Foote's

A New Year A New Start

2012-01-25T13:20:00.001-07:00

Aly bringing in the New Year enjoying some chocolate fondue

I haven't been great at posting past blogs. I have decided that as of the New Year I will just start fresh and slowly add in past blogs to catch up for the last six months.

This will definitely be a January to remember, although to be truthful there are a lot of things about it that I would like to forget.

We brought in the New Year celebrating with cousins, eating great food, and visiting with family. The girls highlight was having a dance party with glow sticks in the dark, setting off poppers, and toasting in the New Year at 9:00pm (we didn't think they would make it to midnight and wanted to give them a chance to enjoy the festivities). The kids were all set up with a movie and once they were all snuggled down and ready to crash. We decided the adults could play some games. We were in the process of getting set up for a game when Dwyn took a fall against the fireplace, and split her eyebrow. We loaded the kids up and headed home. I stayed home with the girls and Foote headed off to the ER with Dwyn. Because she was so young the hospital decided to glue her cut together instead of stitches. So Foote welcomed in the new year in the ER.

Cousin Talia ready to Celebrate the New Year

Preston and his family posing for a quick New Years photo

Aunt Shanda leading the glow in the dark dance party. (I am not an expert enough on my camera to make the shot dark and still catch the action.)

Hopefully this start to the New Year is not a sign of things to come. The next few weeks have just become a blur of projects and craziness. We moved from our town home into a house not to far away with a little more room. While it is nice to have more room the house is an older home and moving from a new build home has made us realize that wee were spoiled in many ways. We spent about a week with the help of family painting and cleaning the house to move into. And the next week moving and cleaning the house we moved from. I have decided that I am not a mover I am going to need at least five years to recover before we can even consider moving again.(I don't know if I will be so lucky, but one can wish right?) I am grateful we made the move now. If I was any more pregnant I think that would have just added to the stress of it all. We are now moved and everyday we try to live our normal routine and wade through the mess of boxes that still need to be unpacked.

Meanwhile life goes on and about a year ago I purchased a month of unlimited dance classes for the girls it was a really good deal a whole month of classes for $20.00. I had planned to use them up in the summer, but never did. The offer was only good for a year so this month I have also had to cram in dance classes with everything else, but it has probably been a nice break for the girls to get away from the chaos of moving. The only problem has been that I really did not have any extra time to take them. Despite all the craziness we have survived January and hope that the rest of the year is not as crazy as the start.

Dwyn turns One

2012-01-01T21:53:00.004-07:00

It does not seem to be possible that a year could already have passed. Our little Dwyn turned one on December 23rd. We celebrated with family on Christmas Day. I figured she is still young enough that we can get away with that for now. Although, I have been warned by multiple people with Christmas birthdays that I better be sure to keep Christmas and her birthday seperate in the future.

Dwyn at age one is just so cute. I love this age when your baby is still baby enough that you can just hold them and squeeze them, and big enough to squeeze back. Dwyn is such a good baby and has such "a go with the flow attitude," I think it might be a requirement for a third child. Dwyn loves to play peek-a-boo. I think my favorite place to see her play peek-a-boo is at church, she ducks down behind the bench and jumps up trying to get anyone that is sitting behind us to smile or play with her. While I have to admit it is not reverent, and I have to stop her from doing it so she does not make it impossible for anyone behind us to pay attention, it is so cute. Dwyn also is facinated by all the sounds that she can make with her mouth or with anyone elses. Often I will be holding her and talking and she will start bouncing her finger between my lips trying to get different sounds. She is just beginning to talk and sign. She says Dad and Mom the most, but she can also sign some beginning words like; eat, no, thank you, bath, all done, more, mom, dad, and a few others. Dwyn is crawling everywhere, but not quite ready to walk although she moves around furniture pretty well. Dwyn does drive me crazy with her sleep schedule at 12mos she still is not consistently sleeping through the night. One night she can sleep all through the night and the next night she can wake up every two hours crying, and it is quite the process to soothe her and get her back to bed.

Our poor Dwyn being a third child has had to deal with the dangers of older siblings. Aly and Brookie are always trying to be helpful, often in their attempts to help end up hurting instead of helping. Alyson's famous words while around Dwyn are: "It was an accident." This phrase is the opening statement Aly uses when talking about why Dwyn is crying. Brooklyn loves to carry Dwyn around and hold her which considering that she is probably about half the size of Brooklyn can be a little scary. The other day I put Dwyn in the sink to bath and left the water running. I was not worried about the sink over flowing because it had an overflow drain and the water was not on very high. I went about five feet down the hall to get a washcloth. Meanwhile Brooklyn walked into the bathroom and saw the water in the sink and immedately thought she should shut it off so it would not overflow. The only problem, is that she shut off the cold before she shut off the hot. Despite my run back to the bathroom at Dwyn's screams she still had a secound degree burn on her leg. Too much help. The girls, despite their frequent accidents really do adore her and she loves being the center of attention.

Dwyn on Christmas with her new scar from her second degree burn

First Bike Ride

2011-08-27T22:19:00.000-06:00

At the end of August, I completed my first long distance bike ride. I was at a ward dinner last year talking to our friends, the Van Wagnens. Rod Van Wagnen loves to cycle and has done a lot of different bike rides. At the time, I was really pregnant, but I told him we should train for the Copper Triangle in 2011. I have done a lot of running races and triathlons and was ready to do something a little different. In April our early Saturday morning rides began, and every Saturday morning from then until August we were out riding. I loved it. Rod is in the Air Force, so most Saturdays we spent riding around the Academy in Colorado Springs which is so pretty and just perfect for cycling.

The Copper Triangle Course

The Copper Triangle is a really popular bike ride in Colorado because over the course of the ride you climb up three different mountain passes and end up climbing a total of about 6,000 ft. It is a beautiful scenic mountain ride and can be challenging, but to my surprise in all my cycling I found that I was better at climbing hills than anything else.

