Our Little White House

10 more days!!

2011-05-13T11:11:00.001-06:00

Only 10 more days of school!!! Hooray I can't hardly wait. I love summer.

Kid's day the darndest things

2011-04-04T11:43:00.002-06:00

Friday was the nicest day that we have had since the snow came. I was driving down the road with the girls commenting on how I loved the sunshine. Then Kiya piped up from the backseat "Mom it is such a nice day today. It's like the temperature is as big as a tree." I was just impressed with her understanding of temperature at 4. She must have learned it at preschool.

Our Dog Tilly

2011-03-16T16:13:00.003-06:00

In October 2009, Ben wanted a dog so badly. He finally talked me into going and looking at some little puppies that were a mix between a Silky Terrier and a Shih Tzu. They were the cutest little puppies ever and I gave in almost instantly. This is how Tilly came to be our little dog. One of my favorite pictures from when we brought her home. So sad to be away from brothers and mom.
Now my dog Tilly was a trouble maker. She was always sneaking out of the backyard, and neighbors would always bring her back. Everyone on the whole street knew whose dog she was after a few weeks. This drove us absolutely crazy. Many days the doorbell would ring and Ben and I would just look at each other and say, " Oh, that Tilly". She also would get so excited all the time, and piddle in my house, oh how I didn't like her so much at those moments. Here she is at Grandma's for Thanksgiving last year, eyeballing all those good foods.

But she was a snuggler. Anytime I was sitting down she would come and jump right in my lab. Or if I was on my bed correcting math papers (happens way more often then I would like) Tilly would gradually work her way through my papers right into my lap again. This was her favorite place at Christmas time. If I couldn't find her, usually she was cuddled up next to Santa.
Last Sunday, while up visiting the Logan Grandmas we had a sad day. We always took Tilly with us so she wouldn't have to stay at home in the bathroom by herself all day long. I just couldn't do that to her, but that would have been a better place for her this time. Tilly got out of the garage somehow while we went up to see Ben's Grandma. When we stopped back at his parents house to get her the door was open and our little dog was no where to be found. Soon after we found her in the road a few houses down, she had been hit by a car.

As much as I cursed my pup every time she peed in my house, and got out of the backyard, and chewed up the whole roll of toilet paper; I never would have thought that I could miss her so much. Now I don't really want another dog, but I would do just about anything to have my dog back.

Life and Gratitude

2011-02-28T11:12:00.004-07:00

It never fails that life always gets ahead of me, and I find myself not blogging again. I could make excuses like I have kids and a house and our laptop died and I lost all my pictures and didn't want to blog without any pictures. But really it all comes down to the fact that I'm a numbers girl . . . . hence being a math teacher. I never feel like I have anything to write about that is important or worth the time writing or your time reading. But today I feel a lot of gratitude and wanted to share with you.

I feel so grateful that I have a happy and healthy family. Two things have made me feel this way, they are both very tragic and I am a little disappointed in myself that it takes something like this to make me realize how blessed I am. All to often I am caugt up in the business of life and don't stop to see the little things like my blessings.

First off, Kiya's preschool teacher was my Young Women's president for a while and her children are my age. One of her sons a year ago all of a sudden lost his sight one day, they have no idea why, and at this point have not been able to do anything to restore his sight. Then right after Thanksgiving his only child (2 years old) had an accident where some fencing fell on top of him and he has severe brain damage. I look at their little family and can't even imagine having to deal with both of those challenges so close together. And even though they still have their little boy here with them on earth, he will be completely different forever. They may never hear his laugh again, or see him running around playing. It just makes me treasure every moment that I have with my girls because you never know when something could happen.

The other thing happened last week. A lady in our ward went in for a simple routine surgery on her foot and everything seemed to be fine. The next day she went back to the hospital for heart pain and since then has had heart, lung, and kidney failure. She has been on life support since last Saturday, and the doctors are trying to figure out what is best for her. She has some bad infections and had to have her leg amputated on top of all of this.
Our ward has had specials fasts for her the past two weeks and talked a lot about faith, and miracles. I have participated in fasting and praying for her, and have felt the spirit many times throughout the past week. Things seem to be getting better at this point and not worse so that is good. I am grateful to have my faith and testimony strengthened through this experience.

This again is proof of how quickly your life can change, and I'm just glad to have a wonderful husband who I know is beside me through everything, and two beautiful girls who make me smile everyday.

Dinner x 2

2011-01-25T19:48:00.003-07:00

I had a lot of stuff this afternoon so I thought I would be on top of things and throw something together in the crockpot before I left. Now, I'm not that great at using my crockpot. I just don't have any good recipes I suppose, and tonight was proof of that. After browsing through several recipes online I found one that I had all the ingredients for, and quickly put it all together before having to pick Kiya up from school.

Upon returning home at 6:00 I was so excited to have dinner already to go, but then I walked in my house. OH it smelled disgusting, and looked even worse. It was just some chicken and ham and swiss cheese and other things that shouldn't have been so fowl smelling, but man oh man it was bad. We didn't even take one bite, but it has been my experience that things usually taste like they smell and I wasn't about to eat that.

Out came the grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. I usually like cooking, but it definitely isn't my favorite thing to do twice in one night.

2011

2011-01-03T15:48:00.003-07:00

I'm not a goal kind of person. I can set them but then a week or two later they are forgotten. So this year I'm going to keep it simple.

1) Spend less time reading everyone else's blogs and spend more time writing on my own blog. (It's the only journaling I do, so I HAVE to be better)

2) Love more! I've decided that I have always thought of myself first and others last, and it's about time that changed. If I do that I think I'll love spending time with my kids more and be a better wife. Hopefully.

3) Make a budget and stick to it. I can't afford not to. I have a fabric addiction lately, and it is so hard for me to not buy fabric to quilt with.

Cheers to a great year.

My Baby is 3!!!

2010-12-06T16:08:00.003-07:00

Well it was Jaynie's birthday right before Thanksgiving and like they say, better late then never. I seriously can not believe that my little girl is three now. Time really does go by fast. It seems like only a few months ago that I was crying over the fact that I had an 8 month old baby and was shockingly pregnant again. But oh the joy she has brought to our house. Jaynie is like a can and a half of spunk. She has so much energy and is soooo happy (except for when she is sooooooo throwing a temper tantrum, which happens at least once a day). Jaynie gives the best hugs and is always telling me that I am her favorite mom, which brings a smile to my face. She is very polite and quick to remind the rest of us to say please, or excuse me.

For her cake Jaynie wanted a naked Cinderella. I know my jaw dropped wide open too the first time she told me. But we eventually worked it out and convinced her that a fully clothed Cinderella would be the best option. When we picked up the cake Kiya look at it and said, "Mom, I'm gonna cry it is so beautiful." Then I cried because I was laughing so hard.

We love our Jaynie, and are very grateful that she is part of our little family.

Loving This

2010-11-17T20:00:00.008-07:00

This is amazing to me. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Dang Library Books

2010-11-01T14:25:00.003-06:00

Now I know why my mother always disliked taking us children to the library. One book . . . count it O.N.E. book always ends up missing. It's hiding in a different place every time. But every 3 weeks without fail I cannot account for that sneaky little thing.

Today our library books are due back. I was going to take the books with me in the morning so that when I picked up the girls from Grandma's house we could go strait to the library. Except for that I could only find 3 out of the 7 books. So we came home this afternoon from Grandmas to look for the books. I left everything in the car and dashed up the stairs to begin my search. An hour later I found all of the books except one, and have no idea where it is, but Ben read it to the girls the day before so it should be easy to find, right? WRONG! After much more searching I finally found the book under my bed. Don't ask me how it got there, probably the dog.

