The Chandler Family

APRIL 2011

2011-08-03T13:11:00.000-06:00

April Fool's Day...

Ever since I tricked the kids with the meatloaf and potato cupcakes and dessert hamburgers, they expect something for April Fool's Day. This year it was mini eggs and bacon (eggs-white chocolate and reese's pieces. bacon-tootsie rolls and caramel). And Doughnut seeds (cheerios). The back of the package had instruction on how to plan them, etc.

Spring Break trip to California...

Claire, Abbie and Cassidy at John's Incredible Pizza

Carson and Papa

Chloe, Caleb and Claire at the Jelly Belly Factory

In front of the Ronald Reagan made out of Jelly Belly's

Jeff and I went to the Sacramento Temple

Caleb and Jeff at Leatherby's.....YUM!

Claire and Kyler

Our little fish named Chloe wanted to swim in the freezing April water at Grammy's house. She's crazy and stayed in for at least half an hour til we made them get out.

Aunt Chrysta letting Carson feel the water....I don't think he liked it!

Claire and Cassidy

Some of the other kids were crazy enough to join Chloe...they had a great time!

Caleb was the smart one. He felt it with his toes and I think he really wanted to get in, he just couldn't make himself do it. I held his hands and dipped him a couple times, but that was enough for him.

Easter...

Activity Days day camp...

This was Chloe's first day camp and she had SO much fun.

Chloe and her good friend Brenna

MARCH 2011

2011-08-02T17:46:00.001-06:00

Happy 3rd Birthday Claire...

Happy Birthday Jeff...

The joint family party and Grandma's and Grandpa's. Jeff's 34 candles and Claire's 3 candles!

Caleb eating the yummy ribs we had for Jeff's birthday dinner!

White shirt...not so smart!

Blowing out the candles on his banana cream pie...of course!

Chloe won 1st in the 3rd grade spelling bee!!!

Chloe did AWESOME! We were so proud of her. She is such a great speller and I knew she'd win it as long as she remembered all the rules (llike say the word before and after you spell it or you're out, etc.) and took her time (since you can't go back and change what you already said) and she did a great job. It was super nerve-racking to watch but we were so excited for her. And she was super happy to get her first trophy!

Chloe with her teacher, Mrs. Stokes

Our trip to Colorado!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The kids with their Colorado cousins...Kim, Ben, Liz, Emily and Nate.

We went to the Denver Nature and Science Museuam. It was HUGE and really cool. They had an awesome pirate exhibit and was really neat.

The place we went for lunch was on Man v. Food. The guy tried to eat this MASSIVE breakfast burrito (I think like 7 lbs.) and he couldn't do it. Ben wanted to give it a try. He barely made a dent in it. The thing was enormous. It was super fun to watch.

And the reason for the whole trip...March Madness. Since BYU was so good, Jeff and some of his siblings just couldn't pass up the opportunity (despite the expensive tickets) to go see BYU play in the tournament. They had a great time. And I had fun at home watching all the munchkins!

Chloe's field trip to the Clark Planetarium...

FEBRUARY 2011

2011-08-02T17:10:00.000-06:00

The highlights of February were that Grammy, Ninnie, Abbie, Cassidy and Sophie came to visit and that Caleb turned 7!!

Abbie, Claire and Cassidy

Claire making a snow angel

Dogpile on Daddy/Uncle Jeff!!

Happy 7th Birthday Caleb!

The Princess Peaches of the birthday party

And all the Mario's too. My mom and I made all the Mario hats for party favors! It was pretty cute to see a bunch of Mario boys running around....a bunch of 7 year old boys makes for a CRAZY house!

The littlest Mario and Daddy

Cassidy, Abbie and Claire LOVED playing in the snow!

The new bike

Cassidy and Claire tickling Grandpa

Caleb, Grammy and Carson

Ninnie with Sophie and Carson

JANUARY 2011

2011-08-02T16:57:00.000-06:00

Chloe left nail polish out (2 brand new bottles) and Claire thought shaking them and splattering it all over the bathroom was a great idea.

Due to the first ever Snow Day at the school, the 3rd grade gingerbread house making day had to be postponed til after Christmas break.

Little Miss Independent getting her jammies on all by herself.

My friend's family stayed with us for a week while their house was getting finished and the kids had a blast. Here's Caleb and Kayson.

Jeff's Grandpa's 90th birthday party in Idaho.

Claire loves her friend Ava. They played together one day and had a blast!

They're so cute together.

All the kids

Carson got his first tooth on the 20th!

The boys

Cute little Carson asleep in the high chair

The Nutcracker

2010-12-13T12:34:00.001-07:00

We took Chloe and Caleb to see the Nutcracker at the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake City last week. I was slightly nervous about them getting restless, but they LOVED it and were SO good. Caleb got a little wiggly at the very end when there was about 5 mintues left....but that's it!

We had box seats, so we were really close to the stage. You can get tickets for a little "party" onstage after the show where you can get a picture taken with Clara, the Sugarplum Fairy and some others. Plus you get to see the huge skirt and all the other props, and enjoy some cookies and juice. And you get a Nutcracker ornament too.

I hadn't been to the Nutcracker in years. I'm so glad we went, we had so much fun! And thanks to our awesome friends for watching Claire and Carson for us!

For some reason, Caleb thinks it's funny to make silly faces in pictures lately.

The great thing was that Jeff got the tickets for the Nutcracker and the after party for FREE!! :)

Getting and decorating the tree...

2010-12-13T12:15:00.000-07:00

We found this little tree lot that we've gone to since we moved here. It's not the same as cutting our own, but it's a lot faster! And it would be a whole lot faster still if I was picking out the tree and not Jeff. He has to have the perfect shape, height and everything. But we ended up with a great one!

Maybe you can't tell, but what Caleb is doing here is "camouflaging" with the tree!

Carson is 6 months old!!!

2010-12-06T13:15:00.000-07:00

I don't know how it happened, but Carson is already 6 months!!

Laughing!

Carson is the sweetest little guy. He's such a super happy baby and we're so glad about that! I think he is my most tickle-ish kid. It's really easy to get him to smile and laugh. He is not a small one. I took him to the doctor a couple weeks ago and he was about 18 pounds....we have his official 6 month check up tomorrow. He's got the cutest chubby cheeks...and thighs, belly and everything else! Claire just can't get enough of him. She LOVES her brother. She is always snuggling him. If he's laying on the floor she is right there laying by him just about every time. She snuggle up next to him and let him grab her face and pull her hair and she loves it.

We love you Carson!

Thanksgiving week in California

2010-12-06T13:08:00.001-07:00

I took Chloe with me to my sister's salon to get our hair done. She thought it was pretty cool to sit under the dryer and read her book!

Thanksgiving Day...

Half of the Thanksgiving table....the other half is behind me!

Claire and Cassidy

Ashlyn and Chloe

Chloe and me

My mom and I have the same shirt (obviously) and I wanted to wear something more comfy after dinner on Thanksgiving, so I went up and put on a matching outfit. It was pretty funny when I came down!

Chloe LOVES Taylor Swift. She made this poster. You can't see here but it has lyrics from every song on her new Speak Now cd. My mom got all the grandkid girls the cd.

Claire was poopled after all the Thansgiving day festivities and she fell asleep leaning over on the table

The Day After Thanksgiving Christmas Tree Cutting....

Grammy and Carson

The fam

Papa, Grammy, Chloe and Abbie with Grammy and Papa's tree

Me, Carson and Jeff (brother, not husband) :)

Claire and Uncle Jeff with their matching noses.

Claire and Cassidy in the tree netter

Carson and Daddy

November...

2010-12-06T12:54:00.003-07:00

Nov 6th-Claire fell going down the ramps after the BYU football game and hit her face on the cement. She cried and was all bloody, it was really sad.

Here she is a few days after the fall. She would NOT leave the scabs alone. She picked them and picked them. They are finally pretty much healed, but there are still red marks where the scabs were. I'm hoping she didn't permanently scar her nose. We would tell her to stop picking and she'd hide her face under a pillow so she could keep doing it.

Carson at 5 months

I was gone one night and the kids made this sign for Jeff.

Our creative little Chloe at it again. She got up and made this sign on the computer, and then hung it on the mirror in the bathroom and decorated for Veteran's Day. She's always got some little project or something she's doing.

My brother's birthday is November 16th and I made him a shirt with this on it. (I used an iron on.) I thought it was pretty funny!!! And I'm pretty sure it was his favorite present!

Carson's first BYU basketball game!

Chloe and Caleb's friends Olivia and Isaac came over and spent all day on a Saturday with us while their parents packed. They moved to Idaho. My kids were so sad to see them go. They have been friends since Chloe and Olivia met in Kindergarten

Chloe, Claire and Olivia.

Caleb and Isaac

Olivia and Chloe on a field trip-Sept. 2007

Caleb, Chloe, Isaac and Olivia celbrating Caleb's 4th birthday

Grammy and Papa came to visit!!

