Connor is 6

I forgot to write about this earlier. Connor is convinced that he is 6. I don't know why. We were in the car and he said he was 6 and Josh was saying "No, Connor, you're not 6. You're 4." And Connor was saying "No, I'n 6!" When we got out of the car there were big tears. He was so upset that Josh said he was 4. He said "I was 4, but I grow-ded up and now I'n 6." I asked him what happened to 5 and he said he didn't know. When we got home he told me again that he was 6 and said "I'll show you, mom!" He went and got the bathroom scale and stood on it. "See, I'n 6!"

Update

Everything has been going well with us. Brads dad, brother, and cousin have come and gone. We didn't get to do anything really special while they were here because of work, but mostly because Brad hurt his back again and couldn't stand the thought of driving in the car for long. We were planning on going to Yellowstone, but maybe next time. I just went to Joshs SEP (parent teacher conference) and he is doing so well! He's got everything down already that he needs to know by Christmas. Everything except drawing and coloring in the lines. His teacher seems to think he will be reading by Thanksgiving. We are so lucky that Josh has such a GREAT teacher. She is perfect for him and he is learning so much in kindergarten. Connor is loving pre-school, of course. He's such a friendly boy. He likes making up words for things. The wire whisk is a spinner and the spatula is a scooper? I can't remember. I need to write things down before I forget! Kaytlynn is getting friendlier and more outgoing. She asks everybody their names and says that they are her friends. She waves to everybody. Oh, and everything is hers, including peoples babies. "That's my baby!" I'm glad she's turning into a nice girl. She was pretty mean before. Brad is doing the same. Working, taking care of the kids and his wife, and doing the never-ending cleaning of the house. I am the same too. Working some more of those 100 hour weeks and thoroughly enjoying most of the time I spend with the kids. We're getting used to doing homework. Augh! Crazy. Getting ready for Halloween tomorrow. Fun!

Fishing

So Josh has really taken to fishing. We have this little fishing pole that we tie string cheese on the end of and Josh will throw the line out there and sit very patiently, shushing everyone that makes any kind of a noise. He'd probably sit there for hours. We were saying that we needed to get him a better fishing pole and he kept wanting to get one right now. He had a dime that he kept leaving next to me and I kept giving it to him and he'd say "No!" and give it back to me. I thought he just didn't want to hold it. Then I went to put it in his pocket and he got so upset at me. He said "Will you just take this and go get me a better fishing pole?!", as he put the dime in my hand. I wonder what he'd do if he actually caught a fish?

Ouch

I was just looking at old pictures of my cute kids, and it seriously made my heart hurt at how much I miss them at different stages in their lives. They were so cute! I miss them when they were little babies that made those sweet sounds. Goos and gaas and sweet sleeping sighs. Those sweet smiles and the lack of control they had over their arms and legs, so they would just kick, kick, kick, and throw their arms around in the air. Those little eyes staring at you and trying to make them smile and laugh. Then when they would try and get around without being able to walk. I miss holding and rocking them when they weighed next to nothing and those little hands holding onto my finger. I certainly don't miss everything and I wouldn't want to go back to that time because it was also really hard. I look forward to when they grow up and I can really have a conversation with them and I can drag them to do the things that I enjoy and hopefully they will also be really good and enjoy doing those things. But when I hold them in my arms, it is sad to think that soon they will be too big to pick up and hold. I love my kids so much and they are just so darn cute!! My mom always said that she wishes we could be little again for just one day out of the month. That would be nice.

Connor loves girls

I asked Connor if he met a boy named Derrick in his pre-school class (I found out my friends son is in the same class)and Connor said "No, but there's 3 girls."

Just some background: Connor loves girls. When he was 2, we were at the park and I couldn't find him for a minute, and then I saw him sitting in the middle of a circle of a bunch of girls--probably 8 year olds. At my family reunion, he was always wondering where my cousin and her friend were--"Where's the girls?" "Girls, we're over here." "I'm going to go find the girls" We were at a parade and he would wave at all the pageant winners on the floats and say "Hi girls! Look, Mom, it's girls." He holds girls hands and gives them hugs and kisses. Girls like to take care of him, too. They are always carrying him over to me if he's crying or anything. Funny.

Yikes!

So a quick update, because I only have 5 minutes.....Josh started kindergarten, and though it was a horrendous experience getting him to go to school on the first day, he now loves it and loves going every day. We signed him up for kindergarten soccer and he still has not played. At least he sits on the grass and watches now and doesn't throw a HUGE tantrum getting there. Connor is starting pre-school on Thursday, Kaytlynn had her princess birthday party last Saturday (she will be 3 on Sep. 7th). I have been working a Ton--and when I say that, I mean 100 hour weeks--because Janets (the lady I sub for at the post office) husband died, so I am working 6 days a week, along with my other jobs. Brad is trekking away at his business ventures and his job. I'll put pictures up later!

