Keeping up with the kids

Isn't it great being 8!

2010-12-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

Kirstee turned 8 on November 5th, 2010. I still can't believe she is that old. She had a friend party this year. And she chose to go see the movie "Megamind" She could take 2 friends with her and she chose to take Sydnee and Roxie. We had so much fun.

Then on November 6th, Kirstee and her cousin October were baptised. It was a very special day. We are very grateful to Grandpa Rushton for baptising her. And grateful to Grandma Woodcox for making her a beautiful dress.

Crazy Hair day and Halloween

2010-12-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

At Kirstee's school they had crazy hair day on drug week. They saying for the day was "Use your head and don't do drugs." So as you can see from the pictures, we did Kirstee's hair half up and half down. She has black stripes painted on the down side and polka dots on the up side.

Silvermist and Roseta...Fairies from the Tinkerbell movies. We are so thankful to Grandma Woodcox for making these for us.

Cornbelly's...where to start?

2010-12-12T12:47:00.000-07:00

This place was soooo much fun! Thank you Jody for getting us tickets and going with us! We spent all day at this place. There was so much to do. I only put a fraction of the pictures up because they won't all fit. We started at the giant pillows. The girls loved jumping on them. Then onto the cow train, Cornbelly mountain (slides,) hay ride, Pumpkin Princess corner, corn box, corn maze and many more fun things! The girls were so tired by the end of the day and so were Jody and I! I hope we can make this a tradition to go every year.

September in a nutshell...

2010-12-12T12:36:00.000-07:00

Makadee started Pre-school in september. Her babysitter and a friend are just doing a little pre-school together. But Makadee absolutely loves it!! They do such fun stuff. I can't believe she will be in Kindergarten next year. Then again she does turn 5 in a week!

Jody is such an amazing person and my children love her dearly! She came and helped us decorate their bikes and then she walked in the Children's parade with them. I was not feeling well that weekend, so I was very thankful to have her help with the kids.

The girls got to ride in the big Onion Days Parade with their dance group, Lime-light dancers. They thought this was the coolest thing ever!

3rd grade!

2010-12-12T12:30:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my Kirstee is in 3rd grade! My how the time has flown. She is having the best year this year. Her teacher is Ms. Saxon. We couldn't have asked for a better teacher.

Flowers, Flowers everywhere

2010-12-12T12:29:00.000-07:00

I am so proud of myself, I have to share these with you. I am not very good at getting things to grow, especially from seed. But I did it! These flowers not only grew from seed, but they were huge and beautiful. I hope you enjoy them.

Golfing

2010-12-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

Just realized I missed some pictures. We went to Trafalga in May. Shanon, Sydnee and Sydnee's cousins went along with us. It was quiet entertaining watching my kids try to golf. And about half way through Makadee was ready to give up. It was a surprisingly warm day and we had a lot of fun.

Bowling

2010-12-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

In July we went bowling with our good friends the Simpson's. It is always entertaining going places with them. They have the funniest kids. Makadee and Linnea are best of friends. And in turn so are Kirstee and Roxie. The kids begged and begged us to stay for a second round. They had so much fun!

Swimming Lessons

2010-12-12T12:18:00.000-07:00

This year was Makadee's first year of swimming lessons. She was so excited! That girl has no fear of the water. Kirstee was finally to the level that they go into the deep end. She was very excited at first but later had a hard time. She didn't like not being able to touch the ground.

Toy Story 3

2010-12-12T12:15:00.000-07:00

We had the opportunity to go see Toy Story 3 with Nile and Casi. Thanks to Grandma Woodcox for sending us for Nile's Birthday. It is the first 3-D movie my girls had gone too. They thought the glasses were pretty cool at first, but quickly got tired of wearing them.

Rusthon Reunion 2010

2010-12-12T12:10:00.000-07:00

We had the opportunity to go up to Heber in July and spend a few days with my family. We had a blast! It was so nice to get away from everything and just spend time together. We played games, just sat and visited, the kids made a craft and enjoyed the zipline. We made smores and lots of memmories. My girls didn't want it to end! I have shared a few pictures from this fun time. We can't wait to go again :)

June 2010

2010-12-12T11:47:00.002-07:00

I think I have been stuck right here because the stuff that happened in June is not only sad, but I do not have the picture I want to put on here. So I am going to write this and I will add the picture later.

Both of my Grandma's passed away in June. First was Grandma Rushton. After struggling with Dementia for quiet awhile she was finally taken home to her Father in Heaven. I had the opportunity of being a pallbearer at her funeral. I was very honored that Grandpa wanted the Granddaughters to do the honors of caring her. It is an experience I will never forget. And Grandma will always be in my heart. I think of her every time I sing.

Then 13 days later my Grandma Bowen passed away. I personally don't think it is fair that Heavenly Father took both my Grandma's so close together. But I am very happy for both of them. Grandma Bowen had spent 17 years without her sweetheart and was ready to be reunited with him. After spending 14 months helping take care of her it was and still is an adjustment to not have her here. Just the other day I was thinking how sad she would be when I went to see her and she found out Makadee was sick. Then it donned on me that she wasn't here to be sad. I am so grateful she is home where she wants to be, but I miss her dearly.

And so that was our June in a nutshell.

Graduation

2010-07-27T13:58:00.000-06:00

Makadee Graduated from Taylor Elementray's Pre-school in May. She still has one more year of Pre-school, but they can only go to Taylor for one year. So they held a graduation for them. She was so excited! And I was so proud of her. She knew all the words to all the songs in the program. And did so awesome!

Field trip time

2010-07-27T13:52:00.000-06:00

I was lucky and had the day off when Makadee's class went on a field trip in May. We had so much fun! We went to a farm that is located in Springville. I can't remember the name of it. But the kids really enjoyed it. I think Makadee's favorite part was riding on the bus. She has asked many times since if she will ever get to ride the bus again.

Home made ice cream!

2010-07-27T13:44:00.000-06:00

We recieved an ice cream maker for Christmas. We were so excited! We finally got it out in April and made our first batch. The kids had so much fun turning it. And it was so delicious! We have made many more batches and there are many more to come.

Metalpecker...