2010-12-02T21:13:00.000-07:00

We were SOOO excited to have Grammy and Papa come visit us (in October)! It was my dad's first trip out here since we moved here. We had so much fun with them.

They got here Thursday night and watched Carson and Claire all day Friday while I went on a fieldtrip with Caleb's class to Cornbelly's!

We went up to Temple Square and of course ate at the Garden Restaurant on the top floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial building...it's one of my mom's favorites. We also took a tour of the Conference Center.

Jeff has been wanting my dad to come out and go to a BYU game at Lavell Edwards Stadium for a long time. My mom got him tickets for his birthday. Out of the whole huge stadium, we managed to find tickets right across the aisle from us! It was perfect!

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-03T11:55:00.000-06:00

We had a long week of Hallween this year. We had our ward Halloween party the weekend before Halloween. Then Wednesday was Hallween parties and parade at school (parent/teacher conferences Thursday and no school Friday), then Trick or Treating at Jeff's work on Friday. Then Trick or Treating around the neighborhood on Saturday...since Halloween was on Sunday.

Trick or Treating Saturday didn't last very long. We went to a few houses on our street and a couple around the corner. It had rained a little earlier so we were trying to get it done between rains. We had only gone to 6 or 7 houses when the sky in the distance was looking a little spooky. There was thunder and lightning but it was pretty far away. Jeff said we should go home because it looked like the storm was coming fast. I said we'd be fine, let's just go to a few more houses (we were around the block from our house). Jeff disagreed, so he ran home to get the car. Within a minute after he left, the sky looked scary. Caleb was saying, "I don't feel comfortable. I should have gone with Daddy to get the car." We were in front of a house and the kids wouldn't even go up to the door to get candy because they were scared. So I pushed Carson and Claire in the stroller and Chloe and Caleb ran to a house in our ward where they had the garage door open. Within about 30 seconds of getting there, it started HAILING like crazy. It was insane how much hail was pouring out of the sky. Jeff pulled up a minute later and waited in the car for a few minutes because it was so bad. I'll admit this one time that Jeff was right!

The great thing was that we were at the Bate's house and Kelly was frying yummy scones for everyone in her garage like she does every Halloween, and she had hot chocolate (with whipped cream...my favorite). So we got to eat yummy food while we waited for it to calm down enough to load up the car!

Decorating Pumpkins

Claire's is the little pumpkin. Chloe and Caleb shared the other pumpkin so it was 2-sided. They had bigger pumpkins that they painted. This is Caleb's side.

Chloe's side of the pumpkin.

Halloween Parade at school. Caleb is Mario....not surprising given his love of all the Mario games!

Chloe the Fairy. She was a couple different things this Halloween!

I made Caleb's Mario costume. It cost me only about $4 for the buttons. I had the rest of it already at home! I thought it turned out pretty cute! And it lasted through wearing it to 4 different Halloween functions!

Tinkerbell Claire. We had to fight to get this costume on her. She wore it the day before to Jeff's work Trick or Treating, but wanted nothing to do with it for trick or treating around the neighborhood. I had her hair done cute the day before, but I settled for getting the costume on!

The witch trying to look mean and Mario.

Chloe the witch, Mario Caleb, Carson the monkey and Tinkerbell Claire

Notice the Giants shirt underneath!

My beautiful witch with fake purple and black eyelashes!

Claire and Carson. Whenever I lay Carson down anywhere, Claire is almost always there within seconds laying next to him. She LOVES her baby brother!

Summer trip to Cali #2 of 3

2010-10-27T16:54:00.000-06:00

My good friend from high school, Katy, got married the Saturday after school started to we loaded up the kids and headed out for a super fast trip. We left Friday and came home Monday.

Mary, Me, Rachel

Everything was beautiful, including the tables.

Scott, Kaisa, Me, Jeff

Stef and Steph

Katy and me

I thought the cake was really pretty!

First day of school...

2010-10-27T16:45:00.000-06:00

3rd grader and 1st grader!

AUGUST...

2010-10-25T15:37:00.001-06:00

BIG RIVER AT SUNDANCE.....

Jeff tried to surprise me and buy tickets to see Big River up at Sundance...but unfortunately he left the window up on the computer so I knew! It was so fun....but so cold!

silly Claire!

TAKE YOUR KID TO WORK DAY...

Eating breakfast before the big day! The kids were SUPER excited about it!

The kids came home looking like this! They had a BLAST with their Daddy at work. There were tons of activities to do and then they got to eat hot dogs with Jeff for lunch. Then I picked them up and they didn't want to come with me. They even got little name badges like Jeff's with their picture on it! It was a fun day!

SAILING....

Our friends have a sailboat and invited us all out on it! It was lots of fun!

Me and Jeff

Rex and Teresa

Swimming in the oh so clean Utah Lake!

Claire and McKenzie

CARSON's FIRST HAIRCUT (9-15-2010)...

before...

during....

after....

What a handsome boy!!!

OWLZ GAME...

Getting ready to run the bases after the game.

The rest of July

2010-10-19T12:31:00.000-06:00

Happy 63rd Birthday Grandpa!!!

Carson was so tiny then compared to now.

Me and Claire. I got an infection in my eye, so I had to wear my glasses for a week while I put some prescriptiong eye drops in (that were like $65 for the tiniest bottle...oh well, it worked!)

PIONEER DAY...

At the parade with Jeff's family and our good friends the Facer's. Claire and McKenzie.

Me and Teresa

JEff and Carson

The matching girls. Grandma, Claire and Chloe.

Claire went and played at the Facer's after the parade and her diaper leaked, so she came home looking like this!

Carson at the Fireworks.

Moira and Carson

Grandma, Kaylene and Grandpa

Lizzy and Chloe

Trey playing with his light saber. It was dark so the pictures turned out cool.

After the fireworks, Caleb was so tired he came in and fell asleep on the couch with a sucker in his mouth.

SLEEPOVER..

We had Trey and Lizzie at our house for a few days while their parents were at girls camp. Even though there were 3 separate beds in Chloe and Claire's room, this is how I found them sleeping when I went to bed. This was the first time the kids ever had friends sleep over and they had a blast!

Summer Trip to California #1 of 3

2010-10-13T12:41:00.000-06:00

My Grandma turned 75 in July, so we took a trip out there to celebrate!

Papa meeting Carson for the first time

Carson, Uncle Jeff and his GF Lindsey

Sophie and Carson

Everybody went to ClaimJumper for dinner. I don't remember how many people were there, but it was a LOT! Before we went to dinner, all the girls went and got pedicures.

Aunt Allyson and Carson

Beautiful cake made by Lindsey!

Yes there were 75 candles on the cake! The wax was spilling off the cake as Lindsey carried it over.

Mom, Grandma and Uncle Norm

The quilt we made for Grandma. It turned out really cool!

We put all of her Great Grandkids' hand/foot prints on the quilt and embroidered their name by their print!

So much excitement, Caleb couldn't stay awake!

Swimming in Grammy and Papa's pool

This is the trip where Claire got into my mascara!

The Mets were playing the Giants while we were in town, so Jeff took Caleb with the boys to the game.

Tim, Josh, Jeff, Kyler and Caleb

We left a day early and stayed in Reno at the Peppermill. My dad had a work thing there and we got the room for free! The pools were awesome!

Kyler holding Carson before we left to head back!

More Summer Fun!!

2010-10-12T14:05:00.000-06:00

I never posted about when Allyson and her family came to visit, so here it is!! It was 4th of July weekend!

Allyson, Mason and Reese

Mason at Colonial Days in Provo with the Knight Armor on

Me and Carson at only 5 weeks old. He was so tiny!

Allyson and Reese

Some of us with Ben Franklin

Being silly!

Jeff and Tim

Me, Allyson and Carson

Chloe and Allyson, watching the fireworks at our house!

Freedom Festival Parade

R to L: Carson, Reese, Claire, Chloe, Avery, Caleb and Mason

Jeff, Me, Allyson, Tim

Caleb, Uncle Jared, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Kay, Uncle Ryan

See any resemblance?

2010-08-05T16:45:00.005-06:00

When we were in California in July, my mom and I went shopping and left the kids with Jeff. We came home to this! He had just discovered her (she was supposed to be taking a nap and Jeff thought she was sleeping) right before we got home. She got into my WATERPROOF mascara. No, I didn't get it all out of her shirt (that was new)!

Cleaning it off...

We couldn't get mad, we just laughed. It was so funny.

And it's not the first time this sort of thing has happened....

Me when I was about Claire's age. I got into red food coloring!

Chloe, the same age as Claire, got into Grammy's lipstick!

The funny thing is that all these things happened at Grammy's house!!!

2 months already!