Now here is where it gets exciting. We get shoes and socks back on everyone and head down to the car where I left everything and I mean everything, purse, keys, coats. And guess what . . . my darling Jaynie has locked the car doors. Why you ask, well I don't know. But now I have two crying children who are so sad that they can't go to the library and want to why in the world I can't open the car doors. But wait it gets better, Ben has class and won't be coming home from work and then school until around 9:30 to let me into my car.

I guess that the library will just have to wait another day.

Pre-Halloween Activities

2010-10-28T20:03:00.004-06:00

Well all, I guess it's time for that once a year occurrence where I (Ben) get to contribute something to our family blog. I seem to find reading blogs of friends a lot more entertaining than actually posting one of my own.

Well our little family has been all a buzz this year in anticipation for Halloween. The girls are excited to dress up as princess'. Now since Jaynie dresses up like a princess every other day of the year, I asked her if she wanted to dress up as something else... and she wouldn't have anything to do with it. Oh well, she'll always be one of my princess', so might as well let her dress up as one as often as she can (that is until dressing up as a princess becomes socially unacceptable...I give it 11 more years). We made it up to Cache Valley to participate in the annual tradition of walking through the pumpkin patch. That event is always such a fun memory maker (and for the first time in a long time we didn't have to wear winter clothes as we walked through).

Tonight (28 Oct) we happened to be flipping through the channels and noticed the opening credits to the Charlie Brown cartoon "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and the girls and Amanda wanted to watch it. To be honest, for some reason, I wasn't ever a real big Charlie Brown fan (it seemed to dull and boring to me), so as the girls settled in to watch the movie, I went downstairs to work out. After about 45 minutes I came upstairs and happened upon the following scene...

I guess I'm not the only one in the family that thinks Charlie Brown is kind of borish after all.

Well I guess that about wraps up my time for the year. We all excited for Saturday to go Trick-0r-Treating. We're just hoping that one of our Cinderella's don't lose one of their glass slippers as were going door to door.

Elder White and a Snake

2010-10-15T15:49:00.005-06:00

Ben's brother Landon left this week on his mission to Villahermosa Mexico. We are so excited for him to be a missionary, and know he will be wonderful. But at the same time he will be sorely missed around here. Ben's golfing buddy, and to the girls Uncle Doofer.

Tuesday night we were at Ben's parents house when Landon was set apart by the stake president. The spirit in the room was just incredible, and Landon was given an amazing blessing. I was grateful for the opportunity to be there and take in the feeling that was there.

Wednesday morning we all had one last family breakfast together, and then took a few last pictures.

Today Ben was out pulling up the garden and found a little snake. The girls were so intrigued, yet so afraid of it. They wanted to watch in, but wouldn't get very close. Not that I blame them, I'm not a big snake lover either. But we had fun playing with it for a while.

Hello Again Blogland

2010-09-30T09:32:00.003-06:00

Don't fall out of your chair, but yes we do still exist. I know, it's shocking news. Summer came and went and I seemed to have forgotten how to use blogger for a while. And honestly I really didn't think any of you guys missed reading about our little family, but I have heard lots lately from friends wondering whats going on with us, so here we are back again. I hope.
Mostly I think that I am back to blogging because I used to take pictures of things just so I would have something to post here, but since I wasn't posting anything I was't taking any pictures. And then I go to scrapbook and uh-oh, no pictures. What is a mother to do?

So without further ado, a catch up on our lives for the past four months.

Ben participated in a triathalon. It was so much fun to watch him, that I think I may even do it with him next year. With fall here he is back in school and working on his Masters.

We ran the Ragnar Wasatch Back race again this summer. Always a BLAST! And just a little side note we still need people for our team next summer, so come and join us. You don't have to be fast by any means just like having a crazy time and getting a lack of sleep.

Kiya turned 4. I can't believe how fast my little darlings are growing up. She also started pre-school this year and is loving it. She gets to go to Teacher Vicki's, and can't wait everyday for it to be time to go to school.

Jaynie is just as cute as ever and makes us smile everyday. She also tests my patience like no other but I still love her. Every day is a princess day for her, so I rarely get to see her in normal clothes.

As for me, I loved every minute of my summer off with the girls. We spent the summer just enjoying being with each other and doing all sorts of fun things. This year I have gone to teaching part time which has been a great thing for our family. I love it because I don't come home exhausted and mentally drained like I used to, which is so much better for my patience with the girls. I also spent lots and lots of time quilting. It is my new very most favorite hobby. I tell Ben all the time that I am just going to stay at home with my girls and make quilts when I grow up.

There you have it. Our life in a nutshell. And I promise I will be back again sooner than later.

Fabulous Friday!

2010-05-28T21:26:00.002-06:00

Today was my last day of working! For a little while anyway. It was such a great day, I got my classroom all packed away and ready to be moved to my new school. Went to a quick lunch with a few of my teacher friends, and then went on a date with my sweet hubby. We went and saw Iron Man 2, which was not as good as the first movie in my opinion. But then again I can't think of any movie where the sequel is as good or better than the first. What a great day it has been.

Oh, and I finished Tiff's (my sister) birthday present for tomorrow. I'm so excited to give it to her, I'll post pictures tomorrow after the party just in case she reads this today.

The Best Picture Ever

2010-05-22T19:32:00.002-06:00

I bought my grandma's computer from my grandpa (they each had their own, funny huh), and thus got all of her pictures with it. To me this is the best picture ever because this is exactly how I remember Grandma looking before she got sick. Glasses on, and a great big smile on her face, and hair pulled back in a ponytail. I have no idea why they are holding up their hands showing their CTR rings up, but I like that you can see their hands. My mom's hands are just like that, not quite as wrinkly yet, but still just the same.

The Magnificent Obsession

2010-05-15T08:10:00.003-06:00

I have a new obsession . . . quilting. It is on my mind all the time. I'm constantly trying to figure out what I have to get done before I can do more sewing on the quilts for my girls. It may be driving Ben crazy, but he is surviving.

I have the tops of both quilts finished, and the backs almost complete. I am going to be brave and try free motion quilting on my machine, this makes me nervous, but I'll let you know how it goes.

Here is Kiya's quilt top. I love how it turned out. At first I was worried about the colors being to bright together, but I think they look great.

Now for Jaynie's. I'm not sure how I'm feeling about this green border. It may be too bright and distracting for the rest of the quilt, so it may be coming off and being replaced.

My First Quilt

2010-04-21T18:59:00.004-06:00

I came upon this blog a few months ago from a link my friend Emily posted. I found a tent there that I wanted to sew for my kids. Well, I was feeling in the crafty mood one day last week, and decided it was time to finally make a tent for the girls. Lets just say I'm now a little distracted from making a tent and am set on making my first quilt ever. All I know how to sew is straight lines, so hopefully this is just right up my alley. Care at Obsessively Stitching is running this series, and I get so antsy every day waiting for the next instructions on the quilt. It is so exciting for me, and I love making and creating things lately (I think it makes me feel like a little bit of a better mom). I honestly am disappointed each day when I have no new instructions on what to do for my quilt.

I took Kiya to the fabric store on Saturday to pick out the fabrics for her quilt. We had a great outing and spent over a good hour picking out fabric. I tried to get her to pick some pinks and purples or something similar but she was set on the yellow with ladybugs. There was nothing I could do to persuade her decision, so I spent forever trying to find 9 other fabrics that would match. Finally I ended up with classic primary colors, when I first got them home and started cutting out I was a little worried that I wouldn't like them together, but now I think they will look great together.

I was almost done cutting a got a little bit careless and cut 2 of the squares 5" instead of 6". It just so happened that that particular fabric ended up with about 2 inches extra, so instead of going and buying another cut of fabric I just sewed my 5" piece and 2" piece together and made a 6" square out of that. Hopefully this doesn't bother me later on. If it does I guess I will just have to deal with it.
And here's where I started getting really excited. Sewing the squares together, and guess what it was super easy. Care's suggestion of joining the blocks together in a chain is great. Maybe that is a commonly known thing among quilters, but I think it is a fabulous thing to know.

