straight for cinnabon. Much to our disappointment it wasn't as good as the mall Cinnabons!

Our flight was delayed about an hour but we made the best of it. On the plane we made some friends. The guy that sat next to me and Kanani thought we all looked the same age, offensive to me, but exciting for the oldies Malia and Kanani(jk girls!!!) Come to find out the guys dad was sitting next to Malia and Lehua. They thought we were heading to BYU. Funny...anyway. We got to Salt Lake and immediately hit the stores that were opened. Shortly after we decided it was time for a late night snack and we headed to chili's. Just starting the trip out right! Finally we headed to Lei's where we got ready for our next day trip to snowbasin for a little snowboarding. I slept so good that night. No babies waking me up! The next morning we headed to the mountain around 8:00. You know something bads going to happen when I am the most experienced snowboarder of the group...yikes! It was Lehua's first time to snowboard and Malia's first time to ski. Let's just say that it didn't turn out okay for Malia. To make a long story short Malia ended up crashing and had to be on crutches the rest of the time:( As for Lehua, She picked up snowplowing real good! Thank goodness for the helmets though. I always thought I was to cool for the helmet, but after wearing one all day, I won't go without one. I definitely felt safer.

Malia(before crash), Leilani, and Lehua

I know we are pretty cool:) After an eventful day of snowborading we headed home. I decided to go with Lei to pick up my dad at the airport. After picking him up we went to Lei's work party. We bowled and ate pizza. I don't think there's any sport my dad doesn't know how to do! He was giving me pointers on how to bowl and it was actually helping my sad score. Thanks dad! After that we headed back to pick up the other girls and headed to of all places...Walmart:( Not the funnest place in the world but we needed neccessities, like stuff to make smoothies. We stayed up watching movies, okay I fell asleep on the couch while the other four watched a movie. The next day was reserved for shopping. Me, Lehua, and Kanani headed off to shop while Leilani and Malia went to the doctor. We all met back up and went to see "17 Again" which I recommend to all people. Super Cute! I have a crush on Zach Efron like all teenagers out there. After the movie Me, Kanani, and Lehua headed back to the mall and Leilani and Malia spent the rest of there day in the car running a taxi for the children. That night we played dodgeball. I'm totally not good at dodgeball! But it was fun none the less. Here's Lehua's get up for the night..

Never a dull moment with the NTVD Girls! After working hard and sweating, we headed to Texas Roadhouse for some grub. It was fantastic as always. The next morning we woke and packed up. The trip went way to fast if you ask me, but all good things must come to an end. We finished off the trip once again shopping and eating. I was the first to leave and slept the whole flight home. I got home to a clean house and a wonderful hubby and kids! Until next sister trip...

2009-04-09T23:43:00.000-07:00

It's midnight and I can't sleep. This happens alot since my mom passed away. I settle down for the night only to find my mind thinking, remembering, crying. Someone told me that the best way to grieve was to talk about it, so here i am blogging cause everyones alseep. Why is it that my mind only wants to remember the last three months? She was an amazing mother, an amazing woman of faith, a hardworker. A person I want to become like. But all my mind wants to think about was the sickness, the sadness, the goodbye's. These past three months have been the hardest, most amazing months of my life. Sorry if this doesn't make sense, but I'm just writing what I think. It was so hard to see my mom so sick. She wasn't able to do anything for herself. We had to remind her sometimes how to suck out of a straw. It was heartbreaking. But the vail was so thin in that little living room that you didn't want to leave. Being able to help take care of my mom that last month was something I will cherish the rest of my life. It seems so minut compared to all she did for me. She didn't make sense alot of the time when she would talk to us. Sometimes she would call for me. For a couple of days I was her comfort. Me and my sisters would take turns sleeping in the living room with her. I happened to be sleeping in the bedroom the night she told my sisters "kuliana is comfort". Why was I comfort to her? Was it because I was her baby? Was she mixed up and meant that she wanted to comfort me? I don't know... I like to think that maybe I was so good that she found comfort in me, but we all know that Lehua was the good one! That's one thing I'm going to ask her when I see her again. To see her again... it's true I will see her again and it will be a joyous reunion. I wonder what she's doing. I picture her with a list of "things to do". I'm sure she already has most of the things checked off. She was so ready to leave and get busy. She kept telling us that she had stuff do and that she needed to get going. I imagine her singing in the most amazing heavenly choir... no i take that back, she is for sure directing that choir! She loved music. I found a journal of hers that she had typed and printed for all us kids. It covered most of me and my siblings infant and toddler years. She and my aunt leaora always had some big production going on that I wish I could have witnessed, but I was either not born, or just a baby. One of her entry's she confessed to having someone else nurse me because she was in the middle of a huge choir program of some sort and couldn't feed me. Gross, I know! But I forgive her! You know whats the weirdest is thinking back to last october. I was down for the fair weekend and we all went to the parade. We hung out never suspecting what was just around the corner. I wish I had more pictures of her with my kids. I wish my kids could have taken piano lessons from her. I wish I'd learned how to can things with her. I wish, i wish, i wish..... The list could go on and on. I never thought losing a loved one was so stinkin hard. I couldn't imagine if it was my spouse. My poor dad! If I feel this way then he feels a hundred times worse. Robert is pretty onry with him lately. But how else is he supposed to deal with it. I imagine that's how a 5/6 year old would deal with losing his mom. No one understood him like my mom. And now she's gone and none of us can take her spot. Poor guy. He has such simple faith and understands more then the rest of us. He humbles us. My mom never once complained of the pain she was in. She told us that she would be strong for the grandchildren. She stayed true to her word. Even towards the end when she couldn't say much and we didn't understand her she always brightened up for the grandkids. She smiled at them and many times told them she loved them. Sweet little Kylee even got kisses from grandma. There was so many sweet, tender mercies witnessed that last month. To sacred and special for me to say, but to important for me to forget. I'll have to write them down so I never forget. Life is short people. Enjoy every little thing, every little detail, everything. What a wonderful Father in Heaven to make such a beautiful plan. A plan that makes it possible for us to be together forever. A plan so perfectly thought out. A plan that helps me want to live better. It's time for me to try to go to bed. I have to be a mother in the morning. So until next time when I can't sleep...

30!

2009-04-09T13:07:00.001-07:00

Can you believe this guy is 30! 30 has been good for him. He's put on a few 20 pounds, but i personally thinks it looks good! He looks more grown up with it on:) Anyway I was a total bummer for his birthday this year. April suggested I throw him a 70's party since he was born then, but i chose the lazy route and went with making him the ugliest cake in the world and having dinner(he requested biscuits and gravy) with me and the kids at home. That's right we didn't even get to go out because he had scouts that night. I even tried to take him to lunch, but he insisted that he needed to help pour concrete at the new house. Cash's don't really care for birthdays, can you tell? Anyway, Todd loves german chocolate cake so me and April made him one from scratch. We had this great idea to put it in a bundt pan but ended up putting way to much batter in the pan. I decided to check the cake and put a butter knife in it to see if it was done and the whole cake fell in the middle. Then as I was turning the pan upside down to get it out it broke in half. I put it back together with the frosting. So needless to say it was the ugliest cake ever, but it tasted pretty darn good!

Here's some things Todds been up to:

*working hard saling fuel
*traveling for work
*keeping up with the webelos in scouts
*working hard to finish our house that we put on the market:(
*getting pulled over by cops almost everyday (he has a big red target on his truck or something)!
*wrestling with the kids
*working on our lawn
*keeping me happy:)
*going to soccer games
*just being the best dad and husband ever!

WE LOVE YOU TODD!

Happy late B-day!