2010-07-27T13:40:00.001-06:00

So for 2 weeks I thought my new furnace was broke because I kept hearing this horrible noise coming from it. I called the repair man twice and he could never find anything. And of course the noise was never happening when he was here. Then one morning CJ was still home when the noise happened. He came running upstairs and asked if that was the noise I had been complaining about. I told him it was. He said you are not going to believe this, but I think I know what it is. And then he ran outside. He was soon back inside and informed me that the noise was simply a woodpecker pecking at the flue pipe! I was so mad at that woodpecker! So for the next few weeks, about twice a week and at about 6:00 in the morning. This stupid woodpecker would come around and wake me up. Thankfully, knock on wood, he hasn't been around for a few months.

(Sorry the picture isn't very good.)

Easter 2010

2010-07-27T13:29:00.001-06:00

We had a wondeful Easter this year. We were able to have a little egg hunt with my Brother Dallin and his family at my Mom's house. The girls got spoiled by the Easter bunny as usual. And Grandma Woodcox made them beautiful dresses. And I was lucky this year and got a cute skirt.

March 2010

2010-07-25T17:49:00.004-06:00

March had a few events that happened. Some happy and some sad.

It started off with Makadee finally getting her ears pierced. She is such a girly girl and always wants to look pretty. So I decided to get them pierced. I don't think she was too happy with me. And she still has not let me change them. But she sure does look cute :)

Then I had a sad day come. One of my students (for those that don't know I am a tech at an elementary school,) passed away after battling Luekemia. I was so happy for her to be done with her struggles. But I sure do miss her smile. I purchased balloons and took them to school for her class to let go. Her family was able to be there to and it was a neat tribute to her from us.

And the last major event to happen in March was Makadee learning to ride her two wheeler bike (still with training wheels.) She was so excited to have a big girl bike like Kirstee.

February 2010

2010-07-25T17:45:00.000-06:00

Not a whole lot happened in February this year. We did take a trip up to the gateway with Casi and Nile. We enjoyed a delicious lunch at Applebee's. And then took the kids to Discovery Gateway. I didn't get very many pictures :( But here is what I did get. (I love that I am not in any of them. I really have no proof I went.)

Makadee and Casi

Nile and Casi

Kirstee stuffing her face as usual :)

Kirstee and Makadee pretending to be on the news. They loved this!

Makadee before her recital

2010-01-08T23:30:00.000-07:00

December pictures

2010-01-08T23:29:00.000-07:00

December...where did it go?

2010-01-08T23:05:00.003-07:00

I am going to try and catch our blog back up. We had a very busy December a lot of good things happened :) I will give a little update and then post some pictures later.

We started the month off by paying tribute to CJ's Uncle. He passed away after complications with a brain tumor. Uncle Lou will be missed.

Then CJ's little brother Cameron came home. We had a lot of fun welcoming him with the Firefighters, police and EMT's. I don't think he enjoyed it much but we had a blast! This is Cameron's first time being home since he finished his deployment in Kawait. We are very happy he is back in the USA! (I will post the pictures I got, sorry they are blurry.)

Kirstee had her 2nd grade program. They sang Christmas songs and recited Christmas poems. It was very long! But Kirstee did awesome!! I am proud of her and all that she has accomplished.

Then Makadee had her birthday. She celebrated the day before with her friends. She had a few of her friends come and we had a blast. We decorated cookies (which they all just ate the frosting,) played pin the crown on the princess and danced. All in all I think she had a great time.

Makadee's birthday was celebrated the day before because Uncle Cameron got married on her birthday. So we spent the day doing wedding stuff. We are so happy to have Aunt Heather join our family. The girls have yet to say a word to her, but now that they are gone they keep begging for them to come visit :)

Then there was Christmas...We had a wonderful Christmas!! This is the first year my parents haven't been here. So it was a little different. We spent both Christmas Eve and Christmas with CJ's family. I will admit it was nice to not have to visit both parents. This may become the way we do it every year. Just one house on Christmas. This is also the first year that the girls have woke us up instead of me waking them up. I was glad they were so excited but isn't 4:30 a little early to be up?!? We made them stay in bed until 6:00. Then the fun began. I think the girls were pleased with all they got. I know I was :)

New Years Eve was spent watching my friends kids. And then playing games until the New Year was here. The kids thought it was awesome to be at their friends house so late, Kirstee was the only one that didn't fall asleep before midnight. The girls loved watching the fireworks on the way home.

Tonight was Makadee's first dance recital. It was HILARIOUS!!! We absolutely loved watching it. We discovered that Makadee is quite the hip shaker and she also makes the best fishy face ever! We are so proud of her! I will try to post a video.

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season. A big cheer for a Happy New Year!

Family pictures 09

2009-12-06T14:56:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again. We had our annual family pictures taken. We had a lot of fun with these! CJ said he even enjoyed them. I tried to post at least one of every pose, but I think I may have missed 1 or 2.

Here is a link to our photographers blog. She is awesome!
http://www.cheapshotsllc.blogspot.com/

Black Friday

2009-12-06T14:24:00.000-07:00

I refuse to participate in Black friday! I hate the crowds and I just don't think it's worth it. So instead, on Black Friday we decorate for Christmas. I was talked into going to a craft fair that morning with my Mom. I actually really enjoyed it, but was glad we got there when we did. It wasn't too bad when we got there but by the time we left it was packed! While I was gone with her, CJ and the girls put up the tree. Then when I got home we decorated! I always love this time. I crank up the Christmas music, I send the kids friends home and we have a good time laughing and enjoying each other. As we were decorating I heard Kirstee tell Makadee "We celebrate Christmas because it is Jesus' Birthday." It made me proud that my daughter new the real reason for Christmas!

That night we attended the light parade in Spanish Fork. I think this will be a new tradition. It was a lot of fun to get bundled up and go enjoy the parade. We sat by some friends who had brought hot chocolate. The girls seemed to really enjoy it. Pictured above is Sydnee, Kristee and Makadee drinking their hot chocolate before the parade.

The sweetest turkeys ever...