When I was training I was worried about making it up Vail Pass because I rode up it many years ago with Foote for one of our first dates and I remembered that it was a HARD climb. Foote had originally planned for our date to ride down Vail pass spend some time in Vail and catch a bus back up, but after riding down it I thought it can't be that hard to go back up. Lets just say after one of the longest most exhausting afternoons of my life. I spent about 70% of the ride walking my bike up the hill and getting passed by 70 year old men telling me to get back on my bike. It was not a great cycling moment for me.

Luckily, this time I trained for Vail pass and it was no problem. I completed the whole ride in just over six hours. I kept having to remind myself that I was on a ride not a race. It is a totally different mindset than running. You are supposed to take your time enjoy your stops on the course and despite my attempts to take it slow I still ended up flying through the course. I think I was afraid if I allowed myself to rest to long I would not get back on the bike. I am definitely going to have to do this ride again.

Why do you make me work so hard?

2011-08-22T07:17:00.005-06:00

Tonight while eating Dinner. I was having a discussion with the girls about chores. Aly is usually a pretty good little helper, as long as she is in a good mood. Brooklyn, on the other hand, can not seem to manage doing a chore without first complaining about it for at least three times as long as it would actually take to complete the task. Tonight I told the girls they needed to empty the dishwasher. I have them do it as a team, so one can be up on the counter and the other can hand up the dishes. I know, most moms would prefer to keep their kids off the counter, but mine always climb up there anyways, so they might as well do something helpful in the process.

The deal was, that they had to complete the chore before they could have dinner. Brooklyn immediately began to whine "why do you make us work so much?". My responses are usually something like "Because I am a mean mom who loves to torture her kids." or "I love to pretend like I am Miss Hannigan, and you are my orphans and have you to clean the whole house".

Foote on the other hand trys to take the loving approach and help them realize the benefit of respondsibilities. At dinner Foote asks Brooklyn " When you grow up an have a house do you think you will want your house to be clean or dirty?" Brookie replied "Clean." Foote - "Will you want your house vacuumed?", Brookie - "yes" Foote - "How will you know how to vacume your house if you never practice." long pause Brookie -"Well, when I was at Grandma's house, she told Ann how to vacuum in a straight line and I was listening to her, so I know how to vacuum." Foote - "Don't you think you will need to practice" Brookie - "No I was listening so, I will just remember." Leave it up to brook to justify herself out of chores.

Kindergarten: This is serious stuff

2011-08-14T17:46:00.007-06:00

Two weeks before school started, I had already received about ten different e-mails from Aly's school. We decided to enroll Aly in one of the Charter schools within our district, but I was beginning to panic by the amounts of information I was required to review before that first day. So here it is; first, uniforms. We were provided with very specific instructions on what qualifies as khaki and what is just khaki, colored denim. Polos - what are acceptable colors, no designs of any kind. Belts need to match the shoes. The instructions go on and on. I have to admit that the uniforms are great now that school has started. There have been no arguments on why she can't wear her favorite tie dye shirt that is two sizes to big, or why she can't wear an outfit of all the same color just different shades. It makes getting her ready for school fast and easy.

Next email: specific instructions on how traffic is supposed to flow at drop off and pick up. With 400 kids at the school and no buses...lets just say things get a little crazy. I have to say I am very impressed by how well organized things are, Although I did get in trouble by the traffic Nazi the first day of school, for allowing my child out of the wrong side of the car. This is serious stuff. School clubs, PTO, the list goes on and on. I am now officially part of the "My Child is in School and Will be for a Long Long Time" club. Not to mention the kids to follow. This craziness will get to be multiplied as each child enters a new school year.

Two weeks into the school year and, Aly has homework about every night. A spelling test and a phonogram test every week. I am glad that she is in a school that is challenging her, but I do not remember Kindergarten being so hard. I remember my biggest stress about Kindergarten, was what center I would get to play at during our indoor playtime.

Another drama that is part of the daily school routine is that Aly refuses to walk into her class by herself. This is a little challenging since three days a week Aly has to be to school at 12:00 and Brooklyn has to be at school a few miles away at 12:15. We have to try to time our arrival at school at the same time as her other classmates so she will have someone to walk into class with. Otherwise I have to park the car, get out, and spend an extra ten minutes saying goodbye and coaxing her into her classroom.

School time Seriously?

2011-08-14T17:20:00.010-06:00

I may be the only mother that wants to stand up and protest, but these summers are just way to short. I always have a list of about 100 things I would like to do with my kids over the summer, and I am usually lucky to do five. This summer we spent our time poolside, camping, and at the library.

Colorado Springs, within the last few years, has become the target of the hardcore gyms. You know the ones that are "112,000 sq ft of healthy luxury" (whatever that's supposed to mean?) I guess working out is supposed to be more enjoyable if it is at a pretty gym...by the way, not true. Since these gyms were just getting their start I was able to get some good deals that would assure us that we could at least spend the summer at a pool. Alyson, Brooklyn and Dwyn logged a lot of swimming hours this year. Brooklyn was one of the youngest to pass the swimming test. She had to swim 25 meters on her own, in deep water. She passed with flying colors. Alyson is finally tall enough to go down the slide, which made Brooklyn determined that she should be tall enough also. Despite being told by life guards on multiple occasions, that Brooklyn was to small, she took every opportunity she could to sneak down the slide....Despite my continual warnings.

This is where we lived this summer or at least an exact replica of the our pool I think this one is in Texas.

Camping - I have decided that one of my dream vacations is to just camp all summer long. As soon as the kids get out of school we would take off on a road trip across the US and see some of the sites, camping all along the way. If we like the place we stay an extra night, if not we just move on to the next campsite. If kids are dirty, who cares were camping? If I eat completely unhealthy, who cares I am camping? I haven't quite figured out how Foote is supposed to work while we are camping all across the US, but I am determined that one of these summers we are going to do it.

Brooklyn loves everything about camping.

Foote wants the girls to learn how to set up their own tent. Aly had a great time helping.

The camping face.....Who cares? We're camping.