2010-08-05T16:29:00.003-06:00

weight - 12lb. 14 ounces - 76%

length - 23 inches - 48 %

Carson is 2 months old! We are loving having him here. He's such a happy boy. He's starting to smile a lot and talk a little bit too. The kids love him....especially Claire. She loves to hold him and snuggle him. He's a chubby boy and people usually comment on how cute his cheeks are....they were chubby when he came out so he had no chance!

Random summer fun...

2010-07-30T14:59:00.003-06:00

Grammy came out and stayed with us for a whole month1

Hanging out in the backyard

Loving the slip n slide!

Josh and Lindsey came out with their kids. We went to the zoo!

The zoo was on our 9th anniversary....

so when we were done there. Josh, Ninnie and Grammy took all the kids, except Carson, to Chuck E Cheese so we could go out to dinner. We weren't hungry so we just split a smoothie at Red Mango and hurried back to watch Chloe's softball game!

Jeff doing airplane with Claire while I was playing with the camera!

Carson with Great Grandpa....who his middle name is after Happy Father's day! We made him a giant pancake with egg eyes and bacon mouth and eyebrows....Chloe's idea and it turned out pretty cute. Chloe made him Chocolate milk with lots of Quik and chocolate chips!

It has been a fun filled eventful summer....and this is only through June!

Sleepy girl

2010-07-29T11:55:00.002-06:00

After Chloe's baptism and lunch afterwards, Josh and Lindsey took their kids and Chloe and Caleb to Josh's cousin's house to watch a movie in their theater room. It had obviously been a long tiring day for Claire because she fell asleep standing up eating her dinner!

Carson's blessing...June 13th

2010-07-28T14:07:00.004-06:00

We had a crazy weekend! Chloe was baptized on June 12th and Carson was blessed on June 13th at 2 weeks old!

Chloe's 8th Birthday!

2010-07-21T22:32:00.006-06:00

Since Chloe's 8th birthday was the day I came home from the hospital with Carson, June 2nd, we decided to not do a big birthday party. Instead, she picked a friend, Brenna, and my mom and I took them to get pedicures at Primrose Retreat, to lunch at Red Robin and to get Chloe's ears pierced.

Enjoying cupcakes!

The Primrose Retreat is such a fun place for girls. They have a whole room in the back that's decorated all girly.

It has a runway with a TV that the girls can watch themselves. And a room behind the runway with a billion dress up clothes for the girls. Chloe and Brenna had a blast walking up and down the runway in all the crazy outfits! It was really entertaining to watch too!

At Red RobinDaddy, Claire and Caleb met us at Claire's in the mall to see Chloe get her ears pierced!

Chloe was so tough getting them pierced. She was pretty cute!

Birthday Cake with the fam!

Chloe was baptized on June 12, 2010...

Grammy, Ninnie, Sophie and Chloe

Chloe in her dress I made for her baptism

Chloe and Grammy

Chloe and Daddy at her baptism

Chloe, Caleb and Claire and their cousins that came for the baptism

Carson is here!!!

2010-06-06T15:49:00.009-06:00

Carson Robert Chandler

born Sunday May 30 at 10:06pm

8 pounds 4 ounces

19 1/2 inches

About 2 hours before Carson was born.

Right before we left for the hospital...40 weeks and 2 days along!

1 day old

2 days old

Brand new!

A couple minutes old!

Right after they wiped him up and weighed him!

Brothers!

The whole fam!

Going home!

Can you find the difference?

2010-03-16T11:16:00.004-06:00

Chloe's 2nd birthday...

Claire's 2nd birthday....

I'll give you a hint.....

What's up with Claire's hair....or lack therof?? See those little bangs? I have NEVER cut them. Yes, I have cut the back and sides so she wouldn't have a mullet, but her hair is nowhere near as thick and full as Chloe's. The top hair has definitely grown, but it grows SO slow!!!

Chloe did have a little head start I guess (see the picture below of Chloe at 4 weeks)!

Hopefully someday Claire catch up!

Happy Birthday Jeff! (last week)

2010-03-15T13:20:00.005-06:00

March is a busy month for birthdays! Between mine and Jeff's immediate families we have a birthay on the 2nd, 5th, 6th, 8th and 10th!

Trying to get a good one of all of them...impossible!

Happy 2nd Birthday Claire!

2010-03-15T12:24:00.004-06:00

Only about a week and a half behind...that's pretty good for me! I can't believe Claire is 2!! She's so much fun. She has a quiet, gentle way about her, but then she will definitely let you know what she wants and when she's mad.

She is completely obsessed with the Backyardigans! And so am I! It's the only show that will keep her attention from beginning to end. She LOVES it! She says, "Watch Tasha?" and grabs my hand wherever I am and leads me to the TV to put it on for her.

She also LOVES shoes and is always putting them on, changing them etc. She won't ever let me take her shoes off for nap time. Claire is like a little mom. She gets everybody their coats and shoes when it's time to go somewhere....and she'll bring your shoes a lot of times when it's not time to go anywhere. She puts her plate in the sink more often than Chloe and Caleb.

She LOVES to go bye-bye and a lot of times gets upset when Jeff takes Chloe to school because she doesn't get to go! She's a happy snuggly girl and loves her big brother and sister so much!

Dancing to her favorite show...she gets so excited!

Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Matt came over for the party!

Opening presents! Chloe and Caleb didn't really give Claire a chance to open anything...they were too excited and opened it all for her.
Chloe has that outfit on because she wanted it to be a Backyardigans party and she wanted to dress like Tasha. Chloe even made games up and signs to go along with them...."What Backyardigan am I?" and "What Backyardigan's song am I singing?" It was pretty fun!

All of them watching the new Backyardigans movie we got her!!

Mommy and the birthday girl!

Daddy with the Birthday Girl!

I was in the way of her Backyardigans show

Blowing out the candles

YUM!

I love this new dress I got her....only the picture makes it look like she doesn't have legs!

I was trying to get a good picture of her all night, but she wouldn't take her sweater off for forever and when she finally did, she was so tired and ready to go to bed. Oh well, she got professional ones taken earlier in the day with it on!

Another reason I love Caleb so much!

2010-03-11T09:02:00.000-07:00

Caleb gave me a hug last night and said, "It's harder to get my arms around you because you're private. Wait...is it private or permanent?"

Me: "You mean pregnant?"

Caleb: "Oh yeah, permanent! Why do I keep saying private?"

Catch up #2

2010-03-09T16:07:00.002-07:00

Happy 6th Birthday Caleb!

Caleb turned 6 in February! I can't believe he's that old!!! Caleb is such a fun boy. He's so sweet and kind and is really good at sharing. His new obsession is Star Wars. A few months ago it was Indiana Jones....but he's not as into that anymore. He had a Star Wars birthday party with his friends and it was lots of fun.

His Commander Cody costume he got for his Bday.

His new BYU uniform. Jeff was a little disappointed that Caleb was a little (or a lot) more excited about his Commander Cody costume he got than his BYU uniform! :)

Claire loves his helmet.

Claire and Chloe under the fort that he got from Great Grandma!

His new double light saber....one of his favorite presents!

L to R: Trey, Gentry, Jared, Caleb, Sam, Claire, Chloe, Mackenzie (Trey's sister that volunteered to come help with Claire), Kenny, Joshua

Caleb wanted a Darth Vader cake. So we made the Death Star and bought a Darth Vader toy to put on top. I didn't let Caleb open Darth vader until that morning. When it came time to put it on top, Darth vader was nowhere to be found....ugh!!!

The cool thing is this cake lasted for 3 parties. His friend one was the first and they just ate the death star, then I made a new Death Star for Sunday with Jeff's family and we just ate the sky part (and we found Darth Vader), then on Monday, his real bday, we ate the new death star.

Catch up #1

2010-03-09T15:52:00.002-07:00

Claire LOVES clothes. She loves changing. She brought me this t-shirt and insisted that I put it on her!

A couple months ago (Jan. 9th to be exact) we switched Claire to a toddler bed. She kept climbing out of her crib, and I didn't want to have to take her to the dr. with a broken arm or something. The first nap time was tough. She kept getting up over and over and over....probably for half an hour. I just kept putting her back and eventually she fell asleep like this....standing with her head resting on the bed.

Claire loves babies. She takes good care of them. Here she is trying to put diapers on them.

My 30th birthday! I don't have any pictures except for this one. Jeff and my family threw me a surprise party when we were out in California. I tried not to know, but Jeff just isn't the best surprise keeper. It was still lots of fun though! On my real birthday Jeff and the kids made me breakfast in bed. Then we hung out for the day. Then in the afternoon, Jeff and I dropped the kids off and went shopping at IKEA and Tai Pan Trading Company. Then to dinner at PF Chang's and stayed in Salt Lake at a cute bed and breakfast that we stayed in on his 30th birthday. Then we got up and ate YUMMY breakfast and went to Music and the Spoken Word. I had never been to it and it was really fun!

Here's Claire trying to get her clothes back on again after she took them off. She was fine until she saw me with the camera...then she started crying!