2009-12-06T14:12:00.000-07:00

On the Wedensday before Thanksgiving our friends (the Simpsons) came over to spend the day with us. We had lunch, the kids made edible turkeys and then watched A Charlie Browns Thanksgiving. All in all it was a very fun day. Thanks Camie for the Eddible turkeys!

Makadee, Roxie and Kirstee working on their turkeys.

SNOW!!

2009-12-06T14:08:00.000-07:00

The kids were so excited for the snow!! CJ and I had been in Park city for a couple days when this snow storm hit. We picked them up Saturday night and they were begging to play in the snow. So we promised that they could play in it in the morning. And that they did. We had a hard time getting them to come in. There hasn't been much snow since. And even though it snowed last night, it wasn't enough for them to play in. It has now all melted again. They are hoping we will get lots of snow soon! (But I am not! I dislike the snow very much!)

(November 15th)

Playin' in the leaves

2009-12-06T14:02:00.001-07:00

Cj went out to rake up the leaves and the girls followed him out and begged to jump in them. He usually makes little piles all over the yard, but this time he put them in one big pile. They had so much fun!! (November 11, 2009)

Happy 7th Birthday Kirstee!!

2009-12-06T13:59:00.001-07:00

Kirstee turned 7 on November 5th. She is growing up so fast! She was only allowed a family party this year. Grandma Woodcox made her cute Flip Flop cake. Both Grandma and Grandpa Rushton & Grandma and Grandpa Woodcox were able to come celebrate with us.

Kirstee on her new rollerblades. She has played with the neighbors and so we decided to get her some for her Birthday.

Her addorable cake :)

Opening some presents.

Breakfast with her cousins. We let her have her cousins over for a sleepover. And this is them at breakfast. Michelle and October were able to attend. We missed Mckenzie though!

Happy Halloween '09

2009-12-06T13:15:00.005-07:00

We did a Wizard of Oz theme this year for Halloween. Kirstee was Dorothy, Makadee was Glinda the good witch of the North and I was the wicked witch of the west. (Although I was too lazy to paint my face.) We are very greatful to Grandma Woodcox for the awesome costumes! The kids got plenty of candy and had lots of fun.

Can you say HUGE?

2009-12-06T13:08:00.005-07:00

It was a nice quiet Sunday afternoon. (Oct.11th) We were headed out to see CJ's parents when CJ spotted it...it was a Tarantula!! In our driveway!!! CJ had the brilliant idea to catch the stupid thing. Then him and the girls tried to talk me into keeping it! Luckily I won out and after taking it to the school to show Kirstee's class, CJ returned it to West Mountain where they apparently live. Here are a few pictures. I can't believe how much the girls liked the stupid thing. It freaked me out!

Apparently we are too busy...

2009-12-06T13:00:00.002-07:00

Wow it has been a long time since I blogged! A lot has happened. I am going to try and catch up.

Kirstee finally lost her first tooth!! She was sure she was never going to lose one. Everyone else in her class had lost at least one. On the morning of October 10th Kirstee discovered her tooth was loose. By about 3:00 in the afternoon she had pulled it out. That's right, she pulled it out. She wouldn't let us near it. For me it was another step towards her growing up. I was excited and sad. Time is going by too quickly.

8 years!!

2009-09-28T07:45:00.001-06:00

Today marks 8 years of marriage for CJ and I. It has been a wonderful 8 years and so much has happened in our lives. I am very greatful to have such a wonderful husband. 8 things I love about him...

1. His unconditional love for me and the girls.
2. His hard work.
3. His love for the outdoors.
4. His sense of Humor.
5. His smile.
6. His handy man abbilities. It always amazes me how he can fix pretty much anything.
7. How he is willing to do anything for me or the girls.
8. The fact he has made the last 8 years the best of my life!!

I LOVE YOU CJ!!

2009-09-28T07:35:00.002-06:00

Makadee started Pre-School on August 31st. I am not sure I was ready for this, but she is absolutely loving it!! She attends our districts free Pre-school at Taylor Elementary. Which means I have kids in 2 different schools. Luckily Makadee's starts half an hour earlier. But it also means they have asked that she eat breakfast at school. I always send something with her, but she learned that she could tell them that she didn't have a breakfast and they would give her one from the school. I had to tell her teacher that she is to never have school lunch! I had to go in and pay for the one she had eaten (luckily it doesn't cost much.)

Makadee started dance on September 2nd. She is loving it! On her first day she told me that I had to do her hair like a ballerina since she had to go to dance. Anytime there is music playing this little girl is dancing. Kirstee is trying tumbling out this year. We will see how she likes it :)

Ride for Fallen officers & Kirstee's first day of 2nd grade

2009-08-23T11:27:00.000-06:00

CJ had the opportunity to ride his motorcycle in the Ride for Fallen Officers last Sunday. To be able to ride you have to donate $25 that goes into a charity to help the families who have lost a loved one in the line of duty. The girls and I parked up in Salt lake to watch them ride by, but they changed the route last minute and we didn't get to see them come by. So instead we drove up to the State Capitol where the ride ended. It was fun to let the girls see inside the building. And we got some cool pictures of the officer bikes.

Kirstee is in 2nd grade! She just seems too grown up now. Kirstee has 2 teachers this year and she is very excited about it. Her first day of school was Wednesday and she was ready to head out the door at 7:30. I had to remind her that the doors didn't open until 8:30. I am greatful that she loves school so much!

While Kirstee went to school on Wednesday I took Makadee to Build a Bear. She had saved up half the money to go. So off we went and we had so much fun! She built a bunny who is dressed in a swimming suit and her name is Strawberry. That bunny has been well loved this week.

As far as my job, we haven't heard yet if we get to go back as tech's. If I do go back it will be in 2nd grade instead of Kindergarten. I will greatly miss Kindergarten!! But will be happy to have a job no matter what it is.

Swimming lessons & The Gateway

2009-08-23T11:15:00.000-06:00

August started off busy and hasn't stopped. The last week of July & first week of August was Kirstee's swimming leesons. She amazed me!! She absolutely loves to be in the water and had no fear of doing what her teachers asked her to do. So on to level 3 next year! Makadee was very mad at me though. I didn't know that they could start lessons at age 3. And so when we got there the first day and there was kids her size in the water...I didn't hear the end of it. But there's always next year I guess.