2009-04-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

I'm only a couple weeks late on this but... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRAEKON! I can't believe he is already 6. It makes me feel really old all of a sudden. We were in Arizona for spring break and his birthday (thank goodness) fell right in the middle of it. He absolutely loves his COUSINS so what better way then to spend an entire week with them. All he wanted was chocolate cake and pizza so that night I ordered a ton a pizza and made a chocolate cake. He wanted a batman cake so I left Lehua with the outline of the batman emblem and a knife and told her to get to it. She did awesome!!! Thanks Lehua! I don't have a picture cause it's on Malia's camera, but it looked just like batman. We ate and then had a pinata. It was his favorite birthday and I didn't have to do much! Thank goodness for fun cousins:) Here some things Traekon's been up to:

*playing soccer
*he really wants to be in karate
*playing with the dog (yep I gave in)
*going to kindergarten, although sometimes he's forced
*going to golf class
*He loves to color and do crafts and loves art class at school
*begging to go to someone else's house every chance he gets
*fighting with his sister
*learning how to read (which he's not interested in!)

Traekon is such a joy to have in our family! I love watching him grow and learn. WE LOVE YOU Traekon!

This is typical Traekon!

Picky Kenzi

2009-03-20T16:36:00.000-07:00

I was thinking I needed to record this just so I can remember how picky my little girl is. Kenzi is going through this stage where she absolutley hates wearing jeans, anything with a button, and recently anything with a zipper! I can get her to wear them but I have to threaten, force, or bribe. All the things I probably shouldn't do. You know how stinkin hard it is to find clothes with these three stipulations!!! Thank goodness for cotton dresses, leggings, and stretchy pants! I was reading my mom's journal the other night and laughed when she talked about my 3 older sisters only wanting to wear dresses. Picky, picky, picky:) Kenzi is just like her aunties. She has a mind of her own!

Busy, busy, busy!

2009-03-18T09:50:00.001-07:00

It's amazing to me how Heavenly Father knows what each of us needs at certain times in our lives. With that said(long sigh)... I have been called to be Primary President in our ward. It's like he knew I needed to stay busy so I don't have time to think. Sister Gillies was an amazing President with some big shoes to fill! I pray that I can be half as good as she was. I know this is what I need to be doing right now, but it doesn't help the inadequacy I feel. But what the heck... Bring it on! I have a awesome group of women as my counselors and secretary so it will be fun. So I put on a happy face and plunge forward:)

Happy Birthday Ashton....

2009-03-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

a couple days late! Ashton is the funniest little guy. He is so fun to have around. He definitely hit that terrible two stage about a week before his birthday! He's like a little tornado through my house. He keeps me on my toes! He is my junkaholic. He loves everything thats not good for you. He still can't live without his blankie and binkie or maybe I just can't live without him having his blankie and binkie!! He likes to get the little fringe on his fleece blankie and rub it right under his nose. His favorite words right now are "watch", "dank you", "funny", "wanna fight (while holding up his fists)", and "chew (refering to gum)". He's our little dare devil. Or should I just say "he's a cash!" He is so independent and already wants to do everything by himself. He especially loves to get out of the car by himself. He loves to randomly hit Kenzi and ends up in the corner alot. He is quick to give hugs right after he hits her though! He is a bundle of fun and I love him to pieces!

What to do with a naughty 2 year old?

2009-03-05T15:40:00.000-08:00

How in the heck am I ever going to sleep again? Ashton has learned how to climb out of his crib. It's been a sad week. NO more easy days of just putting him in his crib for a nap, laying him down for bed, or just putting him in there so he doesn't get into things. He's always been a crappy sleeper, but now it's 10 tens worst. He doesn't just lay down and go to sleep like the other two and then he's up three times a night. I feel like a mother with a newborn, walking around with no sleep. Any good suggestions out there? I'm listening!!!

7 years of pure bliss!

2009-03-01T19:17:00.000-08:00

Happy 7th Anniversary to my very best friend! 7 years ago today I married the man that I was meant to be with for eternity. Sounds totally sappy, but is totally true. He has stood by my side through it all... the grouchiness, the mood swings, the sadness, and every other emotion possible to women! I am so grateful for him. He always apologizes first when we get in little tiffs. He knows what to say to make me laugh and always seems to know what I'm thinking. I love him. Here are just a few reasons we were meant to be together:

He loves technology, I can't figure out the computer. He hates disneyland, I think it is the happiest place on earth. He loves to try new things at cold stone, I stick to the same three things. He thinks holidays are just another day, I live for holidays. He's a workaholic, I love that he supports our little family. He loves the gospel, I love it too. He's a worthy priesthood holder, I love to hear him give my kids blessings. He's the oldest of his family, I'm the baby. He's good at telling people "no" on the phone, I'm a sucker. He loves to hang out with his brothers, I love to hang with my sisters. He knows how to have a fun time, I like to go along for the ride. He's crazy insane, I'm quite conservative. He likes to watch survivor man, I like to sleep while he watches. He's not into watching sports on tv, I'm so thankful! He loves to go to the temple, I love to go with him. He loves to bite his nails, I can't stand it. He eats whatever I put in front of his face, I love that he's not picky. He loves me and I love him! The list goes on and on, but I'll stop there or I might be here all night. I am truly thankful for him and the great man that he is. Just 7 down and forever more to go and I can't wait!!!

First kiss

2009-03-01T18:43:00.000-08:00

Kenzi had her first kiss last Thursday. I know starting young:) My good friend Cortney kept my kids while I went shopping with Kamron and Kathy (thanks Cortney!) She said that Conner has been really interested about if boyfriends and girlfriends kiss. They told him that only mommys and daddys kiss! Well as they were playing on thursday Cortney went to check on them and found Conner and Kenzi kissing. Of course she stopped them and reminded them that only mommys and daddys kiss. Conner told her "We are...I'm the daddy and kenzi's the mommy". So funny! So now Kenzi can say that she had her first kiss at 3. I don't know how i feel about that one. At least I approve of the boy!

Heaven

2009-03-01T18:37:00.000-08:00

Here's a little conversation I had with Kenzi before my moms funeral.

Kenzi "mom how old are you?"
Me "I'm 26 sweetie, why?"

Kenzi "your almost old enough to go up to heaven and see Grandma Norma"
me "Well... I wish I could go to heaven and see grandma, but if I go I can't come back."

Kenzi "oh okay" and off she ran.

Kids have such simple faith. Thank goodness for the gospel and the knowledge that we will see Grandma Norma again!

BItter Sweet

2009-02-17T20:24:00.000-08:00

Early this morning my mom passed away. It was a bitter sweet moment. Sweet because I know she is no longer in pain and is singing and having a joyous reunion with her parents and many other loved ones. Bitter because the thought of not having her around makes my heart hurt. I just want to tell everyone thank you for all the prayers and concern in behalf of my family. We are eternally grateful for you and your love for us. We would not being doing as well as we are without each of you.

I've Been VIOLATED!

2009-01-23T11:50:00.000-08:00

AHHHH! I'm so stinkin mad I could spit and here's why... I stopped at burlington coat factory on my way home from the gym to grab some socks for my kids. I was in there maybe at the most 30 minutes. I was in a good mood until I walked out to my car and opened the door. For some crazy reason that I didn't get at that moment Ashton's car seat was turned upside down in the middle. I'm thinking "huh, thats weird" so i stick him on the seat grab kenzi stick her in and shut the door. I then unloaded my bags and all the while I'm trying to figure out if i turned a sharp corner and the car seat fell but then realize there is no way cause it was buckled ( i know i have blonde moments alot!) So I go to strap Ashton's seat in when WHAMMO I realize someones been in my car(it seriously took me that long to figure it out) I'm an idiot! I finally take a second to look around and everything electronic is gone! The stereo system, the 4 headrest screens, the movie case with about 15 disney movies. Everything in the middle console which included more movies and earphones and the infa-red transmitter for the earphones. I'm surprised they didn't take off with the car seats to jerks:( I was so shocked I probably sat there with my mouth wide open for a couple of minutes. How could someone have taken all this stuff in the middle of the day without someone noticing them? After the shock started to wear off the my brain started to function again. I called todd who had me call the cops. In the process of calling the cops one drove by so I flagged them down. Luckily the dumbheads who burgalized my car cut themselves and left blood in a couple of places. Not to mention the handy screwdriver they got my car open with. I hope they catch the stinkin loser who's to lazy to get a job and buy there own things. I HATE (and thats a strong word) thieves with a passion! How can people have no morals what so ever. I have no tolerance for people like that. I have been violated and I'm ragin stinkin mad!