Demolition Derby

The pictures and videos speak for themselves. I had such a great time!!

More soccer

Josh is absolutely loving soccer. He can't get enough. He's always asking how many days and how many hours and how many minutes until he can play soccer. Connor has been getting frustrated though, and crying, because it is next to impossible to get a ball away from Josh. It's like he has glue on his shoes, or magnets, because that kid gets that ball and runs with it and I can't get the thing away from him. Josh has been very good at getting the ball (a lot!) and getting it to Connor so Connor actually has a lot of chances. But I think other kids are also getting frustrated because Josh is so good and they don't get much of a chance. I think the coaches even have a hard time stealing it away to give other kids a chance. I don't want to frustrate other kids so much that they don't like playing but I also don't want to squish Josh's talent. We signed him up for a kindergarten soccer league, so maybe that will be better. Right now they are on a 4 and 5 year old team and Josh will be 6 in November. But I played with Josh and I can totally see how Connor feels, because it was even getting frustrating for me! I had to cheat to score any goals. Yep. He's good.

Ribbons, boulders, and rootberries

Connor adds things to the end of words for some reason. I had some ribs from the Outback for dinner and Connor kept asking for ribbons. I tried to give him a ribbon, but alas, that was not what he wanted. He loved the ribs. We saw cows on the way to gymnastics and he kept saying he saw a boulder. Yeah. He meant a bull. Then he said he wanted some rootberries. It was, of course, root beer that he wanted.

Panda Express

We were driving past Panda Express and Josh said "It's a baby bear from China." It took me a second to realize that we drove past Panda Express, which has a picture of a panda bear on it. He's getting so smart!

Soccer

Josh and Connor had their first day of soccer yesterday and they loved it! They both did really, really well. I had no idea they were so good. Brad played with them a lot last year but hasn't played much with them this year, but they really remembered how to play, and practice paid off. Josh scored 4 times! I think the score was actually 4 to 3. Maybe 5 to 3. The coaches kept giving him 5 and people would cheer, and on the last goal, one coach put Josh on his shoulders and ran around. I think Josh loved it, because he isn't usually the center of attention. Connor fell down a lot, but that's to be expected. Gosh, I hope they don't kick him out or anything, because he would fall, and then kids would all trip over him and fall. He's a real liability! But he was so good at staying on that ball and kicking it. If it wasn't Josh kicking it, it was usually Connor. The coaches had to take the ball away from them so the other kids had a chance to kick it. I wonder if we practiced with them on everything if they would be good at everything, or if they just have a real talent for soccer?

Here's Connor, though. We were getting in the car and the kids were running around the car. The passenger front door was wide open--very easy to see--and Connor ran smack into it and bumped his head. Then we got to where they were playing soccer. I let him out of the car and two steps into the run to the soccer practice, he tripped and fell and scraped his knees a little. I do not even know how many times he fell during practice. Probably 20. The coaches had to tie his shoes twice. He fell on the way to the drinking fountain. But it was not his shoes--this is normal. Earlier in the day he ran straight into a kid. The kid was just standing there, and here comes Connor--smack! I guess the kid was bigger than Connor and it didn't seem to bother him, but geez kid! He used to run straight into the walls a lot, but seems to have gotten past that now.

Augh!

So you know how just when you think you're catching up on money, something just has to happen to make that not true? Yesterday morning I pulled up in our driveway and the engine was steaming and coolant drained out of the Jeep. There was coolant everywhere, like a little coolant explosion. I got Brad out of bed and I was taking care of the kids while he checked it out. We seem to have car trouble happen with both of our cars at the same time, so I'm just hoping that's not always true. The check engine light has been going on and off in the Jeep too. Brads job just moved to Bluffdale, a 40 minute drive away, so we need both cars. Brad finally got the leaking tire changed on the van. We just don't have any time to get these things done, because we're working so hard trying to catch up with money. There is no climax to this story. Brad, yay Brad!, figured out that a hose had come off and hit the fan, cutting it up, so he was able to fix the hose and we think it's fine.

Last night I was going to put breadsticks in the oven, so I turned it on and almost immediately there was smoke coming out and a really awful electrical burning smell. I don't even want to bother trying to figure out if we can fix it or not. I think this is the original oven to the house, from 1992, and I won't be sad to see it go. I want a flat cooktop that is easy to clean! I just don't want to spend $500+ to get it. And can you believe they sell the electric cords seperate? What?

If anybody has an opinion on a great stove, send it my way! I figure the van is due to break in October because that's when the warranty is up and soon we will have another car payment. And it's time to renew the passports.....Man, we are never gonna get our boat!