Library - Both of the girls really got away with slacking off on their reading this summer. I usually make them read at least 20 min a day during the week, but this summer we were just to busy playing and I let them slack off. They did the bare minimum to get all their prizes with the summer reading program and loved getting out of their daily reading.

Enjoying running through the fountains after listening to a concert in the park. This is what summer is all about

Alas...It has all come to an end. Aly started Kindergarten on the 3rd of August, and Brooklyn started preschool this week. So I will now have to move the other 95 items to my to do list for next summer. Hope you all had a great summer full of fun experiences and lots of adventures.

Aly ready for the first day of school

Brooklyn Turns 4

2011-07-10T18:44:00.000-06:00

Brooklyn turned four at the beginning of June. Brooklyn's latest obsession is taking pictures. She is always playing with my camera, so for her birthday she received a miniature digital camera, compliments of Foote's online negotiating. We also took a family trip to the circus. Brooklyn was a little sad that she did not get to have a friend party this year, but she lost the privilege after bleaching her room (If our house survives these girls it will be a miracle). I had not been to the circus forever so it was fun to experience it with the girls. Brooklyn liked the elephants and Alyson liked the tigers.

We also celebrated with Foote's family at the pool in Castle Rock, and did cake and ice cream with my family after Sunday dinner. Brooklyn was so funny, when we went swimming in Castle Rock, she really wanted to go off the diving board. Andrew was catching her, but the lifeguard told him she had to be able to swim to the edge of the pool by herself. We told Brookie that she would not be able to go off the board anymore because she had to swim to the edge. She burst into tears, so I asked her if she wanted to go into the pool and practice swimming and come back when she could do it. That was all it took, she worked for about an hour on swimming back and forth from me to the wall and then it was back to the diving board, she was so proud of herself. Brooklyn is so determined which can be good and bad. If she wants to do it she will. On the other hand, if she doesn't want to do it she won't .

Brooklyn's birthday interview:

What is your favorite book? The treat books by Kevin Henkes this is a set of books that the girls received from their Aunt Kari and Uncle Ed, and they have read them thousands of times they are a very well loved set of books at our house.

What is your favorite thing to do?I love to drink soda with ice cream...we have been having root beer floats lately and Brooklyn loves them.

What is your favorite food? M&Ms and Watermelon

What do you want to be when you grow up?I want to plant a garden

What is your favorite movie?Tarzan and Jane

What is your favorite scripture story?The story of the resurrection

What is your favorite song? Teach me to walk in the light

Things I want to remember about Brooklyn at this age:

Brooklyn has a very determined personality if she wants to do something there is no stopping her. Brooklyn is a little nurturer. If Dwyn is crying or hungry Brooklyn does not hesitate to take charge. I thought the excitement of holding the baby would wear off after the first few months, but Brooklyn still asks to hold the baby about ten times a day. Brooklyn loves to sing and is an excellent climber. She climbs everything. I have to admit that it is like watching myself when I was little I used to climb everything.

Aly's Age 5 Interview

2011-05-01T18:03:00.000-06:00

Sum up of Aly's favorites and interests at 5.

What is your Favorite Book?
"Hop on Pop," She loves this book because she can read it all by herself. It took about fifteen minutes for her to work her way through it the first time, but now she has it down and loves to haul it around reading it to Brooklyn or anyone that will listen. The other day we did an outing to the theater and I turned around as we walked into the theater and realized Aly had not left "Hop on Pop" in the car...seriously your bringing the book into the movie? This girl loves that she can read.

What is your Favorite Food?
Fruit! That sums it up although strawberries are her favorite. Aly has yet to meet a fruit that she does not like. I bought a pound of Strawberries yesterday and they are gone and Aly is the only one that had any, if I forget to hide the fruit it is gone in just a couple days. Did you know that tomato is a fruit? And yes she will eat them like apples.

What is your favorite thing to do?
Art

Who are your friends?
"Brad, Cassidy, Aubrey, Kaitlyn, Katie, Megan, Madison, and cousins, but Brad is my best friend." Aly loves Brad because, as she puts it "He is always nice to me." This is a boy that she goes to school and primary with, and just adores. She is always drawing pictures or making presents for Brad, and always wants him to come over to play. After their last playdate I have theory on why she gets along so well he is just so laid back that Aly can boss him around or talk nonstop to him and he just agrees with whatever she says.

What to be When you grow up?
A painter

What is your favorite movie?
The new Tinkerbell movie and Caillou

What is your favorite scripture story?
"Moroni, who prayed for a long time" (obviously we have some more teaching and clarifying to do when it comes to scripture stories.)

What is your favorite sport?
Swimming. She saw the swim team practicing when we went swimming with Grandma Foote. She wants to be on the swim team, but she has to be six and be able to do the crawl and backstroke for 25 yards. She is going to have to practice a lot this summer if she wants to join next year.

Things that I want to remember about Aly at this age:

This girl is so easy to teach. I work with her almost everyday on reading, writing and math and I'm blown away at how far she has come in a year. I also love her enthusiasm for learning. I told her I would teach her to read an analog clock when she memorized her multiples of five. That was all it took, TWO DAYs later she had them mastered. I am excited to see how she does when she starts kindergarten.

Aly loves ART. This is a gene that she did not get from me. I bought Aly and Brooklyn art kits for Christmas, and Aly has worn out both hers and Brooklyns and has put some good wear and tear on a new one she received for her birthday.

Her life is a musical she is constantly singing. If we are combing her hair she is singing about combing her hair. If I tell her to get her shoes on she is singing about her shoes. Her songs are so simple and funny.

Natalee leaves on her Mission

2011-04-07T13:16:00.003-06:00

Aunt Natalee and uncle Dan with all the grandkids that were at the missionary FHE.

I'm finally posting this now that my sister has been on her mission for over a month. We're loving having a family member on a mission. I think when my brothers served, I was either to young or to involved in my own life to keep up with everything. With Natalee I am always thinking of things to write to her or counting down to her next letter.