For one of our fun Friday activities we went to The Gateway. We had never been, and we had so much fun!! We went with our friends Camie, Parker, Roxie & Lanaea. We got there right at lunchtime. So we stopped at the food court to have lunch then we went to Discovery Gateway. The kids loved it!! They have so many fun things for them to do. There's the ball center, the house, the store, the building zone, the farm, dress up clothes, a lifeflight helicopter, and many more things to do. We played for awhile and then we went down and let the kids play in the water fountain. It was a very fun day!

Where did July go?

2009-08-23T11:04:00.000-06:00

It has been far too long since I blogged. So much has happened! The end of June begining of July we had the oppotunity to go to my brother Dallins house. We had so much fun!!! From going swimming, to library day at the park, to a trip to Shoshone falls. There was never a dull moment. My girls absolutely loved playing with Alex and getting to know Dallin and Liz better. They were sad when it came time to go home.

In the middle of July we attended my Rushton Reunion. Sadly I have no pictures because I forgot the camera (if you have pictures of me and my girls plaese share!) But we had a wonderful time. We discovered that it is possible for 2 people to sleep in the back of my car but 3 is too many. I discovered that Makadee is very friendly. She could always be found in someone's tent or off playing with a new friend. Where Kirstee could always be found with the same friends and in the same area. All in all we had a good time.

Wow, July just went way too fast!

Photography

2009-07-07T08:33:00.003-06:00

I have taken on the hobby of photography. I am still new and getting experience, but I am loving it!! If you would like to see some of my work visit www.maezingsphotos.blogspot.com

I would appreciate any feedback you have for me!

Have a great day!

Loads of Fun

2009-06-25T17:09:00.001-06:00

We have had a lot of fun this month. My cousin Michele got married, CJ's cousin Riley got married, we had a Tea party, Father's Day, swimming at Payson Pool and last but not least we went to the zoo! So I will try to make this some what interesting and not too long...

We will start with the Tea party. Every Friday we do "Fun Friday" with my friend Camie and her kids. Camie, being the crafty and awesome person she is, came up with the idea's. So we made wallets, purses, beads (out of paper!) and then necklaces. Once the girls had all of their accessories we had a Tea Party. They had a cute Barbie Tea set that we served soda pop as the tea and Camie found the cutest little cookies. The girls had a blast!!

Michele's wedding came next. For those of you that don't know Michele, she is just 3 months older than me and she also has no sisters. We grew up as Best Friends even though we didn't live close together. I am so excited for her and her new husband John. They are perfect for each other. I felt really bad for them, as they came out of the temple it started to pour!! It was raining and Thundering really bad. But life went on and they looked so beautiful!

Next came Father's Day. CJ bought his own present this year (his motorcycle.) But I had a picture of the girls printed for him to take to work and the girls bought him a new card game. We made him breakfast in bed and took his presents in. After he had opened his presents he said "time to eat." And Makadee figured that meant her too, so she picked up one of his muffins and dug in! We all laughed and he decided we could all share and then go to the kitchen to get more and finish. I think all in all he had a good day.

Yesterday was CJ's cousin Riley's wedding. They held it up at the Utah State Hospital Amphitheatre. It was very pretty and very hot! Makadee ended up getting very sick after the luncheon. So CJ and the girls went home and I helped run the chocolate fountain at the reception. It was a very long and exhausting day, but we are very happy for Riley and Treesa! We wish them the best of luck :)

And today we went to the zoo!! We went with Royell (CJ's Aunt,) her 4 kids, and Holly (his cousin,) her 2 boys and us. We had a lot of fun. I hadn't been since Kirstee was 3, so this was a new experience for Makadee. I think the kids favorite part was riding the train. Makadee has already asked when we get to go back. :)

We hope everyone else's summer is going good!!

Makadee's haircut!

2009-06-10T18:46:00.000-06:00

Makadee has never really had a haircut, she has had a trim here and there, but never a real haircut. So today I decided I was tired of dealing with the tangles. So...we cut it! I was sad to see the long hair go, but it will grow back :) She was very excited and is loving showing it off.

Before...

during...

after :)

Picture time

2009-06-10T18:38:00.000-06:00

While at the park today I decided to try and take the girls pictures. Makadee was much more willing to let me do it than Kirstee.

Our summer so far...

2009-06-10T18:35:00.000-06:00

So far our summer is going great! We have kept ourselves very busy. We have been bowling, had picnics in the park, kept up with the library reading program, dressed up in mommy's shoes and Daddy got a new toy. We hope you are having a wonderful summer as well!

Cheapshot Photography

2009-05-29T07:04:00.004-06:00

This Lady does some amazing work! And she is affordable. Check out her website and keep her in mind when you are ready to get your pictures done.

http://cheapshotsllc.blogspot.com

Playin in the water

2009-05-17T15:13:00.000-06:00

The girls have been begging to play in the sprinklers. I kept telling them that they had to wait for it to be 80 degrees. So we have been watching the forcast for the last couple of weeks. I told them that it was supposed to reach 80 today and that was a mistake. They didn't leave me alone until I let them get the sprinkler out. They had so much fun! I got a video of it, but I haven't figured out how to post videos yet. (So if you want to let me in on the secret that would be great!)

I Love Spring!!

2009-05-17T15:01:00.000-06:00

Tulips are my favorite!! This is a picture of one from my yard.

Spring Break 2009

2009-05-17T14:58:00.000-06:00

I got this crazy idea that Kirstee and Makadee should share a room. So the first day of Spring Break, after CJ left for work, the girls and I cleaned the rooms and moved all of their furniture. 5 minutes after we finished they were already fighting and I thought I had made a big mistake!! But in all reality it has gone really well. Kirstee sleeps better at night. And Makadee's room became the computer room. So now we can get on our computers after the kids go to bed and Kirstee won't have anxiety about us leaving her upstairs "alone." I hope we can get bunk beds for them soon so they will have more room to play.

