K is 3!

Yesterday was K's birthday. She wanted to have pizza in the mountains so after church we up into the South Hills to our favorite picnic spot. The kids ran all over the mountain. We ate cold pizza and lemonade. We had chocolate cake and ice cream cups. I didn't get her gifts wrapped so K hid them and then she went on a little present hunt. It was fun. We took K's cousin M and his wife A and thier 4 children. K was very happy with the afternoon. She said that it was the best day ever. She was so excited because she had waited her whole life to turn three.

K has lots of favorite things. Her favorite color is PINK. Her favorite song is ABCDEFG. Her favorite movie is HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL. Her favorite toy is DRESS UP SHOES. Her favorite person is EMILY. Someday she hopes to meet EMILY. If she could travel anywhere she would go to EMILY'S. Her favorite animal is A BABY. Her favorite thing to play is BARBIE'S. Her favorite computer game is ABCDEFG (Starfall.com). Her favorite food is PISTACHIOS and JUICE (that's what she was eating when I asked her these questions.) Her favorite memory is HER BIRTHDAY. When she grows up she wants to be PRETTY. Her names are TAFWIN LEA and CALLI.

Other favorites that made her list are: CHANAE, STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE, CHARPEY and RYAN, CHOCOLATE CHIPS, BUTTER, "I AM A CHILD OF GOD", NANCY'S BLANKET, and A's SHOES!

Funny story about K: She is always saying funny things. Yesterday morning we were getting ready for church and in her saddest voice she says, "Mom, I don't have a boyfriend." I said "That's okay but why do you need a boyfriend?" "So I can kiss him!"

Boys!

I would like to introduce you to:

My husband K, and my three sons, Big K (ie: Z), Middle K (ie: J), and Little K (ie: H).

Common interests are:

Watching Season One of "CHiPs"

(All the time! Did you know there are, like, 5 seasons of this show? We only have season 1!)

Playing PS2 Socom 1, 2, 3, and Combined Assault

(This is a navy seals game that is rated M because they kill people! The guy at Hastings said that the military uses games like these to train their soldiers. Great! We are in training!)

And making crude body noises.

(Poor S can't hardly stand this. It makes her so upset that she cries and is very insistant that they excuses themselves properly. That just makes them laugh and want to do it even more.)

I do not understand how the male brain works. I am doing my best to help them be civilized men but I feel like I'm not winning this battle. (Great...now I sound like the boys)

So, I was watching them play this Navy Seals game and K sneaks up on some guy and points his gun at him. In subtitles the guy said, "Don't shoot! I surrender." K kills him. I said, "K, He surrendered. Why did you kill him?" His reply, "He didn't say it in English." WHAT?

Last night K comes to bed after midnight. I mumbled "How was your game?" His reply "If you shoot them in the head they die instantly." HUH?

I spilled some sugar on the floor tonight and it landed next to Z's feet. J yells, "Quick Z! Retreat! To Alegasia!" OKAY!? (Where's Alegasia?)

I told the boys to get ready for church today. Z comes in to my room very distressed. He says that is impossible to do that right now as they are very busy. I said, "Doing what?" "Mom, some of our guys have been blown out of the sky and we have been sent in to rescue them. We have already found 2 of them and they are dead. We didn't get there soon enough. If we stop to get ready for church, they will all die." WHAT???

K's in the bathroom getting ready. He belches. Zh laughs. K says, "How was that one?" Z's giggles, "Good one, Dad. Do another one!" K says, "If you think that one was good, wait until you hear this one." GROSS!

(It's like on 7Brides for 7Brothers when Adam is acting uncivilized like his brothers and Millie gets upset with him and he says "What do I need to be civilized for? I already got me a wife". But, K, my boys are still single.)

So, with CHiPs, I don't mind watching that every now and then. Ponch and John are pretty cute, however, I'm sure that's not why the boys are watching it. The whole fighting thing is hard for me to get because I don't want to kill anyone no matter what language they speak. And as for the burping thing, well, I have to act disgusted by the whole thing but well, let just say, I went to girls camp when I was younger.

Z is turning 12 in a couple of weeks and his emotions are all over the map. I put my arm around him in public the other day and he just about died. He was so embarrassed. He was so proud to show me his newly discovered arm pit hair. His voice is crackly. Sometimes when he is talking I have to go see who is in my house. His hair is starting to go curly. He looks like he's growing up. He is almost the "T" word. I'm not ready for this. I don't have a clue what I am doing. This is very foreign territory. (there's that army talk again) I'm going to have to get a book on how to raise boys. Any suggestions?