Natalee left Feb 26th for the MTC, to prepare for her mission to Romania. When I told Alyson about it she said, "Oh like the man in our book" (Referring to the story of Ammon we read recently). This was a proud moment for me most of the time I don't even know if she is listening when we read the scriptures together. Alyson became very concerned about Natalee being captured by the Lamanites like in the Book of Mormon stories. I tried to explain that Ammon's story took place at a different time, but I am not sure that this concept makes sense to her. Alyson has started to refer to different time periods as worlds so for example she will say, "Did he live in Jesus' world? or did this happen in our world?"

Anyway.....My sister Shanda, who is always full of great ideas, thought it would be fun if we had a missionary FHE to help the kids better understand what a missionary is, and help them get excited for Natalee and her Mission. We all got together at Grandma and Grandpa's house and the kids all helped with the program. Natalee taught the lesson and for the activity Shanda had little headshots of all the return missionaries in the family, and the kids all got a chance to match each missionary on a world map to the country where they served.

The kids played pin the name tag on the missionary while being blindfolded.

To finish, the kids got to color a picture of a missionary while all the return missionaries told short stories from their missions. Grandpa even got out the slide projector....I know the slide projector.

It was great not only for the kids, but I think it did a lot for all the return missionaries to have a reminder of the special experiences that happened on their mission. Thanks Shanda, for not only having great ideas, but for always being willing to act on them.

Alyson a work of Art

2011-03-10T12:55:00.001-07:00

Alyson, over the last few months has become obsessed with art. She colors, paints, draws and writes for hours everyday. I bought her an art kit for Christmas and it has been worth its weight in gold. I have given up on putting it away, because I just have to get it right back out. It has become a permanent fixture on our table. Alyson turned 5 on February 26th, and we had her friends over for an art party. We had a great time celebrating by doing all of her favorite things. This is the "Art Party" breakdown.

We started the party by having all her friends help her paint, color, or draw on her happy birthday mural on the wall.

I used some of Aly's recent artwork to decorate, I then took one of her masterpieces off the wall and told the kids that it was stolen by the art thief. We had to follow the clues to find the stolen Art piece and earn a reward.

We played a balloon game, where all the kids popped a balloon, and if they got the balloon with the winning number they got to pick a prize.

The kiddos each got their own miniature cakes to decorate, and eat with some ice cream. Thanks to my wonderful sister Shanda, for taking the time to frost all the miniature cakes for me. Aly decided, instead of having candles on her cake that she wanted a candle on all her friends cakes, so they could all blow out candles together.

While we waited for parents to come, I pulled out some playdough for each of the kids, and let them practice making sculptures of anything they wanted. One of my friends mentioned, I was very brave to have ten five year olds, with art supplies, having a free for all in the house. It was a little crazy, but a lot of fun.

Shake it Up... A lot.

2011-02-21T14:35:00.000-07:00

Foote comes home from an update course for Real Estate and tells me that he's in violation. A law passed last year that took effect this year, and because we have a property management company that is not a part of the brokerage Foote was with, that's not allowed anymore and he could potentially lose his license. Suddenly we have to leave the company and start our own. This all happened within the last two weeks of January, Foote took the class, determined that he had to start his own company, find an office we could afford (sort of), move his office, set up internet, phone and fax, register with the state and the local association and get new business cards. There is still a lot to do, but the new company is official and we're working on getting some publicity. If you don't mind, visit the new Facebook page and like it. C Springs Realty LLC He's also offering 4.5% listings to start building inventory in his new company, so tell all your friends.

The website for the new company is www.CSpringsRealty.com

Wish us luck.

Seeking Motivation

2011-01-12T15:56:00.000-07:00

I have always loved documentaries. The last few months it has just got a little out of control every time I have any TV time which is usually at night after kids are in bed and I have clothes to fold or have to clean the family room anyway. Thanks to Watch Instantly Netflix I have hundreds of documentaries to choose from. Over the last couple months I think I have watched a few to many documentaries on our food industry or weight related documentaries the combination has left me feeling guilty every time I go shopping or to prepare food because the cheap part of me and the want to be healthy part of me go to war with each other. I just can't convince myself to shell out twice or three times as much as I usually do on produce to buy organic. The main reason is that I just don't have the luxury of doubling my food budget.

These movies are the culprits to my current stress. If you are a documentary geek like me you should check them out.

Opened my eyes to realize that about 90% of what we eat is corn it is in so much of our food.

I watched this a long time ago, but decided to watch it again after talking to my niece who refuses to eat at McDonalds EVER! because of this film. I do think it is interesting that although she won't eat at McDonalds she will eat at other fast food chains....As if they are really that different. I hoped in re watching it maybe it would keep me from eating fast food FOREVER, but truthfully I eat fast food so rarely anyway that it really didn't do much except remind me why I so rarely eat fast food.

This movie really opened my eyes to the meat industry in the US. And kind of made me proud to say that over the last year about 70% of our meat consumption was elk because there is probably nothing more natural to eat than wild meat. I am now a little more concerned about wether or not the guys have success on their hunting trip.

This film was great. The surgeon general talks about obesity being the biggest killer in the US. It really made me think about the responsibility we have as parents to model healthy lifestyles and provide that for our kids.

This film made me feel guilty for all the times I have rolled my eyes at my dad and his daily regimen of vitamins and supplements. I have heard the argument for raw foods or power foods to help with about every type of illness or problem, but this film was very convincing in helping me realize that we really underestimate the power of nature and our own bodies to make us healthy.

Now that I have the eating right guilt down all I need is a few documentaries on exercise guilt and I might motivated to face the new year.

Our Little Dwyn

2011-01-02T11:47:00.005-07:00

I am finally getting around to posting about the new little love in my life and put some rumors to rest. I have to admit that sometimes when preparing for a new baby I sometimes have feelings of pure fear. I have not always had the happiest babies and sometimes I am scared that I will go crazy trying to cope with the hours of crying. I tried to mentally prepare myself for a newborn by reminding myself on a daily basis of all the time and energy a new baby would require and that it would just be for a season and not last forever.