"That's what you're sposed to do"

I was delivering mail today while all the fun Spanish Fork happenings were happening. So Brad told me about this. He took the kids down to the park where they had some activities going on. There was a booth where you hit the target with a softball and the guy falls in the water. I don't know what it's called. So Brad paid the dollar and Josh got 5 balls. He didn't hit the target hard enough to get the guy to fall. So after Josh missed with the last ball, he ran up and pushed the target with both hands and made the guy fall in the water. Then it was Connors turn. He got the balls, put them all down, and ran and pushed the target, too, and made the guy fall in the water! What kind of boys am I raising? So Brad told me about that and I asked Josh if he did that and he said "That's what you're sposed to do." That guy deserves a tip!

My kids a friggin' genius!

I took Connor to his 4 year check-up on Monday. He weighs 30 lbs, 6 oz., and is 38 inches long. The doctor asked him some questions that he didn't answer very well, so the doctor was concerned and sent his assistant in to do a little test. There were 4 pictures on each page and the assistant would say the word of one of those pictures and Connor would have to pick the right one. Well, Connor kept going and going. I think they stop after the kid has gotten a certain amount wrong. One example is the word "construction". One picture was a guy hammering in a nail, one was a sander sanding a piece of wood, one was a guy putting together a box, and I can't remember the last one. So they could all kind of be interpreted as construction, but it was obviously the guy hammering in the nail on a house that they were looking for. Another one was "greeting". It had some people coming into a house waving, some people leaving a house waving, and I can't remember what else. So you can see that these could be hard, especially for a just turned 4 year old. Well, Connor got up to age 14-15 words. These are what kids are expected to know at 14-15 years old! When the assistant left and the doctor came back in, he was just like "Well, Connor did very well on that test. We don't have to worry." I know he's not a genius, but I sure was impressed. He knew words that I had no idea he knew. Those minds are little sponges!!

"I want to ride the cows."

We were at my grandparents ranch in Colorado for the 4th of July. The kids kind of herded the cows off and they walked away somewhere. I told Kaytlynn to come back to the house and she just walked away from me toward the cows and said "No. I want to ride the cows."

candy station

We pulled in to get gas and Connor said "Are we going to the candy station?"

Funny Story

I was just talking to a friend from work and this story made me laugh, so I thought I'd pass it on. Here at the Spanish Fork movie theatre they have free summer movies. These free movies are packed! Of course, we are in Utah Valley, so packed free anything comes as no surprise. Well, my friend got to the theatre 30 minutes early so her and her three sons could get seats all together. Half an hour into the movie, her little boy had to use the bathroom, so she took him to the bathroom and her other 2 sons watched the movie. When she came back there was a lady sitting in her seat. She had to squish her way through the aisle to her seat, just to find it taken. She told the lady that that was her seat and she just took her son to the bathroom. The lady said "You gotta freakin' be kiddin me" My friend said, "No. I'm not kidding you, mam. My son had to pee." The lady said "I have freakin' 8 kids, there's no way I'm moving." Now I think this is awesome--my friend, instead of trying to find a different seat or go home, which is what I would have done, I'm sure, says "You will get out of my seat or I will sit on your lap." Awesome! This lady came in and moved my friends kids down, who were telling her that their mom and brother were sitting there, then put at least 2 kids in each seat and one on her lap. Now, I feel for the lady, but what a rude person! I need to take a lesson from my friend on how to stick up for myself......

I'll spank you

Josh asked me how many minutes until I would come and play with him downstairs. I told him I didn't know and he said "You tell me, or I will spank you." That made me laugh. I have never spanked or threatened to spank Josh. Hmmm. Wonder where he got this from?

Somebody is giving me $75,000! Yippee!

Greetings My Friend,
I am Kluka Darlene A. I have been waiting for you since to contact me for
your Confirmable Bank Draft of $78,000 but I did not hear from you since that time.
Then I deposited the Draft with TNT Delivery, West Africa, I travelled out of the country
for a 3 Months Course and I will not be back till end of September.What you
have to do is to contact the TNT Delivery West Africa as soon as possible to know
the delivery of your package to you because of the expiring date. For your
information, I have paid for the delivery charges, Insurance premium and
Clearance Certificate Fee of the Check showing that it is not a drug money.

The only money you will send to the TNT Delivery to deliver your Draft direct to your
postal Address is ($215 USD) only being Security Keeping Fee of the
Delivery Company .

Contact Person: Mr.David Mark
Email :tntafrica.dispatchunit@live.com
Tel :+234-702-9066-207
Finally,you are expected to pay only $215.00 USD and make sure that you re-confirm your
Postal address and Direct telephone number to them again to avoid any mistake on the
Delivery and know when it will get to your address.
Yours Faithfully,
Kluka Darlene A.


I found this very funny. Whoever wrote this must have had $ signs in their eyes and been thinking how clever they were. Poor thing doesn't know how bad their English is. Auhhhh, so sad.