A super late Christmas update!

2009-01-21T09:34:00.000-08:00

I've been totally avoiding updating the blog cause so much went on during Christmas that I didn't want to be sitting at the computer for hours. So I'm going to copy Lehua's post which she copied from Malia's post who copied from Leilani's post:) Thank goodness for on the ball sisters! I am pretty lazy!!! I tweaked it a little so it fit my little family.

Christmas vacation this year was as busy as ever. All of us met in the Gila Valley to celebrate Christmas together. It was a perfect time to have a Natividad Christmas to feel each others strength and love for each other and especially for our Mom.

Each day was packed with activities and food! Pictures don't justify the mad chaos at dinner time trying to feed 25 kids and 15 adults or the craziness of trying to keep everyone happy, but after our time together I still think I have the best family ever and am grateful we have each other!

Here we go!

Everyone had trickled into town by Saturday night except Eric left behind to work. Sunday my brother Marc blessed his baby Rebecca and we all crashed at the homestead for a delicious meal. The rest of the day we visited and just hung out . Todd and Uncle Aaron were the best. They had most of the grand kids outside playing red rover, running relay races, and just plain wearing the kids out so they would sleep.

Leilani's family stayed with Lehua, Marc's family with Mom, and Malia's and my family stayed with Kanani, so, we were able to separate at night and calm some of the chaos. The kids took turns spending the night at different houses. It was great cousin bonding time. It's fun to see what personalities get along with one another and the ones that don't. I love watching the older kids mature into teenagers. They "hang-out" and are just so cool!

Monday we packed our day full. We had the kids pictures in the afternoon at EAC (Leilani was the lucky photographer), Then we ate an early dinner at Casa Manana. I preordered our food so we didn't have to hang out with 25 starving kids under the age of 16. Diane also gave the back room to us to have all to ourselves! After eating we headed to Mom and Dad's house where the children got to ride in a little train pulled by a tractor. (Thank-you Danny!) The children all loved it! After the train ride we had dilly bars and headed over to the family talent show at the stake center.It was alot of fun watching the children perform in various ways. Kenzi slept through the entire thing, Traekon played an according while Bretton did a little jig, and Ashton showed everyone how good he is at giving zerberts(blowing on someones tummy and making a tooting sound:). I was way impressed at the talent of all my nieces and nephews!

Laureen and Tammy were there and so was Aunt Leora and her crew. Aaron did the Mexican Horse Race using volunteers from the audience who didn't know the game. Of course we made Aunt Leora get up there. The joke was on her and Marc and she had no clue! She kept on going while we were all laughing so hard we cried! It was hilarious! It is definitely something we'll talk about for years to come! Fun times!!

10 gorgeous Girly Girls!

15 rough boys!

This is my 14 year old nephew Kale. He was amazing at the fire knife dance! My Dad's knife has been passed on to the Lopez family where they carry on the tradition.

Tuesday we had no plans, thank goodness, because it rained and was cold! But it didn't stop the kids from having fun with all of their cousins.

Leilani and Lehua were in charge of dinner that night. Per Malia's request they rolled lumpia made California rolls, yellow coconut curry, rice and loaded brownies. Due to the nature of the lumpia it took all afternoon to prepare. Malia was suppose to help in all this rolling but she was waiting for my mom to get back from the meeting with the oncologist before heading up to my house. Since she missed out on the rolling we put her to work deep frying all the lumpia. It was well worth the effort as it tasted great!

Wednesday was Christmas Eve. Following tradition we (all of us plus the Taylor Clan) preordered our pizza and met at Pizza Hut for the beginning of our Christmas Eve festivities. Even though we preordered and warned Pizza Hut there would be over 50 of us, it was still a little on the chaotic side! Pizza's were coming out at a descent speed, but the drinks took for ever! The kids were as patient as they could be. Hopefully next time Pizza Hut will assign us two waitresses instead of one!

After Pizza Hut we all hopped in our cars and did our caroling. Each year we have the same route and I actually think the people enjoy us coming! Uncle clarence always has pink popcorn balls waiting for us. It wouldn't be Chrismas without the Natividad/Taylor- out of tune -caroling bunch! We couldn't let mom miss out on the caroling so we inserted her into the route. When we got there Dad had Mom in the car ready to go. She planned her Morphine just right and away we went. I was glad she was able to join us.

Following the caroling we met at the church house for the reenactment of the Nativity. All the kids chose what they wanted to be. There was plenty of costumes for everyone. Traekon was a shepard, Kenzi an angel, and Todd took ashton home to change his diaper and never came back! It's okay though cause I told him he didn't have to (which he was really surprised about).

Kenzi was such a cute angel! She thouroughly enjoyed the little white tutu she got to wear.

We ended the night with long anticipated candybar game.

Throughout the week the grand kids were intermingled, sleeping at different houses nightly. We didn't want to confuse Santa so on Christmas Eve we each gathered our own children and made them sleep at the homes we were staying in. We had decided just to stay at the different homes and open presents.

We headed off to the Brown's where the kids got to open one present. They were pretty excited
about that. Woo Hoo for new pajamas!! Which I made by the way:)

The next morning we woke up (we told the kids no earlier then 6) had family prayer and headed into the living room to see what santa brought. Ashton got a new dump truck and a train table, Kenzi got a leaptster and a new horse, and Traekon got a dirt bike. He was shaky at first but he's pretty good at it now. I got a wheat grinder and a bosch so I can start making bread and Todd got a dirt bike. It was fun christmas!

By lunch time several of us headed to Mom and Dad's to wish them a Merry Christmas and to get the kids out of the house. We were there a few hours before we again separated to get ready for the pictures. We were all very glad when they were done. Trying to organize 40 people for a picture is not easy. Aunt Leora snapped the pictures with Bam's camera as we stood there, hoping to get at least one decent shot. Thank goodness for digital cameras!

Friday morning the Mom's(Sister's) all decided to go on a bike ride. We gotta get the exercise in so we can eat all the junk food without feeling so bad! The Dad's prepared to head out on a ATV, dirt bike, rhino ride. The women headed out first. The day had started out bitter cold and dreary.Why we were attempting a bike ride was a mystery to me, but heck why not? What was the worst that could happen? We all bundled up especially Ka

nani. She had layers and layers on! As we began our ride, it started hailing on us. Not big hail but small hail that felt like thousands of little needles being shot at us. Our faces really took the brunt of the hail as that was the only part of our bodies not covered up. Our cheeks felt numb like going to the dentist. On our way back we were tempted to head to Aunt Leora's so we could call the guys to pick us up in the truck but resisted. We would never have lived it down if we did, so we surged forward. It sure was a lot further then remembered. But it was another adventure that we will never forget!

After the ride. Brrrr it's cold! You can't see, but we were soaking wet!

When we got back the guys were just leaving on their adventure. They also froze as they rode up into the snow on their motorbikes and ATV's. Crazy, crazy, crazy! What we will do for a little fun and a lot of torture!

Aaron was so cold that he didn't even notice when his hand hit a cactus and a needle penetrated his finger and up through his fingernail!

We were planning on a trip to the movies to watch Bedtime Stories but the guys were too exhausted as were we. We ended up dropping the older kids off at the 9:00pm movie and then the sisters went out for dessert to kill time. After dessert we headed to Kameron's house to waste away the rest of the time. We were all so tired, a few of us even dosed off for a few minutes. When we picked up the kids it was snowing!!! We couldn't get to the respective homes fast enough. We had definitely over exhorted ourselves this day!

I love these girls!