Our little Dwyn Lylian Foote was born on December 23rd at 1:19am and was 7lbs 9 1/2oz. Contrary to rumor my labor lasted more than 10 minutes although I left my house at 12:45 and she was born at 1:19 that includes driving to the hospital getting to the third floor and from triage to delivery. I was worried we might not make it, but everything went well. I am loving having a newborn. Last night I found myself wanting to cry as I realized how short of a time she would be so little. I wished I could pause time and keep her little. Her sisters adore her and tell me that I can leave at any time because they can babysit. That would definitely be interesting since Foote had to explain to them that baby sitting did not mean sitting on the baby.

To answer questions as to her name it is a Welsh. Like most names Dwyn has several meanings but some of the most common are pleasant and steadfast both of which I really liked. Andrew also served half of his mission in Wales and traces a lot of family history back through Wales, so it is a name with meaning for him.

Excuses Excuses

2011-01-01T09:27:00.000-07:00

It has been a crazy last few months. I have been meaning to update this blog forever and keep putting it off. The beginning of October I was offered a job with the Gazette our local newspaper as a supervisor over the distribution of their niche products. Which basically means all their free products they print which include Freshink, Academy Spirit, Spring Values, and Sunday Preferred. I have to make sure these products are being delivered, keep track of returns, and make sure numbers are reported to the right people. It is an ideal job for me because it only requires a couple early mornings a week and than a few hours of driving around verifying delivery a week.

A few days after I started my new position I got a call from the Gazette single copy delivery asking if I could help substitute since they had two routes down and were desperate for help. I asked how long they would need help and they said a couple of weeks. That was the beginning of October and I was calling them from the hospital the morning Dwyn was born on December 23rd to let them know I would not be able to do the route. My schedule was a little like this I would leave my house at a little after 2am to deliver my single copy route every day except on Wednesdays and Fridays I had to go in early and do my new position before I delivered my route. On Wednesdays and Fridays I would go in about 12:30 do the work for my new position and then go deliver my single copy route at about 3am. I would than get home by about 6am and need to have kids up and ready for preschool by 8:30. Sometimes I could sneak in about a 45 min catnap, but most days it is just easier to stay up. To add to the craziness the last few weeks I was pregnant it was also my turn to teach preschool on Monday and Wednesday. When did I sleep?....I guess it is a good thing that my body adjusted a long time ago to surviving on about 4 hours because I usually manage to get about that much squeezed in somewhere.

Most days I was just trying to remember that even though I was tired I still need to remain patient and kind while fighting with a three year old while she insisted that she had to wear her tap shoes to school with her sweat suit. There was really only one word that summed up how I felt. Exhausted. The point of this post is not to complain, but more to show that I have a good excuse why I have been such a slacker on keeping up on my blog. Now that I am no longer delivering a route everyday I might have some extra energy to keep up my blog on a regular basis. Although I am still getting up with a newborn it is easier than doing a route.

We Came, We Saw, We Conquered

2010-09-26T22:32:00.003-06:00

Foote is back into the "I have to get in shape fast before the hunting trip." I on the other hand, am a consistent work out all year long type because it helps me stay sane. Although I have to admit that since being pregnant my workouts have changed a lot. I said I was going to run all the way until my due date, because I know a lot of women do, but I am lucky to do a mile before I have to walk not because I feel winded, but because all the pregnancy parts of me begin to protest very loudly. I have tried to convince Foote that he should try to be the work out all year type so that he does not have to do the one-month crunch in an attempt to not die when he goes hunting, but it is yet to happen.

Foote decided that he wanted to do the incline on Saturday to get in shape. I told him maybe he should start by just running a couple of miles on flat ground, but he was determined. What is the Incline? It's a sort of stairway up the side of Pikes Peak; you climb about 2200 feet in elevation in just over a mile.

Here is a clip that I found in a paper article that sums it up:

"It is unbelievable to think that people or even a machine could scale such a grade. In numbers, it doesn't sound so bad; the climb starts at a little over 6,500 feet elevation and ends at 8,644. According to the US Geological Survey, the average gradient is 41% with the maximum being 68% and is 1.02 miles long."

Foote invited some friends of ours, the Rigbys to do the incline too. He then came home to tell me he had set it up with the Rigbys to go on Saturday. I don't ever remember saying that I wanted to go, but I was invited and I can't pass up a challenge. So now our whole family was going. Remember I am almost seven months pregnant. I hear about the incline from my die-hard running friends that go and run it every week trying to beat their time. The last thing I want to do is go climb thousands of stairs to the top a mountain with a three and four year old. But there is also that part of me that is always a sucker for something that sounds like a challenge.

First thing I notice on Saturday morning is that no one brings small kids to do the incline. The Rigby's are newlyweds and so don't have to worry about getting kids to the top of the mountain. In fact I don't think I see anyone doing the incline under the age of fifteen. I am sure people thought we were either cruel or crazy parents. We made it to the top it took over two hours, but we did it. I actually had no problems I really did not even get winded because I had Brooklyn and she wanted to stop so often and rest that I never went long enough to get really tired. Brooklyn spent about half of the hike claiming that she did not "know how to climb stairs" even though she just climbed several hundred.

I probably ended up carrying Brooklyn for about a quarter of the way up the Incline and about all the way off the mountain so that was the hardest part of the whole hike and extra 40 pounds on my back and the extra 20 on my front. She was so tired that she fell asleep on my shoulders and snored in my ear the whole four mile hike off the mountain. I was like everyones motivation no one wanted to get passed up by a pregnant lady carrying a three year old.

2010-09-26T20:43:00.005-06:00

September is almost over AHHH! Where does the time go. Although I am starting to wonder if we are ever going to see fall here in colorado. It has been nice to be able to enjoy an extended summer. Here are some of this months fun moments.