Chloe's donations....

2010-02-05T13:09:00.002-07:00

Chloe is always busy creating different things. Last night she came up with this completely on her own. I didn't notice she was doing it til she was done....

Notice inside the o's....especially the one with the face with tears.

She decided that she wanted to raise money to send to the people in Haiti to help. She told me that we all had to give as much money as we can to fill up the sombrero to send there. I thought she was pretty thoughtful to do it! And she started the donations with a couple of 50 cent pieces.

It's a.......

2010-01-11T12:08:00.004-07:00

If you missed Caleb's hilarious reaction to when we found out Claire was a girl check it out here

In case you're wondering why there was such a delayed reaction, I think it's because of this. Long story so if you don't care than you don't have to read....

We showed them the pictures first. Caleb had asked if he could read what it was because Chloe read it when we found out with Claire. So we gave them the pictures and all you could see of the words were, "It's a" because the part where it said boy/girl was written on white so you had to looks super close. Chloe looked really close and blurted out "it's a...!!!" and before Caleb could think about what she said, he cried because HE was supposed to get to read it. So I told him that Chloe couldn't even read what it said because it was all white and I showed him and he believed me. Then I got a piece of paper and wrote on it and told him that that was the secret paper that told what it really was. So I think he had to process it for a minute to make sure it was true!

2010-01-05T16:15:00.002-07:00

From Chloe.....Chloe wanted to make a fashion video and put it on the blog so if you want information call her!

Claire is going to be a.....

2009-11-24T13:01:00.002-07:00

....Big Sister!!!

Baby #4 is coming the end of May 2010!

Claire

2009-10-27T15:23:00.003-06:00

I LOVE how Claire says Chloe..."CoCo". It is so cute. Claire calls Chloe's name all the time, when she wakes up and hasn't seen Chloe yet, while Chloe's at school, etc.

Claire may be our best cheerleader. She says "Rah, Rah Rah" and "Go Cougars" with such excitement and a lot of times when we don't even tell her to. They're never too young to train right?

She also likes to snuggle her babies and say "Awww" in her high pitch way while she rocks them back and forth! (excuse the mess...it was clean earlier!)

She's so much fun!!

Random happenings lately...

2009-10-10T14:05:00.005-06:00

BYU football of course! Claire is actually quite the little cheerleader!

Hannah and her family came and we had a surprise party for her 9th birthday!!

Me and Caleb on his fieldtrip to the Big Red Barn

Caleb and his little buddy Trey

Me and Chloe on the way to her field trip at Kennecott Copper Mine. It was fun, even though our bus broke down and we had to get a new one!! :)

The mine. They say that the dump truck right there is as big as a house.

Chloe's class in front of a wheel from a dump truck.
Miniature Golfing

Claire the spectator!

Drive up Payson Canyon to see all the changing leaves!

Payson Lakes

Chloe and Brenna sharing a coat this morning at their friend's baptism. Silly girls!

Red Ribbon Week

2009-10-04T09:27:00.006-06:00

Crazy Sock Day....They had a winner each day for who was the best dressed up and Chloe won for Crazy Socks!!!

Backwards day...

I french braided Chloe's hair from the back to the front

Wear Red Day....

Needless to say, she won on Wear Red Day too!! She looked pretty awesome!! It was fun getting her dressed up. We both get really into it!!

First Days of School

2009-09-01T11:09:00.007-06:00

Chloe's first day!

Chloe was so excited to wear her new purple dress to school on the first day of SECOND grade! She LOVES school and her teacher.....

Caleb's first day of Kindergarten....

Caleb was SO excited to start school. He was counting down the days...especially since kindergarten starts a week after the rest of the school. He's in the afternoon class and when we took Chloe to school in the morning he wanted to stay so bad and go right then!! So far he is LOVING it.

Mommy and Caleb. I miss having my little buddy home....but the quiet (Claire takes a nap while he's at school) is SOOO nice! Notice Claire escaping in the background of the picture!

Riding his bike to school!

Grammy came to see Caleb start school!!

Outside the school before it started....we got there early because he was so excited to go!!

Caleb and his Spiderman backpack

Chloe was going to lunch and came over to say hi!

Caleb sitting at his table ready to start!

Caleb, Daddy and Grandma. Grandma works at the school so the kids love seeing her there.

After school with his teacher, Mrs. Eckhardt

better safe than sorry...right?

2009-08-18T11:27:00.002-06:00

Jeff has been wanting me to make the blog private for a while, so I'm finally doing it!!! If you want an invite to read this blog, leave me a comment with your email or send your email address to stefanychandler at hotmail dot com.

Final Summer Vacation...

2009-08-14T12:00:00.007-06:00

It seems like we've been on vacation all summer! This last vacation was an awesome way to end the summer! My parents took my entire family (27 people) to Disneyland!! I know, it sounds crazy, and it was but it was also tons of fun!

Matching shirts for the 15 kids was a definite must!! RED for the first day and YELLOW for the second. It helped so much to keep track of the kiddos! Here's a sampling of the over 200 pictures I took.

Dad and Allyson

Caleb, Mom and Avery

Chloe and Jeff

Me dancing with the parade guy! I guess I was having too much fun on the side so he pulled me out to do the twist!

Meeting Pooh

Jeff, Caleb, Mason and Tim with Mickey!

Hannah, Caleb, Abbie, Allyson, Lindsey, Cassidy, Avery, Chloe

Claire LOVED getting wet. She was soaked all the way through and just couldn't get enough of the water!

Watching the High School Musical 3 concert

Midnight on day 2!! Caleb and Claire couldn't stay awake. Chloe was wide awake and soaked from going on Splash Mountain a few more times before they closed! We put Claire on top of Caleb to walk out of the park and back to the hotel!

SOLVANG, CALIFORNIA.....

After a couple days of Disneyland, we headed north to Solvang, which is about 40 miles north of Santa Barbara. My parents have a timeshare thing so we stayed in it there. It was super nice and pretty close to the beach!! We all had our own 2 bed/2 bath condo with a full kitchen and family room, dishwasher, washer/dryer. It was so fun and relaxing! We were wishing we could have stayed there a few more days.

Chloe, Avery, Mason and Caleb playing cards in their jammies on the balcony after breakfast

At the beach...Chloe was so excited when she found some seaweed!

Kali the mermaid with nasty seaweed for hair...I can't believe she let them do that. She was grossed out and could barely open her eyes!

Cool Claire with shades!

Kyler and Caleb had so much fun jumping the waves. It was fun to watch because they kept knocking Caleb over!

Caleb...buried!

Claire LOVED the beach. She loved playing in the sand and in the water. She was completely happy the entire time...which was nice for us!!

Solvang...it's a cute little Danish town with lots of character.
Solvang is only about 15 minutes from Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch. Jeff, Tim and Claire went to check it out. They couldn't get in, but here are Jff and Clarie outside the gate!

All the kids before we left.

Top row: Cassidy, Kali, Ashlyn, Hannah, Meg, Maeve, Kate, Abbie

Bottom row: Kyler, Claire, Chloe, Avery, Reese, Mason, Caleb

The view from our balcony.

Thanks Mom and Dad for an awesome vacation! We had a blast!

The nightly bedtime ritual...

2009-08-05T22:12:00.004-06:00

First Claire goes to Caleb's bed to give him some snuggles....

Then off to snuggle her big sister....

Then to her bed...

where she stands up and jabbers and plays with Chloe for a little bit...

Then she finally lays down and goes to sleep!

FUN trip!!!

2009-07-28T12:25:00.003-06:00

Jeff had a business trip to Dana Point, CA and I decided to go with him...WITHOUT KIDS!! We haven't done anything, except for overnight in Salt Lake City, without kids since our honeymoon.

I couldn't pass it up, he was staying at a super nice resort that was about a mile walk from the beach (and it was a pretty walk through a park and the golf course), nice pools, super nice VERY CLEAN rooms without the nasty cheesy comforter that who knows when the last time it was washed was. I don't really like hotels, but this is one I would go to again in a second!

Notice the bright white comforter...if it was dirty, you would totally be able to see it!

They cleaned the room twice a day and in the evening laid out bathrobes, slippers and chocolates.

The bathrooms were so luxurious. And the shampoo and conditioner was good quality stuff...not the Pert 2 in 1 stuff.

At the beach...I had been spending a LOT of time at the pool and beach and got a pretty good tan. Jeff on the other hand went golfing the first day (sock tan) and had meetings during some of other days. His legs got pretty burned this day.

At the beach.

View from the walk to the beach. It was SO pretty. Jeff golfed on the golf course you see here.

The hotel and courtyard area

On the last day! I could have stayed a couple more, I wasn't ready to go home yet! Although when I would hear other kids playing, I missed my kids. Then I would think, "How in the world do people afford to bring their whole family here?" It was crazy expensive for everything.