Then putting all the nine square blocks together. I decided that I should have picked more than 3 colors. It was quite difficult to not get the same colors next to each other. Now I'm wondering if it will be even more difficult after I cut the squares and have to rearrange them again. More to come again later after further instruction from Care.

Goodbye Grandma Cheney

2010-03-30T16:15:00.002-06:00

Grandma holding Jaynie

My Grandma Cheney passed away early yesterday morning after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Watching her journey down that road was tough, but I will be forever grateful for the small amount of time that we had with her knowing that it was close to the end. Each visit with her seemed to be more special than the last. I will treasure in my heart the recent conversation that I had with her about scripture study and coming to love the scriptures. Personally, I do not know anyone who knows the scriptures better than Grandma did and she truly loved reading them.

My most favorite memory of my grandma, or one of my most favorite memories, was one day not to long before we found out that my grandma was sick. My little family and I were going out to visit Grandma and Grandpa for some reason, I don't remember why. When I told Kiya that we were going to visit Grandma and Grandpa Cheney she jumped up and down and got so excited. Once we got there Kiya and Jaynie asked Grandma if they could go downstairs and pick out some toys, so Grandma went with them and got some toys. Then they all came trekking back upstairs with toys galore, and Grandma sat on the floor and played and played with my girls until we left to go home. I loved watching my kids with my Grandma.

I am going to miss her family news letters, treasure hunts at Easter, her calling me Mandy (I never let anyone else besides Grandma call me that), always having home made wheat bread at her house, hearing her say "Oh, Goodie" anytime she was excited about anything. Grandma I am just plain going to miss you! Thanks for being the best white-hair-grandma you could have possibly been.

My Grandma, My Mom, Me and Kiya

New Recipes

2010-02-16T19:22:00.002-07:00

So cooking dinner is not one of my favorite things to do, but I really don't mind it unless I'm stuck in a rut and feel like I'm making the same things all the time. So, I try to cook new recipes quite often to change things up. Most of the time these turn out just short of disastrous, and I'm not kidding you sometimes they can be really bad.

Today I got lucky. I found a great new recipe on the Taste of Home website. It was quick and easy to do, had a few common ingredients, and my kids even ate it. I posted the recipe on a cooking blog that of few of my friends and I do, so you can check it out HERE if you like. I did change the alfredo sauce to a bottled instead of refrigerated sauce because it was much cheaper. All in all I was very pleased with the results of trying this new recipe. I guess I keep trying new things because every once in a good while I find one worth making again.

Edward?

2010-02-12T09:10:00.002-07:00

My favorite thing to listen to at work is Pandora Radio (pandora.com) it is a great site for playing the kind of music you like with out commercials. This is the stock photo that they have of Michael Buble, which comes up on some of the songs that he sings. Every time I see it I think that is what Edward should look like. Much better than Mr. Pattinson, don't you agree?

More about Our Girls

2010-02-11T21:21:00.002-07:00

So I guess my life must revolve around my children because I don't have anything else to talk about besides them. But they just do so many cute, fun things everyday. So here goes . . . more about my girls.

Jaynie loves to sing. She picks up on every song that I sing to her after just a few times of singing it to her. Lately one of her favorite songs is 'I love to See the Temple'. She is having a harder time picking up on the words to this particular song, but she does know that it ends in "This is my sacred duty." After singing it to her several times and having her ask to sing it again I decided to sing the second verse instead of the first verse yet again. I got through the whole song and Jaynie looked at me and said, "Mom, you forgot sacred duty." I laughed and sang the first verse over again for her.

While I was driving somewhere with the girls the other day, I turned onto the road and then Kiya asked me if I had turned right. And I was completely shocked, I had indeed turned right. So I thought to myself wow, I wonder how she knows that. For the rest of the drive every time I made a turn I asked Kiya which way we went, and to my great surprise she was correct every single time. We have never once talked about left and right with Kiya so the only place that I can think of the she could have learned it from is either tap dance class or Grandma 'Nita.

I love my girls. My life truly has been blessed by being their mother.

Does a three-year-old have any tact?

2010-01-25T21:44:00.002-07:00

I would argue NO. Over the past several days I have had some experiences that will prove my point.

1st: All of our crew (Ben, Kiya, Jaynie and I) were at the grocery store shopping. Ben was up next to the cashier, Kiya and I were standing back behind a little bit. Then Kiya turns to me and says in reference to the cashier, "Mom, look at that lady . . . she is sooo fat."

2nd: Ben and I took our girls to see the movie 'The Princess and the Frog'. After the show got over, which was absolutely adorable by the way, we went to the restroom. When Kiya and I were leaving the restroom a lady with crutches walked in. So Kiya asked about the lady and why she had crutches. I explained that she needed help walking all the time, so she uses the crutches. Then Kiya and I were waiting outside the restroom for Ben when a gentleman in a wheelchair pulled up to wait too. Then Kiya asks, "Mom what does he have?" To which I reply "Popcorn" trying to avoid an embarrassing situation. She of course isn't satisfied with that and says, "No, what is he sitting in?" I quickly explain that it is a wheelchair that helps him move. Then Kiya in her infinite 3 year old wisdom says very loudly, "Mom, he can't walk all the time so he needs that to help him move." The gentleman looked up chuckling and showed Kiya how his chair moved and how he could even go on only two wheels. I was grateful for his kindness and being willing to show off to Kiya.

3rd: The whole fam was at the grocery store shopping again. A gentleman walks near us and Kiya asks Ben who he is. Ben just says, " Ummm, a friend?" So then Kiya says to Ben, " Well, he looks really sick." This man turned to us and gave us the strangest look. He looked like a perfectly healthy man to me, but I guess not to Kiya.

Now I just wait for the next tactless incident, and in the mean time enjoy the sweet innocence of my little girl.

2010-01-05T19:36:00.002-07:00

So Amanda has informed me that it has been over a year since I last wrote anything on our "family" blog. I will have to admit that it has been some time since I last wrote, but my reasons for doing so were valid. The last time I wrote, Amanda criticized my writing saying that, "I went too far into detail and possibly gave more information than people needed to know about our personal lives". To this I stated that I would take a vow of (blogging) silence. Well I suppose it's time to return and also update about the activities of our family.

As my first posting after my absence, I would just like to echo what Amanda posted about. Our girls have grown up amazingly this last year.

Well, so I won't dive into "too much" detail about our family and our activities I will just share one of the most recent things that impressed me about my girls. On Christmas Eve we have a tradition of going over to Grandma Smith's house, going caroling, having soup, and ending with a nativity program. This year for the nativity, Kiya was asked to be Mary, and so she wouldn't be scared I was asked to be Joseph. We said okay and went and got our costumes on. The program started and when they called us out we walked over next to the manger and I sat/knelt down with Kiya sitting on my lap. When the story announced the birth of Jesus, I placed Jesus in the manger. As I did so, Kiya started to get rather restless. I asked her what was the matter, and she whispered back to me, "Daddy, I'm Mary, I have to go be Mary". After her statement she stood up, walked around to the other side of the manger, knelt down and clapped her hands together like she was praying. Confused, I again asked Kiya, "what are you doing?" to which she again responded by saying "Daddy, I'm Mary, I have to act like Mary." She didn't move from that position for the remainder of the program.

How on earth does a three year old know the humble and reverent demeanor that Mary probably had as the mother of the Savior of the world? We talked about the Christmas story, but never about how Mary acted. She just knew the importance of being the mother of Jesus, and acted like she thought Mary would.