Today I feel...SAD

Today President Faust died. I liked him so much. I loved to hear him talk and he always seemed so kind and good. It's hard to see things change. I feel so small and helpless in this big crazy world. Sometimes I wish life wasn't so hard. I'm so thankful for my knowledge of the gospel and for our Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that through the atonement and our faith, he can heal our hearts and give us peace in spite of our pain.

V's Wedding and Reception

V is married!! It was fun to get together with all of my brothers and sisters and their families. We don't get to all be together very often. It seems like the time goes way to quickly and is too far in between visits but we'll take what we can get. 7 out of 10 of us are now married. 2 parents + 9 sisters + 8 brothers + 20 grandkids = 1 BIG happy family (and we're still going to get bigger!! YEAH!) Thanks V and J for getting married so that we had a great reason to get together. I love my family!!!

Our Family

Mom, Dad & Kids PLUS J and Grandma

(back)D, S, B, (front)L, M, C, Dad, Mom, V, J, Grandma, D, L, K

The Boys(back)D, S, J, Dad, N (front)B, K, J, T

The Girls(back)L, Mom, C (middle)K, M, D, C (front)L, V, B

The Grandkids4 of these kids are from J's side. The other 20 are ours!

S's Baptism

S was baptized on Saturday, August 4th. She was so excited and nervous. Her father baptized her and confirmed her. She sang her first public solo, a song called "Today I will be Baptized". She sounded so sweet. She did a beautiful job.She was able to have lots of family and friends come to support her. We are so proud of her and love her very much! It was a very spiritual afternoon.

H's Big Night Out

Last night, K had to run back to work for something so while he was gone I was trying to finish putting our FHE lesson together. H needed his diaper and clothes changed so I asked J to help me. He changed the diaper but was nervous about putting H's clothes on. He said he always hurts him. I told him to just be careful. Next thing I know, H is crying and J is handing him to me. I tried to settle him down but he wouldn't stop crying. I took him upstairs to check on the other kids and I showed him a little stuffed toy hoping to distract him. He just cried harder. I tried his bottle, his pacifier, I checked his diaper. He just cried harder and harder. He was white as a ghost and having a hard time breathing. I decided that maybe J had really hurt him after all. K walked in about that time and he tried to settle H down and he came to the same conclusion...that he must be hurt..maybe something was pulled out of place or even worse, maybe a bone was broken. We decided to take him to the ER. He screamed the whole way there. He screamed all the way through admitting. They asked us what was wrong with him. We said he might be hurt. He won't stop crying. The ER was very backed up because of an accident on the freeway. Someone died while we were waiting so the family was crying and wailing. It was very sad and we couldn't help but just stare at them. K was out in the parking lot walking with H trying to get him to stop crying. Once that guy died, they were able to move on to other patients but it still took a long time to get to us. K had finally gotten H to fall asleep but every time he moved, he would whimper in pain. When the took us back to weigh and do vitals. K held him very still so he wouldn't wake up and scream any sooner than he had to. Finally he had to be put on the scale so K cautiously layed him down. H opened his eyes, saw K standing there and started wiggling his arms and legs very excitedly and squealed with delight. We couldn't believe it. The nurse looked his arms over and he smile and played with her. She told us we'd have to wait a few more minutes before they would have a room for us. K asked her what would happen if we just were gone when she came to get us. Without telling us what to do, she told us we wouldn't be billed if we were just gone the next time she called our name. K took H out into the hall and played with him for a few minutes and when he showed no sign of any discomfort, we just disappeared. Our Conclusion....H has a BAD temper!! You would think that after SIX kids, we would have some kind of clue as to when to go to the hospital and when to just spank them and send them to bed! Oh Well! We got home after midnight and K threw up 3 times throughout the rest of the night. Sometimes I'm really glad when the day is over.

Here are some pictures of my hurt little boy after some very restful zzzz's at the hospital.

My imagination gets the best of me

The other night all the kids had gone to bed and K was upstairs playing PlayStation2 so I was in my room laying on my bed putting H to sleep and talking on the phone. I got up and walked out into the kitchen. When I came back to my room this is what I saw...

I was so surprised and startled that I actually screamed. All I could see was some of a head and messy hair. It looked like a scene from a scary movie.

It was A. I had to go check and make sure she was still alive. I have no idea how long she had been there. After I took some pictures I woke her up and sent her to bed. It made me wonder how many other things happen around here that I am totally unaware of. And I need to stop watching K's scary crime shows. My imagination gets a little carried away when I get tired at night.