We heard on the news that the waves were going to be huge the last day we were there, so we walked down to the beach to see them. It was pretty amazing. And it was fun to watch the surfers.

One of the pools. This is the adult only pool, they also had a family pool and a lap pool by the gym. I loved that they would set up your chair for you at the pool and had pitchers of lemon water that I used to fill up my water bottle!

I read a lot at this pool and swam laps in the lap pool! I love swimming!! :)

It wasn't really my style to be treated like royalty and not how I'd want it to be all the time, but it was nice for a few days!

Caleb's new GLASSES!!!

2009-07-27T09:30:00.003-06:00

He was having fun being silly when I was trying to get a good picture!!

Caleb had his kindergarten check-up a couple weeks ago and we found out we needed to go to the optometrist. We did and found out that he needs glasses! We picked them up on Friday. He is really excited about them, but I think he gets tired of wearing them and has a hard time keeping them on all the time.

Happy BIrthday Daryl!

2009-07-20T16:14:00.002-06:00

Jeff's dad's birthday was yesterday! I decided last minute to make a funny cake instead of a normal 9x13, so I threw this together pretty quick. I used the barbie doll cake pan to make the hill. And the frosting was cream cheese, not the best to decorate with. I found a picture of I think Tommy LaSorta falling down, then glued Daryl's head (a picture of him sleeping on New Year's Eve) onto the falling body. I thought it was pretty funny...then again, I think a lot of things are funny!!

busy, busy....

2009-07-14T15:59:00.003-06:00

June was a crazy, but fun, month for us!

First we went to California to see my family for a week.

Then Jeff and I flew back so that I could go to Girl's Camp and he could work. We left the kids with my parents for the week. The kids had so much fun staying there ...

Beavers chewed this tree...crazy!

The last night!

I flew back on the 27th to Cali...
Claire eating cake from her cousin Kyler's birthday party

Chloe lost her tooth! She wrote a note to the toothfairy that said, "I need $2 and a surprise candy..." She's getting demanding!!

Caleb, Mason and Avery hangin out with Grammy in their jammies in the morning

Jeff flew back out on the 1st and then we spent the 4th of July with my fam!

For some reason, the rest of my pictures won't upload. I'll try later.

Thanks Mom and Dad for all of your help with the kids and for your yummy food, swimming pool, etc.!! We had so much fun and I know the kids had a blast without us. I'm glad we could leave them with you, especially when Claire was sick! THANK YOU!!!

2009-07-10T14:59:00.002-06:00

Pitting cherries is VERY messy...and yes I pitted every cherry to make 14 jars of jam by hand!

I was making Cherry Jam (which actually turned out yummy...I think), and Chloe and Caleb were making up a play and they didn't want Claire messing it up so....

they blocked her in with toys so she couldn't get out...doesn't she look happy about it?

Happy Father's Day...

2009-06-21T17:04:00.002-06:00

..to an awesome dad!! We love you!

8 happy years!

2009-06-15T14:42:00.001-06:00

Happy Anniversary to us! I can't believe it has been eight years! I love you Jeff!!!

Ward Campout

2009-06-12T16:45:00.004-06:00

Last Friday was the ward campout. It was at the Spanish Fork River Park, only about 15 minutes away. We took stuff so that if we wanted to we could spend the night, but weren't sure since there was a slight chance of rain. It was nice, we didn't have to plan for dinner or breakfast because the ward was doing it.

At about 10:30 or so, we were getting about ready to go. We hadn't set up the tent or anything so we weren't going to stay but Caleb REALLY wanted to. So we decided to stay. We borrowed Jeff's parents' old tent, which we had never put up before, and it was dark. Needless to say it took a long time, but thanks to a handy family in the ward we actually got it up. We had a twin matress for Chloe and Caleb and a queen for me and JEff and Claire had her pack n play. But by morning, it was me, Jeff, Chloe and Caleb on the big matress so squished. It was cold and there were train tracks nearby and a couple trains came through in the middle of the night.....yeah, we didn't sleep well AT ALL!!! But it was fun and the kids LOVED it.

Here's part of where we camped. Really, if I'm going to camp, this place was great. It had a nice playground for the kids, lots of grassy area, a pavillion and really nice clean bathrooms!

Jeff decided ot take a picture of us waking up in the morning. It was so cold, we had a hard time getting up!

We took a drive a few minutes further up the canyon. This is either Mount Loafer or Mount Nebo....I can't remember which!

This is in Thistle...there was a mudslide that made a dam in the river and caused a huge flood like 15 (I think) years ago. This house is still half way under water!

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY CHLOE!!!

2009-06-11T14:17:00.004-06:00

I'm about 9 days late posting this! Chloe turned 7 on June 2nd!! She had a super fun day (and i had an extremely busy day). First, she and Caleb had swimming lessons at noon. Then we went by the dollar store to get party favor bag stuff (I wasn't going to do them, but decided very last minute that we should)! Then home to get ready for the party! She wanted a water party with lots of water games! Here's the friend party....

Lots of kids....lots of fun!

Playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey!

Playing "Water, Water, Wet". Same as Duck, Duck, Goose only you use a sponge full of water and tap everyone and say water and when you say wet you squeeze the sponge on that person's head. The kids all loved it!

We had the slip and slides out and they used them for a few minutes but it started to rain and a lot of the kids got wimpy and cold....not Chloe though!! Luckily I had a back-up activity just in case, so they used glitter paint and made foam bookmarks!

The friend party cake! The writing isn't very good because I couldn't find my smaller tip....I found it right after I finished. Oh well!
Obviously a Beach Ball and the brown around the bottom is "sand" (white sugar colored with brown coloring)!

The party was a success and we had a fun time! Thanks to Jeff's mom for coming over and helping me keep everything going!

Jeff was out of town that day and was flying in from DC that night. I made her favorite, tacos, and we had Jeff's fam over for dinner. Then I had to go to a Young Women activity at church and Jeff's brother had a baseball game, so Chloe and Caleb went to the game and I took Claire with me. We got home about 8:30 and then we had to wait for Jeff to get home to do the second round of cake and presents. His flight departed on time but landed an hour late (of course!) so it was a late night. He got home around 10:45!

When Jeff got there, he knocked on the door and had this there for Chloe! Her old bike was getting really small. This one's a little big but once she grows a little, it will be perfect! She LOVES it! She can ride it but just has a hard time starting and stopping by herself.
Opening presents!!!

The second cake! I just threw this one together so it's nothing special!

I'm tired again just thinking about that day!

I love my kids!

2009-06-10T23:08:00.002-06:00

My cute kids made me breakfast in bed this morning. I got out of the shower and they yelled up the stairs, "Don't come down, we're making you breakfast in bed!" I was a little nervous because Jeff was already gone and it was just Chloe and Caleb down there alone. So I waited upstairs with Claire and then the brought be my breakfast on a little tray.....a very lightly toasted piece of toast, a glass of milk, and a bowl of Life cereal with milk and Chocolate Chips in it. They were all excited telling me, "We put chocolate chips in your cereal." They're so funny, they just came up with it on their own! I love when they get along and do nice things like that!

And Claire finally took some steps tonight. Jeff let go of her hand and she took a couple steps and when we all started clapping, she stopped and looked around and started clapping too. Then she walked the rest of the way to Jeff. It was pretty cute. She only did it one more time after that...then she would just sit down and clap and look around to make sure everyone else was clapping too! She had taken a couple steps before but only as she was about to fall into the couch, or me. Tonight she actually stopped and had her balance, then started again! About time...she's almost 15 1/2 months old (which is exactly when Chloe started walking)!

so tired....

2009-06-10T15:56:00.003-06:00

She was so tired, but I wanted her to eat before she took a nap so she'd sleep longer! Didn't work too well!

The rest of May...

2009-06-10T15:17:00.010-06:00

Wow...I'm WAY behind! Jeff keeps reminding me to update the blog, so here I go!!

CHLOE'S FIELD TRIP TO THANKSGIVING POINT FARM COUNTRY AND DISCOVERY PARK...

The peacocks had their feathers all up...it was really cool

Chloe and her friend Brenna

WE PLANTED A GARDEN...

Jeff wanted it documented that HE roto-tilled the dirt! It was really hard dirt so it wasn't an easy job! Good job Jeff!!! Our garden is growing great. We've had a few casualties but most of the things we planted are thriving!

CHLOE'S SOCCER SEASON....

Chloe had a great time playing soccer again. She's getting a lot more aggressive and loves to play goalie too!

MOTHER'S DAY....

I had a great Mother's day! Jeff and the kids surprised me with a yummy breakfast consisting of over-easy eggs and chocolate chip pancakes with strawberry jam and strawberry syrup (like you make strawberry milk with) and cool whip on top. I think we didn't have strawberries so they improvised...it was defnitely very sweet!

Chloe said that part of my present was that she got all dressed up in my clothes and shoes.