I love these girls, and sorry to just focus on Kiya on this post, but I learned a great lesson from her that night that when we are given a name to represent, we are to represent that person to the fullest, and not just do the minimum. Every week we take a name upon us, and this experience has made me realize that I need to do a better job in reverencing the name I receive every time I take the sacrament and be a better example of that name in all I do.

What a great year we've had!

2010-01-01T22:38:00.003-07:00

As I've been thinking over the past year today, I have remembered many great times that we've had in our family, but I am amazed by one thing . . . how much my children have grown.

Kiya is one of the smartest three year olds I have ever seen (and I probably should only say this because I am her mother, but it is my right to think that and I believe that it is true), she picks up on absolutely everything that anyone around her says. Today we were at Grandma Smith's house (Ben's grandma) when Kiya asked me if she could have a treat. I told her that they weren't mine to give away and that she needed to ask Grandma for one, so she left the room to go ask. A minute or two later she came back to me and said "Mom, I'm too shy. Can you go ask for me?" I have no idea where she got that from, but it made me chuckle.

Jaynie has gone from my baby to a two year old with an amazing vocabulary and enormous personality. She is so fun everyday, she is our little singer and will just make up her own words when she doesn't remember the real ones. I like the songs better Jaynie's way, they are more fun to listen to. Jaynie is either the happiest kid I've ever met and keeps us laughing or is a screaming terror throwing a giant temper tantrum. We get one extreme or the other with her, and I wouldn't change a thing about her.

I am grateful to have the chance to be their mother, and thank my Father in Heaven for sending two precious angels to me. I love them very much.

Fun Memory Book Maker

2009-11-11T23:10:00.001-07:00

This was really fun and easy to make. Check out the website www.mixbook.com.

| View Sample Photo Books | Create your own Photo Book

Our New Puppy

2009-11-02T21:42:00.005-07:00

Ben and I have been wanting a dog again ever since we gave our dog Sadie away. I just wanted a small dog that doesn't shed which is exactly what Sadie wasn't. Well, Ben has been looking for a few weeks for good dog for us and he finally found one. I didn't want to have to try and house train a dog during the school year when no one is home during the day, so I was a little bit hesitant, but once we went and looked at the puppies I was hooked.

Our puppy is a Silky Tzu, which is a mix between a Silky Terrier and a Shih Tzu. She is just so darn cute, and was so fun to watch play with the kids when we went to see the puppies. We named her Tillie, we gave the girls two options and that was the one that they started calling her. Her coat will probably lighten as she gets older and loses her puppy hair, but for now we have a dark gray dog, I think later she will be more tan. The first few days with her have been great and we are looking forward to many more years with her.

My Feelings on Halloween

2009-10-29T15:11:00.003-06:00

Some how growing up has made me really come to dislike Halloween.
I remember as a kid getting so excited to dress-up and go trick-or-treating and thinking long and hard about what my costume should be each year. Then I would save my candy and make it last until at least Christmas when I got new candy. My favorite year was when I was Raggedy-Anne and wore an old costume my mom made for her in high school, it has this awsome wig made out of yarn.
But now I just really hate it, especially this year since Kiya is old enough to know that you dress-up (only because people keep asking her what she wants to be for Halloween), and now I have to come up with a costume for her. I just don't want to. Although she does want to be Batman, which is really cute, but I'm too cheap to make a Batman outfit and don't have the time, or sewing skills to make one.

It also boggles my mind knowing that people like to intentionally get scared. There is nothing in this world that I like less than being scared. Why would anyone waste thier time putting up scarey decorations or going to a scary haunted house or put one together to scare other people. I just don't get it.

I do like the pumpkin carving and decorating part of Halloween though. My pumpkins never look really fabulous, but it still delights me to come up with an idea and make it come to life in a orange squash. Even better is watching my kids get so excited about it. For the young men and young women activity in our ward this week we let the youth decorate pumpkins for the ward Halloween party. Kiya and Jaynie kept watching all of the kids painted and they wanted to paint to, so I finally gave in and let them paint a pumpkin too. We ended up with 2 sets of ruined clothes and a pumpkin covered in 20 different colors of paint all mixed together. But my girls thought that it was the funnest thing ever. I enjoyed the pumpkin so much that I actually brought it home to put on our porch.

So I have come to my dilema . . . Do I just give Kiya a black piece of fabric and Jaynie a white one (since she thinks she needs to be a ghost) and let them run around my house having fun being "dressed-up" or do I give in and hurry and get them or make them costumes and take them to the ward Halloween Party and Trick-or-Treating?

A Rocket Lesson

2009-09-02T22:12:00.003-06:00

Information you need to know:

1) Okay, so we try and have family home evening every week. We are not very successful at that, but when we have a lesson we just get a church picture out of the file and talk about the picture. I figure just learning the scripture stories is a good way to start.

2) My grandpa worked at Thikol as an engineer on the rockets. So last week when ATK (the new Thikol) had a static test for a rocket he was up and off at the crack of dawn to go see the scheduled 1:00 launch. While there he was given some posters and papers describing the information on the rocket.

The story that makes having Family Home Evening worth my time and wrestling with the girls to sit still and listen:

One evening last week we were on our way home from my grandparents house. My Grandpa gave me some of his posters of the rocket and some of the informational sheets to put up in my classroom. On our way home we had to stop at the grocery store to pick up some milk. Ben just ran into the store while I sat in the car with the girls so we wouldn't have to take lots of time getting them in and out of the car. Shortly after Ben walked into the story Kiya asked me, "Mom, Do you want to have a Rocket Lesson?" I turned and look at her curiously and noticed that she had picked up one of the informational sheets on the rocket. So I told her that I would love to have a rocket lesson. Her reply was, "Okay, but first we need to say a prayer." So we said a prayer and she proceeded to teach me a Rocket Lesson. Kiya taught me all about how Grandpa worked on rockets like that one, not that exact one, but some like it. And rockets can go in the sky and she has a red and a blue and a pink rocket and we can go for a ride in one of her rockets tomorrow. Then our lesson was over and we said another prayer and about that time Ben came back from the store and we made our way home.

All of this probably occurred in a 3 minute time span, but it truly made me grateful for having Family Home Evening lessons. Now I know that despite the wiggly-ness and short attention spans of my girls they are learning something. And that is enough for me.

p.s. I am way behind again. No big surprise, but I will post the pictures of the rest of our summer and Kiya's birthday soon.

p.s.s. School as started again for both Ben and I. My classes seem to be going well so far and I only have 1 rambunctious one so I am very excited about that.

Revenge of the Mullets 2009 Ragnar Video

2009-08-01T13:39:00.004-06:00

This is our video documentary of the adventure we had

running the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay. If this has now

inspired you to run with us next year let us know. You

will never have so much fun running as you do on this

race.

Cheney and Shaffer Reunions

2009-07-19T15:59:00.007-06:00

Last weekend we had the Cheney and Shaffer Reunions in Cache Valley. Friday our family had a Cheney reunion at the Bear River Bottom Ultimate Slip-n-Slide. I don't think that any of the Cheneys have had so much fun on a slip-n-slide before. Some crazy stunts were happening. We had jumpers, backward riders, trains, and even some surfers.

Jaynie didn't like the slide so she just played with Miska.

Ben

Spencer and Jesika

Aubrey, I love the water spraying in her face.

Janessa, Tiffany, and my Dad

Ben running and jumping down the hill.

Janessa, Aubrey, and Tiffany

Chantry attempting surfing.

Amanda

Spencer going knee-board style

After the slide we went to Willow park for the Shaffer Reunion, but my camera died so I have no pictures. Saturday Ben went paintballing with lots of the Cheneys and Shaffers. Here they are all covered in paint.

It was great to see everyone, and it was everyone. It has been several years since all of the 7 siblings in my moms family have all been together so we took a big family picture. What a good looking bunch of folks.