The girls and I attended a baseball game with our friends Angie and Cassidy Johnson. This year Aly was finally brave enough to pose with Sox the Fox while Brooklyn Was to scared to go anywhere near him.

We went to the balloon glow over labor day weekend the girls loved the balloons so much that I could not even get them to hold still for a picture they kept turning to watch the balloons light up.

Girls, Girls, Girls

2010-09-20T18:15:00.000-06:00

Foote has his ringtone set to the Beastie Boys hit song Girls Girls Girls. It was funny because his brother turned to him and said, "Girls Girls Girls, Seriously?" He replied "this is my theme song, all I have girls" girls, girls and now........yes another girl. I know this is old news for people who see us on a weekly basis or talk to my mom, but for others, (drum roll please) this is me finally, at six months announcing that we are expecting girl #3. We are due Christmas Day. I am blessed to have easy pregnancies so really the only low part of the pregnancy was that the doctor made me stop running for three months. This was a really hard adjustment to make (runners may understand). So I compensated by becoming a master at spin class. I am attempting to run again, now that I have permission. The truth is, I am just to pregnant. The girls are excited and love to peek into my belly button and tell me that they can see the baby like it is a peep hole. Brooklyn tries to convince me on a daily basis that the baby wants to come out, as if I am holding her prisoner and it's time for her time out to come to an end.

I am excited, but all of the sudden a little overwhelmed as I realize I am now a mom to three girls, and a lot of what they learn about the type of mothers and wives that they may some day become will depend on the example I set......too stressful to think about.

ER Adventure

2010-09-10T18:06:00.001-06:00

With girls that think they need to climb everything in sight and have dare devil blood running through their veins. No matter how much I try to convince them that they can just walk down the stairs, that they don't have to slide down the banister, or that no matter how good they think they are at swimming they really cannot quite swim on their own yet, they refuse to listen. So it was only a matter of time before we ended up in the ER. Here is our first stitches incident. Aly split her chin open while cannon-balling into the bath tub. I can not even count the amount of times I have asked them not to jump in the tub, but it still has not deterred them from their jumping in the tub contest.

Aly was so proud of her stitches that I am not sure that it was a good thing to take her to the ER she loves to tell everyone about how brave she was and displaying her battle wounds. I overheard her talking to a friend and it really sounded more like she was giving tips to her friend on some possible ways to get an injury that might be ER worthy.

Good Intentions

2010-09-01T18:18:00.006-06:00

I am plagued with being a woman of good intentions I always have a list about a mile long of things that I would like to do. The trouble is that only about a fraction of them end up happening and turning out the way I had hoped.

Todays projects included getting a treat made and delivered to all my visiting teaching sisters, planning family home evening for my family and extended family, making an ice cream birthday cake for Foote, and delivering primary thank yous to all the people that helped in my sharing time over a week ago, and plan a outline for my joy school meeting. Not to mention just all the normal day to day stuff.

I tried to hurry and get my cookies baked so that I could meet my companion at 2:oo to deliver the treats. Baking usually ends up being a pain for me because I rarely bake because I definitely don't need to eat any sweet treats. I was out of eggs so I did a store run to get my eggs and ingredients for the ice cream cake. I begin again to bake only to realize that I don't have any brown sugar so I hurry and load the girls back up in the car and race back to the store and buy some brown sugar. I come home and realize I will need to get not only the cookies finished, but the ice cream cake done as well or it won't have enough time to freeze so I get the ice cream out to soften and start to make my cookies only to realize that I am out of vanilla.....Ahhh! I am now down to the hour to get cookies made and plated and the ice cream cake finished and I am out of time......How important is vanilla really? And to top it all off the tears of frustration begin to fall (I am pregnant after all). Aly who has been at my side the whole time wanting to help asks, "Mom why are you crying?" How to answer this question without losing it? "I am just sad because I wish I was a super mom, but I am not.".....Aly thinks about this for a minute and responds....."Didn't you know all moms are made with magic?"......sigh how does a four year old know exactly what to say to make me smile?

Summer In a nutshell

2010-08-11T09:13:00.000-06:00

Busy Busy Summer. Camping, road trips, family reunions and swimming.

We started the summer with a campout to the sand dunes. That sand and water is a perfect combination. This year our friends Angie and Cassidy Johnson cam along with us, so that was a fun treat.

Next we squeezed in a couple weeks of swimming lessons. Between lessons and going to the gym the girls have spent hours and hours in the pool this summer.

Next we headed to Salt Lake City for one of our weekend trips (the kind where you spend more time in the car than at your destination.) We were able to be with Brad and Jenny for Jaden's sealing and blessing it was great to finally see their beautiful baby.

Two weeks later we were back in Utah again to celebrate the fourth of July with Foote's brother Bob and his wife Holly. We were there for the blessing of their little girl Alexis. It was fun to get together with all of the Foote cousins and picnic in Uncle Bob and Aunt Holly's beautiful back yard. Uncle Bob let all the grandkids try out his water bottle rocket launcher. We were able to watch fireworks in Pleasant Grove and other than having a few of the fireworks fired into the crowd it was great fun.

The next week Uncle Ed, Aunt Kari and our cousins Hazel, Ginger, and Poppy all came into town, which was a great treat since it has be a few years since we have seen them. We had a Hickman get together. Uncle Brad and Aunt Jenny also came with their baby Jaden so we were able over the next couple weeks to see all our family except Uncle Dan. It was two weeks full of family and picnics, outings, and fun things.

Talia, Hazel, Brooklyn, and Ginger having a great time plying in grandma's back yard

Grandpa and the uncles took all the kids out for a fishing outing.
Grandpa teaching Talia to fish
Gavin displaying his catch
Brooklyn fishing for the first time.

All the little grandaughters were invited to a special tea party with Grandma. They all dressed up and had a great time.

All the little grand kids and Aunt Shanda (so Milo would stay in the picture)

Aunt Shanda singing songs with all the grandkids this must of kept them entertained for over an hour (definitely picture worthy).

roasting marshmellows in Grandpa's backyard.