CALEB CAN RIDE HIS BIKE WITHOUT TRAINING WHEELS.....

He picked it up immediately. He could have done it a lot earlier, he just never wanted to. Now he is great at it!

CLAIRE....

Claire is getting bigger and cuter all the time. She likes to get into the cupboards (the ones I don't have locks on yet). She's not walking yet, but if you hold her hand she'll walk with you forever...she loves it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA.....

The kids helped decorate Grandma's cake and did a fabulous job!

CHLOE'S FIRST GRADE PROGRAM....

So crazy that first grade is already over for Chloe. She'll be in 2nd grade and Caleb will start Kindergarten...am I really that old?

Her program was really fun. Her favorite song was, "Dirt made my lunch"...it was a fun one! I loved hearing them sing "God Bless the USA." So neat to hear their little voices singing it!

Chloe with her teacher, Mrs. Carlson...who she just loved!

Chloe and Grandma

The whole fam after the program

FATHERS AND SONS OUTING......

Jeff and Caleb had a great time at the activity! Caleb was so excited about it when he got home. Chloe, Claire and I stayed home and painted our toe nails, did hair and watched High School Musical 3 - Senior Year (can't forget the senior year part...Chloe's watching me type this)!

MEMORIAL DAY.....

At the gravesite of one of Jeff's mom's grandma (I think...correct me if I'm wrong)

For Memorial Day we went with Jeff's parents and brother up to Idaho. We stopped in Portage, Utah on the way to see this grave site and a house that one of his ancestors lived in. Then we went up to Uncle Randy's house and the kids had a blast. We also went to the cemetary in McCammon where Jeff's grandma and aunt are buried. It was a really fun trip!!!

Uncle Randy took the kids for a ride on his big tractor...they thought it was pretty cool!

Claire loved the dandelions

Claire, Jeff and Great Grandpa (Jeff's grandpa)

The kids had SO much fun riding QTPie, one of Uncle Randy's horses. They rode her around for a LONG time and didn't want to stop!!

The kids letting the horse get a drink.

Claire's first time on a horse!

Checking out some of Uncle Randy's cows

Caleb...again!

2009-05-18T19:36:00.001-06:00

I know I keep posting things Caleb has said, but I want to remember...and he says things constantly that are funny. I promise more variety soon, but for now...

Caleb (at dinner) - "Hey guys. I know what it feels like to die!"

Jeff - "Oh, really? How do you know that?"

Caleb - "Because I had a dream and I died in it."

Jeff - "Oh, was it a sad dream?"

Caleb - "No, because then I got resurrected."

Lost Vegas

2009-05-08T16:15:00.002-06:00

In case you're wondering where Las Vegas got its name from, Caleb has it all figured out....

Caleb:
"Lost" Vegas is called "Lost" Vegas because lots of people aren't there, some people are there only lots of people don't know where it is because it's kind of far away. And it's kind of lost, huh?

Why I'll miss Caleb when he starts Kindergarten...

2009-05-06T19:08:00.002-06:00

In the car on the way to Costco, random and totally out of the blue...

Caleb: Mommy, since you're in charge of me and your kind of like my captain, can I just call you Captain?

Me: Um, sure Caleb

Caleb: OK, thanks Captain.

He says and thinks the funniest things!

2009-05-05T11:58:00.003-06:00

A couple weeks ago we met Jeff for lunch at the Thanksgiving Point Deli. We got a number to put on our table for our food. Caleb kept asking questions (like he always does) about the number and why we had to put in on the table. So, just now I'm sitting at the computer and Caleb just walked up and handed me a number 12 on a folded paper. I said, "What's that for?" and he said, "It's for you to get cereal in your hand."

Then he left the number with me, ran to the kitchen and came back with a handful of Cocoa Puffs for me. He's a funny kid!

Lately I've been finding myself telling the kids constantly, "Let's do things to make eachother happy, not sad." So I thought of an idea. We made a happy family jar and I bought some dried black beans. I let them put a bean in the jar when they do something that contributes to a happy family...and if they do something that makes people sad, they might have to take one out. When the jar is full we're going to go to Coldstone or somewhere they like! Hopefully it works.

So far Caleb is really excited about it. He has been making decorations for the jar and made a sign and put it on the wall that says, "Be nice, we have a happy family jar," so that people that come over "know that we have a happy family jar and they have to be nice."

Claire's first haircut

2009-05-04T09:53:00.006-06:00

When I was out in California, it was brought to my attention by my cousin Lindsay that Claire had a mullet! I hadn't really noticed before she said that, but then I started realizing....she's right! So finally on Saturday I cut her hair! It was interesting cutting a 14 month old's hair...she was moving constantly, trying to see what I was doing, and her hair grows like Jeff's in the back on the bottom....it grows kind of sideways. Anyway, here are some after picutres...it looks way better now!

Happy now Lindsay?? :)

I'm so bummed because I had taken some before pictures and for some reason ALL except for a couple pictures I took on Saturday (and everything I had on there still that I had taken earler...luckily I had already put them on the computer) are deleted off my memory card.

Oh and she's gotten two back molars in the last week. Both on the left side...one on the bottom, one on the top.

We got a new baby girl niece/cousin today!!

2009-05-02T09:38:00.004-06:00

Reese Nida Dubenko

7 pounds 12 ounces, 20 1/2 inches

born today at 7:46 am

Congratulations Tim, Allyson, Avery and Mason!

I wish I could be there to snuggle her!!

Claire's first big owies!

2009-04-30T11:18:00.004-06:00

Claire got her first real bonk last night. Surprisingly, with all the crazy kids bouncing around here, it didn't happen earlier! She was in her high chair and the tray wasn't latched and she leaned forward and fell out of it. I won't say who put her in it....all I'll say is that I wasn't home when it happened! :) Jeff said she was pretty tough and only cried for a couple minutes.

Easter

2009-04-28T10:52:00.010-06:00

I've been kind of a slacker lately with posting. We went to California and there was Easter...I have taken over 200 pictures since the last post, so it's kind of an overwhelming task!

We'll start with Easter weekend.

First on Friday night we went to Jeff's parents' house for an Easter Egg Hunt and to color eggs...

Grandma and Chloe

Uncle Jared and Aunt Kay
Caleb getting the egg!! Jeff's little bro Matt helped hide eggs, so some were a little tricky to find!

Then on Saturday we drove out to California! I hadn't been home since Thanksgiving time and I was so ready for it! We stayed for a week!

The drive was great. We made it in about 9 1/2 hours...which is really fast! We only stopped one time, in Battle Mountain, and the kids were really good!

The drive...

Jeff sleeping with his favorite stuffed Dora!

Jeff fell asleep and Chloe thought it would be funny if she put Dora on him to make it look like he was snuggling her while he slept!

Our favorite thing is when they all fall asleep at the same time! Dora looks freakishly awake!
Coloring eggs and getting my hair done Saturday night after we got there!

Me, Caleb, Chloe and Abbie

Easter Sunday...

The kids! I made their outfits (well not Caleb's whole outfit, just his tie!) I liked how they turned out!

Mom, me and Claire taken by Chloe

Claire was having a rough time!

Allyson, Ashlyn, Lindsey and me! I love taking silly pictures!

Grandma and Mom

All the kids! All 19 of them!

The kids rushing out the door to find the eggs!

trying to get a good family picture! Not always an easy task!

I had so much fun in California!! There were 39 people (19 kids) over for Easter dinner and I LOVED it! I miss being there seeing everyone all the time so I had a blast! It was a last minute decision to go and I'm SO glad we did! Thanks for everything mom and dad...we love you guys!

More pictures to come...

Cameron Giles!

2009-04-07T15:15:00.002-06:00

Congratulations Monica and Cody!! He is adorable!! Thanks for letting me come see him and snuggle him (and change him)...I loved it!

General Conference weekend...

2009-04-07T15:05:00.000-06:00

Waching conference....

Super strong boy!

Jeff took the kids on a drive with his dad and brother in between sessions....

Matt, Grandpa, Caleb and Chloe

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!!

2009-04-05T15:25:00.000-06:00

Happy Anniversary!! We love you guys!

Here's what I was talking about...

2009-04-02T16:07:00.003-06:00

I can't leave Claire in the family room at all anymore. She either finds a way out or scales the fireplace now. I'm having flashbacks of Caleb as a baby...not again (kidding)!

She has no fear and just climbs up the front of the fireplace. It would hurt so bad if she fell!

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!!

2009-04-01T19:55:00.006-06:00

I had fun today...mostly with meals! For breakfast, I put red and blue food coloring in the eggs for Chloe and made PUPRLE eggs. I told to come eat breakfast, and that I made eggs that I got from a purple chicken. She was really grossed out at first (I don't blame her, they didn't look too appetizing), but then she thought it was funny and ate them. I forgot to take a picture!

I told Chloe I gave her POOP for lunch...really just a bag of Cocoa Puffs!