4th of July

2009-07-18T22:33:00.006-06:00

For the 4th of July this year we spent lots of time with family. And amidst all of the family activities we got to watch fireworks three days in a row. You may ask, "Wow! How is this possible?" Well let me explain.

July 2nd: Ben and I had just attended youth conference with our ward at Cinnamon Creek in Avon. While we were gone Ben's parents watched our kids for us, so we just stayed up in Cache Valley for a few extra days to get some family time in. We (Ben and I, my sister Tiffany and a date) went miniature golfing, and the girls loved it. Especially the hole on the course that has a hole that the ball goes in and then comes out a little further down and goes into the real hole. (Carly, sorry for using the same word 3 times in one sentence. Any suggestions?) This was the most amazing game of golf I have ever played because I got two; yes count them 1, 2, holes-in-one! It was fabulous, and I did so well that I even won the game, which I believe has never happened before. After golf we drove out to Hyrum and watched their fireworks from the hood of our car. Jaynie thought it was fabulous to get to sit on the car, and Kiya was terrified at the thought so the two of us stood next to the car.

July 3rd: We spent the day playing at Ben's parents house, boating, and then we rushed out to Logan for the traditional Bowling and Charlie's Ice Cream and watching the Logan fireworks from the Bowling Alley parking lot so that we can miss traffic and get home quickly. We played boys against girls, and the girls were slaughtered. Next year we will have to remember not to set teams up like that again.

July 4th: The morning was spent waiting for the Hyrum parade, and visiting with all of Ben's extended family. Kiya, Jaynie, and Carter all had matching shirts and I tried to get a good picture of the three of them together because the were so cute, but trying to get three children 3 years old and younger to look at the camera at the same time is definitely impossible. This is the best I could do, Carter just only wanted to show me his cotton candy, Kiya has some mischievous look on her face, and Jaynie is just being Jaynie.

After the parade we decided to go back out on the boat for more tubing, riding the water 'weenie', and water skiing. This is the first year that I have let Kiya and Jaynie ride on the boat, and they seemed to have a good time. Kiya even got to ride on the water weenie with Ben, which absolutely scared me to death, but she had fun so I guess that is all that matters. I have decided that I enjoy skiing the most because I actually feel in control on the skis versus the other tubes and such where you are at the mercy of the driver (and our driver has no mercy).

Then we finally headed home to Roy to spend some time with my family. We swam in my grandma's pool for a while, then walked down to a little park to watch the Riverdale fireworks.

All of this made for an exhausting couple of days for the girls and I don't think they have ever slept better than they did that night.

Ragnar Relay - Wasatch Back 2009

2009-07-05T23:14:00.011-06:00

After many months of training, shin splints, tendonitis, and sore legs the day we had been waiting for has finally come and gone. On June 19th and 20th we ran the Wasatch Back Relay Race. It was 188 miles from Logan to Park City. Each team has 12 runners who each run 3 different legs to total the 188 miles. The race was 30 hours of fun and partying and 3 hours of running here and there mingled within all the fun.

Tiffany, Ben and Amanda at 7:30 am waiting for the race to start.

Ben was the first runner for our team, so he is waiting at the starting line for the gun to go off.

Amanda running through Paradise (the city in Utah, but it did feel like paradise).

Ben at Snow Basin waiting for his second run of the day.

Tiffany cheering the runners on and getting ready for her second run.

Ben running down Trappers Loop towards Morgan. He had 8.5 miles of downhill running, sounds like torture to me.

Spraying Ben off and getting him a drink of water while he was making his trek down the mountain.

The Honey Buckets - we were great friends for 2 days.

Rock on Dude - final run.

Sandi, one of our team mates, and my favorite picture from the whole race. Check out that serious running face.

And we are finally done and home and ready for some sleep! We had such a blast and running a race like that puts you on such a high that we decided to sign up for next year already. There is still space on our team for a few more runners. Any one want to join us?

A Car Ride

2009-06-23T13:16:00.005-06:00

We went to the park last night, this is how our conversation on the way home went:

KIYA: Mom, what you eating?
ME: Gum.
JAYNIE: Want some. (So I give her a small piece)

A few minutes later (okay really about 30 seconds)

JAYNIE: WOW! ( I turn around and she is stretching the gum out in a long string.)
ME: Jaynie, put the gum back in your mouth our I will take it away.
KIYA: Jaynie, put the gum in your mouth.
ME: Jaynie your going to get it all over the car, put it back on your mouth right now, or I will take it away.

Jaynie stretches the gum further, so I maneuver around so that I can get the gum away from her (don't worry Ben was driving). So Jaynie starts to cry and then comes my favorite part.

JAYNIE: Kiya, mommy take a gum away.

Isn't it great when a one year old tattles on you to a 2 year old. I love my kids!

A very Merry Unbirthday to Me!

2009-06-22T16:27:00.007-06:00

So my birthday was back on the 12th, and of course I am late on it just like everything else. It was an exciting day for me. I was at girls camp most of the day, and then came home in the afternoon to spend some time with my family and go to a rehearsal for a dance recital the next day.

When I got home Ben surprised me with a cake that he made all by himself. Amazing! I was so proud of him, and he knows that I love fun birthday cakes and pigs so naturally he combined the two.

Also he got me some of the most beautiful roses I have ever seen, you can kind of see them in the background. What a great husband I have. Every time I get a card from him for any reason I just cry. I don't know why and I try not to cry because it is not my favorite thing to do but I just can't control it. So Ben's goal this year was to get me a card that did not make my cry. Sorry honey, that you were not successful. He gave me some quirky little card and I still cried.

Dinner was something else because we took our girls with us. I ordered some cheese sticks for all of us and Kiya and Jaynie thought that was the greatest thing ever. They were very stretchy cheese sticks.

Jaynie's First Haircut

2009-06-18T08:19:00.003-06:00

This is Jaynie last week at my birthday dinner. Notice her hair.
This is Jaynie yesterday morning. Notice the knot in her hair. She has this habit that she inherited from her mother of playing with her hair. Many mornings she wakes up with a huge rat's nest in her hair and we spend a great amount of time trying to get it out. Well yesterday try as I might, I just couldn't get it out. So . . . . .

. . . . we got the scissors out and I tried my best to give her a nice even haircut while she wiggled all over and played with the toothpaste.

I like the new look, but it did take me a while to get used to seeing her with a new do. Hopefully this will help keep the knots under control.

Girls Camp

2009-06-16T14:35:00.003-06:00

Last week was our ward girls camp, and I LOVE girls camp. Many of my favorite memories from Young Women's were at camp. It really is tons of fun and the girls actually get along for once. The only down fall was that we left on Thursday and it rained the whole day. And since it had been raining for almost a week strait everything was so muddy. I don't think I have ever since so much mud in one place before. Our clothes were so soaked that I decided to dry my shoes and socks out by the fire. I felt like a true Hobo roasting my socks :)

The creek was just so tempting to the girls. We were already soaked through to the bone from the rain so they just played in the creed in their clothes and shoes. I think they actually ended up much cleaner than the rest of us.

And here is the whole group of us in our fabulous matching shirts.

Our theme was SURVIVOR, so we had buffs that we wore, I think they made us look like we were cancer patients, but they came handy keeping my hair under control.

Memorial Day and Birthdays

2009-05-30T09:05:00.004-06:00

Well I'm way behind on all the events going on at the White House, but school is out now (Hip Hip Hooray!) so maybe I'll be able to stay caught up with everything that is happening. It has been wonderful to be home with my girls and and be a mom. I actually got my dishes done and my bed made the past couple of days, so I feel like I have accomplished tons.

For the summer vacation I have several projects planned, so at the end of the summer I will have to see how many of them I actually completed. The first is a throw for my couch that I am crocheting. I really don't have that much experience crocheting besides a scarf that I made at Women's Conference this year, and attempts at a few hot pads during my jr. high years. But I saw a picture of this blanket in a craft magazine, and it looked like a challenge I could handle. So far it hasn't been to bad but I think that it will take much longer than expected.