Saturday

We played all day! The kids spent most of there time on the 4 wheelers and dirt bike. Then that evening we took the rest of the kids to see bedtime stories.

What a fun, busy, stressful Christmas. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way! Let's just say we needed a vacation from our vacation:) I love my family and am so glad that we can be together forever!

My mom

2008-12-23T19:37:00.000-08:00

I've been really debating whether I should post this or not, but since this is my journal this is something that I need to write about. During Thanksgiving my mom called me telling me that she was having pains in her legs and having a hard time breathing. They had done a ct scan on her lungs and they found a mass that they were going to biopsy in the coming weeks. She then called me back and told me that they found a tumor in her leg that they were pretty sure was cancerous. After a long month of waiting for small town doctors to get her in she was in so much pain that my dad had to take her to the hospital. While there they finally took a bone scan of her whole body and a biopsy of her lungs. Today she was able to meet with an oncologist and get some results. She was diagnosed with stage four cancer. It's in her lungs, outside her stomach, in her legs, and throughout her bones. We have started a blog for her if you'd like to read more details. It is normanatividad.blogspot.com For those of you who know her please remember her in your prayers.

Whose the Culprit?

2008-12-15T11:53:00.000-08:00

Was it the one year old...the three year old...or the five year old? I wish I could say it was the younger two, but no it was the five year old who knew better. Naughty!!! Of course he got to clean it up so hopefully he will think twice before he does it again.

family pictures oh joy!

2008-12-02T17:00:00.001-08:00

I'm still alive!

2008-11-24T09:09:00.000-08:00

Wow it's been awhile since I posted. I am still alive, don't worry:) To all of those who commented and left advice for my grumpy children, THANKS! It was just one of those days. I'm glad to update that the children are still grumpy, but i've come to terms with it for the moment! We are truckin along. As for the reason for not posting I've been sewing (attempting anyway) I know, getting all domestic! I made my children some pajamas for Christmas and they turned out half way decent. I'll post pictures later.

I also have been busy reading. With all the hype of twilight I decided to read it again before the movie came out last weekend. BAD IDEA!!! I was one of those giddy little teenagers who waited in line for 4 hours to see the beloved "TWILIGHT"at midnight. It might have been because i was tired or because of the stinkin teenagers behind me that kept dropping the "f" bomb, or the fact that I reread twilight the day before that made my experience not so great. I think all of them combined maybe? I don't know, but it was quite depressing:( I knew it wasn't going to be as good as the book, but reading it the day before was a huge mistake cause i knew exactly what they changed, what they left out, what they were feeling, etc... Needless to say I am going to go see it again when it's not crowded, when I'm more coherent, and when there is no disrespectful teenagers in sight! And then I have a feeling I might just love it! Hopefully!!!

Excuse me while a vent...

2008-11-05T07:50:00.000-08:00

Could I seriously wake up one morning and the kids be happy. Could I ask for something so simple? I have the grumpiest kids in the morning and it is wearing me down to the point were I think I'm going to explode! I've tried everything from being super duppy happy when they wake up, making favorite breakfast's, hugging them as soon as they walk out there bedroom door, to not putting up with it and fighting with them all morning. Is it ever going to get better? Am I ever going to hear the words, "Wow mom thanks so much for getting up and making me breakfast and helping me get ready for school". Nope...every morning it's, "I'm cold, my hot chocolate is to hot, the pancakes are to big, I want the blue cup, where's my toast, I hate that jacket, your mean" which follows with a morning of me very angry and frustated and them standing in the corner most of the morning. I'm at the end of my rope here. Any good suggestions from any of you professional moms out there. Will it ever get better? With that said I just want to tell my mom how sorry I am for times when I was like this! I'm sorry for being grumpy when you'd ask us to pull weeds or even complaining when you fed us oatmeal in the morning. I'm sorry for not wanting to do my chores and for secretly saying that you were mean (cause I was way to scared to say it to your face:)) Gosh I just realized that if I'm barely saying that now, that I've got a long road ahead of me:( AHHHHH someone put me out of my misery NOW!!!

Everyone's a Lobo

2008-11-04T15:43:00.000-08:00

Logan and Cortney invited us to a Lobo football game with them last saturday and it was super fun! We had a great time. I think I caught myself watching the cheerleaders and dancers most the night or having really good conversation with Cortney:) The Lobo's ended up losing 10-13 to Utah. Overall it was a fun game to watch. All of you who know UNM know that Everyone's a Lobo, woof woof woof!!!

Party McCain Palin Style

2008-10-29T20:53:00.000-07:00

My awesome good friends threw a costume party for my b-day today. The theme was to dress up as couples. I came up with McCain/Palin, but todd wanted to be a white trash couple. Course I won:) It turned out really cute. There was some awesome costumes and great company. Audrey again came through with a super cute cake. She totally needs to start her own company (hint, hint)! The girls' amazing! I wish again that I would have taken more pics of everyones costumes. Anyway thanks to all who made my b-day perfect. Oh by the way, my wonderful husband surprised me by having a driver in a black lincoln(i think) type car come pick me up and take me to La Bella where I was pampered from a full body swedish massage, facial, and pedicure and then finished up with a lunch at red lobster. It was my favorite birthday by far (he was making up for the last 6 years:)) Can everyday be my b-day? Can we do it all again tomorrow?!?

The Haunted Mansion Cake! (told ya it was good!)

McCain and Palin with our Hippie friends Cortney and Logan

Trunk or Treat Time

2008-10-29T20:42:00.000-07:00

We love trunk or treat! It's one night(okay we do it halloween night too) that we get to pig out on candy and not eat any dinner and then be super sick with tummy aches! But it's all worth it right. This year Traekon was peter pan, Kenzi was Belle, and Ashton was squirt off of finding nemo. Some how I managed to not get a picture of them all together. Figures! I could possibly be the worst picture taker in the world:(

Super Star!

2008-10-26T19:55:00.001-07:00

Traekon had is primary program today and was asked to sing a solo acapella. I've been prepping him for about a month in fear that he would get up to the pulpit and freeze. We practiced and practiced even though I knew he knew the words as well as saying his own name. I've been telling him that the presidency picked him cause he was the best little singer(which to me is not a lie:) It's pretty scary singing a solo, but acapella too? That takes guts. He was the closing song and as he walked up to the microphone I could see the look of terror on his face. I thought "oh no, he's not going to do it and I'm going to have to go up and sing with him" quickly I wispered in his ear ( I had to sit up there to help children be reverent) that we would make his favorite cookies when we got home if he did good. He stood up there like a champ and sang his little heart out! I had a sister in my ward tell me later that half way through the song he closed his eyes. She said it was like he was going to his happy place. I'm sure he was freaked out about all the people staring at him! I wish that I would have invited more family to come and witness the "tug at the heart" song that was performed so perfectly this morning! He was the perfect ending to a perfect program. It's little tender mercy moments like these that keep me going everyday! GOOD JOB Traekon!

Ashton's Ear Tubes

2008-10-25T16:03:00.000-07:00

Poor little Ashton has had ear infections every other month since he was born. So enough was enough! We got him an appointment with the ENT and they made us go and get an audiogram first. They tested him and said that he could hear almost as well as someone under water. After meeting with the ENT he scheduled an appointment for tubes. YOO HOO! He has never been a good sleeper so I'm hoping that the tubes will help. His surgery was yesterday. The actual procedure is 10 minutes max, but of course we had to sit there for 2 hours. Supposedly they were going to keep us an hour in the recovery room but after 1o minutes of ashton screaming they let us go:) Pays to cry! Anyway everything went great and the little stinker even slept throught the night. Hopefully it stays that way for my sake! Yea for ear tubes!!!!