The Friday of Spring Break, 4 of my girlfriends and I booked it out of town. We went up to Park City for the night. We had so much fun!! We went to dinner, played games in the hotel, I made breakfast for them the next morning and then we shopped all day Saturday before returning home. It was a good break, but it was very nice to come home too. I hope we do it again next year!

Easter Dresses

2009-05-17T14:47:00.000-06:00

Thank you Grandma Woodcox for the beautiful dresses!

Aquarium!

2009-03-27T15:16:00.000-06:00

Today my Kindergarten class had the chance to go the the Living Aquarium in Sandy. We could have up to 60 kids, and there were only 5o kids going, so I asked if I could bring Kirstee with me. We had so much fun!! I asked CJ if we could go as a family this summer. We saw so many neat things. I loved watching the Octopus. I wish I had gotten a good picture of it. Kirstee would not touch anything. I tried to get her to just stick her fingers in the water and she wouldn't even do that. Overall it was a lot of fun. Enjoy the pictures! (click on the pictures to see them bigger.)

Kirstee's First Grade Program

2009-03-27T15:05:00.000-06:00

Last night, (yes I am actually blogging something right after it happened) Kirstee had her first grade program. The theme of the program was "Leaders of Tomorrow." They sang songs about being succesful and making good choices. I was so proud of Kirstee, as far as I could tell she knew all the words to the songs she needed to sing. She asked me, while she was getting ready, if I knew what stage fright was. Lol. Apparently her teacher had talked to them a little about it. We discussed it a little more, and she did great! She was sad that she didn't have a speaking part, but I reminded her that we would be there all night if I everyone had a turn at talking! When we got home she asked when she was going to get to do another program. Apparently she had a lot of fun!

Kirstee and some of her classmates during the program.

With cousin October after the program. She loves having October at the same school as her.

With Ms. Ledingham, her teacher, after the program.

Olivia's Wedding

2009-03-15T11:04:00.002-06:00

Yesterday CJ's cousin Olivia got married. I did not get any pictures of the actual Bride and Groom, but I did have fun taking some random pictures at the reception. And I have had fun today messing around with those pictures. I thought I would share a few of my favorites. :)
(By the way...click on the picture to make them bigger. I can't figure out how to get Kirstee's head in the picture on the sepia one.)

Poor Makadee

2009-03-15T10:56:00.000-06:00

At the beggining of the month Makadee got really sick. She had everything from a cold and runny nose to a touch of the flu and an earache. I am so glad she is finally better. But I had to share these pictures. Even while she was sick, I couldn't get her to take a nap. One day she was playing at CJ's computer chair with her doll while I was doing a couple things on my computer. She was talking to her doll and having a good time when all of a sudden it went quiet...and she was out! Standing there bent over the chair, dead asleep. It was too cute to not capture on camera. And then of course I took her up to bed. :)

February

2009-03-15T10:51:00.000-06:00

Kirstee loved playing in the snow this year! It is the first year we have really let her play in it. Since she is in school we felt like we should buy her some snow clothes for recess. Therefore I felt like I could actually let her play in the snow because she had warm clothing. In the above picture, you can't see it very well, but Kirstee is standing by a snowman that she built all by herself! I was pretty proud of her for figuring this out. And she was very proud of it too. She was very sad when it fell over and melted.

Makadee has become...or rather always has been our little princess. I took her summer clothes shopping one day and we found the cutest little summer dress. I then proceded to show her a really cute outfit (pictured above,) I told her I thought it was cute and we should get it. Her response was, "ewww it has pants, I only want dresses." I was laughing so hard! As you can see I won and we got the outfit anyway. But I now know that this child wants to only wear dresses this summer. :)

And last but not least for the month of February...Mr. Q and Miss U got married! CJ and I had the privelage...I guess it was a privelage...to play the parts of Q and U in Kindergarten. The children were learning about the letter Q and how if there is a Q there is also a U. The teachers were wanting to do a little ceremony showing Q and U getting married. I opened my big mouth bragging about how my wedding dress still fits and therefore got talked into being Miss U. And poor CJ was talked into being Mr. Q. The Principal played the preacher, we exchanged QU rings and the kids gave us gifts that started with QU like quilt, quarters, and queen. It was really fun for the kids, so i guess it was worth it. :)

January

2009-03-15T10:38:00.000-06:00

Wow! Where has the time gone. I was just putting all my pictures from my camera to the computer and realized that I haven't blogged in a while. So here we go on another blogging marathon. :)

In January the girls got their first try at sledding. It was nothing big, just a small snow hill at the end of our road. But they thought it was lots of fun and keep begging me to take them to a big hill to try some more. Too bad the snow is gone now. My goal is to be a better Mom next winter and take them.

In the pictures are Makadee, Kirstee and neighbor Sydnee.

Makadee Ruth

2009-02-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

Doing these lists have really helped me remember the little things. You might not really care about these. But it has helped me put life in a new perspective. Tonight it's Makadee's turn to be in the spotlight.

1. Her personality
2. Watching her dance
3. Her smile
4. Her laugh
5. Her kind heart, nobody is ever left out
6. The way she talks
7. Her unconditional love
8. The fact that she thinks she is a princess
9. Her wet kisses :)
10. Her friendship

I LOVE YOU MAKADEE!

Kirstee Mae Woodcox

2009-02-11T18:35:00.000-07:00

I have decided to do a 10 things I like about... list on my girls. So, tonight I will be focusing on Kirstee.

1. Her smile
2. Her laugh
3. Her hugs!
4. How smart she is
4. She is beautiful!
5. I love it when she helps me! (She loves to do dishes.)
6. A good sister to Makadee
7. Her notes she writes to me
8. I love when she reads to me/tells me stories
9. I love that she always wants to spend time with me.
10. She is my friend :)

I LOVE YOU KIRSTEE!

10 things I like about my Hubby...

2009-02-10T21:33:00.001-07:00

I saw on my friends blog a list of things she liked about her husband. She did it because it was his birthday. But I am doing mine because I feel I need to show my appreciation for him! So here it goes 10 things I like about my husband in no special order...

1. Loving/caring
2. Provides for the family
3. Excellent Father
4. Great sense of humor
5. Smart!
6. Handy man
7. Helps around the house (cooks, cleans, laundry, etc.)
8. Always supportive of what I want to do.
9. Knows how to make me happy. :)
10. Last but not least...He is my Best Friend!

