Jaxson's birthday party invitation!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

While the cat's away the mice will play!

One of my sisters pointed out that I have awfully wordy blogs...as a warning...this is no exception! I do use my blog as my journal, so just look for the bold, italicized letters and view the pictures if you are not into reading wordy blogs!!(just for you Jibbs!)


I must be the cat, because no playin' went on here! Derek had a convention in Logan, Utah and although he learned a lot..sounds like he played like a mouse!!

Brock, like always kept me busy. First day Derek was gone, I was helping the older kids with homework and Brock was off quietly playing so I didn't worry. Grace ran downstairs to get something out of her room and comes to me yelling that her ceiling was leaking?!?! Sheer panic comes over me(Brock now on my lap) as I try and think where Brock just came from and figure out why there would be water coming out of a ceiling..ahhh..the bathroom! I run there to find the toilet spilling over and atleast 2 inches of water on the floor and a whole roll of the nice thick toilet paper (the kind we only allow in the adult bathroom) pluggin up the toilet!
I paniced again but knew I had to move fast! I reached in the back of the toilet and stopped the water from running, I took the toilet brush and took out as much tp as I could and was able to successfully flush. Then I grabbed every used towel I could find, reminding myself I didn't want to wash more towels than I had to. After about 9 large towels, 2 socking wet area rugs(all of this thrown in the shower...knowing I would get to that mess after the kids were in bed!), having to repeatedly remove kids from the bathroom...without throwing them(tempting as it was) and wet carpet on either side of the bathroom, I headed downstairs to see the girls room. They had taken all their clothes out of their plastic drawers and used them to catch the water, on the already wet bed and a big wet ring around the vent on the ceiling.
After 2 days and many hours of labor, everything seems to be dry and back to normal..thank goodness for no seminary this week! Thanks Brother Archibald!!(if you look closely you can see water dripping out of the vent and yes that is still water on the bathroom floor in the picture!)
















































After I recovered from that, I took to organizing parts of my house that have been complately ignored in the past. After too many games of sardines in my messy closet, I took to organize it. I wish I would have taken before pictures..but trust me...it is much better!















































I also organized both storage rooms, setting up a better area for food storage(thanks to the last enrichment..or should I say, Relief Society meeting). The kids were a big help and it feels like my secret hiding places have finally been cleaned out!




Derek's home safely now, after driving 17 hours straight through the night, and we are glad to have him home with us and back to our busy schedule!

Acker's visit...again!

We have had many visitors this last year, it has been so fun! This time Derek's mom and dad and brother Aaron, wife Megan and darling little boys, Joshua and Jacob came for the labor day weekend. We had a lot of fun spending time together, talking and letting the cousins play! Megan and Aaron are such great parents. They have adorable little boys and they are so good. It was fun to see them be so grown up and parenting, it seems just yesterday they were getting married. Time goes by so fast!!
We took them to two of our favorite restaurants, Carlos O Kelly's and Freddy's, the boys took their normal trip to Sam's club with Nanny, and then boys also got to go to their sporting store with Papa. The boys were great to take the kids swimming while the girls spent the day shopping. We got to help Robbin pick out her engagement ring, which was gorgeous...I even picked one out in hopes of a fun change for our 10 year anniversary this year! It was a fun weekend, and we missed them the minute they drove out of the driveway!
Here are some pictures to remember(thanks Megan!)
Carlos O' Kelly's:



Playing outside:



















Freddy's:






P90X Yoga...with a little bubbly celebration after...Derek was WAYYY more excited about that then the workout!!






















Good times with uncle Aaron:

Brockie got his passie back...atleast for the night!

We took Brock's passie away right after we got back from our summer vacation, and it really wasn't too hard. We just put them up on the shelf and said good-bye to them. Well, the other night, Robbin babysat while Derek and I went out to a movie. When we got home she said Brock was crying about having to go to bed but once she took him upstairs, gave him his passie(hmmmm?), he laid in bed so happy and giggly just sucking away on his passie! HA HA!! I told her we had taken it away a few weeks ago and we laughed for a while at his reaction! Brock was probably so happy to have his Robbin back and breaking the rules for him!!
We feel so blessed to have aunt Robbin here and the relationship all my kids have formed with her! We are so happy for her as she is moving back to Colorado to get married, but we will miss her sooo much!!
Later that night I snuck in to check on Brock and he was still happily sucking away!! They are back up on the shelf without another problem!

Kimberly Starr Sollee Kevwitch

This past Monday, my highschool friend, Starr passed away. She left behind her 14 year old daughter MacKenzie and 9 year old son Cooper. Her parents, Barb and Gary Sollee were the people that introduced us to Chem-Dry and helped us for almost 2 years running their business to get us prepared for our own! They are wonderful people, I hope they find comfort in the gospel and our Savior at this difficult time! Starr, you will be missed!

Weekend at the Farm

We met some friends on Jaxson's football team, his friend is Reagan and his parents are Marietta and Dave. They invited us up to their farm about an hour out of town! It was beautiful up there, very peaceful and quiet. They have horses, lakes and trails and a little home built in 1904. We fished and swam and fed the horses and roasted hot dogs! They were a very nice family. In March of this year, they came up to the farm for the first time this year and there was a ladder up against a tree. Harrison, their 2 year old was playing on it and lost his footing and fell down and bumped his head on the ladder. The doctors were not able to find anything that caused them concern and thought he would be ok, but he past away the next day. They are a really amazing family and have a lot of faith and know he is with God. They said Brock reminds them a lot of Harrison! I'm glad we are getting to know them more, it was a fun day! I DEFINATELY held my kids a little longer that night!

Life with Brock

Life has changed drastically for me this school year. I was released as Young Women's president after 3.5 great years and called to teach early morning seminary! I leave at 5:30 and get home at 7am. Just in time to do the girls hair, pray and kiss them off before ALL 3 get on the bus! This leaves Brock and I alone for 8 hours! I have never had a only one toddler at home before! We have a lot of fun, but if he gets bored while I am involved in a project, he can be all kinds of trouble!
He has learned how to help himself with the DVD player as he pulls out the bottom drawer as a stool and digs in the top drawer to change movies EVERY 5 MINUTES!! Luckily over the weekend, we fixed our flat screen and DVD player now hides! Sorry Brockie! Time to ask for help!


Brock, who just turned 2, thinks he should be potty trained, but mom is not ready! About every 5 minutes he has ripped his clothes and diaper off and runs around naked or tries to get on his potty chair. If he does his business in his diaper, off it comes with no warning...it has not been a fun site! A normal mother would probablybe excited over his interest and take this opportunity to potty train the child. I came up with a different solution! Duct Tape!!
(Grace made me take off the naked shot and the potty shot...TMI she says!!)