Wise Cash's

2008-10-25T15:42:00.000-07:00

We bought a piece of land back in the spring and thought we'd be building on it the next month. Of course we thought we were back in Thatcher and that we'd get everything approved and ready to go withing weeks...things didn't go quite as easy as that. We finally got everything approved after 6 months and were so excited to get started. HA! We didn't think to remember that we live on top of a hill that is pretty close to an old volcano:( Yep our piece of land is one big ROCK. Super hard Lava rock to be exact. We really wanted a basement instead of an upstairs so determined little Todd got to work! It took about a month to get it all busted out. 75 loads of rock later we(okay not we, but todd and his crew) finally have it level to pour. Wow! But hey the wise men built his house upon a rock, right!?!

Before

After
(That's a wall of rock!)

Hair show junkies!

2008-10-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I was able to go to a hair show in Phoenix with my in-laws (mom cash, April, and Kamron). It was great fun! I totally stole these pictures from April's blog. She did such a great job telling what we did that I'm going to direct you to her blog if you want better details:) Seriously though, what could be better then shopping, eating, hanging out with people you love, and getting some awesome bargain deals! Nothing!!! Thanks girls for all the memories and good laughs. When you check out April's blog make sure you read about our thrift store extravaganza cause it's totally awesome. Hopefully I'll have some great pictures to post real soon of the whole funny story:)!!!

Doing what we girls do best...EATING!!

General Conference

2008-10-07T14:08:00.000-07:00

I am so grateful for parents who instilled a love of general conference in me. It is always so neat to hear the leaders of our church teaching and testifying of our Savior. I have never met President Monson or even seen him in person, but I know just from watching him on my tv that he is our Prophet. That he was called by our Heavenly Father to lead us. It's amazing to me the feelings of love and reverence I have for him. I felt like he was talking to me when he spoke about having "joy in the journey". Lately I feel like I'm just hanging on, surviving maybe... but definitely not feeling joy at the same time. It really made me reflect on what I have set as my top prioirity (a clean house) and what I really need to have at the top! President Monson mentioned that there may be toys scattered all over the floor and laundry piling over, but those years will go by way to fast. So today I'm making a pledge to myself to not worry so much about the beds unmade, the dirty unorganized cupboards, the never ending laundry and focusing more on enjoying my three precious children who want nothing more but to feel my love. I'm going to put down my scrub brush more often and read a book, play a game, or color. That can't be to hard, right?!? It isn't so thats what I'm going to do starting today! JOY IN THE JOURNEY!!

Busy little bee!

2008-10-01T21:45:00.000-07:00

Ashton loves to color with the kids, but me...I don't like it so much when he does cause it ends up lookin like the pictures above. Yep, he bit the tip off the marker. His favorite is eating the crayons and biting off the erasers of the pencils. All you wise mothers out there are thinking well don't let him color. You try keeping a year and half year old from climbing up the bar stools that he's been climbing since 10 months. He will find a way up no matter what! Believe me I've tried everything. He's just to crazy busy for his own good!

Soccer

2008-10-01T21:35:00.000-07:00

Traekon is half way through his soccer season and has turned out to be quite a good little player. I don't want to sound like that really annoying mother who brags about her children all the time, but darn that kid can run! He might just be my track star. Todd really wants him to be good at basketball, so naturally the solution is to move back to the gila valley so that he can do it all! Only in a small town can you accomplish that. Not to mention he could play soccer for alot cheaper there. I spent a fortune on that cute little uniform he is going to wear for two months:( Oh well...at least he's having fun and not sitting around watching tv right!

Kenzi starts school! (Okay like a month ago)

2008-10-01T11:54:00.000-07:00

Kenzi started school! It was like a month ago, but better late then never right. She loves it! She got to go on her first field trip yesterday to an airport that smaller planes fly in and out of. Of course I forgot the camera so I'll just tell about it without the pictures to back it up. She got to sit in a little four seater airplane, but sitting was just not enough. She really wanted to go up in the airplane. She was pretty burnt when she didn't actually get to leave the ground! For the most part she had a pretty good time.

family prayer

2008-09-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

Kids say the darndest things! It was Kenzi's turn to say family prayers last night and this is what was said...."Please help me to teach daddy to listen to mommy". Wow I couldn't have said it any better:) ! It was great. I couldn't help but giggle (while todd is kicking me)! He thought for sure I had told her to say that, but nope she's a girl she knows whats up! To FUNNY!!!!

Sneaky Little Girl!

2008-08-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

I had a bunch of kids at my house last night and with the whirlwind of kids I lost track of Kenzi. Don't worry she found her way back to me though and this is what she looked like. Guess I'm going to have to hide the makeup bag now. Bummer!

Slave Drivers

2008-08-30T09:53:00.000-07:00

Yeah...We like to start them out young!

Princess Ashton?!

2008-08-30T09:47:00.000-07:00

Ashton absolutely loves his big sisters princess shoes! He wears them around the house all day. He especially loves the sound it makes on the kitchen floor. He keeps us laughing!

What daddy does best!

2008-08-30T09:34:00.000-07:00

I realized the other day that I don't have Todd in many of the things I blog, so this post is dedicated just for him! This is what our daddy does best:) I guess you better be good at what you have to do all day right?!? Todd is a fuel broker and absolutely loves it. So basically he sales fuel to people all day requiring him to be on the phone all day. He is also working with his brother Kory with construction so he's a pretty busy guy. All the other wives are pretty jealous because he gets things done around the house. He loves to start projects around the house to make it look great and does a fabulous job of it! He's an awesome husband and daddy. We love him very much!!!

Kindergarten Here We Come!

2008-08-18T14:23:00.001-07:00

The day finally arrived! Traekon started kindergarten today(hallelujah) I mean...sniff, sniff! NOT there was no tears in this mothers eyes! Don't get me wrong, I love my traekon bug, but he was so ready to go and after this summer I have been ready for him to go too. I thought it would be hard, but it was great to see another step forward in his life. We have been counting down the days for probably a month now! Everyday has been "who is coming over", "who's house am i going to", "i'm bored", "when are we going to do something fun".... Hence the reason why i'm excited for him to go. It is pretty crazy that I have a kindergartner though! We sat down with him and had a good talk about always choosing the right, being a good example, and being nice to everyone even if they are different then you speech. Then Todd gave him a blessing which was great(thank goodness for the priesthood)! I think I was able to get all the tears out last night. I know that he will do awesome. Watch out kindergarten cause here we come!

5 bags of supplies for kindergarten...who knew?!?!

A very happy mommy!

Already makin friends

8 Facts

2008-08-08T19:14:00.000-07:00

1. I just finished reading the last book of the twilight series and loved, loved, loved it!....which brings me to my next fact...

2. I totally want to be a VAMPIRE!! Those of you who are twilight fans know what i'm talking about.

3. I love vanilla pepsi from pima freeze!

4. I could eat out everyday if i didn't feel bad about spending the money or didn't worry about the nutritional content.

5. I love bubble gum ice cream minus the bubble gum.

6. I'm really bad at remembering peoples birthdays that are not in my immediate family. (sorry extended family and friends!)

7. I'm a social bug. I hate sitting at home doing nothing.

8. I can not for the life of me stay awake when todd is driving! Drives him nuts. I feel bad about it and try really hard to stay awake, but it is literally impossible for me!

I tag those of you who would like to join the fun and give it a try!

Lake Fun!

2008-08-07T13:37:00.001-07:00

The building of the ramp! Doesn't that look real safe?!? I still can't believe that none of them got hurt. Boys will be boys i guess!

This is there bike run
Aaron doing a 360

Todd backflippin

Aaron heel clicking

So we kept catching ashton drinking the lake water...totally gross! I don't know what his deal is but if there is any type of puddle anywhere his k9 instincts come out and he's instantly on his hands and knees lapping up the water like a little puppy. I know nasty! We couldn't keep him from doing it. I knew for sure he was going to get some sort of parasite, but we got lucky. After we loaded the jet ski's this is what lehua captured ashton doing. If you can't tell he is drinking the water that is dripping off the trailer!

Busted!

Playing in the sand is always a favorite for the kids! Kenzi was so content to just lay there buried. To bad ashton didn't like it much cause it was a good little babysitter!