Connor quote

Connor: "The big giraffe just pooed a baby and it was a boy." He seriously loves Animal Planet!

They found us

The ants have found us. Now we have to move.

Whew!

So I think the pregnancy scare is over. Reading up on stuff, there is a 1% chance of getting pregnant post-vasectomy. 1 in 100. hmm. It inspires me to go double up on the BC. A 1 in 100 chance is pretty good, but being that 1 would be so, so bad. Now I've just got to figure out why I've been feeling so crappy.

Connor and T-ball

I asked the boys who was going to T-ball today and Josh volunteered Connor as Connor raised his hand. So I took him to T-ball. He couldn't stop hopping again. He just kept happily hopping as the coaches would instruct them what to do, while he was waiting in line, while running to get the ball--everything. He is the teeniest kid there. You couldn't tell he was wearing shorts because the smallest T-shirt available drowns him. So Connor is not so naturally talented as Josh when it comes to T-ball. Josh could really throw that ball far and Connor really can't. Josh hits the ball hard, and Connor barely hits it. Josh is a faster runner and understood directions a little better. We always thought Connor would be bigger than Josh by now and a natural at sports. He's not. He is really good at gymnastics, though. (Which he went to on Wednesday.) He told me when we got in the car "I had so much fun!" I'm sure he will be better with practice. And don't tell anyone, but it's a 4 and 5 year old class, and Connor is 3. He's not supposed to be there. He also has mostly 5 year olds in his gymnastics class. So he's doing good!

Newest Addition

We got a new addition in the backyard. A 14 foot trampoline with safety net. I was just bumming around on ksl and craigslist last night and the kids have been asking for a trampoline. Connor doesn't like to leave the neighbors house because of their trampoline. I found one without the metal springs (they are the fabric kind) and with a safety net for $140. Looking up trampolines, the cheapest one like that was around $500. So we took the long trip out to Tooele to pick it up. It took us 4 hours to get there and back--that included a trip to the gas station and McDonald's. Hopefully it was worth it! We will see tomorrow. I'm excited for the kids. And Connor can practice his gymnastics stuff on it. He is already a dynamite jumper on the ground--I think he'll be really good at doing jumps on his snowboard and wakeboard and all that when the time comes. There will be a little less room in the yard for playing soccer, but I guess we can cope with that. I'll have to be careful, since I have taken to peeing a little every time I'm bounced high on the trampoline. Now our backyard will look like all the other backyards in Utah....playset, trampoline, playhouse, motorized kid cars. Yikes! I always found it funny flying over California there were pools in tons of the backyards. Then you fly over Utah and there are a ton of trampolines.

T-ball

Today was Josh's first day of T-ball. He played last year and loved it almost as much as I loved taking him and playing with him. Today he would not get out of the car. Brad took him and Josh was crying and saying he just wanted to go home. So Brad brought him back and I had a go. Josh does this at everything we go to. Cries and whines and says he wants to go home. Then we get him in and involved and he loves it and doesn't want to go home at the end. Well, I tried everything. I tried asking, begging, bribing, reasoning, using reverse psychology, and anything else I could think of. Nothing worked. He said he just wanted to stay in the car and go home. I told him I was going to go have fun. I went and got his shirt and hat and came back to see if he'd changed his mind. Nope. Still buckled into his car seat sulking. I went back out and watched the kids play. Went back to the car and he still wanted to go home. I told him that if he didn't play he wouldn't get a snow cone on the way home (a tradition from last year.) That didn't phase him. I told him he could go home after and play the computer and that didn't work. I begged him to play because I wanted to play and couldn't without him. Nope. I unbuckled his car seat and unlocked the doors and went and sat on the grass, thinking that I would hear the car door anytime and see him getting out. Nope. 15 minutes later he was still sitting in his car seat. So finally, I thought 'We're not wasting our money and time on this. Connor would absolutely love this more than he has loved anything, ever. Even monster trucks and licking dirt.' So I took Josh home and got Connor. Connor is less than a month away from his 4th birthday anyway. He got to play for only 10 minutes, but that kid was so excited! He was hopping, hopping, hopping. He could not keep still. If he wasn't running bases, he was hopping. He is going to have a blast. Good thing we've got a back-up player.:) Josh is so stubborn, I can't believe it. I cannot see Connor ever doing anything like that. Kaytlynn, on the other hand....she takes after Josh. Oh, well. It will be more fun with Connor anyway. *Sigh*

Blah!