Then we had CUPCAKES for dinner....

The kids were so excited and thought it was cool that we got a cupcake for dinner. Caleb was seriously hilarious. He took one bite of the top and got a disgusted look and spit it out...and was kind of mad at me! LOVED it! Chloe thought it was funny and loved it....to be expected. Chloe will try almost anything...Caleb won't eat anything.

Really it's a mini meatloaf (made with ground turkey) in a cupcake paper, with blue mashed potatoes on top for "frosting"!!

Then for dessert we had HAMBURGERS!!!

Don't they look delicious? And real? They're made with cookies for the buns (I used whole wheat flour to make them look even more real), brownie (made in a cupcake pan) for the burger, coconut colored GREEN for the lettuce, RED frosting for the ketchup and YELLOW frosting for the mustard. I know....really healthy!

Caleb totally didn't trust me at first....I don't know why!! His first reaction was total disappointment, frustration and on the verge of crying when he saw that we were having hamburgers for dessert (I had told them I had a really yummy special dessert for them)! He took a long time to start eating (he's super picky and would never touch a hamburger...or a mini meatloaf with mashed potatoes on top!) He made it all worth it with his reactions! Chloe was fun too because she thought it was really funny and loved everything!

Catch-up!

2009-04-01T11:17:00.003-06:00

Here's what's been going on....

Grammy, Ninnie, Cassidy and Abbie came to visit. We had lots of fun and made a huge snowman (but I need to get the pictures from Lindsey), and went to Chuck E Cheese

The babies Abbie and Caleb

Grammy and all the kiddies

Chloe lost ANOTHER tooth! Now she's got a big huge gap!

We went and saw Monsters vs. Aliens at the Scera theater. It was all XanGo employees and it was FREE!!!

They had a sundial and the kids thought it was pretty cool!

Claire is getting into more and more things...

The green paint fell out of the kids' art set...and of course, Claire found it for them!

She's such a little monkey lately. She has figured out how to push or pull the gate down and climbs over it and today she climbed up on and stood on the bottom edge of the fireplace holding onto the top (hard to explain)!

Dedicated to my wonderful husband! (just kidding)

2009-03-25T17:19:00.002-06:00

This used to be on the radio all the time when I was in high school and I thought it was hilarious, but forgot about it!

Family Pictures...

2009-03-18T12:23:00.003-06:00

We FINALLY got family portraits done. Poor little Claire is left out of most of the family pictures around the house!

toothless...

2009-03-16T12:37:00.002-06:00

Chloe lost her first TOP tooth last night! It has been super loose for a while, then on Saturday Caleb wanted to help her out and hit her in the face and it got even more loose! So last night I asked her if I could give it a little tug and I got it out!!! She was so excited! I was too because the looser it got, the more it stuck out and she looked like Nanny McPhie!!

THEN, she was up in the bathroom brushing her teeth to go to bed and decided she should brush her tooth that fell out so it would be all clean for the Toothfairy and she dropped it down the drain. I was downstairs and heard her scream and cry....I thought she was really hurt or something and ran up and asked what was wrong. She was devastated. But luckily she turned the water right off and I took apart the drain under the sink and it was in there, thankfully! She was one happy girl!

With her note to the toothfairy....tooth in Ziploc bag taped to the note! I keep thinking I'm going to make something for them to put their teeth in. We always put it in this little pillow...maybe before she loses another!

Toothless is cute but I'm really glad we got family pictures done a couple weeks ago!

Us today...

2009-03-12T14:10:00.002-06:00

Chloe has a cold and was up a lot last night and wasn't feeling great this morning, so she stayed home today to rest. Not that I want my kids to be sick, but it has been really nice just relaxing and doing nothing. Normally I'd be leaving right now to go pick her up, but I now I don't have to! The cool way to watch TV

Chewing on one of Caleb's toys.....like mother like daughter. (No, I don't chew on Caleb's toys! I just used to chew on my sisters' barbie's hands and mess them up!)

birthday festivities...

2009-03-12T14:02:00.003-06:00

"Thanks Mom and Dad!"

"Get this thing off my head....and no I won't smile so you can just get one cute picture with it on!"

Claire standing in the bucket with all the Wii stuff so she can watch Backyardigans!

Jeff on his bday with his DELICIOUS banana cream pie, made by me!

Claire's dress (thanks Ninnie) kept getting stuck under her knees, so she improvised!

30% off

2009-03-10T08:34:00.000-06:00

For 30% off at Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic....click HERE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFF!!

2009-03-08T21:14:00.002-06:00

Yes, another one this week. And actually I never said happy birthday to Kali (niece) on Friday...the first week in March is a crazy one!

did I really post that picture? It's actually one of several silly faces I made one day when Jeff was trying to take a picture of us! I thought it was really funny....he didn't!!

Happy birthday to my awesome husband. He's the best and I'm so lucky to have him. He's smart, a super hard worker, successful, fun, helpful, a wonderful dad and husband, and on and on!! Thanks for all you do for us...we love you tons!!!

Happy FIRST Birthday Claire!!

2009-03-05T22:33:00.002-07:00

Where did the last year go? Claire is already ONE!! Here are some pictures of her big day! Jeff had to be in Mexico City for work, so we just had a laid back kind of day!

Yeah...finally a big girl car seat! We went and got her pictures taken in a cute little dress (I'll post them when I get them!)

So excited for her yummy cake!!

A little help blowing out the candle!

Enjoying her homemade cupcake...made with whole wheat flour and applesauce! They were actually really good. They kind of tasted more like a muffin than cake, but the kids ate them up!

Every time I tried to get close to her to get a picture, she would turn and kiss me!

Finally got one!!

One of Claire's FAVORITE things...The Backyardigans!!

pay it forward

2009-03-04T19:19:00.006-07:00

Pay it FORWARD--How it works:

The FIRST THREE people to leave a comment on this post will receive at some point during this year a handmade gift from me....could be crafty, tasty, etc. Just made by me!

What it will be and when it will arrive will be a total surprise--to both of us.

Of course there's a catch and the CATCH is that YOU MUST PLAY TOO!

Before you leave your comment here, write a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (you can cut and paste these instructions). Then come back and let me know that you are going to play, and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift. It's THAT easy!Remember, only the FIRST THREE comments will qualify. Good luck!

I know you don't feel like posting this on your blog and making something for someone...but DO IT ANYWAY, it could be really fun!!

I promise it won't be a St. Patrick's Day wreath!!!

Bachelor Extras

2009-03-03T13:36:00.002-07:00

I saw these on the Yahoo page when I went to check my email....

To watch Good Morning America talk about The Bachelor (and see part of his explanation on Jimmy Kimmell) click here

To watch hilarious clips from Jimmy Kimmell last night click here. It's funny, but I felt a little bad for Jason because I think he is a good guy, just didn't handle the situation right last night...in my humble opinion.

Wow...

2009-03-02T23:09:00.005-07:00

Don't read this if you haven't watched the Bachelor, or After the Final Rose. And if you haven't watched them yet...DON'T!! :)

I feel like Molly right now, "Is this for real?"

First of all....you at least have to give it a shot. 6 weeks of a secret relationship is not trying or "fighting" for it, like Melissa said. At least see what it's like in real life before you decide you're "not right for eachother" or whatever. At least go on the "After the Final Rose" show and say things have been different, but we're going to work at it and see what happens...and if it doesn't work, fine, call Molly.

Second...Of course you're still having feelings for Molly. You were just "in love" with her and still dating her a month ago. It doesn't go away that fast. That doesn't mean you should give up on Melissa so fast. She's right, you put a ring on her finger and that means something...or at least it should! I totally agreed with everything Melissa was saying...I would have said the same!

Third...OK fine, you're not in love with Melissa anymore. But you did say that you guys could talk anytime. Why in the world would you wait and break it off on national TV in front of America and make yourself look like a total jerk? (I know you people who loved Molly are so excited right now and think he is amazing! I actually liked Molly more tonight, she was a little more real and not so fake....but still.) Not only make yourself look like a weak loser, but you put her in that position. And then 10 minutes later be kissing Molly (which I definitely could have done without)!! At least give her a heads up so she knows it's over.

Ughh! I kind of knew it was coming though. Jeff had been reading the discussion board on the bachelor site and he read before the show that Jason was going to do that....but I had a little more faith in him. I didn't think he really would!

And how glad is Jillian right now that she went home last week? I said that though...if you're going to be sent home, it's much better to be sent home on the second to last week than the last week. Or maybe it is better to be sent home on the final night, so he can come ask you for a second chance on "After the Final Rose"!!!

I was glad Molly didn't say "Yes" right away. I'm glad she said, "What about Melissa?" It showed class I think.

Ok, no more "the most dramatic". I think that was it and they're not going to beat it! You can't get a whole lot more dramatic!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAMMY!!!!

2009-03-02T11:35:00.002-07:00

The baby is me!