Lehua's hubby Aaron said he had to get a shot of what the natividad girls do best when we all get together! It's sad but true. Lehua may be the skinniest but man that girl can down the food! Her and Kanani got all the natividad genes...and me (don't get me wrong, i love my McBride blood) I inherited the not so skinny McBride gene..grrrrr!!!!!! And no, I did not eat all of those muffins!!

Crazy Cash boys!

2008-07-22T16:11:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we headed to elephant butte with the Dodge's, Brown's, and Todd's brothers and had loads of fun(pictures will be posted later:)! But to add to the fun Todd , Kory, Aaron, Tannin, and Seth decided to build a bike ramp. Todd had found a bmx bike at the thrift store before we left and couldn't help but bring it along with us. These boys are CRAZY! Us wives thought for sure that someone was either going to die or get hurt , but surprising they all pulled it off and even attempted some pretty cool tricks! Kory put together this little video and put it on utube so I thought you could all enjoy!

4th of July

2008-07-07T14:54:00.000-07:00

Happy FOURTH of JULY! We had alot of fun with Lehua coming to visit us here in albuquerque! Our ward always has a pancake breakfast and bike parade for the kids so we loaded up our decorated bikes and scooters and headed to the church. After the parade we headed to the zoo (which I thought that no on would be at because it was the fourth, but I guess everyone thought that!). It was okay, but hot! Then we headed to a the Halls house to swim. They are actually out of town, but they gave todd the keys... are they crazy or what! Thanks Halls! Then we came back home and bbq'd, let off a few fireworks and put the tired little children to bed. What a fun filled day!

Cash Bash

2008-07-07T14:38:00.000-07:00

Todd's family had a one day family reunion a couple of weekends ago and like usual I didn't get many pictures. I'm horrible about getting the camera out of my bag and then even more horrible at getting any really good pictures! It was a fun day filled with four square, good food, an auction, more good food, and good company. I love getting together with Todd's family! Traekon was in arizona spending some time with his other cousins so thats why there are no pictures of him.

Almost got her!

Todd giving everyone a heart attack as usual!

MRSA!?!

2008-06-25T09:22:00.000-07:00

I came across these pictures a while back and I wanted to post this mostly for journaling reasons so I don't forget. So bear with me. In the short 5 years of traekon's life he has already had MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) twice! For those of you who have no clue what that is it's a super mutated staff infection. The first time he got it we lived in thatcher and he was only 2 years old. Todd's brother was living with us at the time and ended up getting it somehow. At that same time Traekon had an open wound on his foot. It ended up getting really infected so I took him to the doctor and they tested it. Sure enough it was MRSA. They put him on an antibiotic(at the time there was only a few antibiotics for this infection cause it was so rare) and it got better. Well about a month later he kept complaining about his leg hurting right in his groin area. I thought maybe he had pulled a muscle somehow cause I couldn't see anything. Then one morning he woke up with a ping pong sized ball on his leg. I took him in and they immediately sent me to the ER where they hospitalized him. The very next morning they took him into surgery. They ended up opening his leg, drained the puse, and left his leg open so that they could drain it every morning and scrub it out. OUCH!! It was the hardest week of my life and his. Containing a two year old in a hospital with an iv in his arm for an entire week is not fun. Needless to say he got lots of new fun toys, and many rides on his iv cart around the hospital. After coming home I swore that we would never do that again! Boy was I wrong!

The next MRSA experience went a little different. It was just about a year ago. I'll start from the beginning. The day I brought Ashton home from the hospital(In my defense keep in mind that i have c-sections so I'm a little out of it at this time!) Todd took traekon to the park to ride his bike. He was just learning how to ride without his training wheels so my brilliant husband decided to let him go down the drainage, which looks alot like a sidewalk, but with alot of trash and germs, and who knows what else. Of course he crashes(men don't think sometimes!) Luckily, or so we thought, he ended up with a few bruises and a strawberry on his elbow. I didn't think much of the strawberry, but now looking back I should have scrubbed the heck out of that thing. Remember new baby, sore body, not walking very well! So about a month later sure enough Traekon has this nasty infection on his elbow which I swear just showed up one day. So I took him in and told the pediatrician "he has MRSA on in his elbow". The lady would not believe me and I couldn't convince her otherwise. She sent me home unwillingly with an antibiotic that I knew was not going to work and for my sake took a swab of his elbow. HA two days later she called me back apologizing telling me to bring him in immediately. Wouldn't you know...MRSA! They gave him a shot of the right antibiotics and a perscription. It started clearing up and eventually went away. So this was probably May. I thought for sure I was home free. Not in this story though. August rolls around and Traekon's in the bath. He reaches up to wash his hair and holy cow he has a bump a size of a marble under his arm. AH CRAP! Is all I can say. I take him in and tell them his history and that I know that it's MRSA and that the last time this happened he was in the hospital for a week. Can you guess what happens next....Yep they don't believe me! Doctors should always go with a mothers intuition. But nope they send me to get blood work done on him, and just to be safe send me to a pediatric oncologist. So then I start doubting myself and thinking maybe it is cancer. Talk about being a nervous wreck. Well we meet with the oncologist and he has no clue what it is. I tell him about his past so he puts Traekon on another dose of the MRSA antibiotic and tells me to keep him posted. While all of this is happening Traekon has NO health insurance, because it expired and no one likes to tell me these things so we are paying for all of this out of pocket, ugh! Anyway I take the perscription in to get it filled and because it's so new I fork out...1,000.00 big ones. Talk about a headache! To boot, the antibiotics didn't even work. The lump is now the size of a golf ball. I call to get an appointment with the oncologist and he's out of town. I finally get an appointment with his pediatrician who then refers me to a pediatric surgeon. By the time we get in to see him the bump is no longer a bump, but an actual town with it's own zip code. It was HUGE! Traekon couldn't even put his arm down. I'm completely livid with all doctors because all along i've told them what it is and what they need to do. But does anyone listen to little ol' me...nope! The surgeon takes one look and says "wow why didn't you come in sooner" I could have ripped his sorry little eyes out but he was acutally a good doctor so I didn't. He books an appointment right away. This time around was a little better cause they didn't hospitalize him. So that was a bonus. All they did this time was cut a little slit, drained the puse, and stuffed it with gauze. We had to pull about an inch of gauze each day until it was gone. Gross! Now a year later all is well and now everytime he gets a cut, scrap, or any open wound whatsoever, we scrub it like crazy with hibiclens. Hopefully the MRSA stories are a thing of the past! Oh and we got back on insurance before the surgery, thank goodness!

This is surgery day... Can you believe the size of that thing! Traekon was such a trooper cause he never complained about it even when he couldn't put his arm down.

After surgery with gauze hanging out.

2008-06-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

A. ATTACHED OR SINGLE? Attached to Todd, Traekon, Kenzi, and Ashton
B. BEST FRIEND? Todd
C. CAKE OR PIE? Cake...Chocolate cake!
D. DAY OF CHOICE? I should say sunday, but I have to be honest and say Friday
E. ESSENTIAL ITEMS? air conditioning, DVD players in the car for long trips, a Car( i went a week without one while it was in the shop...not fun!)
F. FAVORITE COLORS? Red, Black, Teal
G. GUMMY BEARS OR WORMS? Worms
H. HOMETOWN? Pima, Arizona
I. INDULGENCE? Shopping and eating good food
J. JANUARY OR JULY? Definitely July, lake time baby!
K. Kids? Traekon 5, Kenzi 3, Ashton 1
L. LIFE ISN'T COMPLETE WITHOUT? My Hubby and my kids
M. MARRIAGE DATE? March 1, 2002
N. NUMBER OF BROTHERS AND SISTERS? 2 brothers--Marc and Robert, 4 sisters--Leilani, malia, kanani, and Lehua. I'm the baby:)
O. ORANGES OR APPLES? both
P. PHOBIAS OR FEARS? Fear of losing a child or my spouse. The dentist, cancer, scorpions
Q. QUOTE? "All the great things in life aren't things"
R. REASON TO SMILE? 8:00pm Betime!
S. SUPERMAN OR WONDER WOMAN? Hmm, neither...maybe jason bourne:)
T. TAG 5 PEOPLE Pay attention! Any 5 who have time!
U. UNKNOWN FACT ABOUT ME: I HATE hanging up clothes
IV. VEGETABLES? Peas, corn, brocoli, asparagus, carrots, green beans...There's to many good ones!
W. WORST HABIT? Forgetting my phone when I leave my house. My hubby hates that!
X. X-RAY OR ULTRASOUND? Ultrasound. It has a much happier reason:)
Y. YOUR FAVORITE FOOD? Too many to mention, I hate seafood though, blah!
Z. ZODIAC SIGN? Scorpio? Is that what that means?!