I have not been feeling well for about 2 weeks now. The best way to describe my symptoms is pregnant. I feel like I am pregnant. Headache, nautious, a little dizzy, heartburn, emotional (I keep crying for no reason), and a few other not-so-nice things that pregnant people get. Now, I am hoping and praying that this is not the case. I have not been drop-dead tired like I was with the other kids, so that gives me hope. Brad had a vasectomy a little over 2 years ago, so that also gives me hope. What does not give me hope is the 5 different stories I have heard of failed vasectomies lately. We planned to have only 2 kids, and as you all know we have 3. It took a lot of talking and begging and time for Brad to consent to having the v-word. And our third child, and a scare of having a 4th.
There are so many good people out there who would take the news graciously, saying that their surprise is a gift and all that, but I am not going to lie to you, I would be devastated. We'd love the kid and everything, but, yeah. Kaytlynn was a devastation. Of course I absolutely love that naughty, fiesty little girl and I'd never want her to not be a part of our family now. So if it is true, we will take it as it comes. And if I have a terminal disease that makes me feel pregnant, well, we will also take that as it comes :) Hopefully I've just been working too much.

Knocked out

So our poor little Kaytlynn knocked her tooth out yesterday. Actually, the floor knocked it out. This is a tooth that we just spent I don't know how much money on capping last month. Probably close to a thousand dollars. She had an accident with the recliner and ended up face down on the floor with no tooth. The dentist said that we should probably just leave it, because 90% of the time they die anyway and it is likely to cause an infection if we try to put it back in and it's a baby tooth. Luckily it's not a middle front tooth, but it's a tooth next to the middle. I always think these little kids with missing teeth look like little trailer park white trash kids. Isn't that horrible? Not to be mean or anything, because I lived in a trailer park when I was Kaytlynns age. So she will be missing a tooth for about 5 years until her adult tooth grows in. Tonight the tooth fairy came and left 2 little "pwetty dwesses" under her pillow, since she's not old enough to enjoy money yet. Poor girl. So when you see her with a missing tooth, that is what happened! Will post a picture when I get one.

Kaytlynn is such a girl

Kaytlynn likes to change clothes about 8 times a day. Usually the outfits are...well....she has no style. Brad got her a cute little pink sun dress with white hearts. When she woke up from her nap, she came out and did that heavy panting thing with a little bit of a squeal or a squeak coming out and started stripping as fast as she could so she could put on the "petty dwess" She is officially out of the stage of wanting cars like her brothers. She wanted to show grandpa the pretty dress, so we got on the webcam. She wanted to go to his house and had a little angry face down on the ground fit when she found out it was just the webcam. What a girl!

Mothers Day Hike

I had a great Mothers Day. First I came home from work and got to sleep for 6 or 7 hours. Woo-hoo! When I got up, it was such a gorgeous day that I decided I wanted to go on my favorite hike for mothers day. So we got everyone loaded up into the mini-van and headed up Provo Canyon, past Sundance, to the hiking spot for Stewart Falls. This hike is really pretty, nice, and easy. It doesn't usually take very long. We made it there by 5:45 and started hiking. Brad-well geez. I don't think I've ever been hiking with him before! A little walk in the hills of Scotland is all. He came armed with a knife with a compass, those dinner ration packs, solar blankets, 4 bottles of water, jackets, M&M's, diapers, a filter water bottle, flashlights, and more. I don't know how much that backpack weighed, but it must have been heavy. Soon after we got there Brad had a walking stick. I brought my cell phone. That's all I needed. You get in trouble, you call someone :) Usually I just bring my cell phone, a bottle of water, and some toilet paper. Brad didn't bring any toilet paper or wipes. Funny.

This is a hike that I used to go on on summer nights with a full moon. A bunch of us would get together wearing shorts and sandals and hike to the falls by the light of the moon in under an hour there and back. Well, this hike took us just under 3 hours! It was great though. The weather was perfect. We climbed over some patches of snow at places. The kids had a good time figuring out which animals each of the footprints belonged to. Mostly bear, reindeer, and tigers. They also liked looking at the holes in the ground and figuring out what lived in there. Connor decided that birds lived in the holes in the ground. It took awhile when Kaytlynn wanted to walk and had to "climb" over every small rock and branch. If there was anything over a short step up, she would put her hands down on the ground and "climb" over it. But she did well. And Josh peed for the first time in the wilderness. Yay Josh! I didn't have to work last night, so we didn't have anything we had to get home for. Just didn't want to be out there in the dark. We had perfect timing getting back, though. Just as the sun was going down. Then we went for some Slurpees. Yep, it was a good Mothers Day! I'm looking forward to doing more family things like this now that I know the kids can do it.

Loads and loads of food

So Beehive Homes asked if I could work this last Saturday, May 9th. Usually the regular at the post office loves to work on a Saturday and take one of the weekdays off. But last Saturday she was going on a trip, and I think I know why. I got some others to cover for me on Saturday at Beehive and told them I would get there when I was done with my route around 2 or 3. That is when I usually get done on Saturdays. I got to the post office at 7:15 after working at my other job all night long and found out it was National Letter Carrier food drive day. Yikes! It made for quite the long day. Luckily I got someone to cover for me at Beehive, because I was done at 6:15 p.m. I do not know how much food I picked up, but it had to be a ton. Literally. I'm sure I picked up 2,000 pounds of food. It just filled the truck.