Good times playing at the park. (I really like the picture with all the grandkids trying to out weigh grandpa.)

Aunt Jenice came a few days later and we had a great time having adventures with her. We also got to celebrate China's birthday with her while she was here.

Aly and Brookie riding bearback for the first time.
The girls at the top of Pikes Peak with Aunt Jenice
Aly exploring cave of the winds with Dad and Aunt Jenice

Thanks for a great family filled summer. We love and miss you all.

Alyisms at age 4

2010-05-31T20:48:00.002-06:00

Our Aly, I love the idea of occasionally doing a Blog just to help me remember how Aly is right now at this age. I am loving how much my girls have started playing together. They will spend hours playing house or pretending to be each others dog or cat. Pretending to be each others pets is their favorite thing to do. Aly's bizarre love of cats has never completely gone away she now splits her time between being Gilbert (her name for herself when she is a cat) and Black (her name for herself when she is a dog). When she is in her play mode she will refuse to do anything for you unless you call her by the appropriate pretend name. I can say "Aly get in the car we need to go." "I am not Aly I am Black you need to say Black get in the car."

Anytime she gets disciplined she will follow me around the house telling me I need to tell her I am sorry for being mean to her.

While I have been able to have Aly try a lot of things like gymnastics, swimming, theater, running, and soccer. Her favorites are swimming and running. Anytime she has room to run she will yell "Mom watch me run like super snap" (a speedy character she got from the Backyardigans). She loves to race and anytime I challenge her to a race she breaks out in a fit of giggles as she tries to beat me.

Aly has just recently started making up songs and singing about everything going on around her. If I tell her to wait in the car. She will break out into song "I am waiting in the car...I love waiting in the car." Her most common song is about how she is super and can do super things.

Aly has an uncanny ability to know when someone is joking even if she has no idea what the punch line means. Foote and I will often be joking in a sarcastic subtle way only to have our four year old breakout in laughter at our jokes as if she understood the whole thing.

Aly is really bright and I am so impressed at how well she reads considering she still has more than a year until she will even start school. Whenever I am reading she will come snuggle up to me and ask me to read out loud, she will lay next to me and listen, even though she has no idea what is going on in the book I am reading.

I have been trying to teach her beginning math concepts, she is fascinated with the concept of zero and always makes comments about zero. "Mom can I have some choclate?" "I don't have any choclate" "You have zero choclate?"

Whenever Foote leaves for work in the morning she gives him a shopping list as if he spends his work day at the grocery store. Most of the time she reminds him don't forget to bring home some strawberries and yogurt. Aly is a fruit addict, if I have any fruit in the house at all she is constantly asking for more. I can not count the amount of times I have come into the kitchen to find her eating a whole box of strawberries or she will bite into a watermelon like it is an apple she says she loves the green part.

Now that she is in primary we get a lot of reproofs to our discipline like "Are you listening to Jesus" or Jesus doesn't like it when your mad at me."

She adores her dad and often tells me that Brooklyn goes with mom and Aly goes with dad as if we have his and hers children. If Foote is home for dinner her chair has to be right next to his to the point that he has no elbow room to even eat.

She climbs on everything I find her on top of my kitchen cupboards and refrigerator on a daily basis. I would probably get really angry about this except when I was her age I did the exact same thing so I feel like I am just getting pay back.

When she comes up with a bizarre idea she will keep it going forever. Her most recent idea is that she is 10 years old and so for over a week now she has been singing songs about how great it is to be 10 and she keeps informing me that "Mom everyone keeps saying I am 4, but I am 10 and I am getting really tired of people saying I am 4."

Things that Aly currently does that drives me crazy - Maybe in the future I will laugh about these things, but right now they are not so funny. she loves to act like she has no control over her hands. she gives them their own names Hika and Mika and then anything she does becomes their fault. "Aly don't hit Brooklyn." "I didn't it was Hika and Mika I told them to stop, but they are not listening." "Who spilt the water all over the floor?" "It was Hika"...This passing of blame gets really old after a while. And the Licking....Since she is a dog or a cat about 80% of the day she is always licking my face I HATE this.

We sure do love this girl she definitely keeps life entertaining.

Aly's 101 Dalmatians

2010-05-31T20:24:00.000-06:00

Aly took a little music theater class few months ago and had her big show was at the end of April. Her classes part of the show lasts a whole five minutes so I decided to just post it on the blog. Her first line is "Don't worry Rolly we just have to stick together." For some reason she has never been able to say her line without touching the shoulder of the girl that played Rolly. I also love how in the second part of the show she points very obviously to the girl who needs to say her line. These kids are just to cute.

And the entertainment continues...

2010-04-20T13:19:00.000-06:00

Aly playing soccer has become a complete comedy to watch. At least that is what I have to tell myself, or I will just cry in frustration. Let me try to describe some of the highlights of our first three games. Since the age I coach is so young, the coaches are the referees, so I am on the field with my players the whole game. At the beginning of the game, Alyson comes on the field and immediately runs to the other side of the field, where there are no players and no ball, she is just off by herself she then proceeds to run laps around the field and could care less if she is anywhere near the ball. I am yelling "Alyson! Alyson! come help your team!." No response, she just keeps running. At one point she runs right in front of our goal just as the other team shoots a goal to score, she is our last hope and I really am hoping that she will stop the ball. Instead, she kind of trips over the ball while running, gets up, and just keeps making her laps around the field. There are a handful of times that she is in the right place to stop a breakaway by the other team, and will just run right past the other player as they charge to our goal to score. As a soccer player it is hard for me to watch. As we're getting in bed that night Brooklyn asks "Did Aly do good at her race?" I respond "Aly wasn't racing she was playing soccer." Aly says "No I was racing and I was the winner."

Game #2 it is a cold game and my girls play maybe the first five minutes of the first quarter and refuse to play the rest of the game. Aly keeps running out on the field to me as the game is in progress and asking if we can go home now. the few minutes that Chloe and Alyson play they pick up the cones that mark the field and put them on their heads and run around laughing and laughing, and I have to chase them down to put the cones back and remind them we are playing soccer.