Nap Time

2008-06-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

With all this working out, I'm totally beat! Todd took Traekon with him to run some errands and ashton was down for a nap so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to lay down with kenzi and take a nap. Well I fell asleep with kenzi playing on the bed. I woke up 10 minutes later(probably longer but it felt really short) and couldn't find kenzi anywhere. I started to panic just a little cause i left the front door unlocked(bad, bad, bad). In pima thats probably okay, but not so much here. Anyway, I searched everywhere. No Kenzi. I started heading back to my room and the office and found this between my bed and the door. She was out like a light!

Nose stuffer

2008-06-18T17:41:00.000-07:00

Traekon had asked if he could sleep on kenzi's floor which I let him do sometimes for fun, but this night they were exceptionally rowdy. So I told them if I heard them playing and messing around that he would have to go back to his own room. They readily agreed, so I tucked them in and headed to the living room to watch tv with todd. The little stinkers very quietly snuck into the bathroom and were getting toilet paper and then running back into kenzi's room. About 20 minutes into the show traekon comes out and says "mom there's something stuck in my nose." and me thinking it's just a booger tell him to get a tissue blow his nose and go back to bed! So he proceeds to blow his nose and keeps telling me that something is stuck. Very impatiently I tell him to blow harder. Finally after a couple minutes of blowing I tell him to let me see. He runs over and i look up his nose and sure enough I see something way up there. I can't help but start laughing, todd grabs a flashlight and I head for my tweezers( probably very unsafe, but what else was I supposed to do). So we lay him down, shine the light, and grab whatever is shoved up his nostril. Out comes this huge(okay not huge but about the size of a jelly bean) rolled up ball of toilet paper sooked with snot! Those of you who know traekon know that he has this fetish for rolling things, even worms (long story). I can't stop laughing as I'm lecturing him on how we are not supposed to shove things up our nostrils. He's 5 you'd think he'd know, but I guess not. Anyway it made for a good laugh! Kids!!!

No more FLAB!

2008-06-18T14:46:00.000-07:00

I did it people...I joined a gym! After my arizona/mexico trip i decided that enough was enough. The body fat had to go! Needless to say spending time with my stick figure sisters didn't help much. So the day after I got home me and Nicole(a buddy of mine here in alb.) marched our booties to all the gyms near us and joined one. We ended up joining defined fitness cause it was the cheapest and they have free daycare. The very next morning we got up and went to the spin class at 5:45. Wow thats early!!!!! I thought I was going to pass out after about 20 minutes and nicole swore she was going to puke, so the next day we decided to try the 9:00 class that rotates step aerobics, salsa, and some other class that we get our heart rate up and sweat alot(I don't know how else to explain it!) We loved it, but that meant we had to take the children. We've been doing great until yesterday ashton woke up with....
you guessed it pink eye! He had to have gotten it at the daycare. Bummer! I sacrificed my childs health for the sake of losing weight. Am I a horrible mother? So now I'm really leery about the daycare, but what else can I do?! I guess get my ghetto booty back up at 5:45. AHH decisions, decisions! LAME i know!

Vacation in arizona/rocky point

2008-06-18T13:50:00.000-07:00

About two weeks ago we headed to Arizona to visit my fam and spend some time in Rocky point. Before heading to Rocky point we spent some time with the cousins in arizona. We sure do love our cousins there! Traekon absolutely adores all his fun boy cousins in the gila valley and is constantly telling me he misses them and wants to live by them. He also asks when they are coming to visit him(hint, hint)! While there my absolutely best girlfriend was also there (I won't mention names cause she hates the whole blogging seen!) She let us ride her horses, which I haven't done since uh.... yep high school! It was so much fun and the kids loved every second of it! The kids play hard when we are in arizona, resulting in grumpy tired kids at night, but it's well worth it!

The boys with there mohawks like ashton's

Ashton crashing after a long day of playing!

After a week in thatcher/pima we headed to cholla bay (puerto penasco) with todd's family and the Hines (family friends). The Hines own a little cabin that sits right on the bay so when the tide comes in the water is right off the back porch. It's super neat and alot of fun! We spent a couple of days there just relaxing on the beach. Kanani kept ashton for me and in return we took bradyn with us. Talk about a good trade! I never saw traekon and bradyn unless they were hungry. I didn't think they would let us back across the border with my two mexican looking boys! Bradyn already has a great tan...so imagine what he looks like after 4 days in the sun! Luckily we made it home safe and sound. What a great little vacation to start the summer out right!

2008-05-23T12:46:00.000-07:00

oops... I forgot to tag 5 people so... April, Ali, Camille, Jen, and Katie are the lucky number 5!:)

2008-05-23T12:33:00.000-07:00

Alright Becky... this is my very first tag so here I go...

How to play this game. Post these rules on your blog; List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names.

3 joys: 1. My cute little fam 2. Going on a date with my hubby 3. Getting a whole nights sleep

3 fears: 1. Unexpected death of my family 2. Being fat/unattractive my whole life 3. someone kidnapping my children

3 goals: 1. Enjoying being a mom more! 2. Cooking more(more nutritional stuff) 3. Exercising every day

3 current obsessions/collections: 1.blogging 2. shopping(bad, bad, bad!) 3. reading

3 random facts: 1. I love to ride my kids scooter... I know random, but fun! 2. I can't diet for the life of me! I've tried, but fail everytime:( 3. I would rather give birth(not counting the recovery time) then throw up. (I just had the stomach flu...and have c-sections so it's not to bad)

Rockin 50's Party

2008-05-23T11:05:00.001-07:00

Wow...I need to figure out how to do a slide show! Anyway Kenzi's 3rd birthday was this week and one of my good friends here in alb. talked me into doing a 50's party cause she already had everything for it. The Moody's also just purchased a jumping dragon, so they graciously let us borrow it (Thanks Moody's)! We ate hot dogs and hamburgers with french fries, that we put in the cute diner looking baskets. We had coke in the glass bottles and had cherry and vanilla flavoring to go inside if wanted. The kids jumped there little hearts out, which was great cause we didn't even have to do any little games:) We did have a pinata, which is a must at a birthday party! After the pinata we sang and had banana splits and shakes instead of cake. Kenzi then opened presents and thouroughly loved every minute of it! She made out like a bandit with all her cute toys, pajamas, dress up clothes, and last but not least her new scooter! Todd was quite the trooper...he was very reluctant to wear his costume, but in the end I know he had a blast! What a fun night!!!

Piano Recital

2008-05-23T10:58:00.000-07:00

Concentrating or Scared?

Traekon's been in piano for about 2 months now and just had his first recital. He did so awesome! I think he was more into it then any of the other students. He concentrated so hard he almost looked scared...or was he so scared that he looked like he was concentrating?!?!

taking a bow

Alone time!

2008-05-23T10:55:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when mom and dad try to have some alone time in the middle of the day...serves us right! It was throughout the whole house.

Traekon's preschool graduation

2008-05-23T10:30:00.000-07:00

(Traekon's costume he made all by himself. He was a dinosaur, but couldn't help but add a few trucks too!)