The first few bags that I picked up brought a tear to my eye. It was so wonderful how giving everybody was! I was excited when I saw another bag filled with canned goods and non-perishable food items. It didn't take long, though, for me to see another bag and be bummed. Where was I going to put this bag, and the next one, and the next one? I saw bags tied to the mailboxes and out on the sidewalk far down the street, and on the other side. There are around 600 houses on this route, and I probably picked up around 200 bags filled with food. Or more. Who knows. I wish I had my camera. So it was kind of rough doing this on no sleep, but then I really am happy to have helped. And not just because they rewarded us with Krispy Kremes! But, yeah. It was good, but I'm glad it only rolls around once a year!

Whoo

Okay, here is what has been going on in the Bradley home (and out of the Bradley home) lately. We got a leak in the boys room/playroom in the basement. A big chunck of the carpet and some of the walls were wet. We think the ground was just too wet and it had nowhere to come but in. We had a nice little bill from a contractor to tell us that and to set up some big fans for 3 days. We are now flat broke! Brad and I were supposed to go snowboarding that day. Hmmm. Brad got a new job, which I hope he will love. He has been on the phones talking to "daft Australians" all day for almost 4 years now. He is ecstatic to be off the phones. I will miss having him work at home and TGN has been a great company. Good benefits, accomadating, fun work parties, good pay. Too bad it's a phone job! Brad will now be working for SEO.com That is search engine optomization. I hope it will be as good as TGN was.
I did not get much sleep last night before going to work, and early this morning I had a runner. This is the first time I have ever had to chase a runner down. She gave me a run for my money! And no Kaylee, I was not working at Beehive Homes-the assisted living place with the 80 and 90 year olds. ;) I was praying that she would stop because I couldn't run much longer. I was very happy when she got too tired. I was really just worried that she'd run in front of a car or I'd lose her and something bad might happen to her, so I'm glad I'm not so out of shape that I couldn't keep up. But honestly, this may have inspired me to work out!
So after that little work-out, I spent the day delivering mail. It was SOOO windy and a little rainy. Wind is really scary to me. I don't know why, but I think it goes back to when my cousin Tanya died. The night we found out she was dead, the wind picked up and seemed to follow me, and it just really scared me and has ever since. It makes me think someone is going to die when the wind howls like it was today. Thank goodness it wasn't dark, because I probably would have been too scared to finish. I am THAT scared of wind.
I am now at work again--the one that I can get onto the internet! Hooray for wireless and laptops! I'm tired and so ready for bed. I missed Moms Night Out last night, which I am bummed about, and I totally forgot about a meeting last night. I couldn't work at Beehive Homes yesterday and had to find someone to work for me at my other job last night so I could work this one. I really don't want to quit any of my jobs, but I guess I can only do so much. I wish I was wonder woman. Kaytlynn has to have dental surgery on Friday. Not looking forward to that. Ummmm, that's all for now!

Jobs coming out of my ears

I am a woman of many jobs now. I am working at the post office still delivering mail as a sub. I am working at Discovery Academy doing nightwatch full time-5 nights a week. I am working across the street from our house at the Assisted Living Home where I take care of 10 cute little old ladies (I consider this my volunteer job because they pay so little. But the ladies are fun.) I am just on call, but averaging 15 hours a week. I am now working at New Haven doing nightwatch 2 shifts a week-8 hours total. I am technically employed on call at Daniels Academy doing nightwatch, although I haven't worked there since January. And I just took a test today to work on the 2010 census. I got a 93%, so we'll see. Brad works 35 hours a week from home from 5-midnight, which is so handy for all the trainings and everything I have to go to! I figure I need to work as much as I can right now--just in case. I've watched "Cinderella Man" too many times, I think. I'm just a little afraid the economy will get worse, so I am getting while the getting is good. I guess I could always fall back on curb painting! So, anyway, that is--yes, count them--5 jobs. Oohhhhhhh........Man, I almost forgot the most grueling, time-consuming, physically and emotionally draining job of all! Being a wife. Ha, just kidding--it's being a mom, of course!!

Who said this first? I'll give you one guess.

Brad was taking Connor to gymnastics the other day and he couldn't get there in time because the freeway exit was closed. I was taking Connor today and we went a different way and Connor asked why. I told him it was just in case the freeway exit was closed and he said "We went up the hill yesterday and the stupid road was closed." I'll give you all one guess where he got that from.

They're very tasty

Josh got a Laffy Taffy for a girls birthday in his class. Hours after eating it, he says "I really like that. It's very tasty."

