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I love this boy! Oh yes, I do!

2012-01-26T13:18:00.002-07:00

One of the THOUSANDS of things that I love about Carson is his extreme coolness. He finds himself to be quite the stud, and that makes me love him even more. The kid radiates confidence mixed with the most extreme kindness and love for the people around him. I wish I were him!

Beacuse of this confidence, he could give a crap less what anyone thinks of him. He is just pretty sure that whatever he does people will think is cool, so why care!?!

It was red ribbon week and like everything he does, he took it way seriously. First was crazy hair day, then super hero day, followed by nerd day. The nerd day kind of scared me a little. He played the role.

Carson, you know I love you, right!?!

Kenna and Gramps go to AZ!

2012-01-26T13:13:00.002-07:00

Oh my EXCITEDNESS! Makenna and Gramps were like two little kids on Christmas and just beyond excited to go and visit Zak, Katie, and ALL of the family in Arizona. They were seriously cracking me up with how excited they were. I need to get all of the picture (I am at the ski lodge while the kids are boarding) but here is a pre-view.

They left at the butt crack of dawn and made the 12 hour journey. They did so much while they were there, and Makenna was all excited coming home with the UGG boots that Katie bought her (that Mom would never pay that much for) and the cactus plant that she got for a souvineer.

Gosh Kenna, it is jsut too bad that no-one loves you!

One last canyon horrah!

2012-01-26T12:52:00.001-07:00

We got together with a couple of neighbors for one last canyon BBQ before the weather got cold (okay it was already cold) and while the leaves were so pretty! The little boys all took off up this rock mountian and They went so far. I thought that they were lost forever. I went after them and I thought I might die in a rock slide and they might die from me killing them for going so dang far away. I am glad that my kids have so many fun friends that we get to hang out with!

Football Stars!~!~

2012-01-26T12:46:00.000-07:00

The boys are football LOVERS! Especially Carson! They are so cute out on the field. We made the mistake of telling them we would pay them for flag pulls, interceptions, and touchdowns, and it cost us a pretty penny. I guess it was good motivation. Towrds the end I started to say that I would get them a kids meal if they did good, just because it was so much cheaper, and they thought it was a bargain.

Carson wants to play tackle next fall, and I have totally mixed emotions, especially due to the time commitment. But... at the same time it is hard to not let your child do something they are so excited about and will love so much. I don't want him to grow up thinking he had NFL potential and i took it all away from him. On the flip side if he does go far, he better hook me up! Pay me back for all of the cash I dish out each season to reward him for his skills!!

Coren, the dog wisperer.

2012-01-26T12:39:00.001-07:00

A day in the life...

Coren was so excited to watch Yoshi (such a cute doggie) and he took his responsibility very seriously! It was kind of funny seeing him have to wake up and take the dog out at 5am. Each morning I would say, "so do you still want a dog?" and he would excitedly say yes. By the end I asked the same questions and he shrugged his shoulders. That made me So happy! I often get the craving for a dog, but then I remember the work, the poop, the commitment, and jsut the overall hastle, and the urge is gone pretty dang quickly!

It was cute to see Coren so attached and so responsible.

I am freaking old!

2012-01-26T12:33:00.002-07:00

I swear every year I get older and every year it gets worse! This year I turned 34. It seems like I just turned 30, and I remember 30 seeming like the wrost thing ever! 34 just seems so close to 35 and then 40, and then 50... oh boy! I feel like I work up on my 34th birthday looking like an old woman. Was it in my head? Maybe! Still I have the hardest time acting excited for my birthday. The kids are SO excited for it, and I am just fighting back my suisidal tendencies! I think it is kind of unfair this whole aging thing. Wy can't we look better with age? It would only make sense right.

The one thing that saved me is that I don't feel 34. That might be a problem all in itself. I fell like a teenager! HA!

Kenna was so cute and made me a cake all on her own. She was so cute and decorated it all up for me. I love that girl! She is such a great kid, and pretty cute I must say!

A week with the cousins

2012-01-26T12:23:00.004-07:00

We had a really fun with with the cousins. Brooke and Marcelo decided to go on a last minute vacation and the kids got to come and stay with us. I think that we had more fun than they did on their trip. The kids loved spending time together, and they all did so good. We didn't do a whole lot, other than just hang out, but that was mostly becuase my kids were in school! That was the one down fall. Half way through their stay Coren got to dog sit Yoshi, the neighbors dog. That added even more excitement to our week! The kids all loved the dog, but I am not sure how the dog felt about all of the kids!! ha ha

I am not sure if they will ever dare to come back to the crazy house, but I hope they do. Cute kiddos!

Rich boy!

2012-01-26T12:12:00.001-07:00

My kids are alsways excited to see Grandpa Slotboom because he will often give them a big bag of change. Coren lucked out on his birthday this year and got a whole bag to himself. He was so excited. The kids love it when they get to go to the bank and use the coin counted. Coren scored and made out with $65.00. He was anxious to get the money put into his bank account. The kids seem to have a little rivalry going on to see who can save up the most money. Kenna is obviously in the lead, but the boys are pretty neck in neck. Look at that cute face! I can't even stand it.