I love him and am grateful to have such a wonderful Husband.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We really enjoyed ours. We started off with having Casi (CJ's sister) Greg and Nile over for games and goodies on Christmas Eve. After they left we helped the girls leave cookies for Santa. Kirstee really wanted to put milk out, but we told her it would be warm and gross by the time Santa came. So we left an empty cup and a note written by Kirstee with directions to the fridge for milk. She was so worried he wouldn't find the milk!

Christmas morning came...I think it came at like 4:30 for me...I couldn't sleep! I was so excited I could hardly stand it! CJ made me stay in bed until 6:00, but luck was on my side, Makadee woke up screaming at 5:55. (We still don't know why she was screaming, nightmare I guess.) But I was glad, albeit it was only 5 minutes early, but the girls had finally gotten up so I could. :) We had a lot of fun opening our presents. We started a new tradition this year, they are called runner gifts. Inside one of their presents the kids found a note, on the note it told them to run look somewhere for the present. When Makadee opened hers she looked at CJ and said, "Dad there's nothing in here." The look on her face was priceless. After I explained that we needed to read the note and find the present it was all better. When Kirstee got hers she read it to herself and then took off running. We had to tell her to wait for us. It was a lot of fun to follow the kids and see their faces when they found their present.

After we opened our presents we went to Eric and Briannes for breakfast. I greatly appreciated them having us over so that I didn't have to make breakfast. Grandma and Grandpa Rushton were also there. The kids had fun playing and we thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast

Then we were off to Grandma and Grandpa Woodcox's house. Upon arriving we discovered that Grandma was going to let us open any presents until we had had brunch. It was pure torture! But it did make it last longer and was a lot of fun in the end.

All in all we had lots of fun and a very good Christmas fille d with memories and lots of family time. We hope you have a great New Year!

Christmas Dresses

2008-12-29T18:36:00.000-07:00

The girls are very spoiled when it comes to dresses. We are very lucky to have a Grandma that can sew. They looked so beautiful in them that I had to share.

Happy Birthday Makadee

2008-12-29T18:33:00.000-07:00

It's official! My baby is 3 years old. It happened on December 19th. I think she had a wonderful day. I know she was very happy that it was snowing.

She got spoiled rotten as usual, even with Christmas being just a week away.

Thank you to Grandma Woodcox for the yummy and very cute Strawberry Shortcake cake.

And then it snowed...

2008-12-13T16:11:00.000-07:00

We are having a big snow storm today. This is the first big one of the year. We had one about a week ago, but nothing stuck to the ground. This is the first time my kids have had snow clothes and have been allowed to go out and play. They could not wait! I got Makadee all dressed and she looked and me and said, "I look funny." I told her she looked cute and then she said, "I can't walk!" I told her to deal with it and go have fun. And so she did.

Pictured here is Makadee, Sydnee (the neighbor) and Kirstee.

Makadee had loads of fun. I couldn't get her to come back in. :)

Trying to catch up

2008-12-11T17:07:00.001-07:00

I just posted 4 posts...wait now it's 5! I am so proud of myself. If you are bored read them all, if not at least look at the cute pictures ;-) Have a great day!

Christmas time

2008-12-11T17:05:00.001-07:00

We had a great Thanksgiving this year! We enjoyed seeing all of our family that came for the occasion! Sorry everyone, but my favorite was Abigail :) Unfortunately we forgot to take any pictures :( But we did have a great time. We had dinner at my Parents home. We enjoyed being there with Tyler, Rachael, Abigail, Dallin, Liz and Alex. After enjoying their company we went to CJ's parents house for dessert and a round of Bunco. Royell and her family were there among a lot of others that live close by. Over all we had a great day!

As the tradition goes, we always put our tree up the day after Thanksgiving. We got it up on Friday, but didn't decorate it until Sunday. The girls had a lot of fun doing it this year.

As you can see, we left everything where they put it...therefor all of Makadee's stuff is in one section on the bottom. Kirstee did pretty good at spreading hers out. I debated on moving them and making it look pretty, but decided not too. Why let them do it if I was just going to redo all of it anyway? We hope everyone is enjoying their Holiday season. Be safe and we love you!

Fun in the leaves.

2008-12-11T16:47:00.001-07:00

We had the privelage to have my cousin/friend Jana and her kids come visit us in November. Makadee had so much fun playing with them (Kirstee was at school.)

When the kids got bored of the house, we put on jackets and shoes and went into our backyard. Jana and I raked up a big pile of leaves and the kids had a blast in them!

We had a hard time letting them go, so we made sure to make plans with them before they left. And they came back again last week.

I love this picture of Bella!

Happy Birthday

2008-12-11T16:38:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Kirstee!!

Kirstee celebrated her 6th Birthday on November 5th. She had a very fun party with lots of friends. It was a Tinkerbell themed party. All the girls got fairy wings and wands and the boys were pirates.

We played pass the wand, pin the star on Tinkerbells wand, ate cake, opened presents and then watched the new Tinkerbell movie.

Later that night Grandma's and Grandpa's came to visit. Over all I think she had a great day!

Happy Halloween...

2008-12-11T16:33:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween!....A few months late I know. As you can see we had fun decorating our pumpkins. Kirstee did hers all by herself this year. She was pretty proud of herself.

Kirstee was a cowgirl and still insists on wearing her boots against her Daddy's wishes. Makadee was a ballerina and still to this day insists on being called ballerina. We had a fun time attending Grandma Woodcox's Trunk or Treat the Tuesday before. Then we had Casi, Greg and Nile over for pizza and games on Halloween. Over all it was a great Halloween.<

Finally an update...

2008-10-14T13:23:00.003-06:00

I am sorry I haven't blogged in such a long time!!! So many things have happened in our lives that I need to catch you up on...Let's start with September.