Happy birthday to an AMAZING mom and grammy! You're the best and we love you so much! We wish you were here to celebrate it with us again this year! Hope you have a FABULOUS day!

flashback...

2009-02-19T12:17:00.004-07:00

I was searching all over for Chloe's birth certificate (and couldn't find it, but as I was scanning these pictures looked up in the closet next to me and saw the envelope that says "birth certicicates" on it..FINALLY) and just found some old pictures of me in an envelope.

I'm about the same age as Claire is now so they were fun to look at. Here they are....

What my mom wrote on the back..."Stefany and another one of her dastardly deeds January 1981" (I was one....and I was perfect, I don't know what she was talking about!)

I'm probably the one that pulled the cups and cans out of the cupboard and left them under the dishwasher too!

Me at 11 1/2 months old

Halloween 1980...9 1/2 months old
Chrysta, me and Allyson

What?

2009-02-16T22:16:00.002-07:00

Warning: If you haven't watched the bachelor yet, don't read this!

I thought for sure Molly was going home. I don't know if it's the editing, or the way she professes her love to him...it just doesn't seem real....but I don't see the chemistry as much with Molly. Their relationship just seems more shallow or something.

I really, really liked Jillian. I was totally rooting for her....maybe even more than Melissa. But as soon as he gave Melissa the first rose, Jeff and I both thought he was going to pick Jillian...we were wrong. She just was so real, put together, level headed, fun, the list goes on. She seemed perfect.

I mean, I guess you can't argue with, "I'm just not in love with her," but darn it, you should be!!!

But really, if you're in the final 3 and you're not make it all the way, it's much better to go home this week than have to walk out there hoping you're getting a ring and not get it. So for that reason, I guess I'm glad Jillian went home tonight. And, if it was Melissa and Jillian in the final 2, I would have had a hard time choosing one of them and rooting for them. Now, it should be easy...GO MELISSA!

Did you notice at the end how he was talking about how excited he is about next week and was basically looking at Melissa the whole time. I even said out loud, "Is he going to look at Molly?"

So I'm a dork and have read the message boards on the bachelor website for the past couple weeks, just to see what other people are saying and there are some interesting viewpoints out there. But with the whole Deanna thing...at first I was thinking, why would she even try? He better not give her another chance...I'm so over her (and hopefully he is too)! But after reading other people's comments, I'm thinking that she's just coming to give him advice, so I'm not worried about it anymore.

Don't worry, I'm not so big of a dork that I've commented on the message boards...just read a few of them! You should check it out, it's interesting.

I'm curious to see what makes him cry like that too! Next week should be interesting. We get to see Megan and Erica again....fun!!

Can't wait for the most dramatic rose ceremony ever. Or wait, was that tonight or last week, or the week before?

Lu-Weenie

2009-02-12T13:24:00.003-07:00

Caleb is so funny. He got MarioKart for his birthday and absolutely LOVES it. I was taking pictures of Claire, trying to get her new teeth, and he said "Take a picture of the screen, Mario and LUWEENIE are on it." Every time he talks about Luigi, like asking me who I want to be, or saying that Luigi got ahead of him while he's playing, he calls him Luweenie! I love it!

Claire's new teeth. She got 4 on the top the week before last I think and she's starting to get a couple more on the bottom sides!

They look funny right now. I can't wait to see what she'll look like when they're grown in all the way!! She'll look like such a big kid!

Here's a cute one, since I posted all those nasty teeth pictures....

it's getting good....

2009-02-11T14:15:00.003-07:00

So it was pretty obvious, at least to us, that Naomi was going home. Then the hometown visit with her family...getting the Christianity/reincarnation, we're part of the same "soul family", my daughter is psychic stuff from her parents, not to mention the dead bird thing, pretty much sealed the deal. I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt, but last week it was pretty apparent that she was out of it. Good choice Jason, she wasn't right for you anyway.

So the more I see Jillian the more I like her. I thought her family was so funny and he seemed to fit right in. She's funny, she's real, she's down to earth.

I can't believe that Melissa's family didn't participate. I mean, maybe you're shy but can't you at least get over it for one night? Especially when you see how disappointed your daughter is. I saw that on the previews last week, and kind of thought they'd arrange some kind of private meeting, but I guess not. And her brother didn't even come?? I felt really bad for her and hope it doesn't mess up her chances later. Was it just me or did her friends talk a little too much about past guys at the dinner?

Molly, I like her, but don't love her. She's not as "real" as the other girls. When he said, "I can't get deep enough with her" I totally agreed. She's fun and cute and everything, but who is she REALLY...deep down? I don't know.

So Jillian and Melissa are still my faves. I'm excited to watch it now that it's really only girls that have a chance. For the last 2 episodes I've pretty much known it was going to be Stephanie and Naomi going home, we just had to get through it. Now it's down to girls that he really has a connection with. Can't wait for next week!!

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY CALEB!!!

2009-02-08T21:42:00.005-07:00

Birthday Party #1 (yesterday).....

Caleb wanted a "Superhero" party. Here's the cake I made
Trey playing the game where I put candy inside the balloons and the kids had to pop them to get the candy out. It was pretty fun!

Chloe the "Superhero Princess" and Batman. I made each of the kids a cape with their initial on the back for them to take home!

Batman blowing out his 5 candles!

All the Super Heros!!

Kenny, Olivia, Issac, Caleb, Chloe, Canon, Trey and Jared

Birthday Party #2 (today)

Caleb wanted a "Wii Party" so I made a cake with his Mii on it. The picture to the right of the cake is his actual Mii on the Wii and I tried to copy it. It says Caleb Lego on it because that's what he named his Mii.

SO excited about MarioKart!
He LOVES his new transformer that turns from an airplane to a transformer guy!

The birthday boy and Chloe

We love you Buddy!!!

BREAKTHROUGH!!

2009-02-03T14:40:00.004-07:00

Caleb is finally eating things besides bananas, ramen noodles and cereal!!! He's eaten the bread in sacrament meeting for the last 3 weeks in a row (thanks in part to Mason, I think when they were here and Caleb saw him eat it, he did it too)....which is huge. I can't even remember the last time he did before that. For the last several days in a row he has had a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich...he would not even touch them before. Sometimes he would even complain of the smell when Chloe would eat one by him. Last night I made tacos for dinner and he ate TWO. He tried it and liked it and then even ate another... they were plain - just meat and tortilla, but for Caleb to eat meat is a big deal!

We've been playing up the whole "Your almost 5 now and 5 year olds like foods they didn't used to like!" and I think it's helping (his bday is on Sunday, so wierd that he'll be 5)!

It is SO nice. He's not perfect, we still have to fight him to try some things, but he is WAY more open to eating new foods now than he ever was before. It used to be that he'd rather just not eat than try something, or eat something he "thought" he didn't like! Hopefully he continues on this road!

We've had a busy week..

2009-02-02T10:47:00.006-07:00

Especially this little girl...

In the past 8 days, Claire has..

1. Learned to climb stairs

2. Learned to pull herself up to standing

3. Gotten THREE new teeth. The top middle one on the left on last Saturday. Then the side one next to that on this past Friday, then the other middle top one on Saturday (the day before yesterday!

It's crazy how much she's changing and so fast!

Then...

Thanks to Lindsey and Josh for the tickets to the Jazz game for Christmas, we got to go there on Friday night. We decided to make a little mini-vacation out of it. So I got on Priceline and got a room at the Hilton Salt Lake City (4 star nice hotel) for $50!! What a deal! And we could park there and walk to the game!

We surprised the kids. We told them we were going upstairs after the game just to look around. Then I said, "Daddy, why don't you see if your credit card will open that door." Chloe was funny saying, "No, we don't want to disturb anybody." They were pretty excited when they found out we were staying there!

I think their favorite part was swimming....especially our little fish named Chloe!

They called swimming surprise number 2.

Claire and I hung out on the poolside chairs!

In the hotel room. It was a pretty good view. You could see the Salt Lake Temple though a couple buildings!

Then for surprise number 3 we took them to the Gateway and went to the Dicovery Children's Museum. We were there for hours and they had a blast!!

Chloe dressed up like a police woman driving her police car!

At the Market! Chloe had SO much fun checking people out. The store had lots of different fake food and little baskets for the kids to shop with!

Chloe doing the news!

Chloe and Caleb doing the weather report. It was neat because there was a flat screen tv where they could see themselves and a computer that you could change the background with!

I turned around for maybe 30 seconds, then back and Caleb was already at the top of the rock wall!

For surprise number 4 we went to the BYU basketball game (this one was more for Daddy then the kids). We had so much fun at the museum that we ended up getting to the game when there was only about 10 minutes left. After that we took the kids to get milkshakes!

Usually I'm the type that would rather just stay home then stay at a hotel and everything, so I debated suggesting it to Jeff when I thought of it, but I did and I'm so glad. We had so much fun and the kids LOVED it!