Island Park

2012-01-26T12:08:00.003-07:00

We had such a fun trip to Island Park with friends. I have tons more pictures but they are missing somewhere. I will find them and add them to another post. Here are a couple of this amazing waterfall that we went to. It is really just so amazing how stunning this was. I wish the camera could have captured its beauty!

Coren turns 7

2011-11-10T01:00:00.000-07:00

I can't even handle the fact that Coren is 7. He makes me laugh every day and is always giggling and smiling. He is always into something, and loves to see how things work. He has a very creative mind, and when he can sit still long enough his brain is so smart! His teacher says he is perfect at school, and really he is pretty perfect at home (okay other than the fact that he is a messy little pack rat ha ha) and we all love him so much.

Wallpapering nightmare

2011-10-27T19:59:00.000-06:00

I found some wallpaper that I was in love with. I ordered it like 6 months ago, seriously, and it has just been sitting there. Steve did not want to help me do it. He made the comment that, "wallpapering is for fat old ladies" and boy oh boy did he learn his lesson.

Wallpapering is FREAKING HARD especailly when you have to match a tricky pattern. After two minutes he was swearing and freaking out. I guess he wasn't old and fat enough to handle such a project!

I have a sickness that I have to finsih what I start. I can't control it but it just eats at me so I have to keep going. Well we didn't even start until 9pm, which was dumb in itself, but finally at 2am Steve was out cutting a strip and I hear the sound of extreme anger or pain or something. I just sat there for a second and then I hear him running around.

I went out to see what all of the comotion was about and Steve has this terrible look on his face and he is holding his finger and blood is going everywhere. To make it worse, he is running around as it is shooting everywhere. My house looked like a crime scene. I kept asking what happened and he just kept saying, "I am such a dumb a**" and finally I looked over at the really sharp razor knife he was using and put it all together.

Now let me just say that this man builds things like a pro. He can build anything NO PROBLEM! Sadly, he just doesn't have the skills of the fat old ladies and therefore he lost his fingertip.

He would let me see it or anything for about an hour, seriously, and he refused to go to the doctor. It FINALLY quit bleeding and I was able to see the damage. He wouldn't look at it. I played it cool and took a quick photo and told him it was no biggie and that I could bandage it up. That was another hour process. This man is a wuss! But I love him! Anyways, sadly the wallpaper didn't get finished that night.

I stayed home from church and finsihed up and I have to say that it turned out pretty good. Could have been better, but pretty good.

The fingertip healed after about a month and it is back to normal. Steve has banned wallpapering from the house, now he is just doing some trim work for me to finsih the bathroom up. He is doing it happily and just glad it isn't wallpaper.

Holy Guacamole!

2011-10-27T19:45:00.000-06:00

Kenna has been taking cooking classes in school. They made the yummiest guacamole, and she is now the official guac maker in the family. It is to die for! Maybe she will grow up and be a chef like her Uncle Zak!

I got a job!

2011-10-27T19:44:00.000-06:00

Holy cow, I cannot believe I have a job. Ever since I quit jetBlue when Coren was a baby I said I would go back to work when he was in first grade. It seemed like it would never happen. Well, it did. I decided to get my Real Estate Lisence and was hired on at Henry Walker Homes. I love it.

The first day I worked Kenna made the family dinner. Steve came home and found the table set all cute and her really excited. She did a great job! I am so proud of my kids for being able to handle things when I am gone. I only work 3 days a week, but they are all so responsible that it isn't a problem at all. Love those kiddos!

2011-10-27T19:40:00.000-06:00

We did not have a tomato shortage this year. Coren's face says it all, it was a little much. I did can some salsa like a good little housewife, I haven't tried it yet, so I won't brag too much, but I learned my lesson on planting so many tomatoes.

Mt. Olympus Hike

2011-10-27T19:37:00.000-06:00

I have been on a lot of hikes in my life, but I have to say this was the hardest I have ever done. You know you hear on the news a lot that hikers are stranded on the top of Mt. Olympus and they are having to be rescued and you laugh. Well, I won't be laughing any more. It is a tough hike. The trail is unrelenting and so rocky! It seems to climb forever and there is not any shade to protect you from the sun. But, it was our goal to make it to the top and somehow we did it. I think we all wanted to quit at one point, in fact I know we did, but the kids were amazing. I won't say that there weren't any tears, because there were from all of them, but they were determined!

When we made it to the saddle (the point between both peaks) I wanted to stop so bad. I was exausted and I was worried the kids were way past done. Everyone else was turning around there. We all talked it over and decided to make it to the top. There isn't a defined trail to the top, just huge rocks that you have to climb. In fact someone asked us if we had our ropes. The whole way up I was wondering how we were going to get down.