In September we had the chance to go to Las Vegas to see CJ's Uncle Adam and cousin Mckenzie be baptised. It was such a wonderful experience and we are so happy for them. While in Vegas, we swam, played at the park on the toys and in the water, swam some more, went to M&M world and attended the wonderful baptism! We are thankful to Royell and Adam for hosting us the first night. We thoroughly enjoyed every minute we spent with them. The last 2 nights we spent in a Hotel with Grandma Woodcox.

In October we decorated cookies at Grandma Rushton's. Had Family Pictures taken. And Kirstee started dance lessons. The kids had so much fun decorating the cookies at Grandma's with their cousins. Kirstee has been wanting to do some at home ever since! Our Family Pictures were taken in Loafer Canyon, which is located between Woodland Hills and Elk Ridge. The girls were so good and patient, considerin it was freezing cold! Kirstee is learning to do Highland dancing. Which is a form of Scottish Dance. She has the privilage to be taking it with her cousin October. She seems to be enjoying it, although I can't seem to get her to practice much. Makadee gets mad every time we take Kirstee because she wants to dance too. I think she will be more into the dancing than Kirstee, 2 more years and we will try it. :-)

Tag your it...

2008-09-05T16:34:00.002-06:00

ABC's...
A-Attached or Single? Attached...7 years this month!
B-Bestfriend? CJ
C-Cake or Pie? Cake
D-Day of Choice? Birthday
E-Essential Item? Cell phone
F-Favorite Color? Blue
G-Gummy Bears or Gummy Worms? Gummy Bears
H-Hometown? Payson
I-Indulgences? Caffeinated drinks
J-January or July? July, I like it warm!
K-Kids? 2
L-Life is incomplete without? My husband and kids
M-Marriage Date? September 28, 2001
N-Number of Siblings? 4 brothers
O-Oranges or Apples? Apples
P-Phobias or Fears? The freeway, but I am trying really hard to overcome it.
Q-Quotes? "Never give up."
R-Reason to Smile? My kids
S-Season? Spring
T-Tag 5 People? ...only 5? Royell, Casi, Liz, Sam, Michele and Brianne (6 ok?)
U-Unknown Fact? can't think of one...
V-Very Favorite Store? Target
W-Worst habit? eating junk food
X-X-Ray or Ultrasound? Ultrasound
Y-Your Favorite Food? hmmm...Fried Chicken
Z-Zodiac Sign? Virgo

It was too quiet...

2008-08-26T16:51:00.000-06:00

You always know that Makadee is up to no good when it is quiet in our house. As you can see, her adventure today was in Mommy's makeup. Isn't she beautiful! ;-) I had a really hard time not laughing at her. Oh well, at least it will clean up fairly easy.

First Day of School!!

2008-08-25T20:42:00.000-06:00

This may confuse a few of you, since in my last post I said Kirstee was starting Kindergarten. But after she had her Kindergarten assessments last Thursday, and lots of thought and consideration on the matter...Kirstee started 1st grade today!!! I still can't believe it, but it's true. She was sooo excited! We went on Friday and bought her a lunch box, since she now needed a lunch, and on Saturday she wanted me to pack her lunch. ;-) I am so proud of Kirstee, she is such an amazing girl. She continues to teach us more than we teach her.

As for Makadee, she had to hurry and get dressed, find her backpack, wanted food in her backpack like Kirstee and had to have her picture taken too. She thought for sure that she was going to school too. It was so sad! She wants so much to be big like her sister. Starting Wednesday she will be going to daycare in the mornings while I work and I hope that satisfies her enough.

Here is Kirstee with her new teacher, Ms. Leddingham. She is a new intern, but we have great faith that she will be wonderful! We learned that she is from Mt Pleasant, and is still living there, so she makes quite the commute everyday. I talked to her after school today, and she said Kirstee had no problems. She fit right in with the rest of her class. Kirstee is excited to have her friend Savanna in their with her. But most of all, she loves to play with her cousin October at Reccess! Good Luck Kirstee!!

Going back to school...

2008-08-12T16:15:00.002-06:00

As we get close to sending Kirstee to school for Kindergarten, I have exciting news!! I am finally going back to school myself. I am so excited and can't wait to get started. I just received my acceptance letter from UVU. I am going to get my associates in Art and Visual Communication with an emphasis in Photography. AKA I will be a photographer in the end. :) I am very excited and nervous, it has been a long time since I went to school! I will start back in January, CJ says I better start saving my pennies, lol. I can't believe how much it costs!! But penny saving I am doing. UVU here I come!

Swimming Lessons

2008-08-01T13:42:00.000-06:00

Kirstee had the opportunity to take swimming lessons this year. She was also lucky to get to be in the same class as her cousin October. Actually all but 2 (Makadee and Trevor) of the Rusthon grandkids that live in Payson go at the same time. It is fun to get to watch all of them.

I have been very excited to see Kirstee progress as well as she has. She had a hard time putting her whole head under the water. She can now do "bobs" as she calls them and get her whole head wet. She is also learning to float on her stomache and her back.

Taking her to the pool is a whole new experience now. We went last night with Grandma Woodcox's ward and I actually got a little nervous with her. She used to be so afraid of the water that she wouldn't wander off on her own. Not the case last night! I kept having to find her and remind her I need to know where she is. I am so glad she is finally gaining confidence in being in the water.

As we were leaving this morning, Aunt Brianne told Makadee and Gavin to hold hands so we wouldn't lose them. It was so cute the way they were walking together. I couldn't resist the urge to take a picture. Makadee has been very mad at me since she doesn't get to do lessons this year. But she is surviving.

Happy Birthday old man ;-)

2008-07-28T07:45:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday to my husband, best friend and father of my children. I am very blessed to have this amazing man as my husband. CJ is caring, selfless, funny, lovable and hard working. He enjoys gaming, being in the mountains and playing with his girls. We wouldn't survive without him. Thanks for all you do. WE LOVE YOU!!!!!

Makadee is fearless!

2008-07-18T07:06:00.003-06:00

So, we finally went to the new Payson pool! My kids were so excited. I found that Makadee is not afraid of the water like Kirstee is. She was the first to go down the water slide, she was the first to put her head under and so on. At one point she decided to climb up the water slide. Right as she was going up, the big bucket dumped! She got a face full of water and took a little too much down. Made me very nervous! It took her a minute to breathe again, but she was right back at the top coming down again. Then a little while later, I turned my back for 2 seconds, and she ran over to the 3 ft deep area and jumped in!! I turned around just in time to see her jump. I got to her just as the life guard pulled her out. It was so scary!!!!! So needles to say, Makadee is not afraid of the water!