Game #3 Alyson and Chloe are on the field at the same time. I usually try to avoid doing this because we only play 4 on 4, so if both girls are on the field it is more like 4 against 2 because the girls very rarely participate. The other team is at our goal ready to score and Aly and Chloe are in the very center of the field with arms locked together spinning as fast as they can in circles and than falling to the ground laughing. At one point Aly sits down in the very center of the field and pulls up her pant leg to check out an "owie" that she got on her leg. Both teams charge past her trying not to step on her and she just acts completely oblivious to the fact that a game is going on. Later, she runs up to me "Mom I have to go to the bathroom." This is a problem because due to budget cuts our Parks and Recreation department has shut down all the bathrooms at all of the parks so we had her go before she left the house, but she insisted she did not have to go. I tell her she will have to go talk to daddy because I can't help her right now. Foote tells her she is out of luck and will have to hold it. A few minutes later he looks up to find her pants down crouching behind one of the cones that mark off the field. YIKES!! I do have to admit though that Aly did at one point in this game go after the ball. You would have thought she had scored three goals by the way Foote and I were cheering. It was probably only about one minute of participation, but its the most effort that she has put into the actual game the whole season and I was so proud.

How I Coupon

2010-04-02T17:00:00.000-06:00

I have had several people ask me about my couponing. So I am going to give a step by step on how I use coupons. I am sure that a lot of people do it differently, but this system works form me.

STEP 1 - I get as many of the Sunday coupon inserts as I can. I prefer to get them for free if possible. This part is super simple for me because I pick up all the papers that didn't sell from companies I deliver to, so I just take the coupons from the returns. If you get the Sunday paper or have friends that get the Sunday paper and don't use the coupons ask them to save them for you. Every Sunday there is usually two separate inserts one is called Smart Source and the other is called Red Plum.

STEP 2 - NO CLIPPING! Don't clip coupons until you need them, it takes to much time and you may or may not use them. I put all the inserts in a manila folder and write the date they were printed on the folder. For example, all the coupons I got out of this Sundays papers will go in a folder and I will write the date 3-28-10 in the corner and then put them in my file box.

STEP 3 - On Wednesdays I go to couponmom.com. I like this site because it is free. I know there are other sites like the grocerygame.com, but they want you to pay for their weekly updates and I believe in doing as much as possible for free. at couponmom.com there is a link on the left side that says coupon deals by state. I click on CO. Coupon mom does the work for you, they get the local sale ads and then let you know what is on sale, if there is a coupon for it, and if there is a coupon, it will tell you the date and insert it was printed in. The websites actually lists all sale items that are in the local add and how much of a savings they are. I personally don't usually buy anything unless it is more than a 50% savings or unless it is something I really need. For example produce rarely goes on sale for 50% off, but it still is cheaper to buy at a 30% savings than full price.

This is a screen shot from Couponmom.com. The first column is where you find the date the coupon was printed if there is one, and what insert it was in S(smart source) or RP(Red Plum) or PG (Proctor and Gamble)

STEP 4 - I go through coupon moms list and click only the items I need to buy, or will buy because of the great savings. Then I go to my file box and clip only the coupons that I need for this weeks shopping list.

TIPS -
Even though couponmom.com does do Walmart and Target ads, I find the best savings are usually at the stores that double your coupon like Safeway or King Soopers (Kroger or City Market). So find out which stores near you double coupons.

Remember if a store doubles a coupons it means that they will only double the value up to a dollar. For example, a coupon for .40 will be doubled to .80 but a coupon for .75 will only be doubled to the dollar or for another .25

Find out if your store limits the number of coupons you can use per item. For example, the King Soopers that I shop at has a limit of only 3 of the same coupons per shopping trip.

If you come across an amazing deal, but don't have the amount of coupons you want you can sometimes buy them on ebay they are usually sold in lots of 10 or 20. That is why I always check couponmom on Wednesdays so if I decide I need to try and find more coupons I will have time to order and receive them on ebay. I can order the coupons on ebay by Thursday and I get them before the sale ends the following Tuesday. Otherwise I have to get an oversold which can kind of be a pain if the product is actually still in stock and I am just waiting for coupons. You want to just make sure what you pay for your coupons on ebay still makes the savings worth it. For example, I used this technique to get 40 coupons for Ice cream. I paid probably about $8.00, but got 40 pints of ice cream for free. Totally worth it. There is no way I could buy 40 pints of ice cream for $8.00 without coupons.

That sums it up that is all I do. buy whats on sale and buy it with coupons. Stock up on items while they are cheap. After a while you get used to knowing when things are a good price for example, I won't buy cereal unless it is less than $1.50 a box and never buy spaghetti sauce unless it is $0.50 or less for a jar. Meat rarely has coupons, but I don't buy chicken breasts unless they are $1.77 or cheaper and when they are on sale I stock up so that I won't need to buy any more for about a month because it usually goes on sale about once a month.

Back In Business

2010-03-27T16:30:00.000-06:00

As many of you know over the last seven years of marriage I have thrown a paper out off and on. I choose to do a paperout because it is a good supplement to our income, but more importantly because it allows me to be home during the day with my girls. If I have to work, I would rather just work a few hours a night and be home by the time the girls wake up. As of this month the paper out thing is back on. So here our the big positives for me. 1.) less financial stress for Foote 2.) Major Audiobook time which is great since my goal this year is 52 books read or listened to by the end of the year. 3.) COUPONS! It is like a secret bonus to have an unlimited supply of coupons. On an average visit to the grocery store it cuts my bill from about $60.00 to about $35.00. But the best is when you get that really good FREE deal that happens a couple times a month. This week it is SNICKERS candy bars. This is good and bad while I love anything for free I definitely don't need the calories of 20 SNICKERS bars.....Oh well I can't pass up a free deal. So as of now I am back in business with the coupon shopping and loving it. It was killing me to pay full price.