We finally made it to the top and the view was amazing. There is a mailbox up there with a book that you sign your name in saying that you made it. I made sure to put the kids ages in the book, I was so proud of them for making it up! They were so excited!

Usually the hike down is easy! Not on this trail. It is so rugged that you have to fight your way down. Our bodies all hurt so bad, even mine and Steves and we are in decent shape!

I am so proud of my kids. If we never climb to the top of Mt. Olymus again it will be too soon, but we made it and that is what counts!

Birthday boy is 7!

2011-10-27T19:04:00.000-06:00

I am so sad. Coren is seven. He is getting so big and growing so fast and it makes me cry. He had a great birthday and got lots of fun gifts. He wanted skateboards and DS games. Easy enough!

Coren has the cutest little laugh and I love love love it when he is happy becuase he makes everyone around him happy. He is such a good boy, and is a little smarty pants too. One of my favorite things about Coren is when he sleepwalks into our room at night. It makes us laugh so hard. he goes and uses our toilet and then gives me a big hug and never even wakes up. It is the funniest thing ever! I am so glad we have him in our family.

The house

2011-10-13T23:44:00.000-06:00

First day of school

2011-10-13T21:10:00.000-06:00

Sad day for Mom but the kids were way excited! First day of school 2011.
Makenna went to Middle School and is now in 7th Grade. WHAT?!? How did that happen?
Carson is in 3rd Grade in Mrs. Mechams Class
Coren is in 1st Grade in Mrs. Palmers Class

The Tahoe Air Show

2011-10-13T21:06:00.000-06:00

We were so excited to go to the air show. We were excited to see all the planes doing tricks and stunts, but to our surprise that didn't happen. Instead we did see tons of cool planes and helicopters, and the kids climbed the rock wall.

Since when does an air show not do tricks in the air? I am confused?!?

Rafting the Truckee River

2011-10-13T21:00:00.001-06:00

For sure one of the highlights of the trip was rafting down the Truckee River. It was so much fun. It didn't move fast so we made a day of it. We had taken some Subways sandwiches and drinks along with plenty of snacks, so we just took our time and enjoyed the ride. From time to time we would park the raft and get out to swim, let the fish nibble on our toes, or jump into the river.

It got rough at the end, and we kept getting stuck which annyoed me of course, but other than that it was a BLAST! I would do it again, the scenery was amazing!!!

Virginia City

2011-10-13T20:49:00.001-06:00

Virginia City is an old mining/ghost town outside of Tahoe. My Dad and Mom went there so we decided to go back and visit. My Dad's GPS took us on a very long and out of the way ride, and the old man just kept following it. It was kind of funny actually! We almost ended up back home ha ha ha. Once we did arrive we had tons of fun. The kids were all freaked out about the ghosts, but we didn't see any! Darn! We went in all the shops and went and saw all the cool stones and stuff that they had mined there. It was so cool because they have left the town the way it was. I could honestly picture cowboys walking all around and shooting at each other and all of that old wild west stuff. Afterwards we went back to Tahoe and ate a yummy dinner and spent about an hour trying to find this glass elevator that the kids just had to ride on. We couldn't find it, we searched the whole hotel. Finally we figured out that it had a seceret entrance and it was for the high rollers. DUMB-O! It was a fun day and night!!

Around town

2011-10-13T20:45:00.003-06:00

After the lake we were starving and went to find some food. We ate a yummy dinner at Chili's and then wandered around the shops in town. We had a great time. It is so fun to just shop around and hang out. There are so many cool things to see and of course souvineers to buy!

Lava Trip 2

2011-10-13T20:45:00.001-06:00

It was kind of a miracle, but the whole family made it up to lava this year (except Mom...sad!). We had so much fun. There were bb gun fights, very dirty boys, fishing and more fishing, drunkin fools (you know who you are), Ziplining and the flaming zipline (Steve and Zak are to blame for that), rafting, lava river, yummy food, lots of laughing, a mouse killing with the bb gun, a man boob, and so much more. It was a blast. I wish we could do it more often!!

Lake day 2

2011-10-13T20:35:00.000-06:00

Grandpa came down and stayed with us for a few days. The kids were SO excited. We made sure to take him straight to the lake since we loved it there so much. We rented this fun surf board thing, I am not sure what they are called. They are so fun to ride on, but SO hard with two people. We laughed so had trying it two at a time and tipping over non-stop. It made for some priceless entertainment!

The lake is NOT warm at all, but we all got in at some point and I think we all fell in on accident a time or two. Kenna was in LOVE with the guy who rented us the surf board so Steve took a picture of him for her. She was trying to act all cool in front of him and kept getting made at us if we made her look dumb. It was pretty funny!!! Kenna is a hottie, we are going to have to keep our eyes on her!

Day 1 at the lake.

2011-10-13T20:29:00.001-06:00

All the kids need for a fun day is the sun, water, sand, and a little food and drinks! We had so much fun, and they didn't want to leave. I love that they let me bury them, even though they are getting older then can still be little kids. I love them!