Kirstee surprised me this year by all that she would do at the pool. It only took Makadee going down the slide 2 times before Kirstee decided she could do it. And from them on she wasn't afraid of anything. She was even jumping into the 3 ft deep part (hence why Makadee decided she needed to,) and would run over when she heard the bell for the bucket and stand under it. Kirstee does not like the water in her face, so this was a big feat for her. I was ready to go home after 1 hour, because the air was cold and the kids were shivering, but I couldn't get Kirstee to leave.

All in all, we had a lot of fun. I can't wait to take them again, but I am going to find some kind of floating device for Makadee!

Precious Moments

2008-07-14T07:43:00.001-06:00

Last night, after enjoying an evening at Grandma and Grandpa Rushton's for fhe, we put the kids to bed and went downstairs to play a game together. The girls were up and down with every excuse in the book to not go to bed! At one point they started to complain that there was a bug upstairs. We got mad and told them we would come squish it in a minute but they need to go to bed! At about 10:00 it finally got quiet upstairs. When we went up to go to bed, we discovered they had fallen asleep in Makadee's bed. With a bag of pretzels and all! Apparently they had been having a party without us. It was so cute! I couldn't resist taking a picture. In return for letting them sleep together, they decided to get up at 5:30!! (New pictures on the summer fun slide show.)

Originally posted on July 8th, just trying to get the picture to work.

Sunday fill in

2008-07-13T15:41:00.002-06:00

1. Oh, I can't wait until I have a vacation.

2. Milk is the first thing I see when I open my refrigerator.

3. I never leave home without my cell phone.

4. If I were a condiment, I would be mustard because I like it.

5. Nosy people is really high up on my list of pet peeves.

6. The last thing I thought of before I went to bed was giving CJ a kiss.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to going to Casi's, tomorrow my plans include cleaning the house and Sunday, I want to be lazy like always!

Sunday Fill in

2008-07-07T10:14:00.002-06:00

1. Holidays in the summer are patriotic.

2. Steaks are my favorite things to grill.

3. My thoughts are life goes by too fast.

4.Time with my family is what I'm most looking forward to this weekend!

5. My favorite book so far this summer is The Host by: Stephanie Meyers.

6. Praying is the best way to begin a day.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to FHE, tomorrow my plans include Shopping and Sunday, I want to relax!

Link to Sunday fill in

2008-06-29T09:29:00.005-06:00

I get my "Sunday fill in" from fridayfillins.blogspot.com
I don't want to take credit for other peoples work. :)

Sunday fill in

2008-06-29T09:21:00.005-06:00

1. Birthdays are fun when little, dreaded when older.

2. Spring is my favorite season because it is warm, not hot. And because everything is fresh and new.

3. I feel my best when I have accomplished something. Even if it's just a simple task like cleaning my house.

4. There are too many to have a favorite...is my favorite food!

5. First impressions are overrated. (What if you are nervous and totally don't act like yourself?)

6. The best piece of advice I ever received was save your money. (Too bad I don't know how to use it.)

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to Eating Navajo tacos, tomorrow my plans include Cleaning the house and Sunday, I want to be lazy!

Need to think things through...

2008-06-18T08:02:00.002-06:00

So, I have come to realize that I need to think things through before I act. I had an embarrassing moment this week.

I decided the girls needed a swimming pool to cool off in. I refused to buy another blow up one that they would pop in a day. So, I set out in search of one of the hard plastic ones. I finally, after going to every store in Payson, found one at Rite Aid. I was so excited that I just hurried in and bought it. Once outside with our new pool, I realized there was no way it was going to fit into the car. So now here I sit, on Main street, with an empty swimming pool that my kids are insisting on sitting in! Oh the looks people were giving me. I quickly called Cameron to come rescue me. And of course, he is out riding his 4 wheeler. But none the less says he can come get it. So, we sat on main street, the girls jumping in and out of the pool like it already had water in it, and waited for Cameron. It took him about 1/2 hour to get to us. I had never been so happy to see him, until I realized he had a friend with him. I am sure they were both laughing pretty hard at the fact I had tried to get this big pool into my car. None the less, Cameron got the pool home for us. And I can't seem to keep the girls out of it. I will have to get some pictures and post them.

Living without internet...

2008-06-12T18:00:00.002-06:00

I would like to know how people survive without the internet...oh wait I do know since we haven't had it since October! But that is no more, we now have internet and I can finally stay in touch with everyone again.

An update on the Family-

CJ is still working for Wencor, although he was promoted from CMM machine operator 1 to CMM Machine operator 2. Which means he now reverse engineers the parts instead of doing quality checks. He seems to be enjoying it so far.

Kirstee has graduated from Pre-School. She claims she hated it because it was boring. In the last 4 months, she has taught herself how to read and how to ride a bike without training wheels. She is very excited to go to Kindergarten! I just hope she gets Aunt Clea so that she will be challenged. She is having fun with what little warm weather we are having. She loves to be outside and is always begging to play in the sprinklers. We have great hope that the weather gets warm soon!

Makadee thinks she is as big as her sister. If you ask her how old she is, she will tell you she is 5. If you try to correct her she just gets mad. Makadee is truly the light of our lives. She is always doing something to make us laugh. Nothing stops her! She is always on the cupboards or into something you wouldn't think she could reach. She definitely keeps us on our toes. She is potty trained!!! About 3 months ago she decided she was big like her sister and wanted to use the potty. It took her a couple weeks to really get it down, but I am loving not having to change diapers!!

As for me, I worked as a Star Tutor and Kindergarten Tech this last school year. And am currently teaching Kindergarten for our summer school. This has been a little stressful, but with the help of the Kindergarten teachers, I was able to make some fun plans for my class. I still love to scrapbook, read sappy romances and spend time with my family.

That pretty much sums up our lives for now. Hope all is well with you and your families!!