Now to catch up on the past few weeks, Memorial Day Weekend was a nice break for us. We got to spend an evening at Mark and Emily's house with Mike and Carly, and Phil and KaDee, and all of our little kidlets. Visiting with all of them was highly overdue, and we enjoyed every minute. Then on Memorial Day Ben and I ran from Grandma Smith's house to the Annual Paradise Breakfast, then had lunch with all of the Smith's and Grandma and Grandpa White. We don't see all that clan often so we had a nice visit. Kiya thought it was great to have lots of kids to play with and she even got them all to play Ring Around the Rosies on the trampoline for quite sometime. Watching her tell them all how to play and what to do was absolutely hilarious, because they all did exactly what she told them.

After lunch we joined all the Bradfords for a pool party at my Grandma's house. All day long Kiya had been telling us "My mouth feels sick." I wasn't sure if she was getting more molars in or was car sick or sick. But after eating a hot dog she confirmed to us that she really was sick when it all came right back up (sorry I tried to put that as mildly as I could), then like the trooper that she is she decided to go swimming any way. What a tough kid. Jaynie is going to be our little fish. Once we get her in the pool we can't get her out, she loves the water as much as her dad does.

Jaynie with Aunt Aubrey and Cousin Hayley

Kiya and Daddy

Last Friday was Tiffany's 23rd birthday and to celebrate we (Tiffany, Ben and I, my Mom and Dad, and Grandma and Doug) all went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. For a gift to herself Tiffany went and bought a camera. Maybe I should take lessons from her and start buying myself a birthday present :) After dinner we all went to Mom and Dad's house for Rice Crispies in the shape of a 23, instead of cake. Tiffany has had that for her Birthday for as long as I can remember. What a fun tradition.

Smithfield Health Days

2009-05-10T21:56:00.004-06:00

On Saturday Ben and I ran our first official 10K (6.4 miles)! It was 3 miles up Smithfield Canyon, and then 3 miles back down with a small loop to get the extra little bit (which was up a super steep hill after 5 miles) to make it a full 10K. The temperature when we started the race was a balmy 33 degrees, which eventually warmed up to around 41 degrees by the time we finished. Ben completed his run in 56 minutes 24 seconds. Oh how I wish I could run that fast, but I wasn't too far behind. I crossed the finish line after 1 hour 3 minutes 19 seconds. We both enjoyed the run much more than we expected, and plan on running the same race again next year. It was the pick-me-up that we needed in our training to keep us going for the Wasatch Back in June. The sad thing is that I forgot to take my camera up so we have no pictures to show you, it was amazing to see over 200 people all geared up to go for a run. I'll have to remember for the next race that we do.

We did get our garden planted this past week. Our garden includes things like tomatoes, peas, green beans, corn, peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkins, and my personal favorite eggplant. We've never planted eggplant before and I don't think I've ever eaten it, but it came in a pack of starters that we bought so we'll see what happens with them. Kiya and Jaynie had a great time digging in the dirt and putting the seeds in the holes, and getting their hands dirty. They're just a handful of fun and make everything more exciting, because I even enjoyed planting this year.

Yes, I know I'm a slacker!

2009-05-05T13:58:00.002-06:00

So I realized a few days ago that it was May. This means that I missed an entire month of blogging! I don't know how this happened . . . or maybe I do. First of all Ben had all these crazy bazillion page papers due for all of his finals in his classes and I was pretty much banned from the computer. Second my life is just plain busy and the time always go by way to super fast. Between being a mom, a teacher, and a Young Women's leader I don't get much time for anything else, so I am quickly learning to love a hectic life. If I don't love it I don't know how I could possibly make it through it (but that is why I love Ben, he is always so light-hearted and makes my laugh and smile at every situation we run into).
Sometime soon I will post of all the pictures that I have been taking, and update all y'all on what else has been going on with us besides lots of busy-ness. For now the following will have to do.

One night for dinner I handed Kiya and Jaynie their food on their brightly colored plates. One plate was a dark blue, the other was a light blue that night. Kiya turned to me and asked what color the plates were. So I told her they were both blue, but could see that she wasn't satisfied with my response. She pondered the answer for a moment and then told me they were different blues. I was surprised that her two year old brain could figure something like this out. So I explained that one was a light blue plate and the other dark blue. Then a few nights later I was dishing up dinner again and asked Kiya what color plate she wanted for dinner, this was her response: " The lightly blue one." Oh how I love the things she says like this.

And Jaynie is also talking amazingly well and learning more words than I can keep track of, she has an incredible vocabulary for only being almost 18 months old (only 15 more days until she is old enough to do to Nursury:). Lately every time I tell her that I love her she just looks and me and says, "Daddy loves and Jesus." I don't know if that means in addition to, or instead of me. Either way I am glad that she knows that she is loved.

Surprises!

2009-03-31T13:51:00.003-06:00

We love surprises and we sure have had lots lately.
On Friday Ben and I had just got done running when we recieved a phone call from his parents. This is about how it went, " Hi, we are in Brigham City on our way down to see you, so pick somewhere to go eat. Bye." Very short and sweet and to the point. No options, just this is what you are now going to be doing tonight. It was quite a shock to the both of us but we loved it. We had a great time, Kiya loves getting to see Grandma and Grandpa White and Madi so she had a blast. Thanks Brad and Teri for the visit, it was a nice evening with you since we don't see you very often.
Last night we were at Costco getting some shopping done when we got surprised once again. I had forgotten something so I ran back to get it while Ben stood in line and when I came back I could see that Kiya and Jaynie were waving at someone, but I couldn't quite figure out who they would be waving at. When I got close enough I could see that it was my Grandma Cheney, so I walked up behind her and surprised her with a hug. Then we saw Grandpa eating a salad so we decided to get some dinner at Costco also and eat with them. We had an enjoyable time visiting with them and eating our dinner. We talked lots about our up coming trip to Bryce Canyon so now we are even more anxious to go on a little vacation.
So now you all know that I love surprises and am up for them all the time. Who knows maybe someday I'll surprise you :)

Chastised by a 2-year Old

2009-03-18T14:04:00.002-06:00

Last night Ben and I were downstairs watching the Biggest Loser while I was working on some school work. Every once in a while I would get a little nudge in the back from Ben while I was working, and this would cause me to mess up on what I was writing. This drives me absolutely nuts when I draw something on my paper that I don't want like an extra line, scribble, etc. or when my paper gets krinkled or it is in anyway not perfect I have to get a new paper. I know it's a little OCD, but it really bugs me. So after a few more nudges I just casually started writing on Ben's leg when he bumped me instead of on the paper.
Then this morning at school I got a phone call from Kiya telling me, "Mommy you don't write on Daddy's leg. Don't do that again. We don't color on us." I quickly apologized to her and said that I wouldn't color on Daddy's leg anymore. We have had this conversation with her a few times before about her coloring on her own arm and Jaynie's so I'm glad that it is finally sinking in.

The Joys of Teaching Jr. High

2009-03-17T14:26:00.003-06:00

Last week in one of my geometry classes we talked about the Ice Cream Cone Theorem. And somehome I got talked into bringing the students ice cream to honor the Ice Cream Cone Theorem, as long as they brought the money and paid for it. So they brought in 50 cents to a dollar each and I went to buy them ice cream. I had Tiffany with me so we perused the ice cream and decided on the best option for the money that we had and made our way to the self chekc-out line to pay. The only thing was I had about $10.oo in ones and $10.00 in change; which is why we went to the self check-out line, we didn't want to count all of the change ourselves. Needless to say the whole point of the story is that I spent at least 7 minutes in Wal-Mart putting change into the machine (several students brought me a dollar in pennies), and made a huge line behind us and laughed and laughed about it.