You can call them "plums"

We got Brad nerf guns that he has wanted for his birthday. Josh shot me in the chestal region. I said ow and he asked me-"Oh, did I get you in the plums?" I asked if he said plums, and he said "Yeah, you can call them plums" Where did he get that from? My little 5 year old!

Life as a letter carrier

I am really enjoying my mail-lady job lately. There's a few reasons for this--I am getting done in 7 hours, and I get paid for 9 hours. That's $24 an hour! Which is good for me and for Utah Valley. A little perk is that everyone seems to love me. Almost everybody waves when I drive by and I "make peoples day" a lot when I bring them packages or checks. It is also the perfect weather here now. I love to be outside in the sun! This is a big change from when I first started and I wanted to cry every day that I worked and just kept thinking that I couldn't do it. It is a hard job when you first start! The majority of people that I have talked to about it have actually cried. Some double up on their medication for the day. Not kidding. I knew this day would come that I would be faster and it would be worth it, and I am relieved it is finally here. And just a side note--I have the best hubby ever!! I'm a lucky girl.

Tibert the renamed cat

We went to a friends house so the kids could play. They had a new cat named Max. Kaytlynn was paying a lot of attention to the cat, or "catty", so I asked her if she knew the cats name. She said "Tibert". I told her that the cats name was Max. Kaytlynn called that cat Tibert the rest the time. "Tum here, Tibert." "Where'd you doe, Tibert?" "Tibert eat my bot-tle." Aidan, the cats 3 year old owner, told Kaytlynn "His name is not Tibert. His name is Max." Kaytlynn just looked at him like he was crazy, like she does--ignored him, turned around and ran down the hall looking for the cat-"Here, Tibert!" It totally cracked me up. Tibert. Hm. Where did she come up with that name?

More kid comments

Josh-"You're going for a time out, son."

Connor was chewing on something and Brad asked what it was. Connor went to spit it out into Brads hand and said-"It's just boogers, dad."

The kids-and I don't know where they got this from-say "I just farted in my mouth." when they burp. Disgusting, isn't it?

Ha

Josh went to pre-school today and came home with a list of kids in his class so we could send Valentines to school with him on Thursday. I was asking him about each kid in his class. I asked if Josh was friends with Duncan and he said "Duncans just a little guy." I asked about Dallas and Josh said "He's a big guy. And he farts."

What a day!

What an incredible, amazing, awesome day! At Sundance. It was hard getting there. My Jeep is the absolute worst car I have ever driven in the snow. It's rear-wheel drive and it slips and slides and inches very slowly up a not very steep hill. It's bad. It's real bad. So we got to the turnoff to Sundance and it said 4 wheel drive or chains were required to go up. There wasn't a ton of snow yet, so we decided to take our chances. Argh! I kept sliding into the other lane. I would put the brakes on and then the Jeep couldn't get traction and we'd inch slowly up the hill and around the bend, hoping that no car would come up too fast behind us and we wouldn't slide into an oncoming car. Anybody who has been to Sundance knows that the road is narrow and curvy. We couldn't stop to put my chains on because there was no room on the road and I also didn't think we'd be able to even turn the car around and go back down the mountain. So some nice people pulled up beside us when we weren't getting anywhere. We were just stuck on the road. They really couldn't help us, but then a snow plow came! It didn't have enough room to get past, so I had to back up and to the side of the road. After a lot of spinning of the wheels, we got onto the plowed road and still had a rough time. We finally made it up and the lower parking lot was full. I stopped to talk to the parking attendent and couldn't get the darn Jeep to go again! The parking attendent and Greg (My cousin Paiges friend) had to push. We worked together and got the chains on the Jeep so we could drive up to the upper parking lot. After that--pure snowboarding bliss! The powder was amazing. What a good day! I really do love snowboarding. Especially on days like today. Carving down the powdery mountain was like floating. I stepped down in the snow and was up to my butt in powder. Glad I didn't get stuck! So it snowed all day and on the way home I went 10 miles an hour with bunches of cars behind me. It was so worth it!

The Circus

I took the kids to the circus last night while Brad was working. I was scared to take them all alone because Kaytlynn still likes to run away and Connor just wanders off and doesn't even realize it. And I, of course, can only run after one, and only pick up two. I just imagined myself with Kaytlynn in one arm, Connor in the other, running after Josh. And they are so short that they get dwarfed in the crowd. I was afraid that Josh would need to go to the bathroom in the middle of it and I would have to drag the kids out kicking and screaming for a bathroom break. But no, it was relatively painless. We had some tears, some freezing while standing in line for tickets, and Connor kept trying to cut to the front of the line. Kaytlynn cried when she had to get off the pony. She was crying "I need mooooorrre." Josh and Connor decided they wanted to ride on the elephant and Kaytlynn wanted to ride on the pony. When it was Kaytlynns turn, both Josh and Connor cried because they wanted to ride the pony. Fun stuff. It was really good though. And a funny comment from Josh--"I saw the elephants wee-vee. It was huge. And it peed." Today we are off to the McDonalds playplace with friends.