A lot has been going on these past few weeks and I'm barely getting to update with all the fun things that have happened! So bare with me as we get through everything! First... our sweet baby boy has graduated to becoming our big almost kindergartner! Has 5 years really gone by? Traekon just can't say enough about how much he loved his preschool and his teachers and neither can I. It is by far the best preschool out there! Okay, I'm a little biased but they truly made this year so fun and memorable for us. Instead of doing a usual graduation ceremony they had the kids pick there favorite things that they learned about and made a play out of it. The kids even made up there own lines. It was great! Traekon was a parasauralophoraus dinosaur and was definitely the best looking one up there. Hands down!!! It's hard for me to believe that I now get to send him out into the world (okay just kindergarten), but to me it feels like the world! He will be going from 9-4 everyday. Part of me is so ready for him to go, but part of me is crying inside! Is my little boy ready to face the real world? I can only cross my fingers and pray that we have taught him enough to make it through this deranged world! I know, i know it's only kindergarten, but this is the beginning of me no longer having complete control!

Shaking his moracca's for a song.

Saying his part

Singing a song!

No more preboarding!

2008-05-11T21:42:00.000-07:00

Todd had father and sons this weekend so I decided to fly to vegas and visit my sister leilani. I flew with all three kids last year and it went pretty good so I thought for sure I could handle 2 easily. I decided I would take ashton's car seat and put him in it and then hold kenzi. Well to make a long story short I get to the gate and I'm waiting for them to preboard...I've got my double stoller with ashton hooked into his front facing carseat which is hooked on the back seat of the stroller. Everyone was looking at me like "Are you serious...two kids all by yourself?!" Little do they know I got another one at home:) They call for all preboarders and so I head up there. The steward at the gate just looked at me and said "Oh we don't preboard children anymore." You have got to be kidding me! So i sit back down and wait for them to board the "B" passengers. Okay so I'm still feeling okay about this, but then it's time to board. I get down the gate and start letting everyone go past me cause I have to take down my stroller. I get it down and grab ashton figuring it will be easier to keep him in the car seat, I have kenzi hold my pant leg and I head into the airplane. I walk in and yep....it's completely packed. So to my dismay I start heading to the back of the plane holding ashton's car seat up above everyones heads because it doesn't fit down the aisle. I have to apologize to everyone as I walk by because the car seat straps are knocking them in the heads. AHHH I'm totally sweating bullets, it's actually dripping down my forehead. So I finally get to the very back of the plane, my arms are killing me, I'm sweating, I sit down get everyone adjusted and reach for the diaper bag for ashton's sippy... but there is no bag. Yep I left it in the terminal. So I grab a steward and pleadingly ask them to watch my children ( I know crazy, but I wasn't going to drag them out of that airplane) and to hold the plane. I bolt off the plane and luckily it's sitting right where we left it. I get back on the plane stressed to the max! Amazingly my children are little angels and both fall asleep right after take off. I fly home tomorrow and if it's anything like this so help me!!!

Grouchy!

2008-04-28T13:36:00.000-07:00

Do you ever just wake up and hate the world? Everything and everybody bugs you, your house is an absolute mess, you have a butt load of laundry to do, and then to top it off every single one of you children pees there bed (even your 5 year old who hasn't peed the bed in like forever):( Yep that's my life today. Laundry coming out my ears, grouchiness, vacuum, grouchiness, dishes, grouchiness... you get my drift. I just had to vent and get it off my chest. Tomorrow's a new day right?!? Todd hopes so anyway. Me I'm just going to waller in my own self pity until i feel like it okay!

Preschool Volcano Feild Trip

2008-04-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

Traekon went on a field trip today to the "hugest , biggest , volcano ever" . (taken from traekon's point of view!). We took Ti (one of his bestest friends here in albuquerque) with us. They had a total blast. Traekon even found a rock that he swears has dinosaur bones inside. He absolutely loves his preschool, and so do I. He has the most amazing teachers who somehow can get 24 4 and 5 year olds to listen and obey them! And they actually learn:) Looking in a cave.

Ti and Traekon

View of Alb. from on top

Fun times!

Traekon's cute class

All Cash

2008-04-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

Ashton is all CASH! My other two resemble both me and todd pretty equally but this kid...Cash. Those of you who know todd's fam know what I'm talking about! Gotta love the drool and snot too. He's been drooling since 2 months so it will be a happy day when all his teeth are in:) He is such a fun kid with a great personality. He makes my days happy! He keeps us on our toes for sure!! I love this CASH baby!

All Cash

2008-04-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

Daddy Hairdo

2008-04-12T19:12:00.001-07:00

Me and my sister-in-law April decided to do a little shopping today and this is what I came home to. I love daddy hairdo's don't you! Very spunky I must say! At least he tries right...

Shower time

2008-04-12T18:58:00.000-07:00

Ashton decided he was going to take a shower today with Kenzi. Sneaky little guy got in the bathroom without me knowing and very quickly got in the shower before his mommy could stop him! Of course he had all his clothes on. He absolutely loves to play in the shower! Last saturday I found him in the shower eating a bar a soap...remember this kid eats anything. So much for washing his mouth out with soap when he gets older!:)

Snowboarding!

2008-04-12T18:44:00.001-07:00

Traekon Cash...Can't you just hear them announcing that name as he comes down the slopes at the winter olympics! This boy is going to make us lots of money!J/K!!! He is pretty good for only being four at the time. Todd actually took him last year too and dedicated his snowboarding season to teaching traekon. What an awesome daddy!

Easter egg hunting

2008-04-10T15:06:00.000-07:00

I didn't get any pictures of my kids in their matching easter sunday attire, but I remembered that I got some the day before at an easter egg hunt that one our friends was throwing. Traekon forgot his easter bucket at the house so he ended up with a grocery bag. Oh well! My sister leilani and her family were down that week also so her kids are in some of the pictures. Who is that fatty in the last picture...oh man that's me, I can't seem to get the third baby fat off. UGH!!!

Sassy girl

2008-04-10T14:59:00.000-07:00

Can I just say that I love my daughter...even if she is the sassiest little thing ever! She sure knows how to push my buttons. My mom swears that it has to come from Todd's side cause her children were all perfect little angels:)

Zoo Trip

2008-04-08T15:19:00.000-07:00

The week of spring break we went to the zoo with some friends. We couldn't have asked for better weather. That's definitely one of the greates perks about albuquerque is the weather!

Happy 5th B-day Traekon

2008-04-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

March 25th Traekon turned 5! He was so excited to turn 5 that he seriously had to ask me every day when he's birthday was. He chose to have a dinosaur party since he's been learning about them in preschool. We invited every single friend on his list (thank goodness most moms hung around!). We played pin the horns on the triceratops, we had a dinosaur dig with bones and dinosaur eggs, and smashed a pinata! They ate dino nuggets, dino eggs(grapes), and for the plant eating dino's we had carrots. We had a blast! Traekon and his friends absolutely loved it!

Happy 1st Birthday Ashton!

2008-04-08T14:30:00.000-07:00

March 14th Ashton turned 1! We just had a little family party with a few family friends. Okay I have to admit that it was actually just supposed to be a barbeque with some friends, but at the last minute I decided it would be ashton's b-day party too. It was a day early but hey it worked. He'll never remember right?!?! I ran out 30 minutes before and got a costco cake. He loved it even if it wasn't all decorated cute! Cheap I know!

Family picture

2008-04-08T13:40:00.001-07:00

So the family picture I used is about a year old. I know...it's time for some new pictures. Don't worry I am not harming Ashton in this picture (contrary to belief) I am simply trying to get him to suck on my finger. This picture was taken last July in Mesa at around noon. Probably the hottest time in arizona history. Needless to say the kids weren't to happy!

Official Blogger!

2008-04-08T11:54:00.000-07:00

I am an official blogger! Yeah! Now I just got to figure out how it all works:) My hubby is going to be so proud of me!