A Trip to the Treehouse

2009-03-02T19:05:00.004-07:00

Friday I decided to take a day off work because it had been a long week. Wednesday was parent teacher conferences so I was at school from 7:30 in the morning to 7:30 at night. But Monday and Tuesday I was also at school late because I had a lot of late work to correct before the parent teacher conferences. It was a much needed break from school.

Ben was also off of work and school so we spent the morning cleaning, and then decided to take the girls to the Children's Treehouse Museum for the afternoon. Kiya and Jaynie had a blast. They ran around all over playing with everything for a few seconds before moving onto the next thing. It is so fun to see them growing up and playing with each other. I hope that they will always be good friends.

Jaynie makes this deer-in-the-headlights-face all the time, we all laugh at her when she makes it so she keeps pulling this face. We have tried many times to capture a picture of it, and finally we timed it just right.

Tiffany is Home!

2009-03-01T09:50:00.008-07:00

After many months of waiting Tiffany is finally home. She has been home since Feb. 20th, but I have been slow posting things lately. Her plane got in just after midnight Friday night. We had plenty of time to wait for her and at midnight there is not a whole lot of things going on at the airport. While we were waiting I noticed a pizza vending machine, and Jared told me they were really cool because the pizza comes out hot ready to eat. I didn't believe him, so he decided to buy a pizza to prove to me that they came out nice and hot.

Of course he was right, but much to our dismay we had just paid $3.50 for a pizza that was maybe 4" x 3". But Grandma Cheney quickly pointed out that we should not be disappointed with our pizza, it was a deep dish pizza and it definitely came in a 'deep dish'. Needless to say it was a pretty tasty pizza and gave us some entertainment while we waited.

Jared also taught us all about elevators while waited, and I was surprised at how much he knew about elevators it was quite fascinating. Mom had made some faces of Tiffany for us to wave at her when she came down so we played with those for a while too. We compared our paper faces to those of the people coming down the escalator to make sure we didn't miss her, because maybe we had forgotten what she looked like :)

Then the moment we had been waiting for finally arrived, (after all the other passengers and even the pilots) Tiffany finally came down the escalator and we all just kind of stood there not knowing what to do, Mom just cried so finally Dad went and gave her a hug, then we are were crying and hugging and it was so nice to see Tiff's smile and hear her laugh. We are all so glad that she has finally come back home.

"I'm riding a pig!"

2009-02-22T22:11:00.003-07:00

We were over at my parents house tonight visiting with Tiffany and everyone else and having an enjoyable time, while my girls were playing with Aubrey downstairs. While we were all sitting in the livingroom Aubrey came up the stairs carrying Kiya on her back and we asked Kiya what she was doing. She very quickly stated "I'm riding a pig!" We all instantly burst into laughter. Aubrey then informed us all that she had asked Kiya if she wanted to go for a piggy back ride up the stairs. Then it all made sense to us. Kids just say the funniest things sometimes, and thats why we love them.

A week of fun and surprises!

2009-02-19T21:16:00.005-07:00

Well lets start off with the most exciting news . . . . . Ben got the internship at HAFB! What a blessing this will be for our family. He will now be getting paid salary which is great for an intern, and have steady hours and a boss that is actually at work instead of in Arizona all the time. We are so grateful for this opportunity.

Sunday was Aubrey's 13th birthday, so on Saturday the whole family went out to eat to celebrate with her. I can't believe how old my parents are getting :) Their baby is a teenager now, what are they going to do with her. They better hold onto their hats. At dinner Jared and Alisha announced that they are engaged. What a great surprise that was for all of the rest of us, we are so excited for them. While we were eating Jared talked Aubrey into eating a super hot pepper for $10 bucks. It was great watching her face turn bright red and see her nose run. Then afterwards Jared handed her the money and said "Happy Birthday, I was going to give you the money for your birthday anyway." What a sneaky trick, which I am sure that he learned from our dad, because I have been the tricked by the same trick :)

Then Sunday night we drove up to Wellsville to participate in the annual President's Day Breakfast. We all went to IHOP to enjoy good food and great company. It is always nice to go up and visit with everyone and to watch Ben wrestle with Clayton and Landon and have a good time. And thanks Mom and Dad for watching Sadie (our highly annoying dog) so that we are able to go up there.

Learning the Language and Celebrations

2009-02-11T14:34:00.005-07:00

Well Amanda and I the other day were talking about how well Jaynie is starting to talk. Even though our little girl is only 15 months old, she is beginning to have quite the vocabulary.

The following are some of the words that she says (I wish I could add a recording of the way that she says them, because just jotting them down doesn't do it justice nor is it nearly as cute as her saying them) :

Nana (banana)

O ju (hold you)

Ta Da!! (ta da!!) One of our favorites.

Peas (please)

NO! (she's got that one down pat)

Ooo! (she's so curious that when she finds something new or different that's what she says)

WOW!

Mom

Papa (I personally like being called papa instead of dad, I guess it's because I'm such a fan of the phrase "papa bear".)

tai tu (thank you, she's becoming very polite)

sNO (Snow. She hasn't quite got the transition from the S to the N quite right yet, but you can definitely tell what she's saying)

eeet (eat. She loves her food)

hom (home. She takes after her mother in always loving to be home)

uh-o (anytime anybody drops anything)

ball

ba-yoon(balloon)

baf (bath-this is her favorite time of the day)

bubbles

baby (she carries her doll with her constantly now)

The 'b' sound must be an easy one to make becasue she is very good at words that start with B.

Jaynie has now started saying Kiya, but she can only say Ky, but she says it twice so it comes out Kyky, and Kiya promptly tries to correct her every single time. She definitely does not want to be called by the wrong name.

Well that's all the words that I could think of off of the top of my head. We really need to keep a better list of all the words she's saying. I'm sure I am missing some, so if we can think of any we'll be sure to add them.

We had a fun weekend during our "Happy Super Bowlirthday Weekend" since it was both my birthday and the Super Bowl. Ya, the team we were rooting for lost, but really we just enjoy watching the commercials. Come on, who doesn't. But it really was a good game.

We went up on Friday to Logan and went out to eat at one of Amanda's and I's favorite places up there, Cafe Sabor. The food was good, the company was better, but the fried ice cream was the best. (that's why Amanda and I like it so much). We enjoyed being up with my family and hanging out with them a little bit. We came home on Saturday and enjoyed some time alone at home. That evening we went out to eat again with Amanda's parents and grandparents (Anitta and Doug), which is always fun. We ended up waiting over an hour to be seated at Texas Road House. Was it worth it?...it's always worth it when I don't have to pay. Thank heaven for birthdays. Since Amanda's sisters were watching the girls we went to a movie after dinner. The night was a real treat. It's not very often that we get to spend an evening with just the "adults" and get to leave the girls home.

It was a great weekend.

Happy Birthday Ben!!

2009-01-29T15:10:00.005-07:00

Sunday is Ben's Birthday and I just wanted to wish him a Happy Birthday. What more could a guy ask for than to have the Super Bowl on his birthday (Go Cardinals :)
Ben I want you to know that you truly are my love. You mean the world to me. You are the greatest Husband that I could ask for. I know that I don't express my love for you as often as I should, and that I do not show my gratitude for all of the little things that you do, but I do notice them. You are always so considerate of what I want or need and are a amazing dad to Kiya and Jaynie. Thank you for being you and always trying to make me happy. I will always be your Sweetheart. I Love you! Have a great birthday and enjoy every minute of being young because we are getting too old to quick.