Why in the heck is it called a blog?

Yeah, that's all. I just want to know where the word blog came from. Such a weird word.

Snowboarding

So I took Connor snowboarding today. Josh says snowboarding is scary, so that's why I took Connor. Connor is 3 years old and still in diapers. So if he's smart, he will tell all the girls that he started snowboarding when he was still in diapers. They'll be really impressed. I had to put tights on him to keep his legs warm. They are Kaytlynns tights and are white with pink hearts on them. I put some socks over them so people wouldn't see them. It seems a little bit cruel to put those tights on my wild, little, crazy boy. People still saw them. They said he will always wonder why he has a tendency to cross-dress when he grows up.

So we got up there and went to rent a snowboard. I have been looking for a tiny snowbard and have not found one yet. They said they didn't have anything small enough--no boots to fit him. So I rented these cute little skis for him. At Sundance, you have to walk up a hill to get to the bunny hill, which makes no sense. I couldn't carry Connor in his clunky boots, my snowboard, and his skis, so we just went up the regular lift. Connor did really well. Everytime we stopped, he would get upset and want to keep going. I couldn't quite let myself just let go of him, though. So I held onto him the whole way down. We got to the bunny hill and the poor kid just couldn't grab onto the tow rope. So we took his skis back and went up and snowboarded down holding Connor. He liked it. When we were leaving he kept telling me that he wanted to go back up the mountain lots of times and didn't want to go home.

Connor is wild. We've been sledding a few times and he won't let anybody go with him. He wants to go alone. He runs up the hill with his sled and puts it down, then makes a running jump head first into the sled. He aims for the jumps. He never wants to go home after sledding either. This was the same kid who was going down the steep bouncy slide alone at 2 years old. The slide was for 6 years old and over. This tiny little kid going down. Funny.

Us

Okay, so I'm going to try to keep up with this stuff. Blogs seem a little more high class than Facebook and Myspace. High class certainly isn't me, but I'll give it a try anyway. I did not send out any Christmas cards this year. So here is an update on us. Brad and I are living in Spanish Fork with our 3 kids, Josh (5), Connor, (3), and Kaytlynn (2). Brad works from home for TGN and has worked there for over 3 years. I am a sub at the post office, so I deliver mail. I am starting a job soon at an assisted living type place that is right across the street from our house. Brad still wins, though. He doesn't have to walk as far to get to work.

So Brad and I got season passes to Sundance for eachother for Christmas. It took forever to finally get up snowboarding. Either we had no babysitter, our passes were blocked out for a week, or we had to have 4 wheel drive or chains to get up the mountain. So we finally went and Brad cracked some ribs! Augh!

So here's the story of how our little family came to be. I graduated from BYU and decided I wanted to work out of the country. Brad was in the Royal Navy. I ended up working for the Navy MWR in Bahrain (A little island in the Persian Gulf) Brad was there for the war. We met at a club in Bahrain. Brad had to leave to go minesweep so all the ships could get into Iraq safely, and I decided to go home after hearing rumors of all the bad things that were going to happen to Bahrain. Brad got home a couple months later and came to visit. He bought me a ring in Greece, and we got engaged in Vegas at the Belagio fountain show.

I moved to Scotland and we got married and had Josh. We were there for almost 2 years until Brad got out of the Royal Navy and then we moved to Utah. We've been here for almost 4 years and just recently had our 6 year meeting anniversary!

Quotes from the kids

Connor: "Josh, I don't have all day." (So funny because that is exactly what he has)

Kaytlynn: "Ta daaa!" (She obviously doesn't know how to use this yet, because she says it randomly all day)

Josh: "I don't want to go to the doctor for 100 days. I don't want to be 6." (This was after he got shots and the doctor said to bring him back when he was 6.)

Kaytlynn: "Its mad-jet!" (It's magic--she says this with hand gestures--also randomly)

Kaytlynn: "I surbibed it!" (I don't know what she survived)

Josh: "I was a dinosaur last night at Halloween with razor sharp teeth" (Everything was last night)

Josh: "Do you want to play again, Car? Maybe you can win the next one." (Josh is so good at video games. I cannot win.)

I left the room for a short time and when I came back, the kids had the lights off and were hiding behind the couch and said "Surprise!" Kaytlynn said it about 5 seconds after the boys.

Josh: "Car, Kayt-winn's getting away! Go get her!" (When Kaytlynn makes a run for it.)

Kaytlynn: "Car, I wuv you."

Gosh, maybe Connor doesn't talk as much as I think he does.