Long Weekend = Good Times

2009-01-22T22:47:00.005-07:00

This last weekend we headed up to Cache Valley to spend some time with my (Ben's) family. It's always so good to see those guys. Tenaya and Jason bought a house and we helped them move out of Grandma's basement and into their new home. Congrats!
On Saturday night the whole family (minus Jason and Tenaya due to settling in the house) decided to go bowling. Clayton and Landon brought their girlfriends, Krista (Clayton) and Kirsti (Landon). It was fun just to meet them and get to know them.
Afterward we went back to Mom and Dad's and had pizza, treats, and played the ever popular Mormon (Barnyard) Rummy. It was just the kids that played, Mom is always so busy, and Dad just won't play with us anymore, especially if Amanda's playing since about 97% of the time we play games she wins :)

We came home on Sunday morning and rushed to get ready for church since it started at 11 and then came home and made dinner for us and Amanda's family and Grandma and Grandpa Cheney. It's always good to see them, and visit with Grandpa even though he always falls asleep in the middle of a conversation.

Monday we went to breakfast with Anitta and Doug which is always a treat. We then went and did some shopping then went to a nearby park and played with the girls. Kiya finally likes going down slides now, instead of screaming whenever anyone goes near one. It was a great weekend all in all and we wish we could have more just like it.

P.S. I just have to add this on to Ben's post becasue it is not often that I beat anyone in bowling. I bowled and 102, thus beating my old record of 100, and getting second place out of every one bowling. Now for the greatest part not only did I beat Ben's score but I almost doubled it. Hooray! - Amanda

Grandpa White

2009-01-11T21:53:00.002-07:00

Well we just found out that this morning that Grandpa White (Ben's Grandpa) fell on the ice and broke his hip. He was rushed in for an emergency surgery to put his hip back together. We hope and pray that he will have a quick recovery and be able to walk well again.

Running the Wasatch Back

2009-01-10T23:55:00.002-07:00

In high school I ran on the cross-country team, and lately have been toying with the idea of taking up running again. So yesterday on a whim I decided that I would run the Wasatch Back and get Ben to run it with me. For those who don't know the Wasatch Back is a 180 mile race from Logan to Park City. What was I thinking, this is totally crazy! Granted one person doesn't run the whole 180 miles by themselves the race is split up by 12 people on a team, it is still completely insane.

When I originally starting thinking about this, I just thought that getting back into running would be a great way to get back in shape and maybe lose some of my baby weight (now that Jaynie is 14 months old it's about time). But what possessed me to want to do this is beyond me. Ben is committed to doing this, and won't let me quit now that I talked him into doing it. So I guess I am stuck and should start training one of these days. This whole thing will be quite the process and we'll have to see how it goes. I just have to wish myself a bit of good luck, I'm going to need it.

Give-ups and Goals

2009-01-04T21:21:00.003-07:00

Well it's Sunday evening, the last day of Christmas break. It's a great vacation from the hectic schedule of work, school, dropping off and picking up the kids, especially that last part. I have seen Amanda in her element this last week and a half as she gets to stay home with her two little girls and teach them, play with them and listen to them. It's sad to see her these last couple days slowly come to the realization that Monday brings back early mornings and late evenings teaching school, but mostly the fact that she doesn't get to spend as much time as she wants to with Kiya and Jaynie. I start school again on Tuesday since this semester I only have classes on Tuesday and Thursday, and I figure I am about one year out from graduating. I can't wait to be done with school so I can finally be done with the construction industry, but more than that I can't wait to be done so that Amanda doesn't have to work and can stay home with our girls.

Well one of our good friends has a blog and she listed her Give-ups and Goals. I thought that was a clever idea to do, instead of just setting goals on how to make you a better person this year but to also state what you were going to give up to help the process of becoming better a little more defined. So I wanted to do the same thing by listing the things that I want to do this year and also the things that I was going to give up.

Give-Ups

Ben: Soon to come.

Amanda: Junk food and sweets, kind of the same thing I guess (except for on birthday's you can't pass up chocolate cake on a birthday).

Goals

Ben: Coming Soon.

Amanda: 1) Leave school by 3:30 at least 3 times a week, then maybe my girls would actually have a mother. 2) Do my visiting teaching each month. And 3) Organize my house one room at a time.

Our Sweet Girls

2008-12-30T23:49:00.005-07:00

Each day I am amazed at how much joy my children bring to me. It has been so nice to be able to spend some time with them over the Christmas break. Kiya and Jaynie just make my heart happy, and make me laugh. Their smiles and laughs are so contagious, and they are always just so happy (except for when they're tired :). They remind me that I need to find more joy in the little things, and to just be happy because I want to be.

Kiya is so precious, and has a little tiny voice and an incredible vocabulary for a 2 year old. She just sits and talks to me all day long, and asks endless questions about everything.

Tonight Ben and I went and saw Marley and Me (a wonderful show by the way) and when we got home Jaynie was waiting at the top of the stairs for us. As soon as she could see us she got the biggest grin on her face and started stomping her feet up and down; it was like she was having a 'happy tantrum'. Upon reaching the top of the stairs I scooped her up into my arms and received the biggest, tightest hug a toddler can give. I love Jaynie hugs, they make my day everyday.

Getting Ready for the New Year

2008-12-28T09:21:00.005-07:00

Well we hope that everyone had an enjoyable Christmas this year. We did. In fact I think it's time to buy a bigger house just so that we can put away all the toys and clothes that Kiya and Jaynie received from Santa and their grandparents.

On Christmas Eve we went up to Ben's parents and had a great meal with all of his brothers and sisters, and grandma and grandpa White were even there. It's so good to see them when we do, we don't get to visit them as often as we would like or even should.

After dinner we had the family gift exchange where Ben received a DVD holder from Dad (Brad), Amanda got a really nice bracelet from Mom (Teri), Madi gave Kiya some Fisher Price animals, and Jaynie got a doll from Carter (she was so fun to watch open her present, because as soon as she could see what it was she didn't even want to unwrap it all the way she just wanted to hold the doll).

Then it was on to Grandma Smith's to carry on with the tradition of caroling to those who are sick or in need of a little cheering up. After caroling we went to Grandma's house where she had soup and rolls for dinner, which was followed by the acting out of the Christmas story. Uncle Vern and Aunt Kathy were there too, and it is always so good to see them, they are such great people and always make you feel welcome and loved.

After our activities at Grandma Smith's we went back to Ben's parents where we went to bed and waited in anticipation of Santa's arrival.

In the morning we had a quick gift opening extravaganza, Amanda got one of her favorite movies, "Dan in Real Life", and a silver necklace with 3 blue saphires in circles (hard to explain, but really nice), Ben got a new DeWalt sander, some sand paper and a talk on tape from John L. Lund. Kiya received a lot of books, some clothes and some more toys, and Jaynie did about the same. After breakfast we hurriedly packed our stuff together and got on the road to Amanda's parents so that we could talk to Tiffany still on her mission to Portugal. We made it and enjoyed the hour long conversation we had with her, she sounds like a great missionary, and also just a hint of trunkiness, not much, but you can sense it. She only has about 8ish more weeks left, which really isn't that much left.

After the tearful hang up with Tiff, we got to open some of our presents that Santa left at the Bradford's for us. I guess since we're over there so often that Santa didn't know where to take all of our presents so he just left lots everywhere.

In the afternoon we went to Grandma Anitta's for dinner and conversation with the rest of the Bradford clan. It's good to see them since it's not very often that we get to, especially Tom, Susan and kids, and also Kelly, Patty and their family.

All in all Christmas was great as it always somehow turns out to be. We hope that you and yours were also able to enjoy a very merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-22T23:24:00.002-07:00

Christmas time is such a wonderful time of the year. And this year has been exceptionally fun. Kiya and Jaynie are so enjoyable to see when they see the lights and the christmas tree and get so excited. Every time we ask Kiya what santa claus is going to bring her for Christmas she says " a airplane." We don't know where she came up with this, but it sure is cute.